Airbnb/booking. com rental owners, are your bookings down?

[Oneafterthelaissezfaire]

Bookings have dropped off a cliff compared to recent years. I know it's Jan/Feb but we've always had a steady flow but this year it's just dead.

I have an annex next to my house so not ruining any towns before anyone jumps on me. Curious if it's the same anywhere else? I'm in the SE.

I've had many Muslims staying with me and I promise it doesn't make a difference, to me at any rate. I never bother my guests, just let them know I'm always available if they need anything but definitely wouldn't intrude.

Thank you 👍 hope so too. I really do love my job and hate others giving us a bad name.

Your place seems delightful!

I am afraid to say that I think some self catering places are ruining it for others.
My experience in the last few years:

• too many places take dogs - I just will not stay as I know dog hairs get everywhere, there will be a hidden poop in the garden etc etc. Just a no from me.
• there have been a few (not cheap either!) I have stayed at which are just not up to standard. It seems newer owners who are 'jumping on the bandwagon' of AirBnB are particularly poor at standards of cleanliness and maintenance. For the first time ever last year I refused to stay somewhere - and had another which was not just a moan but a proper complaint and ask for a partial refund.
• The costs are rocketing, and while I understand the whole world is getting more expensive, the increase in prices of AirBnB and Booking .com places seems greedflation, not inflation.

I now refuse to use AirBnB, I reluctantly use Booking .com for work most weeks, but prefer for my holidays and breaks to go to owners and websites direct - you get a lot of feeling from how someone replies to an email or even on the phone.

We dont allow dogs either. Too much hassle and mess. And we have a cat on-site ( outside), so he wouldn’t like it.

I look on Airbnb then look for the accommodation online and book direct instead. If I can’t find you online I wouldn’t book.

@Oneafterthelaissezfaire i think both Airbnb and booking.com have been invaded by owners/companies that feel untrustworthy/potential scams. I still use Airbnb but I feel I have to be really cautious .

I've booked two uk holidays heavily discounted recently. In peak school holiday season

I’ve used AirBnB a lot in the past, but in the last couple of years it seems so much more expensive and hotels are usually around the same sort of cost. What seemed a reasonable price per night to start with, almost doubled by the time cleaning fees and stuff had been added.

I have a couple of friends with B&Bs and they’ve been really busy so far this year and are pretty much fully booked from Easter all through summer

I’m not sure about other areas, but I live in a tourist area, and there’s been a bit of a backlash against AirBnB the last couple of years. Holiday lets/B&Bs/hotels/residential rentals have always rubbed along fairly well, but since Covid there’s now huge issues with what were previously residential rentals now being used as holiday lets have massively reduced rental housing available. As a result, most people I know won’t consider AirBnB when booking their own holidays

Also, the Facebook algorithm kept showing me an AirBnB superhost group in my feed for some reason. Some of the behaviour that they freely admitted to on a public group somewhat put me off - hidden cameras, dodgy practices to keep cleaning deposits, etc.

I agree with others that you're feeling the effects of people switching away from Airbnb for reasons that have nothing to do with you OP which is a shame, especially given that your listing sounds like exactly the kind of thing that made it a decent site to find places to stay in the early days - I have happy memories of me and DC literally staying in people's extensions/houses, getting tips about day trips and outings and so on from people we booked with and we met some fascinating folk and were able to use their properties as a base to explore places we couldn't have afforded hotels in. But unfortunately it's full of other crap now!

As well as looking at companies like Sykes and stuff, I wonder if it might be worth your while in the long run to have your own website. You can get a very basic booking engine tool which you can manage more precisely as long as you check it regularly so people can select available dates same as on Airbnb and I have noticed that if I just Google, say, 'self catering in Great Yarmouth' Google itself will bring up listings which I can filter by type of property, number of bedrooms etc - pretty much the same as when you're on Airbnb. Of course there are a lot of hits for Airbnb itself but someone who isn't interested in that (eg me!) will just scroll past those and it does link to actual property owners' websites as well as showing a few pictures and details in the google result.

Just an idea.

Many BTL landlords are exiting the market due to tricky tax rules (can't offset mortgage costs) and turning towards serviced accommodation so it's also possible that you have greater competition?

Don’t touch AirBnB or private booking.com stuff any more - too many weird hosts and cleaning instructions/laminated notices in comic sans. With cost of living - hotels and professional services apartments are great value at the moment and working to attract business. Pub accommodation also working really hard to achieve occupancy with great offers.

I’d have usually booked 2 or 3 of long weekends / half terms in UK by now but the weather has been so wet, pot holed flooded rural roads everywhere- that I’ve booked a cheap Spain beach break (it’ll be a feral kids and pool thing) and a city break in a chain hotel in York with loads nearby to do if wet, plus some day trips to big things - sci fi comicon thing and a London musical. I can’t risk a UK rural or small resort wet beach self catering with us ending sitting in a bus shelter before forking out to go to pay £30 to go to the one room small town brick/novelty shovel/fishing net museum- could people fed up of wet just be deciding to book somewhere guaranteed less UK and wet?

There are some outrageous owners on that group, constantly watching guests on cameras and trying to charge them for any extra they can. I am back to using hotels only.

And I take my dog with me, five star hotel tomorrow for two nights is £30 extra.

Multiple reasons for less booking I guess.

Too many available properties. There was a real boom post pandemic.
Too many people thinking they know how to run a successful holiday home, when they don't, therefore standards dropping.
Poor weather last summer.
COL - and perhaps one night stays which aren't worth it for customer or owner.

Self-catering is more hassle too, as a customer, for say two nights. A hotel much simpler.

I used to use airbnb all the time, But now it's so expensive I find much cheaper deals on hotels, with breakfast included and no cleaning to do.

@alloalloallo Hidden cameras??? That is illegal, isn't it?

Friend have one, they're selling. If they can. People (including me) are prepared to pay the cost plus £190 cleaning fee for 3 days

Thank you, that's brilliant advice, will definitely look into doing that 😊

Hidden cameras?? Omg 😳

This is totally us too 👍 no cleaning, sheets changed daily, no cooking and no bloody laminated rules!

Yes Airbnb often expensive with less flexibility around booking compared to booking.com. I also hate the laminated list of tasks to be completed on check out. Last Airbnb stay I got about a gazillion emails about the booking which was quite irritating too.

My DD competes around the country and I've always found Air Bnbs a lifesaver as I can't cope with more than 2 nights in a Travelodge /Premier Inn (need a kitchen for longer stays as eating out is so expensive and I get fed up being squashed in one room). Travelodges, etc have been astronomical too since Covid.

However, I'm noticing less 'economy' options coming up when I look on AirBnb so I have to be quick off the mark (we are literally just sleeping and eating in them so no point in booking a lovely lodge, etc). Plus some previous bookings have been taken off which is disappointing as they were tried and tested.

Last time I actually found a reasonably priced weekend at a Premier Inn so went for that - when you've driven 4 hours to get somewhere, it's quite nice to just park, check in and not have to undertake the Crystal Maze in the dark to find the front door, work out how to get in with a keysafe, work the heating, etc!

I've used air bnb ever since it was launched a million years ago and would always choose it over a hotel. I prefer self catering and as an early riser I like being able to get up and potter about which you can't in a hotel room.