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I have been reading this forum for weeks, and with the input of so many wonderful informative posts, I felt I had plenty of information to put up a listing I had been preparing since December. This is my first listing ever, in São Paulo (Brazil), and it went live on January 16.
However… since then, all I had were 3 inquiries, and no booking requests or actual bookings (although I’m on instant book and my rates are quite cheap for my neighbourhood, which is quite a nice quarter of the city). Needless to say I was getting rather nervous…
In other words, I put the listing live two months before my first available date!
The reason I did this is that I always book my own trips well in advance - so I thought this was so clever of me. Apparently not
So: in the thread mentioned above, the advice came up that the other new host (who had made the same mistake as I) should cancel his listing and make a new one, so as not to waste his ‘new host boost’.
My question to you is: should I do this? Should I cancel my listing and replicate it as a new one? Is this allowed by Air?!
Also (more terrible details): consider that not only I had no bookings yet, but also I have declined the only three inquiries I had (as all of them asked for long-term rental, which is impossible for me). In short, the least I can say is I don’t think I’m very competitive right now
So… I’d appreciate your insight.
Thank you so much!
I was in the same situation; my listing was published before my place was actually available. It took a while to get inquiries and listings, but as the “grand opening” got closer, I started getting bookings.
That is very good to hear… And how long do you figure this took (I mean, for you to get the bookings)? My worry is that I may be wasting the famous ‘new-host boost’ (which from what I could understand, nobody really knows how long it lasts).
I think you’ve probably got a lot less to lose by scrapping it and starting again. In terms of how far ahead people book that would depend on your market. From my own personal experience it’s very rare to get more than a weeks notice (except for the Xmas/new year period where everywhere in town gets booked up months in advance)
And in my market, bookings for the summer have been streaming in. I am already about 60% booked from April - August, and I am requiring a four-night stay. At some point, as yet undetermined, I will reduce the number of required nights. This summer, I decided that I wanted to cherry-pick for a while.
MaMa, maybe it’s worth doing some research for you area. Try putting some dates into Airbnb for your area a week, a month, 3 months, 6 months in advance and see what the variation of available listings is like. Might give you some idea
@Gardenhost. That is why I posted my experience. Markets are different. I love planners, as a general rule. They take the time to review multiple listings. I get more international visitors who I enjoy a lot. My winter guests are more last-minute which has been an adjustment for me. I do not allow same-day bookings, and don’t plan to change that.
Exactly right @Gardenhost & @anon67190644… I tested it and apparently mine is not a ‘book in advance market’ - many places still vacant for March. I really should have thought of this (this is not a tourist destination, but a big city where people may stop by between more scenery places; on the other hand also a place for conferences and business, but I guess this is not the main AirBnB public). Anyway, it seems to be still really ‘calm’ also in other Air places in my area for March
If I do opt for starting again (which seems more and more tempting) - do you happen to know if there is any kind of problem with this on AirBnB’s side? I’m re-reading the terms and can’t find anything relevant.
I would start again. I estimate that the new host boost lasts for about four weeks (no-one knows exactly) but during those weeks it’s possible to get bookings for several months in advance which is a great start.
I’ve never done it though but it might be an idea to use a different email address. Just start a gmail account and have it forward to your regular email address.
Oh dear if it’s four weeks… mine are finishing soon
But I don’t think I could start a new account; I have bookings as a guest on this one (for the beach, in 2 months, and I need this badly LOL). What I’d though was, I’d start a new listing on the same account. But this is what seems somehow weird - a “new” listing with the same apartment, same name, same photos… I’d never thought of that, it was the idea of having stupidly wasted my new host boost time that got to me.
Do you think it would be weird/wrong to start a ““new”” listing under this conditions on my current account?
I’ve never had to do that so I’m afraid I don’t know. I suspect that starting a new listing under your existing account would be OK but I’m not 100% sure. Hopefully others can help.
I don’t know if this is of use, but here’s an article about the new host boost.
MaMa, if Airbnb ask you about it you could just say you weren’t ready to host at that time and you didn’t know there was any other option but to delist. I don’t think they could punish you in anyway for that
Thank you! It is very helpful. I just wish I’d read it before I put the listing live. In fact I’m a little angry at myself that I only got to read this forum seriously after having published my listing… Honestly! There should be a warning for prospective hosts against doing this (too late for me).
And now I just realized also that 9 travellers have my place on their wish list. OK, this might sound a thrift for more successful hosts; but for me, it’s something - and in a way I feel I’d betray those 9 (lovely) people if I killed the listing… Oh dear I don’t know what to do!
Yes that’s true! And really I’ve re-read the TOS twice now and there’s nothing against this as far as I can tell. However: do I just ‘dump’ my 9 wish-listers? After all they are the only ones who liked me LOL
Just one caution. I don’t know that anyone here actually knows if you get a boost when listing again. Is this a host-boost or a listing-boost? Since I only have one listing, I have no idea.
