My ABB (private bedroom, private bath, shared kitchen and living room) is very seasonal (winters are always full of no reservations haha).
I’m in US, Upstate NY…the Adirondacks.
During the Fall Season of 2016 ( September through Novemeber), I noticed that my usual inquiries and reservations from other countries was down to nothing. When in years past (3 years I’ve been an ABB host), my Fall season was usually full of such inquiries and reservations.
In the spring (March and April), my usual inquiries and reservations are from couples escaping the big cities within a 3-6 hr drive. March and April in previous years have been sporadic, but with at least 3-6 reservations for the 2 months.
This year, as of Jan 1st, practically nothing other than 2 guests that have stayed here before because they have family in the area but choose not to stay with family.
I’ve not changed my listing (other than to adjust prices/availability) daily to keep me looking very ‘active’.
My searches for the area, keeping in mind that cookies are stored etc, usually show me anywhere from 3rd page to 14th page.
When I do these searches, I’m not seeing a large number of other newer listings. The listings I see that I have the most recent activity (from reviews), are the ones that usually have that same kind of activity over the years I’ve been on ABB, but even so, a deeper research of their reviews for the past few years show a slow down.
I’m wondering if the problem is bad press that ABB gets in general?
Anyone else experiencing the same>
I get more guests from HomeAway/VRBO and I do believe it is 1) the ability to split their payments - not all the money is not upfront 2) bad press re Airbnb. Plus, my HA/VRBO people pay more and stay longer.
I also have a private room and bathroom with separate entrance. I no longer offer shared kitchen or living space in my listing though I have offered it on case by case basis after the reservation is made and I’ve met the guests. You may recall that I serve more travelers than tourists. This past Dec-Mar was my busiest ever comparing year over year. We may have very different target clientele but I have no reason to think it has anything to do with “bad press.”
@smartbnb.io can help you determine where you are in searches. There is a free report that’s available.
Definitely expand onto other platforms. I did better on TA this year than I ever have. I think it was due to reviews. You can ask friends to submit your first reviews. I’m also on something called glamping hub and I got my first booking there. I usually get a couple of bookings per year from wimdu, but they seem to be pushing fee cancellations and IB so maybe there is more competition with them.
Do something with your calendar every day. Tinker with it. Raise the price by ten dollars, lower the price the next day. That really helped me suddenly get a boatload of bookings once when I was slow.
Other hosts have complained of being invisible on the site - have you have some one else look at it on another screen?
Just had a look st glamoing hub. How are you finding it? I’m also on wimdu but so far nothing from them down here in Australia.
No inquires nor reservations here.
One booking so far but they won’t collect a security deposit. The guest gladly paid it in advance and sent it to me via PayPal. You can set your list on no refunds!!! Yahhhhhh!!!
Had my sister search, from my mothers computer in florida 
I do show up.
I will have to list with them.
I don['t think my space is appropriate for glamping hub.
Well I didn’t either… but if you look through their listings, they show a plethora of different properties. You do have to apply to them and they will say yeah or nay. But I think these sites just want to build inventory so they will probably say yay. Then THEY write the listing copy, which in my case, was laughably wrong. And you can’t change it… they have to. Which they eventually did. You have nothing to lose so just apply!
I’m concerned about HA/VRBO due to the many horror stories I’ve heard with payment issues, and considering my place is so ‘budget friendly’, I worry there would be even more reason for possible issues.
I tried listing on TripAdvisor, but awaiting a response.
I don’t like the idea of anyone else writing copy for my bizness, as the glamping website does (yeah, I’m a bit of a control freak).
So, this is what I’m going to do.
Make a free website.
Two boosts on FB to get ‘likes’ on my page ( I recently did one for only a few dollars, with a very certain demographic and got 13 new likes!). Make frequent posts to my FB page and do a 'Live" video or two, boosting them.
Honestly, I was only planning on doing ABB one more year to use the moola to help my ‘new windows for the whole house’ bank account grow.
Sometimes I can’t take the stress of worrying about damages/liability. (yes, I’m one of those hosts who is unable to afford the type of insurance I need!).
I’ll just take this as a sign that it’s time to give this up.
So honestly, if I don’t get some bites and bookings that may look like I will have a typical summer (usually $2000-2500K), I’m just going to close up shop, it’s really not that much money, and there are not many tax write offs!
I have a couple other little biz’s that I could dedicate more time to, and I could always pick up OT in the fall (I only do mandated OT in summer!).
Hi @brook2adks,
This is probably useless, but my bookings have basically dried up since the end of February. It might be seasonal, but it’s hard to know, as I have not been doing this long enough.
One suggestion for increased visibility - try to get your guests to leave you a review, if possible by talking to them in advance. And leave them a review as well, of course. If most of your guests leave you a review already, that may not help. But in my case, I’ve noticed that making a thing of it does increase the number of reviews. I think the extra activity does improve long term visibility.
Hi, thanks for the advice. My first year, most of my guests did NOT leave reviews, but ABB didn’t push reviews back then like they do now. Last year, I would say 75% of my guests left reviews. So, I have over 50 reviews and a 4.9 rating.
Despite most hosts opinion to not leave a response to reviews, I do leave one, always. I just keep it upbeat and one short sentence!
I’ve talked to a few other ABB hosts in my area (some of them, I helped them get set up!) and they are not getting requests either.
Hi @brook2adks,
Have you been doing this a number of years? If so, is the decrease in bookings out of line with previous years?
This is my 4th year, and yes, this decrease in bookings is very unusual.
Brooks, you can have friends write your first few TA reviews, which will get the ball rolling. PM me, I can help.
I submitted my listing, but they have not responded with an acceptance yet.
Will PM you if they ever do!
It takes them a while. You can edit. I think they want to write it so it has SEO, but their copywriting is amateurish at best.