Has anyone done a market check since Airbnb updated their pricing last week? I did. I'm guessing some folks were PMS connected and didn't change rates as my market is looking pretty funky right now (rates well below $90/night which is unheard of). The only thing I can think is that some people didn't update their rates to include the new 15.5% Airbnb fee and they look crazy low in the market. This will impact the entire market if folks don't update their rates and hosts will be shockingly surprised when they see their revenue sharply decrease. I'm sure this will work itself out once new bookings come in at these shockingly low rates.
Haven't checked. I'm not integrated so I don't think it affects me.
If it did affect me maybe Airbnb would actually get me some bookings!
Effects everyone since you will now have comps that are looking outlandishly low.
Not if your bookings come mainly from Vrbo.
VRBO is doing some tweaking, too. The just rolled out a 10% early booking discount that was automatic unless you actively opted out.
I just got the email yesterday or the day before. I deleted the "promotion" immediately, of course. VRBO and Airbnb and Booking have got all the discounts they are going to get from me. They want to juice bookings? Cut your own fees. I'll leave my place vacant before I lower my prices any further. There has to be a line in the sand or there's no point in doing this at all.
You are seeing the real-time fallout from the Airbnb switch to the Host-Only Fee for those of us using a PMS.
What happened is simple: a ton of hosts who were previously paying only the small 3% fee completely missed the memo about raising their base rates. They got automatically transitioned, and since the guest service fee is now gone, the total price the guest sees is way lower than it should be. They're basically handing the guest a massive discount because they didn't do the math.
The good news is that this market funk is temporary. As soon as those unprepared hosts get their next payout and see their profits chopped, they'll scramble to raise rates. The bad news is that your dynamic pricing software (like PriceLabs or Beyond) is seeing these new, lower bookings and thinks the sky is falling, trying to drag your rates down too.