I imagine this topic has been discussed multiple times on this forum... so, what is one more?
My wife and I have an AirBnb we host out of our house. It is a completely separate 2 br/ 1 ba apartment in a very touristy area (if anyone knows Asheville then you get it). Anyways, we had a lot of very consistent bookings for the first few months and have great reviews (17 five stars, and achieved SuperHost Status). We also got professional photographs etc. Lately it feels like there's been a big slow down. We use BeyondPricing to help adjust rates.
According to the data out there it seems like maybe its just a combo of the down season and also a glut in the market (around the holidays there was a 50% vacancy rate). We have not expanded beyond AirBnb to VRBO or other vacation sites yet.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated. I would love to know what other people in similar situations have done!
My wife and I have 23 STRs in this town that we rent to travelling refinery workers. Scary looking burly guys with neck tats. The work that they do is not predictable. Therefore, their occupancy of our STRs is not predictable. But it's good money, but it is not steady money. We could convert our STRs into conventional LTRs and make steady money. But the steady money would not be good money.
That's the price you pay for having good money. It's not steady money.
If you or I could figure out a way to make good steady money with STRs, we'd be closer to becoming multimillionaires.
Here's a tip @Asury Johnson, when nobody is immediately checking in to a STR after a cleaning we make the beds with the damp linens right out of the washing machine. Wash the mattress pads first, then the sheets and pillow cases, finally the blankets.
@Alexander Krasne I agree with just about all of the above, especially the advice about knowing your local laws and checking out your competition manually. Each of our markets is unique in many ways. I am experiencing a drop off not only due to seasonal changes but also due to my market being flooded with new listings in the last year. I would love to not rely on the Airbnb and VRBO platforms but my state has just passed a STR law that requires that whoever collects the rental fees must now collect and remit state and local taxes. It has now become worth staying with Airbnb and VRBO just so I don't have to worry about the collection and remission of taxes.
Check out AirDNA. (Airdna.co) They have 3 years of monthly history showing number of listings, revenue trends, occupancy trends, etc. That should give you an idea if the market as a whole is slowing or if as mentioned above, it may just be time of year or issues with your specific listing (pricing, etc.). check out this graph below. It shows revenue trends over time. Lots of other cool analysis too. Bet you could purchase Asheville data for $50 or so for a month to take a deep dive.