How long does the start-up Airbnb high last?

Question

I’m curious...we listed our TN cabin last Saturday. I’ve had nine bookings (three of those were within two hours because of the 20% off first three bookings) since then.  I’ve read in many places Airbnb does a good job keeping your new listing on the first page for a while to get you a few bookings and get you all excited. Any idea how long that boost lasts? I’m curious when I’ll brought down to reality. :)

Taylor Lewis · Answer

I agree with @Lucas Carl re VRBO. However there IS some push that Airbnb will never admit to. I've tested this by calling at different intervals to mention to them that I'm concerned about how certain properties are showing up (or not showing up) on the search map in our area, and to inquire about booking dropoffs (at strategic times). EVERY TIME they say they have looked at it, and things should be fine, but within a couple of days I've received multiple bookings at that property. We have someone on our team who used to work at Airbnb that explained it as being similar to a search cache. Where they aren't clicking a button on their end to "boost" you - but they can "reset" some of your search criteria and you can achieve that same intial boost again if you ask for it the right way to the right person.

Luke Carl · Answer

@Leora Merrell usually lasts about a week in my experience. Keep in mind on top of the “push” (which may or may not be real and Airbnb would never admit to)..... Your calendar is empty and your competitions is not. You’ve actually got dates to book. You will see a major slow down after a month or so and it’ll scare you. BUT truth is.... you’ve just got less dates to book.

PLEASE keep in mind VRBO is important also. It’s much mode difficult to get off the ground in the early days. Don’t neglect it. Good luck!

Paul Cox · Answer

Hey @Leora Merrell...as you know through our conversations, we started in the November time frame just before Thanksgiving and are still pretty booked up all the way to the middle of April. I'm not sure if we're underpriced or not, I know that we took @Lucas Carl recommendation of looking at our competition around us to include his cabin :) and used that as our guide for our pricing to stay competitive, though a number of the cabins within a mile of us (not including Lucas's) are considerably higher than ours, but they fall on the ridge with wide ranging views compared to ours, hence the higher prices they are charging. I'm super excited to see what the summer / busy season is going to bring. Congratulations again on a beautiful cabin!

Michael Baum · Answer

Hey @Leora Merrell, from what I understand, it is variable. I have read multiple things on this. Most say it is 30 days. I have read that one listing was boosted for just under 90 days.

My guess it is based on bookings. The more you get, the quicker they come, the faster the boost runs out. Makes sense that they would use an algorithm. Once it's built, it just runs itself.

This is just extrapolation based on information I have gleaned when I was researching it for our own place.

Paul Sandhu · Answer

In my market, Airbnb doesn't exist.  Neither does VRBO or any other vacation rental websites.  Craigslist, word of mouth and repeat customers are king.

Paul Sandhu - The Hugh Hefner of STRs

Leora Merrell · Answer

@Ken Latchers

I considered that. But I priced 10-15% higher than comparable cabins within 1 mile. I knew the Airbnb new listing boost would happen so I decided to take advantage of it. :) I really am just wondering if anyone knows about how long the boost lasts.

Jonathan W. · Answer

@Leora Merrell I did Turo and the books were consistent. It’s all prices. People search bad filter through wants and needs on whatever budget that are spending. Pricing...too low, unkempt guest and sillier problems. Price too high, no bookings or bad reviews based off really high expectations set in by the price(or how cheap they are, cough cough excuse me) I’ve heard Airbnb does a good job with that and I will let you know with my experience if I experience e anything off the cuff

How long does the start-up Airbnb high last?

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