Deleting and Re-listing on Airbnb?
Investor · Idaho Falls, ID · Member since 2019 · 85 posts · 62 votes
Has anyone ever deleted an Airbnb listing and then re-listed it?
Some background...
I recently launched a listing that now has 5 reviews and a shameful 4.2 overall rating.
I had a string of bad guests that resulted in some less than fair reviews in my opinion.
Will Airbnb recognize the address was previously listed? More importantly, is this unethical?
I'd relist. However, keep in mind that the previous reviews will stay under your profile with the name of the old listing and the old cover photo. Make sure to change the name and cover photo of the new listing so folks dont immediately make the connection.
Lifehack: Change the title, cover photo & location of the OLD listing before disabling/deleting it. Make the old listing seem like it is somewhere on the other side of the planet and totally unrelated to the new listing before you disable/delete it 😉
Has anyone ever deleted an Airbnb listing and then re-listed it?
Some background...
I recently launched a listing that now has 5 reviews and a shameful 4.2 overall rating.
I had a string of bad guests that resulted in some less than fair reviews in my opinion.
Will Airbnb recognize the address was previously listed? More importantly, is this unethical?
I wouldn't beat yourself up over it. You should not be penalized for re-listing, but it should be easy to build back up your review score if you only have 5 reviews at the moment. Mainly, just depends whether or not you want to go through the effort of relisting and syncing all of your tech back up.
@Erin Wegrzyn how frustrating! Hope the owner manages to get a fix quickly. It sounds like you should still be able to create a separate new listing. That way you can get going while the owner resolves the issue of delisting the old one.
If it's any consolation, this information is very useful as I get ready to list my first Airbnb.
Hi All, My view counts and pricing has dwindled going into year 2 (compared to year 1 of my operations). I think this is due to macro level trends in my market i STR host in but I have a gut feeling my "new listing" algo boost helped a lot during year 1. Guests loved and still love my property when they stay (I have a 4.99 review score across 70 reviews) but admittedly my activity on the property (views and bookings) is low and I need to make a drastic change to start cash flowing again. Any thoughts if I should delete my listing and start over to get an Algo boost from Airbnb? Any pros/cons I should be aware of? Will re-listing my property achieve what I'm looking for? thanks in advance!
Hi All, My view counts and pricing has dwindled going into year 2 (compared to year 1 of my operations). I think this is due to macro level trends in my market i STR host in but I have a gut feeling my "new listing" algo boost helped a lot during year 1. Guests loved and still love my property when they stay (I have a 4.99 review score across 70 reviews) but admittedly my activity on the property (views and bookings) is low and I need to make a drastic change to start cash flowing again. Any thoughts if I should delete my listing and start over to get an Algo boost from Airbnb? Any pros/cons I should be aware of? Will re-listing my property achieve what I'm looking for? thanks in advance!
Run a promo- it puts you on the top of the searches.
Hi All, My view counts and pricing has dwindled going into year 2 (compared to year 1 of my operations). I think this is due to macro level trends in my market i STR host in but I have a gut feeling my "new listing" algo boost helped a lot during year 1. Guests loved and still love my property when they stay (I have a 4.99 review score across 70 reviews) but admittedly my activity on the property (views and bookings) is low and I need to make a drastic change to start cash flowing again. Any thoughts if I should delete my listing and start over to get an Algo boost from Airbnb? Any pros/cons I should be aware of? Will re-listing my property achieve what I'm looking for? thanks in advance!
Run a promo- it puts you on the top of the searches.
I’ve tried but doesn’t feel like it does anything…
Hi All, My view counts and pricing has dwindled going into year 2 (compared to year 1 of my operations). I think this is due to macro level trends in my market i STR host in but I have a gut feeling my "new listing" algo boost helped a lot during year 1. Guests loved and still love my property when they stay (I have a 4.99 review score across 70 reviews) but admittedly my activity on the property (views and bookings) is low and I need to make a drastic change to start cash flowing again. Any thoughts if I should delete my listing and start over to get an Algo boost from Airbnb? Any pros/cons I should be aware of? Will re-listing my property achieve what I'm looking for? thanks in advance!
Run a promo- it puts you on the top of the searches.
I’ve tried but doesn’t feel like it does anything…
Go to your insights page, is there an increase in views? That let's you know that people have at least seen it and you are in searches. Where is your STR located? Mine is in AZ and this is our slow, hot season. I knew I would be subsidizing July and August, so the promos I am running have helped get a sprinkling of bookings for July & August, and are basically unexpected offsets to what I knew would be a rough two months. Have you lowered your base prices a little? I think if you do that, and it isn't too low, to avoid partiers and people that do not take care of your property, it helps too to get views.
If you re-list, I would think you would have to do the mandatory first 3 bookings at a 20% per AirBnB rules anyway, so might as well run your own promo and keep your star rating. Just my opinion as your rating is great and it sounds like people love your property.
I also believe that people are being a little more conservative with the economy too. I am getting a few last minute bookings. Do you have anything in your decor that would help make your STR memorable to guests that would be searching or a local activity you could promote on a front listing photo/ad?
Hi All, My view counts and pricing has dwindled going into year 2 (compared to year 1 of my operations). I think this is due to macro level trends in my market i STR host in but I have a gut feeling my "new listing" algo boost helped a lot during year 1. Guests loved and still love my property when they stay (I have a 4.99 review score across 70 reviews) but admittedly my activity on the property (views and bookings) is low and I need to make a drastic change to start cash flowing again. Any thoughts if I should delete my listing and start over to get an Algo boost from Airbnb? Any pros/cons I should be aware of? Will re-listing my property achieve what I'm looking for? thanks in advance!
Run a promo- it puts you on the top of the searches.
I’ve tried but doesn’t feel like it does anything…
Go to your insights page, is there an increase in views? That let's you know that people have at least seen it and you are in searches. Where is your STR located? Mine is in AZ and this is our slow, hot season. I knew I would be subsidizing July and August, so the promos I am running have helped get a sprinkling of bookings for July & August, and are basically unexpected offsets to what I knew would be a rough two months. Have you lowered your base prices a little? I think if you do that, and it isn't too low, to avoid partiers and people that do not take care of your property, it helps too to get views.
If you re-list, I would think you would have to do the mandatory first 3 bookings at a 20% per AirBnB rules anyway, so might as well run your own promo and keep your star rating. Just my opinion as your rating is great and it sounds like people love your property.
I also believe that people are being a little more conservative with the economy too. I am getting a few last minute bookings. Do you have anything in your decor that would help make your STR memorable to guests that would be searching or a local activity you could promote on a front listing photo/ad?
There’s been a big decrease in my views. Last year this time i was getting 2,000 views a month. Now I’m getting 500 views. This is causing me big alarm and my prices are at rock bottom rates. Anything more I’d be giving the place away for free
I am so sorry to hear that, that is a very big decrease. Have you contacted AirBnB support to see if they can let you know what may have changed? Do you have an attraction near you that you can somehow cross promote? I'm just trying to think outside of the box for you.
A recent episode of the Thanks for Visiting podcast featured Jeff Brown from Loma Homes with some really great insights into what drives the Airbnb algorithm. I found it fascinating. His data showed that the new listing bump is really short: starts tapering off after four or five days. So, @Matt Silverstone I’m not sure that the reason for your low traffic and bookings is because of that. The episode had some other useful insights into what might be impacting it. Here’s the link: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/...
@Mark Castellino I listened to that episode. Lots of gold nuggets in that episode!
Yes I believe @Benjamin Vail is correct and you can go ahead and do it if you wish.
I went live with a listing the DAY BEFORE Florida shut down STR for Covid. I ended up taking it down and relisting to get the push once they dropped the ban.
I also have a couple of friends that I will ask to book new properties for $1 per night just to leave a review. I Venmo them the cleaning fee.
Although... I don't know it's worth the trouble for you. Could just focus on future guests. If you don't have any bookings that's another story.
@Benjamin Vail @Rachel Hughes I see this thread is a few years old. Do you know whether it's still possible to delist and relist on Airbnb? We're about to close on our first STR, and since the property is already set up for STR we're thinking of running it pretty much as-is for now, and then in a couple of months do a reno. We want to make sure we're not shooting ourselves in the foot by having pre-reno and post-reno reviews on the same listing. If it's still possible to delist and relist that will eliminate the problem. And, of course, if we get great reviews for the pre-reno listing we can just keep the one listing and avoid jumping through all those hoops.