All Forum Posts by: Kevin Lefeuvre

Here's my experience in a nutshell:
Large cities STR profile:
- year around bookings

- shorter stays (3-4 nights)

- a lot of last minute bookings

- Airbnb beats vrbo/HA

Beach/Mountain locations STR profile:
- Seasonal

- Longer stays (7-10 nights)

- Bookings long time in advance

- vrbo/HA beats airbnb

Those of you in large cities like NY, SF or LA: are you successfully billing a higher rate for high season (summer & holidays) or not?

@Ariel Smith So you have a lot of competition I guess in this period of the year, but still, at the end of the day you got 6 bookings in a month which is great. In your case I guess viewers spend time in shopping among listings and I am sure price is key.
Thanks for offering to feedback on my listing. Won't post it here to avoid self promotion, but will share privately.

@Mark you are doing great. I have the opposite experience probably due to my big city location  (LA). Airbnb with short stays of 2-6 nights is the norm. They don't stay at home, mostly use the place to sleep and they are out visiting the attractions. Also I have quality guests from Airbnb with a track record of good reviews while on vrbo not sure. I had one case of damage out of 30 bookings and that was one of the 5 vrbo guests. And finally the technology  (website ) is really old and buggy. But it fills the airbnb s calendar gaps so it's welcome. 

BTW, occupancy rate not same as booking rate. Occupancy rate is definitely the number one metrics,  but none of these sites know the number, since we have multiple sources of bookings. But the booking rate is a good metrics to know how well we convert the "prospects" that airbnb sends us into "customers".

Never heard of it nowadays. Regardless, that is not really related to my post, Ken. Feel free to ask your question in a separate post.

Let's compare our notes and learn. Airbnb provides good stats about our listings here: https://www.airbnb.com/stats/views but they don't tell how good or bad it is. Let's share our metrics here so that we can learn if we can perform better. 

I start. My numbers for a property which has been live now for 4 months are:

1) # of views in the past 30 days: 279

2) Average # of daily views in the past 30 days: 10 (approximate visual reading of the graph)

3) Average Booking Rate since 1/1/2017: 1.35% (average monthly rates: jan, feb, mar, april, add the posted rates for each month then divide by the number of months)

(If you want to see the results of the anonymous survey in real time I built a quick public and anonymous survey with Google form where you can enter your numbers and see the results at the end: https://goo.gl/forms/ig0Pl8cuQETwVHjv2 )

PS. Intuitively I think I am doing well in terms of number of views (means good pricing, good listing parameters) but not in terms of conversion (my description, amenities or photos need improvement maybe) ?

Your turn...

I noticed this when I was running another property in VR in South Orange County, 3 years ago, and thought we were reaching the end of a little bubble very soon. That didn't happen (in part because some owners stopped VR) and now I have another vision, and think that Investment in VR is going to be just a different kind of investment with it's own characteristics but won't fade away. Among its characteristics are:
- Plus: Higher cap rate

- Plus: Your place is available (for sale or for personal use)

- Minus: regulatory risks

- Minus: PM issues  

So because some investors are attracted by the higher cap rates, but can't handle the issues on the long term, we are also seeing a lot of people being tired and wanting to stop VR. Unlike for the long term rentals, this is like running a B2C business. There is a value in the seniority of the business. (number of reviews, "host since xxxx", ...). 

So yes, EVERYONE wants to the VR, but VR is not for everyone.

Those of you who are in the cities where Airbnb withholds TOT know that the tax applies to cleaning fees as well. That line by itself can be $700 per year for an average property in coastal Southern California. It's unfair to tax a fee. City laws usually say if it's mandatory then it's taxable. Has anyone found a way to avoid taxing the cleaning fee/pet fee ?

try to provide proof to PayPal but be prepared to lose the case since PayPal referees always take the consumer's side for merchants under  $1M. , sometimes before even reading the case. I know this by my own merchant e-commerce experience. And lesson to learn: PayPal is absolutely not a solid payment clearance company for small businesses.