A suddent drop in new booking

[Sofi1]

We started hosting 5 months ago and almost immediately got bookings. We also had full of positive rewies (as a matter of fact, they are ALL positive).

Less than a month ago I had to block the calendar for 2 weeks, since my son got married and had to host all family.

Since I cleared the calendar we had not a single book or even an enquiry....

Any idea ??

[Dave-and-Deb0]

Hi @Sofi1,

When new hosts start out, they get an automatic bump in the ratings for about a month so they can get some bookings and ratings.  Most hosts find they get lots of requests at the beginning and then they tailor off.  I don;t think blocking off your listing for two weeks has had an effect.

[Marcus0]

Hi @Sofi1 , just from my experience, if you block your calendars for any significant time (other than the airbnb bookings) the Airbnb system does not like this and lowers your search rank.  Airbnb gives priority for properites with high availability to their clients.

That is what i can tell you, there may be other factors though, like a big increase in Airbnb apartments in your area or nearby hotels dropping their prices...

[Glen2]

I'm a SH and have had my room listing for 18 months and just added a new studio apt. I had far more bookings last year. There has been a dramatic drop, very few bookings since xmas, apart from Easter. Something has changed.

[Ange2]

Something has definitely changed. Can't figure out what.

I also had far more bookings and views last year.

I was booked solid June, July and August last year, in fact I had to turn people away, and this year it's less than 50% for June,  and July and August are less than 10%. For a while my listing disappeared for June, July and August - a glitch according to Airbnb, but it was there for September and October, and rest of year - odd!

There are not that many new listings in my area and even the sleaziest of hotels is a good USD$70 more per night more than my listing. I am not a SH,my building is old and the hallway shabby, but I am still overall 4.5 stars with great reviews.

[Josie-And-William0]

Hi all,

We are Superhosts and have been hosting since 2013.  YES!!!!!  Something is terribly odd about what is going on with AirBnB.  A year ago, we were booked non-stop.  We went to Spain for a couple of months so did not host last summer until August.  We were super busy August through October then NOTHING.  This spring we had a handful of bookings and we don't have anyone booked until late August.  Can't figure it out.  

I have fiddled with our pricing and we have allowed instant booking as long as I can approve who stays - we live here so we want to know who is coming into our home.

It is really odd.   Our listing is RooPark in the Heart of Tacoma.  Would appreciate thoughts...

Josie