Inman Connect New York offers the perfect mix of innovative thinkers, forward-thinking leaders and successful, hard-working agents. Join us January 24-26 for essential content, education and networking opportunities to help you thrive in today's ever-changing marketplace. Register here.
The tweet was shared more than 8,000 times. Over 53,000 people liked it. scores answered. So what did this viral social media post have to say? Simple: "The Airbnbust is on our doorstep."
The tweet , originally posted Oct. 16, specifically shares an image of a post from what appears to be a Facebook group for Airbnb hosts. The post features two separate comments stating that there has been a drop in short-term rental bookings recently. Most responses lean toward glee, with a large number of people criticizing Airbnb hosts for charging excessive fees, outlandish cleaning requirements, and gobbling up housing stocks. The fear captured in the comments became so prominent that it spread and received its own media coverage .
The Airbnbust is coming #Airbnb pic.twitter.com/2BMTjGhiox
— Texas DFW Runner (@texasrunnerDFW) October 16, 2022
Other similar posts have recently appeared on platforms like TikTok . And in the middle of the pile, the theory that Airbnb and its hosts are in trouble has circulated on social media. All of this begs the question: is Airbnb going through a meltdown? Are the reserves low? Are the hosts facing some kind of apocalypse?
Inman reached out to Airbnb and a handful of professionals tracking short-term rental space. And the short answer is no, there doesn't seem to be any kind of "explosion". Despite anecdotal reports of lower bookings, Airbnb is still having a good year overall.
However, the dynamics in the market are changing and there are real reasons why some individual hosts could be seeing a drop in bookings right now. What you need to know:
Is the Airbnb bankruptcy real?
To get to the bottom of the alleged raid, Inman first contacted Airbnb. In an emailed statement, a spokesperson later highlighted the company's latest earnings reports, saying, "Customer demand for Airbnb was higher than ever in the second quarter, and Airbnb has far outperformed the rest of the travel industry."
Figures from the company's most recent earnings report show that the company's booked nights and experiences (the latter being locally organized activities) were higher in the second quarter of this year than in any other quarter for the company. The numbers also show that 75% of newly activated and reserved listings were entered faster by travelers in the second quarter of this year than a year ago.
These figures suggest that Airbnb bookings appear to have been going well at least in the second quarter of this year, i.e. from April to June.
But those numbers alone may not please everyone because since the second quarter the economy has changed significantly ( interest rates have risen, as has inflation ) and the housing market has slowed.
Jamie Lane
To understand what's been happening more recently, Inman spoke to Jamie Lane, vice president of research at AirDNA, a large short-term data rental and tracking company. And Lane said Airbnb's good year has continued so far.
"Demand has increased," Lane said. "Bookings are higher than ever in September. We're not seeing a drop in booking activity compared to what we typically see at the moment. »
Aaron ru
An AirDNA report further shows that travelers spent a total of 18.4 million nights in short-term rentals in September. The report goes on to note that "September saw a new post-pandemic throughput record, with aggregate overnight demand exceeding September 2019 levels by 26.6%."
Other companies see similar trends. Aaron Ru is a director of RET Ventures, which invests in several startups including TurnoverBnB, a company that provides cleaning services and software to tens of thousands of short-term renters. Ru told Inman that not only is BnB's sales showing no decline at all, but the company's data shows that "this month will be the strongest month on its history, even with seasonal variations."
"They see the same as AirDNA," added Ru.
So why are some hosts seeing fewer bookings?
Lane and Ru conclude that there doesn't seem to be a crisis in general. But that doesn't mean it can't seem like a dud to some hosts.
Lane said part of what's happening is that some hosts may be experiencing some seasonality, where bookings rise in the summer but fall in the fall.
"From July to September and from July to October, demand fell sharply," he explained.
Additionally, there is significant supply and demand dynamics. Lane explained that there has been an increase in short-term rentals recently, meaning that while the overall number of bookings has increased, "on average, individually, everyone is seeing their prices go down. bookings. ".
"As supply has grown faster than demand, we've seen a drop in overall occupancy," Lane explained.
A useful analogy might be a grocery store selling bread from three different companies. If the store starts selling bread from six companies, the grocery store will likely get more sales, but each bread company could end up selling less. In this case Airbnb is the grocery store and the hosts are the bread companies.
Citing a similar trend, Ru said that due to an increased supply of short-term rentals, "bookings per host have declined slightly."
Still, the key word is "light"; AirDNA data shows occupancy in September was 58.1%. That's just 1.2% down from the same period last year, and it's actually an 11.1% increase over 2019.
So the bottom line is that seasonality, increased supply, and last year's boom may shape some hosts' immediate experiences, although the overall trend is upwards.
What about the fees and cleaning requirements that everyone hates?
Much of the social media discussion about the so-called Airbnb raid revolves around complaints about cleaning requirements and excessive fees. The general idea is that requiring guests to clean and pay a fee drives people away from Airbnbs and into hotels.
"AirBnB really seems like a scam these days," one person responded to the viral tweet. "Enthusiastic homeowners squeeze as much as possible by doing less than the bare minimum."
"Over $100/night fee," wrote another. "It's just not a sensible suggestion. Wtf is a "service charge" anyway.
"They also expect you to do the dishes, throw out the trash, do the laundry," complains a third. "Shall I cook [a] 3-course meal before I go?"
Past demand and occupancy figures suggest that these complaints overall have not led to widespread departure from Airbnb. But as always, there are winners and losers. For example, Lane noted that there's "a lot of competition for guest accommodations" right now thanks to a huge supply.
"I think hosts are learning now that if they want to reserve their home, they have to put in a little more effort than they did last year," he said.
Housekeeping and fees play a big part in this, and Lane found that hosts who factor in their fees upfront perform better.
"Hosts who see significantly more bookings than hosts who don't," Lane explained, "because that's what guests want."
Lane also said properties with amenities like pools and beautiful views perform better than more general listings. Ru made a similar point about amenities that act as strong selling points, adding that there appears to be a growing divide between amateur shorter-stay hosts and "professional hosts with differentiated Airbnbs."
A self-proclaimed host who replied to the original viral tweet also mentioned that reduced cleaning and maintenance requirements have resulted in an increase in bookings.
I've seen a drop in bookings this summer so I've dropped some of the more extreme task requirements like mowing the lawn, brushing/vacuuming the pool and bookings are back to normal. The market is still strong, but tenants cannot be expected to do the same
— J (@grewhar) October 17, 2022
The end of the coronavirus pandemic may also simply change preferences. Peter Rex is the founder and CEO of software and real estate management company Rex (no relation to REX Real Estate which is in litigation with Zillow ). Among other things, Rex's business operates both short-term rentals and a hotel, and he said some of the more remote offerings that have become popular during the pandemic may lose some of their appeal as the health crisis eases and people return to cities.
"We've seen a readjustment in terms of where people are going," he said.
Rex also said some hosts are realizing that running a short-term rental is more work than they thought and will cost more, which in turn is prompting them to potentially raise their price.
peter rex
"Managing a hotel is a tremendous amount of work, just like running an Airbnb," he added.
All this to say that fees and cleaning requirements may not undermine Airbnb's business model. But with changing tastes, these factors could help clean up the industry and push customers toward certain types of units over others. And the result of all these trends is that some consumers are fed up, and some hosts may not be seeing the kind of bookings they wanted.
However, all of the experts who spoke to Inman for this article said they expect the concept of short-term rental to remain. The business model has already weathered several economic cycles: Wired even asked "Is this the end of Airbnb?" in 2020 - and so far the numbers suggest that it will only continue to grow.
"Short-term rents," concluded Rex, "are not going away."
Aucun commentaire:
Enregistrer un commentaire