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Kayaker

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New to this forum; forgive me if this topic has already been covered. I just signed up with airbnb. I am a traditional B&B in USA. Innkeepers on site, serving full fresh, cooked breakfast, etc etc. Does airbnb really send this type of B&B a lot of guests? Does anyone out there track their reservations close enough to tell me if airbnb sends them very much business? Thank you.
FYI: we used to lurk and post on the Faceboo k innkeepers' forum, but have resigned from that in personal protest against FB. We are happy to join this forum for interaction with other B&B owners/innkeepers. source for
 
We are vacation cottages rather than a B&B, but we are also listed on Air, and we do get some business from them. Our experience is that, in general, air guests tend to book closer to their travel time than our regular guests, so we really only get business from Air for our shoulder seasons; our peak season fills with direct bookings. Of course during peak season we are trying to book week-long stays and Air guests often seem to be looking for shorter stays.
This year, Air guests accounted for about 4% of our lodging revenue; last year it was 6.6%.
 
B&B here. We list on air only in peak season as we are not planning to list rooms for $59 in the off season.
We generally get 3-4 reservations/year. Not a noticeable amount. However, every place in town, including hotels, lists there so we do too.
We generally only get last minute reservations from them. We list one room only.
 
We have our 2 smallest rooms listed, but unlike many on Air, we have to collect and pay taxes, so our prices are higher. We get maybe 1 or 2 reservations a year from Air. But we list for the exposure, we make sure our name is there, so they can look for us and book direct.
 
We are a full B&B, list one room at normal prices and have been quite successful. Already a SuperHost. Even have a reservation for December 1. Since the commission is only 3% and would have paid almost that in CC fees, it's an amazing deal. Quality of guests has been awesome.
 
We list with them, and they actually receive our rates and availability in realtime from our PMS (ThinkReservations).
We list with other OTAs, and prefer guests from Air since the commission is much lower.
That said, we're in a ski area. And most people checking Air or VRBO are shopping price. And were are a value destination not a cheap destination. So we only get business from them at the busy peak times, when rooms in our area are hard to find -- and quite honestly at times I don't need Air to sell my rooms.
So use them if you want. But your results may vary.
 
Thanks to all who replied. Our experience here with airbnb will probably be very similar to what you all have reported. If I learn anything new, I'll let you know.
 
Our one inn is in a tourist trap and we were the first to go with Air. Total success! 35% comes through them. We do very good with Air and have all the rooms on it. Super Host. The other one doesn't get much from air but its out and away from the hub of things.
When I see Super8, Hilton, and 5 Star Inns and B&Bs on it, its worth their time. A lot of our Air guests are not ready to stay on a stranger's sofa, etc. but everyone and his brother is telling them to try air so they book the one that's an real B&B or inn. At first it was all twenty and thirty years olds from Air, now its all ages. I know some who have their full price on it and others use the cleaning fee to bring their prices down. I will say this. A twist to the old, "You get what you pay for." "You will get what you charge for." You want cheap guests looking for a bargain or someone who is willing to pay a little more for nicer amenities. At the innkeeper seminar, he said, "Don't ever discount. It will come back to bite you in the end."
 
As with everything 'your individual mileage may vary'.

I believe there are a lot of factors to the success you may have on Air.
  • The type of accommodation
  • The number of other accommodations in your area
  • Your area (in a destination vs off the beaten path etc)
  • Amount you charge
We have been on Air for 2- 2 1/2 yrs now with only 1 room, traditional B&B, in rural area 30 min from a destination, with a multitude of STR in the area.
No completed reservations as of yet for us, 2-3 nibbles, 1 bite but they canceled once they found out we were not near a public transit area.
 
Thanks to all who replied. Our experience here with airbnb will probably be very similar to what you all have reported. If I learn anything new, I'll let you know..
We're a couple of hours drive to the SW from you. Also rural. We've never lowered our prices for Air, but have found the the former 'plague' room (due to its very small size) has become our most-booked room on Air. $115 including full cooked breakfast, welcome snacks and typical inn experience. The visibility on Air seems to have led to more rooms booked just when TA is more irrelevant to us. Air takes roughly what the cc companies take, so all good.
 
Thanks to all who replied. Our experience here with airbnb will probably be very similar to what you all have reported. If I learn anything new, I'll let you know..
We're a couple of hours drive to the SW from you. Also rural. We've never lowered our prices for Air, but have found the the former 'plague' room (due to its very small size) has become our most-booked room on Air. $115 including full cooked breakfast, welcome snacks and typical inn experience. The visibility on Air seems to have led to more rooms booked just when TA is more irrelevant to us. Air takes roughly what the cc companies take, so all good.
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I put the plague room on there, too figuring if someone was willing to stay in a spare room or sleep in the living room then a real room in a real b&b would be ok.
Nope. We still only get a couple of bookings in a year because, in this area, there are hundreds of full house rentals for the same price.
I could rent the room for $75, but I'd rather not. This year that room was booked almost every night in July and August for full price without air's help.
I'll still list there for the exposure, but unless I want to go to losing money, I can't rent at their guest's prices.
And now I have to verify who I am to keep my listing. What the heck is that about?
 
It has been so long since I de-listed on Air, I've forgotten what caused me to pull my listing off! So, y'all are tempting me to list with them again.
I don't have myallocator anymore. Is there a way to export my availability directly from ReservationKey to Air without need for a 3rd party middle man?
 
It has been so long since I de-listed on Air, I've forgotten what caused me to pull my listing off! So, y'all are tempting me to list with them again.
I don't have myallocator anymore. Is there a way to export my availability directly from ReservationKey to Air without need for a 3rd party middle man?.
Yeah, iCal
 
It has been so long since I de-listed on Air, I've forgotten what caused me to pull my listing off! So, y'all are tempting me to list with them again.
I don't have myallocator anymore. Is there a way to export my availability directly from ReservationKey to Air without need for a 3rd party middle man?.
At the one place we don't have myallocator. We have it so they request it and we manually change the dates etc. A little more for us but we thought we could do with it. Only twice did we have a problem in the five years and we upgraded the book direct guests to another room.
 
It has been so long since I de-listed on Air, I've forgotten what caused me to pull my listing off! So, y'all are tempting me to list with them again.
I don't have myallocator anymore. Is there a way to export my availability directly from ReservationKey to Air without need for a 3rd party middle man?.
Yeah, iCal
.
Generic said:
Yeah, iCal
Thanks!
 
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