Key Points:
· Short-term rental hosts are coming up with their direct website bookings, with an attempt to bring variety to their business after years of building resentment with the companies such as Airbnb.
· Some hosts are bringing in their reservation services. Others are looping together to form new friendly services in an attempt to pull power from HomeAway forcibly, Airbnb, and Vrbo in the market of short term rental
· even though, there are an unspecified number of these websites were already in the works, many hosts have been designated as most notable as the coronavirus has encouraged worldwide cancellations and many grew to be not happy with Airbnb’s action of repaying policies
CEO Brian Chesky (Airbnb).
Short-term costs of rental are looping together and coming up with their reservation websites in an attempt to expand their business post the years of building resentment with Airbnb and the other short-term rental providers.
Some of these websites were existing in the works. But many hosts have not long ago given importance to their reservation directly after an unstable past two months, as the coronavirus has encouraged worldwide cancellations, and many grew not being happy with Airbnb’s action of repaying policies.
Although these individualistic websites lack the consumer base that comes with a vast service such as Airbnb, they give hosts more strength when it comes to how they brand and market their belongings. Reservations from direct booking websites also offer hosts a path where they can rent their properties to the guests at lower rates while generating a massive profit than they can when a middleman such as Airbnb is involved. Additionally, they offer hosts more control over situations where guests request returns or complain about a belonging, according to several short term rental hosts who spoke with CNBC.
Battling from these new direct reservation websites depicts the latest challenge for Airbnb, which has undergone a resilient 2020. The company had lined up bankers to guide a public offering, which would examine whether Airbnb could be useful as what they expected up to its $31 billion private selling price from 2017. But as the coronavirus exterminate travel around the world, the company slightly increased $2 billion in new due financing at a rate of $18 billion. It declared major cutbacks enterprise, including plans to stop 25% of its staff, or 1900 employees very carefully.
The clasp that Airbnb had a few years ago is no longer entirely as secure,” said Henry Harteveldt, a travel industry analyst at Atmosphere Research Group. “Hosts that are unhappy with Airbnb have options — not just listing on competitors like HomeAway but having their own independent, free-standing websites. There is a wake-up call.”
A spokesperson for Airbnb said that using the platform offers many benefits that are unable for the hosts to get on their own. “Airbnb is a community fueled by trust and that trust starts with the industry-leading tools we provide every host on our platform: 24/7 customer support, insurance, and property damage protection, and user identity verification tools.”
Grabbing Control
As the coronavirus pandemic encouraged lockdowns on travel, Airbnb launched a policy in March that permitted guests to scrap their bookings in April and May for full returns, fetching some hosts thousands of dollars.
Airbnb then repaid the hosts a part of the settlements based on their dissolution policies. But many hosts had moderate policies in place before the pandemic and therefore received less or no repayment from the company.
That motivated many to take matters into their own hands.
Gianrene Padilla started his short-term rental business in San Juan, Puerto Rico, in January, and he lists his belongings on Airbnb and HomeAway. He always had plans to start his website, but after seeing Airbnb proposal its lessening situational policy in response to the coronavirus pandemic, he made it extremely important.
Padilla and his team used Squarespace and their belongings management software service Lavanda PMS to create their website, which started on April 23.
“We felt like Airbnb is doing what any rational business owner would do, which is ensure the survival of their company,” Padilla said. “That’s respectable, but we should do the same for us.”
In North Palm Beach, Florida, Alexandra Greenawalt had to work hard for marketing her property that was reserved after the coronavirus washed out the market due to an extended vacation. As she was already doing a lot of rough push to keep her property busy, Greenawalt decided this was a suitable time to contract a webmaster and build her website, which launched on April 27. Get in touch with a person who is proficient at building her website, which began on April 27
Greenawalt has been an extensive user of Airbnb, and she became a host last year for Airbnb. But after hosting almost for a year, Greenawalt knew she wanted a path to reserve her frequent guests at lower prices and without giving Airbnb a cut every time. The company usually keeps between 14% and 20% of every time reservation, plus other charges.
“I do think Airbnb has a place in my business to bring me clients, and I’m happy to pay them a percentage,” Greenawalt said. “But if people find me organically, I can make a little bit more money on my direct booking.”
Greenawalt’s Salt+Sea Sanctuary website includes a video tour of her belonging, a quality that Airbnb does not have.
“You can’t have the video on there, which is frustrating because a lot of times, people want to visualize what space is like truly,” she said.
Carlos Roman, a San Diego host with about 30 belongings, decided to start his website last year after years of bargaining with Airbnb over guest objection that he says fetch him thousands of dollars.
Possessing that website safeguarded Roman’s business after Airbnb imposed severe and exceptional factors. Although he lost several Airbnb-reservations, he was able to manage all of his guests who had reserved directly through his website. With many of them, Roman was able to issue travel ascribe or book their trips again for later dates at no price. For any guests who asked full returns, Roman was able to mention them to their contract and keep the amount they had consent.
“At least having the control, we were able to be more confident in our position,” Roman said. “The biggest benefit was just not losing out 100%.”
Building Alternatives
While some hosts are creating their websites, other hosts are banding together to create a substitute for Airbnb.
Jim Borthwick, a host with short-term rental properties in Indianapolis, Indiana, started his reservation for website LetsConvention.com in late 2018. The site is speeded towards connecting hosts with belongings near convention centers with guests who regularly travel for business.
LetsConvention.com asks guests a 10% service fee and asks host a nominal fee, Borthwick said. The website has 50 belongings from about twelve hosts in locations such as Indianapolis and Columbus, Ohio. Borthwick said he is looking to add more hosts to the reservation marketplace.
“Our main mantra is to have this thing be a website that’s built by hosts for hosts,” Borthwick said.
In March, short-term rental host Na’im Payman and his team started Zeevou. Direct, a website for a reservation that computes belongings and permits guests to reserve rentals without taking an amount from the traveler or the host.
Payment is a host himself with 250 properties laid across the United Kingdom. Hosts who make use of Zeevou.direct can list for free, or they can also purchase Zeevou’s channel management software, which helps short-term rental hosts register their belongings on various services, including Airbnb, or their website. That software is worth approximately $50 per month per piece, but the cost differs depending on how many belongings you list.
“If you’ve been a host the last two months, you realize that you’re not in control of your own business,” Payman said. “This is about giving control back to hosts. That doesn’t mean taking control of guests. It’s just about rebalancing the power dynamic.”
These compute reserving websites created by hosts pose a considerable threat to Airbnb than independent websites created by hosts, Harteveldt said.
“If a bunch of hosts get together and put their inventory into their website, one that acts more like a collective — the more cities, more properties, more variety in price, the greater the appeal of that website,” Harteveldt adds.
Not All Easy
Hosts who choose to create their websites acquire more control over their business, but also too much of new work, say hosts.
They have to structure their payment arrangements, pull up their rental contracts, and keep their website going or find someone to do it for them.
“It’s a snowball of work,” Roman said. “If it’s just one person running a business, starting a website will make it so that you’re no longer a one-person shop.”
They are having their website also vigours hosts to do their marketing. That means hosts often end up buying ads on Google, at Instagram, Facebook, and Yelp, paying out money on email marketing or even printing business cards. With websites such as Airbnb, is listed on the service is its form of free marketing, hosts said.
Polina Raygorodskaya has direct-reservation for websites for her belongings in New Hampshire, North Conway, and in St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands. As a chunk of her marketing, she’s involved in Facebook groups that serve the mass who are likely to travel to the places her properties are in, counting groups for nature-lovers and skiers.
“Sure, you spend your time marketing, but you’re marketing for yourself,” Raygorodskaya said.
Despite the disadvantages, hosts say having their website is just another strategy to expand their business and lessen their reliance on Airbnb and other reservation sites.
“Airbnb, and any other channel, don’t issue any sense of specification,” Padilla said. “You limit your uniqueness and your identity in exchange for extra exposure and free marketing. With our website, we sacrifice free exposure and free marketing for more freedom’’.
