I’m an Airbnb host and I’m facing a drop in income. Here is how I react.

• Jared Tye converted his long-term rental in Cross Roads, Texas to Airbnb in 2021.
• In 2021, his property brought in $62,000 with 181 nights booked, but revenue fell more than $5,000 in 2022.
• He spoke to Insider about the increased competition he’s seeing and his outlook for next year.

This narrated essay is based on a conversation with Jared Tye, 41, about his short-term rental property in Cross Roads, Texas, a town about 45 miles north of Dallas.

Tye’s four-bedroom home brought him more than $62,000 in revenue in 2021, but he’s had a harder time staying booked at the same prices in 2022. He is just one of many hosts who have lived a slowdown in bookings in 2022 as the number of Airbnbs has outpaced growth in travel demand to them. Tye provided booking documents to verify his booked nights and earnings.

The conversation has been edited for length and clarity.

We already owned the house and lived there before. When we moved, rather than selling it, we just converted it to a long-term rental.

The house is on three acres in a rural location. The suburbs probably wouldn’t be the best way to put it – it’s an area with no destination, no vacation.

Tenants were moving there to live in the countryside, then after a year they wanted to move back to more suburban areas. It changed pretty much every year, and I was tired of dealing with it.

Jared Tye

We had a friend who had an Airbnb in McKinney, Texas — a suburb outside of Dallas — and I thought about it and said, “Let’s try short-term rentals.” So far it’s been about two years.

We would probably get $3,500 a month for a 12 month lease. As a short-term rental last year, it probably cost a little over $5,000 per month.

2021 was probably our easiest year to book. 2022 was comparable to 2021, although we are seeing a slowdown in new bookings. We have experienced an overall decline. At this time last year, we had booked quite far in advance, and now we probably have a free weekend every month.

[Editor’s note: According to documents provided by Tye, nights booked in 2022 were only seven less than 2021. But revenue numbers were down more than $5,000 from the previous year.]

Jared Tye

Our bread and butter tend to be extended families getting together for a wedding or something in the area. What I find really interesting is that last year we didn’t really have any competition for this house.

And what I’ve noticed this year is that a number of houses – even more expensive houses – have come on the market.

The price per night varies between 220 USD and 400 USD. If there’s a house that looks a lot fancier and costs the same as mine, I’ll lower mine. I do it quite often.

I adjust my prices according to my booking levels. If I look at my schedule and I have a vacancy in 10 days, I’ll go there and look like I’m a guest and lower my price for that weekend to stand out.

Jared Tye

I’m scratching my head about the competition: are these people buying $1.2 million homes and renting them out for $300 a night, or are these people maybe -be bought these houses for themselves at the height of the real estate market to try to compensate for their buyer’s remorse?

I think there are a lot of landlords who are forced to get a certain rate per night. They feel like if they go below that, they’d be cheated. They are really stubborn with their rates, and they can have a 50% vacancy rate because of it.

Obviously I don’t want to give the farm but at the same time I would much rather be flexible on my rates than not book.

Are you an Airbnb host whose bookings have slowed this year? Email reporter Jordan Pandy at [email protected] to share your story.