Airbnb has dominated the vacation rental industry for over a decade. But in a Facebook group dedicated to Airbnb hosts, some people claimed to see a drop in bookings recently.
Now a screenshot of the Facebook group has gone viral as former Airbnb users reveal why they stopped using the home-sharing platform, calling the exodus ‘Airbnbust’.
“What’s going on? No reservations at all,” read a post from the Airbnb Superhosts Facebook group, which has nearly 200,000 members. Another host asked a similar question: “Has anyone seen a huge drop in bookings in the last 3-4 months? We’ve gone from at least 50% occupancy to literally zero% at past two months. I’m just curious if this is something that’s only happening on my property or if other people are seeing similar things. I’m in Palm Springs. Where are you located?”
A screenshot of the posts was later shared on Twitter this week, where it received over 53,000 likes and almost 2,000 replies. “The Airbnbust is upon us,” read the viral tweet.
Based on the comments, it looks like many Twitter users have an explanation for why Airbnb hosts have seen a drop in bookings. After seeing the post, thousands of current and former Airbnb users shared their reasons for fleeing the platform, such as to-do lists, exorbitant service fees, and their effects on the local community.
“They also expect you to clean the dishes, throw the garbage, do the laundry. Do I also have to cook a 3 course meal before I go? one person tweeted in response.
Another user wrote, “Airbnb’s payment instructions are like ‘please feed the neighbor’s cat and administer his heartworm medicine before you drop your key in the mailbox’.”
In September, an Airbnb guest complained of a long list of things to do left by their host, asking him to take out the trash, change the sheets, do the dishes and do the laundry. Other guests also shared unusual chores hosts expected of them, like mowing the lawn.
“Over $100/night charge. Just not a reasonable proposition. Wtf is ‘service fee’ anyway,” Twitter user Josh Howard said. “If you are doing a short one-week stay, the charge per night is simply irreversible. Cleaning should only be an expense of renting the place.
Along with the tweet, he shared an image of the total cost of his recent Airbnb stay, which included a $251 service fee and a $195 cleaning fee. The total came to $2,252.50 for just five nights, or $450.50 per day.
Due to the high surcharge on Airbnb rentals, many people have returned to hotels. As many Twitter users have pointed out, hotel amenities — such as a concierge, cleaning services, pools, and better security — might be worth more than an Airbnb stay.
“I could get a hotel room in the same city, in a high end hotel with a waterfront view, for $300/night and not have an extra $330,” one person said.
“The hotel has a concierge, housekeeper, roof, bar, restaurant, security, swimming pool, taxi rank and room upgrades for loyalty,” someone else said. “Airbnb has hidden cameras, cleaning fees, discriminatory hosts and they ask you to take out the trash, strip your laundry and scrub the tub before you leave lmao.”
Another Twitter user wrote, “Let’s see if I can either stay in a hotel with 24/7 staff, transparent prices and standard amenities, or I can pay 30% more and pray that ‘Superhost Jerry’ isn’t a toilet guy and spends the last six hours of my trip doing chores in his apartment.
Recently there has been several stories of travelers finding hidden cameras in their Airbnb rental, raising questions about the security of the platform. In February, a Texas woman posted a video of a small camera she had found plugged into the wall in the bathroom of his rental apartment in Austin. In 2017, another Airbnb guest tweeted that his friend discovered a hidden camera inside a motion sensor in an Airbnb apartment.
While many Airbnb users said they are seeing a drop in bookings, an Airbnb spokesperson said customer demand is higher than ever. “As we shared our second quarter financial results, customer demand on Airbnb was higher than ever in the second quarter, and since the start of the pandemic, Airbnb has significantly outperformed the rest of the travel industry,” said said the company. The Independent.
“Amid new economic pressures, more and more people are looking to take advantage of the space they have to earn extra income, and fast, with most newly activated listings being booked faster than there is a As we seek to improve our product to make it easier to host, we are proud that hosting remains an economic lifeline for so many people.
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