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How Airbnb measures listing lifetime value

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Re: How Airbnb measures listing lifetime value

#51

Post by huevosabio »

appreciatorBus wrote: post #24
jeofken wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

PMS as in Pantone Matching System or Premenstrual Syndrome? AirBNB can be equally frustrating for users as well. Recently ended up at night in a new city in northern Japan where the host told me the listing was at a different address, where I found nothing, and got only radio silence from the host. Every hotel room in town was occupied that night. Airbnb support, seemingly in far away India, told me to try contacting…

PMS - Property Management System, aka what actual hotels use to manage room inventory, bookings, etc. IMO most of the things that people like about AirBnB vs hotels is downstream of the failed experiment of urban planning. If we want hotel operators willing to "spend" floorspace on kitchens and other niceties, then legal floorspace can't be scarce or special, but most of the current planning regime is oriented around…

Yes, this is spot on. The more lax the regulations for hotels, the less appealing Airbnb is.

Re: How Airbnb measures listing lifetime value

#52

Post by huevosabio »

jeofken wrote: post #17
huevosabio wrote: post #10

Mega-tangent: As a host, I feel compelled to rant about Airbnb whenever they come up in a discussion. The last 2 years they have _really_ moved to squeeze the hosts. The customer service has been demolished and they seem to have taken a stance of "the guest is always right". I've spent countless hours going through their customer service as a super host, so I know I have a decent amount of anecdata. My suspicion is t…

PMS as in Pantone Matching System or Premenstrual Syndrome? AirBNB can be equally frustrating for users as well. Recently ended up at night in a new city in northern Japan where the host told me the listing was at a different address, where I found nothing, and got only radio silence from the host. Every hotel room in town was occupied that night. Airbnb support, seemingly in far away India, told me to try contacting…

PMS as property managements software :).

And yes, I use Airbnb as a guest as well, but I gauge the risk of having a bad host into the decision making.

We also get all type of horror stories from guests that had a bad experience and found themselves trying to find a last minute place to stay.

The problem is that the Airbnb app heavily disincentivizes "professionalization". They have a small cartel of PMS providers that can actually hit their API. I can't build my own systems on top of their API, I have to go through a middle man or use the their crappy app.

Their app is so incredibly obtuse that it puzzles me how people shower Airbnb as a "great product design company". It's a beautiful app sure, but incredibly clunky. It's like a call center phone menu made into an art piece.

Re: How Airbnb measures listing lifetime value

#53

Post by nothercastle »

bombcar wrote: post #43
lurk2 wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I had this experience years ago. The first place I ever rented in had Wi-Fi that didn’t work and after about a week the water stopped working. I cancelled my booking through support and the owner called me 3 or 4 times on WhatsApp and then left me a bad review. The second place had a shower that didn’t drain and the washing machine flooded the apartment one evening. The third place had black mold growing out of the k…

This is how things like Airbnb (and ebay) die - the hosts and sellers know all the tricks and so the buyers just leave; it’s not worth the hassle.

The eBay experience has improved dramatically. Its far better than Amazon 3rd party

Re: How Airbnb measures listing lifetime value

#54

Post by thefounder »

secabeen wrote: post #49
avidiax wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> A listing could look great online and receive a lot of bookings (so high LTV), but ultimately drive users away from the platform. I am precisely this kind of churned customer. I have personally booked maybe 3 AirBNB stays, and stayed with family in them on other occasions. The units I pick are always well-reviewed. But in the cities I've stayed in (LA, SF, Rome), the price is really no cheaper than a hotel, and the…

> If I were going to disrupt AirBNB, I'd offer hosts a better percentage with the requirement that the experience is standardized and high-quality. This is an interesting idea, but it puts the quality level way above what I want to pay for. Hotels are anti-septic and cold. I like staying in an apartment that feels like someone actually lives there. I don't mind a few dust-bunnies under the couch, nor a little dirt be…

I think that's more common in other parts of the world. (i.e. getting places that people actually live in).In Europe most/all of the apartments I've stayed in are basically business apartments (more or less).

You don't feel that someone lives there because nobody actually lives there. It's like a long term rental apartment that in best case scenario someone is using as a savings/investment vehicle but on short term. "Worst case" it's part of an apart-hotel.

When I travel as part of a large group(i.e. more than 3 people) a short term apartment is great because we need a big affordable space (i.e. someone may sleep on the couch and we don't want the hotel "greetings & house keeping" experience) but nevertheless I don't want or expect a dirty place in any way, shape or form be it in Cairo or somewhere else. I'm pretty sure there are people living in less than sanitary conditions all over the world including Western Europe and the U.S. That doesn't mean I have interest in experiencing that kind of "living/sleeping".

All that being said I've stopped using Airbnb years ago. It seems a broken system. For short term rentals/apartments Booking.com is the only sane choice(IMHO).

Re: How Airbnb measures listing lifetime value

#55

Post by listenallyall »

maxrmk wrote: post #6

I feel like this is missing a really important factor: how likely are guests to use airbnb again after staying at a listing? A listing could look great online and receive a lot of bookings (so high LTV), but ultimately drive users away from the platform. A certain ad platform I worked on cared a lot about this - offensive ads could get you to quit the site altogether. You might want to count every ad as positive for…

Good point and it affects far more than just Airbnb. I'm sure some companies internal ROI for app notifications is universally positive... but when you send me 10 app notifications a week for a product or service I only purchase occasionally, I'm uninstalling the app. Obviously I'm in the minority because the app still has millions of users but hopefully others have turned notifications off.

Re: How Airbnb measures listing lifetime value

#56

Post by listenallyall »

avidiax wrote: post #45
maxrmk wrote: post #6

I feel like this is missing a really important factor: how likely are guests to use airbnb again after staying at a listing? A listing could look great online and receive a lot of bookings (so high LTV), but ultimately drive users away from the platform. A certain ad platform I worked on cared a lot about this - offensive ads could get you to quit the site altogether. You might want to count every ad as positive for…

> A listing could look great online and receive a lot of bookings (so high LTV), but ultimately drive users away from the platform. I am precisely this kind of churned customer. I have personally booked maybe 3 AirBNB stays, and stayed with family in them on other occasions. The units I pick are always well-reviewed. But in the cities I've stayed in (LA, SF, Rome), the price is really no cheaper than a hotel, and the…

> My impression has been that AirBNB's customers are actually the hosts

Yes for sure. Avg # of transactions per host dwarfs avg # of transactions per guest. Same with revenue. A frustrated host who pulls a unit (often, multiple units) off the platform is much more detrimental than an individual customer leaving the platform.

Re: How Airbnb measures listing lifetime value

#57

Post by secabeen »

thefounder wrote: post #54
secabeen wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If I were going to disrupt AirBNB, I'd offer hosts a better percentage with the requirement that the experience is standardized and high-quality. This is an interesting idea, but it puts the quality level way above what I want to pay for. Hotels are anti-septic and cold. I like staying in an apartment that feels like someone actually lives there. I don't mind a few dust-bunnies under the couch, nor a little dirt be…

I think that's more common in other parts of the world. (i.e. getting places that people actually live in).In Europe most/all of the apartments I've stayed in are basically business apartments (more or less). You don't feel that someone lives there because nobody actually lives there. It's like a long term rental apartment that in best case scenario someone is using as a savings/investment vehicle but on short term.…

> In Europe most/all of the apartments I've stayed in are basically business apartments (more or less). It's like a long term rental apartment that in best case scenario someone is using as a savings/investment vehicle but on short term.

If that the only thing AirBNB offered, I would have much less interest.

> I'm pretty sure there are people living in less than sanitary conditions all over the world including Western Europe and the U.S. That doesn't mean I have interest in experiencing that kind of "living/sleeping".

Thankfully, AirBNB doesn't have to be all things to all people. As long as there are enough people like me to keep them afloat, they can provide a product that I am happy with, and you can stay at hotels that are immaculately clean.

I do hate the way that many AirBNB hosts have made hosting a business, and would fully support a limit on the number of listings per host. People renting out a space in their house, or a vacation rental in a vacation destination that they also stay in too is fine. People buying 3 or more apartments to rent them out (taking them off the long-term rental market) is terrible, and should be prohibited.

Re: How Airbnb measures listing lifetime value

#59

Post by marcandre »

sabellito wrote: post #50
philipwhiuk wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Worse is when your booking is confirmed but then cancelled a week before you go, at which point all the prices are much higher

Insane that they allow that. Maybe it's an option the host can set on the listing? Booking, as far as I know, straight up doesn't allow hosts to cancel. Recently, a host sent me a message begging me to cancel my booking because they really couldn't be there to receive me.

Hosts can cancel, but they are subject to their cancelation penalties (according to the level they've chosen for guests) plus there is an automatic "review" added stating that "This host cancelled a booking X days in advance". Unless X is very big, I run away from those listings.

Re: How Airbnb measures listing lifetime value

#60

Post by hankchinaski »

sabellito wrote: post #28
kreyenborgi wrote: post #7

Man I'm so sick of trying to find something on Airbnb only to discover by the time I order that the price has doubled. Airbnb these last years went from feeling fresh and adventurous to scammy and dubious

Use booking.com, better in every way and customer support that won't stonewall you.

Booking is a total scam fake photos fake listings fake reviews
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