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How Airbnb measures listing lifetime value

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Re: How Airbnb measures listing lifetime value

#71

Post by crooked-v »

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…

> Hotels are like McDonalds, they are designed for the regular customer who wants to get that Hilton-feeling, regardless of if they are in Wichita or Cairo.

Stop staying at chain hotels. There are plenty of hotels out there that are what you're looking for, and have an actual business to engage with in case of issues instead of some anonymous lister on AirBNB.

Re: How Airbnb measures listing lifetime value

#72

Post by gruez »

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…

>And you feel pressured not to leave a negative review, as that would negatively impact your ability to book in the future, since the hosts (I have heard) can see your average review score.

Source?

I did a quick search and couldn't find anything to confirm this. Various airbnb screenshots geared towards hosts also don't show anything about guests' average rating.[1]

[1] https://www.airbnb.co.za/resources/hosting-homes/a/know-more...

Re: How Airbnb measures listing lifetime value

#73

Post by Rastonbury »

maxrmk wrote: post #63
listenallyall wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Yeah I think about this model weirdly often.

I think it's pretty hard to attribute bad stays to stoppage of the service though unless they use reviews in a model which is probably the best data they have to predict this.

I haven't booked an Airbnb in years, whether it be due to having hotel points to redeem or someone else in my party booking on their account or just the price differences in that specific city I am going to. I'm not averse to the service but my account is basically dormant

Re: How Airbnb measures listing lifetime value

#74

Post by toast0 »

appreciatorBus wrote: post #66
ghaff wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My point was that this is a minority preference in most paces.

If it truly is a minority preference, then we need a way to square that with all the people saying they book AirBnB's instead of hotels because of the kitchens. :)

The people who don't need kitchens and just book hotels don't say anything because their needs are met.

There are also some hotels with kitchens. Usually they have 'Suites' in their name. I stay at one most holiday seasons, we go and visit my folks and want to have a place where my family can cook without taking over my parents' kitchen.

I've stayed places with vrbo, which is pretty similar to airbnb, but older. It's most convenient IMHO if you want more than two bedrooms for a group with shared space, or you're going somewhere without many hotels.

Re: How Airbnb measures listing lifetime value

#75

Post by csomar »

listenallyall wrote: post #56
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…

> 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.

This could also be played the other way around if the customers are completely churned. (ie: airbnb will lose a full unit with XX bookings but can also loose XX customers multiplied by XX Life Time Value).

Re: How Airbnb measures listing lifetime value

#76

Post by robocat »

9283409232 wrote: post #33
sabellito wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

Booking.com is awful. Anyone can make a listing on Booking.com for places that don't exist. Airbnb at least makes an effort to verify the building is real.

The last trip to Brasil I had problems with AirBnB - both incorrect listings (e.g. wrong location) and listings that weren't actually available.

I've used booking.com around the world and I can't recall any serious problem. When dealing with an issue, AirBnB error flow often sucks and booking is mostly fine.

When AirBnB works out great, you can find some real magic, but when it fails it really sucks.

I've found booking.com is usually more hotel-like and professional (e.g. contactable and reliable).

I still use both but I'm careful to choose depending on perceived risks.

Disclosure: long booking.com

Re: How Airbnb measures listing lifetime value

#77

Post by soared »

gruez wrote: post #72
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…

>And you feel pressured not to leave a negative review, as that would negatively impact your ability to book in the future, since the hosts (I have heard) can see your average review score. Source? I did a quick search and couldn't find anything to confirm this. Various airbnb screenshots geared towards hosts also don't show anything about guests' average rating.[1] [1] https://www.airbnb.co.za/resources/hosting-home…

Different than OP, but I’ve left 2 negative reviews that were purely factual - they were simply just deleted.

Re: How Airbnb measures listing lifetime value

#78

Post by thundergolfer »

ceejayoz wrote: post #9
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 the .com.au variant to find listings, as Australian law requires they list the full price, inclusive of tax and fees.

In New York the website recently updated to do this, presumably because they were forced to. They had a whole banner announcing it.

I'm Australian and moved to New York recently-ish. It was one of those classic anti-consumer disappointments one experiences moving to the states. Glad they fixed it.

Re: How Airbnb measures listing lifetime value

#79

Post by chris1993 »

philipwhiuk wrote: post #34
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

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

Airbnb hosts are penalised if they cancel - they get downrated - so it's not something that hosts generally want to do. Far better if they can persuade a guest to cancel

Re: How Airbnb measures listing lifetime value

#80

Post by eastbound »

listenallyall wrote: post #55
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.

I basically uninstall all apps between two uses of them: Uber, AirBnb. Even the bank, I have a problem with the mandatory confirmation-on-phone for the yearly stock options plan I use. Wouldn’t want a thieve to see that app.
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