AirBnB Lists Anything Everywhere All at Once

By Ron Lee
Published: 02/25/23 Topics: Advertising, AirBnB, Booking.com, Expedia, Online Travel Agents (OTAs), TripAdvisor, Vacation Rental Association, Vacation Rentals, VRBO.com Comments: 0

AirBnB’s quest to make every home in the world into a "shared’ living space shows their appetite for growth and profitability even at the expense of those they serve.

AirBnB and others are really nothing more than an easily distributed list of classified ads. Albeit with the ability to print more quickly, include more information, display pretty pictures and allow consumers to instantly buy the product.

Because the Internet has simply remove the burden of mechanically compiling, editing and printing a media, like many Internet businesses in most industries, companies like AirBnB entice investors that they can "Scale" without limitation.

Other than governmental intervention, there really is no obstruction to listing every space, everywhere in the world all at once. (My apologies to the movie of similar name)

A close look at comments made by AirBnB’s immature CEO Brian Chesky reveal a fatal flaw in the company’s vision. As the economy has stalled and consumers are traveling less, which means a flattening or downturn in travel expenditures in total.

Some vacation home owners are squealing about dropping rental income which can be directly attributed to negative economic news. These investors are the ones who jumped on the AirBnB gravy train that was running fast and furious during Covid.

But now that demand is lower, what dose the CEO do? He runs a campaign to entice far more people to put their homes into rental. He foists grandiose projects about AirBnB’s income which misleads home owners into thinking they will follow in his footsteps.

It seems as if AirBnB will list any kind of "Lodging" in any kind of area and do so willingly. AirBnB’s argument must be that they have become so much the "Darling" of the lodging industry that they can attract enough new guests to fill every property.

Unfortunately that has never been the case. Smart lodging managers have always used all other possible media - such as VRBO, Expedia, Booking.com, TripAdvisor and many more. But even with heavy use of all possible advertising websites, supply can outstrip demand.

Chesky’s ploy will hurt existing AirBnB properties and short-change those he misleads into listing. But why should he care? The more inventory he gets the better for AirBnB, even if all the "Vendors" make less.

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Author: Ron Lee – Volunteer, Vacation Rental Association
Blog #: 0948 – 02/25/23

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What Goes Around Comes Around for AirBnB

By Ron Lee
Published: 08/22/15 Topics: Advertising, AirBnB Comments: 0

How soon big companies forget, at least in the collective memory.

Perhaps today’s lodging usurpers like Expedia, Priceline, HomeAway and AirBnB could learn a thing or two from the advertising history of major newspapers.

Long ago Newspapers like the Seattle times had a field day. They were big and bossy and brash. They could charge any advertising rate they wanted, and increase the cost incessantly.

If the advertiser did not like it, "Tough": said the Times, take your business elsewhere knowing full well the advertiser had no viable alternative. If companies complained the Times would refuse to sell them space or relegate their ads to the nether world of seldom read pages.

Flash forward several decades when, due to plummeting readership and nimble online news sources, newspaper ad sales reps must go begging for advertising scraps.

It is difficult to feel sympathy for bullies.

How prophetic then for the online travel agencies and vacation rental classified ad sites.

Ask AirBnB superhost Kelly Kampen who went public recently, saying his AirBnB superhost account was terminated with no explanation and a canned emailed.

Lovely that AirBnB said something like, "We are not obligated to tell you a reason.."

And did he provide bad housing, or treat guests poorly? No all he did was question AirBnB and just like the long ago world of advertisers who questioned newspapers, he bit the hand that feed him and he will now be starved slowly to death.

Worse yet, AirBnB cancelled Kampen’s future guests, before even telling him. So much for their claim of being a community or of protecting guests, those who had paid money, made plans and now were out of luck with little notice. 

Interestingly, AirBnB heavily penalizes hosts for canceling a booking and yet reserves unto itself the right to commit the same sin.

Way to go AirBnB,. Many hosts report similar or lesser instances where AirBnb staff seemed callous or, worse yet, unaware that what goes around comes Around.

We can only hope that one day we’ll look back at the hubris of Internet companies with the same grin we now reserve for those formerly cocky newspaper rags.

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Author: Ron Lee – Volunteer, Vacation Rental Association
Blog #: 0412 – 08/22/15

– VacationRentalAssociation.com