Airbnb demonstrates lack of common sense thinking in response to COVID-19

One thing that has come out from the last 12 months is how certain OTAs have behaved and acted in response to COVID 19. And one of the main stories and one of the main features of last year is Airbnb. Now you will all remember back in March 2020, just as the pandemic was really starting to take over the world, they decided to send out a message without warning any of the hosts, maybe you were affected. And they were saying that they were going to cancel any booking. Anybody could cancel a book in free of charge. And this upset a lot of people because, number one host new cancellations were happening. It was happening around them, but they didn't even give them any warning. They just woke up to a notification one day. Or even worse, they just woke up to cancellation after cancellation because they sent that message to guests and hosts all at the same time. Mistakes were made. The response was shocking. And what is happening now is that blogs, podcasts, articles, things like this, what I'm doing right now is starting to dissect what went wrong. And there's a really good blog which is over on VRM Intel. So vrmintel.com this blog is by the fantastic Amber Carpenter. I've featured Amber before, but it really does lay out a timeline and I would invite everybody to go and check it out. So again, starts on March 11, escalates to March 13, March 14, March 30, March 30, March 30, march 31, April, April, April. So it goes on and again and it highlights and it announces when they make the, the notifications and editor guests and what happened next. So it's a long blog, it's a really good blog. And this is one of the main reasons why I firmly believe that on the back of this, even though now Airbnb are trying to do the whole PR sweetheart move of hiring more customer service that I, you know, Boostly, as you know, was invited by Airbnb, Ireland and UK and Europe to sort of do a joint webinar where we're explaining about what they're going to be doing next. You know, we're wanting to get more hosts onto the platform. They're trying to bend over backwards to hotels and bed and breakfast to try and get everybody back on. But they have annoyed a lot of people, people that were staunt Airbnb supporters, as in they only used to list their property on Airbnb. I have seen some, so many, we've had a hundred clients join Boostly websites in the last year because of this, because they realize now that you can't put your eggs all in one basket. You can't rely on one platform. And now, you know, you see prominent Airbnb YouTube channels like Sean, Rocky G and the likes who are now talking about VRBO are talking about Diara bookings, which is music to my ears. So this has definitely had ramifications. It's had a boost in the, in the book direct movement, which is unbelievable. And so what the question that I want to ask to you is, what is your opinion on Airbnb? How are you using them in your portfolio? How are you using them in your marketing? Are you reliant on them? Or are you just one of the many that you now use to get guests through your doors? So I open up the question to you. Before March 2020, what was your ratio of bookings from Airbnb? And I guarantee there'll be somebody who's listening or watching. That was about 80% plus. And where are you at now? I'm very fortunate to be invited on podcasts, mostly in America and Canada. And we talk about this, we talk about Book Direct because it's something that they've never really spoken about before. So I'm really excited to be and very grateful to be a guest on these podcasts. And, you know, I go in and I try and share some really simple Book Direct tactics and tips and I explain about the, the power of Book Direct, why you shouldn't bet your house on somebody else to do it for you and the reasons and the pitfalls for it. So again, those of you now on the other side, where are you at with direct bookings? Where are you at with maybe using verbo or booking.com and what has been the fallout from it? So let me know once you've read this article. It's fantastic. Vrmintel.com Please do go and check it out. Read the full one and then come back and leave a little message in the comments when you have done. As always, I will scour the Internet, try and find blogs and interesting articles that I think that you should be checking out and give my little breakdown and an opinion on them. And also as well, we share with you some little tactics and tips that are going to be coming up. I do a video, I do a podcast every single day. So if this is the first time that you're sticking or you found me, just make sure you subscribe so you can find out more. If you want to get a daily WhatsApp message from me, head to boostly.co.uk forward/daily Boost and you will be part of our Daily Boost community. Little message, a little hint, bit of advice. Whatever it may be on a daily basis these episodes go out on every day as well. Whether it's Spotify and Apple or YouTube or Instagram, you name it. There's a video every day to help the hosts around the world get more bookings. Which is which is what I've been doing since 2016. If you could do me one massive favor, if you are watching this on the YouTube or on the social medias, hit that thumbs up button. You'll be amazed how much that works in the algorithm. So if you could do that for me that'd be a pleasure and then leave a comment as well. So I'll be back tomorrow with another podcast episode. Thank you so much for stopping by. And if you want to go and read today's blog, go to booster.co.uk forward/podcast. Be back tomorrow. Bye bye.