Airbnb Drug Dealers

Airbnb Drug Dealers

Get yourself unhooked from this OTA giant.

We live in a world that’s increasingly reliant on instant gratification. Quick fixes, fast results, ‘the easy way out’ and that one fleeting hit of dopamine. But there’s got to be a point when you ask yourself, where do you draw the line between assistance and full-blown addiction?

There’s no denying that Airbnb helped me get my foot in the door, when I first started out as a property entrepreneur. This giant OTA makes stepping into the industry easy, with literally no barrier to entry.

However, if you’re a short-term rental business owner, what does an over-reliance on Airbnb mean to you?

And what will you do about it?

Will you continue building your empire entirely in the hands of money-hungry orchestrators (who can cut those puppet strings off, whenever they want), or will you sober up and face reality?

One Hit. And You’re Hooked.?

An industry giant like Airbnb has a lot of money to spend on branding and flashy marketing.

This means they do an excellent job of luring hosts? to list all their properties on the platform. More often than not, they’ll do this by promising colossal reach and convincing hosts that they don’t need to do any other marketing activity, to generate bookings.

Hosts who mostly see themselves as time-poor and short on resources are quickly drawn into this offer. And then, as soon as those ‘easy’ bookings start rolling in, they’re lulled into a false sense of security and rapidly become hooked.

You’ve probably been in this situation before.

Where the high you get from guest bookings distracts you from the reality of what you’re actually “building”.

And ultimately, that’s:

A short-term rental business at the cost of rising commission fees.

At the cost of crippling restrictions.?

At the cost of lack of control.

Sadly, by the time the majority of? hosts realise how Airbnb’s extortionate commission fees are snatching money from their pockets, they’ve already become utterly dependent on the platform and don’t know how to stop.

All too soon, it becomes a vicious cycle.

Airbnb continues to announce new policies and “regulations”? that put the livelihoods of hosts at risk - and hosts feel they have no choice but to oblige. The OTA continues to increase its commission fees, as operators somehow find the money to continue paying them; because they need that hit - even though it could potentially be killing their business.?

Money Down the Seedy Gutter?

A controversial statement, you might say. But when you’re spending hundreds of thousands of pounds on the likes of Airbnb, it’s no different to flushing cash down the gutter.

In hindsight, you’re not even ‘spending’ that money - you’re losing it.

But thanks to the way Airbnb clouds the judgement of vulnerable short-term rental hosts, many of them fail to realise that the money they’re wasting on rising commission fees could be invested into marketing and other resources - to generate direct bookings.?

I know it’s a hard pill to swallow, but a short-term rental business that generates zero to very few direct bookings is not ‘a real’ short-term rental business.? It certainly isn’t financially sustainable, scaleable, nor does it have the ability to stand on its own two feet - as a ‘brand’. So, if you’re in the industry to grow your STR business, then this is bad news for you. Unless of course, you’re planning to do something about it.?

At Luke Stays, our target is to eventually hit a direct booking rate of 75%, to ultimately prove to these OTAs that we don’t need to ‘depend’ on them. I encourage all my mentees, partners and colleagues to strive to do the same - because while Airbnb is a good platform to get started on; the money is definitely? not with them, long-term.?

It’s Lonely on the Dealer’s Dark Streets…

Aside from the very public concern of commission fees on Airbnb, hosts who are hooked onto the platform face a mountain of other? issues, too. Often, without even realising it.

The thing is, since inception, Airbnb has been created with the end-consumer in mind.

So, if you’re a short-term rental host, this does not mean you.

This is integral to understand when operating on Airbnb. As a business, their dream customers (the people they want to keep happy, over everybody else) are their guests. This means, that should anything go awry for you during a guests’ stay - you’ll have to work ten times as hard to be compensated (or even acknowledged) fairly and appropriately.

Airbnb will always prioritise guests.

Let’s be honest: This was made notably clear at the start of COVID when cancellation fees were wiped out and thousands of hosts were left out-of-pocket. Airbnb showed little-to-no remorse towards STR operators who were struggling to protect their livelihoods; and in their one fleeting decision, they demonstrated the frightening amount of control they have over such a massive chunk of the industry.

Cutting your over-reliance on Airbnb is ultimately about regaining control.?

When you have a business that’s designed around more direct bookings, you have access to all your guests’ important data, you can manage the entire guest journey, and you can step-in first hand, if there’s ever a problem (rather than having to spend hours communicating with Airbnb’s Customer Service).

I can tell you from personal experience, that these benefits translate into the numbers of your STR business, in the best possible way. As a host with plans to be successful for the long-term, direct bookings have got to be at the helm of your strategy.?

Otherwise, this business gets too dark and too lonely… too fast.?

I’ve built and scaled my successful short-term rental business, Luke Stays - which now prioritises trust and direct bookings more than anything else. Also, as part of the work I do at Luke Capital Group, I’ve worked with hundreds of industry operators on the steps they can take right now, to cut the cord from Airbnb and ‘get clean’ at last.?

It’s time to stop being shackled by a platform that plays ‘God’ in the short-term rental landscape and continues to take advantage of your vulnerability. Don’t let them squeeze any more money out of you and your business - and do reach out to me, to see how me and my team can help.

In the meantime, keep scaling and soaring -

Ryan.?