My experince with Airb&b and Booking.com

[florin1106]

I own a property in Panglao Island, Bohol and have a good income from renting it thru Airb&b, Booking.com and Agoda.com.

By far, the best out of these three is Airb&b..Their <take> is minimal ( I think about 3 or 5%) . Their system is working perfect for me with no glitches whatsoever. Booking.com ( UK based) is taking 15% , wow !! not a dandy but I have adjusted the price per night so I get my wanted price.

About Reviews..Yes, nobody can write a review without being/renting there. As soon as the Guest leaves the next day Airb&b sends me an email, you click a box and write your review. One directed to the site ( it cannot be edited / cancel or delete it) one that will be published, and the other is optional, directed only to the guest personally. After I do it, they immediately informed the guest about my review and they invite the Guest to write his own review about me the Host. Also their payment is precisely within 24 to 48 hours after the check-out. Sweet !

Booking.com is taking a longer time to be paid..About 2 weeks or so at the minimum. 

One unpleasant feature Booking.com has is every month they send an Invoice with money you owe to them..So you have to go to the bank, take a number, stay in line and pay the damn Invoice..Don't understand why they do that !!!

On the other hand Aib&b  take automatically their commission out of the total pay for the room ! Nice and Elegant !!

I am exploring Expedia.com at the moment..They also take a 15 % commission and another 10 % if the guest buy a package deal with Flight and Car Rental included !! That is a Nasty deal ! I am a small host   < what do I have to do with Car Rental and Flight ?? >> he he . One doesn't have a choice Expedia is so big, has so much exposure !! 

Go and List now with Airb&b ..Chinese New Year is coming ! I am fully booked !

 

Chuck

[Jollygoodfellow]

I run a condo management business for airbnb clients. Airbnb is a good platform but could do with a few improvements that third party systems offer but overall quite good. After spending like an hour setting up a booking dot com listing it told me I was fake and lost all the work l had done so stuff them.

https://cebucondoservices.com/

[scott h]

2 hours ago, florin1106 said:

I own a property in Panglao Island

 

17 minutes ago, Jollygoodfellow said:

I run a condo management business for airbnb clients.

Here is a question for you guys. My Brother in Law is stationed overseas for another 5 years. His house is next door to ours. Its nothing special, just a typical Filipino house, two bed rooms, 1 tiny bathroom, kitchen, dirty kitchen, in a suburb of Metro Manila (not a subdivision). Not really near any resorts or beaches. Its only advantage is I suppose it is near NAIA and the casinos lolol. Would something like this interest travelers you think? Or are folks mainly interested in resort and vacation areas?

This is just a thought, when he returns from Jordan he will retire from the DFA and I suppose any extra in the bank might be of use to him.

[Jollygoodfellow]

5 minutes ago, scott h said:

His house is next door to ours. Its nothing special, just a typical Filipino house, two bed rooms, 1 tiny bathroom, kitchen, dirty kitchen, in a suburb of Metro Manila (not a subdivision). Not really near any resorts or beaches

Hard to say without knowing the area. Generally location is what people want for whatever their particular needs are. 

[earthdome]

7 hours ago, scott h said:

 

Here is a question for you guys. My Brother in Law is stationed overseas for another 5 years. His house is next door to ours. Its nothing special, just a typical Filipino house, two bed rooms, 1 tiny bathroom, kitchen, dirty kitchen, in a suburb of Metro Manila (not a subdivision). Not really near any resorts or beaches. Its only advantage is I suppose it is near NAIA and the casinos lolol. Would something like this interest travelers you think? Or are folks mainly interested in resort and vacation areas?

This is just a thought, when he returns from Jordan he will retire from the DFA and I suppose any extra in the bank might be of use to him.

Last fall I booked 2 different properties in the NCR. The first was booked primarily based on price, about $43 per night for 4 nights. This was for us to recover from jet lag and await the SIL to arrive before traveling on to HK. It was ok. An older filipino sized 2BR condo in an older complex with an AirBnB superhost near the zoo. The second booking was booked more for location, close to where a SIL lives and works in the Ortigas Ave area. This was a very nice 1BR almost twice the size of the 2BR we booked earlier. It was in a very nice complex with 4 towers, very well maintained, very expensive exclusive condo's with many foreigners. The cost was only $56/night with a newer host.  This was located in The Grove by Rockwell just off of Ortigas Ave. Sometimes location is more for business or family reasons, not tourist reasons.

[florin1106]

11 hours ago, scott h said:

 

Here is a question for you guys. My Brother in Law is stationed overseas for another 5 years. His house is next door to ours. Its nothing special, just a typical Filipino house, two bed rooms, 1 tiny bathroom, kitchen, dirty kitchen, in a suburb of Metro Manila (not a subdivision). Not really near any resorts or beaches. Its only advantage is I suppose it is near NAIA and the casinos lolol. Would something like this interest travelers you think? Or are folks mainly interested in resort and vacation areas?

This is just a thought, when he returns from Jordan he will retire from the DFA and I suppose any extra in the bank might be of use to him.

Hello Scott..

The following it's just my own opinion..

Look you have nothing to loose with your brother in law property..

Arrange it nicely, make sure it's clean, neat, has all amenities working, good mattress, linen, pillows , blankets, comforters, clean bathroom, make sure there is a shower heater there, make sure all sinks ( bath and kitchen are working nicely) , cooking stove with gas tank , add if you want a Toaster, a Water Kettle ( for tea or coffee) , also a Microwave would be good too, a good fridge ( not a mini-type crap! ), a good TV  set , I think at least 40 inch screen would be nice and if you want to go fancy buy a Smart TV  ..Now it's fashionable it has Wi-Fi so one can watch Youtube, Netflix, you get your browser there etc.

Go, take your time and list it. Remember, the most important thing in any listing in my opinion is to have Nice Photos and more photos.

That"s the first thing the guest will see..Bright photos, ( choose a time of day with sun shining inside) , chest height photos, wide zoomed photos not shady or blurred ones. Take 50 photos, list 25-30 and the rest discard them..

Start with a smaller price per night and go from there..Depending on demand .you can always change increase or decrease your prices. Again Scott you have nothing to loose..It is better to try and list rather than having the house Empty and bring no income collecting dust.

Let me know if you go for it..

Chuck

 

 

[florin1106]

12 hours ago, Jollygoodfellow said:

I run a condo management business for airbnb clients. Airbnb is a good platform but could do with a few improvements that third party systems offer but overall quite good. After spending like an hour setting up a booking dot com listing it told me I was fake and lost all the work l had done so stuff them.

https://cebucondoservices.com/

Hello there

Yes , at times I read, there are some problems, inconveniences and glitches with Airb&B ...In my opinion it could happen of course..

Remember they have 4 millions Listings in 191 countries !

Maan this is a huge number and obviously sh can happen..

Regarding your mentioning about trying to list with booking.com and then you get " it's all fake " ..Hmmm !! Probably I guess, I am not sure  the system had detected a Different IP address and told you to walk !

With Airb&B I have listed a property here in Panglao Island., Bohol for a Canadian friend and it all work very well with no problems.

I am not enthusiastic with Booking.com ( 15% commission shoot !!)  but we need them for their large exposure..

The only thing I would try is if you can go to the property, carry your laptop with you and list their property from inside their place

Maybe this way will work ??? Good Luck Good Fellow!

Chuck

[RBM]

To the OP really enjoyed your posts and trust you keep comments coming.

We are in the process of constructing a couple of units solely for airbnb as no desire for long term tenants. We have a couple spare lots next to us which we bought as a noise buffer so decided to utilize one.

Couple  question I have, what has been the most common natnaity of your guests and have you experienced problems with same.

 

 

 

[Jollygoodfellow]

On 1/21/2019 at 3:51 AM, RBM said:

Couple  question I have, what has been the most common natnaity of your guests and have you experienced problems with same

In my case we have mainly Filipinos. Also in my case only a few messy guests, some demanding types who all want early check in but overall most are very nice.

Here's what I got today left behind after a 3 day stay

 

[Gary D]

7 hours ago, Jollygoodfellow said:

In my case we have mainly Filipinos. Also in my case only a few messy guests, some demanding types who all want early check in but overall most are very nice.

Here's what I got today left behind after a 3 day stay

 

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