Expert advice on holiday letting property in the UK

Close Menu

01386 881121

+441386 881121

07766 810799

LinkedIn

The Airbnb Revolution

 

                      

The pros and cons of using Airbnb

Airbnb will be 10 years old in August 2018. Love or loathe them, the Company is here to stay and is currently valued at an incredible $30bn. Airbnb is obviously doing plenty of things right and seems to be winning the battle in the popularity stakes in UK over its portal rivals Holiday Lettings and Homeaway. The Company is also stealing a march over cottage agencies by pulling in property owners and sales.

Let’s have a look at what benefits Airbnb brings to table for the holiday buyer (guest) and property owner (the host).

The Guest

Pros

- Flexible arrival date

- Can stay for just 1 night

- Can be cheaper than booking a property through an agent

Cons;

- Quality of furnishings between properties varies enormously

- Some photographs are poor

-Descriptions can be misleading

-Properties are not inspected and number of guest reviews can be small 

-The price of a property listed by an agent will be higher than they charge to their customers

- The nightly price is fixed and does not reduce for longer stays

 

The Host

Pros

- Lower commission charges than an agent

- Global visibility

- Control over availability and no commitment to handover large blocks of dates as there is with an agent

Cons

- Must be able to clean the property on any day of the week

- Greater risk of damage and misuse of property

- No personal contact with sales staff

In summary the option to use Airbnb and/or one of the other platforms can work very well indeed for those property owners who have already decided to manage their own lettings and not use an agent. On the other hand, should you be too busy to be fully involved in the process, then the higher cost of using an agent to generate bookings will be money well spent.

Nick House

House Nouse

 

4. June 2018 by Nick House