Hello Suzi,
I was exclusive to Airbnb for close to 4 years. After some contentious unfavorable guest experiences and Airbnb not being fair to hosts i decided to diversify. I did an experiment about 2 years ago with a channel manager. but Airbnb was really fulfilling all my booking needs at that time. I have an apartment and a small tiny house. located around my pool not far from the beach. so I discontinued exclusive Airbnb about 1 months ago.
As for business on Airbnb, it has fallen off a cliff. I am glad i made the move to OR. i am on bookings now API. but i maintained just an iCal connection with Airbnb. I am very familiar with the UI of Airbnb and all the discounting systems and did not want to have to interact only threw OR. or start paying the 15% that Airbnb charges for their API, Channel manager connectivity. it seems to be working out well.
VRBO in this market is pretty much exclusively high-end Villas. I would like to get on the Expedia network but i don't think VRBO is the way to go for me.. i may try to connect the iCal with the Expedia group and just manage the rates and discounts by hand. it seems that OR is unmotivated to add any API to Expedia partners at this time.
my typical Airbnb demographic is /was 60/40 60% north Americans and 40% euro.
my very limited data for bookings is the opposite 40/60 40% North American 60% euro. so it looks like i am going to be more rounded.
on the bookings billing part. my friend makes all his guests pre-pay/deposit threw his pay pal merchant account. otherwise, he cancels their booking. it works for him. I have heard from a lot of other villa owners that bookings have a lot of cancelations and no-shows. that is why you need to get the deposits. paying on arrival does not work with bookings.com. especially being small.. no shows have a huge impact on the bottom line.
I like how your website is set up. did you do this yourself or did you have someone do it?
