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We are used to seeing news about the good performance of Airbnb and how more and more people are signing up on the platform and putting their properties up for vacation rental. But little is said about the apartments that are delisted from Airbnb.

At Brickstarter this topic intrigued us, so we set out to investigate using our Big Data tool and our own algorithms. Now we want to share with all of you the conclusions drawn, based on the Airbnb database for the city of Valencia. (Chart 1)

Chart 1: Brickstarter 

To do so, we will analyze four variables: the type of accommodation, the listing creation date, the delisting date and actual active listings. Once analyzed, we will move on to drawing conclusions.

As we know, there are 3 types of listings: entire apartments, private rooms and shared rooms.

The type of accommodation with the largest number of listings from 2011 to 2017 is the entire apartment, with 7,172 current listings, that is, 70% of the listings on the platform, followed by private rooms with 2,733 rooms and, lastly, shared rooms with only 36 listings.

Regarding the creation of new listings per year, the chart shows that since 2011 more listings have been created each year, reaching 4,988 new listings of entire apartments in 2017. These are very favorable figures, but they show a slowdown: if we compare them with those of 2016, we see that the pace of growth has fallen and is no longer as high as in previous years (as we anticipated at the end of last year). 

However, what is really relevant is the number of delistings, since there is strong growth in the number of apartments leaving the platform.

We can highlight that in 2016 a large number of entire apartments (1,632) and private rooms (1,400) were delisted, figures that correspond to a proportion of 42% and 59%, respectively, of the new listings of that same year (3,879 and 2,374).

Finally, we studied the number of active listings, that is, those listings with continuous activity where bookings are recorded and the calendar is kept up to date. 

As we can see, despite the high number of apartment listings currently advertised through Airbnb (7,172), only 3,445 remain as active profiles, that is, 48% of the total, so there are many users who create a profile on Airbnb and over time stop managing the accommodation, but without delisting it from the platform. They simply leave the listing online, without updating it and without receiving bookings.

As we can see, the high number of listings that are delisted from the platform, or simply stop being actively managed, is striking. Although the reasons are very varied, according to our experience we can summarize them as follows:

• Managing a vacation rental is complicated:

Managing a tourist apartment is not an easy task; it takes a lot of time and work. In addition to posting on the platform, you have to manage bookings, answer guests’ questions, welcome them, prepare the apartment, carry out maintenance and cleaning tasks, solve guests’ problems during their stay, etc. Tasks that in the end require a lot of dedication.

• The profits obtained are not what was expected:

Given the time invested in managing the apartment, we would expect very satisfactory financial compensation, but in most cases this is not so. Airbnb tends to recommend derisory rates, and a great many variables that people often ignore out of unfamiliarity affect income generation. All this means that many properties have little activity and little income.

• Not everything goes:

There are many types of tourist apartments, and not all of them are up to the task. Neither the properties nor the practices. People often trust that any property managed in any way will work as a tourist apartment, and we already know that this is not the case. Users are demanding and, faced with the increase in supply, they select the best properties to stay in.

In short, we see that the number of listings delisted from Airbnb is quite high, and that very few profiles carry out real activity. This is due to the disenchantment suffered by many new managers who expected higher income and less effort. The management of accommodation is not an easy task, and without professional dedication, the profits obtained do not make up for the work done, which can result in an activity of low profitability.

At Brickstarter, we analyze the current market, as well as its evolution and future outlook. We also use our own tools to analyze and manage income. Brickstarter takes care of the operational management of the apartments; you decide which ones to take part in and with what amount, assuming the risk inherent in any investment.

If you would like to know more about Brickstarter, you can contact us by email:  contacto@brickstarter.com

Or if what you want is to invest, you can register on our website and we will let you know when the next opportunities are launched.

Past or estimated returns do not guarantee future returns. Investing involves a risk of total or partial loss of the invested capital.