Within the coronary heart of Cambridgeshire, Victoria Borman’s Airbnb as soon as thrived. Now, with bookings scarce, she and fellow hosts are left pondering their subsequent transfer.
Victoria says her bookings have slumped (Picture: Victoria)
An Airbnb landlord has stated she’s ‘at a loss’ and out of concepts as her bookings stoop.
The festive season is often a growth time for Victoria Borman. Within the last three months of 2024, the property she lets out on Airbnb in St Neots, Cambridgeshire, was full 70% of the time. Quick ahead 12 months, and he or she had simply three brief bookings throughout the ultimate quarter.
“This stark distinction underscores the challenges we face,” she instructed the Specific. In response to Victoria, her fellow landlords have skilled comparable slumps. Fewer persons are coming and their income are down.
“As a superhost and an energetic member of varied Fb teams for Airbnb hosts, I’ve noticed that many people are experiencing comparable difficulties. Friends have gotten extra price-sensitive and at the moment are exploring choices throughout numerous platforms quite than sticking to Airbnb alone,” she continued. “I discover myself at a loss for efficient methods to spice up bookings on the platform.”
Whereas many Brits will not shed a tear for the plight of the vacation let landlord, there are a number of explanation why they may be feeling the squeeze. One in all them, as Victoria says, is that the market is “saturated.” Fairly merely, there are extra choices for purchasers to select from now. The variety of Airbnb listings almost doubled from 2018 to 2025, in accordance with a Stayful estimate, from 223,000 to 396,427.
Whereas the availability has been going up, demand has dipped. After the Covid pandemic, the variety of Brits taking a vacation within the UK rocketed. Now, it has begun to fall. Go to Britain knowledge present that within the third quarter of 2025, Britain residents took 27 million in a single day journeys in England, which is down 2% on Q3 2024 and beneath Q3 2023.
Holidaymakers may be being deterred by larger lodging prices, partially as a consequence of adjustments launched within the Autumn Price range. For instance, native mayors are to be given the facility to introduce in a single day customer levies, branded a “tourism tax”. This might be charged by way of a customer’s lodging invoice, which may, in flip, improve prices.
Wesley Brown, COO at vacation let franchise firm Move the Keys, argues that tourism taxes push up costs for landlords and clients – one thing they’re designed to do to ease price-rise stress on locals in search of someplace to dwell.
“In lots of cities and cities, they merely push up prices for friends, and that features home travellers who already pay their share by way of current taxes and native spending. These levies can deliver advantages, however not each vacation spot has the fixed pull of a metropolis like London, and most locations can’t impose additional fees with out risking dropping bookings,” Wesley instructed the Specific.
“In locations like Edinburgh and Glasgow, the place levies have already been authorised, our native managers are caught between absorbing the additional price or risking fewer bookings. In the event that they elevate costs by 5% to offset the tax, they threat changing into uncompetitive.”
Regardless of the motive, costs are going up for purchasers and landlords alike. Lodging costs within the UK rose by round 7 per cent over the previous yr, in accordance with PriceLabs, whereas hotspots like London have seen costs rise by as a lot as 17 per cent – regardless of an 11 per cent fall in occupancy.
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Victoria claims that friends have realised it is more and more a renters’ market, that means they search throughout totally different platforms comparable to Reserving.com and Vrbo.com, the place Airbnb properties are sometimes listed – generally for decrease charges.
“As a result of they do not cost as a lot to us or the tip consumer, it seems cheaper,” Victoria stated of the opposite platforms.
Sarah Warne, who lets out a cottage in Norfolk, says she was once fully-booked. Over the previous few months, demand for her annex, which is hooked up to her most important house, has dropped off a cliff. She instructed iNews that her Airbnb bookings have fallen by as a lot as 50 per cent, that means her earnings have halved.
“The downturn I’ve seen this yr is excessive – it’s been down 50 per cent on final yr, and 2024 wasn’t a terrific yr to start with. I’ve seen far fewer bookings lately, and any I do get have a tendency to return last-minute,” Sarah stated.
Margaret Murphy is an Airbnb co-host who takes care of 45 properties throughout Liverpool, together with occasion pads that sleep 20. Not like Victoria, who is especially pissed off with Airbnb and argues it has “fully fallen on its face” as a platform, Margaret is a defender of the service. She thinks the charges are aggressive, the customer support is fast, and the overall demand is sweet.
Nonetheless, the Wirral lady concedes that there are two specific challenges: rising complete prices, and the way individuals e book.
“There’s large demand in Liverpool, however margins are beginning to lower. A two-bed residence on Airbnb, say your working prices to listing that’s £400 a month, then you definately pay lease as properly. As a result of leases have gone up, you may get simply as a lot out of your property from rental earnings. An £800 two-bed final yr now prices you £1,200, so it’s a must to make £1,600 or extra plus cleansing to become profitable,” she stated.
In response to Margaret, friends are reserving later and anticipating extra flexibility – introducing threat that landlords do not love.
“Final yr individuals would e book 4 weeks upfront. Now it’s extremely a lot last-minute and on the day. Folks need rather more flexibility,” she stated.
Earnings knowledge for vacation let landlords shouldn’t be publicly accessible, that means it is tough to seek out out precisely how difficult the market is. Airbnb declined to supply such info when requested.
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A spokesperson for Airbnb stated: “We’ve not lately made any adjustments to visitor charges. The vast majority of our hosts within the UK are on a regular basis individuals, incomes simply over £6,200 a yr by sharing their house for simply three days a month. We’ve additionally seen a year-over-year improve in nights booked within the UK. From a regulatory perspective, a joined-up strategy is required to make sure on a regular basis hosts who depend on Airbnb to complement their earnings can thrive, and friends proceed to profit from selection and affordability.”
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