Statistics show that 1 in 5 guests who visit New Zealand stay in Airbnb accommodation. That amounts to 8.8 million nights or 18 percent of the total short-term accommodation market.
It’s no wonder that the wider short-stay/self-book accommodation market neared $400m in revenue last year in New Zealand Alone.
That was of course until New Zealand closed for business this March, effectively ending the international tourist market for the foreseeable future.
Large numbers of short term accommodation suppliers, myself included, had 100% of their future bookings cancel in a few short days. The only saving grace being that some of us had a fairly robust cancelation policy in place to protect us from last minute cancellations, or so we thought.
Unfortunately for us...