This is a community website- and the content of this website – the vacation property listings- are all built by this community. We will never forget that. You built and decorated your house. You photographed and wrote descriptions. You welcome guests and genuinely care about their vacation time. We are just providing a good looking website that connects guests with hosts directly.
A quick review of the history of the big corporate websites is helpful in understanding how this JT-BNB project works as an alternative. Because, in the beginning, the corporate sites were just simple “listing” pages. Hosts would pay a small annual subscription fee and would post photos, descriptions and contact information. For comparison- in 2009 it was $250 per year, compared to the $166 fee we paid Airbnb just for our guests last weekend.
That worked great for everyone- guests and hosts- and allowed property owners to communicate directly and manage their homes as they saw fit . But, corporations have to grow and gain profit endlessly. So they changed their format over time to “capture” renters on their platform and limit real interaction between guests and hosts. Direct contact information and weblinks were removed, along with all specific information that would allow guests or hosts to get to know each other or websearch each other by name in the real world, and interact as real humans.
What we are doing with JT-BNB is simply going back to the primary business of connecting guests and hosts. We have created a platform that duplicates all of the functions that AirBNB/VRBO/etc provided – before the greed kicked in. We are focused entirely on the area adjacent to the Joshua Tree National Park- from Morongo to Wonder to 29 to Giant Rock. We don’t need to grow into a huge corporation. We don’t need to charge high fees and hold them for months. We don’t need to charge and hold taxes. We just connect guests to hosts.
Too many great properties get buried in the algorithm results when Airbnb moves them to the “VIEWS” or “OMG” category rather than “DESERT”. Or they instant book a guest with limited information or interaction who arrives with no understanding of the place and leaves a bad review “we expected the weather to be nicer”- so the reservations drop off for months. Or worse, for seemingly no reason at all the booking just stop. There is currently no alternative if you property is pushed down in the algorithm – you are just invisible. We show guests all properties in their price range and available dates- there is no algorithm needed.
The truth is that guests and hosts don’t need, and never needed, the corporate lists at all. It is entirely possible- in fact it’s easier and more rewarding- for local property owners to communicate and book directly with guests. The JT-BNB local list provides a way for conscientious tourists, who care about Joshua Tree, to support the local culture, small businesses, community and economy directly. We have a lot of other work to do to keep improving our community, but our hope is that providing this service allows us to at least “own” our creative energy and keep Joshua Tree radical.