Perform Better on Airbnb: Tips & Best Practices

Vacation Rental Property Managers: Do you want to perform better on Airbnb? Follow these tips & best practices!

1. Reviews, Reviews, Reviews (both ways) – it is extremely important not to only receive and actively solicit reviews (i.e. at check-out, etc), but properties that provide traveler reviews receive higher rankings. (Learn how to handle poor guest reviews.)

5. Run a promotion – Airbnb recently rolled out new promotional tools that are designed to stimulate revenue. They’re easy and effective to participate. (Learn how to get more bookings with promotions.)

6. Become a Superhost – that status is granted to top performing properties. Superhost considers review score, number of stays, cancellation rate and response rate. These listings receive extra exposure and preferred ranking status. (Learn how to become a Superhost on Airbnb.)

7. Avoid cancellations – host cancellations have a huge impact and drop the rankings of a property significantly. Try to avoid host cancellations as much as possible.

8. Attract long-term guests – On top of the regular rate plan, load a monthly discount plan on top of the base rate in order to present a different price to long-term guests.

6. Completed Profile & Improve content – Many PMs do not complete the entire profile or listing. Consider that Airbnb’s system rewards completed listings and profiles. Also consider why people come visit, use relevant keywords in the title & description, elaborate more on the location (nearby bars, restaurants, attractions, transportation, etc.) and tailor the content towards the right Airbnb guest instead of using the generic descriptions. It is also a big help to have high quality photos of all rooms.

10. Set the right price – when listing on Airbnb, the competitive landscape changes and you’re suddenly competing not only against professionally managed properties, but also individual homeowners. Try to avoid extra person charges since it’s frustrating for guests. Adjust pricing according to the new competitive landscape. (How much should you earn from your vacation rentals?)

11. Instant Book – That should be a given. Instant Book should always be turned on.

12. Log in regularly – Airbnb’s algorithm tracks how available you are for the guest. The more you log in and spend time on the site, the more rewards you will receive.

13. Ensure all amenities are properly checked – one of the most common mistakes we see are PMs that don’t optimize the amenity tags. Some amenities are considered a given on other channels (i.e. soap, toilet paper, etc.), but based on the original nature of Airbnb, they need to be checked in order to get the credit. In addition, Airbnb’s listings have a reversed strike-out display for amenities, meaning that listings will show some amenities as a “negative amenity”. Examples for overlooked amenities are smoke alarms, all kitchen amenities, garage, parking,  air-condition/fan, toilet paper, soap, bed linens, towels, pillows, hairdryer, coat hanger, etc.

14. Qualify for the Work Collection – Airbnb recently signed with corporations for their employees to book via them, but the listing needs to qualify, which includes a high review and response rate, but also certain amenity criteria.

15. Qualify for the Family Collection – Similar to the work collection, entire houses can qualify for the family collection (if they have the right review rates, response rate and amenities)

16. Reduce house rules – Don’t scare away the traveler! Many of the PMs copy and paste their never-ending list of house rules into the listing and it makes the home look very unwelcoming because there are too many rules. State the rules in a short and precise manner.