How to Get More Bookings on Airbnb this Year

Why Your Airbnb Might Not Be Getting Enough Bookings

Let’s do some troubleshooting. As an Airbnb host, you’ll more than likely find that your booking requests go up an down based on a few different variables. Although this is usually due to seasonal demand, there are other things that can send your occupancy into a nosedive.

Some of the reasons might include:

Pricing strategy
Poor listing quality
Lack of reviews

A surefire way to guarantee your property isn’t under-performing is making sure that you keep an eye on the local market, deal with negative reviews as promptly and gracefully as possible, and keep up with any changes to the Airbnb algorithm by updating your listing regularly and to the highest standard.

We’ll touch on all of these as we go along, but let’s do a little refresher first.

Back to Basics

So, what comes to mind when you think about the main factors affecting your Airbnb bookings? Some of the first things that pop up are probably the Airbnb listings and things like positive reviews or professional photos. That makes sense from a purely aesthetic perspective, so let’s cover that first.

First Impressions are Important

We can’t overstate the importance of good photos, and well-written and enticing descriptions. These are your first point of contact with potential guests, so you need to nail it to beat the competition. The more you stand out, the easier you’ll attract guests.

Where to Start Optimizing Airbnb Listings

Let’s talk about your Airbnb listing. Is it snappy? Is it accurate? Does it lure in the reader with promises of a truly memorable stay? At the very least, is it attracting guests?

First things first, let’s talk about your listing title. We have a few proven formulas to help you craft the best title for your Airbnb, but essentially all you have to do is pick an adjective that really captures the essence of your property, what kind of property it is, and then finish off with a unique selling point.

Try to take a step back and imagine what kind of Airbnb property you’d like to stay in right now and model it after that. This could be something like a restored Victorian home in a historic neighborhood, a rustic cabin with a lakefront view, or even a loft apartment a 10-minute walk from the Eiffel Tower.

Next is the description. You can take a cue from your title here and just expand on it, giving more detail and painting a clearer picture. Get into the details.

What does the living room look like? Is it light and airy or cozy and a little moody? Do you have the kitchen stocked for a chef or is it more of a coffee station scenario? What’s a standout feature? Is the view insane? Is the fireplace something out of a Hallmark movie?

Why would a potential guest be compelled to pick yours out of all the other vacation rentals in the area?

Last, but most certainly not least, high-quality photos. Note that the emphasis is on high quality there. If you snap a picture of your dimly lit living room with the lights off and the curtains drawn on your iPhone 5, I will astral project just to kick you in the shin. That does not encourage guests to book with you.

If you’ve got these 3 things down, you’re already well on your way to the top of the Airbnb search results, maybe even Superhost status.

Pricing Strategies That Work

On to the more nitty gritty: pricing. Setting the price on your listing isn’t a one-and-done deal. You’ll be competing with fluctuating demand when the quieter seasons roll around and so you’ll need to switch up your strategy.

Seasonality isn’t the only factor you need to look at though You’ll also need to take market conditions and customer behavior into consideration. Remember to also look at factors like local events, holidays, and last-minute booking patterns.

Your pricing will need to be dynamic, flexible even. This is where dynamic pricing tools come in for more bookings on Airbnb.

Dynamic pricing lets you play with your rates, raising them when everyone’s looking for a place during peak times, so you make the most out of high demand. Then, when things get quiet, you drop the prices. This way, your place is always an option, and never just sitting there empty.

Why stick to a fixed price when the market’s always changing? Dynamic pricing keeps you on your toes, allowing you to quickly adjust your rates in response to what your competitors are doing or how the market’s moving. It’s all about staying appealing and competitive.

As an added bonus, iGMS is integrated with some of the best dynamic pricing tools on the market, like Beyond, PriceLabs, and Wheelhouse, so go give them a try.

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A Better Guest Experience for More Airbnb Bookings

Successful hosts know that the key to happy guests is providing more than just a place to sleep. It’s about the whole experience. If you add a personal touch to each part of the process you won’t just find your occupancy rates ticking upward, but you might also get repeat Airbnb bookings, positive reviews, and a spot at the top of search engines.

Creating a Seamless Booking Experience

Guest communication is the single most important part of your hosting process. If you aren’t conveying important info to your guests as quickly and as accurately as possible, I’m sorry to say that you’re not going to have a great time in the vacation rental business.

The goal is more bookings on Airbnb, but with more bookings comes more back-and-forth communication. Operating on an “Ask and Answer” basis can be extremely time-consuming, so instead we recommend you provide guests with the most important information upfront before they have to ask.

It’s also worth noting that your response rate contributes to your Superhost status, so reply within 12 hours and aim for a 90% response rate or higher.

Simple Booking

The booking process itself should be super easy because there shouldn’t be any kind of barrier to entry for guests to reach out. “Instant Book” is your friend here. It is what it says in that it’s essentially an instant booking where you don’t have to send a request to hosts before booking their property.

By skipping a step in the booking process, the property manager will attract more potential guests and ultimately more bookings on Airbnb.

Flexible Check-in and Check-out Times

Look, we know strict check-in and check-out times help protect your peace of mind when it comes to cleaning turnaround and other prep work to get your rental ready for the next set of guests, but the stricter you are about those times, the less inclined guests are to stay with you.

Guests expect a little bit of leeway when it comes to checking in.

Going the Extra Mile for Your Guests

I’m just going to say it. At bare minimum, you need a good coffee machine. Once you’ve got that, anything extra is pretty nice in terms of amenities. But let’s run through some ideas on personal touches, cleaning, and extra amenities. According to AirDNA, the best amenities to offer are:

A hot tub
A pool
Wireless internet
A gym
Cable TV

A really nice welcome basket is a highly underrated touch. Since it’s such a standard in hospitality these days, it’s easy to overlook the details. We have an entirely separate guide on welcome baskets to help put one together.

One way to go above and beyond is to be ready for guest queries. All of your guest’s questions aren’t always going to be related to the property and sometimes they’ll just need your local eye.

As an Airbnb host, you know the local area way better than they do (at least, we hope you do). So when they come to you with a question about local businesses or attractions, be ready to answer.

Cleanliness is next to godliness, of course. Meaning that a clean Airbnb is paramount. Nothing will throw off your Airbnb guests and your listing’s reputation like it being dirty. You need guest reviews—good reviews—to stand out against the competition and nothing will ruin that for you like an unclean space.

It’s not like you have to handle it yourself though. There are specialist Airbnb cleaning services that come in and sort it all out for you, so you have options.

Vacation Rental Tech and Trends

If you want to run a really smooth ship, you’re going to need help. Vacation rental management software is a must if you want all of the processes to be as seamless as possible. Software like iGMS can help you manage multiple listings, improve guest communication, and even set up cleaning schedules.

With more bookings comes more admin, so a channel manager will come in handy to avoid anything slipping through the cracks. It’s a great tool to avoid double bookings and also connects all of your major OTA accounts like Airbnb, Vrbo, and Booking.com in just a few clicks. This lets you run everything from one dashboard. Boom. No more double bookings.

Stay Ahead with Smart Home Technology

I have two words for you: Digital Transformation. Hop on the smart device bus with the rest of us and let your guests feel like they’re living in the year 3000. Or at least make check-in a little easier with a smart lock.

Airbnb guests like a cool gadget as much as the rest of us, but if the technology can be an add to their convenience and safety, that’s a major plus. Just a few of the smart options you can incorporate into your short-term rentals include thermostats, TVs, lighting, security systems, and smart locks.

Marketing Your Airbnb

It’s time to do some serious selling and market your Airbnb listing.

Light the Way with Airbnb SEO for Better Search Results

Time for Airbnb hosts to get technical on search results. One of the biggest technical details that are going to lead guests to your listing is Airbnb SEO, but more specifically the right keywords for better search ranking.

Relevant keywords will be the giant, flickering neon arrow pointing at your vacation rental. They affect your search ranking and help tie you in with the local area. A couple of factors to keep in mind when you’re picking keywords:

Relevance: Make sure the keywords you pick represent the unique features, amenities, and location of your property.
Search Volume: Consider the search volume of each keyword. You can check this with tools like Moz’s Keyword Explorer. While high-volume words can bring more traffic, they may also have higher competition. Try to strike a balance.
Long-Tail Keywords: Longer, more specific phrases indicate a more specific search intent and less competition;
Local Keywords: Think about the specific neighborhood or popular attractions near your property.

To Social Media and Beyond

In the year 2024, you cannot survive, much less thrive without some kind of social media presence. There are so many different segments of the market that you can tap into and through multiple channels. You just need to figure out where to start.

Because people are so drawn to aesthetics, we recommend starting out your social media marketing strategy on Instagram for 3 main reasons:

Visuals
Interactivity
Timing

Guests book properties that catch and hold their attention. So give them something nice to look at. According to a report by Zipdo, visual content is 43% more persuasive than just text. This is compounded by the fact that the human brain processes pictures faster. The science says a picture is worth a thousand words, so make sure it’s a good one.

Encouraging Reviews and Feedback

People trust the word of other people. For the most part, anyway. The thoughts of previous guests go a long way in determining more bookings and can be the deciding factor in someone’s upcoming stay.

One way to boost your number of reviews is to set up automated review requests so that upon a guest’s departure you ask them for feedback. By automating this process, you never forget to type out that message in a timely manner and the feedback is still fresh in their minds, so they can give a more accurate account of the stay.

Another note about reviews…

The more good reviews you have, the better your chances of achieving Airbnb Superhost status. Having Superhost status in itself is a great form of marketing on the Airbnb platform, because as Superhost you are often rocketed to the top of search results and it’s become a checklist item for guests looking for their next stay.

Final Thoughts

There you have it—proven strategies for getting more Airbnb bookings. Let’s recap; for you to get more bookings, you need to:

Make a good first impression with your listing
Use dynamic pricing tools for competitive pricing
Make the booking process seamless
Be flexible with your check-in and check-out times
Throw in some personal touches
Add smart technology where you can
Make the most of social media and Airbnb SEO
Get more reviews

It’s also important to remember that this isn’t a static business. You need to be able to adapt and improve as the market changes around you. Industry trends and guest feedback are your best port of call for staying on top of things.

And remember that you don’t have to do all of the work manually. iGMS has most of the details covered, so don’t be afraid to test it out for yourself.

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About the Author

Daniëlle Kruger is the Content Manager at iGMS. She is an avid reader and researcher of all things travel, always trying to keep her finger on the pulse of the latest trends and innovations. A self-proclaimed nerd, in her free time Dani enjoys reading, rollerskating, and dabbling in tabletop RPGs.

March 26, 2024