For hosts, Airbnb provides a brilliant opportunity to earn real cash by leasing out their spare properties to travelers who come to the city and need a comfortable space to stay in for a while. As for guests, Airbnb allows them to find proper lodging in a place of destination with all the modern comforts and amenities, yet much cheaper compared to a hotel room. Perfect win-win.
So, if you have a cozy nook to rent out, you can capitalize on the accommodation needs of globe-trotters who come to explore your hometown. You just need to list your property on Airbnb and let the international community of tourists know about your existence. This is where the challenge begins.
The matter is that you are not the only entrepreneur in your town willing to make money from a short-term vacation rental business. There are hundreds, thousands, or even millions of such opportunists in your city, each wanting to beat the rivals and lure customers. To outstand against the dense competition, your property should be well-visible in Airbnb search results. We will teach you how to do so.
Register with Airbnb
Your entrepreneurial journey to the world of big bucks starts with creating an account on Airbnb. The procedure is free and intuitive. The platform even offers a convenient calculator to let you estimate how much you are going to earn on your proposal. Embellish your listing with enough details, catchy descriptions, and bright, quality photos. Do not worry – the platform will prompt you throughout the process. Remember that barren listings with scarce information do not inspire trust as surely as the lack of the owner’s photo. Fill out your host’s profile and verify your identity (the platform will require you to provide some ID document, not publicly available), provide a clear image of yourself – guests shall know whom they are going to deal with.
Tune your listing
You will not have to calculate your rate – the platform will do it automatically based on the number of rooms, offered amenities, location, seasonality, competition, and other factors. Surely, you can set your own price per night that seems to you adequate. You can adjust your rates at any time as surely as you can block certain dates from reservations. The system will give you a handy calendar to manage your bookable/non-bookable dates.
Generously describe your amenities and accommodation
Try to portray your offering in every detail – guests want to have a clear presentation of where they are going to live. Your descriptions should encourage prospects to make a booking, so provide exhaustive information. Do you have a coffee machine? Mention it. A lovely balcony overlooking wonderful cityscapes? Let your listing reflect it! Do you provide free little bounties like candies or souvenirs for your tenants? Great, put it in your description, too. Be accurate, honest, and do not include in your listing description what is not available in your home. Frustration can lead to docked stars as guest reviews have incredible power on Airbnb. Still, if your descriptions match reality, your guests should not be disappointed.
Cater to guest needs
People arriving at your place expect to feel at home, so arrange it. Internet, kitchen appliances, serving pieces, tea/coffee/sugar, toiletries and towels, main domestic machines like a stove, a fridge, a washing machine, an iron, a hair-dryer – these are the must-haves for many travelers used to everyday comfort, but you should seriously consider going above and beyond these standard provisions.
Highlight nearby attractions and important places
Your guests want to know how they can entertain in your neighborhood. So, make sure you list all the places of interest and sights in your advertisement, including parks, shopping centers, tourist attractions, restaurants, cafes, public transportation, the remoteness from the city center, etc.
Great photos stir curiosity
Nice pictures can speak louder than a long description, so post good photos of your listing on Airbnb. Showcase your home, and do not forget to add short descriptions to them. Capture the whole property, including a couple of photos of the neighborhood and street. If you are not good at photographing, you can hire a professional directly through the Airbnb platform – it is free! A photographer will receive a portion of your commission automatically once you conclude your first deal on the platform.
What can affect your reputation on Airbnb?
Your listing will be booked if only it is visible to Airbnb’s huge audience. But your listing can drop out from ranking. Lots of factors determine the appearance of your proposal in Airbnb search results, including:
- Overall rating – those magic five stars…
- Response rate – the quicker you reply to inquiries, the more the Airbnb platform loves you.
- Reject/cancellation rate – if you often decline reservations without a good reason, your listing will fall out of favor.
- Competitive pricing – surprisingly, but cheaper offers rank higher than the pricey ones.
- Quality photos and detailed listing descriptions – never misleading your guests is a wise move to the peak of popularity on Airbnb.
- Positive reviews – unhappy clients can ruin your Airbnb business.
In fact, Airbnb applies nearly a hundred factors to determine the position of your listing in search results. Observing all these factors is quite a rocket science, and if you fear that you will not be able to handle all the requirements of the platform, you may turn to powerful Airbnb listing management software to boost your ranking and do more business on the platform. Click here to know more. Through comprehensive automation of repetitive, daily tasks, Airbnb management tools give you peace of mind that you consistently deliver an excellent guest experience while your property remains fully managed, well cared for, and highly appealing to potential clients.
