18 Airbnb success tips to maximise your bookings

New to hosting or a seasoned veteran? Here are our 18 Airbnb success tips to maximise your bookings:

1. High-quality photos of your property matter

The quality of your photos for your listing makes a huge difference in how successful your listing is.

Make sure you take plenty of photos that show off every unique selling point your Airbnb has to offer.

The photos should be taken with plenty of natural light and rooms should be decluttered. A good Airbnb success tip is having a professional photographer take them, which will definitely maximise your bookings!

2. Success requires hard work

Having success with Airbnb requires a lot of time and hard work.

After all, Rome wasn’t built in a day. Be prepared to devote time to make your Airbnb popular and successful.

Hosting is an art form, and unless you’re the Picasso of the hosting world, a lot of time will need to be invested.

3. First impressions of your property win bookings

One of our top Airbnb tips to maximise bookings is that first impressions really do count. If a guest messages you with a question or enquiry, make sure you reply quickly and respectfully.

Friendliness is a key to success with hosting as it can lead to good reviews which are also crucial. Superhosts have a response rate of 90% so try and match this as they know what they’re doing!

4. Make the experience personal

This shows that you care about your guests and value that they have chosen you over anyone else. By providing guests with local knowledge of the area and funky places that may not be listed in the average tourist pamphlet, you’re sure to have great success in the hosting world.

As we have mentioned previously in this post and will continue to do so, amazing reviews = amazing success.

By going above and beyond (and not being too intrusive) you may even get return bookings.

5. Competitive pricings will maximise bookings

The world revolves around money and this is no different from Airbnb. Make sure that your prices are competitive and affordable in relation to other listings in your area.

You would do well to slightly undercut your opposition, in the beginning, to get a few bookings under your belt before slowly increasing your prices steadily.

6. Contactless entry is the way forward

Installing a lockbox is a really good feature that guests like.

This means that if a guest is going to be late for some reason or you don’t live near the property, you can simply send them the code and they can check themselves in and out.

This saves a lot of hassle and stress for both hosts and guests. With the pandemic, lockboxes and keyless entry have become the new norm.

7. Keyless entry systems

Keyless electronic locks, like lockboxes, are also really good features for your listing.

Hosts can send guests a code that allows them into the property and this eliminates the risk of guests losing keys and the host having to call a locksmith or get replacement keys cut.

In terms of security, this is also handy because you can simply change the code after a guest has checked-out.

8. Successful hosts pay attention to even the smallest details

Stock your listing with all the essentials: tea, coffee, condiments, loo rolls, kitchen roll etc. Let guests know where they can find extras if they run out of the essentials.

This greatly improves their experience when they don’t have to worry about going out and buying more tea bags or loo rolls. Find the best deals and discounts, then buy in bulk in order to save money.

9. Whole-home listings perform better

Renting out one room as opposed to the full apartment/house obviously creates less profit. Guests who are looking for short holiday lets are more often than not, keener to rent out the whole listing rather than just a single room.

However, there are also plenty of people just looking for a room to rent but whole listings are more profitable than single rooms.

10. Sell your local experiences as well as your listing

Local attractions are why people are visiting and so sell any major tourist attractions and maybe a few that aren’t so well advertised. This will help you get more bookings the more you sell the local area.

If your listing has a large kitchen, rather than simply listing it, write that there is a wonderful market that is a 10-minute walk away where you can buy amazing fresh produce to then use in the kitchen. Including details like this count, a lot in the success of your Airbnb.

11. Welcome presents always go down well with guests

Imagine you’ve had a long day travelling to wherever you’re staying and you open the door to your booking to find a bottle of wine or a box of chocolates with a note from your host. You can tailor the gift to your guests and this will give them a great first impression.

12. Have a good stock of entertainment for guests

On those rainy days (especially in the UK!) if there are plenty of forms of entertainment for guests, such as board games, playing cards, magazines, DVD’s etc. these also lead to great reviews and ultimately greater success on the site.

13. Have a complete and accurate profile

Probably one of the most important Airbnb tips we can give you to maximise bookings is that your profile must be complete and contain enough information about you as a host.

Especially when starting out, this is crucial. Linking your socials and having a nice profile picture of yourself, will give potential guests a better feeling of trust towards you than a pictureless half-completed profile.

14. Have a detailed house manual

We would highly recommend that you have a clear and useful house manual that explains how everything works and contains all the useful info a guest may need.

If there’s a vintage radio that actually is just there for show, then let guests know so that they don’t damage it trying to turn it on.

This is the same principle if you have an oven that looks nice but is quite complicated to use – leave instructions. This will help guests have a smooth experience and will mean that you shouldn’t be bombarded by trivial questions. For example, where the WiFi code is.

15. Cleaning your holiday let thoroughly is crucial

One of the biggest reasons for bad reviews is the cleanliness of listings. Make sure you clean. Then clean again. Then clean one more time. This leaves a good impression and significantly reduces the risk of an unhappy guest writing a bad review!

16. Responding to reviews impacts your business

How you respond to reviews and comments is a big part of how successful your listing will be – especially negative ones.

If you respond in a professional and non-personal way to bad reviews, potential guests are more likely to look past them and give you more leeway.

17. Festive decorations help (when appropriate!)

If you have bookings over a festive period, decorate your listing! This adds to that homely feeling that guests are looking for by using Airbnb.

18. Advertise your listing on more than one site

You don’t have to stick to just Airbnb, there are plenty of other very popular home-sharing sites, such as The Plum Guide, Booking.com, VRBO and HomeAway.

Check out our top 17 Expert Airbnb Marketing Tips To Help Increase Bookings for more info to help you maximise your bookings further!