You’re not alone
With over 4 million listings on Airbnb, it might seem tough to stand out from the crowd, particularly if your rentals are located in densely populated locations.
Do you have a place to rent in London? You’re competing with more than 63,000 other postings. Do you own a home in Los Angeles? 19,500 others are in the same boat.
Availability of Short-Term Rentals in Popular Vacation Spots
London
63,000
Rio de Janeiro
29,420
Los Angeles
19,500
Rome
26,650
Paris
47,580
Barcelona
22,220
New York
18,490
Sydney
21,580
So, how can you ensure that passengers notice yours?
Understanding Airbnb’s algorithm, or how the system chooses which listings to present to its users, is the first step. You can use this information to your advantage and edit your listings’ profiles to position them for optimum exposure after you grasp how the platform’s “brain” works.
Showcase the Best Homes to the Best Visitors
Airbnb earns money when you make money, so, understandably, they spend so much time showing guests the homes they’re most likely to book. As a consequence, their search results place a premium on guest preferences and trip details.
You do not influence the following parameters:
- From the profile of previous reservations, the client is looking for
- Viewed postings in the past
- What listings have they put on their Wish List?
- Dates: If your calendar is banned, your listing will be lowered in the search results.
- Listing distance from city center: the closer your listing is to prominent attractions, the better it will rank.
The Action Plan:
There are a few things you can do to make your listing more relevant to more queries and to improve your search exposure.
Enable Instant Book: The best approach to enhance your rating is to enable Instant Book. Guests like the option of reserving as soon as possible, according to Airbnb. Listings that enable immediate reservations are rewarded by Airbnb and are ranked higher than those that do not. It’s also a search filter, so some visitors will just look at instant-book listings.
Accept same-day reservations: While last-minute reservations are more difficult to meet, allowing this option expands your reach and allows you to appeal to a bigger number of people.
Allow long-term bookings: This may seem self-evident, but make sure your maximum stay is long enough for those looking for longer holidays to find you.
Allow for rapid turnovers: Are you able to handle back-to-back bookings, or do you need a break in between? When considering how to rank your listing, Airbnb considers turnover time, so aim to make it as short as possible to enable more visitors to stay at your house and more guests to view your listing!
Accept one-night stays: They may not be as lucrative as longer reservations, but they will increase awareness and promote bookings. While allowing long-term rentals may attract more visitors, Airbnb prioritizes shorter stays when rating listings.
Make it easy to book: Airbnb aims to provide a smooth booking experience for guests, thus the more limitations you have, the lower your listing’s ranking will be. To attract more visitors and get better rankings, try to keep your regulations and limits to a minimum.
Self-check-in is available: Guests demand as much freedom as possible, and Airbnb wants to provide it. Allowing guests to come and go as they want helps your Airbnb properties rank higher in search results.
Invest in high-quality amenities for your home: Pools, kitchens, and jacuzzis are the most popular amenity filters, but many visitors also look for facilities that are easy to provide, such as WiFi, TV, air conditioning, and a pet-friendly policy. Even if they don’t, Airbnb automatically offers properties with basic utilities like irons and hair dryers a better search position.
Predicting the Reactions of Guests
Airbnb attempts to predict how visitors will react to your listings and assigns them a ranking based on that.
The following are the two most crucial factors:
CTR (click-through-rate) is a significant aspect of your Airbnb ranking score. The more people who look at your ad, the more probable it is that someone will book.
Requests from a listing page include the following: However, getting those clicks isn’t enough. The ratio of views to bookings has a significant impact on how your listing is ranked by Airbnb’s algorithm.
The Action Plan:
More unique hits and booking requests will be generated if you make your listings stand out. Here are a few minor recommendations to spice up any listing:
Make a strong first impression by including an eye-catching, bright, high-quality horizontal photograph that highlights the greatest aspects of your property.
Other listing photos: Once you’ve piqued prospective guests’ interest with a stunning feature picture, use additional photographs on your listing page to show them what they can expect when they stay with you. They won’t be able to resist the inviting sense of a tidy flat, white linens, and a fully supplied kitchen.
A distinctive title: Don’t squander title space with information that browsers already know, such as your rental’s location in Boston. Give your ad a catchy headline that provides enticing details about the rental. Mention the most appealing features of your property, such as neighboring attractions, an ocean-front balcony, or a private pool. To make sure your listing name is competitive, use AirDNA to look up the titles of the best performers in your area.
A full description is as follows: Make your listing description easy to read and understand. Don’t forget to include all of the small touches that set your property apart, even if they’re little details like high ceilings and natural lighting, particularly because Airbnb’s algorithm promotes longer descriptions.
Calls to action: Including a few calls to action in your description may make all the difference. Encourage prospective visitors to book with you by using an encouraging remark towards the conclusion of your listing description, such as “I would love to host you in my apartment!” Send me an email if you have any queries.”
External promotion: While posting links to your Airbnb listings on your personal or professional social media profiles isn’t a surefire strategy to attract bookings, it will almost certainly increase the number of people who see them and increase your click-through rate.
Prioritize listings with a track record of success.
Airbnb will evaluate a variety of indicators to determine the performance of each listing, and the more successful rentals will get greater visibility in the platform’s search results.
The Action Plan:
There are a few things you can do to demonstrate to Airbnb that your listing is promising and that they should promote it to as many people as possible.
Obtain feedback: A 5-star review convinces prospective guests that you have a terrific room and encourages them to choose your listing above hundreds of others. Establish a good connection with your visitors and ask them to post a review when they depart. Both your average rating and the number of reviews are taken into account by the algorithm.
Become a favorite: Having your property added to visitors’ Wish Lists increases its exposure. Although you have limited influence over this feature, requesting that friends, relatives, and even past guests add you to their Wish Lists can give you a leg up and help your listing rank higher.
Make the following changes to your calendar: To operate effective listings, you must have an up-to-date calendar. A more up-to-date schedule means fewer cancellations, duplicate reservations, and approval requests, all of which Airbnb considers when deciding how trustworthy you are as a host. More significantly, Airbnb likes active hosts, so just changing your price regularly will cause them to notice your listing and prioritize it in search results.
Hosts who can be relied on are PromotedÂ
Airbnb encourages good hosting habits and gives dependable homeowners more exposure in an attempt to provide visitors with a favorable experience.
The Action Plan:
Developing a reputation for trustworthiness might help your listings stand out. Fortunately, this is one issue over which you have total control.
Accept more booking requests: Airbnb keeps track of how many booking requests you turn down and ranks you appropriately. Your rating will improve as you close more bookings.
Keep your cancellations to a minimum: Only cancel a booked reservation if necessary. If you have a high cancellation rate, Airbnb will punish you by reducing your rating.
Increase your booking window: Blocking your calendar for many months at a time can hurt your listing’s rating. If at all feasible, Guesty advises leaving a booking window of at least six months.
Maintain a fast response rate: Airbnb aims to provide visitors with the same advantages that they enjoy when booking hotels. Waiting days for a response is one of the most aggravating experiences for consumers. This is why Airbnb looks at how fast you respond and whether you respond to all of your inquiries. Even if you have to deny the booking request, your answer will be recorded.
Verify your account: Hosts may verify their accounts by giving links to online profiles (like LinkedIn or Facebook) as well as matching offline paperwork that verifies their personal information. Verifying your account helps you earn points with Airbnb and create trust with future guests.
Obtain Superhost status: While the badge itself does not improve a listing, the criteria for achieving Superhost statuses, such as zero cancellations and a 90% response rate, do. Not to add that visitors are more likely to book a Superhost listing.
Join Lodgable
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