Don’t want to read this post? Just watch the video to get everything you need about optimizing your Airbnb listing description.
Your Airbnb listing photo grabs the prospective guest’s attention. They click.
They read the listing summary…the guest is intrigued.
They hop down to your Airbnb listing description and it’s a mess. It’s a big wall of text riddled with spelling errors.
NEXT!!!
Guests are checking out multiple listings when they are booking their trip. They are really LOOKING for reasons to eliminate candidates from their pool of choices. Simple errors and unorganized information is enough for many guests to just move on to the next listing.
Here are two tips that can make a world of difference for your Airbnb listing description
Tip 1. Have it checked by others
I can’t believe I even have to write about this. I see this mistake often when I do listing reviews for hosts…and it’s such a preventable issue!
But in all seriousness, when prospective guests read your listing and you have lots of spelling or grammatical errors, it might create a poor first impression. They will think, “If this host can let a few spelling errors fall through the cracks, what other mistakes are they making?”
Use spelling and grammar check tools or ask a friend for help. Having clean, well-written descriptions will help build credibility and trust between you and your guests.
You are dealing with people’s trips….they are spending their hard earned money to come to stay in your place. Any little red flag, even a simple spelling error, could spook them and prompt them to check out your competition’s listing.
Have a friend or family member proof-read your listing description immediately. They can give feedback on spelling and grammar, but also ask them if it’s organized well.
Which leads me to my next point…
Tip 2. Organize your information
You know that big wall of text you put in the description. It may seem complete, has everything a guest would want to know…but it’s extremely hard to read.
Have you ever said this to yourself when you get a message on Airbnb? “Gosh, the answer is in the listing…why don’t people read?!”
It’s because you made your listing difficult for them to read.
Making your listing easy to consume is essential. The easier it is to read, the more value a guest can extract from it. This also means fewer questions. BONUS!
Also, when your information is organized, it will have a halo effect on your listing.
Here are three ways to organize your listing info.
Create Bulleted Lists
This is a great trick when listing a bunch of amenities.
There are tons of ways to make a bulleted list with simple characters.
+ Do it with a plus sign
– Do it with a hyphen
> Do it with a right carrot
* Do it with a star
→ BONUS, do it with an arrow
Make Room Lists
If you have many rooms, different size beds, combinations of beds in rooms, or particular amenities in rooms then let guests know. When traveling, guests like to know EXACTLY what they are getting.
Try this…
Room 1: Queen bed, attached full bathroom, 42” TV,
Room 2: Twin bunk beds, 1 queen bed
Room 3: Sleeper sofa, TV, private entrance
Use Headers
Give guests a heads up about what they will be reading before they read it. They will see when topics are changing and retain more information. Also, it is easier for them to quickly scroll through and find important information they are looking for.
Like this…
-Kitchen
This is some info about my kitchen and how awesome it is.
-Patio
This is some info about my patio and how cool it is.
-Bedroom
This is some info about my bedroom.
-Bathroom
This is some info about my bathroom.
Your Homework: Read your listing description and make at least one change that will improve readability. Try to do this one time per week.
Remember, improving and organizing your Airbnb listing description will cut down on questions from guests and save you time in the long run.
Here are some more Airbnb listing tips.
If you have any other listing description tips, share them with me in the comments below.
As content writers we’re often helping Airbnb hosts with their descriptions. We’d also suggest short paragraphs. If you have more than a couple of sentences in a single paragraph it does tend to become a wall of text.
It’s also worth thinking hard about what makes you and your place truly unique. Mention that upfront in your listing.
Great article!