It’s not just about great photos and descriptions for your listing, it’s also about how you differentiate your Airbnb listing from your competitors.
Not One Size Fits All
Yes, there are definitely many commonalities among successful Airbnb listings (i.e. great photos, description, responsive hosts, etc…), but they don’t generally cater to the same guests.
Search for some popular listings in a popular destination and you’ll find a motley assortment of listings catering to guests with very different travel intents and styles. One may be targeted at business travelers while another is geared towards leisure travelers. Some are targeted at younger travelers while others might target the more seasoned traveler seeking a nice “quiet getaway” in a busy city.
Do your research in your area by looking at listings. Find if there are common attributes among the popular listings and see if your unit has something to offer that they don’t.
Do Not Try to Target Multiple Groups
Take care of the basic, market required amenities first but then make sure your listing is very loud and clear about who it’s meant for. For instance, if you’re targeting a road warrior business traveler, make note of the fact that your unit has a ready monitor and docking station for their laptop complete with a color printer/scanner/fax machine.
The key is to stick with a target group and test your listing’s ability to close bookings at desired rates. If the performance is not up to par, change it up and target another group you had in mind. As you get more bookings, make sure to keep a log of your guests, the type of traveler they are, and what they liked or didn’t like about your listing. Use these learnings to keep experimenting and improving your listing.
When should cover two groups? If you see a clear difference between your weekday and weekend travelers. Else, keep it to one target group.
Be Mindful of Seasonality or Special Events
Your area may have very different travelers during the summer or winter season, so you may need to adjust your listings for that. Also, if you’re located in a area that frequently hosts popular conventions or special events, you will what to take advantage of that as well.
So who are you targeting on Airbnb? Comment below!
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This free training is brought to you by James Svetec an Airbnb Expert who has managed over $1M in bookings & Symon He, the founder of LearnBNB, the #1 Airbnb hosting education blog.
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Just want to say your article is great. The clarity in your post is appreciated and i can assume you are an expert on this subject. Thanks a million!
Can a home be listed as a monthly rental?
Great article and good advise. I would like to target a specific group. My Airbnb is a large house on a beautiful tree lined street, two blocks to the beach and a mile to the Long Beach Convention Center. It’s a good rental for family gatherings, So. California coast vacationers, friends gathering for weekend get togethers and convention goers and I get all of the above. LBy far my best guests are conventioneers. They are easy on the house, are usually just there to sleep and usually book with less people than the other categories. If I could I would accept only conventioneers but they account for only a little less than half of my bookings.
Any thoughts on how I might attract more in this category?