Having a great listing is critical to success with a short term rental on Airbnb. Find out how to make a great listing for your rental.
Catchy Title
All things equal, an Airbnb listing with the better, more attention grabbing title will a higher click through rate from the search results. Don’t be boring with something like, “Studio Apartment Downtown Los Angeles”. Guests already search by entering a location and the listings show what type of accommodations they are. Find out how to make sure your title doesn’t suck.
Readable and Clear Description
Airbnb type travelers tend to be last minute travelers. That means they’re booking late in the game and are often impatient. They need to find something quick so the last thing they want is a long and difficult to read description. A great Airbnb listing makes it very easy for a reader to find what they need. Don’t let your description hurt your listing.
Professional and Verified Photos
This is arguably the MOST important part of any great Airbnb listing. It is the main determining factor of whether your listing will get click throughs from search results and it is the first (and often the last thing) a guest will look at on your actual listing. Find out how to avoid crappy Airbnb photos.
Winning Host Profile
With two nearly identical listings, the host with a more complete and favorable host profile will win more bookings. Yes, Airbnb travel is becoming more familiar but chances are your guests are either first time users or are still relatively new to this sharing economy accommodation. So it’s natural for many of them to be nervous booking to stay at a stranger’s place.
Hosts whose profiles have great reviews, both as a host and as a guest, has social media accounts linked to their profiles, and have great response rates and times are going to win. Even with a unit and listing, a poor hosting profile can significantly limit your success.
Great Reviews from Prior Guests
Would you go eat at a restaurant that has a 1-star rating on Yelp, whose latest guest review mentioned a “rude and obnoxious owner who smells like fermented gym socks”? Probably not. Same goes for your Airbnb listing reviews.
It’s absolutely critical to build and maintain great guest reviews so you can continue to attract more guests to book with you. Here are some reasons for sucky reviews.
Properly Priced
Don’t leave money on the table by pricing too low but you’re almost guaranteed to have no bookings if you’re priced too high relative to your competitor in the market. Do your research and scope out the listings of other comparable units to narrow the range of acceptable prices for your unit.
Start at the higher end of the range when the date is further out and incrementally drop your price as the date gets closer. Drop it below the range if you are risking not booking at all. Check out these common pricing mistakes.
See all of our Airbnb pricing articles.
If you want to maximize your chances of success, you will need to have a great Airbnb listing. What are some other ways to make them great? Leave them in the comments below!
