How to gain guest interest on Airbnb

Posted by Lily James on July 30th, 2019

As we enter the summer months, the busiest period of short letting for every host, we all dream of receiving numerous bookings and great reviews. To achieve this, you first need to catch the interest of your potential guests. But when there are over 74,000 listings on Airbnb in London alone, how can you do this? Well, here are our top tips on how to gain the most interest in your property.

1. Reach the top of the list

Guests are not going to spend hours scrolling through booking platforms like Airbnb just to finally stumble upon your listing... To ensure the likelihood of maximum bookings you need to have maximum visibility.

It sounds like an obvious aim, but yet, it is difficult – so how can you make it to the top of the list? Well, this is all based on algorithms just like how Google ranks a website. Simpler than that of Google, Airbnb’s algorithm organizes the list based on a few criteria, one of which will be those of SuperHosts. We have already written a few articles about this on City Relay, but long story short, a SuperHost is someone who has over 80% of 5-star ratings.

2. Be relevant and specific

Who are your potential guests and why are they coming to London? These are simple questions you should ask yourself to try and understand your audience better and thus target their needs more efficiently. For instance, if you have a larger property which can accommodate four people and up, your potential guests may be families coming to stay for holidays. Smaller flats in central London might be interesting for professionals who came to London for short business trips.

When this is figured out, make sure your listing is also relevant to the current events or locations your guests might have come for. If your property lies near famous tourist hotspots, you should think about advertising this in the title of your listing.

3. Great description

If you are on top of the search and your title has caught the eye of the guest, you are halfway there. It is at this moment that you have to turn your eye-catching snapshot into a seriously interesting listing. There are two main points to achieve this: a great description and amazing pictures.

The two should serve each other: mediocre pictures will make your description unrealistic, and undescriptive text will lower the effect of jaw-dropping property pictures.

Therefore, you should describe your property with personality, enthusiasm and in all honesty, while also detailing the local community; the best places to eat or visit. As they say, the key is in the details.

4. Eye-catching shots

As for the pictures, they are here to help the guest visualize themselves in the space. You want to showcase a bright property that is neat and tidy, with essences of your personality and history. Do not use wide lens cameras to make the rooms appear larger than they really are and does not use an outdated picture that shows the property in a different state.

Although you would consider these as ‘better pictures’ that might help your listing get better results, it will also be very disappointing for guests when they arrive at your place and will surely generate bad reviews down the line.

5. Build engagement

This tip comes last, but not least. Engaging with your audience online is crucial to building trust, and long term rebookings for your listing. Make sure to always answer your reviews – good and bad ones. You have to show your audience how much you care about them.

Engaging with potential guests also consists of telling them more about who you are, what you do and what you enjoy in life. It is always reassuring to know who your host will be, regardless of what you share.