EPISODE 12: Are Bookings Down Everywhere or Is It Your Fault? And Is This Guest Doing Too Much Laundry?!

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Are Bookings Down Everywhere or Is It Your Fault?

Is it the new Airbnb update, a recession, or is my area too saturated?! Before calling Airbnb to ask if you’re shadow banned, it may just be the time we are living in. Gas prices are higher which means that this may affect people traveling. We all know that travel for leisure is one of the first things to go when expenses go up. If you still think you don’t have as many bookings because of something you’re doing, let’s take a look into improving your listing. Note that the eight properties I do manage are performing lower than they usually do during this time. However, these five differences are things that I have noticed among my eight properties that may help improve your listing.

1. Have professional photos for your listing

   • There is no excuse not to have professional photos. You are in the hospitality business. When have you ever booked a hotel with iPhone pictures?! My advice is to try and not hire a real estate photographer. Try and find someone who can sell a vacation and the small details in a more stylistic, lifestyle way.

2. Have a pet-friendly listing

   • I recently changed four of my listings to pet-friendly and have noticed that these properties have out-performed the other listings. I know this may not work for everyone, but this is one difference I noticed. When I interviewed my sister a few episodes back, she noted that pet-friendly Airbnbs were so rare, she could not use that dataset in her thesis. She also shared that it is the most searched for item on the platform right now.

3. Turn on Instant book

   • In a previous episode, I talked about the benefit of having instant book versus request to book. You will not be penalized if you need to cancel on a guest if you have instant book. If you accepted a reservation on request to book, you cannot cancel a reservation and Airbnb will penalize you. I do think that instant book also protects the quality of guests coming into your home. I have one property that refuses to switch over to instant book and that is my lowest performing listing right now.

4. Lower nightly rates

   • You need to be competitive if the demand is lower in your area. Lowering your nightly rate is, unfortunately, the best thing you can do to get more bookings. I will never push an owner to lower their nightly rate lower than they’re uncomfortable with, however, I have seen in some of my listings owners that refuse to go below $150, for example, a night. If you’re still not getting booked at a lower rate, be open to being flexible and lowering it, maybe, to $120. In the end, I rather book at $30 lower than not get booked at all because I’m hanging onto that $150.

5. Consider what your cleaning fee is

   • Don’t compromise on the actual cleanliness and sanitation of the home, but if you can compromise on small things like, having your towels not folded a certain way or staging not being absolutely perfect every time, consider having a cleaner that is more affordable. Bookings are slow, don’t add more cost to your listing at this time.

Airbnb Quick Tip:

Add captions to your photos. I don’t mean captioning a picture of your master bedroom as “master bedroom,” but list out the amenities. Your caption should look something like this," Master bedroom with en suite bathroom, king size bed with memory foam mattress, 400 thread count sheets with smart TV and access to Netflix, Hulu and Amazon video, reading lamps on each side and luggage rack in closet, hangers and bath robes available.” It’s not guaranteed that all guests are going to read these captions but let’s say a guest searches for “king size bed”— your listing has a stronger chance of showing up in their search.

Question of the week:

What should I title for my Airbnb listing? I would stray away from any branded property names. For example, let’s say the name of your place goes by The Boho Abode. When people are looking for an Airbnb, your clever name is telling them nothing about the listing. It’s cute and charming and works for social media, but not on the Airbnb platform. Another tip is don’t mention the location. For example, putting “Joshua Tree Airbnb” is just wasting the valuable number of characters on your listing for an obvious Joshua Tree search guests are already looking in. A caveat to this is if you’re near a major attraction. If you have a listing in Chicago, a title could be “5 Minute Walk from Wrigley Field.” Use the title to list facts about the property. Your title should market to your ideal guest. A title I use for one of our listings is Lakeside Condo Steps from the Water, Pool, Bunk Beds. We know that couples are not going to want to sleep in bunk beds. Instead of hiding that there are bunk beds, we highlight this feature to market our condo as the perfect place for families. Lastly, don’t be afraid to change the title based on an event or the season. If the Super Bowl is coming to your city, change it to something that will reflect that.

Am I the Airbnb-hole?

This week we react to a host seeking advice about a broken dryer after only 4 loads of laundry.