Being an Airbnb host nowadays requires not only having a spare space to rent in 2022, but also having some marketing skills to make your proposition noticeable. Basically, there are 3 ways you can influence your Airbnb income and maximize your profit: optimizing your listing, setting the proper prices and improving the property.
✅ The following gadgets can help your airbnb business, click the image to explore!
Optimizing Your Airbnb Listing
Airbnb hosts usually underestimate the role of the listing and consider it as a formal step. Still, without knowing the property the only thing your potential guest can rely on while making their choice is the listing. Thus, your listing is your main tool in the guest acquisition. So, how can you improve your listing to make it more convertible?
Headings and Bullet Points
This is a simple trick, but it will help you to break the information into smaller blocks that are more comprehensible and easy to look through. Not to make unsubstantiated statements here are two examples.
Actually, this listing is not the worst example, as the most important points are capitalized here it does bring attention to key areas. However, the text is quite difficult to perceive because it is not organised. It is too long (and this is just a tiny part of the whole description) and hardly anyone will manage to read it till the end. Grasping just some pieces of information your guest may get a wrong image of your property, which can result in a confusing situations.
You must admit, that this example piece looks much more readable and attractive to the eye than the previous one. In terms of organisation, the information is logically divided into blocks. This allows the brain to seize and digest all the important information without getting overwhelmed. Still, this listing can be even more improved by using bullets in each of the sections. By the way, this tactics is not that common among Airbnb hosts. Thus, it will be easier for you to stand out.
Just another good example of how you can shape your Airbnb listing to stand out among the others. Using the FAQ, you can arrange the information nicely and readers can easily find information relevant to them.
Highlight the Amenities
Your listing is not the proper place for modesty. If there are some additional advantages you consider worth mentioning don’t hesitate to highlight them. These can be access to the full kitchen, private bathroom, free parking, Wi-Fi, heating and air conditioning, fireplace, whatever. You should always highlight such things, as they can tip the scales in your favor and increase your Airbnb booking chances. Here is an example of how you can do it.
Reviews Matter
Airbnb is not only another way of additional earning. It is, first of all, a community where your reputation really matters and your success is measured by the feedback you get. So the more reviews you have, the better. And sometimes it doesn’t really matter whether they are good or bad. Having even three-stars rating is much better than an unrated profile. The number of reviews in the listing usually indicates its occupancy rate, showing future guests that it is reliable and popular booking. Moreover, if the guest leaves a feedback this means the stay at your property didn’t leave him cold. Don’t worry too much about the negative reviews if you have some. Of course, you should take them into consideration, but mind that this is just a subjective opinion. And the majority of the potential guests understand it as well.
Provide Nice Photos
Let’s face the truth, very often photos are the only thing that the guests look at, except, perhaps, for the price. It is quite clear, as visualizing gives you more information about the space than a written text in the same period of time. Thus, beautiful pictures are your main key to success. You need to optimize your photos to show your property the best way. Know the strengths of your apartment and really focus on it. For instance, if your space has beautiful decorations, don’t be afraid to show it off. Keep in mind the weaknesses as well. If your place is not too spacious, don’t upload photos focusing on the size of the apartment. An awkward perspective or bad lighting can spoil the whole image of your apartment. So what can you actually do?
Airbnb provides the hosts with free professional photography services. Just click here to apply.
Pay attention to the captions. Don’t state just the formal “this is a living room”, “this is a kitchen”. Provide custom captions that will help the guests to imagine themselves staying at your place.
The order and the number of photos are also very important. This should be a logical walkthrough of your house. It is better to start with the most captivating photo. Keep in mind that the first photo would be also your showcase photo in search results. Try not to duplicate photos of the same room, unless they add some extra element to the whole image. And usually, 10-15 photos is enough.[/vc_column_text]
Setting a Proper Price
This is a tricky question, as you can set whatever price you want. If you have just started renting your place this might seem difficult for you to estimate your property. A little cheat is to check out what hotels in your area are charging across a certain range of dates. You can also check the prices set by existing listings in Airbnb in your area. Still, keep in mind that you are not a hotel and pricing yourself like one you can frighten the guests. Entrepreneur states that the average Airbnb price for a private room is $65 whilst an entire lodge goes for $141 on average and shared rooms are $45 per night. But this is just a general image, the price really varies depending on your apartment. Knowing how to appropriately manipulate the prices of your Airbnb can significantly influence your Airbnb income
Get Rid of One-Size-Fits-All Pricing Strategy
Whilst setting one price seems to be the easiest option, don’t get tempted because you are likely to miss the opportunity of increasing your overall income. Depending on the location of your property it might worth more at certain times of the week, month and year. Don’t miss this chance.
Airbnb allows you to customize your pricing. You have the option and control to set different weekend prices. The demand on the weekends is higher, so you can boldly charge more and still be fully-booked. The same is with setting custom or seasonal pricing. For instance, if there is some festival, conference, shows, concert or any other event in your area, you can assume that there is going to be a high demand and use it to your benefit by raising the prices.
You can also go for another strategy charging less and providing weekly or monthly discounts. This may encourage guests who are planning a long stay. In this case, you may lose a couple of dollars per night but get a lucrative and longer-term guest.
Don’t Despise Short-Term Stays
The high turnover is more beneficial than you think. The researches show that a guest stays 4 nights at an Airbnb in average. 99% of guests stay less than a month. Single-night or two-night bookings are quite common, so don’t reject such guests.
Don’t Chase for Being Fully-Booked
This might sound surprising, but being fully-booked doesn’t always mean getting more profit. First of all, most of the people prefer booking the place closer to the current date. Thus, seeing your place is fully booked months in advance, they will simply overpass it. Setting the lower price may result in a fully booked-out calendar, but let’s make a simple calculation.
Host #1: Fully-Booked, Cheaper Pricing
Nightly rental price: $80
Monthly Occupancy: 100%
Monthly Airbnb Income: (30 x 100%) x $80 = $2,400
Host #2: Partially-Booked, More Expensive
Nightly rental price: $130
Monthly Occupancy: 75%
Monthly Airbnb Income: (30 x 75%) x $130 = $2,925
As you can see, the second Airbnb host is still $525 ahead despite being partially-booked. The only conclusion we can draw is that under-charging your property can sometimes be even a bigger loss than over-charging it.
Improving Your Property
You can find lots of recommendations on how you can improve your property. Everything depends on your budget and imagination. You don’t need to spend a fortune on your home renovation if you tackle the problem reasonably.
Define Your Target Audience
This is easier than it might seem at first glance. First of all, consider your location. If your city often hosts some youth festivals or scientific meeting it is logical to assume that your guests will be mostly young people or serious scientists. Or if it is commercial and has many surrounding offices, your guest might mostly consist of expats. Knowing this can help you adjust your listing to cater to specific needs. It could be as simple as offering long term stay discounts if your guests are mostly expats. If your location is suitable for a versatile audience consider your own preferences. Whom do you want to host? Families? Elderly couples? Businessmen? Backpackers? You can also rely on the classification of the modern travelers Amadeus, the major European IT Provider for the global travel and tourism gives in one of the reports:
- Obligation meeters
- Simplicity searchers
- Reward hunters
- Social capital seekers
- Cultural purists
- Ethical travelers
Each of these categories requires a different approach and has its own particular needs. Defining what kind of guests you want to host or is most prevalent in your area will help you know how to adjust your apartment to fit their needs.
Personalize Your Space
After you have decided upon your target audience you can start your house renovation. Whether you will do the complete replanning of your apartment or just add some aesthetic strokes is up to you. It is always better to stick to a specific theme to provide your guests with unique and authentic experience. Add some original details, experiment with colors and textures. However, try not to go too far. It is easy to overdo here and turn a stylish well-balanced interior into а cluttered-up closet. If you aren’t too sure, the best rule of thumb in decorating your Airbnb is to keep it simple. Most importantly, if you are renting a residential part of your house make sure you have removed all personal items like family photos, toiletries, clothes, etc.
It would be also nice of you to add some pleasant bonuses for your guest: a bunch of flowers, a vase of candies, anything that will show that you are a welcoming and thoughtful host. You can show your creativity and invent your own welcome basket, where you can put some local specialities and booklets of the places you recommend to visit. This small gesture will be very impressionable and it will surely be mentioned in the reviews.
Wrapping Up
As you can see, being a good Airbnb host requires creativity and some visionary thinking. Basically, everything that makes you stand out among other hosts will help. Don’t be afraid to experiment and to try some new approaches, as it is something that will increase your Airbnb income and bookings.
For more assistance over Airbnb hosting services contact archiparti.
Topics: Airbnb booking, airbnb hosts, airbnb prices, airbnb rates
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