Pricing and Reviews

[Lala89]

I am a new Airbnb Host. Everyone says to rank high on Airbnb search, you need reviews, however, to get reviews, you need bookings. To get bookings, you need to be found! 

as a new host, the only thing I can do is reduce my price drastically on the week nights. For example, yesterdays, two people sent me a request to remove my cleaning fee. I had already put my pricing to $30 because I was not booked anyways. 

I also changed the price for next weekdays to $55 because no one was booking. 

It's been hours after checkout and I haven't received a review email. This is frustrating. 

on a side note, learned about pricelab today and it seems reducing my price drastically may not have been the way after all. 

[Huma0]

@Lala89 hosts do often start with lower prices to attract their first few guests and get those first few reviews. However, you have to find a balance and not price too low (can attract less than desirable guests) and beware of bargain hunters too. Guests who do not appreciate the value you already offer are unlikely to ever appreciate it and may well hurt your ratings. Usually the best tactic is to look at comparable listings around you that are getting bookings and price a bit lower until the reviews come in.

Prepare yourself for the fact that some guests are not going to review even if they have an amazing stay. They move on and forget all about it. Also, the guest has up to 14 days after check out to leave a review, so a few hours is nothing. In my experience, only a small minority of guests leave a review the day they check out. They are usually busy travelling or dealing with other stuff.

Some hosts say you should never 'chase' for reviews, especially as guests do receive reminders from Airbnb. However, a lot of guests never turn on notifications or open the messages. I think it is okay to politely remind guests to review (I did this when I was starting out), but just don't do it in a pushy or pestering way.

I am a live host, so usually get to say goodbye to my guests in person. When I was sure they were very happy with their stay, I would sometimes casually mention, "It would be great if you could leave a review when you have a chance and I will of course do the same for you!" No one ever took exception to this.

I would send a nice message a day or two after the stay thanking the guest for being so nice, hope they will come back to visit etc. etc. (try to include something specific to them, so it doesn't read copy and paste) and, if I hadn't said it already on check out, that it would be great if they could leave a review when they had a moment and I will of course do the same for them. Just do it lightheartedly and cheerfully.

I don't remind guests anymore, but that's because I have quite a few reviews under my belt. And never remind a guest if you feel they were not totally satisfied with the stay!

[Lala89]

Thanks a lot for the tip. I hope to get to the point where I don;t need to remind guest for reviews anymore 🙂

[Mark116]

@Lala89  Be careful about putting your price too low, you don't want your place the same $$ as a hostel, because that is the kind of guest you will attract.  It is my opinion that Airbnb really screwed up the search function over the summer, because new hosts usually get a bump automatically.  Right now may also be a bad time of year as it is usually fairly slow in the dead of winter, probably even in Texas.  Hang in there.

[Lala89]

Thanks for the advice. Just a rough time all around. So difficult to not be desperate.

everyone says my property looks so great and I'm lol why isn't it translating into more bookings!