Why You Should Only List On Airbnb

[Daniel-Rusteen0]

(Click here for original credit of this piece.)

I am about to blow your mind. You may disagree and I would love to know why in the comments. But, I hope at the end you will understand my points to be valid related to vacation rental platforms.

“We publish your listing on the top 50 platforms!”

“Vacation rental management…across hundreds of sites.”

“Maximize your revenue! We create your listing on the leading 6+ platforms.”

Have you seen these before? You are at least familiar with the marketing jargon. It has turned into a commonplace that to be a successful vacation rental host, you need to be listed on as many platforms as possible. The more the merrier! I have an alternate perspective for you.

Here’s why, if at all possible, you do NOT want to list on multiple vacation rental platforms:

1. You distribute all your reviews to many platforms instead of focusing them on one.
2. You create mediocre listings on many platforms instead of one optimized listing.

Obviously, reviews are tremendously important to your search rank. I will assume if you are reading this blog post, you are also getting mostly 5-star reviews. The more reviews you have, the higher you rank. Plain and simple (see below for direct evidence). When you list on multiple platforms, you are distributing your hard earns reviews instead of focusing them onto one. While this may be a good short-term strategy (explained below), it is a bad long-term strategy (also explained below).

Scenario A – You list on the top 10 platforms and have 60 reviews after the first year. Let’s say 15 reviews are on Airbnb, 10 reviews are on the next leading platform, 5 on the next few, all the way down to 1 or 2 reviews on websites like FlipKey and Roomorama.

Scenario B – You list on Airbnb.com and have 55 reviews after your first year.

But, I got more reservations in Scenario A!?! Yes. That is true for the first year. Listing on multiple vacation rental platforms is a good short-term strategy where you will surely fill in otherwise unbooked gaps. But this advantage quickly disappears as time goes on when having more reviews associated to your listing disproportionality affects your search rank. In other words, after the first year Scenario A may be ranked on the 2nd page (on average) while Scenario B may be ranked on the 1st page (on average). This difference more than makes up for the 5 reservations passed on in the first year.

In early 2017 some research was done on Airbnb search and posted to Reddit. It shows that both guest satisfaction (#1) and number of reviews (#9) are highly correlated with search ranking. Reach the full report on hacking Airbnb’s search rank algorithm.

Pro Tip: If you use multiple vacation rental platforms, only allow secondary platforms to make reservations in the next 30 days.

The above pro tip is the only reason I can argue for in favor of listing on multiple vacation rental platforms. That is, to use additional platforms to fill in available days within the next 2 weeks to one month. The average Airbnb guest books 30 days in advance making the likelihood of getting a reservation within 30 days less and less likely as the unbooked days approach. As we all know, these last minute bookings also pose the greatest risk. Scammers and thieves are not planning ahead 30 days in advance. Learn how to identify problem Airbnb guests based on their profile.

Additionally, you may have started with an optimized listing on those 10 websites, but after a year they are all now poorly optimized because you have not kept up with the constant changes and updates these platforms make on a monthly basis. Get you Airbnb search engine optimized!

One final thought…

Have you heard of the Pareto principle? Or the 80/20 rule? It says that 20% of your efforts result in 80% of your outcomes. For Airbnb property managers, 20% of your Airbnb listings result in 80% of your income.

This is true in society: 80% of land is owned by 20% of the population.

Also true in nature: 20% of a crop creates 80% of the yield.

In my experience, Airbnb generates ~70-80% of booking revenue in most markets. A good host with an optimized listing can get this number up to 90%+.

If you are saying to yourself you want that extra 10-20%, I would ask: Is the extra 20% worth the extra 80% of your time? Time is your only asset you will never get back. Money comes and goes. For me, I would rather focus my attention on the most popular website, Airbnb.com, and use the rest of my time with family or friends or on hobbies or (ready for it!) to create an additional stream of revenue than chasing the last bit of income from the 14th most popular vacation rental platform.

It may make sense to list on multiple platforms if for some reason Airbnb is not the market leader in your area. Areas of China immediately come to mind or areas with a very specific clientele who already have a process for booking their vacation rentals. If you think you live in an area like this, please let me know in the comments and I will do some free research on your behalf.

I hope you have a different opinion than me. Share it in the comments so we both can learn and grow.

[David126]

I assume that the number of new listings measures in the thousands every day.

Likewise there will be a large number of listings going dormant or delisting.

My impression is that there is not a shortage of listings, the focus seems to be on attracting guests, de listing actual or possible listings with issues no doubt is a vey minor aspect of the totality. 

If somebody is looking on ABB then the likely loss to ABB could be negligible, they book somewhere else.

[Melissa640]

Your reasoning makes perfect sense, however I am thinking of joining another platform too, just so I can get a few good reviews, in case Airbnb is Cyber attacked one day and the whole thing collapses. 

[Daniel-Rusteen0]

Ya, join one, but only allow it to accept reservations within 30 days. Or, create a personal booking website with a service like Lodgify.

[Betsy60]

Hi Melissa,

Just lurking, and finding it interesting...I'm going to join another platform myself, since my bookings have dropped like a stone after December 14th. So far from reading all of this, it's between Booking.com and VRBO. Another tip I read, in addition to Daniel's recommendation to only accept reservations 30 days out on the additional platform, is (if you have Instant Booking on ABB) to require an inquiry from the guest as to availability to avoid conflicts. Not sure how to do that yet, but I'll fiqure it out when I choose another platform.  

[Cor3]

Hi @Daniel-Rusteen0,

Unfortunately @David126 became part of the negligible numbers himself 😞

[Mark116]

@Cor3

Did anyone ever find out what happened to him or why he was suspended?  

It's hilarious to me, given the hundreds of examples of airbnb failing to enforce it's own policies, horror stories from hosts and guests, that anyone, including the OP, would give airbnb the benefit of the doubt, that their secret process is either reasonable or fair.

[Susan17]

@Mark116   ....or legal.

[Susan17]

@Mark116 

Daniel has no option but to give Airbnb the benefit of the doubt. When you describe yourself as "Danny, The Airbnb Pro", are an ex-Airbnb employee turned Airbnb property manager, run a website called "Optimize My Airbnb", and sell a course called "Optimize YOUR Airbnb" - what else you gonna say? 😉

[Cor3]

Hi @Mark116,

I don't know what happened.

And he didn't have a real clue either.

See his farewell story here: https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Hosting/My-account-has-been-closed/m-p/790602

[Susan17]

Have the scales fallen from your eyes yet, @Daniel-Rusteen0? 

[Daniel-Rusteen0]

haha no. There are winners and losers in every market. I'm on the winning side and can focus on my one platform.

[Susan17]

Spoken like a true digital nomad property manager... 🙂

It's terrible advice Daniel. 

[Sandra126]

@Daniel-Rusteen0. I am impressed with your language skill, I only ever studied 6 and none as diverse and complex as Finnish etc. That is over 30 languages. Which version of sign do you do? I learnt a bit of Swedish sign, but it is not the same in Australia where I now live. Auslan only.

[Elsa64]

Very good and interesting  article, thank you @Daniel-Rusteen0

Just saying ...  😉

[Helen3]

Actually from a marketing prospective, the article is full of holes @Elsa64 and was posted by Daniel -  mainly as  a vehicle to drive traffic to Daniel's own website where he promotes his own Airbnb management company.

1. Marketing on more than one channel

Of course it makes sense for many hosts to use more than one marketing channel to prompte their listing/s. That doesn't mean you use all channels, but just those that work best for your sort of listing. You can also contact local universities, hospitals and other large employers and advertise your listing through them.

You attract different guests from different platforms. It doesn't take long to build up reviews. And there is absolutely no reason, when you can easily copy and paste content for each channel that 'You create mediocre listings on many platforms instead of one optimized listing' as Daniel claims. 

2.  Rankings

It is not true as Daniel claims that 'the more reviews you have, the higher you rank'. There are a huge range of factors that impact on your rankings, many of which hosts can't control.  The research Daniel links to is a piece of marketing puff designed to drive traffic to an airbnb management website. If you actually want to understand how Airbnb ranks listings - look at the information they provide on this under their Help Centre.

As well as reviews, using Instant Book, price, the number of competitors in your area, demand in your area for your type of listing. the quality of your photos and description are key.

I started a new listing in November, only have a few reviews comparable to hosts who have hundreds of reviews but still rank above them for comparable properties.

 3.  'only allow secondary platforms to make reservations in the next 30 days'.

It is simply not true to state as a fact (as Daniel does) that "The average Airbnb guest books 30 days in advance". I have friends with Airbnb's in European cities and the US. Most get their bookings through Airbnb within 30 days in advance. Not outside it. This is my experience too.

Of course there will be some airbnb hosts in holiday resorts or harder to reach locations which will be booked up a longer term in advance.

Most knowledgeable hosts will have two or three platforms that they know work best for them and open up their calendars for bookings in a way that works best for their destination.  As well as using their own direct channels to attract bookings.

I have made my comments, because I work in marketing and communications as my day job, so along with being an experienced superhost,  have some expert knowledge around the best ways to market a listing and would hate to see less experienced hosts, misled by someone who is posting his blog here to try and direct traffic to his site.