25 tips to get booked!

[Harry22]

Hey Airbnb hosts, started this list as an answer to a question but it turned up pretty big so im sharing with every one. Hope its helpful to some people and please upvote it if you liked it. 

Here's what I’ve found so far in order to promote my listings:

1. Build a complete listing, fill in all the available information and be honest, you will probably hurt your future reviews if you lie.
2. Get verified. If you are into serious business, provide as many verifications as you can (I think you can have as many as 7).
3. Fill in your profile, have a friendly picture (not one after a metal concert) and write a couple of nice and true things about yourself. A lot of people chose pictures where they are with their significant other, I guess it makes them look friendlier? – that could work too.
4. Have a competitive and descriptive title (ie. mention some upcoming event in the area) - keep in mind they show up in google, so you might get hitsfrom there. Also mention other selling facts, ie. “close to Subway station”.
5. Have a competitive price, easy and simple, check what is offered in your neighborhood and, if possible, beat the price of the similar listings that are your competition. Also use the extra charge per person option, have a lower price for 1 person then gradually increase for added guests. Will make your pricing fairer.
6. Upload many and nice pictures I have an average of 20 per listing, and they were all shot with a good camera and underwent some light editing. Current mobile phones also get great pictures but well, I went all the way. Always consider Airbnb Free Photography service which gets the job done and provides of an extra verification for your profile.
7. Fill in the pictures titles - have the potential guests spend more time on your listing. Check your main (first) picture, how it appears on multiple devices. It might be a great picture by its self but when cropped by the airbnb layout it may appear worse. Manually crop it or change it. Also, I think 3:4 landscape ratio is the best for Airbnb, it appears well in most devices (except android app that allows portrait view 4:3)
8. Make sure you offer the basic amenities (I found that spending 30$ on a steam iron and a hair blower was worth it)
9. Get as many "tickable amenities" as possible, available (ie. a CO detector might cost $10, its probably worth ticking)
10. Probably worth getting the business ready title (recently got it on one of my listing, can’t say how much it was worth it yet).
11. Start low. The lower (but fair) the price, the more bookings, the faster you register more trips, the faster you get reviews, the faster you look like a cool host on search results.
12. Start with low standards. Cheap cleaning fee, friendly cancelation policy, loose house rules etc.
13. Find a way to afford 1-night stays. Probably are not worth it as much as long stays but having your place available for one night will increase your impressions on search results
14. Be a good host! Airbnb works with ratings, the more 5star ratings you get the more Airbnb algorithm will like you. Good and many reviews will also attract a potential guest.
15. Ask for recommendations. Connect your Facebook account, see which ones of your friends have Airbnb accounts and ask them to write a couple of nice things about you. They will fill in the spot until you get some solid reviews.
16. Don’t cancel confirmed reservations. It does hurt your host rating.
17. Reply ASAP. Besides convincing Airbnb that you are an active host, I have found that replying within 4-5 minutes to a message surprises the guest and increases their liking towards you as well. Even if you don’t have something to say to your guest, write a quick “Thank you for your interest, I will come back to you with more info ASAP” within less than an hour of the original message.
18. Reach superhost status, it is supposed to place you under better order on search results, plus gives you a nice badge on your picture, guest have the option to search only superhost listings. There is a special page on your profile (Stats on desktop and Performance on mobile) that tells you how close you are to being a superhost.
19. Get wish-listed. Not really under your control, but ask friends and guests to add you to their wish-lists.
20. Allow Instant-Book. It is supposed to increase your search result rankings. I also believe it makes you stand out in the map view, attracting clicks from guests.
21. According to several posts/blogs around the web, regularly (daily) updating your calendar will make the Airbnb algorithm believe you are an active host and award you a better position. Same thing is rumored to happen if you log in every day and if you daily update the texts of your listings. I don’t know if there’s an official Airbnb confirmation on this but, well, it’s probably worth a couple of minutes of your day.
22. Be active on the community forums. Again, getting thumbs-ups is supposed to increase how much the Airbnb algorithm likes you.
23. Look for your listings regularly. I have found out that people sometimes cannot find my listings even in areas/searches when no other listing is available. I try to produce specific searches that would force Airbnb to find my listings and after a couple of times they usually appear to my friends too. That probably is my own idea/conspiracy theory but I’m just adding it here towards the end of the list. Also have people regularly visiting your listings by sharing them your direct links (like mines at the end of the post, under my signature) just to let Airbnb know that we are regularly checking. You can get the links by clicking the preview button on your listing management page.
24. Promote your listing through Google or Facebook. A cheap, well targeted google or Facebook campaign might get you some fast customers. The return of the investment will be immediate. You can also use more SEO tools, set up a website with unique links to your listings, spam your friends on FB, pay for some clicks probably, I don’t know if it’s worth it and I won’t and get into more detail.
25. Lastly you can also register with other similar sites competitive to Airbnb. The tools are provided to you in order to migrate listings and sync calendars but I have found that Airbnb is the easiest to use and probably attracts the coolest and politest guests of all.

That pretty much sums up what information I have gathered and tried during the past few months.

A nice round total of 25 tips to promote your listing.

I hope it’s not very overwhelming and that it is helpful for new hosts that want to get in the game!

Also i'd love to hear the opinion of some more experienced hosts. 

Please gimme the thumbs-up if you found this helpful

Regards,

Harry K.

---------
Live your myth in Greece:

Mykonos: https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/13655047
Athens downtown #1: https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/13337047
Athens downtown #2: https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/13567058
Family villa near Athens: https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/13364268

[Foteini]

I think @Harry22 's post was the one that made me decide to finally find some time and just start as a Host in Airbnb rather than being always a guest. I do not feel confident enough to give out the whole house so started with a private room and bathroom. I dread the thought of not being able to sleep all night thinking of strangers going over all my stuff and that is the best case scenario I have in mind :P The worst begins with a telephone telling me that they burned the house down lol 

But I love hosting friends and relatives all year long so why not host guests and make something out of it? 

Anyhow, I have followed all of Harry's advices (at least the ones I can for the time being) and I am waiting since yesterday to see what will happen. I did urge friends to list as guests in Airbnb and wishlist my listing, I have spent a day searching google/airbnb and bing with terms I used in the listing, I have completed all profiles/tabs/directions/quidebooks/I have even listed on the map even every gas station/restaurant/bakery/shop near my house. 

I didn't manage to find a 10 dollar CO detector (even in Aliexpress.com) but I will get one from Amazon uk for a couple more. I have more than 30 photos uploaded but although I got them with High Resolution in an iphone 6s Plus I think that once they are uploaded they get a bit compressed in size. I made sure to have the lowest price but I am just wondering if that being too low means that with no review/guests yet if people will consider this some kind of a trap. 

So, after doing at least half and even more in Harry's List I checked and my yesterday's newbie listing appears (if not first always)  in the top results. I have no idea of course if that is widely extended to other users or just me who (like a lunatic) calls friends and says please search this for me lol 

I am wondering how breakfast and cleaning works for Greek Tax Law. I had read that offering services like meals or cleaning make that a business rental instead of a simple house renting and that means more Taxes (from 11% goes to +35%). Am I mistaken? 

Anyhow, thank you Harry for providing this amazing User Guide for New Hosts, I have no idea how it will work out for me and my listing but I would have never though all of these actions without reading your article. Kudos :) 

#newhost 

[Santana1]

I'm a newbie host and used a lot of these techniques listed. I listed my place just a few days ago at cheap but fair prices compared to others and my place is officially 60% booked for November. I'm so ecstatic! Looking forward to my new venture as a host!

[Ian & Charlene]

I'm a new host...

What are "verifications" please? 

[Harry22]

Hey @Ian & Charlene, and welcome

Verifications are various ways to provide proof of your real life identity.

You can check them out by moving your mouse over your picture in the upper right corner of your browser (on a pc) and then selecting "edit profile". In the next page, on the left column you will see "Trust and Verification", click on it.

In this page you can provide verifications that you are infact the person you are saying you are - the more the better!

You could be verified through: Email, Phone number, Google account, LinkedIn account, Facebook account, your AmEx card and ofcourse your actual government issued ID/Passport (cant remember where you enter those though :p)

Do bother and connect as many accounts as you can, it makes guests feel safer when they book your place.

Thumbs up if i helped ;)

Cya!

[Sofia315]

I can only add FB account?? How come? 

[Zee And Lyna]

Hi @Ian & Charlene! "Verification" here means that you are already being verified as "genuine", not a scam. There are a few ways to get verified. Either by connecting your AirBnB account with your Facebook account, or by providing AirBnB your government ID (scan and upload). You will get more bookings as your guests know that they could trust you better. All the best to you my friend, hosting is definitely fun! :)

[Lilian20]

Nice one ! These are good tips,

here are my 3 listings that need the most promotion : 

https://www.airbnb.fr/rooms/14316022 (Perpignan , flat with balcony)

https://www.airbnb.fr/rooms/5658634 (Argeles sur Mer - top floor)

https://www.airbnb.fr/rooms/6999155 (Argeles sur Mer - 1st floor)

[Sandra126]

 when you have a few reviews under your belt, use selected wording from them and use as picture text, looks brilliant and means you can say nice things about your place without actually being the one saying it. This wasn't my idea, I saw it in another profile but can't remember whose. Thanks to whoever that was, best tip. Could have been @Jeet maybe?

Works especially well for shy or modest hosts who still want to rave about their place but don't know how!

[Jeet]

Hey @Sandra126, how have you been? :)

You are right I have used that idea, but it certainly isn't mine. I don't remember the name but it's by the host who used to share "Marketing Mondays"

Nevertheless, if anyone wants to take a look at how I've made use of reviews in photo description, you can do it here: https://www.airbnb.co.in/rooms/5740610

[BK(Daarsh)]

 Hi Jeet

I need some help to get going...Can we chat 1 to 1 plz?

[Lee133]

I recently did this from a recommendation in Optimize you AirBnB book. Thanks for posting.

[Rupa1]

What is picture text Sandra? You mean take photos of good review and then add them as a additional photo along with existing photos? TIA -Rupa

[Sandra126]

No, not at all. I mean the image description which you type in with every image. See my listing or Jeet's to see what I mean!

[Ruben231]

was that she mean