A Host's guide to Airbnb: 60 tips

[Harry22]

Hey Airbnb hosts, started this list as an answer to a question but it turned up pretty big so I shared it as a separate post that I believe helped a lot of people.

Almost a year older in my Airbnb host age, I decided to update the list and add some stuff I gathered, plus some tips to new guests, who are scared or skeptical to start hosting. I gathered a total of 60 tips for you, the TL:DR (short) version with 25 is here: 25 tips to get booked

Hope it’s helpful to some people and please upvote it if you liked it.

A note to new Hosts:

You might skeptical to join the “dance” of Airbnb hosting. It is indeed a big decision, we all went through it.

Start by making a listing and not publishing it yet. Just create an account, add the photos you shot from your phone, spend an afternoon with a glass of wine and add nice descriptions and information in your listing.

Take your time, and when you feel like it just publish it and go live. Experiment with prices, photos and texts, start talking with potential guests.

Remember, you are not obliged to accept anyone unless you want to (don’t enable instant- booking). See how it goes, get a feeling of it, and when you feel ready, accept your first guest.

Now you are officially a member of the Airbnb hosts family, now keep reading:

Preparation

1. Build a complete listing, fill in all the available information and be honest, you will probably hurt your future reviews if you lie. My experience shows that most guests won’t bother to read all the stuff you included in the listing description. It doesn’t matter, it is certain that at some point you will have some dispute with a guest. A complete and truthful listing will help you out and remember, Airbnb takes care if its hosts, they will take your side if you are honest, polite and mean business.
2. Get verified. If you are into serious business, provide as many verifications as you can (Facebook, LinkedIN, Google, passports etc). I think you can have as many as 7. Show your guests that you are a real person and not a scam.
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. Underpromise and overperform (warn guest about flaws/quirks of your space, then let them be happy with how awesome it is)

Giving your listing a name

1. Have a competitive and descriptive title mention other selling facts, ie. “close to Subway station”.
2. Mention upcoming events in title, OR NOT? The title of your listing will appear to your potential guests who are searching accommodation with criteria that fit your house. This will make your listing distinguish between the 3-4 other listings that fit the search results.
3. Keep in mind that within Airbnb website you cannot search keywords, only location. On the other hand, Airbnb website is monitored by Google (and other similar search engines) and your listing’s title is now a new page in their search results. I believe – with my limited SEO knowledge – that a static title, which would be search friendly, with keywords such as “Downtown Paris Apartment” will at some point make you appear in the search results in the main search engines and will give you more bookings than a seasonal title, which in most cases will not have enough time to be indexed and give you google hits for the upcoming concert in the area. [this point is up to debate, I’d love to hear some comments on this]

Pictures

1. (Beginners) Take pictures with your cellphone today. Don’t wait for the perfect ones to launch your listing. You will have plenty of time to redo the photographs but don’t lose that extra week of potential income waiting on the perfect shots.
2. 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.
3. Always consider Airbnb's Photography service (fee applies) which gets the job done and provides of an extra verification for your profile.
4. Photoshoot tips:
   • Light: make sure your photos are well lit; put lights on and open curtains; don't aim the camera at the window.  Dark photos won't do your rooms justice.
   • Probably the best time to shoot is before noon and early in the afternoon (depending on where you are on earth) but too much outside light will make your inside look dark. Keep the strongest light-source behind you when shooting and experiment away!
   • Beds and sofas: smooth and tidy.  If the bed doesn't look tidy, I don't book a property as I don't have faith in hosts to take care of other aspects of their listing.
   • WC: put the seats and lids down!
   • Tidy: and remove personal possessions from guests' spaces to make your rooms look welcoming.
   • Extras: only put flowers and fruit etc. in photos if they're going to be there for every guest.
   • Outside: include a photo of the outside of your building, unless you feel it compromises your security.
   • General view: include a pic of your street or surroundings.  Chose a time of day when the sun is shining on the scene, and your house isn't in the shade, and chose a time of year when the countryside looks green, if this applies. 
   • Views: I love to see what the view is from my room; label the photo to say which part of the property you get the view from.
   • Local attractions: say in your listing how far away this is. If you show a beach photo, for example, is this the beach that your listing says is 2 minutes away?
   • Accuracy: obviously make sure your photos give an accurate picture of your listing, and update them as and when you make changes. Remove duplicates.
   • Access: only include photos of spaces that guests have access to. It just leads to misunderstandings if you show a kitchen or sitting room to which they don't have access.
   • Grouping: I like to see the interior shots first, then outside, then neighbourhood and attractions.
   • The choice of the number one photo is personal and depends on what you think the wow factor of your listing is. I always fall for a good view from the veranda as the primary picture
5. After lightly editing your pictures, you can go ahead and edit them heavily – or not? Everyone does it, you could too.
6. A wide-angle lens and HDR effects will help.
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) Label your photos: this is a chance to tell your guests a little more about your listing. Does the balcony belong to the Private Room? - Enough photos:   Guests will want to see fewer photos if they are just staying the night, but more photos if they are planning to stay longer, or if they are coming out of their way to visit you, or if they are paying a lot of money for an up-market property.  I've seen a post that suggests that you don't usually need more than about 20 photos.
8. Add a picture of a map of the area and one with subway/train/public transportation instructions – I fount it’s very helpful for the guests

Pricing

1. When starting, 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.
2. 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.
3. Opposite to the previous point, at some point you will figure out the perfect price for your listing. Try to keep high, to attract better guests and at the same time be competitive. There’s an old Greek saying that roughly translates as: “Low prices attract the towel thieves”
4. 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.
5. Get your first 3 5-star reviews as fast as possible. Stars will appear in your listing after the first 3 trips. And it’s nice to have 5 shiny starts next to your title. Start with reasonable standards. Cheap cleaning fee, friendly cancelation policy, loose house rules etc. Increase accordingly.
6. 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, your reviews and your income
7. DON’T rely on Airbnb’s price and discount recommendations. Check them but don’t always follow them. I don’t know what their criteria are but I’ve seen people whining that the suggestion is too low. It’s a suggestion, ignore it and go on with your favorite price.

Amenities

1. Make sure you offer the basic amenities (I found that spending 30$ on a steam iron and a hair blower was worth it)
2. Get as many "tickable amenities" as possible, available (ie. a CO detector might cost $6, its probably worth ticking). Get fire extinguishers and always tell the guests where they are during check ins – better safe than sorry. Ok, maybe don’t overdo it on the tickable amenities, or at least don’t hold back your listing’s launch because of them. Place an order on a reasonable priced on Amazon or Ebay, and install it as soon as it’s there.
3. Probably worth getting the business ready title if you are in a city center or business busy area (recently got it on one of my listing, can’t say how much it was worth it yet).
4. Sleep in the room that you will be offering. You’ll notice things when you try to experience the house like a guest would

Hosting

1. Be aware that you are running a business. Educate yourself on all necessary permits and implement them.
2. Study in depth all the Airbnb rules and regulations, particularly about cancellations. Have their phone number handy in case you need help beyond what's available in the help section. They are extremely helpful and have helped me out every time I needed something.
3. (Beginners) Ask for references. 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, a nice way to show that you have a good and reliable personality and at the same time shows that you mean business.
4. 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.
5. Don’t cancel confirmed reservations. It does hurt your host rating heavily.
6. Maybe you missed it so ill stress it out: DON’T CANCEL CONFIRMED RESERVATIONS!!! If for some reason you have to, talk to the guest, explain the situation, ask them to cancel on their end. Beg them or bribe them. Offer free stay on their next booking. DON’T CANCEL. If it all fails, call Airbnb, explain them why you cannot accept the guest and hope that they will understand and cancel the reservation – penalty free.
7. Reply ASAP. Counts greatly towards your appearance in search results as you are convincing Airbnb that you are an active host. Besides that, 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 am driving at the moment, I will come back to you with more info ASAP” within less than an hour of the original message.
8. THEY NEVER READ THE DESCRIPTIONS!!! Ok, I am exaggerating but be prepared for a big percentage of people just ignoring everything you wrote and either ask you, or just book and come expecting different things. Keep the important info high in your description texts and hope for the best.
9. SPAM: You might get some fake messages from people advertising their business or other crap – ie. Use our concierge service, use our taxi service etc – although you might not be interested in those offers, do answer fast with a “thank you”, Airbnb will consider them as unanswered guest messages if you don’t answer
10. Get wish-listed. Not really under your control, but ask friends and guests to add you to their wish-lists.
11. 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.
12. Allow Instant-Book. It is supposed to increase your search result rankings. I also believe it makes you stand out in the map view with a nice thunder icon, attracting clicks from guests.
13. Make friends with other hosts in the area. If you are booked or have an emergency, recommend their space. It is short-sighted to view every host as your competition, and bonding with other hosts is good for the whole community. Hosts will return the favor, and your guests will be impressed that you are willing to help when you have no financial incentive to help.

Some geek stuff here if you want to overdo it, if not, skip the next section below

1. Keep in mind that mobile apps and desktop clients have different features and you won’t find identical functionality on both. You’ll have to work on both of them to fully access the features.
2. Don’t pay too much attention to Airbnb’s statistics like Views, booking percentages etc. I have found that they are wrong (if not impossible) in many cases. They show different numbers in mobile and desktop clients by the way. Superhost’s stats, on the other hand are accurate, they are your definite criteria to become and remain a Superhost.
3. 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 (select a random date, block it, then re-enable it). Same thing is rumoredto 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.
4. Be active on the community forums. Again, getting thumbs-ups is supposed to increase how much the Airbnb algorithm likes you.
5. Look for your listings on the map 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.
6. 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.
7. 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. An update here: I wouldn’t go for Facebook ads, they look like spam to me, I’m going to go for straightforward google AdWords from now on, promoting my listings when someone searchers for “apartment in XXXX city center”.
8. 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.
9. Reach out to companies that will do the work for you. You can always outsource part of the business. Have a company run the online listings, have them do the cleaning or the check-ins/check-outs or have them manage the property altogether. Will lower your income but will save you the hustle.
10. Get Insured. Especially if your place has a pool, or accident prone facilities. Get in touch with an insurance agent and ask them for a plan to insure potential accidents for guests in your house. Might save you -literally- a fortune.

Check in & beyond

1. Try to be present during check ins, a friendly face and warm welcome works great towards getting those stars.
2. Don't let guests in early if your home is not yet clean--no matter how much they beg or say they don't care, they DO care. You only get that first chance to make a good impression.
3. Find a way to offer 24h self-check-in (if possible). Combination key-safes go for $15-30 online. This will increase your income as many people might be arriving after midnight. This also relieves the guests from the anxiety to be on time to meet you. Some people prefer it anyway, they don’t want close contact with the host. Give them the option but don’t overdo it and be lazy about welcoming them. (see below)
4. It’s recommended to send a quick message to the guests during their first days of their stay and ask them if everything is ok and up to their standards. It makes them know you are thinking of them and might give you the heads-up to repair something that isn’t working during their stay and that they wouldn’t bother you about it unless you asked (i.e. the sink is leaking). Repairing something during their stay might be the extra star in your review. You will fix it anyway later.
5. If you need to enter the space while it’s occupied and they are absent, ALWAYS ASK for their permission. (i.e. I’ll get you the blankets you asked me, is it ok if I open the door and leave them inside? Or do you want me to leave them outside?)
6. Always ask every guest at the end of their trip how your house/room and the experience could be improved for the next guest. Then do whatever they suggest if it is within your power.
7. If you feel like it and you think that the guest will react nice to it, politely ask for a good, 5star review.

Bad experiences

1. You will at some point rent out to a guest that won’t be perfect. Keep in mind that it is YOUR house and YOUR rules.
2. Always be polite and try to resolve any issue with the guest first but if you can’t handle it you can always call Airbnb. I have found that they would take the host’s side most of the time. (provided that your request is reasonable)
3. Keep in mind that there are some refund-hunters out there. They will use the slightest opportunity to whine about something that was not as described and ask for a discount or a refund. Depending on the situation, see what is your best way out, either refund them, or stand on your initial position. If you think you are in the right side of the argument, try to keep your communication within the Airbnb chat and as a last resort call them.
4. Listen to feedback, but don't try to be all things to all people. Keep the experience fun.

In every occasion that you feel like you need to pick up the phone and talk to someone in charge, the bible to contacting airbnb is here: Dave & Deb's Community Guide.

That pretty much sums up what information I have gathered and tried during the past few months. Between my tips are other hosts’ tips that I found browsing through these forums and thought that were worth mentioning. I would love to mention their names as source but I realized rather late that I was just pasting them in a word document so I don’t have the names anymore. A big thanks to the community for their contribution and my sincere apologies for not quoting your names. I should also state here that those are a group of tips to help you out and to act as a reference, I wouldn’t carry any responsibility if your experience is different or if you screw something up 🙂 (Mods: i x-posted this to the help, hosts and new hosts forums, feel free to moderate the x-posts if you feel like it)

Anyway, a set of tips to help you through your hosting experience, I hope it’s not very overwhelming and that it is helpful for new hosts that want to get in the game!

I’d also love to hear the opinion of some more experienced hosts. 

Do offer your thumbs-ups if you found this helpful, dear sirs and madams.

Regards,

Harry K.

---------

Live your myth in Greece:

***[To view listings, hover over profile image and click, 'View profile']

[Ryan-And-Stacy0]

Bob,

I agree with you about instant booking. I turned off my instant booking and got a message from air B&B saying that I would no longer be in the forefront of the running of properties for people to see. At first I felt a bit upset that they would say that it seems whatever makes it easier for them and not me. I felt better two days later when I received a request for my property without instant booking. So you may be right you could be asking for trouble by just giving instant booking. I had no idea though, that they don't check their people if you don't do instant booking.

[Vicki82]

That was a very thoughtful post!

I've never had a bad guest.

I'll keep my fingers crossed; )

[Frances1]

In my experience these  difficult  guests who won't follow house rules  are very  rare, but when you do get one I wonder what happens  when  you  say in your Review that you would NOT recommend them to other Hosts ? 

 Do they get black listed in some way ? Or are the negative reviews hidden and  not published ? Does Air bnb use the information to protect Hosts from these, very occasional,  problem guests ?   or do they wait for several bad reviews about them before they act ? 

 As Hosts we  get penalties  for cancelling a booking . Is there a  similar system for Guests wh behave badly  as well ? 

[Keith104]

This is fantastically helpful, thanks for your effort in sharing. Much appreciated!

[Kelly281]

Thanks!  Really helpful for people starting out. 

[Seyha0]

This tips is a must read, thank you for taking the time to write this out. Would definitely help a lot of Airbnb hosts especially new one.

[Gulia-and-Barb0]

Thank you! I learned something new from your suggestions! 

[Jonathan150]

I am 100 percent on board with everything except one thing: instant booking. I feel it defeats the purpose of reviews all together. Lets say a guest has been constantly reviewed for not following house rules or might be a little rough to deal with or they just vandalized the last place they was in. Who knows? I wouldn't know that until after they book and cancelling after guests book leaves a negative stain on your profile. I know Airbnb kindly encourages to do so, which statisitcally speaking means more income, but I like to use the review system to get a feel of what I am getting myself into.

[Neti1]

Hi Jonathan, I noticed your post and just want to say that there is a setting for Instant nook that allows only guests with positive reviews to make an Instant booking.  There is also a setting that only allows guests who have verified with a government ID to make an Instant booking. 

In the Booking settings, right under the section about How guests can book, is a section Guest requirements, and you can edit there.  The default is, and I quote:

"Airbnb standard requirements

Profile photo, confirmed email and phone number, and payment information. New guests acknowledge how traveling on Airbnb is different." How do they acknowledge that?  No idea, I'd have to make a new account to see what that's all about.

So, when you turn on Instant book, you have to be sure to change that setting.  In my opinion the default should be the other choices:

"Government-issued ID," and "Recommendation from other hosts."

If you are "uncomfortable" with an Instant book reservation, but not if you just made a mistake on your calendar, you can cancel a booking penalty free.  I have done so once (because the guest was uncommunicative about something that I really needed to know, regarding how many people were coming) and will do so again if needed.  I have been a Superhost for several years now.

The default when people search is to have the filter for Instant book on, so you will definitely get more bookings if you turn it on.  I turn it on and off from time to time, because sometimes I am unsure about my schedule.  I also add two days on each end in the Availability settings > Reservation Preferences > Preparation time.  As soon as I get a booking, and the guests let me know what time they are arriving and departing, I unblock those days.  I don't want to get two Instant bookings that cause a difficult and stressful change-over.

As always, better results are achieved by attention to detail and understanding the parameters of the system we are dealing with. I don't agree with the way that Instant book is being pushed, nor some other ways that Airbnb is veering towards being more like the hotel business, but I appreciate the opportunity to have my listing, and so far it has been a great success. 

I think if you try Instant book with the settings just so, you will have a good experience.  But you have to stay on top of your calendar.  If you are in a period of time where you are not as organized as usual about your calendar, then you can turn it off.

Neti

[Frances1]

Hi , I agree you have to check Instant Booking settings carefully .

I have ticked that I want only people with a positive review but it seems to jump out of the setting , and I am still getting bookings from  first timers with no reviews  .  One guy  the other day had not even got his photo ID  before he tried to book . If the presure is on  from Air BNB to get guests at any cost this could be a risk  to  hosts in their own homes, so double check your settings if you chose Instant Book . Frances , Faversham UK 

[Clare0]

@Frances1 Many Instant Book hosts don't realize that when a guest does not meet the required government ID and / or positive reviews, they can still send an Inquiry or Reservation Request allowing the host to decide to Accept or Decline.  All the IB requirements do is prevent someone from booking instantly if the guest does not meet the requirements. 

[Neti1]

If you turn Instant book off, then turn it back on, you will have to reset all your choices.  If a guest has no verified government ID, and so can't Instant book, they can send a request.  Then you can ask them to go ahead and verify threir government ID before you agree to accept the booking.  I have done that several times, it gives me a chance to see if the guest is responsive, communicative and respectful of my wishes  I'm not sure if the setting for "only guests with positive reviews" means more than one positive review.  If you don't feel comfortable wirth the reviews the guest has, you can cancel penalty free.

The requirement for verified government ID doesn't translate into profile picture that actually shows the person's face.

[Frances1]

Thanks for some clarification on Instant Book  and profile portraits . Unless individual hosts keep asking for the standards  we've been led to believe are  the norm  I agree Air bnb could morph   from a friendly personal service  for travellers into  mega buck land  run for professional Landlords . Such a shame ! 

[Annette33]

@Neti1, concerning IB and the Airbnb standard requirements - specifically the profile picture:
I had heard from several hosts, and now it happened to me as well, that people can book without having a profile picture in place, just a gray silhouette. 


So I twittered to Airbnb about this, got an immediate answer, and someone from Airbnb even called me within minutes! Telling  me all about non discrimination, etc, etc...that people are definitely screened and verified by Airbnb if it says so.
When I asked how without visual confirmation, as a host I could make sure from my end that the person showing up is the person that booked and not a third party, the Airbnb agent finally suggested I message the guest and ask them to upload a profile picture if it bothers me, reassuring me I could cancel penalty free if I had an issue with it.
Not telling me it's a glitch in the system, but suggesting how to deal with it.  Hmmmm.....


I even have "guest needs to have  a  clear profile picture of themselves" in my house rules.  The agent told me that only the Airbnb intiated house rules are screened for potential bookings, not the ones we hosts add, but again that Airbnb would back me up if it becomes an issue. 


So in essence I learned that the profile picture is another one of those things that reflect the "old Airbn", but that it simply isn't important to them any longer, yet they (still?) need to pacify hosts who want to have it in place.

Just like Amazon started with selling CDs and then morphed into selling everything, Airbnb started as a mom and pop operation to rent out a bed or room, now is on its way to become the biggest and most inclusive travel/booking site available , requirements and choices get constantly changed and finally dropped - but we hosts are not told, we have to figure it out ourselves...



[Neti1]

You are right, Annette. Things are changing so fast it's hard to keep up.