Attracting Long Term Guests

Huma0
Level 10
London, United Kingdom

Attracting Long Term Guests

Hello, I was wondering if anyone had tips for attracting long-term guests, including ideas for additional marketing that would draw them to my listing. By long-term, I mean between one and six months.

 

I currently have two rooms listed in my home that get pretty much booked back to back by short-term guests and another room where I currently have a long-term lodger. His lease is up later this Summer and, while I'm reluctant to have a third bedroom with short-term guests (too much for me to handle, plus I like the security of having at least one long-term person here), I'm also reluctant to get another lodger because they pay much less than Airbnb guests but usually make more mess/ignore house rules, and this effects my business as a host.

 

So, I thought a long-term guest would be the ideal solution. When I first listed a room, I had a few of these (between one month and four months) and everytime it worked out brilliantly. These were people coming to London for work, study or internships. I don't get them anymore because the rooms are booked up months in advance by short-termers.

 

My problem is that the room that I want for long-term guests only barely gets any views at all because the calendar has been blocked since last Summer. I have opened up some dates now, but the room only has a handful of reviews (100% positive) from the brief period I hosted guests in it while I was inbetween housemates. Any ideas on how I can get the listing noticed/attract the long-termers without having to use Instant Book? I have thought about approaching universities, but other than that, I have no idea...

54 Replies 54

@Huma0

My coworker told me he was put in touch with his host thru the language institute he studied at. Regarding meals I think hosts have a choice to provide it or not (self-catering or breakfast and/or dinner) - he was in his late 30s at the time and wanted privacy, a home-like environment but some company at home to practice English with which was why he didn't want to stay alone in a studio apartment although he could afford to. Sorry I'm not much help~

Thanks @Jessica-and-Henry0

 

I thought you might mean something more like that. When you Google homestay, you just get websites similar to Airbnb. I will have a look into organisations that might arrange this, especially if there any very close to me.

Don173
Level 2
Point Pleasant Beach, NJ

Hi-I'm a newbe to ABNB as of April 2018 and have had a very successful summer with short term rentals.  My location is Point Pleasant NJ which is basically seasonal.  I want to start promoting it as a long term rental (6 months) from 10/1/18-3/31/19 with ABNB and start-up again as short term in april 2019.  I'm curious how helpful ABNB has been in promoting long-term rentals and what if any changes they recommended you make to your listing.  (Just spoke to them and they weren't very helpful in that regard)  Does anyone have a listing designed to attract LT guests that I could take a look at?  Just trying to get some ideas. (I hope this link works).  Thanks, Don

https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/24537315?s=51

 

Huma0
Level 10
London, United Kingdom

@Don173

 

I'm not surprised that Airbnb customer services weren't particularly helpful with this. I think the reps are trained more to deal with technical queries, issues with bookings and resolution disputes rather than offering marketing advice.

 

Hopefully you will get some great advice on the forum from hosts with more experience of this!

Huma0
Level 10
London, United Kingdom

I thought I'd add an update on my progress. 

 

I have to admit I haven't followed all the helpful advice offered by other guests on this thread. That's because I realised that, although my calendar was showing the dates as available, I had a weird setting enabled that was preventing any guests from booking the room!

 

As soon as I turned it off, I had a guest book for four months (she has been here for a week so far). I thought I'd also try putting one of my other rooms on for minimum 28 day stays from October, as I already had short term bookings until then. Almost straight away, it got booked by another guest for 2.5 months.

 

Therefore, I've not needed to make any changes/do any marketing to attract long termers. It seems simply keeping the calendar clear from short term bookings is enough and I can always fill any shorter gaps inbetween with short term guests.

 

I will certainly be trying out some of the suggestions if the long term bookings dry up though.

Cecelia13
Level 2
Ealing, United Kingdom

Hi 

what is weird setting enabled 

Huma0
Level 10
London, United Kingdom

Hi @Cecelia13 

 

This was a while ago so I don't remembver exactly, but it was a setting that basically stopped anyone from booking. I didn't reven realise I had it turned on!

Huma0
Level 10
London, United Kingdom

Also, I stumbled across this today whilst looking for something totally non-related:

 

https://blog.atairbnb.com/long-term-stays/

Huma0
Level 10
London, United Kingdom
Huma0
Level 10
London, United Kingdom

Interesting re the requirements where you have to accept changes to long term bookings. I wasn't aware of that!

 

I assumed that if a guest wanted to change the booking, you could either accept or you could decline and they would need to cancel if the existing booking no longer suited them.