How did you attract your first booking?

Answered!
Lizzie
Former Community Manager
Former Community Manager
London, United Kingdom

How did you attract your first booking?

Attract your first booking.jpg

 

Hello everyone,

 

Thinking back to when you first joined Airbnb, before you got your first booking.

 

What did you do to make your listing attractive, to entice your first guest to book your home?

 

Did it take you long to welcome your first guest?

 

Thanks,

Lizzie


--------------------


Thank you for the last 7 years, find out more in my Personal Update.


Looking to contact our Support Team, for details...take a look at the Community Help Guides.

1 Best Answer
Andrew395
Level 3
Bali, Indonesia

Well for me, Airbnb was an unexpected event which literally saved my A**

 

Whilst  staying in Singapore for a few nights while waiting for my saxophone to be repaired I was listening to the radio in my hotel room and a short news item sounded talking about Airbnb. I had never heard about Airbnb and it was something which was on my mind on how to rent out my villa in Bali.

 

 It was funny as I had to scramble around to find a pen as the wording Airbnb so new to me, I was worried I may forget, as it happened, I lost the paper and did remember the word Airbnb and the rest is history.

 

 I had no real plan or experience in letting out property to strangers, therefore many mistakes were made and a great rush of ideas ran through my mind during the first year which caused  lots of anxiety as I knew what had to be done to improve matters. I was extremely lucky with the first guest as they wrote a good review but after that the reviews were mediocre but I was thankful to the guests who privately told me where I could improve.

 

 From that day onwards it became an addiction or rather a hobby to make everything wonderful and to make the guests feel happy. In the beginning I papered over the cracks with my personality and friendly approach which made up any shortcomings that were still lingering.

 

 I had a lot of contact with the guests who came to the Villa as I lived next door and it was easy for me to assist them and for me to learn more about what they really want from an Airbnb. I was also lucky  because my wife could make scrumptious food and in the beginning we offered this as an extra service and complimentary breakfast on their first day.

 

After a few years of hosting we finally became a super host which was the goal  as I could see the many benefits of being a super host on the Airbnb platform. Now in my fifth year I have encountered many types of people and rarely do I feel anxious when the new guest arrives. 

 

I now have everything perfect for hosting but still tweak, for example moving furniture around matching different colours and improving the interior to produce a calm relaxing environment. This is something I enjoy and did not realise  I have a little inner talent within this department. I know it can be expensive to update your property but it’s well worth it if you’re in for the long haul. 

 

 I also learnt a few wise things on the way in relation to mixing and socialising with this guests. In the early days I was always happy when the guests would invite me in for a drink as why not this is life and people are fun.  However some guests like to drink far too much which does not mix with my character but on one occasion because the guest was a music fanatic and a professional drummer in his younger days we stayed up late till 3 am swimming naked together in the pool and making music while his wife and daughter trying to sleep. 

 

 It was only when his wife stood outside the bedroom and shouting to the husband that it’s now nearly 4 am and she has not slept all night and would you stop making that noise and come to bed. Well looking back how embarrassing that was for me, I’m not too sure about the husband but for me it was the final time in getting really close to the guests as you need to distance yourself and to act professionally as you never know when it all might go wrong.

View Best Answer in original post

131 Replies 131

Thanks Rebecca it is one home bungalow and i leave there . It is double listing i have requested airbnb to remove one how to i go about it since no one has responded am new.

 

Will include loads as i continue sprucing up thanks so much for the support i appreciate keep advising me please i need support completely.

@Mary1662 go to where your listings are (I think it’s under hosting dashboard) and pull up the listing that you want to get rid of. Click on deactivate, and that will remove it. 

Thanks Sarah appreciated i need honest straight on clients and on point will pull it down now now .

Sarah i removed the cost for security and amended the pricing please check it up and keep me on my toes .Thanks again girl i appreciate.

i also deactivated that account humbled i do apprecaite .

@Mary1662 

Get clear pics in as much natural light as possible of each room. Lower your prices until you get enough reviews to have a 5 star rating. Don’t have a security deposit (Airbnb will cover damages without one if you document everything which you have to do with a security deposit anyway) because it eliminates a lot of potential guests. I looked at your listing and I personally wouldn’t have a guest fee until after the second or third guest while you’re trying to get going; it will make you more competitive pricing-wise. Remember, a full property is better than an empty property, even if it might be for a little bit less $ that night than you might have liked. Make your property work for you! Good luck! 

Ahoy Mary

 

see my messages as lots of pointers to help you.

 

Good luck, you gotta be patient.

Виталий5
Level 2
Moscow, Russia

My first bookings came after the airbnb photographer. I am very pleased. Thanks.

Lauramay0
Level 3
Biabou, VC

I have just listed during the busy Carnival season in St. Vincent. I did get one booking.  Maybe I need to do some extra work on my listings to attract more bookings. I do see a suggestion from Airbnb to remove the extra guest fee to attract more. However, I disagree with this suggestion at this time because I have only three listings. The charge for one room is not expensive. To remove the extra guest fee would attract more guests but would leave me operating below cost. I have seen where many extra guest turn up at no cost. It is a fact that to begin with one needs to attract many guests in order to get reviews and to achieve the Superhost status. In the meantime I will evaluate things and work on areas of the listings that need upgrading.

Cindee1
Level 2
Arkansas, United States

It took about 1 week to get our first booking.  

That first year we had only 5 weekends NOT booked.

We have a B&B, and we live here.  We have only had wonderful guests whom we would welcome all of them back! 

 

I took photos of my rooms at 9 am and at late afternoon for lighting features.  I rearranged things I saw in the photos that I didn’t like and took some more.  

I made sure all photos I posted were landscape set, to best fit the Airbnb photo page.

 

As I got feedback from my guests, they helped me to see which photos were helpful to them, and what they thought I should highlight.   So I added pics of my food, and sunsets over the lake, and more photos from each room.   

 

If you ask your guests questions, they will tell you!     Then LISTEN! 

 

I agree Cindee

 

You can always give your guests a quick questionnaire to tackle those niggling voices inside your head. I stopped the questionnaire a longtime ago, but now is the time to begin again and to move forward.

 

Take care

Sarah978
Level 6
Ithaca, NY

Hey everyone! 

We are lucky because we own property in a college town with a lot of tourist traffic. We took pics with the most natural light available, and we posted them along with a basic description to create our listing on ABB. I remember just wanting to get our properties posted and live. I continue to modify our listings to this day on a regular basis. When I first posted them, I priced them very low in order to get a bunch of reviews. Once we had a handful of reviews, I started pricing them competitively and paying attention to events coming to town that affected pricing. We got our first booking almost as soon as we had listed our first property, and I think it was for like the next night. We have been very fortunate, and we are very grateful for ABB!

Becky246
Level 2
Weston-super-Mare, United Kingdom

We had our first bookings very quickly as we used Airbnb's suggestion for a 20% discount for our first 3 bookings. Unfortunately we didn't realise they would also get the 5% weekly discount we had set up, on top of this. Our first 3 bookings got very cheap stays but gave us great reviews!

its usually like that if you need a good review , i also drop it very cheap after some bad review to make up for it with a good one 

Deneen2
Level 2
Amarillo, TX

I am very new to Abnb..I took my own photos. But I did follow recommendations of offering  lower price and a 20% discount to first 3 guests. I had y first booking within 24 hours. I have looked at others listings and know now how  to improve mine to make it  stronger attraction am very excited for the future.

Deneen Brazille