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
Branka-and-Silvia0
Level 10
Zagreb, Croatia

our fist booking happened almost the same moment when we published our listing. It wasn't even finished yet. 

 

Hahahaha classic!

Lizzie
Former Community Manager
Former Community Manager
London, United Kingdom

Hehe @Branka-and-Silvia0! Well it's turned out well for you. 🙂 How was it for you at the beginning?


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


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.

como anfitriona me considero muy buena lamento que haya huespes mal intencionados y no se porque soy servicial limpia y atenta solo pienso que es su problema yo no puedo mejorar mas les dedico todo mi tiempo 

Ben551
Level 10
Wellington, New Zealand

Our first booking happened within less than 12 hours of listing.

 

I guess we were a little strategic about it... we timed our launch to November 2018, which is 1 month before the peak summer season in New Zealand. We could have listed slightly earlier, but we wanted to be bumped to the top by the “NEW” badge for as much of the summer season as possible.

 

We also added the words “Brand New” to the listing title for the first month...AND (more importantly) we made sure the very first sentence of our listing description said “Be the first to review this brand new listing, open from December 2018!!” This was key, because people need to see a call to action that answers their inevitable question, i.e. why are their no reviews yet.

 

I think all these tricks helped with early bookings. We got 100% occupancy in the first month, so it went off with a blast!

Super helpful thank you, we just opened up a second bedroom so putting Brand New would definitely help!

I hope this will.

Hi Caron

 

if you were a super host before you opened your second bedroom, guest will see that. All you need to do is paste the old link to your new listing where folk can read your reviews. That’s what I am doing, so no worries about saying New etc.

 

Happy days

Andy

Lizzie
Former Community Manager
Former Community Manager
London, United Kingdom

Very true, @Ben551. Did you find that you guests asked much about this at the beginning or where they pretty aware that you were new to Airbnb? 


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


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.

Ben551
Level 10
Wellington, New Zealand

@Lizziewe had one question from a guest about why we had no reviews. But that same guest asked us approximately 30 questions, hounding us for days, they casually slipped in that she’d be bringing an infant... Airbnb cancelled the IB lol. Not your typical guest.

Lizzie
Former Community Manager
Former Community Manager
London, United Kingdom

@Ben551 

 

Ah!  Well at least you have had some question preparation. I bet you were ready for any questions that were thrown at you after that 🙂 


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


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.

Ben551
Level 10
Wellington, New Zealand

@Lizzie  actually yeah, it was helpful in that regard. We also added some extra narrative to our listing description as a result. Those early guest questions and comments were essential to take on board. We approached each one like a nugget of gold... still do really.

These are really helpful hints for someone just beginning. It really needs plenty prepping and not to rush. I am learning. Thanks.

Great strategic ideas there.  Timing is everything...well, besides the initial wording and main photo.

Love, love, love these suggestions/tips... we are onboarding a few more listings and this will be super easy way to clear up any confusion about why our listing appears under "superhost" yet has no reviews yet... lol.

 

Currently, we are moving mountains to finalize details of our new homes to get them ready for the busy season.  We are quite an industy driven town and the spring projects are bringing quite an influx of workers to the area.  Just to get on their radar, we have launched the listings with minimal details/photos and are adding more as we get it closer to the dates we have opened up on our calendar to accept guests.

 

THANK YOU for sharing your valuable insight on these points and best of continued success to you!

 

Lisa