Ideas for Promotions for recurring guests?

[Rob143]

I would like to offer special terms to guests who have booked with me before. I am a Superhost and my reviews have been 100% good. I want to capitalise on the faith guests have in me. Equally they are now known to me and I can trust them.

But I am stuck for promotional ideas.

Any thoughts?

[Linda108]

@Rob143  Like you I have had wonderful guests and have great reviews.  Some stick out in my mind as people I would love to host again, but the nature of my area, which is event oriented, does not lend to many repeats.

I know you can message former guests so how about sending a quick message to guests you think might come back and offer a discount.  Give them a code to use when booking that will trigger your sending a Special Offer if they want to book open dates.

[Rob143]

Thanks Linda. Ditto on event led. Rugby and music in our case. I'm hoping to attract previous guests back over non event periods..................they seem to really like the apartment and it's central location. Would I be pushing it to ask about the code? Do you create it yourself?

Rob

[Jillian86]

Where do you find a code?

[Robin4]

Hi @Rob143....I always tell guests when they leave that their next trip will be subject to a special offer!

I tell them to, rather than just book, hit the 'Contact Host' field, puts some dates in, and I will immediately send them a discount offer....Rob, it works.

Everyone takes notice when you tell them how to save some money and I have had guests who have stayed multiple times.

There is not a general mechanism where you can bulk post past guests, but Rob, I did take the opportunity in the recent Airbnb Seasons Greetings card mailout to reinforce my discount offer to all my past guests, and I am going to include this as a feedback item to the Tech team for condideration.

Cheers....Rob

[Rob143]

Thanks Robin. A really good idea; make the offer whilst the quality of the accomodation is fresh in their mind. Would it be rude to ask how you handled the actual offer? ie a % discount, set amount, extra day?

Rob

[Todd-and-Beth0]

@Robin4

"Airbnb seasons greeting card mail out"??! What? I wish I knew of this. I've never heard of it. I've been a super host for almost a year so it couldn't have been an exclusive program. Was it only available in Australia perhaps?

[Gerry-And-Rashid0]

@Rob143

Easiest way we have found is to have a small business card made up - leave it in the room with your contact details and AirBnB listing address + a line such as: Thank you for staying - come back again and get a x% discount.

[Rob143]

We meet the guests as they leave. We could hand them the card directly. Thanks guys.

[Todd-and-Beth0]

@Rob143 @Gerry-And-Rashid0 @Robin4 @Linda108 

I have my returning customer offer right at the top of the listing.

"A very nice, fully furnished, 3 bedroom house near the University, hospital and the mall. A lot of upgrades make this house comfortable and enjoyable. Now, returning guests enjoy 15% discount. Some restrictions apply. See listing for details."

Then further into the listing description I offer details: 

"15% discount for returning guests. Must be at least two weeks between visits. This offer can be used at any time for any reservation of any duration after the first stay. Reserve your subsequent visit through normal booking methods, mention that you are a returning guest and we will adjust your reservation for the discount. The discount applies to booking charges including the cleaning fee. The discount does not apply to the damage deposit or any funds taken from the damage deposit. This discount is not in addition to discounts for weekly or monthly stays. This program may be terminated at any time at our sole discretion."

It it seems to work. I've applied the discount to three of my reservations and I have one on the books I have yet to discount because he may be adding more guests. This is real easy to do because at anytime you can make changes to a reservation and that includes price changes. No one yet has turned down accepting a downward change in price.

[Johnny-And-Jenny0]

Thank you all for the information. 

We too would like to offer discounts to recurring guests. Also thought we could do smaller discounts when referred by other guest. 

[Susan1188]

You can always re-contact prior guests thru Airbnb and propose a special offer!

You can also ask them to have their friends send an inquiry with a keyword or something and then give a special offer.

[Susan1188]

(1) you should be keeping a CRM database on excel with all your prior guest info
(2) this can be used to target promotions and fb ads, etc

(3) you should find little things to improve once a year:  beds, linens, artwork, guideboook... anything is a reason to tell your guests about it and reach out with emails, fb or google ads...
(4) once a guest has completed a stay, you can reach out again same time next year via airbnb messaging.  don't do it too often but try once or twice if guest is responsive, all good!
(5) I have found it impossible to satisfy repeat guests in mid and high season because  I'm pretty fully booked.  But I still need those low season bookings.  So go the extra mile for those guests in low season with a profile who might come back each year.

Good luck!