by Jasper Ribbers from Get Paid for Your Pad
To get booked on Airbnb, the user first has to find your listing in the search results. If your listing isn’t displayed on the first page after a user enters a search query, it’s unlikely that the user will find it.
Airbnb uses a complicated algorithm to determine what listings to show to its users. The results are personalized, which means they may show different listings to different users. This makes it tough to get a good idea of where you are in the rankings.
Airbnb doesn’t disclose exactly how its algorithm works, but they do provide some guidance. In general, the home-sharing platform aims to show users the listings that matches their preferences and that are most likely to get booked.
Three most important factors.
1) Booking appeal
Airbnb wants to show listings that get booked often, in technical terms that convert well. To make your listing attractive, be sure to add plenty of beautiful photos to your listing. Make sure that every area is displayed from different angles and include some pictures of the neighborhood and the most interesting sites nearby. Add a floorplan to your photos to make it easy for your potential guest to understand the layout of your pad.
2) Quantity and quality of reviews
Reviews play an important role in the decision-making process of the guest. The more, the better, which is why when you’re just starting out you’re better off receiving several short stays rather than one longer stay. Setting your minimum night stay to one or two nights is good practice.
Five-star reviews will certainly help. Creating an outstanding guest experience is the best way to accomplish this. Make sure to ask your guests during their stay if everything is as expected. It’s best to hear of issues in time to fix them rather than reading about them in a subpar review.
Communication is also key. Providing a beautifully designed online guestbook for your guests and personally welcoming them to your home goes a long way. By showing your guests that you care, you’ll be likely to be forgiven in case of unfortunate circumstances like the internet shutting down or the neighbors throwing a party.
3) Ease of booking
Airbnb aims to create the best possible user experience for its users and prefers listings that are easy to book. To accomplish this, turn on instant bookings and make sure to respond as quickly as possible to messages and booking requests. An easy way to do this (and save a lot of time) is to use an automated messaging app like Smartbnb.
Although you should never accept guests that you don’t feel comfortable with, rejecting a lot of booking requests can have negative effects. Most people on Airbnb are good people, bias towards giving users the benefit of the doubt. Avoid canceling a reservation at all costs. This is a sure fire way to jeopardize the success of your Airbnb listing.
Jasper Ribbers is a former trader who now travels the world full-time while renting out his apartment on Airbnb. He’s hosted over 350 groups and used this experience to write the No.1 Amazon Best Selling book on Airbnb hosting, Get Paid For Your Pad.
He’s also the host of a podcast on Airbnb, also called Get Paid For Your Pad. On the podcast, he interviews hosts from all over the world. They share their experiences and provide useful tips and tricks for those who are new to Airbnb.