My AirBNB (and Booking.com) experience:
I have stayed in dozens of Airbnb’s for more than a year now, below is a screenshot of my Airbnb’s the past months…
And between you and me:
I actually only live in Airbnb’s, hostels and hotels and probably will be doing that for a long time to come simply because I am not 100% sure where to “settle”…
For the skeptic who notices the gaps between the dates: I used Booking.com and I made deals in between with the owners of the places.
STATEMENT:
Most people who run Airbnb owners, leave a lot of money on the table because nobody tells them how to optimize the presentation, or market their place better and most of them don’t approach their Airbnb venture as a real business.
In case you’re in the Airbnb business:
It’s not your fault that you didn’t optimize your AirBNB business’s revenue, yet…
BUT it would be your fault if you didn’t do it after this post…
MY INTENTION:
As a business growth strategist, I always feel the urge to make people aware of the option for optimizing their business.
And because I am repeating the same ideas over and over again I decided to write a post about it – saves me time…
So, in the end: I do it for selfish reasons 🙂
As always I try to keep posts as short and summarized as possible to save you time and red-eyes from reading 🙂
Enough with the mambo jambo, here we go:
Before you start reading the bullet points I would like to ask you to get into the following mindset by asking yourself the following question when you walk through your AirBNB place.
“Would I be more than happy to stay in this place if I traveled a few hundred or thousand kilometers?”
You don’t need to share your answer with the world but be very honest to yourself
Now, you’re in the right mindset, here we go:
What To Do?
For your convenience I placed the bullet points in categories and we’ll start with marketing:
Let me kick off by dropping some ideas for your Airbnb listing headlines:
- “Cozy and comfortable home away from home”
- “Spacious and modern apartment in the heart of the city”
- “Charming and historic cottage in the countryside”
- “Luxurious and well-appointed beachfront villa”
- “Stylish and trendy loft in the hip neighborhood”
- “Private and secluded mountain retreat”
- “Vintage and eclectic artist’s studio”
- “Serene and peaceful yoga retreat”
- “Lively and fun party house with a pool”
- “Unique and one-of-a-kind treehouse experience”
Just personalize and give it a try…
More marketing ideas:
- Create, verify and optimize “Google My Business” listing – DM me on WhatsApp for cheat sheet and mindmap
- Facebook page: 1) Content ideas: Lots information about the place, neighborhood information, contact details, etc – Be creative
- Collect emails for using wifi – Read more about Wifi lead generation here: https://dotcombaron.com/2022/09/29/do-you-provide-wi-fi-in-your-business-for-free-without-monetizing-it/
- Promote other properties that you exploit on the wall with nicely organized pics in a frame – and spread those pics on all your online presence. And try to use your smiling face – yes people like to stay with real and friendly people.
- Request referrals and reviews with an incentive like: 25% discount for an extra night stay, free breakfast, extra TV channels, etc – Just get creative and don’t be a short-term minded greedy sob here…Genuine generosity will pay off…
Extra tips:
How to Increase AirBNB’s Rank in Just a Few Minutes!
Presentation:
People tend to forget the fact that they’re besides providing a roof above people’s head they’re also providing an experience.
Pay attention to the details…
- Pay attention to the listing images: High quality images, pay attention to angles, light, tidy, etc – Emphasize the best features of your place
- Write detailed and accurate description, include: Amenities, location and nearby attractions
- Keep your space clean and well-maintained
- Respond promptly to inquiries and requests
- Offer flexible checkins
- Use white towels (nicely folded)
- White towel with wine bottle on it
- Toilet paper roll it fold it a bit on the first at the first piece
- Smart TV (people like to connect their phones)
- Stable WIFI – additional speed wifi offer
- Offer phone sim cards
- Home shoes or slippers
- Little tiny piece of red carpet in front of the door with “Welcome” (not necessarily red)
- Fix up or mask environment errors – A bit of paint and a brush go a long way
- Provide shower stuff
- Basics: Water cooker, tea, coffee
Try to level up your game and stay in nice hotels to get some nice ideas…
Some might argue that it’s better and easier to Google all ideas, perhaps, but real life real experience still rules…
Plastified Sheets:
Now, some of the ideas might seem for some OVER-DOING it but Hey you have to stand out these days and we’re not discussing going into the coal mines 5 kilometer deep.
So just take action…and as always, a real life example of the many I ran into:
Yes, this is from a hotel but this simple example is more or less to illustrate that its more than normal to have something like this presented to your guests.
I do have many more with actually funny rules. One of them was:”Don’t stain the sheets :)”
Below a few sheet topics you could print out – use Canva.com to create a beautiful layout:
- House Rules: Never run into surprise because people simply can’t “smell” your rules. Examples: Min/max washing included,
- Menu for breakfast, dinner etc – Take the menu of the restaurant or takeaway. – Offer to make the call
- Travel map: Places of interests, budget eat outs, etc
Offer Different Pricing Structures:
- Through AirBNB
- Offer 3-5-7 day discounts – and let them pay cash or Revolut or anything similar
- Offer upgrades: For wifi, TV channels, breakfast
Yes, provide the options when they are on your property after you asked them if they’re satisfied…or just place the offers in your sheets as PROMOS!
External Opportunities:
Well, let’s assume you like the neighborhood you live in then go out there and try to close deals.
Example: Each month a minimal amount of people to that nice bar around the corner or that pizza place that actually also serves freaking steakes (I am mentioning this because that’s actually currently the case)
- Make deals with local food places
- Make deals with bars
- Mini supermarkets
- Or that local farmer with his extremely red and huge tomatoes
- Offer parking cards and recommend car-, bike-, scooter-, boat-, cruise rental services
- Go nuts on the creativity part and get to work…
And yes, any kind of venture does require human contact – despite the fact that many people might claim that the internet is great for introverts, it’s even better for extraverts…
So, try to put yourself out there as a person who likes to provide value in the first place and try to involve local businesses to create that full experience for your guests…
Advanced:
- Rent from other people and make deal on AirBNB listing permission
- Buy properties at great mortgage deals 🙂
- Provide guidance to your guests using chatbots
- Have your own website online to build more trust, collect more data for serving your value products and services
- Use automated sequences to guide people upon arrival: Showing kitchen, toilet, house rules, etc – Huge time saver, especially when you run a hostel…
And I could go on and on with dropping ideas but I think some of the ideas mentioned should spark some sparkles in your brain at this very moment…
DISCLAIMER: Non of this will ever work if you’re not willing to put in the work and for the experienced marketing person everything might seem to be logical as f@ck but from my personal experience with many AirBNB owners it simply isn’t
