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@jdmlt and the rest
Imagine you could tell your potential guest “hey, copy my airbnb property link, replace ‘air’ with ‘dm’ and open it in your browser to view my guidebook”. Meaning that airbnb.com/rooms/123456 got transformed to dmbnb.com/rooms/123456.
By this link you hosted your guidebook, instagram link, contacts or whatever.
Would such a service be a solution for you?
I’ll be honest. I’m considering creating it. Just not sure it’s useful to many
You can easily create a pdf of the Airbnb guidebook, give it any name you want, post it in a free Google site and then give a guest a link to that. So, I can do that myself.
What am I missing in this ‘service be a solution for you?’
By the way, if you’re soliciting business, not allowed.
As far as I understood the issue is sharing the link with a person who is not a guest yet but just considering. To provide more information which supposedly is a competitive advantage and thus encouraging to book
If this is before the guest books, AirBnB could consider it an attempt to take a guest off-platform and suspend or delist us. I wouldn’t risk it. We have our own website and I don’t attempt to send potential guests there. It’s not worth risking the listing. So I send them there after they book.
If they ask about a guidebook before they book, I tell them we have a website with a lot of information and I can send them the link after they book.
AirBnB doesn’t want you to direct someone off their platform until the guest has booked. That’s to get their service fee and keep control of the booking. So they prohibit it until after the guest books.
Links in Airbnb messages before a booking is confirmed will be blocked. And hosts could be delisted for directing guests who message them through the platform to direct booking.
There is no reason why guests need more than the info in the listing ad to be encouraged to book. If they have specific questions, they can just use an inquiry message to ask the host.
And guidebooks tell you about things to do in the area- there is tons of online information that guests can look up for an area they are planning to travel to.
I truly wish I could direct them to our website before booking. Not to try to cut AirBnB out, but to give guests information. The majority of our guests have dozens of questions - what restaurants to eat at, what beaches are nearby, what flights to take, the just goes on and on. And most of them ask those questions before they book.
I’m their replacement for a travel agent. So I priced it into our rate and have developed a number of standard responses that I can send them. I won’t risk getting delisted by trying hard to send them to our website instead of answering their questions.
Potential guests can see your guide book on your listing before booking.
On your listing, scroll down to the “Where You’ll Be” section, and the “map” which shows your location.
Just below that map is the paragraph that describes the area. Clicking the “show more” link will reveal more detail and provide a link to your Guide Book, if you have created one. It’s buried, but it’s there.
Yes, we tell prospective guests in our listing how to access the guidebook.
I’m not sure if our way is faster, but here’s what we say:
For more about the area including locally owned businesses and restaurants, see the Location tab here and Tania’s guidebook (at the top of the listing just click on Tania’s picture, which will take you down to “Hosted by Tania,” where you click on her picture again; then scroll a bit down and at the right you’ll see her guidebook).
I wouldn’t even use the “website” in a pre-booking message, for fear of being flagged.
I tried putting a link to our guidebook in the property description and airbnb Wouldn’t allow it. I agree the guidebook is kind of tucked away. Once a booking is confirmed I believe you can send hyperlinks to your guest and so that seems like the time to share it.
Yeah, ABB has tight conrol over where URLs can be. We do send it in our welcome email that gets sent automatically 5 minutes after confirmation. Here it is!:
Hi [guest first name]!
Thank you for booking [number of nights] for [number of guests] guests at Tranquility Base Cabin starting on [check-in date]. We look forward to hosting you. If you haven’t done so already, please share any relevant trip info and the name of your guest, if any, so we can best organize your check-in and personalize our welcome sign.
Check-in is [check-in time]. Check-out time is by [checkout time] on [checkout date].
Future communication: Three days before your reservation, you’ll receive an automatic reminder containing additional important information. At noon on the day before your arrival we’ll send your check-in info including your door unlock code. Note: these messages will be in addition to whatever messages Airbnb may send you.
About the neighborhood:
[neighborhood]
Getting around:
[getting around]
You may find our guidebook helpful: [guidebook]
House Rules:
[house rules]
– Bob & Tam
I also believe you can use quick messages to send the guide book link to anyone you’re communicating with even if they’re not yet booked.
