Thanx for quick replies - any suggestions for long term boosting and stimulating requests? We are coming up to the festive season and a delightful warm summer however we are not full (have 2 lisitngs) so contemplating
Instant Book Thanx 
If you are in a position to offer IB then you should definitely do so. Also, be an active host. Update pictures, adjust your prices or description. Read this forum regularly to learn tons of helpful things for FREE.
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@bfree I am going to give you some really basic stuff. If your listing says sunny room, make sure it is a sunny room. Accuracy counts! Be a good host. When you welcome people, actually feel that. [This is hard with some guests.] Know exactly what a night is worth to you and donât go below that. Know what a night is worth in your market and donât go above that. Make sure that the spaces are spotless, and in a shared home, folks want the common spaces to be really clean as well. You canât buy good reviews; you have to earn them.
In your listing, highlight the positives of your location, space, neighborhood, and be sure to outline the cons like a busy intersection, 72 stairs, no oven, whatever. Honesty will get you the guests who will appreciate what you have to offer, and should reduce the number of guests who might find something objectionable.
Update something on your listing daily. They track that too. I pay a service to do this for me, though I am checking the listing myself daily. I might think of more things⌠but seriously, being a good host, whatever that means in your market, is the most essential item unless your place is so distinctive and drool-worthy, that you can get away with less. By would you want to? This is the hospitality business.
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Jeannez - This my first year as an AirBnb host and business has been pretty good; but I too began to see a significant drop beginning in November. No worries though, this is the slow season (so others tell me) for Northern California. This makes sense given my location.
My opinion: Itâs not the election!
You may wish to look at your competition in the area too. Are they slow as well? Are you connected to other hosts in your area? If so, ask them.
Have a graet day!
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Share link to listing please
@bfree I actually want to modify what I said earlier. My style is to welcome⌠but maybe you are more restrained, or arenât around all the time, or whatever. You have your own style. Write your listing in your own voice so that potential guests âhearâ who you are. Then the right guests will come to stay with you. Using a voice that you âthinkâ will get you more bookings isnât going to end well, especially if these rooms are within your own house. Be yourself, and your people will find you.
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Actually the new host boost is much longer than that. It isn´t a binary value like boost/no boost but instead it is a soft curve that with the time it drops down to zero. That boost curve might stay longer than a year but of course the first 2/4 weeks have a much stronger effect than the last months in the curve. Yes, as many of other forum members mentioned, the purpose is to hook you.
We are almost dead, too. We got the new host boost through the summer and knowing what I do now about search rankings, I regret not really riding that out. I think a few things negatively impacted us going into the slow season. We had a 3-week booking in September so were less active on the Air site. We followed Beyond Pricingâs high(er) pricing recommendations which worked great in the summer but were not competitive once the vacancy rate increased. We also continued to follow the model of booking close in time; again, works great when vacancy rate is low but I think momentumâi.e., bookings further outâwas needed going into the slow season.
We now have a maximum of 7 nights. In retrospect, I think we should have had dramatically lowered our pricing beginning October 1 and opened our calendar further out. I now donât care about capturing a higher weekend rate, or a higher rate when this or that conference comes to town. The problem now is the high Seattle vacancy rate, the fact that a bunch of new hosts have come on line in the fall and are getting the new host boost ahead of us, and weâre not even ranking unless someone searches by our neighborhood.
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Bases on Airbnb, last week I only got 100 visits, which also means less than 20 visits per day (probably my mom and a few cousins). And I´m in HIGH SEASON!
No matter how great your place is. If they hide you from the search results, you won´t get any bookings.
You can´t fully depend on Airbnb. Try to find alternative channels.
I would add that itâs also a time in which hosts can start to collect great guest reviews which helps in later bookings.
Hi Jaquo
Could you please send me your article about ways to increase bookings.
thank you
Who do u use to tinker daily? That is interesting.
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i get on the site daily or almost daily and tweak the settings. i might change the prices (and change them back), or edit the listing slightly.
when you asked who you use to tinker, youâre asking what service you pay to get them to do the tinkering for you, arenât you?
I have my prices updates automaticly every day
Holy crap! Whatâs with the attitude? Most of what you wrote applies to big cities. Ranking only counts until they change search parameters. I canât imagine anyone just taking what shows up on the first page. Most people are more sophisticated than that.
Try switching to decafâŚ
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Yes thats right. Sorry, I am in retail and have been out to lunch since I last posted the question.
I got no bookings for over a week. Went to check now as incognito and found my IB has been turned off.
Is Airbnb doing it for hosts who have set requirements? Forcing everyone on IB to let all book instantly?
Do you require your IB guests to have verified ID, or be recommended? Then you wonât show up as IB unless youâre signed in. Hope that helps.