Hi - I am a relatively new host, having had two lots of guests in my London flat over the summer while I was away. It all went very well on the whole. Now that i am back i thought I’d rent out one room only, so created a new listing which broadly uses the information I had for the flat, and is instantly bookable, very flexible and not extortionate in price. It’s been up for a few days now, but hasn’t had any views at all. I wondered if anyone knew if this was normal and I was just lucky with the flat - which had many views right from the start - or if there is something wrong? The room seems to come up quite high in search results, so i’m surprised no one even looks at it …? Am I missing something or am I just being impatient?
Any thoughts much appreciated!
Hi @sandravon,
If you can share your listing url, you’ll (probably) get useful advice. Otherwise, probably not. 
I don’t know what is going on - if there’s a glitch in stats or if no one at all has looked at either of my listings since Aug 24. But both of them are completely empty. The other listing is worse… just 8 views in a month. It’s a new listing so I thought it was supposed to get some kind of search boost? It’d dead, dead last, after all the listings that have been up for a year with no bookings, including some listings that are almost blank.
@sandravon - we are new hosts also (3 months) and that’s how we started out.
If you have no reviews on Air, you’re basically at the bottom of a very large pile.
I got really lucky because I was walking my dog when a guy drove up and asked me if I knew a cool place for he and his wife to stay.
I said, “why yes, yes I do.” He turned out to be an Air host himself and he got himself online and booked our space. He left us an amazing review and, suddenly, we started appearing in search results, started getting views and happily were booked almost solid in July and August.
We have days when no one looks at our listing and others where 75 people do.
There are many on this Forum with far more experience than I have, but from my experience, it seems important to do what you can to get a booking through Air that comes with a review. No reviews freaks people out and they don’t look at "a host since [2 days ago] - they just see “no reviews” and move one.
Hope this was in someway useful.
Pura vida,
J
There is a somewhat less-ethical way to get around the “no reviews” dilemma. I troll my competition a lot and I see that some of the new listings’ reviews are from someone in our same city (obvious flaw if you want to do this). Find a friend that is, preferably, already an Air user with guest reviews, and who lives outside of London – the further away, the better. Have them “book” your room at the minimum price (which no future guest will ever see). The minimum price is $10. After their “stay” (make it two nights to look more believable), have them write an awesome review. You can even write the review and have them copy and paste. You will spend $3 for this first two-night review.
Please – don’t everyone yell at me. Just giving practical advice to a newbie …
@sandy2, you’re spectacular and type as quickly as I do!
@sandravon, I agree with Sandy. With our first guest, when he sent a booking request I chose from 3 options: 1. Accept this request 2. Decline this Request 3. Send a Special Offer.
I chose #3 and gave him a discount that included waving the steep Air fees.
Yes, we made a few dollars less was advertised, but boy, was it worth it!
The rest is all very gratifying Air-history.
Best of luck. Hang in there - it’ll come.
J
Hot tip: the place it appears in the search results is a lie. I discovered by accident that AirBnB is massaging its placement when I look myself. Even in an incognito browser, they know your approximate location.
As for tips, take more photos from all the ridiculous angles you can think of. Take a photo of the lamp on the windowsill and the books you have put there to read. Take a photo of the local bus stop, the nearby tourist attractions, etc etc.
@Artemis - my view of that same report says the data can lag for up to 7 days. I have found it’s often more than that.
We were full in July Aug and I have had no bookings, views, inquiries or anything else from Airbnb for a whole week. That exact same thing happened in June and my report looked just like yours.
I was panicking. What was I doing wrong?
And suddenly there I was, enjoying a whopping two thousand percent increase in gross profit.
“If you build it, they will come.”
Yes of course!(Doh!)
Sandy2, I suspected this was going on for a while. Also this type of host will send their friends to book with you for one night and than make a complain, like they saw insects of some type which is a big no…no and give you a bad review. Competition eliminated! Also couple of Host may gang up. I have three Host that have been booked 90-98 percent during slow, slow time and the rest (over three hundred) if lucky get 2-3 nights. These said host have huge number of reviews and all 5 star.
I had few of their friends in my home, and could not do a thing, and all one night.
What a Joke. Unfortunately guest will buy in to it.
@sandravon The ONLY way to accurately tell where you are falling in the search results is to use a Chrome Incognito session. Even opening another web browser window in which you are not signed in won’t do it. Otherwise, Air can ALWAYS tell its you and they will place you very high.
As we know, this is one of the biggest myths ever 
The best thing to do is spend your time promoting your listing yourself. Airbnb doesn’t care about your listing or mine, they just care about guests booking with them. They don’t care where as long as it’s through Airbnb. So flex your social media muscles and get promoting!
A listing not having hits is a vicious circle. If you increase the hits you’ll increase visibility.
When I look at your listing, it says that you’ve had 171 views in the last week.
Hi, Jaquo - can you please clarify on “promoting your listing yourself?” You mean, outside the Air platform, on other websites, etc.? Newbe here who would love to know what more I could be doing.
Thank you.
I just looked at your listing, too. It says 260 views this week.
OMG that is so mean to do that to another host.
Yes, exactly that. When I check my Airbnb calendar and see that I have gaps in future months, I start to promote our listing. I write articles, then blast them to social media.
If you don’t have your own site or blog, I have a couple of sites that can promote you. One is a recently started travel site. I’m always looking for articles for both sites and I run out of inspiration ( ) so I’m always happy to write about other hosts (as long as they are not my next door neighbour!)
Hi Perezo / Jaquo,
Can you look at this listing? My stats say 8 view last month!
Cassid, it is going on big time. I had for a while a Host/neighbor that also was a renter not the owner of the home. She not only rented the two rooms but also the garage out. She got more reviews in one year than I in two, but that is not the point. The point is that her distance was 2 Minutes from Airport mine was 5-10 (which is actual distance), she claimed that you can walk to different restaurant’s, mine said that you need a car, yet her reviews showed perfect location and I had received 3-4 stasr for location.
Worst of all her street is they eye sore of this little community.
I have a license and pay taxes without being asked, and I bet she has not paid a dime plus she compromised the Landlord, by him not having short term home insurance.
It is said but there is a dirty underbelly in our shared economy not a healthy competition at all.
I agree, and thanks for pointing it out.