Hello! I have been hosting for 9 months and just added a new listing for another bedroom in my home. Unfortunately, when I search for my new listing it is buried on page 10 and I’ve only had 3 views in the 3 days it’s been active. I don’t have instant book on and I know that hurts my ranking but I thought the new listing boost would put me higher. I’m never going to get this listing off the ground if I’m on page 10 with no reviews (at least I have 10 reviews for my other listing which is linked to this listing). What can I do to get ahead with this new listing? I really prefer to screen all my guests in advance since I live in the house too, but should I turn on IB for a boost while I build up reviews?
I have IB on, but only take guests with photo ID, who provide a . clear photo of themselves and who answer my screening questions. If they don’t I chase them up for the information. If they don’t reply I contact Airbnb and ask them to chase for it or I will ask them to cancel the booking.
As far as I’m aware, the boost is for new hosts, not new listings.
We were in a similar situation where we one apartment which was doing well, both in search placement and bookings. When we finished our second apartment it was way down the rankings.
Switched on IB, restricted the trip length to three nights and reduced the prices for the following four weeks. We used their price tips by applying it to the whole month then edited the prices for weekends back up to what we were prepared to accept for that month. We also allowed the 20% new listing discount for the first three to book.
Within a week or so we had four bookings. By week three we had three reviews and the search positioning improved dramatically.
As far as were concerned, the lost revenue by accepting their stupid price tips for mid week and the lower weekend charges over a four week period is a marketing cost.
Could we have done it organically by just waiting for bookings/reviews to happen… probably. However I suspect it may have taken longer than the three weeks it took for us to do it the way we did.
@jaquo I think you are correct.
JF
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Is the 20% off only for new hosts? I had that option with my first listing but not this new one.
Oh, that’s disappointing. It’s going to be really hard to get bookings now.
It really isn’t. We did it last year. We opened up another rental, promoted it and now it’s as popular as the first.
Repeat guests who find the first one is booked for their dates will book the other one.
I’ve noticed that the first tends to get booked up in advance more, and the second gets bookings that are just a few days or a couple of weeks away, but both are booked 
No, it’s for new listings - at least we got for both properties when they were first listed.
It’s the notional “boost” that is for new hosts, as opposed to listings.
JF