Hey everyone.
I am new to AirBnb and I would love your input.
What do you find is the best way to make your listing stand out on AirBnb as a host?
Is there anything that is worth investing in for guests that would really improve my rating/make me standout?
- Depends on your listing
- Depends on your target market
- Depends on your price point.
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As @Helsi has indicated you need to provide much more info. I suggest you spend several days reading through related posts, work on your listing and photos and THEN ask some very targeted questions. After having done as much as you can, then consider posting your listing with specific questions on aspects you want advice on.
No quick answers to successful hosting.
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It’s so dependent on your market and how much/what kind of competition you have. I can tell you the process I followed:
I looked at all the Airbnb’s in my town and tried to see what was missing. I found that I’d be one of just a few 4-person listings in the core of my downtown. I didn’t find many places that were pet-friendly, so considered targeting that. I found lots that were decorated with icky polyester floral comforters and few that echoed the clean, modern feel of Airbnb’s adverts. I looked at their rates, hotel rates, and figured where I could land. I researched demographics of who visits my town.
I looked at how my house was laid out, what I was willing to share, how many people could comfortably stay, and how little continuous interaction my introvert soul could really handle.
And I spent DAYS reading help articles on Airbnb, a number of forums, short-term-rental industry blogs, design and hospitality tips…
Using all this info, I found successful niche for my listing to happily survive in the melee of competition. I gear my place to adult couples and girlfriend groups; they have their own space.
It takes a good amount of research that only you (or a marketing consultant, if you’ve got the dough) can do. There’s no one way to stand-out, or we’d all be doing it (and no longer stand out) 
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Allison, you rock! That’s great advice. So it seems like you basically looked to find the gap in the market that others had missed to find your niche/key edge factor. Then looked at the competition for a reasonable rate range…
How do you segment your listing so people in your niche find your listing?
Do you post the link to your listing on blogs, etc? How can you promote it?
Besides research what will you do for guests staying to standout and deliver a great experience on an ongoing basis? What are your key ongoing concerns that “keep you up at night”?
(I want to at least have a clue what we are getting ourselves into! Also you mentioned some good advice blogs, please let me know if you have any specific suggestions because this would really help for learning more)
Thanks so much!!!
All of this information is in the threads I politely directed you to. Please don’t just come here, contributing nothing and doing no ground work, firing off question after question at people when you’ve clearly not put in any effort.
It’s super annoying.
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How do you segment your listing so people in your niche find your listing?
Do you post the link to your listing on blogs, etc? How can you promote it?
Like Emily said, search for answers to this on here and the Airbnb forum. My answers probably won’t be your answers because, like I said, it’s so dependent on your market and competition. I live in a small resort town (15k people here in winter) that’s on all the Midwest “best of” lists, so demand is quite high. My occupancy is in the 90’s% during the summer and I can’t give away rooms in winter (even locals don’t want to be here 
), so haven’t needed any marketing outside Airbnb.
Great photos help!
Besides research what will you do for guests staying to standout and deliver a great experience on an ongoing basis?
- Guests really just want the place they reserved to be exactly how they imagined it based on your photos/description, so be sure to cover the good & the bad.
- Make sure the place is spotlessly clean every. time. I have an extensive cleaning checklist.
- Special things: I leave (local) champagne if they read the house rules and s’mores fixings if they want a campfire.
- Experiment to see what works for your space/guests. The first year I tried leaving all kinds of breakfast goodies like yogurt, milk, fruit, muffins - even going so far as to ask what kind of milk they preferred. Most went unused (and 100 versions of milk and soy/nut juice in my fridge) because people wanted to go out. If I were in a different location that may have been a huge selling point, but it was just a time and money drain here.
- But really, the space has to be on point: no amount of extra goodies will make up for a crappy mattress or other people’s mystery hair in the sink.
What are your key ongoing concerns that “keep you up at night”?
Since the election, a growing dread about the course humanity is taking. Oh, you mean related to Airbnb? 
I’ve tweaked my listing and changed things so I’m pretty comfortable.
When I started I was worried about all the “Airbnb host’s house TRASHED” stories…resolved with lots of positive experiences (almost everyone has be GREAT), and a SmartThings setup so I’m alerted if someone opens a forbidden door.
I’d stress when people wouldn’t tell me when they were arriving. Or would arrive 4-5 hrs late, making me grouchy…solved with keypad lock and Ring doorbell.
(I want to at least have a clue what we are getting ourselves into! Also you mentioned some good advice blogs, please let me know if you have any specific suggestions because this would really help for learning more)
I really enjoyed One Chic Retreat’s blog for design ideas (I keep telling everyone about the “wildflower technique”)
The rest was just farting around with google searches around my areas of concern.
Seriously, spend 2-3 days studying both this and the Airbnb community forum. Your fellow hosts are willing to help, but you’ll lose us really fast by asking questions that are answered in depth if you’d just scroll down or search.
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Agreed Emily. We have just done preliminary research and to one of the other host’s points, we have asked really bad questions so far - which is part of not knowing. I am really looking forward to getting knee deep in this and learning more about what we should be researching so we can add value to people starting out too!
I can’t tell you how helpful this is Allison!!!
I have literally taken notes on this. The midwest sounds beautiful!
Agreed, I was more looking for an overall idea, before we go much deeper into extensive research!
That sounds phenomenal! It sounds like Airbnb sells itself which is amazing.
Ok, we will make sure the photos align with reality! We have a friend that works as a photographer so we can get them to do the photos, but keep it consistent. Agreed on making the effort to get those done right. We will head to homegoods to get the new bedding to make it look great!
I had no clue, that the location determines so much from the type of guest, to the products you should have to give them the best experience. And we will have to make sure we have a good mattress!!! That’s a great point.
Thats brilliant!!!
Ok, ring doorbell added to shopping list!
Thanks for the blog recommendation, looks great! Will check out the “wildflower technique”!
Agreed. Thanks for your continued input Allison. You have really been a ray of sunshine!