How to improve your Airbnb or Booking.com listing?
The introduction of novelties on Airbnb or Booking.com for hosts and accommodation renters has mainly changed the categorization of listings and the ways they are displayed. The effect of the change is a recurring question from short-term rental owners: How do I improve my position on Airbnb or booking.com?
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The changes themselves have caused declines in positions, and the existing methods of standing out are not working. Today we’ll zoom in on the new listing positioning guidelines and some tips on how to improve visibility in Airbnb and booking.com.
What works for Airbnb and booking.com search?
If you’ve already created a listing then it’s worth considering how to adjust it so that the algorithms (robots) at Airbnb and booking.com place your accommodations higher in search engine. The goal, of course, is to rank as high as possible so that your guest finds you as quickly as possible.
The main premise of the search engine and its rules is that the listing can be found by the customer, and it is to the customer that the algorithm is tailored. The facilitation that Airbnb and booking.com have introduced means that there are more and more people searching for accommodations on both portals.
Travelers most often enter into the search engine such data as the direction of travel, date, filter offers by the number of bedrooms. However, these factors don’t result in high rankings and first places on the list of available accommodations in the area.
What can you do to make it work?
How to improve your Airbnb and booking.com listings for better positioning – tips
The most important thing is your offer
1. Take high-quality photos
- encourage guests to visit your property.
- A customer chooses a place to stay by comparing photos of the facilities.
- show what category of property you offer – clearly in the main photo present the category, such as chalets
- attract attention – for example, with decorations, fruit or a book spread out
- take a photo from the corner of the room – show a wider view
- remember that even a photo of the area can decide the choice
- it is best to hire an interior photographer
2. Take a virtual tour of your property.
Virtual tours are a great way to learn about a space by interacting with the environment. During such tours of your property, potential clients will be able to get to know the place remotely. Combined with high-quality photos, you will encourage your prospective client to rent your property in a fully interactive and immersive way. With this tool, customers can fully feel as if they are there.
The environment simulation is based on the interconnection of 360° panoramic images. They allow full visualization of what surrounds the point of view through computer-generated images. In this way, the actual space is presentable to customers.
Virtual tours allow clients to see and interact as if they were inside a house or apartment. And they can do so remotely, perhaps while sitting in a chair or lying on a bed. At Alicante.360°, we produce 360° virtual tours in high resolution and fully interactive.
You can read more about the virtual tour here.
3. Create a specific description of your offer
- Write out exactly what your guests can expect when they arrive. If your place is close to the street, describe it.
- write what is unique – close to the center, near a lake, agritourism, vacation in the saddle, industrial loft
- describe the neighborhood – distance from neighbors, dirt road, close to the center, protected housing estate
4. Take care of amenities
Travelers look for specific amenities and filter available listings by them. Take care of what your guests are looking for:
- high-speed internet – important for longer stays and workation
- pleasures at the property – a bathtub, for example, may be just what your guests – are looking for – check out suggestions for hedonists
- special offers on the trip – prepare special attractions for them
How to set the listing name in Airbnb?
In this section we will focus on setting up the listing. Changes made by Airbnb or booking and new categories for a while meant that names were not taken into account by the algorithms.
However, as of June 30, the feature of individual object naming returns.
How to use the name of an object in Airbnb or Booking.com for good positioning?
- short name – taking care of searches on mobile devices like smartphone
- maximum of 32 characters
- put the most important things at the beginning e.g. Apartment in the center of Alicante,
- Guesthouse with private beach, Romantic cottage in the mountains
- don’t use CAPITAL LETTERS – it’s unreadable
- stop for emoticons and signs – in different countries emoticons and signs can mean different things
- don’t use emoticons like a raised finger or a smile
- you can’t repeat special characters in an offer, e.g. !!! or ***
- visitors see the number of bedrooms and bathrooms in the offer and see the city
- use detailed information, e.g. city district or distance to the airport
- you can enter, for example, information about the place to work
- don’t use the word NEW – guests see this information in the search engine
Additional booking dates
It is important for the Airbnb algorithm to answer guests’ questions and accept bookings. If you have available dates that you offer in your booking calendar then it is very likely that your accommodation will rank higher in the search engine.
Remember a few rules:
- respond to requests within 24 hours
- if you can avoid rejecting booking requests, ensure no overbooking
- use instant booking
- stop cancelling a previously confirmed reservation – this is very damaging to your listing
Superhost
This is one of the factors considered when positioning your property in Airbnb and booking.com search. Positive ratings from guests, reviews, referrals. When choosing where to stay, guests can filter and choose only superhosts.
In conclusion, if you are hospitable then you will have no problems getting this title, and your guests will appreciate your efforts.
