If you want to maximize your earnings as a host on Airbnb, it is crucial to have a 5-star overall rating. This post is your guide. When you follow these tips, tricks, and hacks, you'll find your Airbnb to be booked consistently, and you'll be earning more money.
When your home has a bunch of positive reviews where people are raving about how great their stay was, you’ll not only get many more bookings, you’ll also be able to raise your prices.
100% Capacity + Higher Prices = Maximum Earnings
The thing is, if it’s not truly a 5-star experience, your high rating won’t last and you’ll end up with lower earnings. So don’t try any shortcuts like having your friends book a “stay” only to leave you a raving 5-star review.
It can be tough starting out as a host on Airbnb— those first few ratings can be hard to get, but not if you know what to do:
To get those first few bookings quickly, you need to:
- Take great pictures
- Spend time writing a great description and ensure that it's accurate
- Provide an excellent price (not excellent for you, but for the renter)
- Offer promotional discounts
- Respond to inquiries quickly
Remember that your goal, in the beginning, isn’t to maximize earnings. Your goal is to get your first few 5-star reviews.
You got your first Airbnb booking, how do you make sure it’s a 5-star stay?
Make check-in easy
You want your guest to feel like the check-in process was as easy as checking into a hotel—maybe even easier because there's no paperwork or front desk formalities.
Ensure your place is easy to find. You’re going to give your guest your address. When you put that address into Google Maps or Waze, does it lead you right to your home? Do you think it would be easy to find if you know nothing about the area? If not, you need to figure out a solution before (i.e., a meeting location where you can lead them to your place). You may also want to provide coordinates that your guest can put into their navigation.
Make sure you’re available to meet the guest the moment they arrive at your home. Don’t let your guests wait 5, 10, or 20 minutes for you to arrive. They’ve probably just had a long day of travel and want to rest as soon as possible.
Ensure to provide your guests with everything they need to know about your home. Is there a weird trick to unlocking the door? Is your water heated by solar power, so they won’t get a hot shower until 11 am? These are just a couple examples of things that might seem normal to you after living there, but your guests would find them inconvenient or frustrating.
The power of reciprocity
When you give someone any kind of gift, they feel a need to give you something in return. If your home is on the lower-end of the Airbnb price range, give your guests a bottle of water and free coffee. If your home is higher-end, you might want to give your guests a nice bottle of wine when they arrive.
If your guests have a need, try to accommodate them. For instance, if they ask you where they might be able to find a place to print some documents, let them use your personal printer free of charge. Small things like this will go a long way to making their stay a better one.
Don't underestimate the power of reciprocity. Do nice things for your guests and they'll feel obligated to do nice things in return, which will likely be in the form of a 5-star review.
Ensure that your listing is accurate
If your listing says there’s free parking, make sure your guest has a place to park. If your listing says there’s Wifi, make sure your Wifi is working and accessible with the name/password. If anything in your listing is inaccurate, it could prevent you from getting a 5-star rating because your guest will feel deceived. Sometimes, people choose a rental based almost entirely on one feature, like safe parking.
Provide essentials
Have a station set up with (free) things that guests might need. Toothbrush, toothpaste, dental floss, extra towels, a bath mat, garbage bags, shampoo, soap, and anything else they might need in your home. Put yourself in their shoes by doing a walkthrough of everything you would do in a day to make sure every need is anticipated and met.
Extras that go a long way to achieving an outstanding experience
In addition to providing the essentials, consider picking up some luxuries that will improve the guest experience.
Few things feel better than getting out of a shower and being able to wrap up in a huge, soft, luxurious towel. Or getting into bed to have your body engulfed by the softest sheets you’ve ever felt. Consider purchasing things like high-quality towels and luxurious sheets to heighten the experience.
Sparkling clean
Ensure that your home is clean from floor to ceiling when your guests arrive. If you’re living in the home, be sure that the common areas remain clean for the duration of their stay.
Have information about the area available
Most of your guests are going to be brand new to the area and know nothing about where to eat, where to shop, sights to see, and so on.
Brainstorm all the things that you’d like to know if visiting a city for the first time. Provide lists of locations such as restaurants, the nearest convenience store, best grocery store, etc. You may also want to consider providing a map of how to get to these various places, what to expect, safety warnings, and any tips you have from your own experiences.
Earn “Superhost” designation
Once you earn the title of “Superhost,” your listings will appear in more searches and you’ll get booked even more frequently. There are a few requirements for becoming a Superhost:
- You can never cancel a reservation (except for a few extreme circumstances)
- Must complete at least 10 stays
- Have a very high response rate
- Get great reviews (“5-star rating 80% of the time”, changing in July 2018 to “average review of 4.8-rating or higher”)
- Have at least a 50% review rate
Although we've never been an Airbnb host ourselves, we've been a guest many times and know to what lengths the best hosts go to make each stay a pleasant one. We've also had the chance to chat with numerous hosts about their Airbnb experiences, in addition to having friends who are highly-successful hosts.
If you follow these steps, I’m confident you’ll have and maintain a 5-star rating. With it, you’ll find your Airbnb to be booked almost every day of the year. When your listing becomes this sought after, you can start to play around with your pricing. You’ll probably be able to raise your prices gradually and continue to have near 100% capacity.
Remember the formula from earlier: 100% Capacity + Higher Prices = Maximum Revenue
@sharingeverybite (Maddie)
@shenanigator (Jordan)
(and Laska the Siberian Husky)