Are you a new Airbnb or short-term vacation rental host who spends hours upon hours prepping your rental? From writing a good description to hiring a cleaning crew and stocking the home with essentials? But you’re still struggling and not seeing very many bookings or inquiries?
A lot of new short-term vacation rental hosts struggle with understanding why? Why aren’t they receiving new bookings or any at all? There are a couple of reasons this may be and what you can do to help!
People can’t find you!
You may not be getting very many inquiries or bookings because people can’t find your rental home and/or listing!
Make sure to check this! Look as if you’re wanting to book a stay as a guest yourself. Log out of Airbnb or your listing website and search for your listing, look for some occupancy and dates that are available. If it takes you some time to find your listing then that might be the answer to your question! People, unfortunately, cannot find your listing.
But don’t worry! There are a couple of ways to help this!
Invest in professional photos!
Investing in professional vacation rental photos may just be the best decision you will ever make for your Airbnb or Vrbo listing! Hiring someone who specializes in interiors and vacation rentals will help you get photos that will attract more clients and more bookings! Unfortunately, photos that were taken with your phone just won’t cut it.
When you have low-quality “filtered” phone photos or photos that are overly edited and have a fake look people tend to scroll past. High-quality photos with an editorial approach highlight and accentuate the features of your property. So it’s important to invest in a photographer that will capture eye-catching photos that will stop people from scrolling to look at your listing and book!
Specifically your main cover photo! Your cover photo should be one of the best photos taken, it should feature your listing’s best design quality or amenities such as the hot tub, pool, fireplace, or anything that makes your listing stand out from the rest in that area!
You’re not doing market research
Market research is extremely important when thinking about how you want to market and list your short-term vacation rental! You need to stand out from the crowd and post unique photos of your property. This means choosing a professional photographer that does some pre-shoot research and helps you highlight the special touches you have put into your rental.
Think about what would catch your eye if you were looking to book a vacation rental. What type of photos and amenities would you like? What would make you scroll past a listing? Ask yourself these questions and implement them into your strategy for listing your property!
Not keeping your photos updated!
If you’ve had renovations or any updates in your vacation rental you need to update your photos too. If you say on your listing that you have a newly installed hot tub then you need to have a great photo of it! Not only that, but if you haven’t taken photos in a while and have new updates within your property it’s probably a good idea to have some new professional vacation rental photos taken.
Increasing your views is the first step to increasing your bookings!
I hope these tips have helped you or given you some insight on what you may need to change or update on your Airbnb or Vrbo short-term rental vacation listing!
And if you’re ready to grow your Airbnb or Vrbo listing with professional photos contact me through my website and check out my “Beautiful Cricket Farms Airbnb Vacation Rental Photography” blog to see what your Airbnb listing photos could look like!
