The Top 13 Mistakes Airbnb Hosts Make And How To Avoid Them
As a new Airbnb host, there are numerous factors to consider, and the outcomes you expect may not materialize instantly. Hence, it is advisable to take note of other hosts' mistakes and learn from them. Familiarizing yourself with the typical Airbnb hosting mistakes can enhance your listings.
Have you made any of these common mistakes as an Airbnb host? This post outlines the thirteen common errors made by Airbnb hosts, which you can steer clear of and acquire knowledge from. Below we discuss each issue in detail and give you insight into how to avoid these pitfalls.
1. Inaccurate or Misleading Listings
Exaggerating the quality of your rental property is never a good strategy. Honesty is crucial when starting out on Airbnb to avoid creating a false impression. Providing a misleading depiction of your home can lead to negative feedback. It is imperative that your guests have a clear understanding of what they can expect when they visit your Airbnb right from the moment they land on your page.
Avoiding This Mistake Is Simple:
Ensure that you provide a comprehensive list of your property's attributes, such as the number and dimensions of rooms, along with any other features that might appeal to your guests. Use clear language to describe the amenities, facilities, and overall advantages of your rental. If you have any ground rules or house rules, make sure to include them.
For instance, inform your guests if they can bring additional visitors or pets, if smoking is allowed, if there are any restricted areas in your house, etc. When describing your property, avoid exaggeration. Your photographs should be straightforward and truthful, as any attempt to impress guests is likely to be misleading
2. Your Listing Is Using The Wrong Keywords
In 2022, Airbnb's Summer Release featured machine learning to display your rental, which will impact the selection of your keywords. It is now crucial to select the appropriate keywords to ensure that your rental is visible on Airbnb.
Avoiding This Mistake Is Simple:
When creating your listing, prioritize selecting the appropriate categories for its display. Subsequently, incorporate keywords such as "vineyards" or "beach resorts" into your description, amenities, and pictures to highlight such features. It's also possible for your property to be featured in multiple advertisements.
3. Choosing Non-Professional Or Poor Quality Photography
As mentioned earlier, images play a crucial role in enticing hosts to select your vacation rental over others. However, it's not about misrepresenting your property but rather presenting high-quality images. It's essential that your guests have a clear understanding of what they can expect when visiting your vacation home.
Avoiding This Mistake Is Simple:
Hiring a professional photographer is always best, giving you one less thing to stress about, but for some, that's not an option. Below we list ways you can make your photographs stand out among the rest, even if hiring a professional is unattainable.
Take high-quality photos: If you're unsure, use the largest picture size available on your camera.
Emphasize the location's advantages, such as nearby attractions, beaches, theme parks, and scenic views.
Keep your kitchen counters, coffee tables, and work desks free of clutter. Ensure that your rental is spotless and convey this to your guests.
Enhance the brightness of your rental by turning on lights or opening blinds. Opt for a sunny day for the best lighting.
Instead of providing simple factual information, craft an engaging description of the experiences guests can enjoy at your vacation rental. For instance, rather than labeling a photo of the balcony as 'Balcony,' describe it as 'Savor a glass of wine on our balcony after a long day of sightseeing.'
4. You have no pricing strategy.
It's important to keep up to date with industry developments and modify your prices accordingly to stay competitive all through the year.
Avoiding This Mistake Is Simple:
Your prices should fluctuate throughout the year based on these five factors:
Research your competitors' offerings by searching for vacation rentals in your region with the best reviews and comparable features. Create a table to compare their pricing and availability and estimate the potential annual revenue for your listing.
Keep track of industry trends to stay ahead of the curve. According to the Industry Forecast for Quarter 2, 2022, the average daily rate will increase before the peak season. This may be an opportune time to raise your fees.
Take advantage of special events such as festivals, marathons, and conferences, which can attract many visitors and enable you to charge up to five times your average daily rate. Research upcoming events early in the year and plan accordingly. You can also charge a premium a week before an event to attract last-minute planners with the most spending power.
Weekend rates should be slightly higher than weekday rates to reflect the increased demand for travel during the weekends.
Adjust your pricing based on your region's peak or off-peak seasons to maximize profits throughout the year.
5. Not Utilizing Your Guest's Reviews
Guest reviews are the most reliable means of building trust with potential clients on Airbnb. Trust is the foundation of Airbnb, and the best way to establish it is through client feedback. When deciding on a place to stay, prospective clients will always refer to reviews written by those who have previously stayed at your property.
Avoiding This Mistake Is Simple:
Crafting reviews for each visitor can increase engagement and help you establish credibility with future guests. It will enhance your property's visibility on the website, attracting more visitors. This, in turn, can improve your search rankings, resulting in more exposure. To ensure that your reviews appear, both hosts and guests must write them. So, be sure to write reviews regularly. As your listing accumulates more reviews, your bookings will likely increase at a faster pace. Hosting can also help you grow your bookings and reputation.
6. Lack Of Interaction With Potential Guests
When it comes to communicating with customers on Airbnb, how do you approach it? Do you respond promptly, or do you wait a day or two?
Every interaction you have with your guests, whether it's before or after their stay, can influence their experience. Therefore, it's crucial to demonstrate that you value their experience and that they are in capable hands with you. To achieve this, you must respond promptly, reply appropriately, and provide adequate information.
Avoiding This Mistake Is Simple:
With an Airbnb property management software program, you can send messages to your site's guests automatically using templates. All of your messages from Airbnb are filed into one account, making accessibility easier. This software allows you to communicate with guests seamlessly and syncs all messages sent and received on Airbnb. Having all of your messages on one platform helps to improve communication with your guests and allows you to monitor all of your guests' questions and concerns from all channels in one place, allowing you to reply immediately once a new message has been received.
7. Underestimating The Overall Workload Involved
When starting out as an Airbnb host, it's easy to make various mistakes, such as underestimating the level of commitment, attention to detail, organization, and effort required.
Even if you're only listing an apartment or a single room, many responsibilities come with it, such as maintaining cleanliness, providing essential amenities like toilet paper and coffee capsules, managing check-ins and check-outs, and other tasks.
Failing to keep up with these responsibilities or underestimating the workload can lead to subpar service, ultimately disappointing your guests and damaging your business reputation. This could result in negative reviews and a decline in bookings.
Avoiding This Mistake Is Simple:
To effectively manage your responsibilities, it's crucial to stay organized and prepared. Create a checklist of all the tasks that need to be completed between guests, and prioritize the most important ones.
8. You Aren't Familiar With Some Laws And Regulations In Your Area
With Airbnb's growth in recent years, laws have been changing to address its impact. Several states have tightened regulations to control Airbnb rentals as the company expands. In some major US cities, Airbnb has been outlawed altogether. Legal requirements vary from place to place and state to state. Therefore, it's crucial to research and understand the legal regulations that apply to your rental location. Don't assume anything; always make sure to check beforehand.
Avoiding This Mistake Is Simple:
Before renting out your property on Airbnb, you must determine if short-term rentals are permitted in your area and if there are any restrictions on the square footage that can be rented out. You may also need to obtain a permit or license. In some regions, Airbnb rentals are illegal, and it's critical to consider taxes, licenses, and regulations. You don't want to face a substantial fine later on. It's essential to conduct your own research on the legal situation rather than relying on hearsay from others.
9. You Don't Take Precaution
While building trust between hosts and guests is crucial when renting through Airbnb, it's equally important to prioritize the safety and well-being of both parties.
Guest safety should be a top priority for hosts. Simple steps like installing smoke and carbon monoxide detectors, providing a first aid kit, and sharing emergency phone numbers can go a long way in ensuring the safety of your guests
Avoiding This Mistake Is Simple:
Regardless of how much you trust your guests, it's crucial to create a rental agreement and request a deposit when renting out your property. This will provide you with an added layer of protection. In addition, it's essential to establish house rules that your guests must follow and have them sign the agreement. These rules could include policies such as no smoking inside the apartment, no additional guests, and so on.
To enhance your security and safeguard your property, keep valuable items out of your rental and install security measures to prevent break-ins, particularly when the property is unoccupied.
10. Thinking All Guests Are Very Lenient
While not all guests have the same level of expectations, it's important to recognize that the vacation rental industry has grown significantly in recent years, becoming highly competitive. Therefore, it's crucial not to underestimate your guests' desire for high-quality accommodations. Keep in mind that you're not just competing with other vacation rentals but also with boutique hotels.
Avoiding This Mistake Is Simple:
Clear and effective communication is essential when hosting guests. First impressions are critical, so it's crucial to ensure that your guests have a positive experience from the start. One way to achieve this is by using a Standard Property Appearance (SPA) guide to communicate your expectations to your housekeepers or cleaners. Paying attention to every detail can make a big difference.
Address any concerns your guests may have as early as possible and check in with them frequently. Your guests will appreciate your proactive approach and willingness to resolve any issues that may arise.
11. Too Much Stuff Or Too Many Themes
To make your listing more appealing and attract potential guests, emphasize the unique characteristics of your property. However, be careful not to overdo it by forcing a specific theme or overwhelming visitors with excessive interior design. Keep it simple, and focus on highlighting the key features that make your property stand out.
Avoiding This Mistake Is Simple:
Unless your property is a unique historical building, it's best to give guests the freedom to create their own ideal vacation space rather than heavily decorating or theming the property. An uncluttered, Scandi-themed look is an excellent option for keeping things simple and attractive.
12. You Chose Insufficient Or The Incorrect Type Of Insurance Coverage
Many short-term rental businesses fail to obtain insurance coverage, leaving them vulnerable to unforeseen problems. Without proper protection, it can be challenging to address issues once they arise.
While Airbnb offers $1 million in property damage coverage for hosts, this coverage only applies to damage caused by guests. Other issues, such as floods or roof leaks, are not covered. As a result, it's the host's responsibility to protect their property by obtaining the appropriate insurance coverage.
Avoiding This Mistake Is Simple:
Obtaining insurance coverage for damaged property is essential when renting out rooms. It's important to note that your current home insurance policy may not cover damages that occur while you are renting out your property.
13. You Choose To Rely On Airbnb For Bookings
Relying solely on Airbnb for reservations is a common mistake made by many hosts. In the beginning, it's a good idea for vacation rental owners to list their properties on multiple platforms to reach a larger audience. However, the long-term cost of listing with online travel agencies (OTAs) such as Expedia and Vrbo can be significant.
Vacation rental owners can maximize their earnings by reducing the middleman by listing on fewer sites like Airbnb and Expedia and creating their own professional websites to generate direct bookings. By doing so, they can earn more by booking guests directly.
Avoiding This Mistake Is Simple:
To start your vacation rental website, all you need to do is use MistrPM Property Management. With over 30 beautiful, modern designs to choose from, you can easily customize them to your liking. Building your website is a hassle-free process, and you won't have to worry about any technical issues. It's as easy as creating your Airbnb listing, and your schedule will be synced across all channels, preventing double bookings.
Make short-term rental easy with MistrPM Property Management. Book your appointment now by clicking here.