Setting up and running an Airbnb requires investment -- of your time, effort and money. Like any other business, it requires thought, strategy, creativity and hard work. So it only makes sense that you use your investment wisely, ensuring you enjoy high occupancy, nightly rates and revenue. Here are our 8 tips for doing just that.
Growing your Airbnb Revenue, ADR, and Occupancy
- Offer an Airbnb Experience
- Price right
- Optimize your listing
- Elevate your amenities
- Ensure cleanliness
- Host more people
- Become a superhost
- Automate property management
1. Offer an Airbnb Experience
Up the ante by offering an Experience to go along with your property. This can be a guided tour around the town your property is in, a cooking experience or even local craft lessons. Use what you know, and your guests will enjoy the authenticity of the experience. This will help you increase occupancy and nightly rate, growing your Airbnb revenue. Happier guests also leave better reviews, adding to the rate you can command and the likelihood of being picked by guests for their stays.
2. Price Right
Finding the right balance on your nightly rate can be tricky. Charge too little and you lose out on revenue. Charge too much and you are likely to find your property empty most nights. Consider the different factors that affect your pricing, such as competitor availability and nightly rates, season and special events and costs such as cleaning, to create an effective pricing strategy that will grow occupancy rates and revenue.
Charging high amounts for common services such as cleaning puts guests off. Most guests however appreciate a transparent pricing strategy. Don’t forget that you can adjust your nightly rate even daily. Take into account the day of the week (you can charge more for the weekend), seasonality and any special events that may be taking place near your property attracting a higher volume of visitors when deciding on your pricing. You can use Hostaway's integrated revenue management partners such as Beyond Pricing, Pricelabs, or Wheelhouse. Revenue management will automatically set your nightly rate depending on the location and type of your property, demand in your area, the season, etc, within the parameters of minimum and maximum prices you’ve set.
The right pricing strategy not only ensures your nightly rate is ideally competitive but increases occupancy, growing your Airbnb revenue.
3. Optimize your Listing
Optimizing your listing is a sure-fire way to increase occupancy and grow revenue. Improving your Airbnb ranking will increase bookings and thus your occupancy and revenue. High-end photographs are crucial in attracting guests. Check out our guide to vacation rental photography here.
Hire a professional photographer and direct them to show off the best features of your property in the best light. Write a great description. Highlight the distinctive amenities and features of your listing as well as activities and experiences your guests can have in the area. Listings that guests find attractive can garner a higher nightly rate.
To truly optimize your property, you also need to promote your property on social media and make sure your property has its own SEO optimized website.
4. Elevate your Amenities
Great amenities can make your listing stand out. Make sure you tick the basics like wi-fi, a coffee maker and a washing machine.
Find out what amenities your competitors are offering but don’t try to offer the same just because they are. Make sure it fits with your listing’s offering.
Amenities don’t necessarily have to be expensive, like fancy soap or cable TV. You can also offer services like 24-hour check-in, books and board games for recreation, and chargers. A complementary welcome basket is a great extra touch.
5. Ensure Cleanliness
No guest is going to enjoy a property that is not as clean as it can be. Even more so as they are charged for cleaning. An unclean listing will result in guests who will never return and leave bad reviews, drastically decreasing your rate of occupancy in the long-term and thus the nightly rate you can command and revenue you can earn.
Use our guide to vacation rental cleanliness to ensure your property is super clean and ready to welcome guests.
6. Host more People
Accommodating your Airbnb to host more guests is a great way to increase revenue. Add additional sleeping spaces like a pullout couch bed so more people can occupy the property. Take steps to make your vacation rental friendly to kids, pets, people with disabilities and the elderly. This will allow you to accommodate a wider group of guests such as multigenerational families and the ever-increasing number of people who travel with their pets, increasing your occupancy and your nightly rate.
7. Become a Superhost
Becoming a Superhost ensures your listing stands out and is more visible to potential guests. You also get a badge added to your profile and listing and get featured in Airbnb emails. The Superhost badge acts as earned proof of your status as a super host, offering only the best stay. Superhosts enjoy higher occupancy and nightly rates and thus grow their revenue.
Airbnb has specific requirements for hosts to qualify for Superhost status, such as completing 3 reservations with a total of 100 nights and maintaining a 4.8 overall rate.
8. Automate Property Management
Whether you list one or several properties on Airbnb, a leading vacation rental software like Hostaway will allow you to automate and streamline every aspect of your business, from property and channel management to communication, marketing, services and so much more. This allows you to focus on strategic and creative thinking to grow your Airbnb revenue, nightly rate and occupancy even more.
