Getting Good Airbnb Reviews Is Not So Difficult – If You Follow Some Basic Rules
How do I get good Airbnb reviews? Airbnb is a platform where your success is measured by your reviews and reputation. One bad (sub 4-star) Airbnb review can substantially hurt your financially for a long period of time and recovery time can be very long. What a review rating actually means on Airbnb? Unfortunately in the world of Airbnb, a 5-star rating means ‘Good’, but a 4-star rating means ‘Bad’ and so on. If you are an Airbnb host, try to avoid a sub-5-star review at all times. What review ratings on Airbnb mean: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Good, Awesome, Amazing, I am happy, Enjoyed it. ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Not Happy, There were issues, Not what I expected, Didn’t enjoy the stay. ⭐⭐⭐ Awful, Hated it, Won’t stay here again. ⭐⭐ Stay away, Could not be worse, Wish I could get my money back ⭐ Indescribably awful, You won’t survive a stay here!! How long does it take a recover from a bad Airbnb review? Airbnb review rating system for hosts is not linear which means: You don’t need one 5-star rating to recover from a 4-star review, you need at least five!! Tweet In my experience, you need these many 5-star reviews to recover from bad reviews ⭐⭐⭐⭐ it takes five ‘5-star’ Airbnb reviews to recover. ⭐⭐⭐ it takes ten ‘5-star’ Airbnb reviews. ⭐⭐ it takes fifteen ‘5-star’ Airbnb reviews. ⭐ it takes twenty ‘5-star’ Airbnb reviews. So what do I need to do to get good Airbnb reviews…always? There is no way you can always get a 5-star Airbnb review; there are all kinds of people in the world, sooner or later you will bump into someone who is looking for the ’empty half glass’. The most prominent reasons for getting a bad Airbnb review despite the property being perfect are: The guest was not familiar with Airbnb rating system and compared it with a hotel instead. The description of your property listing on Airbnb is inaccurate and something ‘important’ doesn’t match about the property. The guest was very demanding, and you couldn’t cope up with his unreasonable demands. The guest had trouble getting into the property; your check-in instructions were not clear or helpful. (Read my post on how to create a perfect Airbnb welcome letter and avoid such issues) See my elaborate article on the most common Airbnb complaints and how to deal with them. Listing your property on Airbnb is reasonably easy – and getting some bookings is not very difficult either – promise what everyone else in your area is offering, and you’re good to go. Wrong! For Good Airbnb Reviews: Don’t Set a Trap For Yourself! By promising too much, you are setting sky-high expectations for your guests, and they may end up disappointed. In this post, I will guide you through setting the right expectations for your guests and through meeting these expectations. Well, a 4-star Airbnb review means that they had no complaints; it does not mean perfection. Even if someone had a perfect stay, they might not be inclined to give you that 5-star Airbnb review. For a 5-star Airbnb review, you need to make sure that they have no complaints and that they had a unique and memorable experience (in a good way). For Good Airbnb Reviews: Set the Right Expectations First of all, Airbnb business is not real estate. Renting on Airbnb is hospitality business, and mantra for this trade is ‘Underpromise and overdeliver’. From my five year experience as an Airbnb superhost and dealing with 5000 check-ins and checkouts my advice will be – do not treat your AirBnB listing like you would treat your resume – no wordplay and no exaggeration of ‘skills’. People like to be pleasantly surprised, not unexpectedly shocked. If you excite your listing, you are setting your guests up for disappointment and which leads to bad Airbnb reviews. For Good Airbnb Reviews: Pay Attention To Photographs The most common mistake people make while listing their AirBnB is to get pictures clicked by the best photographer in town. Yes, the pictures turn out to be very beautiful… albeit a bit too beautiful. These pictures will make it easy to sell your property, but the actual thing will never be the same as the well lit, professionally clicked pictures. What to do instead: Hire a photography student. They know enough to click good pictures that justify your property but will not turn your property into the 8th wonder of the world. Added benefit- they won’t charge you a bomb for the job, and they will be more than willing to shoot at a time suitable for you. Before the picture is taken, make sure your house is clean and tidy. Use natural light wherever available – nothing attracts people like a good source of natural light. No editing – do not edit your pictures, not even a little bit. Your guests will be disappointed when they cannot replicate the “golden hour” that was so obvious in your pictures. See my post on how to take good Airbnb images. For Good Airbnb Reviews: Plan Your Communication Before booking: Mention all the basic amenities that are available – wi-fi, hot water, fans(where applicable), etc. If there is a specific feature that people would normally expect but is missing from your property – call it out right there and then because more often than not, people will assume that you have that service and it will also reduce any follow up questions from the guest. If there are noise issues around your area, mention it in the listing so that people know what to expect. After booking There is a very fine line between communication and under-communication. One too many messages and they’ll be annoyed, but, too few messages and they’ll always be unsure about little details which may become an issue for you when they ask you too many questions, and you can’t answer them on time. Here’s what I do to ensure that my guests have all the adequate information even before they
Airbnb For Sale: How To Find Holiday Let Properties Available In The Market
Are you looking for an Airbnb for sale? Holiday let is a very lucrative business, and with the emergence of Airbnb as a global home-sharing platform, this industry has paved the way for new opportunities in every major city across the world. How To Find Airbnb For Sale? Mashvisor provides a tool that does all the hard work for you. Rental Property Finder Whether you are a beginner or an experienced investor Mashvisor’s – Rental Property Finder makes it super simple for you to focus on the property style you are looking for. When searching for Airbnb for sale in this tool, you can choose up to five areas and set the filter for the Airbnb rental strategy. Set your budget, property type, number of bedrooms, bathrooms, or leave it blank. It will then provide the list of Airbnb for sale with a high profitability investment potential based on cash on cash return, capitalization rate, and occupancy rate. Create Your Free Mashvisor Account Top cities for finding Airbnb properties for sale? According to Mashvisor, the top cities for finding Airbnb for sale are: #1 Lansing, Michigan Median Property Price: $102,100 Monthly Airbnb Rental Income: $2,674 Airbnb Cash on Cash Return: 11% Airbnb Occupancy Rate: 64% #2 Tuscaloosa, Alabama Median Property Price: $211,542 Monthly Airbnb Rental Income: $3,274 Airbnb Cash on Cash Return: 10% Airbnb Occupancy Rate: 40% #3 Dubuque, Iowa Median Property Price: $147,408 Monthly Airbnb Rental Income: $2,984 Airbnb Cash on Cash Return: 9% Airbnb Occupancy Rate: 43% #4 Goshen, Indiana Median Property Price: $151,112 Monthly Airbnb Rental Income: $2,793 Airbnb Cash on Cash Return: 9% Airbnb Occupancy Rate: 66% #5 Portsmouth, Virginia Median Property Price: $195,807 Monthly Airbnb Rental Income: $2,571 Airbnb Cash on Cash Return: 9% Airbnb Occupancy Rate: 58% To start looking for and analysing the best Airbnb for sale in your city and neighbourhood of choice, click here. Read next: The Ultimate Guide To Start Airbnb in 2020.
Airbnb Cleaning Fee: Exactly What It Covers & Should You Discount It?
Unlike hotels and traditional B&B’s, Airbnb lets you charge Airbnb cleaning fee to guests to cover the time and money you spend to clean the property after a guest leaves. What is Airbnb cleaning fee? You can charge a certain amount for each stay to people who book your Airbnb property. A cleaning fee is to help host pay for expenses they acquire when Airbnb cleaners get a place ready between one guest checking out and another checking in. It is up to the host whether or not to charge a cleaning fee and how much it will be. The vital thing to note is that the cleaning fee is for cleaning the property after a guest leaves NOT to prepare it for him. Practically this means if the guest cancels the booking before his arrival, Airbnb cleaning fee gets refunded to them. There are many aspects you need to think of when setting up your Airbnb cleaning fee. Set the right cleaning fee Do not treat cleaning fee as a way of boosting your income – that’s a terrible idea, and you will lose a lot of bookings for charging more than average cleaning fee in your area. Airbnb allows you to charge it once for every stay irrespective of the length of the visit and remember, it not only covers a light cleaning after the guest leaves but also includes expenses to replenish cleaning supplies and toiletries. Cleaning fee includes: Servicing the rooms Change linen Cleaning used items Wash used dishes Clearing out cupboards and the fridge Time spent on cleaning Restock supplies Always keep the cleaning fee to its actual value as a majority of travellers see this as an overhead and keeping it low as possible can get you ahead of the competition very quickly. If you use a cleaning service: Charge the exact cost that you pay to have your property cleaned, and linen washed. If you do the cleaning yourself: Calculate the amount of time you spend on each turnover and value of your effort per hour. Know your competition If you are not sure how much to charge, the easiest ways to figure out an optimum cleaning fee to charge guests is to check out other similar-sized Airbnb listings in your neighbourhood. If the average price is $50, then you can feel confident about setting yours at the same rate. How it impacts your listing performance This is how cleaning fee will be visible to guests when looking at your Airbnb listing: When looking at your listing, guests will see cleaning fee separate from the nightly rate. If you opt to charge higher cleaning fee that the average in your area, people will see your property less favorable and highly likely you will lose the booking to the competition. Airbnb cleaning fee for long-term stays Airbnb does not allow you to charge a different cleaning fee for long stays. So the cleaning fee guests pay will be the same for 2 nights or a 20-night stay. This creates complications such as: Cleaning after a long stay needs more time as compared to a 2 or 3 nights stay If you provide linen, towels etc, a long staying guest is likely to ask for fresh supply periodically How to handle the Airbnb cleaning fee for long stays? ⛶ Option 1: Don’t allow long term stays. Limit the maximum number of nights people can book for. You set this limit under ‘Availability >Trip Details’ settings of your listings. ⛶ Option 2: Ask for additional payment from long term guests to provide periodic cleaning or fresh linen. You can request additional payment from guests in Airbnb resolution centre as explained in my previous blog. ⛶ Option 3: Don’t provide periodic cleaning for long term stays; offer them means to do it themselves. Make sure you give the guest access to cleaning equipment such as hoover, mop, surface cleaners etc. so they can clean it themselves. If you have a washing machine in the property, provide washing detergent so they can wash the linen, towels etc. The last option also means you may have to deal with heavy cleaning at the end of the stay if the guest wasn’t keeping it well and it is something you will have to bite into, unfortunately. How to set cleaning fee on Airbnb You can set cleaning fee under ‘Pricing > Standard fees and charges’ section of your listing settings. Note: With a recent update, Airbnb now allows you to set cleaning and linen fee separately. Cleaning fee (1), this should include charges for labour and cleaning equipment for each turnover. Under ‘Add a standard fee (2), you will see multiple options in the dropdown. Choose ‘Linens fee’ and mention the amount you spend to getting the linen washed for each turnover. It is a good idea to mention cleaning and linen fee separately; this will give more insight to guests and shows him a breakdown of the charges, which can be comforting. Is the Airbnb cleaning fee refundable? Yes, cleaning fee is always and automatically refunded to guest if the booking is cancelled before the start of the stay (before check-in time on the day). For example, if the check-in start time is 3 pm, the cleaning fee will be refunded in full to the guest if the booking gets cancelled anytime before 3 pm on the check-in day. Read more about Airbnb cancellation policy. Is the cleaning fee negotiable? Often you will get queries from potential Airbnb quests asking for a discount or waive off in the Airbnb cleaning fee. It is entirely up to you if you wish to offer a discount, but it doesn’t mean cleaning won’t be needed. You may refer to this article for guidelines on how to keep your vacation rental clean. In my opinion, hosts should never compromise on the cleaning of the property and giving a discount in cleaning doesn’t guarantee that the same guest won’t leave a bad review about poor cleaning standards in the
Airbnb Property Management: How To Do It Yourself And Save Money
With the success of Airbnb across the world, Airbnb Property Management companies are emerging to help hosts successfully outsource all or small portions of the day to day operations. Most of these companies charge a commission between 10-30% of the revenue to hosts. They claim to increase your bookings, guest experience, look after guest queries, manage cleaning and maintenance of the property. But the big question is – are these Airbnb property management companies really worth paying such a big chunk of your earnings? When you should REALLY outsource Airbnb property management Managers can be hired for full-service or some specific services The right time to employ a manager for your Airbnb Property The job-profile of a Property Manager Reliable cleaners To sum-up Tools of the trade and how to do it yourself Automate messaging Activate dynamic pricing Research: How much other Airbnb hosts are earning Different stages of Airbnb hosting and how to deal with them When should you REALLY outsource Airbnb property management? The decision to outsource your short term rental property management is driven by the desire for more freedom. But will a professional firm be able to maintain the same level of quality and guest experience? If you check the reviews of these Airbnb property management companies, the internet is full of horrific stories from hosts. … and the main reason for this is that the majority of these companies are cleaning companies morphed into Airbnb management agencies to meet the market demand. Majority of them have never worked in hospitality, and they have no clue what excellent service looks like. If you decide to involve a management company, always check their background, how they started, do they have hospitality and Airbnb expertise with them or not. ✔ Hire a property management company only if: You have ‘Zero’ time to spend on the business Or you live too far away from the property or Or you are looking to expand your portfolio of properties ✖ Don’t engage an Airbnb property management company if: You don’t know how to get started on Airbnb Don’t have hospitality industry experience Not getting enough bookings You are spending too much time communicating with guests on Airbnb There are tools and methods to get around these hurdles easily without letting go of a significant chunk of your earnings. ➤ Managers can be hired for full-service or some specific services Once the bookings start, there is no space for any mediocre performance. With initial setup and thorough planning, some may themselves handle Airbnb Property Management effectively by giving minimal time each week. But, for most it is easier said than done – it may look really simple in the planning phase, but it takes a toll when you actually get down to it. In that case, hiring people for your Airbnb Property Management is the obvious way to go. Since the primary goal is to smoothly run your Airbnb property, you can hire property managers to provide full-service or some specific services, such as: Communication management Revenue management Cleaning management Property maintenance Check-in For the first few bookings, if you handle the Airbnb Property Management yourself, it helps you figure out all aspects involved in the undertaking, including time, money and effort. Therefore, your initial hands-on experience will be useful to understand what jobs you want to outsource versus what you want to manage yourself. … and accordingly, you can hire for your Airbnb Property Management partially or wholly; you can get these done from a single or several third party companies. The total cost comes to around 20% – 30% of the total bookings if you are keen on a 100% Airbnb Property Management. Once the job division is decided, you can move on to the next step. ➤ The right time to employ a manager for your Airbnb Property Once the decision to employ someone is finalised, then hiring a manager for the efficient Airbnb Property Management should be the immediate action. The sooner you employ, the sooner it can help you to – save time, manage your Airbnb smoothly and increase positive reviews, among other things. But, I guess some of you may not have finalised because you are not sure what jobs a manager can handle better, and what you can. This has to be sorted soon because once the bookings start, this may cause a lot of confusion with an urgent need for job demarcation. Let’s do a quick read of the jobs a property manager can help you with, and then make a decision on outsourcing specific or complete services. ➤ The job-profile of a Property Manager Airbnb Property management services mostly include – Creating an appealing listing Accepting new reservations Proactive communication with guests Being the emergency contact for any issues Managing maintenance Managing accounts Resolving resolution claims Cleaning processes Check in/checkout coordination with guests Monitoring current rates to adjust pricing based on certain variables like – seasonal demand, popular events, location, etc. Maintaining inventory Coordination of the above services is quite a task, but if performed methodically, it can assure a smooth and successful run of your rental property, with an added bonus of 5-star ratings. Your decision to opt for Airbnb Property Management is to offer your guests a fabulous experience, but if a manager isn’t competent enough you will be surprised at how much more you may have on your hands than you had expected. So, do a thorough check before choosing the management company to run your property to your advantage. ➤ Reliable Cleaners When keeping track of your expenses, do not compromise on your selection of cleaners as their service will sooner or later show corresponding unsatisfactory results. In short, steer clear of low-quality cleaning jobs that may hamper not only your reviews but also your precious time and money. Therefore, I recommend to hire a reliable cleaning service that understands the importance of Airbnb Property Management, and accordingly maintains high-quality cleanliness and a hassle-free cleaning schedule. It may seem expensive in the start, but you will see the
How To Edit Airbnb Photos Directly On Your Listing
Just noticed this really cool new functionality to edit Airbnb photos directly on the listing – pretty sure it wasn’t there few weeks back. This edit option is available for each individual photo that’s uploaded on your listing and allows you to do these possible adjustments: Rotate Crop Adjust Brightness Contrast Airbnb filter (which is a predefined optimal setting by Airbnb) Edit Airbnb Photos Step 1: go to your listing under your hosting profile and choose ‘Edit’ option in the photo section. Step 2: Click on a photo which you wish to edit or enhance. Step 3: Click on the ‘Edit’ pencil at the bottom right of the photo on next screen. Step 4: At the bottom of next screen you will see the three options to edit or enhance your image. Step 5: Rotate and Crop options are pretty simple to deal with. Under ‘Adjust’ you get the other two options to adjust ‘Brightness’ and ‘Contrast’ along with the Airbnb filter option which I personally like as it adds a little warmth to the photos which I believe is a harmless thing to do. Don’t forget to press ‘Save & Replace’ in the end and that should change your existing photo with the new edited one, happy editing 🙂 I believe this is a cool way to edit Airbnb photos without the hassle of looking for the original photos and editing them on a fancy photo editing software. If the photo editing options are not sufficient for you, I recommend to hire a photo editing freelancer on Fiverr, you can easily find someone do all the alterations under 10 bucks such as this gig on fiverr is the best seller under real estate photo editing. Side note: If you are an existing host and planning to start hosting, you should always keep the ways to contact Airbnb handy. https://youtu.be/g_CBZGw2PD4
