21 Helpful Tips for Airbnb Hosts & Guests

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Tricks to improve your hosting or booking experience

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• Tips for Hosts
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• Tips for Guests
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• Expert Interview
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• Tips
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• Warnings

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Whether you're renting out a property or booking a place to say, Airbnb has plenty of tools and resources for hosts and guests alike. How can you be sure that you’re making the most of your time on the Airbnb site, though? We’ve got you covered. Read on for plenty of tips to help you stand out as a stellar host, as well as handy hacks to help you narrow down the perfect booking for your next trip.

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Section 1 of 2:

Tips for Hosts

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   Post your rental on multiple sites. When it comes to vacation planning, people check a lot of different sites to make sure they’re getting the best possible deal. Posting your listing on additional sites helps maximize the number of people who see (and potentially book) your rental. Here are a few sites to consider:

   • Vrbo
   • Booking.com
   • Expedia
   • TripAdvisor
   • Pro tip: Make sure that your calendars for different listing sites are synced up with your Airbnb account—that way, none of your guests will get double booked.
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   List the property as “family-friendly” if you have the space. If your listing includes "family-friendly," you're likely to get more reservations. Play around with the bed arrangements on your property. For instance, featuring a queen or king bed in one room and a set of bunk beds in another room could make your listing stand out to parents vacationing with young children. To really amp up your “family-friendly” reputation, set your space up with items kids will enjoy, like video games or toys.

   • Show off any extra fun amenities you have in your listing description.
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   Let guests rent out your property for long periods. Give guests the chance to book your property for weeks (7+ days) or even months (28+ days) at a time. During a long-term rental, you’re in contact with one guest at a time, as opposed to several guests within a short time frame. Because of this, there’s far less cleaning and regular communication to worry about.

   • Motivate guests to book longer trips to your property by enabling “Weekly” and “Monthly” discounts in the “Pricing” section of the “Calendar” page.
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   Be as honest as possible in your listing. Let’s say your mountain cabin rental listing doesn’t have central heating. Even if you don’t include heating in the property’s list of amenities, some guests might assume your listing has heating anyway, only to find themselves disappointed (and cold) on their arrival date. Including a specific note in the description can make you look more transparent and trustworthy with your guests.
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   Make a list of guidelines for your rental. Need your guests to check out at a certain time? Want to keep certain parts of the property off-limits? Provide all of this information and more in a binder or another easily accessible spot. Clearly communicating your property’s rules and guidelines prevents any confusion and helps your bookings go as smoothly as possible. Hosts often include rules such as:

   • No noisy gatherings
   • No smoking permitted
   • Parking restrictions
   • Pet restrictions
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   Give your guests local recommendations. Have any favorite restaurants or hangouts in the area? Type a list with all your recommendations and suggestions and leave it in an accessible spot for your guests.

   • Don’t limit your recommendations to tourist attractions! Give guests the inside scoop on any good convenience stores in the area, or any other helpful resources your guests might be interested in (like where the local library is).
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   Add personalized items and touches to make the space extra special. Try to put yourself in your guests’ shoes—what sorts of amenities and items would make your visit extra special? Believe it or not, stocking up on items like blankets, wash rags, pillows, and kitchen supplies can really make an impact on your guest.

   • Never underestimate the power of a fresh flower bouquet, either! Fresh blooms are sure to impress your guests; plus, they’ll help them feel right at home.
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   Review potential guests before accepting them. It’s okay to deny guests who aren’t a good fit for your property. Airbnb hosts get a little flexibility in who can and cannot stay at their properties with respect to local legislation—for instance, hosts living in a town with strict noise ordinances might not accept a large party of young adults celebrating a wedding. It’s also helpful (and resourceful) to check out the past reviews hosts have left for certain guests before giving them the all-clear to book your rental.

   • Keep Airbnb’s antidiscrimination policy in mind, though—a guest can’t be denied a booking because of their age, race, ethnicity, sexual identity, gender identity, religion, and marital status. For instance, a host could deny lodging to a party of young adults because they smoke cigarettes, but not because of their collective age.
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   Make yourself accessible to guests. Let your future guests know the best way to get in touch with you. Keep your phone at the ready whenever your rental is occupied by guests. As soon as someone sends a message, reply as quickly as possible. Guests appreciate hosts that are attentive to their needs and concerns, and your diligence could net you a higher review.

   • Want to save yourself some time? Use Airbnb’s “Scheduled Messages” feature to send your guests pre-written messages at certain times (like a check-in or checkout reminder message).
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    Write reviews for your guests. Using the Airbnb app or website, leave a short review about your guest within 2 weeks of their original checkout date. Feel free to mention any conversations and interactions you had with your guest, as well as how they treated your space. If you leave a positive review, the guest might be motivated to leave a positive review for you as well.

    • “Tiffany and her friend were lovely guests to have around. They were polite, respectful, and cleaned up after themselves—I would love to host them again!”
    • “Jamar was a really wonderful and courteous guest. He followed the property rules and messaged whenever he needed something.”
    • Did You Know? To become a Superhost on Airbnb, you need a cumulative 4.8-star rating or higher, a minimum of 10 finished bookings, a great response rate (90% or higher), and a very low cancellation rate (under 1%). The more good reviews you earn, the closer you get to becoming a Superhost!
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    Meet your guests in person. Plan to be around the property whenever your guests arrive to check in, if possible. At that point, introduce yourself personally and show them around the place. Giving your guests a more personalized experience can help boost your reviews on the platform (and give you more credibility to future guests).

    • If you don’t have the time to meet your guests in-person, a self-check-in service is another great option to consider. Self-check-in systems use smart locks, key lock boxes, keypads, and similar systems that give guests a little more freedom and flexibility to check in on their own schedule.
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    Add a co-host to your team. Think of a co-host as a second version of you—someone who can keep in touch with guests, keep an eye on reservations, and process new trip requests. If you have a lot on your plate, a co-host can help manage upcoming bookings with ease.

    • Airbnb lets you control which permissions your co-host has. A co-host with “Full access” can do pretty much anything on your account, while a co-host with “Calendar and inbox access” can DM guests without having full administrative control.
    • You can add a co-host to your property by going to the “Co-Hosts” section on the “Listings” page.
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    Network with other hosts online. Feeling a little nervous about your new venture as an Airbnb host? Social media groups help provide a sense of community and support as you learn the ins and outs of being a great host. Check out communities like:

    • Airbnb Host Community Facebook Group
    • Airbnb Professional Hosts
    • Airbnb Host Subreddit
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    Raise your rates during the peak tourist season. Do a little market research to anticipate when your busiest tourist season will be—a beach house, for instance, likely has peak visitors during the summer months, while a cottage in the mountains might be more in-demand during the fall and winter months. Price your rental a little higher during the tourist season to max out your profits, and scale the price back a bit when rentals are less in-demand.

    • Airbnb has a built-in tool called “Smart Pricing” that automatically adjusts your listing’s rates based on the demand of the area. You can access this setting in the “Tools” section of your “Calendar” page.
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    Contract cleaning professionals. Cleaning your rental between bookings is an essential aspect of keeping your guests happy (and, by extension, your reviews positive). To save yourself the extra time and stress, contract a cleaning professional who can tidy up your rental from top to bottom.
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Section 2 of 2:

Tips for Guests

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1. 
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   Take advantage of Superhost listings. Superhosts are trustworthy hosts with a great reputation on the platform. To even qualify as one, a person needs to receive consistently high rates, have a great response rate and low cancellation rates, and have hosted a variety of people. If you see a listing offered by a Superhost, you can be confident that it’s a solid property to book for your upcoming trip.
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   Go through the listing and host reviews in detail. Scroll through all of the photos from the listing, and read through the reviews and the property description before coming to any hard and fast decisions. Past visitors can give some insight into whether the property lives up to its description, or if you’re better off searching for another listing altogether.
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   Get in touch with the host if you have any questions. Confused about some part of the listing, or struggling to find something on the property? Use the Airbnb app to shoot your host a quick message so you can get your issue resolved as soon as possible.

   • Have a question about a property you haven’t booked yet? Hit the “Contact Host” button on the listing page to start up a DM.
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   Factor in fees before you officially book. Take a look at the final cost when you go to checkout from the website. Even if the base pricing of the listing fits your budget, the extra service and cleaning fees can jack up the total to an uncomfortably high level. Make sure you’ve looked into all the extra costs before committing to your booking.

   • Some properties charge extra fees when extra people stay at the property, while other hosts might require an extra fee if you’re traveling with a pet.
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   See if the host is willing to negotiate on costs. Take a look at the Airbnb availability in your desired area for your desired dates—are there a lot of openings popping up, or is every place pretty much booked? Highly available listings (especially those managed by newer hosts) could be good opportunities to test out your bartering skills.

   • “Hi there! I hope this message finds you well. I’m really interested in booking your beach house listing from February 1 to March 1, but it’s slightly out of my price range. Would it be possible to negotiate a slightly lower booking price?”
   • “Hello! I would love to book your studio apartment listing from November 2 to November 16, but it’s slightly out of my budget. Would I be able to supplement some of the costs by doing extra chores around the property?”
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   Play around with the search filters when searching for a property to find better listings. While you’re on the Airbnb website or app, hit the “Filters” option to pull up all the different ways you can narrow down your results. Adjust any search settings that might help you with your search, like specifying a specific price range or looking for properties that allow pets.
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Tips

• Airbnb partners with several paid property management systems like Airhost, Guesty, Hostaway, iGMS, and Uplisting, which help take the hassle out of the hosting experience.
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• Certain smart lock companies like RemoteLock, Brivo, Operto, Sclak, and Lynx can give you more control over who can (and can’t) access your Airbnb property. Just be sure to explain to your guests how the smart lock system works so they have no trouble getting into the property.
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Warnings

• Some locations have specific legislation in place for rental properties. Click here for a quick rundown of common local regulations, and head over here for a list of regulations by US city.
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