How do Guests Decide to Book your Airbnb?

If you’ve hit a point where your Airbnb isn’t booking as much as you need to reach your financial goals, you might think “Well maybe if I just lowered my price a bit”, but this is, of course, the wrong answer.

What you do need to do is start thinking like a guest.

When someone is looking to book an Airbnb they go through 5 stages:

Step 1:

First, they filter by type, rooms, etc. and price range.

Step 2:

Next, they start browsing the photos – the photos are the first impression you have to catch your guest’s eye.

If your photos are poorly lit, or the decor is not appealing – you lost them.

If your photos are of a stunning view that you have from your Airbnb – great! you got them and they will open your listing in another tab to get more information.

Assuming you have a great view but terrible or just ok decor, the guest will maybe bookmark your listing in case they can’t find anything nice in their price range.

Now here’s a little secret they do- I know because I have done it myself – When a guest can’t find something like in their price range – they will search for a slightly higher price range to see what they can find.

Step 3:

Only after this process do they start checking out reviews.

Step 4:

You have to assume that they are probably comparing your listing with others, especially if you are in a very popular destination with lots of options.

So why would they choose your Airbnb?

• Your decor and listing photos are outstanding and drool-worthy.
• You have more and/or better reviews than other listings.
• You have additional amenities (maybe a game console that will push the decision forward, game room, GATED pool, etc.).

Step 5:

At this point, your potential guest will have narrowed down his choice to 2-3 listings and make their decision.

So you want to make sure your listing stands out in a way that others don’t and in most cases, it comes down to how your listing photos look and how you rate for accuracy.

One thing that can help you is having a listing layout image, find out how you can add an image layout to your listing.

Based on this process, how can you improve your Airbnb?

Before you run to lower prices, I would take a look at the decor, is there anything you can improve?

Make sure you aren’t putting guests off by committing one of these Airbnb decor mistakes.

I’d love to hear your thoughts on what you think could be reasons that an Airbnb listing isn’t getting bookings.