How to Be Successful on Airbnb: The Complete Strategy Guide

Your Airbnb page represents your reputation and growth potential. Viewing the platform as a serious hospitality business enables you to maximise bookings and optimise pricing over time.

Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to handle your Airbnb host profile as a major driver for success. The short-let success strategy begins with your property presentation, by mastering pictures and descriptions, to handling guests’ reviews.

Step 1 - Airbnb’s successful strategy: pictures & description 

How you present your property in the Airbnb listing is as impactful to future guests as it is to the platform. Research by HRS.com and eResult found that photos are the single most important factor for 78% of travellers when looking for accommodation, and those listings with professional photography earn up to 40% more in bookings. An Airbnb guest notes the picture first; let’s be honest, we are all too lazy to read the whole room description, and occasionally we just scroll all the way down to the icons listing the included amenities.

Whether there is a distinctive pattern on your ceiling or a 1000” TV you want to show off,great pictures come first.

Taking genuinely great pictures with your smartphone is easy without resorting to wide-angle cheating.

• Get inspired: if you don’t know how to start, you can simply scroll the Airbnb home page and get inspired by what top-rated hosts do.
• Schedule:generally, you don’t want to take pictures in the dark or with artificial lights on. Make sure you schedule this task in the morning with nice natural light. An exception can be made for dark spaces like bathrooms; these might require an LED lamp.
• Clean and choose what’s worthy to highlight:make sure you clear all spaces of rubbish or any random objects and make a list of all the spaces you want to rent. Anything can interest a particular guest; for example, an iron can be relevant for a working traveller.
• Take pictures:good pictures on Airbnb have something in common: flash off, horizontal position, centred subject, taken in a natural position and from an empty corner, and use your phone’s editing tool to enhance the quality.
• Upload the picture:change the resolution to 1200 if required and make sure you upload all the pictures and highlight any special facilities. Your caption should be highly descriptive and inclusive of all the information you believe is necessary. Advice on public transport, local shops and restaurants, curiosities about the area and special events are always welcome.

Step 2 - How Airbnb hosts earn: develop your pricing strategy

To succeed on Airbnb, setting your rates before your listing goes live is essential. Building a pricing strategy at the beginning of the year entails predicting any fixed costs, such as maintenance, laundry, linen, cleaning, taxes, platform fees, and coming up with a feasible way to make a profit other than only reaching the break-even point.

Dynamic pricing works in your favour as long as you run a thorough analysis of your local market. When you host and who the competitors around your property are represent essential questions you should act on accordingly. Seasonality, local events, bank holidays, and the day of the week all create opportunities to charge more when demand is high.

Nowadays, you no longer need to handle numbers and analysis by yourself: pricing tools have improved over time and help you shape the strategy of your rental business. Running market and trend research, and calculating the price accordingly, will no longer be a concern.

Off-peak seasons must be handled the same way as busy periods. Guests benefit from lower pricing, but on your terms. Maximise your occupancy with a minimum stay or a discount on long stays.

Having a structured pricing strategy means securing your margins and the peace of mind to focus on what matters in long-term businesses. If pricing feels complex, our Airbnb property management service can handle it for you. We would monitor your profit with you and update the pricing strategy according to marketing changes.

Step 3 - Make guests experience great: core of a successful strategy

Guests begin their experience as soon as they get captured by the Airbnb advert and choose you as their host. You are their only point of contact responsible for a great experience, and you must ensure exemplary performance here, as the next phase will be handling their feedback.

Providing a great guest experience on the host side can be broken down into two phases: customer service upon arrival and during the guest’s stay. You mustn’t fail in any of these areas, as it bridges the gap between the impression and meeting expectations.

Upon guests’ arrival

• Provide clear instructions for check-in and check-out (pictures or videos showing how to do it can help)
• Grant your 24/7 availability;
• State house and neighbourhood rules clearly;
• Sanitise spaces and check the regular functioning of amenities and techs;
• Provide toiletries, linen, kitchen tools and water.

During guests' stay

• Provide the 24/7 support you promised by answering questions and sorting out concerns at a breakneck pace;
• Make guests feel welcome;
• Recommend any specific activity worthy of their time;
• Make sure you respect their spaces and privacy.

Step 4 - Handle guests' feedback: build a great reputation as Airbnb host

After checking out, your guests might want to write a review. Responding to all guests’ reviews is a mandatory regular practice. Bear in mind not to do this for former guests but for future ones. Showcase your ability to handle issues and deal with customers. If you have done everything well in the previous phases, you can easily dispute inaccurate or fake reviews with evidence.

Here's a simple checklist to follow while responding to guests' reviews:

• Do not argue or use a defensive tone; answer politely and calmly.
• State and clarify that the issue has been assessed or resolved. Be clear on how you did it and evaluate the guest experience accordingly.
• Review Airbnb removal policy.
• Submit a dispute if necessary and provide relevant evidence.

Step 5 - When Pass the Keys steps in: Airbnb property management 

If you think all these extra tasks might overwhelm you or overlap with your full-time job, Pass the Keys takes care of all the details on your behalf. 

OurAirbnb property management services cover everything from market analysis and pricing strategy to cleaning and review management, leaving you to enjoy the rewards of hosting without the hardest part. We handle it while keeping you fully in the loop: your host portal is always there to give you a clear view of your property's performance.

What are you waiting for? Get in touch with our team of experts, who will provide you with a realistic income estimate based on your location and property type.