Why your Airbnb is not getting booked

Every host who writes to us has the same first theory: the photos. The photos are almost never the reason. Guests do not reach the photos of a listing that lost on price in the search results, and they do not book a listing with three-night minimums for a two-night trip. This is the order to check things in. Most of it costs nothing to fix.

We build a listing audit that checks these for you, and we mention it once, at the end. Everything above that you can do yourself this evening.

1. Price, against the street, night by night

Airbnb says listings priced below comparable ones nearby tend to rank higher, and that it looks at total price. (Airbnb Help, search ranking) So the first question is not "is my price fair", it is "what do the ten listings a guest would see next to mine cost this Friday". Open Airbnb as a guest, search your area for a weekend six weeks out, filter to your bedroom count, and write the prices down. If yours is in the top third, that is the reason, and nothing below this line will fix it.

The second half of this check is time. A price set in January is wrong in July and wrong in November, in opposite directions. A night's value moves with the day, the season, the lead time and what just booked around you. One number cannot follow it.

2. The first line

Guests read your title and the first line of your description in the results, and that is all most of them read. "Cozy 2BR near downtown" says nothing, because every listing near downtown says it. The first line should say the one thing a guest cannot get next door: the view, the walk to the beach, the garage, the desk with a real chair, the hot tub. If you cannot name it, that is a different problem, and it is also fixable.

3. Minimum stay

A three-night minimum removes every two-night trip from your calendar, and in most cities two nights is the most common trip. Look at your last twenty inquiries. If half of them asked for fewer nights than you allow, your minimum is your vacancy. Two nights, with a higher price on the shorter stay, usually earns more than three nights of nothing.

4. Gaps

A calendar with a booking on Monday and a booking on Thursday has a Tuesday and a Wednesday that nobody can book unless they want exactly those nights. Those nights are worth less than your list price and more than nothing. Either allow shorter stays around them, or lower them, or accept they are empty. Leaving them at full price is the worst of the three.

5. Reviews: count and recency

A listing with four reviews loses to a listing with forty at the same price, and a listing whose last review is from March loses in September. You cannot make reviews, but you can ask. A short message on checkout day, once, asking for a review, is normal, and most guests who had a good stay will write one if asked.

6. Instant Book and response time

Guests filter by Instant Book more than hosts expect, and Airbnb's ranking page lists response rate and time among its factors. If you require approval and answer in six hours, you are invisible to the filter and slower than the listing next to yours. Turn Instant Book on with the guest requirements you are comfortable with, and answer within the hour during the day.

7. Then the photos

Now the photos. Not the number of them, the first one. The first photo is the one in the search results, and it should be the room a guest imagines being in, lit by daylight, with nothing on the counters. If your first photo is the building's exterior or the bathroom, change it today. The rest of the set matters less than hosts think, as long as every room is there and none of them is dark.

What this looks like in practice

Do them in order. Price first, because it decides whether anyone sees the rest. Then the first line, then the minimum stay, because those two take ten minutes each. Then reviews, Instant Book, and the first photo. Give it three weeks before you judge the result, because bookings arrive with a lag and the calendar you see today was decided a month ago.

If you would rather have it read for you: Hostomat's listing audit scores each listing out of 100 against the places near you that earn the most, across photos, copy, amenities and reviews, says what each weak part is costing you, and rewrites the copy for you to paste in. It is free, one per listing per day. The pricing part is separate and costs $19 a month, with the first month free. Neither replaces the list above. They do it faster.