Welcome to Boostly Podcast Episode 534.
In this podcast episode I will be talk about the two Airbnb hacks to increase your visibility and bookings
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Timestamps (audio)
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Transcript from the Episode
[00:00:00] Mark: There are two new hacks that you can take advantage of in the winter release of the Airbnb algorithms. That will mean that you will get more visibility on the Airbnb search algorithm. Now, if that means a lot of nothing to you, then let me just say one thing that'll make it super simple. Try doing these things moving forward on your Airbnb account if you wanna be seen more times.
[00:00:24] So the first thing is amenities, as you will have noticed with the new release. From Airbnb over the course of 2022, they are adding more and more amenities. Amenities of those little tick boxes that you do when you log in on the back. And the more that you can tick, then the more, uh, potential visibility you can get.
[00:00:45] Now, I'm not saying go and tick all the boxes if you don't offer those things, but you gotta make sure that you keep logging back in because Airbnb are always changing them. They're always adding more, and it's not just Airbnb. You know, you gotta duplicate the same on VRBO as well as booking.com [00:01:00] or any OTA that you listed on.
[00:01:02] But what they're also starting to do now is they're starting to change. The way that their search works. So in the past, Airbnb have based it off, uh, an interest-based, uh, algorithm. And now what they're changing their model two more is they're really changing it up and their AI's getting even more sophisticated.
[00:01:20] So what they want to do moving forward is they wanna present the best potential Airbnb listings to their guests. And what this will start to mean is that in the search results, if you're ranking 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, those first 10, the ones that they show, sometimes what it will actually present to you will be something that is catered.
[00:01:47] More to what your booking history is. So if I'm from a guest point of view, and if my book in history has been, um, where in the filters I've put down, say [00:02:00] maybe a kid's bed or a cots bed, and I've looked for pet friendly options, then Airbnb will know. But based on my history, when I'm searching for something, I am going to be more likely to stay with a property that is family friendly and pet focused.
[00:02:16] Okay, and it's basing it off the little boxes that I'm clicking on the, on the right hand side or clicking on the app. Now, what they're also looking for is they're looking for the properties that go above and beyond. And so it's not just a case of the amenities, it's if in you as a host, your reviews, people are going above and beyond to mention specific things.
[00:02:40] So if in a guest review for you, there's specific keywords in there. So if, for example, they go and talk about how the pets. A great bed provided for 'em and there was doggy treats on arrival or that the kids' beds, um, was plentiful. Lots of space for [00:03:00] the children, et cetera. And they mentioned those key words.
[00:03:03] An Airbnb are gonna pick that out as well, so that for, for a host for you, they'll pick out your keywords in your reviews, will match it to your amenities and are presented to a guest that is more suited to who you are trying to attract. So how can you take advantage of it? So number one, simple one, go and look at all your properties.
[00:03:23] Make sure that all the amenity boxes are ticked. But the next part is something that so many people aren't doing, and it's the ask method. So you've got a guest in your property, okay, and it's the type of guest Do you want to get more and more and more from? Okay. We talk about it a lot in the playbook.
[00:03:43] It's about the guest and the customer. Now what you can do is you can ask your guests, you can drop a little card and drop a little message or whatever, and just say, Hey, when you leave that review, when you leave that five star review, wink, wink, , that five star review, please could you do me a massive favor?
[00:03:58] We are trying to really [00:04:00] focus to get more guests who are, um, pet-friendly children, whatever it may be. I mean, it could be totally different if, if you are really trying to focus on contractors or, or, you know, corporate guests, get 'em to mention specific keywords and, uh, around corporate or worker away, et cetera, work case, digital nomad, whatever.
[00:04:18] Because what it'll mean if you can get a hundred reviews saying the same keywords that when Airbnb and the algorithms are doing all of the things, they're gonna go and pick your property out of a massive pile and present it more clearly and more obviously to the guest who is looking for it. So all it is is asking.
[00:04:35] So drop a little message in a little voice note. It could be on the day of checkout and just say, Hey, I just wanna say thank you so much. Um, you know, don't worry about cleaning X, Y, and Z. That's all covered for you. Um, by the way, we'd love having you. Thank you so much. I hope you've enjoyed it. When you leave your review on Airbnb, could you just do us a massive favor and mention about the, how we're a dog friendly or child friendly, et cetera.
[00:04:58] And by doing that, then the guest is more [00:05:00] likely to take. And you could even sweeten the pie as well as a little bit as well by saying, Hey, if you do, um, you know, if you ever want a book again, we'll give you a discount. Or it could be, uh, if you do, uh, and, and if you send us a screen grab, we'll send you a little something in the post Amazon vouchers, whatever you wanna be.
[00:05:16] But if you can do that consistently over the next 12 months, then I guarantee you that your Airbnb listing will start to show up more visibly. More prominently on the search results and it's specifically going to be put in front of your ideal guest. All you have to do is ask and remember, like I always say, shy kids don't get sweets.
[00:05:34] So go and get you sweets. Having a blast. Gonna get it on the Bruce Lee podcast. Bruce Lee led Bruce Lee cuz it's so hard on the teas loose leaf. Making up those rhymes. Don't write it just to, we loosely.
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