Starting October 29, 2026, Vrbo charges every host a flat 12%. That’s up from 5% if you’re connected through a PMS, about 8% if you list directly, and a few hundred bucks a year if you’re a legacy subscription host. Vrbo is also shrinking the guest fee and adding a rate parity clause. Below: the real dollar cost, how Vrbo now compares to Airbnb and Booking.com, and a full cheat sheet of every discount you can offer on all three platforms.

Well, it finally happened. Vrbo looked at Airbnb’s 15.5% host fee, looked at Booking.com’s 15%, looked at its own modest 5%, and apparently decided it was leaving money on the table.

Starting October 29, 2026, Vrbo will take a flat 12% commission from every host and property manager on the platform. For most of us, that’s somewhere between a 50% and 140% jump in what we hand Vrbo on every single booking.

If you connect through a property management system, you’ve been paying 5%. If you list directly on Vrbo, you’ve been paying about 8% once payment processing is included. And if you’re one of the lucky long-timers still on an annual subscription, you’ve been paying a flat few hundred dollars a year, which was quietly the best deal in vacation rentals. All three groups now land on the same number: 12%.

Skift broke the story on September 29 under the headline “Vrbo to Double Commissions as It Plays Catch-Up to Airbnb.” If you’re a PMS user, that headline is being polite. Going from 5 points to 12 points isn’t doubling. It’s a 140% increase.

There’s a trade-off hiding in the fine print, though. Vrbo says it will “drastically” reduce the service fee guests pay at checkout, which has been running 11% to 14%. So the total price a traveler sees may not move much. What moves is who gets the bill, and how much of each booking actually makes it to your bank account.

And there’s a second change riding shotgun that matters just as much: a rate parity clause. Vrbo will require your Vrbo rates to be at least as low as any other channel, including your own direct booking website. That one sentence breaks the classic “just mark up Vrbo to cover the fee” move.

Here’s the trail map for today’s hike:

1. What exactly is changing at Vrbo, and what it costs you in real dollars.

2. How Vrbo now stacks up against Airbnb and Booking.com.

3. A full recap of every discount and promotion you can offer on Airbnb, Vrbo and Booking.com, plus a cheat sheet and a playbook for using them without giving away the farm.

That discount section matters a lot more than it did a month ago. When every platform takes 12% to 18% off the top, every discount you run sits on top of that fee. A 15% promotion on a 15% platform isn’t a 15% haircut. It’s a buzz cut. And most hosts never do the math.

Let’s do the math.

What’s actually changing at Vrbo

The short version: on October 29, three different fee arrangements get squished into one 12% commission.

Here’s how Vrbo charged hosts until now, based on Hostfully’s breakdown (updated May 2026) and Skift’s reporting:

• PMS or channel-manager connected: 5% commission, with processing handled through your software. New rate: 12%. That’s +7 points.

• Listed directly on Vrbo, pay-per-booking: 5% commission plus 3% payment processing, about 8% total. New rate: 12%. That’s +4 points.

• Legacy annual subscription: $499 to $699 per listing per year. New rate: 12%. A flat fee becomes a percentage. Ouch.

Who’s affected?

Everyone. Skift reports that legacy subscription hosts, about 6% of Vrbo listings globally and 12% in the U.S. according to AirDNA, will also move to 12%. The subscription has been closed to new hosts for years, but plenty of long-time owners kept renewing because it was a steal for a busy listing. The steal is over.

PMS-connected property managers take the biggest hit in percentage points. Vrbo used to reward software connections with the lowest rate on the platform. That incentive is gone, which is a little funny considering Vrbo spent years begging managers to connect through APIs.

What does 12% apply to?

Vrbo’s current 5% commission applies to the nightly rate plus mandatory fees like cleaning, pet and extra-guest fees, but not refundable security deposits. Expect the 12% to follow the same base. Your cleaning fee is not a commission-free zone.

One open question as of this writing: whether the 12% is all-in, or whether hosts who list directly still pay a separate payment processing charge on top. The reporting describes a single flat commission. Check your Vrbo partner dashboard and any notice emails before you reprice.

The guest fee is shrinking (but not disappearing)

Vrbo guests have been paying a service fee of roughly 11% to 14% at checkout. Vrbo says it will drastically reduce that fee, but also said that “in most cases travelers will still see a service fee applied.” So this isn’t a full Airbnb-style move to host-only pricing. It’s a partial shift of the fee from the guest’s side of the receipt to yours.

The rate parity clause

The updated terms require your Vrbo rates to be at least as low as the rates you offer anywhere else, including your own website. The update also lets Vrbo distribute your listing through AI agents and metasearch.

If you’ve been growing direct bookings by offering a lower price on your own site, read that clause twice. Maybe three times. We’ll come back to it in the strategy section.

The math: what 12% actually costs you

Percentages hide the pain. Dollars don’t.

One booking

Picture a typical five-night stay: $340 a night plus a $300 cleaning fee, for a $2,000 booking subtotal.

• PMS-connected host: your payout drops from $1,900 (5% fee) to $1,760 (12% fee). You just lost $140 on one stay.

• Direct-listed host: your payout drops from $1,840 (about 8%) to $1,760. You lost $80.

That’s one booking. That’s a nice dinner out. Now multiply it by a year.

A year of bookings

• $25,000 a year on Vrbo: +$1,750 for PMS hosts, +$1,000 for direct hosts. A subscription host now pays $3,000 instead of $499 to $699.

• $50,000 a year: +$3,500 for PMS hosts, +$2,000 for direct hosts. A subscription host now pays $6,000.

• $100,000 a year: +$7,000 for PMS hosts, +$4,000 for direct hosts. A subscription host now pays $12,000.

Subscription hosts, I see you, and I’m sorry. A $100,000 listing that paid $699 a year now pays $12,000. That’s not a fee increase. That’s a brand-new line on your P&L that needs its own name.

How much do you need to raise rates to break even?

This is where most hosts trip on a root. You can’t just add 7% to your price to cover a 7-point fee increase, because the new fee gets charged on the new, higher price. The fee eats part of your raise.

Here’s the formula. Tape it to your fridge:

Required price increase = (1 − old fee) ÷ (1 − new fee) − 1

• From 5% to 12%: 0.95 ÷ 0.88 − 1 = 7.95% higher prices to keep the same payout.

• From 8% to 12%: 0.92 ÷ 0.88 − 1 = 4.55% higher prices.

• From a subscription (roughly 1% of revenue on a busy listing) to 12%: 0.99 ÷ 0.88 − 1 = about 12.5% higher prices.

The silver lining: the guest-side offset

If Vrbo cuts its guest fee like it promised, your guest’s total might not go up even if you raise your rate.

Say a guest used to pay your $2,000 subtotal plus a 12% service fee, for $2,240 total. You raise your rate 4.55% to $2,091. If Vrbo’s guest fee drops to something like 5% (Vrbo hasn’t published the new number, so treat this as a made-up example), the guest now pays about $2,196. That’s less than before, and you kept your payout. Everybody wins, except maybe your spreadsheet.

That’s exactly the bet Vrbo is making. Whether it works for you depends on the final guest fee, and on that parity clause, which limits where you’re allowed to raise prices.

Why is Vrbo doing this?

Vrbo is chasing the checkout price. Airbnb proved that showing guests one clean, fee-free number converts better, and Vrbo wants the same magic without giving up revenue.

Airbnb went first

Airbnb spent the past year moving almost every host to a single host-only fee of 15.5%. According to Rove Travel’s rollout timeline, PMS-connected hosts moved in late 2025, most independent hosts followed on December 1, 2025, and the last non-EU holdouts switched on September 15, 2026, with EU hosts following on October 13. Under the old split model, hosts paid 3% and guests paid 14% to 16.5% on top.

Now the guest sees one price. No “wait, what’s this?” moment at checkout. Skift quotes a Wall Street analyst who says Vrbo’s change “is aimed at replicating the conversion gains Airbnb saw when it showed travelers a no-fee price.”

Vrbo’s own spin is that 12% brings it in line with “industry standards.” Booking.com charges hosts about 15% with no guest fee. Airbnb charges about 15.5%. So at 12%, Vrbo is still the cheapest of the three, at least on paper.

Hosts are already paying for Vrbo’s growth

This fee change didn’t come out of nowhere. In its Q2 2026 earnings coverage, Rental Scale-Up reported:

• Expedia’s consumer segment, which includes Vrbo, grew bookings 8%, its fastest U.S. growth in 15 quarters.

• Supplier-funded promotions, meaning discounts hosts pay for out of their own rates, now make up more than 40% of Vrbo bookings, up from about a third in Q1 2026.

• Expedia’s May 2026 sale crossed $1 billion in bookings for participating properties for the first time.

Read that second bullet again. Four out of ten Vrbo bookings already carry a host-paid discount, usually 10% to 30%. Now the commission on that discounted price goes up too. Hosts are paying twice for the same visibility: once in the promotion, and again in the fee. It’s like tipping the valet and then paying for parking.

Metasearch, AI agents and the parity clause

The new terms let Vrbo push your listing through metasearch and AI agents. That’s where travel search is headed, and Expedia wants inventory it can distribute everywhere at a price nobody can undercut. The parity clause is how it guarantees that. If an AI travel agent or a Google result sends a guest to Vrbo, Vrbo doesn’t want that guest finding a cheaper price on your website five minutes later.

The bigger picture

The three big platforms are converging. All of them now take 12% to 18% from the host, all of them are shrinking or eliminating the guest fee, and all of them are leaning on host-funded promotions to decide who ranks. Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky has even called sponsored listings an “obvious” opportunity worth roughly $1 billion a year, according to Lodgify’s September roundup.

The era of cheap OTA distribution is over. The hosts who win from here will be the ones who know exactly what each channel costs them, after fees and after discounts.

How Vrbo stacks up against Airbnb and Booking.com

Even after the increase, Vrbo takes the smallest cut of the big three: 12%, versus 15.5% at Airbnb and about 15% at Booking.com before payment processing.

Here’s why it stings anyway. Vrbo’s advantage used to be huge: a PMS-connected host paid less than a third of what Airbnb charges. After October 29, the gap shrinks to 3.5 points.

A few things the chart can’t show you:

• Guest fees. Airbnb has almost completely eliminated its guest fee. Booking.com doesn’t charge one. Vrbo will still charge guests a reduced service fee in most cases, so Vrbo’s all-in guest price may still be a bit higher at the same nightly rate.

• Booking.com’s range. Booking.com’s commission runs 10% to 25% depending on country and property type, with a global average around 15%, per Houst. Payments by Booking.com adds 1.1% to 3.1%. Genius discounts, which most properties need for visibility, add more real cost on top.

• Airbnb exceptions. Hosts in Brazil and Mexico pay 16%, and listings with Super Strict cancellation policies can pay more, according to Hostfully.

Who takes what from a $1,000 booking

• Your direct website: about $30 in card processing. You keep about $970.

• Vrbo, after October 29: $120. You keep $880.

• Airbnb: $155. You keep $845.

• Booking.com, standard: $161 to $181 with payments. You keep $819 to $839.

• Booking.com, Preferred Partner: $191 to $211. You keep $789 to $809.

That first line is the one that should make you sit up. Every booking you move from an OTA to your own site is worth $90 to $180 per $1,000. The parity clause makes that harder, but not impossible.

What to do before October 29

First, don’t rage-delist. At 12%, Vrbo is still cheaper than Airbnb and Booking.com. What you should do is reprice on purpose, tighten your discounts, and rethink how you compete on your own website.

1. Know your real Vrbo share

Pull the last 12 months from your PMS or payout reports. What share of your revenue came from Vrbo, and what was your average booking value? A listing where Vrbo drives 40% of revenue needs a real plan. A listing where Vrbo drives 5% can probably shrug and move on.

Look at booking quality too. Vrbo guests have traditionally skewed toward families and longer stays. If your Vrbo bookings are longer and easier than your Airbnb bookings, that’s worth something beyond the fee line.

2. Reprice everywhere, not just on Vrbo

The old trick was a channel markup: charge a few percent more on the channel that charges you more. The parity clause blocks that in one direction. Your Vrbo rate can’t be higher than your rate elsewhere.

So the math nudges you toward raising your base rate across all channels. Raise 4.5% to 8% everywhere and you protect your Vrbo margin, and you also get a small bump on direct bookings, where you pay no commission at all. Watch your occupancy for a few weeks and adjust.

If you use dynamic pricing like PriceLabs, Wheelhouse or Beyond, update your base price and minimums instead of fighting the tool with a pile of manual overrides.

3. Win direct bookings on value, not price

Lots of us offer a lower rate on our direct booking site. Under the new Vrbo terms, that may violate parity, depending on how Vrbo defines “rate” in the final agreement.

Good news: you still have plenty of ways to make booking direct the better deal without undercutting your nightly rate.

• No guest service fee. Your site never charges one. If Vrbo still adds a service fee, your checkout total is lower even at the same nightly rate.

• Perks, not discounts. Free early check-in, late checkout, a stocked welcome basket, a bundle of firewood, a beach cart, or a credit at the taco place down the street.

• Flexibility. A friendlier cancellation or date-change policy for direct guests.

• Returning guest love. A thank-you gift or first dibs on dates for repeat visitors.

Read the final parity language carefully before you change anything. Some parity clauses treat member-only rates or packages differently from public rates.

4. Rethink your cleaning fee

The commission applies to cleaning and other mandatory fees. At 12%, a $300 cleaning fee now costs you $36 in commission every stay. That’s not a reason to drop the fee. It’s a reason to stop thinking of it as pass-through money.

5. Audit every promotion you’re running

Four in ten Vrbo bookings now carry a host-funded promotion. If you turned on an early-booking or last-minute promotion a year ago and forgot about it, you’re about to pay 12% on a discounted rate. The discount recap below will help you decide what stays and what goes.

6. Subscription hosts: budget for it now

If you’re on the annual subscription, your costs are about to jump by thousands of dollars per listing. Update your 2027 budget and cash flow projections now, and loop in your CPA so there are no surprises at tax time.

7. Lean on your software

If you’re PMS-connected, ask your provider how they’re handling the change, whether per-channel pricing rules still work, and how they’ll flag parity conflicts. Your PMS is now your best defense against accidentally breaking a platform agreement at 11 p.m. on a Tuesday.

Airbnb discounts: the full menu

Airbnb now gives hosts nine discount tools, and more of them stack than most hosts realize. The standard promotions fight each other for the same night, but rule sets, the non-refundable rate and Airbnb’s two shiny new discounts pile on top. These rules come from Hospitable’s discount guide and Homesberg’s 2026 promotions guide.

New listing promotion

• What it is: 20% off your first three bookings.

• Who qualifies: Listings with fewer than three bookings and Smart Pricing turned off.

• Why use it: New listings have no reviews and no ranking history. The promo buys early bookings, and early bookings buy reviews. Most hosts should flip this on.

Custom promotions

• What it is: A limited-time discount on specific dates you choose.

• Who qualifies: Listings with at least three prior bookings and at least one in the past 365 days. Dates must be available and open at least 28 days out.

• Limits: You can’t promote more than 50% of nights in a month, and the promoted price can’t exceed your highest booked nightly rate from the past year.

• Display: Discounts of 15% or more get a special callout in search. Promotions covering at least seven consecutive nights stand out more.

• The catch: Custom promotions don’t combine with your weekly or monthly discounts.

Weekly and monthly discounts

• What it is: A percentage off stays of 7+ nights (weekly) or 28+ nights (monthly). You can also set custom length-of-stay tiers.

• Display: 10% or more shows up in search results.

• Why use it: Longer stays mean fewer turnovers, fewer cleanings and less wear and tear. On a 15.5% platform, the savings on turnovers often beat the discount.

Early-bird discount

• What it is: A discount for guests who book 1 to 24 months ahead.

• Display: Even 3% triggers a callout on your listing.

• Why use it: A tiny early-bird discount is one of the cheapest marketing tricks on Airbnb. It locks in far-out dates for pocket change.

Last-minute discount

• What it is: A discount for bookings made close to check-in, from 0 to 28 days before arrival.

• Display: 10% or more shows in search results.

• Why use it: Fills gap nights that would otherwise earn exactly zero dollars. Homesberg suggests stepping it up as the date gets closer instead of using one flat number.

Non-refundable rate

• What it is: Guests choose between your standard cancellation policy or a cheaper non-refundable rate, typically about 10% off.

• Why use it: Locks in revenue with zero cancellation risk. Great for peak season and big event weekends.

Rule sets (seasonal pricing)

• What it is: Pricing and availability rules applied across multiple listings and date ranges. Mostly used by hosts with professional tools.

• Why use it: Keeps seasonal adjustments consistent across a portfolio.

Top-rated guest discount (new in 2026)

• What it is: 15% off for guests with an average rating of 4.8 or higher and at least 3 reviews from other hosts.

• Rules: Airbnb sets the 15%; you can’t adjust it. Smoobu reports the promotion ends automatically after your listing gets three discounted bookings.

• Why use it: It rolls out the welcome mat for guests with a proven track record of not throwing parties in your living room.

Mobile-only discount (new in 2026)

• What it is: 10% off for guests who book in the Airbnb app. Desktop and mobile web guests see your regular price.

• Rules: Fixed at 10%. For now it’s only available through connected software that supports it, per Hostaway. Rental Scale-Up reports hosts can’t change the percentage or exclude high-demand dates.

• Why use it: Airbnb is pushing app bookings hard, and this is the toll for riding in that lane.

How Airbnb stacks discounts (spoiler: more than you think)

The five standard promotions compete, so only one of them applies to a given night, in this priority order (per Airbnb):

1. New listing promotion

2. Custom promotion

3. Length-of-stay discount

4. Early-bird discount

5. Last-minute discount

But that’s just round one. Everything else layers on top, and each discount is calculated on the already-discounted price. Smoobu lays out the full order:

1. Rule sets apply first. Inside a rule set, nightly and weekend adjustments apply, then length-of-stay discounts, then early-bird and last-minute discounts (Airbnb). Yes, that means a rule set can stack a weekly discount and a last-minute discount.

2. One standard promotion from the list above.

3. Non-refundable discount. Airbnb says the 10% non-refundable discount “applies to your nightly price after all other discounts are calculated.”

4. Mobile-only discount.

5. Top-rated guest discount.

Airbnb’s own example: a rule set drops your $120 night to $100, a 20% custom promotion takes it to $80, and the non-refundable discount takes it to $72. That’s 40% off your base price, and nobody sent you a warning email.

Now throw in the new kids. A $300 night with a 10% weekly discount, the 10% mobile-only discount and the 15% top-rated guest discount comes to $206.55, about 31% off. After Airbnb’s 15.5% fee, you keep $174.54. That’s 58% of your list price, for a guest you probably would have been thrilled to host at full price.

One caveat: Rental Scale-Up notes that Airbnb’s help text still says only one offer applies per reservation, while channel managers report that the new discounts stack. Until Airbnb clears that up, open the guest price preview before you turn anything on.

What you actually get for discounting

Airbnb rewards discounts with strikethrough pricing in search and on the listing page, callout badges, a line item in the price breakdown and, sometimes, a spot in guest emails. One useful finding from Homesberg’s testing: a promotion and a straight price cut of the same size rank about the same. The promotion mostly buys you the shiny strikethrough, not an algorithm boost.

Vrbo discounts: the promotions suite

Vrbo’s promotions are simpler than Airbnb’s, and the magic number is 5%. Offer at least 5% off, and Vrbo boosts you in search, slaps a badge on your listing, and lets travelers filter for you. Vrbo launched its promotions suite in May 2025 (here’s the announcement), and these rules come from Guesty’s Vrbo promotions guide and The Host Report.

Early-booking promotion

• What it is: A discount for stays booked at least 60 days before check-in.

• Minimum: 5% to earn the badge and strikethrough. Vrbo recommends 10%.

• Why use it: Vrbo guests tend to plan family trips way ahead. Early-booking deals lock in peak weeks before your neighbors start slashing prices.

Last-minute promotion

• What it is: A discount for bookings made within 30 days of check-in.

• Minimum: 5% for the “Last Minute” badge and a spot in the dedicated search filter. Vrbo recommends 10%.

• Why use it: Fills gaps. Beyond Pricing notes you can choose which listings participate and customize the window.

Mobile-only promotion

• What it is: A discount shown only to travelers on the Vrbo app or mobile web.

• Minimum: 5% for the badge. Vrbo recommends 10%.

• Why use it: Nearly half of Vrbo bookings happen on a phone, according to The Host Report. Probably from the passenger seat.

Member-only deals (One Key)

• What it is: A discount for members of Expedia Group’s One Key loyalty program, which Vrbo says has 168 million members.

• Minimums by tier: Blue 10%, Silver 11%, Gold 12%. Must be a percentage discount.

• Why use it: Expedia says loyalty members book earlier, stay longer and spend more. It’s also a way to discount without showing a lower public rate, which may matter under parity. Confirm how the new terms treat member rates.

New listing promotions

• What it is: Enhanced promotion tools for a property’s first 90 days on Vrbo.

• Why use it: Same logic as Airbnb. Early bookings build the reviews that drive ranking.

Weekly and monthly discounts

• What it is: Standard length-of-stay discounts set in your rates.

• The catch: The Host Report points out that, unlike promotions, standard weekly and monthly discounts don’t get a search boost.

How Vrbo stacks discounts

• Promotions don’t stack with each other. If more than one applies, the highest percentage wins.

• Lodging rate discounts, like length-of-stay, can stack with one promotion.

• The maximum total discount is 75% off your base rate.

• You can’t edit a promotion’s discount after you create it. You have to end it and start a new one.

The big picture

Vrbo leans on promotions harder than anyone. More than 40% of Vrbo bookings now carry a host-funded promotion. Starting October 29, every one of those discounted bookings also pays 12%. A 10% promotion plus a 12% fee means you keep about 79% of your list price, down from about 85.5% under the old 5% PMS rate. Use promotions like hot sauce: a little goes a long way.

Booking.com discounts: the most options, the most ways to hurt yourself

Booking.com has the deepest discount menu of the three, and like Airbnb, it lets several discounts stack on one reservation. That makes it powerful, and very dangerous. Sources: Houst’s Genius guide, Rentals United on promotions and mobile and country rates, and Zeevou’s promotions review.

Genius program

• What it is: Booking.com’s loyalty program. You give Genius members a discount in exchange for more visibility and a Genius badge.

• Who qualifies: At least 3 reviews and an average score of 7.5 or higher. No sign-up fee and no extra commission.

• Discount levels: Level 1 (guests with 2+ stays) at least 10%. Level 2 (5+ stays) 10% to 15%, with optional perks like breakfast or upgrades. Level 3 (15+ stays) 10% to 20%, plus optional perks.

• What it gets you: Houst reports about 70% more search views and 45% more bookings for Genius properties.

• 2026 change: Booking.com moved Genius visibility to algorithmic matching. Properties offering only the 10% minimum now see fewer impressions, while 15% to 20% or added perks get better ranking.

Basic Deal

• What it is: A general-purpose deal you can target to specific dates, lengths of stay or audiences, including a version only signed-in Booking.com users or newsletter subscribers can see (often called a Secret Deal).

Early Booker Deal

• What it is: A discount for guests who book well ahead.

• Stacks with: Genius, Business Rate, Country Rate and Mobile Rate.

• Doesn’t stack with: Last-minute Deal, Secret Deal, Free Nights Deal and campaign deals.

Last-minute Deal

• What it is: A discount for bookings made shortly before check-in, commonly within 7 days.

• Stacking: Same lists as the Early Booker Deal.

Mobile Rate

• What it is: A discount shown only to guests on mobile.

• Minimum: 10%.

• What it gets you: Rentals United cites up to 28% more visibility.

• Stacks with: Most discounts and promotions, but not Country Rates or a Limited-time Deal.

Country Rate

• What it is: A discount shown only to travelers in countries you pick. Handy for targeting domestic travelers or a strong feeder market.

• Minimum: 5%.

• Stacks with: Most discounts, but not Mobile Rates.

Free Nights Deal

• What it is: Guests get one or more free nights when they book a minimum number of paid nights, like “stay 7, pay 6.”

• Why use it: Pushes longer stays without showing a lower nightly price.

Limited-time Deal

• What it is: A short, deep discount that gets a strong ranking boost while it runs.

• Who qualifies: Properties with a review score of 7.0 or higher.

Seasonal campaign deals

• What it is: Booking.com-run campaigns like Getaway Deals, Black Friday and New Year promotions, with big platform-wide visibility.

Non-refundable and weekly or monthly rate plans

• What it is: Separate rate plans rather than promotions: a discounted non-refundable plan, or weekly and monthly rates.

• The catch: Zeevou notes these give steady visibility but no strikethrough pricing.

Paid visibility programs

• Preferred Partner: About 3% extra commission (roughly 18% total) for about 65% more page views.

• Preferred Plus: About 8% extra commission (roughly 23% total), for top-performing partners.

• Visibility Booster: A pay-per-booking commission bump on dates you choose.

How Booking.com stacks discounts (a cautionary tale)

This is where hosts get burned. Promotions generally don’t combine with each other, but they do stack with Genius, Mobile Rates, Country Rates and Business Rates, and the discounts apply one after another.

A 10% Genius discount plus a 10% Mobile Rate plus a 15% Early Booker Deal compounds to about 31% off. Add a 15% commission and payment processing, and you keep under 60% of your list price. That’s not a promotion. That’s a donation.

The cheat sheet: every discount on every platform

Booking.com has the most discount types. Airbnb and Booking.com both stack. Vrbo is the strictest about combining. Here’s the whole menu on one page. Screenshot it, print it, stick it on the fridge next to the formula.

A discount playbook for the 12%-to-18% era

Every discount now rides on top of a double-digit platform fee. The rule: discount for a reason, measure what you keep, and turn it off when it stops working.

1. Do the net math, every time

What you keep = list price × (1 − discount) × (1 − platform fee). On a $300 night with a 10% discount:

• Vrbo (after Oct 29, 12%): you keep $237.60, or 79.2% of list price.

• Booking.com, standard (~15%): you keep $229.50, or 76.5%.

• Airbnb (15.5%): you keep $228.15, or 76.1%.

• Booking.com, Preferred Partner (~18%): you keep $221.40, or 73.8%.

Booking.com figures don’t include payment processing of 1.1% to 3.1% if you use Payments by Booking.com. So a “10% discount” really costs you roughly a quarter of your list price once the platform takes its slice.

2. Use the smallest discount that earns the badge

Each platform has a threshold where the visual goodies kick in. Going deeper than that buys you very little extra visibility.

• Airbnb: 3% for an early-bird callout. 10% for weekly, monthly and last-minute discounts to show in search. 15% for a custom promotion callout. The mobile-only (10%) and top-rated guest (15%) discounts are fixed, so your only choice is on or off.

• Vrbo: 5% for promotion badges, strikethrough and the search boost. Member deals start at 10% to 12% by tier.

• Booking.com: 10% for Genius Level 1 and Mobile Rates, 5% for Country Rates. But after the 2026 Genius change, the 10% minimum doesn’t guarantee much visibility anymore.

3. Let length-of-stay discounts pay for themselves

A week-long stay replaces what might otherwise be two or three short stays. That means fewer cleanings, fewer “what’s the Wi-Fi password” messages, fewer supply restocks, and fewer empty gap nights in between. On many properties, a 10% weekly discount costs less than the turnovers it saves. Run the numbers with your own cleaning and supply costs. You might find you can go deeper on weekly and monthly discounts than you think.

4. Build a last-minute ladder, not a cliff

A flat 25% last-minute discount throws money away on dates that would have booked anyway. Step it up as the date gets closer. Homesberg’s suggested Airbnb ladder is a solid starting point: 10% at 8 to 18 days out, 20% at 4 to 7 days, and 30% at 3 days or less. Adjust for how far ahead guests book in your market.

5. Never discount peak dates

Holiday weeks, local events and summer weekends at the lake or the beach book themselves. Block them out of promotions, or set date ranges that skip them. Every platform lets you target dates.

6. Test your stacking with a fake-guest search

Before a promotion goes live on Booking.com, search for your own listing as a signed-in Genius member on your phone. On Airbnb, open the price preview for a weekly stay with your mobile-only and top-rated guest discounts turned on. If the price makes you gasp, you’ve got a stacking problem. Fix it before a guest finds it first.

7. Watch parity across channels

The new Vrbo terms require your Vrbo rates to be at least as low as other channels. A deep promotion on Airbnb or Booking.com could, in theory, make another channel cheaper than Vrbo. It’s not clear yet how Vrbo will enforce this against promotions and member-only rates on other platforms, so keep an eye on the final terms and any notices from Vrbo.

8. Put an expiration date on every promotion

Promotions are easy to set and easy to forget, like a gym membership. Put a reminder on your calendar 30 days after you launch one. Did bookings actually go up for those dates? If not, turn it off.

9. On your own site, add value instead of cutting price

Direct guests already skip the OTA service fee. Instead of a lower rate, which may conflict with parity, offer something that costs you little and feels generous: early check-in, late checkout, a welcome basket, or a returning-guest gift. You keep the whole booking minus card processing, and your platform relationships stay squeaky clean.

The bottom line

Vrbo’s move to 12% is a real cost increase: $1,000 to $7,000 a year for a listing doing $25,000 to $100,000 on Vrbo, and a whole lot more for legacy subscription hosts. But Vrbo is still the cheapest of the big three, and if the guest fee drops the way Vrbo says it will, your listing may actually look cheaper to travelers at checkout.

Here’s your pre-October 29 checklist:

1. Pull 12 months of Vrbo revenue and calculate your extra fee cost at 12%.

2. Decide on a base rate increase across all channels (4.55% to hold your payout from 8%, 7.95% from 5%).

3. Read the final Vrbo terms, especially the parity clause and whether payment processing is included.

4. Review your direct booking site for parity conflicts, and swap rate discounts for perks.

5. Audit every active promotion on Vrbo, Airbnb and Booking.com, and give each one a review date.

6. Test your prices on Airbnb and Booking.com to catch stacked discounts.

7. Ask your PMS how it’s handling the change.

8. Update your 2027 budget, and loop in your CPA if you’re a subscription host.

The platforms are all heading to the same place: a double-digit host fee, a smaller guest fee, and host-funded promotions to earn visibility. None of that is going away. The hosts who come out ahead will be the ones who treat every channel as a line item, know what each discount really costs after fees, and keep investing in direct guest relationships that no platform can take a cut of.

So, have you started repricing for the Vrbo change? Raising rates, leaning into direct, or shrugging it off? Tell me in the comments. I read every one.

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Sources

• Vrbo to Double Commissions as It Plays Catch-Up to Airbnb, Skift, September 29, 2026

• Lodgify Lowdown, September 2026, Lodgify

• Vrbo Host Fees (and How to Pay Less), Hostfully

• Vrbo Q2 2026 Earnings: Hosts Are Funding the Growth, Rental Scale-Up

• Airbnb Host Fee 15.5%: Real Cost to Hosts, Rove Travel

• Airbnb Host Fees: The 15.5% Host-Only Fee Explained, Hostfully

• Booking.com Fees for Hosts: Full Breakdown, Houst

• Airbnb Discounts: How to Get Them Right, Hospitable

• Airbnb Promotions for Hosts (2026), Homesberg

• Vrbo Launches New Promotions Suite, Business Wire

• Understanding Vrbo Promotions, Guesty

• Vrbo’s Expanding Its Promotion Tools, The Host Report

• New Vrbo Update: Last Minute Deals, Beyond Pricing

• Booking.com Genius for Hosts: Is It Worth It?, Houst

• Booking.com Opportunities and Promotions, Rentals United

• Mobile and Country Rates on Booking.com, Rentals United

• Booking.com Promotions Review, Zeevou

• Combining Discounts and Rule Sets, Airbnb

• How Rule Sets Work, Airbnb Help Center

• How Do Airbnb Discounts and Promotions Stack?, Smoobu

• Airbnb’s Mobile-Only and Top-Rated Guest Discounts Explained, Smoobu

• Airbnb’s New Host Discounts: High-Rated Guest and Mobile-Only, Rentals United

• Airbnb Mobile Discounts Arrive for Some Hosts, Rental Scale-Up

• Airbnb Mobile-Only Discount, Hostaway

How many other short-term rentals are within one mile of your front door?

Almost nobody knows. They can tell us their ADR, their occupancy last August, and the exact hour their cleaner shows up. But the number of listings competing for the same guest, on the same map, in the same mile? Blank stare.

That number is the single most important piece of context for every other decision you make. It changes what a good price looks like. It changes how much a single 4-star review costs you. And it completely changes what it means to be “ranked 40th.”

100 competitors and 1,000 competitors are two different businesses

Start with what does not change.

Say you are sitting at position #40. You are on roughly page three whether there are 120 listings inside your mile or 900. The guest scrolling the map doesn’t care how many properties are stacked up behind you, and does not scroll any further because of them. Buried is buried. Anyone who tells you that “top 4% of your market” is a meaningful consolation is selling you a vanity metric.

What density actually changes is the price of getting out.

Page one is about 18 slots in every market on earth. That number does not scale with your competition.

• In the lake town, page one means being top 15%. You have to beat about 100 listings.

• In the beach market, page one means being top 2%. You have to beat about 880.

Same destination. Wildly different climb. That is why the same well-meaning advice — “refresh your photos, tighten your title” — produces a happy host in one market and an exhausted one in the other. It is not that the advice is wrong. It is that a gain big enough to carry you onto the top pages in the lake town barely registers as movement through a field of nine hundred.

Density also decides how noisy your rank is

This is the part almost nobody accounts for.

In a 900-listing market, there are hundreds of properties sitting within a rounding error of your score. A single cancellation, one 4-star review, a competitor’s price drop — and you move twenty positions, because twenty listings were stacked within a hair of you. Rank in a dense market is genuinely volatile.

In a 120-listing market, your rank is sticky. There simply are not enough near-neighbors to move you far. You can go a month without shifting three spots.

Same for supply shocks. Fifty new listings arriving before summer is background noise in the beach market and a 40% increase in competition in the lake town.

So “where do I rank” is a stable, once-a-quarter question in one market and a live, moving number in the other. Knowing which one you are in tells you how closely you need to be watching.

And the advice genuinely inverts

Take the most common piece of guidance there is: lower your price 10%.

In the dense market, you have fifty near-identical substitutes and guests are actively comparison-shopping across them. Price is doing real work there — a cut can move you relative to your comp set and win share. But you need to be careful, as a big price cut could drop you in rank. Remember, one of Airbnb’s algorithm goals is to maximize profit. If two properties are equal in amenities, quality, rating, etc., it will place the higher-priced property first.

In the thin market, you are one of a handful of options at your size and layout. A guest who wants a 4-bedroom on that lake in July has nowhere else to go. The same 10% cut mostly hands money back on bookings you were going to get anyway.

Identical advice. Opposite outcomes. The only thing that tells you which situation you are in is knowing how crowded your mile is.

How to actually find your number

You do not need a subscription to get a rough answer:

1. Open Airbnb on a desktop, zoom the map to your property, until the map is showing about a mile in each direction. Turn on “Search as I move the map.” Clear the dates. The count Airbnb shows you at that zoom level is your real competitive set.

2. Do it again for each guest count your place sleeps. A 2-bedroom competing at “4 guests” faces a different field than the same place filtered to “6 guests.” Most owners are shocked at how much the number moves.

3. Do it again in your shoulder season. Supply in a lot of markets is wildly seasonal — the number of listings that switch on for July is not the number competing with you in February.

4. Write the numbers down with the date. Supply growth is the story of the last three years in most markets, and you want to be able to see it happening to you rather than hearing about it from a podcast.

If you do this once a quarter, you will know more about your market than 90% of the hosts you are competing with. Or keep reading for a much better way to track this.

Bookings does not decline. It falls off a cliff.

We wrote about this a while back in Help — I stopped getting new bookings,

and it remains the most common thing we see: the owner did not do anything obviously wrong, the calendar just went quiet.

The reason it feels so sudden is that airbnb’s algorithm is NOT egalitarian. It will keep rewarding listings that will generate more revenue and happy guests. Page one to three gets almost everything. Page three and lower gets a fraction. By the time you are past page five, in a competitive market, you are functionally not in the search results at all.

The cruel part is that the fall is much faster than the climb. A handful of guest cancellations, one accuracy-related 3-star review, a stale calendar, or a price that drifted out of the band the algorithm expects for your cluster — and you can lose two pages in under a week. Earning them back takes a month of clean stays.

A little about how Airbnb decides

Airbnb has never published the ranking formula, but the shape of it is well understood by anyone who has watched enough listings move. Two things worth internalizing:

First, Airbnb is optimizing for its own revenue and for guest satisfaction — not for your occupancy. Every signal it rewards is a proxy for “will this guest book, will they be happy, and will they come back.” That means:

• Click-through rate on your cover photo. Your first image is doing more ranking work than your entire description. If guests scroll past you in the grid, Airbnb learns you are a weak result for that search and stops showing you.

• Conversion rate. Views that turn into bookings. A listing with good views and no bookings gets demoted — usually a pricing or photo-set problem.

• Review score, and especially review recency and the words in them. Mentions of cleanliness, accuracy, and maintenance issues punch well above their weight.

• Reliability signals. Host cancellations are the fastest way to tank a listing. Response time and response rate matter. So does calendar freshness — an un-touched calendar reads as an absentee listing.

• Price relative to your comp set, not price in the abstract. This is the one that ties straight back to knowing your market.

• Completeness and filter eligibility. Every amenity you have but did not list is a filtered search you silently lose.

Second — and this is the part most hosts miss — there is no single “your rank.” Airbnb ranks per search. Your position for 2 guests, no dates is a different number than for 6 guests, a week in July, pets allowed. It is different for a logged-in repeat guest than a first-time browser. The listing you think is on page one may be on page four for the guest count that actually pays your mortgage.

In addition, a guest searching in a mobile device will see a different rank list due to the properties with ‘mobile discount’.

A good guest (3+ reviews and 4.9 or higher) will also see a different rank list due to the properties offering the 15% discount to ‘good guests’.

So the honest answer to “where do I rank?” is: it depends, and it changes nightly. But you can and should track the rank by number of guests to get a trend.

Every Airbnb owner should be tracking page rank

We will say it plainly: if you self-manage, tracking your search rank should be as routine as checking your calendar.

Not because the number itself is interesting, but because of what it gives you:

• Early warning. Rank moves days to weeks before your booking pace does. A slow calendar tells you something broke two weeks ago. A rank chart tells you it is breaking right now, while you can still do something about it.

• Attribution. Change the cover photo, then watch. Change the title, then watch. Drop the price $12, then watch. Without a daily rank record, you are making five changes at once and guessing which one worked — which is how most hosts end up making their listing worse over a season.

• Sanity. Half the time the chart shows the whole market moved, not you. That is enormously useful information. It stops you from panic-discounting into a slow week that was never your fault.

• Proof for the money conversations. If you are a co-host or you own with a partner, “our rank went from 45th to 8th over six weeks” is a much better report than “I think things are going well.”

The free tool we use: ListingSonar

ListingSonar is a free Airbnb rank tracker, and it is the easiest way we have found to do all of this without a spreadsheet habit.

What it does:

• You paste in your Airbnb listing URL. It reads the name, the location, and how many guests the place sleeps. That is the entire setup.

• Every night it runs the same dateless map search a traveler would — about a one-mile radius around your property, not logged in, so you are seeing the real result and not a personalized one — and records exactly where your listing landed.

• It does this once per guest count you sleep (1, 2, 3, 4 and up), so you can see the searches you are quietly losing.

• The dashboard shows page-one bands, so you can see at a glance the day you fell off page one instead of doing the math on position numbers.

• It shows the number of competing listings alongside your rank — which is the market-density number this whole post is about, tracked for you over time.

• You can log changes — new photos, new title, price move — and see them marked on the chart, so you can actually tell what caused what.

• History from 14 days out to a year, and a Monday morning email recap of what moved.

• Multiple properties under one account, and property managers can have recaps emailed to owners directly.

It is free. Sign in is Google only — no password to create, and the first result lands in your inbox within minutes.

The takeaway

Two numbers, checked regularly, will tell you more about the health of your short-term rental than anything else on your dashboard:

1. How many listings are inside your mile — the size of the fight.

2. Where you sit among them, every night — whether you are winning it.

Most owners know neither. That is the opportunity. In a market that has spent three years adding supply faster than it adds guests, the hosts who survive are simply the ones who noticed the drop while it was still a dip.

Go find your number. Then go watch it.

P.S. — If you are in one of the markets we operate in and want a second set of eyes on your listing, reply to this email. And if you start tracking your rank and see something strange in the chart, send us a screenshot. We love this stuff.

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For years Vrbo told owners the same thing: earn your spot. Keep reviews high, accept bookings, don’t cancel, and the algorithm rewards you with better placement. No ad budget required. This has changed.

Vrbo Sponsored Listings went live in August 2026, after a spring pilot. Owners and managers now bid through the Expedia Group Advertising Portal for two paid slots that sit above every organic search result. Win a slot and your property is the first thing a traveler sees.

Here is the part that makes this different from almost every other advertising product: you pay per booked night, not per click. Travelers can look at your sponsored listing all day long and it costs you nothing. The fee only lands when someone actually reserves. Vrbo calls it “no-risk, all-reward.” On the downside, that is close to true, but depending on the bid, this can get very expensive fast.

The slots are not shown to everyone. A sponsored listing surfaces when a traveler’s search filters match the property — dates, guest count, amenities — so you are paying to jump the queue in front of people already looking for something like yours. Expedia has said these placements will eventually reach Expedia.com as well, which would widen the audience considerably.

How the bidding works

Once you onboard your property to the system, you create a campaign for a property. Like other advertising platforms, you pick a name and, instead of cost per click, enter a base per-night bid. This is the cost per night if a traveler not only clicks on your paid placement, but then books. So in the example below, we are bidding $25 per night. If a traveler books for 5 nights, a separate commission of $125 is due. This is on top of the existing VRBO commission and promotion we are already familiar with.

Like most campaigns you can also set an end date or run in perpetuity.

Ad modifiers

What we have found the most interesting are the ‘ad modifiers’. This allows for the bid to change depending on these parameters.

For example, let’s say we have a property in a competitive area with a certain number of snowbirds that book every winter. We can increase our bid by a percentage if the length of stay meets a threshold. In the screenshot below, we double our bid to $50/night if a stay is longer than 30 days. Remember, we only pay if a traveler books from our paid placement. So this could cost 30*50= $1500. Not cheap - but if the ADR is $350/night, could it be worth it?

Our recommended strategy

Our recommended strategy is to not overcomplicate. With the variety of parameters, one could create a very complicated and expensive campaign very quickly.

Here are our top recommendations.

1. If your listing is already in the top 10-15, there is no need to pay more for a booking you would already get.

2. If your market is small, you also don’t need to pay more.

3. Create a campaign to fill vacancies during the low and shoulder season in saturated markets.

4. This does NOT guarantee you will be booked. Travelers seldom click on the first listing and book, but it guarantees visibility.

5. Experiment and watch. Unfortunately, there is no easy way to know what the top bids are going for. In addition, it could change… let’s say someone has a week open and would rather get 50% rev than leave it open; they could bid 50% of the ADR. This guarantees exposure in a competitive market, so you need to monitor it constantly.

6. Another great strategy is for new properties with no reviews. This is again a great way to pay and guarantee visiblity.

Results

This new system just went live a couple of weeks ago. We need more data. However, from the couple of properties we have tested this on it has been positive.

For example, one property that is usually empty in September has allowed us to gain visibility and reach 90% occupancy, but at a premium. Normally, we would rather keep the property empty than lower the ADR and attract bad guests. This has allowed us to pay more, but attract good guests.

Let us know if you have any questions or want to discuss setting up a campaign for you.

Have you ever wondered why some properties consistently have higher occupancy rates, ADR, and yearly revenue than others in the same market? We have.

In one of our markets, we started to manage a property very similar to a property we were already managing. Both properties were in similar locations, had similar amenities, and had similar descriptions, yet one was generating 50% higher revenue than the other. What was the secret sauce? Was it just luck?

Now that we had both properties in our hands we could dig deep to see the differences and what kept one property with a much higher page rank the other other.

The new property we started to manage had a previous co-host wasn’t bad and perhaps made a few mistakes, but nothing major. And yet the revenue difference in 2024 was significant. Our existing property had an annual revenue of 85K and this new property had an yearly revenue of 55K. AirDna reported an average revenue for this type of property at 60K.

So, this second property was slightly below average, but a whopping 30K lower than our existing high-performing property.

So what are differences? First a little bit about this market.

Constrained Market

Some of the properties we manage are in markets that are constrained, where, due to licensing restrictions during the busy season, occupancy is at 80 or 90 percent and low season is still in the 50 percent occupancy.

In contrast, other properties are located in markets with little to no entry restrictions, resulting in a really high saturation of empty places in the low season and downward price pressure during the high seasons.

These two properties are in a market similar to Tampa, FL, with little barrier to entry. When we first started to manage a property in Tampa, FL, the area had just shy of 1K STRs. Fast forward 5 years, and there are now over 6K STRs. That is an increase of 500%. Nights booked has also gone up in the past 5 years, but nowhere near 500%.

The other item we can tell by this graph is that there are owners dropping out…..the high was 7.2K properties about a year ago and the number of STRs seem to be slowly decreasing. We can only assume that some of these STRs are turning back to LTRs.

Statistics

One of the first analyses we did was a deep dive in various stats. For this we used Rank Breeze . Rank Breeze is excellent for monitoring Airbnb page rank and various statistics. While some of these statistics are accessible within Airbnb, others are not.

Views

Views are the number of times the property appeared for a guest or potential guest. The high-performing property is getting a LOT more views than similar properties. In some months as many as 10X more views.

The low-performing property had literally the same stats as average. Some months a little higher and some months a little lower.

This makes sense since we know the high-performing property has a higher page rank and will get more page views.

Click-Thru Rate

The click-through is the rate when guest or potential guest clicks on your property. This rate was also higher in the high-performing property, but it did have a few months where it was just about average.

The low-performing property also had slightly higher click-through rates than similar listings, but just a bit higher.

Occupancy Rate

The occupancy rate is a key statistic. This is the percentage of days that the property was rented. We consider anything above 80 a good occupancy.

The occupancy rate of the high-performing property was awesome. Even during the low season, occupancy remained strong. In months such as Oct, which is the low season, the average occupancy was 20%, while our high-performing property had an occupancy in the 70s. In fact, occupancy was impressive even after the hurricanes at the end of 2024.

During the high season, the property was fully booked at 100%. We checked, and the longest booking was 7 days so this wasn’t a fluke.

The low-performing had occupancy rates just a tad higher than similar listings.

Avg Daily Rates - ADR

The average daily rate, or ADR, is another key statistic as it has a direct impact on revenue. This one surprised us. During the low season, the high-performing property had a slightly LOWER average daily rate than similar properties.

During the HIGH season, it had a HIGHER average daily rate than similar properties. In fact, in months such as February, the ADR was close to 100/night higher than similar properties. These were the months with 100% occupancy.

The low-performing property had a lower ADR than similar properties in both the high and low season. Hint - they were NOT using a good dynamic pricing engine.

WhishList

The Wishlist number is the number of times a guest or potential guest adds the property to their wishlist. Usually, when a guest is looking for a place to stay, they will add a handful of properties to their wishlist and then select one.

The number of Wishlists of the high-performing property was significantly higher than that of similar properties. In some months, it was four times that of similar properties. In January, nearly 100 potential guests added the high-performing property to their wishlists, while similar listings had only 15.

The low-performing property was just average. Some months a tad higher and some months a tad lower.

So yes, we analyzed, sliced, and diced a LOT of statistics for both properties.

Reviews

We also analyzed the reviews. In fact, we consolidated the reviews for both properties and used AI for some insights.

The reviews for the low-performing property were 'decent,’ with an average score of 4.7. In contrast, the high-performing property received a score of 4.98 and had significantly more reviews than the low-performing property.

The reviews of the high-performing property were also much longer. Guests were delighted with their stay and many (8% of the reviews) mentioned that they were coming back. In the low-performing property, not a SINGLE review mentioned that they were coming back, and very few reviews mentioned that they highly recommend.

The Secret Sauce

After analyzing all the numerical data and raw review information, here are the top five ingredients contributing to a high-performing property.

1. Reviews

Reviews are undoubtedly the most important ingredient. This makes sense, as the algorithm aims to prioritize STRs that guests will appreciate and want to return to. We believe that Airbnb is using AI to assess guests' happiness after their stay. In fact, we have observed a couple of cases where a review is rated 5 out of 5 in all categories, but the written review is mediocre. In one instance, the reviewer mentioned that the property was smaller than expected, and in another, they expressed a desire to be closer to the city center. In both cases, we noticed our page rank dropped after receiving this 5 out of 5 review.

Here is this precise scenario. The red dotted line is the 5/5 review, but with the ‘property was smaller than expected and far from the city center’. This lowered our page rank.

All 5/5 reviews are NOT the same. A long glowing review is worth a LOT more than a short review. In addition, quantity matters. Our properties that are near the top have more reviews.

Educate your guests on the importance of reviews.

2. Dynamic Pricing Engine

The second most important ingredient is a well-tuned dynamic pricing engine. Notice the term "well-tuned." We use WheelHouse (click for $20 off your first month) at most of our properties, but we have also used PriceLabs, which has worked very well too.

Each market has slightly different tuning requirements. The nice thing about a dynamic pricing engine is that it will adjust the nightly rate automatically based on:

• Market Demand & Seasonality

• Competitor Pricing

• Local Events & Holidays

• Booking Trends

• Length of Stay

• Occupancy Levels

• Lead Time (How Far in Advance the Booking Is)

• Reviews & Ratings

• External Factors (such as weather or events)

If you are not using a dynamic pricing engine, try it. Tuning a pricing engine is more of an art than science, but it is not rocket science.

3. Wishlists

Having your property whitelisted is also an important factor. In all of our well-performing properties, we have a higher wishlist number than the average. For some of these properties, the rate is MUCH higher. We know that Airbnb’s algorithm will rank your property higher if it is whitelisted more.

We now actually ask guests who enjoyed their stay to also add our properties to their wish list. Many guests have responded that they have wishlisted our property.

4. Main photo

The photos in your listing are super important. We could write a whole blog on just photos and best practices: Tips on ordering, angles, lighting, etc. Unless you are really good with your iPhone, have a professional take photos of your listing.

But the most important item is to have a good and catchy first photo. This is one of the items that will cause someone to click on your listing vs another.

You can just experiment with your main photo to see if one gives you a higher click thru rate.

A while back when trying to get a property to perform better in the low season we happen to get a good photo of our dog sitting by the fireplace. The photo was a little guffy, but our dog appeared to be showing the place so we thought it was neat.

We added this as the main photo, and our click-through rate began to rise. Within four weeks, our page rank was near the top and remained there. For this property, this was the key ingredient.

So remember to experiment with your main photo.

5. The Guest Experience

This should actually be the first item. In the STR world you are in the hospitality business. If your STR is simply a place to sleep, it will be a mediocre experience for the guests. In cities like Tampa, FL, the vast majority of the properties that are no longer an STR are the ones giving guests a mediocre experience.

By digging deep into the reviews and the conversations with guests at both the high and low performing properties, we were able to identify key elements that contributed to an awesome guest experience.

Here are the ingredients to a great guest experience.

Communication

The first item was communication with guests. The high-performing property had message workflows that were always executed on time and automatically, and all communication was clear. The low-performing property had room for improvement. Some of the messages were too long and not to the point.

Ensure you know when to communicate what. The messages should be clutter-free and to the point. We have a blog about this.

The Kitchen

The second item is the kitchen. Guests who stay in STRs often enjoy cooking at home.

All of our properties, including this high-performing one, typically feature a well-equipped kitchen. We provide items such as a coffee grinder, rice cooker, air fryer, waffle maker, and more. When we stay in our own properties, these are the kitchen items we appreciate having. The low-performing property was initially set up by a large STR for-profit company. Someone with a checklist purchased the bare minimum. One of the reviews captured this sentiment well, stating, “the kitchen was soul-less."

Items to Delight

This is a category we created after conducting our research. Both properties are near the beach, but one was designed to delight guests, while the other had just the bare minimum.

As an example, the lower-performing property had a pool heater, but it was set to no higher than 80 degrees, leading to frequent guest complaints about the water being too cold.

In contrast, the high-performing property maintained its pool at 86 degrees, using both solar and electric heaters. Guests could request either a higher or lower temperature. When the sun was shining, this didn't add much to costs, and we had no issues cranking the solar heater up to the 90s.

Another example was beach supplies. The low-performing property, equipped by an hourly employee with a check-list, had a couple surf boards, sand toys, and two beach chairs.

The high-performing property, equipped by my wife and son, featured eight beach chairs, two umbrellas, a cart to haul the stuff, 4 small foldable tables, surf boards, floating toys, among other things. You get the picture. Any guest planning on spending a day at the beach would be delighted with all the supplies.

There are other small differences in the decor and backyard. The low-performing property was a little bland. The backyard was functional, but boring. The high-performing property had little solar lights and string lights that made the backyard look amazing at night.

By analyzing the back-and-forth communication, we also discovered several other small items that contributed to a great guest experience. Other items include having a QR code on the wall for both the Wi-Fi connection and the guest guidebook. A guidebook with many recommendations for things to do, restaurants, and info about the area. As one review summarized, “This property was very well designed”.

The other item to note is that the low performing property was NOT run in a way to delight guests. While reviewing historical communication with guests, we saw the co-host charging $20 for two broken plates, an extra $50 for a late checkout, very strict rules on having the grandparents over for dinner (in their 90s), etc. Guests do not like to feel nickel and dimed. We can dedicate an entire blog to tips and tricks for delighting guests, as well as the top 10 things to avoid.

In Conclusion

The high-performing property clearly costs more to equip and run. We tried to estimate how much more was spent:

• Beach & pool supplied - $500

• Backyard - $300

• Kitchen - $1000

• Pool solar heater - $6000

• Misc - $2000

In total, we estimate an additional 10K was spent on the high-performing property setup. The extra setup time is difficult to quantify. However, we know that this additional setup time and the extra 10K are enabling this property to generate an yearly revenue of 85K compared to the low-performing property's 55K. Clearly, it paid off more than enough.

The fundamental difference was not only in how the property was setup/stocked, but how it was run. The low-performance previous style of management seemed to be trying to nickel and dime guests and save every penny it could. "Penny wise, pound foolish."

The million-dollar question now is: will it be possible to turn around the low-performing property? Can the 55K/year property become an 80K or 85K/year property and if so, how long would it take? Will a new listing be needed?

Thanks for reading!!

P.S. Wondering if cohosting is right for your property? Let’s talk it through — reach us at info@AdventuresInAirbnbs.com

• Wifi information

• Address

• Door code

• Garbage collection

• Your contact info

• etc

Don’t include items such as:

• Restaurant recommendations

• Nearby attractions

• House rules

• TV Channel Guide

• etc

  The above items are for your guidebook.

This message should have bullet points and never ever have long run-on sentences here.

When traveling, we often stay in Airbnb, and we have seen so many convoluted check-in messages or messages with missing key details.

You must use paragraphs and bullet points in your check-in email.

In one of the local real estate meetups, I met a couple with a lakefront duplex in a popular summer destination. Both sides of the duplex were in Airbnb and they were thinking of converting a 3rd place they owned into an Airbnb, but only when the wife retired. As we were talking, they mentioned how, on average, every guest generated 4-5 questions, and almost everyone had questions when they checked in. The questions were always similar.

If you get the same question 2 or 3 times, this means your instructions need to include something else. Fix it. The check-in message should be tweaked until it is close to perfect.

Finally, one of the most overlooked items in your check-in message is how to contact you and that you want your guests to have a 5/5 experience. In your Check-In message, you do want to stress for your guests to contact you if anything is keeping them from giving you a 5/5 rating. We stress to use the app, but for high priority items we give them a phone number to call. This phone number rings our 4 cells at the same time with a distinct ring.

In addition, this check-in message should stress that you are open to any and all feedback.

All hosts know that anything less than a 5 is a failure, but your guests may not know this. The newsgroups are full of hosts who are frustrated with their guests saying everything was awesome, and they rate it 4 out of 5.

Your goal is to have an average higher than 4.9. Sooner or later, you will have someone who will leave less than 5, but as long as most reviews are 5/5, you are ok.

In the hosting world, sooner or later you will have to handle fires such as the cleaning crew forgetting this turnover and guests arriving with a completely uncleaned house, power outage, the dishwasher broke, the washing machine breaking and water pouring down in the living room, HVAC stopped working and thermostat hit 101 degrees, smart lock stopped working, dozens of roaches in the garage, the dreaded double booking, etc. These are all real emergencies that we have had to deal with. If guests can quickly contact you for these emergencies, and they are handled appropriately, you can still recover and have a good review.

Here is our exact welcome message and key pints. We have a single template with tags for all of our properties.

Read more

We send this message 6 hours after the check-out time.

Why 6 hours? Usually, within 6 hours, the cleaning team has had a chance to inspect the property, and you will be notified if there are any issues. Don’t send this message as is if the guest did not follow instructions or left the property a mess.

In this message, thank guests for staying at your property and stress the importance of receiving a 5/5 review. Let them know to send you private feedback on anything that broke, needs attention, or could be improved. Let them know you will be rating them a 5/5 and would love a 5/5 review.

That’s right, softly ask them for a 5/5 review.

Here is our exact after-checkout message and a deep dive:

Hi [$GUEST_FIRST_NAME$],

Thank you for choosing to stay at our place and for taking such great care of it! This is one of our favorite vacation spots as well—our home away from home.

As a small business, we’re dedicated to providing excellent service and creating a welcoming experience for our guests. If you have any suggestions on how we can improve, we’d love to hear your private feedback. Your input helps us continue to make our home even better for future stays.

We look forward to giving you a 5-star review as soon as possible and hope you’ll consider rating us 5 stars as well. We truly hope you enjoyed your stay and would love to host you again!

Thank you!!

Your Name
Your Email
——-

The [xxxx] are parameters from our workflow engine in Hostfully . If you are using native Airbnb or another property management system, your parameters will look different.

A couple of key components of this message:

• By mentioning that you will rate them 5/5, you are pushing them to also rate you. We are constantly reading various community posts that many guests do not rate. This will definitely increase the percentage of guests who write reviews.

  We have also had cases where we messed up, or the guest expectations did not match our property, and the guests point blank have told us we can’t give a 5/5, so we won't rate.

  If you do manage to get this feedback loop working well, your property will remain at the top with many 5/5 reviews.

• Do rate your guests 5/5 if you say you will. Many hosts don’t bother rating their guests, but doing so doesn’t take long. We do have another post coming up on rating your guests.

• Make sure your message signature includes your name, email and direct booking web site if you have one. If you have your direct booking site, guests that want to return will appreciate it. Repeat guests love saving the 10-13% guest fee that Airbnb charges by booking directly. Around 10-20% of our guests are now repeat guests….this percentage has grown yearly. The other item you can do is a discount coupon. Everyone loves coupons……more on this on a different blog.

• Take the private feedback seriously. You are not obliged to do any of it, but guests will often have great ideas that may not cost that much to implement.
  
  As an example, here is a small 1 bedroom suite that we completely gutted and remodeled. We thought we were perfect in our remodel, but in two years, here are the items we have done based on feedback. We keep a running list in Microsoft OneNote, but you can use your favorite online note-taking tool. Make sure it is easy to add as you may be in the supermarket line and get a feedback worth jotting down. Here are our improvements in 2 years based on guests feedback:

  • Under counter lights in the kitchen (less than $100 from Amazon)

  • A cheese grader to the kitchen

  • A light switch right by the door

  • A label to the fireplace thermostat so easy to see how to operate

  • A sign with the name of the place (to not be confused with the main house)

  • Ice trays

  • More scissors (do guests eat scissors?)

  • Installed Cabinet door knobs

  • Better grill utensils

  • Insulated toilet water line to stop sweating/leaking when sauna is used

  • Cut lawn with a better path to the firepit

• The last point on this message is if you do have a property that may not always be considered a 5/5, perhaps stress that anything any review less than a 5 is considered a failure. There are still many guests who do not bother to leave a review or think that a 4/5 is a good score. This is where we need to educate the guests and politely beg for a review.

Remember, this post-checkout message is just one piece of a formula for a great guest communication experience. And the guest communication experience is just one portion of the whole guest experience.

Thanks for reading!

P.S. Wondering if cohosting is right for your property? Let’s talk it through — reach us at info@AdventuresInAirbnbs.com

Leave a comment

Over 10 years ago, I recalled waking up, going to the basement, and instead of feeling the carpet under my feet, felt 1 " of water. Yes, our basement was flooded. During heavy rainfall at night, a temporary power outage killed our sump pump. We did not have a backup sump pump, a battery backup system, or a water alarm. The cleanup took weeks and ruined some furniture. Luckily, it was just water.

Now, imagine if this were a septic system. Instead of just water, the basement would be filled with crap…. literally crap. Yeah you can guess what usually goes down the toilet. The basement would be a total health hazard in a matter of hours, perhaps minutes. I can not even imagine what it would take to clean up.

If your STR has a septic system, you want to do everything you can to monitor it and ensure it is running optimally.  

One item you must know about your septic system is whether it is gravity-fed, a pump, or a hybrid. In our case, we have a hybrid. The main floor and 2nd floor are gravity-fed to the holding tank. There is no pump. The basement and a small 1 bedroom ADU feed into to a 50-gallon holding tank in the basement. The 50-gallon tank then has a grinder pump for the septic tank.

Here are the 9 items we do in regards to our septic system in our STR that enables us to sleep soundly at night.

Awareness

• We also have a sign in the kitchen sink stating we have a septic system and do not throw food waste and grease in the drain

• We have English and Spanish signs in all the bathrooms asking guests not to throw anything in the toilet, such as dental floss and feminine products.  We use these stickers: https://amzn.to/3tVVc6O

• Include this verbiage in the welcome email and house guide.

• Make sure to inform guests in the check-in email, house guide, and ask guests to inform everyone in their group. Over-communicate this.

  

Monitoring

• The 50-gallon holding tank only fits a single pump. We have a 'pump spy' gadget that monitors how often the pump runs, run-time, and motor current, and includes a high water float alarm. For $160, this is a must-have. https://amzn.to/3tw5fPP

  

• We have a separate float and siren, so if the water level is high, the alarm will be heard both inside the house and outside.

  

• We added two YoLink water sensors near the pump and the drain. If you don't have these devices, we highly recommend them. These devices are an inexpensive way to monitor for water leaks under the sinks, near the water heater, near the washing machines, etc. https://amzn.to/478aa7r

Maintenance

• We hope 90 percent of our guests will read and abide by the house rules. But this means 10 percent will ignore it. So, we clean the septic filter once a year.

• The external septic pump only needs to be pumped every 3-4 years. However, based on research, we decided to pump every 2 years.

• In case of emergencies, we have the personal cell number of a plumber who lives nearby. This has been a life safer as our pump has filed on one occasion and clogged on a second occasion.

Future enhancements

The new pump has a lifetime of at least ten years. It typically runs only 2-3 times a day. The item that worries us a bit is a power outage. We have no battery backup on the pump. We hope to add a battery backup to the house furnace and the septic pump sometime in the future. We also plan to replace the grinder pump proactively with the biggest pump we can purchase.

Thanks for reading!

P.S. Wondering if cohosting is right for your property? Let’s talk it through — reach us at info@AdventuresInAirbnbs.com

YouTube is filled with small clips from news articles from large parties in Airbnbs, such as these:

Reddit and other forums are also full of similar examples. One of my favorites was a post from a couple of years ago during the pandemic.

The host lived on the other side of the country and the neighbors emailed him to ask if they were setting up for a graduation or birthday party.

“After calling back, they mentioned how a large truck had backed up on the driveway. After a minute, two young guys opened the back and began unloading a lot of stuff quickly: chairs, tables, more chairs, and cases and cases of alcohol. They even had beer kegs. I did not know all that stuff could fit in the backyard. ”

And you can guess what was about to happen. Parteeeee.

Airbnb doesn’t allow parties and tries to crack down on them but they still happen.

Even if a guest is verified, there is no guarantee that a fake ID was not used. In fact, the Internet has plenty of information on how to book an Airbnb anonymously for your next Parrrrrrty! Some comments even suggested how to pick the perfect place. The comments do mention skipping if the listing mentions multiple cameras or the owner lives nearby.

Let’s make sure your Airbnb is NOT this perfect place.

So what can you do?

There is plenty you can do to drastically decrease your changes of having having your place trashed.

Here are our tips.

Location

You can not change the location of your Airbnb, but there are certain locations that are much more prone to a party than others. If your Airbnb is in the middle of nowhere, in the woods off a long dirt road, the chances of your place being the perfect party spot are very very low.

A condo on the second floor, with cameras on the entrance, elevator, and hallway, is also not a very good location for a party.

Likewise, if your place is in a big city and has a very nice backyard with an extra-long pool, it could be a target.

So, our first tip is simply to be aware of whether your place could potentially fit the criteria for a good party house.

Cameras

Cameras are a must if you have an Airbnb. Only have the cameras outside, per Airbnb policy and also per being a good host etiquette. Make sure that not only you have a Ring doorbell camera but also cameras that capture your driveway and sides of the house.

In some of our properties, a Ring doorbell and a camera over the driveway are good enough. In other properties, we have cameras on the sides, too. The goal is to capture all of the front areas so you can see anyone and everything going into your property.

In regards to pool areas, we do not have or recommend cameras in pool areas. Guests do expect a bit of privacy in the pool.

You can use another brand of cameras; we recommend Ring as they are easy to set up, can work wired or with solar, and seem very reliable.

There is no need to hide your cameras. In fact, you want to make them visible, as they are also a deterrent. Make sure your listing is very very clear that you have multiple cameras outside. Be specific on the location.

Minimum Stay

This one is our most important tip. If you have a property that could be a good fit for a party, do not allow less than a 3-night stay.

We have properties that allow a minimum of two-night stays, but the ones with a pool and large backyards, and in a big city, we require a minimum of three nights.

We never allow a single-night stay. Guests staying for a single night will see your Airbnb much more like a hotel and will probably not treat it as nice.

We had one property that we tried allowing a single night to fill in gaps. These were the guests that we had small issues with: dragged mud into the condo, left without locking the door, didn’t follow any of the checkout instructions, etc.

One of the TikToks we saw a while back was about throwing the perfect party in an Airbnb. One of the items it mentioned was booking for only one night so you can have extra funds for alcohol.

Airbnb does not share party-related statistics, but we wonder how many parties are thrown in a booking that is 3 days or longer? We can guess very few.

Instant Booking

Instant booking can help you climb the Airbnb rankings. However, two settings are also necessary to protect your property.

• Only allow instant booking for guests with verified IDs. If you do not have this option, you might as well rent to an anonymous guest named John Doe.

• Only allow instant bookings for well-reviewed guests, which means guests with at least one positive review.

In our opinion, the above two options are a must with instant bookings.

If the potential guest does not have a verified ID, we simply ask them to verify with Airbnb. We never had a guest say no.

If the potential guest has NO past history and is a new account, then you will want to ask them a couple of questions - why are they visiting? and kindly remind them of the house rules. This is where you need to use your instincts.

Trust Your Instincts

Luckily we have never had to deal with a bad party. We have had guests who broke the rules and had a kid’s birthday party. This created a tremendous amount of garbage that could fill 3 garbage bins, but no real damage to the property was done.

We also had guests who decided to sing Karaoke late at night after a night out in the town. They did not trash the house but pissed off our neighbors and they called the cops. This was before we had an active noise monitor.

Our closest incident was on a new listing—it was the third or fourth booking. While setting up the pricing rules and minimum stay, we made a mistake and allowed a two-night booking. In addition, instant booking was enabled with no ID required and no well-established guest required.

The booking came in from a recently created account (1 month ago), no id verification, and 8 guests (our max occupancy in this property). The image on the profile looked like a very young kid with no about us and nothing else. There was no message on why they booked.

In addition, they were from the same state. All the potential warning bells were there.

• New account with no reviews

• Account not verified

• Max occupancy

• Instant booking used

• Guest was from nearby

• Guest did not communicate much

Now, it is possible they were going there for a Bible study club or perhaps a Robotics competition, so we messaged and texted the guest, asking a few questions about why they booked our place. After not receiving a reply for over 24 hours, we canceled the booking.

It is possible we totally overreacted, but all the signs of a potential issue were there.

Trust your instincts.

Noise and Crow Detector

One of our properties is very close to our neighbors. In addition, our neighbors did not exactly throw a welcome reception when we told them we were going to rent the house via Airbnb. One of the items that made them feel just a little more comfortable was that we would be monitoring the property with ring cameras and a noise/crowd monitor. The noise decibel monitor was going to be both inside the house and outside the house.

The gadget we installed inside and outside the house is a noise and crow detector. This is a really neat device as it simply measures the decibel level at all times and does not record any voice just the ‘loudness level’. We can specify the threshold. If it goes over for more than 5 minutes, it can automatically notify the guest. It does this twice, then notifies you via email, or text or app pop-up.

In addition, it can detect the number of individuals inside the house. So, for a maximum of 8, we set the limit to 10 or 11.

This is a great way of being proactively notified if the noise level is high OR the number of people inside the house increases past your limit. Unlike a Ring camera, which is passive—you need to look at the video—this is active and near real-time.

For $180/year per property, this is a no-brainer is certain properties.

You can get one sensor for free and you can save an additional $15 by using This Link

The only issue we have had with this is that the outside unit is battery-operated, and often, the battery only lasts 3-4 months. We now swap this on a regular basis.

If you set up one of these devices, be sure to also mention it in the description. This is another good deterrent.

Additional Verification

Third-party systems provide additional verification and checks on potential guests. We will soon write about one of them that we are testing.

Final Thoughts

There are many parties and out-of-control crows in Airbnbs every night. However, the number is relatively small compared to the ‘good guests’.

In addition, following these tips can drastically decrease the chances of your Airbnb being one of them. These tips are very easy to implement. Make sure YOUR Airbnb is not a good candidate for an out-of-control party.

Thanks for reading!!

P.S. Wondering if cohosting is right for your property? Let’s talk it through — reach us at info@AdventuresInAirbnbs.com

The Airbnb Listing is Live and costs $0 to be added to the Drawing.

Are you a fan of “UP” ? Ever dreamed of staying in Carl’s home?

Carl Fredricksen epitomizes the power of determination and the beauty of unexpected friendships. Despite facing numerous obstacles, including a persistent antagonist and the challenges of old age, Carl remains steadfast in his pursuit of fulfilling Ellie's dream. His character arc serves as a poignant reminder of the human capacity for resilience and the transformative nature of love. Through Carl's journey, audiences are invited to reflect on their own aspirations and the significance of forging meaningful connections. Ultimately, Carl Fredricksen emerges not only as a beloved animated character but also as a symbol of hope, courage, and the enduring power of dreams.

Airbnb recreated the house as part of launching its Icon experiences and is offering a night's stay in the house for free. Of course, it is a drawing, and we are not sure how many entries per night. In the app, you can select one night and up to four guests.

Participating in the drawing for a free night's stay in Carl's home is as easy as a click and answering why you?

Don't miss out on this unique opportunity, the entry is absolutely free. Here is the link.

Select any date except for Jul 6-7 because that is the date we selected. :-)

Good luck

P.S. Wondering if cohosting is right for your property? Let’s talk it through — reach us at info@AdventuresInAirbnbs.com

Lately, we have seen a number of posts regarding the number of bookings slowing down or, in some cases, completely stopping.

This can happen slowly over a few months or very suddenly, with one month having 80% occupancy and the following month having close to 0% occupancy.

Many articles refer to this as the ‘Airbnb bust’. Our view is not that this is an Airbnb bust, but simply supply and demand finally leveling off. This occurs at different rates in different markets.

The Cliff Vs Slow Ramp Down

In some markets, acquiring an STR license is complicated, so supply is going up slowly. In other markets, such as many cities in Florida, the regulation is very light, with no cap restrictions. We have seen an explosive growth in supply in these markets—new Airbnb listings.

Demand IS still increasing, but the supply is increasing FASTER.

Supply grew about 16% in the last year. Again this is NOT spread evenly.

Demand is still growing at a steady pace, but a bit slower. Airbnb Q4 2023 saw a 12% increase in bookings compared to a year ago. This is a healthy growth. But supply in some areas outgrew this by, let’s just say, a TON in some areas.

In a few places where we have our properties, if we search the area in the mid or slow season, it is now NOT uncommon to see 1000+ listings.

If you are not on page 1 or 2, then suddenly, your new reservations can stop.

There is one big reason why this decrease may not be gradual. Airbnb has a sophisticated algorithm to determine where you are placed in a potential guest search. No one knows exactly how this algorithm works, but its key ingredients are well-documented in various posts, YouTube videos, etc.

The algorithm has two goals: maximize revenue for Airbnb and create happy guests that come back.

Have you ever wondered why you can not sort the search results by total price? Or why are taxes NOT clearly visible on the main page? This is definitely related to the maximization of revenue for Airbnb criteria.

To create happy guests who will return to Airbnb, the algorithm will order the properties it thinks are most likely to be a good match for the potential guests.

This means that if your listing drops slightly in a market with a lot of supply, you can suddenly appear on page 3 or 4 and get 0 new bookings.

Below are two items that can cause your listing to drop off. I’m sure there are others, but these two are easy to observe and measure.

1. When a guest cancels a booking. Your listing will drop off for a day to a couple of weeks.

2. If you get a 3-star or lower review AND the review contains certain keywords your listing will drop. We are not 100% sure what keywords seem to trigger this, but from our own experience, words and phrases indicating need maintenance or inaccuracy seem to cause this.

How bad is this drop-off? On the well-performing properties, it's just a couple of days. Your listing may have two or three days being buried, then bounce right back. How do we know this? We monitor it closely.

Here is one of our properties that is almost in the 1st, 2nd, 3rd placement every day of every month. A canceled booking can drag it down to as low as 20th place, but only for a day or two.

The various colored lines indicate our placement or ranking when someone searches for an Airbnb with a capacity for 10, 9, 7… people in this location. It is a big house so the placement when searching for 2 or 3 or even 4 people is not relevant.

Climbing the Rankings

Luckily there are many things we CAN do to increase the ranking in Airbnb. In addition, if the number of new bookings is still really low, you can increase your exposure by listing in additional channels such as Vrbo, Booking.com, Google, and your own direct booking site. There are many other niche channels that can be really good for certain markets.

Good reviews help a lot, so you should elegantly beg your guests to write a good review and rate you 5 stars. We will write an article on various strategies for this in the future.

Yes, you do need a property management system to easily list in multiple channels, synchronize the calendars, have the same set of email notifications, etc. We will be writing an article shortly on our favorite property management system, Hostfully. We would not be where we are today without Hostfully.

BTW, if you do sign up for Hostfully, please use our Hostfully Affiliate Link:

Back to climbing the Airbnb rankings. First - review these Top 10 tips

For an existing listing, we would recommend:

1. Update the listing description. Make sure it is a good story and describes your place well.

2. Review the photos. Often, a listing that has been around for a while now has outdated photos or shows old furniture. Always remember you want a light background and an almost overexposed photo.

3. Try new main photos. This is an art and not a science, but your main photo can really drive new bookings. Experiment a little bit. We have one property where not only do we allow dogs, but we use one of our photos with our dog. The bookings went thru the roof.

4. Track your progress. There are a couple of tools for this, but we really like Rank Breeze.

   You can also do this manually. Simply open a new browser in private or incognito mode and search your market. Then, count where your property appears. This is how we started back when we had one or two properties.

Tracking your progress the easy way

Rank Breeze is really straightforward to set up and use. They have a 7-day free trial. If you do use them, please use our Rank Breeze Affiliate link

We use them for:

• Keep track of our competition

• Keep track of our Airbnb ranking

• Determining which changes work and which changes do not.

• Examining keywords to add to our listing

They have other cool features but we mainly use the above 4 items.

Let’s look at these in more detail one at a time.

After signing up, add your listing. This is easy, and they have tutorials available.

Keeping track of your competition

Spend some time looking for 4-5 well-performing Airbnbs in your market. Add them with a single click, and you can now track their performance and daily rate compared to your property.

Keep Track of your Airbnb Ranking

This is the number one item we use. Once a week, we check all of our properties and see their exact ranking. Our goal is to stay in the top 7. When someone searches in an area our property is in, our property shows up in the top 7 positions, so a potential guest will see the photo and our property title. There are MANY potential guests who do not scroll past page 1.

Determining which changes work and which changes do not.

This is an important item. You can make changes that could cause your placement to go down. For example, you might think of an awesome new main image. However, after changing it, your click-through rates go down, which would cause your ranking to also start to decrease.

We advise making one change at a time and tracking what change you made in Rank Breeze. Here is a good example. We made the first change and appeared to have a downward trend. Three days later, we reversed the change and made a different change. Then, our ranking began rising and was now in the 5-10 range. This is still okay, as it is on the first page. Have patience.

Remember to NOT make too many changes at once. This is like steering a ship. Once your ship, your Airbnb, is going in the right direction, let it keep heading there. The red vertical lines are changes that we track.

Please use our Rank Breeze Affiliate link if you want to try them.

Final thoughts

There was a time when any Airbnb property was profitable in certain cities. When the occupancy rate is 80% or 90%, you will rent any place, with any description, with any photos, and with a less-than-stellar property management methodology.

During the hockey stick Airbnb boom, new property management companies came out of nowhere and claimed your success was due to their secret sauce. Large property management companies such as Vacasa grew extremely fast and acquired others. Vacasa, as an example, sometimes had guest experiences that mimicked their stock price

The owners of these poor-performing properties are part of the Airbnb bust, and they are getting fewer bookings now. Some are barely hanging in there. However, supply and demand are now beginning to equalize in some cities.

For the first time in a while, we see markets such as this where the supply is finally leveling off. Many poor-quality Airbnbs are transitioning to Long-Term Rentals, or the property is being sold. The top-quality Airbnbs will remain profitable, although with some downward pressure on a daily rate.

For example, there are over 5K Airbnbs in Tampa, FL. Although the number of Airbnbs has grown only 6% in the past year, it has decreased in the last few months.

Looking at occupancy we can see a big difference between 2021 and now in 2023/2024. We have a lot more empty Airbnbs now in 2024.

In the long run, this is a good thing. The really poor experiences some guests have had, such as staying in a place with broken windows, an AC that broke during their whole stay, misleading photos, or waiting 2 hours for a physical key, or a kitchen with barely anything, will soon be a thing of the past. The well-equipped Airbnbs, where guests have a very good ‘Experience’ will stay remain. The poor ones will be weeded out.

Is your Airbnb one of the ones that is well-performing? Is your listing top-notch? Do you know your ranking?

Thanks for reading!

P.S. Wondering if cohosting is right for your property? Let’s talk it through — reach us at info@AdventuresInAirbnbs.com

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The Algorithm

Airbnb’s ranking algorithm is a little bit of a black box as they do not publish how their algorithm works, but many individuals have analyzed how properties are ranked. There is a fair amount of knowledge on the ingredients that affect your placement. In addition, we can have an educated guess that the algorithm goal is two fold: higher guest satisfaction & higher profit.

Higher potential guest satisfaction means properties that better match the guest requirements have good reviews and good feedback, and are placed higher where it thinks the guest will like your property.

Higher profit means that two houses, all being equal, the one with the higher nightly rate will be placed higher.

Airbnb Statistics in 2024

• Every second, there are 6 guests check-in in

• As of February 2024, there are 7.7 active listings

• Europe has twice as many listings as North America (stats from 2021)

• In 2023 Airbnb had a revenue of 9.7 Billion!

• Yet Airbnb only has 20sh% of the vacation rental business

• Airbnb listings are growing, but revenue per host or per listing is dropping

The last statistic is one to always keep in mind. There is more competition on a daily basis, especially in markets with little to no regulation.

Our top 10 tips

These tips are from various sources - YouTube videos, books, online postings, and most importantly, our own experiences with 8 properties.

Tip 1 - Your first 30 days

Your first 30 days are critical. The Airbnb algorithm will prioritize your listing and will place it in high rankings. It will compare how your listing does with other highly rated properties. If your property does well, with happy guests and more revenue for Airbnb, your property will stay there. This means absolutely not launching your property if the listing is NOT fully complete with professional photos, good description, and is connected to a pricing engine, etc. Do not make your property live until every single little thing is setup. Also, do not start with a low pricing. Part of the algorithm is to maximize profits…..9 billion does NOT come from placing lower-priced properties on top :-)

Tip 2 - Your photos

Your photos, and especially your main photos, are critical. Unless your are a very good photographer, hire someone professional. Professional-looking photos can dramatically improve your short-term rental business. Make sure these photos are:

• High res—Yes, in this day and age, some photographers still use equipment that is now considered subpar in terms of resolution.

• Horizontal photos - All photos should be taken horizontally

• Exposure - These photos should almost be overexposed…..you want your place to glow!

• Angle - The good & eye-catching photos are often taken in an angle.

• Decor - Make sure the decor is well placed, or perhaps even move them around for that great shot.

• Surrounding areas - If you property is in a neat area include some of those photos. If it is near a neat walking path, include the photo of the walking path.

• Collage - We are trying collage photos as our main photo in a couple properties. It is still too early to tell if they help. Some people claim it helps.

Tip 3 - Your Listing Description

Your description is also very, very important. You do not need to be an English major to write a good description. Use a tool such as Grammarly to write in proper sentences. Your description should NOT be short. Describe each room and what it has. Look at your competitors' writing and improve on it.

In addition to describing everything, create a narrative about your property and its location. This is also key. The narrative should draw the reader into your Airbnb and its location.

It is ok to make a longer than usual description, but do NOT make a short description.

One of the ingredients in the Airbnb algorithm is time on page. They measure how long potential guests look at your listing. If you have a long and engaging description, the potential guest will spend more time in your listing.

If English is not your strong suit, go on Fiverr and hire someone to help you write a good description.

Tip 4 - Your Title

An often overlooked ingredient of a good listing is the title. Spend a lot of time brainstorming your title. Does your property have a good name? Are there features that make it stand out?

For example, in one of our properties, we have a wood-burning sauna. The word sauna is part of the title. In our property in Kissimmee/Orlando, we have many themed rooms with Disney characters, so the word Disney is part of the title.

If you are in a very competitive market, think creatively. If your market is NOT very competitive, then ‘My Airbnb’ will do :-)

Tip 5 - Key Words

Incorporating relevant keywords in your title and description can enhance your listing’s visibility. These keywords enhance the search engine optimization (SEO) of your listing, making it more discoverable to potential guests. Imagine yourself as a guest searching for an experience similar to what you offer. Think about what your target audience might search for—terms like “cozy,” “ocean view,” “pet-friendly,” or “nearby attractions.” These keywords not only attract the right guests but also improve your search ranking.

Each area will have a different set of relevant keywords.

If you are stuck, Fiver offers cheap deals to get help with Keywords. Services like RankBreeze can also help.

Tip 6 - Your Response time

Another key metric is your response time. Once your property has been live for a while, it won’t matter if you take 6 hours or 12 hours to reply to one question as long as your average is good. However, in the first few months after listing, you want to make sure you reply to questions and messages as soon as possible.

Potential guests will see “Host usually replies within xx hours.” If you are very high, a potential guest may pass you on.

With today’s smartphones, this should not be very difficult unless you live in a faraway time zone from your property.

Tip 7 - Self-check-in

Self-check-in allows guests to arrive at their accommodation anytime. Delays can occur for various reasons, including flights, traffic, etc.

A percentage of guests filter and exclude properties that do not support self-check-in. This is often the case when travelers arrive from International flights.

The self-check-in does NOT need to be a smart lock; it could be an old-fashioned lockbox with a physical key inside. Most of the properties we have stayed in Europe have a lockbox with a physical key inside. But the smart lock has many advantages:

• More secure as each guest gets their code, which expires when their stay ends.

• There is no physical key to lose

• You have a log of each and every time the door is opened and by whom

A recent statistic mentioned that on the top 3 pages, 75 percent of the properties support self-check-in.

Having a listing in a competitive area almost requires having self-check-in.

Tip 8 - The ‘extras’

There are many travelers who keep coming back to the same destinations over and over again. We are one of those people. If you can get amenities and little extras to delight your guests, there is a good chance that next time, they will book your place again and not take a chance on a new place.

For example, one of our places is a small rehabbed studio apartment. It is small, great for two people, and in a good location. It is very cozy, very well decorated, and has a sauna inside the unit. We provide towels, sauna towels, and eucalyptus drops for the sauna. This is the unit where we see guests coming back over and over again. We have guests that must have returned at least four times already. We plan on writing an article on this remodel.

Another example was a small place we stayed in Washington DC. The place was small but in a great location, near everything and well decorated, and we really liked the free water and little snacks. When we are back in DC, we probably will just book with them again instead of taking a chance in a new Airbnb.

Tip 9 - Allow Pets

Properties that allow pets have higher occupancy and higher ADR. If you are trying to decide whether to allow pets or not, decide before you go live with your listing. Remember, those first 30 days are supercritical.

Not all properties are suitable for pets. But if your property has good hardwood floors and resistant furniture, it may be a good idea to allow pets.

We don’t allow pets in some of our properties due to carpet, pool, and close-by neighbors. But for others where that is a good fit, we do so. In fact, in one of our properties that is very season, while thinking about how to increase bookings in the low season, we changed the main photo to include our dog. This definitely increased our bookings in the low season. Our dog is helping advertise our condo.

Tip 10 - Don’t have Crazy Rules

Don’t have crazy rules or crazy fines, as this can be a real turnoff for potential guests. It is okay to state no smoking and a $250 fine for smoking. But don’t have items such as a $1000 fine for touching the pool heater, $500 per extra guest not approved, or $500 for bringing in pets.

These are all real examples of items we have seen in listings.

One more recent example was a post in the newsgroups asking for help as their house had very few bookings and had been a total loss to date. The house was in the same community as our house in Kissimmee/Orlando so we decided to help. There were many items wrong with the listing, but the major one was having a list of 3-4 fines for things that perhaps a bad guest would do once in a blue moon. This includes the $1000 fine for messing with the pool heater. In a competitive market such as Orlando, anyone who read that would pass on the property.

We hope you enjoyed our top 10 tips. With a suitable property priced right in an area with decent demand and following these tips, you should be able to make it to the top page of Airbnb.

Thanks for reading!!

P.S. Wondering if cohosting is right for your property? Let’s talk it through — reach us at info@AdventuresInAirbnbs.com

• Streamlining your short-term rental business with smart automation tips

• Proven strategies to boost revenue and maximize occupancy

• Effective ways to elevate guest experiences and earn 5-star reviews

• Budget-friendly design ideas to make your space unforgettable

• Tips for handling guest communication and setting clear expectations

• Advice on optimizing your listing for better visibility

• Essential tools and software for self-managing like a pro

• Lessons learned from real experiences to help you avoid common pitfalls

Join us as we uncover everything you need to thrive as an Airbnb host!

Our story - how we started

Our story began over 10 years ago when we purchased an older 4-plex with a friend/acquaintance. We were the passive partners. We invested a bit more funds and had no control over the management of the 4-plex, but in turn, we learned quite a lot about real estate, appreciation, permits (or lack of permits), property management, fires, and more. Looking back, this could have been a disaster, but it turned out well primarily due to appreciation.   

When we were beginning to consider how to ‘exit’ our partnership, we received a call from our ‘friend’ who said he was thinking of selling the quadplex as he needed the cash for something else. Perfect. In fact, he already had the listing up, and this was more of a courtesy call since we were the passive investors. 

After three months, the property sold for a good price, and we now had extra funds to invest. 

We had to decide between investing in another multifamily home or something else. 

We had read several books on real estate investing, appreciation, multi-family investing, and AirBnB/STRs. STRs seemed very interesting to us as we loved to travel, and both of our jobs allowed for a certain amount of work remotely. In addition, we had a few vacation spots that we kept returning to repeatedly. 

As if the stars aligned, a property appeared on Minnesota’s north shore that met all the criteria: A-frame cabin, 4 bedrooms, 3 bedrooms, large deck with a view of Lake Superior, close to Ski resort, lake view, room for expansion, and fiber internet (a must-have). A couple of months later, we closed on the property. The house did need a bit of cosmetic work and one major item—a new septic system within 12 months. 

How hard could this STR business be?

This was the start of our Adventures, which eventually led to Airbnbs in various cities in the US and one in Mexico.

We hope to share many of the tips and tricks and dos and don’ts we have learned while self-managing the properties remotely.

Someone once asked how we would categorize our Airbnb business in one short sentence: A hospitality business with great automation and customer service geared towards delighting guests.

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