Category: All About Airbnb

5 Short Term Rental Tools for Perfect Pricing

Post author By Shivam Kaushik
Post date August 8, 2021

Figuring out how to price your property is one of the most crucial parts of Short Term Rental Business. Pricing your property too high will reduce your number of bookings drastically. Most of your competition will undercut your pricing and swoop away all the guests. Price low then, Right? Price it too low and you’ll be leaving money on the table and end up not making enough profits to cover maintenance and end up being non-profitable in the long run.

So what to do? Use Dynamic pricing tools! Since the launch of these dynamic pricing tools, both by Airbnb (which works just fine) and other companies(a few good ones here). Property managers got let off from manually scraping data and analyzing trends for hours to figure out the right pricing for their property. Dynamic pricing tools are a great addition to any property manager’s arsenal. They can help you boost your overall booking by suggesting the most optimized pricing. You can grow your revenue, increase your occupancy rate and save hours of manual work.

Let’s look at the best 5 Short Term Rental Pricing Tools in the market and which one would be best for you.

Read More:

Airbnb Smart Pricing Too Low

AirDNA vs Mashvisor

Why Manually Setting Your Price Sucks!

Just a few years ago, you would find property managers spending most of their time with spreadsheets and yearly pricing brochures to guess what they should price their property. Many small managers just used guesstimation to price a property. Without considering seasonality, events or demand.

This will not work anymore! You can make your guesstimation manually to a certain extent. You could be having some leads on demand spikes in the future based on upcoming holidays, events, etc. Maybe you have been seeing similar patterns regularly for years and just want to follow them. But, there are so many factors that affect the price of property nowadays. Major events, Seasonality, Competition, Saturation, Supply/Demand, and tons more.

How does dynamic pricing work?

Dynamic Price tools optimize your listing’s performance by dynamically adjusting your listing’s price based on supply and demand. These price suggestions are generated in real time based on the number of bookings happening in your area. This method takes multiple factors into consideration to give out final pricing. Demand, Supply, Property Size, Property Type, Reviews, Events, and Past Performance.

Using pricing software in your workflow can help you boost your revenue significantly and save you a lot of time that you would have spent manually researching. Many pricing tools claim that after using their pricing software revenue managers have seen as much as a 40% increase in their revenue.

Top 5 Short Term Rental tools for Perfect Pricing

A good short term rental pricing tool should not just be able to provide accurate data, but also integrate with other vacation rental software like Channel Managers, Property Management Systems, and Property Listing Sites for a better workflow and ease of use. Companies in this list have been in business for many years now and have very refined tools with great track records. All of them have been frequently updating their tools and improving on suggestions from their users. Many of these companies have even raised millions of dollars to maintain a high standard of accuracy and customer service.

Let’s take a look at the best short-term rental pricing tools out there.

1. Airbtics

Airbtics developed its own dynamic pricing tool in 2019. They have taken its Yearly Price Calendar, which allows users to filter daily prices of similar rentals, a step ahead. This short term rental pricing tool recommends the price of properties based on machine learning algorithms that are fed real-time booking data. This allows it to be accurate and even consider events and short-time spikes in supply and demand to give accurate results. It also helps you with custom integrations with any PMS or software you are using.

Airbtics team has tested this software with many vacation rental managers and has seen accurate results. The best part about this software and the reason we have put this on top is that it charges a fixed fee. Unlike many other pricing tools that take a commission anywhere from 1% to 2%. Airbtics charges a flat fee depending upon the number of listings and the size of the area. Free 15-Day Trial for property managers with more than 5 properties.

See Airbtics Pricing for your City

2. Beyond Pricing

Beyond Pricing has built an advanced dynamic pricing tool solution that accounts for changes in demand on a daily basis to help you maximize your short term rental revenue and occupancy.

The software assigns a pricing Health Score to your properties to make sure you’re always aware of opportunities for optimization.

You get detailed insights with every price recommendation, so you don’t need to wonder why prices are going up or down in your area on a given day. The tool also helps you plan ahead by providing a preview of pricing recommendations for the next year.

The Beyond Pricing platform connects seamlessly to the most popular property management systems and Channel Manager.

Pricing: 1-1.25% of total revenue. 30-day free trial available.

3. PriceLabs

PriceLabs offers customizable data-driven pricing to help boost your vacation rental revenue. Their price recommendations take into account market supply and demand, seasonal and day-of-week trends, special events/holidays, and lead time. They pinpoint dates that are in high demand by looking at data from nearby listings and hotels, track seasonality based on historical data, and analyze your listings’ performance to suggest pricing tweaks. Customization options include setting dynamic minimum stays, enabling occupancy-based adjustments, and more.

PriceLabs connects directly to over 30 PMSs and Channel Managers.

4. DPGO

DPGO is a dynamic pricing tool that was built keeping in mind the needs of professional property managers.

It has an AI-driven dynamic pricing algorithm with real-time market data. It helps you optimize your listing prices to match market demand, increase your occupancy and reduce gaps in your calendar. Not only that, it controls your length of stay and incorporates longer bookings into your strategy for more revenue.

The platform is all about giving you control. DPGO seamlessly integrates with tools that you likely already use so there’s no need to migrate or manually enter your data.

Pricing: Starts at 0.5% of the booked price or $1 per booked night (for 1 vacation rental property). 30-day free trial available.

5. Wheelhouse

Wheelhouse helps Airbnb hosts, vacation rental owners, and property managers run their businesses more efficiently with tools like dynamic pricing, powerful data insights, and a personalized revenue management strategy. They help you stay competitive throughout the year with more than 240 unique rates per year.

Wheelhouse many parameters into consideration when suggesting a price. Base Price, Last minute discounts, Minimum Night Stay, and many more. Advanced settings help you control how aggressive you want your pricing strategy to be and align it with your overall business goals. Wheelhouse integrates with several popular PMS providers.

Pricing: 1% of total revenue. 30-day free trial available.

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Airbnb Smart Pricing Too Low?

Post author By Shivam Kaushik
Post date August 1, 2021

Since its launch in 2015, Airbnb Smart pricing feature has been getting mixed reviews from hosts all over the world. Some like it, some just use it and some outright hate it. If you are not familiar with Airbnb smart pricing, let me tell you. It’s a feature that helps you set the ideal price for your rental listing on Airbnb so you don’t leave anything on the table. But does it? That’s what we’ll be discussing in this blog and provide you with some alternative dynamic pricing tools as well.

If you have already used this feature then you must already know all the benefits it claims to provide. Dynamic pricing, competitive rates, optimized listing with better conversion rate, and higher booking rate to name a few. All these features are great to have as an Airbnb host but after real-life testing, over the years many hosts have reported issues with this feature. When it comes to Airbnb pricing and a lot of hosts don’t seem to be satisfied with the features and report that Airbnb smart pricing is too low and it undervalues their property.

What is Airbnb Smart Pricing?

Airbnb Smart Pricing is an Airbnb feature/tool that will help you dynamically price your property. It does this by analyzing similar properties in your area and their pricing data to help you dynamically change your price for more optimized bookings. It automatically changes the pricing of your listing based on the demand and supply in the market after analyzing the booking data of similar properties. You can choose to set a minimum and maximum price so your property isn’t undervalued when the demand is low.

How does Airbnb Smart Pricing work?

The smart pricing feature checks the demand and supply in your neighborhood for similar houses like yours. The criteria are that the houses should be of similar size and have similar amenities. Based on the occupancy rate and average booking price it dynamically changes the price of your listing to ensure a higher booking rate.

What criteria are used to dynamically price a listing?

1. Property Type

What kind of property or room you are offering plays an important role in determining the dynamic smart price. Usually, Airbnb’s algorithm will find similar properties in your area to estimate the price. Also if you want to have an edge over the other listing, try adding some amenities that most properties in this price range generally don’t offer. It can be an extra air bed, or a TV, whatever your budget allows, this will show Airbnb’s algorithm that you are offering a better property at a reasonable price and it will push it more to its users.

2. Demand in your neighborhood

If the number of bookings per week is on a decline in your area for some reason, smart pricing usually gives a discount on your property to encourage people to book more in this area and make it more appealing to guests and vice versa when the booking rate is high.

3. Listing characteristics and amenities

Having more amenities and character in your house also affects your listing price. Offering more amenities makes your place a steal and an ideal property for Airbnb to promote.

Don’t worry if you have a limited budget and can’t invest in more premium amenities like pools etc. You can also positively influence the algorithm by highlighting the characters of your house which makes it more unique than the house next door. It can be an open brick wall, or a fruit garden in your backyard, highlighting anything that will make smart pricing recognize your house as unique and promote it to more guests.

4. Average Rating of your listing

If your property is constantly getting good ratings and positive reviews Airbnb algorithm will publish it to more people searching for similar properties in your area. This will also help you yield higher prices as more than amenities and character people like to have a hassle-free experience with a good host and having positive ratings will help you with just that.

Why shouldn’t you use Airbnb smart pricing?

With all the benefits Airbnb claims smart pricing has, it sounds pretty obvious to use it right? But the ground reality is most hosts avoid using smart pricing. Hosts have told that their overall monthly revenue decreases when they use smart pricing or that this tool underprices their property even during the peak season. They feel more in control when pricing the property by themselves. Let’s see if we have also seen similar results or not!

Still speculation, but many guests believe that dynamic pricing prioritizes the number of bookings over the host’s earnings because commissions on each booking increase Airbnb’s revenue. This has not been confirmed by Airbnb officials.
The dynamic price may offer your property for cheaper than you would have otherwise, affecting your overall monthly revenue.
Smart Pricing algorithm doesn’t properly consider specific things about your house like the quality of furniture, quality of flooring and overall feel of the house, it will put you in the same category as other same-size apartments in your area even if your place is much nicer.
Some hosts complained that their listing was receiving bookings for almost the same price throughout the year. They complained that the tool sometimes doesn’t consider the seasonality. Although Airbnb denies these claims.
One of the major downsides of Airbnb smart pricing is that it doesn’t recognize upcoming events in your area until it’s too late. As it makes its decision to up the price based on demand going up and many people book their Airbnb weeks prior to the event.

How should you strategize and price your Airbnb?

Even if you are using Airbnb smart pricing or any other dynamic pricing tool, you should do some research of your own and spend some time figuring out what pricing strategy works for you the best. Here are some things you can consider while making your pricing strategy.

1. Max Booking Price Possible Strategy

In this method, you aim to charge the highest someone is willing to pay for your property. This can be found easily out by an incremental increase in your per night charges to see when the bookings drastically drop. This method will bring fewer bookings but the goal is to cover up for that lost revenue by charging higher than average. For this method to work you should have a high ticket premium property so that guests are able to justify the premium they are paying to stay at your property.

2. Maximum Occupancy Strategy

In the pricing strategy, you aim to book your property for a less-than-average price but for longer durations.

You need to undercut the price of similar properties and also choose booking dates wisely to keep your monthly occupancy rate at the highest. This will help you keep your house occupied for more days thus bringing in more revenue. The downside of this strategy is the same as well. Due to longer booking durations maintenance, time and effort will increase.

This is an ideal strategy if your area is in a low season, and if you have some credible resources to keep your cleaning turnaround time low. Just make sure not to undercut the market too much as you would not be able to make a profit after paying off other expenses.

3. Balanced Airbnb Pricing Strategy

The Balanced Airbnb Pricing Strategy is a combination of max occupancy and revenue methods to earn the most revenue possible throughout the year even in low seasons.

It’s based on a flexible approach, meaning that during your low season you can use the Max occupancy pricing strategy to keep your property filled. Then, during your high season and any special events, you can employ the Maximum Revenue approach to optimize your earnings.

This strategy does require more attention and time but will yield consistently high occupancy and higher income than sticking to one strategy or just Airbnb’s smart pricing tool. This can be a downside as well as you would have to put in extra work and more hours. To help you avoid that, in the next section we will be suggesting some tools that can help you implement the strategy of your choice and not put in extra hours each day on research.

So when it comes to Airbnb pricing you should take a look at your situation and consider what is your priority. No strategy is perfect, they all cater to different individuals with different goals. Some want to spend less time on research and maintenance of the listing, some are fine with it till brings in more revenue. Just one suggestion, always do your research before pricing and don’t just use intuition or guess to price your property otherwise you may end up not generating revenue.

Top Airbnb Smart Pricing Tool Alternatives

Airbtics: Airbtics Dynamic pricing is a great tool if you are a property manager or an investor who needs to be looking after multiple properties and research different areas at once. The biggest strong point that Airbtics has is the customizability of the data and the turnaround time. It also offers an interactive dashboard, API, and Downloadable data for more data manipulations.
PriceLabs: PriceLabs enables you to manage multiple listings at once with their easy-to-use dashboard. You can also integrate their tool with more than 50+ leading property management software.
BeyondPricing: BeyondPricing is a reliable revenue management software that’s been in existence since 2013. It offers dynamic pricing that is accurate and data-driven, its other tools also offer insights about the industry and personalized guidance to use them.
Wheelhouse: Wheelhouse is revenue management and market-insight software designed for effective business management. It also offers important comp set intel to help you understand how your rental is performing against the market.

Conclusion

Using any smart pricing tool is a great thing as it removes the hassle to look at data and figure out things for yourself. But if you are looking for maximum revenue generation then pairing good dynamic tools with some of your own research will yield a much higher return.

Airbnb Bad Review: Use them to your advantage.

All About Airbnb Hosting Tips

Ultimate Airbnb House cleaning checklist 2021

Post author By Shivam Kaushik
Post date July 27, 2021

A clean home is a happy home, even if it’s only temporary. Your Airbnb listing serves as a temporary home for your guests. When they walk through the door, make them feel the need to come back. One of the best ways to ensure a repeat guest or referral is to operate a clean listing. Whether you are a DIY Master and handling the cleaning tasks yourself or outsourcing the deed – do it right. We have created the ultimate 2021 AirBnB house cleaning checklist.

Access the home: Remove all trash and left-behind items of previous guests

The very first thing to do following the completion of a stay is to access the entire house. Take a few minutes and walk the home, inspecting each room. It doesn’t hurt to take along a pen and pad or take notes on your phone. If you see something that is going to need a repair of some sort, make a note. Identifying damage beforehand is necessary for any damages needing to be billed and repaired.

While some may prefer to focus on one room at a time, removing all large and obvious trash during your walkthrough will carve your cleaning time. It also allows an easier maneuver when cleaning.

Start the laundry: This can be done while simultaneously cleaning.

Before starting the actual wipe-down and sanitizing of your Airbnb, remove all linen and towels. If they are a color other than white, be sure to separate the laundry accordingly. Color separation is necessary to avoid any color bleeding or fading.

Now, your space is free of trash, all damages, if any, have been noted, and the laundry is going – let’s clean.

Clean the kitchen

Two spaces will make or break your listing. The kitchen is one of them. Follow this list to get a spot-free kitchen.

Clear the refrigerator of any items from the previous guest.
Wipe and sanitize the fridge.
Wash and dry the dishes. Clear the dishwasher as well. Place the items neatly in the cabinets.
Thoroughly wipe the stove and oven of any residue.
Clear the countertops, returning any condiments or other items to their rightful place.
Wipe countertops, appliances, and sink (hardware included).
Sweep and mop the floor
Empty the trash.

Clean the bathroom

The bathroom is the second space. A clean bathroom means comfort.

Clean the mirrors
Wipe and sanitize the sinks
Properly clean the toilets. No stains, no residue! Pro tip (When done cleaning, pour a little fragranced cleaner in the toilet bowl for a lingering clean scent.)
Clean the shower and tubs. If the shower has glass or tiled enclosures, scrub away soap residue and scum.
Sweep and mop the floor
Empty the trash.

Dusting, Tidying, Reset and Restock

A clean home gives a clean feeling. Your guests will appreciate the sense of cleanliness from the moment they walk through the door.

Dust the common areas, including nightstands, entertainment center, and other end tables.
Double-check the bulbs to ensure all are adequately lit.
Remove removable cushions to check for any remaining items, food, or other debris. Fluff the cushions and pillows. (Bonus tip, a fabric freshening mist will give the furniture a lasting pleasant smell.)
Straighten any ornamental decor (table magazines/books, flowers, centerpieces)
Restock all fresh items (milk, condiments, etc.) and paper and hygiene products (paper towel, shampoo, tissue, etc.)

The final thing to remember is to conduct a walkthrough to ensure you’ve taken care of each space entirely.

Keep in mind that the level of cleanliness can vary based on the home’s condition after the previous stay. It is also essential to conduct a deep cleaning of your Airbnb at least once a month. A deep cleaning will be the same as your typical cleaning except on a more intense level with greater detail.

During your scheduled deep cleans, be sure to inspect for cobwebs, steam clean the carpet, and check the wear of your linens and towels for replacements.

Pro Tip: Small things to keep in mind that can significantly impact your guest are in-home gifts such as a small basket of goodies. Great items to consider are wine and desserts or fresh fruits. If you prefer to avoid all food and beverage items, consider fresh flowers.

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All About Airbnb Hosting Tips

Enhance your Airbnb Title Listing + great examples 2022

Post author By Shivam Kaushik
Post date July 23, 2021

Airbnb best titles. Airbnb best titles

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Since there are numerous Airbnb listings on the internet, you want to make sure that you choose the right keywords and optimize the title to catch your reader’s attention.

Primarily, if you do this part correctly, it can increase your bookings, help you rank better in the search results, and bring more traffic to your listing.

There are many complex things that need to be taken into consideration when writing a title for your listing such as the title length, optimal keywords, symbols/icons, and abbreviations. Your title should be thorough enough to give a brief idea about your property in less than 50 characters.

Though this may sound a little bit difficult, we have compiled a list of the best Airbnb titles to help you enhance your ideas and bring out the best version of your listings in the business!

How to write an attention-grabbing title?

Image and title are going to be the most important factor in optimizing your conversion rate and increasing your bookings. Having a catchy and attention-grabbing title can do wonders if you keep a few things in the back of your mind while writing it and make sure to include all the things we are about to tell you in this blog.

1. Use the right and relevant keywords

After the pandemic, people’s habits and perceptions of cleanliness have changed a lot. This pandemic has made hygiene and cleanliness the topmost priority when moving into a vacation home. Our research found out that before the pandemic words like “Modern”, “Historic”, and “Luxury” were some of the best performing keywords but after the pandemic words like “Seclude”, “Sanitized”, “No sharing” etc were the top-performing words.

This same logic can be applied in other areas as well, for example, if your property is near a ski lodge or a beach using that in the title can help you land more guests on your listing. Also if there is some big event or conference happening in your city, having that in the title can also help attract people who will be visiting your city to attend that event, and having the name of the conference or event in the title will definitely grab their attention and let them know that your property is in the vicinity of that location thus making it an ideal place.

2. Use all 50 characters

Airbnb limits title length to 50 characters, make sure you are using them all. By keeping your title shorter you will not be able to use the right keywords and describe your property to the guests.

Using all the characters and many keywords will help to grab the attention of people who are looking for something specific, like a certain number of rooms, or amenities. Having all of these things will broaden your spectrum of potential guests.

3. Use abbreviations and symbols to save Characters

As mentioned above Airbnb only provides 50 characters, so you need to be a little creative to fit all the details about your property into these 50 characters. Using some abbreviations and symbols which are largely recognized can help you save a lot of characters.

Example:

Air Conditioning – AC
And – &
Apartment – Apt
Bathroom – Bath
Bedroom – BR
Downtown – Dt
House – HS
Private – Pvt
With – W/

4. Keep the title audience-specific!

What do I mean by “audience-specific”? Well if you are a new host then it is going to be a lot harder to identify this but if you have some experience hosting then you will have a brief idea of who your ideal guests are and what kind of guest keep booking your place frequently.

Are most people on a business trip, solo travelers, or young couples? Once you have that figured out make sure to have something in your title that is specific to the needs of this particular demographic.

5. Avoid using generic adjectives

If you want to stand out from the crowd then avoid using very generic adjectives like “Good”, “Nice”, “Comfy”, and “Lovely”. From the guests’ perspective, you are saying all these nice words about your own house, which don’t have a significant impact on the guest and don’t give them an idea about the house. Instead, use adjectives that describe what you are offering because that gives them some image in their minds about the house.

Example:

Airy
Apartment
Artsy
Clean
Green
Hidden Gem
Hygienic
Modern
New Construction
Remodeled
Renovated
Rustic
Secluded
Spacious
Villa
Working station

6. Remove irrelevant words

As mentioned above, having the right words in the title is very important but not having the wrong words is even more important. As they eat up most of your 50-character limit and don’t help in conveying any message about the property.

Some of these things are mentioning your street name or your neighborhood name. The guest doesn’t know anything about your area so mentioning street names will not help at all. Also, most people filter their searches by bedroom and locality so mentioning them again in your title is a waste of title space that can be utilized for something else.

7. Avoid Capitalization

Never have your title in all caps! Using all capital letters is considered to be shouting in internet language. Also, not only will it look like you are screaming the title of your listing but, capital letters tend to occupy more space and your whole title might not show up in search results, cutting out the last few words of your title.

8. Make sure it doesn’t look scammy

When writing your perfect title you need to make sure you are not having any spelling mistakes, grammar mistakes, or ALL CAP titles as mentioned above. These make your listing look unprofessional and scammy and might steer away guests from trusting the host.

9. Mention upgrades & what’s unique about the property

Highlight something which is unique and different about the property, like if the building recently got remodeled or renovated. If you did the flooring again, or if you replaced the furniture. These things ensure the guest that the property is in optimum condition and they’ll have a better experience.

10. Mention a Nearby Landmark

If your property is near an important landmark or if your city is famous for something, make sure to mention it in the title, like a stadium or a big hospital. Having them in your title will grab the attention of people who are specifically coming to visit these places and your property will stand out to them.

Real-World Best Airbnb Titles Example

Using the Airbtics Data Analytics dashboard we can see the list of trending listings in different cities around the globe. Most of them are using similar formats and tips that we have shared above.

Check Out the data for your own city! Click Here!

New York:

London:

Paris:

Formula to create the best Airbnb titles!

Formula 1: {Adjective} {Property Type} w/ {Top Features}

Example 1: Modern Villa w/ 2 Queen Bed & Lake View

Formula 2: {Adjective} {Property Type} Near {Landmark} – {Distance}

Example 2: Secluded Studio Apt Near Time Square – 3 Min Walk

Formula 3: {Adjective} {Property Type} Great for {Vacation Type}

Example 3: Renovated Beach House Great for Long Weekend Getaway

Formula 4: Relish {Selling Point} at {Adjective} {Property Type} in/at {Location}

Example 4: Relish Mountain View at a Fully Equipped 2BR cottage in the Alps

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All About Airbnb Hosting Tips

Airbnb Bad Reviews: Use them to your Advantage

Post author By Shivam Kaushik
Post date June 28, 2021

There is nothing more demoralizing than receiving a bad review on Airbnb, especially when you go above and beyond to take care of your guests and host them to the best of your abilities but they still leave a negative or unsatisfactory review. Getting a lot of bad reviews can negatively impact your future bookings as the majority of guests go through negative reviews to make a decision before booking a property.

Every Airbnb host has to deal with unsatisfied guests and bad reviews at least once during their hosting career, and if not dealt with properly could do a lot of harm. In this blog, we will tell you what to do if you get a negative review and how to deal with the guests and convince them to delete the negative review, and also some methods to harness bad reviews on Airbnb and use them to your advantage.

Getting rid of Negative Reviews

1. Requesting the Guest

If a guest leaves a negative review on your listing, you should try and reach out to them as soon as possible. Ask them what you could have improved to make their experience better. Let’s say if the guest pinpoints out something that you disagree with, you should not dismiss that and become defensive as it will cause a conflict, instead, you should agree and tell the guest that “they are right and you’ll try to improve on the suggestions given by them”.

Doing this will help the guest realize that you have acknowledged the issue right away instead of dismissing it and then this will make them more receptive to your request of deleting the bad review. Then you should ask them to remove their bad review and explain how it negatively affects your business, and if done right will most likely work.

2. Give Discount/Compensate

If the above method of “Requesting the Guest” doesn’t work out and the guest is still not ready to change their negative review, then you can try to compensate them for the unpleasant experience they had. You need to be careful while using this method as if not done correctly it could backfire and leave a bad impression on the guest as you may sound arrogant. Choose the right words and way of compensation.

You can give your guest a discount for their next booking or send them a gift card which they can use to pay for their next booking at a discounted price. This compensation can help you get a negative review removed and retain a guest as well. Many airlines and professional services use this method to make amends with unhappy customers.

3. Don’t Rush to Review the Guest

Don’t rush in to leave a review for your guest after they leave, wait till they have left you a review especially if you feel they will leave a bad review. This will help you decide on how to review them based on the honest experience review. Also, it’ll discourage them to leave an unreasonable review as they’ll be worried about you reviewing them negatively, which might make it harder for them to book good properties in the future.

Also, guests just have 14 days to review a property and if you feel there is a slight chance that this guest might review your property badly then you should not write a review about them. Airbnb will prompt them as well to write a review about the property if you write the review early. If you do write a review, write it after a few weeks so that the guest doesn’t recall small things to nitpick and give you a positive review.

4. Reach Out to Airbnb

If you feel that the bad review you have received is unjustified and does not express the real experience of the guest then you can raise a review removal complaint to Airbnb. Airbnb reviews also fall under Airbnb’s Content Policy which monitors if a review is a spam, a threat, use of foul language, maliciously motivated, or fabrication of real experience.

If you followed all the Terms of Services and kept your conversation with the guest on the Airbnb platform then it’ll help you a lot to convince Airbnb to get rid of the review. You need to be able to prove that you are in the right and the review violates Airbnb’s Content Policy to use this approach.

Use them to your advantage

Leave detailed responses

When you receive a negative review make sure to respond back. Make sure to pinpoint every detail of the guest’s stay. Keep it as brief as possible and mention all the minute details. This will help in making a positive impression on the other reader as you’ll seem like someone who cares and takes notice of guests’ needs.

Focus on the Positive

When responding back to a bad review make sure to highlight the positive aspects of the guest’s stay and don’t blatantly disagree with negative reviews. You shouldn’t accept them either if you feel you were not in the wrong, but do acknowledge them. Acknowledging them and then telling why those issues occurred and how you are working on making sure other aspects of your guest’s stay were up to mark will help you build trust with readers.

Show what you have learned

If you were in the wrong then accept the mistake and if you weren’t in the wrong then acknowledging it will go a long way. Telling what you have learned from it and what you have you are doing to improve on it leaves the reviewer with nothing to defend and argue about.

Highlight the steps you have taken after this last negative review to improve future guests’ experience. Also, go through all the negative feedback to get a broad understanding of all things you can change to have more satisfied guests in the future, and use negative remarks as a guidebook to improve your hosting.

Don’t bad mouth the guest

Arguing or speaking unfavorably about your previous guest will portray you as rude and make you an undesirable host for future guests. You need to be calm and professional throughout and realize bad reviews are part of being in the Airbnb business and should be handled professionally and strategically.

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Best Cities to start Airbnb Rental Arbitrage Business in the US.

Post author By jae an
Post date June 21, 2021

Best Cities to Start Airbnb Rental Arbitrage Business

The pandemic has hit short-term rental businesses all over the world, but it’s not the case in the US. It’s backed by data that many of the remote US destinations have experienced the most profitable Summer in 2020 and are looking for another profitable Summer in 2021. So it might seem the world is falling apart and everything is going down. But the data is speaking otherwise, according to 2020 airbnb data this is a great time to start your STR journey. The market is about to bounce back as people are craving the outdoors. So to help you focus more on the important things in your STR journey, and not the boring research part, we have compiled a list of the best cities to start Airbnb in US.

The Airbnb business is booming

The rental arbitrage model is extremely attractive for hungry and motivated entrepreneurs. You don’t need much money to get started with your first rental. In fact, you can even start by renting out your own room (and you stay the night at your car or friend’s house) to save up the initial deposit to start your first arbitrage unit. However, the rental arbitrage won’t generate passive income – It’s not true passive income because you constantly need to pitch to landlords and manage day to day operations.

What is Airbnb Rental Arbitrage?

Maximize your rental property revenue with more inventory and dynamic pricing tools.

Data-backed Market Research: You start with conducting thorough research about the market to find the profitable neighborhoods, amenities, and styles.

Pitch to landlords: Now you know the number and you know this property will generate profit for sure. It’s time to contact landlords to get permission to do rental arbitrage and get accepted.

Efficient operation & Profit: A lot of hustles in putting your listings on various channels, right pricing, and many other tactics. Still, I trust that you will be able to learn along the way as long as you have started with the right properties.

How to identify profitable rentals for rental arbitrage?

Make more informed decisions with the power of accurate data.

Definition of Arbitrage: In economics and finance, arbitrage is the practice of taking advantage of a price difference between two or more markets.

As the definition suggests, you need to find the gap between the “long-term rental market” and the “short-term rental market”. Fortunately, finding a long-term market base price is straightforward. You can easily find the market prices for the long-term rental market in Zillow. Finding the short-term rental market price is more difficult since looking at “daily rate” and “cleaning fees” on Airbnb isn’t enough because you also need to know “occupancy rates”. Therefore, the key to the success of rental arbitrage research is in short-term rental market research.

Then, what is the “key” of short-term rental market research? It is basically clearly identifying the range of profit of properties in different neighborhoods and by the size of properties.

The profit consists of three variables – 1) occupancy rate, 2) average daily rate and 3) expenses. The size of properties is a little bit more complex as it consists of the “number of bedrooms, bathrooms, and the total number of beds”. I will go through different tools to find out the occupancy rate and daily rate of different neighborhoods a little bit later.

How much does it cost to start your first rental arbitrage?

Stay up-to-date with relevant industry trends.

Don’t panic. After all, the starting cost is quite predictable once you do enough research.

Deposit
First-month rent
Furnishing (Beds, Sofa, Dishes etc)
Supplies (Here’s a checklist)

If I were you, I would start with basic furniture only – one mattress with a base and a cover per room, one used sofa, a pot, a pen, and plastic cutleries. Once I receive a few bookings, then, I will start investing more stuff like lamps, coffee pots, and so on. Starting with a huge budget will make you feel pressured to get a better return, so please be a minimalist when you get started.

Tips to do market research effectively and correctly

Use competitive and intelligent data to your advantage.

You need to make a comparison table to structure your research and efficiently search for your next properties. The template could look like below.

Profit before paying rent = (occupancy rate * daily rate) + cleaning fees (that you charged from guests) – cleaning fees (that you actually spent) – other expenses

Now you know the profit before paying rent, so now you can just identify which properties on Zillow can be profitable when you rent them. On Zillow, as of today (2021-06-20), there is only one property that can profit $500 a month to you.

How much does it cost to start your first rental arbitrage?

Stay up-to-date with relevant industry trends.

Now I guess you are wondering how much a short-term rental around your neighborhoods is making.

You can use our research tool to find it. You can choose one city, and if you zoom in to a specific neighborhood, it will show the average daily rate and occupancy rates from the short-term rentals on the map.

If you do research, you will find out that there are so many profit combinations (neighborhoods x property size).

Now let’s take a look at the best cities to start airbnb in the US.

Best Cities to Start Airbnb in US

To make it easy for you, below are some (not all) best cities to start Airbnb in the US that have possible profitable combinations for rental arbitrage.

There’s no point in giving you some numbers of expected rental arbitrage returns because it will be depending on the exact neighbourhood and the size of properties you are going to rent. Please do your thorough research to find out some areas where there’s a high demand for short-term rentals while having excessive long-term rental supplies.

What's next?

If you are doubtful about using data solutions, I’d recommend you to 1) speak to a property manager in your area 2) ask other Airbnb hosts in various Airbnb host’s communities 3) collect data on your own from Airbnb website.

If you are lost, you can find other Airbnb hosts from the following links.

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All About Airbnb Hosting Tips

Red Flags to Look for When Renting on Airbnb (Airbnb Guest with No Reviews)

Post author By Shivam Kaushik
Post date June 17, 2021

Airbnb guest with no reviews is a major red flag when accepting a request. Learn how to onboard this kind of guest from this article!

Home > Resources > Hosting Tips >

Airbnb guest with no reviews is a major red flag when accepting a request. Learn how to onboard this kind of guest from this article!

December 18, 2023

Being a host is never an easy task. For starters, you have to take care of marketing your listings, communicating with guests, and property management. Recently, hosts have started to report scams and illegal activities that have started taking place due to the massive reach & popularity of short-term rental platforms. These people are taking advantage of hosts and their property by finding a loophole in the system. Usually, they are Airbnb guests with no reviews.

In this blog, we surveyed over 100+ super hosts to take note of the red flags when renting your property on Airbnb so you make the best decisions when hosting an Airbnb guest with no reviews. Continue reading to learn more!

1. Airbnb Guest with No Reviews

When you come up with profiles with no single reviews, this could indicate that the person is using Airbnb for the first time or has created a duplicate account. It gets very hard to judge guests based on their type of profiles. Your best bet here would be to communicate with the guest and request them to complete their profiles. This is especially necessary if they already don’t have an ID and photos.

Questions to ask Airbnb guests with no reviews

But fret not! Of course, we can give guests with no reviews the benefit of our doubt. But just to safeguard your interest as a host, you can ask the guests the following basic questions:

What is your purpose for visiting?
How many people will be staying?

At the same time, hosts can also use this simple message template for Airbnb guests with no reviews but are showing interest in the property.

Hey there {{guest’s name}}

Thank you for showing interest in my property and welcome to the Airbnb community. As your host, I want to make sure that your first stay with us will go smoothly. Before I approve your booking, please verify your profile photo with a government ID & kindly fulfill the required information below:

1). Brief information about your stay & number of guests
2) What brings you to the neighborhood & what are your expectations?

I look forward to approving your request pending this information.

Feel free to reach out if you have any questions!

Cheers,

{{Host name}}

2. Not reading/following the rules and guidelines

To avoid Airbnb guests from having last-minute changes such as bringing extra people or pets, it’s ideal to remind them of the rules and regulations prior to confirming their stay. Although this isn’t always a red flag, Airbnb guests who keep changing their statements that are against rules and regulations should be reminded to read the listings to avoid complaints and confusion.

3. Having inappropriate photos or no photos

Similar to Airbnb’s no review guest’s account, an Airbnb guest with inappropriate photos or photos that don’t show their face clearly could be considered a red flag. Having no photo might also indicate that the profile is new, and if that is the case, you can request the guest to update his/her profile using the message template indicated above. If they hesitate to upload a photo or the uploaded photos seem altered, then it is certainly another red flag. As an Airbnb host, you should ask for proper verification in case of any suspicion before confirming the stay.

4. Convincing to book a listing outside of Airbnb

If a guest is trying to use alternate methods to share his number to book the Airbnb listing, then it’s a major red flag. Keeping all the chats and conversations on the Airbnb app is really important. This is truly necessary in case of damages to the property or any other mishappening during the guest’s stay. It also helps you to be on the safe side in terms of receiving the money and having proof of conversation in case of any legal action. Taking the conversation on some other platform will not only increase the chances of a scam, but it’ll also leave you stranded without anyone to reach out for help in case of a mishap.

5. Unconventional name or email

In 2022, getting a decent email without numbers and weird symbols is next to impossible. While there are some odd emails that use offensive words, and sexist or racist remarks, this can be a red flag as a lot of scammers use pseudo emails to make Airbnb accounts. It’s important to be aware of unconventional names or emails. These people often do this to prevent leaving traces of their personal identity in case of any investigation.

6. Broken language

Many times, scammers who pretend to be Airbnb guests run bots and reach out to multiple hosts at once. They send them personalized messages based on their listing using learning bots. You can identify these messages if the grammar is incorrect or if even a single sentence just doesn’t make sense. Usually, these bots have the conversion for a few seconds until some human switches over. You need to be careful and look for these types of sentences that sound auto-generated by a bot.

7. Exchanging services in return for a stay

Another red flag is if a guest offers to clean the house or do any other service in return for a stay instead of paying money. The chances of that person leaving without cleaning the place are very high. At the same time, this is not a good practice to follow as an Airbnb host. It’s still advisable to have your property cleaned by a reliable cleaner as the chances of getting scammed are very high in these types of situations.

8. Asking the right screening questions

If the Airbnb guests are local and staying for one night, you may want to ask their motive for visiting the property and confirm if they agree with your house policies. If they are visiting from outside of town, you can casually ask what they would like to do in the city. This way, you can easily identify the intention of guests while giving some helpful suggestions depending on what they want to do.

9. Do what your gut says

Sometimes you don’t need any red flags. If you have a feeling of uncertainty when giving your property to a guest based on his/her profile and messages, it is best to drop that guest as your gut instinct could be right.

When to take the risk of accepting bookings from Airbnb guests with no reviews?

While there are red flags to look out for when accepting Airbnb guests, it’s important to take note that there are some Airbnb guests who might have difficulty creating their accounts as they are new on the platform. Here are some of the go signals for Airbnb hosts to take the risk:

1. Airbnb guest provides necessary data

If you require the guest to provide a valid government ID and a clear photo, and they promptly follow along with a clear intention of their purpose of visit, then your worries should at least be minimized.

2. Airbnb guest instantly confirms the payment

The majority of Airbnb hosts are usually worried about guests with no reviews because they might be a no-show and waste the bookings on their calendars. However, if the Airbnb guest instantly confirms their payment online, then it’s recommended to take the risk (and still follow the mentioned precautions).

3. Airbnb guest is willing to go through security checks & verify account

Airbnb guests who are willing to go through security checks & verification on the platform should be considered as a go signal for hosts to accept the booking. At the same time, it’s necessary for Airbnb hosts to make sure that the guests are responsive and agree to the rules & regulations of your property.

How to decline an Airbnb guest with no reviews?

If you see all these red flags and you can’t see any redeeming quality in your guest, now is the time to decline the booking request. Declining a guest is a delicate process. So, be sure that you keep the conversation professional and courteous until the end.

Remember, maintaining professionalism and politeness is key when communicating with potential guests, even if you need to decline a booking request. This approach will uphold your reputation as a host and align with Airbnb’s community standards.

1. Start with Gratitude:

Begin your message by expressing your appreciation for their interest in your listing. This sets a positive tone for the conversation.

2. Explain Your Policy as a Host:

Let the guest know that, as part of your hosting policy, you usually prefer guests with reviews to ensure a smooth experience for both parties. Make this sound like a general policy rather than singling out the guest.

3. Apologize and Explain:

Apologize for any inconvenience and explain that you are unable to make exceptions at this time. Make sure your message is respectful and understanding.

4. Suggest Solutions:

If possible, offer some alternative solutions that could help the guest build their Airbnb profile and increase their chances of securing future bookings. For instance, suggest that they consider booking with hosts who are open to new users or recommend ways they can improve their profile.

5. End on a Positive Note:

Conclude the message with well wishes and a friendly tone. This helps to maintain a positive reputation and ensure a good impression of you as a host.

Feel free to use the sample template below for declining guests who show red flags

Hi {{guest’s name}}

Thank you for considering my Airbnb listing for your upcoming stay. I appreciate your interest in my space. As a part of my hosting practice, I typically consider guests who have reviews from previous stays. This helps ensure a positive experience for both guests and hosts. I'm sorry for any inconvenience this might cause, but I currently don't have the flexibility to make exceptions regarding the review policy.

However, I suggest you explore other listings where hosts might be more open to hosting guests without reviews. You could also enhance your profile by verifying your identity and completing your Airbnb profile, which will increase your credibility in the community.

Best of luck with your travel plans, and I hope you have a wonderful experience using Airbnb in the future.
{{Host name}}

Conclusion

I hope this checklist is somewhat useful in your hosting journey!

If you are just getting started with hosting, I believe you want to get more quality bookings. The first step is to have a clear picture on your listing’s performance against to similar listings in your area. This allows you to set a realistic goal.

Compare your occupancy rate against to other similar listings around your area using Airbnb Analytics tool (Click the banner below). Once you are in the app, search for your market, and zoom into the area where your listing is located. Then, you can find the average occupancy rate of the area you are seeing in the map.

Unlock Worldwide
Short-Term Rental Data

Find unsaturated neighborhoods with the highest occupancy history.

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Airbnb Investment All About Airbnb

Best Airbnb deals in Dallas (2021 Updated)

Post author By Shivam Kaushik
Post date June 9, 2021

Bring out your cowboy boots and get ready to explore the best deals in yet another amazing southern city of Dallas, being bordered with Mexico and with more than 42% Hispanic population, you’ll find fusion foods that are so amazing and unique that it’ll be hard to find such combinations anywhere else in the country. Dallas is the fastest growing city in the US currently with a 1.3 million population and it’s inviting more people to come and explore the culture. Here is the list of 9 Best Airbnb deals in Dallas that you can’t find anywhere else.

Downtown/Deep Ellum 1 BR – 3 guests ($60)

Located within walking distance to the city center, this place is great if you aren’t bringing your car with you, Sheraton Downtown and Deep Ellum are 2 min walking from this location. At this price point finding a place in the city center is near impossible.

Why is it the Best Airbnb Deal in Dallas?

Great location – walking distance from major Dallas attractions
Affordable with sufficient amenities for the price.
Free Parking
Experienced Host with 4.7 ratings and 650+ Review

Click Here to Book

Artist’s Loft Near Deep Ellum & Fair Park – 1BR | 2 Guests ($77)

If you love colors and artistic stuff and want to inspire the artist in you, then this loft near Deep Ellum is the perfect place for you, surrounded by trees and featuring the old original artwork the design and overall architecture will surely inspire you as soon as you enter the house, and the price will surely motivate you to stay a day extra.

Why is it the Best Airbnb Deal in Dallas?

15 mins from the Downtown Dallas
Beautiful design and artwork throughout the house
Free Parking
Super-Host with 4.99 Rating & 130+ reviews

Click Here to Book

Belle 2BR Bungalow | Downtown Med Center Stadium ($145)

This is an 1100 Sqft Duplex apartment on a half-acre property, located in the central Metroplex in a safe and quiet neighborhood. Great location only 30 mins from fort worth and 15 mins from the airport. This house is perfect for someone looking for some extra space and a quiet neighborhood to stay in peace with some lush greenery around the house.

Why is it the Best Airbnb Deal in Dallas?

15 mins from the Airport and Fort Worth
Safe and beautiful neighborhood with a big back and front yard
Free Parking
Super-Host with 4.91 Rating & 162+ reviews

Click Here to Book

2BR – 6 Guests | Near Main Street Garden Park ($164)

This house is managed by Sonder, which is a professional Airbnb management company. The overall vibe and design of this place are very modern and have been recently renovated so everything here feels new. This place has large windows and receives plenty of sunlight throughout the day, this place also has a fully functional equipped kitchen and all the smart appliances. There is a theater room, gym, and lounge in the complex which is accessible by the guests as well.

Why is it the Best Airbnb Deal in Dallas?

Modern design and recently furnished
10 mins walking from downtown
Digital Self-Check In
Gym, Lounge, and Theater Room
Experienced Host with 4.42 Rating

Click Here to Book

1BR house with hot tub, backyard, and private entrance ($70)

This spacious 1 bedroom house is located in Downtown Dallas and within walking distance of all the major spots in Dallas center. This is a pet-friendly house, also the host provides a bike to stroll around downtown and in the neighborhood. The house is also equipped with an electric car charger for all the Tesla drivers. This place also has a hot tub, fireplace, smart tv with Netflix, and free parking. For $70 this place is a steal in the center of downtown Dallas.

Why is it the Best Airbnb Deal in Dallas?

Super Host with 4.93 Rating
Plenty of amenities for the price
Budget-Friendly
Pet Friendly

Click Here to Book

1BR – 2 guests | Cozy Private Room ($45)

If you are on a budget and don’t mind sharing your place with someone else then this place can provide you a comfy home away from home at just $45, you will be a lockable private room and bathroom, this place is great for a solo traveler on a budget looking for a comfy place with all the basic amenities without shelling out a lot of money.

Why is it the Best Airbnb Deal in Dallas?

Super Host with 4.89 Rating
Super Affordable with all basic amenities
Fully functional stocked kitchen
Free Laundry
15 mins from Downtown

Click Here to Book

Bardo Lofts Studio | 3 Guests ($80)

If you are a sucker for modern design then this studio house is perfect for you, located in this newly constructed residential building. This place is perfect for anyone who wants to live in peace and luxury at the same time. Though being in a residential complex there are a lot of rules that you need to follow but if you love the design and price of this place then it’s totally worth it.

Why is it the Best Airbnb Deal in Dallas?

Modern Design and Architecture
Walking distance from Bishop Arts
New construction
Experienced Host with 4.70 Rating

Click Here to Book

3 BR – 6 Guests | Green House by Downtown ($102)

This is a perfect place for people looking for some extra space and is traveling with Pets. With a huge front and side yard, this palace is the perfect place for your pets to run around and it also has a deck patio to hang out and read some books in peace when your dog is creating havoc in the garden. This palace has 3 decent-sized rooms with 2 queens and 1 double bed. Free parking on premises is available for the guests.

Why is it the Best Airbnb Deal in Dallas?

Located in Downtown Dallas
Pet Friendly & Self check-in
Free Parking
Ample of space in the house
Super Host with 4.78 Rating

Click Here to Book

9 Guests – 3 BR | Cozy Bungalow Retreat by Downtown Dallas ($127)

Situated Northwest of Dallas and a short drive away from the Airport this large apartment can host up to 9 guests. The house is in close proximity to the historic Bird’s Fork Park which is great if you want to go on a morning hike. The apartment comes with 1 full-sized bed, 1 king-size bed and 1 Queen sized bed, and one Air Mattress, a fully stocked kitchen, and a backyard.

Why is it the Best Airbnb Deal in Dallas?

Great Location with private Backyard
60” TV with Netflix, Amazon Prime, Chromecast, HBO & Satellite
Pet Friendly & Self check-in
Free Parking
Super Host with 4.72 Rating

Click Here to Book

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Airbnb Investment All About Airbnb

Best Airbnb deals in Houston (2021 Updated)

Post author By Shivam Kaushik
Post date June 8, 2021

There are a whopping 11,000 restaurants in Houston to tingle your taste buds, which is still way less when compared to the reasons why one should visit this amazing city, be it the Space Centers, Rodeo or NightLife, Houston has something for everyone, and the best way to explore Houston is to become a local, live like one and experience the lifestyle. We have curated the best Airbnb deals in Houston here so you don’t have to spend hours finding the right host and location, this list has something for everyone, from studio apartments to container homes most of which are located in prime areas.

3 BedRoom – 1100 Sq Ft Montrose Apartment with Patio ($99)

Accommodate 9 guests with 7 beds and a huge patio, for $99 this is a great apartment if you are a group of friends, or a couple looking for an amazing location to stay in Montrose, Houston. With 1 Gbps fast internet, 55” 4k TV with ESPN, HBO, Amazon, Netflix, and Hulu there will be plenty of content to keep you entertained throughout your stay. The place is Centrally Air-Conditioned with extra parking right in front of the building.