Airbnb announced it had over eight million active listings in late 2025. While this is a positive sign for the short-term rental industry, it makes it harder than ever for hosts to get eyes on properties and turn those views into bookings.
When an Airbnb listing sits empty, the cost isn’t just lost income. Fewer bookings mean less feedback, weaker performance signals, and lower visibility in the search results. That creates a vicious cycle where Airbnb shows your listing less often, making it even harder to recover.
The good news is that it’s possible to turn things around when you hit a slump. By adjusting how you price, present, and manage your Airbnb listings, you can quickly increase your booking rates.
Why your booking rate on Airbnb matters
Your booking rate does more than determine how full your calendar looks. Airbnb guides explicitly say that your popularity influences how high your listing appears in its search results.
Basically, listings that convert views into bookings signal relevance and reliability. In contrast, listings that get engagement but fail to convert often get deprioritized over time. That’s why improving your booking rate has a compounding effect: more bookings lead to more reviews, stronger trust signals, and better placement in Airbnb search results.
Understanding this feedback loop is key. Every improvement you make to pricing, messaging, or presentation helps the Airbnb algorithm decide whether your short-term rental deserves more visibility.
How to get more bookings on Airbnb
Improving bookings doesn’t come down to a single strategy. Successful Airbnb hosts usually approach vacation rental management from multiple angles to stand out from the competition, build trust quickly, and remove friction from the decision-making process.
1. Base your pricing strategy on demand, not guesswork
Make sure Airbnb pricing is competitive and reflects what guests are willing to pay. Otherwise, you’ll miss out on bookings even if your listing looks great.
But manually adjusting Airbnb rates can be challenging. Conducting market research is time-consuming, as it involves looking at a huge range of factors like seasonality, nearby events, and economic trends. Plus, the optimal pricing can shift suddenly, so keeping up without support quickly becomes unrealistic.
That’s why many Airbnb hosts rely on dynamic pricing tools to automatically adjust rates based on real-time market data. These tools analyze millions of data points to find the optimal amount to attract bookings without affecting your profit margins.
Airbnb’s built-in smart pricing offers a starting point, but it’s too basic to handle nuanced strategies. Instead, connect your listings to specialist dynamic pricing tools with the help of a Property Management System (PMS) like Hostfully. You can check all your vacation rental prices via our centralized dashboard and quickly override prices when you want to apply discounts or last-minute deals.
2. Write listings that answer guest questions clearly
Strong Airbnb listings answer important questions about your property upfront. Put yourself in your guest’s position and consider exactly what they’ll most want to know. You should aim to cover the following at a minimum:
- Location
- Appliances and amenities
- Sleeping arrangements
- House rules
- What’s included in the stay
Remember that the fewer unknowns guests have to resolve, the faster they’ll commit to your property. This gives them less time to start questioning whether to book another Airbnb.
When listing descriptions are vague or incomplete, potential guests are left guessing whether the property fits their needs. Many won’t bother asking for clarification if they can see there are dozens of alternatives.
| Pro-tip: Airbnb listings give users an idea of what to expect. Save all the fine details about your property for your guidebook.
Hostfully enables you to send our digital guidebook alongside the booking confirmation. Guests can refer to it to find useful details like directions, instructions, and local recommendations. You can even include photos to show them where to find items in your cupboards or videos on how to make the most of amenities like coffee machines and hot tubs. |
3. Respond faster to guest inquiries
Fast responses help you win over guests quickly. They demonstrate that you’re available, organized, and ready to support their stay. This matters not only for conversions but also for Airbnb’s internal ranking signals, which favour responsive hosts.
Airbnb management software like Hostfully enables you to send messages in response to triggers. You can create templates in advance and automate replies to inquiries without having to live on your phone.
Hostfully’s unified inbox also makes it easier to monitor messaging coming from all sources. All you have to do is check our mobile app a few times a day to keep track of your conversations and follow up when needed. This reduces the chance of you missing an urgent question and lets you send a quick response from wherever you are.
4. Highlight your unique selling point in your Airbnb listing
Include what makes your Airbnb rental special in your headline and images. You can both stand out in the search results and target your audience more effectively. For example, if you’re targeting digital nomads, post a screenshot of your super-fast WiFi speed test and make sure you have plenty of photos of your workspaces.
Also, provide details of amenities and property features that appeal to a specific type of guest. If you’re targeting couples, for instance, emphasize the peace, quiet, and privacy your rentals offer.
Also, consider offering targeted upsells that prove your property is tailor-made for specific guests. Hostfully’s Digital Guidebook gives you the option to add special offers like childcare services for families, sports equipment rentals for outdoor enthusiasts, or a personal chef for those after a luxury experience.
5. Build confidence before arrival with pre-stay communication
Reassure guests before they arrive with clear, friendly communication. This convinces them that everything will run smoothly and lowers the risk of cancellations.
But chances are that you don’t have hours to put aside for guest messaging. Instead, develop an automated messaging workflow so you can remain communicative without adding more tasks to your to-do list. You can always step in if guests need any extra help or assistance.
Use a specialist guest communication tool like Hostfully to draft templates in your unique tone of voice for all the following stages in the booking journey:
- Confirmation
- Reminders
- House rules
- Upsells and discounts
- Check-in instructions
Our messaging tool automatically pulls guest details from their reservation data and uses them to fill the empty fields. This ensures that messages are tailored to each individual or group while saving you time.
6. Ask for reviews consistently after every stay
Airbnb guests are more likely to trust listings with high ratings and reviews. It follows that the more positive feedback you get, the easier you’ll find it to secure bookings.
Although Airbnb prompts users to leave reviews, many are still likely to forget. Reach out to guests after their stay to make sure they had an excellent experience and give them a chance to leave you feedback. You can use a PMS like Hostfully to schedule a reminder for a few days after they leave, before the two-week deadline has passed.
7. Get proactive about marketing Airbnb properties
Don’t wait for potential guests to find your listing and make a booking on Airbnb. Proactive marketing helps you generate demand instead of waiting for it.
First, create your own direct booking website using a no-code builder like Hostfully. Potential guests may look up your property on multiple sites before confirming a booking. A professional-looking website is a chance to prove that you’re a serious Airbnb host who can meet all their needs.
Next, develop a presence on popular social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok. You can show behind-the-scenes content and share your local expertise to entice people to your properties. When people are browsing on social media, they may stumble across your business pages and follow them to your Airbnb or website.
8. Meet the criteria for Airbnb Superhost status
Airbnb Superhosts are users who have consistently met high standards over time. They have a badge in their profile to signal their extra value and get prioritized in the search results.
To qualify for Airbnb Superhost status, you must meet four criteria:
- Rating of 4.8 out of 5 or higher
- 90% response rate within 24 hours
- Fewer than 1% host cancellations
- A minimum of ten trips or 100 nights hosted over a year
Cancelling too many bookings without good cause is a quick way to lose your Airbnb Superhost status. Keep your percentage below 1% by using a channel manager. Channel managers like Hostfully sync your calendar across sites so you can automatically block out dates and avoid double-bookings.
9. Encourage more repeat bookings
As well as marketing yourself to new Airbnb guests, reach out to people who have already stayed at your property. They tend to book faster, cancel less often, and they already trust your business.
To earn that second booking, tighten the parts of the experience that guests remember most:
- Match the listing to the reality
- Provide a frictionless check-in process
- Ensure properties are clean and well-stocked
- Check in around the halfway point
- Make it easy to check out
If you think guests enjoyed their stay, offer them a discount for booking with you again. Hostfully enables you to add these promotional codes directly to your messaging for convenience. This drives more repeat guests and helps you get more direct bookings, saving you money on commission fees.
9 pitfalls to avoid that lower your Airbnb booking rate
Just as important as what you do is what you stop doing. Many Airbnb hosts unintentionally reduce bookings through habits that feel productive but work against them.
- Fixating on price: Dropping prices can feel like a quick fix during slow periods, but it rarely solves deeper problems. If guests aren’t booking, the issue is often trust, clarity, or presentation.
- Chasing metrics: Response times, ratings, and Superhost criteria matter, but obsessing over them can backfire. What really matters is the quality and consistency of the guest experience you can deliver.
- Casting too wide a net: Listings that try to please every Airbnb user often resonate with no one. Clear targeting helps your listing stand out and convert more consistently.
- Adding gimmicky or misleading details: Clickbait titles, exaggerated claims, or heavily staged photos may earn clicks, but false promises usually lead to disappointment. Over time, this hurts both conversion and ranking.
- Overloading listings with information: Long, unstructured descriptions overwhelm guests. Organize information so they can quickly answer their key questions without wading through irrelevant details.
- Reacting to slumps with panic changes: Sudden price drops, rushed photo swaps, or constant copy changes during slow periods can dilute your positioning. Instead, make adjustments with a clear goal in mind, and give them time to take effect.
- Relying on Airbnb for marketing and outreach: Depending entirely on one listing site — even popular ones like Airbnb and Vrbo — leaves you exposed to algorithm changes. When visibility dips, bookings can disappear overnight. Diversifying demand through websites and other channels provides stability and long-term control.
- Spreading yourself too thin across listing sites: Equally, listing everywhere without proper systems often creates more problems than it solves. Expansion works best after your core listings convert well.
- Using the default automation settings: Automation tools often lock you into rigid workflows or generic messaging. Be sure to choose software like Hostfully with highly configurable settings, so you can tailor booking processes to your unique setup.
Get more Airbnb bookings with Hostfully
Getting more Airbnb bookings comes down to getting the fundamentals right and avoiding common missteps that hurt conversion. When pricing, presentation, communication, and reliability work together, bookings tend to follow.
That’s where Hostfully PMS fits in. Instead of juggling tools and manual processes, Hostfully brings the systems that support higher booking rates into one place, making it easier to stay organized as you grow.
Hostfully helps you increase bookings by giving you the tools to:
- Automate guest messaging without losing the personal touch
- Sync calendars across channels to prevent double bookings and cancellations
- Connect dynamic pricing tools to stay competitive year-round
- Create and share digital guidebooks that build guest confidence pre-stay
- Centralize guest communication in a unified inbox
- Get more reviews through timely, consistent follow-ups
There may be more than eight million properties (and counting) on Airbnb these days, but that doesn’t mean your properties can’t rise to the top.
FAQs about Airbnb bookings
Why am I not getting Airbnb bookings even with good reviews?
Positive reviews help, but they’re only one piece of the puzzle. A comprehensive strategy that focuses on pricing, availability, and customer service is the most effective way to secure more bookings.
How long does it take to see more bookings after optimizing a listing?
It depends on what changes you make. Some updates, like faster response times or more professional photos, can have an impact within weeks. Others, like improved guest reviews or more competitive pricing, tend to compound over time.
Is it risky to rely only on Airbnb for bookings?
Yes, relying on a single booking platform makes your business vulnerable to algorithm changes. List your rental property on other popular platforms like Vrbo and Booking.com to stabilize your occupancy rates.
