Does this sound familiar? You’ve been told that achieving Superhost status on Airbnb is the ultimate goal for increasing bookings. So, you’ve worked tirelessly to maintain high ratings and provide exceptional service, only to find that it actually does little for your bookings. The pain of putting in all that effort, yet still not seeing the results you desire, can be disheartening. But here’s the truth: relying solely on Superhost status is an ineffective action. In this episode, I’ll uncover why diversifying your booking sources and leveraging your personal website are the keys to increasing direct bookings. Say goodbye to the frustration and hello to a steady stream of guests through your own channels.
In this episode, you will be able to:
- Uncover the power struggle between direct bookings and the highly coveted Superhost status on Airbnb.
- Illuminate the significant role of diversification in your booking sources for long-term success.
- Discover how to sow the seeds of trust with potential guests, increasing the likelihood of direct bookings.
- Explore how your personal website can become a powerful tool in securing more direct bookings.
- Learn how to establish genuine, personal connections with your guests to foster trust and potentially garner repeat bookings.
Don’t put all of your eggs in one basket. Your own website should be the number one place you are focusing on to bring in the bookings. – Jenn Boyles
The key moments in this episode are:
00:01:32 – Superhost Status
00:02:45 – The Word “Private”
00:04:37 – Importance of Diversification
00:08:01 – Building Trust
Show notes are available at: https://directbookingsuccess.com/podcast/
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Sign up for the free masterclass – The 4-step framework for a profitable direct booking sales engine: https://directbookingsuccess.com/masterclass
Transcript
I'm Jenn Boyles, your host. I'm so happy to be here with you today. Last quarter I was surprised to receive Superhost status on Airbnb. I hardly use the platform bookings, really, and I've always prided myself on this. My guests always leave wonderful reviews and love the hospitality I provide.
So I knew it would be because of the number of bookings I had taken on Airbnb during the past year. I think you need ten bookings in the previous year to qualify. It sounds like an awfully low benchmark to me, but it makes sense, I guess, as part of Airbnb's host retention scheme. So let's do the math. If you rely 80% on Airbnb for your bookings and your ratings are high enough, then you're going to hit that Superhost status quite quickly.
Once I had the news, I went into the app and counted up the bookings. And sure enough, I had about eleven or twelve bookings in the previous year, basically once a month, which isn't too bad for a business that is mainly Book Direct, really. But I felt so guilty. Here I am a book direct advocate, and now I'm an Direct Booking Success host. But thankfully, that's not the end of the story.
Fast forward to this quarter when I received an email from Airbnb telling me that my Superhost status had changed and inferred that, I'd be very disappointed. Little did the team know that actually this news was very good for me. I know so many people who are proud of being na Airbnb Superhost. I know even those who constitute on Direct bookings still take real pride in being Superhost. And if that's you, then no judgment.
I, on the other hand, don't want it. I think I see it for what it is: a way to keep hosts on the Airbnb platform. A retention scheme. Yes. I use them as part of my booking diversification strategy, but I don't work for them.
I want my guests to associate me with my company, not with an online travel agent. When I posted on social media about how happy I was that I was no longer an Direct Booking Success host, I was ready for some backlash. But I wasn't ready for what happened next. What I wasn't ready for were all the people speaking of being scared of taking private bookings. The word private kept coming up.
I still don't quite get it. Maybe somebody could tell me why this word is being used, where it came from. To me, it seems to be another way to keep hosts uneducated on what direct bookings can do for their business. The word private to me infers that you're like doing it on the side, that they aren't the main source of your bookings, that maybe it's something you're ashamed of. I can only think that there is so much more education needed, not only with guests to get more of them to book direct with hosts, but for hosts who truly don't understand about the benefits of guests booking direct.
So let's get to the bottom of this. It's fine to list with Airbnb and any other online travel agent and have them bring in some bookings. There is nothing wrong with it. In fact, it is how I started. I used Airbnb at first and exclusively for my first property.
It was great. The bookings rolled in, but what happened next was that the booking stopped rolling in and I was stuck. I only had my Airbnb listing and when guests stopped coming, my income dropped. I couldn't pay the mortgage and I panicked. It was so horrible.
It is so horrible when bookings dry up. Of course, there can be many reasons why this is happening, but let's talk about a huge way you can even avoid this happening in the first place. The easiest way to avoid this is to diversify where your bookings are coming from. This means having more than one platform bringing in your bookings. Don't put all of your eggs in one basket.
Now, your website with your own marketing should be one of them. Why? Because this is the one place where you can have true power and control. You can set the rules and be the boss. Your own website should be the number one place you are focusing on to bring in the bookings.
Could you imagine a grocery store manager sitting there waiting for a third party to bring in customers? Of course not. They're putting out flyers in the local area, creating sales events to bring those customers in, or the shoe shop, or the local accountant. Of course they're going to be marketing themselves. It's their business.
You should be looking at your vacation rental as a business. It is if you want a business that brings in consistent income, which you have full control over. Now, going back to this thread on social media, once I got over the use of the word private, people were asking me how I was able to just go and do direct bookings. I sensed a lot of fear of the unknown, which of course is understandable when it's something that is new. I think back to when I first started renting out on Airbnb.
If someone had come to me then and told me about Direct bookings, I wouldn't have got it, I wouldn't have seen the need for it, and I definitely wouldn't have understood where to start. It wasn't until my bookings on Airbnb dried out that I started looking into getting direct bookings. There was no such thing as, quote unquote, direct bookings. Back then. I actually thought everyone was doing this.
Like everyone was on the same journey as I was. I started contacting previous guests and asking them to come back and book direct. I had put together my own website and started telling everyone about this great holiday that could be had when they stayed with me. And it worked. Booking started to come in and my business turned around.
Of course, it wasn't that simple, okay? It took some hard work to get it all to work properly. One thing that really helped was being able to provide trust to potential guests that I was who I was saying I was. And trust is a huge obstacle in direct bookings. Airbnb has it built in with the reputation the platform has built over the years with guests, but also by their review system.
So how can you, an independent business, build that trust? Of course reviews are needed. Putting up to date reviews on your website and showcasing them in your marketing is so important. Showing that other people have stayed with you and have had a wonderful time. This helps alleviate any doubts a first time guest might have, but also builds out your website, blog posts and images of your place in your local area.
And here's a big one showing yourself. Now let me ask you a question. Who would you rather book a stay with? The first website, very shiny, amazing photos, lots of those cool blue colors used on the site. Lots of ‘we’ on the site.
Meaning everything is written from ‘we’. We do this, we like this. No mention of who the business is run by, just some sort of mission statement for the company. The second website has some great photos too. And there's a great photo of the property manager owner right there on the homepage welcoming you to their place.
There is a full page about us where you can read more about who they are. So which one would you book with? I really hope you're talking about the second website. This one is showing you more of the trust needed. Showing who you are on your website and in your social media is so important.
You are a small business, just like your local accountant or real estate agent. How many times have you seen a real estate agent's face on a bus shelter bench? It's definitely more of a North American thing because you see them all the time, but they're getting their face out there. They want potential customers to connect with them, to see them, to trust them. Now, trust is huge in hospitality.
We need guests to trust us and we need to trust those who book to stay in our properties. It goes both ways. So if you don't put yourself out there, how can you expect your guests to get to know you and have the respect for you and your property that you want them to have. If they're just doing an online check in, picking up keys in a dropbox, they have no idea who you are. It's a faceless business to them.
Put your face on your business. So let me leave you with this. Go and have a look at your website and what you've been posting on social media. How can you up that trust level? Could you add more about you?
Could you add more up to date reviews? I bet there is a lot more that you can do to increase the trust you portray. Hey, thanks for listening today. If you would like to know more about how you can build your own direct booking sales engine that will bring in a steady stream of bookings for your vacation rental business, head to my website at directbookingsuccess.com/Masterclass. I'll put that link in the show notes as well.
There you can sign up for my free Masterclass, where you will learn the top three mistakes everybody makes in their accommodation businesses and why they are costing you major profits, the secrets to getting direct bookings while you sleep, and my four step framework for a profitable business built on direct bookings. I look forward to seeing you there.