Why Is My Airbnb Not Booking? 13 Reasons and How to Fix Them
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Your hosting account is complete with listed properties, but there are no bookings on Airbnb properties. Why is your Airbnb not booking? Various hosts face this issue with their listings, primarily because of pricing, visibility, reviews, and competition.
You should identify and address these underlying factors for not getting booking requests. These are important to ensure a maximized occupancy rate and revenue. From optimizing your listing property for search to offering competitive prices, small changes can make a more significant impact.
In this article, we’ll learn about the most common reasons for Airbnb’s lack of bookings and why bookings have slowed down. We’ll also dig down to find resolutions to help fix your issues. This will equip you with a clear strategy to boost your booking counts and improve your business growth.
So, let’s explore the reasons for Airbnb drop bookings with solutions one by one.
1. Due to the Airbnb Booking Setting
As a property host, Airbnb enables you to customize how guests can reserve a listed property. These options include booking patterns, staying lengths, and cancellation policies. All these settings impact the booking density and guest experience.
The ideal settings to keep your Airbnb booked are:
- Offer instant booking by setting guest requirements such as a good track record, pre-booking text, or valid ID.
- Set the shortest acceptable reservation request to ensure calendar availability and avoid short-term bookings.
- Offer strict policy regulations for cancellations with limited or no refund. This will keep your listing booked and reduce sudden cancellations.
- Adjust your pricing and listing details according to the seasonal conditions to improve booking requests.
2. Calendar Availability
Another reason Airbnb isn’t letting you book is because the host calendar isn’t updated. You should update and manage your Airbnb host calendar to maintain availability. You can select the listing you want to modify in the calendar, change block or open dates, and manage pricing.
You can do the following things to manage availability:
- Keep the open dates as high as possible to make your listing available by clicking the “Open nights” option.
- Create an availability window to determine how far guests can book your listing in advance.
- Specify the time range for guests to check in and check out.
- Sync your Airbnb calendar with other calendars, such as Google Calendar, to avoid double bookings.
3. Poor Listing Photos
Poor and unclear listing property photos significantly reduced the bookings. High-quality photos entice the property’s presentation, attract guests, and improve search ranking. Follow the mentioned strategy to update listing photos on Airbnb:
- Put away unnecessary items from the frame to create a clean and organized visual.
- Arrange furniture and accessories to make the space inviting and comfortable for guests.
- Showcase the listing’s specialties, such as stunning views, unique architectural designs, and modern kitchen facilities.
- Ensure proper lighting through natural sunlight or by adding artificial lighting to brighten that space.
- Use landscape photos to showcase your space more beautifully.
- Upload photos with a resolution of 1024px X 683px at least to maintain clarity and details.
- Add captions to inform guests what they can expect from the listing.
Hire a professional Airbnb photographer to optimize and get the best clicks for your listing.
4. Weak Listing Description
Providing inappropriate or no information leads to lower reservations and enhances guest dissatisfaction. At this point, guests don’t get proper information about the listed property. To avoid this, the host should improve the Airbnb listing description by:
- Use clear, concise language and avoid jargon or overly flowery language in the property description.
- Highlight what makes your property unique, whether it’s the location, amenities, or distinctive features.
- Mention all necessary details about the property, including the number of bedrooms, bathrooms, bed sizes, kitchen appliances, and other facilities or limitations.
- Describe the property’s current condition and potential noise level or privacy issues.
Example Of Proper Listing Description
5. Overpricing or Undervaluing Your Property
Pricing and valuation of your listed property are essential factors in increasing bookings. Both overpricing and undervaluing your property can reduce booking rates. Overpricing keeps your property empty, and guests often expect higher quality. Thus, negative reviews regarding the property also increase.
Here are some strategies to follow for pricing and valuation of a property on Airbnb:
- Analyze similar Airbnb listings in your location to get insights about their property and amenities.
- See guest reviews and ratings for similar properties.
- See their pricing to set your benchmark for competitive pricing of the property.
- Adjust your pricing due to seasonal demands and events.
- Use Airbnb’s Smart Pricing tool to adjust your rates based on market demands and competition.
- Offer flexible pricing options as per staying durations.
6. Strict Booking Policies
A strict booking policy means no or minimum flexibility is offered to guests while booking. Guests fear losing money if their plans change. Hosts with strict booking policies may face lower booking rates in a competitive market as they’re not welcoming potential guests.
Instead, hosts can apply the following booking strategies:
- Revise the booking policies for each listing differently to ensure potential reservation requests.
- Apply moderate or flexible policies to attract a broader range of travelers.
- Use firm policy to balance host protection and guest flexibility.
7. Strict Cancellation Policy
A strict cancellation policy on Airbnb reduces guests’ interest in your property, leading to fewer bookings due to a lack of flexibility. Under this policy, guests can cancel and get a full refund if they cancel within 48 hours of booking or at least 14 days before check-in. Otherwise, 50% of the booking amount will be refunded for cancellations between 14 and 7 days. Additionally, guests will receive no refund if they cancel the reservation within 7 days of the booking.
This strict nature makes the guest uninterested in your property. They also don’t feel safe about the cancellation policy. So, the hosts should apply:
- Revising your booking cancelation policies to make it beneficial from both ends.
- Choose flexible or firm policies to attract a wide range of guests.
- Establish a balanced listing pricing and cancellation policy to maximize bookings and maintain a good reputation in the Airbnb space.
8. Poor Communication with Guests
Poor communication reduces the credibility of your host account to guests, which can result in reduced bookings on Airbnb properties. Also, as an unresponsive host, you could get negative reviews and lower guest satisfaction.
Here are some professional tips to improve communication on Airbnb:
- Respond to any inquiries or reservation requests within 24 hours or as soon as possible.
- Provide clear and concise information about your house rules, and answer guest questions accurately.
- Suggest that guests communicate through Airbnb’s messaging platform instead of outside social media to keep all their records.
- Reach out to guests proactively to confirm details and address any potential issues.
- Be always available to address guest concerns and questions during their stay and provide required assistance.
Consider appointing an Airbnb Virtual Assistant to handle your communication tasks and improve efficiency.
9. Seasonal and Market Demand
Seasonal variations in market demand significantly affect Airbnb property booking rates. In peak seasons, booking rates seem to be higher than in dull seasons. Also, local events create temporary spikes in demand.
As a host, you can adopt the following strategies to improve booking rates:
- Set dynamic pricing based on the demand for short-term rental properties. Charge a high rate at peak seasons to compensate for the loss during low seasons.
- Set minimum stay requirements while reserving the property to avoid single-night bookings.
- Offer discounts and special promos during low seasons to attract more bookings and reservation requests.
- Advertise your STR property during off-peak periods to increase bookings.
Consider appointing an Airbnb Virtual Assistant to handle your communication tasks and improve efficiency.
10. Negative Reviews or Low Ratings
Reviews are a crucial source of information about the listing and hosts’ reliability. Individuals check reviews and ratings before reserving a property on Airbnb, so negative reviews significantly reduce bookings and lower occupancy rates. The hosts should use diverse techniques to handle guest reviews, ultimately impacting booking rates.
Here are some tips to handle guest negative reviews:
- Address issues highlighted by the guest and acknowledge the feedback by implementing measures for improvement.
- Identify which service areas need to be upgraded for better future experiences and reviews.
- Emphasize positive aspects of your property to attract more guests to your Airbnb listing.
11. Lack of Amenities or Outdated Deco
Lack of essential amenities or outdated space decoration significantly reduces Airbnb booking rates. Guests always expect comfort, flexibility, convenience, and a modern living experience. You can do the following things to improve your service:
- Ensure basic amenities such as Wi-Fi, air conditioning, kitchen essentials, etc.
- Renovate your space with modern decorations and lighting.
- Provide quality bedding and smart home features to stay on the market top.
12. High Competition in Your Area
Your guest booking rates sometimes drop due to high competition in your area. When guests compare your rentals with other available options, they prefer alternatives. In addition to pricing, the facilities provided by your property cause variations in bookings.
You could consider the following strategies to stay ahead of competition:
- Offer unique facilities with the property to attract more individuals.
- Offer competitive pricing and special discounts to hunt potential guests and keep your calendar booked.
- Be precise with the description of your listing to provoke guests to choose your property.
- Add quality photographs of the living space to satisfy visitors’ taste buds.
- Turn on the Instant booking option to get booked at your fingertips.
- Be responsive and friendly while dealing with guests’ queries.
13. Lack of Promotion
Most hosts don’t know they can promote their property listings on Airbnb to increase bookings. You can also advertise your listings on different internet platforms to hunt new guests. Lack of promotional activities reduces the booking percentages. Here are some points you can follow:
- Create and run a custom promotion on Airbnb with specific discounts on your listing.
- Contact buyers to advertise your listing on social media and search engines.
- Get assistance from a short-term virtual assistant to take responsibility for your host account and the flow of reservations.
How to Get More Bookings on Airbnb
Increasing Airbnb bookings requires consistent property management, guest reviews, resolving issues, and clear communication with guests. To gain the trust of individuals, focus on creating your listing with quality photos and detailed information about the property. Offering competitive pricing and a satisfactory guest experience also improves property ratings. You should also promote your property through and beyond Airbnb to increase reservations. Know more about how to get more Airbnb bookings.
Conclusion
So, the main reasons for your Airbnb not getting booked include negative guest reviews, poor responses, high pricing, and outdated decorations. As a host, you should maintain the following checklist to optimize your listing:
- Add a proper description with quality photos in the listing
- Offer competitive pricing based on demand
- Promote your discounts on and off Airbnb
- Renovate your property over time
- Maintain clear communication with guests
- Don’t forget to request reviews from guests
Maintaining a host account and listing to get adequate bookings is crucial and time-consuming. STR Assistance offers you experienced Airbnb Virtual Assistants to handle your host account. From communicating with guests to keeping your calendar booked, we are here to help. Get a free consultation on your problems and choose from our affordable plans to elevate your Airbnb business potential.
From Bookings to Cleanings and Guest Communication, We Manage It All for Seamless Operations.
We are a dedicated team of virtual assistants specializing in managing and optimizing short-term rental properties. With a passion for simplifying the lives of property owners, our team brings years of expertise in guest communication, pricing optimization, cleaning coordination, and overall property management across multiple rental platforms like Airbnb, Vrbo, and Booking.com.
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