As an Airbnb host, you live and die by your reputation.
The foundation for all your success and hard work is evidenced to others through guest reviews.
If you have not met their expectations or have underwhelmed or dissatisfied a particular guest, you can bet that a bad review is on its way. Needless to say, it would surely damage your Airbnb booking maximization efforts.
Frankly speaking, a bad review can seriously damage your business as it shows prospects that you have not delivered a satisfactory service. There are ways to mitigate the setback such as those highlighted in our guide on how to deal with negative reviews, but ideally, you should be aiming for positive feedback from each and every guest.
As Airbnb rewards exceptional service, reviews are not only tied to the property, but also to the host. This is important to remember especially for those hosts that have multiple properties or listings.
With this in mind, you want to accrue as many good reviews from your first listing as you can so that if you were to launch further listings in the future, you would have already built up a healthy reputation and trust.
Now, lets take a look at some of our top tips for acquiring positive reviews.
Managing Expectations
Treat each and every interaction with a guest as you would a dear friend. By this, we mean look to nurture and take care of the relationship as well as you possibly can.
One way to do this is by carefully managing expectations.
Everything in life is expectation-orientated. Whether that is with friends, family or even simple products and services we interact with, on a daily basis. There is an expectation level, and if that expectation is unmet, we become dissatisfied.
For example, if you said that the nearest train station is only a short walk away from the property, but in reality it is 30+ minutes away, then you are dissatisfying the guest by giving them a false expectation.
Be honest and clearly outline to the guest what they can expect during their stay.
This doesn’t mean list out all the negatives you can find, rather, it means to be transparent to ensure your guests don’t return negative reviews.
Read Now: How to Deal with Negative Reviews on Airbnb
Be Proactive Not Reactive
One way to top up those positive reviews is to simply be as proactive and accommodating as possible.
At the end of the day, your guests are entering your space so try and create a warm and inviting atmosphere for them to walk into.
Making contact with them as soon as they have booked or during their booking process will stand you in good stead. If you are looking to meet their specific needs before they even arrive, you are onto a winner.
For example, do they have any special dietary requirements, need baby changing facilities, have children or disabled staying? If you know the answer to these questions beforehand and at a minimum look to meet these needs, you’ll be seen as a superhost in no time.
The added bonus in this is that you actually get a good idea of the type of guest that will be staying at your property, which means you’ll be more prepared for future guests.
Checking In
As a dedicated, helpful host you should look to make sure everything went well after their first night.
You can count this as part of your after-care service. They have bought into your listing, and now you are doing all you can to ensure they have everything they need to enjoy their stay.
Give them your number to call you in case of emergencies and ideally a welcome pamphlet with all the essential details they would need during their stay.
You can only support them with issues that you are inherently aware of.
And so because of this, you must encourage the guest to provide feedback to you on any problems that may arise as soon as they come up.
For example, you could say something like:
We don’t anticipate anything to go array but if anything does come up, please get in touch at your earliest convenience so we can try and resolve the issue within a timely manner.
Taking a holistic approach will ensure your guest feels as though you are accessible and forthcoming in your support throughout the stay.
For guests that are staying for a longer period of time, for instance a week or longer, why not offer cleaning packages or other additional services to further incentivize their stay.
Take the time to think about the essentials that you would want if you were staying at a new place:
- Modern Entertainment systems
- Instructions on new gadgets and appliances
- Clean and tidy linen
Exceptional customer service is the one area of your business that you do not want to skimp on.
After-Care
Superhosts have certain habits that consistently get them rave reviews.
One of the ways they are able to keep getting good reviews is by tying up any loose ends upon check- out.
Send your exiting guests a personalized Thank-You message to boost the probability of a good review.
To ensure they actually do take the time to do so, you can ask them within the Thank-You message itself.
There is an enormous amount of value in a positive review so strike while the iron is hot and capture that testimony for social proof the next time a prospect is viewing your listing.
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