Airbnb Communication Strategy: Top Rules for a Successful Vacation Rental Business

When potential guests send you an inquiry, your Airbnb communication strategy helps you to close the booking. If you follow an effective strategy and maintain smooth communication with your potential guest, they might confirm your booking. On the other hand, when the hosts tend to communicate casually without any strategy, they tend to lose customers. Remember before the booking is confirmed the guest might be talking to numerous hosts. Guests like to keep their options open and then choose the best one. This stage is like a competition in which you can win the booking only through an effective communication strategy.

Elements of Airbnb Communication Strategy

1. Politeness And Professionalism

Even in messaging your tone matters. The choice of words and the structure of sentences conveys your tone even in written media. To ensure that you leave a positive and warm impression try to be polite and professional while conversing with the guests. Humbleness should be reflected in your messaging. The guests could be rude sometimes, but you have to stay within the professional boundaries in all scenarios.

The simple way to maintain a polite and professional tone is to send a “thank you” note for connecting with you and in case of failure in solving their problem a subtle apology and recommendation of sources that could help them. These inquirers could be your customers tomorrow so respond accordingly.

2. Promptness

What if your competitor replies before you do, and they get the booking instead of you? It would feel terrible because you didn’t even get a chance to show what you got. To avoid such a situation aim to be quick. Reply within an hour of the inquiry and clear all their doubts. Stay available online so that you don’t miss a single message. To help you respond to each message you can use Hosty’s central inbox. It doesn’t matter that the messages are coming from different accounts. The integrated interface will notify you about every message, enabling you to reply promptly.

3. Sense Of Responsibility

You have to develop a sense of responsibility and incorporate it in your Airbnb communication strategy. Sometimes the guest may confirm the reservation and yet not contact you. It is completely fine to initiate the conversation and take the lead. Show your gratitude for the booking and enquire about their needs to ensure a satisfying experience. If you will take up the responsibility to communicate then the guests will appreciate your effort and might recommend you in the future. Just send a hello message and get to know your guest while informing them about your property and rules. Lack of communication can lead to cancellation so always be ready to take responsibility and start your conversation.

4. Sense Of Urgency

Exclusivities attract customers. People like to book exclusive things which are scarce and have chances of diminishing. The more the demand the more people want it. In the context of the short-term rental business, you will have to portray your property as a diamond and create a sense of urgency in the mind of your potential guests. If they ask about the availability of your property, then act smartly and tell them that for now it is available but any time it could disappear. Tell them that if they don’t make a decision soon, they will lose your property. This is increasing the value of your property as well as creates pressure on them which mostly results in your favor. Communicating smartly is the whole point behind Airbnb communication strategy so use this element to close more bookings.

5. Accepting Feedbacks

Don’t hesitate to ask for feedback. It will convey a message that you are prepared and that you care for them. If you are eager for feedback it means you are prepared for improvement. Guests like the hosts who go out of their way to care for them and who value their suggestions. Ask your guests what they need and how you can help them. Consider their feedback and then respond accordingly, projecting a sense of improvement. Remember communication is a two-way process and for a strong Airbnb communication strategy, you must be a good listener as well.

6. Knowledgeable and Complete Replies

You might receive inquiries that are not related to your listing. However, if they are related to Airbnb you should be able to answer them. As an Airbnb entrepreneur, you should be aware of the policies and the latest happenings in Airbnb. Guests appreciate a knowledgeable host who would guide them eloquently. Address their issue and solve them with a complete solution. In case you are not able to resolve their problem, show them the path to reach the right place where their inquiry will be addressed. Become a problem-solving host to close more bookings.

7. Automatic Messaging

Welcome messages, thank you messages, check-in/check-out instruction messages, and farewell messages are some of the monotonous messages you have to send to every guest. These messages add value to your communication strategy and help you connect with the guests. However, at the same time, these could be time consuming and irritating to write and send every time manually. Airbnb communication strategy is about making smart decisions and implementing them to secure bookings. Using automatic messaging features would be the most convenient option to follow your Airbnb Communication strategy without burdening yourself. Use Airbnb management software and use their automation features to send messages according to the desired trigger. Use automatic messaging to make the communication process effortless and less time consuming so that you can focus on the important tasks.

Airbnb communication strategy is a set of elements that would help you close more bookings. The inquiry stage is crucial and requires effective communication. By combining the 6 elements you can impressively communicate with your potential guests. Use these elements to persuade the potential guests to turn into repeat clients.

Check out Blueprint for Launching an Airbnb Advisory Venture.