Why Are Airbnb Hosts Losing Money Now?

Have you ever gone to the supermarket for one thing, but come away with loads of stuff you didn't plan on getting? This happens because it's very common to be tempted by items displayed near the checkout counters. It's a great example of how cross selling can be effective. Amazon provides a prime example of successful cross selling. When you shop on their website, you often see recommendations like customers who bought this, also bought or frequently bought. Together, these suggestions encourage customers to add more items to their cart, ultimately increasing the average transaction value. Now let me ask you this, are you implementing cross sells and upsells for your short term rental property? If not, you're missing out on a significant source of revenue. I can say this with confidence because implementing cross selling and upselling was one of the best things we did for Kearney when he volunteered his business for optimization as part of this video. I'll provide more details on that shortly, but let's not get ahead of ourselves. The purpose of this part of the video is to explain the basics, what I like to call the STR blueprint, the fundamental strategies that every short term owner should be using. But often the top recommendation I give to any short term rental host is to ensure you have your own direct booking website. More direct bookings equate to more direct control. And I bang on about this for two main reasons. Number one, you're not building your business on someone else's land. For every booking that comes in via an ota, you're being dictated by them on their policies. And always worried about the type of guest that stays with you. Worried that if they don't like your property they'll leave a poor review which will have a negative impact on your review score. Even A score of 4.7 on Airbnb is deemed unacceptable. When you have a direct booking, you are in control. It's your booking, it's your house, it's your rules. And number two, it allows you to incorporate upsell and cross sell options, which is where the real profit lies. This means less emphasis on acquiring new customers and more emphasis on maximizing revenue from the customers you have already established relationships with. And it's incredibly simple to implement. Let me walk you through it step by step. Using CUNY as an example, when we initially connected he was exclusively accepting bookings through Airbnb.

All that I was doing was just waiting like on a booking from Airbnb vrbo.

And that's a pretty common position for short term rental owners to be in. Around 85% of short term rental owners. I help rely Solely on hosting platforms like Airbnb to advertise their properties. When I say everyone should have a direct booking website, I don't mean just any old website will do. In fact, a badly designed website can actually hurt your bookings. I've seen my fair share of hosts with terrible websites and if you're interested in how we can help you, head over to our website where you'll find more information and examples of quality sites that get results. A great example is Kieran. We made several improvements including transforming it from his free PMS website to a WordPress built solution. This looked more professional and engaging for a future potential guest. We documented his reviews in real time on the homepage which built social proof with a future potential guest. The copy spoke to his ideal guest so it attracted more people he wanted to walk through the door. We created a seamless booking process which was crystal clear on how to make a reservation with Kearney. With his site optimized and generating bookings, he it was time for the upsells. To achieve this, we implemented a Google form for the Orlando property.

I love that form. I think it gives like a lot of information about the guests and can help me really market how I need to market.

Although we presented it as a new guest check in form, its actual purpose was to number one, collect the guest's complete information including their phone number and email address. Number two understand why the guest chose his business as the place to stay and number three determine the reason for their visit to the area and as a bonus one we identified notified if they were celebrating any special occasions. This form was integrated into our automated system and has been completed by over 50 people. As a result, Kearney has successfully upsold welcome packages with a 300% upmark on them. Also, he has gained insights into his niche and the reasons people choose to book with him. For example, we worked out that it was a photo of his games room that was one of the main reasons why people booked with him. The majority of people were staying with Kearney were celebrating a birthday or an anniversary and 30% of his visitors lived in the same state. These insights are really useful for tailoring marketing efforts, selecting the most effective photos and refining the copy using his property listings. And all of that is reflected in his new optimized diary booking website which is absolutely flying. The best part is that anyone can achieve this level of success. If you'd like our assistance in building your own effective website and we truly are the experts in this field, please leave a comment or visit the Boostly website to Request a free Insights report for your short term rental portfolio. Kearney has also observed another significant improvement related to the introduction of the form, his Guest Experience Score. His guests are now having a better time at the property than ever before. This is because he customizes recommendations before their arrival. The fantastic news is that this has resulted in a flood of five star reviews which in turn builds trust, enhances his reputation and increases the visibility of his property. Happy guests often choose to return and they are more inclined to book directly. It's a big win and so easy to implement. Combine this with the increasing amount of emails he was collecting in his new Boostly CRM and it's creating a business that is based on a solid foundation for growth. Remember to always have your own direct booking website and to use a guest form to collect information that in turn can be used to enhance your guest experience and allow you to upsell and cross sell products, boosting your profits. If you need help implementing any of my suggestions in your own business, remember you can request a personalized Insights report using the link below the video. Alternatively, feel free to leave a comment and we'll have someone reach out to you to help you get started.