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To start, we have a small experiment for you, designed to help you get into the mindset of your guests.
You’re going to search for a fantasy vacation (or treat yourself and book a real one!).
Go to Airbnb and type in your dream vacation destination, along with some dates. When the list of properties populates, be conscious of your thought process. Notice where your eyes go first. What do you read? What are you looking for? What entices you to click?
We’ve determined four factors that heavily influence which listings get clicks. These four are:
(Being a superhost also helps!)
In your experiment as a potential guest, you may have been surprised by how important the Airbnb property’s title is in your decision-making. Sure, the photos are the first to grab attention. But often, the words below the photo help you make sense of the image. And those words matter!
It’s critical that you optimize and aim to create the perfect title. Your rental property on Airbnb can stand out and show your best features, but without the right title, you may lose clicks and guests who may have booked with you. If you have a brand new listing, then finding the perfect title can be challenging! But it’s also important to use words that’ll attract your target guests like a magnet, and repel the non-ideal guests you don’t want to host.
So, how can you, the Airbnb host, make your vacation rental stand out and drive more bookings with your title? Keep reading…
Below we’re going to walk you through the process of determining the best title/headline for your Airbnb property. For this, we’ll ask you to make a few lists.
Then, once those lists are created, you can begin to piece words together into a title that fits Airbnb’s 50-character limit and gets those clicks, looks, and books!
Update August 2022: Airbnb does still have a 50-character limit, however, only around 32-33 characters show before the title is “trimmed” on the search results page.
So grab some paper, a pen and your creativity.
First things first, we need to identify your target audience. If you have that figured out already, great—you are already one step ahead! But you may want to go through this section, anyway, to help you better understand the guest you do have.
If you really know now who your guests are, everything will become easier if you keep that audience in mind as you write your listing titles, description, emails and other marketing.
Ask yourself:
Is my rental for couples or families?
Is my rental for bigger groups of people?
Is my rental for young groups of people?
Is my rental for the solo traveller?
What is important to my target guest?
Most importantly, who is it that you want to stay at your vacation rental? Maybe you are getting more young partiers than you’d like, and would rather welcome families instead. Note that, as well.
Be careful using lingo even if you know your target guest well. Overusing industry insider terms (like a lockout unit) may not always be clear to a guest when used only in the title field on Airbnb.
Time to jot down some distinct aspects or selling points of your vacation rental!
Be sure to consider what makes it actually different from other properties in your area. (For example, if everyone has a swimming pool and air conditioning, it’s not exactly a unique selling point.) You want to focus on what makes your property attention-grabbing and what property type or category you fall into.
As yourself these questions:
How is my rental uniquely well-suited to the guests I attract, or want to attract?
What features do guests most often comment about at my rental?
What amenities do I offer that other nearby rentals are not?
Does my rental have an interesting story/history?
Is my rental higher-end than other properties in the area?
What special touches do I offer guests upon arrival or departure?
Your top key selling point (and potentially a second selling point) will go into your Airbnb title.
Many of the most powerful unique selling points are location-based, so be sure to keep these in mind:
Is your rental near a famous local landmark, street, or town center?
Is it a short 5 min walk from key things guests care about?
What else is in walking distance of the property?
Is it located by a ski resort?
Is there a mountain view?
Is it near a beach?
Is it an ocean-view property?
Is it a beachfront property?
Are you located in complete seclusion where guests can get some serious R&R?
Is the property near the heart of downtown?
Is there a nearby landmark that’s worth highlighting and sharing with guests?
You should also include the type of rental you offer—maybe it’s a condo or a villa, an airstream, a glamping tent, an igloo tent, a cabin, etc.!
Is it a studio?
Is it a standard beach house?
Is it a villa with multiple bedrooms and bathrooms?
Is it a tiny house?
Is it an Airstream?
Is it a cabin or cottage?
Is it a luxury condo?
Do you offer free wifi?
Is there a king bed in the property – if so, where?
Highlight unique amenities like your hot tub, swimming pool or Insta-worthy living room. If you’re in a city or a condo complex with free parking, make note of that too. Guests are going to also review the pricing of your property too, so you want to stand out from everyone else on your listing page.
Let’s not forget those business travelers or remote workers who will need desk space and excellent WiFi—if your vacation rental offers that, let your guests know.
Airbnb allows you a total of 50 characters in your listing title. Try to use all 50 characters to get the most out of your listing title. We suggest avoiding capital letters and exclamation points—both read like SHOUTING! Plus, exclamation points are “fluff” that take away from characters that could be used for more important stuff.
Example:
✗ STUNNING + COZY!!! Beautiful oceanfront getaway (too gimmicky, not specific)
✓ Iconic Anna Maria Oceanfront with a Two-Story Deck
Utilize adjectives to describe your vacation rental in your listing title, focusing on those words that create an image in the guests’ heads, rather than generic words like, “great” or “nice.” It’s okay to use abbreviations in some cases as long as nearly 100% of your guests understand the meaning of them.
Also: it’s important to be truthful. Use adjectives that actually pertain to your listing and avoid abusing any generic adjectives. (We can’t tell you the number of times “luxury” properties were anything but!) Don’t lie, amplify!
Examples:
Romantic Getaway
Designer Villa
Eco-friendly Hideaway
Hidden Gem
Beach Oasis
Secluded Studio
Charming Cottage
Rustic Cabin
Peaceful Guesthouse
Title examples:
✗ Luxury Rental in a Great Location (cliché, not specific)
✓ Designer Vail Condo at the Foot of Vail Mountain
Many listings on Airbnb use emojis in the title to aim to get more clicks and attention. Some of the most popular emojis:
There’s nothing on Airbnb’s end prohibiting you from using emojis, and sometimes you can communicate more about a property quickly with a single emoji compared to typing even one word out.
Generally we don’t like to rely on emojis too much however, because not all users browsing Airbnb will have the ability to see them. We’d suggest that you write your title so that it makes sense no matter if the user can see and understand the emoji.
Take your list of the important aspects of your vacation rental that you just wrote down and begin piecing the words together to create your Airbnb listing title.
Come up with two strong titles and test them. See which one brings in more traffic to your listing and is also turning your vacation rental lookers into bookers.
Want some ideas?
The following are Airbnb listing description titles Guest Hook’s copywriters have created for clients. As you can see, these descriptions feature unique selling points about properties, views, and locations that target particular guest profiles.
When possible, we also include the vacation rental’s name in the Airbnb title. This way, potential guests can do a quick Google search to find it again. Even better, intrepid guests may know to do a search for your rental’s name to find your website and book directly to save on traveler fees (if applicable!).
No matter how many short-term rentals you have or where you list (Vrbo, anyone?) it’s critical that you create a great title to earn clicks and traffic on Airbnb!
We’re here to take the guesswork out of creating an Airbnb title for your listing. Guest Hook’s copywriters know how to grab a guests’ attention and help you stand out.
We love helping property owners, property managers and hosts with their vacation rental business.
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