5 Things YOU Can Do Right Now to Make YOUR Listing Stand Out

Data Analysis of 36000 Airbnb listings in New York City.

Screenshot of Airbnb website with covered listings names

Introduction and motivation

Recently, Airbnb released a major update, introducing 100+ upgrades. Not only did they significantly improve guests' experience by allowing flexible dates, destinations, matching, creating an enhanced search by amenities, as well as adding new attributes such as “ocean view” or “stationary bike,” but they also made it easier for property owners to become hosts with a new, more straightforward 10-steps process.

Such an update is likely to increase the number of new hosts on the platform. It made me wonder if I can use data to help new and existing hosts learn from more experienced and highly-rated ones to ensure their accounts and listing are more appealing to guests, and consequently, are more competitive.

As a frequent Airbnb guest, I have a personal viewpoint on what makes a listing stand out among others. You likely have your own. However, what does the data suggest?

Data & Approach

For this project, I used the Inside Airbnb website’s detailed NYC listings data compiled on April 7th, 2021. I ran data analysis on nearly 37,000 listings and compared the most successful 25% of all listings in New York City with the remaining 75%.

Two groups of hosts:

• Top Group: Top 25% of hosts in New York City with more than 3 reviews;
• Growth Group: Remaining 75% of hosts in New York City;

Know Your Guests

Before we proceed to the analysis, let’s briefly talk about guests. Knowing people’s motivation while choosing Airbnb vs. Hotels, or one listing vs. the other will help you create a listing that targets a specific audience. Thus, in the article Airbnb vs. Hotel Industry, Tommy O’Shaughnessy highlights the result of the research related to Airbnb travelers. According to him, there are 5 groups of travelers who are:

1. looking for an affordable option
2. interested in household amenities and larger spaces
3. looking for authenticity
4. drawn to the novelty
5. interested in interaction with locals

So, which group(s) are you targeting?

Whether you are trying to provide an affordable option to your guests or a more comfortable one with various amenities, some tricks will help you stand out. So let’s see what changes can be made to grab guests’ attention and better fit their needs.

1. Appealing Titles That Draw Attention

Choose unique, illustrative words to describe your rental. For example, words like “Spacious,” “Cozy,” “Sunny,” “Bright,” “Charming” are the most popular words in the Top listings that can fit most of the places. They are eye-catchy and may potentially attract more new guests.

Consider replacing words like “good,” “furnished,” “cute,” “nice,” “safe,” with “stunning,” “friendly,” “peaceful,” or any of the words suggested above.

Want to stand out even more?

See if any of these words fit your listing: “deck,” “patio,” “penthouse,” “condo,” “luxurious,” “designer,” “artist,” “retreat,” “gardens,” “rooftop.” They scream luxury and comfort, and they seem to describe only top-rated listings. However, keep in mind that your listing should, first of all, be accurate.

Don’t Use All Capital Letters

Many online guides suggest avoiding using all capitals when writing titles, saying that it is akin to shouting on the Internet. While this might or might not be true, just a few listings in the NYC dataset used this approach to catch users’ attention. Specifically, 2.29% of listings in the top group and 3.25% of listings in the lower-rated group used all capitals in their titles.

The analysis also showed no relation between the rating of a place and having a title written in all caps. Neither was there a relation between the number of reviews (echoing the number of reservations) and the rating. Therefore, I suggest not using all capitals but rather carefully choose words for your titles following the suggestions above.

2. Captivating Descriptions That Help You Stand-Out

The most successful Airbnb descriptions trended towards describing what amenities the rental and its neighborhood offered, such as a gym, local restaurants, or a balcony.

Don’t forget about those looking for authenticity

Maybe you have an old local family-owned “Italian pizza” place nearby or a great place to have a famous “rainbow bagel” for breakfast. Perhaps your home is in a stunning “brownstone” building, or maybe your “neighborhood” is renowned for a movie scene. You name it!

Use These Words to Describe Your Neighborhood

Remember, an apartment/room is only a part of what you are trying to sell. The neighborhood is an essential part of guests’ experience. And no one knows it better than you do! So make sure to tell them.

You can use these words to describe your neighborhood: “favorite,” “spot,” “lovely,” “library,” “excellent,” “proximity,” “waterfront,” “pharmacy,” “brownstone,” “vibe,” “fresh,” “top,” “outdoor,” “charming,” “stroll,” “riverside,” “tree,” “bay,” “want.”

Want to stand out even more?

See if these words fit your listing: “outdoor,” “deck,” “doorman,” “original,” “decorated,” “luxury,” “relax,” “ferry.”

3. Low-Cost Amenities That Make a Sale

Amenities have always been an essential part of the Airbnb experience. They may be your selling point for those interested in household amenities and larger spaces. Moreover, amenities will bring more value to your place.

Now, as Airbnb added an opportunity to filter listings by specified amenities, you might want to extend your list by these 5 relatively low-cost amenities to ensure you are staying competitive:

1. Coffee maker — ($40)
2. Hair dryer — ($25)
3. Hangers — ($10)
4. Shower gel + Shampoo + Conditioner — ($20)
5. Iron — ($40)

See an example of filtering by a hair dryer below.

Depending on your budget, you may also consider some more expensive options such as:

1. Extra pillows and blankets
2. Dedicated workspace
3. Crib, Toys, High Chair
4. TV ( + optionally Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime Videos, Disney+, etc.)
5. Refrigerator

Please note, prices mentioned above are some affordable options that can still add tremendous value to YOUR listing.

This bar graph below shows an extended list of the most popular amenities and how the proportion of listing offering them differs between the two groups.

4. Personal Bio That Builds Trust

The listing page is only a part of the success. People are interested in meeting locals, and your host profile is a great way to present yourself.

Analysis revealed that there are no significant differences between hosts’ bio sections in both groups. It means that you just need to be yourself. Talk about your origin, life, family, interests, and the experience of being a host on Airbnb.

Consider using words such as “local,” “traveler,” “alumni,” “friendly,” “loving,” “respectful,” “kind,” “creative,” “professional,” “owner,” “New Yorker” (substitute with your origin), to describe yourself. You can also talk about a place you traveled to or if you love “dogs” or “cats.”

Depending on the context, consider replacing words like “almost,” “never,” “can’t,” “may,” “far,” “busy,” etc., with some positive synonyms.

5. Keep The Apartment/Room Clean

Last but not least, as we can see on the the histogram below, cleanliness is a big problem for most places that contributes the most to lowering hosts’ ratings. So keeping the home clean can not only boost your rating but consequently bring more customers. It is something every host needs to prioritize, no matter which group they belong to.

Conclusion

1. Making your title as appealing as possible will help you catch people’s attention.
2. Making your description captivating will help you to stand out from the competition.
3. Including more amenities will increase the value of your place; moreover, new amenities filters will potentially drive more traffic to your listing.
4. Make your profile page talk for itself.
5. Maintaining an up-to-date, accurate listing will help you boost your “accuracy” rating.
6. Keeping your place clean is essential for the success of your business.
7. Remember, it is always a good idea to exceed your guests' expectations!

Please note, the findings here are observational, not the result of a formal study, and limited to the data on New York City. Therefore, the real question remains:

What makes YOU & YOUR property stand out?

Did I miss something you look for when picking an AirBnB? Let me know in the comments!

To learn more about this analysis, see the link to my Github repository available here.