In the world of short-term rentals and hotels, Airbnb is The platform to raise occupancy and revenue. However, achieving success on Airbnb goes beyond just listing your property, it involves understanding and optimising your Airbnb occupancy rate. In this blog post, we'll explore the concept of Airbnb occupancy rate and provide tips on how to increase Airbnb bookings.

What is Airbnb Occupancy Rate and how should you calculate it?

Occupancy rate is one of the most important metrics for property managers and  owners. It is the percentage of nights your property is booked relative to the total available nights.

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To calculate this metric you have to divide your property’s total number of reserved nights by the total number of available nights. When you multiply this number by 100, you end up with a percentage that shows your occupancy rate. Occupancy rate can be calculated monthly or annually, but calculating it annually is more common.

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Occupancy Rate = (# of reserved nights/ # of available nights) x 100

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Where can you find Occupancy Rate on your Airbnb Host profile? 

In just a couple of simple steps you can gain access to this rate on your host profile: 

1. First activate the ‘Professional hosting tools’ feature, if you haven’t done this already. 
2. Next click your profile picture in the top right corner, then click ‘Account’.
3. In the setting options click ‘Professional hosting tools’ > ‘Manage’ > ‘Use professional tools’ to turn this feature on.
4. Go to the menu at the top of the page and click ‘Host’ > ‘Performance’. 
5. On the side menu of this dashboard select ‘Opportunities’ > ‘Occupancy & rates’ > ‘Occupancy rate’, now you should see your occupancy data.

In this screen you can experiment with occupancy rate data for example by changing rooms and date parameters, or by filtering by region, amenities and more. Playing around with these variables can help you understand where there is room for improvement. It is important to regularly check this metric to be able to adjust quickly, when necessary. 

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Why is your Airbnb Occupancy Rate important? 

This metric is crucial to get a good understanding of the efficiency of your rental strategy. It also shows your competitiveness in the local vacation rental market. 

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A high occupancy rate indicates that your property is in demand, while a low rate suggests that adjustments may be needed to attract more guests.

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What is a good occupancy rate for Airbnb

Before we determine a good occupancy rate, let’s take a look into what airbnb’s average occupancy is. The typical Airbnb occupancy rate is generally around 55%-60%.

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To determine a good occupancy rate you need to look at multiple factors such as location, property type, and individual goals. But on average, many successful hosts aim for an occupancy rate between 60% and 75%. The very top performers mostly have around an 80% occupancy rate. 

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If you feel like your occupancy rate has potential to go up, then we will provide you with some practical and effective tips to increase your rate.

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How to increase Airbnb bookings‍

1. Increase your visibility

The most impactful way to increase your Airbnb occupancy rate is creating higher visibility on the Airbnb platform. 

The position of your listing in the ranking is vital. Most of the bookings on Airbnb are made on the first page of the platform. Your property can be great, but if people can’t find it, you will not get booked. 

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How can you increase your visibility on Airbnb? Airbnb’s algorithm has countless factors that determine the position of your listing. It is hard to play into that. Luckily there is modern technology that can help you with this. Ranking management solutions like Otamiser Booster®, cracked the code of online travel agencies like Airbnb. A ranking management solution uses an algorithm that knows exactly what factors should be manipulated to help you rank on the top positions of the platform. This increases the visibility of your listing dramatically, and that way, boosts your occupancy rate. 

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2. Responsive Communication

Timely and friendly communication can significantly impact your occupancy rate. Respond promptly to requests, be available for questions, and provide helpful information to potential guests. A quick and positive response can make the difference between a booking and a missed opportunity.

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Effective communication with guests not only enhances their overall experience but also helps in avoiding misunderstandings and ultimately garnering more positive reviews. Airbnb messages are the building blocks for creating rapport with your guests, and they are crucial for ensuring guest satisfaction and a high occupancy rate. 

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3. Reviews

Having a lot of reviews, and a good review score, will make or break your success. Offering a good experience to your guests is rule number one of gaining positive reviews, but there are some other tips we want to give you to add to this. 

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A best practice is to give the discount not to people who book 2-3 months in advance, but to people who book last-minute, this way you can get a review quickly. Giving the discount to people who book well in advance, on the other hand, you will have to wait for months before you can read anything. As a result, you won’t be able to take advantage of the positive ratings your guests give you and what having a high review rate entails. 

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Also, don’t forget to take care of the reviews. Send a nice review to your guest first, so you can remind and inspire them to do the same for you. 

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4. Dynamic pricing

When you are listed on a platform like Airbnb to get booked, it is about winning from all of the competition that is surrounding you. The best way to win this competition is PRICE!

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When your listing is always offering competitive prices, you will notice a higher occupancy. To have competitive prices, you must stay on top of as many factors as possible influencing the market demand. Those factors go from weather conditions, to flight data, to seasonality and much more. Staying on top of all of these pricing variations is very hard. Luckily, it is possible to outsource this to a specialist. 

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5. Add extra sleeping options

Another easy way you can increase your occupancy is simply by adding more beds, or sleeping options to your listing. With a small investment in a bunk bed, or a sleeping sofa, you can easily increase the amount of people that can stay in your accommodation. Of course this should not come at the expense of offering a beautiful place by overstacking it with beds. But as long as it makes sense in your space, it only has benefits to increase the sleeping possibilities.

This way you don’t only cater to more people, you also appear in more searches. 

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Data indicates that vacation homes accommodating an even number of adults are more popular among guests for bookings. Having additional beds can help you get to an even number and enhance your occupancy rate.

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Key takeaway

A successful Airbnb hosting strategy is mainly determined by the occupancy rate. Aim for rates between 60% and 75%. Use practical tips like, using ranking management solutions, responsive communication, gathering positive reviews, implementing dynamic pricing, and adding extra sleeping options.

Implementing these tips will help you stay ahead of the competition and be a successful host. Happy hosting!

And if you are still looking for other ways to boost your listings on Airbnb or other OTAs, don’t hesitate to subscribe to our newsletter.

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