Guides

Guides for hosts who run their own listings

Each guide starts with a short answer, cites the page it came from and shows the date it was checked. No guesses about the algorithm, no promises.

Listing photos

Your cover photo and photo order decide whether a guest clicks. Start here if people see you in search but don't open your listing.

Turnover photos: the same-angle method
Take the same 8 to 12 photos before and after every clean, from the same spot, so you can show what changed and when, inside Airbnb's 14-day window.
Airbnb conversion rate: what your numbers mean
First-page impressions, search-to-listing and listing-to-booking conversion explained, and which fix each low number points to.
Airbnb cover photo and photo order: a walk-through
How to pick your Airbnb cover photo and order the rest, using Airbnb's photo guidance and a study of about 500,000 listing photos.

What Airbnb says about search, the title rules and how to write words that match what guests will find.

Airbnb listing title rules and 30 patterns to fill in
Airbnb's title guidance in plain English: under 50 characters, no emoji, no all caps. Plus 30 fill-in title patterns grouped by angle.
How Airbnb search works, in Airbnb's own words
What Airbnb's help pages say about search: quality, popularity, price, location and host factors, and the parts you can change this week.

What the Guest Favourite badge asks for, and how to read your category ratings so you fix the weakest one first.

Why did I get four stars? The six categories explained
What each of Airbnb's six rating categories asks, what a 4-star usually means, how to reply calmly and what to fix before the next stay.
Guest Favourites: requirements and your weakest category
What Airbnb asks for before a listing can be a Guest Favourite, how to read your six category ratings and why the weakest one comes first.

How the host-only fee changes your maths, and how to set a price that keeps your take-home where you want it.

Host fee changes 2026: Airbnb, Vrbo and Booking.com
What changed in host fees in 2026 on Airbnb and Vrbo, how to re-price so your take-home stays the same, and the settings to check afterwards.
Is my rental profitable? Break-even occupancy and price
List every cost, work out your take-home per night after the platform fee, then find the nights and the nightly price you need just to break even.
Par levels: never run out again
Work out how much of each consumable to keep on hand, what to buy at each restock and what supplies cost you per stay, with one simple formula.
Your first 30 stays as a new host
What to check before you list, before the first booking, at every turnover and after every guest, with checkpoints at 5, 10, 20 and 30 stays.
Airbnb host-only fee: pricing to keep your take-home
How the 15.5% host-only fee changes your maths, the one-line formula that keeps your take-home the same, and why total price matters in search.

Permit and registration numbers for the places I know first-hand. Every rule is dated and linked to its source. None of it is legal advice.

Damage: the evidence to keep before you need it
Airbnb's 14-day window for damage requests, the photos, logs, receipts and messages to keep, and a folder system so the evidence is ready.
House rules guests actually follow
Where to put house rules so guests see them before booking, how to remind them, and how to handle a broken rule with Airbnb's own tools.
Stop answering the same guest questions
The questions guests ask every stay, where each answer should live on Airbnb and in the home, and how scheduled messages send them on time.
Dubai holiday home permit number on Airbnb
Why Dubai listings need a DET holiday home permit number, where Airbnb asks you to add it and the fines that apply. Check with DET; not legal advice.
Spain tourist licence number on Airbnb after the ruling
Spain's Supreme Court annulled the national NRUA register on 19 May 2026. Regional tourist numbers still matter. What to show. Not legal advice.