Checklist: Get your listings ready for booking

Having an up-to-date calendar is key to getting bookings and preventing cancellations. In the software you use to manage your listings, make sure that your calendar’s all set by taking care of these steps.

• Sync your calendars — Managing multiple calendars for your business? Leverage calendar syncing to save time and avoid double-bookings. Calendar syncing automatically keeps your calendar on our platform up to date with any other calendars you may have on websites like Google, Booking.com or Airbnb. 

• Double-check your availability — Because people and technology can make mistakes, it’s important to double-check in your software that your calendar shows the correct blocked and unblocked dates. Pro tip: You can also put on your ‘traveller hat’ and search different dates on our website or app to confirm that your calendar shows the correct availability.

• Review your booking window — In your software, choose how far in advance and how close to the stay date you’d like to accept bookings. Pro tip: Many travellers make holiday plans a year in advance or more, so it’s a good idea to set your window over a year in advance to make sure you can capture those bookings. 

• Confirm your minimum stay settings — We recommend keeping your minimum stay to three nights or less. That length of time maximises the number of searches you appear in and helps fill all available nights in your calendar.

Travellers care about cost. In fact, price is the most important factor in booking decisions for the majority of travellers. That doesn’t mean you need to ‘lowball’ your rates to get bookings — but it does mean it could pay to be strategic with your pricing. Take these steps to maximise your rental income while staying competitive. 

• Add custom rates and discounts — Scroll through your calendar and make sure the rate you see on each date is the rate you want to charge. Pro tip: It’s a good idea to add custom rates for any busy seasons, public holidays or special events in your area to ensure that you’re earning top rates for those premium dates.  

• Add weekly and monthly rates — Fill up calendar blocks fast by offering guests a price break for longer stays. To implement this strategy, simply set up weekly and monthly discounts if your software allows. 

• Review your payment terms — Paying for the full stay upfront may be a barrier to booking for some. If your software allows it, consider offering more flexibility by letting guests break up their payment into instalments. 

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Travellers often make the decision to book or not based largely on a listing’s property details page. Take these steps to make yours the type of listing that gets travellers to stop scrolling and book your home.

• Preview your property like a traveller — Preview your listing to see what travellers see when they look at your property online. This is a great way to any identify updates you might want to make to your photos, description and amenities. Talk to your software provider to find out how to preview.

• Review your photos and add more — Stunning pictures drive bookings by helping your listing stand out from the rest. Review your photos, upload more and add captions to really make your place come to life. Pro tip: Take photos that pop for best results.  

• Add more property amenities — Maximise the number of times your listing shows up in searches. In your software, make sure to add every single amenity that your property has to offer. Pro tip: Seriously, no detail is too small. Travellers often filter searches for properties by their amenities, and you don’t want to miss out on a listing view just because a box isn’t ticked that should be.

When you first go live, we choose certain default policies on your behalf. However, you know your needs better than we do, so be sure to review these policies and update any preference you’d like to change in your software. 

• Review your cancellation policy — By default, we select a ‘relaxed’ cancellation policy. On this policy, guests will receive a full refund if they cancel more than 14 days before check-in. They’ll be refunded 50% if they cancel seven days before check-in. 

• Set up your house rules — House rules put you in control of the types of guests who can stay at your property. Travellers have to agree to your house rules before they can book your place.