Exciting times. You’ve poured your heart and soul into getting your AirBnB place ready for paying guests, fussing over every last detail to the point that you’re finally happy. And now you’re at the point where you are wondering just how to write a good AirBnB description that will really stand out amongst all of the other AirBnB listings, right?
Well, this article answers just that question. Whether you’re renting out a room in your house, a cabin in the back garden or an entire vacation rental property, the first place to start is with one simple question – who are you trying to attract to stay?
1. Know who your target audience is and think how your property benefits them
What kind of person is your ideal guest? You might already have a particular type of person in mind, which is why you deliberately chose the materials, colour schemes and fixtures and fittings, so that your accommodation will really speak to that certain type of person who is looking for very specific things.
Or, perhaps you chose all of the above subconsciously? Picking yellow walls with chunky, rustic wooden furniture simply because that’s what you like. That’s fine, too. It’ll still attract a certain type of person – someone very much like yourself, most likely.
I’d like to strongly encourage you to spend a good amount of time thinking about this ideal person, and build out a guest profile for them.
The more in depth you go into this, the better your listing will be as understanding this person’s needs and wants will really help you to choose the right words when it comes to writing an AirBnB description that will really attract them.
Some examples include:
- A mum looking for somewhere for her, her husband and two young children
- Business travelers
- A romantic couple
- A person looking for solitude and quiet
- A party animal (not me, just in case you’re wondering)
The golden rule of copywriting is to lead with the benefit. Your ideal guest is looking for a stay that benefits them in very specific ways. Think about what benefits your property has for your ideal guest.
These benefits can be practical.
The ‘party animal’ for example, may be looking for somewhere close to the city centre and they will probably not be too fussed about a state-of-the-art kitchen or an outdoor space.
Of these benefits could be emotional.
In the case of the romantic couple, they may well be looking for somewhere private and quiet, with a log burner, a beautiful bedroom and a roll-top bath. Oh, and don’t forget the candles!
Once you’ve thought about the type of person this is, give them a name, and ask yourself some questions about them:
- How old is this person?
- What is the most important thing that this person is looking for?
- What does this person value the most when staying away from home?
- If this person had a day free to do what they loved to do, what would they do?
- What is the main benefit of my AirBnB for this person
- What could potentially be the biggest worry this person has about my AirBnB?
Answering all of these will help you to understand which types of words will really connect with your ideal guest, and will help you to write your description in a tone that will really resonate with them.
2. Make your title unique, and so eye-catching that people will stop scrolling and click
The title is just as important as the rest of the description. Read that again and let it sink in. Those handful of words that you choose as the title are crucial to the success of your listing.
If the title doesn’t pop from the screen, it won’t give the person scrolling a reason to stop, and they will scroll right past your listing.
And then it doesn’t matter how good your description is, because very few people will actually click through to read it.
Once your listing goes live on AirBnB you are in fierce competition with thousands of others (there are over 500,000 AirBnB listings in the UK alone).
So, your title is vital and needs to speak directly to your ideal guest. Already you can see how important the guest profiling aspect of this process is.
As an example, I did a search for an accommodation in Derbyshire, England for:
- Entire place
- House or Guest House
- No budget restrictions
with
- Free Parking
- Kitchen
- Wifi
- Indoor fireplace
And the results show, no surprise, lots of places.
Now, from that search, using the words alone, compare which if these is more likely to grab your attention and make you click through to the listing:
The Forge (ukc2829) (source)
Lux cott, Eyam centre, mins to pubs/cafes, walks (source)
Gorgeous romantic cosy cottage retreat with views (source)
Which of the above titles tells you instantly what type of property it is (and therefore the type of guest it’s going to attract)?
‘The Forge (ukc2829)’ hints that the property perhaps once used to be a forge, but tells me nothing else..
‘Lux cott, Eyam centre, mins to pubs/cafes, walks’ forces me to think that ‘lux cott’ is short for ‘luxury cottage’ and makes me wonder if the property is in Eyam centre or minutes from it, along with the pubs and cafes.
Whereas ‘Gorgeous romantic cosy cottage retreat with views’ tells me instantly what kind of place this is, and what kind person (or persons in this case) it is trying to attract.
Two quick notes
A quick note on spelling and grammar
Spelling errors and grammatical mistakes can be very off-putting for many people, and can make potential guests wonder if attention to detail is important for the host. As such, please be sure to use a spelling and grammar checker – Grammarly is fantastic.
And a quick note on the main listing photograph
The photographs you choose for your listing are hugely important. Especially the main image that is shown on the main AirBnB page. Along with the words, this can dictate how many people click on your listing and thus has a huge impact on how many bookings you may get.
Again, think of your ideal guest and decide which element of your property will really appeal to them. It doesn’t have to be at the front of the house. It could be an internal shot of the beautiful old fireplace, or an external shot of the back garden with a hot tub for example.
What would your ideal guest like to see the most?
I would certainly recommend investing in hiring a professional photographer to take some shots of your accommodation. But be armed with a list of shots you would like them to take. Nobody knows your AirBnB stay as well as you do, and if you do the thinking around who your ideal guests are, you will know to include shots of those things that will be important to your ideal guest (log fire, candles and roll-top bath for thos romantic devils, for example)
3. Structure your description into small bite size paragraphs.
If you’ve done your guest profiling correctly, written a scroll-stopping title to entice your ideal guest to click and have a great main photo sorted, then you’re ready to start writing the description.
When writing this the first thing to bear in mind is to write in small, bite-sized chunks. People often skim read and it’s vital that they can glean the key bits of information from your description.
As an example, here is some lorem ipsum text:
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Cras tincidunt lobortis feugiat vivamus at augue eget arcu dictum. Bibendum at varius vel pharetra vel turpis nunc eget lorem. Amet mauris commodo quis imperdiet. Enim eu turpis egestas pretium aenean. Eu sem integer vitae justo eget magna fermentum iaculis. Posuere lorem ipsum dolor sit amet consectetur adipiscing. Est velit egestas dui id ornare arcu. Ipsum dolor sit amet consectetur adipiscing elit pellentesque habitant morbi. Elementum tempus egestas sed sed risus pretium quam.
The large block of text above feels daunting to read. Here is the same block chopped up with certain word sequences in bold:
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Cras tincidunt lobortis feugiat vivamus at augue eget arcu dictum.
Bibendum at varius vel pharetra vel turpis nunc eget lorem.
Amet mauris commodo quis imperdiet. Enim eu turpis egestas pretium aenean. Eu sem integer vitae justo eget magna fermentum iaculis.
Posuere lorem ipsum dolor sit amet consectetur adipiscing. Est velit egestas dui id ornare arcu. Ipsum dolor sit amet consectetur adipiscing elit pellentesque habitant morbi. Elementum tempus egestas sed sed risus pretium quam.
Even though the words are the same, the visual appearance is vastly different and far more readable as a result. Don’t be afraid to break your text up into lots of smaller paragraphs.
Sometimes, even one sentence can be used as a paragraph if you really want to add emphasis to it.
4. Be brief, and avoid generic words
You will probably feel deeply passionate about the AirBnB you have helped to bring to life, but people are busy and need to get the essential information from your listing quickly. Make them work too hard for it by over-elaborating on all of the details, and you will hit a wall of TLDR (too long, didn’t read).
This has the inevitable result of people clicking away from your listing to find one that tells them all they need to know about the listing quickly, so that they can decide quickly if it is for them or not.
Time is of the essence and TLDR often puts a listing straight into the ‘or not’ bucket.
After those essentials are covered off, you can expand a little and tell the story of your place (see point 7, below). But the first parts need to be the essentials.
That said, don’t use boring and generic words to describe your stay. The words you choose need to engage the reader and make them want to stay there.
Instead of ‘lovely’ consider using ‘stunning, gorgeous, decadent’
Instead of ‘a nice open-plan lounge’ consider something like ‘an expansive, light-drenched open living space’.
Again, think of your ideal guest. What features are they looking for? What words will really resonate with them?
5. Use an intuitive structure to describe your place
Now that you know to write in small chunks, it’s vital to order those chunks in a logical fashion.
You’ll start with ‘About this space’ which is a great place to expand on what you hinted at in your title.
Taking the example of the ‘Gorgeous romantic cosy cottage retreat with views’ listing from above, the ‘About this space’ is shown below. (The bolding have been added in by me, explained beneath):
‘Welcome to possibly the best situated cottage in the whole of the Peak District – utterly peaceful yet an easy stroll to Winster’s pubs and fantastic walking trails from the doorstep. Built in 1701 out of local limestone and Grade II Listed, Lancaster Cottage oozes character and is the ideal retreat for a luxury romantic escape. Cosy fireplace & beams, huge settee & a dreamy, romantic bedroom with king-sized comfy bed with lovely views over the hills, 2 outdoor seating areas & tranquil garden.’
Even within that first introductory paragraph, the writer has woven a raft of benefits and features of the property for the ‘romantic couple’ guest profile.
All of those words highlighted bold will appeal to the romantics amongst us. They really have done a great job with this.
After the introduction, move onto the room by room descriptions.
Start with the most important room to your ideal AirBnB guest and describe that element.
Then, work down to the next most important and so on.Think, what do potential guests needs to know first, second, third etc.
Often the bedrooms are the most important, followed by the kitchen, living space and bathroom, but think of your ideal guest and decide which order suits them best.
- Bedrooms
- Kitchen
- Living space
- Bathroom
- Outside space
- Local amenities and attractions
If you’re struggling to find the right words, one suggestion is to find a few similar listings on AirBnB and see how they have been written. I’m definitely not saying copy anything you find there, but reading what others have already written and pasting a few description examples into a Google doc for inspiration can help to oil the cogs of the writing brain.
6. Focus on the special USPs of your place
Globally, there are millions of listing on AirBnB. But yours is unique unto itself, and your description should emphasise any unique selling points – the features or benefits only it can offer.
If you’re a farm stay, can guests get, fresh eggs, milk, local honey, wood etc. Can guests walk around the land, let their dogs off lead etc. Is there a pond with a kayak? Are you in a dark sky area? Is there good wildlife or bird activity in your area that may attract photographers, artists, writers etc?
Some of those things may not be unique to just your listing, but combined they begin to create a stay that is unique from the combination of things that it offers. Be creative.
7. Tell the story of your place
If your place has a cool story or meaning behind it for you, then tell it in your description. People will always connect to both people and stories, and including them where possible is a great way to connect on a deeper level with potential guests.
The concept of selling an experience not a stay can be a very powerful way to differentiate your accommodation from the thousands of others it is competing against. And if there is a unique story that goes with your AirBnB, then this can be the vehicle by which a stay can become an experience.
8. Address any potential questions straight away
For your ideal guest, think about which three questions they are most likely to have about your AirBnB, and answer them honestly.
As an example, let’s imagine you are looking to list a converted barn on a dairy farm. Questions your ideal guest may have are:
- Does it smell?
- Is it muddy?
- Are the ceilings low?
If the answer to these questions is yes, yes and yes, then say so. There is no point denying those things that some potential guests may see as negatives if they are the truth. It will only lead ot negative comments and reviews from thos that do stay.
Instead, celebrate those negatives. In this case, people considering a farm stay may well expect a bit of a pong. But the other benefits (unpolluted air, far-reaching views and a unique experience) will outweigh the occasional smell of cow poop.
So in answer to ‘Does it smell?’ You could answer with something like:
Well, where there are cows, there are inevitably cow pats, and our farm does sometimes have the scent of dung, exactly as a dairy farm should. Most of the time though, it just smells of fresh, clean air, far away from the fumes of towns and cities.
Answering like this helps to be honest about the potential negative for some people while accentuating the positive benefits.
9. Make sure the captions match the photos
The captions in the photos are a fantastic extra way to get some extra benefits and features across to your ideal guest. If we carry on the example of our romantic couple, having a section in the main text talking about candles may be excessive. But including a photograph of a artful grouping of candles with an evocative caption makes potential guests realises that everything is there for a romantic stay.
How to write a good airbnb description – the key takeaways
Hopefully this guide will help you to write a great AirBnB description, meaning that hanging the kitchen cupboard doors remains the most frustrating part of getting ready for business.
The key thing to remember is to really get to grips with the customer profile for your ideal guest.
This is the cornerstone to all of the other elements of writing your AirBnB description, so I would encourage you to take your time with this.
Once you have a clear idea in your mind about what type of person your ideal guest is, then you will find choosing and writing the words that follow much easier.
Once you have written your airBnB description and are happy with it, one tip I will pass on from 20+ years in the publishing industry is to sleep on it before publishing. Reading back through your words with a fresh pair of eyes the day after can bring to light things you will simply not see if you check those words straight after writing.
Good luck! If you do decide that you’d rather hang the kitchen cupboard doors than write your Airbnb listing description, then I’d be very happy to write it for you. Drop me an email on my contact page and I’ll be in touch.