First impressions are everything. Guests buy with their eyes. Before they click “book”, they browse photos. These decide whether a listing feels welcoming, clean, and worth the price. Even the best location won’t make up for poor photos.
If you want to attract more bookings on Airbnb or Booking.com, invest in professional photography. Good lighting, tidy framing, and a few shots highlighting details (e.g. a coffee machine, window view, soft bedding) can work wonders.
Cleanliness is essential
Most negative reviews on Airbnb and Booking.com have one thing in common – cleanliness. Even if the apartment isn’t luxurious, it must be spotless. Guests notice details: dust on shelves, hair in the bathroom, sticky handles.
Guests may forgive a lot, but dirty bedding, an unclean bathroom, unpleasant smells, or neglected details guarantee a bad rating.
It’s worth creating a cleaning checklist or hiring a professional cleaning team. If you want to avoid unpleasant comments, treat cleanliness as an investment in your reputation.
Noise and sleep comfort – things that wake guests up at 6 a.m.
If your property is located on a busy street, that’s a fact you can’t change. But you don’t have to hide it or ignore it.
Communicate this honestly already at the booking stage. In the listing description and in the first messages to the guest – don’t wait for them to figure it out. Say it clearly: “The apartment is located on a main street with possible traffic noise, especially in the evenings” or “There may be events in nearby local clubs”.
Guests appreciate honesty – it’s better to say the apartment is in a lively area than to pretend it’s perfectly quiet.
Sleep comfort is one of the biggest challenges in short-term rentals. A good night’s sleep directly translates into guest satisfaction throughout the stay. Invest in a good mattress, extra pillows, and blackout curtains. These aren’t luxuries – they’re the basics.
Hassle-free check-in
Confusion during check-in is a red flag. Guests arrive tired from traveling and want to unpack and relax – not search for keys or read ten-page instructions.
The check-in process is the first real point of contact with your brand.
Show guests how to check in. A video is the perfect solution – a 2–3 minute guide where you show step by step how to access the door, use the alarm system, and find the light switch. Guests can watch it in the car before arrival and know exactly what to do. Zero stress, zero questions at 7 p.m.
Using platforms like CheckInLink ensures this and makes the guest stay easier.
Friendly but professional tone
Be professional, but welcoming. “Welcome to our apartment! I’ll be happy to help with anything” sounds very different from “Instructions below”. The former makes guests feel welcome, not like part of a transaction.
Guests expect a reply within dozens of minutes, at most an hour. Long waiting times create uncertainty. On the other hand, messages received at 3 a.m. aren’t great either. Airbnb considers response time as one of the factors influencing listing ranking.
Do something extra
Most guests don’t know the area. You do. Use this advantage.
A local guide, restaurant recommendations, a map with hidden city gems. These are details that stay in memory. If you don’t want to create this manually, you can use a digital welcome guide (Digital Welcome Book).
Platforms like CheckInLink make it easy to create interactive instructions, neighborhood information, and the check-in process. This way you save time, and guests feel better taken care of.
Prepare a list of places worth visiting: restaurants, bars, museums, parks. Add Google Maps links and opening hours. If you know where guests are likely to enjoy themselves, tell them – they’ll be grateful, and their overall impression of the stay will be better.
Sense of atmosphere
Finally – atmosphere. Guests should feel that someone cared about them. During the holiday season, a single decoration, a neutral-scented candle, or soft background music is enough to create a pleasant first impression. These small, inexpensive details can boost ratings and increase the chances of guests returning.
Digital Welcome Book – a tool that really works
Instead of scattering paper instructions around the apartment, create a digital guide. Guests receive a link (or scan a QR code) and have access to all information on their phone: WiFi, air conditioning instructions, cleaning schedule, your contact details, and local recommendations.
Tools like CheckinLink help. Guests don’t have to ask “where do I take out the trash?” – it’s written there. They don’t have to panic-call “how do I get in?” – there’s a video.
This eliminates up to 80% of repetitive questions and saves you hours of time every month.
