A well-cleaned property or a well-styled property?

Being close to restaurants and cafes or within a short distance to the closest public transport option?

What do Airbnb guests really want?

If you are considering renting your property on Airbnb or other booking websites, it’s important to understand guests’ expectations when it comes not only to your property but also yourself as a host.

Guests who stay at short-term rental properties have different priorities than long-term tenants. They are usually travelling for work or pleasure, so convenience and comfort are extremely important for them.

As a property management company specialised in the short-term rental market, MadeComfy transforms properties into “homes away from homes” and welcomes guests from Airbnb and other booking websites.

With an experience of managing over 4000 guests a month, we analysed more than 1300 reviews from guests who stayed at our managed properties in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane.

The goal was to understand what’s important for the guests and what you as a property owner who is exploring the idea of becoming an Airbnb host should know.

 

Take a look at the infographic below:

 

 

Top priorities for guests

More than half of the analysed guest reviews (51%) indicate the cleanliness of the property as the most important priority for guests. In the second place, comes great guest communication, with 34% of the reviews. Guests expect hosts to be responsive, friendly and helpful. The third priority for the guests is the property furniture and decoration. This shows how important is for property owners to invest in interior design and good quality furnishing.

What does “top location” mean for guests?

Another big priority mentioned in the reviews is “top location”. We analysed separately all the reviews that mention “location” and related words to understand what an ideal location means for short-term rental guests. Naturally, it also varies according to the city being analysed. As a whole, however, most part of the guests love being close to the beach (38% of the reviews) and also restaurants, pubs and cafes (30%). Short-term rental guests are looking for convenience and the third biggest percentage of the reviews also shows that. 21% of the reviews indicate ease to public transportation as an important factor. The fourth group of reviews indicated that guests also enjoy being close to parks and green areas (11%).

Guests’ favourite property features

When it comes to property features such as swimming pool, gym and spa, who is the winner? The answer is none of them. The most important property feature is parking space available either close to or inside the property. Short-term rental guests want to have the option to park close to the booked accommodation without having to spend hours looking for a parking spot.

Guests love treats!

In the review analysis we did, we also discovered that guests love “extras” placed in the properties. 36% of the reviews mentioned they enjoy having cleaning products such as laundry and dish soap in the properties. 30% enjoyed having fresh towels and linen and the remaining group is happy to have treats like good quality coffee machine and tea and toiletries, such as shampoo, conditioner and similar products, according to 24% and 10% of the reviews respectively.

Melbourne vs Sydney

To finalise, guests that stayed in our properties in Melbourne had slightly different reviews from guests who booked accommodation through us in Sydney. The final section of the infographic is a word cloud with the most mentioned keywords by guests in both cities.  A clean property, friendly hosts and top location are the biggest group of priorities even analysing the cities separately. However, Melbourne guests talked a bit more about amenities and property extras rather than Sydney guests, who loved booking accommodation close to the beach and having a quick response from the hosts.

As you can see, efficient guest management and housekeeping are critical to guests as they expect a quick response and frictionless communication throughout their journey. They also have high expectations when it comes to the cleanliness of a property. This is an interesting learning for property owners who are looking into having short-term rental guests in their properties: Investing in a good quality service for guests is the key to secure more bookings and increase your chances of receiving 5-star reviews.

Click on the link to see the full-size infographic and read more on the topic:  https://blog.madecomfy.com.au/what-airbnb-guests-really-want

Thalita Milan

With over 6 years experience

in the Digital Marketing scene,

Thalita works as Inbound Marketing

Manager at MadeComfy.

She is passionate about spreading the

word on the benefits of short-term rental

and creating useful content for property investors.