One Small Step to Becoming a More Professional Host

In the world of hosting STRs, major factors like high-quality photos, dynamic pricing, and managing minimum night stays are crucial for boosting occupancy and revenue. However, the path to excellence doesn’t end there. Small actions can significantly enhance your listing’s appeal and increase bookings.

One often overlooked tactic is responding to all guest reviews.

Why Respond to All Reviews?

Both Airbnb and VRBO allow public responses to guest reviews. From my experience, VRBO guests review about 10% of the time, whereas Airbnb guests review over 50% of the time.

Many hosts either ignore reviews or only respond to negative ones. While addressing negative feedback is essential, I recommend responding to all guest reviews.

Responding only to negative reviews can make you seem reactive rather than engaged. By responding to every review, you demonstrate that you’re an involved and caring host. This approach also allows you to handle negative reviews gracefully without drawing unnecessary attention to them.

How to Manage Your Review Responses

Initially, responding to all reviews may seem overwhelming. To stay on top of it, I set a recurring calendar event. Every Monday at 9 a.m., I dedicate 20 minutes to respond to the previous week’s reviews.

For most reviews, I keep responses brief, like:

• “Thanks so much for your kind words, Leslie! We’re thrilled that our cleaner’s attention to detail made a difference for you!”
• “Rick, it was a joy to host you and your family. We hope to see you again!”

For rare negative reviews, I address the issue politely, explaining the corrective action taken and steps to prevent future occurrences. I’ll dive deeper into handling negative reviews in a future post.

The Impact of Responding to Reviews

Each response takes about a minute but can yield significant benefits. As you build a collection of positive reviews with attentive responses, future guests will notice your dedication, making them more inclined to book your property.

Will this small step dramatically boost your revenue? Probably not. But if this action increases your revenue by just 0.5-1%, it adds up over time, potentially bringing you thousands of extra dollars each year.

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