Do you know how to measure your performance on Airbnb as a host? How can you have a realistic view of your business? How is KPI measured? Do you know how to improve your vacation rental business using Airbnb Insights?
When I was travelling a few years ago, I came across a great place with a low price. When I entered the place, I thought it was a good-value-for-money choice. To be honest, the host could have easily charged a higher rate by adding some quality photos.
She was a lovely host with a great apartment, and I think the low price was probably because of poor visibility. There, I realised that, sometimes, we are not quite able to see our weaknesses to improve our hospitality business by focusing on some key factors.
It is worth putting time and energy into tracking your business’ performance and trying to get more bookings. Airbnb offers some metrics by which you can get a better understanding of your performance and progress. Behind such data lies the road to improvement, but it can be overwhelming for hosts to analyse and process this information.
So, we are going to give you a hand in learning what metrics to notice and how to understand them.
Table of Contents
What Is Airbnb Insights?
Airbnb Insights is one of the professional tools that Airbnb offers to all hosts. To use the analytics, you need to have more than one listing. In case of more than six listings, Airbnb Insights will automatically turn on. But if you have fewer, you need to opt in manually.
Airbnb performance data offers a number of KPIs to track your progress as a host. With this tool, you can see your past, present, and future performance. You can also compare your different listings’ performance with each other and with other listings in the area.
This feature enables you to check your performance through the following metrics:
Time: You can select specific time frames to show your data in the last week, last month, and last year or in case of future data (pacing reports), next week, next month, following three months, and next six months.
Region: This metric is useful if you have listings in multiple regions.
Comparing performance data: You can compare your business with other time frames or a set of competitive listings.
As Padlifters says:
“Airbnb assists hosts to track and measure their performance as well as identify areas they’re able to improve upon continually.”
Understanding Airbnb Insights
You can access the “Insights” tab on your host dashboard once you use Airbnb’s professional hosting tools. In the Insights section, you can find the following performance metrics:
Conversion
If you are getting fewer bookings than expected, you can see a complete map of how and at which step guests visit your listing. You can compare the page view of all the steps leading to a booking, and find where the leak is.
The metrics presented in this section are First-Page Impression Rate, Search-to-Listing Conversion, Listing-to-Booking Conversion, Booking Lead Time, Returning Guests Rate, Page Views, and Addition to Wishlist.
Booking Conversion
First-Page Impression Rate: This is the number of times someone has viewed your listing in the search.
Search-to-Listing Conversion: This is the number of times guests clicked to view your listing page.
Listing-to-Booking Conversion: This is the number of times your listing was booked.
Comparing these three rates gives you a clear image of how your listing is displayed and your viewers’ reactions. For instance, if you have a low first-page impression rate, you may need to optimise your photos. If the listing-to-booking conversion is low, you need to adjust the pricing.
Booking Lead Time
How long ahead is your listing booked? Booking Lead Time lets you know the average time between the moment your guests book and when they check in. This can be an excellent factor to check if you want to increase the pricing. The longer your guests book your listing in advance, the more you have the chance of setting a higher price.
Returning Guests
If your previous guests are coming back to book with you, that is when you can be sure about their satisfaction. This rate can even be more valid for you than 5-star reviews.
Wishlist Additions
You can see the number of times your listing was added to guests’ wishlists.
Views
Views show the number of people viewing your listing in a given time frame. You can compare it with other similar listings in your area.
If you are not getting enough views, you need to optimise your listing name, photos, and nightly rates. You can compare this number with the booking rate in the conversion section. Then, see how likely it is to get a booking after people have viewed your listing.
Occupancy & Rates
The occupancy shows the number of days your place has been booked. The occupancy percentage is one of the critical factors for your revenue management to keep an eye on.
If your occupancy is low, consider adjusting your pricing dynamically to the market and season demands. There are four sub-metrics under this tab:
- Occupancy Rate
- Cancellation Rate
- Length of Stay
- Nightly Rate
- Quality
Under this tab, there are seven sub-metrics based on guests’ reviews:
- Accuracy
- Amenities
- Check-in
- Cleanliness
- Communication
- Location
- Value
This metric is beneficial for analysing the review-based data and comparing them with similar listings or your own over time. These numbers will let you know which part you should work on and which goals you have already accomplished. By improving the quality metric, you will have a much better chance of getting 5-star reviews and better ratings.
Under this tab, there are seven sub-metrics based on guests’ reviews:
- Accuracy
- Amenities
- Check-in
- Cleanliness
- Communication
- Location
- Value
This metric is beneficial for analysing the review-based data and comparing them with similar listings or your own over time. These numbers will let you know which part you should work on and which goals you have already accomplished. By improving the quality metric, you will have a much better chance of getting 5- star reviews and better ratings.
Earnings
There are several metrics to help observe your income:
Average Daily Rate
Average Daily Rate (ADR) represents the average amount of money you earn per night from rented rooms. It’s important to remember that the ADR shows the raw income you earn each night your listing is occupied. It doesn’t automatically factor in taxes and expenses like cleaning fees.
RevPAR
RevPAR is the abbreviation for Revenue per Available Room. This metric calculates the revenue based on the occupancy rate, which can be very useful.
NOI
NOI is short for Net Operating Income. This is the profit of your business after reducing expenses like cleaning and Airbnb commission fees.
Hosting Progress
The opportunity to improve your business lies in this tab. This is the data you need to make strategic decisions and go further in your hosting business.
In the opportunity section, you can find personalised recommendations. You’ll see which parts of your business need more focus and what actions you have already taken perfectly.
- Basic Requirements
- Superhost
- Experience Host
Airbnb Insights: Useful but Not Enough
It is crucial to continuously take advantage of Airbnb Insights to develop your short-term rental business into a successful one. Even if you are a newbie in this industry, this data helps you diagnose where the problem is. It also shows the strong points of your success and how to take the next step towards improvement.
While Airbnb Insights offers useful info, it has limitations. The biggest one? You can only peek at the past year. This makes predicting future performance tricky, as last year might not be the best reflection of what’s to come. Seeing trends from several years back would give hosts a clearer picture and help them plan for the future.
In addition, Airbnb keeps their “similar listings” algorithm under wraps, leaving hosts in the dark about who they’re actually competing with. This lack of transparency makes it hard to trust that the comparison is truly relevant.
While Airbnb provides valuable performance data, it’s like looking through a keyhole. Don’t forget the world outside! Many hosts juggle multiple platforms like Vrbo and Booking.com, and some ditch Airbnb altogether. Relying solely on Airbnb data paints an incomplete picture of your true competitor landscape.
As a successful host, you should use Airbnb Insights along with market-level information. This gives you a more accurate view of the market as a whole, so you know how you are really performing.
