43 | Advice From a Prior Airbnb Employee | with Danny Rusteen

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What kinds of things could you learn from chatting with a former Airbnb employee?

Well, Danny Rusteen is a former Airbnb employee, and this has opened a lot of doors for him! After working for them in accounting for two years, Danny was fired, but he saw this as an opportunity to try something different.

Airbnb was running a promotion to get $500 Airbnb credit for every referral, and this was enough to get his attention. He did some interesting, creative things, and ended up referring 36 hosts. The company took notice and hired him back temporarily in a marketing role where he referred hosts.

Working in this role, he noticed all the little things he could do to a listing in order to get a booking. He would tweak headlines and photos and see when more results started coming in. When he left that role, he started “Optimize My Bnb” as a service to help people get more bookings.

Need to make some optimizations to your listing today? Here are some things you can do:

• Create a digital guidebook. You want to compile any questions you get from your guests and put them in an easy to read format to cut down on future annoyance and confusion. They won’t have to wait for you to reply and they won’t waste time trying to figure it out themselves. And they’ll have a much better experience!

• Respond to reviews. You don’t need to do this for shorter reviews, but when you get a longer review, you should respond with the “cliff notes” version of their review by pulling out one fact you want future potential guests to know. When you get a really positive review and respond to it, you can screenshot it and put it in your photos and direct them to look at your other 5-star reviews.

These are just two of the 35 tips available in Danny’s book, Optimize YOUR Bnb. If you found value in these tips, or want to hear more from a former Airbnb employee, be sure to check it out or look at his website for even more great advice!

Resources:

• Book: Optimize YOUR Bnb
• Website: https://optimizemybnb.com/
• Hostfully: https://www.hostfully.com/
• Airbnb Guide: Airbnbguide.com
• #STRShareSunday: @cabanacarioca