Business

Does your Airbnb need an Instagram account?

Stay connected with your Airbnb guests after they leave

Sound Familiar?

Pesky Problem

Your guests forget about your Airbnb. Fast.

Even when they loved their stay and swore they’d be back soon. The truth is, once your guests have packed their bags and are settled back home, your Airbnb fades from the spotlight pretty darn fast. Within a week or two, you’re a happy, albeit somewhat fuzzy, memory. And by the time they’re booking their next vacation, your place has slipped into the distant past.

Let's Try This

Bite-Size Solution

Stay in touch with guests through Instagram.

Repeat customers and referrals are golden tickets in the business world, but they hinge on staying connected with your biggest fans. Creating an Instagram account specifically for your Airbnb can be one of the easiest ways to stay connected with your guests after they leave.

To be clear, this isn’t your personal Instagram account. It’s a completely separate account just for your beautiful short term rental, and it’s meant to create a little portal for your guests back to your place. Every time folks see a photo or video from your Airbnb, they’re whisked back to their own happy vacation memories.

Our favorite Airbnb Instagram accounts give us a peek into different seasons, local attractions, and favorite amenities. We’re reminded of what we so enjoyed, but also shown that there’s so much goodness left for us to explore. And when we go to plan our next trip or make a recommendation to a friend, it’s no surprise which Airbnbs are top of mind.

5 Minutes

Here's Your First Step

Invite guests to follow you with a QR code sign posted in your space.

The first step to a successful Instagram strategy is getting your guests to actually follow your account. Tucking your handle at the very bottom of your Airbnb listing isn’t going to move the needle. Most guests will never even see the buried invitation.

Instead, you need a more intuitive tactic. We loved Maria’s strategy to turn current guests into Instagram followers. This superhost owns Harmonized Getaways, a short term rental property management company in Virginia and Georgia. Maria’s Instagram account is thriving, and that’s partly because of how easy she makes it for guests to follow her. She posts a scannable QR code sign in the physical space of her properties with an invitation to follow her on Instagram.

This physical reminder is so much more effective in getting guests to follow her account and tag her Airbnb in their own photos. The invitation is literally right in front of guests while their enthusiasm and desire to stay connected is the highest. And then, the next time Maria’s got a new amenity to share, a special discount to promote, or a new property to advertise, she actually has a way to connect with all of her previous guests at once. Brilliant.

INSPIRED BY you

This week’s Big Heart Hosting post was inspired by Maria, an Airbnb Superhost in Irvington, Virginia, USA. Just click here to explore the full listing.

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You’re an ambitious Airbnb host with a big heart. But on some days, hosting isn’t exactly what you had imagined. Maybe it’s overwhelming. Or isolating. Or just not making the kind of money you had envisioned. At Big Heart Hosting, we’re on a mission to help hosts like you thrive, not just get by. We create step-by-step resources that bring together the best hosting strategies from around the world. We’ll give you the knowledge and community you need to create the joyful, prosperous Airbnb you deserve.