How long once going live on Airbnb did you start getting steady bookings?

[Danielle K.]

Hi, we went live with our first STR (or any rental for that matter) around mid-November. We possibly made the mistake of posting pre-renovation photos for the first couple weeks. Towards the end of November, we got professional photos up of the reno and used the 20% new listing promo and quickly got 3 bookings for December in a two week period. We've had one stay so far and they gave us a 5-star review. Now, for the last 2 weeks, there has been nothing. We are in a ski area and we aren't even booked for Christmas, the weekend before Christmas, or anything in January. I'm worried that the initial promo bump is over and we are in Airbnb purgatory. I drastically slashed prices for the remaining dates in December and all of January. Am I just being impatient here? When those first (hopefully 5-star) reviews hit, will we get an algorithm bump? Thanks for your help, trying not to panic.

[Collin Hays]

You should start getting bookings almost immediately.  If not, re-check everything - listing, photos, rates, booking policies, etc.

Often, newbies have rates that are too high and/or booking policies that are far too onerous.