In the highly competitive world of Airbnb, making your listing stand out can make all the difference. One feature that has gained attention, and sparked controversy, is the photo tour, an automatically applied feature for many new listings.
While some hosts are actively trying to remove it, as evident in this discussion on the Airbnb Community Forum, such efforts might be a waste of time.
Instead of spending energy working around the feature, we analyzed data from 478 listings, of which 282 with photo tours and 196 without, to uncover whether photo tours actually impact two critical measures of success for Airbnb hosts: occupancy rates (how often your listing is booked) and conversion rates (how often a searcher becomes a guest). If you’ve been questioning the value of photo tours, this data-driven insight might just save you some time and boost your results.
What Is a Photo Tour and Why Does It Matter?
A photo tour is a curated arrangement of photos that groups images into categories like bedrooms, living spaces, and kitchens, making it easier for guests to visualize the space. This is done using Airbnb’s AI tools, which attempts to match photos to the correct rooms automatically.
For hosts, this feature can:
- Showcase their property in an organized way.
- Help guests quickly understand what the property offers.
- Create a sense of trust and transparency, as guests feel they’re getting a complete view of the space.
Do Photo Tours Make a Difference?
Occupancy Rates
Occupancy rate measures how often a listing is booked. When comparing listings with and without photo tours, some clear patterns emerged:
- Listings with photo tours demonstrated significantly better performance in terms of booking rates than those without.On average, listings with photo tours achieved a 57.90% occupancy rate, compared to 51.17% for those without. While both groups exhibited high variability (standard deviations of 30.83% and 28.86%, respectively), a Mann-Whitney test revealed this difference to be statistically significant (p = 0.0170).
- When comparing performance against similar listings, those with photo tours performed 21.30 percentage points higher than their similar counterparts, while listings without photo tours achieved only a 15.32 percentage point advantage.This performance boost was also statistically significant (p = 0.0186), underscoring the competitive edge that photo tours provide.
- Interestingly, the occupancy rates for similar listings were nearly identical (36.60% for photo tour group vs. 35.84% for non-photo tour group), suggesting the added benefit comes specifically from the photo tour itself.
This suggests that high-quality, organized photos can help create a more inviting and professional look for potential guests, increasing the chances of a booking.
Conversion Rates
Conversion rates, which measure how many people seeing a listing in search results end up booking, showed some improvement for listings with photo tours.
While the overall difference wasn’t dramatic, listings with photo tours did perform slightly better when compared to similar properties. This indicates that photo tours may help potential guests feel more confident about choosing a property.
Key Takeaways for Hosts
- Photo Tours Can Be a Boost
If you’re considering enabling or keeping the photo tour, it’s worth doing. The data suggests it helps attract more bookings and can give you an edge over similar properties.
- Small Differences Matter
In competitive areas, even small improvements in conversion and occupancy rates can make a big difference in your earnings over time.
Challenges with Photo Tours
For hosts who want to remove a photo tour, it’s worth noting that this can be tricky. Since Airbnb automatically applies the feature to many new listings, removing it requires manually detaching photos from their automatically assigned categories. While this may take extra effort, it’s good to know that many hosts find the feature beneficial and leave it in place.
Conclusion
In the end, a picture really is worth a thousand words, or perhaps a few extra bookings. While not every listing will see dramatic improvements with a photo tour, the feature appears to have a positive effect, especially on occupancy rates. By presenting your property in the best possible light, whether with a photo tour or carefully chosen images, you can create a more appealing and trustworthy listing that draws in more guests.
So if you’re looking to stand out in the crowded Airbnb market, why not give the photo tour a try? Your next guest might be just one beautifully displayed photo away.