(7-steps) How to make $100K for your Airbnb or hotel from social media in 2026

There’s no question that “how to get direct bookings” is the number 1 most talked about topic in the short term rental industry.

Most people want to do it. It sounds:

• Exciting

• New

• Sustainable

• Uber profitable

Yet, no one teaches how to do it. If you want to learn:

• How to find a good property

• Finance it

• Design it

• Launch it on OTAs

• Use one property to buy your next

You can probably find 5+ people showing you how. And they’re all great.

But marketing? This isn’t taught in short term rental school.

Yet, it’s the most sought out skill in the direct booking conversation.

That’s why I’m creating this newsletter.

Today, you will learn the 7 steps to make $100K for your Airbnb or hotel from social media in 2026.

Let’s dive in…

The 7 Steps:

• Step 1: Identify your one customer

• Step 2: Set a budget

• Step 3: Get thousands of people to give you attention

• Step 4: Capture attention with lead generators

• Step 5: Use the most transactional marketing channel

• Step 6: Run Meta Ads for bookings

• Step 7: Partner with niche specific influencers to grow faster than you might be comfortable with

Step 1: Identify your one customer

There are two ways to do this.

Option 1: Pick your own:

Chances are the perfect guest is you. What drew you to the property at first? (love the outdoors, great family getaway, etc…)

Read reviews. This is a dead giveaway. Guests will drop keywords like “stayed with my family”, “family retreat”, “couples getaway.”

Option 2: Pick one of my favorites:

My favorite avatars are:

• Couples

• Families

• Niche ideas

Niche idea examples:

• Wellness stay

• Themes (Christmas, Hobbit, Star Wars)

If it makes sense for your stay, couples are a good avatar to start with.

Step 2: Set a Budget

Warning: I don’t have a framework for this.

I only have a simple answer so we can blow through this part and move on.

But, there are two rules of thumb I go by:

• 10-25% of profit

• 10% of revenue

Whether it’s profit or revenue depends on your financial situation.

That’s it.

Step 3: Get Thousands of People to Give you Attention

Enjoy the full explanation of this step here.

Don't create social media videos about your house. It doesn't sell. The experience does.

What I mean:

• Don’t show the grill. Show an actor making a healthy BBQ dinner

• Don’t show the beach. Show an actor taking in the sun near their airbnb for the weekend

• No one wants to sit by a fire pit. They want to enjoy s’mores and laughter under the stars. Show that.

What doesn’t sell:

• The stay

• Amenities

• Specs

What does sell:

The idea of having a perfect life experience.

Step 4: Capture Attention with Lead Generators

If guests aren’t ready to book yet (which is most), the best way to sell them over time is email.

The best way to build an email list is through lead magnets.

The best lead magnets:

• Offer a discount

• Experience add-on

• Voucher to a nearby restaurant

• Gift cards

Offer a discount

Offer a percent or dollar amount off your nightly rate in exchange for an email address.

Experience add-on

• Bundle of firewood and a s’mores kit (glamping / campground)

• Spa bundle

• Merch

• Personalized guide for things to do in the area

• Etc…

Voucher to a nearby restaurant

Ask a local bar or restaurant if they'd be willing to giveaway a $20-$50 voucher to future guests.

Gift cards

Offer a $20-$50 gift card to your stay. It's essentially the same thing as offering a discount but feels more tangible.

Step 5: Use The Most Transactional Marketing Channel

Which is email.

Over a months time, send 1-2 emails talking about:

• Best dates to book

• Things to do

• Upcoming deals or promotions

Hack: Paint the email with photos because that’s what caught the guests attention in the first place.

Step 6: Run Meta Ads for Bookings

There are 3 ways to structure a Meta Ads campaign:

• Brand Awareness

• Purchase

• Both

Option #1: Brand Awareness

If you don't know:

• Who is interested in your stay

• What part of your stay they love

• Where they are coming from

• Why / why not they book

• etc...

Choose this. You have a lot of unanswered questions that only data can answer.

Brand awareness is the quickest and cheapest way to do that.

With this, your chasing two metrics:

• Followers

• Leads

These two metrics is where bookings are sold.

Option #2: Purchase

Choose this if people are familiar with your concept. Examples:

• Near a popular area

• Camping

• Most glamping

• Hotels

• Lake cabin

• Beach house

Purchase ads are very expensive to run. If that money isn't coming back quickly, you'll rack up quite the bill.

Option #3: Both

As always, there are hybrids. Most of our clients are in this situation:

The type of stay is familiar...

• Glamping

• Seaside cottage

• Nature resort

But their location is not.

So we do this:

• 50% of the budget goes to misc. brand awareness tactics.

• 50% goes straight for the purchase.

After 2-3 months, if most bookings are coming from brand awareness efforts (email list, leads, etc...) we will focus more budget there. And visa versa.

Step 7: Partner with niche specific influencers to grow faster than you might be comfortable with

Work with influencers whose followers are similar to yours.

Before you spend time searching for influencers, know these golden metrics:

• Follower count: 10K+

• Engagement rate: 2-4%+

The creators you partner with don’t need to be focused just on Airbnb’s and hotels. If 3/10 posts are from an airbnb, you’re safe.

They do need to be focused on local hospitality.

How to make $100K for your Airbnb or hotel from social media in 2026 (7 steps)

Do this:

1. Identify your one customer

2. Set a budget

3. Get thousands of people to give you attention

4. Capture attention with lead generators

5. Use the most transactional marketing channel

6. Run Meta Ads for bookings

7. Partner with niche specific influencers to grow faster than you might be comfortable with

That's all for today. I'll see you in the next article.

Before you go

I spend about 10 hours writing this newsletter each week. The rest of my time is spent running $100K Stay and Lodge Social.

1) $100K Stay — Learn how to make $100K for your Airbnb or hotel from social media in 90 days.

• This hybrid-live training program is everything you need to get your own guests from the internet. Even if you have zero audience, experience, or marketing skills.

• Enrollment is currently open until January 18th (Sunday), at 11:59pm EST.

2) Lodge Social — Our marketing team will help you get more guests to like, share and book. Work with me and my team here.

Links you might like:

1. Today’s topic has an associated video (Watch it)

2. Biggest travel trends going into 2026 (Conde Nast)

3. Stop writing emails manually - use ChatGPT (YouTube)

4. If you want to stay ahead in 2026, save these hospitality podcasts (LinkedIn)