Airbnb vs. Google vs. Meta

There are 3,000 weekly readers of this newsletter.

I'd imagine 99% have at least one Airbnb listing.

Which makes sense. Airbnb popularized independent hospitality. Then, built themselves to be the default way for getting guests.

Yet, rental operators who are just on Airbnb and not:

• Facebook

• Instagram

• Google

Are limiting themselves.

Today, I'm going to explain why with our new friend, Tom.

Meet Tom.

Tom is a guest avatar and frequent traveler.

• Google Flights is bookmarked in his browser.

• His goal is to visit all 50 states.

• Favorite food: pizza (not relevant).

Tom knows every which way to find his new short term rental. Including:

• Google

• Facebook

• Instagram

• Airbnb

Which one he uses depends on his intent. Let's talk about it:

Airbnb (OTAs):

The trip is planned so Tom uses Airbnb.

The destination has already been decided (Dillon, CO). He just needs a place to stay.

He's not in the mood to compare options. He just wants to choose a place, click a few buttons and be done with it.

Airbnb is the path of least resistance. It's built for convenience.

Why this matters:

Airbnb is made for people who are ready to travel. Which is a doubled edged sword.

Pros: The intent to book from guests visiting this channel is high.

Cons: The market size of people who are ready to book is much smaller than those who like to travel and will book soon.

Google:

Not much is planned for Tom yet. He's in research mode.

He wants to find the best option for his upcoming adventure to Colorado.

Where he goes in Colorado is not important. Mountains are mountains.

Tom might create a short list of winning stays, or he'll see the perfect one, memorize it, and come back to book.

Why this matters:

Trip planners use Google. They are extremely interested in finding a future stay.

Capturing attention is important here. I like to do that with lead magnets and email.

This is a huge market. The number of people in planning vs booking mode is giant.

Meta (Facebook & Instagram):

Tom is always in travel mode. He sits on his lazy-boy recliner after work on a Tuesday and starts to scroll.

• Post #1: A cute dog doing a trick.

• Post #2: Something about sports

• Post #3: A cozy a-frame cabin in the woods with steam curling from the hot tub. He saves it.

Tom gets interested. So he:

1. Visits the profile

2. Clicks the link in bio

3. Trades his email for a future $100 off coupon (lead magnet)

4. Starts to think about the stay at work

Why this matters:

Meta is the only platform that shows your stay to people interested in travel. Whether they're thinking about traveling at that moment or not.

This is the largest market.

Sure, Tom might not book now. But, you've got him thinking.

The more someone thinks about you, the more likely they are to buy.

Let's Recap:

• Airbnb is a high intent channel. Guests on this site are ready to book very soon. But, this market size is a fraction of the next two options.

• Google is also a high intent channel. But, guests might book a little later. They're shopping around.

• Meta is the largest market of the three. Intent can vary. Some are ready, most will need to see you 7-21 times before really making progress towards a booking.

Either way, staying just on Airbnb can be limiting. There's oceans of people across the internet who don't know your stay exists.

Solution: Show the world you're here.

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

P.S. Back home this week. Heading west on Monday. Can I be honest? I can’t stop thinking about In ‘n Out burger. That will be meal #1 off the plane.

Before you go

I spend about 10 hours writing this newsletter each week. The rest of my time is spent running 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. If I ran social for my favorite landscape resorts… (The Unique Stays Guy)

2. Strategic seasonal marketing for short term rentals (Podcast)

3. How to 10x your marketing only working 2hrs per day (The Lodge Social)

4. 3x your ad dollars and drive bookings on autopilot with this… (LinkedIn)

5. Love this newsletter? Ask me anything (SURVEY)