With more than 380 million visitors in total per month, Booking.com has become a global platform, particularly popular with the European public, offering an ever increasing choice of vacation rentals. As the vacation rental industry becomes more and more competitive, to succeed on this platform, you need to rank well in the top search pages.

So what can you do to improve your Booking.com ranking? We tell you everything.

What determines your Booking.com ranking?

Customers who search for accommodations on Booking.com see their search results sorted by ranking.
These rankings are determined by how relevant each ad is to user preferences. Booking.com's algorithms also take into account a visitor's past searches, current market demands, and the overall performance of properties on their platform.

As a result, the ad rankings that each
The visitor sees it is completely personalized.

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1. Improve the conversion rate of your properties

When a customer books one of your properties, it tells the Booking.com algorithm that customers with a similar profile may also want to book it. For this reason, conversion is one of the main factors that determine where the algorithm places your ad in the search results.

To increase your conversion rate, you need to make your ad more engaging. Here are a few easy ways to make your listing appealing to customers on Booking.com:

• Take high-quality photos of your property. Like the first impression customers have of your ad, the quality of your images is critical.
• EResearch the needs of your guests. Have you noticed that all of your bookings come from the same type of customer profile? Couple, family, business travelers... Try to present your property in a way that targets a specific niche. This will help you rank higher when similar Booking.com users are looking for their next short-term rental.
• Provide a detailed description of the property. Make sure your listing includes all the facilities and amenities your property has. The more details you provide about your property, the more likely your listing is to appear in search results, even after travelers have applied multiple filters.

2. Ensure availability

Simply put, if a property doesn't have availability on the dates customers are looking for, it won't appear in the search results. So be sure to provide availability at least one year in advance and adjust your minimum stay restrictions to increase the visibility of your ads.

Ensuring availability well in advance will not only encourage repeat bookings from happy customers, but it will also attract new customers who like to plan ahead.

Adjusting your minimum length of stay is also crucial. For example, if your minimum number of nights is set to 7 nights, customers looking for shorter stays won't see your listing in the search results.

3. Offer a variety of pricing plans

Offering a wide variety of pricing plans increases your chances of attracting different customers because it allows you to target different priorities.

By using special pricing, you can increase your conversions, encourage customers to book longer stays, and even get off-season bookings.

Booking.com now offers shared market information and localized data through Booking.com opportunities and promotions that allow you to create promotional rates based on a variety of criteria.

You receive a high level of data on the type of people who book your property and who is nearby, so you can tailor promotions to them. Here are some of the types of promotions you can consider adding to your properties:

• Mobile rate : Add a discount for bookings made on mobile devices. More than half (59%) of Booking.com bookings come from a mobile device. Adding a mobile rate allows your establishments to stand out in the search results and increase bookings from mobile devices by up to 28% on average.
• Price per country: only offer a discount to potential customers in the countries you want to target. This contributes to making your pricing strategy more dynamic; being competitive in your region; attracting customers from countries that tend to spend more at the establishment; attracting customers from countries with the highest percentage of market growth; and attracting customers from markets with lower cancellation rates.
• Offer discounts weekly or monthly for longer stays.
• Early booking discount : Offer a discount to customers who book and pay well in advance.
• Last minute discount : offer a discount to guarantee last-minute stays.
• It is also a good idea to fix different prices per occupancy, for example, €100 for 2 people, €110 for 3, €120 for 4 people and so on. This allows you to show your ads in more searches because the Booking.com system shows the option that best fits what travelers are looking for.

4. Provide flexible cancellation policies

Over the past two years, flexible cancellation policies have become the norm. Due to the ongoing uncertainty surrounding travel, customers expect flexible cancellation options and are even willing to pay extra for it.

While offering a full refund can increase the likelihood of a cancellation, properties with flexible cancellation policies get more bookings than properties with a no-refund approach.

Additionally, many customers are now filtering their searches using the “Free Cancellation” filter on Booking.com. So, if you don't want to miss out on these bookings, you should definitely adopt a lenient cancellation policy.

5. Boost your listings with the Booking.com Visibility Booster

For a final push towards increasing the visibility of your listing, Booking.com offers the Visibility Booster tool. For a slight increase in your commission rate, the Visibility Booster will propel your property up the rankings.

This tool is completely flexible; when you use it, it's up to you. You can push your property during off-peak periods when you're not getting as many bookings or when you've received multiple cancellations. Or, you can increase your visibility during periods prior to periods of high demand, such as holidays.

To conclude,

Booking.com offers a myriad of tools to help you rank better and get the most out of it.

It's best to start by spending some time making sure your listings are as engaging as possible and providing all the information customers need to make a booking decision.

You can also use the smart tools that Booking.com offers, such as Opportunities and Promotions, and exclusive Partner Programs to boost your ranking.

Source translated from English: https://rentalsunited.com/blog/improve-booking-com-ranking/