How to Get Your First 100 Bookings for Your Airbnb or Short-Term Rental
Getting your first 100 bookings for a new Airbnb or short-term rental property is a real challenge. Most new hosts struggle to fill their calendar. Big marketing channels like paid ads don't work when you have zero reviews. What works are direct efforts and smart local outreach. This guide shows you exactly how to attract guests at each step, from your first booking to your hundredth.
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Use the free LaunchAdvisor checklist to track every step in this guide.
Why 100 Bookings is the Milestone That Matters
Your first 100 guest stays prove your hosting strategy. They produce crucial 5-star reviews, generate early occupancy data, and give you enough experience to know what type of guest you're attracting and why. Bookings 1-10 require direct communication and effort from you. Bookings 11-50 mean you're systematizing tasks like cleaning and guest messaging. Bookings 51-100 mean you're building channels that fill your calendar without constant personal outreach.
Bookings 1-10: Warm Network and Personal Outreach
Every new host's first bookings come from their relationships. Make a list of 200 people you know: friends, family, local connections. Identify 20-30 who might visit your area or know someone who needs a short-term rental (e.g., traveling family members, business contacts). Send a personal message to them, not a group text. Explain your new Airbnb or VRBO property and why it's a good fit for someone like them. Ask for one of three things: to book at a special 'friends & family' rate (20-30% off your listed price), to stay for free for 1-2 nights in exchange for detailed feedback and a 5-star review, or to introduce you to someone visiting the area (e.g., traveling nurses, wedding guests). This approach helps secure your first 5-10 bookings and critical early reviews in 2-4 weeks.
Bookings 11-30: Direct Outbound and Community
Once you have your first positive reviews and a clearer picture of your ideal guest, expand your outreach. Directly contact local businesses that might need housing for their clients or staff: hospitals for traveling nurses, universities for visiting faculty, film production companies, or event venues for attendees. Offer direct booking deals to avoid platform fees. Simultaneously, show up in local online communities where potential guests or referrers gather: local Facebook groups (e.g., 'Things to Do in [Your City]'), Reddit threads about travel to your area, or local tourist forums. Answer questions about the area, share insights, and mention your property only where it's genuinely helpful or asked. This organic presence builds trust and generates inquiries over time.
Bookings 31-60: Local Content and Referrals
With 30+ positive guest reviews, you have enough social proof and experience to start creating helpful content. Write three pieces of content that answer common questions your guests ask before or during their stay. Examples: 'Top 5 Family Activities in [Your City]', 'Best Restaurants Near [Your Property]', or a 'Remote Work Guide for [Your City]'. Publish these on a simple website or social media. Ask your 30 existing guests for referrals. A structured request like, 'Did you enjoy your stay? Do you know two people planning a trip to [City] who would appreciate a comfortable, well-located place like ours? We offer a 10% discount for their first stay if they mention your name.' produces much better results than just hoping they spread the word. Consider partnering with local tour guides or cafes for reciprocal referrals.
Bookings 61-100: Paid Channels and Listing Optimization
By now, you have a clear picture of how much it costs to get a booking organically (your time, referral fees). Use that as your benchmark for paid channels. Focus on optimizing your listings on Airbnb, VRBO, and Booking.com with professional photos, strong keywords, and compelling descriptions. Invest in dynamic pricing tools like PriceLabs or Beyond Pricing to automatically adjust your daily rates for maximum occupancy and revenue. If you have a direct booking website, consider Google Hotel Ads to capture high-intent travelers. Use retargeting ads to show your listing to people who visited your website but didn't book. Maintain Superhost/Premier Host status through excellent guest experiences and prompt communication to rank higher on platforms.
The Pattern Across All Stages: Guest Feedback is Key
Notice what never changes across all stages: getting bookings always starts with you understanding and talking directly to people who might stay at your property. No stage of this journey works if you skip these conversations. Your listing descriptions and ads will be stronger because they're built from what you learned in conversations. Your local content will convert better because it answers questions you discovered from guests. Referrals come from guests whose positive experience you understood through direct interaction and feedback. Always be listening.
How to Get Started Today
This week: get your first guest. Next month: aim for your tenth booking. Quarter 2: reach your fiftieth. By the end of year one: hit your hundredth booking. Each milestone requires a different approach, and you cannot skip stages – the lessons from each stage are required inputs for the next. Start with the simplest action available today: open your phone, think of the five people most likely to visit your area or know someone who will, and send them a personal message offering a special 'first guest' rate for feedback and a review. Simultaneously, ensure your Airbnb or VRBO listing is live with professional photos and a well-written description.
RECOMMENDED TOOLS
HubSpot CRM
Track every prospect from first contact to closed deal — free for the whole journey
Apollo.io
Scale outbound prospecting when you are ready to go beyond your warm network
Kit (ConvertKit)
Build the email list that compounds your customer acquisition over time
Semrush
Find the keywords your customers search before buying — build content around them
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FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
How long does it take to get 100 customers?
For a well-positioned B2B service business doing active outreach: 6-12 months. For a SaaS product with a free trial and active outbound: 3-6 months. For a consumer product sold through marketplaces: 1-3 months. The range is wide because product type, price point, and sales cycle length all affect how quickly customers move from awareness to purchase.
Should I track customer acquisition cost before I have 100 customers?
Track it, but do not optimize for it yet. At fewer than 100 customers, your CAC data is too noisy to make reliable channel allocation decisions. Focus on getting customers through whatever works, document what you spent and what produced results, and use that data to inform your channel strategy once you have enough signal.
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