What really decides a property's position on Booking.com, Airbnb and other booking portals?

Booking portals do not reveal exactly how their algorithms work, and the rules differ between platforms. We do, however, know a good deal about the factors that affect a listing's visibility.

Put simply, every portal wants the same thing the owner wants: for the user to find the property they are looking for and make a booking. That is why the two basic elements are a competitive price and good conversion.

If a listing appears in search results, users open it and then go on to book, the portal gets a signal that it appeals to guests. If, on the other hand, the property is shown again and again without generating enough interest and sales, its results may be weaker. That, however, is not where optimising a profile ends.

Sometimes it is better to sell cheaper than not to sell at all

This is one of the most important rules of revenue management, and at the same time one of the hardest to accept.

Imagine a property that normally costs 600 zloty a night. A few days before the date, Wednesday and Thursday are still free.

Intuition says: "I am not selling for 450 zloty, that is below what my property is worth".

That is the trap of thinking about price instead of revenue. A night has one crucial property: its shelf life runs out with every passing hour of the day. Once the day is over, an unsold night brings in exactly 0 zloty of revenue, and you carry the fixed costs of the property anyway. Revenue management is not about defending a theoretical value on a rate card at all costs, but about maximising the real revenue from every available day.

What is more, winning a booking even at a lower price can matter beyond the revenue from that one night. Selling regularly helps keep conversion and popularity indicators healthy, and with them the listing's visibility for the next potential guests. A profile in good shape can in turn make the next bookings easier to win, including on dates where much higher rates will be possible.

None of this means the answer is to keep cutting prices. Quite the opposite. Professional price management is also about maximising rates in periods of high demand. That is why it is sometimes worth deliberately earning less on a single booking in order to support the property's results over the longer run.

What matters most, though, is finding the balance between the average nightly rate and occupancy. A property sold for 20 nights at 600 zloty brings in more revenue than the same property sold for 10 nights at 800 zloty.

The name, the main photo and the content of the listing

A high position in search results is not enough. The guest sees many properties side by side and decides within seconds which of them to open. That is why the way the listing is presented matters enormously.

The main photo is particularly important. It should show one of the property's greatest strengths and, at the same time, look good as a small thumbnail in search results.

In an apartment that could be a striking living room, the view from the window or a distinctive interior. For a cabin in nature, a photo showing the whole property together with its surroundings, the deck, the view, a hot tub or whatever else makes guests choose that particular place can work far better.

What counts here is a professional photo shoot. It is worth handing it to a photographer or an agency that specialises in interiors and places to stay, even if the photos we took ourselves seem good enough. Competition in the short-term rental market is intense, and in search results customers compare our listing with many others within a matter of seconds. Professional photos do not only show the property attractively, they also convey its space, light, proportions and key strengths properly. It is photography that often decides the first click, without which there is no chance to win the guest over with price, description or amenities.

The name of the listing plays a similar role. Instead of settling for a neutral proper name, it is worth using it to communicate the property's most important advantage: the location, the view, a sauna, a jacuzzi, being close to the beach or another feature that matters to a traveller.

The description on the portal should be complete, but above all it should answer the questions a guest asks before booking. The point is not to write the longest possible text, but to remove the doubts standing between opening the listing and clicking "book".

Promotions increase visibility in search results

Booking portals now let you target discounts at specific groups of users ever more precisely.

The best known example is Genius on Booking.com. Members of the programme can receive special prices and benefits at participating properties. AlohaCamp runs the Outdoors Club programme, where hosts can offer club members special prices on selected dates, among other things.

A promotion then becomes a sales tool rather than an ordinary markdown. It can be used, for instance, to stimulate sales on weaker dates, encourage earlier bookings, win last-minute stays or extend the average length of stay.

Better positioning in exchange for a higher commission

This is another part of how portals work that the guest usually never sees at all. Some platforms give owners and operators tools that increase a listing's exposure in exchange for a higher commission. There are options that raise a property's visibility through an additional commission cost or through taking part in certain preferred programmes.

At first glance it might seem that a higher commission is always a bad deal. It does not have to be. Suppose the extra exposure costs the owner a few dozen zloty more on a particular booking, but thanks to it a date is sold that would otherwise have stayed empty.

The tool can be especially useful in periods of weaker demand, when a specific date needs more exposure, or when we want to give the listing's sales a push. What counts is the final economic result, not the commission percentage itself.

Cancellations by the property are particularly dangerous

A confirmed booking cancelled by the owner or the operator is one of the most problematic things that can happen from the portal's point of view.

The reason is simple. The guest made a choice, paid or gave their payment details, stopped looking for another place to stay and started planning the trip. Cancelling their booking can mean having to find an alternative, sometimes with far less availability and at higher prices.

For every portal that is a direct worsening of its customer's experience. Platforms may therefore apply various consequences to hosts who cancel bookings, and a history of such events can also affect how the quality of the listing is judged.

Managing availability correctly across many portals at once is therefore particularly important. Professional rental management uses PMS systems and channel managers for exactly this, so that a booking made in one place automatically blocks availability in the remaining channels. Cancelling a booking should be an absolute last resort, not a way of fixing mistakes in calendar management.

Reviews can count for more than the average

A score of 9.5 looks better than 9.0. But looking only at the average is too much of a simplification. The number of reviews matters as well. A property rated 10.0 after two stays does not have the same history as one with a 9.1 based on 150 reviews. A large number of positive reviews builds credibility in the guest's eyes and gives the portal far more information about the quality of the property. Profiles with a slightly lower score but more reviews may rank higher in search results.

It is also worth analysing the individual parts of the scores. If comments about cleanliness, the quality of the bed, the Wi-Fi, the check-in process or how well the photos match reality keep coming back, the problem should not be treated purely as a matter of image. It is information that some element of the product needs fixing. A high score is then the result of a well-managed property, not a goal in itself.

Good positioning is a process, not a one-off optimisation

There is no single switch that puts a property on the first page of search results for good. Nor is there one universal "position" for a property. Results can differ depending on the dates, the number of guests, the length of stay, the filters applied, the profile of the user or the current competition. That is why a listing on a booking portal needs constant work.

You have to watch competitors' prices and demand, react to changes in conversion, manage promotions, keep an eye on availability, analyse reviews, test how the listing is presented and use visibility tools deliberately. All of these elements are connected.

Great photos will not help much if the price is completely detached from the market. Extra visibility will not bring the results expected if users open the listing but do not book it. A low price will not solve the problem of bad reviews either.