How Exactly to Get Repeat Airbnb Bookings

For Airbnb managers looking to increase revenue without constantly chasing new guests, repeat bookings are one of the most powerful and overlooked strategies available. When the right systems are in place, a single guest can become a recurring source of income — booking the same property year after year, or cycling through other listings in a portfolio.

Watch the full video above or keep reading for the complete breakdown.

Which Properties Actually Generate Repeat Bookings

Not every short-term rental is equally positioned to benefit from repeat guest strategies. The type of traveler your property attracts makes all the difference.

Properties that pull in mostly international travelers — people flying in from other countries or distant cities — are less likely to see those guests return multiple times a year. The logistics simply don't support it. But properties that attract drive-market guests — people within two to four hours — are a completely different story.

If a family can load up the car and drive to your cabin or lakefront retreat a few times a year, they will. That's the nature of the staycation market, and it's why properties in scenic, drivable destinations consistently see strong repeat booking rates.

Think about the types of properties that fit this model:

• Lakefront or waterfront cabins within a few hours of a major city
• Mountain retreats and ski-adjacent properties
• Unique or novelty stays — geodesic domes, tiny homes, treehouses
• Family-friendly properties with standout amenities like hot tubs, game rooms, or home theaters

If your property falls into one of these categories, you're leaving money on the table by not actively marketing to past guests. For ideas on what amenities drive initial and repeat bookings, check out 5 Must-Have Amenities That Can Drive Guest Bookings.

Email Marketing: The Highest-Leverage Strategy for Airbnb Managers

Among all the tools available to an Airbnb host, email marketing stands out for one simple reason: you set it up once and it runs forever. There's no ongoing posting schedule, no algorithm to fight, and no ad spend required.

Once a guest has stayed at your property, they already know you. They've experienced what you offer. Re-marketing to them is infinitely cheaper than acquiring a new guest from scratch — and the conversion rates are dramatically better.

Here's what an effective email strategy looks like for STR operators:

1. Welcome email — sent automatically after booking confirmation, sets expectations and builds excitement
2. Post-stay follow-up — sent after checkout, thanks the guest and plants the seed for a return visit
3. Seasonal promotions — automated emails timed to slow seasons or upcoming holidays to nudge past guests to rebook
4. Cross-property promotions — if you manage multiple listings, email guests about your other properties with different amenity sets

The cross-property angle is particularly powerful for portfolio managers. A guest who stayed at your cozy pond-side property might love the idea of your family-friendly waterfront home with a sauna and home theater next time. You're not starting from zero with each property — you're marketing to a warm audience that already trusts you.

Pro tip: Platforms like Hostfully make it easy to build digital guest books that double as email capture tools. Guests enter their email to access the guide — simple, automatic, and every address goes straight into your list.

How to Collect Guest Emails Automatically

The catch with email marketing is that major OTAs like Airbnb don't share guest contact information. So collecting emails requires a deliberate workaround — and there are two strong options.

Option 1: Digital Guest Books

Tools like Hostfully let you create a digital guest book that guests access via a unique link. To unlock the full guide, guests input their email address. It's a natural exchange — they get useful property info, you get a direct line of communication.

The main limitation is that only the primary booker typically accesses the guest book. If a group of six people stays at your property, you might collect one email instead of six.

Option 2: Wi-Fi Login Capture

A newer and potentially more powerful approach mimics what hotels have done for years. Tools like StayFi require guests to enter their email to access the property's Wi-Fi network. Since everyone in the group wants internet access, you capture emails from the entire traveling party — not just the person who made the booking.

That's a meaningful difference. The friend who came along on the trip might be the one who books the next family getaway. Casting a wider net across the whole group dramatically increases your list's value over time.

There's another clever layer here: once guests log into the Wi-Fi, you can redirect them to your Instagram profile as the confirmation page. One login, two wins — email captured and a new Instagram follower acquired.

Instagram Strategy for Short-Term Rentals

Instagram is the second major channel for driving repeat bookings, and it works especially well for visually distinctive properties. A geodesic dome on 10 acres photographs differently than a standard three-bedroom condo — and that uniqueness translates directly into social media traction.

The core strategy has a few components:

• Organic growth — consistent posting of high-quality property photos and guest experience content to build an initial following
• Influencer partnerships — reaching out to travel-focused local influencers and offering a complimentary stay in exchange for content creation
• Giveaways — partnering with influencers to run giveaways that rapidly grow followers
• User-generated content (UGC) — reposting content that guests and influencers create at your property

The influencer angle is worth dwelling on. Travel influencers are professional content creators. When they stay at your property, they produce polished photos and videos that would cost hundreds or thousands of dollars to commission professionally. In exchange for a free two-night stay, you get a library of shareable content and exposure to their entire audience.

That said, Instagram requires ongoing effort in a way that email doesn't. Someone needs to post regularly, respond to comments, and keep the account active.

This is exactly the type of task that's better delegated to a virtual assistant or property manager rather than handled by the investor or lead host directly.

BNB Mastery recommends building this into your team structure once you have consistent occupancy and are looking to scale — not as a first step.

For hosts managing properties on behalf of owners, connecting with others navigating the same challenges can accelerate growth significantly. The BNB Tribe community is a strong resource for exchanging tactics on social media, guest communication, and building a scalable co-hosting operation.

How Repeat Guests Help You Avoid Platform Fees

Here's where the financial math gets interesting. When a guest rebooks through Airbnb, you pay the platform fee — typically around 15% — all over again. But if that guest came through your email list or Instagram, you can route them to a direct booking page and keep that 15%.

For a $2,000 booking, that's $300 back in your pocket. Multiply that across dozens of repeat bookings per year and it adds up fast.

The best approach isn't to simply pocket the full savings. Instead, offer repeat guests a modest discount — say 5% off the nightly rate — as an incentive to book direct. You still save the remaining 10%, the guest feels rewarded for their loyalty, and everyone wins.

It's a smarter outcome than forcing guests to rebook through the platform when you already have the relationship.

Setting up a direct booking page doesn't require custom web development. Channel management platforms like Hostaway include built-in direct booking functionality. You can have a professional booking page live within hours. For a deeper look at building this channel, this guide on getting direct bookings for your Airbnb covers the setup process in detail.

Hosts managing properties across multiple listings — or operating as an airbnb co host for property owners — can use this same infrastructure to drive bookings across an entire portfolio, not just a single property. The email list and direct booking platform become shared assets that benefit every property under management.

If you're building a co-hosting operation and want a proven framework for signing clients and scaling, BNB Mastery's Co-Hosting Program walks through the full process — from landing your first property to managing a portfolio efficiently.

Why Repeat Bookings Matter Beyond Just Revenue

Revenue is the obvious benefit, but experienced Airbnb managers know that repeat guests offer something more valuable: predictability and quality control.

When a past guest returns, you already know what to expect. They know your rules, your check-in process, and how to treat the property. You don't have to screen a stranger or worry about what you'll find after checkout. That peace of mind has real operational value, especially at scale.

There's also a buffer effect during slow periods. When Airbnb bookings soften — whether due to seasonal dips, algorithm changes, or broader market shifts — hosts with active email lists and engaged Instagram followings have additional levers to pull. They can send a promotion to past guests and fill a week that would otherwise sit empty.

Diversifying your marketing channels is simply good risk management for any serious airbnb hosting service. Platforms change their algorithms. Fees increase. New competitors enter the market. The hosts who've built their own audience outside of Airbnb are far more resilient to those shifts.

For hosts who want to understand how to respond when bookings slow down, this breakdown of what to do when Airbnb bookings drop pairs well with the strategies covered here.

When to Start These Strategies (And When to Wait)

One important caveat: these strategies work best once your core listing is fully dialed in. Email marketing and Instagram won't save a listing that has weak photos, an unoptimized description, or poor reviews.

The right sequence looks like this:

1. Launch on Airbnb and optimize the listing fully — photos, pricing, description, response rate
2. Build a track record of strong reviews and consistent occupancy
3. Set up email capture and basic automation (this should come relatively early — it's low-effort)
4. Expand to additional OTAs like VRBO and Booking.com
5. Build Instagram presence once you have team support to maintain it

Expanding to multiple marketing channels before the foundation is solid just means spreading thin across broken systems. One platform done well outperforms five platforms done poorly every time.

New hosts getting started with their first listing — or those still navigating the airbnb host login and setup process — should focus on nailing the basics before layering in advanced marketing. For a strong starting point, these 7 keys to a great Airbnb listing cover the foundations that need to be in place first.

Once those foundations are solid, the email and Instagram strategies covered in this article become significantly more effective — because you're amplifying a system that already works, not trying to paper over one that doesn't.

Investors looking to understand the full financial picture before buying their next property can also benefit from having the right analytical tools. The BNB Investing Blueprint includes ROI analysis frameworks that help you evaluate whether a prospective property is actually positioned to generate strong repeat booking potential — before you commit capital.

Final Thoughts for Airbnb Managers

Repeat bookings are not a passive outcome — they're the result of deliberate systems. For Airbnb managers running even a small portfolio, the combination of automated email marketing and a growing social media presence can meaningfully increase annual revenue while reducing reliance on platform algorithms.

Start with email. It's the most efficient channel available: low setup time, zero ongoing maintenance once automated, and high conversion rates from warm past guests. Add Instagram when you have the team support to do it consistently. And route repeat guests to direct booking pages to recover a significant portion of the fees that would otherwise go back to Airbnb.

The hosts who treat guest relationships as long-term assets — not one-time transactions — are the ones who build resilient, profitable portfolios in any market condition. For more on maximizing bookings and revenue across every channel, this guide on getting more Airbnb bookings covers the full picture.