It’s that time of year again. Pumpkins fill the shelves, phantoms lurk around every corner, and ordinary homes transform into haunted houses. But the real nightmare for vacation rental hosts isn’t creaking floorboards or flickering lights. It’s listings that sit invisible, unbooked, and ghosted by guests.
Just imagine: you take great photos, craft a glowing description, and set the perfect price, yet your calendar remains hauntingly empty. Pretty spooky, right?
With the right mix of data, technology, and strategy, you can avoid this nightmare rental situation, and with the best tools under your belt, you can even raise your underperforming listings from the dead.
In this article, we’ll show you how to make your properties truly visible and bookable, and set your business on a path toward fulfilling your long-term ghouls—sorry, goals!
When your listings are live and in-demand, there’s nothing scary about October at all.
Haunted listings and how to make your properties visible
Haunted houses, ghost trains, and horror movies. Sometimes we love a good scare, but we’re generally much less thrilled when it comes to losing rental revenue.
Oh yes, there’s another kind of haunted house in the vacation rental industry, and it’s not nearly as exciting. These are the haunted listings: properties that sit lifeless on booking platforms, drawing no attention and generating no bookings.
According to industry data, Airbnb alone has seen over 18,000 properties go completely unbooked before promotions were introduced. These “invisible” listings are often the result of a lack of exposure to the right demographics, insufficient reviews, or content that doesn’t inspire guest confidence.
Unlike our much-loved Halloween attractions that thrive on being mysterious, vacation rentals succeed when they are discoverable, transparent, and appealing.
To the business-minded property manager, a haunted listing is far scarier than a dark attic or a creaky staircase. It represents a real financial loss for someone who has invested time, energy, and resources into creating guest-ready spaces and a sustainable revenue strategy.
And while an empty haunted house may thrill visitors, an empty calendar is the true nightmare for a host.
The real horror stories in vacation rentals
Every property manager has a story or two that makes the hairs on the back of their neck stand up , and while they (probably) don’t involve ghosts or monsters, these operational nightmares can be just as unsettling.
So gather round, and let us tell you three troubling tales from the dark side of property management:
- Ghosted listings: Perhaps the most common frustration, ghosted listings occur when a property is published but gains no traction. Days turn into weeks, weeks into months, and still no bookings appear. For managers, this can be a tricky issue to fix, and the fact that revenue is being lost while maintenance costs and other overheads remain, can quickly turn this situation into a nightmare.
- Sync errors leading to double bookings: Technology mishaps can be another struggle for property managers. Without robust channel management, a calendar sync error can result in double bookings on your listing. Suddenly, one property is booked for the same dates by two different groups of guests, creating confusion, extra work, and often resulting in refunds or reputational damage.
- Manual work nightmares: Many managers know the pain of juggling manual processes, like painstakingly updating rates, availability, or guest messages across multiple platforms. It’s tedious, repetitive, prone to human error, and full of potential pitfalls.
The solution? Well, there are many ways to improve your operations, but using a channel manager is a great place to start.
A channel manager is a powerful tool that can perform many different tasks that help to make your listings more visible and bookable, such as:
- Synchronize listings across multiple booking channels
- Centralize communications through a single, unified inbox
- Automate operations like pricing, promotions, and guest communication
- Real-time data analytics, to help optimize your marketing and distribution strategy
- Yield higher occupancy rates through the use of smart booking tools
How to make properties visible and bookable
So how do you turn the page on these troubling tales and start a new chapter of rental success, where your properties are visible to the right guests, attract consistent bookings, and are well prepared to provide reliable revenue for years to come?
The key is understanding how to make your properties visible and bookable through data-driven tactics and smart strategies.
There are plenty of ways to do this by using the tools featured on Rental United’s channel manager, and by transitioning to solutions with supporting Rental United data, you can ensure that your strategies are backed up with more than just rumours.
Here’s how:
Make use of promotions
Approximately half of all listings that secured their first booking in the second half of 2024 had an Airbnb New Listing Promotion applied. This feature gives properties a vital visibility boost during their most vulnerable stage (the first few weeks after going live). Listings appear as “New” on Airbnb until they receive three guest reviews, which naturally sparks curiosity and attracts early clicks. Data shows that properties using this promotion experience a 21% reduction in unbooked listings compared to those that don’t. In short, the New Listing Promotion helps property managers avoid the dreaded “ghosted listing” phase by ensuring fresh listings are seen, clicked, and booked, rather than left to lurk unseen in the digital shadows.
The data is clear. Visibility tools drive results.
Rentals United data shows that properties adopting visibility-enhancing tools see 31% more views on average. More visibility equals more clicks, which ultimately translates into more bookings.
Tactical tips
With the right tactics, you can banish the ghost of your unbooked properties, and transform your haunted listings into thriving guest magnets.
Here are four top tips:
1. Use promotions and discounts to trigger first bookings
Remember, guests will pass by your listing unless there’s something inviting to draw them in. Here’s the trick–promotions and early discounts are like a lit jack-o’-lantern on the porch, sparking curiosity. Once the first guests book and leave positive reviews, visibility will steadily improve.
2. Optimize listing content
The difference between a ghosted listing and a booked listing often lies in content. Clear titles, high-quality photos, and accurate, compelling descriptions make a huge impact. Think of your listing as a story. If it’s engaging, and captures guests’ imagination, then you’ll have no trouble generating interest and making those all-important conversions.
3. Leverage analytics and automation
Manual updates are yesterday’s news. Today, property managers can use channel management platforms to automate pricing updates, sync calendars, and monitor performance across dozens of channels. This not only reduces the risk of errors but also ensures your properties remain competitive in a crowded market.
4. Stay compliant and guest-friendly
Even visibility won’t help if compliance issues or poor guest experiences tarnish your listing. Automated guest registration, smooth check-ins, and reliable communication tools create the kind of experience that drives repeat stays and positive reviews. And positive reviews are one of the most powerful drivers of visibility.
The transformation is real: from ghosted listings to guest-loved homes. It’s nothing supernatural really, just smart distribution and optimization.
Conclusion
This Halloween season, the only thing haunted should be your decorations, not your property listings.
Haunted houses are all fun and games, but haunted listings drain revenue and morale. The good news? You can banish the ghosts of low visibility with data-driven strategies, smart tools, and the right partners.
Rentals United has helped thousands of property managers escape the cycle of invisible listings, empty calendars, and manual operational nightmares. With solutions that integrate seamlessly with Airbnb’s New Listing Promotion and visibility tools proven to deliver results, it’s now easier than ever to transform underperforming properties into thriving ones.
Don’t let your listings fade into the shadows. Bring them to life, draw guests in, and keep your calendars glowing with new bookings.