Short-Term Rental Listing Optimization: How to Use Data to Optimize RevPAR

In the high-stakes world of short-term rentals (STR), property managers often focus on one thing: the nightly rate. While dynamic pricing is a cornerstone of revenue management, even the most competitive price won’t save a listing that fails to inspire confidence, necessitating short-term rental listing optimization.

The reality is stark: 91% of short-term rental listings have significant room for improvement in their content. More critically, the top 9% of listings with high-quality content are 38% more likely to outperform their peers in RevPAR (Revenue Per Available Room).

If you are a professional manager with 10+ listings, manually auditing every photo, title, and description across your portfolio is a Herculean task. That is why we built the PriceLabs Listing Optimizer—an automated tool designed to identify and resolve hidden issues that cost you revenue.

Why Short-term Rental Listing Optimization is Important?

Many operators believe that when occupancy is low, it’s purely a pricing or minimum-stay issue. However, PriceLabs data show that content is a major driver of RevPAR, second only to physical characteristics such as location and property size.

The Professional Manager’s Blind Spot

Interestingly, professional managers make content mistakes at roughly the same rate as individual hosts. Common “obvious” errors include:

• Low-resolution or blurry photos that look unprofessional.
• Repetitive images that make browsing cumbersome for guests.
• Amenity mismatches, such as claiming to be “waterfront” when the photos show otherwise, are common mistakes that often lead to negative reviews and lower future bookings.

5 Data-Driven Strategies for Short-Term Rental Listing Optimization

In the STR industry, we often say that while pricing gets you the consideration, your content gets you the conversion. According to PriceLabs’ research, listings with high-quality content scores are 38% more likely to outperform their competitors in RevPAR.

For professional managers, short-term rental listing optimization is about moving beyond “good enough” and leveraging algorithmic triggers to secure bookings. Here is how to do it using the PriceLabs Listing Optimizer.

1. Audit and Score Your Entire Portfolio to Prioritize “Revenue Leaks.”

Optimization at scale is impossible without a baseline. The Listing Optimizer aggregates data across nine core components—including title, description, photos, and amenities—to assign each listing a grade from A to D.

• Actionable Strategy: Don’t try to fix everything at once. Use the dashboard to identify your “D” and “C” grade listings—these are your “revenue leaks.” Focusing your short-term rental listing optimization efforts here provides the highest ROI by moving underperformers into the competitive tier.

2. Close the “Consistency Gap” to Capture Filtered Search Traffic

One of the most critical insights from the webinar is the Consistency Score. This measures the alignment between your written description, your selected amenity boxes, and your photo gallery.

• The Conflict: If you mention “Fast Wi-Fi” in your listing but haven’t checked the “Wi-Fi” amenity box in the Airbnb backend, you won’t appear to thousands of remote workers using filters.
• The Fix: Ensure every high-value amenity mentioned in your text is corroborated by a photo and a checked amenity box. This synchronization ensures you appear in filtered searches and builds the guest’s trust necessary for conversion.
• Example: If your text highlights a “Luxury Hot Tub,” ensure it is one of your first five photos and that the “Hot Tub” amenity is correctly tagged.

3. Polish Titles and Descriptions with Revenue-Based AI Heuristics

Generic AI tools often produce “fluffy” marketing text. In contrast, the Listing Optimizer uses heuristics tuned specifically for short-term rental listing optimization and revenue performance.

• Optimizing Titles: Avoid “dead” words such as “Beautiful” or “Discounted.” Instead, use the 50-character limit to highlight unique, high-value attributes.
• Example: Change “Beautiful 2BR Apartment” to “Modern Downtown Loft | Private Balcony | Near Metro.”
• Structuring Descriptions: Busy travelers scan, not read. The tool identifies descriptions that are too dense. Use bolded headers and bulleted lists to highlight essential details, such as sleeping arrangements and proximity to local attractions.

4. Optimize the “First Five” to Master the Airbnb Algorithm

Guests “eat with their eyes” first. The Listing Optimizer analyzes your “Hero” (cover) image and your first five Airbnb photos—the only images most guests view before deciding whether to book or bounce.

• Image Health Check: The tool flags technical issues that harm your Airbnb SEO, such as low-resolution files, blurry shots, or dark lighting, which signal an amateur operation to the algorithm.
• The Strategy: Your top five photos must tell a complete story. If three of your first five photos are of the same living room angle, you are wasting prime real estate. Ensure these photos showcase a variety of high-value areas: the view, the primary bedroom, and a signature amenity such as a pool or a chef’s kitchen.

5. Benchmark Content Against Local “Top Performers.”

True short-term rental listing optimization requires knowing what the market leaders are doing. The Top Performer Insights tab compares your listing against the top 10% of earners in your hyper-local comp set.

• Data Insight: If the highest-earning 3-bedroom properties in your area all feature professional photography of a “dedicated workspace,” and your listing lacks this, you have a clear roadmap for your next upgrade.
• The Competitive Edge: By identifying the “amenity gaps” between you and market leaders, you can stop guessing and start investing in vacation rental amenities proven to drive higher ADR and occupancy in your specific neighborhood.

The PriceLabs Connection: Moving Beyond the “Perfect Rate”

Dynamic pricing is only one half of the revenue management puzzle. As Pedro Borges, Director of Data Science at PriceLabs, notes: “If you don’t win the click, you can’t win the booking”.

The Listing Optimizer works alongside Dynamic Pricing to future-proof your business. By using Market Dashboards to identify amenity gaps and the Listing Optimizer to fix content flaws, you ensure your pricing tool has the best possible “product” to sell at the highest possible price.

Bottom Line

High-quality content isn’t just a “nice-to-have”; it is a competitive necessity. By automating your listing audits, you can eliminate the guesswork, save hours of manual labor, and ensure every property in your portfolio is positioned to win the click.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. How often should I run the Listing Optimizer?

Most professional managers find value in a monthly or quarterly audit. Monthly subscribers receive automatic refreshes that help catch accidental content changes in your PMS.

2. Does the tool automatically update my Airbnb listing?

No. To maintain security and control, the tool provides a checklist of recommended changes that you or your team can then implement in your property management system or directly on Airbnb.

3. What is a “good” overall score?

While everyone aims for an A, we find that listings scoring a B or higher (8+ out of 10) are already well-positioned to outperform the market.