How to improve your Booking.com listing

1. Start with your page score

Booking.com gives every property a property page score from 0 to 100%, based on how complete the page is. According to Booking.com, properties at 100% get up to 18% more bookings than those with incomplete content.

Next to the score, Booking.com shows what is missing: photos, facilities, policies, room descriptions. It is the quickest to-do list there is, so start with it.

2. Photos: the first one decides

Booking.com’s rules: photos should be at least 2048 × 1080 pixels, preferably 4000 × 3000. You need at least 10, guests like to see 24 or more, and the page shows the first 45.

What the rules don’t say, but we see in almost every listing:

• The first photo is the best room or the view. Never the hallway, the bathroom or the building from outside, unless that is the reason to come.
• In the order a guest walks in. Living room, bedrooms, kitchen, bathroom, terrace, then the surroundings.
• By day and landscape. Shutters open, lights on, tidy, no personal things.
• Every room at least once. A guest who doesn’t see the bathroom assumes the worst.
• No duplicates. Three near-identical photos of one room take up places that count.

3. The property name

Booking.com asks for a specific, unique name: no symbols or emojis, no words in all capitals, and the location in the name helps guests. You change it in the Extranet: the Property tab, then General Info and Change property name. Booking.com can reject a name, for example if it is misleading or not accurate.

A formula that works: type of place, what sets it apart, location. For example “Sea-view apartment with terrace, Sali” instead of “APARTMENT SALI 2 ROOMS!!”.

4. Description: answer before they ask

Guests read the description to check what they saw in the photos. Write in the order they ask:

1. Why here. One sentence on what sets you apart: the view, metres to the sea, the quiet.
2. Layout. How many rooms and beds, for how many people, which floor, a lift.
3. Practical. Parking, air conditioning, Wi-Fi, washing machine, a cot.
4. Surroundings in metres. Beach, shop, bakery, restaurant, ferry.
5. Arrival. How the key is handed over and how late guests can arrive.

No sentences in all capitals, no exclamation marks and no lists of single words. Short sentences read well on a phone, where guests most often open the listing.

5. An example: the same description, before and after

An illustration, not a real listing: the same apartment and the same facts, in a different order.

Before: “APARTMENT MARIJA!!! Nice clean apartment near the sea. Everything new. AC, wifi, parking. Welcome!!!”

After:

A terrace looking out over the islands, and the beach 250 metres below, down one flight of steps.

Two bedrooms (a double bed and two singles), a living room with kitchen and a bathroom with a shower, for up to four people. The apartment is on the first floor, with no lift.

Air conditioning in both bedrooms and the living room, Wi-Fi that reaches the terrace, and a free parking space next to the house.

The shop and bakery are 150 metres away, a restaurant 300 metres, the ferry port one kilometre.

We hand over the key in person between 3 and 10 pm. If you arrive later, let us know and we will leave it in a key safe with a code.

The first sentence says why here, and every sentence after it answers a question a guest would otherwise send as a message: how many beds, is there a lift, where to park, how to get the key.

6. Rooms, beds and number of guests

Besides the property description, Booking.com holds details for each unit: type, size, beds, bathroom and maximum number of guests. Guests filter their search by them, so a wrong detail means some guests never see you and others arrive expecting something else.

• Beds exactly as they are. A double, two singles or a sofa bed. List a cot separately.
• Guest numbers without squeezing. If the fifth guest sleeps on the living-room sofa, say so.
• Size and floor. A guest with children or big luggage wants to know about stairs.
• A unit name that says something. “Apartment with sea-view terrace” tells more than “Apartment 2”.

7. Facilities and policies

Tick every facility you really have, and none you don’t: a guest who can’t find the promised barbecue writes a review. Check check-in and check-out times, pets, smoking, deposit and cancellation terms. Clear rules mean fewer questions before arrival and fewer arguments after.

8. Price, cancellation and commission

Booking.com takes a commission on every booking, most often around 15%. Preferred Partner and Visibility Booster raise it; Genius leaves the rate as it is, but the discount you give guests lowers what you earn per night. On the Croatian flat-rate scheme you also pay 25% VAT on the commission. See what it costs you a year in the commission calculator. Nights guests book directly carry no commission, and for that you need a website for your apartment.

Besides the nightly rate, guests compare the terms. Many hosts offer two rates: a cheaper non-refundable one and a slightly higher one with free cancellation up to a set day. A minimum stay makes sense at the height of the season, while a long minimum stay outside it often leaves empty nights between bookings. Rules set a few seasons ago are worth checking at least once a year.

9. Reviews and messages

Guests read the reviews, and your replies to them. On Booking.com you can reply to a review in the Extranet. A short, calm reply, without arguing, shows the next guest how you solve problems. If the same complaint keeps coming and you have fixed it, say so in the reply and correct the description.

The same goes for messages before a booking: a guest who asks and waits a long time for an answer books somewhere else. Prepare short answers to the questions you get every season (parking, late arrival, pets, the beach), and move the most frequent ones into the description.

10. The same goes for Airbnb

On Airbnb the title has at most 50 characters, and longer ones are cut in search results, so the most important part goes first. Order the photos the same way and add short captions. From 13 October 2026 Airbnb charges hosts in Croatia 15.5% of the booking too (Airbnb: simplifying service fees), so it is worth recalculating your prices.