Stop chasing more eyeballs. Start earning more trust.

New analysis of nearly 20,000 listings found that a top review score earned around 40% more search impressions but 85% more bookings, so reviews work hardest at the moment a guest decides to book. If your bookings have slowed, the fix is rarely more reach. It is giving the guests who already find you every reason to trust you, so you can fill the calendar without dropping your rate.

Why your guest reviews are a revenue lever, not a vanity metric

When bookings dip, the instinct is to reach for reach, more listings, more ads, a lower price. New data suggests that instinct is usually aimed at the wrong problem. The guests who already find your holiday home aren’t failing to see it; they’re just not yet sure they can trust it. Reviews are how you close that gap, and it turns out they’re one of the most underrated revenue levers you have.

The numbers behind it

Jeff Brown, who works on pricing and listing optimisation for short-term rentals, recently put this to the test. Using IntelliHost’s search panel, he split 19,809 listings by review score and tracked the whole funnel: how often each listing showed up in search, and how often those views actually turned into bookings.

The result is striking. Moving from a sub-4.5 score to a near-perfect one earned a listing:

About 40% more first-page search impressions, but 85% more bookings at the booking step itself.

In Brown’s words, a review score is mostly a conversion lever, not a visibility one: it helps you get seen, but it helps you get booked roughly twice as much once a guest is actually looking at your listing. The hosts pulling ahead usually aren’t winning more impressions, they’re converting the impressions they already have.

Brown is candid about one caveat: review scores travel with overall quality, so part of the effect is simply that great listings earn great reviews and convert well anyway. But the shape of the funnel is the point. Reviews do their heaviest lifting at the booking step, not the search step.

Trust is what actually converts

That shape matches what we see every day. Once a guest finds you, they’re asking one question: “Can I trust this place to deliver what it promises?” Your description can’t answer that convincingly, you wrote it. Your past guests can. Strong, specific reviews are independent proof that the home is as good as the photos, well cared for and properly hosted. They’re the reassurance that turns a maybe into a confirmed booking, often without touching the price.

What a bad review really costs

This also reframes the cost of a poor review. It doesn’t just shave a little visibility off the top. It quietly suppresses the exact moment that pays you, the click-to-book, because reviews are the last thing many guests read before they commit. Spotting the pattern early and acting on it isn’t reputation management. It’s protecting revenue.

Where reviews become revenue intelligence

Handled well, a review is more than a rating, it’s a signal about what to fix next. Read alongside pricing, occupancy and booking patterns, feedback keeps pointing at the same small things: arrival instructions, a tired mattress, the kitchen kit, a slow reply before check-in. Minor on their own; together they decide whether the next guest books, and whether you can hold your rate while doing it. Data tells us what’s happening and why. Local experience tells us what to do about it.

“People think our job is to increase bookings. That’s only part of it. Our job is to help Hosts create stays people genuinely want to talk about. Get the experience right and the reviews improve, confidence grows and performance follows. Data spots the opportunities, our Hosts’ local knowledge turns them into memorable stays.”

Josh Newman, Co-Founder and Commercial Director

Earned behind the scenes

None of this happens by accident. Exceptional reviews are hundreds of small things done well, every time: accurate pricing, fast and friendly communication, immaculate housekeeping, proactive maintenance, clear arrival information and quick, calm problem-solving. This is the real work of professional co-hosting, and it’s why more than 100 of our properties have earned Airbnb’s Guest Favourite status. The badge is nice. What it stands for, consistency guests can rely on, is what actually moves revenue.

The takeaway

Brown leaves hosts with a good question: when did you last read your own listing’s reviews the way a guest does, right before they commit?

If bookings have slowed, don’t start by buying more reach. Start by giving the people who already find you every reason to choose you. Better stays earn stronger reviews; stronger reviews convert the views you already have; and that lets you fill the calendar without giving away your rate. That’s not reputation management. That’s revenue management.

Ready to turn reviews into returns?

Our local Hosts pair hands-on care with data-driven insight to deliver stays guests rave about, and better long-term results for Owners. Get in touch to see what that could look like for your holiday home.

Get in touch about your holiday home

Source: Jeff Brown, analysis of 19,809 listings via IntelliHost’s search-impression panel (trailing 12 months), shared on LinkedIn.