33% of Booking.com Is Now STRs: The Discount Strategy Driving 29% More Bookings

33% of Booking.com Is Now STRs: The Discount Strategy Driving 29% More Bookings

From Get Paid For Your Pad | Airbnb Hosting | Vacation Rentals | STR Revenue Management by Freewyld Foundry

April 20, 2026 · 24 min · Episode 712

About this episode

Jasper Ribbers discusses the complexities of using Booking.com for short-term rentals and the importance of strategic pricing and reviews.

Relying only on Airbnb just became a lot riskier. With the platform suspending listings after just a couple of four-star reviews, thousands of operators are scrambling to diversify. But Booking.com, the world's largest OTA with 29 million listings, isn't as simple as uploading your property and waiting for bookings to roll in. In this episode, Jasper Ribbers breaks down exactly how to navigate Booking.com's complex discount system, why your listings look "empty" without the right badges, and the strategic markup math you need to maintain profitability while offering multiple discounts. He reveals why getting your first five reviews is critical, how the Genius loyalty program drives 29% more bookings, and why accepting price inconsistency across channels is the only way to win on this platform. You will hear: Why Airbnb's binary review system (five stars = perfect, four stars = suspended) makes platform diversification mandatory now How to stack Genius discounts and mobile rates while maintaining your minimum pricing through strategic 20-25% markups What the five-review checkpoint means for Genius eligibility and why you must proactively incentivize Booking.com users to…

People in this episode

Host: Jasper Ribbers

Topics covered

  • Airbnb
  • Booking.com
  • STRs
  • discount strategy
  • reviews
  • profitability
  • loyalty program

Keywords

  • Booking.com
  • Airbnb
  • discounts
  • Genius program
  • reviews
  • STRs
  • profitability
  • listings

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Booking.com, Airbnb, Genius

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