Do you still need an Airbnb business card to promote your vacation rental on Airbnb or other OTAs (online travel agencies) in this day and age? Your property is almost exclusively promoted on the internet and your customers find you online, so this is a valid question to ask.
We believe in most industries a well-designed business card is still one of the most effective ways to get your brand noticed and your business name out in the world. The vacation rental sector is no exception.
What has changed, though, is that nowadays you don’t need to spend a fortune on the design of bespoke vacation rental business cards.
Luckily, there are plenty of free and affordable tools out there you can use to create your own, stylish and professional business cards, even if you don’t have a creative bone in your body.
We’ll get to that later and we’ll also share some great Airbnb business card ideas and even a few Airbnb business card templates for you to download and easily customize.
If you’re worried about the environmental impact of printing business cards there are ways around this. Some people carry only a few business cards and let potential customers take photographs of them, instead of handing out a physical version.
What are business cards?
A business card is a way to make potential customers and partners notice your brand and remember your business if they’ve had previous dealings with you.
A business card also provides people with your contact details so potential customers can get a hold of you. You can hand them out at events or leave them on display in your holiday getaway for guests to take home and share with friends.
Why do you need an Airbnb business card?
Whether you’re handing your business cards out on the networking circuit or giving them to prospective guests you may meet at industry events or when going about your daily business, Airbnb host business cards signal to them that you are professional and know what you’re doing. They serve as concrete reminders of your brand and your business at a time when people are bombarded with virtual information, which is sometimes easier to ignore.
Not all your guests will come to you via the internet. Some may learn about you at travel fairs, tourism conferences, casual meetings or during other physical encounters. An impressive business card could be the one thing that differentiates you from your competitors.
What to include in your Airbnb business card?
One of the most common problems with business cards is that they might be poorly designed and don’t always contain the right information to make them useful enough.
Luckily, as we mentioned above, nowadays you don’t need to hire an expensive design agency to create vacation rental business cards.
But even if you decide to design them yourself, there are some basic guidelines to bear in mind to ensure your business cards don’t end up in the trash can. These are some of the essential elements to include in your Airbnb business card.
Logo and tagline
Your Airbnb business card should include your brand, logo and tagline and should ideally be consistent with the branding of your vacation rental website. This way, your brand identity becomes more memorable for potential guests.
The brand also ties all the marketing elements of your business together. A business card is often the first interaction a guest will have with your business, so you want to make a good impression.
Name and job title
People like doing business with people. Your business card should include your name and the job title related to your vacation rental business. This is not the place to list all your other titles, day jobs or hobbies, as it will only confuse your guests. Keep it relevant.
Adding a small professional photograph of yourself can be a nice touch to show people who they will be dealing with and to “humanize” the transaction.
Contact details
It seems obvious, but your contact information really is essential if you want people to get in touch with you. You want to make it as easy as possible for a potential customer to reach you.
The best contact details are direct ones – such as your professional email address and your mobile phone number, and ideally both. Also make sure that your answering message is professional, in case you miss a call from a prospective customer.
If your property name doesn’t already give away your location, it could be an idea to include your city as another refresher for whoever is looking at your card.
Adding the full address of your Airbnb is also recommended to make sure that guests can easily find your property.
Your website
If you don’t already have your own website, now is the time to consider creating one as this not only gives you more control over your own brand but could yield you more profit through direct bookings.
Include your website address or URL on your business card. You could also create a landing page with a URL specific to this page to capture the visitors who enter the website via your Airbnb business card.
Some ideas for such a landing page include adding a video (of you talking about your property or of footage of your property), a special offer or money-off coupon or an area guide for your rental location.
Be sure to keep the custom URL short and sweet, as this will work better to attract visits from your business card to your website. After all, no one wants to spend 20 minutes typing a web address! Alternatively, you can also include a QR code, so guests can access your website by just pointing their camera to the little black square.
If you have social media channels for your property, including your handle) i.e. What follows the @ symbol in a username) or a link to your profile will help guests to find you online and can boost your follower numbers and engagement. Vacation rental owners often use Facebook and Instagram to promote their properties and communicate with potential customers.
White space
In this case, less is more. Don’t stuff your business card with unnecessary information and ensure there is enough white space around the content to draw the reader’s eyes to the most essential information. Keep it uncluttered and simple.
Best ideas for designing your Airbnb business card
We share some do’s and don’ts to bear in mind when creating your own Airbnb business cards.
Keep it simple
As we’ve just mentioned, less is more. Don’t go overboard with colors, fonts or images.
Prioritize readability
Don’t be tempted to opt for a fancy, decorative font as these often are not very readable. Also, don’t make the font too big or too small to make your content difficult to read.
Do use both sides of your card
Why waste all that additional space, if you can use it to include and space out the more important details.
Don’t overdo the colors
Bold colors may stand out but ensure you choose colors that are consistent with your brand and are not too distracting on the eye.
Do double-check your content
A typo will make you lose credibility fast. Check, check and check again. Better yet, ask a couple of friends to proofread your card to ensure there are no mistakes.
How can you design your Airbnb business card?
As promised here are some free online DIY tools to create your own awesome business cards. They also have some great Airbnb business card ideas and examples to inspire you.
In addition, you can use most of these tools to print or order prints of your Airbnb business cards directly. You’ll find some suggestions in our description of the tools below.
Canva
Canva provides over 50,000 templates for all types of design. You can easily browse their templates by profession and customize them to your taste, or design your own from scratch. In addition to this, you can now order your prints directly from Canva in some regions. Check out their support pages for further assistance.
Moo
With a range of different finishes and templates available, Moo offers high-quality designs – or the possibility to upload a completely custom one. Their offerings vary from the traditional rectangle business card to a square style and even those made from recycled cotton t-shirt off-cuts!
Instant print
In a similar manner to Moo, instantprint allows users to design a business card from scratch, or select from one of their vibrant, double-sided designs. Instantprint even broke the Guinness World Record for the biggest business card! Though we’re not suggesting you use that size template for your vacation rental…
PsPrint
With more than 750,000 customers, PsPrint offers competitive prices for their business card packages and hundreds of predefined designs. Customers even have the option to print their business cards in a custom shape.
Download our free Airbnb business cards templates
To make life even easier, why not download our free editable template including three Airbnb business card options and customize one of them to fit your needs.
Once you’re happy with the results, start handing out your awesome new business cards to prospective clients to ensure they keep your rental in mind and know how to contact you when they plan their next vacation.
Disclaimer: Lodgify is an Airbnb Preferred Software Partner. This post, including any claims or statements within, is solely from Lodgify and is not endorsed by, directly affiliated with, authorized, or sponsored by Airbnb in any way.
