# Airbnb description structure By HostBoost · Rental Ninja, S.L. Published: 2026-09-08 Updated: 2026-09-08 Language: en Canonical: https://hostboost.pro/guides/airbnb-description-structure The main Airbnb description field holds 500 characters; lead with the feature, split details into the extra sections, and describe only what guests will find. The main description field on Airbnb holds 500 characters. The four extra sections, Your property, Guest access, Interaction with guests, and Other details to note, have no published limit. Spend the 500 characters on the two or three things a guest books for. Move layout, access, and caveats into the sections. Describe only what is there, because a mismatch costs you the payout under Airbnb's refund policy. ## How long can an Airbnb description be? The main field accepts 500 characters. That cap comes from the limits Airbnb enforced on property management systems from 5 July 2022 ([SuperControl](https://help.supercontrol.co.uk/a/1633773-airbnb-new-content-character-limit-restrictions-full-content-only)). Airbnb's own writing guide names the fields but publishes no character count for them. Use the extra sections for practical detail and keep each one easy to scan. Check the limit shown in your editor when saving. ## Which fields make up the description? Airbnb splits the description into one main field and four sections. Each section answers a different guest question, so the same fact should appear once. | Field | Character limit | What goes there | |---|---|---| | Listing description | 500 | The two or three features that make a guest choose this place, and who it suits | | Your property | No published limit | Room by room layout, bed sizes, floor, what the windows face, outdoor space | | Guest access | No published limit | Which parts of the property guests can use, shared spaces, parking, pool hours | | Interaction with guests | No published limit | Whether you live on site, how you hand over keys, how fast you answer messages | | Other details to note | No published limit | Stairs, noise, construction nearby, pets on site, quiet hours, anything that could surprise a guest | The main field is the text guests read first. Put the sales argument in the main field and the operational facts in the sections. ## What does Airbnb say a good description does? Airbnb's guide gives four instructions ([Write an appealing listing description](https://www.airbnb.com/resources/hosting-homes/a/write-an-appealing-listing-description-13), updated 28 November 2023). Keep it brief, because guests scan for key features. Tell the story of the stay, with a specific detail rather than an adjective. Highlight the features and popular amenities that set the place apart. Be upfront about anything that could be a problem for some guests. Airbnb names limited mobility and children as examples. The guide also tells you not to repeat information that already sits elsewhere in the listing. The amenities list, the bed count, and the location map are structured fields. Text that repeats them wastes characters and drifts out of date. ## Does the description affect ranking? Airbnb publishes no ranking weight for description text. Its search explanation names price, quality, and popularity, and defines quality through photos, reviews, and "other characteristics". Write to answer the questions that stand between a page visit and a booking. Clear facts about the stay are more useful than repeating a phrase such as "best apartment". Text still does two jobs. It converts a page visit into a booking, and page visits count as popularity in that same search explanation. Since 2026, Airbnb's "Ask about this home" and personalized highlights answer guest questions from the structured fields and photos. That description comes from industry coverage of the 2026 Summer Release, not from an Airbnb page. Amenities that live only in prose and not in the tagged list stay invisible to those features. ## What happens if the description oversells? Airbnb's accuracy standard requires the photos and description to match the space, and every listed amenity to exist. Under the Rebooking and Refund Policy, a guest can report a mismatch within 72 hours of discovering the problem. Airbnb then pays the host nothing or reduces the payout by the refund ([Airbnb Help Center article 2868](https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/2868)). Accuracy is also one of the rating subcategories behind Guest Favorite status. The same subcategory feeds the top 1, 5, and 10 percent labels. An "ocean view" that needs a tilted head from the balcony costs more than the booking it wins. Write the view you have. ## How do I structure the 500 characters? 1. First sentence names the property type and the single best feature. No greeting, no "welcome". 2. Second sentence gives one concrete detail about that feature. A size, a distance, a time, a direction. 3. Third sentence names who the place suits and why. Couples, a family of four, a remote worker with a deadline. 4. Fourth sentence gives the location in guest terms. Minutes on foot to a named place, not a district name. 5. Stop at 500 characters. Everything else goes into the sections. > **Our view.** Cut the greeting first, then every adjective a photo already proves. "Welcome to our bright and spacious home" spends 39 characters and tells a guest nothing. "South-facing windows across the whole living room" is a fact a guest can check. In the listings we score, the first sentence wastes more of the 500 characters than any other. ## Example description This example sells the terrace first and leaves the practical detail to the sections. Keep the main description within 500 characters in the language you publish. ```template Listing description Top-floor two-bedroom apartment with a private 20 m² terrace in a quiet 1920s building. West-facing terrace, gas barbecue and a table for six. A 3-minute walk to the tram; the old town is a 12-minute ride away. Fast wifi and a work desk. ``` The sections then carry the rest. ```template Your property Bedroom one has a 160 cm double bed and a built-in wardrobe. Bedroom two has two 90 cm single beds, the desk, and a window onto the courtyard. The one bathroom has a walk-in shower and no bathtub. The kitchen and living room are one open space, with a dining table for four and a sofa facing the terrace door. ``` ```template Guest access The whole apartment and the terrace are private to the booking. The elevator runs from the street door to the apartment floor. Two bicycles in the ground-floor storage room are free to use. ``` ```template Interaction with guests Self check-in with a lockbox by the street door. Nobody lives on site. Messages get a reply within the hour between 8 am and 10 pm. For anything urgent, a local contact lives 20 minutes away. ``` ```template Other details to note The terrace is one flight of stairs above the apartment door, and there is no elevator to that level. The bedroom windows face the street, where two bar terraces stay open until midnight on Fridays and Saturdays. Quiet hours in the building run from 10 pm to 8 am. ``` ## Questions hosts ask ### Should the check-in instructions go in the description? No. Airbnb shows guests the detailed check-in instructions 48 hours before arrival, and the checkout instructions before booking. Put door codes and key handover in those fields, not in public text. ### Should I mention the price or discounts in the text? No. Prices and discounts are structured fields and change more often than the text. A stale price in the description is an accuracy complaint waiting to happen. ### When should I rewrite the description? Whenever the space changes. A removed hot tub or a new building site next door turns yesterday's copy into an accuracy complaint. ### Do I need to list amenities in the text? Tag them in the amenities list first. Mention in the text only the one or two amenities that drive the booking, such as a hot tub. Untagged amenities do not appear in filters or in Airbnb's AI answers. ## Sources - [Airbnb Help Center article 1926, Check-in and checkout instructions](https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/1926), Airbnb, undated, accessed 8 September 2026 - [Airbnb Help Center article 2868, Rebooking and Refund Policy](https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/2868), Airbnb, undated, accessed 8 September 2026 - [Airbnb Help Center article 2895, Listing accuracy standards](https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/2895), Airbnb, undated, accessed 8 September 2026 - [Write an appealing listing description](https://www.airbnb.com/resources/hosting-homes/a/write-an-appealing-listing-description-13), Airbnb Resource Center, updated 28 November 2023 - [How search works on Airbnb](https://www.airbnb.com/resources/hosting-homes/a/how-search-works-on-airbnb-460), Airbnb Resource Center, undated, accessed 8 September 2026 - [What to know about the highlight for top homes](https://www.airbnb.com/resources/hosting-homes/a/what-to-know-about-the-highlight-for-top-homes-666), Airbnb Resource Center, 2025 - [Airbnb new content character limit restrictions](https://help.supercontrol.co.uk/a/1633773-airbnb-new-content-character-limit-restrictions-full-content-only), SuperControl, 2022 - [Airbnb 2026 Summer Release](https://www.hostaway.com/blog/airbnb-2026-summer-release/), Hostaway, 2026 ## Apply this to your listing Get specific changes to your title, description, photos and amenities, based on your listing. [What the report includes](https://hostboost.pro/airbnb-listing-audit) · [How we score listings](https://hostboost.pro/report-methodology) · [Order a report](https://app.hostboost.pro/new?source=markdown&guide=airbnb-description-structure&lang=en)