Wi-Fi Speed on Airbnb and Booking.com: How to Measure and Show It
Guests choose where to stay by the internet, too. According to Airbnb, guests search for Wi-Fi more often than nearly any other amenity. On Booking.com, guests can give a separate score for free Wi-Fi alongside their overall score.
So two things matter: the speed on your listing must be real, and guests must get it throughout the rental, not just next to the router.
Airbnb: the speed test in the app
Since 2021, Airbnb has let hosts measure their Wi-Fi speed in the app and show it on the listing. This is how the test works:
- Be at the property, with your phone connected to the Wi-Fi network named in your listing. The test only works in the Airbnb app for iOS and Android, not in a browser.
- In the app, open the listing and its amenities, then add or edit Wi-Fi.
- Start the test and add the result to your listing.
The test is run by an independent service, Measurement Lab (M-Lab), and it measures only the download speed. When you start it, M-Lab receives your IP address and details about your connection. Airbnb’s help page has the details.
What guests see on the listing
Next to Wi-Fi in the list of amenities, guests see the measured speed in Mbps and a description of what that speed supports. Airbnb groups the results into four tiers:
| Speed | According to Airbnb, enough for |
|---|---|
| 1-6 Mbps | messages and browsing the web |
| 7-24 Mbps | HD video |
| 25-49 Mbps | 4K video and video calls |
| 50 Mbps and up | 4K video and video calls on several devices at once |
At 50 Mbps and above, the listing gets a “Fast wifi” highlight at the top. According to Airbnb, this also helps the listing show up in search results.
Measure honestly
Airbnb is clear that the host is responsible for making sure the speed on the listing is accurate, available throughout the rental and representative of what guests can expect. In practice this means:
- Don’t measure next to the router, but where guests spend their time: in the bedroom, the living room and on the terrace. If a far room is much slower, your listing promises more than guests get.
- Measure when the property is full, too. If several apartments share one connection, the speed on a summer evening is not the same as in March.
- Repeat the test after changing your equipment or your provider’s plan, and before every season. The test only captures one moment.
- Give the exact network name and password on your listing, with upper and lower case and any special characters. That way guests get it right the first time.
If the result in the rooms is much lower than next to the router, a faster plan from your provider rarely helps. The problem is usually coverage, which we covered in Fast Internet, but Guests Complain About the Wi-Fi: Where Is the Problem?
Upload speed and latency
Airbnb’s test does not show the upload speed or the latency (ping), and these are exactly what matter to guests who work remotely and make video calls. Measure them with another test, for example M-Lab’s, and state the download and upload speeds you measured in the rooms in your listing description.
Booking.com: show the speed yourself
On Booking.com, you set your internet details in the Extranet, in your property’s policies: whether it is free or paid, the type of connection and where in the property it is available. Put the speed you measured in your property description, with the same figures as on Airbnb.
The free Wi-Fi score guests give after their stay is formed in the room, on the terrace and in the evening, when everyone is online. Good Wi-Fi throughout the property shows in the reviews, too.
A short checklist for hosts
- Measure the speed in every room and on the terrace, not just next to the router.
- Add the result to your Airbnb listing, and put the download and upload speeds in your description on Airbnb and Booking.com.
- Use the same figures on every platform.
- Repeat the test before the season and after every change.
- If the rooms are much slower than the spot next to the router, fix the coverage before a guest writes about it in a review.
We can help
We will measure the speed and coverage in your apartment or holiday home, find the weak spots and propose a solution that fits your space and your budget. Before the season you can also go through our checklist. With proactive maintenance, we continuously monitor the network, so we often fix a fault before a guest notices it.
For a quote, tell us about your property in a short questionnaire and you will hear from us within 2 business days.
