Any Advice for my first listing

[Kieran99]

Hello everyone,

This is my first ever time hosting and I think I need advice on to get some midweek bookings.

I've had about 7 bookings since I went live 1 week ago, I use pricelabs too.

Any Advice to get more bookings in general and midweek bookings especially. 

I know reviews is one so hopefully I get few coming up

Thanks

Kieran

[Marie8425]

@Kieran99 

I don't know the answer but somebody with more Airbnb platform might?   as a Guest I wanted to price a reservation.  I open the calendar, shows rest of June open but when I pick a start date I am only allowed to book 4 days.  Have you set your days of occupancy that low?  I would suggest at least allow a week  since you can accomodate 6 people.  The size of the group is not usually making a quick stop somewhere.

[Kieran99]

Hi @Marie8425 thanks for the feedback! 

It may be because thats all thats available and the other days are booked up and June and crossed off.

Thanks again for the feedback

[Kia272]

@Kieran99  Since neither your living room  nor dining table appear to accommodate 6 people, perhaps you should lower your capacity. Higher capacity isn't always better. 

It's a mistake that a lot of new hosts make. 

If you think about your target market, what would it be? Two couples? Your place is perfect for 4 people. A small family? Two bedrooms is perfect. You can make note in your listing that a 5th can be accommodated, and perhaps charge for a 5th person (maybe restrict it to children?)

That's really the only comment I have. Good luck with your hosting venture. 

[Joan2709 · Accepted solution]

Hi @Kieran99 

Love your place and location! A few things stood out to me on the listing that maybe you can "tweak" and try out. When I optimize a listing for a Host client, I usually start with the areas below first: 

1. Cover Photo
2. Title
3. The Rest of the Photos
4. Description

New Listing Strategy

Market research shows that many guests make a booking decision based on Title, Photos and Reviews. For new hosts that don't have any reviews, your photos are that much more important. You only get the "New Listing Boost" in search for a short period and you need to get as many bookings and reviews during that period to "jump start" the listing (preferably all 5 stars). I always suggest professional photos as a starting point. They are not that expensive and will pay for themselves quickly. This can make all the difference on the success of your listing. 

Title

Your Title should convey the best most unique features of your listing. Try:

           "River Views! Walk to Waterfront/City Centre"

Cover Photo

This is the most critical photo of the entire listing. It should highlight the best, most unique features of the listing. Collage photos never seem to do well on Airbnb. This is because the thumbnail photo in search results is too small to handle 4 photos for guests to see clearly; they will simply scroll past your listing in search results. You also have text covering a lot of the detail? I would stick with a single photo for the cover photo and don't use text as it is detracting and distracting. I would put “Green Property” somewhere in your description and not put overlying text on your cover photo. Remove the 2nd photo with the review text. It’s hard to read and I can’t tell where it’s from as your listing says “No Reviews”?

Current Cover - Collage 

Your most unique amenities are probably your views of the waterfront/city and location (walkable). I would use maybe one of the photos below as your cover until you can get professional photos done. I would try and use a twilight exterior photo showing your proximity to the river or a twilight photo from inside the unit showing the river/city views at twilight as your cover photo. A professional photographer can help you with that:

I also like this photo too as it’s shows the river, but it’s in portrait mode (should be landscape), too small, and too far away to use as a cover photo. I also don’t know if this is a picture of your building or not, as there is no caption:

Photo Captions

Put captions/descriptions on ALL your photos. Otherwise, guests cannot determine what they are seeing in the photo. Highlight the great features of each photo. So for a Kitchen photo you can caption:

“Open concept, spacious kitchen with all new appliances make prepping meals a breeze!”

Midweek Bookings

These are usually the most difficult to book; especially in low season. Unfortunately, as a new listing you can't use Airbnb's Custom Promotions yet, but I would do that when the listing becomes eligible for that. You can also say something about discounts in the first sentence of your description to attract bookings. 

Wishing you much success! Let us know how here how it goes 😊

[Autumn11]

Your spot on about the collage photo, and if it has any kind of logo or anything I instantly bypass that listing ... I feel like if it's a single room listing the main photo should be the best looking photo of the bed, if it's a whole house I like it if it's the most attractive or comfortable looking room, usually a living room... 

[Quincy]

Welcome to the Community Center @Kieran99! I was wondering if you have seen the helpful replies from everyone here 😊 It would be great to hear back from you! 

[Kieran99]

Yes absolutely fantastic above and beyond replies, currently taking into account everything thats been said !

[Quincy]

This is great to hear @Kieran99! Were you able to implement a few bits of the advice given? 😊