Critique My Listing - Alissa in Lake Texoma, Texas

[Alissa125]

This is our first AirBnB and trying to find ways to improve bookings (just like everyone else!). One item that stands out to me is our Booking Rate. The booking rate varies between 0.1% to 0.6%, which seems low from what I've read. The property gets between 1,000 to 3,000 views per month, but only gets 1-4 bookings per month. We have professional photos, updated the listing title, updated description, checked all the amenities twice, have pretty good reviews, and use dynamic pricing. I'd love to hear from others about what we could improve. Thanks!

https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/921129774071614044?guests=1&adults=1&s=67&unique_share_id=6ef6e1eb-cbfe...

[Shelley159]

Hi @Alissa125 

I don't think things are looking too bad for you! 

I found you on page 2 for Pottsboro, flexible dates, 10 guests. It also looks like you have some bookings coming up.

Here's Airbnb's advice to improve your rank:

How search results work - Airbnb Help Center

Your price doesn't look very high compared to others (of course, lowering it is the quickest way to rank higher). In your case I would be careful to lower the price too much - you have the word "party" in the title and you accommodate large groups. I imagine cleaning can sometimes be an issue, and it costs money! Perhaps see what other boosters make sense to you - maybe free cancellation? 

For me it makes more sense to search as a guest (in private mode) to see how the listing ranks and how it moves when you make small changes. I don't look at the statistics very much, mainly because (like you) I'm always unsure exactly how to interpret them. I think the statistics will be useful if you do a proper analysis over time and keep detailed notes of what you changed about your listing and when, although what the competition did (and when) also has an impact.

[Emilie]

Hi @Alissa125, 

What an inviting cabin! It looks like a really quiet spot, are there many houses around the peninsula or is it mostly green?

In addition to Shelley's insights, I'd love to invite some of our other hosts to take a look at your listing and in case they have more suggestions: @Wade32 @Nathan146 @Rosanna51 @Shikha25 @Roy1245 @Joey28 what do you think?

Thank you everyone for your input 🙂

Emilie

[Shikha25]

Hi @Alissa125,

Your listing looks appealing to me.

Only few suggestions if u like to accommodate for guests.

1) If you can add little bit of rainbow colors in your garage to make it more appealing, just a suggestion.

2) And OfCourse adding few sachets of coffee, sugar and tea in your kitchen looks very welcoming to the guests., and also mention this in your listing.

Above all if u want to have more bookings, please increase your replying rate to enquiries. 

Airbnb promotes your listing if your response rate is good.

Otherwise, everything looks good to me.

Thanks

Good luck!

Happy Hosting.

[Rosanna51]

Hi @Alissa125 

Your listing is amazing and you seem to have covered all bases. Just a couple of suggestions if I may. Like all of us your rules include no parties. Maybe change the words “party barn” to something like “games room”. Also your description is good, it’s factual, but you could jazz it up to make your place sound like that dream getaway for family groups or friends. (Like the real estate ads 🙂 if you get my drift). 
if you’re desperate for more bookings and more positive reviews, maybe run a few specials on pricing to give it a good kick start. It does take a while to build it up and getting as many good reviews under your belt will be helpful. It took me 3 years to build mine to peak and then covid struck so I had to rebuild again after that. 
One last thing is guests love the special touches. Eg. Do you leave marshmallows for the fire pit? I leave some snack foods, biscuits, chocolates, jar of lollies and sometimes a drink like juice, cordial etc. (I don’t go overboard, just suggestions).  Even a basket with breakfast food could be good, packets of cereal, breakfast bars, fruit etc. If it’s a longer booking you could leave a bottle of wine. I went through a stage of leaving a small platter. Is your pantry stocked? I have milk, butter, spreads, jam, salad dressing, tomato/bbq sauce in the fridge. In the pantry the usual coffee and teas (one or two interesting teas also), honey, cereal, and whatever else you might think of. These are just ideas but even though guests don’t always consume a lot of it, I always get positive comments about that. The initial outlay might cost a bit, but after that it’s only a matter of topping up. 
I hope I’ve given you some helpful ideas. 
Best of luck!!!
Rosanna