Critique my Listing - Dawn in Marigot Bay, St.Lucia

[Dawn1125]

Good day,

I recently purchased a property in August 2024. It was already a listing on airbnb but under different ownership. As the new owner I am getting bookings on Vrbo but not Airbnb. I am starting to think that my listing is not standing out for a reason on Airbnb. I would greatly appreciate any feedback on my listing based on what you are seeing, Below is the link to my listing page. All critics are welcomed. Thanks

https://airbnb.com/h/jewels-villas

Kind Regards

Dawn

[Jesse697]

Hi there, 

I shoot photos for listings as my business, so I feel semi qualified to share my opinion with you. I think the most important factor to consider is that you listing will be sat to the left and to the right of hundreds. Why would someone click on, look through, and book your home. What appeal do you have to help you stand out in the sea around you. If you cannot answer this question I think you may see results that are in line with that lack of appeal. 

It is best to understand the cycle of listings performance. Airbnb's algorithm shows guests homes the statistically determine they are most likely to book. What stats do they use to determine that? Click through rate. If a listing gets clicked on 30% more than those around it, Airbnb's algorithm will flag that home as one that is more appealing, and will in return show it to more people. The same goes for every other metric you can think of such as conversion rate. A listing that stands out get's clicked on more, a listing that get's clicked on more gets booked more, a listing that gets booked more get's shown to more guests. Then, the cycle continues until Airbnb's algorithm detects that listing as accurately placed in rankings, and who sees it vs who does not. 

Play into what the platform wants from your listing. 

[Dawn1125]

So if I understand correctly the algorithm uses click rate to determine appeal. So the more visits to my page the higher up I show up in the searches. Thanks for that info. 

Dawn

[Jesse697]

Think of it in a compounding manner. The listing that performs the best on metrics, will of course be clicked on and booked more because it's click through rate and conversion rate are higher. However, it will also be shown more because of that. So a small improvement to those metrics will make a very large difference as it is not 1% more of the same quantity of people, but 1% more of 5 times more people let's say. 

[Dawn1125]

What is the conversion rate about?

[Jesse697]

The percentage of people that book your home once they have already clicked on your listing. If 100 people click, and 2 book. Your conversion rate will be 2%. Once again, determined by the effectiveness of your photos, the appeal of your price, and potentially your caption and any other factors you would personally look at when deciding to book a home for yourself.

[Dawn1125]

Thank you @Jesse697. You have been very helpful

Regards

Dawn

[Paula]

Hi @Dawn1125, I am tagging @Jesse697 here so they receive a notification of your message. This way, we increase the chances of them getting back to us.

Quick tip: To tag someone, tap "@" and select the host's username from the dropdown menu 😊

[Karen114]

@Dawn1125  Looks like an amazing spot!  I think you could afford a lot less pictures and better pics.  The ones you have are not doing your space any justice. 

VRBO tends to attract a more mature crowd, families and extended stays, longer than a couple of nights. Airbnb attracts shorter stays, younger crowds and little more budget conscious. 

I have listings in Florida and Mexico.  My larger Florida location attracts families that stay for a week or more.  Snowbirds that stay for the month.  Most of my bookings for this location are from VRBO.

I have smaller budget listings in Florida that do well on Airbnb and meh on VRBO. 

My Mexico location very rarely gets any bookings on VRBO and it's all Airbnb.  So the short answer is each listing site attracts a demographic as well as location.  

[Dawn1125]

Thanks for the input Karen. Never looked at it from a demographic perspective