Critique my listing, Brendan (Piemonte, Italy)

[Brendan292]

Hi to you fantastic hosts. Buongiorno tutti. 

I'm new to this and am sure I've made several errors creating the listing and know I need to go back and do some editing. 

But it would be wonderful, very welcomed and with my huge gratitude if you could give advise/suggestions and any input at all which will help get our first booking.

It's a magnificent XIII Royal castle in Piedmont, Italy in a UNESCO world heritage protected zone, full of stunning vineyards and impossibly beautiful villages. I think it's a secret location, so we want to change that and spread the word that it exists for an actual once-in-a-lifetime experiences. 

This is the listing

https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/815918861106419359?source_impression_id=p3_1677846616_KX3Vfxu95YOl8ZSv

Thank you so very much and have a terrific day,

Brendan

[Jenny]

Hi @Brendan292 

Fantastic to see you here - and thanks for posting your request for a critique!

I thought I'd tag some of our wonderful, established hosts to see if they can give you some feedback on your castle.

Calling @Robin4, @Kitty-and-Creek0, @Clara116 and @Pat271 - would love to see you share your thoughts if you've got a moment!

Jenny 😊

[Clara116]

@Brendan292 Wow, what an incredible castle. Just fantastic. The cover/ thumbnail pic is perfect but all the other pics except of few are not in the same class - where's the pics of jacuzzi and much more. For the price I'd imagine guests want to see much more, I would. I'm not in that class of folks that would be booking such but I would imagine they expect more highly professional photography. More descriptions about the chef, and other things offered. 

I'm at a loss for more ideas, I'd love to visit, stay there and dine outside! WOW....love it.

Happy Hosting, Clara

[Brendan292]

@Clara116 Hi Clara. Oh my Gosh. Level 10. I'm very honored to get your feedback, so thank you so much and please forgive my tardiness. This week has been a challenge with two sick babies, my wife unwell and in treatment and our Nanny away visiting family in Spain. Dr. Mom playing Winnie the Pooh and cleaning up vomit lol. But time with them is precious even when they're sick.

You're definitely right about the photos. We will post better ones and hire a professional photographer to showcase it as it justly deserves. It's a beautiful property and I'm very privilege to be part of such an exciting project. There's a London Plane tree in the gardens  which is 300 years old. Imagine. A massive, magnificent tree.

Good idea about the chef. We'll put some more info about hat and upload photos of delicious preparations he presents to enthusiast guests. I think that will be a strong visual to pull people into the sense of actually being there.

There's an open welcome anytime you want to visit. Stunning areas around Barolo with vineyards rolling to the horizon only interrupted by impossibly romantic hill top villages with those tall belltowers you see from the distance. Stupid beautiful and so much to explore, so com anytime. Come hungry 🙂

Have a great rest of week and best regards. Thank you so much again for jumping in to help. I'm very grateful.

Brendan

[Clara116]

@Brendan292 Thanks for your most kind reply. I totally love the description and wanna jump on a plane today ----  I am sure your place and the surrounding area are breathtaking. I have no doubts you will do really well and fill many guests lives with paradise trips and special dreams answered. 

Your willingness to be receptive to feedback is also such a super positive part of hosting. Keep me posted how things continue to advance and develop. 

All the best to you. Happy Hosting, Clara

[Pat271 · Accepted solution]

Wow, @Brendan292, I feel almost incompetent to expertly judge such a grand, beautiful castle, but here are a couple of tips.

As @Clara116 said, you definitely need more photos. Imagine yourself as the guest, and what you might want to see. Showing the kitchen, more of the grounds around the castle, the views from the inside of the castle looking out, more bathroom and bedroom areas, etc. would be helpful. No number of pictures is too many for a place like this!

Also as @Clara116 said, you need better photos to more closely match the quality of this listing. Better lighting would help in the bedrooms, even though you turned the lamps on. Professional cameras and lighting would really enhance the highlights of this beautiful place.

Captions under each photo would help as well. It’s hard to tell with a couple of the photos what the purpose of the room is. Put the photos in an order in which you can show to a certain extent the flow of the place as you are walking through it, starting with the foyer.

Expand your description. Put yourself in the place of the guest, and describe the place imagining what they will experience.

Have you considered renting out by the room? That might make the cost within reach of a wider group of people. Also, I notice you have a 1-day minimum. Do you have a 24-hr gap between bookings? I would think a place this size would take many hours to prepare for the next guest, so make sure you have enough time.

As you said, you know you are not quite finished, so I’m sure you have already thought of some of these items. Please come back when you’ve refined it - I’m sure we’d all like to see the finished listing.

Congratulations on acquiring and preparing such a beautiful property. I’m sure it was no small feat. You must be very proud!

[Brendan292]

Hi Pat, thank you so much for your input and suggestions. I couldn't agree more with all you've said here. We definitely need to hire a professional photographer and wil be doing so asap. We'll be creating a 3D walk through using the latest technology so that potential guests can walk through from room to room virtually. It's brand new technology so we are super excited to get the techs in to do it. I'd like to make it a tour kinda video experience, whereby the guests see the property unfold from the entrance at the gate, through the gardens, into the foyer and son through the beautiful function room, restaurant and finally the rooms. It's small. Only 9 rooms.

Captions are a great idea. And we have lots more photos we'll add in the interim. Expanding descriptions, too. All your advise is very helpful and you're quite observant and objective. I'm very grateful. I'll send you an updated listing link when we make the changes.

That's very insightful of you about the time required for cleaning and getting set up for the next guests, especially if they had a party or gathering etc. I feel we are confident that there's enough time from check out to check in for the cleaning team to get it all done and we'll definitely need additions; back-up staff to amp it up if we are pushed. All hands on deck kinda scenario.

Renting by the room is also a good idea. We didn't really consider that yet. Would it mean creating 9 individual listings on AirBnB? With 9 separate calendars? It is a great idea and could get the cash flow started sooner than later for sure. If you were on our team, I'd recommend a pay rise for you 🙂

Iv'e been to South Carolina. I lived in Boston and Naples Florida on the Gulf of Mexico, so we made the drive up and down many times and drove through your beautiful state. I played golf there once and stayed over a few times. It's a beautiful part of the world and I do miss living in America sometimes.

Have a great day and best regards,
Brendan

[Pat271]

@Brendan292  Thank you for your flattering response. I can tell you are a genuinely hospitable person and will be very successful with this property!

What you can do for booking flexibility in Airbnb is create a parent listing, and several child listings for each bedroom. Airbnb provides the ability for you to create links to accomplish this. That way guests can rent the whole castle, or just 1 bedroom in the castle. The way the algorithm works is that if one of the bedrooms is booked, the “parent” listing becomes unavailable for that period, and if the parent is booked, all of the child bedroom listings become unavailable for that period. Calendar magic!

[Brendan292]

Thank you Pat. You're very kind to say that.

We'll have to research figures, timing and staff costs about renting individual rooms as opposed to the entire castle. Our initial thinking is how amazing it would be for a family or group of friends to have the entire place to themselves as if they owned it themselves. That would be a priceless experience for a family reunion or anniversary, for example. A single bedroom booking might limit us but then I have no idea how the calendar works until you mentioned here. I'm open to anything like your suggestion.

All the best for now and best regards. Thank you again.

Brendan

[Helen744]

@Brendan292  the snag for you here is that the property lends itself to parties , which are banned on Airbnb. Please consult with Customer service on this sooner than later, or go with one of the other booking types.... H

[Brendan292]

Thank you so much Helen, you're very kind to help out. You're so right. It screams parties and good wine, great photo ops etc. . We did consider that and so we'll arrange parties, events and the latest Ferrari product launch, or fashion galas off this platform because of what you mentioned. We can add additional concierge options like celebrity chef and balloon rides for example on here with no problem. I chatted with one of the administrators in advance of making the listing to make sure that is allowed, so that's terrific and exciting.

Thanks so much for taking the time to jump in. I'm very grateful.

Have a fun the rest of your week and best regards,

Brendan

[Kitty-and-Creek0]

@Brendan292 

Thanks for sharing and welcome! 

My fellow hosts have pretty much covered what I would suggest. It is such a gorgeous property in an extraordinary location. Have fun with it! 

[Brendan292]

Hi Kitty, thanks for welcoming me. It's the most exciting project I've been involved with. Can't wait to show guests literally an experience of a lifetime. Photos of the surrounding vineyards do it no justice. Stupid beautiful place with fairytale villages perched on gentle hilltops. So many places to picnic and soak in the atmosphere and just be. The food isn't too shabby either. And, there's wine 🙂

Thanks for checking in. I love the energy and feel the love coming in from all you highly accomplished hosts which is so motivating. 

All the best and kind regards,

Brendan

[Helen744]

@Brendan 292 a beautiful and extremely classy place Brendan.I assume that your guests will need to be wealthy to afford this .Add pics of a ferrari ,and handbags and the chef and some lovely food. the experienece of staying with you is super important  All you need are some bookings. I would hold out for week long bookings initially .Please show a co host as people who can afford such luxury really need some extra attention. Some cosmetic products and other products available in the area. Emphasise privacy , do not go down the path of a room a night. stay classy  Its a good idea as some good hosts on here have done to take pics of guests enjoying the luxury. Privacy in such a place is a luxury without price. Good Luck.... H

[Brendan292]

Hi again Helen, I didn't realize you responded twice. Thanks x 2.

Terrific advise here. Really. You totally targeted on point because yes, you are absolutely right about luxury cars, handbags and one of the biggest areas of focus....delicious food and incredible wines. There's a "wine cellar" which is stunning and not being utilized yet to it's potential. Those beautiful brick ceilings, arched wonderfully. It's the simplicity in the old architecture which you marvel at walking around. Gorgeous frescoes on the ceilings in some rooms and velvet wall coverings. Who needs wall paper lol? 

Great idea about the co host which I'll include in the price and an option for 24/7 concierge . This clientele always appreciate the extra attention and service. 

Yes, that grand driveway needs to be decorated with Ferraris. You're very observant.

For these people, privacy is paramount which is the lure of the concept to be able to rent the entire property and gardens all to themselves. They're willing to pay this asking price to have the luxury of complete privacy. In these situations, even our staff will be always close by but maybe not visible. Not hiding but just to give the impression that they own the place for the week. You're astute, thank you. 

Brendan