Hi, nice place and welcome to hosting! Your photos are great!
The price entirely depends upon your risk appetite. It will probably be easier to get bookings at a higher rate closer to Christmas as by then you will hopefully get some bookings and build a good rating, and you will surface higher in the searches, especially if you can get super host level. But if you want a booking now, then just make it much cheaper than the comparison places in the area around that period. You are untested so guests are taking a chance on you so make it worth their while because they will be thinking, hmmm, are you still going to be hosting by Xmas if they are new and don't even have a booking yet? Btw I ignore the recommended pricing ranges. Never has been useful to me. I suspect useful for smaller properties.
Never seen anyone do add ons through airbnb for car hire. Do you mean your car? Well honestly I think if they are flying in, they will rent from the airport anyways. Your property looks at a level that they won't be coming in as backpackers!
Suggest min stay booking enforcement of 1 week, with a day to clean and turnover, then another week minimum. No one will pay for extra cleaning during their stay. You would be better off including cleaning and not doing a cleaning fee btw.
For Christmas, I let my guests know there's a Xmas tree setup for them and I provide the box of decorations and let them do it themselves. No extra charge. It helps with your ratings. You'll have to pull it down straight after Xmas (no one wants someone else's decorated xmas house for a NY booking).
Cancellation policy is your choice - pick the option you want for guests. I personally have gone with Strict on a large property, I've given up being more flexible but in your case, you might find it easier to get replacement bookings if the demand is there.
Btw, like most first timers, you are a bit light on in the description. When I'm looking to book a place, I want more details. Don't assume anyone knows where Parkwood is, indicate how far in driving from places like airport, Bribie island etc given you are on the Sunshine coast. You want to attract interstate visitors with your property! Make it easy for them to figure out where you are.
Why would I stay at your place, what's different to others? (certainly that outdoor bar building is amazing, deck 1 photo is best and could be your cover photo instead). You have 4 queen beds, but you welcome kids? The place looks like its setup for adults as I saw a glass table but I couldn't see anything that supported kids? High chairs, kids games/books, pool toys etc? You don't have to supply them but if you want families (and yes kids will put fingerprints all over your mirror wardrobes etc). Parents will be ok with putting kids in queen beds but you might want to see over time if you swap that out to some single beds. Are you supplying pool towels? If I'm travelling from afar, I need to know how much to pack vs what you supply. The more you supply the more I'm likely to book....
I also noted some personal photo displays which you would need to remove (sorry take new photos as well) because that puts me off booking a place seeing someone's family photos. Also a visitors guide with local eateries, destinations, maps etc would also be useful.
Good luck, and have fun being in the hospitality business!
Kind regs
Mary
