High Occupancy Rate/Low Conversion Rate! Help!

[Shelby209]

Hi All! 

I've been hosting for just about a year now in Denver when I'm traveling for work (which is a lot since I own a travel company!). I'm a Super Host and in the Top 10% of homes in Denver. I'd love to get in the Top 5%! 

I just recently learned about the business tools on Airbnb. DUH I KNOW. So now I have access to my booking conversion, lead time, average nights, and all these other cool stats. 

The Airbnb does really well for being a small historic bungalow! But I recently learned that I have a .4% conversion rate over the last year but a 77% occupancy rate for nights available over the past year. 

I'm curious.... what could I be doing better? My Airbnb started at $150 a night and is now selling at $345 on weekends or sometimes even higher close to $600-$800 per night and only sleeps 6 people which is great!  Note: I do not accept instant bookings and only approve 5 Star guests (this is my personal home), so if I decline bookings does that affect my conversion rate? I probably decline a booking 1-2X per month. 

Would love feedback on the listing, if this is a problem having a low conversion rate,  should I be increasing my prices or decreasing them etc... 

My goal is to continue even in the slower seasons, to bring in over $7-8K per month which I actually think is doable. My high seasons do $11-$12k. My mortgage is $3K and expenses never exceed $1000 per month including cleaning fees. I'm currently doing $6500/month in the slow seasons. 

Thanks so much! 

[Marie8425]

@Shelby209 

Your home is amazing.

My only suggestion would be maybe for winter months, I am thinking cold.  Change the focus pictures your garden is beautiful but I probably won't be looking to sit in the garden in November in Colorado, Haha.

Change to focus on private hot tub fireplace and your beautiful sun room.

An hour for skiers isn't far, but talk about easy plowed highway travel and storage place for skis.

You might get Hawaiians like me we have crazy imaginations about snow lol.  If the parking is in a garage that's a plus.  

[Inna22]

@Shelby209 I assume you are talking about the overall conversion rate? How do you know that this conversion rate is low for your area? Mine is 0.36%. Could I do better? Probably. However my occupancy rate is pretty good. While you are correct in trying to improve your listing, you should not zoom in on one metric. I would argue that listing to booking rate is more important. Someone bothered to click on your listing. Why did they walk away?

I of course work on perfecting my listings all the time but I do not overthink my numbers.

I have instant book and have tools to manage less that stellar guests so I would not be able to give first hand feedback but my understanding is that not having instant book and declining guests heavily effects your placement. 

[Joan2709]

@Shelby209 

Luv your place! The only thing I might suggest is you mention mountain views in your title and description, but don't have any photos of the view? I would try and get some photos of the mountain view and sunrise/sunset views. You might consider one of the view photos as one of your top 5 photos or even your cover photo. I would also try to get a closeup of the hot tub going with steam rising off of it. Have one person sitting in the tub. Shoot the photo from behind them or in front of them showing the steam. 

"Through the living room is the sun room. An egg chair and mountain view awaits for your morning meditations & reading. The sunrises/sunsets from this room are truly special and unique to only this block in this neighborhood."