Is there anything missing on my listing?

[Bruna-and-Siana0]

Hi guys, could you take a look at my listing and see if there are any flags?

We usually have a hard time getting bookings (usually we get same-day bookings, it seems when all the other places are taken).

We offer tons of amenities, our apartment is in a good location (close to tech companies in silicon valley and restaurants/stores are within walking distance), and price is similar to nearby places. I'm wondering if there is anything we are missing?

There are rooms that seem to offer less stuff, had worse reviews, and they are more expensive. They get more bookings than us.

Any feedback will be appreciated. 

[Sarah977]

@Bruna-and-Siana0   I looked at your listing, and I think it's totally lovely.  As well as immaculately clean and uncluttered. Your description is also really good- friendly, relaxed, informative and welcoming. You also have a ton of great reviews. I really can't imagine why you're not getting bookings, unless the price is high compared to other similar offerings in your area (I'm not talking about following those ridiculous price tips, or what are called "similar listings" but looking at what other comparable listings, as far as you're concerned, in your area, are priced at).

One thing I'd suggest, although I doubt it's affecting bookings, but who knows- you have a white/grey mostly monochrome decor, which is fine, it's very tasteful and obviously lovingly done, but a lot of the photos, especially the guest room itself, while they are good as far as angles, showing off all the spaces well, etc, are a little washed-out looking. With your neutral color scheme, you might try to get more contrast in the photos so they look more dramatic- you don't necessarily have to take new photos, just tweak them in Photoshop, or in your photo editing options on your computer. Add a splash of color to the all-white bathroom photo- a colorful towel, a colorful soap dispenser by the sink, or a small vase with a bright flower on the back of the toilet. It will highlight the all-white bathroom and make it look even more immaculate then it already is. You might experiment with taking photos of the bedroom at night with lamps on, rather than all being in daylight with the light glaring in the window (that's what leads to the washed-out photos), so it looks really cozy, which is how you describe it, and I'm sure it is.

I really like how you used guest comments as the photo captions.

That's about all I can suggest. 

[Louise231]

Hi @Bruna-and-Siana0 your listing looks lovely!

I had a look though and liked what i saw!

The only suggestions I can think of (and they are really are nit-picking!)

-'LGBT friendly' I don't know if it's different  in america but honestly I don't think you need to add this to the listing, hosts shouldn't care if people staying are gay/straight/bi/trekkies/sagitarius/weirdly into periods dramas... you get my point. I think from your photo and bio guests might infer you are LGBT friendy but honestly i don't think it needs to be in the listing. My city has a large LGBT community, a whole section of the city centre is the 'Gay Village', but while many hosts are same sex couples, very few mention 'LGBT friendlt' in the listing, possibly because it may deterr hetro guests. (The one's that do, like you can sometimes be quieter in bookings) It won't be deterring many but it's a very small possibility guests will think they shouldn't stay because they are straight. (imagine if you saw 'African American friendly'... it should always be true)

-Cat litter tray, i'd maybe take out the reference to the tray in the bathroom. If you mentioned your cat is more of an indoor/ house cat/ slightly old cuddle monster who stays in, or in some way mention he's home alot, then you can mention the litter tray on check in. As you're cleaning it everyday it wouldn't be an issue no one will ever be bothered by it, if you didn't clean it guests would mention it in the reviews. But by putting it in the listing guests might be scared of whether you do really clean it every day. I've seen plenty of listings that say '5 mins to the train station' when the only way they could get there that quickly is by helicopter. Guests know that Hosts are trying to make the listing appealing, yet cover the bases if there's any issues later. I'd say take they litter tray reference out the listing, and if you're cleaning it all the time anyway (which i'm sure you are!) then guests will never have an issue with it.

-'Noise', right at the very bottom of the listing it mentions noise in the street. Like you, i used to warn guests about potential noise, but i took it out because i was the only person warning about it when just about everyone in the city centre would have noise issues. If you are the only person mentioning noise in your area, even though alot of other nearby listing's will have the same traffic, then take out the reference. Leave the earbuds in the room, tell the guests they might want to shut the window at XX time of day because that's peak traffic time, but otherwise they should know that great location's are a little lower in tranquility. Otherwise like the cat litter i read through all your info, get to the bottom and be like 'ah there's the catch, they say noise, no one else is mentioning noise. '

Anyway, feel free to ignore these, but hope they help!

[Paul154]

Unfortunately I agree with @Louise231 about the LGBT thing.

If it simply meant LGBT friendly, it would be wonderful and celebrate diversity.

Unfortunately, it comes with a lot baggage. It often means "I'm a militant West Coast PC person and I have zero tolerance for any other way of thinking". This can be off-putting to some truly LGBT  people as well as the intolerant. 

I think Bruna & Siana lovely photo shows the whole proclamation. But I'm glad they want to say LGBT friendly.

[Willow3]

My only guess is the shared bathroom.  My guests have a private bathroom, but it is not en suite... I have overheard so many of them express dismay at having to share a bathroom... then relief when they realize it is for their exclusive use.  

There is another host in my town with whom I compare notes with on the regular... She has AMAZING views, I have meh views (from the house).  But I have a private entrance and parking - and so I often get bookings instead of her.  Guests really like privacy... in entrances, and in bathrooms. The shared bathroom may be sending guests to other listings. But it's just a guess.  

[Paul154]

Your offering  looks nice, you are a SuperHost, and you have many reviews from this month alone.

I'm not sure of your definition of "having a hard time getting bookings". 

You're place is perfect - almost too perfect. You concentrate on everything that you have. You list everything. Everything.

Consider softening your offering. Concentrate on the guest and how they'll feel. Get them with lifestyle.  For example, I like the donuts foto. 

I like your photo of your gracious towel service and snacks. It concentrates on the guest.  

Look at your photos as if you are the guest. Unfortunately, the those same snacks on the  table clutter your nice bed photos. 

Make your listing easier for your guest. Cut 50%. 50% less words, 50% less photos. Tell a short pleasant story.

I agree with @Louise231 and @Sarah977. A little color will help soften your wonderful clean lines.

[Paul154]

BTW, your captions of 3rd party reviews seem a little affected.  One or two is clever. 20 is a turn-off.  Just like the movies. I think that movies that advertise many glowing reviews will be bad movies. imho

[Bruna-and-Siana0]

Thanks so much for all the feedback @Paul154 @Willow3 @Louise231 and @Sarah977. You all made very good points. I already changed a few things in the listing, I'll take a few more picts with more color, and I'll change a few more things. We have no upcoming bookings but hopefully we'll get some soon. 

Our area has very high occupancy (business travelers all year + people in vacation during the summer). We usually have an accupancy of 30-50% which is pretty low for the area. The hotels are super expensive ($300-400/night) and travelers use AirBnB. 

[Amy38]

@Bruna-and-Siana0  Nice, but you have filled the desk with coffee makings...where would one work?

Maybe add ashelf somewhere for that stuff.

[Sarah977]

I don't see the LGBT-friendly as any problem, myself. It just lets those people know that there's no chance that they might end up feeling uncomfortable. I'm quite sure there are some hosts on airbnb who, altho they have agreed to the non-discrimination policy, didn't really like having had to, but they'll do it to stay on the platform, for the money. 

I can't see heteros being put off by it, and if they are, they probably aren't the kind of guests @Bruna-and-Siana0 want to host anyway.

It's kinda like saying kid-friendly. Lots of people experience difficulty finding a place to stay with kids, so saying that lets them know that the host is not going to be fussed, and the parents don't have to be worried, if the kids are having a fun noisy playtime, running around the yard spraying each other with the hose, or if there's coloring books, crayons and clothes scattered about.

I advertise my place as being a good fit for those who want to write, read, do yoga, work on their art, etc. But it doesn't mean I don't get guests booking who don't do those things. (does tend to weed out the party animals, tho)

[Bruna-and-Siana0]

About the LGBT friendly, @Louise231  and  @Sarah977

I agree with Sarah, We added 'LGBT friendly' for two reasons: we are a lesbian couple, and we want to make sure that any memeber of the LGBT community feels welcome in our house. We didn't feel like writing "we are a lesbian couple" the same way we wouldn't write "we are a straight couple". We are a couple. Normalization is key.  However some guests might not be comfortable staying with hosts that are a same-sex couple. Hopefully our picture, our profile descritipon and the LGBT friendly tag is enough for them to notice. If the LGBT friendly deterr some guests, we don't want them in our apartment anyway. 

So far we never had any problem with guests. Everyone felt comfortable in our house and we had no  problems at all. We obviously welcome LGBT couples but so far we haven't hosted any. We hosted a man who was transitioning to a woman. It was the most interesting guest we ever had. She checked in as a man, and checked out 4 days later as a woman (yes, she legally transitioned while she was staying with us). She was the sweetest and most interesting guest we ever had. It was worth having the 'LGBT friendly' just for hosting her, we learned so much from her!

[Lisa723]

FWIW, in my listings, in "other things to note" I say "We strongly support Airbnb’s Nondiscrimination Policy." I think this covers all the bases without putting our listings into some kind of different implicit category.

[Louise231]

@Bruna-and-Siana0

I completely understand your reasoning and can see why you want to keep it. Again maybe this is a UK vs US difference. There are several same sex couples nearby who host, in most ways there's an indication on the listing, but very few use the 'LGBT friendly' tag. But I guess for me the 'normalisation' comes from you not having to mention it? If that makes sense? (I could tell fairly easily from your profile you were a couple)

My listing in no way mentions whether I would welcom or not welcome anyone from the LGBT community (obviously I would!) but I regularly host same sex couples, in the last year maybe a dozen? I don't count but it's usually one a month?

I guess I go back to saying -it's the same way I'd feel you don't need to say 'African American friendly' . If I saw 'female friendly' I'd guess the host preferres to host women (usually it's a female host who would feel more comfortable hosting women over men), it's not that it was a better listing for women and men could still book, but maybe less men would book... 'Kid friendly' is different, kids are noisy and there are safety issues, which isn't relevant to most other groups! 

So yeah I don't know if it's a difference in Manchester having a really open culture (at least anyone near the city, like most places the further out you go, the further back in time you go)

Anyway long winded explanation, and yeah keeping the wording is definitely a must if that's more comfortable for you, but I just wanted you to see where I was coming from!

[Bruna-and-Siana0]

Hi @Louise231,

Probably US (or California) and UK are comparable. I totally agree that normalisation would be not having to mention it. However, we have a lot of international guests from cultures (75% of our guests are not from US) that are less open minded. We want to make sure that if a guest books our room, he or she is comfortable with a same-sex couple as hosts.

We were also debating if we should add: "We welcome everyone: all races, religions, countries of origin, sexual orientations and political views". US has a big problem with discrimination but I think adding that might be too much. Perhaps some American host can provide some insights?

I live in US but I'm from Europe, I'm amazed on how sensitive this topic is. 

[Louise231]

@Bruna-and-Siana0 Yeah I noticed Catalan on your list of languages and was impressed, lots of US listings have Spanish as a language option, few have Catalan! 

Probably our international guests might differ a little you're right. For me it's mostly Western Europeans, and guests from East Asia. With the odd Aussie or American added in. The Asian guests I host have pretty much all studied in Universities abroad so I think culturally they have less of a shock visiting manchester. 

I don't think I've ever hosted anyone from South America/Africa/Russia. Who maybe have culturally different attitudes to the LGBT community.