Listing feedback

[Lonneke6]

Hi, I have an Airbnb since 8 years. It is a beautiful place along the water in a small village near Amsterdam. As of since half a year I get much less bookings and I am a bit worried. Can you check my add and do you notice something how come? If when friends and family search for airbnb's in my village, mine is not shown on the list, only on the map. I don't understand what happend. Thank you in advance for your help.

https://airbnb.nl/h/holiday-house-near-amsterdam-ilpendam

[Elisa]

Hi @Lonneke6 😊, 

Welcome to the community center and thank you for asking for a critique listing.

Did you check with other local hosts to see if it might just be a slow season for everyone?

I'm tagging a few hosts to see what advice they might have: @Roy1245, @William2438, @Peace-Stays0, @Wade32, @Zachary289, @Shikha25, @Linda-and-Peter0, @Polly164, @Carrie643, @Fatima645, @Dana225.

Thank you in advance everyone!

Warm regards 🌻,

[Lonneke6]

Thank you so much❤️

[Linda-and-Peter0]

@Lonneke6 

I would first check set up of your listing and determine reason for not showing on site when searched.  Consider dynamic pricing options.  Review your pricing structure and compare with your neighbours to see if in line.  Add a new picture which reflects your offer. Add a promotion.  Hope this helps

[Lonneke6]

Thank you @Linda-and-Peter0! Is it so that when you choose dynamic prices that you are higher in the listing than when you choose your own prices?

[Lonneke6]

@Lonneke6 Thank you so much for your advice!

[Karin2648]

The pictures look beautiful. My question is, how old are the pictures? Airbnb is measuring the date of the pictures and prefers new and updated pictures. 

[Lonneke6]

@Karin2648 Oeh the main picture is quite old, the other pictures were updates last year….

[Justin1979]

@Lonneke6 Thank you so much for reaching out.

Here is my suggestion:

1. Update Your Photos
I recommend focusing your cover photo on the most scenic view from your specific unit. This could be the view looking out into the water or perhaps people jumping off the dock. When selecting this photo, consider what the best scene is that you can experience while in the unit—not down the road. Remember, you're trying to sell your place, not the businesses nearby.

1.A. You should add more photos of your unit. It seems you have a lot of photos of the area surrounding your unit, but potential guests are primarily interested in seeing your unit and what it has to offer. I've seen some successfully booked listings with over 100 photos. While that may be extreme, you get the point: take a lot of quality photos.

2. Ensure Your Pricing is Competitive
Look at other local listings and see how they are priced. Try to identify listings that are getting more bookings, and compare what they offer to what you offer. Set your pricing competitively.

3. Consider Rewriting Your Description
Let your new professional photos speak for how the place looks, and shorten your description. The last statement informing potential guests that they should be like-minded, with no pets, no parties, and a requirement for a swimming diploma, is not the message you want to convey. Airbnb has a separate section where you can specify restrictions such as “no pets” and “no extra guests.” Your description should serve as a simple sales pitch highlighting the beauty of your place, rather than enforcing what cannot be done.

[Lonneke6]

@Justin1979 Thank you so much to all the effort you do to help me. I will look into my description again and adjust it with all your suggestion. I really appreciatie your help. It is my first time I use this comunity and ik is really helpful 🙏🏼 

[Polly164]

I support the suggestions above regarding the photos. Also, I would just remove the ones from high-up angles - because this is not how people will experience the space. Think of photos this way: you want to give guests the impression of what it would feel like to be in the space. Ask yourself:

- where would they look?

- what would they see?

- what are the particularly nice views (including close-ups)?

- what do you want them to see as they move around the space?

You are not trying to convey the anatomy of the building, but convey how they might use the space and what they would see, highlighting the best bits. 

This is why close-ups of particularly nice furniture or practical but beautiful settings can be just as good as a view or a photo of a beautiful structure. 

I can see the space is beautiful, but I think the photos could tell a slightly better story about this. 

[Lonneke6]

Thank you so much for your advice Polly!

[Julie6059]

Hello, @Lonneke6 .

You have a beautiful home with lovely photos.

I changed the minimum stay at my BnB from one night to a minimum of 2 nights and got far fewer bookings. I did that, because it was too much work for me to change beds and clean so often, but if you allow one-night stays to get more bookings, you might consider hiring a housekeeper to help you with the extra work.

Also, I'm not sure about AirBnB algorithms, but others have mentioned that updating photos helps, so I wonder if updating the text would help as well? Just a thought.

Warm regards,

Julie in California USA

[Polly164]

Yes I agree. I am constantly torn about the minimum nights, but I get a lot more bookings of all kinds when I do not specify a minimum. My way of handling this has been to:

- remove the minimum whenever I can

- add to the cleaning fee or other fee to discourage, but not prevent, single-night bookings

- and/or add a decent discount for extra nights, to encourage them to stay.

Then, if I do get a single-night booking, I also send a friendly message offering a discounted 2nd night. It is a little extra work doing this, but I have many more bookings and have converted many to longer bookings this way too. 

[Marie8425]

@Lonneke6 

One other thing to review is your calendar.  Looking April to about September 2025, your days majority are either property or Host not available?  Did you make any other adjustments to the calendar when you increased minimum days?