Please “critique my listing” I’m not getting bookings

[Betsy282]

 hi. I am new to STRs and I have had one booking with a 5 star review but have not gotten any more bookings. I would love to know what I can do differently to get my occupancy rate flowing upward. Thank you for any help. 

https://www.airbnb.com/slink/pnCUTm8p

[Andrea6232]

Ciao @Betsy282 ,

I took a quick look at your listing and it seems to me that the photos are a little dark, I think you could improve them, here are some tips on how to best photograph your home:

https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Community-Guides/GUIDE-How-to-best-photograph-your-home-with-you...

good luck!

Andrea

[Betsy282]

Thank you @Andrea6232  I am actually having professional photos done tomorrow. I had these in place to get an idea of what I needed. 

[Samar273]

Hey Betsy.
Beautiful place. You may want to try and list one room as well instead of the whole home. I have created two listing 1. Room available and 2. Apartment available. This will attract the audience that is looking for a short stay and smaller space.
Hope that helps 🙂
Goodluck.

[Betsy282]

Hi @Samar273 That is interesting. Do you change the price if adv one room only? Thanks so much for the feedback.

[Samar273]

@Betsy282 So for two listings the pricings will be different. They are like two different announcements. 

[Rodrigo1490]

Olá parabéns pelo bom gosto, sua casa parece muito aconchegante! 

Eu diminuiria o texto do anúncio, colocando apenas as informações principais essenciais, outras informações você pode passar pelo chat durante uma consulta ou reserva. As pessoas querem ler textos rápidos e que despertem logo o interesse! 

Boa sorte e parabéns, espero ter ajudado!

Google Translation added by Community Manager: 

Hello, congratulations on your good taste, your house looks very cozy!

I would shorten the ad text, placing only the main essential information, other information you can go through via chat during a consultation or reservation. People want to read quick texts that immediately spark interest!

Good luck and congratulations, I hope I helped!

[Betsy282]

Thank you @Rodrigo1490 Rodrigo1940. I will look at doing that. 

[Ronaldo182]

Olá. Eu verifiquei o seu anuncio e não percebi nada que pudesse prejudicar a decisão de futuros hóspedes. As fotos podem ser mais iluminadas, as fotos externas podem ser melhoradas para mosrar a fachada e sua integração com o restante do ambiente.

Na descrição, extensa, seria interessante mostrar facilidades de acesso a pontos de interesse visando o público que você espera atender:  Restaurantes de destaque na cidade, pontos turisticos, locais bonitos e importantes, pontos históricos, enfim, mostrar a facilidade de acesso a esses pontos a partir da sua casa.

Também fiz uma simulação de reserva considerando 4, 6 e 8 adultos para o periodo de 2015 jan28 até 2025 fev 03, 6 noites. Achei o preço salgado em todas as simulações. Existe uma taxa de limpeza que é muito elevada, será que essa taxa dá para ser melhorada?  O valor das diárias para esse período considerando 4 ou 6 adultos é o mesmo e para 8 adultos sobe cerca de 50%. Acredito que o alvo deva ser locação para 6 pessoas que apresenta p melhor custo benefício para quem quer se hospedar, mas ainda assim achei caro. Como sugestões: rever o valor das diárias para grupos acima de 6 pessoas e rever o valor da taxa de limpeza que se compararnmos com o valor das diárias para 6 pessoas, representa cerca de duas diárias, ou seja para 6 diárias pagamos mais duas  como taxa de limpeza. 

Espero ter ajudado e parabéns pelo seu local.

Desejo sucesso.

Forte abraço 

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Hello. I checked your listing and didn't notice anything that could affect the decision of future guests. Photos can be brighter, external photos can be improved to show the facade and its integration with the rest of the environment.

In the extensive description, it would be interesting to show ease of access to points of interest aimed at the public you hope to serve: Prominent restaurants in the city, tourist attractions, beautiful and important places, historical points, in short, show the ease of access to these points from your home.

I also did a reservation simulation considering 4, 6 and 8 adults for the period from 2015 Jan 28 to 2025 Feb 03, 6 nights. I found the price to be high in all simulations. There is a cleaning rate that is very high, can this rate be improved? The daily rate for this period considering 4 or 6 adults is the same and for 8 adults it increases by around 50%. I believe that the target should be a rental for 6 people, which offers the best value for money for those who want to stay, but I still found it expensive. As suggestions: review the daily rate for groups of more than 6 people and review the value of the cleaning fee which, if compared to the daily rate for 6 people, represents approximately two nights, that is, for 6 nights we pay two more as a fee of cleaning.

I hope I helped and congratulations on your site.

I wish you success.

Google translation added by OCM

[Julie-and-Rick1]

Hello Betsy,

When you roll out a new listing I suggest starting with a low to very low price. Additionally I would limit the number of guests to five for your house. Why only five? The larger the group the more likely someone will complain about something and you could find yourself on the road to a bad review. 

Your pricing could be correct, yet in the beginning your goal should be many 5 star reviews. Are you able to offer one night stays? If so do it! This was a new experience for us, formally we had a two night minimum. 2024 was the first year to experiment with a one night stay. Bottom line, our best year ever financially. 

Side note, if you decide to rent single rooms as well as the entire house we learned to carefully look at the profile of guests booking a single room. The chances of a guest who takes advantage has been greater with one nighters. Over the past nine years hosting STR's in three states, including Texas, our experience with guests has been wonderful, with an amazing low number of problem guests.

[Betsy282]

Hi. Thank you so much for the information. I replied then it sent me to login again. So not sure it went through. 

So you book single rooms simultaneously to individuals who might not know each other? How often does that happen for you?

And how many single night stays did you get? Do you mind sharing your annual occupancy rate? 

thanks again. 

[Matt711]

I whole house rentals are a niche market. And the 3 day minimum is probably the biggest issue. If you do rooms, you'll do well. I think

[Rocco127]

la casa e le foto sono molto belle e fatte bene,probabilmente devi modulare meglio il costo,il numero minimo di notti.Poi hai il problema che è una casa grande ed hai bisogno di un gruppo di persone che la affittino,puoi valutare di dare le camere singolarmente?è fattibile?

--

the house and the photos are very beautiful and well done, you probably need to modulate the cost better, the minimum number of nights. Then you have the problem that it is a large house and you need a group of people to rent it, you can consider giving the rooms individually? is it feasible?

Google translation added by OCM

[John4416]

The rate seems quite high, especially with a $500 cleaning fee. I would start much lower to get the reviews. If you want regular bookings, I would set the rate lower (maybe in the low $200's) and see what you get, then adjust from there. If demand is high, raise your rates. If you just want those willing to pay over $600/night with taxes, fees, and cleaning, expect to have fewer but wealthier guests. It's easy to get dinged when your rates are high; guests will expect the best, and if there is some kind of problem, they'll be quick to give a lower rating. I don't charge an extra fee for cleaning (built into the rate); people appreciate that and do a really good job of cleaning up. For $500, I can imagine a group leaving a mess because they are paying good money to have someone clean up after them. The place looks great, but I wouldn't book it for my family. I could see a group of unrelated people (coworkers, friends going to SXSW, etc.) sharing the cost.

[Rebecca]

Thank you @John4416 @Rocco127 @Matt711 @Julie-and-Rick1 @Ronaldo182 @Rodrigo1490 @Samar273  and @Andrea6232 for all your suggestions! 🌟

@Betsy282 I hope all of this feedback gave you some good ideas. It would be very interesting to hear which changes you decide to put into effect and the impact they have. 😊