Hi @Fiona615!
Thanks for the tag @Paula!
You have a lovely listing and great reviews! I would switch to 2 night minimums for the weekends definitely and potentially as a whole as it will save you a lot of time cleaning. When I first started, I had no minimums and while good for getting reviews and having volume and guest feedback, it was exhausting to clean sometimes 5 days of the week. I know I have a small space but I do have a kitchen and guests cleanliness varies (some 1-2 day guests made a mess, while others barely used the kitchen). When I switched to 2 night minimums, it helped me a lot and we still generated the same or better with longer stays. It depends on your circumstances, the size of your space, your cleaning time or fees paid for a cleaner, etc. It is nice to hear of the professional tools to choose different minimums for different days or seasons as I have not fully checked out those features.
For your listing, I had a couple of suggestions/questions:
1. Was there a reason why you showed two parking pics? When I was just browsing it didn’t seem evident, I had to go into the tour to see the captions explaining why. (I dislike the way they redid the photo tour with the winter release). For me it seemed redundant to have two pics of the parking; perhaps you could show this pic in the arrival guide instead showing both pics of how one may park and only the pic of the space to park in the listing.
2. Pic 1 and 4 appear to be the same view, there are no captions to explain why you wanted to show pic #4 unless to highlight the cellulose blinds for privacy and to let light in.
3. It would be nice to have captions to invite people on a tour as if you are showing a guest the space. What would you say or highlight the unique features of your space?
4. Your listing is brief and you mention that it is central or convenient to shops, restaurants or bus lines. You may want to consider the following:
a. I was docked on location even though I clearly said we were convenient to different cities or companies (if people were coming in for a business meeting), some people who live in a city may not feel we are convenient as they are used to walking everywhere. So explaining that bicycling is a great way to get around, our transit is good but many people bring their cars to get around is helpful in the listing.
b. It would be helpful to say which bus lines are near your location. I did it for my listing as some people were asking me, and I referred them to our local metro planner but for convenience I spent time and wrote all the bus lines that are going to Seattle or Bellevue for people to know in our listing. So if any potential guests had any questions you just needed to read the complete listing.
c. You may also want to bullet the distance and time it takes to walk, drive, bike to local attractions or places of interest. For example:
Ferry: x km/mi or a x min drive.
Hospital: x km/mi or a x min drive. (you may appeal to traveling nurses).
Airport: x km/mi or a x min drive (I don’t know if there is a regional airport nearby or a seaplane location).
Gardens or parks: x km/mi or a x min drive.
other major cities: people may not know they can use your place for a home base when they do day trips or short trips to other places.
Closest Grocery store: you can list the other stores in your guidebook.
Nearest Restaurants, coffee shops or bakeries nearby: individually listed out…x km/mi or a x min drive.
5. You may want to rewrite your description to entice people to consider your space as a retreat close to the city for students or professionals visiting the area, or for the weekend travelers looking for a cozy quiet clean suite to retreat to after long days of sightseeing. The way your space is written up, it seems great for a stop over, but not necessarily for a longer stay. You may be perfectly happy with the way it is currently written up too, this is just another perspective. To counter the misperceptions about it not having a kitchen you could say what other hosts have written, we have space for you to prepare your coffee/tea with a micro and a small fridge to store your leftovers so your suite is perfect for those who are looking to explore our restaurant scene or not wanting to have to cook on vacation! (I thought it was a great way to present a kitchenette listing, focusing on the clientele that is the perfect fit for your space).
6. You could include a pic of the nearby park or city shot (some people in Orlando, FL post pics of the local attractions), I personally have a pic of our local park/pond that is a 5 min walk from our suite. A twilight shot of the room/home could be nice too.
7. I agree having no additional cleaning fees is nice, and you keep your price competitive and have great reviews. One thing to consider is that many people whether they know it or not, like a deal/discount. So if you have a list price that is a higher (or use the dynamic pricing) you can then discount to get a strike out or mention that this is a good deal. I understand people don’t like marketing and this is a form of marketing to display it as such but when you offer promotions you rank higher in searches (along if you have instant book, have recent reviews, have availability (if you are blocked off because of a guest or you personally blocked it then you will rank lower in searches), have high ratings, guest favorite, etc.). I’ve played with keeping the price the same and manually changing it versus dynamic pricing and have found dynamic pricing has higher bookings and I am able to offer promotions and get highlighted more too in a search. I also do market research in similar listings (in app under insights and number of views, scroll to the bottom to see similar listings to yours) or looking at my calendar to see who is booked or unbooked in my area for the same dates (in the app, found under calendar and tapping a date range and scrolling to the bottom).
I hope this helps! You do have a lovely space, provide a great experience and have raving reviews so keep up the great work! 💫
