Question Please: Hosting a 6 Guest Room as Shared Room

[Ibrahim162]

Hi Hosts,

Hi Guys,

I returned Again to Airbnb to list my Condo after long time. now I faced only a single issue.

My Condo is 3BR. one of them I listed as Shared Room which is enough for 6 guests.

Today Morning, it has been booked by 3 guests only. calendar now is blocked the room as it's booked.

how to make it still open for more 3 guests at same dates?

[Huma0]

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@Ibrahim162 wrote:

how to make it still open for more 3 guests at same dates?

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@Ibrahim162 

I don't think you can. Although you've advertised this as a shared rather than private, room, the listing is for up to six guests and six beds. So, basically, that's what you've allowed these three guests to book - all six beds, so effectively, the whole room.

If you want to be able to let all the beds in the room at the same time to different people/groups of people and achieve max occupancy, I think you need to advertise this as one bed for one person in a dorm (shared) room, and make crystal clear that's what it is. You would also need to make six listings, one for each bed.

The only problem with that is, if you have a group searching for three beds, even if they are happy to share a room with others, you would not come up in the search results. 

It's a difficult one really, but this hostel dorm room style set up is not really what Airbnb is designed for. Although Airbnb now have so many new categories that guests can search for, I don't think they have one for hostels or dorms.

Perhaps someone else who is listing something similar to yours has a better solution...

[Ibrahim162]

Thanks huma for your reply.

I really thought to make like one list for each single bed.

But, it's not realistic or not an advanced technique even if I have time for all of this.

I thought Airbnb provides option to make the same duration is available to book with remaining free beds.

I made also the same shared room as dublicated private room. And sync calendars.

But the Traveller choosen the shared room not the private room which is cheaper little bit for him. 😂

[Huma0]

@Ibrahim162 

Ah, I see. Well, in that case, I think you really need to have both the private room listing (allowing a party of 1-6 guests to book for a price you are happy with) and the single person listings x 6 for the individual beds in a shared room and make sure everything is synced. Sounds like a lot of work, I know, but for the 6 single listings, you can just duplicate. That way, the guest would have either had to book 3 x single listings, or pay 

Sorry, I really can't think of another way to do it.

[Ibrahim162]

@Huma0

Your idea is translated to my mind that, I may duplicate the only shared room for the remaining beds. 

One listing only for 3guest. Easier than 3 listings for 3 beds for the same shared room.

Any way, I snoozed the shared room listings😊 till solving that issue☺️

[Huma0]

@Ibrahim162 

Yes, you can duplicate the shared room, but if you advertise it the same way, i.e. six guests, I think it could lead to trouble because people may think they have booked all six beds (or is it three? I'm getting confused now.) And does the guest who booked for three people think he/she is getting the whole room for his/her group, or expecting others to also be staying there?

It sounds like demand is high in the area, at least for particular dates. So, if you feel confident that you can rent out the room as a private/entire room for a price you are happy with, perhaps that is the way to go for now. It will certainly be a lot less work to manage and also you are more likely to have happier guests.

With guests sharing with strangers, there are more likely to be problems with one upsetting another, being messy, noisy, smelly, rude, whatever. It is better to have a group of friends sharing the one room.

[Ibrahim162]

@Huma0

Yes the guest knows, he it a superhost too😊.

 You're right. It was first time and I wanted to see where is the demand.

And by the way it had been booked at Booking.com as [entire place] one time one shoot headache free.

One it canceled. And airbnb synchronized, this is happened in same hour. 

[Helen3]

It sounds a rather odd set up. Why would strangers want to share a room. 

Your photos are hard to see if you actually have bedrooms or just sofabeds.

And why would someone want to pay £128 a night for a bed in a shared room.

@Ibrahim162 

[Ibrahim162]

Hi Helen,

Yes, may be because the fifa world cup comes to the highest expensive housing/properties country.

But anyway, yes I want to make it easy for them. 

Private Room [2beds] now is booked by not less than 600 to 700$

[Ibrahim162]

But the question is still valuable, how to manage a shared room to make multiple bookings. 

[Huma0]

@Helen3 

It's basically a dorm/hostel type set up and there are others on Airbnb, but maybe not loads. Seems like a crazy amount of money to me, but if it's getting booked, that must be the going rate.

You have to scroll past a lot of photos to actually see the bedroom more clearly.

@Ibrahim162 

You should probably rethink both the quantity and order of the photos. You have way too many similar ones, and you have to scroll though many before seeing some important stuff. Also, those photo montages of the beds are just confusing and totally unnecessary.

[Ibrahim162]

@Huma0

😅 First time I write here. So, I don't know that the other hosts can see the profile and listings. 😅

Yes, your advise is very important. And I planned to add and modify later on. Because the final touch scheduled as to be 15th Nov. 

The core will not be changed. (no. of beds/ guests). 

Also, we have more than 2 Condo, under preparing to help fans to find suitable place. 

And the huge no of shoots came because it first posted on booking.com which has one rule, more photos means more views. 

Thanks alot, 

Please if you find another comment to improve it, I will be appreciated. 

Thanks👍

[Huma0]

@Ibrahim162 

Well, for a start, the first photo should be your money shot, i.e. the photo you think will best sell the listing, as this will show up as the image in the search results. And this should always be landscape (horizontal) format, or it will be cropped in the Airbnb layout and not look good.

I don't think your montage is working here as firstly, it's square, so getting chopped off and just looks confusing, especially when seen as a small image in the searches. People won't know what they are looking at.

Next, you need to carefully select the first five photos because these are what will show on your listing landing page. So, make sure they are the best and that they show different things, e.g. one of the bedroom, one of the living area, one of the kitchen, etc. etc. And, again, these should be landscape format to fit the Airbnb layout.

Remove any photos that are very similar. I don't know about booking dot com as I have never used it (I heard the guests are often awful), but 55 photos is really too much for Airbnb unless you own a massive ranch or a castle or something and, even then...

Some of the images are out of focus. You should remove those. Also remove any that are very dark. Let as much natural light as is available into the room when you take the photos. That big lamp is not helping. Turn it off. If you're struggling to get sharp photos with the light that is available, you need a slower exposure and a tripod to steady the camera (or phone).

The photo of the wardrobe is not really clear. I can't tell from that how much storage is available. And, instead of the montage of bathroom shots, you need a clear photo of the bathroom.

How does the exterior of the building look? Maybe include a photo. What about the street? Are there nice cafes or shops nearby that you could photograph? I know I said reduce your photos and now am telling you to add some, but you have so many that are similar and could be removed, especially way too many of the beds and the sofas.

[Ibrahim162]

@Huma0

Thanks Huma for all of that. It likes a professional evaluation.

That helped me alot. I will change that soonest and I let you see it again. 👍