Welcome to the New to Hosting board! Introduce yourself here

[Stephanie]

Hiya,

A warm welcome to the Community Center. 

This discussion is for introducing yourself to your fellow Airbnb Community Center members, as well as welcoming and learning about other newcomers too!

I can't wait to get to know each of you individually, so to kick off here's a little about me!

• I'm a native British who's born and raised in Rugby, the place where the sport was created. I, however, am terrible at the game.
• Speaking of games, I am an avid console, PC and mobile gamer. Game of choice is currently Monster Hunter Rise.
• I've not hosted myself but have been a Guest around some of the most scenic pockets of Britain.
• I am a huge animal lover. I currently have a pet cat called Ichigo.

How about you? Share where your listing is and one fun fact about it!

I'm looking forward to hearing from you. 

Stephanie

[Brent298]

Thanks so much @Lindie6! 

[Quincy]

Welcome to the Community @Brent298! Glad to have you here with us 😃

[Damon79]

Hi, my name is Damon, I have a home very near the beach which I'm hoping to rent out for a 2-month stay in June and July this year.  Any tips or tricks to get noticed for people who are looking for longer stays?

Thanks,

Damon

[Brent298]

Hi @Damon79, 

I'm noticing that having everything completed (all options filled in) for your listing is helpful in attracting guests, especially if your guidebook is tailored to those with the mindset of wanting a longer stay. 
Allow for the longer stay discount to be applied. And be clear in your listing details that you're keen to find either a booking for 2 months, or two bookings for a month each etc...

For someone staying that long, they likely will have business to attend to - so make sure you highlight a dedicated work station, with good internet/wifi, and all amenities that would make it comfortable for a person to work remotely for such a time frame.

Hope these tips help you out with your goal!

Wishing you success,

Brent and Co. at Northern Lake Yukon Cabin 

[Lindie6]

Good suggestions, @Brent298  and hope you have success @Damon79 

[Debra559]

Hi!  My husband, Marty and I are brand new to hosting.  I'm a nervous wreck!  haha  We bought our house in the mountains to be near our daughter, son-in-law, and granddaughter.  When we moved here, we bought two houses on the same property.  We have renovated top to bottom the one house, now our little rental cottage.  We spent almost 3 years getting it done, all during COVID, so we ended up spending way more money than we intended and a lot longer than we intended.  Thanks to COVID, materials were hard to get and about 3 times more expensive!  I listed last week and haven't had any bookings yet.  So, I'm wondering what I may have done wrong or is that normal?  I am so anxious to talk to people who are veterans of this hosting business.  I need to make our retirement income property actually give us some retirement income.  haha   We and our property are located in Laurel Highlands, Pennsylvania, USA.  I welcome any advice, good and bad.  Thank you!  Deb H.  

[Tamara682]

@Debra559 
Hi there! I'm a new host as well. I've had my listing posted for about 3-4 weeks. Contrary to what the local hosts say, "I'm making bank, place is never empty, etc., etc., etc.," I find that is only partially true BUT more on the right side than total blarney.
I only started to receive inquiries and bookings about a week ago (just as my grace period is ending) and have 3 bookings to date spread over 4 months. I don't know if that's normal or not. Just want you to know that they do start coming at some point.
Would suggest you have your pictures replaced by a professional photographer. I went online and searched for real estate photographers in my area. Found a site that let me put in my info and it contacted businesses. It worked out very well.

Reviewing your listing, I can't imagine 10 people in 3bdrms. I visualize a train car for sleeping arrangements. Better pictures would help me understand better.

As a new host waiting for the first few bookings, I've been reading over everything I can on these forums to avoid making mistakes. I find myself now backing off just a bit (in other words I will read about a page of forums but not pages of the same forum) or I notice it takes a toll on my confidence. Well, that and I wonder if the inquiries I get have some nefarious purpose right off the bat. Keep yourselves balanced.

That said, I have had priceless advice from those willing to share when I participate, and you can't beat that. They have great advice and build confidence. (This spell check thing is waaaayyyy too heavy on the commas).
Wishing you the best and look forward to reading of your successes moving forward. 

[Debra559]

@Tamara682   thank you for taking the time to give me some advice. As for the 10 people, they are split up very well. Not at all on top of each other. There are 2 bedrooms on the main floor. The upstairs is separated into three separate areas with two beds in each area. Because there is a low ceiling we couldn’t have doors. For this reason I felt it was misleading to say 3 bedrooms upstairs. It would be a 5 bedroom house if I could have doors on the 3 upstairs. There are walls separating, just not closable doors. I also put captions noting each area as #1 #2 and #3 upstairs bed areas. I also put front bedroom and back bedroom for the pics of the main floor bedrooms. If you click to open each picture, the description is there. 
I will look for a real estate photographer just wanted to get this place open as soon as possible. We have been shelling out money like crazy thanks to COVID price increases.   Unfortunately the weather we have had caused the pics to look dreary. We are just getting out of a snowy winter. As the trees start to green up, I will replace the pics. 
I wish you much success as well. Thank you. 

[Bryan594]

Hi there, I'm pretty new but I can help.

It'll come. One strategy that has worked for me is to locally advertise in your neighborhood and/or district. I've found a lot of friends and relatives of people that live in your area are likely customers of yours and a great prospect source. Mention it to friends and neighbors that your place is an Airbnb or in local advertising channels. It can take time for bookings to start and you should make it your goal to become a Superhost as soon as possible as you're bookings will pick up then. I also let Airbnb choose my pricing as it takes me out of the equation and has been successful for me. One other last bit of advice... Charge a $1,000 damage deposit - It keeps the riffraff out and will also cover you for incidentals, putting your mind at ease. Good luck with your Airbnb experience, mine's been great. Feel free to reach out to me if you have other questions. Take care from Calgary

[Quincy]

Welcome to the Community Center @Debra559! Wow, that's quite some time! I'm glad to hear that you've managed to get everything done and ready for your first Hosting experience! 

Have you had any enquiries so far? 

[Debra559]

@Quincy As a matter of fact I just got my second rather strange inquiry. I got an inquiry with just “hi”. For 5 months total stay for 4 guests. I didn’t think I’d be having guests for extended stays like this and it has me a bit concerned when nothing more is in the inquiry message. I just went and changed my length of stay to 13 nights due to the no eviction laws that were put in place for the pandemic. I don’t want any problems with guests not leaving at end of reservation. Any advice on this? Please. 
thank you, 

Deb

[Emilie]

@Debra559 Tricky one indeed! I'd recommend you share this in a new topic by >clicking here<, so other Hosts can see you question and share some advice with you. 🙂

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Debra559 The sleeping arrangements seem excessive compared to the living space. 6 single beds in one bedroom - Really? 10 people overall?

If you have set your pricing based on 10 people this could be your problem. Have you checked comparable properties nearby to see what they charge?

[Debra559]

@Mike-And-Jane0 Thank you for your reply, Mike and Jane.  The 1/2 story upstairs is low-ceiling.  I could have called it a loft, but it has walls and has separate areas where there is 2 beds in each area.  Although there are no doors because of the low ceiling, there are walls to section them off.  There is a bit of privacy with the 3 separate "wings", in the shape of a "T".   We have the forest in the back yard and with hunting very popular here, so we wanted to be able to allow for a group of hunters.  We also felt two families would fit well with kids upstairs.  Because this area is known for outdoor activities, skiing, hiking, theme parks, state parks, fishing,  etc.  we felt a place to sleep would be more important than a lot of indoor space.  And we wanted to have two full bathrooms which took up a lot of space.  

I have checked comparable properties nearby and the pricing varies greatly.   We also have a very prime location in that everything is under a 30 minute drive.  Most are just a few miles.  

I will take another look at comps to see where we are with pricing.  Again thank you for your input.  

[Mark116]

@Debra559  Your listing photos are a little confusing because you have all the same covers on the beds, so it is hard to differentiate.  You have 2 bedrooms with full beds, so that sleeps 4 people.  And then you have 3 more bedrooms with twin beds in each?  I would advise  you to put different quilts/covers on each bedroom to make it easier for guests to be clear on how many bedrooms.  I would strongly consider reducing your guest count to 8 since the living room and kitchen areas are pretty narrow.

I'd also consider getting rid of the two large orange recliners and replacing them with a smaller type of chair, maybe a slip chair or a regular wing chair or something else that won't make the space seem so crowded.

ETA, so it's one large room with a bunch of twin beds?  I would rethink that if I were you.  That would only be suitable for children.  I would also rethink that you say you allow parties and gatherings, you don't want to do this.