Winter is slow...

[Cory249]

Winter is slow, so I've adjusted prices downward to try to get more bookings.  I've also changed up the pictures to show what the house looks like in the winter months, hoping to show what the place looks like w/ snow on it...

Curious to get your thoughts on this.  (I'm just starting year 2 of running my STR.)  Is it a good time of year to show winter pics, pics w/ snow on the house?  Or should I be showing summer pics for people who are looking to book summer vacations?  (I'm thinking that I can/will get summer bookings still - b/c I was pretty well booked last year, so I'm giving snow pics a whirl.)

How do you do it?  (Wondering if I should've posted winter pics in the fall...  And if I should switch up pics now to get bookings for Spring/Summer/Fall.)

[Steven1869]

Hey @Cory249 Sorry to hear about the lack of bookings, I took a quick look at your listing and here's some tips I'm suggesting.

- changing the title as having Lyons, Colorado that is already mentioned automatically by airbnb in the search results so it only fill important space where you can mention important stuff like key amenities, attractions close by, number of bedrooms etc

- Getting more interior shots as most of your photos are only animals which might not be what a guest is looking as they already know why they are picking that specific location, your major selling point should be your property and why they should book you and not the competition

- Enabling the photo tour for better guest convenience and not getting lost while browsing rooms

- picking better hero photos: the first five pics are crucial and it's best to showcase different areas of your property

- being more elaborate in your description with bullet points and checkmarks to not lose your guest attention with a wall of text that they will certainly not read, plus having a good description with keywords can boost your search ranking as you know we deal with algorithms and SEO knowledge is crucial

- Photo captions

- guidebook

Hope these things help!

[Steven1869]

And yeah @Cory249  I forgot to answer the main thread question, I will let other hosts answer it as it differs from location to the other but I think the things I mentioned earlier are more impactful and should be your priority to optimize

[Elisa]

Hi @Cory249 😊, 

I’m sorry to hear about this slow season for you.

However, I’m glad you’ve connected with this host who is sharing such great advice. What do you think about it?

Warm regards, 🌻

[Karen114]

@Cory249  Well done!  You have 32 5 star reiviews which is awesome.  Who are these guests? 

You need to sit down and profile them.  Using the reviews and thinking about who they were, where they came from and what were  there to do.  I would then create some verbiage that attracts guests exactly like these. ' Using your headlines, pics and desctiption.

You can also share your listing in FB posts/ ads for a small budget and attract this type of guest. 

Airbnb is not set it and forget it, you do have to do some of your own work to drive the bookings.  I would say you have a nice sample size of your avatar guest.