Listing details

[Lisa1616]

About 5% of my guests actually read my listings. Any suggestions?

[Daniel1598]

@Lisa1616 Perhaps trimming down the desciption may help. If you feel like your audience is only getting through a small portion of it, then the main points should pop quickly. Also, keeping a statement ready for when you are messaging with potential guests might come in handy. For example, "as mentioned in the listing please remember that _______."

[Jeff158]

Oh dear, the response to the negative review is a bit over the top.

You've had some very nice guests and one bad apple, they pop up every now and again, you're doing ok @Lisa1616 

I'm a bit confused with one of your listings

You've got it listed as an "Entire condominium"

and then later on you tell me its "A Private Room in a shared Condo"

[Mark116 · Accepted solution]

@Lisa1616  Most people won't read.  We started adding a message that we sent upon confirmation that basically says...if you haven't done it already, read the entire listing, house rules and details on transportation to and from NYC....  I believe this helps if only because we've had a few people cancel after deciding the house is too far from NYC, so at least some few people do read it if you prompt them.

You should also, if your guests you can tell do not understand English, to send all messages and details of importance to them via the airbnb message system, and if you are really worried, send a translation in their language.  I have found this works pretty well.

Also, I agree, your response to the bad guests was too long.  You want to remember that your response to a negative review is really  for future guests so you want to come off as reasonable and level headed not angry.

[Alon1]

@Mark116 

re: Translation.

There is an automated Google translation service built into the Message system. So no extra advice or work necessary. 

[Cormac0]

@Lisa1616 

That remarkable, how did you get such a high compliance rate?

I said this with my tongue firmly in cheek.

[Alexandra316]

@Lisa1616 The biggest problem for me is that you have your places listed as entire condos, which is not accurate: you're hosting private rooms in a condo.That could be why you're having issues with people not understanding what they're getting.

Overall, I think you need to trim your descriptions to the essential facts. You include a bunch of reviews and supurfluous info: I would cut all that out and just tell people what they're getting and what they can expect when they stay with you. I personally found it really difficult to read. If I want to know what other people thought, I'll scroll down to the reviews of verified guests.

[Lisa1616]

all great advise Alexandra! I will condense the description.  

FYI yes, confussing but airbnb actually suggested the "entire condo" because they do have the entire condo at their disposal as a shared area.

Thank you!!

[Alexandra316]

@Lisa1616 Sorry to say that the person at Airbnb steered you wrong. It doesn't matter if they have the use of the entire condo: if they're sharing the common areas in the condo with another person (or people), it's not an entire condo. It's a private room. Here's an article from Airbnb that specifically deals with it:

https://www.airbnb.ca/help/article/5/what-does-the-room-type-of-a-listing-mean