Photo content not the hosts property

[Joyce246]

Should a host be allowed to include content of a neighbors property in their advertising .. 

[Joyce246]

Deleted some pictures that may have been in question .. 

please let me know if you think there are any further one you think I should remove .. thanks for your time and opinions .. 

[Cynthia475]

@Joyce246  You came into the forum and posted a question in which you were seeking an answer from other hosts.  You have received answers from @Gordon0 and @Sarah977  that you clearly didn't like.  I personally agree with their answer and would find it hard to believe that you will find someone that is going to agree that you can not take photos from your own property if it has someone elses property in the background.  It is not being disrespectful, it is being smart.  How else can they advertise their property that they put time and money into if they can not show the view and the setting?

And honestly I think Airbnb has a lot more things to monitor and police than the direction one is holding their camera.  

[Joyce246]

I have thanked Gordon & Sarah and also thank Sam, Ana, Ange,  Geidre& Andre,

and Cynthia for all your opinions . 

I did look at Gordon’s room and Paid him a compliment.. 

I will remove any photos off my Airbnb 

that uses any persons personal property as the focal point or is intrusive .. 

by mid May .. 

keeping in mind I don’t oppose public spaces.. 

and I hope that given that all the time and effort and funds I put into my property that someday my bookings will improve instead of constantly being vacant with all my rooms .. 

Thank you all for your opinions and time ..

to date .. 

[Joyce246]

It’s done .. 

[Paul1255]

Hi @Joyce246  I hope you are well.

Was your original post a concern that might be driving down bookings to your listing, or perhaps driving guests to neighbouring listings?

I'm happy to have a look into your listing and let you know if I can see anything constructive that could help improve your occupancy levels etc if you'd like?

Best wishes

Paul 🙂

[Joyce246]

Thanks Paul 

It is the intrusive matter of the photos

And yes you are on point with your comments .. 

And yes if you have the time to look at my listings , I’d appreciate your help, thoughts and feedback.. it can only help ... how is the best way to do this .. 

and if your travelling to Australia this year call in .. 

[Paul1255]

Hi @Joyce246 

I shall have a look through them tomorrow morning and I’ll drop you a private message with some feedback 🙂 

Hope you are well 

[Joyce246]

Thanks Paul 

I apprecite your help .. maybe I’ll get some Airbnb clients for the winter .. instead of the current numbers .. 0 .. 

with the occasional one .. 

Agian thank you .. 🙂

[Ana1136]

@Joyce246 i doubt someone will recognize your cows from the photos, it is not an invasion of privacy. It would be different if you and your family were on the photos. And if you take photos of public spaces there is always someone's property there. If you take street photos there is always someone's car there, or a shoo, or another house. They are just taking pictures of the view, they don't advertise your yard as a place for the guests to use. We all shouldn't have photos of any surroundings if this is your opinion. We shouldn't even take photos from the hills because as far as we know someone might own a piece of land there... it doesn't make sense. And if that bothers you so much the good thing to do is contact your neighbors and not include Airbnb. 

[Joyce246]

My concerns were private assets in private spaces.. 

Up And close and personal photos putting our backyard on public display ..

but it’s not about photos of people .. 

Its like  if you take a photo of your friends...

but don’t put it on Facebook without their permission .. easiest example I can give .

 Our cattle on Our property .. 

photo with caption - neighbours cows .. 

a selling point ..as the reviews even make reference to our cattle.. 

my airbnb clients haven’t even mentioned our cattle .. 

being used for someone’s promotional / marketing material for financial gain... 

We work very hard to get what we have for ourselves not for others to benefit from our hard work 

Not a distant scene .. ie a scene where nothing is really recognised 

Again nor public space .. ie if I park my car on the street someone take a picture .. 

Marketing is different to personal use .. 

On the flip side I would welcome photos taken of my Restaurant and Food & Coffee  included as somewhere local to eat or drink

as that is the commercial part of the property... the un-private part of my life .. 

I didn’t realise it would be so complex to get my point across .. its been difficult and taken to the extreme .. I feel .. 

[Ana1136]

@Joyce246 I highly doubt that someone will book your neighbors Airbnb just to be able to look at your cattle. They are not using that as a selling point. They are just taking a picture of the view because whoever comes will be inevitably looking at them, unless you build a wall as @Sarah977 @@@ suggested before. The selling point is the sea which in no way is yours and not your cows. I understand your point but in my opinion you don't have a reason to be contacting Airbnb especially if they are your friends as you say. 

[Sarah977]

@Joyce246  I did have a look at your listing and this is what jumped out at me as far as you not getting bookings:

While many of your guests said they enjoyed their stay and mentioned lots of positives, there is a recurring comment in the reviews as far as how the place is represented. While you do call it a motel in your heading, you also call it a "Nature Lodge". To me, the term nature lodge would conjur up a big building with high ceilings and rooms, not a motel room. 

There's nothing at all wrong with renting your motel rooms, but I think you could better represent them as such. Additionally, it seems from the reviews to be an older building, rather basic, and you say yourself it's built in the 80's. Again, nothing wrong with that, but you might think of a better way to describe the place. You could even use it as a selling point and play up the 80's angle- "Step back in time to the 80's roadside motel", kind of thing. You could even decorate to that- posters of 80's bands on the wall, black and white photos of families dressed for the era entering the rooms with their bags, bedspreads and throw pillows in 80's prints. It could be a fun thing.

So I'd drop the "Nature Lodge" and come up with a new listing description. There's just too many reviews where guests describe it as basic, older, etc. and seemed a bit disappointed with that aspect, altho they do mention that it's very clean. 

[Joyce246]

Thanks Sarah 

thanks for your innovative ideas and positive feedback ..  l like it .. 

thing for me to consider .. 

l used the nature lodge for my listings because l wanted people to know it’s not a city hotel and we are by the ocean and there’s more here than a brick wall to look at .. 

there will be leaves around the place and the windows won’t always be perfect and washing on the line including guest beach towels and bathers to dry .. 

We have many different birds , trees 

space , garden & lawns , views all round, sunrises and sunsets , cows  and it’s nice and quiet .. & ect ..

but one guest recently nailed my description as something like

a typical country roadside hotel .. 

which I wanted to explore .

planning to make changes in the coming weeks/ early next month as I have Easter and 2 Coach Groups to deal with this month .. and cook for them .. breakfast and dinner.. then I’ll have more time .. 

again thanks for your ideas and input..

[Joyce246]

The building was actually built under the GUESTHOUSE title .. that’s why we have a restaurant ...