Unfinished Listing

[Piper13]

Hey guys,

I started my very first listing but it's still in progress.

I was giving it a try to see how it would look like.

I have yet to shoot photos and finalize the descriptions.

My questions are:

1. Once you started a listing, is it already showing in the system even when it's not finished?

2. From what I read, as a new host you get an automatic boost in rankings for the first 30 days after you put your listing up - is this true?

My concern is that I don't want to waste the first few days of the first 30 days with my listing being rather empty.

Hope you guys can help. Thanks so much!

[Jeff158 · Accepted solution]

@Piper13 

When you click publish it can be anything from 1hr to 24hrs before its integrated into the system and live on the website.

Yes you'll get a boost for 30days starting when it goes live on the website.

When you publish the listing, Instant booking will be switched on, I recommend switching it off as soon as its live, you can switch it back on when you're more use to the system.

[Piper13]

Thanks for your input, Jeff!

[Sarah977]

@Piper13  And also make sure you have filled out your payout information before you go live with your listing. There are posts here all the time from new hosts who have already hosted several guests and ask "How do I get paid?".

Also make sure to read through all the information provided for hosts in the "help" section of the Airbnb site so you understand how the review process works, and everything else.

[Herb10]

Hi, this seems like the situation I am in. I have started the setup but have not clicked "Publish" yet....I'm a bit worried about getting it wrong. So I assume my listing is not live yet, although I can review it....so I have a few questions too, any help greatly appreciated...

- in the review I see the cancellation policy is set to Free up to 24 hours before....I didn't see an option to select that so don't know why or how that is there?

- Also, there was no mention of how to add cleaning fees, or what the service fees would be? Are these included in the Instant Pricing values that were recommended?

- And, if I select the Option "Dates unavailable by default" before Publishing is there an easy way to reset it to 3 months, or 6 months? Or would i have to 'unblock' dates manually forever....?

- If I hit Publish is there time to sort these things out before it goes live?

Many thanks!

[Helen3]

Hi @Herb10 

Have you found the Airbnb Help resource yet. It's great for all the basics around setting up and managing your airbnb.

https://www.airbnb.co.uk/help/topic/1033/your-listings

It's really worth familiarising yourself with these before you let your listing go live.

Have you also looked here https://www.airbnb.co.uk/d/setup

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Herb10 in random order answers as follows

Cleaning fees - Go to Listing, Pricing and then Standard Fees and Charges to add a cleaning fee

Cancellation policy - Go to Listing, Booking Settings and then Policies to edit the cancellation policy.

Once you hit publish you can still change things but if a booking comes in then you are stuck with whatever settings existed at the time of booking

Service fees - These are Airbnb and will be 3.6% paid by you and about 16% paid by guest.

If your rate is 100/night then you will actually get 96.4 and the guest will pay about 116.

[Herb10]

@Mike-And-Jane0thanks for this...I didn't see a "Listing" link in Review mode in order to make these changes, until I clicked on my Login Photo in the review 🙂 ...then I saw Manage Listings..... I have tried making the changes, see a message Changes saved but they don't seem to have taken.? I try in the morning. Maybe it is because I haven't Publish-ed yet...

[Susan3840]

Where do I go to enter my tax cert #? I have my page set up but Airbnb made me wait to go live until I got my #. Now I can't find where to go back to enter it and go live????

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Herb10 I forgot - Many options only become available once you publish your listing. This is really dumb but it is what it is!

Best option is to publish the listing then pause it 5 minutes later. Its highly unlikely anyone will book in this time.

[Herb10]

Thanks very much, I wasn't aware of a pause option, I do appreciate the help.....The walking groups I lead walked through Radbourne a couple of times, once on a circular from Kink Langley via Lees...and once walking The Bonnie Prince Charlie Walk...

[Sarah977]

@Herb10  It's really important to take the time before you publish your listing to read all the information available in the Help section for hosts on the Airbnb site. Then you should click on anything that's available in your hosting account before publishing, to familiarize yourself with where to find all the settings. I really wouldn't recommend using Instant Book right now. Wait until you have a bit of experience and learn how to properly vet guests- you don't want a bunch of newbie guests who also don't understand how Airbnb works, or how to behave in an Airbnb, or what the expectations are, simply Instant Booking your place.

Also, read posts here on the forum as much as possible. It will give you an idea of all the challenges hosts face and how to deal with various situations that come up.

[Herb10]

Thanks very much Sarah, take tiny steps seems the way to go esp with todays situation....I will heed that advice!