Getting Guests to Read

[Trey10]

I see lots of conversation topics that could be listed as "Guests don't read"

We have too often had guests who just don't read: 
*The room has a shared bathroom with one other person (our housemate), it's stated several times in the description and listed that way. We get dinged on ratings sometimes because the bathroom is shared. 
*The room is 'courtyard level' (meaning one side is half underground, the other side fully above ground). It's described that way specifically, twice. We get dinged on ratings sometimes (one recent one from a superhost, you'd expect they'd read!)
*The room is a private room, listed and priced that way, not an entire space. People (including above superhost) dinged us for that even though it's listed that way, and has 30 professional photos and a description that way. Frankly, for a private room, it has it's own kitchenette, hangout area w/ TV, etc. Might as well be an entire house but for the entrance.. but we price it as a single private room. 
*People ding us occasionally on street noise even though we describe it as an urban street TWICE in the description and  in the listing as something to consider. We provide a white-noise machine and earplugs for those more sensitive.  Still, people ding us for street noise (really, if you want an amazing urban location, don't expect woodland silence).

How do you get your guests to read the descriptions and listing so they aren't 'surprised'?

We have a 4.9 rating on that space (4.5 our our house when we are on vacation because we had a nightmare guest who left us 2 star ratings), for a total of 4.8. That's not bad, but we'd like to keep it above that?

[Jessica-and-Henry0]

@Trey10

I repeat key points in the description several times - and include a short comment with photos. I also reiterate and have guests confirm when we exchange messages, many times I will copy+paste. Then I go thru them again during the check in tour and provide a house rules & manual folder in the guest room which they HAVE to flip thru to get the wifi pw. 

I do everything I can reasonably do to make sure there is no room for "I didn't know~" type excuses. 

[Ellen33]

I always send before accepting....or even when accepting

I do hope you understand you will be sharing the house with us. You have your own bedroom but bathroom is shared. 

Once we got a girl wvo booked  our place....later she realized we do not live in bruges....but 50 km further. 

[Betty124]

Oh no!!

You're kidding!

A whole other CITY??

[Alex939]

Most of my guests usually do these 2-3 things - look at the price, location and pictures. If they book, they find the code for security lock and that's pretty much everything they do. Yet I am not discouraged at all. I contact them before and during their stay to make sure everything's going smoothly for them and for me as a host. 

[John1574]

@Trey10@Alex939

Alex, some people are just lucky.  That's why the expression, "It's better to be lucky than good."

I reckon you'll be getting some world renowned a$$whole soon enough, I hope not, but when you do let us hear from you. Lol 

Goodluck and bad luck sometimes just seem to be arbitrary.

And Trey, you may be in a short-lived slump where everyday it's like trying to run underwater.  You take all the advice here, boil it down to a concentration, and it may change your luck or you may have to just ride out this slump.

Look at your horoscope, maybe the moon in is Uranus and the Sun is in the sign of Feces.  Lol

You are not doing anything wrong.  Hang tough.

Thumbs up if you like a post.

[Alex939]

It would be a great pleasure for me @John1574 to share some story with you all. 

[Paul154]

@Trey10 

Publish better pictures for better guests.

Currently, you are marketing to a lower class of guest.

If you don't take the time to declutter, stage and cleanly make your bed, why would you expect the guest to take the time to read your listing?

Airbnb is a two-way street.

[Trey10]

Yeah, not feeling ya. Those are professional photos, the bed has top-quality linens and comforter. And overwhemingly most of our guests are “top quality” and not lower class. Not sure what you mean by that. We get great people, great reviews 99% of the time. We aren’t doing Airbnb plus  not trying to attract the rich. 

The room could use some culling and removal of furniture, but guests are getting far more than they are paying for. 

[Sammy35]

---

@Paul154 wrote:

@Trey10 

Publish better pictures for better guests.

Currently, you are marketing to a lower class of guest.

If you don't take the time to declutter, stage and cleanly make your bed, why would you expect the guest to take the time to read your listing?

Airbnb is a two-way street.

---

errrrrrrrr
not sure i agree any of that is the problem people are describing here

[John1574]

@Trey10

 After @Paul154 's comment I checked your listing something I don't usually do.

 I am adamantly opposed to hosts putting the kind of description of themselves that includes your entire CV, all your work and educational accomplishments etc. etc. 

 To each his own, but it gives me the impression that people who do that are totally full of themselves. 

 I don't mean to imply that you are totally full of yourself.  That's just the impression I get no matter who does it.  It Makes me feel resentful. 

 Remember, resentment and jealousy ruin the world.  They also rule the world. 

 I would consider that some of the reviews you're complaining about are simply designed to bring you down a peg or two. 

 A description of yourselves like you have does not in any way convey that you are humble people with a sense of humility despite your incredible accomplishments. 

 No offense, but I personally would never book with anybody that has a description of themselves like you guys have. 

 Then again I despise staying at four-star hotels.  I can't stand the kind of people who work there or the kind of people stay there. 

 So I'm a guy with certain Picadillo's. 

 Just consider that to me, and probably some other people, your description at the head of your listing is very offputting. 

 It seems to have worked for you so you must make a decision on how to solve the problem that you are concerned with at the moment.

 It is a constant process of tweaking, working analysis and going with the flow to absorb the changes in the business environment.

 Good luck. 

[Trey10]

Yes, that is what is recommended by Airbnb for guests so hosts will get to know you. We started out as guests on Airbnb, and that profile has worked well with that in mind. As hosts it doesn’t seem to have an effect at all, if anything we attract a lot of good guests (fully booked 3 months out at a time even in down time). The problem isn’t getting bookings and great guests, we get both of those. It’s the very occassional poor review because the guest didn’t read the description. 

Though I appreciate the feedback, I don’t think both yours and Paul’s has anything really to do with “guests reading the description” and wouldn’t help in that regard. I actually disagree with you on profiles as does Airbnb’s suggestions. To each his own I guess!

[Lisa723]

@Trey10 I think @John1574 confused your profile with your listing. (FWIW though it’s not on your topic my impression of your photos wasn’t great either mostly because unstaged/cluttered/few but that does give you an opportunity to over-deliver I guess. 🙂 )

[Trey10]

Yes probably (profile, not listing)

This topic is getting way off, but they were Airbnb photos by a professional. There are 33, so not sure what the ‘few’ means. More than 33? We actually weren’t very happy with this photographer, she made everything dark and ‘sepia’. 

I would like to actually unclutter and redo the space with new furniture (less ‘eclectic”), but for now, I think the photos need to reflect what they are booking. They are getting a private room that feels like an entire space. We have 4.9 ratings over 250 bookings, so we are doing something right. I think we could obviously redo the space, get better photos and get a higher rate, but for now with an average of 90% booking rate even in down-season, 120/night average and 4.9 ratings average, we’ll just stick with what we have. Thanks for the suggestions, they are in our ‘queue’ of things to do. 

Anyway, we obviously want better ratings (5.0!) and looking back at all ‘less-than-5.0’ ratings they are all with no exceptions because the guest didn’t read the description and expected something else. So the request was how to make sure guests are knowing what to expect. I don’t mind suggestions on how to make a better place, but wasn’t asking that. 

[Lisa723]

I know you weren’t. Was I looking at the wrong listing? “Garden level single room” shows 3...?

[Lisa723]

If others made the same error that would explain quite a bit of this thread... 🙂