Getting questions, but no bookings

[Alexandra316]

So my cottage listing gets inquiries, but never bookings.  People message me to ask a question (usually something mentioned front and centre in the listing), then they don't book with me. I don't really care, because I'm fully booked in the two crucial months of July and August, but I just don't get bookings through Airbnb for this listing, and my search position is terrible. I'm wondering if the inquiries with no bookings is driving me even further down in the search results: does anyone know if that's the case? I do have a 100% response rate, but I reply and send pre-approvals and the potential guests just fall off the face of the earth.

I would like to do more business through Airbnb for that listing, but it just doesn't seem to be possible.

Any other tips for this listing? It's the Sherkston Paradise listing.

[Letti0]

@Alexandra316   I think I'm at the bottom of the list in a search I am sure. I was 90% booked for July prior to that 65-80% booked all the time and I have had 2 bookings in August each for one day. Don't have another thing booked except for weddings way far out. I have had a bunch of inquiries on HA/VRBO and a few on AirBnB, but no bookings at all. I usually do mostly last minute booking, but nothing now. I think I may need to redo my listing at this point. I have a photographer coming out to do the Cottage and the Guest house next month, but I have no idea whats wrong. Open to all suggestions. 

[Alexandra316]

@Letti0I think the professional photos will help a lot... other than that, I think your listing looks good (and your photos aren't bad: they could just be better). Maybe change the main bedspread and the towels to something a bit more neutral? The wording seems good... you reflect your focus on family accomodations. 

It's so hard to say what makes people book, or not. On the other side of the coin, I honestly don't know what makes my primary listing so popular. It's okay, but it's hardly the Ritz, and I do have some good completition. I'd love to know what the "secret" is, if anything.

Out where you are, do you have much competition? It seems to me like your place would be pretty unique.

[Andrew216]

Have a bit of fun with your listing, it makes it way more memorable. Put a couple of crazy-low prices for one month. Check out mine.... 😉

[Letti0]

@Alexandra316  I know the my pictures suck, but the weather has been the biggest issue with getting them re-done (useless first photogher we did better than him and it cost me $300 for just the Guest House). Then graduations photo's had them booked out and now they have been paid since April and I have nothing still. They are supposed to do the venue, the Guest House and the Cottage to the tune of about $1,000.

It funny you mention the bedspreads. Today we decided to pull the spring/summer spreads and put on the fall/winter ones lol. We have 3 for each bed, so after guests leave we dryclean the one, use another and have a spare for emergency use. 

Currently on HA/VRBO I am ranked 237 out of 3,020 entire homes homes listed in my area. I was 21 - 34 out of 2,496 - 2,569 until the last month and a half. They added 400-500+ homes in that timeframe mostly sleeping 10-20 people. My listings are geared to families and BMT (Basic Military Training) graduations, these new properties are property managers mostly with thrift store furnishings, no cable, limited to no amenities and over capacity occupany with many twin bunk beds and air mattresses. The prices are so low I don't see how even the property managers are making any money, guess it's volume for them.

[Alexandra316]

@Letti0 I know how it goes! I've been meaning to get mine re-done by a professional since last November, but bookings have been so busy I haven't been able to get anyone in. Every time the space is available the photog isn't, and vice versa. I'm having a co-worker from my normal job who does real estate and landscape photography on the side do it, so the price is reasonable.

That ranking is pretty good. What ranking site are you using? I use the Porter site. My market is fairly small. My primary has been #1 out of 250-ish for a while, but my secondary is lurking around 160-200 out of appproximately 350. Bad.

[Letti0]

@Alexandra316  On Porter I an number 1, but it's only my actual town not the San Antonio area  of 36 homes. As of this morning HA just bump me to 124 out of 3,023. Maybe I get some bookings now. 

[Noel63]

@Alexandra316Maybe go back and ask people who made enquiries what factored in to their decision to book elsewhere. Tell them that you are surveying people in order to improve your business and all constructive criticism is welcome.

[Noel63]

Most of my bookings come from another platform.

[Alexandra316]

@Noel63 Same, for my secondary listing at least. I have all the bookings I can handle: they're just not from Airbnb.

[Martha278]

What other platforms are you using?

[John1080]

@Alexandra316, I have read and heard that constantly updating the listing can elevate your ranking.

"Professionals" have advised that one should change a word or two often as well as rearange photos and upload new ones weekly. I don't know if any of this actually works, but can't hurt.

With regards to inquiries, I have no idea if they drive one down in the rankings or not. I was thinking the more attention a listing received the better, but perhaps my thinking on this is flawed now that you mention it. 

I have found that most of my bookings are coming in last minute, about a week out, so hopefully you'll get some last minute bookings going foward after August. 

[Alexandra316]

@John1080 No one books the resort in the off-season: July and August is all you get. You might get a couple weekend bookings in June and September, but there is so little demand and so much supply, it's very difficult to get booked for a decent nightly rate. I'm not willing to go low enough to be competitive: I'm not spending 4 hours clening the cottage, removing all my personal effects, and taking on the risk of hosing people for $300 for a weekend. It's just not worth it to me, and if I don't have guests, I can also enjoy it myself.  Right now, the only booking I have after Labor Day is Canadian Thanksgiving in October.

I've wondered if I can't get booked through Airbnb because people tend to be last-minute bookers on this site, in my experience. By the time Airbnb folks start looking, I'm already fully booked for all the prime dates. Right now, I only have a week and a half left for all of the summer of 2019, right at the end of August.

[John1080]

@Alexandra316, yes I've found most of my guests book last minute, usually the week before and I agree, it wouldn't be worth going so low that you are basically making nothing once you factor in your time. 

We just started in March, and have had pretty much a full occupancy rate since then, although May was slow.  July and August have been great and I think September will be full too with people coming to see the aspens. 

I am anxious to see what happens in winter, although really, in my place, winter is the most pleasant season imo.  

Which other sites do you use? Right now, we only use Air, as they collect taxes for us in Colorado and we just don't want to have to deal with that. Kind of funny, as my partner is a CPA, but he's too busy at work to want to handle taxes from other sites. But, I am considering other sites as well at this point. 

[Alexandra316]

@John1080 You might be surprised re: winter. I though it would be quiet, as I'm in a highly seasonal market, but things just kept ticking through November, December, January and February. Not booked solid like the summer, but far from dead.

I'm also using HomeAway and their associated sites: VRBO, CanadaStays, etc. I'm also on Booking.com, but I don't think it's a good fit for either of my listings, really: I don't get bookings from that site and I don't really like it. I'm still doing the bulk of my business through Airbnb for my primary.

In the case of my secondary listing, I'm also using the resort-specific listing site, which is responsible for the bulk of my business for that listing. It's ugly as sin and is really just an old-school billboard (you're only allowed to have 5 photos, ads are a maximum of 500 charachters, and it looks like the graphic designer used Paint), but it seems to get the job done so I stick with it.