What is your Fantasy Budget Hotel room?

[Paul154]

The bookings for my nicely laid out apartment have become almost non-existant. I am way way down in the listings 😞

So I did what I'm supposed to and took new photos. I staged the bed with frilly quilt, shams and pillows so that the pictures would pop.

I am so ashamed of myself.

Frilly is not my style. I think most guests prefer simple, comfortable and clean.

What do you all look for when you travel to a big city on a budget and not interested in lazing? 

I'm asking as a host. 

In my mind, the perfect room would be small and simple. Desk, chair, reading light. It would make up for being small by being very, very clean. To keep the price low, there would be some enforced austerity. Linens provided,  bed not made.  Maybe you have to bring in the firewood or pump your own water...

The quiet and calm of a monostery is a style I like

I also am fascinated by the cleanliness and profitability of the Japanese hotel capsule

While I could never provide the cleanliness these cheaper styles require, it is fun to think about.

What would your perfect budget room be like?

[Jeff158]

And you should be ashamed paul, FRILLY beds, no thankyou. Get rid of the frills and I would be happy to stay at your place, but only if the bed is made up.

Do you use other platforms for bookings, Holiday lettings has overtaken airbnb for my bookings.

[Marzena4]

@Paul154 Neat comfortable bed, functional bathroom and cleanliness, I wouldn't ask for anything more. And do diversify your portfolio of booking sites, it's really healthy.

[Lawrene0]

The 'monastery' is my favourite, @Paul154. It's no stress. It's the style I always choose when travelling for work.  

I know you aren't looking for advice, but those frills would rip down to make excellent cleaning rags. 

[Huma0]

Sorry, I'm going to disagree a bit with some of the comments here. While simple and functional (clean goes without saying) might be what we require from budget accommodation, the Airbnb market is so saturated in certain areas that there is a plethora of simple and functional listings out there, so you I think you have to offer something a bit extra to draw in the punters, and if it's something you can easily show in your photos rather than having to describe in words, all the better.

@Paul154  I think you have done a grand job with the bed. If I was a guest walking into the room, I would feel good because I'd think this host makes an effort rather than just doing the minimum. Sure, it's frilly and if you really hate frilly you could make it look just as nice minus the frills, like below, but the point is, the bed looks inviting either way.

I've said this a few times in other threads, but the bed is usually the most important part of the room, not only because it's where the guests are going to spend most of their time while they are in that room, but also because it's usually the largest and most dominant piece of furniture, so it's worth making the most of it. I am not sure if dressing the beds nicely increases my bookings as it's not reflected in my photos, which were taken when I still had lodgers, but it definitely makes the guests coo when they walk into the rooms.

Now, you have to decide whether the expense (and this includes your time) is worth it, but there are many other things hosts can spend money on that will have less impact.

What do I look for in budget accommodation? Something clean, safe, friendly, conveniently located and comfortable and ideally that means the bed must be comfortable. The mattress is more important than anything, but pillows are really a matter of personal preference. By giving your guests a choice of pillows and cushions as you have done, you are allowing them to customise the set up to suit them. I stay in a lot of 4 and 5 star hotels because of my job and while the mattresses are almost always good, 4 out of 5 times, the pillows are cr*p.

[Marit-Anne0]

@Paul154

Scatter cushions ?  No thank you. I absolutely hate them ! Usually there is nowhere to place them when you actually go to bed, so they end up under the bed - usually the dirtiest place in any bedroom. And then they go back onto the bed for the next set of guests. By all means use them as a splash of colour for the photos, but not on my bed, thank you very much.

I honestly believe that most guests prefer a comfortable, no frills type of bed. Fresh smelling, freshly ironed 100% cotton linen will create some luxury for less.

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

@Paul154 hm... maybe something between those two choices you presented 🙂

Hosts also have to think about loundry service cost and time needed to make a bed. Especially if there are more beds available in the unit.

For example when we took pictures of our units we also had decorative cushions and bedspreads on all beds. At the begining of our hosting we realized few things: 

1. those cushions and bedspreads always end up on the floor ,  
2. will soon be ruined in frequent washing
3. and our loundry service cost is high (our guests average stay is just 2 days)

Now we keep all those additional decorative cushions and bedspreads in the closet of each bedroom so our guests can use them if they want to.  It saves us a lot of time and money because they are used very rarely 🙂 It helps us keep our prices low. 

[Dee33]

I think this bed is absolutely PERFECT and I'd book it in a nanosecond. 

[Lizzie]

hehe! Aw @Paul154, your comment did make me laugh! I agree frills aren't really my kind of thing either, but I think the bedroom does look like you have put some care into the room, which I think is what guests want to see. 

I'm intrigued to see what you have on your windows; blinds, curtains....frills?

[J-Renato0]

I have hosted guest from through out the world! I believe that I have reached the mark of more 250 guests from Airbnb. I have about 180 reviews and nobody have complained about having only 2 pillows available on each double bed. The type of my guests are middle class travellers. Only 1 guest has asked me more pillows.

So I believe that, appearance is important, but I think that most of the guest do not care for extra pillows and bed caushions. There are other important things to spend money on.

Certainly this type of decoration and comfort are inspired on 4 and 5 star hotels and boutique hotels.

I believe that, most of 5 and 4 star hotels in the US has lots of pillows available because in most of the standard rooms there is not sofa availabe in the rooms (usually only a lounge chair) and does not have an extra private living area with the room, despite the fact the rooms are large. So the hotels try to create a cozy atmosphere to the guests watch tv when on the bed.

As for the frills and extra pillows in the room of Paul, I would not need them, but I would gladly book that room! It looks clean and neat. Why not?

[Ashley197]

Hi @Paul154, 

I like the pics and think they are marketing your room well. For every person who likes a frilly bed there's another than doesn't - it all shakes out, but the presentation looking clean, bright, etc is attractive.

I wanted to comment on the change in the market - this seems to be a trend in our particular city and what I'm hearing from other hosts is that it's not due to it being slow-season either. They've commented that past slow seasons have not been nearly as slow. For me, after an insanely high-booking summer and early fall (even December) season with lots of great reviews, I noticed a crazy drop-off in occupancy that left me perplexed. I dropped the price dramatically over the past months and still, not impressive occupancy. While I've really stepped up my game in ammenities, even the positivity and excitement in the reviews is less than it was months ago, despite great prices and even more amenities. I'm baffled and am seriously considering professional photography or some kind of re-examining of my photos (I thought they were pretty good and they seemed to attract well for several months, but now there the next place I'm looking that perhaps could use a change).  I will say this last thing though.... I've noticed that sometimes my listings are really hard to find - even when I enter all the "right" search filters. I'm wondering if somehow listings get pretty censored... because I check my calendars daily, my listings are not so bad as to make it so hard to find them, prices are mostly on smart-pricing and not too far from the minimum suggested... It's baffling. Anyway, kudos to you for using it as an opportunity to revamp photos and the photo looks great!  

[Paul154]

@Ashley197

This really is my concern.

My listings are very low down too.

This low season in Seattle was worse than last year 😞

To increase my neurosis, I want to make the most possible this year, before our draconian regulations shut us down.

Fortunately, bookings are starting to pick up. Let's hope and thanks for the kudos

[Marit-Anne0]

@Ashley197

Obviously I do not know the market in Seattle, but in my area the number of airbnb offers doubled in the course of one single year and come November 2016 it went completely dead.  

If the market is saturated and you are not bang in the middle of the city center, you may have to lower the prices to a level when it is no longer worthwhile on your way to attract guests.  Again I do not know Seatlle, so this may not be your case. 

In my case it was also obvious that I was for some reason pushed down the search results and I believe the main reason was not having IB activated.  I also followed advise on the forum on tweaking the listing on a regular basis, add photos, adjust prices here and there, changed the cancellation policy from strict to moderate, no cleaning fee. During a certain period I pushed the "edit listing" button daily.  Slowly, but surely the listing rose from the dead.  

I think your photos are great and the rooms beautifully presented.  

[Ashley197]

Thanks so much @Marit-Anne0! This gives me some things to think about and I'm sure I'll be following suit and doing some of those tweaks as well! Quick question - do our listings appear higher in search ratings if there is no cleaning fee and if the cancellation policy is moderate? Is that because of the algorithm somehow, or because guests prefer a lower price (if the fee isn't charged) and the security of having more cancellation opportunity?  

[Marit-Anne0]

@Ashley197

My hunch about the cancellation policy came from a site called airdna, now a paid service, but used to be free for quite a lot of data earlier.  

They revealed that their rankings were based on reviews, cancellation policy and other things. I suspect the "other things" might include acceptance rate.  

Judging from discussions on the forum, some 50% of guests are put off when they see a cleaning fee, myself included.  They are like hidden costs airlines charge for luggage and seat reservations and paying by card and whatnot - we grudgingly accept them - but it does not set off a positive vibe.  

What else to say would depend on your clientele.  Are they mostly tourists ? Mine were almost all tourists, and those travelling off season are often the budget travellers.  My offer was a supercentral apartment for the same price as a double at the hostel.  I simply refused to go below that even though my colleagues did and still do.  Either these hosts cannot calculate or they are happy with break even, and that break even would not count the number of hours they put in themselves.  Eventually, the market will adjust itself as nobody can or want to put in a lot of work in a business that does not pay off.