Critique My Lisiting - Ian, in Georgia

Ian34445
Level 2
Columbus, GA

Critique My Lisiting - Ian, in Georgia

Hi everyone, I’m retired Army here in the Fort Benning/ Columbus Georgia area. I have several long term rentals but this is my first listing on AirBnB. What I love the most about living here is being able to wear shorts all year long ( can’t do this in my home state New York) . Please check my listing and any feedback provided (good or bad) will be greatly appreciated.

 

Screenshot 2022-05-13 at 11.00.11.png

3 Replies 3
Mike-And-Jane0
Level 10
England, United Kingdom

@Ian34445 Welcome. I see 5 beds and yet you have a guest count of 12. Also you are only allowing 3 hours to clean the whole place based on check out/in times unless you plan to block a day between rentals. Finally why are the comforters not left with the sheets in the master bedroom when people check out?

Gwen386
Level 10
Lusby, MD

Hi @Ian34445 

I love how spacious the home is, but for me, it doesn't have a warm and cosy feel to it. Even though it’s spacious, I can’t imagine a guest count of 11 sharing the space. Maybe use wide-lens photos so guests can get a better feel of the size. 

My suggestions:

1.  In each bedroom, invest in comforters, sheets & throws that compliment each other. The mismatch is distracting. 

2. Put lamps on end table in living room. 

Gillian166
Level 10
Hay Valley, Australia

hi @Ian34445  Welcome!
you've got everything started well.

Styling doesn't come easily to me, even though i'm a photographer so i have some grounding in the basics of good design, but i still  research to stay up to date with trends so guests don't feel underwhelmed. to make it easy for myself i choose a colour palette and then stick to it, actually I choose a base neutral, and then choose one or two accent colours. and that makes design SO much easier because you don't let yourself be tempted by things outside that scope. (Instead you start planning your next airbnb where you "let" yourself use a different colour, haha, my next airbnb will be Boho, it's going to be so much fun). 

So, I'm not a fan of themed bedrooms beyond teenage years, it's cringe, and especially so when done in a space that bears no resemblance to the theme. Hey, I've done it in the past too, haha, and my mum still designs like that so i'm sure you'll have many guests who love it. But, if you have competition in your area how will you stand out? answer: styling, and it doesn't cost that much more to have a nicely styled space.  So, those patterned doona covers are too much and just too pedestrian. go for a plain colour and put your colour pop in the throw at the bottom of the bed, and a few fun cushions. Having all the same doona coviers means you can swap out covers into any room, you'll need double quantity of everything, at least. We use white doona covers (they do have a stitched pattern across them) on all our beds (3 listings, all on one farm), with a coloured throw across the bottom. I'm always on the look-out for bedding on special, and i know i can buy white and it will have a use on 4 different beds. Since you've invested in these sets i'd recommend you get a plain coloured throw (large size) for the bottoms of the beds to give the eyes a rest.  I really love that throw you have in the beachy room, would look amazing thrown across a neutral white/cream bedspread and with a few cushions in some of those colours (terracotta pink is really in right now so easy to find, not my fave personally, but the beauty of doing an accent colour in cushions is that you can change it each year. I wanted to do a room with lilac accents, because we have lavender growing everywhere and i can always have fresh lavender in the room, but i just couldn't find that colour easily so i went with sage green instead). Your grey room is more appealing as it feels better put together. 

I'm really not a fan of much decor in an airbnb, guests will move them out of the way, or break them!, they are dust collectors and if they are from dollar tree, add zero value. I'd recommend going to a thrift shop and looking for a one-off item that is cool and interesting. On your entrance table why not have a guest manual, maybe a jar with a pen and other things, or mints (americans seems to love mints!), or hand sanitiser (nooooooo! haha), but at least all of those items have purpose and add value to your guests' experience. 

on your random bookshelf (serves no purpose, just requires cleaning), you have random items that are just more things to be put back in place, and clean. If you want to keep it, could you have maybe a few books that people might like to read? (thrift store!) or history books about your local area (thrift store!) or tourist brochures, or even a guest book for people to sign (and read), that's a nice nudge towards reminding them to leave you a nice review. there are many options to have decor items that are actually interesting to guests. battery operated candles are nice though, that should stay, women love candles! 🙂   

 

It's great you've put pics up of all the items in the kitchen, youtuber Sean Rwhatshisname reccos that. I personally haven't done it, but we don't really have a lovely kitchen to push. I'd add a caption somewhere "items may vary due to breakages and upgrades" just in case someone decides to be annoying and claim the only reason they booked was due to blue and orange cups that are now gone. 

You need to put captions on your photos, the new algo uses all the words in your listing to decide if you're worthy of going into a category. Some hosts put guest comments in this spot (clever!), or you could let guests know that your bedding is brand new for 2022, or that guests love your quirky one of kind Georgian book collection, but this is valuable space for you to share more info with your potential guests and give them a sense of what a wonderful host you are. 🙂 Good luck!

 edit: oh, and toilet lid goes DOWN for photos,   sheesh.and maybe even take the bin away for the photo. (next time! when you upgrade your pics) 🙂