Critique my listing - Annie from Toronto, Canada

Nhi77
Level 2
Toronto, Canada

Critique my listing - Annie from Toronto, Canada

Hi everyone, I'm a new host with Airbnb and I'm hoping to get some critiques on my listing. I've only started about a month ago and I've had some inquiries and guests as well. However, I'm not sure if I should list the rooms in my house individually or should I keep the listing for the whole place like I have now. This is because the space I'm hosting currently is attached to our living quarters, but guests won't have to interact or share the space with us at all if they don't want to, but they might still hear us through the walls. I would appreciate any critiques so thank you so much in advance everyone!

 

https://www.airbnb.ca/rooms/528976959285338911?check_in=2022-02-17&check_out=2022-02-18&guests=1&adu...

4 Replies 4
Peggy-And-Mike0
Level 10
Georgia, United States

Hi, good luck with your listing. It looks comfortable enough with one exception. I saw 1 bedside table in all three bedrooms. That is a pet peeve of mine...bedrooms that don't have bedside tables ON EACH SIDE. Even small rooms have solutions. With phones/tablets and other devices, nobody wants to lay them on the floor, for one thing. And since your first guest did mention hearing you, I would put that in the listing --guests may hear you but won't see you unless you are outside. 

Hi there, thank you for your suggestions! I'll see what I can do about the bedside tables, but that's a really helpful tip!

@Nhi77   It looks like a nice home with appealingly eclectic style, great natural light, and good kitchen/dining amenities. I like that it retains the soulful feel of a real local home, and not one of the generic STR units that have flooded the market.

 

Sound traveling through the walls will be an issue for some guests - not just because they can hear you, but also because they'll know you can also hear them. So total privacy is not your selling feature. But I definitely wouldn't recommend splitting it up into separate bedroom listings, as the sum of them would have less value than an Entire Home space, but far more of your time would be occupied by cleaning the common areas. Most homestay guests prefer sharing the house with hosts who live there, rather than an unpredictable array of strangers, and none of those 3 bedrooms quite works as a self-contained unit.

 

About that last point:  I'm afraid I don't quite get the concept behind that bedroom in image 6. The features appear to be:  a king bed, a single armchair, and a glass shower stall right there inside the bedroom. That unconventional layout might appeal to a solo guest who really likes a damp steamy room and doesn't require any place to put his belongings,  but I'm not seeing this as an appealing space for 2 people to share. Flooring and ventilation are bound to be problems if you're trying to force a room to be simultaneously a bathroom and a bedroom (thankfully, I don't see a toilet in there by the bed).

 

The sense of scale looks a bit off in the other two bedrooms, as they both appear to have only single beds. They're both pretty small and minimally furnished, so I'd drop the maximum guest count down to 3 at the most until they've been more developed for guests. 

 

The garden is cute and has a lot of potential; it could use a bit of a better staging for photos, without the visible ladder, and more emphasis on the usable furniture. The bathtub would also present better with a deep clean around the edges. 

 

A little more detail about the neighborhood would be useful in the description, for guests unfamiliar with Toronto. Distance to public transport links, restaurants and shops, walkability, and atmosphere are helpful to describe - guests should do their own research, but you don't want a stay to go wrong because a guest chose the wrong district for their plans.

Hi @Anonymous Andrew! Thank you for your review! 

 

The room with the shower actually has a closet as well but it's not very visible from the picture so I guess we should make it clear. The second bedroom actually has a queen bed but maybe it doesn't look that big on picture so I'll probably need to do something about that as well. The backyard space is really nice but since it's winter right now, it's just covered in snow, but it's definitely a good idea to do some more decorating and setting up for the spring/summer time. 

 

Overall, I think I'll need to organize certain places, redo the grout in the bathroom and take some more photos of the details in our house. It's also a great tip to add more details about the neighborhood as we do have a lot to offer around here! 

 

Thanks again for all the detailed suggestions, I really appreciate it!