Critique my listing - Christy from San Antonio Texas

[Christy297]

Lofty Retreat

Help! I would really appreciate any advice you can give. We went live about a week ago. The listing wasn't fully ready but my husband was determined to "get on with it". So we went live and I made additional improvements - adding language, pics, etc. over about 3 days. The "views" kept improving over this time and we started getting a bunch of inquiries (and bookings). Being new, I kept looking for ways to improve and kept tweaking things here and there. Then poof! All of our views dropped to almost nothing. Now I don't know if I made one too many changes (compared to when it was doing well) or if we were just benefiting from some initial algorithm boost that has now ended. Can you please look at the listing and tell me what I need to improve upon? And please give me your thoughts on the pictures. I'm not crazy about them but my family says I'm overthinking it.  Pricing-wise we are a little below our competitors and this is a great time of year to visit our town. The dramatic shift in traffic seems odd.  Thoughts? THANK YOU! 

https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/645061917545615189?guests=1&adults=1&s=67&unique_share_id=6e801797-b82a...

[Gwen386]

@Christy297 Your place is really beautiful. However, I did a search for homes in San Antonio for 6+ guests and you have a ton of competition. And, the homes I found were just as beautiful; and most had a lower nightly rate than yours. 

I suggest 2 things:

1. Reduce the number of guests to about 8. Some may feel the space is too large for a family. Every bed doesn’t necessarily have to be occupied. And since you’re pet-friendly, this gives people enough room to move around freely if they’re bringing a large dog or two. Just my 2cents. 

2. Delete wording, “no chore/laundry to-do list.” Why?  Unreasonable and un-savvy guests may think they can trash your place or god-forbid think, “well she’s charging a cleaning fee, of course I shouldn’t have to do any chores.” Of course, this is unrealistic; but be forewarned—this is how some guests actually think. 

For reference. I don’t charge a cleaning fee, nor do I tout that guests don’t have to do any chores. I just wish and hope that they clean up after themselves. Knock-on-wood, to-date, I’ve been very lucky because every guests have left my rental tidy—no trash, no food left in fridge or microwave, no dirty dishes, no dirty/sticky countertop or stovetop. Just something to think about. 

Hope this provides some insight. 

I love your introduction—very personable.