Critique my listing - LaTonia Newark, DE USA

[LaTonia5]

@LaTonia5 

I am new to BNB looking for some pointers. I know my guidebook could use some help. I have 5 bookings so far. 

Thanks 

[Olivier906]

@LaTonia5 Beautiful place. Very bright. Nice workout room. Mine looks tiny in comparison. That living room photo is great but I'd use your house's photo as main photo. You rent the basement but it might give a better idea (and impression). Add more keywords to you title if you can. Don't forget, the more you write, the more you feed the algorithm. Just my 2 cents. Greetings from France 😉

[Sarah977]

@LaTonia5  Nice place. I have to disagree with the above advice to put the house photo as the main one. Guests are notorious for just looking at the photos and price and not reading the description. If you put the house photo up front, you'll get some guests showing up thinking they get the whole house.

I like the minimalist look myself, but I would dress up some of the barren walls, like the one behind the dining table next to the door with some art, tapestry, whatever. Same for some of the other barren walls.

A bed that sleeps two should have a reading light for each side of the bed. One of a couple often likes to read in bed, while the other just wants to sleep. So maybe another lamp on the bedhead or on the wall.

You should add "No visitors" to your rules. Even though I assume you live upstairs, so would probably be aware if they did, guests need to know they can't invite others over who aren't on the booking.

It's wise to keep communication on the Airbnb messaging, rather than whatsapp, or phoning, as much as possible, if it involves anything that could be contentious. You want to be able to prove to Airbnb that you were responsive to guest's complaints or needs, which you can't do if it was over the phone. No big deal if the guest is just phoning to say they're delayed and will be an hour later checking in, or is there a can opener somewhere, but if it's anything they could lie about afterwards, move the conversation to messaging.

Try to state house rules in positives, rather than Don't, if you can, while still sounding firm.

 I.e. Please be respectful re noise levels of both the hosts, who live upstairs, and the neighbors. Loud music or other disturbance will not be tolerated.

"Quiet" in your house rules has a typo and says "quite".

Good luck with your hosting!

[Olivier906]

@Sarah977 You are right, it’s already not clear it’s a basement anyway. That’s why the title needs more keywords and I’d def add “basement” in it.

[Nick]

Just a heads-up @LaTonia5 I'm moving this in our New to Hosting board which could result in more advice and critiques for your beautiful place 🙂 

[Anonymous]

@LaTonia5   I think you made a good choice for the lead photo - it catches the eye with a bold color contrast, gives a pretty good perspective on the dimensions of the room, and shows off a unique selling point by featuring the pool table. 

The written description could use a little fleshing out. "Privacy all around" might be seen by some guests as inaccurate if you as the host are living in the same house directly above them and observing their movements. If I were booking such a space, I'd want to know a bit about who occupied the upstairs - whether it was a resident family, a group of housemates, a single person, or other transient guests. And I don't quite know what to make of the "don't go upstairs" rule. I see the staircase leading down to the living room, but is there a locked door at the top or does it open straight into your living space? I wouldn't consider booking a place if this detail wasn't explained in the listing.

Aesthetically, I agree with @Sarah977  about the barren walls. Empty walls and an empty bookshelf can make even a luxurious room feel like a prison cell - combined with the dearth of natural light coming into the basement, some guests will find this depressing. It's nice to have a patio, but only if there's some furniture there so people can actually make some use of it and enjoy it. The overall feel is that the space has a lot of untapped potential but isn't quite finished yet.

[Brian2036]

Beautiful apartment! And a pool table? Sweet.

 You don’t have to spend a lot of money on decorating. We had a lot of fun scrounging framed artwork and knickknacks at garage sales and thrift stores.

That would also be a good place to find some end tables and lamps.

In a university town you will also be able to find some really nice things curbside at the end of the semester.