My listing

[Sevil15]

Hello,

Just placed my listing on Airb&b. Would be interesting to learn from experienced hosts what I missed. The main problem I have at the moment is keeping the garden clean and trimmed. Would appreciate any tips on how to keep the outside tidy and not spend all day there cleaning it.

[Anonymous]

@Sevil15  Every booking begins with a guest feeling inspired to click on a listing's lead photo in their search results, so it's important to choose on that catches the eye and highlights one of the most desirable home features.

A thorough description is even more important - especially when your listing is a private room in a shared house. People want to know how many people they'll be sharing living space with, whether it's just the host(s) or also other guests, and what common areas they will have access to. 

I'm also confused that the room is listed as having 2 beds but only 1 is shown in the photos.

"Lighthouse Inn" is a charming title, but the word "inn" might lead some guests to expect something more like a hotel or pub rather than a homestay.

[Sevil15]

Thank you very much for your critique. Would you mind suggesting the name considering we have beaches nearby and a proper lighthouse? It's a hilly area only a 10 or 15 minutes drive from the center of the capital. I keep removing one bed in the setting, but for some reason, the advert shows two beds. 

[Sudsrung0]

We need something to work on, Give us the name of the area and the beach name, does the Lighthouse have a name?

Key words we are looking for 

[Sevil15]

No, the lighthouse has no name. The area is called Shikh after the people who used to live here 500 years ago and were known for providing food and shelter to pilgrims who came from other countries to the nearby mosque to pray to God to give their families children. The mosque is still here and active. 

[Helen744]

@Sevil15 I think if you look up a topological map you may find that the lighthouse hill does have a name and so does the lighthouse. It would be rare for them not to have H

[Gillian166]

@Sevil15  you haven't written a description at all. It doesn't need to be long, in fact I've recently switched all of my descriptions to bullet points, because you will soon learn : guests do not read! 

That doesn't mean you shouldn't have your listing packed with info, that way they can't claim 'you didn't tell me that'. There is a spot to put your house rules, as well as a guest manual (i put a brief version here, and have a longer printed manual in the cottage).

I understand how you feel about the gardening, we have about 10 acres of land around our buildings to manage and it's hard to keep it all look manicured all the time. Easy care plants are you best friends, we plant a lot of lavender and rosemary, both of these flowering shrubs are hardy and fill a space well and don't get out of control. we tend to avoid anything that need special attention (although i've been trying grow hydrangea for 4 years now, and i know once they get going it will look amazing but it's so slow) and we prefer things that can tolerate a strong cut back. (roses are actually great because they are really tolerant of a harsh pruning, and have the best flowers). See what is growing well in your area, and plant that, don't try to put in anything else. Local plants should be your least amount of work, and grow the best. your property looks large so i'd recommend you get one of those backpack weed sprayers, and walk around once a month and spray your weeds (there's more to it so do some research). A garden is an important part of any property and actually adds SO much value, but does require some work. 

photos: yes your photos need some work, especially your hero image. can you take a better pic on a sunny day with blue sky? a camera phone can take a very nice photo outside, your current pic looks a bit too moody. 🙂 all the best!

[Sevil15]

Thank you very much for your critique. It was a sunny day today and I took a new picture of the house and added some descriptions. Does it look better? I have known for years about going for local species that grow best in our area. Unfortunately, I cannot use any chemicals in the garden because I have a beehive in the garden and try to grow organic veg and fruit. When is the best time to prune roses and lavender? They do well in my garden, but sometimes some fully grown beautiful lavender bush dies after I prune it.

[Gillian166]

@Sevil15  I rarely prune lavender but after it flowers i would prune it back a little. have a google on what to do for your variety in your region. honestly i prefer rosemary, it lives longer and we've never killed one, whereas i do have a few lavender shrubs that have randomly half died. still, compared to everything else we try to grow they are the easiest. 

roses  are not all the same, i have some that bloom spring~summer and others that have a longer season but generally once they stop flowering i give them a hard prune. Just watch a youtube video on what to do, it's not hard and roses are really hardy. 🙂 I would never have planted roses on purposes, our home came with already in place, and now I love them so much. 

Yes that's a better photo but just tweak the contrast and add a smidge of saturation. 

[Huma0]

@Gillian166 

It probably depends on your climate and your soil. I have absolutely no luck with rosemary, which is sad, because I like it a lot. I have a very small one on my kitchen windowsill, but whenever I have tried to grow it outside, it's died very quickly! 

I've also had very little luck with French lavender, but English lavender seems happy enough in my garden providing it gets enough water to get established. Because it's a Mediterranean plant that likes sunshine and good drainage, I think that people assume it doesn't need water, but that's not true. I'm pretty sure every lavender that I've killed has been from under watering. 

Roses are generally easy as long as they don't get any diseases. I've been given roses that had been yanked out of a building site and looked pretty dead but have flourished none the less.

[Gillian166]

@Huma0  yes that's why i wrote to find a variety that suits your zone. We have a few australian versions of lavender, and rosemary, that I grow. I did try a pink lavender once, and they all died (although it could have been bunnies). 

Many of my roses have black spot, i tried one year to cure it but it came back so now we live with it, doesn't seem to effect the flowering at all. I've even moved roses,  just dug them up, dug a new hole and put them in, and they survived. 

[Huma0]

@Gillian166 

Yes, to be honest, I've not had a lot of luck with lavender and have killed several, including a really beautiful white one. I gave the last of my French lavender to my mother as it just wasn't thriving here, but it seems happy in her garden even though she doesn't live that far from me! There is one spot though in my garden that English lavender seems to be very happy in deed. So, I think I will just stick with that. 

I sometimes get black spot on the roses too. Do you spray yours? I wonder if there is a non-chemical solution for it...

[Gillian166]

@Huma0  the first year I sprayed and cut off the leaves. perhaps you have to drench the whole plant to "cure" it, but if we call them "freckles" instead then it doesn't sound so scary, and I let the plant do what it wants. 

[Huma0]

@Gillian166 

Yes, the black spots have never killed the roses (yet) and they still flower well. I try to tackle the spots from time to time, but I will call them 'freckles' from now on and not feel too bad about it...

[Huma0]

@Sevil15 

It may vary depending on the climate but lavender usually benefits from a very light pruning after flowering, which prevents it from getting too woody. I have no luck at all with French lavender, but English lavender varieties seem to do well in my garden (might have something to do with the soil, I don't know). I cut back the flower stems once they have faded to the top pair of leaves and save the flowers for drying. I might give it another little trim after the whole plant has finished flowering, which it seems to benefit from (more and more flowers every year), but I never chop it back drastically!

With roses, it depends on the type. Typically, rambling roses should be cut back in the late summer after they have flowered because they will flower entirely on the new growth. They can also get really unruly so they usually need to be pruned back quite hard. Other types of roses are usually ideally pruned in late winter/the beginning of spring so that they have a chance to form flowering branches in time. I am probably far too cautious when doing this and should cut them back more because they always flower better when they've been pruned at that time. I have also read that you can prune them in the autumn too.

I would look it up online to see the best techniques for pruning roses to keep them healthy and disease free. You should find some tips on where to cut and the angle etc.

[Sudsrung0]

@Sevil15  You still need more photo's of inside the house, Kitchen and Dining room.

Depends on the phone camera you are using there is a big difference in the quality,

I get the feeling this a stand alone property? how about an Ariel view? 

Find out how much it cost to use a professional photographer one who does real estate it's worth it,

This is an ariel view of our project.