New host

[Jonathan2883]

Hello All at CC,

My name is Jonathan Johnston and I am a first timer.  Signed up 2 days ago and the requests don't stop.

My guest house is located in Springfield, LA near the waterfront.  

Does anyone have tips for a first time host?

Thank you,

Jonathan 

[Elisa]

Hi @Jonathan2883 😊, 

Welcome to the Community Center, and thank you for asking this great question here!

Congratulations on your bookings, that’s an amazing start.

How many have you received so far?

I’m tagging a few experienced hosts to share their advice: @Oksana127, @Lorina14, @Andrea8411, @Carrie643, @Kate-And-Mitch0, @Rudolf103 and @Ranveer1.

Thank you in advance!

Warm regards 🌻,

[Kelly333 · Accepted solution]

Welcome Jonathan!  I'm excited for your new hosting adventure.  

Off the top of my head suggestions:

Good photos

1. When you're a new host, Airbnb gives you a super boost so your place gets a period of preferential exposure.  So now is the time to go fast and hard to get as many bookings as you can until they take their gas off the "new listing" pedal and you have to swim with the rest of the listings. 
2. With this in mind, you may want to consider taking new pictures or having someone take them for you. Your place looks super cute but the pics are really dark and not showing off your hard work to get the place ready. 
3. You can ask a local realtor if they can suggest a real estate photographer OR you can see suggestions in this Airbnb post: https://www.airbnb.com/resources/hosting-homes/a/how-to-take-great-photos-for-your-listing-687

Good communication

1. You'll want to communicate quickly and regularly with your guests.  You can automate most of your communication using Airbnb tools you'll find in this link https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/2897
2. Believe it or not, I rarely have to manually respond to guests. Most of my communication covers everything guests need to know in advance of them asking, so there is very little back and forth between me and guests.  This is valuable if you have a day job and don't have time to manually respond quickly to all incoming messages. 
3. Consider creating a communication "waterfall" that automatically delivers messages as follows:
   1. Thank you for booking (delivers a few minutes after booking)
   2. 8 days before arrival - send them everything they need to know (the ammenities they don't need to pack because you've got it, where to park or not, etc.)
   3. After arrival (say 6pm ish) - tell them you're available for any questions and to let you know in case anything is not 5 stars so you can address it. This is the most important message you can send because it allows a guest to feel comfortable to tell you if something does not meet their expectations (e.g. not clean or broken, etc). It is much better for a guest to vent in advance and/or for you to be able to address an issue upfront. Otherwise, guests won't tell you until after they leave when they put it in the review. You don't want that. 
   4. Night before check out - send a short list that reminds guests of the checkout time and anything you want them to do before they check out 

Hope this helps! 

[Marie8425]

@Jonathan2883

Pretend you are your target someone planning a 5 day vacation for a group of 10 people.  

Does your set up invite my large group to be comfortable living together for 5 days and do you highlight why your listing will make my groups experience memorable?