What needs changing?

[Julie1525]

Hey everyone, thanks for being such a great support to a newbie.

Next question: Would several of you go to my listing as a traveler and look at it as if you really were looking in our location?

Please tell me the good, the bad and the ugly. In other words,

What's good or even great?

What photos or text are great, need tweaking or eliminating?

What's a turn off?

What could be clearer?

What could we purchase or get rid of to make it more appealing?

I hope this isn't in appropriate. I just need someone to look who has never been here and who doesn't know me or my home.

Thanks a bunch!!!

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

@Julie1525 

I like your place and your guests like it as well, I see you have all 5* so you obviously do it right 🙂

I travel with my friends so 1 double bed would not suit us, we need 2 beds.

I love to watch tv from the bed so this is great but I don't like I have to turn the tv off at 10 PM as I stay awake past midnight and often fall asleep while the tv is on ... until it turns off by itself. Of course, I keep the volume at a bare minimum.... at least after midnight.

Having my own kitchenette for morning coffee is great.

A lot of outdoor space to sit and enjoy is great but I am a smoker and it is not clear if smoking is allowed outside the house or not.

I like you allow pets but I wouldn't leave my dog outside, especially during the night. He is always near me and would be very scared if left outside alone. He is adopted a stray dog, very attached to me and he cries if left in front of the store even for just a few minutes.

I understand your worry about drunk guests but sometimes I love to take a small glass of beer with my dinner.  I am adult and you can't forbid it 🙂 I don't like wine, sorry and as far as I know, 2,5 glasses of beer have the same % of alcohol as 1 glass of wine... so I don't understand this house rule.

Considering everything above, unfortunatelly I would not book your room 🙂

[Mark116]

@Julie1525  I just took a look at the photos, it's cute.  The only thing that immediately comes to mind is whether you could put the water cooler inside the closet, and maybe get a nicer/wooden table for use in the same closet, the one you have is a little institutional looking.  That's it for now.

[Linda108]

Your listing is lovely and you are well on your way to Super Host status with all your great reviews.  I think it is always wise to seek feedack from hosts as long as you do not become defensive if there is something you don't agree with.  I agree with much of what @Branka-and-Silvia0  posted.  Since you have self checkin, how are you able to inspect what you expect, i.e., who is entering your space?  How are you able to police what beverages the guests consume?  Why allow dogs at all?  I would imagine a dog separated from owners in a strange place might bark or whine.

I would add more descriptive captions for your pictures to ensure the guest understands what is shared space.  Good luck!

[Julie1525]

Great feedback! I can see that I haven't been very clear with some of my rules.

@Mark116  I appreciate the feedback on the table and the cooler. (honestly, the fridge and cooler were a tad heavy for me to maneuver any farther). Would a tablecloth on the table be better, or just make one wonder what dirtiness is under it?

@Linda108 , I appreciate your concern about defensiveness. I'm not offended, and what would be the point of asking if I wasn't going to accept the answers? Good question about the dogs. I may have to check the law in WA state. I'm not sure I can disallow a service animal. As for self-check in, I or my co-host are usually here. We do have locks on all rooms that are private, but still, they are strangers. I don't think a key would be any better. Perhaps there's a way to utilize my neighbor/co-host/cleaning lady when I'm gone. Do you have a system in place that allows you to be gone but still let your guests in?

@Branka-and-Silvia0 ,  do you think it is too much to ask guests to keep their smoking outside? I'm very sensitive to the smoke (headaches). If I allowed drinking in the house, would it be too much to ask that it be kept in the guest space and not in shared spaces? I can't really monitor what they bring in the house, but if I verbalize it, I guess the hope is that they will honor it. As a side question, what do hosts do when there is a guest who is drunk out of his mind? A question about pets of any sort: once I allow pets, then people with alleries couldn't stay here. So far I haven't had anyone bring pets. I wonder if the number of travelers with pets outnumbers the people with allergies to pet? I guess I just have to make a decision. Your comments give me a lot to consider.

You 3 were wonderful to take a look and give feedback. I have some work to do!

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

@Julie1525 

I would be perfectly fine if smoking is allowed only outside. When I am on a vacation I prefer to be outside and enjoy nature anyway, I just sleep in the house. If you put an ashtray on the outside table then your guests will use it and will not throw cigarette buts around.

As a dog owner I would always bring my dog with me to the cottage, he enjoys hikes and long walks in nature and swimming in the lake so I assume you would get a lot of guests with dogs. You could do what we do - leave one old towel for a dog (for muddy paws) and tell them to bring a dog blanket/pillow where he will sleep on. We always ask our guests to keep the dog out of the beds and sofa. We also provide 2 dog bowls for food and water.

Our rental is in the city center and we mostly host international guests who rarely travel with dogs, but you have a cottage on the lake and I assume it would be very interesting for families with kids and for nature and dog lovers.

If someone gets drunk and becomes loud you can ask him to keep quiet, behave and respect your home (if you are present at the time) but you can't really forbid them to drink or tell them what they can or can not drink.

[Julie1525]

The whole point of house rules is to dictate behavior. Since alcohol consumption isn't in the same class of rights as eating food, then I can set the rule. Then travelers can book knowing my expectations, or they can book elsewhere. If I lived off-site, I wouldn't be able to monitor that, but this is my home. I allow wine because that is the very purpose most people come to our area for--wine tasting.  I've had no problem so far. I guess I'd rather have fewer bookings if people object that rule.

[Julie1525]

@Branka-and-Silvia0 . Your comment on one bed  got me to thinking about maximizing my space. Today I'm going to drive 4 hours away to pick up a Murphy bed to put in the breakfast room. I've figured out how to manage the space in the event separate beds are needed.

Cool coincidence: the exact M bed I was looking for for months showed up on Craigslist, new, never assembled, for a third the cost of new. 

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

you see @Julie1525  at the end I will book your cottage 😄 ... if you will accept me haha 😄

[Jessica-and-Henry0]

@Julie1525 

You've already gotten great advice. Just to add a few things..... as someone who is also sensitive to smoke but lives with a smoker (Henry), I think it's best to specify a smoking area and place an ashtry there. I don't think it's too much to ask smokers to take it outside. (and Henry as never complained either). 

I also agree that the comment about wine is fine but no beer or hard liquor to be a bit strange. I don't drink wine because even one glass will give me a raging headache - I prefer beer with my meals just like others would drink wine. Maybe change the wording to something like "Moderate drinking is fine - we will not tolerate drunk or disorderly conduct in our home." 

Personally..... I think there are too many photos of the outside and it's a bit difficult (maybe just for me) to grasp what the general layout of the guest spaces are like (distance from bedroom to bathroom, or bedroom to breakfast room, and location relative to each other). 

And I don't remember seeing anything about outside surveillance or a doorbell camera or security system. If it's because you don't have any that's fine but if not, you might want to include that info as well. 

I have a sister living in Pullman WA and sent her a link of your home, in case she wants to take a mini-vacation 🙂 

[Julie1525]

@Jessica-and-Henry0 , thanks for your feedback. The suggestion of a designated place to smoke is good --my dad always smoked outside.

I'm still trying to figure out the drinking.

I'll put a description of the location of rooms. I wish we could do a video tour.

I'm curious about surveillance cameras. Do they make guests feel safer, or hosts?

Another question regarding alcohol: I don't care what people drink away from the house. Only one guest has cooked here, so beer with a meal wouldn't be the primary issue. Wine is fine because after they come back from a wine tour, they often have bought a bottle to enjoy in the evening. My past experience with wine drinkers vs hard liquor drinkers is that the wine drinkers tend to be more moderate. That's MY observation. I don't want anyone to throw up or do damage because they're no longer in control. Is my reasoning flawed in that assessment? 

[Jessica-and-Henry0]

@Julie1525 

I think in general, outdoor surveillance puts people at ease - anyone who DOESN'T like this are usually types who have something to hide 🙂 As long as you are very clear where the cameras are and what area they record, I wouldn't think anyone would have a problem. But as a rule, you are required to disclose the presence of cameras in or around your listing.

https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/887/what-are-airbnb-s-rules-about-security-cameras-and-other-rec...

Regarding alcohol, I do get where you're coming from about wine vs. hard liquor. I think it's because there are a lot of people that choose hard liquor for the sole purpose to get drunk fast. (More bang for your buck.) At the same time, I've seen plenty of people get drunk on wine and throwing up too. My observation is that people who know their limits and drink moderately will act responsibly no matter what they drink. Sloppy drunks will throw up and make a mess no matter what they drink - just a difference in how many glasses/bottles are needed till they're drunk 🙂

[Susan151]

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@Jessica-and-Henry0 wrote:

@Julie1525 

I think in general, outdoor surveillance puts people at ease - anyone who DOESN'T like this are usually types who have something to hide 🙂

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Or, are people who behave well and don't want to be recorded with no control over how those recordings might be used. I have rented dozens of apartments and homes for my vacations and none of them had surveillance. When did it become "standard" to give up our privacy? I don't rent places that have surveillance cameras set up to record guests.

[Sarah977]

@Susan151 @Jessica-and-Henry0 @Julie1525  I'm in the same camp as Susan- people are so willing to give up their privacy these days. That's one reason I don't participate in social media like Facebook, Twitter, etc. The more places your personal info is out there, the more likely there will be a "breach" somewhere.

Outdoor surveillance does not put me at ease- it does the opposite- I hate it. And no, I don't have anything to hide. 

I can see where it's beneficial for off-site hosts who rent out big homes to large groups, as it can alert you to a party scene.or extra people coming in. 

But in a private room or whole house listing but with the host living on the property or next door, there's no need for surveillance cameras.

As Julie lives in the home, I can't see why she'd need them at all.

[Jessica-and-Henry0]

@Sarah977 @Susan151 @Julie1525 

I'm not into social media either - I was thinking more that it may be a part of an existing home security system. But outdoor cameras allow one to keep an eye on who enters/exits, of deliveries and also people who may loiter. Even for on-site hosts, no one is home all day, all the time. And plenty of people who don't host still have cameras aimed at the driveway or front/back doors. 

I've always considered cameras to be something like a non-human eye witness for public and outdoor spaces.