Frustrated. I NEED help! Please!

Agreed – but most people over-rate their talents

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Some do. Not sure about most. I can take pretty nice garden and people shots, but I suck at indoor photos.

I agree. Don’t ever use the word “luxury” unless you truly are a property that rivals five-star hotels in finishes, fittings and furnishings. Even then I’d think twice, as luxury is so subjective,

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The same with the word ‘stylish’…

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I had a greed to Airbnb request for professional photographer about e few weeks ago when it popped up my my page but I haven’t received any feedbacks since then.

I intent to find one who can make the listings stand out through pictures.

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A new member has privately complained about the unwelcoming tone of the thread after he posted, so I’ve removed his post and all the complaints about the post. If you’re going to complain about that, just don’t. Answer the OP’s questions, or don’t.

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It’s like that with a lot of adjectives that are subjective. You see ads on marketplaces saying “Beautiful sectional couch…” and look at the photos and think “You couldn’t pay me to put that ugly thing in my house”.

And it seems like all ads for pets to give away or sell say, “Adorable kittens…”
Aren’t all kittens adorable? For that matter, pretty much all baby mammals are- it’s a survival mechanism- if they didn’t appear adorable and helpless, their parents would kill them. :laughing:

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Not sure how your comment applies to me (I am assuming you want to comment on epadat’s posting) BUT the most favorable cancellation policy for a host is strict. The answer to a cancellation request from a guest who booked a ‘strict’ airbnb is always easy: “no”.

If you are saying that less strict cancellation policies attract more guests, that is possible - but the least desirable guests are the ones who book based on price and ease of cancellation.

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Not necessarily. It’s a balance between the likelihood of guests cancelling, and while of course hosts can just say no to refunds, some hosts may consider it more favorable to cut down on having to field more refund demands from guests.

And while I agree that if price and cancellation policy are the only or main factors guests consider, they could be undesirable guests, if cancellation policies are just one of the factors a guest looks at and might choose one comparable listing over another because one is strict and one moderate, that’s no indication the guest is undesirable.

It’s like deciding which product to buy when both have good reviews and both offer the features you want, but you delve deeper and see, “Oh, this one offers a 1 year guarantee and the other only 3 months”. You’re more likely to choose the one with the better guarantee. And be considered a smart consumer.

I’ve always had a moderate policy, and only twice in 6 years had guests cancel. Because I live in a tourist area and almost all of my guests fly here rather than drive, the likelihood of them cancelling last minute is slim-they have too many things in play.

And a host who lives close to an airport, where they get most of their bookings on short notice, due to flight delays, flight cancellations and layovers might be just fine with a flexible cancellation policy, as they can easily fill cancelled dates with last-minute bookings.

According to reports from other hosts and my own experience, guests seem to be booking much closer to check-in date these days than they tended to do in the past. One reason can be that the Covid mess made people more reticent to make plans way in advance, and guests may be paying more attention to the cancellation policies than they did in the past.

A guest who honestly did come down with a bad case of Covid 6 days before their booking and wasn’t eligible for any refund at all is likely to choose places with less strict cancellation policies in the future.

I’m curious if you (or other hosts here) have tried experimenting with add-on services to differentiate between other stays. I was thinking this would also help to increase customer satisfaction?

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It’s something that I have considered before.
But have not yet been implemented. Some of the services that I have considered are Luggage drop-off, a Fully stocked Pantry, drinks, Laundry Services, and House keeping services.

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When I first started, yes. I gave one couple a ride to the train station, I rented a room in my home and provided continental breakfast. I’ve offered to watch someone’s dog while they were out for free (so I was sure it wouldn’t tear up anything in the room).

Now their room is separate and I don’t provide any breakfast foods, only coffee and tea. The most distinguishing thing about my place is that I allow pets and I board dogs in my home. When I started I though there might be more crossover between the two but in almost 9 years of doing this and over 1000 stays I’d say I’ve only had 10-15 guests who either used my Airbnb because I board dogs or vice versa. It’s definitely been worthwhile even though it hasn’t been that lucrative.

Last week I had a guest from 2015 who wants to stay again under a similar circumstance of boarding his dog with me while he takes a flight out of town and then flies back late and will stay in my Airbnb on his return. Another guest who lives in a town 3 hours away has become a regular who uses my Airbnb, pays me for “airport” parking (that is, she parks here and I take her to the airport or she gets an uber) and uses me for dog boarding.

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Okay interesting, good to know!

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Just a quick update!
We got booked!!!

Thank you guys!! It doesn’t stop there for me. I keep making changes and comparing other similar listings. We also have a booking at Riverside so I am yet to take better photos.

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Sounds like it might have been Vacasa… I’m so sorry for your experience, that’s just rotten. Corporate STR property management is so incredibly sketchy and even local ones can be iffy these days. I hope things have been looking up after taking your property back into your own hands!

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Have you tried promotion and ads … worked for me tho

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I’m own a semi-detached house with STA License. My neighbors also. After my guests left, the guests of the neighbors came to our backyard, opened the hot-tube and use it. They also opened ours barbeque and fry the meat, our barbeque is new one( neighbors-old one) We see everything on cameras, but we are not there. It is different owners and they are not our guests. Who should we contact, who should we call to explain to them that this is someone else’s?

The neighbor’s guests are trespassing. Call the police. And get in touch with the neighbor whose guests are trespassing.

Are you saying you live not close by, but have no local co-host to deal with things? That isn’t a workable situation. You need a local manager.

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I don’t own a hot tub, so I don’t know what the typical procedures are. It appears (?) that @raya’s yard is perhaps not fenced, or at least not locked. Should the hot tub have a lock on it? [I would think ‘yes’.]

@raya : Is your yard fenced in, gated with locks? If not, you might want to consider that. Of course, I understand that that might be more of an expense that you want to bear now. I do believe many guests appreciate the privacy of a fenced-in yard.

I hope you have commercial liability insurance. Are they aware of the hot tub? An insurer will typically make certain recommendations if not requirements when there are potential hazards/attractive hazards like hot tubs or pools on the property.

You’ll want to preserve the video clips that presumably you have (?) showing the neighbor’s guests on your property. As an FYI: Ring has a service for $200/year [U.S.] where they have the tapes electronically and you can create clips for law enforcement and/or the Airbnbs of the world, etc. [With our Ring camera you could talk to the trespassers and/or sound a siren. If I were you and could not get to the property and no local co-Host I would have called the police while I watched them and directed the police to come. Of course, it might not be a priority for the police depending on local circumstances.]

You might apprise your neighbor of this and see if it’s possible to get the names and addresses of the trespassers from the neighbor or the STR company through which they rented.

I second @muddy’s advice that you need a local co-Host(s) who would be available to go to the property, along with the police, when a situation like this occurs.

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