Thanks your input is certainly appreciated
Thanks your input is appreciated
You might want to consider shorter stays just to get more guests. This would increase the number of reviews. Also, after guests depart, send them a thank you message and request a review.
I see that Chrisâs comment didnât go down too wellâŚ! But s/he does have a point, of sorts, although I would frame it in more practical terms.
This is my experience: I bent over backwards for guests when I started off. It did me no good at all. Several of them treated me like the doormat I was presenting to them and wiped their feet on me in their ratings. It was actually a guest who educated me eventually. She was a pain in the arse and left one of those detailed, backhanded pros & cons reviews like she worked as a hotel inspector or something.
But one thing she said in private feedback was superb advice - she told me to stop apologising. She said my house was really nice and itâs shortcomings were sufficiently detailed in the listing and werenât that bad. It made me realise that pointing out all the things wrong with my place was really not a good idea⌠duh!!
I also learned that trying too hard is simply annoying for guests. The vast majority just want your place to be clean, comfortable, consistent with what was advertised and for you to be friendly and easily contacted if there are any issues. Fussing over guests and catering to their every whim makes them lose respect for you. And that will be reflected in their ratings.
The other crucial thing is: are you over-selling your listing? I am a firm believer in the under-promise and over-deliver mantra. Nothing will disappoint a guest more than finding that things are not quite as nice as they appear in the photos/text.
Iâm not implying that you do any of this, @glenwood, Iâm only giving an opinion! When you post your listing, youâll get a lot of good advice Iâm sure.
I agree with not bending over backwards to gain superhost status. And that was my point. I honestly donât and never have done. And I think many who achieve and retain Superho status are the same.
I do as much as I feel comfortable with.
I donât accept third party bookings. I donât accept overnight guests who havenât booked and paid. I donât offer discounts (other than 10% off monthly and 5% off weekly stays. I donât accept pets or babies. I live in an inner city area, I donât apologise for it but mention it so guests that donât like this sort of environment donât stay with me. I tell guests that this is my home and is âlived-inâ.
I donât offer late check out (unless I like the guests and it works for me).
Unfortunately some of @Chrisâs posts here are negative, and appear to be posted to rile rather than help.
Yes, I do the same. Not the inner city bit because that doesnât apply, but Iâm very upfront about my place. If you want swanky, youâd certainly pass me by!
I rarely get enquiries these days as the majority instant book. Some have legitimate questions that Iâm able to accommodate, others donât, like can we bring two extra people or asking about dates that arenât available. I never decline anyone, I either pre-approve the ones that are ok and for the ones that arenât - I explain that what theyâre asking is not possible.
I just let the enquiry expire if I canât accommodate them or donât feel great about them. Thatâs not a bad thing, right? I never really know For example, I have an enquiry still showing on my dashboard from over a week ago. This guest asked the kind of questions that made me feel she wouldnât fit in here and it was a long booking. I answered her truthfully but did exaggerate a few things to put her off booking. She was worried about walking home at night and whether the cat went in the room, do I use air freshner etc etc. Iâm quite motherly and caring with lone travellers but she just sounded too much work ahead of time. If sheâd IBâed I would have dealt with it, of course, but thankfully she didnât!
Sorry, I seem to be in rambling mode tonight.
I want to take a step back and ask: Why is that your goal? It seems like your primary goal should be to generate income, meet new people, show of your hospitality, or just give yourself something to do and take pride in. If you do your best to achieve your real goal, then becoming a superhost will just happen on itâs own, and even if it doesnât for reasons beyond your control, you will feel a lot better about yourself because you are doing your best to achieve your real goal.
That said, and without knowing anything else about you, your listing, or your ratings, all I can say is the first thing you need to start doing is reaching out to every single guest that doesnât leave 5-stars in every category and ask for details on why they felt 5-stars were not deserved. Encourage the guest to be open and honest and then genuinely thank them for their criticism, even if you donât agree with it. Do not take it personal and do not get emotional. When youâve got the information, you can try to formulate a plan to improve anything that is within your control. After youâve tackled those things, then work on the harder stuff (harder for me, anyway), like formulating a plan to improve the guestâs perception of anything that is not within your control.
Wine? <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
I do the same with enquiries @Magwitch There is a a little X on the top right hand corner of the enquiry post. If you click on it, it disappears as does any of the posts on the dashboard
I know! Thereâs also the âdismiss from dashboardâ option that Iâve used before now and will do for Ms prissyscaredypants that I mentioned.
I was just wondering if letting things expire had an affect on anything. Iâm guessing not.
But declines DO, getting back to the thread topic! I was going to post a whole list of reasons why itâs fair that Airbnb penalise guests for consistently declining guests but found myself tied up in knots.
Iâd love to say âyes pleaseâ but I gave up any sort of alcohol almost a year ago. So sad.
Iâve cut back to once a fortnight. Sadly it doesnât solve my problems just temporary relief.
Great to hear! Speaking of communication, if youâre not doing so already perhaps you can send a follow-up message to your guests thanking them and asking them for areas where you can improve.
Thanks ⌠I do all that
I have done that ⌠3 have responded . One person put in their review the bathroom could be cleaner. I asked him to expound . He wrote back that there wasnât very good water pressure but he didnât know how to write that in the review .
Maybe I concern myself too much
So Iâve taken a quick look at your listing and these are my first impressions.
Youâre getting marked down on location and there is nothing you can do about that. People are choosing for whatever reason to stay with you (is everything else booked by the time they choose your place?) and then marking you down. That maddening but until Airbnb does away with that rating you are stuck with people marking you down because there is nothing nearby.
The other thing is the old fashioned decor, paint furnishings etc. With some effort is could be mid-century modern cool but itâs not. As people mention, itâs like Grandmaâs. Grandmaâs 50 years ago. So people are going to rate it as a 4 star overall from time to time and thatâs going to hurt your average. Perhaps if you could rearrange the living room and get a few new pieces you could make it seem retro cool. I see a cool looking MCM lamp in the living room. But itâs next to the piano not next to an area where someone would sit and read. Why are those occasional tables by the piano instead of next to the seating? The fireplace in the corner with no way to sit in front of it and the piano as the center piece of the room is odd to me. Iâd repaint the pink room and get some sort of decor on the walls. Those pictures are odd and unsettling to me.
People may chime in about you needing better pictures and what not but thatâs not why you arenât making superhost category. So if you want to improve your listing take their suggestions into consideration. Things like pictures of the floor with a rug labeled guest bedroom 1 donât make sense to me. Make sure all your pictures are in focus. Remove what look like personal pictures on the piano.
And yes it needs to be sparkling clean. You have remodeled the kitchen and bathroom and thatâs great. New=clean in peopleâs mind. Make sure you get any stray hairs vacuumed up. Polish off all the surfaces, donât just wipe them. Keep any water spots polished off.
I have to agree. The photos of your listing show all of the furnishings to be rather dated. Adding a bigger area rug, throw pillows and a throw blanket as well as some art would go a long way in the loving room. Remove a lot of the pics too. We dont need to see all of the pots, pans, utensils, or every flower in the garden. For the bath Id pull the curtain out and just have one widescreen pic of the whole setup. In the bedroom- I donât mind the pink- though others may find it unrestful. I would add some accessories to tie the pink in with the bedding.
Lol⌠I donât like the pink and painting is on the agenda for 2019. I can only do so much financially. Photos mostly have been removed and house pictures need to be updated to reflect those changes.
I am not strong in the area of interior decorating so I appreciate your comments ; I am very open to suggestions. The living room was arranged differently but a woman who says she has done many show homes suggested the way it is . I guess it truly is a matter of opinion
Thank you very much for your positive feedback
Understood.
Well, I havenât done any show homes and my mother called my sense of style âweirdâ so donât listen to me. We have many members who have an excellent sense of style and I hope some will take a look and give some feedback. However I am a superhost for 19 straight quarters with 465 reviews, 98% five star so maybe I know something. I only host a small room though, not an entire home and yard.
If the pictures donât accurately reflect what the space looks like now, definitely change them. If people see one thing in pictures and another on arrival then they may mark you down in the accuracy category.