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This thing has changed a lot over the past year since we launched and in so many ways I am sick of tweaking it. LOL. But here it is. I would love your feedback. Unless you’re vegan. Please just don’t even click the link below, Dear Vegan.
We will be going back around the 1st week of May, at which point I am going to take yet another set of new photos, and I would like to do the new set armed with your feedback. (Thanks for all of the info already here, it has been really helpful in a pretty successful first year.)
There are some problems with a few of the pics that I want to re-do; I will remain silent on those problems as to not taint your unvarnished perspective.
I want to redo the exterior pics with spring/summer color and oak trees full of green leaves, as that represents what most of our guests will experience. Winter is as dead as the foliage around these parts.
This is our 2nd home, but we store all of our clothing, personal effects, and nonperishables in the locked/off-limits-to-guests man cave along with VR supplies when we aren’t there so it is set up exclusively for guests, so there are no locked closets or anything.
I noticed one thing immediately - 2 day min and 3 day MAX. You are placing obstacles between customers and making a booking, with the "if you want a longer stay - click on our profile then - etc etc. At least 70-80% of people are using a phone - do not make them jump through hoops.
Too many photos. Why is that flag at half mast? Replace it. Remove deer with barbed wire behind. Remove redundant house photos.
Most of the photos look decent on a PC … but that isn’t the audience. Optimize for mobile phones.
The description is very long. Put all essentials at the very top. Use bullets as much as possible so people can skim for highlights.
I know some of mine are as well and I need to redo them, it’s a pain.
A few other pics are blurry or have poor lighting, you probably know which ones those are.
I saw this line near the end about wit-fi “for your emergent business needs.” Is that a typo?
The rest of it looks like a dream come true for the riders and dog lovers. I’ve done that twisted sister ride once, long ago. I think you’ve done a good job of covering the shortcomings/possible issues. The downside of course is that it’s a looonnggg listing. So folks aren’t probably going to read it all. If you can sacrifice some verbiage without risking clarity, I’d suggest that.
The cropping is so aggravating. It looks great on my tablet then switch devices and cry lol.
It’s long. I tried to section things out so you can skim past sections that don’t apply (e.g. most people aren’t traveling with babies… yet the various litigators in my life make me feel compelled to warn parents about potential problems).
Thanks for your feedback, but I am very happy with the results the long weekend listing is yielding. It may be a bridge to a 4 day minimum, period, for year 3. For year 2, I am not ready to eliminate short stays.
To clarify, I am not saying “do not do short stays”. I am saying have One Listing that allows stays of different lengths with a 2 day min (and appropriate max).
I worked for many years in digital analytics. Customers hate obstacles. If you insist on forcing potential guests to “do it your way”, you will miss out on some bookings.
Many hosts here use multiple listings for the same property because they have different prices for different parameters; for example one price for 2 bedrooms, another price for 3 bedrooms.
@Jefferson, when guests search with specific dates the listing is only going to show if their search met the criteria. They aren’t even going to see the other listing.
Exactly. Most travelers put in the dates of travel because they understand they can’t see accurate pricing any other way.
AirBnB’s tools didn’t allow me to do what I wanted to do, which is to use smart pricing and forego weekend rates IF and only IF the stay is 4+ days in length. I lowered my rate for longer stays, and raised it for shorter ones and I am pleased with how it’s working out. I only added the verbiage so they understand why it shows the calendar blocked if they are looking at the original (short stay) listing and are considering whether to make it a 3 or 4 day weekend. This might push them over the edge knowing they can get it a lot cheaper per night if they add that extra day.
I’m not vegan. Not even vegetarian. But the proliferation of dead animal parts displayed is something I find strange and wouldn’t enjoy staying somewhere where that was the decor. Killing animals for meat is one thing, hanging their parts around, as some sort of decoration, is another. Fine in one’s own home, if that’s your thing, but not really appropriate for a rental IMO.
It’s not everyone’s taste, it’s not mine. But it is a kind of decor that’s popular with the kind of people who are likely to rent a house like that. I’m just chiming in because I can assure you that style of decor is common and popular in that part of Texas and won’t negatively affect bookings. If anything it’s a plus.
It would be like telling someone with a Mexico or border themed rental like me not to have bright colors because neutral (think Airbnb plus listings) is what sells.
It’s true the listing verbage is rather long. Also the title is kind of meaningless. “Real country- near Twisted Sisters”" or something catchier. Fm337 is meaningless to a lot of us<><>
I second muddy at least from the perspective of the skin or the antlers. Perhaps the antlers were shedded and found nearby?
I like when each photo has a caption. If you are saying the same thing, then there are too many photos of that area.
The porch table could be “set” using the dinnerware available or something other than what is there.
Oh yes, I’ve spent time in Texas, I get that part, that it’s common. But I don’t view it as simply a matter of decor, like the colors you use (Love yours, BTW). Your bedspread wasn’t once running around alive.
Thank you. I love this cover and have two of them along with two other less colorful designs in rotation. This is my personal favorite but it’s not the most used one any longer.
No. But again, and since you’ve been to TX you know that in most of TX this is true, formerly alive is a plus not a minus. I don’t want to make it about animal decor or what I would or wouldn’t rent since that’s irrelevant. I was just clarifying for the benefit of any foreigners who might not understand this kind of culture.
