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A while ago I updated my title and short description to hype about all the Covid protocols I use to clean the suite. I realized that that’s really a turn off these days so I moved the info into the long description and changed my title to attract uses and created a charming introduction to my community and why it’s better than a congested City location even though we are close.
My bookings increased from that very day. I’m also proactively writing rules for one night bookings when I have an opening mid-week. That’s helping too. Not my favorite bookings but since I clean the suite, that’s really a nice bonus of an extra $75. I used to charge $35.
So with these little tweaks, I’m seeing an increase in business.
New title: Solar H20 & Heat, Boston,Salem,Airpt,Subway (added Solar H20 & Heat)
Just 7 miles north of Boston and only a few miles from the subway, beaches, airport & Salem (conveniently between Interstates 93, 95 and Rte 1), you’ll find the charming city of Melrose. Melrose is only a 10 minutes drive to the subway and trains and is accessible by T and trains to get to ocean.
The Melrosian Suite is nestled behind other houses & surrounded by garden and trees. Wake up to the sounds of chirping birds instead of Boston’s noise and congestion.
Old description - We practice Covid cleaning protocols, wash all linens for each guests use and use laundry sterilization. We also run a HEPA machine between each guest and after cleaning the space we also sanitize. Your health is very important to us. guests must be vaccinated.
I changed my title too a couple weeks ago, replaced “Pro Vax” with “`1 Mile to Metro.” I still have in my description that the host is vaxxed and appreciates vaccinated guests.
Do you know that Airbnb is telling everyone that their titles need to be 32 characters or less?
They removed the titles entirely with the new update, unless a guest enters dates and calls up your specific property, otherwise the titles are generic- “Cabin”, “Condo”, etc.
Now they say they will put them back but they need to conform to 32 characters or less, otherwise they will be truncated in the app view.
So I’m glad your title change has resulted in more bookings, but it’s too long.
This reminds me of the anecdotal evidence here that changing the listing, whether it’s text, price, pictures or even snoozing the listing a day and then reopening boosts bookings.
So it appears that’s all about shortening the titles? I’ve said here before that I wouldn’t be surprised if Airbnb goes to an all app platform in the future. It’s easier to manage an app than a website.
I bought something on Offer Up over the weekend. I used the website but I can only review on the app. So I’ll have to load the app onto my phone, review and then delete again. This seller was worth it, otherwise I wouldn’t bother.
It’s not just shortening the titles- they also want hosts to get rid of exclamation marks, stars, and other sorts of symbols in their titles, which I agree with.
Yes, it always seems to be the corporate listings. What really looks ridiculous is when they use an exclamation mark at the end of every sentence in their description.
This isn’t even new. Having symbols and emojis in the listing title has been against the content policy since at least 2018.
This isn’t new either. Longer titles have always been cut off on the app. It’s just a limitation to the system. I’ve always gone and checked my listing on the app whenever I have changed something in the title for this very reason. And they’re not saying that you have to use 32 characters or less, they have only pointed out that the latter part of a longer title will not be shown when a guest is scrolling on the app.
They specifically said, “It’s okay to have a longer listing title but it’s best to put the most important stuff first because the last few words won’t get seen unless the guest clicks on your listing if they’re using the app”.
It’s not new, it just wasn’t consistently enforced. There were some clowns in my city that used to have a bunch of emojis and symbols in their listing titles. I found it embarrassing and got wound up about it one day and flagged and reported the listings because the policy already prohibited them. I eventually got an email from Airbnb saying thanks for flagging and then the emojis in those listings disappeared.
That was 2019 but I was aware of the rules about it from 2018 because I read everything before I published my listings because I was terrified of screwing up because I had been reading this forum, lol (which has served me well).
It’s like the rules about no text in pictures: unevenly enforce and sometimes very stupid. Like if I have a picture that has my Beto sign in the front yard is it going to flag it?
It always feels good when you see ‘charming,’ hear ‘chirping’ and feel ‘nestled.’
Two questions.
If I were a prospective guest without a car I would wonder how easy it is for me to get to the subway, and how long [a range is good] it would take me to get to Boston by public transit. Your description would lead me to think I need a car, which would be a drawback.
I am wondering about the appeal of ‘Solar H20 & Heat.’ We just installed solar but it has not been inspected yet, so it’s not on.
Are you suggesting that prospective guests would see this as appealing because it bespeaks a ‘green’ home? Should I assume that there is no A/C since that isn’t mentioned?
I hadn’t thought of making our solar installation a selling point, thinking guests wouldn’t care, reasoning that it just lowers our ongoing utility costs, not affecting them directly. But maybe some people would care?
Candidly, if I were a prospective guest my motivation in not being in Boston would likely be the less expensive daily rates. On the other hand if I thought that the town I was staying in had real appeal, like a ‘restaurant row’ or charming shops or public green areas that would be very appealing if the commute to Boston were short, ideally under 30 minutes. I understand that the commute time might vary by time of day; information about the commute would be valuable to me. If the town did not have such attractions then my main two considerations would be cost savings and time to commute.
But that’s me and I don’t know that I’m representative; I just use one towel a week.
It’s something I just added. I was reading some sample titles and saw eco-friendly. My solar isn’t traditional electric and I often get folks asking me about the collectors on my roofs so I thought I’d highlight it.
