Listing all but dead since this summer - advice appreciated

[Magwitch]

Hey faheem. I think dpfromva has given some good advice. I looked at the photos. Most of them are redundant, in my opinion. So many photos are just confusing. My favourite ones are still your original photos where you can see the rooftop and the flowers, the big busy kitchen etc. Less is more, as the saying goes.

You are not alone in having few bookings. For the first time in 8 years I am practically empty for the next two months. There are so many potential reasons for this: increased competition, people not travelling so much due to political and economic circumstances, my prices are too high or too low, my photos are crap… it could be anything or all of the above.

All you can do is offer your space in the best way you can and at a competitive price, in my opinion. Please do take on board dpfromva’s advice!

[jaquo]

@faheem

I still don’t think they are terribly impressive for a professional photographer

I agree. I think most of us could have done as good a job with our phones. (I still use cellphone images in both our listings). However, what the photographer has done that is good is that he or she hasn’t fallen into the typical photographer trap of trying to make your place seem something that it isn’t.

I see a lot of hosts who have done that (yes, sometimes with Airbnb photographers) and they are just setting themselves up to have disappointed guests.

As I said in my previous post, I don’t think that your listing has any particular problems and I don’t think that any tweaks will mean more bookings. I can only keep two apartments back to back year round by doing a little networking and contacting influencers. It’s not something you have to do regularly, once it’s done is self-generates.

[GutHend]

@Faheem, @dpfromva worded it perfectly and I would summarize it like this:
"Staying with you just doesn’t sound like fun anymore."

Sorry if this sounds very hard. I’ve been thinking the same as @dpfromva for a while now, but I just did not find the time to write it out like that. In your listing you want to ‘cover everything’ and you want to make it sound worse than it is to prevent disappointed guests. All this makes you come across as being tired and stressed from hosting. Although this might be the case, it isn’t the message you want to send to guests. Guests want to get a positive vibe from staying with you. They want to feel totally welcome. In my humble opinion your listing really needs to be totally rewritten.

I think the feeling your listing conveys is the first and main problem, but I would also like to add the following tips. Many of them were already addressed by others here.

1. Declutter your pictures or even better your place. Remove cardboard boxes, dirty towels, medicine, a doormat gone astray, a tupperware box outside of the kitchen, a comforter thrown into a corner, a stack of newspapers, open cupboards, etc. … I personally don’t mind a bit of peeling paint, maybe try to brush some of it off. I like the books and frames on the wall (straighten!). I absolutely love some of your furniture .
2. Maximum 15 pictures ! More than enough to tell the story of your place.
3. Sell your place for what it is: A warm homestay in typical Indian fashion with a lovely host added to the package. Include a breakfast and price accordingly!
4. If the “homestay”-concept doesn’t cover your entire public, consider making a second listing (for the same room) which has a less homely feel. Don’t include breakfast (or breakfast for an added cost).
5. Put a clear picture of you with a fresh shirt and your sister on your profile and maybe at the end of the other pictures. Preferably with both smiling. A genuine smile is done with the eyes and doesn’t require you to show your teeth. Those smiles are your first invitation to your homestay. Adding your sister will make guests feel okay with the ‘personal situation’ and could help single women feel more at ease with sleeping in a ‘mens’ home. Pictures of yourself should be in the sofa, kitchen or any other neutral place… not in front of the bed .
6. As much as I like the character of your place, the bedroom looks like a world apart and really does not appeal to me at all. (Although I would accept if the price was low enough. It does look clean and practical.) Tiles on the wall? If you ever want to reinvest in a redesign ask us for help. Maybe go for a modern Indian vintage look with small references to your grandmother “who slept there as a child”. Unless you have lots of guests staying more than a week, I would consider getting rid of the closet and go for an open, lighter piece of furniture.
7. Is there any way to make the bathroom look cleaner? I’m not saying it’s not clean, I’m just saying it looks a bit scrubby.
8. Be aware of what the competition offers and at what price.

Sorry again for the though love. I’m really hoping that some of the interventions here will get you some extra guests.

[Jefferson]

@faheem

You have been posting about this since October. Put in an hour and get it done, man.

Listing
70-80% of people will be using a phone when doing their searches. Your Description could have two really good paragraphs at the top. THAT is what someone will see, without hitting “show more”.

These should be the highlights of your listing (private, quiet, walking distance to many restaurants and attractions, etc, etc). Look at some of your competitors listings - and reword yours to TELL a better story. And make it tighter. Have “area features” and put a bullet list underneath.

@faheem

The photos seem better than I remember, but I still don’t think they are terribly impressive for a professional photographer.

Photos
Agreed - most of the photos are not useful - far too many close ups of things that are not relevant. At least you will be able to use maybe 5-10 of the newer photos. So, focus on the ones that do a better job of telling the story and ignore all the rest.

At least now, you have some bigger shots of the common space where the clutter is gone.

You only need about 15-20 photos. Some of the original photos are still better than the newer ones.

There has to be some kid in your area who loves doing photography. I bet he can do a MUCH better job for $10.

[faheem]

Hi @georgiahost,

Thank you for your comments, and sorry for the slow response. According to the site it’s been 11 days! I plan to work my way slowly through these responses, but I’ve been really slammed recently.

@georgiahost

@faheem I see you advertise a cooked breakfast, can you add a picture of that to the listing? I would also change the picture of you out for one with at least a little smile. Maybe add a picture of you and your sister sitting down to breakfast with some guests?

The photograph of the breakfast sounds like a good idea. But it’s (usually) just eggs, with toast, and tea/coffee, plus some fruit. So not that impressive. Probably not up to the heights of a Moroccan breakfast. I’m willing to do custom stuff, but mostly people don’t request it.

Actually, most people who come here do not even partake, because our cook arrives too late (10.30 am) for most of my guests. They are usually tourists, and want to get out early and see the city. For that reason also, I wonder if it makes sense to emphasize a breakfast.

People seem to have a lot of unfavorable remarks about that photo. I think it looks pretty terrible myself, but the Airbnb photographer sort of insisted on it (she said that guests like to see a picture of the host.) I think I’m actually trying to smile in that photo, but I can’t really produce a smile on command. And if I try, it doesn’t look natural.

Oh, and I really doubt my sister would photograph well. Speaking of putting off guests…

@georgiahost

You do have some pictures that are redundant. There is a little trick I used when doing the pictures for my listing that you might find helpful: I imagined I was walking through the listing and ordered the pictures that way. You can tweak that a bit, for instance I started with a picture of the king bedroom as my main listing photo and ended with outside pictures, but in general this will both help you cut down on multiple pictures of the same thing and assist your guests in imagining the place in their heads.

That’s a good tip. Thank you. A lot of people have criticized my choice of greenery as my lead picture, but I think it looks attractive, and helps to distinguish my listing from all the other ones, which just show the room itself.

@georgiahost

By the way, I love your place. I’d stay there; it feels like real local living to me. The architecture and greenery is enchanting. I would even add a picture of the budgies. The tower room could use some kind of art on the walls as they look a bit bare, and I would move all the pillows to one end of the bed to make it look plusher.

Thank you for your kind words. The budgies are all dead. I think some of them were killed by rats, unfortunately. They were my mother’s birds, and I’m not sure how I feel about putting birds in cages, anyway. I think once she had cockatiels too.

Yes, I’ve thought of putting something on the walls. Just one more item on the to-do list. Recently I’ve mostly been focused on basic maintenance. At the moment, I’m planning to make a new set of curtains. The current ones don’t look that great, and more importantly, don’t block all the light. I got some good tips here from @muddy.

Thanks again for writing! Also, if you have time, please take a look at the updated photos I recently posted. They aren’t very good, i think, but will at least give at idea of the current state of things.

[faheem]

Hi @JJD,

@JJD

Yes, 40 is too many. Way too many. 15-20 maximum

I really think it will show your awesome place better! Just one shot of each important space (bath, bed, garden, etc) and then a few detail shots of stuff you want to accentuate.

Ok, thank you for your thoughts. I’ll try to cut down the number of pictures. And I guess try to replace some of the more obviously out of date ones. If you have time, please take a look at the more recent ones I have posted (on Google Photos).

[Jefferson]

Kinda goes without saying but guests aren’t looking at the new photos on google. They are still looking at all the old one’s on air.

Not sure why you have all the time to reply so much here but no time to update your listing?

[JJD]

@faheem

please take a look at the more recent ones I have posted (on Google Photos).

Hi Faheem! I’ve had a look at the new photos. And as I agree, they don’t look like professional photos, I do believe they better represent your space and will help to get you more bookings. The new photos show a tidy and interesting space. I especially like that there are photos of some of the traditional architecture, which is amazing and often mentioned in your reviews. They also are from a more, how to say, user-friendly point of view - e.g. how someone would see the space as they walk through and experience it. And the photographer, though not great with light and focus, did indeed choose more interesting angles and subjects than you have in your old photos.

They are a vast improvement and I believe you should prioritize getting some (not all ,) of them posted. I have gone through and chosen my favorites, but more importantly chosen an overall selection that I think would serve me as a guest (tell me what I need to know) and pique my interest in your place. The emphasis is on the space I’d be using as a guest - the bedroom, the desk and TV, the walkway to the room, the rooftop, the bath sink and shower (leave the toilet out!), the fridge and beverage station and even the microwave. For the great room and the kitchen, I’ve chosen only a couple of photos of each to give an idea of general atmosphere, not so much detail - as, that would be my user experience as a guest (walking through, using briefly). And then have also included viewpoint photos - out the window, off the rooftop, up the stairs, exiting the guest room. By including these, you can create a bit of how it feels to move around your place. I think that is very valuable when looking at a listing - to have an idea how it feels to move around it.

I apologize for not “hearting” and commenting within the google album. Because this is a public forum, I felt that that would expose too much of my private information, so will instead list them here by the image number. I hope that works for you! I will leave out the IMG and jpeg and only put the image number for ease.

2013 - door to great room: This is a very “inviting us into your home photo” and gives only a peek, which makes me want to see more.

2020 - green steps up into the room: another “inviting photo” and the steps are cute and attractive!

2022 - bed with rug in front: this is your best picture of the bed. I didn’t see that rug before and it makes such a great difference in the room. It softens all of those hard shiny surfaces and really makes the room look attractive and comfortable and better furnished. I’d stay in this room!

2026 - dome ceiling: because, if you have an awesome dome ceiling, you should show it! Nice ceiling fan too! The celing is mentioned in your reviews yet was not shown before. It creates an overall feeling for the architecture, which is exceptional.

2034 - TV and desk: because people need to see that it is there!

2036 - view from window: it’s an interesting shot and gives a nice feel for the place, shows a lot in only one photo, it’s attractive and looks a bit exotic makes me want to stay there

2039 - view of garden through door: another shot that creates interest and a sense of lushness and exoticness, also gives a feel for moving around the property, makes me want to stay and explore the place! It also shows the garden without being merely the garden, but sneaks it in! And those cute green steps!

2042 - garden: I like this photo of the garden best. The aqua steps are very inviting and the garden is lush and green. The awesome floors are also featured. This is a spot that I want to see! It would likely make me choose your listing, this photo.

2045 - shower: because you need to show the shower and this is the best one. The toiletries are also featured and that is all good information from one single photo. I also like that I see the window/vents above the shower.

2053 - bathroom sink with window: this needs to be shown for pure information, but is also nice because I’d like to brush my teeth while looking through the window into the garden, that is special and not how I usually get to brush my teeth - it creates atmosphere and shows something that is special about your place

2058 and 2065 - the great room: I looked at the great room photos for quite awhile. I believe these two show it the best and at it’s best. The two photos show from 2 different angles and covers what I need to see as a guest. Only these 2, no more detail needed as it is a common area anyway.

2073 - ceiling of the great room: it is an awesome architectural detail, show it off!

2076 - fridge and beverages: informative photo, lets me know where I will make my tea in the morning

2081 - washer: informative, assuming that it is for guest use, if not, leave it out

2085 - kitchen: informative, it tells me all I need to know about the kitchen and get a feel for the kitchen and the hanging baskets make it cute and create atmosphere

2089 - microwave: informative, assuming that it is for guest use, if not, leave it out

2090 and 2094 - stairs to roof top: cute stairs, very inviting, and visually invites me and leads me up to the roof top

2098 - roof top: this is my favorite of the rooftop, it creates atmosphere and is visually exciting and interesting and shows me where I’ll be when I’m at your house and is enough to show me the roof top in one photo

2100 - view of street from roof top: awesome photo!! creates location and atmosphere, you really need this photo, it tells me about your neighborhood in a perfect, one photo way!

2101 - exterior of tower room: shows me the tower room and how it connects to the house, it is interesting, cute and informative;

2102 - exterior of tower room: similar to above; I’d suggest that this could be your 1st photo and that 2101 could be your last photo . It’s a nice “bookend” effect and serves as the beginning and ending of a “tour” of your place.

I think that’s 20 photos, about perfect!