Miami Booking Help

I am new to Airbnb and was wondering what I could do to try to attract more people to book?

We are located in Miami and have a small studio apartment.

My listing is:

/rooms/33964542?s=51

I don’t know your market, but your long list of house rules make you sound like a control freak, I would pass. In addition, your list of fines sound like you’re almost hoping someone break the rules…

JF

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Will definitely look into that. Thanks!

Me too. (The kitsch-flamingo with is way overdone as well).

There are loads of threads here about how to increase bookings so the best thing would be to study those. Use the search facility.

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I agree with jaquo that you should check other threads on the same topic. It does get tiring to answer the same question 3 times a week, especially for new posters the majority of whom we will never see again.

I agree with John that you have too many rules. Guests won’t read them all, won’t follow if they don’t want to. Try to condense them to the most important. I don’t think that they are keeping you from getting bookings. I’ve seen hosts with a 100s of reviews and rules that are just as long winded.

Your price is low but cleaning fee is high. I assume that means that although you allow one night stays you don’t really want to encourage them. For just starting out I would adjust that so you can hopefully get some people in there and get some reviews. I’d put a higher nightly fee and a lower cleaning fee. I’d put a limit on how long someone can stay at first, (maybe 5 nights) so you don’t get someone in there for 3 weeks and only get one review out of it. Maybe put a 2 night minimum for weekends.

Tweak your listing every day or two. You can’t set it and forget it

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I didn’t see the fines but I wouldn’t be bothered by them personally. I have fines in my own house rules.

Price seems low for what you provide.

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I have tweaked the rules and the cleaning fee. Also changed the limit on how long someone can stay. Hopefully I will see some results! Thank you so much :slight_smile:

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I did t see a cleaning fee, only a $25/night base rate.

Yes, I had a $100 cleaning fee. I have lowered it to $50

Ah! I would raise the nightly rate to $50 and make the cleaning fee $25 then

In my own private room (not separate like you have) I charge $36 + $20 cleaning fee. In the 3 years I’ve been doing it I have raised both from $19 and $0 respectively. Ironically I get many more bookings now. I wouldn’t have believed it when I first started. I did feel I had to in order to get initial bookings and good reviews. I am way out in the country though. I still co Timor to raise it slowly but by bit. (Oh and more if my bookings actually pay much more than the minimum base rate because I raise the prices starting 3 days out as it gives me less time to plan and prepare.

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Welcome,
It looks like you have put a great deal of effort in creating the space, but it appears very busy with trinkets, every surface seem to be covered with something & very pink more suited to a young girls tastes rather that a mature couple or individual. Many photos of the same area, the toilet shot with broom & toilet brush I would not use. Overall I can’t get a feel of entire space and outdoor area or neighborhood.
The rules come across as heavy handed and are no way welcoming, “it’s not what you say, it’s how you say it”.
Lastly the extremely high cleaning fee v/s the low nightly rate appears unprofessional.

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It’s pretty, but my tastes run toward the practical side and this place just isn’t practical. Too many knick knacks. The place is quite small and pretty much all of the space a guest would need to put their stuff is already taken by decorations. Guests would need to move them to make the space usable for themselves, which is already a problem, but there doesn’t seem to be any place to put them. No idea if that turns many potential guests away, but I would look elsewhere.

Some other things I saw:

About half of the U.S. population doesn’t know 12PM means noon. You should put “12PM (noon)” in your check-in info under “other things to note”

House rules say checkout is 11am (in two places), but Other things to note says checkout is 10am. At least one of them is wrong.

Television and Cable TV are in the listing, but no photos show a TV.

Get a smoke and carbon monoxide detector (or update the amenities if you already have one).

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Yes, there are too many of the same photos within the 70 total. I suggest posting 25 or fewer photos.

Plus, include a few photos of the surrounding area. I would want to know if I am staying in a quiet neighborhood or along a busy and noisy commercial street.

Is that really the case? Blimey.

I know that they don’t do the 24 hour clock, or understand metres, litres and so on but that’s a new one.

I was a 36-year career journalist, who was taught to write 12 noon or 12 midnight in my newspaper stories.

Technically, there is no such thing as 12 p.m., as it could mean either late-morning or late-night.

Only Americans, who served in the military (like me), know what time is 1300 hours, 1800 hours, 2100 hours, etc.

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True, unless it’s 12.01 :slight_smile:

Nearly 25 years in the US and I’m still trying to get used to it…

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I wonder why I can’t see this listing, how do I see it? I must be doing something wrong…your help would be appreciated.

I missed that, seventy pics? Jeez.

Another reason to swipe… is it left or right? :slight_smile:

JF

Under rules, they are cigarette butts not buds!

In order to deal with the inevitable disastrous guest or personal disaster, your cleaning window needs to be at least 4 hours, as you will eventually discover. You would be better with an 11am check-out and 4 pm check-in just to be safe. If it were me, I would not imply that they could pay for late checkout because that invites them to check out late, and it’s difficult to collect a late checkout fee (I’ve had no luck with so-called “Resolution Requests”.

It appears you have smart pricing turned on? Your minimum rate is probably too low for such a nice space. It said $40/night, but when I entered the minimum 2 nights, it wanted $52 per night (due to the discount suggested for new listings, which I never accepted) but your cleaning fee is too high at $50. Like others suggested, I would raise your minimum rate and lower the cleaning fee.

You have waaaaaay too many photos, and many of them are duplicates. Pick the best shot of each thing, and get rid of the rest.

As others have said, your space is far too cluttered and the decor is far too cutesy, especially with all the flamingos!

Have a picture of the entire bed, without the unneeded goody basket. You have far too many “decor” items, and there is no room for guests to use! Guests want space, not figureens, salt crystals, games, welcome signs, and candy. At your price point, you should NOT be offering goody baskets or boxes of chocolates. Move the dish soap and bird out of the way before taking pictures, although the picture of the sink is not needed. Remember every giveaway is coming out of your profit!

You don’t need pix of dishes, cutlery, books on the shelves, first aid kit (which should be in a more visible location, probably in the bathroom near medicine cabinet, and safe (those safes are useless anyway since they can be opened with a crowbar or claw hammer in a minute). One overall picture of the bathroom is enough, and you don’t need pix of shower head cleaning supplies, toilet, outside (towel drying?) rack. Open the umbrella before you take the one picture you need of the hammock area. You do need a picture or 2 of the neighborhood or street, and a picture of guest parking area.

You can buy a combined smoke/carbon monoxide detector at Costco for about $20, and almost every city building and fire code everywhere in the US requires a a smoke detector. Yes, even if you have no stove, it only takes one guest illegally smoking (whether tobacco or cannabis) , one mistake with the microwave oven, or an electrical short to cause a fire. Lack of detectors signals to guest that you don’t pay attention to details, including those that threaten life or property.

You need to say more about your neighborhood. Talk about the ethnic composition of your hood. Mention the types of restaurants, cultural activities, and distances to facilities like convention center, sports stadiums, and especially in Miami, the beach.

Is it possible that your location may be one reason you don’t get bookings? How many AirBnB rentals are active in your neighborhood, and how does your pricing compare? Or are there too many other rentals in your area?

Finally, once again, you may think that all the tschotkes are decorative, but as a traveller, it’s just junk in the way, and junk that the host won’t let me get rid of except maybe to hide it under the bed. Travellers want space to unpack, and space to use, but you have cluttered it all!

Do you provide a breakfast? If so you need to say what kind of breakfast it is (self catering, cereal only, or full breakfast). If you don’t provide breakfast, you need to say so. Otherwise you will eventually get a horrid review from some AirBnB newbie who thinks that “AirBnB” means that breakfast is provided.

I hope that this is helpful.

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