Newbie here! Advice on setting up "the perfect listing"

Hey everyone,

My family business has always had its own website but we’ve finally decided to use other sites. I’m setting up our accounts on VRBO, Homeaway and Airbnb. So I’m doing some research on how to have “the perfect listing” or “the perfect airbnb profile” 'cause I’ve read a lot about profiles not being found, guests not trusting new listings (mainly because there are 0 reviews), etc…

I’ve found some great tips on blogs like Learnairbnb, The abundant host and Airbnbsecrets but I’m kinda overwhelmed with all the info and don’t really know where to start.

Can you guys give me some tips? I would appreciate it!

The perfect listing has an unique main picture and a good name.

The rest does not really matter, because guests do not read anyway. :smirk:

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Please also read this topic:

If you already have a site, try to push that as much as possible.
Only use AirBnB and others to fill gaps and low season.

Keep the calendar closed for the peak weeks, and sell them through your site.
More money, less risk of cancellation.

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This is great advice! Got excited in setting up the account and didn’t really think of commissions and how it could also affect direct bookings. We have a channel manager on our site so we can keep our calendar updated everywhere but I’ll be sure to limit the calendar.

THANKS! :slight_smile:

I think if you just look around at other listings and take from each what you like…then you will be just fine.

Not sure how your own website does since you mention the family business has always had it’s own site. But the most time consuming things are understanding all the policies of all the different sites, etc. For example - Air relaxed their extenuating circumstances to now include guest can cancel for free if they encounter bad weather during their trip. It used to only be if the host’s place had severe weather. But now it doesn’t matter. If I had a choice of booking through Air versus accepting the booking directly…I would always choose direct.