I am registering my property on AirBnB right now. I snapped a supposedly friendly and nice picture of myself, the Icon personalization doesn’t work. The host video or 30 sec is a plus or a minus? Am I too shy or does it actually increase bookings?
Is the photo in the right format? If I remember right, a picture has to be in .jpg format, it won’t take pix straight from your phone.
You may be too shy, but a 30 second video of you smiling and saying “Hi, my name is Penny, and we would love to have you stay with us” should be an attention getter.
The video is part of the profile and is highly encouraged by AirBNB. You are allowed 30 seconds, and have to tape it live via their web site. I have not chosen to do this.
I have a profile picture I am pretty satisfied with, but I think the video may look too cheesy and I don’t see the point, since I am not the one attending visitors (we have a property manager).
I mean, of course I am alive an well, but what does the video says that the pictures + description don’t? 
FYI, I have an android phone and my photos are in .jpg format.
We have almost 100% back-to-back bookings with no video. Therefore I would doubt that it increases booking rate.
Well, I gave it a try but my internet upload speed is too slow and the image is halted, while the audio keeps going on. I will try again from my home (I am on holiday right now) but I liked the background I had here! 
I can’t see the video on my profile, though. Is it visible only after booking? My property is still unlisted as I am working on the listing.