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I’m hoping to get advice on my postings. I’ve been active for a bit over a month and have had a ton of bookings in the first month and then everything stopped. Before I do self-promotion, I’d love some input. I have a full house I rent out for football games (I stay nearby at my parents’) ane when I’m out of town. When I’m staying in the house, I rent out the two rooms independently. I do all of the cleaning and minor maintenance myself. I’ve done a lot of price comparisons to other local properties.
You need professional photography, sorry to say but the pictures look terrible, they are vertical, rooms look tiny and dark, I don’t know how you took those pictures but almost any phone can make better ones. I can even see the ceiling panels on one picture missing.
Do you mention somewhere that guests are renting a room, and another room is rented by others, and you live there too? that’s not apparent when i’m just cruising the listing. You don’t have much listed in your House Rules section, you might find as you host more you’ll want to put further information in there. People who are new and don’t have a fully fleshed out listing can often be targeted by scammers.
things that i usually check when booking:
bed size
tea/coffee situation
the shower
car parking
I can’t tell in your listing what any of these things are like, except car parking seems to be no issue.
the reviews look good! well someone has clearly not been generous with the 5* but the comments are great.
Have a think about who your target market is, and make sure all the things they need are highlighted in your listing description and in the photos.
Also, your photos are not great and your styling for the photos needs some help… simple things like making the beds well and putting the toilet lid down, and shooting with the best lighting. Remember you can put captions on your pics and those words are part of your listing too.
I can’t speak to the pricing as I don’t know your region, but it certainly is affordable for such a lovely home.
Hi! I like your collection of four-poster beds! I think the photos are fine for the listing except for the bed that has purple curtains behind it. It looks too slept in, like slept in right before the photo was taken. Everyone knows they won’t be the first to sleep in it but they’d rather not think about it. It looks to be the room that is the hardest to show because of the low light but I’d recommend tidying it, more like the photo of the other beds and retaking the photo.
If your internet speed is anything but super-slow you could get a bump in the search rank by adding your wifi speed.
Why do you mention the paint being lead-free? I have an old house too so I get the reference but you may be creating concern where there wouldn’t otherwise be any.
I think it’s gorgeous but you mentioned guests coming for football games. What’s the average age of your guests?
Your decor is lovely but I think that younger adults prefer a decor a bit lighter. For example, the bedroom with the burgundy curtains and bedspread. If I were you, I would change it to something lighter in color, maybe beige. Younger folks are minimalist. Therefore, I would store away some of the items.
You have pictures of a beautiful outdoor space but I didn’t see any additional outdoor seating. I see that you have a beautiful outdoor dining set but I don’t see lounge chairs or comfy outdoor seating with small end tables. I really think that’s necessary.
I have a whole house rental and I’ve been told by my neighbor, that most guests spend the day on the yard having a BBQ and sitting around the firepit. Seems like you’re in a wooded lot so the fire pit would be a hazard but maybe put out yard games instead.
Wishing you success and may your home be filled with respectful guests.
On the entire space listing, I might describe it this way:
Charming 1906 vintage farmhouse just 10 minute drive to Lane Stadium! Four-poster beds, a clawfoot tub, stained glass window, hardscaped patio, covered porch, ample grounds, make this farmhouse your trip to the past with modern amenities. Newly remodeled kitchen (2020). Great space for grilling and pre-tailgating. Check out the reviews of the individual rooms; rent by the room or the entire property can be yours.
Three bedrooms, two full baths. With two air mattresses can sleep eight. Come along and become entranced by our shoe-free wonky floors, labyrinth-like layout and doors that go nowhere. Play games on our x acre lot or sip lemonade and grill in a peaceful spot outside of town yet x minutes to shopping and the NRV Aquatic Center. Only natural cleaning products used.
I’m available 24/7 as I live nearby when entire space is rented.
Cozy, clean, peaceful, quiet, fun.
Get new photos (with rooms in check-in condition).
Put captions under each picture
List wifi speed by going through Airbnb validating procedure
Incorporate suggestions made by others here
I didn’t see the grill. Did I miss it? Show it.
Are you missing ceiling tiles in the blue bedroom?
Is there another name for the ‘gray’ bedroom? Sounds drab to me. The Pewter Bedroom or Pearl Bedroom?
That picture #12 with the wheelbarrow and bunch of wood near what appears to be a vegetable garden looks like an eyesore to me
Good luck! The reviews show you are a wonderful host.
Isn’t the “Rules” section supposed to be for the house rules? There is no way to put all of that stuff in the regular listing post. I didn’t know that you can put captions on the photos. I actually raised my prices because both rooms were being booked every single night…only by $5 each though and they still stayed booked for the following week.
The linens on two of the beds are quite old so that’s as good as they can get. The purple one is a featherbed and a down comforter so it’s really always going to look lumpy. Not much I can do about that. I have tried to get better lit photos but the way the light comes in the house it’s either blinding or non-existent.
I kind of figured people with small children would be worried about staying in a house that’s so old b/c they typically have lead paint.
I want to add that this is MY home where I live. I’m not going to make it into a sterile hospital-like place where I’m uncomfortable living. I spent a year and a half visiting my now dead niece in a hospital and this current white on white on white everything in a house really makes me uncomfortable. This is not an investment property for me but my home. I’m only renting it out because I really need the money. The purple room isn’t rented out separately and is only used when the whole house is taken. I absolutely love my room and feel really peaceful in it. It is, obviously from the reviews, kept immaculately clean, which is a whole lot of work due to the home’s age.
I don’t have anything in my yard but the wood stove and a few bushes and a couple of trees. My patio is literally full with that table so I can’t add anything.
I have been unable to get the AirBNB app to do the WiFi verification thing. It always times out though my WiFi is fast enough for anything I’ve tried.
I don’t think I have a picture of the grill
I do like the way you’ve worded that listing.
BTW I tried to reply to individual posts but it keeps putting one at the bottom instead
Are you serious right now? Tighten up the sheets that show at the bottom and take all of that crap off of it. It looks like someone just had a Sunday morning romp in it. Pull it from one side and then go around the bed and pull it from the other side until it sits square on the bed.
That’s totally fine. I wish there were more listings like that. But there’s a vast difference between “lived-in” and “bed looks like someone is still sleeping up under the duvet”, lol.
I see where you’re going with it but I think it probably causes people to think about it when they wouldn’t have otherwise. And your house has clearly been well-maintained and painted not so long ago. They stopped selling lead paint 44 years ago. It was just kind of startling there in the first paragraph. I know better and I still had a second of concern.
Of course, it’s up to you but I can’t imagine that you need it. Our house is even older than yours and it looks much older than yours and no one has ever asked, neither guests nor tenants. If you want to keep it, it would make more sense in the “Other Things to Note” section."
Yes, the white, grey and black interiors are a trend that many of us, both hosts and guests, dislike. There is nothing wrong with eclectic and colorful and there are plenty of listings that fit that bill, get booked consisently, and get 5 star reviews.
But whatever the decor style, there can still be improvement in presentation. And just because you love the old bedding doesn’t mean it’s suitable when you rent it out- save that for yourself and spring for some newer ones for guests. It’s a small investment that will pay off in the long run.
You asked for members here to “critique” and I think you meant something else based on your dismissal of the critiques that were made. Perhaps you could explain what you’re actually looking for so we could better assist you.
So true, we recently stayed in a rustic place with older but pretty linens. I honestly wished the host had just supplied a few newer bedding items. There are even nice inexpensive things from Amazon. One host I stayed with in Montana had such a nice duvet, I asked where got it an it was Amazon, less than $40. Maybe you could still use your lovely stuff but more as an accent to compliment. For a while I rented out my parents snow bird house, it had all their things in it. I simply just put their Victorian style linens in a private closet and used newer things and swapped them when they were back, also saved wear and tear on their nice things.
I’ll definitely change where the lead paint thing is in my listing. That was the stuff I was looking for along with wording things differently or pricing or things I’d missed pictures of like the grill.
I am certainly not having people stay in my home for fun…it’s because I need the money. From what I got from the vast majority of these comments is that I need to repaint most of the place, buy almost all new linens, probably a bed or two too and spend a few hundred more on a professional photographer. Like seriously…,maybe you all rent out rooms in your own homes for fun but I certainly don’t have anywhere close to that type of money. Many of these posts were attacking the things that I love.
And this post (cut and paste) was what I was looking for. But IDK how to fit that much stuff into my listing. I need to make sure that the rules section is paid attention to. Definitely don’t want damage done to my floors or the extra dirt and dust.
Charming 1906 vintage farmhouse just 10 minute drive to Lane Stadium! Four-poster beds, a clawfoot tub, stained glass window, hardscaped patio, covered porch, ample grounds, make this farmhouse your trip to the past with modern amenities. Newly remodeled kitchen (2020). Great space for grilling and pre-tailgating. Check out the reviews of the individual rooms; rent by the room or the entire property can be yours.
Three bedrooms, two full baths. With two air mattresses can sleep eight. Come along and become entranced by our shoe-free wonky floors, labyrinth-like layout and doors that go nowhere. Play games on our x acre lot or sip lemonade and grill in a peaceful spot outside of town yet x minutes to shopping and the NRV Aquatic Center. Only natural cleaning products used.
I’m available 24/7 as I live nearby when entire space is rented.
I though the majority of the comments that you asked for, were on board. I’m sad that you took them to heart and were miffed by the frank yet helpful replies from this well experienced community of hosts. Its up to you to not change anything, after all…
