Boost Your Bookings: Expert Tips for Improving Your Property Listing and Attracting More Guests for host Jeanne

Another in the series of perfecting your Airbnb listing

Outline: 

The speaker in the video is giving advice to Janine on how to improve her property listing for better bookings. He suggests that she should improve her photos, possibly by hiring a professional, and rearrange them to tell a better story about the property. He also suggests that she should get creative with the property's name and use a free account on chat gp2. He advises her to consider adding a carbon monoxide detector for a boost in ranking and to consider adjusting her pricing strategy, such as adding a pet fee or offering special pricing for longer stays. He also recommends that she should consider absorbing the booking fee instead of passing it on to the guests. He concludes by offering to provide further assistance if needed.

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Transcript:  

"How are you, Janine? Mark Smith. Really nice to meet you. Do you come to our webinars? If you don't come along, and if you do come along in person, we've got something booked for, I think it's the 18th of June at Low Wines, and yeah, that would be really good. Look, I'm actually what's called an ambassador, and I often do this. I'll go through a tour, and I'm getting the impression from your message that you're not getting as many bookings at the moment. So I'll just go through and I'll share with you little things where you might be able to improve. So we'll just start at the top, and this is not a criticism. None of this is criticism, just take it as constructive criticism. I think you could... I'm going to send you a link. I think you can do better with this. You know, Mountain Shack... Well, you know, it's probably not sha... Mountain Hideaway... Get creative. You can do... There's this thing called ChatGPT-3, and you can get a free account. I would go in and play around with that a little bit.

The next thing... Well, you've got fabulous ratings and plenty of reviews. Let's have a look at your photos. My guess is that these are not professionally taken, so... And the order does actually make a huge difference as well. So all of these are nice and interesting, but why don't you rearrange this, like the bathroom one? In fact, I'll send you a link to a couple of articles that I'm aware of on the... What's called The Host Resources. Oh, the resource center. And one's on telling stories. Now, what do you use photos for? Well, they're there to tell a story. So what's the story? Sorry, I just have to be brutal. What's the story? The steep incline... Okay, now that would turn some people off if they did not have an all-wheel drive. Yes, that would turn people off. I don't think this is a story that you're already telling. So, you know, sometimes when you see things with fresh eyes... You know, anyone with a four-wheel drive, and you've got that already in there... Well, I don't think you need those. So your message is getting lost. This is a very nice-looking bath, by the look of it, but why is it on Photo number 28? This is a very nice... Yeah, so I think I'd start with your photos. I think I would start with your photos. That one... Okay, good quote. Yeah, so I think you need a major overhaul, if I could put it so politely.

There are some tips also on the resources page about tips with taking photos, and the type of camera, I should say, that you use to take the photo can have a huge bearing on where you rank. So if you pay someone and they take it with a Nikon, that's a $3,000 camera, the algorithm actually knows this, and the photo is going to be better for a start because it's professionally taken. So, yeah, I look, I won't go into criticisms, but seriously think about spending $300 or thereabouts. They cost about $30 a photo, and if you've got 10 good ones, in my opinion, that beats 30 okay ones. 10 red-hot ones. And oftentimes, for about $350, someone will do a... See, this was... I don't know what that is. But like, this is taken inside a car or something, so the quality of these... It's... There's considerable room for improvement, Janelle. So I'm sorry to be so blunt.

Now, this is good. I don't know how you get a speed like that. Have you got Starlink? Oh, yes, you do. Okay, well, I get... I get about 250 megabits per second. So if you've got Starlink, abb.com... If you've got Starlink, then... And if you've got a dedicated workspace... Where is the picture of the desk? I didn't see it. You need to put it in because the algorithm looks at your photos and says, 'Ah, they've got a desk and a chair. Aha!' And a lamp, and you want an Ethernet. So you want to put a... I'll show you my listing and... Here we go... Like, there is the... There's the dedicated workspace. 245 megabits per second. So the trick is, you get a little bit closer to your router, and it's just automatically faster. So... Well... Well, okay. So... Have a look at mine. I get about... 250 megabits per second. So if you've got Starlink, abb.com... If you've got Starlink, then... And if you've got a dedicated workspace... Where is the picture of the desk? I didn't see it. You need to put it in because the algorithm looks at your photos and says, 'Ah, they've got a desk and a chair. Aha!' And a lamp, and you want an Ethernet. So you want to put a... I'll show you my listing and... Here we go...

Like, there is the... There's the dedicated workspace. 245 megabits per second. So the trick is, you get a little bit closer to your router, and it's just automatically faster. So... Well... Well, okay. So... Have a look at these photos now. See how arty they are? And look, they're actually professionally taken. 97. Now, it's always... The light is perfect when they're taken professionally. You know, arty, they tell a story. Host your event with us. 'Celebrity sheep,' you know? No photos of roads. So... I'm sure, yes, some photos of nature, and then it tells the story that, 'Oh, okay, you're going to get close to nature.' So, and it might even snow. If you get this... You see what I'm saying? So... Have a look at the links that I send you. Great location. Recent 100%. Okay. So, up to eight guests. Okay, where you sleep... Okay, number one trick. I'll send you a link for a carbon monoxide alarm detector. It's free, and you get... You get a boost also. I did some searches the other day, and there are a lot of properties in MJI.

Let's have a look at your calendar. So... Well, okay. You've actually got a lot of bookings here, but not a lot during the week. So, two-night minimum. I would probably use a flexible policy. Do you allow pets? Oh, you do. Okay, good. Two nights... $300. So it works out to be about $300 a night. If there's... You'd have to weigh up how affordable that is. You might even consider, rather than discounting, you might want to consider absorbing the fee. So that's 14%, and you can put on some promotions and that sort of thing. So... Don't think the prices look that outrageous, but why don't you do this? If someone wants to book on these particular dates, what incentive is there? You know, let's say if someone books... You might want to give these people, like, a five-day... Is it four-night? Four if you have some special pricing for four nights. So let's have a look here and see if you've got a weekly discount. Ah, see, you do. So you've got a weekly discount. So why don't you, on the nights where... Look, the chances are that if you don't get booked on... If you've got some dates here that seem to be available, so here, three-night minimum. So that's school holidays. Okay. Okay, there's a three-night minimum, but... So, six nights. You get no discount. I'd seriously think about that. And you don't charge... Oh, no, you don't charge for pets. So, I charge $149 bucks flat fee for pets. I'd be curious how many people actually... How many people come and do bring pets? If anything, like, you could reduce your price for humans and add a pet fee, and you might get... You might get a lot more bookings.

So there's lots of things that you can do. I would definitely add the carbon monoxide detector. As I said, the reviews are good. Malami, I have no idea where that is. Let's have a look at your profile... Yeah, well, that's nice. Lives in MJI. Okay. Well, you've got fabulous reviews. I think I'd go for a 3 P.M. check-in. Yeah, check-in, and I'd be looking at some extra person charges. See, you could probably, especially where... Where you think that those... Um... Places to be sit there empty. If you're looking for a group of eight, well, chances are you might find them. But you may find... You can keep the prices lower for, say, two or three, and then maybe two prices lower for two but then add on an extra person charge. So charge so that if a group of eight does come, well, then they're paying for all the linen and all the extra hot water and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

So look, there's some tips for you. I hope that's of assistance to you, Janine. If there's anything else I can help you with, don't hesitate to reach out. See you."

I hope this helps! If you have any more requests or questions, feel free to ask.

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