Coaching Blog S1 Episode 53 - Mark's Expert Tips: Enhancing Your Airbnb Listing - Kylie from Forbes NSW, Masterclass

 

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hey Kylie Mark Smith here it is uh the 26th of March how you going um well it's great to welcome you to our Facebook group and um I'm really looking for oh I I yeah I'm really looking forward to reviewing this and and giving you some comments um and we'll also have a look at that in inquiry that you made offline to me um where you talk about a two night booking so let's let's have a look at that now just going to shrink that down but I'm still here um let's and I'll just make that a little bit bigger okay so um so I'm sticking this guy over on the side here um well by the way you can speed this up uh in the bottom corner over there that way uh there is a box to speed that up now uh first four photos are really really important um and and You' always have to I say this on all these critiques that I do uh you always have to look at your photos using a smartphone because they often look very very different um in portrait mode than in landscape mode oops landscape mode so look at these uh both ways um I love what you've done and I think that's fantastic and I think uh your photos I can tell already like they're professional but they are portrait um so some of these may look different uh in sorry they're they lscape they may look different in portrait mode portrait portra sorry landscape landscape portrait I don't know so it's it's very very very important that um you look at them with a smartphone because um I'll send you a tip I'll send you a link to something called the complete guide to hosting and you you'll see up in the top corner there is a um is a search box it's actually not that well designed but um you can just type in photo tips and uh it will then take you to all of airbnb's photo tips uh I'm not sure whether they talk about landscape versus portrait but these are I I think very good the other thing I can tell you haven't done uh and I know you're only new so that's okay is something called a photo tour and um what you can do is you can actually allocate these to a room um now I would say this is not professionally taken judging by the Light so I think you need now maybe very very tricky to do the light but um if I was you I would you know you've spent obviously a lot of money on this property I think um now this one does look professionally taken uh I would go to the extra trouble of spending a couple of hundred dollars and getting them taken professionally certainly the the more difficult ones um you need a caption on every single um on every single photo and this applies to all of our um to all of our listings so I'm I'm going to be posting this critique on our Facebook page for all of our community and all of our 270 members and um and so for anyone in our community that is doing that um I'll send you a a link about how to do the photo tour but basically it allocates um this photo for instance to the exterior and then then the next one to bedroom one and then the next one to the kitchen or whatever it is and then you can do a photo to it and if you've got a floor plan I'm thinking a floor plan you can probably uh either get one or generate one from um the plans that you've had drawn um and I would I would recommend that you do that so let's have a look your host family ah the lovely Kylie and her family well good on you uh I don't think it has to be number two photo but I I will get to your host profile in a bit and um I love that you've got uh everyone's got a story and we all like to belong and that's what Airbnb is about belonging and so it helps the guests to know um how they fit in now if you've got chickens and people get their eggs from their chickens and that's part of the family well maybe Chuck in something about the chickens um you know and tell people more of the story

um too dark in my opinion but um yeah I mean this is cool this is really really really cool Jane now this one this one is taken uh portrait it maybe should be landscape but um you've got see this will give you some ideas of why it's why I say that this is important you don't quite get the context um and this is not a criticism again this one is um sorry portrait just a [Music] minute yeah sorry I had an interruption there I started to say that this one is uh I started to contradict myself because this one has taken portrait maybe it should be um taken U landscape so go to the um complete guard to hosting and have a look at the photo tips and uh I think there are some things that you can do with the light um the light in here is quite good that's a beautiful cushion by the way uh and um um I I would like to probably I I think you really need to uh invest in um the professional photos I don't know how easy it is to to get them taken there but it will be worth the the effort again captions um on every photo please um same one I'm guessing pardon me I'm guessing you don't actually need curtains um um for privacy so um these I mean

yeah love it so captions captions captions captions and again looking at that orientation um you've got a beautiful spot please make the most of it um and allocate these on uh using the photo tour so go to the complete guide look up photo tour how to how to allocate them and then allocate them um yeah so I think you get the gist uh the photos can be um can be a little better uh You' seem to have there well like a chairs so we would want to see eight of everything eight knives and forks eight uh glasses um and all of that

um yeah

yeah does your dog um join guests during the stay and I'm guessing he or she is quite friendly um so some people uh wouldn't like that I personally I'd love it again I think yeah I think I've said enough about photos so that's where we start you're in a category called new so you're asking a question uh for this weekend should you say yes to a two night St well I'm going to say you're you're in the category new uh my guess is that um there's probably not an abundance of uh places to stay um that are available on Airbnb and so being in new you're going to be bumped to the very very very top so

um I would probably run the risk and that you'll get a three night booking um bring your pets away from stay so um again your dog and theirs is the going to be any friction now let's have a look at um well let's just clear these

dates now it does say that you'll it does say that you'll allow a two stay so it's going to be very hard for you to refuse it when when that's how you've set it up but you can go into the calendar and set it up so that um for particular days you have what's called a custom stay so um I think uh in the calendar there's two tabs uh you open it and it should have something like um availability and then maybe there's another tab called rules or something like that um it's in it's in the non default tab that you can set up these rules and you set up and you have a rule say I I would set it up for a minimum three nights so even if someone checks in Friday they'll stay Friday Saturday Sunday leave Monday so I would um but set it up so that it covers from Thursday through to Monday I would set it up on based on three nights before you take that booking if those people book for two nights um and I'm guessing it's not you've I'm guessing you've got it set up so that it's not on instant booking I would take an uh an instant booking if it was three nights uh and you can set it up to only take um experienced guests um that means people with at least one review but um as long as people have um as long as people have the government verified ID then I will take them through Airbnb because Airbnb do provide their um air cover so really you're you're sort of letting the place to air to the corporation Airbnb not particular guests so they are they do come more or less guaranteed um and for the rest of the school holidays um I I think let's just have let's just have a look at this so this would let you make a one night booking um I don't I think your place is maybe two nights um minimum uh is something uh to to have through the week there but uh I would not take a one night booking you you're not really gear up to be like a motel um and I wouldn't do it um just myself okay I I personally wouldn't do it uh but it's up to you now let's go and have a look at this and see whether the price changes um we we'll leave the pet off for now so the price is actually the same whether there's one person or um 10 people so you can oh actually there you go uh the price does start to alter once you get over four okay so that's good um because your the cost of linen your energy and all of that is all going to be more expensive as you add on guest so that was one of the tips I was going to give you we'll go back to four and then we'll see how it is with children so okay that that that adds up um do you have a cost um a lot of people do the bookings um Ms believe it or not and um um they will look for things like baths and cots uh high chairs um uh children's Cutlery uh that sort of thing now I am looking to see about pets so if they do bring their pet uh then they're saving the cost of having to put it in kennel it or you know and you don't charge for that so um service animals like guide dogs and that they're it's a human right that um a person can bring those without any cost but if they're bringing say like let's say two dogs then uh and people will often travel with the whole family including the the fury ones then I would consider having an extra charge um and it's it's another way of uh making up U the dollars uh but but you

can you can also have a think about these beautiful quilts that you've got and whether you want your furry friends up on the um up on this beautiful quilt so I insist that people I I usually charge a little bit extra um I usually charge a flat Fe you know maybe a hundred bucks but also insist that people bring their bring a throw rug so you can set up um in your uh what's it called quick replies again you can find out about quick replies in um the complete guide to hosting uh you can set up uh a quick reply that you can push if someone has uh they are bringing pets then uh you can set out what your rules are so you tell them way up front at the time of the book that um that uh yes they can bring them but they've got to bring a throw rug and uh if they cause any damage or stain any of your linen um then uh there'll be extra charges to you know to clean how do you get muddy Footprints off this beautiful um uh linen so I would um I think about whether you've got spares and I don't know whether you've got days in between um someone checks out today uh can you have someone checking in this afternoon so that's uh I forget what that's called but um um it sometimes you can set up so that it leaves a gap so that's another reason not to take two night bookings if you need a gap in between um so um linen and getting things dry in winter is is it's one of the challenges so um let's have a look at you yeah um there's a picture of you um but it doesn't tell us any more about you so I'd want to know about you and I I would recommend that you put in a photo here Kylie uh and a bit about you um you don't have to say your live story but uh check check out before I'd set it up for 10 and checking in after three uh and if you're early um or if you haven't got someone coming in this afternoon then um it just gives you more time to clean and get things dry seven guests maximum no carbon monoxide alarm so I'll send you a link to a carbon monoxide detector uh and it'll be free and that's another thing that uh helps you to rank higher is having a carbon monoxide detector um pool hot tub without gate or lock um there I didn't see any pictures of any pools so it' be good to good to see that um something you should do with Wi-Fi is uh do a speed test you can do that through the app um the the mobile phone app go to um listing and then you find find your listing and then go to amenities and then scroll right to the bottom and you'll find Wi-Fi and you can do a test right there so you sync it you sync your phone with the um the router so you must put in the um the Wi-Fi router's name plus the password and then it can do a speed test and then all of a sudden it'll say here oh you got starlink and it does 300 megabits per second um it does make a difference if um makes a difference if you've got uh people that like to work from home you can often get very long stay based on you've got something called a dedicated workspace and you have highspeed internet so um let's have a look at all your other amenities um yep love it free washing machine free dryer okay people fun enough they use it and I I the dryer that is uh I don't understand but people uh will do uh I've had people um arrive at my property and then do like 3 days worth of um uh 3 days worth of washing and and drying and literally on the on the day they arrive so um uh don't be surprised if people will actually use that um and that's another reason I suppose why you want to have those extra person charges um blackout blinds now I saw uh certainly upstairs I made the comment about no curtains uh for privacy so I get the impression actually I I accuracy is a really really important thing so I'm not sure that um I I think i' maybe make a mention that the blackout blinds are not throughout um if they're not throughout uh cot available on request excellent well again that that's fantastic pack and play travel cot available on request uh hi chair okay you've read my mind uh baby bath available on request so I love it um so particularly moms will um look and see well whether whether there is a bath and they sometimes they'll do a search and filter by those things and if that if you don't have them then um if you don't have them well that can be the kiss of death now um heating heating did I see did I see slow combustion I maybe I didn't um we have one camera on the western side of our house it's directed towards our driveway and the farm shed okay well that's fine um great well done for um disclosing that um Airbnb are bringing in rules and like they're going to ban people if they find any cameras inside any properties starting from uh maybe it's April maybe it's May I'm I'm not sure the exact date but we'll we'll talk about that in our Facebook group [Music] um okay um you've got all the essentials wine glasses now that's essential um I love it yep I I can't see anything here that's not I reckon your place could be a little bit hard to find so I would definitely set up a quick reply for the how to get their instructions fire pit Ah that's what I was maybe that's what I saw

um probably does get a bit cold in Winter and we're coming into winter so pet Peter yeah let's fix up this carbon monoxide detector I'll send you a link it takes about four to six weeks uh and they are free you get one um two nights well I don't think your prices are too bad but I would maybe think about um maybe think about having those extra person charges kick in a little earlier so maybe make your price a little cheaper but um I can understand why you picked four okay um but if there's more people than four then uh and they don't tell you and 10 turn up um then you would have every right to to charge or make a claim through uh air cover for those extra people charges so no reviews yet that's why a um uh that's why your profile is very important I I think on top of the um on top of the photos that I talked about I I think I would um change the order a little bit um and have a look at the listing uh those photo tips in the complete guide to hosting um where are

you Forbes so I'm guessing that's probably yeah I'm guessing you're just off the new highway so um so that's good okay 25

minutes all right look I think we'll leave it at that uh it's great to have you on our Facebook group and um free until the the free cancellation so your cancellation policy I would make that as flexible as possible I think you can make that a little more flexible um so that's my guess is that's about a week ahead I especially why you got no reviews and when you got 15 reviews and they're all five stars then you can maybe I I would perhaps adjust the uh cancellation policy but you will get more bookings by virtue that you just have that uh flexible policy people will book and they'll think well if I cancel in my experience people rarely cancel they do cancel but it's it's fairly rare um H but it removes all risk um and people are in any way unsure I'd still take the booking uh and if they cancel if they cancel this week before leading up to Easter you'll probably get another booking anyway so uh and coming into the school holidays uh I would make it as easy to book as you possibly can uh you can have Peak pricing uh and again you could do that through the calendar uh just you know block out the dates and if if these are particularly dates that you want to charge a premium then uh you can easily set that for a premium and then um you I think you'll find that uh you'll probably be quite busy through through winter but again think about dogs uh and muddy Footprints and all of that um I wish you great success in hosting Kylie and uh looking forward to getting to know you through the Airbnb Facebook Community thanks M bye