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Sometimes it’s difficult living with one less bedroom in our already small house, but running an Airbnb out of that room has been worth it! Our first year on Airbnb brought us almost $15,000, helping us fund ever-surprising home improvements and extra family fun.
Hitting our one-year anniversary mark with our Airbnb listing, it was time for a refresh. We added so many extra improvements throughout the year, the listing wasn’t quite accurate. So as we update, here are some tips and advice on how to create your own amazing, attention-grabbing advertisement!
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Each heading below corresponds to a section on the Airbnb Listing page, so you should be able to follow along!
Photos
The first thing that any potential guest is going to see are the photos of your space. This is your first impression, and take advantage of it! On the search page they will be comparing your listing with others in the area, so this is the place to grab their attention.
Some photo tips:
- Take photos from opposite corners of the room, so they can see the full layout of the space.
- Take photos from an elevated position, which will make the room seem more spacious. This can be done by standing on a chair, or just lifting your arms higher than your normal view.
- Use natural light for a welcoming glow, but make sure it’s not harsh middle-of-the-day light (mid-morning or early-evening are softer times to get the light without strong glare).
- Make sure to open the window curtains, as they can create strange shaped patterns in the photos if the light is directly entering the room.
- Remove extra clutter or distracting objects. For example, we use grocery bags as our trash can liners, and I didn’t want those showing in the photos when it’s not an item that needs to be shown.
- Document unique features about your space. Something that other hosts don’t have. Do you have any special furniture, or areas of your unit that are extra appealing?
- These are great options for your cover photo, so that potential guests can get excited about your listing immediately.
- Write brief captions for each photo, and highlight any of those extra features, or things that may be hidden from sight.
- After uploading the photos, sort them by area so potential guests will be able to get a full view of each room while scrolling.
Rooms and Spaces
In this section you’ll connect your previously uploaded photos to their specific rooms (bedroom, bathroom, kitchenette, etc.), and get more specific about what is provided in each area. You are not required to have all of these spaces in your listing — just activate the spaces you are providing to guests.
For each available room you will mark if it is shared with others. For example, our backyard can be used by guests but we use it as well, so we may come into contact with each other there.
In addition, for the bedrooms, you share:
- Sleeping arrangements: How many beds, which size (king, queen, etc.) and type of bed (air mattress, standard bed, crib, etc.).
- Our listing only has one bedroom, but the room is large enough that we provide air mattresses in addition to a queen mattress to accommodate potential guests. When my family visited last year, we filled the room from wall to wall with sleeping space and four people slept there using a twin air mattress, queen bed, and queen air mattress.
- Bathroom access: Specify if the bedroom has a private entrance to the bathroom.
Property and Guests
Choose from the drop down options to explain the style of your rental unit. Airbnb has options for renting full houses and apartments (entire place), to single bedrooms (private room), and rooms with multiple guests (shared room). Our rental is listed as a Secondary Unit, Guest Suite since it has a separate entrance and is blocked from the rest of the house.
Choose how many guests you will allow in your space. You can charge additional fees under Booking Settings as well for more guests. For our space, we allow up to 4 guests, and charge an extra $10 per night if there are more than 2 visitors. This helps cover the cost of extra utilities like water for the shower and used toiletries (paper goods, soap, etc.).
*NOTE: Check with your local laws to see if there are any restrictions on vacation hosting where you live. Where we live (Orlando), only certain areas of the city allow vacation rentals and you are required to live on-site. Also, they require that less than 50% of the house can be used as rental space. You also have to get a permit through the county, complete with safety inspection.
Title
Give your booking a catchy title, showing your personality and your neighborhood. We included our neighborhood name and described the space as a Private Suite. This is another space that will give a first impression to potential guests., so make it informative and intriguing.
Description
Put your writing skills to use! This section is mainly writing and there’s definitely a balance. You want to be able to get all of your information across, but not totally overwhelm potential guests either.
- The Listing Description is the general summary seen after potential guests click on your page from the main search bar. There is a text limit, so you can’t give too many details, but give the highlights of your space.
- Your Place holds additional categories for more details about your rental unit. Even a sentence or two in each of these sections will suffice, as you’re just giving a general knowledge of the area.
- The Space: Give the property and general room descriptions.
- Guest Access: Information on how to get around, and information on parking is great here.
- Interaction with Guests: Share how you would like to be approached as a host. While we interact with our guests with a hello and wave in-person, I require any business conversations to be had via the Airbnb app, so any agreements can be reviewed later.
- Other Details To Note: Are there any strange restrictions you have? For us, we reiterate our backyard policy, which states they can use our yard if we are not actively using it.
- The Neighborhood section is not really for recommendations (that can be done in the Guidebook later on), but for a general feeling of the area. We share in our description that we live in a quiet, residential area but that we are only two blocks from a major intersection with restaurants and nightlife so they know they are near food and activities, but they know not to be too rowdy when outside late at night.
- Getting Around is another place to describe how you access the activities around you. Taxis aren’t readily available in our area, but we live in walkable distance to restaurants and nightclubs so we highlight that perk. No need for a car!
Accessibility
This section is for guests with mobility needs (wheelchairs, walkers, etc.). Here you will specify under each room what features help those with handicap challenges. Our unit has steps to the front door, steps to the bedroom, and smaller doorways due to older construction, so we don’t qualify for most of these highlighted options.
Specific sections will auto-add here, based on the spaces available in your listing (specific bedrooms, bathrooms). As way of example, under Guest Entrance and Parking, the features for you to accept or reject are:
- Accessible parking spot
- Lit path to the guest entrance
- Step-free path to the guest entrance
- Step-free guest entrance
- Guest entrance wider than 32 inches
Amenities
This section is a yes-no selection to show guests what perks are available in your unit. This allows for quick searching from the front main Airbnb page, allowing guests to filter out units that do (not) have certain traits. These include features such as:
- Popular: Essentials, air conditioning, cleaning products, cooking basics, dedicated workspace, dishes and silverware, dryer, hair dryer, heating, hot tub, kitchen, pool, tv, washer, Wi-Fi
- Bathroom: Bathtub, bidet, body soap, cleaning products, conditioner, hair dryer, hot water, outdoor shower, shampoo, shower gel
- Bedroom and Laundry: Essentials, bed linens, clothing storage, dryer, drying rack for clothing, extra pillows and blankets, hangers, iron, mosquito net, room-darkening shades, safe, washer
- Entertainment: Books and reading material, Ethernet connection, exercise equipment, game console, piano, ping pong table, pool table, record player, sound system, tv
- Family: Baby bath, baby monitor, baby safety gates, babysitter recommendations, board games, changing table, children’s books and toys, children’s dinnerware, crib, fireplace guards, high chair, outlet covers, Pack ‘n play/travel crib, table corner guards, window guards
- Heating and cooling: Air conditioning, ceiling fan, heating, indoor fireplace, portable fans
- Home safety: Carbon monoxide alarm, fire extinguisher, first aid kid, smoke alarm
- Internet and Office: Dedicated workspace, pocket Wi-Fi, Wi-Fi
- Kitchen and Dining: Baking sheet, barbecue utensils, bread maker, blender, coffee, coffee maker, cooking basics, dining table, dishes and silverware, dishwasher, freezer, hot water kettle, kitchen, microwave, mini fridge, oven, refrigerator, rice maker, stove, toaster, trash compactor, wine glasses
- Location Features: Beach access, lake access, laundromat nearby, private entrance, resort access, ski-in/ski-out, waterfront
- Outdoor: Backyard, BBQ grill, beach essentials, bikes, boat slip, fire pit, hammock, kayak, outdoor dining area, outdoor furniture, outdoor kitchen, patio or balcony
- Parking and Facilities: Elevator, EV charger, free parking on premises, free street parking, gym, hot tub, paid parking off premises, paid parking on premises, pool, sauna, single level home
- Services: Breakfast, cleaning before checkout, long term stays allowed, luggage drop off allowed
Some features will have space for additional information. For example, for shampoo and conditioner, you can list the brand you provide. For tv, you can list the brand and what app access you provide. For washer and dryer, how much you charge and where they are located in the unit.
Location
This is where you can update the physical address of your property. Your actual address will not be sent to guests until they confirm and pay for their stay, and the stay is within the next few days.
Scenic Views
This is a checkmark area for you to specify if your unit has any beautiful views. Our unit is only has views of our unfinished backyard, so we can’t fill this in yet. The scenic options are:
- Bay, beach, canal, city, courtyard, desert, garden, golf course, harbor, lake, marina, mountain, ocean, park, pool, resort, river, sea, valley, vineyard
Things Your Guests Should Know
This section is for specific safety questions about your unit. It’s a yes-no selection area again, so just a quick click and then a small area to add some details. Selections include:
- Safety considerations:
- Pool/hot tub without a gate or lock
- Nearby lake, river, other body of water
- Climbing or play structure
- Heights without rails or protection
- Potentially dangerous animal
- Safety devices:
- Security cameras/audio recording devices
- Carbon monoxide alarm
- Smoke alarm
- Property info:
- Must climb stairs
- Potential for noise
- Pet(s) live in property
- No parking on property
- Some spaces are shared
- Amenity limitations
- Weapons on property
Guidebook
In this section, you can create suggestions for your guests about what to do in the neighborhood. Share your favorite to-eat places, or nearby activities. I feel like this section is highly unnecessary, especially when there are other places online to look for activity suggestions. Or if a guest is searching for an Airbnb stay, they probably already have activities planned for their stay. Spend your time making the other sections of your listing stand out.
Custom Link
Here you can specify the website link to your listing. We used the same title from our listing, so it’s easy for me to remember when I share our listing with friends and family.
Info for Guests
This last section is final information for confirmed guests at your unit.
- Wi-Fi: Add in the internet name and password
- Check-In Instructions: Add photos and directions on how guests enter the unit. Where do they park? Where’s the front door? Do they pick up the key from a lockbox?
- For our unit, the front door is difficult to find because it’s towards the back part of the house, so we include photos. We also have a number pad on the front door instead of dealing with keys. So in the instructions, we list that we will message them the code prior to their stay.
- House Manual: List any specific tips about your unit that may not be obvious, like if there are any special ways to connect to the internet, etc.
- Directions: Although most guests will use a phone app to find your address, this space is for general directions on how to find your place. We include directions from the nearest interstate exit, along with our parking instructions.
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