hello youtube this is richard founder of
short-term rentals secrets.com
and Airbnb super host on today's video
we're going to go literally live as I
search for an upcoming trip that I'd
like to take personally to Paris I think
it's going to be interesting for me to
look as a guest staying in other
people's homes for what's available and
I also want to compare and contrast home
away versus Airbnb we've done some
videos in the past where we've talked
about listening on both and I've
suggested that in my opinion home away
was more suited towards second homes and
vacation resort type areas so Paris is
obviously a world-class metropolitan
destination I'm curious to see as I've
not done anything this is going to be
completely live what HomeAway has to
offer versus air B&B we're going to talk
about the product we're going to talk
about the layout we're going to talk
about the thumbnails and really the
point here is for me to look through an
unfiltered lens and share with you some
of my thoughts so that we can learn and
benefit from people's listings as well
as the things that both air B&B and VRBO
are showing from an SEO perspective so
I've intentionally recorded this in
incognito mode on Google Chrome so that
there's no cookies in theory Airbnb nor
home away will recognize me as a host or
a prior guess it's not going to be
showing me anything that a first-time
person wouldn't go to so let's go ahead
and get started right away I'm going to
go to air B&B and I'm going to go to
Paris France I would like to travel June
22nd checking out on the 26th and two
adults apply so the first thing I note
when I take a look at them Airbnb is
over here they've got it listed as for
you and it shows me just booked in Paris
and then it's showing me experiences and
almost below the fold I have to scroll
down
does it show me homes in Paris and then
places and food and drink experiences
and art and design experiences fashion
experiences sports experiences it's
clear to
me that Airbnb is really pushing their
experiences and so this might be an
opportunity for hosts and I'm going to
film another video it's on my to-do list
about how to maximize additional revenue
using Airbnb as an entrepreneur and it's
clear as you see here that they are
really pushing these experiences it
looks like some of them are doing quite
well
87 reviews for meat the funniest guy in
the museum 61 five-star reviews for a
cruise through the secret gardens so
like not only are they promoting it but
people are booking it and making some
money but let's deal with that after the
fact what I really want to focus on is
homes so I'm going to go over here and
click on the homes and the first thing
that I see is that there's others
looking 419 people are searching for the
exact same dates as I am and I think
that the size of the images is really
helpful it draws me into what it is that
I might be renting and then there's the
map over here one of the nice things I
see on the map is it shows me the prices
and the location and when I click on a
thumbnail or not click but a hover over
a thumbnail over here it actually shows
me that in green which the property is
now guess what one of these has already
caught my eye immediately and that's
this one and the reason is when I talk
about selling the dream I mean I see
myself sitting on this balcony with the
view of the Eiffel Tower and I'm just
drawn to it and I'm drawn to it so much
more than any of the other ones that
just show me a sofa and even though it's
nice you know when I think of Paris I
think of the Eiffel Tower I think of
sitting outside on a little balcony I
think of having in this particular case
they show orange juice which is probably
nice because coffee might be hard to
show you know the clear glass with the
oranges nice contrast so whoever thought
about this photo and this thumbnail has
done a really good job and I'm most
likely to click on this immediately and
you can see two others have as well
there's a hundred and ninety five star
reviews which is great they've also made
it really clear that it's got a 360
degree view and I think that we're going
to come back to that I just want to
scroll down a little bit more and
see if anything else captures my
interest here's one that I just think
you know really could use some help
romantic stay in Paris
you know there's nothing romantic about
this image at all in fact it's a small
little table with two and a flat-screen
I don't see any personality I don't see
any plans I don't see any artwork I
don't see any rugs I don't see anything
that captures the mind as far as
romantic stay in Paris so I'm just going
to click through and see if perhaps
there's a better thumbnail that might be
superior and I can see that it's a small
I think it's a two-bedroom but this
image here at least is a little bit
better than just the flatscreen it's not
going to draw me in for my stay and I
wouldn't call it romantic necessarily
but I just think that the thumbnail that
they've chosen really doesn't do them
any service they do have some shots of
the neighborhood which is nice but this
first thumbnail shot has just really
really poor in my opinion so as I
continue to look to see if there's
anything here's another one that I think
does a really nice job private room with
Paris private room with breakfast and
Paris and you see the quads and you see
the fresh fruit you know again they're
selling the dream this little modern
flat looks really nice and inviting it's
got some personality to it
so I'm just scrolling through and
there's you know 17 pages 300 plus
rentals let's go to the my first choice
this one and just see what it has to say
an offer so I've actually clicked on it
now and there's the thumbnail John is a
super host which is fantastic
located the most beautiful Avenue of the
world I mean that's nice it's telling me
that it's some really beautiful he has
here's a great thing I talked a lot
about transparency important he's
drawing this fact out now there's a new
elevator complete
and the building is still under
renovation that's critical because if I
went there and I wanted no disruptive
and I had a lot of luggage or I was
elderly or I didn't want to deal with
any construction I can't stay here but
if I look at this and I say you know
what I can deal with that maybe I'll ask
a few questions he set the stage and the
expectation and I'm okay with that
cleaning fee is $45 that's way low I
think John could be charging a lot more
I'm sure cost them more than that strict
cancellation policy let's see here if
there's the location 190 reviews it
looks like they get dinged a little bit
on cleanliness and on value fantastic
apartment with even greater views of the
Eiffel Tower to check in with smooth and
without any flaws the apartment was
clean and orderly everything was
expected I would definitely recommend it
location this place has amazing views of
actual Tower John departments an
absolute dream okay I mean I think we're
getting a sense for people really liked
it and it works now let's take a look at
some of the photos let's see view photos
okay well that's gorgeous that's also
quite nice okay I get it
now show me perhaps where I'm going to
be living so far everything is outside
so I'm already less interested it feels
like he's hiding something okay this is
the first shot of the interior and it
looks kind of small
again more exterior more exterior okay
there's some interior I feel like by now
that have clicked on seven eight nine
photos and is the first interior shot
that he's like hiding something so he's
lost a little bit of trust which is
counter to what you want to do right so
if you have great outdoor shops your
next shot should be the indoor within
reason let's keep clicking again more
outdoor more outdoor more outdoor okay
there's a bedroom and that's a really
nice bedroom I would have that as my
second or third shot so that people say
wow unbelievable balcony and breakfast
and views of the Eiffel Tower and look
at this beautiful modern bedroom this is
now his 15th out of 40th shot
it should not be 15 here's a nice living
room this is fine this is fine I would
be pushing all of these way more forward
and not be pushing the outdoors while
it's awesome and I think it should be
your thumbnail and maybe even the second
photo
I wouldn't necessarily make this big a
deal of it there's the first bathroom
shot clean modern I like it no
objections I like the way the towels are
folded so you know I feel like he's
doing himself a little bit of a
disservice by sort of shying away and
hiding it so anyway I give this a really
interesting very likely booking from me
okay so now let's take a look at the
VRBO offering and for whatever reason I
like the home away interface from what
I've used it before again it's my first
time on it I'm using the incognito mode
so that there's no cookies it doesn't
matter who I am
and you're going to see in real time
sort of what I see and what I think
about as a potential guest I'm filling
out the same dates the 22nd of June
through the 26th two adults no pets and
let's search so first thing is it seems
slower a little bit the second thing
which is kind of interesting that draws
my mind is I have this huge map takes up
2/3 of the screen and then I'm over here
on the Left I have much smaller photos
of the listings it's almost too small
although it does show me that 66% of the
Paris listings are booked and that I
should also a sense of urgency book soon
to reserve the best property so from a
user perspective I think this is already
inferior I also don't like the fact that
there's an ad placed here to go to New
Zealand I'm going to Paris not New
Zealand and I'm just clicking through to
sort of get a sense for what this user
interface feels like it looks like I
like this popular button it sort of
draws my attention to it but it's really
hard to sense for what I'm looking for
over here and these ads are really
distracting so I guess what they're
trying
do hear from a user perspective is get
you to figure out where you want to stay
and then click on that home because why
else would the map be so big but then
what pops up is just so tiny I mean this
is just a bad user experience like I
don't understand why they wouldn't make
this thumbnail bigger I like the fact
that I can click on a map I don't think
it should be the biggest thing on the
screen and I don't think that the pop-up
should be so small but I'm having a
difficult time really sort of navigating
this and picking between them so I'm
going to try something different and
here you know real design it's going to
attract the people that find this
interesting and want to stay there it's
going to repel people that don't find
this red velvet or velour sort of
attractive but it's going to draw people
that are drawn to it and I think that's
really great and here you can see the
second shot is of the outside and then
the third shot is of a different bedroom
or that whole thing this is a really
nice interesting shot right here you can
see the bedroom and how it plays in with
the rest of the apartment and you can
see interesting features and interesting
chandeliers and this is just a very
interesting space and the people that
want that interesting local high fashion
aesthetic are really going to like this
place you can see they selling a little
bit of the dreams the croissant and the
coffee a very tiny kitchen more baguette
so I think this is a very interesting
place I don't know that the headline is
so great location location location walk
to all sightseeing's restaurants and
shopping you know I think I get the
point and since you have limited
characters I don't know that you need to
repeat location location location three
times even though that's sort of the
saying I might highlight something else
and so in a nutshell I would say
comparing the Paris listings on Airbnb
to the Paris listings on home away they
both seem to have a lot of listings
which I'm surprised by I would have
thought that home away would have fewer
listings but they have 300 plus results
so that's impressive
I think they both have a wide range of
theis points so that's helpful
I think that the user experience an
interface on Airbnb is much more guest
friendly and painfully the romance
associated with one of the most romantic
cities in the world these little
thumbnails here are poor the little
pop-up thumbnails on the map are really
hard to see I really don't like these
ads I understand that home aways for
profit but like this is a bad user
experience and then I think that on the
home away website they say they have the
scale much better the photos are the
right size they also have the smaller
thumbnails when you click on a location
but somehow it doesn't bother me as much
because everything else is sort of in
scale and this is nitpicky sort of stuff
but as a guest these are the things that
I'm going to look to book and I'm going
to do a little bit more homework and
decide whether I'm actually going to go
on this trip in which place I'm going to
book but I just want to share with you
some initial impressions so that you see
how somebody might be looking at a
foreign city at a foreign flat some of
the things and observations that
somebody would be contemplating what
works well and what doesn't work well
and in a nutshell as a host you should
be on both because not everybody's going
to do home away and air B&B and compare
them some are going to go to home away
some are going to go to air B&B some
will go to both but there's no harm or
foul to being on both you just have to
spend a few minutes of your time to list
on both and then merge the two calendars
so that you don't have any double
bookings and in essence you can double
your business and I would encourage you
to do just that so I hope you found this
helpful please go ahead and like the
video leave any feedback comments
questions we will address them all and I
really appreciate your time and interest
so much that I really encourage you to
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time and energy
and hope you have a great day take care
you