this is Richard founder short-term rental secrets.com and Airbnb super host
today we have the honor to review a very important person in the short term
rental secrets life and history who is normally behind the camera and in the
interest of full disclosure we're going to be reviewing Charles's place he was
inspired to do Airbnb because in filming about short-term rental secrets he
started to think about himself and his life goals is like can I do this and
does this work and started asking me questions and before you know it he
became an Airbnb host and he has not touched his property since he did the
original listing other than increased pricing by the way that we sort of
talked about but he hasn't changed the photos or the description or anything
and he was thinking it's about time to review it and he asked me to review his
so this is Charles's place I've never looked at it but he is associated with
the channel and I hope I can add some value and I hope that um you know behind
the scenes he's been picking up a fair amount he's OE is behind the scenes in
behind the camera even when we do these so let me do something new and different
for him and for you let me show you to Charles he's actually in the Facebook
group and active all the time what love you too
I'm a little nervous don't think too much ah all right well let's get right
to your listing here but again we're going to talk about the title the photos
and the story that you tell the thumbnail the description and the
reviews and the first thing that I would say the title cozy and comfortable sleep
or sofa in the Upper East Side that's really very descriptive it tells me
exactly what it is that I have it's evident from the title that it's a
shared room right it doesn't talk about privacy it doesn't talk about anything
that it's not it's a cozy and comfortable sleeper sofa is what Charles
and Hillary are listing and this I think is really nice very nice headshot you
look professional you're wearing a jacket and you have your fiancee and
your names are both there I think you know if I was going to share somebody's
place I would feel much more comfortable sharing somebody that's in a
relationships place versus a single male or even a single woman so I think that
the title is really descriptive and probably you know for your audience
exactly what it is that they want to see in here so now I'm going to go ahead and
flip through the 14 photos that Charles has and acquaint myself ok so the first
thing I want to start with is it's evident that Charles is really quite
good at telling stories through photos I mean that's why he's behind the scenes
in the cameraman so I think we're going to learn a lot from a storytelling and I
think that this is going to be helpful for all of us but before we do that
let's talk about some things that I think he could do perhaps a little bit
better this to me clearly shows a ton of sunlight but I might wonder if it's too
much sunlight so I don't know if it's an overexposed shot Charles or if he just
took it at the peak Sun but if I were sleeping on that sofa and I wanted to
sleep at like 8:00 or 9:00 in the morning I would be a little bit
concerned with that so I might try and get actually a little bit more realistic
Sun that seems like it's a little overexposed but the photo looks great
the brick and everything's clean and well-maintained I love this little gift
basket here and you show that in greater detail before so I just think it looks
really really nice and inviting if I had to critique anything I just think it's a
little bit bright so this is the Queen memory foam sleep
okay cool so I actually when I look through this I thought this might be
where you and Hillary stay and not actually the sofa and the reason is
because it looks like so much like a bed or a studio apartment and therefore it's
a great photo and it makes the place look bigger and more inviting the other
photo that you had actually showed much more like a sofa in the middle of a
living room this actually looks like it's its own private studio or bedroom
so what I would probably do is make the caption down here a little bit more
clear like although this looks like your own private studio this is actually in
the living room and we have our bedroom behind closed doors or some way to make
it clear that this is where they're going to be staying and not where you
stay but really nice I'm not sure what this is it looks like you've got
sunglasses hanging here maybe that's where you put your keys
it doesn't really distract but it doesn't really add either the kitchen
that really nice and clean again you know the everything is folded and
properly maintained and it just looks nice and clean
kitchen with coffee microwave fridge toaster stove an oven again I would just
paint that story a little bit like all the things you need in this micro
kitchen to enjoy the local delicacies or the local coffee or you know whatever it
is just paint a little bit more of a story because this is very functional
and what we're trying to sell is not function but dream this is fantastic I
just absolutely love it the welcome on a chalkboard handwritten I'm not sure
what's here it looks like a guide and the towels and it's just really nice
guest welcome basket I might again just add a few more words to it about how
much we love hosting people we met great people and so we put this gift basket
together just again to close the loop the bathroom this is exactly the way
that we've shot bathrooms at my place it looks great one thing that I really like
is all the color in in terms of the beach whatever this is called thank you
the curtain and then also all the shampoo bottles and everything it's just
nice and colorful and bright carry the jams are bright blue and just
you know for a smaller apartment in New York City
it just looks colorful and inviting and the most important thing is it's really
clean and so let me give you an example of what might not look clean if you had
big bars of soap here that we're like nasty or here or toothbrushes hanging
out here like I don't want to come to your place and see your toothbrush and
since this is a shared place that might be what I would expect to see but the
absence of any of that makes it really clean and hospitable so I think that's a
really nice touch here's um okay this is a perfect example
of the things that I've talked about it's a beautiful photo here's Charles in
his camera as I told you the camera guy the videographer and he loves shooting
stuff and he's taken the time in the caption it's a central part of the short
walk away I might quantify that short to you
Charles might be 20 minutes might be two hours for me sure it might be 20 seconds
so Central Park a short walk away five minutes or less ten minutes or less
whatever it is but that's a beautiful photo the colors are changing the sky is
great I just think that that's really nice and then we just did a review not
too long ago where we were talking about somebody had a train station and it was
barren and it was dark and it was low res and it wasn't inviting and this is
exactly what I think that other listing should have here's a bunch of people
they're moving there you know in this particular case it looks like it's the
end of the day you might want to get one at the beginning of the day when people
are more excited but overall you see activities the action doesn't look scary
it looks welcoming like I I want to take that subway and here you go
brand-new second Avenue subway zone Lee a five-minute walk away use that same
sort of methodology to Central Park and I think it would be helpful but that's a
beautiful shot and then this is the same sort of thing that we talked about I
mean it's evident to me that you're not only filming me but you're actually
paying attention but you know too many people this shot may not look very
inviting or even remarkable this is a New York
City side street but you know what our street is tree-lined you should say
tree-lined and with classic New York City apartments and what you see is what
you get right you're trying to set people's
expectations when I walk out of Charles's place this is what it's going
to look like now one bit of advice I've said to others and I would say to you
right now Charles is you can go and you can take this shot again it's now June
so there's probably some color on these leaves up sorry it's now June so there's
probably some leaves and some nice color on these trees and the photo would look
even more inviting but I think this is a great shot to show people what it is
that you're going to get when you stay at your place I would just recommend
shooting it again with a little bit more color I love this great outdoor seating
restaurants a short walk away that's perfect I might say something like and I
don't know exactly where you live but second Avenue is filled with outdoor
dining restaurants like this right so that there's not just this one just tons
and maybe even take another street shot of just showing on a busy Sunday brunch
look at this you too can be part of this but it's really nice here's another one
favorite restaurant in the neighborhood and I love the fact that you say what
kind of food it is and I love the fact that there's people there right you
didn't walk by when it was closed you went by when people were there these all
tell a story another cafe great place to brunch
warmer months look this is storytelling you're
painting the dream this is what people can do a park many locals choose over
Central Park only a short walk away great I mean I'm not sure that this is
the best photo of Carl Schurz Park I know I know the park personally it's on
the water this is probably a little bit more inviting but if you want to get to
plaque then it's fine and since you don't have that many photos you're not
you know overwhelming people it's fine but here you know people are walking and
riding their bike and it's on the water I might highlight the water a little bit
more maybe find a better angle because it's so beautiful I think there's a
better shot this is nice shot of the water but I still think with these
comments you can probably in the next few weeks when you're strolling around
find a better angle better shot more inviting shot these are great photos and
they paint the picture so if you can't then this is great but
overall I think you did a great job with the photography the great job with the
staging great job listening to a lot of the things that you've been filming me
talk about so I feel like I'm doing a good job teaching and you're doing a
great job listening and implementing it with a few suggestions for improvement
and let's go ahead and turn to the next section okay so the next section is the
thumbnail and I think this is an absolutely beautiful shot that you
selected as your thumbnail but I'm debating whether this shot if it was a
more focused shot may not be a superior one this one is really beautiful because
I love the brick is what I'm catching again I find this brightness a little
overwhelming the nice thing about this is it clearly shows that it's a sleeper
sofa but I think this shot as I said shows it more as a living space so I
debate back and forth I think overall you selected the right one the brick and
the TV I would love I would love to see what this looks like if it was less
overexposed and more real that might be more inviting for me it's sort of like a
fake light and I'm just not sure that that's accurate
okay so let's see what Charles and Hillary say about this listing and this
is just spectacular experience the city like a true New Yorker and our Upper
East Side walk-up apartment I mean you're setting the expectations you say
it's a walk-up you're not shying away from it it's really clear if somebody
can't go upstairs they're not going to be interested in your place that's
fantastic you also really clear up front to guest maximum and then you've gone a
little bit out of your way to talk to people about your why and who you are
we're a young couple we're funding our wedding and honeymoon I mean that's a
great cause and it tells you that people are going to be living there you talk
about the location and how great it is near the Met the Guggenheim quick subway
ride to Times Square Upper East Side walk-up built in 1915 it's clean minimal
and modern it's great and then again you're really highlighting the fact you
have to walk up five flights of stairs they hear sort of into like this minimal
lifestyle one guest is said it's the most comfortable sofa sleeper we've ever
slept on I mean that's just really great marketing right it's like you get
feedback and you're putting it in there because everyone's going to worry about
oh if I'm coming to New York do I want to sleep on a sleeper sofa you know what
let's address that head-on you do want to sleep on a sleeper sofa because one
it's a great value and people are saying it's the most comfortable one they've
ever slept on so I think that's great talk about what you have you have chrome
crafts chrome cast so you can stream and we have no cable channels once again
highlight the things that are possibly negative because you don't want somebody
to come stay at your place and want to watch the Superbowl and it's only on
cable and you have a nightmare on your hand so if you don't have cable say it
there's a possibility of checking in between 3:00 and 7:00 that you'll need
to stop by the key exchange okay that's fine interaction with guests
we're available if you have any questions that's nice in the mornings we
need to use the bathroom we get ready quick to get ready for work and the
bathroom is located between the living room and bedroom so you won't be
bothered I think that that's you know really straightforward and my guess is
if people have questions they just contact the host and you you answer them
the cleaning fee I think is probably light but you know you would know better
than I 183 travelers have saved this place so obviously you're you know
pretty popular it's not safe for children there are no parties be
respectful of our neighbors building these are all great things again you've
got the moderate policy I believe personally and strict but if this works
for you then that's great he's done a really nice job of laying out the
neighborhood you know you care the features here's the location here are
the things you can do getting around it's really clean it doesn't bounce
around right it's really helpful and then I think that this is a really nice
description so kudos well done okay so on to the last one here the
reviews and thank goodness Charles you have 17 reviews and they're all
five-star five star across the board that's fantastic
it tells me two things it tells me that what we're doing and what we're teaching
here actually works because while you had been a guest in other Airbnb is
you'd never even been a host and you certainly had even contemplated hosting
so this is from start you know through listening and trying and learning to
seventeen five star reviews I saw you posted in the Facebook group that you're
qualified now for super host so as soon as they do the new release of super
hosts are going to be a super host which is awesome as we've talked about that
really helps you gain credibility helps in SEO and also helps you increase your
price because people will pay for reliability so I'm really really
impressed and proud and I think you're clearly doing something well so please
continue doing that but seventeen five-star reviews is just fantastic and
you can see here that people are actually leaving nice long reviews for
Charles and Charles and Hilary are also responding to each and every one which
is great so let's talk about it we really enjoyed our trip to New York as
the first time you used Airbnb we were more enthusiastic about the lovely
apartment the hosts Hillary and Charles are great and they really wanted us to
have a good time we would definitely stay there again and recommend it to
anyone that's great the apartment was lovely you can't ask for a better
location plenty of walkable restaurants Charles is excellent at communicating
the only thing cuter than this apartment of the couple ah they are so nice and
accommodating you know this is literally what you want the stairs were no joke
though but totally worth it and let's stop and talk about that for a second
you know one of Charles's concerns was you know everyone's doubtful like would
other people pay to stay the way that I live and so on and the answer is yes
clearly they will so you know Charles and Hillary elect to walk up five
flights of stairs and there are other people like Charles and Hillary that
will now you can't command the same prices if you had a doorman in an
elevator building but he thought paying that kind of rent either so just realize
that what you think is an obstacle that holds you back from getting started
isn't an obstacle it's just an obstacle in your own head so overcome that take a
chance get started and what Charles is done here fifth floor
walk-up fold-out sofa 17 five-star reviews and he's paying or has paid for
your wedding okay so he's paid for his wedding at his honeymoon from just doing
this and so there's nothing remarkable here and he's a great guy
lovely apartment great photographer taking the time to list it properly and
be descriptive and then he's just really hospitable and friendly with the host
and like that's all it takes so anyone can do this and the proof is here and I
think it's fantastic you've got three pages of reviews I mean this is just
really really you know on a personal level exciting and encouraging and this
is the reason that I do short-term rental secrets.com
is to help people do what I enjoy doing so much and put money in their pocket
and change their lives I mean Charles and Hilary are getting married and going
on a honeymoon using money from Airbnb how cool is that so listen and look for
Charles on the Facebook group he's really there he's really trying to grow
his business and he's got tons of advice he's doing a great job he's got lots of
questions too so if you haven't joined our Facebook group now's the time to do
it and if you've liked this video please go ahead and like it I'd really
appreciate it if you haven't subscribed to the YouTube channel
but what subscribe please now I'd really appreciate it and especially comments
questions feedback on the video as well so thank you very much I really
appreciate your time and interest and happy hosting