Alright hello youtube this is richard founder of short-term rentals
secrets.com and Airbnb super host want to thank mica for buying our listing
review and we're gonna get right into it as you know we do it in six different
ways we start with the title then we look at the photos and the order of the
title sorry then we look at the photos and the order of the photos the
thumbnail the description the reviews that Mike has gathered he's new to
hosting so there's only a few but we're gonna check those out hello Guapo and
also the pricing so let's get right into it the title cozy room and free subway
smart card gigabit internet I think I understand what it is that you're trying
to do Micah and I think it's really helpful I think that the free subway and
the smart card gigabit internet or whatever appeals to a certain group and
I think that that's probably a good thing but I'm not sure that that should
be the differentiating factor I think when people are looking for a shared
room and I'm actually glad we're doing this review because we haven't had the
opportunity to do a shared room in the past but I think when you're looking for
a shared room you're looking for a couple of things one would be location
like I'm gonna shit I'm gonna stay in a shared room because of the location and
to the person that I'm sharing it with so I think it's probably pretty
important to talk about yourself and the location much more than it is that
there's a free subway card and a gigabit I would like to see you say something
like the location you know close to subway and then something about yourself
maybe I'm never home or I'm work at home or something that tells people again and
it's a shared room so they're gonna be living with you something about the
location and something about you I love the fact that you include the smart card
and the gigabyte Internet and I think that's a great differentiating factor
I'm just not sure that that's gonna be the reason that somebody's gonna book
the place and that title and the first photo are the only two things that
people are going to know when they're doing a search between you and a hundred
other ones so I think that can be improved let's go ahead and take a look
at the photos and the order of and I'm just gonna go ahead and scroll
through them real quick okay cool so mica I think there's a lot of room for
improvement in here and I'm really glad you paid to do this review because I
think you're gonna get your money's worth in the way of like better photos
better marketing of your shared room here and therefore more bookings so the
very first thing I want to say is and I mean this with all due respect just
trying to be helpful you have to clean up you know being an Airbnb host isn't
for everybody having people stay in your home with you isn't for everyone
so if you take a look at this photo and you think that the place looks clean it
may not be a great business opportunity for you if however and this is what I'm
hoping you were just so excited to get started and you didn't clean up and you
just wanted to get listed and get some revenue in and you just took them then
that's great but now that we're taking it to the next level we're going for
super host status we want to make this a bigger part of your income livelihood
and maybe even like your future let's do best practices and the $49 that you paid
for this it's certainly gonna work so I'm just gonna point out some things
here there's stuff everywhere and that's not enticing right like nobody's gonna
look at this and say oh I want to be in a place where there's a the owners
suitcases in the middle then there's a bunch of sheets or towels and there's a
backpack and there's more stuff over here
looks like some clutter over here again it's nothing terrible but it doesn't
need to be present in like your title shot I find it a little bit distracting
to have the shades open on one and not on the other so do them both and I kind
of like the fact that you can see through I'm a big fan of seeing what's
behind the windows so maybe just if you're taking the shot again which I
would encourage after you clean up how both windows look the same so that you
can see through and see what the neighborhood stuff is and just clean all
this stuff over here on the end I don't know what they are cartridges doesn't
really matter but it doesn't add a lot of value and try and take the photo
perhaps from a slightly or perspective I understand that you
can't do very much with regard to this cable it probably comes from the outside
and that's how you run into your television but you might be able to do
things with the way of like a staple gun and get it flatter so it looks a little
neater you could even paint it you know you could go out and get matching paint
color so that it wouldn't contrast it wouldn't be white paint
I'm sorry white walls with black cable it's these little things and I know at
Home Depot for like $3 they actually make these plastic you cables and it's
literally something that you can paint it goes over right so the cable would be
like on the wall and this cap goes over it again it depends how serious you want
to get but if you want to attract people these are the kind of things that
psychologically it sends messages to people that it's not that clean same
thing with the kitchen here you've got more stuff on the table there's a couple
of garbage Jews over here they look like they're full there's another box over
here there's stuff on the refrigerator again not the end of the world but it
just doesn't look like a place that I want to come and hang out like if I'm
there on business I don't see exactly where I'm gonna hang out if I'm there
for pleasure I'm not exactly sure what I want to hang out if just for the photo
maybe take the ladder and put it outside it's not adding a lot of value and I'm
not sure what this thing is over here it looks like some sort of metal dome or
light but again shoot this photo again once you clean up a little bit you don't
need the boxes you don't need the trash you don't need the clutter just go ahead
and clean it up then this photo is the other side of the kitchen I think this
is actually a worthwhile photo I would take it from a slightly lower
perspective I would get the box out I would get the empty cup out I would try
and shoot it with like full dishwasher detergents and all of that so it looks
like the place is well maintained and kept and just tidy
maybe turn the light on and the overhead range so that you can see that it's well
lit and then these things look sort of empty you know I don't know if they're
stocked or not but again just pretend that you were shooting this room for
a cover photo and just get rid of the stuff that doesn't add value to that
cover photo here's the bathroom I don't love the towel over the shower I don't
love the empty cups over here again someone's coming here and they're gonna
say well where do I get to what space do I get to use it looks like the owners
living here and I'm just like crashing on his pad which is cool if you're in
college or I just had friends stay at my house you know they were really not
picky but I also wasn't charging them and I also wasn't competing against
other places that don't have that clutter right and that's ultimately what
it is it may be very comfortable you might be a great host that could be the
best place and the best value but when people are looking at you compared to
others on Airbnb others I think are gonna stand out better and the goal is
to get clickings at the most dollars per night and make as much money as possible
this second photo doesn't really add a lot of value versus the first although
what it does do is it shows me that your wall could use a paint job here there's
a stain or some sort of I don't know something happened there and then
there's these stains over here so I would just clean those up again I if you
even include this photo I'm not sure it's necessary now we're back to the
living room and the couch and this is just it's almost like you're
highlighting how much clutter there is and that's just really not good so when
I look at it from this angle the throw pillow isn't straight put that nice and
straight on the couch get rid of everything that's on the couch get rid
of the luggage get rid of the sheets or whatever this is over here there's all
sorts of electronics clutter over here there's a huge mess of wires over here
there's no art over the sofa but doing all of that as little as it may seem is
gonna make the place look much more inviting like I'm not dying to come here
and hang out on this couch or in this living room and I and you want me to be
right like you're in a great location you've got fast internet you're near the
subway you're gonna give me a subway card it's a great deal but I'm not
really like saying sign me up here's the guest bedroom same sort of thing it
looks like an afterthought I'm not sure what's here in in this space but let's
get it all out of here the all literally looks like it's dirty I
don't know if it just needs a paint coat but you know you could hire somebody
very inexpensively or even do it yourself and just make it so that it's
uniform I don't think that's a shadow I'd literally think that the wall is not
the right color I don't know what this cable is up here it's something like
plugged in and then the rest of the space has shoeboxes this is somebody's
space you want people to come here and feel comfortable you want them to stay
with you not one day but three or five you want them to come back and you want
them to stay with you again and this photo to me doesn't look like the bed is
made properly I can't tell what the pillow is black is kind of a not such an
attractive color for the duvet because it kind of like hides dirt so in
combination with all of the other dirt and stuff all over the place
this isn't an inviting place for me and I bet there's a lot of people that feel
similarly and what you want to do is attract as many people right so I think
that there's a few things you can do in this room that'll really add a lot of
value like painting it and getting a different color duvet I'm not sure what
this photo does except to show that their shelves but those shelves are full
with your stuff so it's not really very helpful for the for the guests the
outside of the building looks fine I kind of like it it almost you know looks
it looks nice I mean I would maybe sweep the sidewalk a little bit in the stairs
you probably I don't know if you own the place where you just rent but maybe if
you get your landlord to paint the steps a little bit
I mean minor things this is a fine photo and then this is a really nice photo
nice quiet Boston Street beside the house looks nice and quiet there's on
street parking you might want to mention that if people drive whether they can
park or not so in conclusion I think that your photos are really really able
to be improved I think it'll take you an hour to clean
your place I think it'll take you half a day to
paint a couple of walls I think it'll take you an hour to like
re photograph them all and your listing will be literally from
see two like an a-minus and I think that that's all money in your pocket so I
really encourage you to do it and you're doing the right thing by asking me to
review it alright so let's get on to the next step which is the thumbnail and I
think this is a great thumbnail based on what I've seen thus far however you need
to reshoot it if you reshoot it and this doesn't have
all the clutter and the pillows right and everything looks nice and neat maybe
add a little bit of life in the room like some flowers or a plant or
something like that I think this is probably your best shot and so I agree
with the selection I just think it needs to be reshot okay let's see how you've
described it furnished cozy room in South Boston includes all the amenities
you'll need easy access to downtown close to i-80 93 South Station
five-minute walk Andrew Red Line 15-minute drive includes
one round-trip smart card that's great gives you a discount and faster access
and it's got gigabit internet I love the fact that you highlight the Internet I
think a lot of people that are traveling in air B&B and sharing staying in shared
homes are interested in internet speed so I think that that's fantastic it
includes air conditioning television sheets and towels let's see the prices
sleeping arrangements cancellations okay so the description I think is a little
bit light and I think that there's a few more things that you can talk about so
for instance talk about like what's in walking distance what types of
restaurants maybe shoot some photos of the the restaurants or the bar or the
cafe or the coffee shop there must be something so that people know like oh
well if I stay here and I don't feel like cooking in the kitchen which you
know I stayed in a shared house recently and I didn't feel like it was exactly
mine I felt like I was sharing in I didn't really want to go in there and
mess with it so it'd be really nice to know like what can I walk to what's
available where can I get a cup of coffee I think you should talk a little
bit about
and actually you know the television here there's not one in the bedroom you
might want to get one but in the the television in the living room is that
for the guests to use is that for you to use does it have streaming does it have
you have fast Wi-Fi does it have Netflix is it a smart TV just try and paint the
picture like how are people using it now that you've had four people stay there
with you who were they were they there for conferences where they Millennials
were they older well I don't think it was a couple it looks like it's a twin
bed but try and try and explain to people how they might use it like what
do you think the most appealing things are and I think you're onto a couple of
differentiating factors the smart card is a differentiating factor but
literally the guy next door to you could just offer a smart card and you're
you're no longer you no different the Xfinity gigabit internet I think is a
differentiating factor not everyone's gonna have that not everyone's gonna be
thoughtful enough to mention it so I think that that's helpful
but again the two things that you're basically highlighted anybody in Boston
could say I'm including a smart card and I have fast internet and that's not
enough you have to talk a little bit more about you the location the unit
itself so that's what I would encourage let's see what people think about your
place so you have four reviews five stars each that's amazing Michael was
absolutely fantastic to stay with prompt communication accommodating you loaned
him an umbrella that's awesome that's great great hosts check-in was a breeze
coming back was not bad I had an app to lock and unlock you might want to
mention that that you've got like smart technology that's gonna work for people
you've got a new pair of slippers that's really nice I like that clean convenient
less than five minutes from Boston see you know I'm surprised and also
delighted that somebody says that your place was clean
right like if your place is clean when a guest shows up then you have to have a
clean place for when you photograph it and it sounds like you're doing really
well you know made sure I was taken care of I would certainly recommend staying
with them that's fantastic so I think you're doing a great job it does seem to
me though you five stars on everything except four and
a half uncleanliness so they're picking up on that same sort of thing it can be
cleaner a fresh coat of paint the clutter removal will go a long long way
so we've talked about the reviews and finally let's take a look at your
pricing $49 a night seems very reasonable October looks like
it's pretty much sold out you have some availability in November about half sold
out December you have a lot of availability which is good you want to
have availability you don't want to be the first to booked and it doesn't look
like you're using any sort of smart pricing which I think once you take the
new photos you're gonna want to try something like beyond pricing and I
think you wrote to us that you're going to get started with that so that's cool
I also point out that you're doing the supporting the living wage pledge which
is cool you're charging $33 which i think is about right on a $49 a night so
overall I think that you're off to a great start I'm not a huge fan of
flexible cancellations I like the fact that you've got the one night minimum so
I think that that'll be really great I think you're off to a great start I
think the biggest opportunity here for you is to improve your photos improve
your description focus on your unique selling proposition why is somebody
gonna book Micah's place versus the place upstairs of the place below and if
you do all those things I think you're gonna be super successful and a super
host and start to become a real estate entrepreneur so I really appreciate you
sending this in for us this is a different type of listing for us I hope
people that are just getting started or not sure if like their spare bedroom
will find this helpful for them and I just want to thank you if you want your
listing reviewed go ahead and leave a comment in the link below or leave a
comment in the section below and we'll do our very best to get to you and in
the meantime I want to thank you I want to wish you happy hosting and I'm gonna
ask you to kindly subscribe to the channel if you haven't already thanks so
very much have a great day Micah happy hosting I appreciate it my friend