Hi everyone this is Richard with
Short Term Rental Secrets .com today I'm
doing a little bit of research for an
upcoming family trip and I would
encourage all of you that our hosts on
Airbnb to also take a look at it as a
user a guest so I've had a lot of
difficulty actually booking places
whether it's for business or for
pleasure on Airbnb I do it whenever I
can but more often than not I find that
there's just not enough inventory or the
quality that I need or the number of
bedrooms or the dates so even though
there's tons of inventory and
everybody's heard of Airbnb go ahead and
try and use it yourself and see what you
think are you able to book the quality
the bedrooms the dates that you require
such that you would choose Airbnb over a
hotel and what I find is i would say in
about oh maybe ten to twenty percent of
the cases i'm actually successful in
booking Airbnb and the other call it
eighty or ninety percent i still rely on
more traditional methods such as hotels.
So that brings me to my newest search
and i wanted to share it with you i was
supposed to go to Jackson Hole they're
having an epic year but unfortunately my
daughter got injured in a ski race
accident and so consequently no Jackson
Hole so plan B let's go somewhere warm I
thought Costa Rica which is actually
where I was born would be amazing and
would take my kids down there so I'm
searching in the Guanacaste region for
the dates that I want to go you can see
that there's actually a lot of inventory
over here on the map which is really
great and it's cool that you can see
we're on the beach you can go in the
different prices these little lightning
bolts here indicate instant book which
is really great as a user because you
don't have to worry about the host you
know being on vacation or not getting
back to you or not answering so things
with the instant book our net positive
as a prospective guests I want to just
share my thoughts on these thumbnails
here and see what you guys think first
off anything with 76 reviews in four and
a half stars is really worth looking at
it's a good price 93 bucks the photo of
the pool and so on is nice so that's
kind of inviting in fact I think it's
much more inviting than
this property here which is almost twice
the price and has 23 reviews somehow
they don't capture the photo of the pool
that makes me want to like jump in the
pool and swim they seem to capture you
know this couch and I don't know what
this is probably the house or whatever
so I'm not sure that this is the most
inviting shot whereas this one this is
how I'm going to actually envision my
vacation it would be me and my kids and
we'd be in the pool and under here in
this patched roof so that's that's nice
I think this shot from an artistic
perspective is quite nice with the nice
touch of the cowboy hat and the red
pillows and and the bed is quite nice
I'm not sure that that's the thumbnail
if that's the best thing that they have
going for them in Costa Rica and yes of
course it's the thumbnail but I think
from an artistic creative perspective
it's quite nice and quite inviting but
it's unlikely going to get me to click
on that when i'm going down to Costa
Rica for the beach the pool the Sun and
not to be indoors. Similarly this photo
here is just gorgeous right you have
some sort of infinity pool with the blue
sky and the ocean in the background and
this would be something that if it was
in my budget i would certainly click on
the only downside i see is that it's new
and there's no listings I'm sorry no
reviews so that's that's a concern I
mean it wouldn't stop me I wouldn't
think but if I found something similar
in the same price point that's available
where there are reviews it's a
no-brainer I'll take the one with the
reviews and again you can see here that
even though I'm scrolling through a lot
of these properties there's just not
that many that have reviews they have
nine reviews they have 10 reviews 1
review 5 reviews no reviews so this is
sort of my point it's really early in
the days of Airbnb. Costa Rica is a
fantastic tourist destination there are
tons of hotels and there's tons of
people that have gone and continued to
go and you see people are now listing
their properties on AirB&B but you can
see it hasn't really been widely adopted
I mean
it's just not it's not mainstream yet
now in a year there'll be more than five
years will be even more but i think that
the opportunity for somebody if you own
a home in Costa Rica or in Canada in New
York doesn't matter where it is to get
started is really wide open territory
this space here looks really nice
again if you're interested in sort of
agricultural you know that's part of
what your vision is for your vacation
this photo of the of the ocean wave
breaking is surfing is something that
you want to do you know this is telling
a story and just contrast that with this
photo of an interior bedroom again I
just think that's not the best thumbnail
shot all of these homes are going to
have interior bedrooms this one seems to
have a nice view but i would think that
your thumbnail shot should be of the
nice you so let's go ahead and just
click on this and see if there's a
better shot to help you understand you
know what i think the average person is
looking for in terms of thumbnail shots
so this is what they've used again nice
photo it's clean the bed is you know
made relatively well here's a little bit
more outdoors again it's not that
inviting this is a little better right
you can see that there's a nice terrace
you can see over here in the corner sort
of hidden a little place to have a cup
of coffee but they're not telling any
tail here's a photo of a roof i'm not
sure what that is a bathroom now this is
probably the best shot i've seen thus
far i'm not sure that it's the best shot
of the most inviting but if you took a
look at the one fine day video that we
posted you might dress this up a little
bit and put a book and a cup of coffee
or maybe a couple of beers or whatever
it is that you think your guests might
do here and looking at this beautiful
view which is breathtaking like that's
much more interesting and intriguing
than the bed shot i'm just going to
scroll through this kind of quickly
here's the view but again i have no idea
where thats from or accessible thus far
I haven't seen a pool or anything like
that this view is actually much nicer
because you can see the water in the
mountains but i'm not sure that the
photography really lends itself
to telling any sort of story now this
might be my thumbnail shot right and
this is now number 14 of 27 I finally
see what looks to me like a pool I see
the ocean I see the sunset I see the
palm trees and guess what I'm trying to
do on my vacation with my kids I want to
be right there so let's just contrast
that with what they think is the number
one shot which was this one which one do
you think is going to get more clicks
and more business into their house this
one with to throw pillows and some
windows or the one of the infinity pool
the sunset the palm trees and the ocean
so this is the money shot this should be
there some nail shot this is why people
like myself are going to Costa Rica this
is what I want to be doing this tells me
the story and this should be your
thumbnail shot it's not that one this
one is excellent to look at that
beautiful view look at that seating area
again I might dress it up a little bit
by putting something you know like some
reading material or some beverages but I
mean that's absolutely stunning I can
see the view I can see myself up there
that's where I want to be oh and now
here's another beautiful shot so for
whatever reason these owners have
thought that somebody's going to click
through like I have 15 shots before I
get to this that's insane I may not
click past the first one in fact I may
not even click on the thumbnail so don't
do yourself a disservice and put like a
terrible shot first put your first
shot that you think is going to get most
clicks that's going to tell the story
first and then put your second best shot
and then your third best shot tell the
story don't worry about like the bedroom
and the throw pillows nobody's going to
Costa Rica for a bedroom and throw
pillows they're going to Costa Rica to
be in that pool with this view yeah and
not that great photography nice view
okay again if you just take a few
moments and stage the place maybe put
out a nice meal or some guacamole or
whatever you get the point again they
really seem to
love this bedroom and these throw
pillows but it just doesn't do it for me
this doesn't look that exciting or that
comfortable it looks like inexpensive
futon and I don't really want to be
indoors I want to be outdoors again they
seem to like the roof quite a bit and
the views from the window maybe it was a
bad day to take photos but if it's a bad
day to take photos take them publish go
live and then on the first opportunity
when it's a good day to take photos go
back out and take them again digital
photography is free so is your time this
is an investment in your future put your
best foot forward and you know now we're
getting two photos that just really
don't do very much for me I guess it's
important from you know the number of
bedrooms and the number of people that
complete their but you want to make sure
that you're you know telling a good
story and don't assume that people are
going to click like I did for 15 shots
to get to the really good ones I only
made it to 15 here because I was trying
to make a point and I'm filming this
live I've never seen this home before
I'm not considering it I picked this one
because I wasn't considering it but you
know what i would love to consider it
given what i saw on the outside only
nobody attracted me to it so that was a
real life experience I've never seen
this home before that's my first
impression on it and I think watching it
you probably had similar impressions now
go ahead pretend you've never seen your
listing and be just as critical and I
think you'll find that really helpful so
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