Looking for recommendations on how to improve listing

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Looking for recommendations on how to improve listing

Member since 2020 · 1 post · 2 votes

Hello Everyone!

My wife and I have had decent success with single family rentals, but our endeavor into STRs had had mixed results. Over the last 3 years, we consistently get a medium-term renter for the winter months, but can't seem to break through for anything other than ski season. There are very limited bookings late spring, Summer, or Fall. Does anyone have any recommendations for our very amateur STR attempts? The link is below—Thank you in advance for the advice!

https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/1015155402072432156?unique_shar...

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Christian Johnston

Member since 2025 · 22 posts · 17 votes

7mo

Great listing to share — you're clearly putting in the effort and the bones are solid. A few things jumped out that I think could move the needle outside ski season.

YOUR HERO PHOTOS ARE DOING THE WRONG JOB

The first five photos are your conversion engine. That's it. Everything else on the listing — the description, the amenities list, the rest of the gallery — only gets read if those five photos pull someone in first.

Right now two of your first five slots are bedrooms. Here's the thing: guests are already filtering by bedroom count before they ever see your photos. By the time they click your listing, they know it's a 2BR. Those slots are more valuable than that.

Think about it from a distribution standpoint. What amenities does your place have that a guest can't get everywhere else? The heated pool. The patio. The fire pit. The string lights at night. THOSE are your first five. Each photo should be answering a different "yes" in the guest's head — yes I want to relax there, yes I want to hang outside, yes that pool looks incredible, yes I can picture myself here in July.

YOUR HERO SHOT NEEDS STAGING

The main photo — the biggest one, the one that shows in search results — is your single most important marketing asset. And right now it's showing an unlit fireplace and a TV with glare on it.

Stage it like you're shooting a magazine cover. Fireplace on. TV showing something atmospheric (not a menu screen). Pillows fluffed. Warm light. The goal is to make someone feel something in under two seconds.

Your outdoor area has string lights and a fire pit — that's gold. A staged dusk shot of that space, lights on, fire going, could be a stronger hero image than anything interior.

THE SUMMER IDENTITY PROBLEM

Your title says "Walk to Main" — that's a ski season hook. What's the summer version of that story? Hiking trails? Wildflower season? River access? Off-season guests need to be able to picture themselves there in August. Right now the listing doesn't give them that picture.

Small adjustments like these — better photo sequencing, staged lighting, seasonal framing — are emotional changes more than functional ones. Guests are emotional creatures. They book the feeling before they book the facts. Give them something to feel.

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Jon Martin
Member since 2022 · 1k+ posts · 1k+ votes
7mo
Quote from @Parker Huge:

Hello Everyone!
My wife and I have had decent success with single family rentals, but our endeavor into STRs had had mixed results. Over the last 3 years, we consistently get a medium-term renter for the winter months, but can't seem to break through for anything other than ski season. There are very limited bookings late spring, Summer, or Fall. Does anyone have any recommendations for our very amateur STR attempts? The link is below—Thank you in advance for the advice!

https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/1015155402072432156?unique_shar...

Hi Parker,

Cool place that definitely has potential. Here’s what I would do:

-First photo makes the place looked cramped with that shoebox angle. Better to photograph the kitchen and living room individually from the center.

-Speaking of first photo, that should be the deck shot facing the mountains. Wow! If I saw that I would definitely click. First photo I would breeze right by.

-Also on that note, dress up the patio a bit- string lights, fire pit, comfy chairs

-Bedroom floors need rugs, it feels cold, especially for ski cabin

-Need to liven it up with some color, preferably skiing and mountain related
-I’m assuming the pool is shared, so I would note that in the photo

Once you do all that, get a professional photographer.

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Michael Eskenasy
Investor · Pacific Northwest · Member since 2026 · 538 posts · 309 votes
7mo
One thing I’ve noticed with seasonal STR markets like this is that the listing itself often isn’t the real constraint — it’s who the property is positioned for outside peak season.

If the property performs well during ski season, that usually means the demand is very clear during that time. The harder question is: who is the guest in May, July, or October?

A few things I’d look at:

1. Positioning outside ski season

Winter guests are explicitly searching for ski trips. Off-season guests are usually searching for experiences — hiking, biking, lakes, festivals, weekend getaways, etc. If those exist nearby, the listing title and first photos should probably emphasize those.

2. First few photos

Click-through rate matters a lot on Airbnb. If the first few photos are mostly interior shots, it may help to lead with whatever the experience draw is (view, deck, trails nearby, outdoor space, etc.).

3. Minimum stays and pricing

Shoulder-season travel tends to be shorter stays. If minimum nights or pricing assumes peak season demand, the listing can get filtered out by people looking for quick weekend trips.

4. Different guest types

Outside ski season you might get traction from remote workers, traveling professionals, or longer weekend stays if the listing highlights workspace, reliable Wi-Fi, etc.

In seasonal markets it’s pretty common for a place to look like it underperforms when the reality is just that the off-season guest is completely different from the winter guest. The listings that do well year-round usually reposition themselves slightly depending on the season.

Curious what occupancy looks like for similar listings nearby in the summer months — that usually tells you whether it’s a listing issue or just how the market behaves.
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Andrew SteffensBusiness Member
Tampa, FL · Member since 2022 · 3k+ posts · 3k+ votes
7mo
Great feedback above by Jon - but also remember a lot of your success is based on pricing, and discounting. You can have the nicest listing in town and do bad without a solid pricing strategy.
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Andrew Street
Member since 2019 · 1k+ posts · 292 votes
7mo
You might want to focus on positioning the property for year-round appeal, not just ski season. Updating your photos to highlight summer and fall activities nearby (hiking, biking, lakes, etc.) can help guests visualize visiting outside of winter. It can also help to slightly adjust pricing in the shoulder seasons, shorten minimum stays, and refresh the listing description periodically so the algorithm sees activity. Lastly, emphasizing things like workspace, fast Wi-Fi, or longer-stay discounts can attract remote workers during slower months.
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Account Closed
Interior Decorator · Member since 2025 · 82 posts · 42 votes
7mo
As an STR Designer — here are my thoughts. This needs to be designed way better and with thought to the area and to the guest. If the area you are in is multi-functional (skiing, hiking, fishing, mtn biking) then it needs to appeal to that.

A lot of times owners design their STR like their homes — this is not a home but a business (like a hotel) and needs to reflect that. Elevated, intentional and curated STR design helps properties to be seen and booked.

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Trent Reeve
Atlanta · Member since 2022 · 712 posts · 642 votes
7mo
I always like to add some aerial picture that shows the position in relation to various hotspots in the area. People like to visualize how close to downtown, to the ski slopes, maybe hiking trails, lakes in warm weather, etc.
1 Reply
Dominic Mazzarella
Investor · Hendersonville, NC · Member since 2016 · 498 posts · 285 votes
7mo
Quote from @Parker Huge:

Hello Everyone!
My wife and I have had decent success with single family rentals, but our endeavor into STRs had had mixed results. Over the last 3 years, we consistently get a medium-term renter for the winter months, but can't seem to break through for anything other than ski season. There are very limited bookings late spring, Summer, or Fall. Does anyone have any recommendations for our very amateur STR attempts? The link is below—Thank you in advance for the advice!

https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/1015155402072432156?unique_shar...

The listing itself reads well, but one thing that might help is focusing more on why someone should choose Frisco outside of ski season. A lot of people only think of that area in the winter, so leaning harder into summer and fall activities like the marina, biking trails, festivals, and easy access to multiple resorts might help capture more searches. You may also want to lead with the walkable Main Street location since that’s a big differentiator. Another thing that helps shoulder season bookings is slightly adjusting pricing and minimum stays to encourage weekend trips. Sometimes it’s less about the listing quality and more about reminding guests there’s a lot to do there year round. Just my 2 cents.

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Bruce Lynn
Real Estate Broker · Coppell, TX · Member since 2011 · 5k+ posts · 4k+ votes
7mo
Can you change the title by the season. For me the current title wasn't really catching for anything? I know Frisco is by some ski resort that I would probably recognize, but don't remember, so if in the ski season it said something like SKI-Breckenridge or SKI-Copper Mountain or whatever your resort is, that would catch my eye and maybe help your SEO.
Your pictures don't really grab me....and I'm not a fancy guy or really visual, but looks old and tired like a timeshare from the 70s. Just being critical I see a dining room table that seats 2 people. I do see the benches so know it seats more, but you might put out the plates and silver ware. Stage it more. Put some furniture on the patio? I think I would paint the cabinets and get rid of the wood accent on the walls or replace that with something modern. Pictures of mountains with snow to me would tell a story more than bare mountains. No one wants to ski rocks. Coffee maker is not a feature. I'm not even sure the pool is a feature. If you're going after lifestyle people, show pictures of the lifestyle. People hiking, People Biking, People Skiing, People Snowshoeing, ....cross country, ice skating, tubing, trout fishing. I'd load that listing up with great pictures. Get a professional photographer. Ask the tourism board if they have pictures you can use. Also you don't need to use the same pictures all year, rotate them and rotate the description depending on your target market. Go have a breakfast or lunch with your local tourism person or closest one. Ask them who their target markets are and how that changes over the years. If you can't use their pictures ask for a referral to their photographer. Make sure if they have someone attending trade shows, you have a flyer printed for them and sending them with a stack to hand out. If Colorado has highway rest stops with brochures, make sure they have your brochures to hand out. If you drive around, stock them yourself. Same with maybe gas stations or any other place people pick up tourist brochures.
I'd look at the competing hotel websites too. Make your beds look like theirs, bathrooms look like theirs. You may need to upgrade your soft goods too.
Where have you posted your listing other than AirBnB. Do you have it on FB marketplace, craigslist, linkedin, etc. Do you ever post to your personal pages IG, CL, Linkdin, Pinterest, and other places. Go to the activity providers and ask them how they get business? Where are they posting and advertising? Can you share links. Do you have a youtube channel for your property? If not get one and post interviews with the local business owners.
I'm not picking on you.....just offering suggestions.
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Ashley Bitner
Member since 2022 · 79 posts · 44 votes
7mo
You've already got some great suggestions. I would add that when you have your professional photos taken, be sure to declutter the bathroom (remove the Kleenex box, the toilet brush, the toothbrushes on the counter, etc)
1 Reply
Christian Johnston
Member since 2025 · 22 posts · 17 votes
7mo
Great listing to share — you're clearly putting in the effort and the bones are solid. A few things jumped out that I think could move the needle outside ski season.

YOUR HERO PHOTOS ARE DOING THE WRONG JOB

The first five photos are your conversion engine. That's it. Everything else on the listing — the description, the amenities list, the rest of the gallery — only gets read if those five photos pull someone in first.

Right now two of your first five slots are bedrooms. Here's the thing: guests are already filtering by bedroom count before they ever see your photos. By the time they click your listing, they know it's a 2BR. Those slots are more valuable than that.

Think about it from a distribution standpoint. What amenities does your place have that a guest can't get everywhere else? The heated pool. The patio. The fire pit. The string lights at night. THOSE are your first five. Each photo should be answering a different "yes" in the guest's head — yes I want to relax there, yes I want to hang outside, yes that pool looks incredible, yes I can picture myself here in July.

YOUR HERO SHOT NEEDS STAGING

The main photo — the biggest one, the one that shows in search results — is your single most important marketing asset. And right now it's showing an unlit fireplace and a TV with glare on it.

Stage it like you're shooting a magazine cover. Fireplace on. TV showing something atmospheric (not a menu screen). Pillows fluffed. Warm light. The goal is to make someone feel something in under two seconds.

Your outdoor area has string lights and a fire pit — that's gold. A staged dusk shot of that space, lights on, fire going, could be a stronger hero image than anything interior.

THE SUMMER IDENTITY PROBLEM

Your title says "Walk to Main" — that's a ski season hook. What's the summer version of that story? Hiking trails? Wildflower season? River access? Off-season guests need to be able to picture themselves there in August. Right now the listing doesn't give them that picture.

Small adjustments like these — better photo sequencing, staged lighting, seasonal framing — are emotional changes more than functional ones. Guests are emotional creatures. They book the feeling before they book the facts. Give them something to feel.
4 Reply
Tyler Divin
Property Manager · Chattanooga, TN · Member since 2018 · 178 posts · 134 votes
7mo
I agree with all the feedback about staging, jazzing it up, doing professional photos, and ordering them better. I would also add white, fluffy beds with a pop of color, which rank higher than colors and patterns.

Two big things you should look at...

(1) The market, are there similar properties that are getting the rates and the bookings that you're hoping to get? If so, study those listings. If not, you might be hoping for something the market cannot produce. If there are properties that are getting there, look at those versus yours and do an unbiased comparison, try to put your pride of ownership aside and ask yourself...Am I truly offering a comparable or better product that is showcased as well, or better, in my listings? You're in a competitive market; I see there are over 1,000 listings in Frisco. I see you said you've been at it for 3 years. I would think seriously about how long the property has been the same and look critically at the competition. My guess is that your competition has gotten better as your property has stayed the same. The STR game has gotten drastically more competitive over the past few years.

(2) Track your page rank either manually by going into Airbnb, or get a subscription to RankBreeze. Page rank, clicks, and booking percentage tell you everything you need to know. Looking at your calendar and/or earnings is looking at the bottom of a funnel, trying to figure out what's going on above it. You have to understand the upper part of the funnel first.
1 Reply
Jon Castillo
Rental Property Investor · Tampa, FL · Member since 2015 · 4 posts · 2 votes
7mo
Hey Parker — I pulled up your listing and wanted to add a few things I haven't seen mentioned yet.

Your title is working against you in the off-season. "Walk to Main" means something to a ski crowd but it's invisible to someone searching for a summer weekend in the mountains. Frisco sits right on the Dillon Reservoir, you're near the bike path that runs to Breckenridge, and summer festivals bring in a ton of foot traffic on Main Street. None of that shows up in your title or your first scroll of photos. Consider rotating the title seasonally — something like "Mountain Town Base Camp | Pool + Patio | Walk to Lake & Trails" for summer would hit totally different search intent.

The cover photo is leaving money on the table. Right now it's the kitchen/living room shot with the overhead light and TV visible. That's fine for photo 6 or 7, but it's doing nothing to stop a thumb-scroll. Your patio with the string lights and fire pit? That's your summer hero shot — taken at dusk with the fire going and the lights on, it would outperform any interior photo. For winter, swap it to the mountain view or a cozy fireplace shot. The cover photo is the single highest-leverage thing you can change, and you can swap it in 30 seconds.

6 reviews at 5.0 is a double-edged sword. Great quality signal, but thin volume means the algorithm isn't going to push you hard in search results. One way to accelerate review count in the shoulder season: drop your minimum stay to 2 nights on weekends and lower your nightly rate 15-20% below your winter comp set. You'll attract more short-stay bookings, stack reviews faster, and once you're past ~20 reviews with strong ratings, you'll start showing up much higher in Airbnb search for your area.

The other advice in this thread is spot on — especially the points about staging and professional photography. I'd just add that once you make these changes, don't try to change everything at once. Swap the cover photo first, give it 2-3 weeks, and watch what happens to your click-through rate in the Airbnb hosting dashboard. That single data point will tell you more than guessing.

Happy to share more on how I think about testing listing changes if it's helpful — I wrote up the approach I use across my own units here.
1 Reply
Derek D.
Property Manager · Old Orchard Beach, ME · Member since 2015 · 108 posts · 11 votes
6mo
Hey @Parker Huge, there is a lot of great advice on here. I wanted to add we have used some tools that help optimize a listing, give insight, show rankings and even what to track and change.

A good one is Rankbreeze. We have used it for years.

Hope that helps.

Good luck.
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Patricia Joseph
Realtor · Atlanta, GA · Member since 2015 · 97 posts · 31 votes
5mo
Hey @Parker Huge you’ve received great feedback from others. As @Derek D. mentioned, you should really check out RankBreeze. It does a great job in identifying what is/isn’t working with your listing and provides recommendations for improving. Also, think about connecting with local businesses to offer discounts to guests in the off season. Are you doing any type of social media promotion? Happy to answer any questions.
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Tyler Divin
Property Manager · Chattanooga, TN · Member since 2018 · 178 posts · 134 votes
5mo
I just re-visited this thread. What @Christian Johnston said and the way he said it about your hero photos is SPOT on. Right now you're showing spaces and things. We have a kitchen, living room, and a fire place. We're convenient to Main Street. We have access to a pool and if you look close a jacuzzi. These are things. What Christian is saying is your top 5 photos need to show an experience and ideally the emotion associated with the experience. The experience of sitting in the living room on a cold, snowy night with a cup of hot chocolate or a whiskey to warm you from inside while you recount the memories of the day on the slopes with friends and family. The experience of sliding into a warm hot tub and jacuzzi to relax sore muscles. Christian said it really well.
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David Blake
Specialist · Sheridan, WY · Member since 2026 · 13 posts · 4 votes
4mo
Without seeing the listing itself, one thought is that the issue may be the market rather than the property.

A lot of mountain STR owners assume that strong winter demand will automatically translate into strong year-round occupancy, but that isn't always the case. In many destinations, ski season can account for a disproportionate share of annual revenue, with much weaker demand during shoulder seasons.

A few questions I'd ask:

• Has occupancy declined across the market, or just your property?
• How does your ADR compare with similar listings?
• Has local STR supply increased over the last few years?
• Are nearby competitors attracting summer and fall demand through amenities or unique experiences?
• What percentage of your annual revenue currently comes from ski season?

One thing I've noticed when analysing mountain markets is that investors often focus on occupancy and overlook demand seasonality. Understanding the market's monthly demand pattern can sometimes reveal whether the challenge is the listing itself or the destination's tourism profile.

If you can share the market and the listing link, I'm sure people here can offer more targeted feedback.
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