All Forum Posts by: Paulina Le
Paulina Le has started 2 posts and replied 20 times.
Post: New Airbnb Listing Advice
- Posts 20
- Votes 13
Quote from @Josh Ball:
Quote from @Paulina Le:
Quote from @Josh Ball:
Quote from @Paulina Le:
Update: we got our first booking!! Thanks everyone for your help :)
Great to hear Paulina. Congratulations. Unit looks great, love the decor & a beautiful view.
Be patient, don't chase your rates down & it will all come with time. Do your research on comparable rates in the area & be competitive.
Thanks Josh! Do you think dropping rates too low could attract bad guests?
Yes I do believe that. I would rather miss a booking & not collect the rent than have the headache of dealing with a claim & replace/repair items. You're going to have months where you might not break even early on but in the long run, it will all work out in the wash. Don't chase your rate down & open yourself up to the headache of bad guests ruining your place. Of course any guest could end up being a mess or breaking items, but I believe it is much more frequent with the "budget" guest.
Makes sense! Agree, not worth the headache
Post: New Airbnb Listing Advice
- Posts 20
- Votes 13
Quote from @Josh Ball:
Quote from @Paulina Le:
Update: we got our first booking!! Thanks everyone for your help :)
Great to hear Paulina. Congratulations. Unit looks great, love the decor & a beautiful view.
Be patient, don't chase your rates down & it will all come with time. Do your research on comparable rates in the area & be competitive.
Thanks Josh! Do you think dropping rates too low could attract bad guests?
Post: New Airbnb Listing Advice
- Posts 20
- Votes 13
Quote from @Ben Tutewohl:
Hi Paulina,
You're doing a great job already, optimizing photos, tweaking pricing, and making thoughtful listing updates. That’s exactly what you should be doing.
I wouldn't worry too much about your current stats like views, impressions, or conversion rates just yet. When launching a new STR, it takes time for the listing to gain traction, and most of the early momentum comes from stacking a few 5-star reviews. Until then, the data isn't very meaningful.
The best strategy in this phase is to keep prices low to secure those early bookings, overdeliver on the guest experience, and build trust with reviews. Once you’ve got a few under your belt, you’ll see a big shift in your search visibility, pricing power, and conversion rates.
Congrats on your first booking, huge milestone! Don’t stress about the numbers right now. Focus on creating amazing stays, and everything else will follow.
Thanks for the encouraging words and excellent advice!
Post: New Airbnb Listing Advice
- Posts 20
- Votes 13
Quote from @Chad McMahan:
In the meantime, 2 bedroom/2 bathroom STR's are tough in Sedona, but doable. Have you thought about adding summer amenities? Something to help guests cool down a bit? Same question goes for winter amenities, so that you have strong bookings Dec through Feb. Do you have space to add any game tables, such as ping pong?
I'd also recommend a map image showing driving/walking distance to nearest groceries, restaurants and trails. You have a convenient location, but guests won't fully realize that until after they book it.
Appreciate the offer! I booked some time with you :)
Post: New Airbnb Listing Advice
- Posts 20
- Votes 13
Update: we got our first booking!! Thanks everyone for your help :)
Post: New Airbnb Listing Advice
- Posts 20
- Votes 13
Quote from @Andrew Steffens:
You should unblock the calendar and manually adjust your rates in peak higher and then back them down once new listing discount expires. Ultimitaely if you are not booking its either on product or price, you have a nice product so I imagine it is priced. You need it priced attractively enough (like 50%) cheaper than your competition to entice someone to "take a chance" and book you despite having no reviews. Make sure they have a great stay and strongly encourage 5 stars. Once you have 3-5 good reviews begin backing off discounting until you have 7-10 and no more discounts.
Makes sense. Going to keep dropping prices every few days until I hit that sweet spot. Thanks for the reply!
Post: New Airbnb Listing Advice
- Posts 20
- Votes 13
Quote from @Renee Krystek:
You’ve got some great furniture pieces, and the space has a lot of potential! Personally, I think adding a bit more visual interest, like artwork, curtains, a bold accent wall, or even a peel-and-stick mural—could really elevate the feel and make the photos pop for guests scrolling through listings.
The backyard looks like a nice open space, but it might benefit from a few fun touches. Maybe some yard games, a fire pit, or a cozy outdoor setup to make it feel more inviting and memorable.
Appreciate these ideas, thank you!
Post: New Airbnb Listing Advice
- Posts 20
- Votes 13
Quote from @Myka Artis:
You have a 5-night minimum and a 5-night maximum, and can't book anything past September. Is there a reason for that? That's why your listing isn't being booked.
Thanks for your response!
Not sure why you are seeing a 5-night minimum. My account settings show 1 night and when I try to simulate booking in an incognito browser, it lets me book 1 night. I'm going to DM you about this - if you wouldn't mind sharing a screenshot, that would be great.
I intentionally have my calendar blocked after September. Demand starts to ramp up in September, peaking in October/November, so I'm hoping to get my first 3 bookings prior to high season since my launch rates are heavily discounted.
Post: New Airbnb Listing Advice
- Posts 20
- Votes 13
Thanks Bruce! Here's a link to my listing: https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/1455945416456118650
Yes, I have checked my competitors and updated my pricing to be lower than them for the next 30 days.
Good to know about Vrbo - I will dedicate some time this week to focus on that.
Post: New Airbnb Listing Advice
- Posts 20
- Votes 13
Hi fellow hosts – looking for some advice on strategy to get the first few bookings on Airbnb. We listed almost two weeks ago but haven’t gotten any bookings. The timing isn’t ideal because my market (Sedona, Arizona) is in slow season right now. However, some of my competitors are booked, and last year we were hosting another listing and were at almost 100% occupancy in July.
Here’s what I’ve tried so far:
- Made sure I had all the boxes checked in Airbnb for our amenities > increased our first-page impression rate from 34% to 38%.
- Updated the order of our first few photos and cropped the first photo to more clearly show our view > increased search-to-listing rate from 2% to 32%.
- List-to-book rate is still 0% since we haven’t gotten any bookings, so potential guests are falling out of the funnel after clicking our listing, but I’m not sure why. I already updated our property description to be more concise and included bullet points for easier reading.
- I’ve seen some conflicting advice on whether or not to use Price Labs right away. I decided to turn it off for now and manually adjusted my prices in Airbnb to be slightly lower than my competition. In addition to the 20% new listing promo, I have a rule set for discounted weekday checkins and length of stay discounts.
- Market booking lead time is about 30 days. Demand starts to ramp up in September, peaking in October/November. My calendar is only open through Labor Day as I'm hoping to get my first 3 bookings prior to high season since my launch rates are heavily discounted.
- Relaxed some restrictions: 1-night minimum stay, pet-friendly, lowered cleaning and pet fees slightly.
- Increased exposure by listing on Vrbo, but so far it's not gaining traction (only 21 impressions in the past week, and 4 views). I probably need to optimize the Vrbo listing, but I've been mostly focused on Airbnb. We did get one booking inquiry for all of August, but it was almost definitely a scam lol.
Anything else I could be doing to get our first few bookings and reviews? Thank you in advance!