Hello my YouTube friends its richard founder of short-term rentals
secrets.com and Airbnb super host and today we have the difficult task of
adding value to Mary Kay Mary Kay was kind enough to pay the $49 for her
listing to be reviewed and I've taken a quick peek at it and first off I just
have to commend you I mean you're doing so many things so incredibly well I
think we all have a lot to learn here and so I'm gonna try and add as much
value to you so that you get your money's worth and it's probably more in
the form of questions but for everyone else like this is an ideal listing she's
doing so many things so incredibly well so let's go through and review we're
gonna do it in six steps the first is where we're gonna look at the title then
we take a look at the photos and the order of those photos the third is the
thumbnail that she's selected the fourth is the description how she describes the
property then we'll take a look at the listing reviews the people that have
stayed what do they have to say about Mary Kay as a host in her place and then
finally we'll take a look at the pricing so let's get into the very first thing
which is the title and here Mary Kay you've selected something that I think
has a lot of meaning to you and it's actually descriptive but I don't think
it sells the dream and so I think that the best opportunity for you based on
all the photos and everything we'll talk about those is probably the headline the
title itself has room for improvement we will find out as we look through the
rest of the listing that there is a reason this is the alpaca cottage
gracious comfort I think is nice and something that we all appreciate an
eclectic charm that's a little bit off-putting and I don't find your place
eclectic at all I find it really really desirable I find it very luxurious I
find it very serene I find it very peaceful I find this working farm
component of it where you talk about the alpaca extremely interesting and so I
kind of wonder if the title is leading to the fact and we'll talk about a
little later that it looks like a lot of your calendars open it could be the
location it could be the pricing it could just be the title because everyone
who's staying at your place really seems to love it so
I would try and change the title and I would include things like a serene Oasis
slash organic working farm or you know that whole like farm-to-table movement
people are really into knowing where everything is coming from
you might even highlight that you have a working form you have the alpacas and
the Roosters and the hens and you've got the eggs and you've got all that other
amazing stuff but gracious comfort doesn't mention it cottage doesn't
include that an eclectic charm certainly doesn't include that so I think if we
can sell the dream of people coming to this serene working farm you might get
people to visit that aren't staying in Decatur or looking for Decatur or
attending you know Emory so I think this is maybe more of a vacation opportunity
or a retreat opportunity than it is a traditional college visiting opportunity
so I think that there's a little bit of work that can be done on the title if
you want to go ahead and post it when we give you this link feedback ideas I'll
be happy to you know go back and forth with you until we find a working title
and as often is the case I don't know that we're gonna nail it immediately you
might have to do a/b testing and have two or three different titles that you
test until we see which one's getting the most clicks and then we don't really
care about clicks as much as we care about conversions which title is getting
us most bookings so I think that's an opportunity for you
turning to the photos I mean they're spectacular honestly you know exactly
what it is that you're doing I don't think I've ever seen a night shot as a
title shot it looks like it's like low exposure slow the sky is lit up in blue
and the orange and pink in the sky and the night lights and the path lights I
mean it's just it's absolutely gorgeous and I think you've done a terrific job
with all your photos I'm not going to go ahead and comment on all of them because
they're a lot and they're beautiful but I am gonna go ahead and and scroll
through them so these viewers of this video get the benefit of your terrific
photography the other thing that I want to highlight is you've done a great job
of very lengthy to descriptions that are different for each
photo you're telling the story you're not just putting the photo up there
you're talking about warm welcoming and wonderful tucked in a grove of Georgia
Pines and surrounded by perennial vegetable and natural die gardens the
Decatur I'll pack a cottage offers gracious comfort with high-end amenities
okay so for that title this whole thing about tucked in a grove of Georgia Pines
and surrounded by perennial vegetable natural die gardens work towards that
that's what you're selling right the fact that it's called alpaca cottage not
so meaningful and you seem to like the gracious comfort I'm not opposed to it
but I think it's not the best place in the title so this is absolutely
beautiful I love the the tray with it looks like
some sort of little snacks and the windows are open and the light is great
and everything is just clean and perfect and that's a constant theme throughout I
love the drone shot I've encouraged them in the past but here you can see just
how well-kept pardon me just how well-kept and well-manicured the
landscaping is it's clear that you take great pride in this and that's important
again you use the exact same sort of wording here I would change it a little
bit talk about what we're looking at a quarter acre a half acre organic I don't
know compost whatever it is that you're using and doing talk about that you're
going to attract people that want to come to a working form that uses natural
compost biodegradable horse manure whatever it is that you do talk about
that not that it's nestled we already covered that here's a alpaca which is
great and playful this breakfast looks unbelievable I mean it's just great now
what I'm not clear about is do you offer that for a guest if if you don't it's a
little bit misleading if you do then you definitely want to highlight the fact
that like that's available at an additional cost or whatever I mean it's
just spectacularly decorated very well-appointed very clean
I love the barn door I love the paint over here you're attracting a certain
type of person they're going to appreciate it I love the throw I love
the way it's folded I like the way it's over the ottoman
you clearly have an eye for decoration and for the style and it's working
really well I love the fact that you've got the light plate painted in the light
itself I mean just all these little details that many people don't get
you're nailing and I just think it's great so I want to highlight that for
other people I love the fact that you've got five stars on everything and I don't
know if you did this before but we've been suggesting in our videos previously
to go ahead and you know boast a little bit talk about like what this is and and
show people what other people think the living room is amazing I love it
the one thing that I might add is something with a little bit of color
perhaps either on this end table here or on the center here it looks like you
have a fern down low and then some dried plants up here but maybe a you know if I
had to be super critical some greenery somewhere other than down low would be
helpful I love the fact that you talked about that you've got Roku and
flatscreen and it's an 1800s porch I mean you're telling a story it's really
compelling I absolutely love it heck I might even come down in Decatur just to
check out this place because it's really spectacular the kitchen is great it's
very well appointed I'm not exactly sure what's past here it looks like the the
door is frosted so you can't see through it it looks like maybe just a path but
you might want to just say like your own private path leading to whatever but
very nicely appointed this is a beautiful photo with the flowers I
assume these are local flowers from like your garden if if they are highlight
that the cheese course looks great the wine the decanter again you really
clearly know what it is that you're doing and this is fabulous I'm not sure
that the cork and the wine bottle really adds any value if I were gonna shoot it
again which I don't think you need to I would probably remove it more alpacas
and then there's you know more working farm you talk about the names of people
and it's evident that you really care and you're attracting the right people
right people that are going to be drawn to this are really going to like all
these photos and it's great sheering day before and after it's
interesting you might want to include when shearing happens if I was a parent
and I was traveling and I wanted to teach my children about it that might be
like a really interesting trip like we're gonna go to Decatur we're gonna go
to this working alpaca farm they do the sheering on whatever the third week in
January I'm just making this up probably not but whenever it is talk about it so
that people can say this is what I want to do and this is what's amazing here's
pretty much the exact same photo taken during the day and while it's an
absolutely lovely photo the magic really occurred at that like the right time
that you took that night shot with the garden lit up and everything and you can
just see it I mean it's a great photo I love this photo but the other one was
just special and spectacular dick jr. is a French black copper Moran one of the
more colorful chickens on the farm 'let he sure is or I guess it's he colorful
the one question that I have when I look at this and I looked in your description
so I'll just cover it here you know I live in New York City we don't really
have chickens and hens and roosters and stuff like that but when I've traveled
and I've traveled an awful lot they generally tend to make a lot of noise at
like 500 at Oh 500 right that's sort of like that whole rooster thing so are
these guys waking everybody up or if not if they're not roosters are they
whatever they're kept way off premises you might want to include that in the
description and maybe even here because as interesting as it is if I'm coming
out there for a retreat and relaxation I don't know that I want to even
contemplate being woken up at 5:00 in the morning by dick junior or pepper and
you know again I'm showing my ignorance maybe they're nothing but I think
highlighting it and assuming nothing making sure people feel comfortable
would be great this guy's super cool poofy peckerhead that's my guy that
Charlie chicks the eggs are amazing they're fresh eggs available for
purchase according to availability that's super cool I love that I love the
the sticker and the name and the different colors I mean you're really
really doing it this photo I think proved it's it's not in focus it's very
hard to read so just shoot another one here's a little eat-in kitchen you're
using Meyers clean stuff which we recommend and we highlight and we
recommend that so that's good everything looks really nice and clean here and I
don't have a lot to add a quiet writers retreat I would love to come down there
and write here it is at night I mean it's just absolutely beautiful here you
do talk about the sounds of the chickens going to roost again there's a fine line
between something being really like nice and lovely for a short period of time
and or it becoming annoying or disturbing and so you may be immune to
it what you find to be really soothing and them going to roost might be really
disturbing to somebody who's looking to write a book so you might need to
quantify that a little bit more or address the fact that they're not
roosters or I don't really know how you're gonna do it but again you're
trying to attract people and while I'm drawn to this working farm nature of it
it would be helpful for me to know that I could like sleep in this photo I think
is actually your weakest photo where the colors are a little muted and
overexposed but I get the point and it doesn't detract from it but if you ever
had butterflies again you could probably reshoot this one and it's just you know
the clematis and the Mexican petunia it's lovely it's absolutely gorgeous I
love this porch the screened-in porch you talk about morning coffee if you
were gonna shoot it again let's get some morning coffee out there let's get I
don't know a magazine or something a book a throw I don't know it's just but
it's gorgeous I mean I can totally see myself having a cup of coffee there and
this breakfast place is fantastic I love the wrought iron the door and the
chandelier just super cool and then you talk about the rocking chairs this is
new I love this this is a guess a greenhouse I don't know what you what
you have growing in there but you might want to talk about the greenhouse a
little bit and again if you were going to shoot this again I might set the
table a little bit or put wineglasses out or cheese course or
something just to show it like in in action a little bit and then this photo
I'm not sure it's clear that you know what you're doing you've got
unbelievable camera equipment and gear but showing the photo of the camera on
the tripods a little bit pod and you don't actually show the photo of the
table dressed so those two I think you could work a little bit and then here we
talked about the organic heritage vegetables and fruits and flowers and so
on it looks like it's sort of between seasons you might want to take this
again when it's in full bloom when there's all sorts of stuff and then talk
about what it is that you're looking at and you know somebody could taste one of
your Tomatoes or something you might want to highlight that again I really
love the the drone shots and I love the fact that you're leading and suggesting
that they could use it for an intimate wedding or an event or anything like
that if you do do those if we released a video recently that's said to charge
more for those it's perfectly fine people that are throwing a wedding are
going to be able to afford a significant bump up versus what you know two people
come in to stay at your place would afford and there's a lot more damage and
wear and tear and risk and liability so be sure that you're being smart and
profitable this photo is out of focus as well and you know I think it adds value
that it shows that you care and your host it's very difficult to read the
writing here as you can see like it's almost impossible so I don't know if you
have to crop the photo a little bit and that's it so in a nutshell the photos
are fantastic I absolutely love them I had to really struggle to find anything
to add value but we found a few things and you know given the quality of the
rating I'm impressed I was even able to help and I hope it is helpful so let's
turn to the thumbnail I love the thumbnail you nailed the thumbnail I
want to go stay there like literally I'm gonna pack my bag and I'm coming down
and I'm gonna check out your working farm and the alpaca and have a cup of
tea on that back porch and the thumbnail with the sky and the night lights and
everything else is perfect I wouldn't change a thing
great job turning to the description so the first thing I want to say is I
love the way that you highlight the proximity and it's just far enough away
it's sort of painting that picture convenient to Emory we talked about sort
of telling people like where you are and when they might use you I'm not sure
what CDC is or Mercer maybe they have meaning if I was staying in those
locations likely but don't assume anything right like just you might want
to spell it out or explain what it is you've talked about the luxuries and the
bedding and the fully stocked kitchen the charm and I think these are all
great I absolutely love the description you also talk about who it's good for
it's perfect for a couple and business travelers film and intimate events and
weddings it's friendly I think it's really really well-thought-out it's
evident you've put a lot of time and energy into it it's evident that you're
a skilled writer and you know what you're trying to paint so that's
fantastic you talk about new improvements I think that's really cool
but I might put this sort of specific stuff about your working farm higher up
right it's really important somebody who does not want to be near or around
alpacas or the different you know chickens and so on or doesn't care about
the vegetables or anything else may not be happy they're as comfortable as it is
it's pretty evident that that's you know all encompassing and you're you can't
really escape it so you don't want them there and the flipside is somebody like
me that finds that super interesting and intriguing I want more of that
information I want even more detail I want to know what kind of varieties how
many different types of tomatoes heirloom tomatoes we won the prize
here's a photo of the tomatoes like really play that up you do a great job
with the alpacas and the chickens and so on you don't do I don't think enough
with the farm-to-table aspect of it there's a huge movement so many people
are interested in like eating good food and not that they're gonna eat your food
but they're connecting with somebody who cares about that same sort of thing so
this sort of paragraph where you talk about the azalea's the hydrangeas the
various gardens let's expand on it and move
I think here we go working urban farm lit which is a small farm and once again
we talk much more about the the animals and we do anything else it's a very
thorough listing it's a very detailed listing it talks about the size of the
memory foam mattress cool aloe gel memory foam mattress that sounds quite
comfortable we talk about the vintage and it's just you know it's it's
thoughtful unfortunately I don't think people are gonna read this much but
between the photos that they do read in your descriptions underneath that and so
on I think they'll get the the gist of it and this is sort of my point like
this to me needs to be way higher up our hens lay daily for the majority of the
ear so we can usually accommodate guests request for fresh organic eggs a guest
said these eggs are so delicious you can taste the love that's about I don't know
three pages into the description that needs to be upfront who doesn't like
eggs and even if you don't eat eggs you want to know that there's like cool eggs
and other guests love them so anyway I think that this is fantastic I think
you've done really well I think you're smart to include all of your social
media stuff I haven't seen what you do there but I'm gonna check it out I think
if the if you keep interesting things socially there that's actually a really
great opportunity for you to grow your business and get repeat business
and I think it's super cool interaction with the guests I get other things to
note I'm again you just do a very very thoughtful time the cottage is very well
equipped for leisure business travel a recent guest commented any time we
thought of something we needed we realize you had already thought of it
you go on about all the different coffees I mean it's you take this really
seriously it's really impressive you are a super host I believe yep you're a
super host and you deserve it you're doing great work however I think there's
a little bit of room for improvement and I'm gonna get to that in a second here
when we take a look at your reviews five stars on everything I'm not surprised at
all I love the fact that you respond to every single one and with personality
and with specifics you mentioned by name and their long and detailed so
that's fantastic and everybody just loves everything so I'm not surprised by
it in the least you know exactly what it is that you're doing and it looks like
you're doing really well in September you had four people post reviews and in
October you've had a couple three already four already so I don't know
whether these are coming in you know a week or two delayed but it seems like
you've been really busy in the fall which is fantastic and then it looks
like the summer may have been slower and I just don't know if that's a seasonal
thing August was good I don't know if that's a seasonal thing or you guys took
it off or you were doing the construction but it seems to me like you
could be busier and that's where we're turning to now which is the pricing of a
hundred dollars per night when I take a look at your availability it looks like
October sold out and/or blocked November looks like you have a fair
amount of availability and you you're clearly using some sort of smart pricing
I don't know if it's beyond pricing or if it's Airbnb but you're clearly using
something and that I think is really intelligent and December is wide open
and January is partially blocked I don't know if you've started blocking because
then in February have no availability of March none and so on so it's possible
that you're only taking say 90 days of bookings which may suit you I'm not sure
that there's a real benefit to doing that but if that's the way you like to
do it that's fine but it strikes me as an opportunity to have more business I
mean excuse me in the months of November and December and what I can't tell is
whether it's your pricing is off like is this the slow season and you need to
reduce your pricing do people not come here during this period of time if you
are close to Emory and Mercer and CDC and whatever else and it's also a great
get away from those you know from the city life or whatever maybe you need to
shift your marketing so that in the slower periods of November and December
in January you're getting business you should at least be selling out on the
weekends and maybe you will but it seems to me like this is a fantastic place
you're not necessarily getting as much business as I think you
should and I'm not sure why I think you should really be doing a lot more a
couple of thoughts on the pricing also as I try and find it here is I'm not a
huge fan of flexible cancellations but if it works for you then that's fine
I've said this before I'm not a huge fan of weekly discounting at all and even
less of a fan of monthly discounting if you're in the short-term rental space
don't be looking to rent for a month you're just giving away money out of
your pocket that discount is your profit literally your cost of doing business
are the exact same if you give somebody a 33% discount you don't get a 33%
discount on your expenses your cost of goods sold is the exact same yet your
revenue is lower therefore your profits are lower somebody who wants to stay at
a working farm and write a book is likely able to afford the entire amount
or they'll be there for two weeks and somebody else will come in for two weeks
so since you're doing it for profit I don't recommend that I think your
cleaning fee is light I don't know how long it takes to clean this little
cottage but if you figure $20 an hour 15 $20 an hour's the working sort of wage
you're saying that this takes three to four hours and I'd be surprised if you
could clean that entire house and make the beds as impeccable as it is and as
clean as it shows in that amount of time so I think you have room for cleaning
fees I love the fact that you charge more twenty-five dollars per night after
two guests I think that's really smart and the security deposit seems a little
bit light to me but you know I'm not gonna get too hung up on that anyway
Mary Kay you know exactly what it is that you're doing you're killing it
you're doing a great job I'd like to see you get even more business I'd like to
see you get rid of your discount so you make more profit I'd like to see you
take if you had the interest and you seem to be like into real estate and
farms and decor and decorating and renovating and building new areas I'd
love to see you expand your business you have a real talent here and I think if
you were to take this one Airbnb and start to save the income from
it and put it towards a second Airbnb that would be a fantastic opportunity
for you and your family again it may not be something you're interested in but
clearly you have the skill set in the talent
and I would encourage you to pursue it so I hope you found this helpful this is
one of the most thorough and and really perfect listings I've seen thus far so
kudos to you Mary Kay and for the rest of us this is something that we can like
shoot for and if you want your listing reviewed go ahead and leave us a comment
below I hope you've enjoyed this I hope that
you will liked the video and most importantly if you haven't subscribed to
the video let's see I can and say it if you haven't subscribed to the YouTube
channel please do me a favor I'd really
appreciate that until then happy hosting
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