If you’ve read one of our earlier posts, we discussed five different ways that you may be losing a potential guest. After more careful consideration, we believe that we’ve found an additional five ways where you can lose a potential guest. Just like before, these are things that may be wrong with your listing or your property that make guests want to book somewhere else.
Access to the property
For a guest (especially in a new country), as soon as they get to your property, they will want to check-in and drop off their things. If during the booking process they find the check-in process to be too confusing or too elaborate they may stop the booking altogether.
Number of beds
If multiple people are coming to stay at your property, and you’ve listed the number of beds but not given the description of what size they are, they may not book with you. If three adults are trying to book your property but you only have a queen and two twins, at least they would know ahead of time that the beds may be too small.
Proximity to landmarks
Online travel agencies only give out rough estimates of where you are in the neighbourhood. If on your listing you say ‘Close to xyz landmark’ but when they ask for your address — you really aren’t — they will probably book somewhere else. Try and Google Map your property to the landmark so you can get exact proximity.
Check-in and Check-out
Depending on where the guest is coming from, they may need a modified check-in or check-out. If they see that your times are too unrealistic, they will probably book somewhere else.
Missing essential items
When traveling, the best thing is when you don’t have to bring everything with you. When picking a short term rental, guests are hopeful that you have left them the essentials (toilet paper, towels, sheets). If these are missing from the listing description, they may not book with you.
Again, these are just suggestions and you may be running a very successful short term rental business. That being said, you may not realize that you’re missing out on other guests.
