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Really Bad Rental Listings – What Are They Thinking?

Miscellaneous

open-toilet I felt compelled to write this after spending an hour or so surfing the web for Ontario cottages. In no more than 10 minutes I’d found half a dozen listings for cottages with photos so bad I am surprised they ever get a booking. One in particular was beyond belief.  A bathroom papered with newspaper pages (or so it looked); a picture of a cluttered bookcase; another of a set of unattractive 70s vinyl chairs around a small table, and a stark looking and unappealing bedroom. And at a rate of just under $2000 per week, I really think that guests deserve better.

The exterior photos were better and hinted at something so much nicer than the interior images are portraying. This makes me wonder if the owner relies on the waterfront to ‘sell’ the property, and couldn’t care less about the look of the inside.

In other listings there were bedrooms with bare mattresses; a kitchen with dishes piled on the countertops and dishtowels lying in piles on the floor; living rooms with toys and books strewn about, and so many toilet photos.  I  particularly dislike toilet pictures.  I understand that potential rental guests want to see what the bathrooms are like in a vacation home they are considering renting, but seeing a toilet with the lid raised is probably the most unattractive and repellent image I can imagine. 

What is the point of spending money on a vacation rental listing if no time is spent making the place look appealing? Maybe it rented really well in times past, but this is a very, very competitive market and owners like these may find their lack of attention and scant regard for their guests, is a costly error.

For those of us who are passionate about standards and work hard to create delightful accommodation for guests we care about, there is a cost too. The bad apples have a tendency to spoil the rest in the barrel, and bad press is not good for this emerging market. I wonder if vacation rental sites are doing enough to monitor their customers listings? Should they?

Rant over for the day………….. but please, no more open toilet shots; they do nothing for me as a prospective renter, and I think I might be speaking for the wider market here.

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Heather Bayer

  • Max

    Heather,

    very good post. As an owner of listing site, I am very concerned with the pictures placed by our clients. I would say that less than 20% of private cottage owners have pictures adequate to the rental price. I find that rental management agencies can charge much higher prices for similar type of cottages just because they have professional staff photographer, not mentioning other benefits.

    So, in case I find bad pictures on my site, I always send polite email to the cottage owner with my suggestions how to improve the listing appearance. In most cases I never get reply back, but I would rather have listing with bad pictures than have no listing at all.

    By the way, I sent you couple emails, but you never replied back. Am I sending them to the wrong address?

  • I agree Heather & Max. It is very very essential for a listing to contain pictures and information that generates a good impression on the visitor. The photos should convey the message that the place is worth the $s it demands…

  • CottageGuru

    Hi Max
    Apologies for not replying to your mails – I don’t recall receiving anything but will check.

    I was curious about the comment about rental agencies charging much higher prices – this is definitely not the case with the professionally run Ontario agencies, of which there are several. They have to be competitive and match the rates charged by owners listing privately. In fact it is more often the case that private listings have higher prices since owners can be unrealistic about the rates they can reasonably apply. When I looked at the listing I mentioned in the post above, I wouldn’t have rated it much above $1500 per week, if that.

    In addition, agencies don’t generally employ professional staff photographers. They are simply more observant about making a property look attractive, and on top of that, they won’t take on cottages that don’t meet their standards. In other words, since they don’t accept sloppy standards, you won’t see them on their sites.

  • Seren_a

    I have had some terrible experiences renting in the past. I’ve rented a home (without even knowing it) that used deceptive photographs that were over 5 years old. When I arrived, the immaculate pool was brown and filled with leaves, the furniture was outdated and stained and the overall experience wasn’t worth half of what I paid. Since that time I’ve been nervous about doing it myself. Recently, I was doing a little research on online vacation rentals and found this very helpful white paper: http://tinyurl.com/6ksfz8) about the perils of doing it yourself. I know I am certainly going to be more cautious before I commit to another online rental.

  • CottageGuru

    Seren_a – my very first experience of a cottage rental in Ontario was a real dump. We’d come across from England and the owner hadn’t even provided any linens despite being asked to. The place was filthy and I spent the first few days cleaning. There was even dirty underwear under the bed!

  • Max

    Heather, I did not mean that agency are charging higher prices. I meant that just because of the hight quality pictures renters might pay higher price for similar type of property just because the property looks more attractive. Based on my observations, agencies in most cases have much better pictures than private owners. I am guessing that the peson who is taking pictures for the agencies got some training and special equipment.

    There are no public standards or ratings in the cottage rent industry, therefore in most cases renters estimate the property based on pictures and I often don’t understand why private owners don’t pay enough attention to their pictures.

    I sent you few emails to heather@clrm.ca. Maybe I should use another email address.

  • Great Post! Before I got into renting my vacation rental property. I became increasinly frustrated finding properties to rent fo myself. After hours of searching, I gave up and booked a room at a nearby Hotel and visited the properties in person, just so I could book for another time.

    User ratings and photos are the most important component of building up your vacation rental website.

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