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Kat’s 2024 Book List

Fiction The Movement of Stars, by Amy Brill. 2024 gets off to a slow reading start given that I’m writing this in early February, and this is the only book I’ve read so far this year. It’s historical fiction about a young woman in the mid-19th-century who strives to be an astronomer discovering celestial objects […]

How to Identify the Top Selling Points of your Short-Term Rental Property

When businesspeople seek to market a product or service, they tout the selling points of that service. What are the features and benefits of their product/service that their target market most desires? Those are points that get promoted and advertised The same is true for short-term rental (STR) hosts. Selling points must be at the […]

Airbnb’s ’The Space’ Section: Your Best Opportunity to Captivate Guests by Previewing the Guest Experience

See all my articles about short-term rental listings. In the vast majority of Airbnb listing critiques I write for members of my Facebook group Critique My Airbnb Listing, I include this passage: “I recommend a narrative verbal tour that enables guests to envision themselves in the space – a key to attracting guests.” This passage […]

The Secret to Next-Level Short-Term Rental Listings: Describing the Guest Experience

See all my articles on short-term-rental listing writing, including on titles/headlines, photo captions, opening paragraphs, the full listing description, and more. I’m about to take a big risk. I’m about to expose my biggest trade secret as a writer of short-term rental (Airbnb, VRBO, etc.) listings. Of course, the secret is already out there – […]

Increase Bookings by Pinpointing and Delighting Your Short-Term Rental Target Market

See all my articles on short-term-rental listing writing, including on titles/headlines, photo captions, opening paragraphs, the full listing description, and more. Some members of my Facebook group Critique My Airbnb Listing had a disagreement recently over a host who is targeting remote workers and business travelers with his airport-adjacent rental unit. He even used “Work […]

Top 10 Mistakes Short-Term Hosts Make in their Listing Descriptions

I’ve been a student of short-term rental listings for a year now since I started my listing-writing service and even more so after I launched my Critique My Airbnb Listing Facebook group at the beginning of 2023. In the many listings I critique in the group, I see consistent mistakes. Here are 10 of them: […]

The Hidden Airbnb Section that Enhances Your Listing: Location Tab

Open up any Airbnb listing as if you are a guest. Start scrolling down the page. Just as you scroll past the photos at the top of the page, a navigation bar will pop up with links (from left to right): Photos, Amenities, Reviews, Location. This article is about that Location tab. (See also image […]

Kat’s 2023 Book List

This year’s list is the shortest since I started these lists in 2011 – just 35. My annual goal is 52, and the past 2 years, I hit at least 75. Why so few this year? I consumed several VERY LONG books, including Barbra Streisand’s mammoth memoir – 48 hours on audio; I started it […]

Entice Guests to Book Your Short-Term Rental with an Alluring 500-Character Opener

See all my articles on short-term-rental listing writing, including on titles/headlines, photo captions, opening paragraphs, the full listing description and more. Along with your photos and listing title/headline, your 500-word (Airbnb only) opening paragraph is one of the first pieces of content to draw prospective guests into your listing. It should be the “hook” that […]

Is ‘Renovated’ a Selling Point for Short-Term Rentals?

See all my articles on short-term-rental listing writing, including on titles/headlines, photo captions, opening paragraphs, the full listing description, and more. In my work with the clients for whom I write listing descriptions, I’ve steered away from words like “renovated” because I believe they don’t have much meaning for guests since guests don’t know what […]

The Most Frequently Missed Marketing Opportunity for Short-Term Rental Hosts: Photo Captions

See all my articles on short-term-rental listing writing, including on titles/headlines, photo captions, opening paragraphs, the full listing description, and more. In my work as a writer of short-term rental listing descriptions, I’m amazed at how many short-term rental hosts fail to include photo captions in their listing descriptions. After all, photos will probably get […]

Optimizing Your Short-Term Rental Title/Headline

See all my articles on short-term-rental listing writing, including on titles/headlines, photo captions, opening paragraphs, the full listing description, and more. Along with your cover photo, the first aspect of your listing likely to catch a prospective guest’s attention is your title, also known as a headline. On Airbnb, this title is limited to 50 […]

How to Write a Killer Short-Term Rental Listing

See all my articles on short-term-rental listing writing, including on titles/headlines, photo captions, opening paragraphs, the full listing description, and more. Once a short-term rental property is physically ready to be listed on a platform such as Airbnb, VRBO, and perhaps others, the host faces two daunting tasks – getting enticing photos taken for the […]

Kat’s 2022 Book List

My goal used to be 52 books a year, but after I read 75 last year, I decided to keep striving for that number. (This year I read 52+ in fiction alone.) I ended up with 77 books this year, squeezing the 77th in by finishing it on Dec. 31, after my final public release […]

Kat’s 2021 Book List

As of Dec. 27, 2021 … I did something different this year; I wrote a review of each book as I finished reading it instead of waiting till the end of the year. One result is some reviews that are longer than what I’ve written in the past. The lists (fiction and nonfiction respectively) are […]

Kat’s 2020 Book List

I started compiling this list in early November on a day when I had several projects to complete but felt the need to procrastinate with a project more fun than those looming over me. At that point, I was making excuses for the paltriness of the list, even though I nearly doubled last year’s puny […]

How to Orchestrate Excellent Short-Term Rental Reviews

Few aspects of short-term rental (STR) hosting cause more stress than the quest for great reviews. Many hosts find the review systems on platforms like Airbnb and VRBO unfair and less-than-intelligent, while others refuse to succumb to the tyranny of reviews. For those hosts who care deeply about good reviews, this article offers tips on […]

Top 10 Features Guests Love at Hansen Woodland Farm

Location: On 40 beautiful, trail-laden acres a mile from the Lake Roosevelt (Columbia River) Recreation Area and 3 miles from the Colville National Forest. Near many hiking, boating, and fishing spots. Decor: This is the decor of bright, jewel-toned colors you never dared try at home. Accented with books and art, Hansen Woodland Farm is […]

Who Is Kathy in 2022?

I first created this post in 2019 (obviously had a different headline then), ignored it in 2020 and 2021, and decided to finally update it on this 2nd day of January, 2022. The original post appears below the line; this portion is an update to that post. This site still serves as a repository for […]

How Storytelling Enhances Online Teaching

Using stories and storytelling in online teaching is an underused method of increasing student engagement and interest.  Here are just five of many takeaways from recent writings about story in teaching: Present and encourage narrative in case studies. Case studies are inherently stories. In his book, How to Do Your Case Study, author Gary Thomas […]

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