Do Your Amenities Change Your Target Audience?

[Daniel Beckius]

Besides location, I am convinced that the amenities that you provide in your vacation rental can change the demographic / audience of guests drastically. 

Example: I had a pool table in the dining room of my airbnb (only bar tables for eating).  I had amazing feedback on the pool table and people booked the place just for it!  But over time, people kept spilling drinks on the pool table, bachelor and bachelorette parties kept booking my place.  That audience caused so much more headache than a couple or small family would.  So, I removed the pool table, and replaced it with a large dining table.  I bought a bunch of board games and puzzles then advertised those as an amenity.  As a result, my occupancy increased, more families and couples booked stays, and way less people came to my place to party.  

Do you agree with this?  Do you have any recommendations on amenities that will attract responsible low impact guests over the riffraff? 

[Bruce Woodruff]

Absolutely your amenities will attract different folks! A pool/spa as well as a pool table will get you more of the party crowd...and also maybe more $$. But more problems as well.

We keep it simple and basic - TV, board games, puzzles. Different coffee options. BBQ out back. Cornhole boards. Family stuff.

One of our places has 4 bedrooms, so we could sleep 8 people. But as one of our neighbors said "8 sounds like a party"....so we took the 2 upstairs bedrooms and made them into an Office and 'Yoga Room'. No regrets in doing that at all. We continue to have great guests who respect the property, and we get almost as much as we would if we had 4 BRs (based on my research on the AIR & VRBOs sites).

I could see if you have a lake or ocean place and all your competitors have certain amenities, but otherwise, keep it simple....