---
name: listing-description-refresh
description: Rewrites a vacation-rental listing for Airbnb, Vrbo, Booking.com, or a direct-booking site, including the title, summary, the space, guest access, neighborhood, and other things to note, within each platform's character limits. Use when someone pastes an existing listing, asks for new listing copy or title ideas, says a listing is underperforming, or wants a description for a newly onboarded property.
author: All Booked
tags: [marketing, writing]
version: 1.0.0
updated: 2026-10-28
---

# Listing description refresh

Rewrite listing copy so it converts the people who are already looking, instead of describing the house to no one in particular. Guests decide in the first two lines and the photos; the rest of the description exists to remove doubts.

## Gather first

Work from whatever the user gives you. If you have fewer than three of these, ask for the ones that matter most for this property before writing.

- Current listing text, or a plain list of features
- Bedrooms, beds, baths, max guests, square footage if known
- The one thing that makes this property different (view, hot tub, walkability, game room, fenced yard, dock)
- Who books it most (families, couples, remote workers, groups, pet owners)
- Distance or drive time to the two or three things guests come for
- Known friction: stairs, no AC, shared driveway, strict quiet hours, road noise
- Platform, if the copy is for one in particular

## Platform limits

| Platform | Title | Summary | Full description |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Airbnb | 50 characters | 500 characters (shows first) | 32,000 characters across sections |
| Vrbo | 100 characters | none | 10,000 characters |
| Booking.com | 100 characters | none | 4,000 characters |
| Direct site | fit the design | 160 characters for the meta description | no limit |

Check these against the platform before publishing; limits change. If the user names no platform, write to Airbnb's limits, since they are the tightest.

## Write

1. **Title.** Give three options. Lead with the feature guests search for, then the location cue, then capacity if it fits. No "cozy," "charming," "stunning," "nestled," or all caps. Numbers and specifics beat adjectives: "Hot Tub + Lake View · 4BR Steps From the Marina" not "Stunning Cozy Lakeside Retreat."
2. **Summary (first 500 characters).** The sentence a guest reads before tapping "show more." Answer: who is this for, what will they do here, and what is the one thing they cannot get next door. End before the character cap, on a full sentence.
3. **The space.** Walk through the house the way a guest moves through it: arrival, main living area, kitchen, bedrooms (with bed sizes), bathrooms, outdoor areas. Bullet points are fine. Every room mention earns a reason to care ("king bed with blackout curtains," not "king bed").
4. **Guest access.** What is theirs, what is shared, how they get in. Plain and unambiguous.
5. **The neighborhood and getting around.** Drive times to the things they came for. Name specific places. Skip the tourism-board paragraph.
6. **Other things to note.** Put the friction here, honestly: stairs, no AC, quiet hours, pet rules, cameras on the exterior (required disclosure on most platforms). A surprise in person becomes a bad review; a disclosure in the listing becomes a non-issue.

## Rules

- Never claim an amenity the user did not list. If you think one is missing (coffee maker, parking, Wi-Fi speed), ask or mark it `[confirm]`.
- Never state a view, distance, or walk time you were not given.
- No superlatives you cannot back up ("the best," "world-class," "perfect").
- Second person ("you'll") beats third person ("guests will").
- Short paragraphs; one idea each. The description is read on a phone.
- Keep the owner's or manager's name and any contact details out of the copy. Platforms remove listings for it.

## Output

Return the sections in order, each labeled, with a character count after the title options and the summary. Then a short list of anything to confirm before publishing.