Guests have so many options when it comes to where to stay and the vacation rental home market. Because of this, doing the absolute minimum isn’t always going to lead to the turn out that you’re hoping for; an example would be a sold-out holiday.
There are several things that you can do to market and advertise your home: the best – other than a positive reputation – being the spread of digital or in-person chatter. The quickest way to achieve this is with a friendly, hospitable atmosphere.
Communication is essential for making guests feel welcomed and comfortable. If a guest is constantly worried or concerned, then they’re not comfortable, and you want your guests to feel comfortable. Keep in mind that people are entering your home, rather than a hotel so that it can be weird for them, but you can soothe their mind by using good communication.
Below you’ll find some tips that you can use to help make your guests feel comfortable the moment they arrive at the moment they leave that will leave long-lasting impressions to rave about with their family and friends.
Communication Happens Before Arrival
Communication begins even before the guest enters your home. This is because you have to describe your home accurately; this prevents there from being any surprises when the guests first enter the property. An example being listing if there are multiple floors in the home. Alternatively, if there is construction down the road from your house, be clear about it all.
You might also want to try making sure that there are no lingering questions – for example, how to gain access to the house – before the guests start their travel. It’s important that you are accessible at all hours of the day every day. If you find that you’re unable to maintain that availability, consider hiring a handler who can do it.
Greet Each Guest as They Arrive
If you can, it’s always nice to leave a letter welcoming your guests when they arrive. This makes your guests feel comfortable and welcomed into your home. You can do this with physical paper, or you can install home tablets that let you leave behind digital notes.
If your guests are arriving from a distant geographical location, which most might be, provide some safety tips about the climate. This could be as simple as a warning about high altitude in the area and some of the side effects of the altitude change.
The most important thing for you to do is to make sure that your visitors feel safe and welcomed into your home. If a physical or digital letter isn’t possible, you can give them a call the day of their arrival or send them an email.
Welcome Books
A successful welcome book is easy to read, friendly, attractively laid out, and structured enough so that your guests will feel welcomed and comfortable. This welcome book should also be attractively designed so that a guest will see it the moment that they walk through the front door. It should also list important information on the first page – e.g., contact numbers and the internet password – and contain a list of your local recommendations.
You might even use the welcome book as a way to remind your guests of the house rules and tell them how to use entertainment systems and appliances that they might find in your house.
Having an understandable and comprehensive guidebook makes it so that your guests have fewer unanswered questions and more time to relax and enjoy themselves.
Leave a Gift for Their Arrival
Leaving gifts for your guests to find is an amazing way to support locally owned business and celebrate local culture. Some great options include small bottles of wine or packages of locally roasted coffee beans, baked goods, or candy that are unique to the area, and fresh flowers that are native to your state or city.
This might sound a bit lofty, or you might not have the time to go to your properties enough to refill the gifts. If this is your case, you might want to think about partnering with the local businesses to get certificates that you can leave with your welcome book.
If you end up working with a property handler, you shouldn’t be nervous about requesting them to personalize gifts for your guests! This can include wine or stationery that will be left behind for your guests to appreciate once they walk through the door.
Use Your Décor as an Interactive Experience
Having a guest book that your guests can sign is always a great lasting touch to the décor of a vacation rental property. Current guests can see what earlier guests recommend from their stays, and they can read about some of the previous guests’ best memories of their holiday.
Additionally, you could leave a map where guests can pin the city they are visiting. Seeing how many guests have pinned the map will make them feel apart of something larger than themselves.
Taking time to make sure that each of your guests feels welcomed at your vacation rental home can help them have a personalized and unique experience that they are dying to tell their friends about. Remember that the best advertisement is word of mouth, so creating an atmosphere that promotes the feelings of comfort can help with your rental home’s advertisement.
Using transparency about your home, what guests should expect, and welcoming them with gifts and a letter are all things that can help make people want to stay at your vacation rental home.
Hopefully, you were able to learn more about how to make your guests feel welcomed and comfortable during their stay at your vacation rental home just by communicating. You might have noticed that communication is key to making your guests’ visit incredible and stress-free. Plus, it helps make it so that you don’t have to answer a ton of questions upon their arrival.
