5 Small Touches to Add to Your Vacation Rental that Guests Love!
When I first started my Airbnb, I really panicked over reviews. I knew from my personal life that online reviews are rarely objective. So many people love to harp on small discrepancies that it can cloud the actual experience of a place. If you have ever read a yelp review, you know what I am talking about! People just love to get triggered!
In a sincere effort to avoid this phenomenon, I interviewed all my family and friends about their best and worst experiences while traveling. While this was an entertaining exercise, I didn’t come up with a very good list of things I could do for my guests. After much exasperation, I did find a good source of information: other vacation rental owners! To be fair, each owner has their own point of view, and their own style of doing business. So this was not a fool proof method, however it did yield the right path for me. After a year of trial and error, these are the go-to, important items for guests. I based this list on the most frequently asked questions I received from guests and what was most frequently mentioned in reviews from my guests.
Wifi Password in plain sight. We are all hyper-connected nowadays, and nothing says “home” like connecting to the wifi automatically. I placed the password in a frame next to the television in the living area. It is easy for the guests to find, and nearly eliminates all questions.
Provide toothpaste and toothbrushes. I had a bunch of those samples from the dentist laying around so I threw them in a drawer in the bathroom. I can’t tell you how many glowing thank you’s I have received from this one thing. If I ever run out of freebies, I would gladly pay to add this because it generates such gratitude.
Spices and Oil in the Kitchen. I have been accused of being “unprofessional” by my cleaning staff for keeping this in the kitchen. They told me that the big companies do not allow any extras in the rental kitchens. My attitude is that this rental is my personal place, not some giant company. To them it is “unprofessional”, to me it is “homey” and “welcoming”. Whatever your thoughts on this, I have to side with the thankful reviews. In fact, so many guests appreciated the oil and spices, they actually requested that there be a wider assortment. I keep cooking non-stick spray, olive oil, salt, pepper and garlic powder. I also dared to keep mustard, ketchup and maple syrup in the refrigerator.
Coffee, Tea and Cream. This one may be obvious. In my humble opinion, the best way to have a good day is to start with a good morning. That usually means coffee for so many of us. I opted to stock my place with a keurig, k-cups and a few varieties of tea. I despise that powdered creamer business, so I purchased some of those restaurant style creamers that come in the tiny cups. I keep them in the refrigerator. I do know of one owner that opted to supply an actual carton of half and half for each guest. He said it mostly went unused and felt resentful when people didn’t thank him for his efforts. From this story, I learned to keep things as simple and easy as possible.
Keyless Entry. This will save you a mountain of heartache. Obviously, the solves the problems of lost or broken keys. However there are other benefits as well. In my opinion, the most valuable feature is the ability to change codes. This enables you to change or erase a code if you want to make sure someone cannot come back. I have separate codes for myself and the guests. It is also great because you can communicate the code via phone rather than needing to unlock the door in person. I have tried several versions of keyless locks and this one is my favorite by far. It is reliable and very easy to use. I will go into more specifics about keyless locks in another post because this topic has quite a few issues.
