Attention to detail and cleanliness of your property conveys to visitors that you care and that you love your home, whether you clean your vacation rental yourself or hire someone else to do it. Your guests’ satisfaction and a positive overall experience go hand in hand with maintaining your vacation rental to the highest standards of cleanliness.
Owners frequently overlook several areas of the house and neglect to clean them. Double-check household things like doorknobs, light switches, and cupboard handles when visitors check out because they can rapidly become dirty. Download the vacation rental cleaning checklist to ensure that nothing is missed or overlooked.
Construct Your Loyalty Scheme
One of the most thrilling aspects of a vacation can be the hotel stay. Going away includes the feeling of staying in a new place, a change of scenery, and a comfy bed.
It’s not by coincidence that visitors are made to feel like rock stars! Their fantastic experiences are the result of hotels that regularly provide superb customer service and are experts in their field.
There are many lessons for vacation rental operators to learn from luxury hotels! You may provide vacation rental guests with a five-star experience by adopting some of their strategies. Here are 10 methods to give your visitors the impression that they are in a hotel.
1. Keep an eye on your visitors
Some families might like to get to their vacation property, check-in, and then remain sedated. Others, on the other hand, want to sit down with you and pick your brains about all your local insider information, your favorite restaurants, and the rest.
The amount of comfort for both parties determines how they interact with visitors. However, staying in contact with your visitors at least once or twice while they’re there is crucial. There are numerous opportunities for hotel staff to “wow” guests as they interact with hotel guests throughout their stay. However, how do you give yourself the same opportunity?
They will know you care about their stay if you check in with them, even if it’s just a letter left in the mailbox, a casual text, or a phone call. If they do have a query or problem, they’ll feel comfortable sending you a message, giving you another opportunity to showcase your first-rate customer service. Because they know they can get in touch with you if there are any issues or if anything happens, guests will confide in you as a host and feel at peace.
2. Everything Begins with a Hello
The reason some of the top hotels in the world have such a stellar reputations is that they treat their customers with respect. Addressing a guest by name from the moment they check in or even when they make their reservation is a crucial customization strategy used by premium hotels.
The simplest method to make someone feel unique and demonstrate that they are more than simply a room number is to address them by name. In the vacation rental market, contact with guests can be far more intimate and personal than at a large-scale hotel.
By using the guests’ names to finish or start discussions (e.g., “Hey Mike, thanks for calling!” or “Good question Judy, let me clarify”), hosts can help visitors feel more at ease and less like strangers. Overall, it adds a personal touch and warmth.
3. Make checking in quick and simple.
Another method hotels provide five-star service is by making sure the check-in and check-out procedures are quick, welcoming, and stress-free. They are aware that visitors may have spent the day driving with grumpy children, dealing with canceled flights, and waiting in lengthy lines, and all they want is to get there safely.
You’ll have more chances to give them outstanding service before they enter the building if greeting the client upon check-in is a part of your check-in procedure. They will feel wanted and welcome if you smile at them when you greet them, respond to their inquiries, create eye contact with them, and show them about the house. A genuine and friendly face is always welcome after a long day of travel.
They probably won’t be pleased if they have to travel to a completely different location to pick up their keys or if they have to wait a long time. Making check-in quick and simple is a fantastic way to begin a holiday and will demonstrate to visitors that you appreciate their time.
4. Construct Your Loyalty Scheme
The goal of luxury hotels is to make visitors want to stay again. One of the main factors drawing visitors back to your rental after they’ve had a great time there will be your customer service.
Create your loyalty program by offering exclusive discounts, free nights, exclusive freebies, or any other incentive that is only available to repeat visitors to those who choose your home time and time again.
Customers are encouraged to choose your business over the other alternatives they have thanks to loyalty and rewards programs. To deliver five-star service, you don’t need a rewards card or points system, but demonstrating to customers that you cherish their loyalty will always entice them to return.
5. Pay attention and take action
Talking with the customer and learning more about them when making the reservation can also help you deliver five-star service. You may tailor their trip before they even arrive by finding out why they are going, who they are bringing with them, and whether they are celebrating anything special.
Hotels frequently place strawberries, champagne, and roses in the honeymoon suite. They may also include balloons and a modest gift for a child’s birthday. Owners of vacation rentals can easily do the same. Small gestures go a long way, and their guests always appreciate attentive hosts. Their reviews will undoubtedly reflect this.
Respond as soon as you can whenever a visitor asks a question or makes an inquiry. Why can’t you answer immediately if hotels can? Consider it similar to providing customer service. In return, your visitors will be at ease and leave you a favorable review.
6. Provide Food Options
Guests frequently like eating as many delectable meals as they can while on vacation. Since calories don’t count when you’re not at home, many visitors frequent the on-site and nearby restaurants frequently while they’re there.
Unfortunately, vacation homeowners may not have the time, money, or resources to prepare elaborate dinners to wow guests as hotels do. But even a small gesture, like providing visitors with recommendations for nearby eateries or pointing them in the direction of the nearest grocery store, can make a big difference.
Since breakfast is the most significant meal of the day, many tourists choose their lodging based on whether or not it offers a complimentary breakfast. Even though it might not be practical for you to serve a three-course breakfast to each visitor, having bagels, cereal, and toast available is a considerate touch that a weary traveler would enjoy.
7. Add the Important Facilities
If your visitors choose to stay in a vacation home rather than a hotel, it doesn’t necessarily imply they won’t demand excellent service. They demand a similar or even superior service in return. You ought to provide as many amenities as a hotel offers, if not more!
The bedroom will be our first stop. Provide soft cotton sheets, a cozy duvet, and pillows to ensure your guests enjoy a restful night’s sleep. For an enhanced appearance, add a cover and additional cushions to the top. Also, place chocolates on the pillows! Don’t overlook placing an alarm clock on the nightstand.
Include towels (the more, the better), a bath mat, slippers, and a bathrobe in the bathroom. Include essentials like toothpaste, shampoo, and shower gel.
Consider including a coffee maker, some newspapers, and magazines in the living or dining room. Even better, create your mini-bar! Give visitors some juices, sodas, and chocolates to savor. The fact that they won’t be concerned with the pricey check at the end is a plus.
Check out the list of 45 essential facilities for every vacation rental home if you want to wow your visitors.
8. Pay attention to cleanliness
Nothing ruins a trip like dusty or unclean surfaces. Luxury accommodations and well-established B&Bs have very strict housekeeping requirements and take cleanliness very seriously.
Attention to detail and cleanliness of your property conveys to visitors that you care and love your home, whether you clean your vacation rental or hire someone else to do it. Your guests’ satisfaction and a positive overall experience go hand in hand with maintaining your vacation rental to the highest standards of cleanliness.
Owners frequently overlook several areas of the house and neglect to clean them. Double-check household things like doorknobs, light switches, and cupboard handles when visitors check out because they can rapidly become dirty. Download the vacation rental cleaning checklist to ensure nothing is missed or overlooked.
9. Until Our Next Meeting
The opportunity to give outstanding service does not cease after a guest’s vacation. On the day of departure, hotels frequently place surveys asking for feedback in the rooms or send an electronic version via email shortly after the guests check out.
This feedback helps management identify what they’re doing well and where they can improve, which is essential for the hotel’s expansion and ongoing success. Why not use the same strategy for your vacation home? You have the advantage of being able to personally reply to all of the criticism you get, unlike hotels that receive hundreds of these every day.
Don’t distribute a pre-written, generic message. Instead, be personal, refer to the information you gathered about the visitor from your contact, resolve any problems they might have had, and don’t forget to extend an invitation to them to return. You should study email marketing from the pros as luxury hotels are experts at it. By emailing exclusive offers and information to past visitors, you can keep yourself top-of-mind and, ideally, encourage them to plan another trip.
10. Present a Thank You Gift
What do most people, particularly visitors, adore? Gifts! While it is common for hotels to provide their guests with amenities, many go above and beyond any reasonable expectation.
While some hotels leave complimentary bottles of water, coffee, or even wine in the rooms for visitors, others leave travel-size bottles of sunscreen or bug spray. Some hotels even go so far as to provide amenities that visitors might have neglected to carry, such as shaving kits, books, headphones, toothbrushes, and other comforts.
At your vacation home, give your visitors a welcome package with items like travel-sized toiletries, tea, vouchers for pizza delivery, or pool toys (for homes with swimming pools.) Include thoughtful gifts like eye masks and phone chargers to earn additional brownie points. By renting your home, the guest may feel like they have struck it rich.
What to Remember
People take vacations to feel pampered, at ease, and comfortable, making the travel industry the relationship industry. As a vacation rental owner, one of the most important things you can do is to make your tenants feel heard, appreciated, and important. Finding methods to connect with visitors, listen to them, and engage with them so they feel like more than simply a reservation is the secret to providing five-star service, as we can learn from hotels that are doing it well.
It’s not by accident that high-end resorts, bed and breakfasts, and vacation homes are always busy and receive positive internet reviews. They differentiate themselves from the competition by giving their actions and methods a lot of thought. You’ll be able to provide the same 5-star experience as hotels do if you have these ten things.
