Travelers often pick an Airbnb to make their stay feel “magical” or to create an overall unique experience. There are many ways an Airbnb host can help to elevate a guest’s experience. Here are three simple tips for a host to boost the guest experience: creating a welcoming and personalized atmosphere to making them feel appreciated for staying with you. This small gesture will increase the likelihood of positive reviews, friend references, and even a return stay.
Personalize their Stay
When a guest books an Airbnb, hosts can ask simple questions like “What is the purpose of your stay?” Asking this is a great way to gain valuable information from your guest that you could use to personalize their stay and, therefore, make it more memorable. Maybe they are on a getaway, traveling with a friend, or even on their honeymoon. You take advantage of this information to prepare a welcome basket, recommendation book/blinder, and perhaps even your decorations. These are small items that you can put together that can significantly impact the guest experience.
While it may take a little more effort to make a welcome basket or a recommendation book for your guests, the result is worth your time. You create a more memorable experience for your guest and a better review for the host (a win-win for both parties).
Welcome Basket
People always say the first impression matters; this is also true for Airbnb hosts. Guests arrive at your Airbnb for the first time; you want them to have a memorable time at your property. The best way to leave the first impression is to welcome them with a personalized “Welcome Basket.” This is a technique that hotels utilize to greet their guest, making their stay more personalized. Airbnb has a whole guide on guide on crafting a Welcome Gift. Here are things we think should be included in your basket:
- Local treats or fruits
- Small souvenirs
- Personalized welcome note
Local treats and fruits can be inexpensive and easily accessible to the host and are a great way to kickstart your guest’s vacation with a snack. You could either purchase or even make the treat yourself to make it extra special, giving your guest a first taste of the local favors. Small souvenirs like keychains, fridge magnets, or desk decor are great gifts for your guest to take home. It also serves as a reminder of the wonderful stay they had at your Airbnb.
Coupled with a personalized welcome, a note is the best way to welcome your guest. A simple personalized handwritten welcome card can leave a long-lasting impression and help to improve the guest experience. This could be accompanied by a Welcome message. Here are our previous blogs on creating a beautiful welcome message and Five Welcoming Messages To Send Your Airbnb Guests.
While it may seem like a lot of work to craft a welcome basket, preparing the treats, souvenirs, and personalized welcome notes for every guest helps to make that first impression feel special, leaving the guest with a memorable stay at your Airbnb.
Welcome booklet
Generally, Airbnb hosts often have a blinder or booklet containing valuable information for their guests. Information that you can include inside the booklet are:
- Access code to areas
- Guest Wifi password
- Your contact information
- Instruction for home appliances
- Airbnb House rules
If you want to learn more, here is a Complete Guide. You could also craft a recommendations page, for example, restaurants, hidden gems, and historical sites for your guests to visit. This provides a more ‘localized’ recommendation for your guest to help to discover new areas they could visit.
Take a bit of your time researching places like restaurants, beaches, and historical sites. By going the extra mile, you can create a full booklet of places you could recommend to your guest. To create this booklet page, all you need is a picture, the location to visit for themselves, and a description or history of the area, giving them the location’s background. This helps to provide them with a ‘local’ recommendation to places they could visit and save their time on research.
There are great deals of guides and tools to help you craft your own beautiful Airbnb welcome booklet. But if you aren’t the hands-on or artsy type, you could always get the booklet design from someone. Etsy has a load of Welcome Booklets that you order from different artists.
Functional decorations
Functional decorations are items that help add atmosphere to the house and have functional use to them. These are simple decorations that you could use to personalize their stay and heighten the guest experience.
For example, if they are on their honeymoon, you could put some candles that could be decorative and used for mood lighting. Scented candles can add certain fragrances to fit the theme of your Airbnb like an ocean breeze. But if you want something more reusable and less dangerous, flameless candles are great alternatives. You could also purchase some cheap locally brewed wine or chocolate to place in the living room. These items help to add atmosphere and can be snacked on by the guest.
Another example, if a family is staying over, you may want to consider their kids. If your Airbnb is near the beach, you may want to decorate the house with toys like sand shoves, bodyboards, or snorkels. The decoration not only adds elements to your Airbnb, but the family staying over could bring them to the beach. These decorations are reusable and straightforward to make their stay more personalized and improve the guest experience.
Don’t be limited
Nevertheless, Airbnb hosts can do many things to help personalize the experience of their guests. By utilizing the guest’s information to craft a welcome basket, welcome booklet, and decorating your Airbnb, you significantly increase the guest experience. There are endless ways to make your guest feel welcome, and these are only the start of what you can do for your guest. Be creative with the information that your guest provide and make it the Airbnb experience they would remember.
However, the essential part of building a great guest experience is with a clean Airbnb. Nothing ruins the atmosphere more than a cluttered countertop. Turno can help you get your Airbnb clean by providing a platform to schedule, pay, and communicate with a cleaner. To make it easier for you to start improving your guest experience at your Airbnb.
