Everyone loves when they book their homes. The communication that occurs between time of booking and arrival is very back and forth leading up to your guests arrival. Regardless of the amount of information about the home and area you provide, renters will still have a million questions for you. As a homeowner, you have now become a person of the hospitality industry. It is important that you have the mindset in place to provide the best service and needs of your guests and how you can make their stay a 5-star rating. The best question is to ask yourself, what would you expect if you were renting someones home.
Something that I personally do and also tell prospective clients that manage their own homes is once the guests arrive, if you do not open the home for them and even if you do, either stop by or call within the first 24 hours. FaceTime is extremely important. It puts a face to the home and not just an online experience. Respect is higher and homes are better taken care of. I personally like to bring a bottle of wine, bubbles for the kids, etc. It’s a nominal amount to spend and very much appreciated by guests. At that point, you can check and see if your guests have everything they need, if their expectations were met and overall their general feeling.
If there is any issue you will find out immediately. Sometimes, cleaners have missed things, not enough towels and/or they feel the house was misrepresented. Most of the time, they are happy and everything is perfect. There is always one person who may feel cheated or unhappy. When this happens, you are able to address the issue if any within a reasonable amount of time after their arrival. In my experience in the beginning when working for other people, I’ve found out after the guests had left, they needed extra blankets or paper products. Something that could’ve easily been fixed but instead they left with not a 5 star mindset. It was an easy fix. You may think something that small, isn’t a big deal, but every guests has different expectations and it’s important to make sure each individuals needs are met.
How a renter feels will affect how they rate your home after they leave. Ratings as we’ve mentioned in the past affect everything. Your listing could be paused, lower on the list and just overall looked over. There is so much competition nowadays. It’s very unfortunate but almost all communication stops the minute upon a guests arrival. It is a huge mistake when owners and/or managers do this! Even though they are renting a home, renters still expect a hotel style service. Minus any major issues that could arise when renting home, it’s nice to make guests feel that they are treated like a VIP guest. On the other hand, guests do not want to be constantly bothered by homeowners and they are entitled to their privacy. So you need to make sure there is a balance of hospitality and not being an overbearing owner.
Being an owner/property manager can be quite the balancing act. You want to make sure who is renting is who they say they are. How many people in the home is the correct amount and if you do not allow events or social gatherings that that is not happening at your home. Those issues are very rare. Most importantly you want your guests to have such a wonderful time, that they chose your home when they come back to the area.
