17 Jul 2021 / by admin / in BUSINESS

6 Ways to Improve the Vacation Rental Business’s Guest Experience

During the Christmas holidays in 2018, my sister and I planned a trip to Rome. It was our first time booking an Airbnb, but it also turned out to be the worst and last time. The experience was horrible since the hosts, who were supposed to be a pair, did not exist, and the lone host was a strange man who pretended to be Natacha’s boyfriend! The sheets were not immaculately clean, and no breakfast was served, despite the fact that it was advertised as part of the package when we booked it. However, it was not all of it! The water was freezing the first time we tried to shower, and I had a cold shower in December. Finally, it was only because of the Pantone he gave us that we forgot about our horrible experience and did not file a complaint or give a negative review.

This demonstrates the importance of the guest experience. A sinister Airbnb host gave his visitors a bad time, but the single modest gift he offered them kept them from spreading their unhappiness. The hotel industry places a premium on creating an unforgettable guest experience. But, in a vacation rental business, what is the visitor experience and how can it be improved?

What exactly is a guest’s experience?

The customer experience of a hospitality firm is referred to as the guest experience. The way my sister and I were handled, how we felt about the host’s dishonesty in presenting himself, the chilly shower, and Pantone we got at the end of our Airbnb stay are all part of the guest experience we experienced.

According to a Superoffice poll, 1,920 company people rank customer experience as one of their top concerns.

What is the Value of a Positive Guest Experience?

As a result of the poor visitor experience, Ezeeabsolute points out the loss of clients to your competitors. It determines whether your hospitality-related firm is suffering as a result of the loss of:

Guests
Revenue
Reputation

More guests, income, and a better reputation will result from improving your vacation rental guest experience.

1. Increasing the Number of Recurring Visitors

The more delighted your guests are, the higher the number of repeat visitors will be. Customer retention in the hospitality industry starts with actions to improve your vacation rental experience, and the ideal customer retention strategy for your vacation rental is visitor happiness.

2. Increased Profits

For a better customer experience, customers are willing to pay more. You can differentiate yourself from your competitors and charge more fees if you provide higher-quality services at your vacation rental. No one regrets paying a higher price in exchange for a better experience.

Superoffice refers to a recent study by the Temkin Group that concluded that organisations with annual revenues of $1 billion will see a 70 percent boost in sales after investing in customer experience within 36 months.

3. More guests, more referrals

Customers that are pleased with their service are prepared to tell their friends about it. Customer retention refers to the likelihood that happy guests will recommend your vacation rental to their friends if they consider it to be good value for money.

What Makes a Vacation Rental Guest Experience Unique?

You must understand that improving the visitor experience is a continuous responsibility for you and your team as vacation rental management. As a short-term rental manager, you must look after specific parts of your business in order to provide a five-star guest experience. Some of the most important are listed below:

Communication
A Simple Booking Procedure
Cleanliness
Amenities
A place that is well-kept
The Value of Details

In a vacation rental business, how can you improve the guest experience?

Communication is an art form.

Effective communication with future, current, and former visitors will significantly improve your guest experience and, as a result, your revenue.

Currently Visiting Guests:

Do not wait until the last few days or hours before your new guests arrive to communicate with them. Start a conversation with them to let them know you care about their vacation rental booking experience. Make sure that newbies get all of the necessary information before they arrive.
How do you interact with your visitors? It’s usually a good idea to demonstrate that you recall their name and reservations. You’ll then choose whether or not to address them by their last name.
Pay attention to your guests during their stay and make an effort to be available and accessible in the event of an emergency.
If guests are dissatisfied with the service, listen to them and rectify any issues as soon as possible.
Request feedback and reviews from your guests on Airbnb or your website. “In 2020, 87 percent of consumers will read online evaluations for local businesses, up from 81 percent in 2019,” according to Bright Local.
To be ready to respond to visitor requests, make sure you and your employees are aware of the details of your properties.

Previous Visitors:

Your former visitors are a valuable asset to your vacation rental company, and you want to keep them coming back. During the booking process, create a guest CRM or purchase CRM software. Try to remember as much as you can about them, including their favourite cuisine and their anniversary date.
Set up email marketing campaigns and provide appealing discounts and customer loyalty awards to your prior guests.
Inform them about the festivals that take place in the vicinity of your houses.
Inform them whether travel to your location is not prohibited due to lockdown restrictions.

Guests in the Future:

Increase your exposure by promoting your local attractions on social media. Use social media tools to engage your audience.
Keep COVID-19 regulations up to date on your website and social media platforms.
Use live chat tools and chatbots to reduce the time it takes for visitors to respond to your website.

A Simple Booking Procedure

The ability to provide a smooth and flawless booking procedure has a significant impact on the guest experience. Check-ins that are painless and check-outs that are simple always leave a positive impression. Guests should not be required to fill out lengthy check-in forms during the online check-in procedure. Some of the musts include providing visitors with precise and on-time check-in instructions and promptly refunding the security deposit if there are no damage or breakages to the property following their check-out.
In the COVID-19 era, self check-in was a critical part of every accommodation provider and improved the client experience.

Rentals that are immaculately clean

Any vacation rental business owner must understand the value of a thoroughly cleaned house to guests. Hygiene standards may change from one person to the next and from one culture to the next. In my case, the creepy guy washed the linens in a domestic washing machine, despite the fact that hairs on linens are no longer acceptable for today’s hygiene standards in the hotel business.
(In a post titled Remotely Monitor Your Airbnb’s Cleanliness, Votiko has put together a free checklist; read the blog and download the checklist for free.)
During the COVID-19 pandemic, sanitation and health precautions changed slightly. Guests need to know that you are concerned about their well-being during the pandemic.

A place that is well-kept

When people reserve a vacation rental, they are looking for a home experience, not for the messy days of every home when the pipes burst! Increase the quality of your in-room amenities. Your guests will not be impressed with a vacation rental with leaking faucets, broken furnishings, or an unkempt landscape.

Amenities That Are Important

The required amenities for vacation rental properties vary depending on the segmentation of their potential guests. Some of them were addressed in 5 Things to Look for When Choosing Arbitrage Properties.

You must also prepare for the arrival of business travellers by planning ahead of time and equipping your rentals with the amenities and services that these travellers require. Again, it all depends on your niche and your visitors’ expectations.

(You can also get a list of corporate housing firms that can assist in the search for business travellers during the pandemic: How to Attract More Business Travellers: A Free List of the Top 10 Corporate Housing Companies.)

The Value of Details

Paying attention to the smallest details can make a big difference. Sending a handwritten message to a former favourite visitor, providing tiny gifts such as chocolates, or stocking the fridge with a few items for your business guests are just a few examples of paying attention to the small things that may make a big difference in the guest experience. Ignoring hairs on the sheets and providing the Panetone were two examples of a terrible and good guest experience in the creepy guy’s case.

Conclusion

In the hospitality sector, customer experience is the same as guest experience. Improving your vacation rental business’s visitor experience boosts your ROI and is a win-win investment. We explored various aspects of the visitor experience in this article, as well as six ideas to improve the guest experience at your rentals. There will undoubtedly be challenges in putting all of the suggestions into practice. We’d love to hear about your adventures!

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