The Lucky Seven

The Basics, that's what we are here to talk about. Not just the basics, but the essential basics. Essential and basic are pretty much the same word right? Well, today we are giving them that peanut butter and jelly relationship. Today we are going to talk about the seven basic essentials that you need to make sure that your vacation rental guests enjoy their getaway. I want to be clear here, this isn't to bring them back, this isn't to help your vacation rental stand out, this is strictly for guest management.

Whoops, did I say guest management? I meant guest relations. 😃 Seriously, sometimes we need to manage our guests. Manage their expectations, manage their time, but most importantly help them manage their getaway. The first step in helping your guests manage their getaway you ask? Make it easy. First of all, allow your guest to check-in 24 hours a day. What if their flight gets delayed, what if they were in a car accident, what if they got lost due to your poor directions? WHAT? Make it happen!! 24  hour, (keyless entry) check-in is key to your guests experience.

So, now that we have check-in out of the way, let's get to these other essentials!

2. WiFi
Your guests need to be able to tweet this and tweet that, and of course connect with their work colleagues and families at homes. If you don't have WiFi at your vacation rental and a high quality router with a good connection, you are missing out on easily captured revenue as well as diminishing your guests experience.

3.Welcome Guide
In this day and age we are finding more and more digital welcome guides or books than paper, and probably for good reason. The younger travelers are all about using any information that they can find digitally first. All of our guests get both, they get a digital guide book and we have a short but healthy welcome book in all of our properties. We have personalized these books based on the location of the property, type of property, and our personal favorite restaurants, adventures, etc in the area. All of the welcome books are the same with different information, keep it simple so it's not too much work.

4.Toiletries + Hair Dryer
Well this is a novel idea. Does it annoy you when you go on vacation and you think there is no possibility that they won't have a hair dryer in the home, and then you get there and you can't find on ANYWHERE! Seriously, how is that even possible in 2019? You can buy one at Goodwill if you are that cheap for $5. Basic toiletries is another hot spot for me; shampoo, conditioner, hand soaps at the sinks, paper towels, toilet paper should all be included in your rental. I'm not saying that you have to provide for the guest's entire vacation, but at least provide a starter package so when they arrive they have soap to wash their hands after getting off a 10 hour flight with a bunch of sick kids. 🙄

5.Family Accessories
If your niche is not families then you probably don't need to worry much here, but things like childproof dinnerware, highchairs, pack n' plays and baby gates can make a huge difference in your guests experience. Can you tell me the easiest way to bring a family together? Let's hope you guessed a board-game or card games, puzzles, dice, books, or probably all of the above!!!  It's so easy to grab some fun games from your own closet or Target and fill a game closet over time.

6. Washer & Dryer
If you are anything like me you probably want to wash your dirty clothes prior to coming home, so it's easy to unpack. With this well functioning washer and dryer should come laundry detergent as well.

7.Iron and Ironing Board
I did say that we were talking about the basics at the very beginning of this blog, so please don't be surprised that this is on the list. Vacation rentals should not be without and iron and ironing board, please read that again if you don't have one in yours currently and then run out and get one.

Pretty basic right? These are all simple fixes if you do not have any of these items, put them on your list and make them a priority. Investing in your rental- if you want to call the basics investing- is important, but that's a whole different subject. 🤐

Thank you for reading and I hop you enjoyed my hint of sarcasm.