How to Surprise Guests Offering a Unique Guest Experience in Vacation Rental?

Offering a unique guest experience is extremely essential if you want to thrive in the competitive world of vacation rentals. It is hard to scale the guest experience but it isn’t impossible. The experience of your guests is the key to your success. It can yield better reviews and ratings. It will also increase referrals and customer loyalty thereby driving more revenue per listing. Offering a great customer experience can require some sort of investment from you. It can be in the form of time and resources. However, it will certainly provide you an edge over your competitors. 

Below slides give some quick tips on creating a unique positive guest experience; check them out now! 

Activities to offer a Unique Guest Experience in Vacation Rental

Some simple activities can change your guests’ experience that you can afford. Check out the activities below that can provide a unique guest experience to your vacation rental’s guests.

1. Personalize their stay

Having good communication with your guests will make you learn more about them. This information will assist you in tailoring your hospitality in order to create a memorable stay for them. For instance, if a couple is celebrating their anniversary, they will definitely seek a unique experience in comparison to those holidaying with their children or parents. 

2. Surprise your guests with thoughtful presents 

If you want to showcase your hospitality skills in the best way possible, then you can consider surprising your guests with a welcome gift basket inside local food and wine, handwritten notes, and gifting them seasonal items such as tickets to a fall festival or a bike rental service. Taking care of small things can help them create a personalized, memorable stay at your vacation home rental. They will never forget that you took care of the details and did all you could to make their vacation special and these activities will make a unique guest experience.

3. Focus on providing good food 

You should never ever ignore what kind of food you serve to your guests for breakfast. This is when you are providing a free breakfast service. Make sure to offer a beautiful presentation of local baked goods, eggs, and fresh fruits. You can also include instant coffee mix and tea bags in their room. They will truly appreciate this gesture from your end. 

4. Quick response

Nothing can spoil the vacation mood for travelers like not receiving a proper response on time from the property owner or property management team they are relying on. After studying several unique guest experiences, it was found that most of the travelers commented that they wished if the managers communicated with them in a timely manner. They expected a quicker response time from the team. 

5. Offering nonstop services 

Once a guest has checked in to your vacation home doesn’t simply imply that your job ends there. In fact, this is when you need to jump into action. You have to take this opportunity to offer them a unique guest experience possible. Having pre-arrival correspondence for assisting your guests shows that you are an expert in managing your business and you do care about your guests rather than just focusing on your profits. Offering a welcome home kit can work wonders. If there are kids in the group, then you can include kids’ activity books and storybooks in the welcome kit. You can include snacks and water bottles for them. If it is summer, then including sunscreen lotion can also be a great decision. Offering discounted tickets to theme parks in the welcome kit or simply when the guests are heading out can be a great decision too. Provide assistance in all ways you can to keep your guests happy and satisfied with their stay. 

6. Ensure the safety of your guests 

If your region is prone to sudden weather changes, then make sure to do your best to assist your guests in such events and ensure their safety. You can provide your guests with umbrellas and raincoats in case they need it. A small gesture can work wonders in fetching positive reviews. 

7. 5-star communication 

Apart from a cleanly maintained property, your guests are looking for honest and clear communication from you. The communication begins way before they check-in to your property and should be well-maintained throughout their stay. Always be available or have someone answer their queries. Also, some other small initiatives can make your vacation rental a 5-star experience.

8. Offer personalized recommendations 

If your guests don’t have any travel history to your city, then make sure to assist them in every possible way. You can provide them recommendations of places they can cover in the city, good restaurants, café, bars, theme parks, local delicacies, and everything else that applies to your case. This will truly be appreciated by the travelers choosing your vacation home. You can type the information and take a print of it whenever needed. 

9. Little things that have a big impact 

Impeccable customer service will surely skyrocket your popularity amongst travelers. Make sure that the advertising platforms have an accurate representation of your property. Send a brochure of the things to do and everything else that you can think of to keep your guests excited even before they arrive. You can provide additional services such as grocery shopping, gourmet dinners, and a lot more to provide a pleasant experience to your guests. 

10. Give a taste of local life 

What works the best amongst travelers is offering them a sneak peek into the local life. Travelers are naturally curious about the lifestyle of locals. People seek cultural adventures and are bound to have a great time learning something that they haven’t heard of. During bad weather or slow times, you can introduce guests to local games or encourage them to try out new recipes at the barbeque. There is a lot that you can do to make their experience special. 

11. Stock the fridge with basics 

If you want to make a lasting impression on your guests, then consider stocking the fridge with local produce or delicacies. You can leave a note on the counter. This will certainly have a lasting impression on your guests. If your guests are arriving late at night, they would obviously be exhausted due to a long day of travel. Including light snacks and beverages will certainly touch their heart. 

12. Make it all-inclusive 

If you want your guests to walk back from your vacation home with pleasant memories of their stay, then make sure to accommodate their requests without charging any additional cost. For instance, you can provide free access to a washing machine, special kitchenware, a change of bed linen, and an extra towel. You can also specify clearly what is being offered for free and what is chargeable. 

13. Contests and training 

If your guests are staying at your property for a laidback vacation, then you can try to make their stay more interesting by running contests and by organizing training. For instance, you can run a social media contest by asking them to share a positive experience about their stay on their social media handles. You can also give them training on how to cook local delicacies. These activities can make their stay more memorable and fun. 

14. Do not ignore the basics 

It is good to experiment with new things to surprise your guests. However, you need to remember that you cannot go wrong with the basics. You need to do all you can to make booking the vacation rental as easy as possible. You need to make sure that your online listing is accurate and complete with photos. Accept reservations both online and offline. Make sure that the property is instantly bookable and keep your calendars up to date. 

Respond to queries as soon as possible. Provide a unique code to guests to access the property. Make sure to maintain cleanliness on the premises all the time. Hire cleaners who do their job well. They will also have a role to play in providing an experience to your guests. If they don’t do their job well, then your image will be affected as well. Do a regular inspection of the cleaning jobs. Double-check all the supplies that you are offering to your guests. 

15. Make critical information accessible 

During the initial stages of communication, do not provide your guests with tons of information in the form of lengthy emails. The guests may never read them and in the end, will pose a million questions to the property manager or the host. This can be a frustrating experience for both parties involved. The best thing you can do is make information accessible so that the guests can take a look if needed. You can provide them a digital guidebook that they can access from their mobile phone. You can share it with them as soon as they arrive at the airport or your property. This will ensure a positive experience and subsequently will attract positive reviews from them. 

The vacation rental industry is quite competitive and the best way to lead the pack is by providing stellar unique guest experiences. There are various tools available that you can use to improve guest experience choosing your property. Whether it is with providing local recommendations, offering a luxurious welcome kit, adding top amenities, being available 24/7, the experiences that you offer will tremendously impact the reputation of your vacation rental.