It’s the responsibility of the owner that the guests have the time of their lives and a vacation rental welcome letter is a good starting point. If you have an impactful first impression, you can easily build up upon it. And as they say, ‘well begun is half done’ you can get an inch closer to getting that 5-star rating and a positive review.
The answer to the question, “What makes you stand above your competitors?” lies in the details. Like Mr. Holmes might have said, It’s elementary, my dear Watson! These fine details say a lot more about you as an owner than many other aspects of your property. The guest’s might not use the entire property; however, they’ll definitely read the welcome letter. So, grab this chance to woo them.
To discover the secret mantra behind the perfect vacation rental welcome letter; browse through the slides below now!
How to craft a welcome letter for vacation rental guests?
Do something that will surprise your guests. A letter costs next to nothing but some time. Something as common and simple as a welcome basket might even cost you at least $30, but a letter if free. However, the amount of personal touch it brings to your property is priceless. Your guests will feel the love and warmth with which you are welcoming them to your property and it will make them feel at home. So, let’s look at what makes a vacation rental welcome letter the game-changer.
Go analog…
In this era of digital this and digital that, some things are best in their traditional format. The beauty of a hand-delivered vacation rental welcome rental can never be mimicked by a digital one.
It is a trend to send everything via email these days. But that doesn’t ensure that your guest reads it. If you hand it over in person, then the chances may increase. In case you are not present nearby the location yourself, entrust this task to your property manager.
A printed or a handwritten welcome letter touches hearts. If you have handwritten ones, ensure that they are legible and the text is stylistically written. You may hire a professional writer for that. If it is a printed one, then make sure the font is not bold or all caps. You don’t want to shout at your guests, do you? Follow the basics of online writing rules.
Customized to every guest’s liking…
Remember, you are not buying staples in bulk. You want to create a unique experience for your guests. Each guest is unique. Your letter should celebrate their uniqueness. If your guest is a newlywed couple on their honeymoon, make your letter’s content full of love and romantic themes. It can include a short romantic couplet such as, “Roses are red, Violets are blue, with all our heart, we welcome you.”
You can do this for every guest. Ask them about their hobbies and interests or the purpose of their visit, at the time of booking and try tailoring the letter accordingly. If I had received a Grand Canyon themed welcome letter while visiting Arizona, I would have been floored then and there and would have remembered to give them 5-stars.
Similarly, if you host international guests in your vacation property, you may use a few greetings in their native language. Believe it or not, speaking their language will please them as nothing else does. So, start your vacation rental welcome letter with “Hola Amigos!” for all your Spanish guests. You can use Google Translate and it will definitely bring a smile to their faces.
It might not always be possible to customize the letter for every guest… In that case, you may want to keep a few templates ready for various special occasions such as birthday, anniversary, honeymoon, and so on.
Use simple but impactful language…
You don’t have to test your guest’s language capabilities. If you want your guests to enjoy your home, don’t make them feel small in any way. Use simple and interesting language instead of flowery words. This will also help you keep it informal. You don’t want to appear a difficult person to deal with.
Your letter should welcome your guests and make them feel that they can contact you for anything. A lively, helpful, jovial image should be conveyed. It will help the guest relax. After all, vacations are for relationships.
Impactful language is something that brings out emotions in people. It needn’t use big words and still be impactful. Its purpose is to bring a smile on the reader’s face. It can be done even with a simple phrase as mentioned earlier.
Your welcome letter can also be used to convey important information. But don’t make it highly informative by overloading it with instructions. At the back of the letter, you might want to provide a local area map so that the guest has no problem returning to your property or finding nearby grocery stores. At the bottom, include your contact information and the full name and address of the property. All these will help your guest in navigation.
These small details show that you care about your guests. They go a long way in getting you that 5-star rating. You might also point them to different materials for more instructions. Maybe you have a welcome book with appliance usage instructions or emergency numbers. Instead of repeating that information here, just mention a one-liner, ‘for more information, check out the welcome book on your bedside table.’
A mention of the property rules…
If your property has any specific rules, you may want to recall them in the vacation rental welcome letter. Once, a friend visited Auroville in South India. The property at which he stayed at had a strict rule about doing your own dishes. To some, it may sound strange, and the job for the housekeeping.
However, Auroville symbolizes the self-reliant lifestyle. Therefore, they clearly mentioned it in their welcome letter. They even mentioned the rule of leaving shoes at the main gate so that the property didn’t get dirty.
Your vacation rental property might not have such out of the box rules but it might still have some that may be worth mentioning in a gentle way.
A call to action for a local partnership…
If you have a partnership with local businesses, such as a bike rental company or a restaurant, inform your guests about it. For example, you may include in your vacation rental welcome letter, ‘To make your romantic evening even more special, you can receive a 10% discount at Monica’s Seafood Restaurant. Enjoy a lovely candle-lit dinner at the beachside’ by mentioning us upon check in.
Not only does this give your guests an idea to go for a candle-lit dinner, but it also gives you the commission revenue and gives the local business a boost. It also shows to your guests that you are trying your best to make it a special stay for them.
Give your guests reasons to contact you…
You may suggest your guests contact you for personalized travel itineraries. Many guests don’t plan their vacation in detail. They only make arrangements of where to stay and leave the “what to do” part for later.
You can grab this opportunity to help them out. You can offer them travel itineraries. This is worth mentioning in the vacation rental welcome letter. You can simply mention, ‘Tell us your interests and we will tell you which places to check out.’
End your letter on a high note…
Remember, you want your guests to be high spirited after reading the letter. Always end it on a high note. You can end it with a one-liner saying, ‘We hope you enjoy your stay at our property, we are there to help you have a time of your life. Contact us for any questions!’
This will help your guests to feel comfortable, welcomed, and relaxed. It will also make them come to you in case of any issues or questions. If you can resolve these, it will ensure that you get a good review or rating. So, use the welcome letter as an opportunity to please your guests. Last but certainly not least, never forget to thank your guests for choosing your property.
Your vacation rental welcome letter says a lot about you as the owner. A well-crafted letter might convey that you care about the kind of experience you want your guests to have. If you can customize your letters, there is nothing better than that. You will ace your first impression.
It costs almost nothing, and you might want to use very fancy stationery as an option. This makes it an indispensable part of any good vacation rental. All it takes a little bit of thought and effort since only the customization part changes, the rest of it remains common.
As an additional benefit, you may post pictures of a happy guest with the welcome letter on your listing websites and social media. This might even get your property highlighted on listing websites such as the rentaltrader.com. This automatically means you have a higher chance of getting more bookings.
I hope these pointers help you in drafting a wonderful vacation rental welcome letter. If you have any further questions, fill the webform below.
Still wondering how to write the vacation rental welcome letter. Please watch this video:
