Latest / Host Planet: Airbnb, Holiday Let, and Vacation Rental Insights / How to Impress Guests (Without Breaking the Bank)

Transcript

How to Impress Guests (Without Breaking the Bank) · Host Planet: Airbnb, Holiday Let, and Vacation Rental Insights

• 0:00
  Hello and welcome to House Planet Bite Size, the podcast
• 0:03
  brought to you by House Planet and House Philly.
• 0:05
  My name is James Farley, the founder of House Planet, and our
• 0:08
  goal is to share everything you need to know about buying and
• 0:11
  managing short term rentals. Today's guest is Mark Lumpkin
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  from STR Cribs and he's got 5 low cost upgrades which will
• 0:19
  boost bookings and the guest experience.
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  OK, real talk now for all you hosts out there, you know that
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  moment when your guest messages you again with hey, what's the
• 0:30
  Wi-Fi code? Or you're staring at 5 different
• 0:32
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• 0:35
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• 1:02
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• 1:47
  Mark, thank you for joining us on Host Planet Bite Size.
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  You've got 5 low cost upgrades to boost bookings and the guest
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  experience, so take it away with tip #1.
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  OK, tip #1 is to me one of the most important things is
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  obviously the check in, check out process when your guests
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  arrive at the property. There's nothing more frustrating
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  than not having the information that you need and being able to
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  access the property. So I, I love a great smart lock,
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  a good quality smart lock. Make sure the batteries are
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  charged. Make sure that it's easy to use.
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  If you've got guests checking in at night, leave that front porch
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  light on so that they can get into the property quickly and
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  efficiently. So that would be my tip #1 make
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  that check in process easy. Invest a little bit of money
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  into a good quality smart lock. I know not every property this
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  is feasible for that, especially in Europe you got some unique
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  homes, but most properties you should have a good smart lock on
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  the front door. Yeah, easy checking experience.
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  I mean you want to avoid those questions at the start.
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  I mean when it's when it comes to guest communication as well,
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  how quickly do you think you should be sharing that
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  information about the check in details?
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  Yeah, good question. So I actually, we share it the
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  day before and then we remind them the day of.
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  We also try to keep our introductory messages relatively
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  short. I don't want to send someone a
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  book to read about all this random stuff that they need to
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  know. I want to get them the important
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  details, the meat and potatoes. This is the address, this is the
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  door code, this is the Wi-Fi. Those are the three most
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  important things that people need.
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  Don't bombard them with crazy stuff.
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  I just stated a property in Gulf Shores, AL hosted by a huge
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  property manager. They sent me, I kid you not, 20
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  pages of check in instructions. Some of them were like what I
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  going to do with my extra food when I leave?
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  I could donate it to the local food pantry and leave the sea
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  turtles alone and like all this stuff that was irrelevant to the
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  checkout just as unimportant. Cut out the fat, get people the
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  main things that they need, which is how to get in the
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  property and how to use the Wi-Fi. 100% yeah, yeah, address
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  code, Wi-Fi, because they're the things that you're going to get
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  asked the most questions about. All right then, Mark, so tip #2.
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  OK. Yeah, I would say the next thing
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  is you're the quality of the bedding and the sheets.
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  And so I think that a local company, host GPO, put out a
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  great statistic where they surveyed thousands and thousands
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  of guests and found that guests are spending about 60% of their
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  time in your property sleeping, right.
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  They come on vacation, they spend a lot of time out of the
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  property doing things that they're there to vacation for.
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  But when they're in the home, they're spending about 60% of
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  their time in the bed. So make sure you've got good
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  quality linens, extra pillows and throw blankets because
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  guests are spending so much time in that bed.
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  Invest a little bit in the experience that they're going to
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  have and staying in the property.
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  Definitely invest in a good mattress.
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  I mean, we've all been to hotels, haven't we?
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  And the first thing you do is kind of like crash on the bed
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  and it's really, really comfortable.
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  You've got to try and emulate that with your STR, right?
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  You have to, absolutely. And that'll be the most
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  memorable thing. If your guests have a bad
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  sleeping experience because they have an uncomfortable bed or
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  they've got really cheap sheets and no extra pillows, they're
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  going to remember that forever. And so there's nothing worse
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  than sleeping in a strange place for most adults is not the most
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  comfortable thing in general. And so if your bed doesn't
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  create a really a welcoming space and it's not comfortable
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  for people, they're going to remember that they're not going
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  to stay with you again. Yeah, definitely.
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  It's one thing we can definitely learn a lot from the from the
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  hotel industry, I think. OK, then Mark tip #3.
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  Tip #3 So I'm going to, I'm going to stay in the in the
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  bedroom and go with those little extras.
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  Doesn't cost you a whole lot of money to get something as simple
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  as like a full length mirror. Well, 100% of women want to have
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  a full length mirror in the room to see how they look before they
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  go out on the evening. And 99% of us guys would like to
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  peek in a full length mirror too and make sure that we look OK.
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  And I can't tell you how many times I see listings that don't
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  have that. It's a very inexpensive amenity.
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  I'm sure IKEA sells them for $75.00 in a full length mirror.
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  It also fills an empty corner of the room, so it adds that kind
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  of design element and then it photographs really, really well.
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  So something as simple as a full length mirror in the room can
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  make a big difference. And then the other little extras
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  you can provide I a USB port for charging your phone, whether
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  that's just an extra charger or whether that's the the lamp that
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  you provide on the end table that has that USB plug in.
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  Just those little things that don't cost you much but are some
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  nice little extras to have will make a big difference in your
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  guest experience. Definitely, it's about providing
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  that convenience. Yeah, in in one of my rentals,
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  we put the full length mirror, it's at the top of the landing.
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  So people, they've come out of the bathroom, they've come out
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  of the rooms are getting ready just before they go down the
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  stairs, they can check themselves.
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  And it's, I think it's, you know, one of the one of the
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  ideal spots and a fantastic tip. Yeah, install that full length
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  mirror and of course, USB, Gosh, we always need to charge our
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  phones, don't we? So yeah, brilliant, brilliant
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  tip. I'll get it, mark #4.
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  OK #4 is, is going to be in the, the theme of what's your local
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  location and what are your local attractions?
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  And So what can you provide that is location specific.
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  What I mean by that is if I have a property near the beach, I
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  should have beach chairs, a beach umbrella, beach towels,
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  beach toys for the kids. Doesn't cost you a whole lot and
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  maybe no more than a few 100 bucks to really well stock your
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  property. Same thing with if I've got a
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  property in the mountains and the Smoky Mountains, people are
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  spending a lot of time hiking and and being outdoors.
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  Well, do I have, you know, a, the boot scrubber to clean your
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  boots off when you come back from hiking?
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  And do I have some extra water bottles and, and things that
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  people would need for why they're traveling to your
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  location. So get real specific about what
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  is that demographic, why are they coming to your property and
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  provide those little extras that they will appreciate in in what
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  they're doing at your place. 100% yet you've always got to
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  think of the local experiences. OK, then Mark tip #5.
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  The last one is basically your guest avatar.
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  So we talked about that local experience.
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  This is now thinking about who is the guest that's coming.
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  And so if I have a couples retreat in the mountains, well,
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  I'm sure that they're going to be spending time drinking coffee
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  on the front porch, drinking wine, things like that.
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  I want to provide an upgraded baby coffee bar or I want to
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  make sure I've got wine glasses or I want to make sure I've got
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  really nice high end robes for when they get out of the sauna
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  or the hot tub. Same thing could go with a
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  family experience. If I've got a property that's my
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  guest avatar is families, young families, I want to have a pack
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  and play. I want to have a high chair, I
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  want to have some get some kids plastic plates and cups so they
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  don't have to use our glass silverware, things like that.
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  So really think about who the guest is that's coming, why
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  they're staying and then try to provide some of the smaller
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  things that they would really appreciate.
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  That couple's cabin in the mountains, you have that pack
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  and play in the in the closet. It's never going to get open.
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  It's probably never going to get used.
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  That's not why people are travelling to your property.
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  But if you've got a family resort style property that's got
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  a lot of families coming, they're going to use the heck
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  out of those things and really appreciate them.
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  Yeah, really important, especially on the wine glasses.
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  Actually, I had a guest a couple of weeks ago, they contacted me
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  and said we've only got 1 wine glass.
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  And that was a little bit baffled because there were six
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  in there. So goodness knows who was taking
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  them or they were getting smashed or or whatever.
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  But yeah, quickly replenished. But yeah, keep on top of the
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  wine glasses, especially because people want to want to relax
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  and, and have a drink when, when they're on vacation.
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  OK. Then Mark, tell us a bit more
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  about STR Cribs. Yeah.
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  So we are a renovation company that focuses on design,
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  furniture, amenities in short term rentals.
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  We're a licensed general contractor and So what that
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  allows us to do is some upgrades that other people wouldn't be
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  able to do, like adding bedrooms or pickleball courts.
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  If you've seen our properties, they're pretty flamboyant and
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  over the top. We really believe in creating
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  experiences that guests are willing to travel to and are
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  willing to pay a premium for, and it kind of separates you
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  from the competition. So that's who we are.
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  Fantastic, and where can people find out more information?
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  Yeah, I'm sure you'll drop it in the show notes, but check us out
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  at strcribs.com. I'll share my e-mail address for
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  anyone who has any questions, and then we're very active on
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  all the social media platforms. Awesome.
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  We'll put those details in your e-mail address in the show
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  notes. Mark, it's been a real pleasure.
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  Thanks for joining us on host Planet Bite Size.
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  Thanks for having me on James, great to chat with you.
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  Great to chat to Mark Lumpkin there from STR Cribs if you
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  haven't already. Make sure you invest in high
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  quality bedding, a full length mirror and USB ports.
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  All right, that's it for today's episode.
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  Remember, this series is sponsored by House Philly and if
• 10:36
  you'd like to try their PMS or digital guidebook, head to
• 10:39
  housephilly.com. For more free education tips and
• 10:43
  trends from the STR industry, visit Houseplanet dot Club,
• 10:46
  where you can sign up for our newsletter, listen to our
• 10:49
  podcasts and download a suite of ebooks for hosts and property
• 10:53
  managers. That's it for today's episode.
• 10:55
  Until next time, happy hosting.