Hey all! For those of you who are still hosting during the pandemic, I'm wondering what your strategies have been around getting guests to book, as well as cleaning before and after their stays and maintaining proper social distancing during their stay.
I host an apartment that's located on the main floor of my house, and I'm located in Ontario's Niagara wine region. Most people book to attend weddings, to go on wine tours, or for agri-tourism. I lost all of my bookings through the end of July when the pandemic started, but I've managed to fill my calendar up until now, and I thought I'd share some tips on how I did that. If you're staying reasonably busy, I'd also love to hear your tips.
- Probably an obvious one, but I dropped my prices (a bit, not a lot), and increased my length of stay discounts.
- I've always allowed dogs as guests, so I believe that's helped me to get two longer bookings.
- I clearly laid out the precautions I'm taking to keep guests safe in my listing. I highlighted the private parking and entrance, private laundry, no shared air between spaces (the flat has its own heating and cooling system), outlined that I leave a gap between stays, and talked about my cleaning procedures.
So far, I've had one two-week stay from some guests from overseas who were trying to get a flight home, one two-week stay from people in self-quarantine after returning from the US, and a month stay from a couple who sold their house in preparation to move overseas, only to find they now can't travel.
In terms of the steps I'm taking to keep myself and guests safe, I'm leaving a 3-day buffer between bookings. I'm treating every guest like they could be COVID-19 positive. The flat sits empty for one day, the second day I clean, and the third day it sits empty again. I wear gloves while I clean. I've always used a professional laundry service and they wash the sheets and towels at a really high temperature. All touch surfaces are disinfected, including door handles, light switches, the TV remote, etc.
Maintaining proper distancing is fairly easy, in my case. Normally I'd go in and clean during longer stays, but I'm not doing that now. I'm providing extra linens and towels and just letting the guests know that they can advise if they need replacements. I'm also leaving them with a vacuum cleaner and other cleaning supplies in case they want to clean up during their stay.
I realize that not everyone might not be in the same boat, and getting new reservations may not work for others, but I thought I'd share what has worked for me. I hope some of you are still getting and keeping bookings. I also hope you're all keeping safe and well.