Things to Buy to Make Your Listing Extra Special

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Casey75
Level 3
Newnan, GA

Things to Buy to Make Your Listing Extra Special

What has been a purchase, or addition that you added to your space to make guests feel extra special or has made your life easier?

For example, I added a Shampoo, Conditioner, Body Wash dispenser to the showers and guests have mentioned it several times. Throw in some gallon size Ginger Lily Farms products from Amazon and it's a cheap and easy way to de-clutter and provide those ammenities for your guests! 🙂

 

List some of your favorite products/tips! Thank you in advance!

1 Best Answer
Giles24
Level 3
England, United Kingdom

I came here looking for some ideas after a google search and I know the thread is old but I'll add my two cents 🙂 

We started our Airbnb in Feb 2020 and have learnt a lot over the last year! We rent out all of our home and move all our own personal belongings before hand.

 

Things we include in our listing is our own in house entertainment system with over 2000 films and 800 box sets, all availible via the Roku connected to the TV in the lounge.  We have colourful bedding to match each room, different coloured towels for each guest that compliement the room and provide an extra set of bediing for people, just in case they need them, we don't charge extra.
We provide Tea/Coffee/Hot chocolate, Milk, biscuits and/or chocolates and a bottle of wine for people staying for 7 nights or more. I fail to see the point of flowers as they just die in a few days, but they do look nice so include them now (although one guest left us some Lillies and stained our table cloth, but it was a nice thought!).  All cleaning supplies including anti bac washing up liquid (used an Airbnb once and they left no washing up liquid!) We leave bin liners for the bins (again stayed in one without them!). Washing power/pods, softner and delicates liquid and of course use of the washing machine. We have a hair dryer and we have enough decent antislip hangers in each wardrobe that match, we hate cheap plastic hangers!

 

These were the things we started off by doing, we have now since added a Google Smart Speaker to each bedroom and kitchen (cost £15 each! Bargain!), already had one in the Lounge and Master bedroom. A fully stocked spice rack (use by dates of each spice are in the house guide). I added a Retro Gaming system to the TV (I had a Raspberry Pi sat doing nothing so why not!).  Also charging cables for each guest with Lighthing, Micro and C adapters (so far none have gone missing).  We also printed off a 2D barcode for people to scan for the WiFi code, which is sometimes easier when it comes to kids connecting to the WiFi.

 

My crowning acheivement (if I do say so myself) is a 'House Handheld', my old Mobile phone (a Pixel 2) which works only on WiFi, with Spotify (to stream to the Speakers), access to the aformentioned entertianment system, a Web Browser, JustEat (with the post code programmed), calculator, Maps, a Taxi app (there is no Uber where we live), a WiFi remote app for the TV, the Roku App, access to Hive (the heating system), Tuya Smart to turn on and off the Smart lights in the bedrooms and outside lights, a copy of the house manual as a webpage, the wifi login detials and a link to the Airbnb Guide Book we have created. It's a fully lockdown system (ie people can't mess with the settings) and if it gets pinched is tracable via the 'Prey' app. I have a little charging dock and magnetic charger clip in the bottom for it to charge. We have yet to have a guest use it as I've spent months testing each feature to ensure it works. I've personalised it all with our house name and custom icons for the apps so people know it's unique to us! 

 

Once thing that our friends who host did were to get some Maps of the local area printed, they live in a rural area with great walks and they got there names printed on them, I thought this was genius!

 

We are hosting a local family next month that are moving out of thier house while they have some work done, so we will put there initials on some small/pocket sized hand sanitiser for them (one of our businesses is personalised products!)

 

Anyway thats my 2 cents 🙂 

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68 Replies 68
Alexandra316
Level 10
Lincoln, Canada

@Casey75 Great topic! A few things that have been surprisingly popular:

 

I bought a really nice Stash tea chest from Amazon. The guests have absolutely loved it: it gets used all the time, way more than I thought it would. I also supply regular (orange pekoe) tea, but the box is much more popular. I think it feels like a fancy luxury item, even though it's not really that expensive.

 

I invested in decent quality wine glasses. I have proper crystal glasses in red and white styles, and people seem to appreciate that. I'm in wine country, so others' milage on that may vary. I also added some quality plastic wine glasses for outdoor use, and they seem to be popular as well.

 

Finally, I'd say spending the money on good quality, hotel grade linens from a hotel supplier. People really seem to like them and they wear really well.

Salute, 

@Alexandra0. What you have done is great. i am sure that your guests was really comfortable. 

 

I also like to give our guests something in a good quality but traditional, which could make the guests have a new experience, different from what is they used to.  

 

Thanks, 

Miloud

Rachel0
Level 10
London, United Kingdom

@Alexandra316 I really like that tea chest!  I do provide a selection of teas in those individual bags which the guests like to rummage through at breakfast - I keep them in a little basket which one of my very first guests gave to me with a jar of Slovenian honey in it!  

What has proved really useful is the selection of guide books and walking tour books I have on a small table in the guests' living room.  There is so much to see in this city and the books help people make a choice and set up their daily sight seeing schedules.

The other purchase which is often remarked on are the two recycled glass water carafes with glasses that fit inside the neck of the carafe rather than over the top, which can cause dribbles.  I got them online from a shop called Ethical Superstore  - about £10 each but they are robust and can be shoved in the dishwasher without damage.  

@Rachel0 I love those bedside carafes. I have a really old one that my grandmother gave me: I'd never thought of adding a new one to my listing. Great idea!

Susie5
Level 10
Boston, MA

@Casey75, you're going to laugh, but the thing most often commented on is the selection of jams I have in the fridge!  Bonne Maman brand, all the flavors they make (strawberry and cherry are most popular) and also a couple of sugar-free jams from other brands.  I provide a package of English muffins for each group of guests, plus a half stick of butter (wrapped, Land O Lakes brand). Other food items people have liked is the ramen noodles (no kidding), packets of instant oatmeal, and range of spices and condiments I have in the cupboard and fridge (e.g. mustard, mayo, ketchup, etc.). I provide a Keurig machine with a range of pods (Costco) and I recently bought a box of 190 Mini-moo creamers from Amazon (which came with a very short shelf life of just over 2 months which did not please me!)  For a while I was providing fresh fruit but it mostly sat around and finally I gave up.

I do like that Stash tea chest and I think I'm going to go for that! It looks very nice!  Susie

Oh my gosh, what a great idea! My favorite snack in the world is apricot jalepeno jam and cream cheese on crackers! And I have a local shop that makes it and local honey. I'm going to pick up a few jars... I may even save some for the guests.

Wow, great idea -- do you provide brand new jars for each guest?  I am commenting now in 2022 and wonder how guests would feel about that since the pandemic....

The jams she mentioned are in small, single use jars 🙂

Beth80
Level 10
State of Roraima, Brazil

@Casey75 I have a map of our city on the wall in the guest area and then I enlarged and printed out the area around my house. On the print out I marked where different restaurants are. Everything with in a kilometer of my house. Guest seem to enjoy being able to get the big picture.

@Casey75

A slightly different "amenity" that I provide and guests often comment about is our limitless "very" high-speed wifi connection. We get a lot of exchange student guests so I think they really appreciate it. Also, I personally hate living out of a suitcase even during short trips so I made sure there are plenty of clothes hangers. Different types for large heavy coats, shirts & blouses, pants, skirts, dresses. 

David2216
Level 3
Phoenix, AZ

A few years ago I got some very heavy high end bathrobes that were props left over from a photoshoot I worked on. They have been hanging in my closet and I almost gave them away a number of times. When we decided to become hosts I thought they would make a nice touch. They are so thick I can only wash them one at atime but guests really like them. I imagine they won't get used as much now with summer rolling around.

Tomaz5
Level 3
Škofja Loka, Slovenia

If you have a TV in your Airbnb my tip would be to leave an HDMI cable near it. My guests love it. And also an ethernet cable so they can connect to a more stable internet connection. They also love my free selection of teas.

Bruna-and-Siana0
Level 10
Santa Clara, CA

We have a TV monitor with free Netflix and Amazon Premium Video. Not everyone uses it, maybe 30-40% of our guests. I think it's a nice perk. 

I completely agree! All of my TV's are internet ready with Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime, Pandora and several other apps, whihc I subrcibe to for my personal use that guests have access to! I think it's a great addition!