What do you do for guest that mention that they are celebrating ie birthday, wedding etc.

[Barbara647]

I always congratulate my guests on whatever celebration they mention. I usually put seasonal flowers that are blooming on property. Its hard to be perfect. I had a guest book in january and mention she was visting mid week after her wedding.  I congratulated her. She arrived 3 months late rand gave me a three star  review not because she wasnt happy )she was) but because we hadnt planned something special to congratulate her.  she was genuinely a guest that needed extra attention. Of course she paid a super discounted rate and then proceeded to write in her review about things that were not perfect. Ie the "AC wasnt working

')it was 50 degrees in early spring ,the heat was on and actually the ac worked fine but who in god's name needed Ac when it was cold out?

She also complained that she wasn't given a private tour of property, and that the cable didnt work (it did she had it on streaming and the instructions were in the manual but of course she never mentioned it during her stay

I want my guests happy . What do some others of you do  to make them feel a little special? Just looking for ideas.

It is always the neediest guests who arrives at the busiest time, never asks questions, and wants everything for free. We try to be attentive and genuinely care. 

[Lawrene0]

I listen to my guests, @Barbara647 , but not when they are being unreasonable. Nothing was going to be good enough, looks like, in this case. 

Maybe take the "private tour" suggestion on board and ask guests (if you have time) whether they would like a tour. Maybe a card on top of the TV saying instructions are in the manual.

But AC in brisk weather?

And planning something special?

That's getting silly.

Is "We will plan something special for anything that might have happened to you in the past year" in your list of amenities? 

I expect you have found that for 99% of your guests, being attentive and caring, as you say, is plenty. 

[Barbara647]

Great ideas!. This guest arrived when it was too busy to spend an hour showing her around. but my other hoss called her and offered her a later tour. She didnt take advantage of it. The card on the tv may be the answer. The manual is online and in writing in the cottages. Thanks for your response and suggestions! Its upsetting to  get that kind of review that takes so many 5 star reviews to offset. Also yes 99% of my guests are very happy!

[Mark116]

@Barbara647  That woman sounds like a terrible guest!  When people tell  us they are visiting for a birthday or anniversary we get them a small grocery store cake, they're very small, but nicely decorated so they look special and cost $5.00 at Stop & Shop.  People love it.

[Barbara647]

Good idea!. Of course Cape May as lovely as it is, is an island built  on a huge Sandy Ant pile, and if you leave a sweet cake out, as clean as the place is, those ants will come hahaha

[Barry-and-Lera0]

@Barbara647:

For birthdays we will leave a couple cupcakes with a pack of birthday candles and some extra beers/wine. Anniversaries we will leave a bottle of champagne and some flowers. If people come over a holiday we will have some fun with that as well. Did an Easter egg hunt for Easter last year. Eggs were filled with everything from candy to lottery tickets. We had a riddle to find the final egg. Basically they had to go to our Airbnb's Instagram for the answer. Christmas we put up a small table top tree and did a bunch of little gifts. Candy, dog treats, local restaurant gift cards. All things that were wrapped so they could open them.

We just have fun with it and people really seem to enjoy it. You being from Cape May you could probably find a lot of fun stuff at Cape May Wicker. We sometimes stop there on our way from the ferry to Philadelphia.