Surpassing Guests Expectations - My Top Tips

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Andrew395
Level 3
Bali, Indonesia

Surpassing Guests Expectations - My Top Tips

The 10 most important items to carefully consider when hosting.

 

1. Comfortable Bed, if your bed squeaks, wobbles and is too soft, guests will not like this. investing in the most expensive bed you can afford will reward you for the next 30 years as thatโ€™s how long a good bed will last you. Research online the top beds 5 star hotels use and follow their example.

 

2. Complimentary Breakfast on the first morning will make your guest happy and will become the starting point in receiving a 5 star review, but wait thereโ€™s more.....

 

3. A complimentary car ride to the supermarket is a must if you want to make a good impression especially for family groups, this will reduce a lot of the stress and anxiety  a guest may be feeling. Note, the older the guest the more care they require, guests over the age of 35 need tender loving care as opposed to youngsters who wonโ€™t hardly bother you during their stay.

 

4. Change the bedding at least every 4 days during longer staying guests.

 

5. New towels daily

 

6. Offer a Smart Tv in every room to keep children happy and adults can watch their favourite streaming services at night. Try a smart tv that has Bluetooth capabilities for headphone use.

 

7. Make sure guests can contact you within minutes rather than hours, find the best technology to use for ease of communication.

 

8. Offer a laundry service for 5 dollars, half of your guests will enjoy this service. Remember this is their vacation.

 

9. Welcome drink and a card is enough to make your guests feel special, a chocolate bar if you want to go the extra mile

 

10. A guide book for your area and chargeable tour service of car and driver to show off your area really helps with making your guests satisfied.

 

These top 10 tips will get you to super-host status in super quick time

 

1 Best Answer
Mark116
Level 10
Jersey City, NJ

@Andrew395 

1) Eh, yes and  no.  People have different likes and dislikes, some like a soft mattress, some like a hard, to me, I feel the midrange price point on a mattress with nice linens is the best option.  But, our bed frames are very attractive and high quality.

 

2)  No, this isn't do-able for most hosts, we do leave a lot of complimentary items for them to use, making them breakfast is not in the cards.

 

3)  We do offer this, it's a 15 minute drive around the neighborhood that shows guests the subway and bus stops, the grocery and the liquor store.  Not everyone takes us up on on though.

 

4)  We also offer this for guests staying more than 7 days, but again, a lot of people don't want you in the unit and they decline this offer.

 

5) No.  Never.  Just No.  It is totally unnecessary, a massive waste of water and energy.  No.  A thousand times.  Even hotels discourage this kind of waste these days.

 

6)  No.  I don't actually want to encourage people to stay in the apartment, I want them out sightseeing, but it might be different if we had a 'destination' type of listing, and not a listing where people are coming to see the sights out of the house.  We have one flat screen TV with many cable offerings in the living room.  I also don't want to encourage eating in the bedrooms which would happen more often if we had TVs in there. 

 

7)  Agree, our response time is almost always under an hour, and usually under 15 minutes.

 

๐Ÿ˜Ž  No.  I am not a maid and will not be responsible for doing people's laundry and then getting blamed because there is a spot or a tear or something.  

 

9) We usually leave a 'goodbye' gift of cookies or breakfast pastries and a thank you note.  And yes, this goes a long way toward getting a review and a good one.

 

10)  We have a binder in the apartment that has much information on our neighborhood and the sights to see in NJ and NY.

18 Replies 18
Sarah977
Level 10
Sayulita, Mexico

@Andrew395  Well, I guess you've gathered by now that your 10 tips, which work well for you, are not something all hosts need to concern themselves with, even if they want to achieve Superhost status. 

My guests seem to feel that I've surpassed their expectations by offering to pick them up at the bus stop, a 5 minute drive from my house. Not all guests need the red carpet rolled out to be appreciative and leave great reviews. I'm not running a 5* hotel- I charge $28/night and guests are quite happy with what they get for that.

Hi Sarah

 

for sure I have learnt a great deal by reading the replies, I guess my bubble has just burst.

 

thanks for the insight.

 

Andy

@Andrew395  Actually the things you do for guests are quite appropriate for a place like yours. I have a friend who is also a host and every few years she participates in a huge family vacation- there can be up to 30 people. They book places where the host is willing to stock the fridge, as they don't want to have to go shopping right off the bat (and they are totally willing to pay for this service, they don't expect it for free). And host-arranged transport from the airport would also be a bonus for them. They also look for hosts who aren't hard-liners about the number of guests (as long as the place accommodates that many), as they never know if everyone will end up coming, and sometimes those who said they couldn't make it actually do show up.

They aren't crazy partiers, just a big happy family, leave the places clean and in good shape and always leave a generous tip.

Vince1757
Level 3
Charlotte, NC

@Andrew395  Thank you sooooooo much for sharing your expertise and priceless suggestions.. Itโ€™ people like yourself who make this community amazing. . ๐Ÿคฉ๐Ÿ†