Strategies for offering a guest-centred experience

May 2024

Wondering how to boost your holiday rental bookings? Looking for advice on revenue management strategy for your private accommodation? Holidu has got you covered. Capturing income and ensuring profitability isn’t as simple as setting rates and moving on. Other variables come into play, like defining strategies to enhance guests’ experiences in your holiday rental. Here’s how to meet your guests’ needs and make them feel truly special.

How to offer a better stay for guests

Firstly, you need to research who your target guests are. Simply ask yourself a few questions: what kind of clients usually stay at your accommodation? Does your holiday rental meet the specific needs of families, couples, solo travellers, friend groups, and/or business travellers? Knowing your target customers and their position in the market will help you provide better service during their stay and set attractive, competitive rates.

Ask your guests with care and friendliness

Let’s start with this premise: the better the communication with your guests, the better their holiday experience. We should ask them before their stay how we can assist them and what they’re looking for during their time in our town or city. Talk to them naturally and with good intentions. When ideas are helpful and reasonable, they can enhance the guest’s stay. You can also ask them how they’ve had their demands met in other accommodations or if they have any specific requests. For instance: some parents need a small crib for their baby, while others prefer a large bed or, alternatively, two beds pushed together where all three can sleep. Other guests are looking for places to party; well, you can definitely help them out with some recommendations for nightclubs, bars, terraces, and trendy clubs.

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Meeting each guest’s specific needs

Holiday rentals can be personalised in many ways to meet individual needs or group demands of guests. For example, there are numerous travellers who need to find accommodation that allows pets, others require houses with spacious areas for people with physical disabilities, some travel with a baby, etc.

These types of travellers needing special features are the ones who most require a personalised holiday experience; but what else can we offer them besides material provisions? Well, many things, let’s analyse them below.

Personalised experiences in the local community

Another strategy to enhance the holiday rental experience is to provide an integrated experience with the local community. Travellers can live for a few days in the same way as the locals and experience the gastronomic culture or learn about regional customs. This is a valuable incentive, especially for travellers seeking an immersive and gastro-cultural experience. In this regard, we can offer much assistance to travellers. Here are some recommended plans:

• Gastronomic recommendations. Nobody knows the best places to eat near our accommodation like us. And we surely know of some places where they cook like they used to. Those kinds of bars or restaurants are highly valued by guests. Authenticity is a virtue.
• Offer a city tour. Some hosts, the most adventurous and knowledgeable about the area, act as expert tour guides. They take their guests on walks to the best monuments, explain the city’s history in detail, accompany them to places to have a wine or a drink, etc. It’s an option that’s always there. And if you don’t have the time or availability, you can always partner with a tour guide for this.
• Explain the region’s traditions and folklore. If you have knowledge about the history and idiosyncrasy of your town or city, why not share it? And if the guest’s stay coincides with a local festival, even better. If they show interest, explain to your guests the peculiarities of their destination and the local celebrations and festivals they can attend. Travellers often highly value immersing themselves in the local culture and traditions.

Create a handwritten guidebook

If your personal involvement is limited, you can always create a useful guide for your guests. You can even offer it when advertising your holiday home. We’re talking about a valuable manual of the house and the area that can make the difference between a good and a bad stay. It’s also an excellent way to ensure that guests feel welcome and comfortable in the house.

You can create the manual as you like, but it should contain, at least, the following information:

• Neighbourhood. Where is it located? Is there anything relevant nearby (restaurants, supermarkets, bus stops, etc.)? How far away are other attractions such as large parks or historic buildings?
• Local area. What activities do you recommend for people to do while staying in your town or city? What activity is little known but unique and should be more widely known? How far away are the various attractions in your locality from each other?
• Holiday house or apartment. Is there anything special about this particular house? Decoration, equipment, peculiarities… Is there anything the guest needs to know before renting my holiday home? Are there any cohabitation rules that guests should know in advance? And above all, inform your guests if there are any special extras in your holiday home such as a sofa bed, a crib, etc.

The importance of guest experience and reviews

In today’s market, where most guests book their accommodation through a holiday rental website, digital reputation is more important than ever. How do you manage guests’ expectations? You may wonder. To gain their approval or a positive rating in guest reviews, you must offer them an excellent experience from the moment they make the booking until the moment they check out.

In general, you should be available to answer questions and resolve any issues that arise during guests’ stay. If you’re not able to meet them in person, make sure you have a plan B in case unexpected maintenance or cleaning issues arise. A recommendation: you can send a personal request for a five-star review after guests check out to remind them to post their feedback about their holiday rental experience.

So, by this point, you know how to exceed guests’ expectations and rent out your holiday home by offering the best of yourself. Holidu, your holiday rental portal, helps you get guests and boost your business, always with the quality, good service, and professionalism that characterise us.

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