As a vacation property owner, your goal is to make your property as alluring as possible to potential guests, explains Fort Stewart property management company. In some cases, owners may not have experience traveling themselves. And this is precisely why it’s wise to see what your competition is skipping over.
Experienced travelers have a keen eye for spotting good hosts. For this reason, it’s easy for them to see when a host is cutting corners or simply throwing together a rental in hopes that someone will rent it. The key to making your vacation rental more appealing is to go the extra mile.
It’s amazing what a one-time investment can do to generate more annual income. After all, adding a few things to your property might be all it takes to catapult you to the top of a potential client’s list.
1. Invest in a Vacuum
Believe it or not, a lot of Airbnb hosts throughout the world skip over a vacuum. And there’s a huge difference between supplying a broom and supplying a vacuum. Put yourself in the renter’s shoes, especially if they’re staying more than a few days at your rental.
If all they have at their disposal is a broom, they’re less likely to want to rent from you. With all of the man buns floating around these days, the simple addition of a vacuum to your rental might be what propels your rental beyond a competitor’s.
For a few hundred bucks, investing in a nice lightweight vacuum that will last for years to come is one of the easiest ways to make your vacation rental more appealing, particularly if you’re competing in the Airbnb space.
2. Don’t Underestimate the Power of Self Check-In
Self check-in is one of those things that should be standard at this point. Presently, there are plenty of smart locks available that allow you to create temporary keys for guests to check-in themselves. Again, put yourself in your guest’s shoes.
Travelers have enough to worry about while in transit. By the time they arrive at their destinations, who knows what they’ve been through already. Because of this, adding a self check-in method gives them more flexibility to check in at any time during the day.
For instance, if your guest arrives at odd hours, and you’re unable to meet them at the door, self check-in eliminates the need for them to kill time before arriving at your property. All in all, there are plenty of self-check-in options, from smart locks to secure key lockboxes.
3. Install a Water Filter
One necessity that everyone must have every day is water. Just imagine if you have a water filter that your guests can use rather than relying on bottled water. A lot of guests end up hauling around large jugs of water for the week or overspending to buy bottled water.
Once a potential guest sees that you have a water filter installed, they’ll see this as a huge perk to renting your property. Additionally, there’s always the option to go one step further by installing an advanced water filter such as a reverse osmosis system with remineralization recommended here.
Reverse osmosis has the power to remove everything from tap water, including fluoride, and with remineralization, the taste is comparable to bottled water. As a reminder, always be sure to list the advantages of your water filter in your listing.
4. Don’t Skip the Dryer
Similar to vacuums, dryers are not used everywhere in the world. Oftentimes, hosts will take the time to install a washer without a dryer. As a result, guests must hang their clothes on a drying rack or from hangers to dry. Because of this, lint gets stuck to clothes, and it takes most of the day, if not more, for clothes to dry.
Now imagine if a potential guest is torn between your rental and another. There’s a good chance that if you have a dryer, that’s all it will take to push that potential client to your property instead of your competitor’s. Additionally, it shows guests that you want them to feel as comfortable as possible and that you aren’t trying to save money on your electricity bill by skipping over a dryer.
5. Respond as Quickly as Possible
When someone is interested in renting your property, you never know how tight they might be on time. With that being said, response time before the sale and in the first days of making the sale are all the more important. To guarantee that you have the quickest response times, add a direct line of communication to you in your listing.
Or, if you’re using Airbnb or another app, set up notifications on your phone. In some cases, if you’re too busy to respond during specific hours, there’s always the option to hire a co-host to assist you with your communications. A co-host gives guests another person to speak to who’s knowledgeable about your property.
Once you make the sale, initial communication is just as important to make your guest feel more comfortable about their fresh purchase. Chances are that after the first day, your guest won’t be back in contact until the day before arrival.
The key here is that quick response times are a free way to make your rental more appealing. Because if your competition lags in communication, it doesn’t matter how appealing their property is.
Closing Thoughts
Owning and hosting a rental property is a great way to boost your annual income. Like most endeavors, gaining momentum is the hardest part in the beginning. So as a new Airbnb host, you’ll want to check as many items off this list as possible to get people in your rental.
Once you gather positive reviews, you’ll open yourself up to a whole new world of income possibilities. Not only can you host your own property, but you can use your reputation to host other properties for a fee. On top of that, your extra income can go toward investing in new vacation properties.