Building your successful villa rental or holiday home enterprise begins with your organization, professionalism, and of course, a gorgeous vacation rental. If you are the owner of a luxury vacation home, read our tips for ensuring that guests are happy and return again and again…and recommend your prestige property to all their friends.
Vacation Rental Advertising and Booking
- Be Clear. Offer detailed, honest descriptions and then over-deliver on the client’s expectations of service, amenities, and the quality of the property, the staff, and their stay.
- Be Communicative. Return potential guest inquiries immediately. Don’t leave your potential client with a chance to change their mind or find another property because you didn’t get back to them in a timely manner. Use the latest technology to never miss or delay a return to a phone call, voice message, or email.
- Be Detailed. Provide all important information and transactional documents in writing. Don’t make verbal agreements or assumptions. Both renters and hosts should communicate their needs clearly, and sign off on additions or deletions to details in contracts and policies.
- Be Organized. Keep careful records of financial transactions with clients, and keep copies of receipts/contracts, etc. if they may need them later on.
Be the Perfect Holiday Home Owner and Host
- Check in. Speak personally with guests on the afternoon or evening of their arrival to make sure they are well pleased with the home or there is anything you can do to make it better.
- Be Impeccable. Take great care to maintain the home after each arrival and departure. Each guest should feel that the home is uniquely their own for their stay, without reminders of previous guest’s escapades. In general, be proactive about maintaining the home’s exterior grounds and interior amenities to the standard to which it has previously been advertised. Tip: This may involve keeping a checklist that your manager or staff checks off before guest’s arrive, to make sure everything is functioning, in place, clean, and ready for their use.
- Go the Extra Mile to Maintain the Home’s Cleanliness. Make sure that even the most fastidious guests will find the home meets with their approval. It not only keeps guests happy but frequent maintenance will help reserve the value of your second home investment and decor.
This may include doing the following “extras” after each guest’s departure:
- Change the filters in the air conditioning system.
- Apart from usual laundering of household items, thoroughly air out, shake out or pat clean pillows, linens and throw rugs.
- In the case of self catering properties, make sure your home’s cleaning service inspects and washes kitchen equipment, plates, pots, pans, utensils and so on.
- Consider investing in and running a heavy-duty portable ozone air purifier in the pied a terre, yacht charter, or villa let after each guest’s departure, particularly if smokers were allowed in the home or even if not allowed (in case someone broke your rule).
- Villa Book. Write a thoroughly detailed Villa Book or Self-Catering Instruction Book that guests can use as a reference Cerritos beach villa rentals at any time during their stay. The book details any quirks with the home or its equipment, instructions, how-to’s, directions, details on local attractions, take-out menus, and the like.
- Emergencies. Have a system in place for any eventuality or emergency that may arise (where will you send your clients to stay if the roof starts leaking?) and have the contacts/people in place to service your guests at a moment’s notice.
- Extra Keys. Have multiple copies of extra keys made in case guests lose them, and consider placing a coded lockbox on the premises in the event your assistant can’t make it to the property to let your guests in.
- Security. If the luxury home is not already equipped with a sophisticated security system, consider installing a computerized keypad entry system that enable you, as host, to change the front door or gate code for each different set of guests. Should you ever have the misfortune of inappropriate renters, this will ensure the safety of the following renters and peace of mind that previous guests cannot access the property during their stay. Speak with a master locksmith or security consultant in your area regarding an ideal system.