On rental platforms, there are so many hosts with different renting styles. Some properties go all out to add those extra luxury touches. On the other hand others supply the bare bones of a property as is without any amenities. This leaves the guests to sort these things themselves. Whatever your style, it’s worth including some finishing touches for your Airbnb Rental.
In the ultra competitive rental and hospitality industry, there’s a niche for everyone. As such, there’s no right or wrong way to do it. I do think that given how even budget hotels will supply the basics, it’s kind of expected for short term rentals to do the same.
I’ve seen many properties listed as just the property only. The include no extras such as toilet roll or towels for example. Despite this, these properties seem to do just fine bookings wise and seem to remain busy.
I noticed however that on some, guests had made a note of the lack of amenities. It’s obviously something that stuck out as a point of note for other guests. This is despite being made clear at the time of booking.
For me, as my main renters on Airbnb are usually leisure bookings and namely couples looking for weekends away, I’ve added many little extras to improve the comfort for guests when they stay and make the place a little more luxurious.
Everything I’ve added has been well received. It’s also helped me to justify price increases. Not only this but it actually helps set me apart from some of the local competition in the area. I also get a lot of repeat bookings. Guests have mentioned in their reviews how the little extras I’ve included have really added to their stay.
The great thing is, the cost to purchase these and add to each stay is minimal to me. Especially when you divide the cost between each booking. Yet despite the small cost to myself, the difference it makes to the guest experience and how much I can then charge is hugely beneficial.
Glass Bottled Water
In my rental I leave two (750ml) glass bottles of water for my guests on the kitchen counter, presented nicely on a tray. One still and one sparkling with two glasses on serviettes.
Another nice touch is to leave two small bottles (330ml) of still water with glasses on each bedside table in the bedroom for overnight. This saves the guest from having to get up. Alternatively, if you have a side table or chest of drawers in the bedroom with space, you can leave one larger bottle of water and glasses in reach of guests.
There are so many nice brands of water to use and I have used several. Glass bottles definitely make for nicer presentation and the overall impression is a little more luxurious.
Shampoo & Conditioner
When travelling, your guests may well bring their chosen shampoo and conditioner with them. However, as most hotels offer even basic personal toiletries, I think it’s a good idea as a host to supply simple body toiletries like this,
Hair and skincare are both very personal to the individual based on allergies or personal preference in brands. Despite this, I would make a point of providing these anyway,
You can leave full retail-size bottles for guests to use. To save you the trouble of having to replace them being taken, it might be better to supply hotel size miniatures yourself. The personal miniature size bottles give your rental more of a professional presentation than larger share bottles.
Out of all of the bookings I’ve had, if they don’t get used by guests, they rarely get taken home. I often get to reuse unopened ones for the next booking. The cost is minimal to you, but the convenience to a guest is huge. Just in case they’ve forgotten their own, they’ll really appreciate this.
Soap
Most bulk packs of hotel toiletries will come with an individually wrapped soap that can be left by the sink or used as a body lather for the shower. If you order everything separately it’s still worth leaving a soap in the bathroom for guests,
Toothbrush packs
Nothing is more frustrating than that moment that you realise you’ve forgotten your toothbrush.
I’ve got so many great reviews mentioning the emergency toothbrush packs that I’ve added. These come with mini toothpastes too.
Snacks
To curb any hunger when guests arrive and are settling in, I also leave some small individual packs of snacks:
Ear plugs
Another thing I’ve added are individual packs of disposable earplugs. My property is in a small block of apartments and sometimes you can hear the neighbours on other floors.
It’s also close to local transport which causes noise that guests will notice. To be safe and to provide them with some relief from any local noise I include these just in case.
Toilet Roll
I wouldn’t have a problem myself with renting a property that didn’t supply toilet roll for example. I’d only be happy with this if this was made clear at the start. However the inconvenience to the guest to then have to go and source some, in an unfamiliar town or location doesn’t strike me as the most guest friendly approach.
I’ve stayed in an Airbnb booking that supplied one towel each and half a roll of toilet roll to get us started. This worked okay, but I personally felt it could have supplied more.
Toilet roll to me is the most basic amenity that you do really need to supply. Guests would hate to be caught short if they forgot to bring some or couldn’t source some.
You don’t need to supply lots of rolls either. Just one new roll for two guests per 48 hours would be more than enough.
I’ve learned to not leave my full supply available to guests either. I noticed that guests would take rolls home with them.
Summary
I can almost guarantee that once you start adding these little finishing touches, you’ll get guests mentioning how appreciative they were.
In some bookings, the guests don’t actually even end up using them or taking them away. This means you can use them for the next booking. However, the luxury of having them contributes to a better guest experience.
Whatever you decide to do and whatever your hosting style is, just be sure to make it clear to guests beforehand what they can expect. If they’re going to have to supply everything themselves, let them know on your listing.
It doesn’t hurt to include it in any pre-arrival messages to them too just to save them any frustration. Any disappointment the guest experiences will end up being reflected in their reviews at the end of their stay.