Vacations… they’re those things that most people only get a few times out of the year and typically have to work a certain amount of days to even earn enough time to go on a vacation… but regardless of how hard you have to work to earn your vacation time, it’s time meant to let go of the stressors that come with working for a living to relax and recharge your body so that when you go back to work, it has gained enough energy back to get worn down until the next vacation!
Just kidding! But for most people, that’s “the story of their life” and that’s okay… that’s the story of more than half of America’s life too. Because people work so hard going to work every day, most vacation rental owners go above and beyond to make their vacation rental property as relaxing and calming as possible.
As a vacation rental owner, everything you do to your property plays an integral role in how your guests enjoy their stay. From the welcome bags in each room to the alarm system you had installed, it’s all in the details, big or small. You, of course, know that you’re not going to be able to please everybody and that’s okay… the fact that you provided Tide laundry soap instead of Gain, isn’t going to ruin your reputation as one of the best vacation rental spots in your area… but you know what can? Not having WiFi or if your rental property doesn’t look like what was advertised.
Those are two of the biggest complaints in the vacation rental industry… and they’re not the only complaint either. Whether you’re trying to efficiently run a bed and breakfast or wow the socks off of every guest that enters your vacation rental, there are certain things you must do to show your guests a good time and make them feel at home. Once you’ve made the proper adjustments to your vacation rental, you’ll be able to see where your property stands in the rental market.
The Vacation Rental Property Isn’t Clean
In the hospitality industry, it’s all about expectations… more so meeting the expectations of every guest who stays at your property. Cleanliness is an unspoken expectation among vacation rental guests… it’s something that a guest shouldn’t even have to request when booking the property.
When people stay at hotels, they expect to enter a clean room and they have that very same expectation with vacation rental properties as well. With hotels, they have housekeepers that will come in each day and make up the bed and just tidy up the room. With vacation rentals, guests don’t have that luxury but they should expect to walk into a clean property when they first get there.
Most vacation rental owners will invest in a cleaning company to clean up after each guest. It’s a much better thing to do instead going in yourself and cleaning (unless you have the time to do it). Is it an expense? Yes. But is it worth ease and convenience? Absolutely. By hiring a house cleaning service, you’ll be able to have faster turn arounds and get more people booked in a timely fashion.
Your Property Is Deceiving to the Eye
Deceiving to the eye? What does that mean exactly? A property being deceiving to the eye means that upon the guest arriving, the property doesn’t look like what was advertised online. Unfortunately, this is something that happens all too often and has been the cause of many ruined vacations.
According to the FTC, a popular way scammers trick unsuspecting renters is by going with real listings and replacing the owner’s information with their own or simply making up listings that don’t even exist, leaving people with no place to go and usually scammed out of thousands of dollars. So, as a vacation rental owner, make sure your property looks as it does on the website and to only list amenities that you currently have.
As you acquire more amenities, you can add them to the listing but not until you actually have them. You can’t say that your property currently has a pool even if it’s being installed; you can only list it once it’s installed and properly working.
Property Doesn’t Have WiFi
In the digital era that we live in today, your property not having WiFi is a vacation rental catastrophe. When people go on vacation, the main things they’re going to be doing is recording videos and taking pictures on their phone. Guests will even want to take pictures and record videos of their vacation rentals if it wows them enough but in order for them to do that, your property needs to have WiFi. Plus, you never know, some people will go on vacation and still work so WiFi is definitely a necessity for your vacation rental property.
All in All…
The above are just a few of the biggest complaints among vacation rental guests but they’re certainly not the only complaints. Again, you’re not going to be able to please everyone but you can certainly make sure to avoid making these vacation rental blunders!
