Hospitality

And what would you like to drink?

Here's how to make each guest feel special

Sound Familiar?

Pesky Problem

Your Airbnb is identical for each guest.

Picture walking into a nice hotel room. (Are you there?) Bright white bedspread pulled taut. Curtains tucked back letting in the natural light. The little paper-wrapped soap by the sink. Now the phone rings. It’s the front desk. They’re so sorry but they sent you to the wrong room. You’re actually staying one door down.

Fast forward a few minutes and you’re now walking into the second room. And what do you see? The white bedspread, the natural light, the paper-wrapped soap. A cloned copy of the first room. When properly prepared, every room in a hotel is identical. And therefore, completely lacking in any personalization. The room was prepped to meet spec, but not prepared for you specifically.

Let's Try This

Bite-Size Solution

Leverage your unfair advantage and customize each stay.

This is where Airbnb hosts have an enormous unfair advantage over hotels. You’re preparing your space for one stay at a time, empowering you to customize it for the guests checking in next. Even the slightest personalizations carry big weight when it comes to impressing your guests.

Take a page out of Debbie and Herb’s playbook. These superhosts in Tarpon Springs, Florida are master customizers. They’ve got a whole host of questions (yup…pun intended) up their sleeves to ask guests when they book. When folks arrive, they find the Cooper Cottage has been tailored just to their specifications.

Here are just a few questions you might ask:

Do you have a favorite drink? (It will be waiting in the fridge.)
Are you traveling with kiddos? (There will be a stuffed animal ready to take home.)
What brings you to town? (They’ll have notes tailored to those local attractions.)

5 Minutes

Here's Your First Step

Pick a small, go-to adjustment you can make for each guest.

When guests recognize that even one little adjustment was made just for them, they feel truly appreciated and seen. So what can you customize? What accommodations would make you feel like a VIP? Take just five minutes and brainstorm ideas. Then pick just one idea and test it out for the next five stays. We’d bet you’ll see this special something showing up in your reviews and guestbook before you know it.

INSPIRED BY you

This week’s Big Heart Hosting post was inspired by Debbie and Herb, Airbnb Superhosts in Tarpon Spring, Florida, USA. Just click here to explore the full listing.

get social

save or share this post

keep reading

ready for the next one?

bye-bye blindspots

The Ultimate Airbnb Checklist Collection

The number one question we hear from hosts is “What am I forgetting to put in my Airbnb?” This collection is the definitive answer to that question. In our signature product, we go room-by-room, step-by-step until your Airbnb is perfectly appointed and ready to impress. Bye-bye blindspots and hello happy guests!

free checklist!

Even the best hosts can forget a thing or two

Luckily all 15 of these common mistakes are super easy to fix. Grab your copy of the checklist below and dive on in!

WELCOME TO

big heart hosting

we help hosts thrive

You’re an ambitious Airbnb host with a big heart. But on some days, hosting isn’t exactly what you had imagined. Maybe it’s overwhelming. Or isolating. Or just not making the kind of money you had envisioned. At Big Heart Hosting, we’re on a mission to help hosts like you thrive, not just get by. We create step-by-step resources that bring together the best hosting strategies from around the world. We’ll give you the knowledge and community you need to create the joyful, prosperous Airbnb you deserve.

Erin & Jay

EXPLORE BY

California Highway 1

Contrary to our Midwestern assumptions, it turns out there are cold, rainy days in California. And they can come in relentless succession. When we left