Posts Tagged ‘book your vacation rental’
First impressions matter, and for vacation rental owners, that means ensuring a welcoming atmosphere is essential when it comes to the guest experience. From the moment they park and get out of the car, the tone is being set for their stay in your vacation rental property. They’ve already spent hours, days, possibly weeks saving and comparing your rental with others and finally decided to book with you. Taking the time to ensure an inviting welcome can reap many benefits. Here are some ideas to support your process.
Check-In
Once you have a confirmed booking, be sure the guests have electronic access to basic information, such as:
- Directions to the property
- A clear address
- Contact information
- Parking instructions
- Explanation of how to access the property
After traveling and pulling up to the vacation rental home, guests are ready for a smooth transition. There’s nothing more frustrating than not being able to get into your vacation rental easily. Difficult access is a guaranteed way to downgrade your customer service rating. The check-in process should be as easy as possible. Clear directions to access the home can keep this process simple and stress-free. If struggling to enter the home is the initial hiccup, it can easily go downhill from there.
Entering the Home
One of the first things your guest will notice is the temperature. If it’s a normal Arizona summer day, they will want to feel the welcoming breeze of the air conditioning. They should be indulging in the decor and set up of your vacation rental instead of the amazing race to the thermostat. It will never be “just right”, but the effort will be appreciated.
Ensuring a welcoming atmosphere also includes keeping your word. Does your vacation rental look anything like the pictures posted online? When the reality does not match the photos and/or description, there can be a disappointment. Anything shown in your listing, unless mentioned as unavailable for use, needs to be there.
Cleanliness
Whether you choose to clean your property yourself or partner with a professional vacation rental cleaning service, this investment is very important. Guest expectations are very high when it comes to the cleanliness of where they are staying. Checking the details and cleanliness of every room after the clean can prevent complaints and touch up visits. During the peak vacation season, guest turnover can be fast, resulting in same-day bookings and more efficient turns. Moxie Girl suggests deep cleaning your home during downtime to ensure attention to detail and thorough cleans.
You can also ensure that the guests feel well taken care of by having essential products stocked and ready for use.
Welcome Binder
Welcome Binders are an important amenity for your vacation rental property. This extra step shows your guests that you care about their comfort while staying in your home. All of the information needed for reference can be found in this binder.
- Pull together basic information like nearby grocery stores, gas stations, pharmacies, and the post office.
- Highlight hidden gems in your city to help the guest experience them as well. This can include locally-owned restaurants, tours of areas unique to your location, and any nearby attractions.
- Frequently asked questions, including thermostat instructions, the wifi password, extra linens, and any quirks your home might have.
- Contact information so that guests know the fastest way to reach you if they have any questions, concerns, or problems during their stay.
- Check out instructions are helpful as well, especially a check out time-reminder and what to do with trash/recycle.
First impressions have lasting effects. Welcoming efforts made to support the initial impression will pay off in the return on investment through five-star reviews and increased bookings for your vacation rental home. Think of your own experiences. What do you appreciate? What level of service do you expect? Look at your reviews for feedback and make necessary adjustments when needed. The goal is to be as stress-free as possible for all parties involved. We can all appreciate that! Need some help making your vacation rental property guest-ready every time a new guest walks in? contact Moxie Girl today!
First Impression of Your Vacation Rental
We have heard it time and time again that first impressions matter and people are always saying “try to make the best first impression that you can”. This is something that should be considered when managing a vacation rental because first impressions can greatly impact the cash flow of your property. The first impression starts long before a guest has even stepped foot into your vacation rental. Their very first impression comes from the pictures that are placed online. Potential guests will evaluate the appearance and if it looks cleaned and well kept, what the staging and décor is like, and the overall vibes that the place gives off. Have you thought about what impression your vacation rental gives?
Vacation Rental Ratings and Reviews
Along with first impressions, ratings and reviews are especially important for cash flow when managing a vacation rental. Vacation rental management is part of the Hospitality Industry. Success in the hospitality industry is driven by the rating and reviews of others. It is said that people trust reviews as much as getting a recommendation from someone and 72% of people said they would not book a place without reviews. Potential guests are going through and reading the reviews left from your previous guests before determining if they are going to book your place.
How a professional clean can improve your ratings
The upkeep for a vacation rental can be a lot of work, even more so if you are managing more than one property. Hiring a professional cleaning company can eliminate a large portion of stress and free up more time in your schedule. Your guests want to have the feeling that the place is brand new and has never been used before. A great cleaning company can not only deliver that experience to your guests, but they can also improve the ratings and reviews that your guests are providing after they check out. With the increase of positive reviews, it is likely that the demand to stay in your vacation rental will increase as well.
Why choose Moxie Girl Vacation Rental Cleaning Company
With all the different cleaning companies that are available, it can be difficult choosing between them. So, what makes a cleaning company great? There needs to be trust, professionalism, and they should be experienced. Moxie Girls’ team of professional cleaners are also organized, fairly priced, and practice secure confidentiality.
If you are looking for a team of professionals to help you increase the number of positive reviews that your vacation rental receives and are ready to relieve stress and have more free time. Click here for more information.
Is your vacation rental ready for summer?
Summer months are the most stressful time for vacation rental owners. Not only is it the busiest time for owners, having to make sure that homes are restocked, pools are maintained, and rentals are kept up on, cleaning is a very important aspect during this time. This is the time of year where everyone wants to travel with their family and just have a nice gateway. Since we live in Arizona, we have nice weather year-round so vacationing here is a must. The summer months include May through September. The weather during these months can get up to 120 degrees but hey, it is a dry heat so no worries about all the humidity. This is the time of year where people use their pools the most. Pool maintenance should always be up to date during these months, so it is easy for your guest to use it with no hassle. During summer months we also have a monsoon season (June- September). The temperatures usually start dropping during the monsoon season, but not much. Temperatures usually range from 80 to 105 degrees. This is the season where our rain comes from the most. Rainfall usually averages from 0.66 inches to 2 inches of rain for the whole year. So vacationing during this, it might rain one day which doesn’t ruin your whole vacation.
Getting your pool ready for guests.
Having a private pool for your vacation rental home is a huge benefit while living in Arizona. When guests rent your property out, they want to have their vacation hassle-free, so be sure to get your pool ready for them so they can enjoy their vacation. The first step into making sure your pools are ready, is to get rid of any debris. Even if you use a pool cover, although being located in Arizona, pool covers aren’t really necessary, you will want to make sure you have all the twigs, leaves, and bugs cleared out. Next to making sure that all your pool equipment is working properly is also part of getting your pool ready. Pool equipment includes pool pumps, hoses, filters, diving boards, steps, and ladders making sure that there aren’t any damage or safety hazards. Third, you are going to want to check the water for these three things, total alkalinity, PH levels, and Chlorine levels. If any of these are too high, it will cause your pool to be uncomfortable to swim in. Finally vacuuming the pool is the last and final step to getting your pool ready. Vacuuming will remove any debris that is left at the bottom of your pool. Once you have done all four things, your pool is ready for guests to swim safely. If you arent interested in doing these things yourself we recommend reaching out to a pool company for your pool service needs, one of the companies we know and trust is Aquaman pools!
Restocking your home
Restocking your home for the summer months will help you deal with certain unexpected elements that could keep you indoors including monsoon season in Arizona. Having your home restocked will ensure that your guest won’t suffer from any inconveniences. We all know that when we go on vacation, we don’t want to go to the store right away. You will also have to consider that most guests are coming from different states, so flying makes it hard to bring certain things, so it is thoughtful to have basic amenities on hand when they check-in. Basic amenities include things such as shampoo, conditioner, body wash, and lotion to get started in each bathroom.
Being a vacation rental owner most definitely has its challenges, but the more you are prepared, the more smoothly your renting season will go. As vacation rental cleaners, we are always up for new ideas to improve and make the next renter’s stay go even more smoothly. You can contact Moxie Girl or STRM to get into contact with Amanda to take about any cleaning improvements that are needed.
Is anyone starting to feel that cabin fever kick in after being inside for so long? With CDC( Centers for Disease Control) basically restricting any travel for everyone throughout the US. All governors have started closing unessential business and putting restrictions on staying at home and going out only when needed. With all the guidelines and restrictions in place, people are scared to travel or even leave their houses. This pandemic has caused everyone to go into a panic and has everyone worried about doing any sort of travel causing the travel lines to reduce air travel and take extra precautions.
The Effects of Covid-19
So you may be asking, what has the Covid-19 pandemic caused in the Vacation Rental Industry. Well for starters, the decrease in travel has caused multiple properties to lose travelers and causing most property managers to lose future travelers as well as seeing their current travelers canceling or departing earlier than intended. Even with travel violations, there are still plenty of ways to enjoy your staycations whether they are at home or at a local Vacation rental. There are tons of pros of staying at a vacation rental, especially when you’re keeping it local.
Traveling During a Pandemic
Vacation rental properties are places to travel during this pandemic while staying close to home and getting out of your house, but still maintaining social distancing. They provide quick getaways while being stuck at home without having to worry about being in close quarters with others like you would be staying in a hotel room. Some vacation rental homes provide private pools which is a huge advantage during this time, especially living in the Arizona heat when all public pools are being shut down for precautionary reasons due to Covid-19
Clean & Sanitary Staycations
Vacation Rentals also provide a clean and comfortable environment for your family during your stay. Moxie Girl is one of the vacation rental cleaning businesses located in Arizona. Moxie girl employees use disinfectant every time we clean a vacation rental to ensure that you and your family are well taken care of during your stay, focusing on those high-touch areas like Remotes, light plate switches, door handles, etc. Moxie girl’s first priority is the safety of all guests and the cleanliness of every vacation rental property we service. Short term rental properties are great for all types of families no matter how big or small they are. They can accommodate your families needs to sleep pretty much as many people as you want or need. So if you want to support Vacation Rentals, there are multiple ways to book your staycations. To get directly what you are looking for in a vacation home with certain amenities you can contact Moxie Girl or STRM about booking directly instead of booking through a third-party booking website, avoiding those third party booking fees.
If you currently own a vacation rental home here in the Phoenix metropolitan area and are looking to take some things off your plate, Moxie Girl can help you relieve some of the stress of running your rental property.
Contact us today for a FREE consultation!
As the owner/operator of a successful vacation rental home, you try hard to provide an experience that will prompt your guests to leave glowing reviews – but even putting forth your best efforts doesn’t protect you against the ever-growing list of scams affecting AirBnB hosts.
A quick online search reveals numerous tales of woe from AirBnB hosts describing nefarious guests’ attempts to garner anywhere between 25% to 100% OFF their reservation total. Some hosts claim that due to AirBnB’s guest refund policies and procedures, guests are doing everything from turning wi-fi routers off and claiming the internet “isn’t working,” to staging and photographing undesirable cleaning “misses” in order to whittle down their lodging expenses.
One way vacation rental homeowners are protecting themselves against the “discount” scammers is to snap pics of all areas of the “guest-ready” rental before their guests arrive. Moxie Girl Vacation Rental Assistants have been providing this service to our clients for several months now – and as it turns out, that’s a really great idea!
Moxie Girl has always provided photo documentation to our clients of any theft or damage to their property should we find it. Timely evidence is crucial for vacation rental hosts hoping to charge a guest for misuse of their vacation rental home or items that have gone missing during a guest’s stay!
Providing photos of their guest-ready vacation rental gives our clients peace of mind, knowing their guests will arrive at a clean, inviting space – in addition to being pretty solid evidence against false claims by guests that the rental “wasn’t clean.” Even a screenshot of the wi-fi showing as “connected” on a smartphone proves it WAS working when we left the property.
Moxie Girl recently even used a guest-ready photo to prove that a guest (or rather the guest’s child) was responsible for breaking a large mirror in one of our clients’ vacation rentals. The guests had claimed they found mirror broken upon arrival, but our time-stamped photo of that room from earlier in the day showed an undamaged mirror! Long story, short, the kid fessed up and the guests took financial responsibility for the replacement cost.
There are plenty of other (and far more costly!) scams being perpetrated against vacation rental homeowners as well. Many of those may be avoided by knowing what to watch out for. Most rental listing platforms such as AirBnB and VRBO offer secure payment processing and warm that guests requesting to pay by any type of check or wire transfer should be a red flag.
Vacation rental homeowners are also urged to never accept more than is due for any booking, putting them in the position of being persuaded to issue a refund outside the rental platform’s refund policy and structure – and ultimately lead to identity theft as well as financial loss.
Clearly you’ve got enough to worry about as a vacation rental homeowner – why not let Moxie Girl take away the stress of between-guest cleanings? Moxie Girl is a leader in the care of vacation rental homes throughout the Phoenix area – and we are just as interested in helping your property get great reviews as you are. CLICK HERE for a FREE consultation!
Interested in being a Moxie Girl? We are always on the lookout for motivated individuals to join our growing team of Vacation Rental Assistants! CLICK HERE to introduce yourself – an HR representative will reach out to you shortly!
With the vacation rental industry booming all over the U.S. – and the world – you may be wondering which vacation rental sites offer the most ‘bang for the buck’ for you, the vacation rental homeowner. New short-term rental platforms are popping up frequently nowadays, with many marketing to “niche” demographics such as the LGBTQ community, guests traveling with pets, and family vacationers.
But since you may be just starting out as a vacation rental homeowner, we’ll take a look at what is considered to be three of the most popular vacation rental home listing platforms and what they have to offer in relation to their fees.
Airbnb
Airbnb has become synonymous with vacation rental bookings – kind of like the “Kleenex” of facial tissues. (No one says, “I need a facial tissue,” do they?) Founded in 2008, Airbnb currently has over 100 million users and over 640,000 hosts! According to data from SimliarWeb.com, Airbnb is ranked second only to travel giant Booking.com.
Airbnb has no fee to join or list entire properties, private and shared rooms. Guests booking on Airbnb pay 6-20% of the total booking fee, which keeps the AirBnB site up and running. Hosts (that’s you, vacation rental homeowner) pays 3-5% of the total booking fee to cover transaction costs (credit card fees).
HomeAway
HomeAway and its umbrella of companies (which includes VRBO and vacationrentals.com) boasts over 1 million listings in over 190 countries, giving vacation rental homeowners and managers the opportunity to expose their properties to over 44 million travelers each month!
Guests booking vacation rentals through HomeAway can expect to pay a service fee of 6-12% of the total booking. As host of a HomeAway vacation rental, you have the option of paying a fee of 8% per booking total or you can become a subscriber for an annual fee of $499 and enjoy fee-free bookings all year! A subscription makes loads of sense if you expect your vacation rental to gross over $10k in bookings annually!
Booking.com
While this website ranks #1 as an overall online travel agency, Booking.com doesn’t specialize in vacation rental homes, but this portion of their business is rapidly growing making it an exciting option for listing your vacation rental. Booking.com is already hugely international, with 5 million+ short-term lodging rentals in over 225 countries!
Hosting fees are definitely higher than Airbnb or HomeAway – expect to pay in the range of 10-25% per booking, depending on the location of your vacation rental. However, there are no sign-up or subscription fees for hosts. Also, guests booking through this site pay NO booking fees for your vacation rental, making this platform very popular with travelers!
Multiple Platforms = Maximum Exposure
Yes, you can use more than one platform to list your vacation rental property. There are even some services you can join that make it possible to have your listing(s) posted simultaneously on multiple sites of your choosing, decreasing your “admin” time and increasing your exposure to potential guests.
Many vacation rental homeowners will initially list the properties on multiple sites and “pare them down” later if they start seeing the majority of their bookings consistently coming through only one or two sites.
Do Your Due Diligence!
Of course, there is much to consider beyond the fees when deciding on a vacation rental listing website. It’s up to you, the vacation rental homeowner, to read the details provided on any rental platform to make sure you understand everything you are agreeing to when listing your property.
Let Moxie Girl Help!
With everything you have to accomplish in running a successful vacation rental property, wouldn’t it be nice to have a between-guest cleaning team you can count on? Moxie Girl is a leader in the care of vacation rental properties of all sizes throughout the Phoenix area. Click HERE to find out how Moxie Girl can help you reclaim your time by letting us handle your turns!
Many Phoenix-area school districts start the school year as early as the beginning of August, but in other places across the country, classes don’t start until the day after Labor Day! This leaves August open for impromptu family vacations, and many of those families find it less expensive – and more convenient – to find a suitable vacation rental home for their family travels.
If you own a vacation rental in the Valley and have read up on the subject, you already know the benefits of keeping your property operating through our brutal summer – even though it might seem “easier” and “cheaper” to cease operations during these months.
If you AREN’T in-the-know, here are a couple of blogs full of good information on the topic!
Boosting Your Summer Vacation Rental Bookings
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Summer Vacation Rentals- Moxie Girl Debunks The Myths
It’s true, staying in the summer vacation rental game not only helps offset the year-round expenses associated with your vacation rental property, but keeping your vacation rental home active during the “off” months – with good reviews – will also help boost your rental to the top of your vacation rental platform’s listings. And THAT can only increase your bookings during peak season!
Need some help avoiding complaints and bad reviews? Check out these Moxie blogs!
Avoiding Complaints From Your Vacation Rental Guests
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Vacation Rental Review Killers
Late summer is famous for last-minute vacation rental home bookings, so stay in close communication with your vacation rental cleaning team. You’d never want to give your guests the feeling they’re receiving last-minute treatment!
Need Help With Your Vacation Rental Home?
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