Miscellaneous We’re back from another great winter vacation in the sun and if you read my previous post describing what happens When the Sun Doesn’t Shine in Paradise, you’ll know there wasn’t as great deal of the sunny weather we were expecting. However, we had a great time, most of it due to the excellent accommodation and attention to detail given by the owner and her on-location staff. So much so that we are in the planning phase of buying our own property in the Bahamas…..and getting very excited about it! Thank you for reading our content. Please click here to receive an appreciation gift Every year I come away from the holiday with a bunch of things I want to start doing in my own properties and this year’s experience was no different. I’ve compiled 10 takeaways – those things that I learned about being a vacation rental guest that I’ll be applying to my own VR business to make the experience for my guests at Osprey Cottage and Kingfisher Cottage even more special. There were also a couple of incidents that gave us a few AHA moments about the general issue of rental management. 1. Getting the Pre-Arrival Right As soon as we booked Thevine House Nathalie sent an attractively presented, comprehensive pre-arrival package. It covered everything a first time visitor to the Bahamas would need such as customs regulations, currency and banking, where we could rent a car or a boat, book a massage or arrange for a local caterer to come in an cook for us. The main effect of this was to drive our excitement and anticipation as well as allow us to plan for our time there. Take-Away Revisit the information you send your guests. Does it create excitement? Are you providing enough material for them to start planning their stay. If they have never been to your destination before, think about the cultural differences they should expect to find and let them know well in advance. Even something simple like how much tip and what goods they may or may not find in a supermarket, can be very helpful in holiday planning. 2. The importance of a good property manager Nathalie employs a property manager who does the changeovers and laundry but she is more than just a cleaner. I had the opportunity to sit down with Desereen while we were there and talk about her thoughts on the role. She has a strong philosophy of hospitality that shines through when she talks about how her work impacts on guests at Thevine House. Working with numerous owners, Desereen has built knowledge of the business and has developed a sense of how much interaction guests want and need. Take-Away I’ve recently employed a new property manager for my cottages to replace one that was OK but didn’t have the pride in the business to notice the things that needed doing without being told. What I learned from my stay at Thevine House was how important it is to be clear to a property manager that what she does at the property can have significant impact on our guests. I want her to be proactive and to feel she can speak up when she sees soemthing that needs changing, or has an idea for improvement. Related post: You don’t have to be on-site to be a great host – It’s all a matter of management 3. How we coped in a power outage On the second day of our stay I woke up at 5am and reached out to switch on the bedside lamp and it didn’t work. Then I realised the fan was also stopped and that the power had gone off. It was pitch black. Fortunately I had an iPad to hand that helped light the way into the living area, and to search around for a couple of candles. Being in an unfamiliar environment makes loss of power at nighttime a question of safety – you don’t know your way around, have little idea where things are kept, and are at risk of trip and fall accidents. Take-Away A power outage kit is important to have in a vacation rental. A plastic box containing flashlights and batteries, candles and safety holders , a wind-up radio and an analog phone (if necessary) and a box of matches or gas lighter. We have these and they have always helped our guests in this type of emergency, however what we did take away was the importance of having an emergency light in each room. These are battery powered and will come on when the power fails. Related Post: 10 Steps to Emergency Preparedness 4. And when the water ran out…. The day after the power outage, the water supply failed. We weren’t sure but think it was probably related and it didn’t bother us much since we are used to non-municipal water supply anyway and know it isn’t as reliable. However, the water stopped running in the early morning. The instructions in the cottage said to call the maintenance person but his phone was not accepting voice mail, so we left a message with the property manager. It was several hours later before the guy turned up and another few hours after that until the water came on again. Take – Away I’ve been reading The Effortless Experience, a book that blows away the idea that all you need to create customer loyalty is by wowing your guests once. The main premise is that loyalty is driven by how well day-to-day problems are handled rather than the quality of the gift basket or the swan towel on the bed. This water issue (or a similar service breakdown) is one that could occur in any property at any time, and if you don’t have a good system that ensures immediate response and reaction to solving the problem, any goodwill you have built up can quickly disappear. My main learning point was to brainstorm all possible issues that could occur and make sure there is a resolution in place to handle it. Related Post: Making the Vacation Rental Process Effortless 5. A Brit with no kettle is not a happy guest It was interesting this was the second vacation rental we have stayed in the past year that did not have a kettle. I don’t need the plug-in variety; a stovetop one will work just as well, but you cannot make a cup of tea without one. This is one thing I hate about hotels in the US and Canada because very few of them provide the means for making anything other than a basic cup of coffee, but I do expect to find one in a vacation rental property. Take-Away Get a kettle. Yes, that’s it. For probably less than $30 you will please all your tea drinking guests, and not force them to boil water in a microwave, or as we did the first night, in a pot on the stove. We went out the following day and bought Nathalie a kette. It’s a very nice one with a very loud whistle so not only will her guests now be able to boil water for tea, they can wake up every other family member too! Related Post: 10 Small Appliances for a Well Equipped Kitchen 6. Quality of bed linens does matter We slept on great beds at Thevine House and the crisp, cool 100% cotton sheets were an absolute delight. They were not the cheap ‘600 thread count’ variety that feel thin and flimsy – they were heavier sheets but with a nice softness about them. The mattress covers were padded so that added to the comfort as well. Take-Away I’ve fallen into the trap of buying what I thought were bargain sheets in the big box stores. Often termed ‘hotel quality’ they are invariably cheap foreign imports. I’ve recently tried the US made sheets from The Distinguished Guest. These are excellent quality and feel great. Related Post: Vacation Rental Bedrooms – Why Quality Counts Thank you for reading our content. Please click here to receive a token of our appreciation 7. The Charging Dilemma I am pretty sure we are an average family – a group of 4 adults and an 18 month old. Between us we had, 3 laptops; 2 iPads; 3 iPhones; 2 GoPro cameras; a video camera; a digital camera, and a digital recorder….all of which required charging at some point during our stay. Some of them were on charge most of the time. Although there were plenty of outlets, it seemed that every one of them was wired up to a charger or has a USB plug in the socket. Take – Away This was quite an eye-opener for me as I hadn’t realised how much we rely on our technology to enjoy our vacation. Mike and I write blog posts all the time; we used ipads to find out about local restaurants and attractions; iPhones for texting home, managing the iBaby video, and the camera/video stuff for creating memories of the vacation. This has made me appreciate how my guests feel when they are at my place and why I have already bought some multi-use charging stations that have both outlets, and USB ports. I’m also thinking about creating a stand-alone charging area on a cart with shelves. 8. I loved the labelling In general I’ve never been that happy with labelling. Particularly when it’s the post-it note or scribbled scrap of paper warning of this and that. However I loved the labelling in Thevine House, specifically the tiny label above each light switch that said what it was for. There were a lot of them. Lights for the pool, the cabana, the porches, and all the interior lighting. It was so helpful to find the right one the first time without the trial and error flicking on and off. Then there was labelling in every cupboard which was unbostrusive but effective, so we knew where to put everything away after washing up or emptying the dishwasher. Take- Away Get a labelling machine from a craft store and create neat labels for all cupboards, drawers and light switches. This won’t mean your mixing jugs don’t end up in the pot cupboard but it will help your guests relocate most stuff and will safe time at changeovers. 9. Up to date tourist information I stayed in a UK cottage a few years ago and there were boxes and boxes of tourist info – most of which was years out of date. There is no excuse for not updating this stuff and I was glad to see that Nathalie had all hers neatly laid out in a binder with tabs for different activities, eating out, attractions etc. It made for great reading and was the go-to file whenever we had a question about what to do next. Take Away My tourist material is kept in a stationery box and replaced for each new season, but I like the idea of preparing a binder that has personal recommendations as well as the general set of brochures and leaflets. 10. The bad weather bear Nathalie – if you are reading this, I am sorry to keep harping on about the weather. I know it wasn’t your fault, and we really did have a great time despite it. You did a fantastic job with all the indoor activities – DVDs, pool table, Play Station, paperbacks etc., and thank you for allowing us to turn the heat up on the swimming pool. Take – Away I said it all in this post: How to Please Guests When the Sun Doesn’t Shine in Paradise And if you’d like to take a look at the video Mike did at Thevine House, check this out…… What were your take-aways from your last stay in a vacation rental? Or is there something here that has got you thinking “I really need to do that”? Perhaps you are going out to buy a kettle or an emergency light. We’d love to know what your action points are. So fill out a comment below.
