Welcome to Boostly Podcast Season 11 Episode 90. This is a recap of my Facebook live where I talked to holiday cottage owners.
Here's the audio for this episode:
Here's the video for this episode:
Timestamp
00:00 Start
00:50 The positive side
02:40 Less is more
04:00 Big takeaway
Whilst you’re here
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Visual – YouTube
Audio – Boostly Podcast
Transcript from the Episode
It's not often that the general public tell you the host exactly what they want. But there is a post that recently came up in the hospitality community Facebook group, and it was titled dear holiday cottage owners. And what's really important is that this was posted at the beginning of May 2021. This is just as the world is reopening and just as accommodation is able to take bookings again, for many people in the world, you know, especially in the US, you may not have been closed for many, you know, around the world, you may have been able to book in for a while there are a lot of people have taken a lot of time out. And your guests have taken a lot of time out. And now the guests are coming back. And what's really important is that you don't forget the bare essentials, because if you do, then your guests will get disgruntled. And they know the power of the internet. And there are forums after forums after forums where they will go and rant.
The positive side
Now, there is a flip side and you can turn it into positive and you can have amazing people sharing about you in the stays, etc. But there will be a time when something like this happens. Now this is on the very popular website mom's net now I'm not going to share with you the username of the person who posted this, obviously, cuz I don't want to do that. But I'm just want to share this post. And it's really important that you read this because this obviously they didn't call out the owner where they stayed. But this is really important. This is what your guests are thinking right now. And what's really important is that you explain to your guests every single step of the way. Now I call it making your business idiot proof. And I've done an episode on this just scroll on back on the YouTube channel typing on YouTube search Boostly how to idiot proof your business. But this so many of this could be taken care of by number one communication, whether it's with your cleaning staff communication with your guests. So again, you can just read for it for the love of God just buy a whole set of matching cutlery plates and glasses. They're not expensive as massive nine see a cupboard full of random glasses and a bits of crockery you don't want in your own house, I've always said this less is more, don't just fill up your property with stuff that is just a discard from your own house.
We've had the benefit and the luxury been able to travel all over the world, we've seen some amazing places. And one thing that always makes me laugh with especially with Spanish properties is that and this is we've run also we've done long rental and we've done short rental here, but we've long rental, especially when it's furnished. They have every single shot glass, wine, glass, sport glass, every glass you can imagine and all of the cutlery, less is more.
Less is more
Now what I mean by that is again, just get rid of it, don't hide it, get rid of it, send it to a charity shop, go to a shop, whether it's IKEA or wherever you get your stuff from, and go get one, so get two for every person. So if you've got five, get 10 if you four, get eight if you've got a maximum six, get 12 and stock up properly and just make it all one set. It looks good. It makes the guests feel good. And it just makes them feel like you haven't just assembled stuff and just chucked in there. And again, if you are family-friendly and you attract young children, young families in your property, get plastic, you'll be amazed. I've got a two-year-old a five-year-old and eight year old you'd be amazed at how many places that we go to do not have plastic cutlery and having to give a two-year-old some a breakable literally gets my OCD levels going. So again, please be aware of your avatar. Please don't shrimp in quality in scrimping crossed or could the cost in some of these key areas because again, something like cutlery they use it every single day. sharpen your knives, buy a set of free nonstick pans. Again, make sure that you take care of the essentials, they are telling you what they want.
So again, it may have done tongue in cheek and it may have been a bit comedic. But again, they're telling you exactly what they want. And again, think about your guests as the most important takeaway from this.
Big takeaway
Big takeaway from this is when you're coming out of lockdown when you're starting to accept guests, the best thing to do is just to spend a night in your property and just go for it and live it like a guest. If not what I'd be doing every single stay, I'd be calling up every single guest and just making sure that everything was okay. Ask them directly. Just be totally honest and say listen, we've been closed for a long time. We'll just getting, you're our first guest. We really appreciate it is there anything missing? What could we have done to make your stay better, because they will give you honest feedback. And again, if you call them up, it's so much easier and as well it's a nice little touch. Can you think of anybody that they will have bought from in the past that awkward moments it's called and directly and personally thank them for staying with them that will be worth so much to them in the long run.
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