Screening your guest for the success of your STR business

[Sebastian Giraldo]

When you’re developing a listing, one of the main things you have to think about is; who is going to stay on my listing? Who am I getting this place ready for? Because that’s going to help you decide what type of amenities you need, what kind of furnishing you need, or any other things that you want to include in your short term rental.

A good example is: Let’s say that your target audience with your vacation rental is a family. Therefore, you may want to include a high chair, pack and play, toys for the kids, games for the children, monopoly or chess board games for the parents, and different sorts of things that are going to make a family vacation more enjoyable.

If you have a beautiful listing and it’s packed with all the things that a family would enjoy and all of a sudden, you get a group of three young couples coming to your listing. Do you think they are going to find your listing as pleasant and as enjoyable as a family would?

Probably not, because they’re looking for more adult appeal. Perhaps a robust surround system, domino table, or shot glasses and a wine cooler. In the end, other general factors such as a pleasant environment they should have a good time, yet it didn’t go the stretch to create a memorable experience. And that is our point. Screening your guests before their arrival will help you remain closer to your ideal guest and in return have consistent raving 5 star reviews on your listing and much less negative ones.

Asking the right questions will give you a heads up!

It is essential that you ask the right questions in order to have your ideal guest stay in your property because once they come into your home. They’ll notice and appreciate the details and say “everything in this home was thought for” they find the games, books, that interest them, and everything that makes the experience of staying at your listing a wonderful vacation.

Some of the questions you want to ask are:

1. What is the purpose of your stay?
2. Why are you interested in this property?
3. Where are you traveling from?
4. How many will stay over in your group?
5. Do you need special accommodations for toddlers?
6. Can I help you prepare for any special occasion?

When a happy guest arrives on your property, you can ask him/her for consistent feedback in order to ensure they are okay and the property is working properly for them and finally ask them for a positive review, which will help you getting more clients for your listing. The more positive reviews you have on your listing, the more great reputation badges you will enjoy, which in turn leads to increased guest occupancy with higher rates.

Building great experiences for the independence of your business

Building referrals and word of mouth customers are significant for the success of your short term rental business. A recurrent customer base can be a lifeline for you during slow times. Therefore, you don’t only want to only rely on the booking portals. What you want to do is develop your backend process so you can serve a solid customer base.
Other effective filters to screen your guests include signing of a Vacation rental agreement, Document Identification, security deposit and guest insurance.

Screening your guest is about much more than just avoiding parties or damages to your properties, it also helps your short term rental company cater to the ideal guest you’ve developed your property for and also create a memorable experience for guests. This will result in the growth of a solid online reputation, which is going to help you generate 5-star reviews and in turn increase your Average Daily Rates for your home.

We have applied these for ourselves and have developed our listings and reach 500 reservations in just one year.

What questions do you ask to screen your guests?
What else would you ask your guests to guarantee them the best stay?
We would love to know your experience!