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Always be there for your guests

Make sure you are there for them when they arrive and when they leave, we always have a welcome pack which gives enough to make one proper meal for two as most guests arrive late, we leave beer, champagne and food always seasonal fruits fresh bread butter eggs bacon etc, the larder always has basics tea, nespresso capsules , olive oil, salt pepper and sugar and we have filtered water and also make sure there is ice in the freezer here in Spain. Finally if you have a pool it needs to sparkle that’s why they come to Spain. We also provide free aircon and heating and finally we offer a large google interactive map I have created on our area with over 500 pins on it with details of what and where etc, they can access this through the intel Nuc which runs win 10 and connects to the tv in hd . We also help with booking online events and printing tickets and offer a iPad if they have none and we also have fax services for overnight business people.


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Ivybridge Gues… 4 years ago

Sitges Hills Villas is a trusted and highly respected agency in this area.

My good hospitality friend, "always be there for your guests" is a great heading but rather ambiguous and possibly a little misleading after a little digging on my part. I am not sure whether you represent one villa or an agency within the region.

Hospitality experts should distinguish between "being there for your guests" in terms of technological offerings and service add-ons within a package and what I am more interested in which is face to face value time with your guests!

My take away from your advice for which I am thankful of the reminders are;

1) Make sure you are there for them when they arrive and when they leave

2) Help with booking online events

Thank you and hoping you have a great summer ahead!

Mark

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Sitges Villa A… 4 years ago

Mark it’s Neil Alis friend, I run one house, apartment so it’s easier for me to make that statement, booking.Com really is setup
as a hotel site rather than one or two houses or a small group so it can be difficult to achieve some of these things. You have your own office now in sitges to welcome your guests as I understand from Ali and Anya. Which is great as you are running a lot of properties. It is also my first post here so I am not quite with it with regards to how the system works on this forum.

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Martina Stoecker 4 years ago

Good morning,

I agree - the personal commitment is the most important impact .............to represent the establishment personally.

We are always here to welcome the guests. Showing the new guests around the house, asking them about their journey of the day, showing interest on their travel experiences. Most of our guests ask about our story, how we got here. The experiences we made ourselves during the 20 years living in South Africa.

Suggestions for making restaurants reservations for the evening (if not already done so during my previous e-mail conversation), probably organizing a shuttle. Maybe they'd like to do some adventure tour as it is still early in the afternoon.

Sometimes they are so stressed from driving hundreds of kilometers. We offer a fresh brewed cup of coffee or tea on arrival - probably a ice cold Savannah in summer. It is very important for us to make the guests feel comfortable, home away from home.

Yes, and of course all the little things in the rooms - water in the fridge, WiFi connection, fresh baked pastry, flowers, sparkling clean rooms, etc.etc are important, but still - for me, the personal welcome replaces nothing.

Very seldom that we have guests arriving, where we can feel that they keep a distance from the first moment and want to be for themselves.

Once we had a complaint in one at Booking.com's reviews - we would bee too friendly ... what a nice review actually ;-)

And, what is important as well: we are here, present 24/7. Yes, days can be terribly long, starting at 6 for preparing breakfast and then still be available at the reception often far after 20.00 ... not to mention the late arrivals.

For example: I prefer to knock at the guests door when their shuttle arrives, leading the guests to the parking area and wait until their shuttle departed.

The best sample for me is: what I expect when I am travelling.

You all have a lovely, successful weekend with lots of guests.

Greetings from Wilderness, South Africa

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M Adamopoulou 4 years ago

We are Always there to meet my guests together with my husband and little granddaughter... welcoming them with our biggest smile...
Meet and greet is very important....and guests highly appreciate it...
Keep well...

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Lindiewhite143 4 years ago

Hi all

Thanks for your suggestions - they make me rethink what we do right/wrong.

As we rent out our holiday home which is 150km from us, we arrange everything remotely, trying to build a rapport with guests, building enough trust for us to let them use our property without our oversight while not expecting them to become our personal friends, as it were (they may or may not want to stay in touch, so we don't want to intrude).

So, there are a few challenges, yes. We send guests lots of information about the accommodation and the area beforehand, leave a welcome pack with some snacks and sweets and a discount voucher on a future booking (as an incentive for them to leave a review). We provide and ask for their WhatsApp details, check to make sure they've arrived safely and answer any questions immediately.

We are constantly looking for ways to improve the experience we offer as we know word-of-mouth is one of the most effective ways getting repeat business. We've just ordered fridge magnets with the name/logo which we'll include with their welcome pack and which we hope will remind guests of their happy holiday (and keep our spot top of mind when they talk to their friends).

Can't wait to see tips and tricks from other hosts.

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Sitges Villa A… 4 years ago

If you have good internet consider the Ring doorbell entry system which is very good but one way, we also have a Intel Nuc computer tiny thing running win 10 connected to the hd tv and wireless keyboard and mouse and always on and we can skype or facetime or whatever from our house to the apartment downstairs, I have a tiny webcam built into the top of the tv which i did myself and it really works well, i can ring them and vice versa from anywhere in the world or 20 steps away!!! Our google interactive map works wonders, people click on a link and it takes them somewhere with photos etc, Also I have done hyperlapses from the airports and to other interesting places for them to either download from our website, facebook or watch on the tv in the apartment, because I am tech savvy and I'm a photographer and videographer I can provide a lot of content electronically but nothing is as good as a nice dry hand shake, if you have damp hands dry them out using 99% alcohol just before you meet them, luckily i dont have that problem but there is nothing worse than a damp handshake. Also on the webcam for those who are concerned about privacy i stuck a little shutter door on the TV so that they dont have to show video and i have built in a privacy system that they can flick a switch which cuts the system out from phoning etc....we also make it clear to them in the welcome manual in case they are worried all they need to do is flick the switch off. Finally if you have a pool clean it every day and make that water sparkle.

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Ritchie Basilio 4 years ago

Serve your guest needs as always because they are your income or the blood of life for you to survive if you wish to be a successful entrepreneur.

j
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Jennyharris 4 years ago

I also have one cottage and greet guests together with the lady who services the rooms daily except on weekends and public holidays. We open the gate so that they can park securely - it's free.

I also have a problem with the fact that booking.com caters for bigger establishments. I wonder if they could cater for all of the smaller places as a separate group.

They also seem to be making things more complicated as they go along. It doesn't suit me to have a virtual card system and I don't like their new calendar very much.....but I suppose that suits the bigger hotels.

I am now going to offer a continental breakfast on request although I do have homemade biscuits, coffee tea etc. anyway.

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George Aristidou 4 years ago

I am always there when they arrived the last 20 years. Only when I am far away is my mother. But when they lived is not possible always. It is very important the first impression to be good. Sometimes they are coming from far away. Always with a drink or what we cook that day. Local food and a drink and a presentation where they are and what to do.

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M Adamopoulou 4 years ago

Hi! George and welcome to the forum. Very thoughtful of you to offer a drink and a local food specialty.

Please share some pictures of your place.

Have a nice evening.