When it comes to creating an amazing customer experience for your guests, first impressions are everything. In fact, your initial interactions with your vacation rental guests, which happen once they place their booking, can set the tone for the rest of their stay with you.
Whether or not you will be attending to your guests in person, a vacation rental welcome letter is the best way to initiate a positive guest experience from the moment they arrive at your property.A personalized welcome message gives your guests the warm welcome that they deserve.
Your vacation rental business will benefit from this small effort if your guests then leave a positive review, which then means future guests may be convinced to choose your vacation rental.
There are infinite ways to write your vacation rental welcome letters, but sometimes we all need a little help. At the bottom of this post, you’ll find a vacation rental welcome letter sample which you can use by simply adding the personal details of your guests.
A welcome letter sample will save you time and get your welcome letter up and running in no time! Don’t forget to mention the house rules of your vacation rental property.
Why Every Airbnb Host Needs a Great Vacation Rental Welcome Letter
A vacation rental welcome letter serves one main purpose: it’s designed to provide guests with a personal, welcoming reception to their accommodations. It’s especially important for Airbnb hosts who aren’t able to receive guests in person. Furthermore, a vacation rental welcome letter shows that you are a thoughtful host who truly cares about even the smallest detail of the guest’s experience.
When you use a well-written guest welcome letter template, it will do the following:
- Help demonstrate that you want to build a good relationship with your guest and prove that you’re committed to delivering excellent service.
- Make guests feel like they can expect a unique and personalized experience.
- Show your guests you want to go the extra mile by including insider tips, local recommendations and
- Help guests get acclimated to their surroundings quickly after their arrival and remind them of any rules they need to follow.
Here’s how to write a vacation rental welcome letter that will delight your guests while providing them with the detailed information they need to know for their stay.
What Should You Write in Your Welcome Letter?
A vacation rental welcome letter doesn’t have to be long. However, it does need to be well-written to ensure that it communicates your message as clearly as possible. Here are the top essential things to include in your vacation rental welcome letter:
1. Tailor It to Each Guest
A vacation rental welcome letter that is a cookie-cutter template with only the name of the guest replaced will seem impersonal. However, writing a new letter before each guest’s arrival will require tons of vacation rental management time and effort that you simply don’t have.You want to create a memorable experience for your guests, but still need to optimize how you spend your management time.
The best solution? Come up with a template with a few sentences that can be replaced each time that speak directly to the guest that the letter is intended for. This means you can personally greet each guest, even if you cannot be there in person. This will make your guests feel at home right away.
2. Include Your Exact Address
Make sure that your welcome letter template includes the exact address of your property in case your guests forget. This will help to avoid any issues with guests returning back to your property after they’ve gone out to explore the local area.
3. Recap Important House Rules
You will likely provide the house rules as a part of your Airbnb Welcome Book. However, the vacation rental welcome letter is a good time to reiterate the most important rules. Is there no smoking allowed? Quiet hours after 11 p.m.? Gently remind guests that they need to follow these rules and to refer to the welcome book if they have questions.
4. Your Contact Information
If you’ve done your job with onboarding your guests, they shouldn’t have any reason to contact you during their stay unless an emergency happens. However, you should still make sure to include a Whatsapp or Viber ID so that they can reach you if they have urgent questions or concerns.
Remind guests to alert you immediately if there is a problem with their stay or an emergency. This can help you to avoid a negative review and mitigate any risks to your guests or property as soon as possible.
5. A Reminder About the Digital Welcome Book
Since your vacation rental welcome letter references information that guests can find in your welcome book, make sure to remind your guests where they can find the non-digital welcome book in your house. As a property manager, this step will save you more than just a few messages asking where the book is located.
Email the digital version of your welcome book to your guests before they check in.
6. Closing Your Welcome Note and Saying Thank You
Don’t forget to wish your guests a pleasant stay and thank them for choosing to book with you. Ask them to leave you a review and include feedback on their entire stay. You can even include a discount code to use across your rental properties for their next booking as extra well wishes.
Creating Your Guest Welcome Letter Template
Vacation rental welcome letter templates are readily available for purchase on sites like Etsy. You can use the content that is already provided there or you can write your own. If you want to create your own guest welcome letter template from scratch, you might want to hire a graphic designer to design a template for you.
You or your property management company can then print the letter for each guest and provide it to the cleaners that will prep your property for the arrival of the guests. You should leave it on the kitchen table with your welcome book or on the bed if you want to make sure that it gets read.
Here is an Airbnb welcome letter sample that you can repurpose for your own needs and use on any vacation rental platform:
Welcome to [PROPERTY NAME]!
We’re happy that you’ve made the journey all the way from [GUEST’S DEPARTURE CITY]. Now let’s get to helping you enjoy your stay!
Kick off your shoes, grab a cold beverage or snack from the kitchen, and relax. We’ve provided some water and light refreshments for you to enjoy.
We are delighted that you’ve decided to stay with us [PROPERTY NAME].
Our guests have enjoyed many memories here including walks along the beach, summer barbecues, and gorgeous sunsets. We hope that you’ll feel at home, even if you’ll only be with us for a few nights.
Be sure to take a look at our digital welcome guidebook that we’ve provided for a list of our favorite eats around town, as well as important details like the house rules, the check-out process, check-out times, and other information to help you get your holiday started.
If you need to reach us, my Whatsapp is [REPLACE] in case of an emergency or if you have any questions or concerns.The wifi password is [REPLACE].
Finally, enjoy your stay and we hope that you will join us again in the future!
Best Regards,
[YOUR NAME]
Extra Tips to Create a “Wow” Effect
Finally, if you really want to create a “wow” factor with your welcome note, you can print it in a handwritten font and provide your real signature on it. It gives all the charm of a handwritten letter without having to take the time to actually write their welcome note personally (even if the printer actually did the work).
Welcome letters are nice, but they’re even more popular when they’re attached to a welcome gift. You can also add that extra effort as a property manager by offering a welcome basket. Happy guests leave positive reviews and guest satisfaction is one of the most important aspects of any short-term rental business.
As a host, creating a well-written welcome letter is one of the best vacation rental tips for owners to follow if you want more 5-star reviews. So make sure that you follow the steps presented here for the best results.
To improve multiple aspects of your Airbnb listing and streamline daily operations, more and more hosts are turning to automation. Vacation rental software such as iGMS can enhance your Airbnb listing management by automating your hosting tasks which will result in an improved ranking on Airbnb. Using iGMS, you will gain access to the following features:
- Managing multiple accounts and listings on the top OTAs from a single interface
- Synchronizing reservations across multiple platforms to eliminate the risk of double bookings
- Organizing messages into a single feed with a unified inbox
- Improving communication with automated templates and triggered messaging
- Creating and coordinating cleaning tasks with live tracking to completion
- Creating your own direct booking website
- Managing direct bookings using a direct booking management toolkit
- Processing payments securely via integration with Stripe.
- Creating essential reports on your business results within minutes
- Adjusting your pricing in a smart way through integrations with PriceLabs, DPGO, and Wheelhouse
- Automating the process of guest reviews
