I was wondering if you hosts leave guests a GIFT upon. Check in , such as baked goods , or candy or a personalized card , I was thinking of offering something similar, what ideas do you guys have and if you can upload a picture that be great
Lots of Airbnb hosts are leaving this kind of goodies. And I would highly recommend doing this. Small things like this can have a great impact and bring you a good review. Cookies, chocolate bars, a bottle of wine, bottles of water (this one is a must I believe). Fruits can also be a great option.
I think the toiletries I leave in bathrooms are considered a gift, as they usually disappear. I have some small flasks from āChilly Bottlesā that I keep full of water in the guest fridge. Guests are shown where they are to take to bed with them; they keep water chilled for 24 hours.
Hi @Gandyv8
I would suggest you look at goods that work for your target market and style of property?
Can you bake? if not freshly baked goods wonāt work for you unless you get some frozen stuff.
Chocolates, sweets and biscuits go down well.
If you offer a high end self contained beachside villa you will offer different items than a host with a budget room in a city centre in Prague.
What sort of property do you have and whatās your target market.
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If one is leaving gifts itās logical, but itās not a must. It would be interesting to know what percentage of hosts leave bottled water. Iāve only stayed in a handful of airbnbs but none had bottled water. I did stay in a house in Costa Rica this summer that provided a starter supply bottled water, coffee, beer and wine. However it was at a price point well above the typical airbnb.
I put bottled water in the guest room which is attached to my house but separate from me. When I had them sharing my space I offered them my purified water that I refill and put in a cooler. (side story: I always said "feel free to fill your water bottles before you head out. One couple brought in an ice chest with what must have been a case of empty bottles. At first I was taken aback and a bit miffed but when they were finished I realized theyād used less than a dollar of water and kept a case of bottles out of the landfill for the time being. Anywayā¦) I dislike bottled water for environmental reasons but donāt know of another practical option for the guest room Iāve thought of leaving resusable plastic cups or just coffee cups and a single larger container of purified water. Iāve wondered if guest would just find it off putting in some way. Some people are very odd about āgermsā and what constitutes clean and what doesnāt. Iām wondering if leaving a reusable bottle of water will bring me any grief. I know you are in Europe where they have different ideas about these sorts of things than wasteful Americans. What has been your experience with these bottles? Edit: Iām not going to buy expensive bottles as even having one walk off would be more trouble than itās worth. Iām interested in the reusable aspect.
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To answer @Gandyv8ās question: A bottle of water per person per night and there is a small box with hard candies they can help themselves to. In the winter I leave a good quality dark chocolate per person.
The Airnb I stayed at in Lisbon had a bright coloured bottle with a hinged cap that was filled with water in a tray with two glasses. I leave 6 bottles of water in the fridge, my water is safe to drink, but some might not trust water coming from nature-the river, they trust large underground pipes. I recycle all i can.
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Typical bottled water, not re-usables?
I sort through the guest room waste bins and fish out recyclables.
I feel the same about the environmental effect of bottled water; the cost, the waste, the plastics etc. Weāre luck to have potable tap water, although a guy from Berlin told us off for using tap water in the coffee machine, cheeky sod! Then we looked on-line and learned that Germans are quite happy to lug multiples of 5 litre bottles up five floors. They seem quite paranoid about chlorine being added. Thereās a huge kick back in UK against restaurants pressurising customers to buy bottled water at vast expense, with many now offering jugs of iced tap water.
Iāve not lost a Chilly Bottle yet, but if I did, I wouldnāt replace; too costly to risk again.
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I wouldnāt offer bottled water - here you can drink tap water, so it would be wasteful to offer bottled water.
We are an eco-conscious household so everything that can gets recycled and we decant shower/bath gel and shampoo from larger bottles.
Guests are really good about using the food waste caddy and I leave a wicker basked out that they can put cardboard, plastics, cans, batteries, glass, textiles, paper etc. I then separate it when itās full and put it into the recycling.
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Switched from bottled to Brita filter pitcher in the small fridge in the suite. Ugh all those plastic bottles realt bothered me, even when tossed in recycling.
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I also leave a Brita pitcher in the apt in addition to filter refills with dates (at 3 month intervals) written in permanent marker on the outside packages so that guests see the filters are being changed regularly. Many buy bottled water anywayā¦ We also have a $1000 whole house reverse osmosis water filtration system (that cost another $1000 to install) with triple filters but people want to buy their bottled tap water which is costing them more than what they pay for gas. Anyway, Iām going off-topicā¦
Room in my house, here. So when they arrive I offer guests a hot drink or cold tap water, depending on the season. Some guests keep the glass their whole visit, others donāt.
I have been leaving one (big) chocolate bar on the bed, for guests who stay more than one night.
(I do remove the price tag before I place it)
Our neighborhood has the largest Greek speaking population outside Greece, so this makes a good souvenir even if guests arenāt fond of chocolate.
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I donāt offer bottled water because itās so bad for the environment. We have a whole house filter. During the walk through we stress that itās safe, ecological and cost effective to drink tap water. We also have chilled water and ice via the refrigerator. We have a plastic water bottle in the guest room which we offer guests to use during their stay. Many of our guests (mostly Asian and European) buy bottled water.
I didnāt leave a gift as such, but there was a fresh loaf of bread, a pack of croissants, some bottled water, and a jar of biscuits, hoping that would add to the āsomeones homeā experience
I bought glass bottles from Ikea and just them for the guests. They have a tray in their room with kettle tea/coffee/bottled water. For the one nighters they get biscuits, a few days fruit and home made baked items, normally something Irish so they can sample something different from their own country.
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For myself I roast coffee, bake bread, and make cheese. They can share in it and Iām always happy to show them how itās done. Not the cheese so much as that often has to age.
I leave a bottle of Cremant (brut) and some Danish chocolates along with fresh flowers for all my guests.
It makes them feel so welcome and itās so very worth it when I see how happy and appreciative they are because of it.
Water here in Copenhagen is directly from the underground so bottled water is crazy expensive for this reason 
When I come to an Airbnb I usually receive some wine or sweets. I donāt expect it all but itās very nice to see as a guest so I can only say go for it!
I always have goodies and cold beverages for my guests. The offerings vary and I try to personalize them, in particular for guests celebrating birthdays and anniversaries. These guests get a small cake and a bottle of bubbly. I typically leave trail mix, granola bars, fresh fruit, yogurt and various beverages including bottled water, both still and sparkling. I do my best to leave freshly baked muffins which many guests mention makes them feel welcomed and appreciated. Perhaps I will scale it back at some point, but the delight it brings my guests makes it worthwhile.
There was another thread in which a host actually did a controlled experiment with one no-goodies flat and one flat with lots of amenities ā and I believe the bare bones flat made just as much money! Has anyone been able to link gifts with return visits or other positive business outcomes? I think many of us are deriving utility from happy reviews and delighted guests, nothing wrong with that as long as it is consistent with oneās goals; I know I am in that boat too and it probably has some brain chemistry dopamine aspect. I am going to do some serious analysis when business slows this winter about maximizing $$$. Including the raising the price/fewer booked nights trade off. Will I be able to do it? Prospects may not be good ā Iāve got a honeymoon couple coming and theyāre getting a split of champagne, nice chocolates, flowers and a souvenir mug! Iām too romantic I guess. My husbandās family had a puzzling habit of asking for dessert āon the dinnerā or āon the plate.ā Turns out the grandfather owned a deli, and āon the dinnerā meant a skinny piece of cake because it was included in a fixed price dinner. āOn the plateā was charged for separately and was a bigger slice because it made more money. I think my amenities need to be more āon the dinnerā! I like my guests, but they are neither friends nor family, are they?
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