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As I looked at my upcoming reservations I noticed the inevitable slow season of January. With only 10 days booked for two listings I need to get my marketing up.
This is what I’m doing.
I have a google document where I keep track of ALL my guests information, including my own notes. What do I have in my document?
Name
Personal email (I request it upon booking, sometimes they give it sometimes they don’t)
Phone number
Dates
Listing Name (I have two listings)
Amount Paid
Number of nights
A note about the guests - example - coming to visit a grandchild, journalist researching a book, I don’t want them in my home. EVER. Just notes for me to remember them.
Every year I copy the previous years workbook (google) and start the new year. This way I have the previous information in the current document and I don’t have to look back.
Now back to Marketing:
I’m sending a “Happy Holidays” email to my guests, with the attached photo. It’s a template I wrote but I also personalize it by adding a “how’s your grandchild?” note within the body of the email. I also give them a special discount at the moment of 20%. Why? Because these are proven guests, I already know them and they know my home. I’m already discounting my prices by 10% so an additional 10% makes them feel special and puts money in my pocket.
It’s time consuming but I just started sending it (only 4 so far) and one of my guests (from 5 years ago) remembered me, a particular chair his son loved, and it’s interested in the discount.
Are you doing anything for the “holidays” or your slow season?
While i understand what you’re doing and while you’re doing it, I would not be emailing my guests for the holidays - I think it’s overstepping a bit. Correct me if I’m wrong, but they come to my place to sleep while sightseeing, if this was me I’d be a bit weirded out if I got a card from that one AirBnB I stayed at 8 months ago.
Good point. We had some guests from Paris, and I emailed them after the terrorist attack offering condolences. One very nearly got caught in it - she was in a restaurant and heard the shooting. A friend of hers was in the Bataclan, but escaped. So that’s kind of unusual. But I don’t make a habit of mailing former guests. We recently made some major renovations, so I was thinking of sending out a mail with updated photos, but again, that’s an unusual situation. I guess we’re very hands-on hosts - we like our guests and try to establish a personal connection. But like you say, maybe that’s just weird. And we’ll probably outgrow it. On the other hand, getting a mail from a host that actually remembers you is a whole lot different than getting a mailer from a car dealership.
We have many repeat guests – who come here to visit family members in the area. I communicate with them regularly. I do have the real email addresses of most of them (but I am not as compulsive about it as Evelyn, and don’t have a formal record of all guests – but that is a very good idea).
Last year Airbnb created cards that you could send to your past guests through the Airbnb system. I thought that was great. This year, after the holiday and New Year crunch (we are jammed over New Years here because of the Rose Parade), I do plan on sending New Year greetings to all my past guests.
I was amazed this year that I received gifts in the mail from two guests!
The Airbnb community does exist and it is heart-warming.
I am crossing my fingers as I start my 3rd year of hosting that things remain as steady as they have been for the past two years. I have not had a slow season. We have many repeat guests – coming to visit family – and there are many business and tourist reasons to come to Pasadena, CA.
I do keep in touch with past guests – usually twice a year, once around the holidays and also around the same time they usually visit to check in and see what they are planning. For example, if they usually come at a certain time of year, for a certain family event or conference, I’ll message them a month or so before hand. It works! I think because I make the notes very personal and not like a sales pitch. I get repeat business from these messages.
In any business, your customers like to be appreciated – but not feel they are being solicited, a fine line.
