Yes we are the owners of the property. I am co-host. The primary host was the owner of the property before I became a co-owner, and just is very particular. [I’m not complaining.] Years ago she cleaned houses and is ‘old school’ plus she says I can’t see the dirt!
Every time I update my guides or our website, I try to decrease the number of words without losing the message. It’s not concise enough yet, but it gets a little better every time.
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For reasons of hygiene, and liability I don’t provide anything other than small containers of salt and pepper. They are tossed if a guest opens them. Many don’t even open them.
For the type of listing I have, I don’t want to encourage people to cook. I don’t even provide cooking oil, and only one guest so far has mentioned there was no cooking oil.
I can imagine myself booking an Airbnb with a nice kitchen and cooking a nice meal. I would definitely love a place like @HostAirbnbVRBO has.
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Love, love, love Penzey’s!
On an interesting note - our nightly rate is twice what yours is - and you’re definitely offering more than us on the little touches.
I don’t know if you’re family friendly - but where we are - most of the personal touches are games / entertainment , toiletries , and snacks
We do have some games: Clue, Ticket to Ride, Jumanji, four decks of cards. Plus projection TV (just one on 80" wall). Definitely provide the toiletries: highly rated shampoo, conditioner, body wash; cotton pads, balls, makeup remover, mouthwash, Q-tips, pump hand soap. Just started on snacks for next guest: popcorn, Keto bars, gimMe seaweed toasted sesame snacks, individually packaged jerky. What do you offer for snacks?
BTW, these little touches we’re offering are a relatively new thing, the last three months.
I was looking at our competition again last night. There are a number of $250/night homes that in my view are not nearly as nice as ours. They are new, with few reviews – many 0, most under 5. A few offer pets while we don’t.
Then there are $250/night homes that are definitely bigger, more upscale, or offering a property that is uniquely different (say on a pod with kayaks, that sort of thing). Our differentiator is the pool, the landscaping, the kitchen, maybe the striking decor [which goes against the Airbnb advice and typical realtor advice on using neutral colors – guests claim to love it, though don’t know if all are sincere or reflecting the obvious efforts we invested and ‘being nice,’ Maybe not every one’s cup of tea for 365 days/year but I do think people enjoy it.]
So I am thinking that maybe we should be considering a higher price, but I am going to wait and just evaluate how this other competition does since I can see from their calendar whether they are getting filled up or not. To me the $250/night for many of these places seems excessive.
Have you gone to Airbnb’s Insight/Views to compare your monthly views this year vs last year? Our # views is WAY DOWN and am wondering how much of that reflects the overall marketplace and how much our place?
So for snacks - we have a welcome basket with up to 4 items. It changes but -
Lindt chocolate
Jelly beans ( we are family friendly )
Crackers of some kind and sometimes a high end jam
Popcorn
And we have individually wrapped cookie packs in cookie jars
We also put the personalized welcome letter in that basket.
We are still in our first year so I don’t have a baseline. We are on Airbnb and Vrbo at the moment - soon to start targeting direct bookings maybe in the next 2 weeks once I finish some mandatory paperwork 
I can’t say my views seem off from other months. I just know my bookings come in waves . I have friends with cabins in the same area and we all seem to get bookings at the same time. So I’m not sure what’s up with that! I can have a dead 2 weeks and then sometimes it’s 3 bookings in a day. Fortunately they are sometimes for almost a year out.
We only need 3 weekends booked to break even - so when we get those 1 week long bookings - we move in the right direction quickly. But I bought this property with the expectation that 50% occupancy was fine and we could carry the property with no bookings if we needed to.
So long way of saying - I have no idea if views / visits are down. Most of our guests drive in so I imagine gas prices are causing hesitancy for the immediate trips
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Most of our guests stay one night and are visiting to attend a sports ball game or concert, and live just far enough away that they don’t want to drive home after it. Quite often they don’t even shower. We provide some welcome local beverages, a basket with some snacks, tea, etc., some basic non perishable breakfast foods, fresh fruit, coffee, and basic cooking spices.
Since so few guests use the kitchen, aside from throwing some beers in the fridge, it just doesn’t make sense to keep lots of spices on hand. We do occasionally have guests that stay longer and I always let them know that if they need any special spices to let us know, we live downstairs and have a pretty large selection.
I’m the summer I pick fresh flowers from the garden, and during the winter I have potted plants.
Most of our guests are grateful for our recommendations for places to eat or grab a drink. I also provide a list of unique sights to see.
I think at the end of the day you just have to decide what best suits your guest’s needs and provide accordingly.
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Thank you.
I agree with you that you need to understand what your guests are looking for.
We’re still experimenting to discover that. Most have not been cooking much. So I’m trying to make it more convenient for them to do so, but I don’t know if lack of spices/condiments has been holding them back. Some people are tired of cooking every day, so when they go on vacation they don’t want to cook. Others take a different approach. We’ll see,
If you’re on Airbnb do you use their guidebook feature. I think it’s pretty nice because the guests have it in the app, plus we print out a hard copy. We’re always in the process of editing it, and ask guests if they found a favorite they enjoyed.
I have always noticed this in my 4 year journey with Airbnb especially. I have noticed a pattern of reservations coming shortly after I go in the site and make updates. So this is on my to do list weekly. I play with pricing (not always a reduced price) I will adjust weekends to $5 or $10 up and reduce weekly by $1 a day or raise it the next week… and boom! Usually within 24 hours we have an inquiry or booking. I’m not sure if the changes cause the listing to move up in visibility or why this happens, but it has happened enough that we don’t believe it is a happenstance. We will often times add a photo or change the order, update wording based on additional amenities or remove wording if something is no longer available, so I suggest keeping your listing fluid.
I agree with you about knowing what guests need. No one books cabins where we are for just 1 night. Most of the time it’s a weekend minimum but often 3-10 days. Everyone cooks in the kitchens because there’s no delivery where we are. So you’re either driving to restaurants or you arrive with groceries ( what most people do ).
Having a local guide - we do the exact same thing. We have a printed book guide but also will send a text version if guests tell us they are first timers to the area.
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I’ve suspected that changing rates bumps you on search results. I have noticed bookings often come soon after rate changes
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Most guests ask for recommendations when they book, and I will give them options best suited for any dietary restrictions or based off of what part of town their event is in. I have a physical guidebook in the space with menus for restaurants, flyers for unique local business, and other local information. I do have all the typed portion of the guidebook on Airbnb.
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I doubt that guests aren’t cooking because there have not been spices or condiments. I just rent a private room in my home and guests share my kitchen. They are free to use oil, salt and pepper, and any of my spices. There’s coffee and several types of tea. Some guests cook a lot and some eat out all the time and only use the kitchen to fill their water bottle with drinking water or stash a couple beers in the fridge.
I think if guests had the intention to cook some special meal that required specific spices or condiments, they would bring those along with them, rather than assume there is a whole array of whatever they might need.
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I too leave little extra’s for guests…fresh baked slices, water in fridge, fresh cream, hot chocolate, and coffee ect. I have thought about other extras but thought about the guests that just load up their pockets before they check out. I needed a little note to say take only what they need but didn’t know how to word it. I have to limit the amount of toilet paper rolls I leave because past guests have taken the extras.
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You might well be right that missing spices and condiments is not what has held guest back from cooking more.
The reason that I don’t simply count on guests just bringing what they need is that by nature very little of most spices and condiments is needed to cook. So guests have to either buy that and leave it or pack it.
@JJD had some great suggestions I hadn’t thought of: baking powder, Tajin, and more. Very little of these are really needed. If that kind of stuff were there, I’d be more likely to cook and I’d be appreciative as a guest.
I’m reading reviews of what some other Hosts do in my area. A few of them are amazing. They stock the refrigerator with some basics (I wouldn’t do lest it go to waste if, say, I bought cream or butter, and it turns out that they’re non-dairy – plus I’m with you on thinking guests would just buy that stuff for themselves because – this is the key – they’d likely consume it all).
I’ve read how some Hosts get fresh bagels and pastries [What if the guests are gluten free, keto or just like [you name it] everything bagels?
Many times I’ve read of Hosts providing coffee. I provide a few Nespresso cups but not more because: 1) people have preferences on coffee, 2) it doesn’t stay free for long (although I have airtight canisters], 3) it’s easily contaminated. So, to each their own. These hosts who are providing coffee are getting very appreciative reviews for that – maybe coffee is a surer bet than condiments and spices. I am now considering providing some coffee notwithstanding the above.
All this is an experiment for me. I hope in six months or so to report back here on what I’ve discovered.
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One of my pet peeves is a host that’s too stingy with TP. I hope you are close by to bring more if a guest needs it.
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I wouldn’t stay anywhere that didn’t at least provide coffee. I could do without any other food items, but I’d be bummed not to be able to make a good cup of coffee after I woke up. And a simple coffee making method. I don’t want to have to figure out how to use some machine.
Good input. So would putting a Nespresso pod in a Nespresso machine be off-putting to you then?
We do have a French Press, a small one.
I’ve been thinking about getting an Aeropress because that is said to be easier than a French press. Some say it’s better.
What do you think?
Too easy to walk away with an aero press
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