So, how do you build good relationships with people booking your property?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n 1) Present your property attractively but accurately.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 2) Ensure even before guests<\/a> book they know when they will pay, how they will find you, how they will check in, what facilities you offer, what you don’t offer, how your prices are structured, and when they can check in and when they should check out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 3) Ensure that your communication and presentation is professional – even if<\/em> – you are are a “micro business<\/a>“.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What do I mean by this? <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Have you ever heard the expression “if it barks like a dog and wags its tail like a dog then what is it?” – of course – it’s a dog.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In other words, if you present yourself and your accommodation like you\u2019re an amateur looking for lodgers, then that’s how people will perceive you. Whereas if you copy what works, and present yourself as a premium property, then that’s how the customer will perceive you, and yes, they might have higher expectations, but you can also charge higher prices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Specifics on guest communication and presentation <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n 4) Get yourself a domain name, and website (booking.com<\/a> will literally produce a website for you from the data on their system).<\/p>\n\n\n\n 5) Get a logo made. You can do this easily on freelancer.com<\/a> for $25. (Run a contest).<\/p>\n\n\n\n 6) Always, always be friendly and professional on emails or messaging systems. Address people correctly. I saw this on a forum recently:<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cHiya, Ifraid we can\u2019t do that our check-in time is 8pm max.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Trish XX\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n You can not communicate with guests like that. Firstly it establishes a precedent of informal communication, which could cause you problems – if you end up having to solve a problem, and for most people, this simply isn’t professional. <\/p>\n\n\n\n OK, you don\u2019t have to write like you working for the Ritz Carlton, but write and communicate like you\u2019re running a business, because you are.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This is a great topic, so let’s dive deeper in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Let me start with some numbers for you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I am always tweaking and changing and \u201cworking on\u201d my business to make it better. So, at the end of 2018, I thought \u201cwhat can I do to get even better reviews, and how can I build a system<\/strong> to do this\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This is what we did:<\/p>\n\n\n\n For the whole month of October 2018, even though we operate a self-check-in system, and even though guests are sent a text with a reminder (use textlocal.co.uk – you can send texts from a name rather than a number so that you don\u2019t get into a \u201cback and forth\u201d with guests; we called every single guest on the day of arrival or the day before arrival to welcome<\/a> them and ensure they had received our arrival information. <\/p>\n\n\n\n We then counted the number of guests leaving reviews, the quality (out of 10) of the reviews, and finally, the number of guests with complaints against 3 test months that year (February, July, and September) to allow for seasonality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n These were the results:<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\nBuilding Really Winning Guest Relationships<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/shortrentalpro.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/1010-Reviews.png\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/shortrentalpro.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/Reviews-Completed.png\")
<\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n