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Online reviews are crucial to the success of any modern business and set the tone for what guests expect from your brand. Positive guest reviews can boost your brand's credibility, increase your booking volume, and grow overall revenue. There are a number of variables that play a key role in achieving this goal, but there’s no way to fake it, five-star reviews are dependent on actually providing 5-star stays. So, Breezeway has gathered our top 5 tips to provide great guest experiences that garner consistent five-star reviews.
1) Curate a great first impression
Most of the work that goes into delivering a 5-star stay happens before the guest even arrives. It’s important to prioritize your pre-arrival cleaning, maintenance, and inspection processes so that what you deliver lives up to, or even exceeds guest expectations. In fact, Breezeway’s 2022 Property Operations Report shows that 56% of operators find that key factors to delivering a 5-star guest experience are ensuring the property is clean and safe. Creating detailed checklists and standards for quality can help ensure guests feel at home with a welcoming, clean, well-organized, and well-maintained property as soon as they arrive. With these baseline property care expectations met, you set the stage for a 5-star review.
2) Personalize the guest experience
A foundation to the hospitality business is to make every guest feel like a VIP from check in all the way through check out. Get creative with modern technology and gather reservation details to learn about why your guest booked their stay and add personalized touches such as a welcome gift to show your appreciation for choosing your home. These thoughtful personalized touches can make your guests' experience more memorable and increase the potential for a positive review that catches the eyes of other prospective guests and clients.
3) Communicate throughout the stay
Proactively communicate with guests from check-in to check-out to let them know you are available to remedy any issues, answer any questions, and offer additional services. Informing guests of local attractions, property updates, stay extensions, or mid stay service opportunities can not only inform the guest of all your property has to offer, but add additional revenue to your business. Through automated Gap Night offerings, Breezeway clients have seen a 23% increase in revenue and nights booked. Personalized and proactive communication helps ensure the stay is up to their expectations and there are no surprises when it comes to the review. It's no surprise that operators who effectively communicate with guests have seen an increase in 5-star reviews.
4) Provide additional amenities
With the influx of new guests in the vacation rental industry, the modern traveler expects hotel-like amenities everywhere they stay. While it may seem impossible to meet these ever-evolving traveler demands, it's important to cater to your target audience. Start by equipping your guests with essential supplies such as bed linens, towels, toilet paper, paper towels, and kitchen staples. After you have identified these essentials, consider adding luxury amenities, personalized gifts, or branded toiletries that help differentiate your brand. These memorable experiences and personalized touches are what stick with the guest after the stay when writing a review.
Download our Guest Essentials Checklist to expand your knowledge on inventory must-haves and optional luxury additions to level up your guest experience.
5) Automate review messages
Never miss a chance to get guest feedback by setting up automated messages to reach out to guests upon check-out or a day or two after their departure to ask for a review and thank them for choosing to stay at your home. Elaine Stitcher, Owner of Seaside Vacations, consistently sends a post-check out message asking for this kind of feedback and requesting a review. “The consistent Google Reviews we've generated through Breezeway's texting product have been incredible for our business. We're a new player in our market, so to drive a surplus of reviews to boost SEO, increase return bookings, and access new renters is a game-changer.”
Book a demo to see how Breezeway can help you achieve 5-star reviews!