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Costa Rica Beach Vacation Rental: Focusing on Guests

When guests hit the road, and are on their way to your Costa Rica Beach Vacation Rental; you must be ready to provide an overall high-quality service.

Costa Rica Beach Vacation Rental: The Best Experience

Indeed, what you want is to create returning guests that wouldn’t consider visiting any other Costa Rica Beach Villa ever again.

Here are some important tips on how you can offer your clients the best possible experience:

When Guests Arrive

When it comes to guests, it’s important to remember that you never get a second chance to make a first impression!

This means that you should take the time to envision the arrival experience for the guests of your Costa Rica Beach Vacation Rental.

Arrival, Scenario #1:

The guests are arriving at the coastal property from San Jose by car. It’s late, but the caretaker is available to welcome everybody.

The exterior of the Costa Rica beach house looks neat.

The interior lights at the Costa Rica Beach Vacation Rental are already on; so everything is bright and clear.

As the caretaker opens the door, the guests are welcomed with a clean and fresh smell.

The AC’s are also on, so the temperature inside feels great.

Everything is clean and modern. and guests are amazed to see a bottle of wine waiting for them in the kitchen.

Arrival, Scenario #2:

Guests arrive at the Costa Rica Beach Vacation Rental from the Liberia Airport, and there’s nobody there to receive them.

When someone finally appears, the person takes the guests to the house, where the lights are off.

It is hot as the AC’s are off, and there is a musty smell.

There’s also a pile of used towels sitting in the corner. And some dirty dishes in the sink.

It is clear that as a Costa Rica Beach Vacation Rental owner; you want to avoid ruining a first good impression.

So, always plan to present your guests with the best possible arrival experience.

In other words, take scenario #1 as an example, and customize it according to your own needs.

And most importantly, avoid scenario #2 at all costs! Or your guests will end up making a Costa Rica Beach Hotel Reservation instead.

Creating Loyalty

In order to create loyalty, you need to really take the time to make things special for guests.

What’s best is that if you manage to get a set of guests to return to your Costa Rica Beach Vacation Rental; they will come for longer stays, and will also recommend your property to others.

This, of course, helps you to keep your yearly calendar busy; and also allows you to charge higher rates to renters based on current reviews.

Guest Reviews

If you provide guests with an outstanding experience; they will be pleased to provide you with a positive review.

Then, you can use that review to promote the online listing for your Costa Rica Beach Vacation Rental.

Brands and Loyalty

Remember that loyal guests create an emotional link to you and your real property.

So, think of your Costa Rica Beachfront Villa as your brand. People is loyal to brands, and you want guests to be loyal to your property in the same way.

And besides the emotional connection; you also want visitors to feel that they’re getting the best possible value for their cash.

This is a winning formula to have success with your Costa Rica Beach Vacation Rental.

Feelings You Want to Create

In order to get the most out of your coastal property, there are vacation feelings you want to create for your guests:

  • Cleanliness
  • Fully Equipped
  • Going Beyond
  • Help is Always Available
  • I’m Getting the Best Value

Feeling 1: Cleanliness

You can own the most luxurious Costa Rica Beach Vacation Rental in Guanacaste. But if it isn’t clean your guests are not going to be satisfied.

Actually, if you ask guests what is most important when staying outside their own homes; cleanliness is going to be way up on their lists.

If there are two essential areas that MUST be CLEAN, no exceptions; are the kitchen and the bathrooms.

Once a group of guests leaves your Costa Rica Beach Vacation Rental, the property must be sanitized thoroughly.

And, it is also important to take a couple of days a year to also apply a deep clean.
Without a deep clean, your Costa Rica Beach Vacation Rental is never going to be fully clean.

And the reason is because there are some areas that you’ll always miss during regular cleanings.

These are the Top 10 elements you need to focus on during a deep clean:

  • The light bulbs
  • Ceiling fan blades
  • The interior of cabinets
  • Different corners
  • All surfaces
  • The exterior
  • Toilets
  • Bathroom floors
  • Kitchen floors
  • Everything inside the bedroom!

Make sure that the people you hire to clean your Costa Rica Beach Vacation Rental really understand your expectations.

Now, if you feel that you have the right people for the job, but they are a little bit unprepared; take the time to provide training and constant feedback to reinforce their knowledge.

With that said, no matter how good your housekeepers are, people just make mistakes.
So, try to do an overall check of the property yourself; either a day or even a few hours before the arrival of the next set of guests.

Feeling 2: Fully Equipped

Your Costa Rica Beach Vacation Rental must count with everything a guest may possibly need to have a good time.

This includes high-quality appliances, furniture, and technology.
And, it also includes the little things guests aren’t expecting, but sure appreciate.

A key area to focus is the kitchen. Cooking is definitely trendy, and having a well-stocked kitchen is a big plus.

Make sure to have enough pots and pans of all sizes. You also need to buy as many different utensils, from cheese graters to corkscrews, and everything in between.

Also, don’t forget about the bedroom! Get additional pillows and blankets, and leave them inside the closets.
If you want to go the extra mile, buy as many good books and table games as you can.

Additionally, you can even opt for adding a modern gaming console!

So, if it’s raining outside or the guests simply don’t want to go out; they have a great source of healthy entertainment right there inside the Costa Rica Beach Vacation Rental.

Feeling 3: Going Beyond

Visitors of your Costa Rica Beach Vacation Rental want to feel that they got the most out of their time at your property.

For this reason, as soon as a guest books your Costa Rica Beach Villa, send the person a custom email with information about:

  • The property
  • The attractions to visit
  • Best nearby eateries

At the property itself, you can add discreet notes so visitors understand well how to use the things at the Costa Rica Beach Vacation Rental.

It can be very useful for you to sit down and brainstorm about the most common questions current visitors may have about your property.

And using your conclusions, you can create a printed Q and A; which the caretaker can provide to visitors when they arrive, along with a Costa Rica Beach Guanacaste Guide, or a guide for a different region of the country.

Feeling 4: Help Is Always Available

In order to provide the best experience for the guests of your Costa Rica Beach Vacation Rental; you must be able to provide assistance at all times.

Indeed, guests want to feel that help is always available.

They want to have someone to ask for local information. Or to help with anything and everything related to the Costa Rica Beach Villa.

Now, this can be someone that lives next door to the property, or in a different area; but it must definitely be someone that’s always reachable over the phone.

The ideal scenario is for you to count with a caretaker that lives next to the Costa Rica Vacation Rental.

This way, guests can always get a hold of this person to help them with their immediate needs.

Now, it is important to make sure that guests know that help is always available.
But, you really don’t want to overdo it.

This means that you don’t want your presence, or the presence of the caretaker, to be noticed unless it is requested.

In other words, your guests should feel it is their private Costa Rica Beach Vacation Rental.

Also, don’t forget to ask guests for feedback!

They’ll be pleased to provide you with some comments on what they liked; and what they disliked about the service they received.

Feeling 5: I’m Getting the Best Value!

Clients want to feel that they’re getting a great deal for their dollars.

So, make sure that when your guests leave your Costa Rica Beach Vacation Rental; they’ll do so with the feeling that they really obtained what they were expecting, and even more.

Services that you can provide, and that can make guests feel that you went above and beyond include:

  • Sleep-in maid
  • Shuttles to the Best Beaches in Costa Rica
  • Discounts and special promotions for local restaurants
  • Accessibility to the amenities of nearby luxury resorts
Sleep-in maid:

If you count with a maids room, you can make this service available to guests.
You can make arrangements with local housewives that may want to make an extra for providing this service from time to time.

This is really a big plus because many families have their own sleep-in maids back home.
So counting with this service at their Costa Rica Beach Vacation Rental can really improve their experience.

Shuttles to the Best Beaches in Costa Rica:

If possible, you need to have a car at the property so it can be used to take guests to some of the Best Beaches in Costa Rica.

Alternatively, you can also make this vehicle available to guests so they can use it whenever they need it.

And, you also need to have the information for shuttle services such as Interbus, and Gray Line, so they can also provide this service to your guests.

Discounts and special promotions for local eateries:

Creating business relationships with local eateries can also bring you some positive reviews.
So, try to get a discount for your guests for eating at selected restaurants. That way:

  • You get positive word of mouth
  • The restaurant get more clients
  • And the guests of your Costa Rica Beach Vacation Rental get better deals

Indeed, it’s all a win-win for everybody involved.

Accessibility to the amenities of nearby luxury resorts:

If your Costa Rica Beach Villa is located nearby a luxury resort; you can also work out a deal to get unlimited access for your guests for a full day.

Or, you can also make available to your clients only certain amenities, such as tennis or golf lessons.

What are Guests Experiencing?

If you really want to offer the best experiences for your guests; you can plan them out before they actually take place!

For this purpose, you can use flowcharts. These will include each step required for a guest to accomplish something.

You can use these flowcharts for things like:

  • Checking in and out
  • Solving a problem
  • Using amenities
  • Using common areas

Checking in and out:

This one is to let guests know what they need to do when arriving at the property to check in.
And also what they need to do when checking out.

Solving a problem:

You can create a standard flowchart so guests know what they need to do to get assistance from the caretaker. Or also from the owner of the Costa Rica Beach Vacation Rental.

Using amenities:

It is also a good idea to create flowcharts on how to handle the different amenities available at the property.

This includes the remote control, kitchen appliances, the air conditioner, and others.

Using common areas:

Another good use for a flowchart is to let guests know the different rules related to the common areas of the property.

You can even go a step further, and create an online version of your flowcharts for your website.

Then, you can just email the link to the visitor prior to their visit. Or a link to a SlideShare presentation.

If you really want to impress clients, you can even work with a QR code.

Then, visitors can just scan the QR code and get automatically directed to the page where the flowcharts reside on your website.

And, that will guarantee that guests will have handy information before its even needed.

With that said, try to keep your flowcharts as simple, but as illustrative as possible; such as the one shown in the presentation above.

What Happens When Things Doesn’t Go Well

Know this: No matter how much effort you put into providing the best guest experience; things will go wrong here and there.

For example, a given guest gets lost; even when you’re doing everything that’s in your hands for getting the guest safe and sound to the property.

It may also be the case that an appliance stops working. Even if everything’s new, sometimes electric stuff just stop functioning. And that is something you should be aware of. Here are some of the top things that can go wrong:

  • Housekeeping
  • Electronics
  • Damages

Housekeeping:

Your housekeeper can get sick, or can just miss work for a variety of reasons.

So, knowing this, you need to be prepared to contact an alternative housekeeper that can fill in for your employee.

Or, you can make this part of the responsibilities of the property’s caretaker.

Electronics:

If an electronic device fails, yo should count with a few spares of the same object in order to replace it immediately.

If a large electronic device or appliance fails, then you need to consider this an urgent situation.

The reason is because even though everything is fine with the rest of the Costa Rica Beach Vacation Rental; if a major appliance doesn’t work, you just can’t rent it.

Damages:

Make sure to also have handy the contact information for a local contractor.

When something breaks, you need to repair it immediately. Especially if the Costa Rica Beach Vacation Rental is occupied.

If the former scenario is true, then you need to coordinate with the guests the visit of the contractor; letting them know beforehand.

If you really take the time to focus on the guest experience part, and not just on the profits part; chances are that you will be very successful with your Costa Rica Beach Vacation Rental.




This post first appeared on Costa Rica Beach, please read the originial post: here

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Costa Rica Beach Vacation Rental: Focusing on Guests

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