How to Prep Your Place for The Best Guest Experience?

You’ve created your profile, meticulously taken photos to showcase your home, and (ta-da!) you’ve gotten your first booking. Your guests will be arriving in a few days, and you need to make sure your home lives up to the description you spent hours writing. Now it’s time to prep your place for your first short-term guest, but where to start?

Clean, Clean, Clean

Whether you’re renting a room or your entire home, your space should be spick and span. From the kitchen counters to the bathroom floors, guests will be expecting a space where they can relax. This means the bed linens are fresh, the dust bunnies removed, and the floors sparkle. Guests often expect hotel-like accommodations, which is why cleanliness is a huge factor when leaving reviews. A clean home could be the difference between future bookings or losing it to the home down the street.

Not sure where to start? Try this handy cleaning checklist supplied by the AirBnB community.

Make Sure Your Guests Have What They Need

There’s nothing worse than arriving for vacation and realizing you forgot your hair dryer. As much as we all try to plan ahead, something inevitably gets left behind. This is why you should try and anticipate your guests’ needs: have an extra hair dryer under the bathroom sink, put a coffeemaker in the kitchen, stock up on iPhone and Android chargers, and provide a board game or two just in case of a rainy day.

These are just a few examples of how to go the extra mile for your guests. If ordering supplies sounds like a hassle, hit the one-stop shop for all your guests’ needs –  aBundle.com.

Protect Your Belongings

We all have possessions we’d rather our guests not meddle with. Locking them away within your home is an option, though it’s best to remove any valuables from the  property during your guests’ stay. Consider renting an off-site storage unit or a bank deposit box. If you have family living nearby, ask if they’d be willing to watch your valuables while you have renters. Securing your possessions is a key part of prepping your place and maintaining peace of mind once guests have arrived.

It’s Okay to Have Rules

While staying in someone else’s space, there are generally a few rules. The same concept applies when it comes to short-term rentals, so it’s okay to manage your guests’ expectations. For example, if there are certain switches that need to stay on, make sure this is explicitly written out for the guest. If you just installed new floors and prefer guests not walk around with shoes on, make it known. Leave a welcome note or a binder of house rules visible on the counter.

Be Welcoming, Even If You’re Not There

After a long day of travel, some guests dread the check-in process. To avoid miscommunication, set up clear key pick up instructions prior to arrival and be sure to have a backup plan in case guests aren’t able to pick up the keys at the specified time. Additionally, go the extra mile and offer guests a welcome amenity kit. A small gesture can go a long way to making sure your guests have a great experience.

Use aBundle to Prep Your Place

At aBundle, we offer a bundle of great items geared toward great hosts that can save you a bundle of time, effort and money. Create your own kits with a collection of items specifically requested by superhosts. Learn more about how we can help prep your place at aBundle.com.