Welcome books: Your guests will feel like they're at Four Seasons

For this article about welcome books (also called guest books) we count on the collaboration of another start-up that is also closely related to the world of vacation rentals. This article has been prepared by Jorge Melo, CMO of Cohosting, a platform that automates and maximizes everything related to the communication and reservation of complementary services to the stay of guests in tourist accommodations.

It is clear to everyone how much tourism has changed in recent years. Although most of us still remember how we used to travel just a decade ago.

That time when you had to go to a travel agency, sit down with someone who put several books and huge brochures with many photos in front of you and, basically, listen to what each package consisted of until you chose one.

If probably on one of those visits to the agency, I had told the agent on duty that in just 5 years his job was going to practically disappear or, not just that, that tourism itself was on the verge of a change like never before, that people would stop staying in hotels to start staying in locals' houses, or that the largest accommodation company in the world would not have a single accommodation in property…

He would probably have taken me for crazy.

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Not everything related to tourism has changed in recent years

However, it doesn't matter what the travel agent thought because reality is what it is and today Airbnb has a greater range of accommodations than the five major hotel chains worldwide, more than four million different possibilities to spend the night. It is said soon, and it means a lot.

But it's not just the number of accommodations that impresses.

In just ten years, hosts who publish their accommodations through the platform have hosted more than 300 million people, an even more incredible figure if we consider that Airbnb has really taken off in the last five years.

In summary, the way and place where we stay has changed, but has everything changed in the tourist?

No.

Despite now staying at José Manuel's house when we travel to Seville, we expect José Manuel to treat us as a hotel would.

And it turns out that José Manuel doesn't have the resources that a hotel has, nor did he initially imagine that he would have to become a hospitality machine when he listed his property for the first time on the platform a few years ago.

In fact, getting owners and managers who list their properties to learn how important good service and hospitality is has been, is and will be a cornerstone of Airbnb's strategy.

Not in vain, José Manuel is quite an Airbnb Plus. A category that Airbnb implemented some time ago to distinguish in some way all those hosts who really care about good service and hospitality, with the aim of increasing their bookings and standing out from the rest.

As you can see, the trend is clearly in favor of those who offer good service (like José Manuel), those who care about offering a set of ideas or possibilities for things to do during the guests' stay (hence adding experiences and restaurants to Airbnb's offer).

It favors those hosts who really strive to respond to all guest requests and offer a completely personalized experience.

In short, they care about hospitality.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KnltyNbgSu0

What it really means to be hospitable when you have a tourist apartment

Since so far we have only referred to Airbnb as the engine of change in tourism, we will continue along the same lines and study what factors the digital giant considers to be the keys to being a hospitality machine.

To win the super host category, ruling out that you would have to have hosted at least 10 people, you must mainly respond to practically everything they ask you. In fact, it is required that you respond to at least 90% of the messages you receive.

Apart from responding to everything, the reviews left by your guests are also a key factor. It is no coincidence that it is required to receive a 5-star rating at least 80% of the times you are rated, as long as at least half of your guests have left their rating.

Almost nothing.

And to finish, never think about canceling a reservation that has already been confirmed.

What Airbnb is trying to convey is quite simple if you look at it in perspective.

Your guest deserves the best, and you are responsible for providing an experience they won't easily forget.

Work hard at it. Nothing more, nothing less.

Fortunately for apartment managers and owners, an entire ecosystem of start-ups and companies has been created around Airbnb that live off offering solutions to needs that did not exist before and have been generated as a result of all the changes that have taken place in recent years.

One of these tools, and the one we will highlight in this article, are Welcome Books or guest books.

What is a Welcome Book and how is it used

Does the mishmash of flyers with activities or recommendations, city or metro maps and documents with apartment rules left by the host in the apartment for the guest to read sound familiar to you?

We all know what we're talking about.

Sometimes these flyers are simply that, a collection of brochures from various companies in the area without any apparent criteria, and on other occasions we are talking about much more elaborate content such as printed guides of the city expressly developed by the host.

A Welcome Book, also known as Guestbook, is nothing more or less than a digital version of that set of documents with personal recommendations that you offer to your guests.

Here you can see an example of a Guest Book for a random apartment in Madrid created by Cohosting.

However, being digital, you can take advantage of all the possibilities that the internet makes available to you: instantaneity, autonomy, and ubiquity.

Basically, it does not require the physical presence of the guest in the accommodation to be able to see it since you can send it by mail or any online means so that it can be enjoyed from home.

With a Welcome Book, your guests can organize their stay completely without even having arrived at the destination, with days, weeks or even months still ahead of their arrival.

In addition, depending on the company you use to create your Welcome Book, you will obtain one advantage or another.

For example, at Cohosting, among other things, we take care of closing business agreements with different local providers of the most demanded and cumbersome services.

We know that in the end, and going back to our friend José Manuel, the host does not have the time or resources to find suppliers for all the possible services that guests can request.

For this reason, we close agreements with service providers such as transfer, babysitters, tours, activities and experiences, restaurant reservations and much more and make them entirely available to you, not only to offer it to your guests, but also so that you can earn money with each reservation.

Benefits of a digital guest book

Like practically anything that is digitized, the Welcome Book presents a series of clear advantages when it stops being a pile of flyers and becomes completely online.

Communicate from before arrival

One of the main advantages of a digital Welcome Book is the possibility of communicating all your complementary services, as well as the cultural offer, long before arrival at the accommodation.

It must be taken into account that historically, the guest is not aware of the complementary offer to the accommodation until they are already at the destination.

It is usually at check-in when the team in charge of receiving tourists communicates the various things that can be done, if they do, or if the host has taken care to leave flyers, maps or similar things inside the accommodation, then the tourist will also find information about this offer of complementary services.

With a digital Welcome Book, communicating your additional offer begins immediately after making the reservation.

Comply with the law

It's clear to everyone that one of the biggest concerns for many managers and hosts is to always comply with the law.

Although it may often go unnoticed, it is mandatory for all hosts to provide a series of phone numbers and specific information to all their guests. Many times, gathering this information is not easy, not to mention the times when it is not even known that this information must be delivered obligatorily.

In this sense, a guest book will help you comply with the law by gathering all this necessary information, and even on some occasions the mandatory content will be generated by default, saving the host from having to search for it, find it and upload it.

Open a new source of income

Traditionally, in the hotel world, between 10 and 15% of their income comes from commissions on service sales.

Let's put ourselves in context.

Imagine the typical image of the guest going to the hotel reception and requesting a reservation for a restaurant table, or a taxi to the airport.

Each time the hotel sells any of these services, the hotel takes a commission.

This is possible because the hotel has previously been closing business agreements with various service providers. It sends them customers and the providers give it a share of the price in appreciation.

Hotels have been able to close deals of this type thanks to their significant commercial capacity, however it is not so simple for an Airbnb owner, who has neither the time nor the commercial strength.

With a Welcome Book, you will be able to gain access to a set of commercial agreements with local suppliers that will help you open up a new revenue stream, as you improve the experience of your guests.

Improving the guest experience and their autonomy

The fact is that one of the things that prevails today is personalization. Each guest who stays in your accommodation expects their stay to be unique and special.

In fact, not just their stay, but the entire trip.

And although it may not always seem fair, the host has a great responsibility in this whole setup.

With a guest book, the host gives autonomy to the guest, allowing them, knowing everything they can do, see and book, to decide on their own and without pressure what they really want and how they want to do it. It is undoubtedly a very powerful tool to improve and maximize the personalized experience of each guest.

Your information, sustainably

As we've mentioned several times throughout this article, tourists have changed significantly in recent years.

One of these most important changes is related to its awareness of the destination.

It seems that little by little the world is becoming aware of how important it is to take care of the planet, and no matter how small the actions are, your guests will appreciate that you adapt your offer in a sustainable way.

If instead of giving them a mountain of flyers and maps you give them a web page, that's what you save the Earth and that's what you gain as a responsible and aware host.

In summary, it's clear that times have changed, and with them, many things related to tourism in general, and to tourists in particular.

Although we have now forgotten about traditional travel agencies and all-inclusive packages and have moved from staying in hotels to staying in local homes, it is clear that guests continue to demand, not to say demand, that the host be on par with the hotel.

The hospitality business has come to your home to stay.

Tools and software for guest book

Hostfully

Hostfully offers its customers very well-designed online guest books. You can customize and edit your own guest book using just the browser. Once it's done, share a single link with your guests that they can open on their phones. They can also print it.

The Hostfully guest book software is free, unless you need the Pro version, which costs $9.99 per month.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UxSOKvlAbwI

Touchstay

Touchstay works in a very similar way to the previous guest book or guide book software. All content is stored and accessible to your guests at a single address. Its mobile application packages all content with a very careful design. This way you can share your guest book with a simple link. Guests don't need to download the app.

Finally, with Touchstay you can add Tripadvisor reviews to your personal advice and recommendations, in addition to those from Google Places. The subscription starts at $6.99 monthly.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=acUNXBlDSTc

Cohosting

Cohosting is our favorite recommendation for creating digital guide books. This platform automates and maximizes everything related to the communication and booking of complementary services for guests' stay in tourist accommodations.

Besides being software made in Spain, they have a free plan. The payment plans include a percentage in which hosts earn 10% of the PVP of the reservations made on the platform. What more can you ask for?

https://youtu.be/OnLREo-AorE