What to Leave for Airbnb Guests: 5 Ways to Impress Guests

Last Updated on June 16, 2023 by Rental Recon

Helping your Airbnb stand out from all the rest can be challenging. With so much competition on the market, it can be nearly impossible to find a unique idea to set yourself apart. In reality, making a few simple changes can be enough to impress your guests and get you a glowing review.

When I started looking for ways to add value to my Airbnb, I found a lot of forums offering the standard advice without any real, concrete tips. I’m excited to share with you my best advice for impressing guests that anyone can implement in their own Airbnb.

**What Should You Leave for Your Airbnb Guests and How can You be Guaranteed to Impress Them?**

Have a stellar welcome letter
Include extra amenities
Go above and beyond as a host
Make your Airbnb different than the competition

For more of my top tips on impressing your Airbnb guests, keep on reading!

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Your Airbnb Welcome Letter… Make it Count!

Hopefully by now you already know how to craft a fantastic house rules manual. But did you know that your welcome letter plays an even bigger role in a guest’s experience?

The welcome letter is the first thing that guests will receive upon checking in. In some cases, it may be their very first impression of you as a host, but I do recommend communicating with guests before they check in to ensure that you’re both prepared for the stay.

The letter itself does not necessarily have to be a physical letter. It can take many forms, and can even be an automated message sent by a management software (but your guests won’t have to know!). Its function is not only to welcome guests to your Airbnb, but to make them aware of the most important details and answer some frequently asked questions.

You can review some of your main house rules briefly in the letter, but don’t worry about going into too much detail. It should serve as more of an invite than a warning! Go over basics like check in and out times, snacks and drinks that you have stocked, recommended local attractions, and how and where guests can contact you with any questions.

You can check out our article on house manual tips HERE.

What Do You Give an Airbnb Guest?

Offering extra amenities is an often overlooked way of elevating the overall experience at your Airbnb. These don’t necessarily have to be fancy or expensive items! The fact that you’re offering “extras” at all will give guests a greater impression of your Airbnb and make them really feel like they’re getting a lot of bang for their buck.

Be thoughtful of guests’ needs, and ask yourself what you would want if you were staying there yourself. Easy things like plenty of outlets (including USB-friendly power strips) alleviate the stress of charging multiple devices at once.

A coffee maker of some sort is one of my top must-haves, and they tend to be very affordable. Single-serve devices like a Keurig can be easily restocked and don’t require messy coffee grounds. Be sure to offer fun mugs and to-go cups!

A top complaint of guests is that the WiFi at an Airbnb doesn’t work or is way too slow to be useful. Don’t skim over this easy fix! They might not notice fast WiFi when it’s there, but they’ll surely notice if it isn’t. A good quality router is a must, and WiFi extenders for mid-to-large sized homes keep things running smoothly. Don’t forget to make sure guests know the password!

You can check out all of our recommended essentials for hosts HERE.

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Ways to Wow Your Airbnb Guests

Meeting guest expectations isn’t terribly difficult, but actually impressing them can be! In order to really wow your guests, you’ll need to go above and beyond what other hosts are doing and what you advertised in your listing.

One inconspicuous but effective way to accomplish this is to politely ask what brings a guest into town. Sometimes it’s a simple, fun vacation, other times it’s a quick business trip. Knowing a traveler’s motivation for staying with you is key to helping you meet their needs.

If someone responded that they were in town for business and had an early morning meeting, you could remind them of where you keep the clothes steamer and recommend a great local breakfast spot. If a family with children were staying for a beach trip, you could tell them which beaches are least crowded and which have playgrounds. Simple things like these will go a long way in building your rapport with guests and helping to make their stay a great one.

As far as inclusions in the actual Airbnb itself, the possibilities are endless. I like to leave fresh flowers in the springtime, and it’s super easy if you have your own garden. You can also leave snacks or beverages (bonus if they’re from a local company!).

How to Make Your Airbnb Stand Out

You could be an amazing host with a spectacular home to offer, but no one will ever know if they don’t see your listing! Making it stand out amongst all the others is probably one of the most consistently challenging aspects of hosting on Airbnb.

The most effective way to get guests to click on your listing is by having fantastic photos. Listing photos take up the most visual real estate in the search feature, and they are what draw people in from the beginning. Airbnb offers a professional photography service in some markets, but if this isn’t available or you aren’t ready to pay for a photographer it’s pretty easy to take high quality pictures on almost any smartphone.

Next is the listing description. This is your chance to sell yourself and your home, so don’t understate your value! Explain what you have to offer and answer any frequently asked questions that you have gotten in the past (or just ones that you make up on the spot). Something that carries a lot of weight in the decision-making process are your reviews, and you can showcase your favorites in the listing itself.

Finally, remember to stay accessible and respond to messages quickly and efficiently. If a guest doesn’t hear back from you fast enough before they stay with you, they’ll expect that you’ll be unresponsive during a booking as well.

Related Questions

How Can You Leave a Review for a Guest on Airbnb?

After the end of a stay, you should get an email from Airbnb prompting you to leave a review for the guest. This typically arrives within a day or so from the last day of the booking. Clicking the link in the email will redirect you to where you can leave a review.

Always review every guest! It doesn’t matter if they were good, great, or awful. It helps out future hosts and is fair to everyone in the Airbnb community. Remember that reviews on Airbnb are “double blind”, where neither the guest nor the host can see the other’s review until either A: they’re both posted, or B: the 14 day time limit for reviewing has elapsed. Always be truthful and remember that you can comment on a review after it has been posted.

What Can You Do if You Get a Bad Airbnb Review?

Getting a bad review is never a fun time. However, there is some recourse available for when it inevitably happens. If you feel the review is untruthful, you can dispute it via Airbnb. If it is truthful but you feel that it lacks context, you can also comment on the review and offer some perspective. Remember to keep it professional, and be sure that you’ve reviewed the guest honestly as well.