Guest Appreciation

Photo 61395692 © Kartos | Dreamstime.com

Greetings all and welcome to Real Estate Secrets where we talk about everything involved with flipping and renting properties. I’m you’re host Linda Harley and today’s topic is…guest appreciation.

As a student in college it seemed that every day there was an event on campus where you could get free pizza and t-shirts. I still have several of the shirts I got for free in college although they are more heirlooms now as they’ve been worn and washed so much.

Do you remember how amazing it was to show up to an event and get FREE swag!!! It felt like you were on top of the world and that there was something special about you, that only you and a handful of your closest friends had this item.

Think that is only for college students? Think again…

I recently bought a ticket to Funnel Hacking Live 2021 and attended the virtual conference. The morning the conference was going to start I got a box delivered to my front door.

You’re right! It was a box stuffed with swag. T-shirts, a coffee mug, lip balm, etc… What made it cool was that I knew that only me and the other attendees would ever get this cool swag. It made me feel included in the festivities even though I was attending the conference virtually in my pajamas from the comfort of my own study.

Now why is it that a shirt, coffee mug and lip balm can elicit so much joy! I mean it’s only everyday items, that I already have a ton off in my house.

The reason? It means that you are part of a TRIBE! You are part of an exclusive community.

Great marketers use these tools to help give you a specific identity.

At college the identity they were promoting was: GaTech Student!!!

For the conference the identity they were promoting was: Funnel Hacker!!

What identity are you promoting in your business?

This is part of your guest journey and where you want your guests to be?

Ever been to a Hilton or Double Tree Hotel? In the lobbies they have swag to purchase.

Ever been to an aquarium or Disney World? Swag.

Ever been to a baseball game? Swag.

So what does giving people an identity do for your business…

Organic Traffic. When people identify themselves with your brand, then they’re going to wear and use your swag. Others will see it and question, giving them the opening to brag about you. This may inspire the person to join the tribe as well.
Tribe. It helps your ideal client know that they are part of the tribe. That they are special, that they are not alone and that there is comfort in knowing that there are other people out there in the world just like them.
Fun. It helps your ideal client think of your brandly fondly because of how much you’ve spoiled them. This causes them to endear themselves to you. Because you’ve given so much perceived value to them, they want to give back to the tribe. Fosters community.

How can we apply these concepts to short term rental:

Making the experience unique for your guests by providing them with swag is a fantastic way to foster guest appreciation and relations.

Here are only a couple of examples that I’ve seen used by hosts:

Wine bottles with private custom labels. You can have wine bottles made with your custom private labels that sports your brand. This would work ideally for rentals that focuses on say honeymoons or romantic get aways for couples. If you don’t want to do wine you can do water bottles.
Provide a gift basket that is customized with your brand. You can customize what goes into the basket based on the customer example families may be popcorn and chips, where couples may be cheese and wine.
Custom labels for hand soaps, shampoo bottles etc. Depending on who you talk to, some people think this is too much for a short term rental. But it really depends on the customer. If you’re offering a luxurious retreat then this would be a must, but if you’re catering to an affordable inexpensive alternative to a motel then this would be too much. You need to take into consideration your ideal customer when designing and deciding on what to offer.
You can even go as far as having your towels embroidered. There are some really neat embroidery machines available on the market, that you could even DIY this yourself.

There are many more suggestions I could offer you when it comes to swag to give your guests. So make yours unique and different, and treat them like kings and queens, and they will be customers for life.

Remember that it is 6 times harder to find a new customer than it is to get an existing customer to return especially if they had an amazing experience.

That’s all for today. If you found this info useful, drop a comment below. I’d love to know your ideas for swag to give to your guests.

Too da loo

Linda