Blog: The Art of Amenities

October 30, 2021
Increase Your Profits with Vacation Rental Upsells

Managing vacation rental properties can be a lucrative endeavor and a real win-win for the owner and the manager. One method that many vacation rental managers have taken from the hotel industry playbook to improve their profitability and Guest satisfaction is to upsell Guests on services, products and experiences to make their stay even better. Exactly what are upsells, why should you offer them and what is the easiest way to get started upselling?

What Is Upselling?

Upselling is a sales technique in which the goal is to increase the average sales value of a customer – perhaps the classic American upsale is soda and fries with that burger – one offers either a premium version or add-ons to the product or service for incremental revenue. Upselling in the vacation rental context allows Guests to customize and add convenience to their Stay at your vacation rental property and if done correctly provides a win-win value proposition for Guests and Hoss as it would take the Guest much more time to self-provision the add-ons they desire than to be offered them directly with no work required. Think of upselling as a way of upgrading your Guests’ stay at your vacation rental. They receive additional products and services that make their stay better, and you earn a larger profit.

Why Should You Upsell at Your Vacation Rental?

Some vacation rental owners don’t like the idea of upselling because it sometimes comes with the connotation of being an aggressive business tactic. However, this isn’t an accurate perspective of this sales technique provided that the basic amenities a Guest requires are provided and the upsells are in fact services and products a reasonable Guest would not expect to find included in the Stay. Upselling has benefits for your Guests and yourself, and you can build deeper relationships with your Guests by offering upsells that provide them convenience, make needed services that are inconvenient at your location available to them and facilitate a greater sense of having experienced the local community during their Stay.

Personalize the Guest Experience

Upselling also provides and opportunity for Hosts to personalized a Guest’s stay experience. Personalization can come in many forms. Hosts can offer Guests the activities and experiences they most enjoy through trusted affiliate offers – for example fishing charters or access to equestrian rentals. Hosts can support Guests with young children who may really appreciate access to a crib or a affiliate offer of an experienced babysitting service. By offering a range of services and knowing how to inquire about Guests’ goals and requirements for their Stay during booking Hosts can use upselling offers to provide Guests with a truly personalized experience that makes their stay far more convenience and satisfying.

Offer Unparalleled Convenience

One of the reasons Guests are so often willing to invest in add-ons is the convenience. Offering early check-in and late check-out for an additional fee, for instance, can make a huge difference in the Guest experience. Using BnbAmenity, Hosts can automate the timing of these offers to remind Guests of these options leading up to Check-in and Check-out. In many cases, upselling can keep Guests coming back because they know about all of the convenient upgrades and services available at your vacation rental property while boosting your revenue.

Offer a Complete Solution

When traveling, it’s convenient for Guests to book as many of the elements of their vacation as possible on one platform if possible. That’s why you’ll often see sites combining offers for hotel rooms and flights. It’s also why all-inclusive resorts are so popular. You can do something similar with your vacation rental property using BnbAmenity to offer upsells to Guests. BnbAmenity makes this particularly easy through a network of trusted affiliate service partners. We enable you to earn revenue from Ground Transportation through Turo, babysitting services through SitterCity, cleaning services through Handy, laundry services through Rinse as well as offer compelling local experiences and activities through Viator. We also allow Hosts to add customized affiliate businesses directly through BnbAmenity so Hosts can get paid a commission for supporting local business. Through BnbAmenity, your Guests have the opportunity to customize a complete vacation experience, rather than booking their stay and all of their activities separately.

Increase Your Chances of Five-Star Reviews

If you offer your Guests valuable, convenient upsell products and services, you’ll be able to significantly affect their Guest experience overall. Guests are sure to appreciate all of the effort you’ve put into curating the perfect experience throughout their stay. That sentiment of appreciation is likely to be reflected in their reviews of your vacation rental property.

Tips for Upselling Offers

Use BnbAmenity to make sure your upsell offers are presented in highly professional direct communications using email, texts and Whatsapp. BnbAmenity also offers Hosts free of charge a Guest Book that Hosts use to present Guests with all of their essential Check-in and Stay information. The Guest Book also showcases the upsells the Host offer and highlights them at appropriate points in the Guests’ Stay to maximize conversion. BnbAmenity supports most forms of payment, making the Guests’ upsell purchases quick, easy, and convenient. If the upsell process makes the overall experience more challenging or complicated, or is presented in an unprofessional way, it can reduce your Guest’s opinion of their hospitality experience,

BnbAmenity will assist you in personalizing your recommendations by sending short, targeted surveys to the Guest to help determine their needs and plans for their Stay. For example, a couple on their honeymoon would appreciate a very different set of offers compared to a couple travelling with several young children.

Gain a deep understanding of your niche. Think about what kinds of activities your Guests plan to do and what types of extras would benefit them. Cater your upsells to your target market and offer products and services that enhance your Guest’s use of your Listing and its location and provides the Guest with a sense of connectivity with the local community and its traditions.

What Are the Most Popular Upsells Hosts Use on BnbAmenity?

BnbAmenity has a large number of upselling offers which we suggest to Hosts based on the location of their vacation rental, the season and specific local event and weather data which BnbAmenity monitors in real-time. Hosts can customize the offers with their own photos and descriptions and also create custom upsells unique to their vacation rental property. The most popular standard upsells among Hosts and Guests are:

Early Check-In and Late Check-Out

Guests often wish they had the option to pay for early check-in and late check-out. This upsell service allows them to sleep in, enjoy some extra time on vacation before their flight home, or accommodate their little one’s nap time. Early check-in and late check-out are classic vacation rental upsells that Hotels use to enhance their revenue, with BnbAmenity Hosts can offer this service as well.

Early check-in and late check-out reduce the chaos and stress of arriving and leaving the vacation rental property. Many Guests report that this service improves their overall experience! And if you automate check-in and check-out upsells, this upsell won’t present any challenges or extra work on your end.

Luggage Storage

A very popular upsell is offering to store your Guests’ luggage before check-in for an additional fee. This offer provides great convenience to the Guest and can effectively add an extra day to their vacation in some cases where they are flying out late on the night of their check-out. There are also times when Guests arrive before check-in and want to go sightseeing or enjoy a meal without bringing all of their luggage along with them. Offering to store their luggage enables them to start enjoying their vacation, even before they’ve checked in and can present a huge value for Guests. For Hosts who do not have a suitable Luggage Storage solution, Hosts can earn and affiliate fee by offering luggage storage in partnership with Stasher.

Airport Transfer and Other Transportation Offers

BnbAmenity offers Hosts the option of picking up Guests directly for a fee or earning an affiliate fee from our partner Turo. While picking up Guests is not feasible for all Hosts, for some provides compelling additional earnings. By partnering with Turo we allow all Hosts to offer Guests an easy option to coordinate Airport and other Transportation needs, such as travel to and from a Wedding or other event, during their Stay.

Upgraded Welcome Basket

Many Hosts provide a welcome basket for their Guests. BnbAmenity allows Guests to customize the Welcome Basket to better meet their needs through offering upgraded versions for an additional fee. The most popular welcome basket upsells are Arrival Groceries with allows Guests to request that the Stay be stocked with provisions to cover snacks and their first two meals so as to avoid shopping upon first arrival; Spa Basket which provides a variety of bath pampering items such as bubble bath bomb, face mask creams and other beauty and wellness items; Honeymoon Hamper with provides a bottle of Champaign, glasses and a box of chocolates. Hosts are encouraged to customize their Welcome Basket Upsell descriptions and photos so that Guests receive exactly the items they are expecting.

Bike or Sports Equipment Rental

BnbAmenity offers a complete Equipment Rental Software as a Service Platform for Hosts to offer Guests vacation equipment to enhance their Stay. The platform incorporates Rental and Liability Waiver execution, collection of state ID images, deposit and payment processing, check-out and return process and deposit refund. Depending on location and season, Hosts have offered a great variety of equipment for rent, the most four most popular rentals have been Bicycle Rental; Beach Chair and Umbrella Rental; Boogie Board Rental; and Paddleboard Rental. We also offer crib and other baby equipment rental in partnership with Babyquip.

City Tour and Other Experiences

BnbAmenity offers Hosts the option of offering tours and experiences personally to Guests directly for a fee or earning an affiliate fee from our partner Viator. While entertaining Guests with tours or other local experience is not feasible for all Hosts, for some, it provides compelling additional earnings. By partnering with Viator, we allow all Hosts to offer Guests an easy option to coordinate a local tour and other experiences relevant to their Stay while earning an affiliate fee from Viator..

Main Takeaways

Using BnbAmenity to start Upselling is a large income enhancer for Hosts.
Offering upsell products and services at your vacation rental property through BnbAmenity comes with multiple benefits. You can enable Guests to completely personalize their experience, offer them unparalleled convenience, boost your profits, offer a complete travel solution, and increase your chances of five-star reviews.
To offer valuable upsells, BnbAmenity offers personalized suggestions and allows Hosts to customize their offers themselves to better fit their niche target market.
The best Upsells offer convenience and enhance the stay of the Guest

September 1, 2021

BnbAmenity: Introducing Custom Premium Amenities

Enhance Guest Convenience and Hosting Income

The quality and uniqueness of the Guest experience is very important to a Host’s success over time. Yet many items that could really make a Guest's stay special are too expensive to offer as a free amenity or would require you to unduly increase the price of your Listing if they were included. Some Guests may enjoy a costly amenity but others don’t want or need them, or might use the amenity but not ascribe value to it. Here we will show how a Host can offer special amenities only to those Guests who want using BnbAmenity,

BnbAmenity: Offer Premium Guest Amenities to Increase Your Hosting Income and Guest Satisfaction

Do you Host on an OTA platform like VRBO or Airbnb? Have you ever wished that you could offer more to your Guests but been concerned that if you did so your cost of Hosting would be too high? Do you have a passion or craft that you would like to share with your Guests, but are not able to on the existing Hosting platforms?

Many items that could really make a Guest's stay special are too expensive to offer as a free amenity or would require you to unduly increase the price of your Airbnb if they were included. Some Guests may enjoy a costly amenity but others don’t want or need them or might use the amenity but not ascribe value to it. How can a Host offer special amenities only to those Guests who want them?

As a Host, I was faced with the same problem. I was Hosting a wonderful Airbnb next to hiking and biking trails and great recreational waterways. I wanted to offer the use of bicycles, water sports equipment, and other recreational equipment to Guests. Guests from the nearby city were not aware that they would be able to use such equipment at our vacation cabin and so left their equipment at home. Travelers from further away were logistically unable to bring large sporting equipment with them on the airplane. The cabin is also rather remote, so there is no place to rent or buy such equipment nearby. There was also the concern of legal liability as well as damage to the equipment if we were to just leave it out and make it available to Guests for free.

I just could not find a good way to make the equipment potentially available to Guests who wanted it. I tried making direct offers to rent the equipment, but the process was too time-consuming to justify the bother. But my Guests kept telling me they wished they had brought with them the very sports equipment I had locked away in the garage. I decided that every Host needed a solution to be able to share items that might be useful to Guests and allow the Guest to decide what they needed and self-provision the rental process so it took very little of the Host's time – something that would make it as easy as renting a paddleboard at a beach resort just by writing your room number down.

My Guests loved it! It opened up so many fun activities to them during their stay. I decided to offer the little widget I had built to some friends who also rented their homes nearby. Soon friends started asking if I could expand it to offer other types of amenities. Jose had a lovely fireplace but did not like leaving wood out because seasoned firewood is expensive and he did not want to drive up the base price of the Llisting. I created a Firewood Offer so those of his Guests who wanted to could enjoy a cozy fire. Trisha had a really secluded home with a wonderful view – she seemed to always be getting Guests who were planning a honeymoon or romantic getaway. She wanted to be able to offer a honeymoon hamper because she thought – what is romantic about driving 30 minutes to the nearest store to buy champagne and chocolates? Thomas is a farmer and also listed the old farm house for Guests – he would leave out some of the farm’s produce for Guests but became irritated that frequently Guests would not use the fresh produce and it would be wasted. He wanted a way to make sure his produce was only left for Guests who would value it and use it. Trying to help our friends solve their particular Hosting amenity issues became a minor obsession for us. What started out as a simple widget evolved into the solution now called BnbAmenity.

Over time, BnbAmenity has matured into a powerful cloud-native solution to connect Hosts with their Guests in a more intimate and customizable fashion than is possible on the major OTA platforms – and to enable those Hosts to offer items that are unique to their homes that will enhance the Guests stay in ways not possible before. I started with a desire to enable Guests to enjoy a bicycle ride and ended up a year later having taken a journey myself. I hope that you as a Host will enjoy BnbAmenity and that it can enable you to offer the extra items that will make your Guests’ Stays much more convenient and special.

If you would like to offer something that you do not see as an option already, you can use the Custom Offer option or you can email me at info@bnbamenity.com – there is nothing I like better than to enable a new Guest amenity that I had not previously thought of! Just last week, John in Denver contacted me about enabling him to offer his own handmade furniture pieces in his place for sale to Guests – turning his Listing into a gallery space for his creations! Hosting offers so many opportunities to share our passions with Guests. I love using BnbAmenity to enable so many unique Hosts to offer the specific amenities that make their homes extra special to Guests.

How Does BnbAmenity Work?

Join BnbAmenity. Select the Offers that you would like to send your Guests. You can customize the Offers with your own descriptions and photos or use BnbAmenity’s standard Offers – you can use our Smart Pricing or you can set your own price. When a Guests books, put their contact information and dates of stay into BnbAmenity. The Guest will be sent an Offer which is good for up to 24 hours before their stay begins - you can also customize how long the Offer is good for if you need more or less notice than 24 hours. If you would like to resend the Offer, you can do this as well. If the Guest accept the Offer by completing payment on BnbAmenity, you are immediately notified. When the Guest arrives, they confirm that the Offer was completed and payment will be made your account. The Guest is also invited to provide a review of the Offer so your future Guests will have confidence that your Offer is of high quality.

What happens if my Guest cancels their booking at my place but has accepted an Offer?
Guests can cancel Offers by confirming the cancellation of their booking and receive a refund.

What happens if my Guest no longer wants the Offer?
Guests can cancel the Offer up to 48 hours prior to their check-in date.

What happens if a Guest does not like the amenity Offered and wants a refund?
Guests can seek issue resolution through BnbAmenity Resolution Center and seek a partial or complete refund, if for example, the Host forgot about the Offer and it was not there upon check-in. BnbAmenity will contact you if this happens to resolve the issue together.

BnbAmenity Is a Great Tool for Hosts to Improve Their Guest’s Stay Experience and Enhance Their Hosting Income - Most Importantly, It is Free to Hosts!

August 15, 2021

What Hosts Can Learn From Hospitality Industry Best Practices

Inrease Guest Satisfaction and Hosting Income

According to a study by Busbud, hotels in New York on average booked revenue of $245 per guest as compared to $160 for Airbnb hosts. While higher room rates on average in New York hotels account for some of the difference in revenue, the most important element of the difference is the success hotels have in charging for amenities, cross-selling products and services to guests, and adding numerous fees to the base hotel room rate.

Why do hotels make so much more revenue per guest than Airbnb Hosts?

Hotels collect more than $1 billion in fees and surcharges each year in the United States according to a study by the New York University School of Continuing and Professional Studies. According to the study, hotel fees and surcharges emerged as an industry practice in 1997 and have increased every year except 2002, 2009 and 2020 (when lodging demand declined). Often, guests might not even be aware of the fees hotels charge until after they have booked a room or received their bill at checkout. Some typical fees include resort fees (an extra charge for the plethora of activities and services they offer); early check-in fee, late check-out fee, additional person fee, wifi fee, mini-bar, and snack fee, parking fee, gym fee, housekeeping gratuity, spa gratuity, telephone surcharge, pet fee, baggage storage fees, newspaper fees, rollaway bed fees and even towel replacement fees! Hotel operators also achieve added revenue per guest through room service, dining, lobby bars, convenience stores, boutiques, spas, in-room movie systems, sporting equipment rental, car rental, classes, tours, and even babysitting.

Most Airbnb hosts pride themselves on providing a more humanistic offering than the corporate, revenue-maximizing approach some hotels take and enjoy connecting with their guests. Such hosts would never dream of trying to tack on a surcharge for Wifi or parking. However, some of the additional revenues that hotels realize are not just revenue but actually offset costs that they incur providing guests important amenities. If they did not charge they would not only experience a reduced top line but they would incur the incremental cost of providing the amenity as well. For example, many Airbnb hosts don’t consider the costs of offering that bottle of wine on check-in, or that firewood to use in the fireplace – but by not charging for these amenities, they not only lose a revenue stream that hotels would realize - they actually cost themselves the money they earn by hosting.

While no guest has ever enjoyed an egregious fee being tacked on their bill, many of the services hotels charge for are actually valued amenities for guests, who appreciate the convenience of being able to rent a bicycle at the hotel or buy those goggles that they forgot to bring. Some paid amenities can even make a stay magical for guests – being able to buy the kids a box of s’more materials to roast on an outdoor fire or having that bottle of champagne at the ready in the hotel room at just the right moment for a toast.

In addition, some fees are really useful for discouraging behavior that is actually costly for the host. For example, guests checking out late can make a host have to scramble to prepare their rental for the next customer and can even add substantial costs by making cleaning professionals wait out the late guest. Early check-in can scramble a host’s schedule in preparing the stay for the Guest. Pets really accelerate the depreciation of real estate’s finish, so charging a fee can be a good way to discourage owners from bringing them along.

Another key way that hotels outperform Airbnb hosts financially is by operating with higher occupancy levels than the typical Airbnb listing. Hotels do this in part through judiciously choosing their locations and setting pricing but also through maintaining loyalty programs and conducting marketing programs using their databases of past customers. Unfortunately, for Airbnb hosts, Airbnb Inc. wants to keep guests booking exclusively through Airbnb. However, by offering your guests a return stay discount directly after their stay, a host can build a loyal following of direct booking customers, while both guest and host can avoid those irritating Airbnb service fees. Marketing to past guests can also enhance your occupancy year round to achieve occupancy levels more like a well-run hotel.

At BnbAmenity we have developed a powerful suite of tools to empower hosts to realize some of the opportunities hoteliers have grasped – without taking away from the joy of offering your unique space to guests. BnbAmenity helps hosts make custom offers of amenities tailored to making their places more appealing and special to guests while enhancing the reward that they get from hosting. BnbAmenity is dedicated to allow more people thrive from hosting by creating additional host revenue opportunities.

Try BnbAmenity Now!

It’s time to start using BnbAmenity to increase revenue and reduce operating costs on your short term rental!

BnbAmenity - Improve Guest Experience, Enhance Host Revenue

August 1, 2021

Paid Premium Guest Amenities - Better Than Freebies for Hosts and Guests

Increase Guest Satisfaction and Hosting Income

The majority of Guests on shared housing platforms such as Airbnb or VRBO state that they enjoy using these platforms because the listings are comparatively less expensive than a hotel and the listings offer a greater level of amenities as compared to hotels. In fact, the superior amenities that Hosts offer are critical to the success and popularity of platforms like Airbnb. However, while some amenities, such as a kitchen, a private garden, a view, are intrinsic to the Listing and do not cost the Host anything to provide, some amenities are actually quite costly over time. The dilemma is - how can they be combined to both increase the income for the Host and the Guest’s enjoyment of the experience.

The Hidden Costs of Hosting Can Add Up

Many Hosts feel pressured to offer amenities like a bottle of wine and chocolates on check-in, flowers, firewood, charcoal, fresh produce, and many, many others. The rating systems on these platforms put a great deal of pressure on Hosts to offer a premium experience at a discount price. As a result, many Hosts provide costly amenities to each Guest, biting into their real return from Hosting Guests, even as they charge far less for the Stay than a hotel would.

I realized this as a Host myself, I would rent my family’s cabin for $120 a night, which is roughly equivalent to AirBNB’s average rate as it turns out. I would leave Guests a bottle of wine, candles, premium soaps, cooking essentials such as olive oil and spices, and wood for the fireplace. I thought it was great and enjoyed Hosting so I never really thought about it.

My husband is an accountant though and he did not take long to point out, it turns out each Guest was costing me a good deal in amenities:

Wine: $15
Chocolate: $3
Firewood: $10
Firestarter: $2

It turns out each Guest Stay was costing me $30 a night to Host, almost 25% of my Hosting income, not even accounting for my time, the utilities they use, the wear and tear on the house, and other such hidden costs of Hosting, So while I thought I was getting an additional $1200 or so a month for my efforts, in reality, I was making much less. While I would not dream of charging for amenities that I view as standard, such as cooking essentials, soaps, and toiletries, and my welcoming wine and chocolates – I felt that the amenity of using the wood and firestarters was something that if the Guests wanted to use, they should either bring their own or contribute towards the cost of what they use. But there was no good way to do this through Airbnb – I could raise the price, but that would be unfair to the people who had no intention of using the fireplace and also would have made my listing less competitive with listings that did not happen to have a fireplace. While the loss of income from our Airbnb through the offering of these amenities was not especially impactful for us, an Airbnb survey indicated that half of their Hosts use the supplemental income they generate through Hosting to help them afford to Stay in their homes. For many Hosts, these costs are a real burden.

BnbAmenity is Here to Help

Luckily a good friend at my Airbnb Hosting community meeting had already been using BnbAmenity, to offer a premium amenities such as a stocked refrigerator on check-in to Guests and she mentioned BnbAmenity to me.

As it turns out, it could easily be used to offer firewood or the charcoal for using a BBQ, for that matter. Since then, I have been offering Firewood and BBQ propane to Guests as an added amenity. I even added a few additional paid amenities - most successfully, a half dozen of our local fresh oysters and shucking equipment. If you are a Host, you too should join BnbAmenity and offer paid amenities to enhance your Guest’s Stay while not detracting from your ability to generate much needed cash flow from sharing your home with Guests.

Easy to Use with Powerful Results for Host's Bottom Line

If you are a Host, you too should join BnbAmenity and offer paid amenities to enhance your Guest’s Stay while not detracting from your ability to generate cash flow from sharing your home with Guests.

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