One of the things you realize immediately after setting up your vacation rental business is how much time you will have to devote to communicating with your guests. Even with just one or two listings, confirming bookings, arrival times, payment methods and whether or not they can bring their mangy pet into your flat are just a few of the regular messages that go back and forth during every booking. Add a few more listings or publish on multiple portals and suddenly you’re a walking, talking customer service slave to your VR business. It’s a slippery slope that can quickly lead to double bookings, poor communication and bad reviews on your business.
“Well, that’s what you signed up for” and “there’s no such thing as a free lunch,” were the most common responses when I complained to my friends about suddenly finding myself drowning in emails. With my ad hoc bookkeeping and lack of experience, I was mixing up check-in dates, sending messages to the wrong guests, and missing some emails altogether. One night I calculated how much time I was spending on emails alone. It wasn’t pretty. For sake of easy calculation, if you send 5 messages to each of your guests and spend 5 minutes on each email, with 5 listings receiving 5 bookings each per month each, you’re spending 625 minutes per month on email! That’s 10.5 hours on email per month, or an even more depressing breakdown is when you realize you’re spending 5 DAYS of your life every year on guest communication!
5 DAYS!
Luckily, a lot of these communications are repeated for each guests and those of you savvy with your Gmail account, can install standard templates that can be reused for each booking. Here are a few standard vacation rental templates to save you some valuable TIME:
The Booking Confirmation Email Template:
Hello {guest name},
I’m so glad you booked with us in beautiful {LISTING_city}. You’ll love staying at {LISTING_name}. You’ll find us very eager to help you have the greatest time and to discover this amazing area of {LISTING_country}.
To make your arrival as smooth as possible and to best cater to your needs, please send me your itinerary and planned check-in time.
Once I receive your travel details, I’ll be able to plan for your arrival — and for those of the departing guests.
Soon, I’ll send you some helpful information to help you get the most out of your stay.
I want {LISTING_title} to feel like your home away from home. Please feel free to contact me with any questions you may have. I’m here to guide you and enhance your trip.
Have a wonderful time!
Emergency Contact Prior To Arrival Email Template:
Hello {guest name},
It’s great that you are almost on your way to stay with us!
I have put a list of useful numbers you might need during you stay in {LISTING_country}.
General emergencies:
Phone:
Fire service:
Phone:
Police:
Phone:
Emergencies and traffic accidents:
Phone:
National Guard
Phone:
Medical emergencies
Phone:
Red Cross
Phone:
All-night Pharmacy
Phone:
When I go on holiday I always want to know what weather to expect.
Here you can find the weather for our location so you can pack accordingly: provide link
Departure Day Checklist Email Template:
Hello {guest name},
Time flies! I am sorry that it’s already your last day at {LISTING_name}, but I hope you had a fantastic stay and I wish you an easy & comfortable trip home.
Here are some logistics:
CHECKOUT TIME: As we agreed at 11am
If we agreed on a later checkout time for you– great! If we didn’t discuss this and you’d now like to checkout later please email us and this can be arranged if no one is arriving immediately after you. We are happy to accommodate you as best we can.
DEPARTURE CHECKLIST
1) Please leave the keys on the table
2) All the sheets and towels on the beds – thanks!
BROKE SOMETHING?
That’s OK, these things happen. Just let us know what needs to be replaced or fixed so the next guests have a nice experience too.
FOR THOSE THAT SENT US A SECURITY DEPOSIT BY WIRE or PAYPAL
If we are holding a deposit for you, we’ll return it pronto! Please email us to say how you’d like it returned: wire (provide details), or PayPal (provide an email address). Thanks!
LAST MINUTE QUESTIONS?
Email us, we can help!
So, that’s it! We hope you’ll be back soon!
Have a safe trip home!
These 3 templates alone should save you some serious time, but there is so much more you can streamline. Create a flow chart of your typical renter’s “lifecycle” and see where you can set templates for repeatable communication.
Now, if you’ve been using templates for a while and are ready to graduate to the next level of automated communication, join Vreasy right now.
Not only does Vreasy have dozens of customizable templates that will auto-fill your listing data and guest information, you can schedule these emails to go out automatically at a specific time or after a specific action has taken place.
On top of all that, Vreasy let’s you offer amazing guest services and, therefore, increase your revenues on every single booking you receive. With Vreasy, an automated, yet personalized email is sent to your guest upon their booking that provides useful information about your property AND offer them a menu of guest services (bike rentals, airport rides, welcome gifts, spa day, etc) they can add to their stay with the click of a mouse. Vreasy automatically schedules the appointment with the appropriate service provider and you make a 10% commission, without lifting a finger.
If you’d like to learn more about how to reclaim your life, battle the never-ending ocean of email and provide a superior service to your guests, sign up today!