The Value of Digital Guidebooks for Owners and Guests
A digital guidebook is your guests’ all-you-can-eat guide to your vacation rental property. It includes all the details that might once have gone into a paper guest manual left on the kitchen table. From driving directions and access instructions, to your recommendations for the best local takeaway, it contains all the information your guests could need.
With StayFi, you can unlock new ways to increase digital guidebook usage and distribution – with options to redirect all guests to the guidebook after logging into WiFi, in addition to sending automated text messages to guests with the guidebook URL after logging into the WiFi.
A digital guidebook takes your guest information up a notch. It turns information into communication. Guests can access information from their device, rather than having to sift through a sticky, unwieldy paper document. Touch Stay digital guest welcome books enhance the guest experience and streamline property managers’ operations by:
Allowing guests to access information before they even arrive
Integrating with Google Places to retain up-to-date info about the local businesses you recommend
Taking guests straight to your direct booking site & social media
Let’s take a closer look at exactly how a digital guest book benefits your property management business.
Digital Guidebooks Cultivate an Exceptional Guest Experience
A great guest experience starts with effective, reliable guest communications
Let’s start with the value that digital guidebooks bring for your guests. After all, nailing the guest experience is the first step to seeing word-of-mouth recommendations and stellar reviews.
Help guests to get excited about their stay while increasing upsells
Planning a holiday is equal parts exciting and stressful. You can help guests lean into the excitement of planning by giving them a taste of the fun stuff to come. Your digital guidebook conveys details about local restaurants, shows, activities, and sites to ensure that guests squeeze everything they can from their stay with you.
You can help guests along the way by sharing links to highlight specific sections of your guidebook in the lead up to their arrival. Direct guests towards your offers of:
airport pick-up
pre-arrival grocery delivery
discounts with local restaurants/tour providers/equipment rental services
tickets to shows and attractions
These upsells increase your revenues and pave the way for your guests to have the best experience possible with you, so everybody wins.
Provide a restful, welcoming arrival to your short term rental property
When guests do arrive with you, a digital guidebook acts as a resource for them to turn to with any questions that arise. How does the electronic lock work again? How do we log into the WiFi? All answered straight away, with no need to wait for a property manager to get back to them.
Tyann Marcink, Touch Stay’s very own Queen of Guest Experience, is a long time user of both StayFi and Touch Stay. Together, they help her to provide the smoothest of arrivals for her guests – she directs visitors straight from her branded WiFi login page to her digital guidebook. Minutes after arriving, guests have access to reliable WiFi and essential property information.
First impressions count, and a smooth arrival generates guests who are primed for a wonderful stay.
An Exceptional Guest Experience Means Exceptional Reviews
If guests leave your property with strong positive associations, they’re far more likely to take five minutes to write a glowing review. A digital guidebook could even be the added detail that tips reviews into five-star territory. You’ve ticked all the key boxes (cleanliness, functionality, comfort) and then you’ve boosted your offering again with a powerful communication tool.
Guests feel that they’ve had a personalized experience from a property manager who really cares about their stay, and their reviews will reflect this.
And the benefits reach beyond one set of guests – consistently strong reviews are the key ingredient to attracting new visitors. Online travel agencies such as Airbnb, Booking.com, and Vrbo use your average review score to determine where you fall in their rankings. If you primarily operate through your own direct booking site, rather than through those OTAs, positive reviews will help to build trust in your property management company. Strong reviews are the gift that keeps on giving.
If you are looking to increase your number of 5-star reviews on Google, Facebook, or your own website, StayFi offers automated review collection through text messages. StayFi’s system screens for 5-star reviews and them directs the guest to any location you’d like them to leave a review.
Digital Guest Books Create Efficient Property Management Businesses
We’d guess that at any one time, you and your team have already got lengthy to-do lists. So, when a guest doesn’t want to trawl through their emails to find out how to adjust the heating, the last thing you need is a phone call asking you to walk them through it.
A digital guidebook is the resource that guests can return to time and again to answer questions that pop up during their stay. Whether they want to know which brunch spot will have space on a Sunday morning, or how to use the induction hob, all the details are right at their fingertips.
When guests do ask questions (as some always will!), you’re able to quickly respond by sending a link directly to the answer in your digital guidebook. No need to type out instructions all over again, just send a text directing guests to the right spot and they’ll find everything they need.
Empower your guests to be self-sufficient, and save time for your team in the process. In fact, 86% of Touch Stay users halve the amount of time they spend communicating with their guests. What could you do with those extra hours in your day?
Digital Guest Books Create Efficient Property Management Businesses
A Touch Stay digital guidebook is another device in your marketing toolkit, and a great holiday rental marketing strategy is the key to pulling in more direct bookings. StayFi makes your investment in a digital guidebook return even more value, as your guidebook is seamlessly provided to all guests – not just the booker.
Provide a restful, welcoming arrival to your short term rental property
As we mentioned above, a guest app helps you to reel in positive reviews by strengthening your guest communications. These reviews are a key asset for your vacation rental marketing. Showcase them on your social media and your vacation rental website – they’ll help to convert potential guests by building trust in your property management brand.
In addition, your digital guidebook in itself can become a marketing asset. Simply create a version which doesn’t contain any sensitive property information, and link to it from your:
direct booking website
social media
booking site listings
email footer
Give prospective guests an insight into what it’s like to stay with you – show them the care that you put into curating your guest information. Your digital welcome book can also include photos and videos, which can show off your property in far more depth than an Airbnb listing allows.
Use your guidebook to promote your direct booking website
The final sections of your guidebook explain to guests how you plan to keep in touch. Let them know that you’d like to add them to your email marketing list (having collected their emails with StayFi’s cloud-managed WiFi technology!).
Then, direct them to your social media accounts and direct booking site. You can outline any returning guest discounts, and explain that your emails are the best place to hear about special offers and reduced rates.
You could also outline other properties that you manage, and suggest that guests try one of these next time. Touch Stay digital guidebooks are white-labeled, so you can include your own logo and colors. This helps to build brand awareness amongst your guests. It also hammers home that they weren’t staying with Airbnb, or with Vrbo – you provided this wonderful experience for them.
What to Include in Your Digital Guidebook
To get you started on the right foot, let’s do a quick run through of the things you might want to include in a digital guest welcome book. You can keep it concise and simple, or embellish to your heart’s content – editing and updating quickly and easily anytime you like once it’s live.
Welcome guests to your holiday rental property
In the same way that you’d welcome any friends who were staying with you, open your digital guidebook by introducing yourself to your guests:
- Tell them how happy you are to have them staying
- Introduce yourself and any other team members with whom they’ll be in contact
- Explain the ethos of your holiday property management company
- Outline why you enjoy managing holiday properties in this specific area
Include crucial property information
These details will save hours of time for you and your team – your guest welcome book will work hard for you if you include:
- an outline of what you provide at the property
- ideas of what guests should pack
- directions from the local train station/airport/ferry port
- how guests can access the property when they arrive
- instructions for appliances
- house rules – can guests smoke or drink? Are they allowed to invite friends over? Do you have quiet hours?
Help guests to enjoy themselves at your holiday property
Walk guests through everything you provide to help them have the perfect stay with you. You could outline how to use:
- the pool
- the hot tub
- the TV
- the sound system
Plus, where to find:
- books
- board games
- baking equipment
- craft supplies
Curate your personal local area guide
Guests probably won’t want to spend their entire holiday at your property (as nice as it is!). They’re there to explore the surrounding area as well, so let them know:
- where they can find the best coffee
- which is the smoothest local beer
- where to park on a busy weekend morning
- which spot has the clearest stargazing
- which local museums have the most exciting exhibitions
Wave your guests off
When it comes to the end of your guests’ stay, you’ll want them to be able to access some key practical details:
- Check-out times and instructions
- Pre-departure requirements (Do they need to strip the beds? Empty the dishwasher?)
- When & how they’ll receive their deposit back
Plus, make sure to solidify the relationship you’ve built with them since they booked:
- Point them towards your website & social media
- Tell them you’ll be adding them to your mailing list
- Ask them to leave a review
Increase Revenue & Provide Better Service with Touch Stay and StayFi
Touch Stay has partnered with StayFi to create your vacation rental digital marketing dream team. Gather guest email addresses providing strong, accessible vacation rental WiFi with StayFi, and add the cherry on top of your guest experience offering with Touch Stay.
Your digital guidebook is the next asset in your direct booking armory:
Direct guests to your vacation rental website
Shine a spotlight on your brand with your logo, colors, and fonts
Wave off guests who can’t wait give you five stars
At Touch Stay, our mission is simple, really. We developed our digital guidebook to help you communicate more efficiently with your guests. We want you to save time, and your guests to have a wonderful experience.
Recoup time for your team and free them up to focus on enhancing your property management business. Start thriving with StayFi and Touch Stay today – start your 14-day free trial on Touch Stay here.
