Will she like it? Will it suit her? What size is she…? I’m terrible at buying gifts for my wife. I find it even harder for a stranger. So I don’t bother. I don’t give an Airbnb welcome gift. But maybe I should…
Why I Don’t Give An Airbnb Welcome Gift
1. Cost.
I don’t charge enough for my place as it is. We are located in a really competitive area, and my Airbnb is bigger than most others nearby. My 3 bedroom house is competing with 1 bedroom apartments with much smaller overheads. I find my most common type of guests are couples, so they don’t really need all the extra space I’m providing. So I charge a low nightly fee to compete with these smaller places. Which doesn’t leave me with much for a ‘free’ Airbnb welcome gift too.
2. Guests don’t really care – do they?
When I am a guest, I don’t really care whether there’s an Airbnb welcome gift. When there is, it’s usually something like some cheap Walmart muffins put into a nice basket to try to make it look a bit special. It’s nice to have something to munch on, but not exactly what I would choose. So I don’t really care about welcome gifts. But then perhaps I’m not normal… If everyone else IS giving gifts, presumably some people appreciate them.
3. Automation
By far the main reason I don’t give welcome gifts at my Airbnb is because it makes it harder to automate. I’ve automated my entire Airbnb so that it can operate completely without my input, and adding Airbnb welcome gifts just makes this a little more complex.
Thoughtful Touches
Thoughtful Touches sounds like a bad Mills & Boon novel to me. A bit of mild erotica for the middle aged. But it’s now part of the Airbnb review process. Guests rate hosts for providing the ‘extra special’, and that includes ‘Thoughtful touches’ – aka welcome gifts.
This has led me to think about offering welcome gifts to my guests. I like to max out all the review criteria on Airbnb. But any welcome gifts I give would have to fit into my automated world.
So for me the perfect Airbnb welcome gift is:
- unique – If I’m trying to stand out as special, why do what everyone else is doing?
- local – Airbnb is all about a sense of place, so the gift needs to fit with that.
- non-perishable – chocolate would quickly become a liquid mess if the power went out.
- inoffensive – I want all my guests to feel comfortable in my home, so things like alcohol (while appreciated by most) would be inappropriate for some guests. So that’s out.
- cheap!
I still haven’t decided on the final gift, but will experiment with offering some of the following:
- posh coffee from Mazzaros Market (the finest grocery store in the world)
- fancy soap sample (not really my thing…)
- local honey
- postcards with stamps – I think it would be cool to get my own postcards made, with a local pic on the front, and include a link to the airbnb on the back. Guests could send them to their friends back home, and I’ve got some cheap marketing out of it.
Welcome CardS
A hand written card would also add a personal touch. And be cheap. And easy.
It would also be the perfect place to leave contact details, particularly if you are hoping to capture repeat guests off-Airbnb. So which ever gift I settle on, I will also be preparing a pile of welcome cards, hand written (but generic) for my cleaner to leave out for each set of guests.
What are your thoughts? Do you you leave Airbnb welcome gifts? What have you found guests appreciate most? Let me know in the comments below.
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Thanks for reading!