When you are a homeowner, you care about the condition of your home and only want to share it with people who have the same respect for your property. So how do you avoid nightmare guests who will damage your home? How do you attract the best vacation rental guests?
First, remember that you don’t have to rent to everyone.
This is your home, and you have the right to decide when your rent and who you wish to give the privilege to stay. You should keep an open mind and prepare a friendly accommodating attitude, but don’t assume you are required to eagerly rent to every person who requests a booking. If it is not a good fit for the size of the home, the location, the types of pets they have or other factors, just let them know the home is unavailable.
Define your ideal renter.
Who is your best customer? Chances are, you will start with a vision of yourself. Afterall, you trust yourself to take care of the house, keep clean and try not to disturb your neighbors. Begin by describing your own family, including age groups, number of children, activities you engage in and pets you bring. Consider if this description defines your ideal renter, or if you feel like your family is a unique fit for the property.
Next, think outside of your own family to consider what kinds of guests would be the least disruptive to your home and your sanity. For my home in Central Texas, I enjoy when retired senior citizens rent my home in the off-season for several weeks. (We call them “Winter Texans”.) They are mature, respectful and quiet and typically have small numbers of people in the home. I keep this vision in my head when imagining possible candidates.
Define your least favorite renting scenario.
What is your nightmare rental story? Although your house may be in a prime Spring Break vacation area, you may not love the idea of a dozen young college students partying in your home. What are the factors that sway your confidence? While you should be careful not to discriminate, your insurance and HOA may in fact have limitations on age of a renter, and you may have certain rules to comply with. If a renter intends to bring a large number of people and celebrate, that may indicate a situation that will disturb your neighborhood and be a headache for your cleaning staff. Communicate with your family and partners about these concerns.
Agree on rules and limitations with co-owners.
Whether you have co-owning partners or just a spouse, make sure you discuss the concerns and are on the same page with your policies. Agree on questions you want to ask renters, who you prefer to rent to, minimum renting times and standard procedures for check-in and checkout. This will help you be consistent if you are both interviewing different potential renters, and it will speed up the approval process when you don’t have to consult your partner to call the reservation prospect back.
Screen rental inquiries by phone.
Website bookings and emails are great, but you can learn more about a person when you have a chance to here their voice and have a conversation. I like to ask questions about their familiarity with the area, who they plan to bring with them, what kind of dog they have and how old it is, and have a friendly chat with them. Many people will open up and have a nice conversation, so you can get more stories about what they plan to do when they are in town and their motivation for visiting. When you talk with people on the phone, it also gives you an opportunity to help them identify with you as a human and allows you to convey to them that the property is more than just a “house” to you. This connection motivates them to take better care of your home.
Attract repeat renters.
Maintain quality and build report with your guests, and encourage them to rent again when the experience was ideal. Having someone visit your vacation rental again makes your life easier, because you already have history with them and you can do less screening. If they had any hiccups on their previous visit, be proactive and make sure those issues will be taken care of the second time. If the second visit is even better than the first, your guest is more likely to not only revisit next year, but also recommend your place to their like-minded friends.
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