Thank you and you’re welcome!

What do we want? Happy guests! When do we want them? Now! 

And when they arrive we want them to enjoy an independent holiday, free of hassles and phone calls; asking how to work the oven, change the temperature or the air conditioning, or get the satellite TV to work. At the same time it’s important that our guests appreciate our home, offering it the respect it deserves. 

All this and more can be achieved with a good set of House Rules. Or in other words, ‘A guide to getting the most out of your holiday rental, with the minimum of fuss’.  
 

Holiday rentals house rules welcome book

What are house rules?

Every holiday rental should have a set of rules that set the guest on the right path to a stress-free holiday and go a long way to ensuring everything within your home and community is treated with consideration.  

Typical house rules would include: pets (not) allowed, (no) smoking, use of air conditioning, how to use appliances and equipment, parking, swimming pool and community rules. And aside from general house rules, each of you will have personal standards that you would like guests to adhere to during their stay. 

How to make your house rules get noticed!

The first contact a guest might have with your house rules would be within the Holiday Rental Agreement, which you should ask a guest to read through before confirming their accommodation booking.  

Without doubt, the absolute, most effective way of getting your house rules noticed is to meet and greet your guests. Personally show them how everything works and explain the do’s and don’t of your holiday rental. 

This may seem a time consuming exercise, but if you consider the time you might have to spend talking your guests through a procedure on the phone, and often at inconvenient hours; meeting and greeting your guests can be a time saver, not waster.  

Damage limitations

Guests may conveniently forget to tell you about any breakages or damage, for fear of losing their deposit. To ensure they take more care of your home and heed the rules, make it clear in both the rental agreement and on check-in, that an inventory check is made before entering your holiday rental and before any deposits are returned. Any breakages or damage will be their responsibility and may be paid for out of the deposit.  

*Many property agents will state in a clause that the return of the deposit will be made within 5-7 days of leaving the accommodation, only once a full inventory check has been made.  

Make house rules happy and fun!

Welcome Guide for holiday rentalsAside from communicating your house rules in the holiday rental agreement and verbally, put them in writing, in a ‘House Rules / Welcome Guide’, presented to guests on their arrival. Make it attractive, fun and easy to follow. Remember our ‘Green House Rules’? Keep it light-hearted, whilst getting across essential information your guests will need during their stay. 

Give it a welcoming intro and contents page, so guests don’t have to comb through the whole guide to find what they need. It's a smart idea to add a ‘quick steps’ page, which would be an overview of the basic rules, contact numbers, etc. And keep the guide in a visible place, where it can be referred to at any moment.  

On the meet and greet, it’s a good idea to take the welcome guide around when you tour the accommodation with the guest. If you are showing them how to use the oven, make sure you also show them where this information is included in the guide. 

Why don't you present your Welcome Guide along with your ‘Insider’s Guide’, so they have instructions on how to enjoy their holiday in and out of your holiday rental?!

A virtual welcome

Use an application like Coponis to improve the overall guest experience and keep them informed before and during their stay. Once a guest has made a reservation, you can deliver detailed information: house rules, check in-check out procedures, etc. You can even use the app to present your friendly insider’s guide about the local region. 

The more ways you find to deliver House Rules before the guest gets are settled in, the less time they are likely to spend calling for help during their stay.  

The five stages of presenting your House Rules to a guest:

  1. In your rental agreement: on confirmation of booking
  2. Via a mobile application like Coponis: a few weeks before guest arrival
  3. On arrival: personally welcome the guest and show them around your home
  4. Create an attractive and easy to follow Welcome Guide, to sit alongside your Insider’s Guide
  5. And last, but not least, let them know you’re happy to chat if they need anything 


Thank you and you're welcome!