Their response to a message we never sent was the answer to the question they never asked.

This was the reply to a message the guests read that suggested some of our favorite local places to eat. But we never wrote that message they were answering, please promise not to tell anyone, we’ll keep this our little secret - shhh - mum's the word.

Take off your shoes

Let’s back up a step: to be a great host, all you have to do is put yourself in your guests' shoes. Simple, right? In our case, our guests had a problem: They needed to figure out where to eat.

The good news is, it’s in our power to solve their problem.

Anyway, back into the guest's shoes: imagine you just arrived in an unfamiliar neighborhood after full flights, airports, TSA, car rental counters, Miami traffic, and all the other travel stress.

What’s the last thing you want to do? Go grocery shopping. Find a good restaurant - Ugh, all that stress. And just then, you hear the soft ding of an Airbnb message from your host.

“Hey {insert your guest’s first name here}!
You probably don't feel like cooking tonight, since you just arrived. If you’re on the hunt for some delicious eats near {insert your listing name here}, you should definitely check out …”

Simple, right?

Send a message. Mention a few of your favorite local restaurants. Solve a problem your guest has.

After all, that’s what real hospitality is.

But the real secret is to anticipate a problem. Remember? Our guests didn’t ask us where they could eat tonight. They were probably also too tired to read our online guestbook or flip through the printed hardcover version that’s lying on the table in the listing, and they definitely hadn’t figured out how to work our digital concierge, although all they have to do is ask the voice-activated device hanging in our listings: “Alexa, what’s a good restaurant close by?”

None of that happened, but they’re still hungry.

A problem with a simple solution.

Send a message.

Easy.

Well, not so fast. First, you have to remember that the guest may be hungry on their first night, and that’s easier said than done. At the same time as this check-in, we were dealing with a check-out at our other place, where the group left it a mess. Then you have to remember which restaurants you’re going to recommend - what was that inexpensive South American place called again, the one that’s open all night? It’s perfect for those super late arrivals. If you forget to send the list on the first day, it doesn’t really make sense to send it on any other night. It has to be on the first.

See, it's not so easy after all.

An easy way to solve a simple problem.

Once you understand your guest’s problems and realize that you can offer the solution - especially if that’s before they realize that they need a solution- you’re gonna win the hospitality game.

We used to do this by hand. Or forget. Or miss a restaurant. Or send it way too late to matter. Now we use automation in our property management software (PMS). It’s a message we wrote - so it sounds like us - that’s why the guest thanked us for solving their problem, without them having to ask.

And since our PMS knows which guest is staying at what listing, what their exact check-in time is, this message is triggered to be sent right when our guests are thinking about dinner - a short time after they’ve checked in.

It includes a few of our favorite places to eat, and covers a variety of cuisines and price points. (As a side note, listen to your guests: we used to recommend a local place, and after two guests let us know that they were underwhelmed, we dropped it from the list.)

Yes, you can!

(…do this on Airbnb too)

Airbnb has a similar tool called quick replies that you can schedule to send at a specific time of day and personalize for your guests, listings, etc., too.

We use our PMS because we can schedule messages not only at a specific time of day, but at a certain amount of time after an event (in this case, 45 min after the guests' arrival), and it also allows us to set triggers and conditions that either send or don’t send a message.

Here’s how to become a Super Duper Host

(Side Note: I think Airbnb should introduce that as a badge for the top super hosts.)

But no matter what tool you use, take off your shoes and slip into your guests’ footwear. If you want to slay it in hospitality, set aside some time this week and walk through your entire reservation process as a guest.

• What do guests search for?
• How does your listing solve that problem?
• What’s the tone of the first message they get from you?
• Do your house rules read like a lawyer drafted them or a friend who's reminding you on how to behave?
• What does your physical check-in process look like?
• There are a hundred more questions you need to ask …

Literally go through every step on your guest’s journey, from search to reservation to booking to stay, all the way through the review process.

Then go back and look at how you can remove friction at each step of the process, address problems that may creep up, and drill down to the very words you use in your messaging - like what’s the difference between a reservation and a booking (Airbnb uses them interchangeably - I’ve asked - but we don’t).

Take some time to walk through the process your guests traverse when staying with you, and you’ll be a guest favorite in no time.

Easy peasy.

How do you do great hospitality?