Episode 130 – Never Forget the ‘Mint Sauce’
What does a dollop of mint sauce have to do with being a great Airbnb host?
Quite a lot, as it turns out.
This week, a new guest paid me a wonderful compliment. Having stayed in countless Airbnbs around the country, he told me there was something about staying in my home that just felt... different. So different, in fact, that he immediately booked another three consecutive weeks.
But what was that something?
In this episode, I go back to my experiences dining at the five-star Luton Hoo hotel, where I learned an important lesson about the ‘theatre’ of hospitality — and why the smallest details can completely change the way an experience feels.
I look at the Airbnb equivalent of those little dollops of ‘mint sauce’: clear pre-arrival communication, welcome videos, thoughtful room layouts, a reading light where you actually need one, somewhere convenient to charge your phone, simple house rules — and the human touches such as carrying a guest's bags, offering them a cup of tea or meeting them at their car with an umbrella when it's raining.
None of these things on their own will make a great stay.
And no amount of ‘mint sauce’ can rescue a bad meal. The fundamentals still have to be right: cleanliness, comfort, safety and a good night's sleep.
But once you've got those fundamentals right, it's often the hundred tiny details surrounding them that turn accommodation into hospitality.
Because your guests may never consciously notice everything you've done.
They'll simply notice how staying with you feels.
This week's Superhost Secret
“Great hospitality isn't one big gesture. It's a hundred little ones.”
And, naturally, there's a limerick:
It’s not grandiose gestures that win,
But the details you quietly slip in.
For a memorable stay,
It’s the small things that say:
“We’re delighted to welcome you in.”
If you're interested in learning how you could generate an income from your own home by becoming an Airbnb host, join me for one of my free live webinars. You'll find the registration link below.
And follow me on Instagram @SuperhostNeil for more hosting tips, tricks and a bit of laughter.
Register for my next FREE webinar on how to monetize your own home, here - https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/61WTjBMhTF2MPCh_WrcMbA
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