Vacation Rental Welcome Letter: How to Deliver an Amazing First Impression

When it comes to creating an amazing customer experience for your guests, first impressions are everything. In fact, your initial interactions with your vacation rental guests once they place their booking can set the tone for the rest of their stay with you.

Whether or not you will be attending to your guests in person, a vacation rental welcome letter is the best way to initiate a positive guest experience from the moment they arrive at your property. 

Why Every Airbnb Host Needs a Great Vacation Rental Welcome Letter

A vacation rental welcome letter serves one main purpose: it’s designed to provide guests with a personal, welcoming reception to their accommodations. It’s especially important for Airbnb hosts who aren’t able to receive guests in-person. Furthermore, a vacation rental welcome letter shows that you are a thoughtful host who truly cares about even the smallest detail of the guest’s experience.

When you use a well-written guest welcome letter template, it will do the following:

• Help demonstrate that you want to build a good relationship with your guest and prove that you’re committed to delivering excellent service.
• Make guests feel like they can expect a unique and personalized experience.
• Help guests get acclimated to their surroundings quickly and remind them of any rules they need to follow.

Here’s how to write a vacation rental welcome letter that will delight your guests while providing them with the valuable information they need to know for their stay.

What Should You Write in Your Welcome Letter?

A vacation rental welcome letter doesn’t have to be long. However, it needs to be well-written so that it communicates your message as clearly as possible. Here are the top essential things to include in your vacation rental welcome letter:

1. Tailor It to Each Guest

A vacation rental welcome letter that is a cookie-cutter template with only the name of the guest replaced will seem impersonal. However, writing a new letter each time will require tons of time and effort that you simply don’t have. 

The best solution? Come up with a template with a few sentences that can be replaced each time that speak directly to the guest that the letter is intended for.

2. Include Your Exact Address

Make sure that your welcome letter template includes the exact address of your property in case your guests forget. This will help to avoid any issues with guests returning back to your property after they’ve gone out to explore the local area.

3. Recap Important House Rules

You will likely provide the house rules as a part of your Airbnb Welcome Book. However, the vacation rental welcome letter is a good time to reiterate the most important rules. No smoking allowed? Quiet hours after 11 p.m.? Gently remind guests that they need to follow these rules and to refer to the welcome book if they have questions. 

4. Your Contact Information

If you’ve done your job with onboarding your guests, they shouldn’t have any reason to contact you during their stay unless an emergency happens. However, you should still make sure to include a Whatsapp or Viber ID that they can reach you at if they have urgent questions or concerns. 

Remind guests to alert you immediately if there is a problem with their stay or an emergency. This can help you to avoid a negative review and mitigate any risks to your guests or property as soon as possible.

5. A Reminder About the Welcome Book

Since your vacation rental welcome letter references information that guests can find in your welcome book, make sure to remind your guests where they can find the welcome book in your house. You should also create a digital copy that they can access via a link from anywhere.

6. Closing Note and Thank You

Don’t forget to wish your guests a pleasant stay and thank them for choosing to book with you.

Creating Your Guest Welcome Letter Template

Vacation rental welcome letter templates are readily available for purchase on sites like Etsy. You can use the content that is already provided there or you can write your own. If you want to create your own guest welcome letter template from scratch, you might want to hire a graphic designer to design a template for you.

You or your property management company can then print the letter for each guest and provide it to the cleaners that will prep your property for the arrival of the guests. You should leave it on the kitchen table with your welcome book or on the bed if you want to make sure that it gets read.

Here is an Airbnb welcome letter sample that you can repurpose for your own needs and use on any vacation rental platform:

Welcome to the [PROPERTY NAME]! 

We’re happy that you’ve made the journey all the way from [GUEST’S DEPARTURE CITY]. Now let’s get to helping you enjoy your stay! 

Kick off your shoes, grab a cold beverage or snack from the kitchen, and relax. We’ve provided some water and light refreshments for you to enjoy. 

We are delighted that you’ve decided to stay with us [PROPERTY NAME]. 

Our guests have enjoyed many memories here including walks along the beach, summer barbecues, and gorgeous sunsets. We hope that you’ll feel at home, even if you’ll only be with us for a few nights. 

Be sure to take a look at our digital welcome book that we’ve provided for a list of our favorite eats around town, the house rules, check-out times and details, and some other important information to help you get your holiday started. 

If you need to reach us, my Whatsapp is [REPLACE] in case of an emergency or if you have any questions or concerns. 

Finally, enjoy your stay and we hope that you will join us again in the future! 

Best Regards, 

[YOUR NAME]

Extra Tips to Create a “Wow” Effect

Finally, if you really want to create a “wow” factor with your welcome note, you can print it in a handwritten font and provide your real signature on it. This will show your guests that you’ve actually taken the time to “write” their welcome note personally (even if the printer actually did the work).

As a host, creating a well-written welcome letter is one of the best vacation rental tips for owners to follow if you want more 5-star reviews. So make sure that you follow the steps presented here for the best results.