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Since the onset of the pandemic, people are more cautious than ever about planning and booking vacations. This means that when they book to stay at your vacation rental property, they expect you to answer their queries quickly, efficiently, and as comprehensively as possible. And if you can’t, you risk cancellations, lukewarm guest reviews, and zero repeat bookings.
Answering every single guest query from across all of your properties is a tall order, which is why you need a robust guest communication tool for vacation rental properties and a digital guestbook to help you manage the process.
In this ultimate guide to digital guidebooks, we show you everything you need to know about their benefits, why guests love them, what to include, and how to easily create your own digital guidebook to help you deliver the best guest experiences.
A digital guidebook is an online version of the traditional, physical guidebooks that vacation rental property managers have left for guests—usually on the coffee table!
A digital guidebook contains everything guests need to enjoy their stay, including:
Traditional, manual guidebooks are quickly becoming a thing of the past. Guests are increasingly expecting to be able to readily access digital versions of every piece of information they need to know.
After all, how much use is a guidebook left on the coffee table when guests want to access details about the best local eateries while on the go?
What are the perks and benefits of digital guidebooks? Let us count the ways!
Digital guidebooks allow you to build relationships with your guests right from the get-go.
Since digital guidebooks enable you to regularly communicate with guests to provide them with the right information at the right time, you can start building trust with guests as soon as they hit the “book now” button, up until after they’ve checked out.
Guests are delighted when they have everything they need for a smooth vacation at their fingertips, which improves your chances of getting more 5-star reviews .
Plus, since a common guest complaint is that property information provided isn’t sufficient, is out-of-date, or not timely enough, your chances of getting positive reviews increase when you use digital guidebooks to manage guest expectations.
Boosting repeat direct bookings is a top priority for vacation rental property managers. Guests are more likely to book with you again if you offer a digital guidebook since it provides them with a memorable experience, reinforces your brand, and they know exactly what they can expect—a great guest experience from start to finish!
Digital guidebooks can also help you maximize vacation rental income ! Of course, with better reviews comes more direct bookings, and with this comes a boost in revenue.
Plus, digital guidebooks provide you with a great (and appropriate) place to upsell and offer extra services to guests, such as the chance to extend their stay .
Not only do you not need to replace paper guidebooks every time there’s an update to the information inside (think garbage collection days, or when local beaches change their hours), you’ll also save significant time on returning guest calls and emails.
Digital guidebooks aren’t tied to a specific platform—in fact, you’ll just need to send guests a simple link to the guidebook. This means that you also don’t need to create a separate guidebook for every channel you use to list your rental property.
Recent events have shown how important it is to support local businesses, especially those in the hospitality industry. Showcasing local businesses is a great way to support your local economy and keep the area thriving.
Digital guidebooks don’t just benefit you as a property manager. Since they help guests enjoy a seamless guest experience, they’re also extremely useful tools that guests love, too.
Digital guidebooks make it easy for guests to plan their stay with local area guides that include information on restaurants, cafes, bars, and local attractions. In RueBaRue, this feature also includes a map so that guests can see exactly where these places are to help them plan better.
Aside from the best places to eat and drink, guests also want to know where they can find the essentials, such as pharmacies, grocery stores, and local hospitals without a hassle. Again, guests can see exactly where these places are on the map and can access the information from within the guidebook itself.
With digital guidebooks, guests can say goodbye to searching emails for keywords to find the right information! From your welcome book which includes personalized details on guests’ arrival and departure, the property itself, and safety information, to all the local area information they could need, guests have everything they need in one place.
Airbnb guidebooks can be a handy tool for Airbnb hosts. But, when compared to digital guidebooks like RueBaRue, they fall very short of being comprehensive guest communication tools.
Here’s why Airbnb guidebooks aren’t the flexible, well-rounded tool vacation rental property managers need:
With RueBaRue, creating a digital guidebook for your rental properties couldn’t be easier—just follow the steps below!
Preview of RueBaRue’s digital guidebook setup
Preview of a generated guidebook link to send to guests
Preview of RueBaRue’s email and text scheduler
Preview of RueBaRue’s text and email scheduler template
When it comes to what you should include in your digital guidebook, it’s useful to think about every stage of your guests’ experience with you and your property. Start with the post-booking stage and work your way down to the check-out stage.
Digital guidebooks are not just a fad within the vacation rental industry. They form a crucial part of how you deliver a seamless guest experience.
Creating and offering digital guidebooks to guests is a win-win situation. Not only do they benefit your guests in that they have everything they need to know contained in one single link, but it also reduces the amount of time you spend answering the same guest queries over and over again.
This guide has everything you need to know to get you started on your own digital guidebook journey today. Boosting revenue, getting better reviews, and driving repeat bookings has never been easier!
Not only do digital guidebooks enhance the guest experience, but they also help you build strong relationships with guests, help boost your revenue, save you time, get better reviews, and increase your direct bookings!
The cost of digital guidebooks varies from vendor to vendor. RueBaRue’s pricing for an end-to-end guest communication tool—which includes digital guidebooks and so much more—starts at just $9.99/month.
Digital guidebooks aren’t tied to specific platforms, meaning that you can use them across all channels that your properties are listed on. Plus, they include every single piece of information your guests will need throughout their stay!
Follow our blog for inspiration and helpful tips for your vacation rental business.