Airbnb Welcome Basket: Ideas to Wow Your Guests

airbnb welcome basket

By The Hospitable Team

Looking for budget-friendly ideas to impress your Airbnb guests and make them feel special? Consider offering them a surprise Airbnb welcome basket full of goodies. It’s a simple way to give your guests something memorable and make them feel welcome and taken care of when they walk through the door.

Arriving in an unfamiliar place can be stressful, and a well-thought welcome pack will help your guests feel at home and translate into very positive reviews and recommendations. Then other guests will be more likely to book your home or apartment.

Tips for Organizing the Perfect Vacation Rental Welcome Basket

First things first, you need to come up with a budget you are willing to spend for each check-in. This will vary based on your actual vacation rental property, and you should keep your Airbnb pricing strategy in mind.

The investment in welcome gifts for Airbnb guests doesn’t need to be expensive. You can keep the vacation rental welcome basket between 5%-10% of our total Airbnb nightly cost. It’s more about making an emotional connection than spending a lot of money. So with a little creativity, you can put together something remarkable for a relatively small cost.

To keep costs low, you can easily make bulk purchases of some items from a discount store.  But if you charge anything over $250/night consider more luxury to match the style of your property. Oftentimes, guests won’t use everything in your welcome basket, so your cleaning team will replace the missing items.

You’ll never forget to assign this task to your team if you use short-term rental software like Hospitable.com. You just set rules, and the system will notify your team about new tasks automatically.

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And you should be creative with the presentation. Your welcome pack doesn’t have to specifically be a basket. It can be a souvenir bag, wooden box, nicely decorated tray, table display, or whatever makes sense for your rental property and goes better with the home décor.

Whatever style you go with, you should ensure that all your items fit nicely inside the container. Make sure they are not stuffed or overflowing. And it’s essential to put your welcome basket on a surface where it can be immediately noticed, for example, a kitchen counter or a table.

What to Include in Airbnb Welcome Package

Every short-term rental property is unique, and the welcome basket should reflect the guest’s needs, the ambiance of the space, and the hospitality of the host.

So, what goes into a perfect Airbnb welcome package? It all depends on the time you want to dedicate and your budget, of course. No two properties are the same, so there is no one-size-fits-all answer to welcome packs.

Still, we believe that the recipe for the perfect welcome basket, no matter small or large, should combine both practical and emotional items. There are three key ingredients that any effective gift basket should include:

  • The necessities—the essential things that your guests will need to make their stay comfortable and have a relaxing vacation
  • A special something—the little extras that show that you’ve been listening to your guests while messaging them and that you care about their experience.
  • A welcome book that includes everything your guests may want to know about your home, the area, transport, places of interest, and restaurants where they can enjoy the local cuisine.

When putting together your welcome package, you should put yourself in the mind of your guests and think about what they may want. Your guests will be very grateful for anything you do, which makes their trip easier. And if you want to impress travelers even more, you can also include some luxury treats that can help make their experience unforgettable.

Airbnb Welcome Basket Ideas

Now let’s take a look at the best items you can include in your next Airbnb welcome basket.

Include items that meet your guests’ unexpected needs and will make them feel at ease in your home. It’s a good idea to have

  • extra toothbrushes,
  • toothpaste,
  • sanitary pads,
  • personal-sized shampoos and conditioners,
  • body lotion,
  • and other toiletries on hand.

After a long day of travel, your guests may be thirsty and craving something to eat. They’ll appreciate if you include some bottles of water, a selection of tea or coffee, or even hot cocoa that they might want to drink and relax with during their vacation mornings. You may also provide variety of healthy and delicious snacks in the basket, for example, crackers, cookies, mints, chocolate, and granola bars.

And if you add simple, instant oatmeal, fruits, bags of chips, bagels, or baked goods, you can qualify with breakfast certification on Airbnb add “breakfast included” to your listing. Guests who are looking to save a few bucks will appreciate it if they have a light meal covered during their visit.

Include extra “wow-factor” goodies in your Airbnb welcome basket to spoil your guests. The items to include may depend on the season, the location of your property, and the type of guests you host. They can be just some simple, non-functional extras for your guests to enjoy after arrival.

For example, you may have guests who’ll book your property for a holiday or to celebrate a specific event, such as a birthday or anniversary. Leave something special to help them celebrate. For example, you can bake a pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving travelers, offer spooky treats for Halloween, and include some candy canes over Christmas.

You may also provide a balloon for a birthday or a bottle of wine, champagne, or sparkling cider for a celebration. Fresh cut flowers are an easy way to add a bit of romance to weddings, honeymoons, and anniversaries.

You may also include souvenirs as welcome basket gifts, such as a fridge magnet, postcards, a key chain, or a bookmark that represent your local area. These small memorabilia will help your guests remember their stay.

We hope that our Airbnb welcome basket ideas will help you improve your guest experience. But you should remember that the key to making your guests happy is effective communication.

It can be rather time-consuming, but with Hospitable.com, you’ll be able to automate your conversations with guests and save a lot of time. Our system will also help you manage your team, synchronize your calendar across platforms to avoid double-bookings, and request guest reviews.

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Final Thought

Your job as an Airbnb host is to provide your guests with a service with an exceptional experience. It may seem like a small gesture, but Airbnb welcome basket is your chance to make an important first impression. It will show your guests that you are ready to go above and beyond to make them happy.

Creating a welcome basket requires minimal effort but helps make your guests feel welcome and appreciated. This way, you increase your chances of getting 5-star reviews and being referred to their friends and family.

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