Upselling is the easiest way for hosts and property managers to increase revenue for their vacation rentals while delivering personalized guest experience. The good news is that technology allows you to automate the upsell process so you can spend less time on it.
For this Hospitable Masterclass, we invited Annie Sloan, the CEO and co-founder of the Host Co, a web-based platform that helps hosts create digital stores for their listings and earn more by upselling hotel-level amenities. Annie shared her insights on upselling in short-term rentals and unveiled the latest integration of Hospitable and the Host Co.
Watch the full Hospitable Masterclass to discover how to use upselling to get additional revenue on top of nightly rates and learn how to create Host Co stores from your Hospitable properties.
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Short-Term Rental Upsells: Why Should You Do It?
Short-term rental upselling is about offering guests add-on services or products at an additional fee to enhance their stay. Annie explains that “upselling is not reaching out to your guest and saying I want to sell you something.” It’s offering value-added services and amenities to your guests that they would be interested in or that you have available.
“Upselling is providing things for your guests that will also cost them more money, but leave them with, “Oh wow! They did that for me,” Annie points out. She reveals that big hotels make, on average, 30% of their revenue on upsells. You can do it too, just make sure “that it’s always value-added, and it never feels like selling something.”
Parking spaces, beach keys to replace lost ones, spa services, and late check-outs—there are many things you can offer for an additional fee to meet your guests’ needs. “I would say the most important upsells are the things your guests are already asking for,” Annie says.
The most apparent benefit of upselling is revenue. On average, hosts who use the Host Co make $300 a month per listing. However, there are also people selling $10,000 a month. It depends on what you want to offer. Annie also points out other benefits of upselling: it will give you a competitive advantage, and you’ll be making better marketing content.
Moreover, you’ll achieve operational efficiency. “You don’t have to answer these questions in that same regard by putting upsells in front of people right when they book by saying: “Yes, you can do a late check-out. Yes, you can do a massage. Yes, you can do a mid-stay clean.” And having an associated cost with it, the people that aren’t going to pay for it will not ask you anymore,” Annie explains.
You can also save a lot of time by automating the most time-consuming tasks with Hospitable, including guest messaging, assigning tasks to your cleaners, and managing your calendar. This will make your business more efficient.
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Automating Airbnb Upsells
Although upselling to guests seems like a lot of work, technology can make it much easier. Annie explains how The Host Co and Hospitable can help short-term rental hosts embed upsells into their message flow. With The Host Co, you can create a store from your Hospitable listings and share a link when booking so you can set it and forget it.
“Think about it like eBay. Make a store and share that right at the time of booking. Your guests will see everything available, so they won’t ask you. And then when they want that thing, they can request it, and you can say “Yes, I can provide that thing,” or they can request a vendor that we’ve approved or you’ve approved,” Annie clarifies.
Annie recommends including a link to your digital store in your thank-you for booking message, one week before arrival message, and check-in notes. “Your Host Co store is just simply a web link. It is intentionally not an app, so you could share it through Hospitable messaging without overthinking,” says Annie.
How to Create The Host Co Store
Annie gives us a demo to show the process of setting up a store with The Host Co and some of the elements that go into it and explains how everything works. Annie emphasizes that The Host Co store is highly flexible and enables you to offer different types of things. New users often start with three things people ask and add new services and amenities over time. If you’re unsure what to offer, just listen to your guests’ requests.
Annie also shows how easy it is to create The Host Co store from your Hospitable listings. “If you’re coming through Hospitable, this will initiate immediately,” she says. Go to Partners, choose Hospitable, and a video walks you through the integration.
Watch the full Hospitable Masterclass now to discover how to take advantage of the Hospitable integration with the Host Co. It will enable you to effectively upsell to guests and generate additional revenue while enhancing the guest experience.
