This week, we have a special feature from Jake Cavanah, our copywriter at Modern Innkeeper, who documented his recent stay at an Airbnb property. Part One can be found here. Below is Part Two of the two-part feature.
Evaluating My Vacation Rental Toiletries
As a supplier of guest toiletries, the Modern Innkeeper family pays very close attention to the bathroom amenities hosts provide. That is why when I was in Alabama to watch my younger sister graduate from the University of Alabama I took an inventory of the vacation rental toiletries our hosts, husband and wife, left us.
The vacation property we stayed at had four bathrooms, which is a lot of bathrooms to properly stock for six guests, yet our hosts knocked it out of the park!
Each bathroom had all the necessities we needed to get through our trip without having to encounter a hygiene crisis.
Not fun to deal with on vacation, or anywhere for that matter.
Below breaks down what these hosts did to classify as a prime example of how all vacation rental hosts should maintain their bathrooms for guests!
What They Did to Properly Equip Their Bathrooms
Keeping your bathrooms stocked with all the goodies guests need on a daily basis is more difficult than it sounds. You have to dot your i’s and cross your t’s because forgetting the simplest amenity can put guests in a bind and disrupt their trip.
The hosts who owned the property we stayed at were sure to do this, and by doing so, enhanced the vacation rental experience.
Here is how.
Sink/Countertop Areas
I am not sure about you, but the first thing I notice when I walk into a bathroom is the sink.
Is it clean?
Is there soap?
Etcetera, etcetera.
Well, the sink of my bathroom and of the ones in the entire house (because of course I scoped all of them out) were ready to roll!
Having white counters, any residue not cleaned up would have been easy to spot, but these hosts were thorough. All the sinks and countertops were squeaky clean, demonstrating to the other five travelers and me they took pride in hosting.
Our hosts supplied us with plenty of soap, and even though it was liquid soap, which did not win our liquid versus bar soap debate, we were all pleased washing our hands was never a problem.
Nearby the sink were also:
● Tissues
● Hand and face towels
● Paper cups for mouthwash
First test: aced!
Toilets
There is no reason to get into too much detail here because all you need to know is all of the toilets were super clean, and extra toilet paper was not only close to them but extremely easy to find.
These hosts found creative ways to store it using unique shelves that were aesthetically pleasing and functional.
Okay, that is it for toilets.
Showers
After enduring a full day of travel, I desperately needed a shower, which made me all the more appreciative the hosts provided full-sized bottles of Dove shampoo and Suave body wash!
Both were brand new, so there was plenty of each to get me through the trip. Other showers had:
● Pantene conditioner
● Pantene shampoo and conditioner (2 in 1)
● Olay body wash
Alabama’s humidity was not too suffocating during our stay, but if that were the case, we would have had a nice refuge to find salvation in.
Towels
Even though I have not paid close attention to bathroom amenities during previous vacations, I know for a fact no other host has done better at supplying towels than these hosts did.
I mean they were everywhere.
EVERYWHERE.
My bathroom had six shower towels and multiple face and hand towels. The master bathroom had seven shower towels.
Quite honestly, it felt like a luxury to have such an array of towels to choose from, and that is why it is so important you provide your guests with enough!
Were There Extra Toiletries?
Aside from providing the essential items, there were no extra toiletries such as:
● Razors
● Shaving cream
For me this was not a problem because I either did not need any or brought my own, but having them for guests who maybe accidentally left them at home would have been a good move.
Checking Out
The rental as a whole was great, but the bathrooms were what put it over the top. Stock and organize your bathrooms like these hosts did, and watch your rating soar!
