Airbnb Welcome Basket Ideas to Impress Your Guests

If you’re anything like me, you want your guests to feel that 5 star experience every step of the way when visiting your Airbnb. An Airbnb welcome basket is a great way some hosts secure their 5 star reviews but are they always necessary?

This can add up to a lot of extra expense and tedious maintenance to pull off correctly. To be honest, I don’t think an Airbnb welcome basket is always necessary.

Unless you’re a luxury property and commanding top dollar for your nightly rate, this could be something to leave out of your process.

But for those hosts that want to go above and beyond, below you will find a list of ideas and how you should implement them for an efficiently run operation.

This post is all about Airbnb welcome basket.

Best Airbnb Welcome Basket Ideas

But first…

There are many essential items needed to operate a successful vacation rental. You can check out some of our posts about essentials for your Airbnb bedrooms and kitchen here.

So is an Airbnb welcome basket really necessary? Well, that answer is really going to vary by guest and type of property you are listing. In the Airbnb community forum, there’s a great thread where you can see what other hosts think about this topic. But I will summarize the main findings here and dive into some ideas below.

Basically, guests will be pleasantly surprised by a vacation rental welcome basket, but will not expect this.

The only exception would be for a luxury property. If you manage a luxury property, defined as having high end amenities and being way above the average ADR for that area, then you should provide an Airbnb welcome basket.

Welcome Essentials

We have established that an Airbnb welcome basket is not essential for every listing but here’s a list of welcome items that you should have in your listing:

1. A welcome note Airbnb message

This is a note sent to your guests through the platform, email or text welcoming your guests to the property either day of check in or right at check in. This can include a few quick pointers to help your guests quickly get acquainted with the property without having to dive into the entire house manual. This way they can get their luggage in the house and groceries put away before taking in any other reading material.

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2. Airbnb welcome book

This is your house manual on the Airbnb platform and your printed copy inside the house. BOTH are essential for every listing. I recommend automatically messaging your guests the house manual on the platform 1 hour post your check in time (i.e. if check in is at 3pm, you schedule for the house manual to be sent at 4pm). Your printed house manual or Airbnb welcome book should be placed in a highly visible area for your guests to see.

It’s super important to include any necessary information about the property in this book even if it feels intuitive, it may not be for every guest. This is also a great time to incorporate an Airbnb thank you note to your guests for booking your property.

Now, 5 Airbnb welcome basket ideas…

1. Airbnb essentials

I call this one the Airbnb essentials basket. This will include all the essential items you would already have stocked in the house for your guests but you package them up in pretty way to make it super obvious for your guests that you provide the basics. This would include: travel size shampoo, conditioner, body wash, fresh sponge, small dish soap, a couple dishwasher pods, a couple laundry pods, mini olive oil, salt/pepper packets, coffee grounds and water bottles.

Looking for a full list of Airbnb essentials? Check out this article!

2. Local products

This next idea would be great for hot tourist destinations. You could partner with other local businesses in the area and put sample size products from their businesses in your Airbnb welcome basket. I would recommend highlighting the business in your Airbnb welcome book so guests know the product is local. The best thing about this idea is you may get the items discounted or free from the local business since you are directly marketing to a new clientele for them. Whatever it is, make sure it makes sense. An idea would be coffee from a local coffee shop, a candle from a local artisan, wine from a local winery, etc.

3. Snack attack!

Who doesn’t love a good basket full of fun snacks?! It’s taking the Double Tree hotel warm chocolate chip cookie idea to a whole new level. Have a handful of universal but yummy snacks stocked for your guests. A cost effective way to do this would be to buy in bulk and repackage with your company’s custom branding! This would not only be a way to delight your guests but also a great marketing tool if guests were to take the snacks with them upon check out and it had your custom branding on it.

4. Amenities basket

What amenities does your Airbnb have and how can you turn that into a fun basket? For example, at one of my properties we have a beautiful fire pit area, a highlight for us and an in demand amenity for that area. A welcome basket idea for this listing would be a S’mores kit! If your listing has an awesome soaking bath tub, you could do a spa inspired welcome basket. If your listing has a pool, you could do a fun basket with sun tan lotion, pool toys and fun sunglasses for a great instagram photo moment. Give them your listings instagram handle to tag in the fun photos!

5. Trip purpose

This idea is by far the hardest to build an efficient operational system around but will for sure set up a raving 5 star review from your guests! Find out the purpose of your guests trip and create a custom welcome basket for that guest. The best way to do this would be to include a list of questions guests need to answer prior to booking your listing so you have all the information you need to build a custom basket.

Some examples, if guests are getting away for a romantic weekend, include a bottle of wine and bath salts. If they’re booking for a bachelorette party, find some fun party games to leave that they can play together as a group. If it’s for a birthday weekend, include some candles and cupcakes, one for every guest on the reservation, to help them celebrate.

Bonus

According to the Airbnb host forum, leaving a bottle of wine or sparkling water can make your guests feel that same level of personal touch and it is way simpler to put together. This can easily be something that is part of your cleaners checklist. Personally, I’m all about simplicity, consistency and systematizing all your operations. I would implement this over a welcome basket but this will depend on your market, guest expectations and level of property.

Also, if putting together an Airbnb welcome basket is something you get excited to do, implement it into your listing! I would love to hear in the comments what you do for your properties!

This post was all about Airbnb welcome basket.