5 Useful Tips on Training your Staff

Having second homes has become quite popular. Second homes are bought for various reasons, one of them being for investment purposes. However, more often than not, these aforementioned homes lay bland, just lying around. But it is always better to put your other property to a more productive use. After all, a little extra income hurt no one. That is precisely why homestays and villa rentals have been witnessing a staggering growth. Holiday goers are slowly but steadily starting to prefer and appreciate the comfort of a home even while they are away.

However, while putting your home on the market definitely ranks high on the to do list, there are several things to keep in mind. Apart from listing, maintenance, marketing, which we at Vista Rooms will ensure is taken care of, one thing that’s of utmost importance is ensuring that there is a dependable caretaker at your property.

While hotels and resorts have housekeeping, holiday homes and villa rentals have caretakers for each property. Hence, the caretaker and the staff of the villa automatically assume importance. The staff in the property will always continuously be in contact with the guests, catering to their needs, ensuring that they have a seamless stay, hence they become the face of the property. As representatives of your property, it is always recommended to provide the staff with adequate training so as to make sure there aren’t any mishaps later. Moreover, the ultimate goal is to avoid any and all grievances as much as possible, and ensure that guests keep visiting and re-visiting your home you worked so hard on.

The significance of training your staff cannot be overlooked or underplayed. The quality of guest experience is directly proportional to the services at the villa rental. While the services don’t only include the staff, they sure do play a huge role. Hence, training staff will only be an investment. If you are a new second home owner, or have been one for years, here are a few tips to keep in mind while providing staff training.

Punctuality and greetings

Would you like it if you arrived at your holiday home, waiting to just kick back and relax, but instead you can’t enter the home because the staff is nowhere to be seen? You wouldn’t and neither would anyone else. Hence, punctuality is a vital part of training. On the days of booking, it is important to ensure that the staff has reached beforehand and made the necessary arrangements for the guests to avoid delays. Delays only lead to sour start to the guests’ holiday, and an unimpressive start will only trickle down, bordering on a satisfactory or even a bad experience. We do not want that.

Furthermore, greetings and salutations are equally important. Guests like to be greeted and catered to. That makes them feel acknowledged, hence appropriate greetings and code of conduct should always be followed. If the staff is rude to the guests, the outcome will be far away from being satisfactory. Good, well-mannered staff can go a long way in ensuring that the guests have a memorable stay and make them want to come back.

Up to date with all appliances

As a second home owner, you might have invested in appliances that would make the stay more comfortable, convenient and easy for the guests. Maybe a washing machine, a dishwasher or even a jacuzzi. If the staff members are not aware about how to use various appliances of the house, it is best that they learn. This is to ensure that if incase guests have any questions, or any obstacles while operating it, the staff members can help them effortlessly. The more the staff is involved and aware, the more smooth is the stay.

Maintenance

It is of utmost importance to ensure that the staff knows the house like the back of their hand. And they constantly provide you assistance with maintaining and keeping your home spic and span. As a second home owner, you may not be able to visit the holiday home very frequently, but you can always make sure that the staff visits the property once in a while to just make sure that all appliances are working and that the house is clean. If the villa rental is left on its own for a long time, the result would definitely not be favourable, especially if guests are expected at a short period of time. Hence, establishing that relationship with the staff and ensuring that regular checks and cleaning is done makes your life much easier.

Personalized service

The USP of villa rentals and holiday homes is the fact that these properties cater to all the specific needs of the guests, and that also extends to the staff. It is significant that you train the staff so as to ensure that the guests are catered to adequately. Each guest may have different needs and demands, hence, make sure that the staff can cater to them, within reason. It is also important to ensure that the staff understands the balance between personal boundaries and catering to their needs. When the guests realise that all their needs are catered to effortlessly, they would not only want to re-visit but would also recommend your amazing holiday home to their friends and family.

Adequate skills

More often than not, there is an endless list of all these things that the staff at the home can do, for example, can cook and clean. Hence guests come with certain expectations. But when in reality, maybe very few are true, or even if the staff can actually cook, it is not up to the mark. This would be upsetting to the guests. To avoid this, ensure that the staff can actually do all the things that are listed. And if incase they can’t, make an addition, it will be a worthy addition.

While owning a second home has its share of challenges, having properly trained staff is half the problem solved. As already mentioned before, a well-trained staff can go a long way in ensuring you get repeat business and that the guests are not only satisfied, but happy.