Not one to do things in an unkempt manner, I threw myself full force into making our vacation rental home an enjoyable place for our guest to hang their hats.
The initial decision to venture into the vacation rental world was made pretty much for financial reasons. Happily, we are now at a point where those benefits are starting to be realized. We have discovered that there are many other benefits to sharing our home with renters, one of which is reading the reviews and guest book comments.
I have found that I love hosting guests from all parts of the globe. Knowing that our home in Minerva, NY has become a vessel that holds memories from places all over the world warms my heart. The most important item on my flip list is visiting the guest book first. I truly enjoy reading the comments.
Children in the house are a pleasure. Comments like "OMG, I love the princess room", "This is my Favorite guitar shirt" and "Thank you for the books and toys" are a joy to hear. There is nothing like a child's smile.
These comments allowed us to make improvements where needed;
Janet let us know that the can opener was missing, Mary Lu pointed out that hot water was an issue for large parties, Theresa wanted a diswasher, Rena thought the decor should be updated and Michael wants cable TV.
Our response as hosts; we now have two can openers. Actually, we are back down to one, a guest who was heading out for a camping escursion forgot theirs, we gave them one of ours. We added a second hot water tank, we are saving for a dishwasher and the decor is slowy being updated with new bedding and Matthew is busy building new furniture pieces. Sadly, cable TV is not an option at this time in our tiny Adirondack village. We do have an Internet TV player with Netflix streaming in and plenty of other free channels available. We also have two DVD players with a smill selection of DVD's available for guest use.
Here is where guest let us know we are doing a good job;
Clarissa and Rich were getting married across the street from our home, they loved that we were able to help them find other Minerva rentals for family and friends attending the wedding. Nathan let us know that the free Wi-fi and addition of a washer and dryer were a great touch. Janet loved the spaciouness, Jennifer enjoyed the wood stove after a long day of skiing at Gore Mountain. Michael was happy with the location, Mary Lu enjoyed the invitation to our family Christmas party, Reena took advantage of the fully stocked kitchen and view from the large front porch and Dan found Minerva Lake. The Thompson's sampled cuisine from our local area restaurants and found Lake George to be an enjoyable day trip.