Does your listing check off all the family-friendly things you will need? Is your ideal guest group a family?
Have you even identified you ideal guest? Knowing who you will be renting to and ensuring they have just what they need makes the difference between getting average reviews and ho-hum brand recognition and poor word of mouth recommendations.
For my own hosting business, we did this early. We decided that our ideal guest (group) was families. This is who we felt needed our help, we knew what they needed and we have designed our business around the needs of these folks.
How did I get into hosting? Read the backstory here.
Are families with children your thing?
Screaming children drawing crayon sketches all over your beautiful white walls…the thought is enough to stop most STR hosts from opening their homes to families. However, there are many reasons why it’s worth making your vacation rental family friendly.
How do you feel about other people’s kids in your space? If you are a family friendly host then you need to be prepared. But it isn’t all screaming kids and toast smooshed into your sofa. In fact, being family friendly opens you up to extremely grateful guests who will return to stay with you again and again. This has been totally our experience in Tokyo Family Stays. We have built a very profitable business with multiple 6 figure returns from our focus on the family friendly travel market.
Not your thing?
Family groups may not necessarily your ideal guest and that is fine – the choice is always yours. In upcoming posts I will add the different types of ideal guests and cover the things that you should consider.
But if families are included in your ideal guest avatar then read on….
How is family travel different and why is making your listing family-friendly important?
Families tend to travel differently from singles and couples. In general, their stays are generally longer. They are unlikely to move on after a day or two and usually like to stay put. This is mostly to avoid the hassle of packing and unpacking and to give the kids some time to settle in. This can mean a steadier and more reliable flow of income for you as a host. Plus fewer turnovers.
Families often get turned away, so your listing will be shared around parents groups on social media by grateful families.
Growing up. I was fortunate to travel with my family. Now that I have my own family, I love traveling and sharing these adventures. My son seems to take travel in his stride and it is amazing for us to be able to expose him to new places, new foods and different cultures.
Other families are also getting the memo and traveling together more and more.
The Limitations of hotels for Families
Unfortunately hotels are mostly set up for business travel or couples.
Family rooms are rare and small, without kitchens and without fun for little folk. Plus, lets face it, they can be beige, soul-less and don’t reflect the uniqueness of the city, country or neighbourhood where they are located. Hotel chains use the cost saving method of bulk buying furnishings and decor to ensure their have a global “sameness”. This creates a real cookie cutter feeling. For us, we want to KNOW we are in a new city or country and feel the culture.
Then the size of the rooms.
Imagine sharing a small, hotel room with a toddler who you are desperately trying to get to sleep while you also pack the bags for a flight the following day. You’re using the bathroom sink to wash baby clothes. You’d kill for a proper kitchen to prepare some healthy snacks to keep your kids happy during tomorrow’s long journey.
When you have travelled with a bored and energetic toddler, eager to be running around, a hotel is the worst place to be. Small rooms, sharp edges, thin walls and tiny trash bins that don’t hold more than 2-3 diapers. A hotel breakfast buffet, usually an adults paradise, is a child’s torture chamber. Noisy and unruly kids can extend that torture to everybody else in the vicinity causing embarrassment to the parents and stress on the staff. I’ve been there – and I can feel the nodding of the parents who read this too.
Hosting families: A growing market segment of Short Term and Vacation Rentals
It is hard to know which came first – the explosion of home rentals with the exponential growth of the family travel segment and the technology that has created ease in becoming a short term rental host. Perhaps these factors have all fed into each other. But whatever the reason, it is a big opportunity for those of us in this space.
It’s not hard to understand why more and more families are opting for vacation rentals over traditional accommodation houses when it comes to making their lives easier when they travel. In fact, just like business travellers, families are one of the fastest growing segments in the travel industry and they’re a market worth considering, if you have the facilities and space, as an Airbnb or Short Term Rental host.
What do families want?
You might think that your small apartment or finished basement is not big enough to host a family. However, it’s not necessarily a large space that is the drawcard when it comes to vacation rentals for little ones.
Trust me on this – apartments in Tokyo can be tiny compared to western countries but thinking about the needs of a family and how a space “flows” can be more important than size.
Think about this: Families will often spend a considerable amount of time away from their accommodation doing activities with the kids, whether it’s riding bikes around the city or going to museums, so they don’t always require a huge house to stay in. What they will want is access to a kitchen, and bathroom (preferably with a bathtub) and laundry facilities. A nearby supermarket for basics at a reasonable fee plus a park within walking distance is also a huge benefit. Of course, clear instructions on how to use all of these and get around in the neighbourhood is essential.
Are you truly family-friendly?
If you are not a parent and if you don’t have much experience with children, here are a few things to consider in terms of making your Airbnb safe and friendly for families:
Mattress protectors – it’s inevitable that some children will wet the bed. Give parents the peace of mind that they won’t have to foot the bill for a new mattress by providing protectors. To be fair though, we use mattress protectors all the time – people drink coffee in bed and well…. ahem, beds are used for lots of other things other than sleeping. Mattress protectors are much cheaper than replacing a whole mattress should accidents happen.
Dining table chairs: While a backless stool at a high table is very chic and Pinterest worthy, they are not very practical for family dining. Look for a dining chair with backs and a table that will wipe down well and not absorb spills. You don’t need to cover everything in plastic, so here are a few options that will work.
High Chairs: Even if you don’t have a huge storage space, there are safe and economical high chairs that will fold up and be stored under a bed which can make a listing so much more family-friendly.
Unbreakable crockery and cutlery: Have a set of plastic plates, cups and cutlery. Parents of young children will be extremely grateful. Of course, have a nice set of grown up dining and drinking tools – you want to make everybody feel welcome.
Safety guards for staircases – if you do have a staircase inside the house or outside on the property, make sure you offer parents a safe way of protecting their children from injury.
Safety latches on kitchen/bathroom cupboards – try to remove anything hazardous from low-lying cupboards but if you can’t do that, buy child-safe locks to secure the doors.
Remove unsecured objects – that large ceramic sculpture that looks amazing on the side board… best to lock it up. Don’t leave anything around the house that could be easily broken or that could hurt a child if it fell on them.
Address any issues – by advertising yourself as a family-friendlyVacation Rental, there will be an expectation that not only your property is safe and liveable for children, but that the surrounding area is the same. Spell everything out in your listing description and be completely honest in your property description. If your apartment is located in a slightly rough part of the city, you need to allow parents to decide whether it’s an appropriate area for them to walk around with their children.
Family-friendly inclusions
There are some little things you can provide that are likely to get you in the ‘good books’ with families:
- Offer free laundry powder and free use of the washing machine/ dryer
- Provide a pack-n-play style portable cot with matching linens
- Create a toy box of safe and clean toys
- Books and DVD’s suitable for different age groups
- Netflix is a joy for parents wanting to amuse cranky kids at “witching” house.
- Consider offering family passes to local attractions
- Put together a family-friendly book of your local area with parks, affordable restaurants and attractions listed as well as the nearest public transport hubs.
Make sure you sell yourself
If you do want to attract families to your Airbnb or Vacation Rental, make sure you sell yourself as a child & family-friendly property from the get-go. Don’t assume guests will take the time to read your full property description and look down the list of your amenities to make see if it ticks all the boxes. Spell it out – loud and clear – if not in your property heading, then definitely in the first few sentences.
Take great photos with captions that highlight the family friendly inclusions that I have talked about above.
Tracey Northcott Consulting is willing and able to help hosts create family-friendly listings on Airbnb. I can provide advice on preparing your home for little guests and making sure their stay is safe and happy. I have done it before, and you can see it here at Tokyo Family Stays.
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