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A Case Study in Guest Experience From Scott Rasmussen

“I have 40+ reviews and all of them are 5 stars. Nearly every guest has commented on how helpful our digital guide was. They loved that the mobile app provided answers at their finger tips. It helped them feel like an expert in the area and saved them time researching things on their own.”

Scott Rasmussen, owner of Kanab Cottage

Kanab Cottage Guide

My name is Scott Rasmussen.  My wife and I own a short term rental in Kanab, Utah that we opened in October of 2018.

I believe that quality is the biggest risk in the short term rental space.  Even one bad experience at a property can turn people away from short term rentals.

TouchStay adds the extra touch that enhances the guest experience every single time.

Before opening, we spent a few years traveling and staying in short term rentals to see what the best of the best looked like.

Most of our experiences were identical:

  • Clean property
  • Nice owners
  • Great locations
Scott Rasmussen and family

But we quickly noticed that if there was a welcome book provided, it was generally messy and disorganized.  It usually was a binder with papers inserted into plastic sleeves. Sometimes pages were missing or coffee stained, etc.

Although we didn’t judge the property on the welcome book, we felt there could be a more professional look to a book. Stained and disorganized pages made me wonder if the house could have been cleaned better. If the owner didn’t care about what their most looked at item in the home looked like, then what else are they overlooking?

Yes, that was my judgement – picky I realize, but I expect hotel quality because I am paying close to the same price of what a hotel might be per night.

I spent months trying to come up with a document that I did in MS Word that included pictures, maps, instructions, etc. I had it nearly complete before the first guest arrived.

They had a million questions which made me re-think the book. I went back to edit it and all the formatting went weird and I ended up spending hours on a few edits. This wasn’t what I wanted to spend my time on, and I knew I would have revisions that I would need to make.

I got frustrated trying to do this on my own.

Kanab Cottage

I searched and I found Touch Stay and a few other companies that offered this type of service. I gave each a try and found that Touch Stay was the easiest and most flexible platform out there. During the demo, I even had help from the Touch Stay team to help ‘little old me’ with a few questions to make my book what I wanted.

Fast forward to today and I have 40+ reviews and all of them are 5 stars.

Nearly every guest has commented on how helpful our digital guide was. They loved the hard copy that we printed for the house, but they loved more that the mobile app that provided answers at their finger tips no matter where they were.

It helped them feel like an expert in the area and saved them time researching things on their own.  This next season, we are planning to move away from the printed book. We will have a tablet kiosk in the house with Touch Stay running on it full time!

Kanab Cottage Guide
The best part for me as an owner is that I can change content on the fly. In fact, I add or change content to my book at least once per month. I do this to keep it current and relevant to what the guests are asking about.

An example of what I recently added was a question about the drinking water from the tap. They didn’t know if it was safe to do or not. I didn’t think to have that in the book, but it is in there now!

I have plans to open one more home soon and take over the management of several in the area. Touch Stay is part of my business plan, and I wouldn’t attempt to do this without what they offer.

I believe that quality is the biggest risk in the short term rental space. Even one bad experience at a property can turn people away from short term rentals.  Touch Stay adds the extra touch that enhances the guest experience every single time.

Here is a recent comment from one of our guests about our Touch Stay book. This was totally unprompted and very much appreciated…

“…and just wanted to say that the communication with you and the guidebook to the house have been fantastic. We have stayed in a lot of rental properties, not just Airbnb, and the guide book is exactly what I would love in every property. So thank you!”

The work that Touch Stay does makes ME look good.

That guest has referred at least three guests that we know of so far. I don’t think that would have happened if we were a regular messy book property.

Kanab Cottage Guide

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