"The first impression is what counts!" This also applies to your business

Welcoming customers to your holiday home in Sicily is always a blend of excitement and anxiety. A little experience will be more than enough to set the fretfulness away and enjoy the pleasure of receiving your guests.

It is always recommended to give a friendly approach, yet without neglecting professionalism. Undoubtedly, your customers are your guests, but be full minded they have bought your product and this may perhaps be crucial when requesting their stay feedback.

Pick out the person who will be responsible for the whole group (it often turns out to be the one who confirmed the booking), and together take a property tour, the rest of the group will come along.

Try to better relate with the group leader without disregarding the remaining group members.

Begin your property tour from the inside, so that your customers can leave part of their luggage. Carry on with your tour by visiting the outside and any related service and facility (tennis court, swimming pool, etc ...).

Make sure you have already arranged a welcome hamper for your guests, containing some bare necessity food items such as water, wine, milk, coffee, sugar, salt, bread, and pasta. A small supply to make it through the weekend will be enough.

We also suggest you to leave, somewhere in the house, a "checklist" of all the kitchenware and other useful tools (e.g., DVD player, stereo, tea cups etc ...) as well as a list of restaurants, supermarkets, and other possible places of interest in the village adjacent to your property. Furthermore, do not forget all the useful telephone numbers (hospital / E.R., taxi service, police, fire fighters).

In order to have a peaceful and serene sojourn, it is essential for customers to report, as soon as possible, any potential problem and/or inconvenient in your holiday home, such as the lack of cleanliness in one of the rooms or a faulty appliance. The sooner the client reports the problem, the more chances you have to make up for it, thus avoiding possible negative reviews or, even worse, reimbursement requests.

Do not expect a problem to be reported at the time of check-in; the customer is more likely to find the problem (if any) in the following few hours. Therefore, make sure the customer is aware he/she needs to report any trouble as soon as possible. Reminding it, only verbally, during the check-in procedure may not be enough. A very useful tool which can help you with this is the Welcome Letter, left in plain sight, perhaps next to the welcome basket you arranged before the arrival of the guests.