Small arrival touches: what do you do to create goodwill?

Curious what others do to create goodwill right at the start of a guest’s stay?

Just to be upfront, my business is around creating thoughtful welcome notes automatically, so I obviously think the arrival moment matters. But I’m genuinely interested in what else hosts do, beyond the note itself, to make guests feel looked after when they first arrive.

I’ve been reading through some of the older threads here and loved a few of the ideas people shared — fridge magnets with a property photo or logo and a QR code back to the direct booking site, bookmarks, and even Christmas decorations with photos of the property inside them. I thought the fridge magnet idea was especially clever, because it feels like a small guest takeaway but can also gently keep the direct booking site visible after checkout.

For our own guests, we usually leave locally made cookies that are genuinely delicious. If they’ve mentioned they’re celebrating something, we leave a bottle of bubbly. If they’re bringing a dog, we include some high-quality dog treats. We also ask what kind of milk they prefer and leave oats and muesli for breakfast.

None of it is extravagant, but I do think these small touches help guests feel like we’ve paid attention — and that can create a bit of goodwill before anything has a chance to go wrong.

What does everyone else do?