The Insider: Touch Stay’s Emma Cole on guest experience [Partner Edition]

Do you offer a service to help hosts create the guidebooks?

I’m using the touchstay to hospitable integration, but I’m noticing guests are hesitant to open an external link, much less one that is long. Is a custom URL a feature being considered?

Hey ​@TouchStay_Emma! I wanna know if there are any new and exciting features coming soon from Touch Stay. Tell us what’s new 😄

Welcome to this week’s Insider: Partner Edition!

Today we’re joined by ​@TouchStay_Emma, Guest Experience Advisor at Touch Stay. If you’ve ever wished guests asked fewer questions or had smoother arrivals, you’ll want to stick around, as Touch Stay’s digital guidebooks are designed to make hosting simpler and stays more seamless.

Over the next hour, Emma will be answering your questions about improving guest experience.

Jump in with your own questions or follow along to pick up practical tips you can use right away.

Let’s dive in!

Hi there! Great to be with you all today! I’m going to start answering your questions - feel free to ask more 🤓

TouchStay does not directly offer a service BUT we have options for you:

1. You can join our community group on facebook (more than 3K Touch Stay users!), and in there you can ask for help and the people that build guidebooks will reply and share more about the services they offer. There’s a lovely lady called Hazel who does great work and is a Touch Stay PRO! Join here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/touchstayrockstars
2. If you are new to Touch Stay we have an AI powered guidebook generator that takes all of the details from an Airbnb listing and auto-populates it in your first guide. You can try that out here: https://touchstay.com/features/ai-guidebook-generator
   
   Hopefully these two options give you somewhere to start 🤩

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Can Touch Stay guidebooks be used to offer Upsells? We have an Upsell option here at Hospitable but I know hosts are always looking for new ways to seamlessly add these into the guest experience

Hi Samantha, do you mean the link that guests see inside the Airbnb message inbox? If so:

1. It never hurts to write in the message that the link is secure and safe and is authorised by Airbnb - I understand why people might be wary to click links so adding some reassurance to build trust may be helpful.
2. Touch Stay does indeed have the ability to customise guidebook URLs if you have a custom web domain. You can see how to do that here: https://help.touchstay.com/article/128-how-to-use-your-own-web-domain-to-customise-your-guide-links
   HOWEVER I am not sure if that’s compatible with the Touch Stay and Hospitable integration. ​@Emily Tunggala maybe you can help with this? 

Lovely question, Miles!

There is SO MUCH that is new. Honestly, I cannot keep up.

Here’s a little video talking about 3 new features: 

1. the AI guidebook generator I mentioned just now
2. The new AI chatbot = which is such a time saver and question stopper!
3. New 2-way messaging from our Memo notification tool 

(I’m talking about this one on a webinar next week if anyone wants a deep dive and to learn more!)

I got cut off at the end - I never can stick to 5 minutes 🤣

We sure do!

You can see details about how we offer upsells directly from within the guidebooks in this video, or if you don’t fancy seeing more of my face today, you can read about how to include upsells in your guidebooks here: https://touchstay.com/features/upsell-widget

Thanks!

​@TouchStay_Emma; being a Guest Experience Advisor sounds like an exciting role! From your experience, if a host had only 5 minutes to improve their guest experience with Touch Stay, what’s the first quick win you’d suggest?

Very nice question! The best thing you can ever do for a guest, when it comes to improving their experience, is talk to them.

You can stay in the best properties in the world with the best views and the best amenities, but the things that guests remember and the thing that keeps them coming back is how you make them FEEL.

I know it’s not possible/scalable for every single guest, especially during high season, but picking up the phone and asking the guest if there is anything they need or if they have any questions, especially before they arrive, has a significant impact on guest sentiment. It only take a few minutes.

And this impacts how the thinks about you when they are leaving a review, recommending your properties to their friends or making their booking for next year.

Human touch and hospitality has never been more important. And the humble phone call can be a secret super power to unlocking more direct bookings and rocketing guest satisfaction.

Thanks to ​@TouchStay_Emma for sharing her insights today, and to hosts and ​@Miles Hobson for great questions. 

This thread will stay open until tomorrow at 12 PM ET, so feel free to add in any final thoughts before it closes.

Keep an eye out for our next Insider session coming in two weeks, we’re announcing the next guest soon. 💜

Here is the recap of The Insider with Touch Stay, check it out. 💜