One of the ways a vacation rental concierge service like ours provides value for our clients is that we go above and beyond for their guests, doing things the owner would probably love to do, but might not have the time or the foresight to actually do so. Our most popular guest-pleaser is by far the welcome package; nothing says "welcome to our home" better than some chocolates, fresh flowers, or local treasure. Guests love this little extra and it goes a long way in setting the proper tone for their visit. Often, our welcome packages are mentioned in reviews, which helps our clients book even more guests!

All summer long we've been testing a critical concept for our vacation rental welcome packages: do guests prefer dessert or flowers? Half of the staff at Air Concierge believes that chocolate rules the universe (totally not without reason) and the other half thinks that a vase of fresh flowers can brighten a whole home in a way that even chocolate cannot. But we needed to know for sure. Empirical testing at its finest. 

We set up a highly scientific experiment over the last several weeks in which we placed a welcome gift of chocolates in some vacation rentals, while others were supplied with fresh flowers. Then we waited to see what the response was. 

So which is it? Do vacation rental guests prefer receiving a dessert upon arrival or seeing fresh flowers in the entryway? 

The response has been overwhelmingly in favor of a good dessert! Perhaps we should have guessed: for ages, fine hotels have been leaving mini chocolates on guest pillows after turn down. Turns out, guests really love this!

So when you're booking your home and readying it for the incoming guests, just remember that a little gift goes a long way, and if you are going to pick between flowers and dessert - go with the chocolate stuff!