Improve your reviews and get rid of the early check-in luggage logistics issues

by Youssef Ben Ahmed, Growth Marketing Manager

Published August 31, 2021

If you are an Airbnb manager, or have worked in any type of short-term rental business, you have probably experienced one day or another the struggle of having guests checking in earlier than expected or needing to leave luggage on site after the checkout for a couple of hours.

This problem is present now more than ever due to the automatic check-in processes, where you can not, as a manager, physically assist your guests.

This behaviour is usually observed when visitors arrive hours before their check-in, and do not have a solution to store their luggage. So, instead of carrying it with them everywhere, they prefer to drop it at their accommodation, an accommodation that is yet not ready to accept them. In this scenario, a host is usually confronted with two scenarios: Either they accept this request and have to rush the cleaning and preparation, or refuse and be at risk of a bad review.

Both options are an inconvenience to the business owner, as having to rush operations up and going down the accommodation is a waste of time and energy, and the risk of a bad review is a potential loss of money and a precious “Superhost” title.

Unfortunately, this is part of the job as a short-term rental manager.

But, what if it isn’t?

LUGGit tackles this issue by offering a fleet of “Keepers” that pick-up, store and deliver the luggage of guests anywhere and anytime they want. This enables the short-term rental managers to optimise their check in and check out operations, and to forget about the storage and logistics of baggage.

Offering this service to their guests improves the latter’s experience, and enables them to better enjoy their stay which will improve ratings and reviews.

This sounds good, but you are probably wondering “How much will this cost short-term rental managers?”.

Here is the good news… this service is completely free for them! LUGGit will be offered to their guests as an option, under their recommendation, and they will earn a commission for each service they bring.

Another advantage offered to AIrbnb managers is their own custom web page, with their logo, that they can send to their customers for a seamless and integrated service. This will promote the professional and serious image that every host is striving for.

This is why LUGGit is a trusted partner of over 60 short-term rental enterprises spanning over 1500 apartments in Lisbon & Porto.

What if an AirBnB host already offers storage options to their guests for free? How can LUGGit help them?

LUGGit is not just a storage option, as it will provide a solution to improve the guests’ experience by enabling them to have their luggage picked-up and delivered to the location and hour of their choice. This option is a great feature if, for example, a guest wants to keep discovering the city and wants their luggage delivered to the airport instead of having to return to the accommodation, or if they want to visit another city and don’t want to drag their luggage for this new trip.

Let’s get to know LUGGIt better

We started LUGGit to improve people’s lives.

LUGGit is a platform that redefines the way luggage is transported in a personalized way. Whether through a mobile app or by integrating with companies, LUGGit connects travelers with independent Keepers that collect and deliver the luggage at the place and time customers choose.

In 2017, CEO Ricardo Figueiredo founded a small local hostel in Aveiro, Portugal. Like any tourism-related business back then, he immediately started being overwhelmed by arrivals, departures, cleanings, and the rush that is managing a hostel on your own. While he was learning how to do it, his main concern was to provide the best customer service possible — no matter what.

In a sense, he began receiving tons of messages from his guests urging him to solve their luggage-related problems. Most of the time, they arrived too early for the check-in or, on the last day, they wished to leave the accommodation in the morning and enjoy their last hours in town, free of luggage.

This got his attention.

People were not enjoying their time as they should do.

There are millions of hosts and hotels worldwide. Many, like Ricardo, care about their guest’s experiences. The solution to “drop your luggage here and come back after cleaning” is not ideal for obvious reasons. Especially now.

So, LUGGit was born with the vision to redefine the way people travel. We’re creating an end-to-end travel journey where people will travel without ever carrying their luggage.

LUGGit has also been selected as the second most innovative solution in the tourism industry by the World Tourism Organization, in the top 10 Lisbon based start-up to look-out for in 2021 by EU-Startup, and in the top 24 of European Start-ups to look-out for by Startup Grind!

It has also been featured in Observador, Público, Dinheiro Vivo, Jornal de Notícias, Ambitur and Publituris.

About Keepers and storage

If you came this far reading, you probably were thinking about security and who the Keepers are. It’s fair enough. We must tell you that this is our main concern, as the Keepers are the face of LUGGit. While we’re a luggage pick up and drop service, we sell trust.

As such, all Keepers go through a pre-defined, rigorous and in-depth recruitment process, and all then follow a training plan developed to put customers' needs above all.

Every detail about our operation was thought to be efficient, reliable, and scalable. Our Keepers are more than third-party contractors that perform the services using their mobile app. Our model's magic is that one Keeper can perform several collections in the same route making their activity more profitable than other mobility platforms. Which means that we do not work like other shared services where one person can only provide one service at a time. This enables us to be more efficient in the recruitment, training and monitoring of our Keepers, thus ensuring an amazing customer experience.

So, to sum up, everyone in the tourism sector wishes to provide unforgettable experiences. That’s in our blood.

When Covid-19 pandemic hit, it showed us that we all missed the daily rush of dealing with every guests’ special request. But the pandemic also showed us that guests have changed their behaviour.

They are now more willing to try new services, new features, especially if they bring them time, comfort and a seamless experience.

This is very simple. If you, as an Airbnb manager, want to improve your guest experience, we’re on the same side and we should work together.

Click here for more information, and to try out our service. 😉