The Hostess with the Mostess

Our hosts love looking after people and they’re jolly good at it. I would even go so far as to say that our unique brand of kiwi hospitality is amongst the best in the world. While Look After Me has a core basis of expectations, we leave looking after our guests to the experts.

Recently we invited our hosts to share some of their ‘hosting tips’; some of the little things they do for their guests to make them feel special.

We’ll keep adding to this list, so if you have any ideas you’d like to share contact me; Julia@lookafterme.co.nz.

Here’s what we have so far:

“I keep make-up wipes in the guest bathroom – it saves soiling the flannels.” Joanne

“I’m up and out the door for work in the morning, so I put everything a guest might need for Breakfast on the table early that morning. My guest knows what to expect and I think they quite like getting up and just helping themselves. I keep it simple but offer choice. It seems to work. I also put the Visitor’s Book on the table which generally encourages guests to write something. When I get time, I transfer the guest comments to my ‘electronic’ Visitor’s Book on my property profile.” Annette

“We plugged in a night-light in our hallway, so if guests need to get up in the night for the bathroom, they can see well enough. They’re only about $7 from the Warehouse and an estimated 1 c a day to run. The bulbs have a 2-3 year lifespan – great value.” Sarah.

“I like my guests to feel like that they are the only one who has slept in the bed – so I make sure all the covers are perfectly straight and everything looks fresh. If needed, I iron the pillowslips. I also make sure as it’s getting dark, I pull the drapes, turn back the bed, leave the bedside light on and put a chocolate on the pillow. I love creating that ‘hotel-at-home’ feeling.” Michelle.  

“I’ve been offering my guests the Look After Me tea. Everyone who tries that DeStress Me tea, loves it! I’d quite like individual serves though, rather than a whole packet which gets about 5 – 6 cups.” Jenny. [Founder’s Note: Thanks for this, at first sip, it has an unusual flavour with the fennel, but I’m so pleased to hear our guests like it. I’m  completely hooked – with every sip, I can feel myself slipping into relax mode. We are currently developing a new range of fruit and breakfast teas together with our supplier – the Magic Urn, as well as single serves.]

"I was nervous about my guests using the internet, so I have typed up a note and stuck it on a piece of cardboard with the following instructions.  ‘You are welcome to access our Wireless Network (Hill’s Home Network) using the Security Key AA-BBCDEF for no charge. Please refrain from downloading any video content, doing so will incur charges.’ Jessica.