Providing phone and Internet services to your guests

Phone services

If you own a vacation home, you have probably discussed whether you want to or can provide phone service to your guests. While phone service arrangements vary greatly from country to country, in the US and Canada it is easy to custom-taylor your phone service and therefore make it work for yourself and for your guests.

Stay connected while relaxing here!

Generally speaking, to attract guests you should have a phone in the vacation rental available, ideally a cordless one.

It would be best to adjust your service so that local and toll free calls are allowed, while at the same time restricting long distance and international calls. Many people, these days, use Internet services such as Skype to make long distance calls that are either free or incur small costs paid by the Skype user (your guest). Alternatively, guests could use phone cards for long distance calls. Make sure to show the phone number of your vacation rental prominently near the phone and in your welcome binder.

Internet services

This brings us to the next service that has almost become a “must” for rentals: Internet. Speaking from own experience, I always inquire whether Internet services are available so that I can ensure that I am able to work, research and stay in touch with friends through the Internet while staying at the vacation rental. Many other guests would like to ensure they are online while on vacation. The costs for routers and Internet services are very affordable these days, and being able to say that you offer Wifi will always bring you bonus points with potential guests.