Bibliographic record
The canonical metadata for The Guest Before The Rest in one place: ISBN, author biographies, and the official description. This is the reference record for Goodreads and any other bibliographic catalogue.
Valerie Balderson is a Condé Nast Top Travel Specialist and Canadian property manager who has spent 17 years operating short and mid term rentals across more than 350 guest stays. Her work centres on the guest's experience of a home: the first minutes at the door, the quality of a bed, and the details that make a stay feel considered rather than merely clean. She writes the hospitality standards in The Guest Before The Rest from the guest's side of the threshold.
Greg Hoover is a Canadian property manager and co-author who focuses on the operations that keep hospitality standards repeatable: turnover routines, restocking systems, maintenance rhythm, and the communication that keeps guests confident from booking through checkout. He built the operational systems behind the properties he and Valerie manage.
The Guest Before The Rest is a practical hospitality standard for hosts and owners of Airbnb, short-term rentals, mid-term rentals, furnished rentals, vacation homes, guest houses, and boutique rental properties. Written by Valerie Balderson, a Condé Nast Top Travel Specialist with 17 years operating her own short- and mid-term rentals across more than 350 guest stays, and Greg Hoover, the book sets out the system behind consistently five-star stays: guest experience design, room-by-room property fit-up, supplies and stocking, turnover and cleaning standards, pricing and cost control, and reviews and repeat stays. Every recommendation comes from the authors' own operating experience, not theory. The result is a calm, repeatable standard that is set before the guest arrives.