When it comes to short-term rentals, it’s best to embrace your locality. When people are visiting a community, they often want to get the full experience. They want to take it all in and enjoy the surroundings as a local would. Beyond that, featuring some of the local favorites on your listing can also help motivate people to visit your area if they’re just perusing properties for their next adventure.
In this blog, we’ll dig deeper into this topic and how to provide more local content to your short-term rental property.
Update Your Listing
Let’s start with your listing. Not only can you capture beautiful shots of the interior and exterior of the property, but also some of the amazing local scenes. Take pictures of some tourist hotspots and local favorites to feature in your photos section. If you have a beach nearby or a beautiful mountain overlook, capture it for potential guests to see in your listing.
When it comes to writing your description, don’t forget to mention some of the amazing things to see and do in the area. Write down some cool events that happen annually (if you can, capture events that happen in various seasons to prompt more stays). Also, consider some local attractions that you can list in your description. Really motivate people to want to explore this area.
Partner With Local Businesses
This is a great way to boost your potential bookings. Get to know local businesses and build relationships with them. Find some businesses that are willing to partner with you. If you agree to promote one another, you can both potentially earn more. Consider ways you can promote each other through social media, on each other’s websites, and through emails.
Another way to benefit from these partnerships is to come up with an incentive for potential guests. The business and yourself can determine what type of deal you want to offer guests if they book both at the same time. Say they get a discount off an experience the business offers or their stay at the short-term rental. By offering an incentive you can motivate more bookings.
Another option is to talk with local businesses about what type of discounts or freebies they might want to offer towards welcome gift baskets. When you put together gift baskets of local goodies it increases guest satisfaction and can help these businesses curate more sales. It also increases the local vibe of your short-term rental.
Create an Instagram Wall
An Instagram wall can really be anything that someone wants to take a picture in front of, but to make it feel more local, you’ll want to stick to that theme. Consider an ocean theme if the property is near the beach (maybe a giant shark mouth they can stand inside for pictures). You can also consider a mural that says the city name in it with pictures of local attractions (picture the word Seattle with the Space Needle, for example). An Instagram wall could be something as simple as posting a bunch of Polaroids of local hot spots clipped together to create a beautiful collage for people to take pictures in front of. It could also be a solid wall with words painted on it. A city or state slogan can be a great way to make this idea local. You can also consider something that’s on the theme for the location, for example, if your property is in the mountains, it could say, “The mountains are calling, and I must go.” – John Muir
Instagram walls are a fun way to get people talking about your property online. They’re basically free marketing. While they don’t have to be locally themed, they can be a great way to make your short-term rental feel more local.
These are just three creative ways you can really increase the local vibe and experience for your guests. There are of course plenty of more ways to bring that local feel into your rental. You can decorate the whole property to fit the local atmosphere. You can also create a comprehensive guide with recommendations for them of local hotspots, eateries, attractions, and more. You can even send them a few recommendations digitally as you see fit, like when you hear about something happening last minute and want to let your guests know about it. You can also offer cool tours and experiences (think hiking tours, wine and cheese tasting, kayaking tours, a yoga class, etc.). You have loads of options when it comes to increasing guest satisfaction and providing that local experience they desire.
If you’d like more great tips or help managing your property, please reach out to us at PMI. We excel in hospitality, are readily available to assist, and can even increase marketability.
