How to Provide Your Guests a Local Experience
You can make your vacation rental stand out from other lodging options by providing guests a local experience, something travelers are looking for in 2022. Proof of this is over 80 percent of travelers want to travel to destinations where they can embrace the locality, according to an American Express Travel: Global Travel Trends report cited in this article.
Your guests enjoying your vacation rental’s locality goes beyond just staying at your place. More personal hosting practices can help make guests feel like they’re part of the community, even if it’s only temporary. Check out Modern Innkeeper’s suggestions on how you can make your guests feel more like locals.
Make Guests Feel at Home
An effective way to make your guests feel comfortable during their stay at your vacation rental is by ensuring they know where they can go for the necessities. This includes knowing where the following are:
● Grocery stores
● Hospitals/emergency rooms
● Convenience stores
● Pharmacies
This information isn’t super exciting (and we hope they won’t need the hospital or emergency room), but knowing where these places are can make guests feel more comfortable. Especially for your guests who stay a long time, maybe for bleisure, being able to get around town can make errands easier and take less time away from doing the fun stuff they have planned. Provide these addresses in your welcome letter or past messages (the ones you exchanged with them during the booking process) so they always have access to them.
Give Local Recommendations
Promoting local businesses is a great way to support the community and show your guests everything your vacation rental’s locality has to offer. Doing so simultaneously gives business owners in the area more business and familiarizes your guests with the locals’ favorite spots. Some of what you can mention are the best:
● Coffee shops
● Food trucks
● Bookstores
● Pizzerias
● Bakeries
The same 81 percent of travelers who want to embrace their destination’s locality when they travel want to support the local economy, so, you can expect them to appreciate your recommendations.
Before letting guests know what your town or city has to offer, introduce yourself to these business owners and find out if a partnership interests them. Perhaps the owner of the town’s best pizzeria is willing to give your guests a discount if they tell him or her your recommendation is why they came in for a slice. Incentivizing travelers to visit local spots can be a great way to support the local economy.
Mention Your Personal Experiences
Unloading too much information about your vacation rental’s locality can overwhelm your guests. However, telling them about your favorite personal experiences can avoid this and help them narrow down their options.
As the host, your guests will likely expect you to be the expert on the area. They’ll value your perspective and appreciate you sharing it! Mention things like where your favorite burger spot is and place to spend happy hour. Describing your go-to spots around town will give them a better idea of where is worth visiting.
History Lesson
Lecturing guests about the history of your vacation rental’s locality could bore them enough that they don’t ever return. However, finding a way to teach them about interesting tidbits regarding the history of where they’re visiting could enhance the local experience!
An obvious way to do this is to recommend they visit a local museum your town or city may have, but if you really want them to embrace their destination and its history, see what you can do about getting them a local tour guide. A quality tour can do wonders towards them feeling like they got the most out of their vacation.
Share the Local Flare
A guest experience that also includes a top-notch local experience can help make your guests’ vacation one to remember, and maybe turn your destination into one they want to come back to.