Updated on September 19, 2024
Incorporating local businesses into your vacation rental guests’ experience has a trifecta of benefits: It fuels your local economy, enhances your guests’ stay, and makes you a valued member of the community.
By creating a great guest experience with your business partnerships, you also boost your chances of getting a five-star rating and indirectly fueling your revenue stream. Your business partnerships also increase your value in the community, making business owners your allies when you are faced with concerning vacation rental regulatory proposals at your local government.
“In this market, we’ve definitely seen supply and competition among short-term rental operators increasing, so people are going to have to get more creative in how they differentiate themselves, what sets them apart, what unique experience can they provide the others can’t,” said Julie Marks, director of the Vermont Short-Term Rental Alliance. “And if you have connections with your local businesses, then you can kind of create that unique experience and itinerary for your guests.”
Learn more about Julie Marks and how the Vermont STRA Incubates Innovation
Here are some ideas from expert hosts on how you can support local businesses while giving your guests a distinctly local experience they’ll never forget.
Create local guides in your guestbook
Your guestbook is an opportunity to promote local restaurants and other businesses where you’ve had a good experience.
“One of the things that we do at our vacation rental is we put in the best spots for different things,” Julie said. “It’s not just, here’s our favorite restaurants. It’s, here’s the best rainy day activity, here’s the best sunset view, the best cocktail date night. It’s an experience that you can have locally.”
When brainstorming what to include, think about your audience and be bold in your creative thinking. Who are your guests?
If you allow pets in your unit, recommend local businesses that serve pets such as restaurants and breweries with patio seating, pet stores, dog parks, dog walkers, and dog sitters. (Also make sure to include veterinarians and 24-hour animal hospitals, too.)
Is your unit wheelchair accessible? Include local businesses that focus on wheelchair accessibility.
If your unit is a gathering place for families, recommend businesses that offer kid activities, baby gear rentals, or trustworthy babysitting services for date night.
For your guests who are remote workers on flexcations, consider listing local businesses that offer coworking spaces or local coffee shops with quiet settings and reliable internet connectivity.
In your restaurant guide, categorize restaurants by budget options, child friendly, dog friendly, vegetarian, kosher, and so on.
Mention your local guides in your listing for those guests who are craving a hyperlocal experience.
Offer short-term rental guests discounts to local stores/restaurants
Mentioning local businesses in your guestbook is a great way to build a relationship with those businesses. Tell them that they’re featured in your guestbook and ask if they would offer any special discounts to your guests. Enclose any coupons or discounts the businesses offer in your guestbook.
Provide concierge-like services
Before and during your guests’ stay, consider offering concierge-like services that promote and patronize local businesses. This can include suggesting and booking tours for guests and making reservations at local restaurants.
Offer grocery delivery or other add-ons
Some property management companies and hosts have built secondary businesses out of grocery, sport gear, and baby equipment delivery to vacation rental guests. But even individual hosts can offer grocery delivery if they have the time. Offer grocery delivery to guests before their arrival and shop for those items locally. Your local businesses will take notice of your patronage, and you’ll improve your chances of getting a good review from your guests.
Shop direct with small businesses to stock your vacation rental
Sometimes buying locally isn’t always possible, but there are still ways to support small businesses while stocking your vacation rental.
Brittany Blackman, owner of Breathe Easy Vacation Rentals in Destin, Florida, scours the websites of major online shopping retailers and finds vendors who are designated as a small business. She then goes to that vendor’s website and shops directly from them instead of through the third-party retail site.
“Generally you are going to get better customer service. Most of the time you get better prices, and I just like dealing with the humans who have created whatever it is that I’m buying. I like that connection,” Brittany said.
Supply local product gift baskets to guests
Small details make a big impression when it comes to wowing your short-term rental guests, according to Kris Leslie-Curtis, a host and president of the New Mexico Short-Term Rental Alliance.
Kris leaves a gift basket filled with local products such as New Mexican wine, coffee, and pistachios in each of her rentals.
It’s a small touch that has contributed to her high ranking as a host on major platforms and directs guests to the shops where these gift products are sold – a win-win for everyone.
Use local products and services at your properties
Using locally made products at your vacation rental is another way to highlight local businesses in your community. This could include locally made cleaning products, coffee makers, or toilet paper – just about anything that is made in your city or state.
In some cases, you might even be able to find a locally owned buying club for furniture and supplies, Julie said. Minoan Experience, based in Hyde Park, Vermont, is one example.
Minoan is trying to curate an inventory of Vermont producers. Vermont hosts can go through Minoan to source Vermont-made goods in bulk and at a discount.
Decorate with local products
Is your town or city known for furniture making? Is it an artists’ mecca? Incorporate those local products into your decor.
Fran Maier, a Santa Fe, New Mexico, host, decorates her vacation rentals with American Southwest artwork.
Along with eclectic furniture, the artwork makes her vacation rentals, Gorgeous on Garcia and Casa Kateri, a one-of-a-kind experience that simultaneously brings attention to local artists’ works.
If you decorate with local artwork, don’t forget to let your guests know where they can find other works by the same artist. Include the information in your guestbook along with a list of local art galleries that guests can visit. If your town has a First Friday art walk or similar event, add those to your guestbook as well.
Keep a blog or list of local events
Keeping a blog or a list of local events like the art walk in your guestbook is another act of outstanding customer service that also benefits local businesses.
Outpost, a vacation rental management company in Jackson, Wyoming, produces an online lifestyle journal about local activities, products, and services in the rustic town. The magazine is available on Outpost’s website and is open reading for both their guests and other visitors to “The Hole.”
The blog also plugs local events like the recent Torchlight Parade on New Year’s Eve at the Snow King Mountain Resort.
Here’s another trick: In the blog post about the event, Outpost suggests and links to at least eight restaurants and bars, where revelers can eat and be merry before or after the parade.
Make a business out of promoting local products
There’s no limit to creative ways to promote local businesses, products, services, and activities. Some hosts have even made secondary businesses out of the effort.
Outpost founders Mekki and Jane Jaidi turned promoting local products at vacation rentals into a separate business. Their business, Outfitted, provides outdoor gear rentals and provisions such as a local wine and beer to guests staying at local vacation rentals.
Fran, meanwhile, founded a business renting out baby gear to travelers called BabyQuip.
+ One final tip: However you choose to incorporate local businesses, remember to include it in your marketing! Guests often opt for short-term rentals over hotels for that local experience, so make sure they know about your local touches and partnerships through your listing, email marketing, social media, website, and any other channels you use.
Read More: Vacation Rental Marketing Tips
Building relationships with local businesses has no downsides. They give lifeblood to the local economy, compound the value of the short-term rental industry in your local community, and create experiences that keep guests coming back to your home.
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