Updated on March 6, 2023
More than 15 years ago, Bob Garner and his husband, Ian, bought a farmhouse in the rolling hills of central Marche, Italy, and renovated it into six eco-friendly vacation rental units known as Casal dei Fichi.
Since then, the couple has created a brand for providing a unique guest experience that centers around environmental sustainability.
Casal dei Fichi has a 65% annual guest return rate. Guests not only enjoy a vacation in the spectacular Marche countryside with a lower environmental impact, but they tend to leave Casal dei Fichi knowing more about eco-friendly living than they did before they came.
The success and joy that Bob has experienced from building a brand around eco-friendly vacation rentals only fueled his passion for environmental sustainability in life and in business. He’s also the founder of Green VR Events, which helps STR conferences be more sustainable.
He is passionate about spreading the word about the environmental and business benefits that come from taking even small steps toward greater sustainability.
In November 2022, he plans to launch EnviroRental, a website full of free resources for STR professionals who want to start their own sustainability journey.
Here are some of his insider tips on how to build a brand for your rental business.
Create a sustainability roadmap with small, incremental steps
Even if you have no eco-friendly features or practices at your vacation rental, it’s never too late to start those or to start building your brand around sustainability.
“When I started 15 years ago, I knew nothing. I didn’t know anything about sustainability and what to do,” Bob said. “Never feel overwhelmed about all the options that you can take and the steps that you should be taking to make your business sustainable. It’s a slow process.”
Bob recommends taking a few simple steps at a time to make progress without feeling overwhelmed. Start with the easy stuff that costs no money.
“I think people get overwhelmed by the climate emergency and by sustainability,” he said. “They get confused about where to start, then inertia can set in and nothing happens.”
The step could be something as simple as providing recycled toilet paper for guests or changing the lightbulbs in the unit to LEDs.
Then, slowly draw a roadmap for what you want to do next. For more ideas on making your vacation rental more eco-friendly, see the comprehensive list of what Bob and Ian have done at Casal dei Fichi.
Read also: 9 ways to make your short-term rental more sustainable
Share your sustainability initiatives at every touchpoint
Once you add some eco-friendly features or practices to your property, let guests and prospective guests know about it.
Articulate what you’re doing and why you’re doing it at every touchpoint that you can. Add a sustainability page to your website that lists all of your eco-friendly features.
Display information about your initiatives in automated responses to booking inquiries to let prospective guests know that you are a business that values and practices sustainability. Feature the information in your digital guestbook and guidebook.
For example, explain why you offer dispensers instead of single-use plastic shampoo, conditioner, and body wash bottles.
In your guidebook, you could recommend some local restaurants that are within walking distance or highlight some local shops or attractions that practice sustainability.
Most importantly, explain how guests can get involved in your initiative while they’re at your property.
“You want to not just say you’re doing it but explain to the guests what the benefits are for them and how they can help you continue to be more sustainable during their stay,” Bob said.
Bob and Ian also gift their guests with reusable metal water bottles and provide filtered water stations where guests can refill their bottles. The units also have reusable shopping bags available for guests.
Getting guests involved makes for a more memorable experience and gives guests a feeling of satisfaction and contribution. Those good experiences leave an impression that comes through guest reviews at the end of their stay and often make them want to keep coming back to the property year after year. Most likely, they’ll also tell their friends about your vacation rental.
“People love to see sustainable businesses and want to stay in sustainable properties,” Bob said.
Polls back that up: About 71% of global travelers said they want to travel more sustainably this year, according to a recent survey by Booking.com.
A sustainable vacation rental is a virtuous circle
Providing an excellent guest experience centered around sustainability creates what Bob refers to as a “virtuous circle.”
“As you go through that circle, you see the result of your initiatives: You’re getting more customers, you’re getting more reviews, you’re getting a better return on investment,” Bob said. “And so if your experiences are like my experience, you then take some more steps. You go, ‘Oh, that worked. That’s making some money. That’s getting me some new customers. Let’s implement some more initiatives.’
Sometimes, Bob hears from previous guests saying that they have decided to adopt some of Casal dei Fichi’s sustainability practices.
“They would go home and send me an email, ‘Oh, well, I’ve just started buying Who Gives A Crap recycled toilet paper, or I planted an organic garden, or I put in a car charger, or you’ve inspired me to get rid of plastic in my business,’” Bob said. “That really gives me a buzz.”
And adoption of those sustainability practices becomes part of that virtuous circle.
Identify your unique sustainability characteristics
Sustainability itself is a selling point, but as you design your eco-friendly vacation rental brand, make sure you identify some unique selling points for your market.
These could be small things that leave a big impact on the experience of the stay or something related to the region where your property is located. Draw on guest reviews. What features do they mention the most?
For Casal dei Fichi, unique selling points include proximity to a winery where guests can refill their bottles and drink Italian wine, guests have the option to offset the carbon footprint of their vacation when they book the unit by contributing 20 euros to a tree-planting organization, and Bob and Ian offer a pizza night when guests can make their own pizzas together and top them with herbs and vegetables from the couple’s organic garden.
“Sustainability, that’s been our USP (unique selling proposition), and I would encourage you to find the model that works for you,” Bob said.
Advertise your eco-friendly vacation rental business
About 90% of bookings at Casal dei Fichi are direct, thanks to word of mouth, referrals, repeat guests, and widespread marketing of their property.
“It’s really important that you’ve publicly declared that you’re taking action,” Bob said. “If nobody is talking about it, if nobody is publicizing it, who’s going to know about it?”
When you market, think about how you can enhance your brand. Consider adding a blog to your website or talk about your sustainable property on social media.
“By using your marketing materials to talk about what you’re doing, you will then attract new audiences,” Bob said.
Share your green initiatives with the press
Journalists are immersed in the gravity of the climate crisis, so they’re often on the lookout for, or at least receptive to, a pitch for a good sustainability story.
The world needs to reduce its emissions by 50% by 2030 to avoid the worst climate outcomes. Tourism is responsible for 8% of global greenhouse gasses, and the short-term rental sector is a part of that, so stories about sustainability in tourism are in demand and timely.
Familiarize yourself with journalists and publications that publish content on sustainable tourism and hospitality and introduce yourself to editors and writers. Let them know what you’re doing at your vacation rental and as you progress in your sustainability journey, pitch them story ideas.
Casal dei Fichi and Bob have been part of articles, blog posts, podcasts, and more.
Watch now: Bob’s Summer 2022 RR Summit session Sustainability is Good for Your Business
“We’ve been successful in getting quite a lot of press coverage,” Bob said. “Some of that happens quite organically; some of it you have to work for, but the press is always interested in sustainability, and that’s just increasing more and more.”
“And if you can find an angle in your region in the area around sustainability, if you can differentiate yourselves from your competitors, the press are always interested in it.”
Good press also brings more bookings.
“I’ve lost count of the number of times that somebody has booked with me and said they found us from reading this article online or in a printed newspaper four or five years ago, and they bookmarked it, or they clipped it and kept it,” Bob said.
Encourage other short-term rental hosts to join in the sustainability efforts
As a sustainable business, encourage others in the industry to join you. Lend a helping hand. Give them ideas. Share resources on sustainable hospitality.
“It’s really important that we get that message out to all of the community because we all need to play our part,” Bob said. “What we don’t want is a few dozen people doing it perfectly. We need hundreds of thousands of people doing sustainability imperfectly because that aggregate is so much more powerful.”
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