Experience Driven Bookings: Be the experience not just a place to stay.

“A home from home”, “live like a local”, “Live there” are all but a few tag lines promoted by the leading home sharing platforms to paint a picture of “Home” and capture all that our homes mean to us.

An adventure where you are not bound by a framework or timetable, where you can be free to organise your trip and live with all the comforts of “home”.

So, in such a world, so far away from the bounds of a hotel block, dictated times for breakfast and a space made so sterile with organised interior design, sharp lines and uniformed staff all standing to attention, where does “home” end and where does the corporate stamp on “home” begin?

The short-let sector innocently started to give guests the experience of local living. To walk into a house, and be taken by the age, character, and history, while the imagination ran wild about who lives there, what they do, and what they are hoping for you to experience while you stay in their home and share a bit of their world. Personal touches.

Much like the film “Holiday” starring Kate Winslet and Camron Diaz, where Kate and Camron swap houses, one (Diaz) moves to the beautiful English countryside and the other (Winslet) to a grand house in los Angeles, and from there, their lives transform, not because they decided to stay in a hotel (boring!) but instead decided to live like a local, meet locals and do what locals do.

They all find love and live happily ever after, obviously.

One of the major platforms to realise the importance of a personalised experiences is Airbnb.

Since their realisation of how important a unique experience is, they have drawn on the strengths of their global network of hosts and guests and implemented a key feature which includes matching travelers’ preferences to homes, neighbourhoods, and experiences that meet their needs and not just a place to stay.

The world of home sharing has changed the way we travel. An organic human interaction which proves time and time again that us humans are a nice bunch when we want to be. So how can this world of “a home from home” evolve and in which direction will it go? In steps our old friend money.

Amongst the outputs of the above positive travel and stay experiences, there is a by product produced which is money, and where there is money, there is the commercialisation of such a space to increase the amount of money one can make, but at what cost?

The above has both positives and negatives that come with it. The positives include an emphasis on guest experience, higher standards, and the building of a brand through positive feedback and guest ratings, all meaning that the end-to-end process of a “home from home” is delivered in its entirety. Guests leave feeling a true experience of adventure and of living like a local.

Negatives however, when money becomes your main driver, can include the cutting of corners to increase profit, a decreased “personal” touch and a sausage factory like process which churns “them” in and out.

Concentration on the bottom line more than the guest, leads to questions like “how can I save money”, “how can I cut my costs” and other such questions when our sector starts to move from its innocent starting point and transitions to the commercialisation of units, revenue per stay and other such bottom-line related language.

Further, the strong nose of the investors, property funds, and other for-profit entities starts to perk and get to work.

Realising their current long let property stock can make more profit in the short-let sector, they get to work and roll out a “five-year plan” to acquire more property stock and convert their current stock to short-lets.

In essence and by default, emphasis on the bottom-line pushes endeavours to grow financially at the forefront of all processes. “How can we streamline this” and “how can we automate that” all become part of our energies to run what is now looked at as a business and not a “home from home” opportunity.

There are however different perspectives and spectrums of experience on both sides.

Running your portfolio of properties like an efficient business is great. Profit, the increase of revenue, which then leads to an increase in investment in the local area, jobs and commerce are all welcomed and great to have, and who is to say you can’t run a profitable business with efficient processes and the use of technology, while still giving your guests a personal experience?

We believe it is more than possible, if the guest, and their experience is at the forefront of all business decisions you make, they can leave with nothing but unique memories and positive feedback for you.

What can you do to make their experience more memorable and how can you increase the memory stamp you leave, as professionals in this personal travel experience sector to truly deliver the “home from home” package?

Take steps to differentiate our market experience from that of staying in a hotel.

Be the experience and not just a place to stay.