Helping your guests to do the right thing

As a short-term rental operator, your environmental responsibility starts from the moment guests book their stay. This includes their travel to your accommodation. If your sustainable initiatives only start when guests walk through your front door, then you’re missing out on a multitude of opportunities to reduce your carbon footprint.

Making meaningful sustainable changes means accounting for the entirety of your guests’ journeys. Read on to discover how you can propel your visitors towards climate friendly travel.

We’ll outline four tips to help you embed environmentally responsible travel into your guests’ experience, and explore how you can build this into your vacation rental marketing strategy.

How to inspire your vacation rental guests to choose environmentally conscious travel

These four strategies will help your guests to take their environmental responsibilities seriously, even when on holiday.

1. Make it easy for guests to offset their carbon emissions

If many of your guests travel from further afield, they may not be able to avoid forms of transport – such as flying – which release large amounts of carbon. In these cases, carbon offsetting is a good supplementary strategy for limiting their carbon footprint.

Build carbon offsets into your pricing

At Casal dei Fichi, Bob and Ian have fine-tuned their carbon offset programme to make it easy for them and their guests. They add a discretionary €30 supplement to every quote, matching it with €30 of their own. They then donate the full €60 to Ecologi so it can be invested in carbon offsetting programmes.

Guests always have the option of removing the supplementary charge. And yet, in the eight years that Casal dei Fichi has been running this initiative, not a single guest has chosen to not pay it.

If you want to implement a similar programme within your short-term rental business, you can do so in four easy steps:

1. Set up your account – head over to our Ecologi link to set up your business account.
2. Clearly communicate to your guests – explain to visitors exactly what this additional charge is for, and how it will make their holiday more environmentally friendly.
3. Get donating – match each of your guests’ donations with a donation of your own, and watch your forest grow!
4. Spread the word  – use an Ecologi badge like this to proudly show what you are doing to reduce your carbon footprint.

Your very own email template

Bob has kindly shared the text that he uses to explain the carbon offsetting charge to his guests. If you’re looking for inspiration, you can simply paste the message below into your guest emails, tweaking where necessary to suit your business.

“Global tourism represents 8% of greenhouse gas emissions. By choosing an eco-friendly destination like [name of your property] you will already have made a difference by supporting everything that we do.

However, we know that we are not perfect and so for every booking we make a donation of €30 to combat climate change by planting trees. So far we have contributed over €[x] to plant more than [x] trees. We have also added a further discretionary supplement of €30 to your booking to help offset your carbon travel. So, for your stay we are jointly contributing €60 to make your holiday more environmentally friendly. Of course your supplement is optional. If you do not wish to pay this small amount to partially offset your carbon please let us know. You can read more about it here.”

Be sure to link from this email to a page on your website where guests can read more about what you’re doing and why.

A quick note: it’s important to remember that carbon offsetting has limited potential for reversing the environmental damage we’ve already caused. It shouldn’t be your sole or primary sustainable initiative. It is just one tool in your sustainability toolbox.

If you’re looking for more ideas about how you can create an eco friendly rental business, check out Casal dei Fichi’s other environmental initiatives, or download EnviroRental’s Sustainability Roadmap today.

2. Make eco friendly travel the easiest option

Carbon offsetting is a useful secondary strategy, but it’s always better to avoid carbon emissions in the first place. The best way to do this is to steer your guests towards greener methods of transport.

If most of your guests arrive from overseas, it’s probably not practical to ask them to avoid flying. However, if your guests live more locally, you could urge them to choose the most eco-friendly way to travel.

Here are a few low-effort methods to point visitors towards more sustainable transport options:

• Explain that choosing to travel by train, rather than by plane, will significantly reduce the overall carbon footprint of their trip. Include this explanation in your earliest guest communications.
• Clarify the nearest train station and the most efficient train routes from different parts of the country. Highlight this information in your booking site listing (whether this is on Airbnb, Booking.com, Vrbo, EcoBnB, or elsewhere), on your website, and in your guest communications.
• Make it easy for guests to reach your accommodation from the station. Point them towards local bus routes, your recommended taxi service, or even offer to collect them yourself.
• Some accommodation providers even offer a token discount to those guests who arrive by public transport.

Are you finding these tips useful? You can find other sustainability success stories, with even more climate positive strategies, amongst the EnviroRental case studies.

3. Provide everything your guests need for a low carbon visit 

Once guests have arrived with you, it’s likely that they’ll want to explore the local area. You can give them the freedom to roam whilst still honouring their responsibility towards the environment by providing the tools they need to explore sustainably.

These could include:

• Local bus and train timetables
• Recommendations for cycle hire
• (E)Bicycles at their disposal
• Walking routes directly from your vacation rental
• Guided walking tours

If you like these ideas, but you’re still not quite sure where to start, head over to the EnviroRental Sustainability Roadmap. It’s chock full of tips and action plans to help you find a manageable starting point for the next stage of your sustainability journey.

4. Install electric charging points at your accommodation

Allowing your guests to charge their electric vehicle (EV) encourages them to use this more environmentally friendly method of transport to reach you. If they’re planning on hiring a car during their stay, they now have the choice of hiring the greenest option available.

Moreover, many people like the idea of driving an electric car, but are put off by a lack of available charging points. By installing charging points at eco friendly rental properties, we contribute to a changing culture in which electric cars become more accessible to everyone.

Attract new guests through electric vehicle databases

If you have an EV charging point it will be listed on all EV databases worldwide. EV owners use these databases, in conjunction with online travel agents (OTAs) and web searches, to find vacation rentals where they can charge their car. This is a great way to attract new guests who might choose you over your competitor because you provide a charging station. Studies show that having an EV charger provides higher ADR on average and improves occupancy.

Keep your eyes open for local incentives to install an EV charger. Or contact OK2Charge and see if one of their innovative solutions will work for you. They provide EV chargers specifically for rental properties, helping you to set yourself apart from the competition whilst recovering your extra utility cost and adding an extra revenue stream to your business.

Want to learn from people who have overcome the same sustainability challenges you’re currently facing? Check out our case studies of short-term rental sustainability heroes.

Shout loud and proud about the eco friendly initiatives 

To see the environmental and financial benefits of these strategies, you need to make sure that people know about them. This means embedding your eco friendly actions into all of your communications. Tell guests (and potential guests) exactly what you’re doing via your:

• Social media
• Digital guidebook
• Property listings
• Email and text communications
• Website  

In fact, we recommend dedicating a page on your website to your Climate Action Plan. Use it to explain your sustainable philosophy and demonstrate what you’ve already done, what you’re in the process of doing, and what you plan to do in the future. If you’re looking for inspiration, take a look at this example from Casal dei Fichi. 

Publicising your sustainable initiatives lets environmentally conscious travellers know you’re there, and encourages sustainability amongst your guests. When your guests are engaged, they’re more likely to return home and spread the word by telling their friends and family  about the brilliant things you’re doing.

• writing a five star review
• returning to stay the following year
• AND take eco action in their own lives

If you’re taking meaningful environmental action, talk about it! It’s good for your guests, your business and the planet. 

Get more actionable tips with the EnviroRental Sustainability Roadmap

We offer these tips as a starting point. It may not be the right starting point for you, or you may already be well on your way through your sustainable journey. Everyone’s path is different. 

That’s why we’ve created the EnviroRental Sustainability Roadmap, with a series of clear, actionable suggestions to help you progress towards a more eco friendly vacation rental business. Whatever stage you’re at, you’ll find step-by-step strategies to help you progress.