Webinar: Attract eco-friendly guests
Key Takeaways
- Watch the replay
- There are many benefits for your company, including financial gain & lower costs
- Sustainability helps guests feel at home, appreciate your shared values.
- Tell your guests: Website, Newsletter, Digital Guide, add Accreditation
- Check out EnviroRental.earth
Attracting eco-conscious guests
Following on in our series on how to cope with drops in bookings, Bob Garner talked with Bookster to cover attracting a new market, environmentally conscious guests.
Would you like to be attractive to a new market?
Are you interested in a growing market of environmentally conscious guests for your holiday rental?
Bob manages a collection of environmentally friendly holiday rentals, and has built this knowledge through years of learning and applying techniques to create a premier destination for eco-conscious guests.
Attract eco-friendly guests: tips & techniques
Sustainable solutions for you & your guests
Links from the event
Agenda
During the webinar, Bob Garner of EnviroRental will address several common questions raised by holiday rental owners interested in attracting eco-friendly guests:
- Attracting guests
How can I communicate my property's sustainability initiatives effectively to potential guests? - Implementing eco without breaking the bank
Are there any cost-effective ways to implement sustainable practices in my holiday rental property? - Involving your guests
What are some creative ways to engage guests in sustainability initiatives during their stay? - Make eco a win for your business
What are the business advantages of sustainability for STRs?
Script
Kelly:
Good afternoon to everybody and a warm welcome, whether you are here live or you are watching us on the replay.
Thank you just so much for taking your time and joining us today. So my name's Kelly Odor, and I'm the marketing director for Bookster.
About Bookster
For those of you who are new to Bookster, I will give you a whistle stop introduction. So Bookster is a property management software company. We're based in Scotland and we offer software, websites and channel management.
So our head office is in Edinburgh, although some of us work from home as well. And we look after clients across the globe.
And we have tools, techniques, partnerships that are really very specifically designed to help holiday rental owners and holiday rental managers only.
So we don't look after hotels or any other aspect, and we're helping our clients to overcome and manage these really time consuming tasks of running a holiday rental business. So I'll stop with Bookster.
Today's session
Let's talk about today's session.
So today is part of a series that we're running that is following an increase in conversations that have seen in forums from property owners and property managers who are saying that they're not seeing the same level of occupancy or the same number of bookings perhaps compared to previous years.
And as we've been doing these sessions over the last couple of months, really, I've been continuing to monitor what the conversations are like in the forums.
And I can see, you know, some property owners very happy, lots of property owners, not very happy.
So there's definitely some kind of fluctuations for some people's bookings and they're not getting what they're expecting.
So in this series, what we've been trying to do is, is try to manage your reductions in any bookings by applying techniques firstly to attract direct bookings.
Um, and we did that with Jenn Boyles, which was so much fun. We've looked at working with different marketing channels.
So we've spoken to Shivali from Vrbo, and last month we were looking at attracting eco-conscious guests through specifically electric vehicle charging. And this month we're following on with this.
We're looking at attracting eco-conscious guests, but we're looking in a different way this time. Instead of EV charging specifically, we're looking more into communication and collaboration with your guests.
Introduction to Bob Garner of EnviroRentals
Bob Garner:
So my name's, uh, Bob Garner, um, and I run with my partner, uh, Casal dei Fichi, which are holiday departments in Central Italy.
We've been doing that for years, and I'm gonna be talking about that experience today. Um, I'm also the founder and the CEO of EnviroRental.
Um, and this is a one stop free shop for everything you could possibly want to know around sustainability and short term rentals.
And I built that because I perceived there was a need for people to start to understand what they could do and the steps they could take, uh, on their sustainability journey.
Um, and I'm gonna be talking about that towards the end of my presentation, but I'm looking forward to, uh, talking to you.
And please, yeah, put your really difficult questions in the chat. I'm looking forward to being challenged and tested, um, during this next minutes.
Kelly:
Excellent. I love that you would say that for the idea of someone coming up with challenging questions for me makes me sweat and very nervous, but they can challenge you. That's fine.
Um, now I'm running Bob's slides for him today, so, um, you'll hear Bob asking me to move on. So I will start with that now.
Bob Garner:
Background of Bob Garner and Casal Dei Fichi
Okay, great. Okay, so, um, thank you once again and first of all, just um, refresh then. Um, we've been here in Italy, uh, for years running eco-friendly apartments.
Um, and I want to just give you, um, a moment to understand where we started and, and where we've got to and how we've developed our business. So, uh, next slide.
So we moved here to Le Marque in Italy years ago. You can see the building.
We bought an old farmhouse that had been abandoned for years on the left and on the right, obviously how it looks now, uh, more or less.
Um, so we bought this, this property moved from London and decided to make it as eco-friendly as possible.
Years ago, I knew zero absolute zero about sustainability, but we did know me and my husband that we wanted this to be a sustainable business and we wanted to start taking some steps.
So everything that I talk about when I'm on a webinar or whether I'm in a conference or when I'm talking to an individual, comes from those years of experiences that I've had around sustainability on what works for the business, what works for the guest on what works for the planet.
So I've made loads of mistakes, um, and I've done some things right?
Uh, and I want to share some of the good things for you so that you can start on your journey.
Um, so here are just a few stats about our business, um, to give you some idea of what we've achieved. Um, and of course that's partly around the guest experience.
Um, that obviously has to be there always, but I think a lot of our success has come from the sustainability elements that we've built into the business that, that we've then created a sustainable place to stay.
And we've involved our guests at every stage of that process. Um, and some of the stats there for speak for themselves.
So we have a 90% book direct rate, which we are really proud of. Um, and obviously that's fantastic because the more direct bookings you get, the less commission you're paying.
And the best guest is the guest that books direct and also comes back and we have a 65% repeat rate. Obviously we love that the guests come back, they're already familiar with us, we are familiar with them. Uh, it's much easier to have those people come back.
And you don't have to spend money on marketing and finding new people.
Of course, you always want new people to refresh your business, but you also love having the people come back again, again and again.
And we have people, uh, no exaggeration, who come back or times and they book each year. And we really love it. And they become almost like friends.
Obviously we are on site, which I know for a lot of you that won't be the case.
So we have that advantage to build that rapport with the guest. Um, and I'll talk about that in a moment.
Um, we also have a very high level of referral rate. So people go back, they tend to tell their friends and tell their family and tell their neighbors, and they come and book and stay with us.
And again, who doesn't like that you've got a low cost or a zero cost booking? That's come from a recommendation.
Um, we've got over 600 five star reviews on TripAdvisor.
Um, and um, that's really important because you, it's great to get the feedback that you're doing the right thing, that you're taking the right steps, um, because you know, who knows who, I didn't know that I'd be any good at hosting and being, um, uh, an owner and a host here in Italy, it seems I can do it well and I can implement it and make the guest have a lovely stay.
And that's obviously gotta be something really important.
So, and and to summarize there, I think customer loyalty and low marketing fees are what we're looking for.
We are looking for people to go home satisfied because they've had a great service and you've built sustainability into that service and they're loyal and they come back and they refer. And it also keeps your cost down.
And that's a big important step because people often think about sustainability that it's a choice between quality and service and eco-friendly.
Absolutely that is not the case. It's about building that eco-friendly, uh, initiatives into your business and working through to make sure that that shines through your business to your customers and they can appreciate it and we'll, we'll talk a little bit about that.
Um, so next slide.
Positive guest reviews for sustainable holiday homes
"It felt even better knowing that they've made some serious sustainability efforts to ensure that your stay has a limited environmental impact." Hannah.
"We love the fact it's run with such a gentle eye on being as eco-friendly as possible." Jo.
"We loved the focus on making our stay more environmentally sustainable, we’ve taken several eco ideas back to our home in the Netherlands." Jacqueline.
So I wanted to just show, I'm not gonna read these out, you can look for them for yourself, but I wanted to you to see that, um, when I say that we've got guests who love being, uh, coming to us and being environmental as we are, you can see it, it comes through in a lot of our reviews and that's really important to us.
Everyone loves a five star review, but it's also great to get that feedback. We do get it in person because we're on site, but we get it through our reviews as well, and that shines through so other people can see that.
And that's what you want. We want to be talking about it, and I'm gonna be talking about this a little bit later.
We don't wanna be shy about the fact that we're trying to be eco-friendly and we're trying to do the right thing.
And I say try in the sense of nobody is expecting perfection. I am certainly not perfect. I'm still learning.
So it's absolutely fine to take some steps and try, but it's wonderful to get that feedback and that feedback loop where you take some initiatives, the guests appreciate it, they give you good feedback, and then they come back again or they refer you on to somebody else.
And that's that wonderful loop which gives you that warm feeling that I'm doing the right thing, people are appreciating what I'm doing, and they, they, as somebody says in one of this, it's like I'm coming home.
They're coming back to where they feel comfortable. And that's, I think, really important because when you are, when you are starting out, um, obviously people don't necessarily know, although it's great if they can know that you're doing sustainable initiatives, that you're taking some steps.
But if they don't know, but then they go home now knowing they can learn something and build it into their day-to-Day lives.
And I really love it when somebody goes back and then they said, oh, I've just starting 'Who gives a crap' toilet paper because I saw it first at Casal dei Fichi.
And then you think I've just made that tiny difference to somebody's life and made a simple small step.
So getting that feedback is, is really important. And and letting people feel that when they come to you, especially when they come back again, they often say, oh, it feels like I'm coming home. I feel comfortable here. I know what to expect. I know that you'll have good eco standards.
I'm trying to do that myself at home. And so they feel that they're, that they're a soulmate, that you are on the same level in terms of how you approach the world and what you think about, uh, the priorities.
So, um, that is a, a great thing that I really like to facilitate and encourage, uh, with, with our guests. So, um, I hope you will too. Um, but next slide.
And Kelly has does know she can interrupt me at any time with any difficult questions that she has.
Um, so, um, but I wanted to talk about the business advantages of being sustainable. Um, when I built, um, EnviroRental, which I will come on to, which is this hub with all the resources around sustainability, I thought it was really important to showcase right up front and you'll find it on our homepage and you'll find a blog about it and you'll see us talking about it all the time.
Make eco a win for your business
What are the business advantages of sustainability for STRs?
The business advantages. I may be passionate about the environment. Kelly's passionate about the environment.
You may be passionate of the environment, but if you are not, that doesn't matter, do it because it will make good business sense. And I want to talk about these business advantages.
Uh, at the end of the day, it doesn't matter how we get to sustainability, if we get there by you building your business, by being more successful, by implementing some of the things that we're gonna be talking about, fantastic, the planet benefits at the end.
But we don't need to start by thinking, what have I gotta do to save the planet?
Think of it in terms of what can I do to build my business. So let me talk briefly about these, uh, points.
Differentiate Yourself
First one is differentiating yourself. And that is really just making you different from your competitor.
Um, and letting the consumer see that there is a difference. So what I mean there, if they're looking at two properties, they're the same price, the same quality, the same outlook, the same view, the same beach, or the same pool, or the same mountain.
And, and the only difference that the, the, the, the potential guests can see is that you are taking some eco initiatives.
And that's the only difference. Well, who isn't going to choose you over the competitor? No, very, I can't imagine anybody saying, oh, I'm not gonna choose them 'cause they're trying to do the right thing for the planet.
So think of it in that way and think of it as how you can make yourself different from your competitor.
Improve Profitability
Um, and one of those ways is through being sustainable and obviously talking about it, which I'm gonna come on to improving profitability.
Um, obviously there are some things that you can do that will cut your costs.
And I've talked a little bit about that already, thinking about your marketing costs if you're getting direct bookings and referrals.
Um, but there's also an aspect of actually saving money on some initiatives that you can take.
People often think about investing in eco will cost you money, actually can save you money.
Um, and I, I don't have time to go into all of that now, but you'll find those initiatives and those ideas on our website, EnviroRental.Earth.
Um, and we give you lots of suggestions about how you can cut your costs and increase your profitability, retention, and attraction.
And by the way, these are not necessarily in order with importance.
They're just as they are on the screen.
Staff Attraction and Retention
Um, we're starting to see, particularly through the younger generations, they're much more interested in the environment.
They're much more interested in organizations that are doing the right thing to society.
And so, um, we, we are seeing surveys which are saying that some of the younger generations are more switched on to this topic and they're actually wanting to work for a company that's doing good, that might be doing good for the environment, might be good for the local community that inspires people.
And it's a way of attracting and retaining staff.
So if you have staff, they're likely, if particularly the younger ones, to be switched on and turned on by the fact that you wanna do the right thing.
Prominence
So that's a great advantage. Um, prominence, this is around, if you're using the OTAs, then obviously for instance like booking.com, um, and I know we all like direct bookings, but sometimes the OTAs have a role to play.
If you're using someone like booking.com, they have an eco badge.
If you meet that criteria, we might get into that, then you can get that badge and that will differentiate you from the other people on booking.com in your area because you have the badge and they don't, there's a whole story to tell around that eco badge.
But raising your prominence and getting you higher up that search criteria is something that you might be interested in, uh, in following up if you're using Booking.
And by the way, Vrbo are going to be bringing it out soon too.
Publicity
Um, publicity this I've used a lot. So, um, I find it's great when you are talking publicly about what you're doing, then journalists will often approach you and say, I'd like to write a report on you and what you are doing in the community around your eco initiatives.
And who doesn't like publicity? You know, we had a piece in The Guardian a few years ago, um, and we got bookings that day off one piece in newspaper. So fantastic.
You know, all we had to do is, you know, talk to a journalist. So the journalist is still interested in this story and if, if they know that you're doing this stuff and I'll keep saying that 'cause it's important, the branding and I'm gonna come onto that, then they can find you or you can go out and find them and talk about what you're doing. Um, more bookings is an obvious one.
If you are branding yourself and people can find you. We know from the survey data from Expedia and from booking.com that 80% of travelers would like to stay in the sustainable accommodation if they can.
More Bookings
They'd like their holiday to be sustainable. So if, if they can find you and if you are doing the right thing, you have the opportunity to attract that cohort of travelers who would like to stay sustainably.
Now liking to and doing it are not always the same thing, but certainly there's a group of people out there who would like to stay sustainably.
And if they're coming to your area and you are the one property who's doing some fantastic stuff, then you are gonna get that booking building your brand.
Build Your Brand
Um, and this is really important, I'll be talking more about it later as well, is, is making sure that eco is part of your brand.
You all have a brand, you all have a look, you all have a logo, you all have a way of approaching your guests, looking after your guests. You have high standards and you're trying to do the right thing.
Building eco into that brand and making it a prominent element of your brand is a way to attract customers that I've just spoken about and retain customers and people will come back.
So building it into your brand and not just doing it, you need to be talking about it, uh, is really important.
And that is a great way of enhancing, uh, your business reputation.
Kelly:
I was just thinking there, sorry, I was just thinking there about your article that was about you in The Guardian and I thinking what an amazing long-term effect that would have as well. 'cause not only are you seeing on that particular day, but if the Guardian is linking to your website, firstly, you're gonna continuously get people who will find you at some point in the future, and therefore you'll get more bookings that way.
But also even by having a link from a newspaper to your own website will make your website more prominent as well in kind of Google and the ranking. So it's a huge win to be to be published like that in a newspaper. I think that's amazing.
Bob Garner:
Yeah, absolutely. And actually going on from that, what actually happens is people still book and we obviously, we say, well, how did you find us?
It's a, I kept this clipping from the Guardian. I've had it in my, in my book for five years or something like that.
You know, people, it's amazing that people still do that, you know, in this digital age. Mm-hmm.
There are still people they keep, keep a cutting and then when they're thinking of going to the area, they find it. So, you know, we had all those bookings on the day, but we've had many more since off the back of that one article. So it's been brilliant.
Consumer Demand
Um, yeah, consumer demand, um, I've really spoken about this. This is the booking, um, survey data.
And it's really to say that there are people out there who want to stay sustainably and therefore, if you can differentiate yourself, you can tap into that market.
Future Proof
Um, future proofing.
This is around, uh, changes in legislation and regulation, which will be coming down the line depending on where you are in the world.
Um, and you need to be keeping ahead of that regulation and that legislation, which will start to impinge on us all over time, uh, about what we have to do from an eco perspective to continue to operate.
Um, as we know, governments have got these targets to get to net zero by 2050.
We are way off track in most of the world on that.
But as governments and local, uh, councils start to turn up the gears on that, then they will be imposing certain restrictions and the people who are doing nothing will be the people who will be impacted most.
Guest Experience
Um, and then the final thing I wanted to talk about was the guest experience.
Uh, obviously we hear about the guest experience, the guest experience all the time. If you can have your guest go, uh, a home having an amazing experience, having understood that you're doing some brilliant things around sustainability in your business and that you plan to do more, they are gonna be so impressed with that.
And that comes through in the reviews that I've already talked about. It comes through in the referrals.
And people will appreciate that at different levels. And you will, you will get more business as a result of that.
So that guest experience you need to be building what you are doing around sustainability into that and, and not being shy to talk about it as, as we'll keep coming back to.
So those are the business advantages. Um, and probably you can even think of some more, but those are the, I think, the ones that occur to me as being really significant. Um, next slide.
Okay. So I wanted to just talk a little bit about sustainability and when it works.
Um, these are, these comments are probably fairly obvious, but they, there's something that I've sort of honed over time in thinking about what works in what we do here at Casal dei Fichi, obviously you want to be delighting your guests, that's critical.
Delight your guests
Uh, and delighting your guests is obviously giving them a great service and value for money, but also letting them understand that you've taken some eco steps, as I keep saying, and that, that they've had that experience while they've been with you in the products that you use.
Um, they have experienced eco and that depends on what you might be doing.
It might be the toilet paper, it might be the cleaning product. It might be the, the way the pool is cleaned. It might be the organic garden, it might be the solar panels, might be electric car charger, uh, da da da da.
We can go on. Um, but they've had that experience and it's enhanced their stay.
They say it is ‘Home from Home’
It's great when people say they've feel that they're coming home from home, and that's what you want.
You want them to feel that their stay has been so brilliant that they would want to do it again. But also for some of them, particularly the, the people who are more eco switched on as a guest, they are doing some of this stuff at home.
And when they come to you and you are doing it, then you are on the same wavelength.
You've got those, those same values and they appreciate that. And that's what that home from home feeling is like.
Focus on the outcome NOT the initiative
Um, one thing that's I think really important is to focus on the outcome and not the initiative.
Um, so what I mean by that is, you know, we don't talk about very much that we've got a, a swimming pool that actually is cleaned through an ozone system, uh, which is a, a piece of technology rather than using chemicals. Um, what we talk about is that they'll have a lovely clean pool to swim in.
And at the, at the end of the day, they're interested in the, in the result, not the way that you've got there.
So when you are branding and you are talking about what you're doing, always think about the, the, the outcome and not the initiatives.
So to give you another example, here, we have an organic garden, a vegetable garden that people can go and help themselves every day to fresh vegetables, take them back to their apartment and cook, uh, which they love.
They really, really love it. And yes, we say it's organic. Um, but most important thing is there are some really lovely fresh vegetables out there for you to take.
So help yourself or go to the orchard, help yourself to the fruits.
Um, help yourself to the, to the eggs from the chickens and enhance your day by making a lovely, fresh meal with zero miles, uh, of travel for that food. Um, so think about what the impact will be on the guest.
We are all on a journey - never preach
Um, one of the things, and this comes back to your question, Kelly, the next point is, uh, when mistakes I've made. And that's, we're all on a journey. So never preach. I'm super, super passionate about sustainability, uh, about the environment, the way I live my life, the way I run my business.
And that's why I set up EnviroRental 'cause it, it really is so important to me.
But I have been known in the past, in the early days to become a little too preachy about that.
Uh, and to be, um, eulogizing about it and almost, not, not that exactly, but pushing it down someone's throat that does not work.
Never preach, never assume that you are better than somebody else and that they haven't done it.
And why haven't they done it and criticize them or imply that you're criticizing them. It doesn't work. I, I, I understand now to meet people where they are on their journey.
We're all on a journey. None of us are better than anybody else.
And if I can help somebody on their journey at the very beginning of their journey, whether they're a host or a guest, uh, or a property manager, then that's fantastic.
Seek Feedback/Follow Up
Um, so it's really important to find positive ways to talk about what you're doing, um, rather than to nag or to, or to suggest that the guest should be doing something that there aren't. Um, another example of that would be putting too many signs up in the apartment or in the property.
Don't do this, don't do that. Turn off the lights. Don't, don't run the dishwasher until it's full. Um, make sure the air conditioning's turned up.
Find another way of giving them that message that people don't want to hear all the time. Don't, don't don't when they're on holiday.
So find a way of saying the same thing in a positive way. Like, if you could help me to make our property more sustainable, I would really appreciate that. Um, and here are some things that you can do and find a way of using language that's more inclusive and isn't so preachy.
So that's piece of my feedback there. Um, which leads on neatly to seeking feedback.
Um, and following up, super important I found over the years is to understand from the guest what they've liked about the experience, which of the products or services.
And there could be so many that have an eco aspects, have they appreciated and liked and used, which ones that they haven't and why, if there are any, um, what their overall experience would be.
Um, and sometimes that can happen through a conversation.
Sometimes you'll get it through the review. Um, but find a way of getting that feedback. Um, for instance, if you have a digital guide, um, then that's a way of, of, of encouraging them to give feedback as well.
Don’t be a Greenhusher
And the final point here I wanted to mention, um, was 'cause I'm conscious of time, uh, is don't be a green huser.
So a green greenwashing, as many of you'll be aware, is when you, you actually overemphasize the impact of what, of the actions that you're taking. So you are exaggerating the impact of sustainability.
Uh, we don't want that. Nobody wants greenwashing, but neither do we want green hushing.
Green hushing hushing is when you actually are doing something, but you're not talking about it.
Possibly out of a fear of being accused of greenwashing.
But it's really super important, uh, when you start to take action to communicate that. Um, communicate through your website, through a blog, uh, through a newsletter to your guests, uh, through your digital guide, through a page, uh, on your website showing your press activity that's mentioned eco. However you can get that message out.
Sing it from the rooftops, but do not be a green usher because if people, if you want people to find you, then you need to have built that eco element into your brand and it to be absolutely clear on your listing on the OTA or wherever else you publicize that you are doing something around sustainability.
Super, super important. Next slide. Okay. Okay. Um, I wanted to, um, just, just two more slides.
Implementing eco without breaking the bank
Are there any cost-effective ways to implement sustainable practices in my holiday rental property?
I wanted to give you five simple steps because it's really important that you have something to go with tangibly that you can do. Um, I'll speed up a little bit 'cause I am conscious of time and I want to make sure there's lots of time for any questions.
-
The Green Energy Tariff
The green energy tariff, really simple. It can be any business, any home, anywhere.
Make sure you are on a green energy tariff with your electricity. Look on your bill, look on the website.
You'll find that really easy. If you are not, talk to your provider and ask to be converted to a green energy tariff in many parts of the world, that is easy to do, won't cost you any more money.
There'll be no interruption of the service.
Obviously it's the same electricity coming down the wire, but your money along with all the other people who are doing it is going to support, uh, renewable energy.
And that's what we need.
We need to move away from fossil fuels.
And when you've done it, put something on your website about it so people know simple step won't cost you any money and then you've taken some step and your energy consumption is one of the biggest parts of your, of your carbon footprint.
So what's one of the biggest impacts that you can have and one of the easiest and low cost.
2. Tech sensors
So it's really a win-win Tech sensors, this is around having sensors in the home, particularly if you are remote from your properties.
Um, so that you can turn off the heating, turn off the air conditioning, make sure there's no leaks of water, whatever.
Uh, make sure there's a movement sensor so when nobody's there, it automatically cuts in and, and reduces the energy consumption.
Um, in different parts of the world that might be more about heating or it might be about cooling, but it's a great way of reducing, uh, your energy consumption.
If you've got the technology that turns off the heating, turns off the air con, turns off the lights or whatever else is running, um, it's something really useful.
3. Eco toilet paper
Eco toilet paper I mentioned. Who gives a crap? I use that. Super easy to do. You can order it online. That's just one company. There are many other companies. It's there. It's delivered, it's branded, uh, it's funny, it's jokey. Uh, it works as toilet paper. Very important.
Um, so use it, uh, find a product that you like, uh, and use it. And I will say here, I use, who gives a crap because they give, uh, 50% of their profits to build water facilities in the developing world.
So it's a great way and Kelly and I were talking about this before the recording. It's a great way of working with companies who themselves are doing good.
You might feel very small. I just have six units here in Italy, but I can amplify my effect by working with great companies who themselves are doing good.
So, uh, that's really important.
4. Single use plastic
Um, single use plastic. Um, yeah, everybody knows about this. Um, start to think if you haven't already, how you can remove some of that single use plastic in your accommodation.
Maybe start in the bathroom.
Don't put those little bottles of shower and shampoo. Put a unit on the wall that has a pump that you can just refill. You will save money.
The guests will appreciate it. And you've got rid of a piece of single use plastic.
There are lots of things you can do around plastic. I haven't got the time to talk into them now, but there is a piece on our website, um, a blog on our website about it.
But I would encourage you to do an audit and think where you are using plastic in your home and whether you can remove it.
5. Eco-friendly web hosting
And finally on my tips, eco-friendly web hosting. So this is really about, um, the servers that run your website. We hear a lot about flying and how bad it is for the environment.
And it is bad. It counts for 4% of global greenhouse gases, but the internet in its, in its totality also accounts for 4% of global greenhouse gases.
But we're not talking about that. So think about how you can, uh, run your website using renewable energy. And there's a great, uh, website called the Green Web Foundation. Uh, you'll find the link at the bottom of our page of EnviroRental Earth.
Go to the Green Web Foundation punch in your URL.
It will instantly tell you whether your servers are run on green energy. If they are fantastic, lovely smiley face. You get a free badge, put it on your website, easy to do, seconds, you're done.
If you get the, the face that says no, sorry, you are not, then talk to your host provider and ask them why that you're not using renewable energy. So really quick and easy to do. Fingers crossed, with a bit of luck, you're already on the right platform.
And then you can put the badge on your website. Um, there are a lot more you can do around your website.
Again, I don't have time, uh, to talk about it here, but we do have a blog on our, uh, way page about, um, eco-friendly web hosting and Eco-friendly web design.
Attracting guests
How can I communicate my property's sustainability initiatives effectively to potential guests?
And finally, I just wanna repeat this message. It's super, super critical about branding your business, your website, your newsletter, your digital guide.
Get the message out however you feel appropriate using social media to talk about what you're doing, even if it's one or two simple steps.
Be out there, be proud there and talk about it because people need to know. Um, and also consider getting an accreditation.
There's accreditation schemes specifically for short-term rentals like Qalia and Sustonica. You'll find the links on our website, but there are others as well.
Once you get a badge because you've met a certain criteria, they will encourage you to take the next step and support you in that process, as will we.
But it gives you the opportunity if you've done some things and you qualify to get that badge, get that seal of approval and put it on your website.
Put it in your communication, put it in your email exchange so people know what you're doing and why you're doing it and where you're trying to go. So that's really critical.
And then just one last slide please, Kelly.
About EnviroRental
Um, I wanted to just say about EnviroRental.
We're EnviroRental.Earth. We're the go-to hub for anything around sustainability and short-term rentals.
We're a not-for-profit. Um, and our role is really to signpost sustainability for you and get you on the road. All the resources on our website are free.
They're all written specifically for property managers and hosts. Um, and through some amazing collaboration with our sponsors, they support us to allow us to do this. Um, so please think about looking on EnviroRental.earth.
You just need to register, but not, there are no charges whatsoever. And then you have access to all the free resources.
Um, and you'll be able to see everything that we do and we can guide you and help you on your journey. So I am conscious of time. I'm sorry I've had to run through that quite quickly. I hope it's been useful. Next slide. Should be any questions?
Kelly:
It is. Thank you. Great.
You, I have written down so many notes whilst talking to you and one of the big things really is about Green Hushing. 'cause I'm so conscious that there's so many things that we have been doing even from, you know, having our website evaluated.
I did that, but I didn't tell anybody I'd done it. I did it and I sat and I thought, brilliant, we're doing really well.
But I told nobody, I didn't even tell the rest of the team.
I just did it from my myself. So yeah, I am really conscious.
That's one of the big things that I've taken from today and I have noted it down along with a whole heap of, um, external links that you were talking about there, other companies.
So what I will do afterwards when I put this recording together, I'll include all the links of all the companies that you've spoken about there, and I'll put them into the newsletter as well. Um, let's have a look then at the questions and we'll work our way through.
Questions
How easy is it to get onto TripAdvisor for reviews?
Um, Paul Carter. Bob, how easy is it to get onto TripAdvisor for reviews? Does it depend on the PMS, which is a property management software company? For those that don't know, uh, does it depend on the PMS that you use?
Bob Garner:
You know, I do not know the answer to that question.
I don't use a PMS. Um, so I just registered, uh, directly with, uh, Trip Advisor.
Um, and, and in fact I think, um, it was actually holiday lettings back in those days. It was years ago.
Um, so I suggest, I assume it's easy to do and I su do, I assume your PMS can organize that for you or you can do it direct. Um, and uh, Paul's been great at doing lots of things by the way, around sustainability. So a shout out to him. Uh, he's, he's doing some amazing things.
So I'd encourage, uh, people to, to connect with Paul on LinkedIn as well. He's, he's a great guy.
Kelly:
That's really good. I should, Paul's put a couple of links there.
So there's a link through to The Guardian for something to read this afternoon, and I'll include that as well in the newsletter that I send out for all those people that can't see the comments over on the right hand side.
Have you heard if Airbnb or Vrbo will be adding a search filter for sustainability?
Uh, Jan has asked, have you heard if Airbnb or Vrbo will be adding a search filter for sustainability? I'm not fond of booking.com,
Bob Garner:
Right? Um, long conversation here. Try and give you the short version.
Vrbo are going to be doing it. They're a little bit behind booking. Um, uh, but I've, I've shared many a platform at conferences with both of them. Uh, and they're doing, they're both committed to doing it.
They both have a carbon, um, plan. And if you go to the data, uh, page of our website, um, EnviroRental.Earth, you'll find the their all their plans that what they're trying to do, what they want to do, all their survey data, it's all on our websites.
We've all, we've pulled it all together so you can find that, um, and, and analyze what they're doing.
Vrbo are a little bit behind, uh, but they are definitely committed and will be introducing it. Airbnb is somewhat of another story.
Um, they do have a plan, um, but they have a very different approach to how they educate. I use that word, uh, carefully. Uh, they're hosts.
Um, I've had some frank discussions with Airbnb and um, I doubt that they will do something impactful in the near future.
That's my polite answer. Um, so Airbnb? No, I don't think so. And if anybody is using them and is, um, and getting a lot from them, then I would encourage you to ask them what they're doing around sustainability that's actually gonna make a difference for hosts like you.
Kelly:
There is one thing that they are doing, um, from a sustainability perspective.
And that's, we were talking about this in the last event, having the option to click if you have, um, electric, electric vehicle charging as one of your, uh, facilities or part of your property.
And that is a good way of actually being able to stand out on any of the channels really that have that filter. You'll be able to be seen by people who are eco-conscious.
It doesn't cover all the other ways, but at least there is a step there with the electrical vehicles.
Bob Garner:
Yeah. And actually just on the EV charger, I would say, you know, when we got an EV charger eight or nine years ago, uh, 'cause we drive an electric car obviously.
Um, but it was great to see actually people booking with us because we had the charger. Mm-Hmm.
So they knew they were staying in our area and they had an electric car and they wanted to stay in a place where there was an electric charger on site.
So you can actually get bookings because they can find you on all the, on the charging databases simply because you've got an EV charger.
They're not expensive now you can get one for a few hundred pounds.
So I'd really encourage, uh, you to think about that, particularly if there isn't a good network near you because guests want to park up at the end of the day, plug in and not have to go down the road to get back to their accommodation.
So really think about getting an EV charger. Uh, it's a real asset and it's not expensive.
Kelly:
The charger may not be expensive, but I'm concerned about the energy costs
That is good to know. Um, okay, so Jan has asked a subsequent question about that, saying 'the charger may not be expensive, but I'm concerned about the energy costs'.
Yep. Well obviously with the new type of charger now what you can do, um, they can be wifi enabled and you can set, um, the system so that the guest is paying for their energy.
So, and you can actually create that premium. So you can make money on it if you want to. We choose not to, but you can.
So if the, if the guest has consumed 10 pounds or 10$ of energy, you can set the charges so it will charge them 12$ or 15$ or whatever you want.
So actually can be a way of recouping those costs, uh, from the installation of the charger. Um, or you can set it for, for free or whatever you want.
So the technology is there now, so you can, they will pay whatever you want them to pay.
And, and my experience, most guests are very happy to pay for the convenience of being able to charge on site, uh, while they're on their holiday. Mm-Hmm.
Kelly:
Because there is, I suppose it's not just the setup costs, but there are going to be kind of ongoing costs of actually having that facility because you will need to maintain it. Presumably you might need to replace it at a later point.
So actually having a small amount of revenue coming in that you can use to offset those costs, I think is really interesting.
Yeah.
Do you have any installation recommendations? It's a minefield on the net. Do you charge the guests or suck it up?
Um, Sarah and Steven have said, sorry we missed the last webinar on EV charging.
That's a shame. It was good, but I can send it to you.
Uh, do you have any installation recommendations? It's a minefield on the net. Do you charge the guests or suck it up?
Bob Garner:
Right. Okay.
Yeah. Um, it you, in terms of recommendations of who you use, and I think you need to find local, local providers in your area, uh, depending on where you are in the country.
Um, and we had a company on I watched, um, Kelly's webinar, uh, last month. And this was a company who, who found you the right connections in the uk.
That's right. Mm-Hmm. Um, so obviously that system and service might apply in other countries as well or other regions as well.
So you need to do a little bit of a research. Um, there are just so many companies out there, but using, using the technology that works that you can charge the guests what you need to charge, I think is really important.
There's no reason why you should be subsidizing giving them a, a free charge. They wouldn't expect if they drove turned up in a petrol car for you to fill their, their tank with petrol.
So why should they expect you to give free electricity? Um, but it's getting so common now.
It really is a no-brainer that, uh, I remember years ago, you know, I'm so old to remember, but staying in places before there was wifi, you would never dream now of staying in a place that didn't have wifi. It's like, it doesn't have water. I'm not gonna stay there, doesn't have wifi.
I'm not gonna stay there soon. You know, it may be a year or two away depending on where you are. It's going to be, people are saying, I want there to be an EV charger on site.
So if you haven't got a really good system around you that people can get to very, very easily, then there's a great advantage of having an EV charger on your site and, and you may want to drive an EV car yourself. So that's another reason to get it. It's a win-win.
Okay. Uh, Sarah and Steven.
So I'll send you the replay and you're in Kent. So actually the company that I spoke to last month might be able to help you out finding suppliers that that will work for you.
Can you recommend any places or platforms for eco products and services for rentals that you've mentioned in your presentation?
Uh, Amit, and I think this is gonna be the last question 'cause I'm conscious of time. Amit has asked, Bob, can you recommend any places or platforms for eco products and services for rentals that you've mentioned in your presentation?
Bob Garner:
Thank you. Amit.
He's referring, he's referring to our marketplace.
So, uh, he's making me laugh there.
Uh, yeah, if you go to EnviroRental.Earth and at the top of the menu you'll see marketplace and that's where we've started to create, um, a list of companies with products and services that have a sustainability element to them.
Because we are writing about this all the time through blogs and case studies. People are coming to us now and saying, well, who do I go with? Who are the good company that provide this service or this product?
So we're starting to build those up and put them in the marketplace.
Um, and they're categorized by region and by product or service. So that, that's maybe a first point if you're looking for a product or service, go there.
We're only, only in the early days of that, we've still got quite a bit more work to do, but we've got quite a lot of companies in there, so it's a great start. Thank you Amit.
Kelly:
Okay, so, uh, we're gonna finish, but let's see if you have one piece of advice that you want people, if they're gonna go away from today's session, they're gonna do one thing.
What would it be that you would ask them to do?
Bob Garner:
Super easy! Just take the first step.
Uh, just do it.
Don't think, don't overthink it.
Take one of those five steps if you like, that I talked about before. Um, just find something and do it and take the first step.
Uh, I say this all the time, it was no experience. Um, over the last years. Sustainability is a little bit like eating crisps, um, or potato chips for the Americans.
If anybody's listening, you can't just have one. They're a bit addictive.
You've gotta have another, you've gotta have another. Sustainability for me is like that because you do something, you see the benefit, you feel good, the planet's good, the guest is happy, you take the next step.
It's a virtuous circle. So just take that first step and review and brand your business as sustainable.
Be honest and open about what you've done, even if it's one step.
And talk about the things that you are going to do in the future that's not greenwashing and that's not green hushing. And that's what we want.
So just take that first step.
Kelly:
That's perfect. Okay, thank you. Uh, I have a slide here, uh, which is our contact details.
What's the best way that you, people can contact you if they have any questions or want to talk about it any further?
Bob Garner:
Yep. Yeah, catch me on email at Bob at EnviroRental.Earth. Um, you've got the website there.
Um, you'll find, um, EnviroRental on LinkedIn. You'll find me on LinkedIn, Bob Garner Easy. I'm on there every day.
Just connect, um, with me, uh, ask any questions, send us an email and we'll try and help you.
Um, and of course, uh, register on the website so you can start to explore all the resources.
Fantastic. Okay. And if you're looking to speak to the Bookster team, you're more than welcome to get in touch with us on, uh, email, on our website, on chat.
You can call us. And we also have drop-in sessions every week. I think I'm in it tomorrow, so you'll get my friendly face again, thank you so much to you Bob.
Thank you. I always love speaking to you. I've taken so many notes.
Um, but thank you to everybody else who's come along and given up part of their evening to, to listen to this. I hope you found it useful.
I hope you've been inspired and I look forward to seeing you at the next one. Thanks. Bye-Bye. Thanks very much. Bye.
In conclusion, Bob Garner of EnviroRental provides valuable insights and practical tips for holiday rental owners looking to attract eco-friendly guests.
By embracing sustainable practices, highlighting eco-friendly features, offering green transportation options, and engaging with green certifications and partnerships, holiday rental owners can differentiate their properties and appeal to the growing market of eco-conscious travellers.
As the demand for sustainable tourism continues to rise, prioritising sustainability in holiday rental properties not only benefits the environment but also enhances the guest experience and strengthens the reputation of the property.
By adopting these tips and techniques, holiday rental owners can position themselves as leaders in eco-friendly hospitality and contribute to a more sustainable future for the travel industry.