The competition to make your vacation rental stand out from the rest is getting tougher by the day.
Beautifully furnished rental properties are easy enough to arrange, but a couch can only be so nice to look at. In order to offer something truly unique, vacation rental interior design needs to go beyond the aesthetics.
The perfect solution?
Turn your modern vacation home into a walk-in exhibition.
One little blank square with infinite potential.
The Potential of Vacation Home Design
Before proceeding, let’s be clear – we’re NOT saying that you should convert your home into a museum and become a curator.
What we’re saying is: YOU have an opportunity to provide enriching information and culture to your guests the moment they walk through the door – and to profit big from it.
Every great trip begins with a glance around a new town, wondering who built the buildings, or how old the oldest book in the library is. While some of these answers will always be left to the imagination, there is so much local culture that fits right into any home (and also makes a captivating impression in your listing description).
Learning about local culture is important because the present is a product of the past. Understanding the past helps people make sense of what they see around them today. And one thing is certain no matter where you go: every town, large and small, has had its share of passionate writers, painters, craftsmen, and plenty of stories to call its own.
If that doesn’t sell you…what we’re really saying is that incorporating works of culture into your rental is a property value goldmine.
Most property managers and homeowners will try every idea in the book except this one, even though it’s guaranteed to attract more guests, convert more bookings, generate killer reviews, and increase your property value. Whether you’re working with short-term furnished apartments or modern vacation homes, there are many ways to adorn your property with cultural significance – and give your guests a one-of-a-kind experience.
You can’t bring the Mariachi band home, but you CAN have a record ready to play!
Bringing Meaning Into Your Short-Term Furnished Apartment
Property managers have been repeating the same few tactics for a while now: pursuing the most visibility, writing the perfect listing description, and attaching the perfect property photos. Today we’re shifting our focus to the things you can give them that they won’t find anywhere else.
Local Art
Put decorations around the home that include influential artists from the area.
Wall art is a great place to start. Some famous examples include a Basquiat piece in a New York City flat, or a Hokusai scroll in Tokyo. Sculpture can be placed on table tops or standing upright in room corners, such as a Rodin piece in Paris, or a work of Boccioni’s in Milan. Even furniture can display the cultural characteristics of a certain place or time, so keep an eye out for residential craftsmen who take pride in bringing both beautiful form and function to their medium.
They’ve been waiting for you…probably for over a decade.
Local Environment
These days, the art of landscaping is more often than not used to overpower the natural ecosystem of an area. And while some may be impressed that you imported that special flower from across the world, it doesn’t exactly speak to the fact that they chose THIS destination to visit – not the other one.
With many different habitats around the world that are all beautiful in their own right, your guests only have this short-lived vacation to learn about yours. That’s why incorporating plants that are native to the area is an easy and beautiful way for your guests to get a deeper understanding of their destination.
You can bring potted plants and flowers inside, and fit native grass and flowers in the lawn, or trees – maybe even growing fruit for your guests to taste – around the building. You might even consider using building wood from the trees of your home’s habitat, such as the redwoods of the Pacific Coast.
Local Geology
Everything above sea level is on rocks of some sort, right? While we don’t usually see much in the big cities, there are so many types of rock around the world, and they are all so different! That’s why if you’re looking to incorporate some native building materials in or around your house, such as the near-totally limestone architecture of Jerusalem, it’ll give extra character to the home to use rocks native to the area.
Consider replacing your marble kitchen and bathroom counters, brick fireplaces, front steps, or other garden landscaping with pieces of the same earth your home and guests are standing on.
It’s prettier than you thought, isn’t it?
Local Geography
Where in the world are you, anyway? Put everything into perspective with a map – or even a few! A state, national, or world map can create a powerful experience, while a local map will outline the town’s layout, offering an interesting and helpful understanding of the city planning that can often confuse tourists.
To give your space something extra cool, find an old map that illustrates how different the area once was, and put it on the wall or table in your furnished rental property. If possible, provide some pointers that denote good sightseeing around the area.
Of course, it should be considered that some decorations may require an extra bit of explanation – you wouldn’t want your guests trying to navigate their way around town with a map from another century.
Teaching Through Artistic Touches
Of all the ways to create a memorable experience for guests, fostering their connection to a new city is both memorable and rare. Additionally, it will come around to benefit your business by helping your listing stand out from the rest, and come highly recommended. By bringing pieces of the past into your modern vacation homes and short-term furnished apartments, your property value can skyrocket and your guests can see history all around – and even feel transported to another time.
But who has the time for these details, you ask?
That’s a great question with an even better answer.
Everybody knows that property managers have a lot on their plate – but not everybody knows how much time they can save by using the right property management software.
With a good PMS, you’ll market and scale your business more, drown in trivial day-to-day trials less, and even have time to yourself that you thought you’d given up on forever. Guests who can’t get enough of your property will just be the cherry on top of your property management pie.
Guesty’s talented marketing team is comprised of passionate professionals who share insightful industry knowledge and shape brand narratives. By bringing a diverse blend of expertise to the table, we are the visionary architects behind the Guesty brand and innovative campaigns that help people understand our product.
