- Partner
Beyond the Stay: What Vacation
Rental Guests Are Really Looking For
- September 13, 2023
Anyone working in the luxury travel vacation sector knows that you’ve got to bring your A-game every time you interact with your customers. It’s not as straightforward as sourcing a beautiful house, posting your listing, and sitting back to wait for luxury travelers to come knocking on your door.
Along with a top-notch place to stay, you have to provide your luxury guests with an amazing experience. Something that will make them say, “Wow! That was fantastic,” and inspire them to book with you again and again. And that takes more than bricks and mortar and a website.
It takes investing time and money to build the infrastructure that will make those amazing experiences happen. Having the right connections in the marketplace and paying attention to the details that will enable the delivery of those incredible services are key.
You are in the business of providing top-quality experiences that savvy travelers expect when they pay top dollar. So let’s dive into what’s important to luxury travelers and what you can do to ensure you’re able to provide it.
What’s important to luxury travelers?
So, who are luxury travelers and what exactly are they looking for? They are high net-worth individuals who have considerable disposable income and aren’t afraid to spend money on travel.
They know what they like, and what they don’t like, but also appreciate being surprised and delighted.
Most importantly, they expect to get their money’s worth, specifically when it comes to the uniqueness and authenticity of the experience. How it makes them feel is just as important as where they lay their heads down at night.
The experience can’t feel like it’s “off the shelf.” It has to be specialized to each destination and traveler to provide an authentic feel. This is where KEY’s customized hospitality service and portfolio of activities work wonders.
“One of the things I really appreciated about KEY’s services is that they offered activities that I hadn’t thought of,” said a recent KEY customer, Darla. “I am pretty well-traveled, so I have a pretty good idea of what to expect when I go somewhere. But on my recent trip, I was pleasantly surprised with what was available to do.”
KEY spends considerable time and effort vetting and working with local vendors to carefully select individuals and businesses that can best serve KEY’s discerning luxury travelers. This level of attention to detail allows us to curate one-of-a-kind experiences.
A one-stop shop and ease of communications
This is definitely not breaking news, but it’s worth a mention — people go on vacation to rest and relax, and they want to be able to do it with relative ease. The last thing they want is to have to communicate with a dozen different people about the various items on their itineraries.
“For my buddy’s 40th birthday, a couple of us took him to Palm Springs for the weekend,” highlights another KEY customer, Taylor. “We had a lot of moving pieces, so it was really nice to be able to count on KEY to help us book our activities. I found their website easy to navigate. It had everything we wanted to do there, all in one place. We booked a round of golf and an awesome chef through KEY.”
Providing guests with access to KEY’s in-home services and local experiences gives them that one-stop-shop convenience. Combined with excellent customer service, it really takes their experience to a whole new level.
These are pieces of a relatively simple concept, and it’s what luxury travelers ultimately want from their travel experience — pure bliss.
What luxury travelers want: peace of mind
One of KEY’s most valuable assets is providing the customer, and the property manager, with peace of mind. Both parties can rest assured that everything will run smoothly. And if an issue arises — as they do from time to time — KEY’s concierge team will be on top of it immediately.
At the end of the day, that’s what luxury travelers really want. To be able to relax and enjoy their well-earned time off, and know that the money they spent on their experience was well worth it.
“We had a family vacation that included 17 people, and the ages ranged from 1 to 71. It was really difficult to find something that would be able to cater to everyone in our group,” related another recent KEY customer, Mary.
“We wanted to have something for the kids, so they could feel special, but also for the adults to enjoy as well. The chef we booked through KEY made separate meals for the kids and then for the adults. She was wonderful, and it really made that family vacation extra special.”
Catering to their guests’ specific needs matters to property managers because it’s such an important part of the equation, but it takes a lot of time and effort. If they don’t get this part right, however, all the other work done will be for naught. Allowing KEY to handle the hospitality details frees up property managers’ time so they can focus on other important tasks, like growing the business.
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