[FESTIVAL] Sustainability with personality!

[Anna1403]

Have you lost your sustainability mojo a little? Then this post is for you! You might be about to start or are some way along your sustainable hosting journey; you might know what you want to do i.e. help your guests recycle better, reduce their waste and their energy usage and encourage them to both enjoy and look after the local community and environment while they are staying at your listing. There are so many ways you can communicate this sort of stuff to your guests - for instance, you could pop some labels around your listing, we have an eco policy in our listing description and have photos which show the sort of things we do. Of course, this is all great and helps to set the right tone if you like, but does it actually work? We all know that not all guests like reading and / or they just might not be quite on the same page as you yet when it comes to sustainability, so how do we reach these guests and bring them with us on our sustainability journey?? 

What makes Airbnb so special is the uniqueness of every single host and every single listing, and for me, my whole outlook on sustainability changed when I realised that I should give this area just as much personality as I do my listing and truly celebrate it - remember, we can make this serious stuff fun too and all part of the guest experience. It can be such a great way to connect with guests, get them excited about traveling sustainably and also show them how much you care! I’ve actually found that if you can reach a guest through one fun way, the other stuff often just flows - if you make them think and appreciate the unique beauty of where you are for instance or share your passion for your local community from a sustainability point of view, suddenly they are more mindful of the litter and waste they may create and you’ll find they also want to be part of your special community and support the same local eco makers and shakers. 

Use your imagination and think about how your space and local environment work best together to add to the experience and really make you stand out as a host too! To spark some ideas here are just a few of my own examples and others I’ve heard from fellow hosts:

• Pop a blackboard in your listing where you can post up local beach / litter picks etc and encourage guests to write or draw what they have done! Children LOVE litter pickers so pop a couple in your listing.
• Have a great welcome guide with all the best local things to see and do and places to eat / shop that are also sustainably minded - encourage guests to write down their favourites for future guests - you could use a map, cards and a pinboard!
• I designed some colouring sheets for our younger guests to take on a rock pool beach hunt which also offer fun games and tips about how to look after our beaches!
• Leave some eco welcome gifts - e.g. takeaway bee friendly plant seeds always go down well! 
• Do a bit of research and meet your local businesses and neighbours! From one chance conversation we met a local guy in our village who makes soap and shampoo bars for us from seaweed from our local beach, just his story alone of a plastic free initiative has inspired so many of our guests!
• Leave out some bird seed and binoculars for guests to use while staying with you, a great opportunity to leave a note about the local wildlife too!
• Offer a ‘borrow shed’ - buckets and spades, bodyboards etc to save on disposable tourist waste
• Handmade sustainable gifts go down so well with guests because they really mean something - I am all about the little handmade special touches in our listings! I make willow wreath hearts for guests celebrating special occasions and make little welcome gifts like jam from our hedgerows. So simple but SO effective!

Are you doing sustainability with personality in your listing?? Please share below what is working for you and your guests!

[Katja202]

@Anna1403 All the things above 😉😀 except the kids stuff. It is a tiny house and it just fits 2 persons. We also have a compost toilet and helofyte filter so if you stay with us you can almost close the waist circle! People love the experience and see that it isn’t just hippie stuff 😂

[Laurelle3]

@Anna1403 thank you for ideas. I like of the seek and find for children at the rockpool. I cuurently make a colouring book for each child that stay with their name on. We also make a boat for welcoming children with their name on.

We have printed walking and cycling tracks in our local area for guests to explore. I am currently working on our sustainable page for our manuel but I think I need to put it in our guest opening page on Airbnb webpage.

The boat is made from recycled wood and I print their name on the sail. 

[Mary-And-Larry0]

The boat is really cute. Is that a gift for your guest?

[Laurelle3]

@Mary-And-Larry0 yes we make these as a welcome for the kids on arrival and they can take them home. I found the idea on pinterest. They would be a good fund raiser for pre schools or for birthday parties.

[Anna1403]

What a fabulous idea!! I know my two children would be beyond thrilled with this!

[Deirdre122]

This is wonderful... it's getting me thinking what I can include as a take-away from my wildlife safari experience as a reminder to be more conscious of our impact on wildlife and our environment. Thank you.