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Ilaria - Community Manager
Question of the week: How do you make sure guests can find your property?
Location, location, location. It’s important when you buy a house – and certainly when you go on holiday.
Guests have to be able to find your place easily when they arrive, although sometimes that’s easier said than done.
Naturally, it starts with making sure your location is correctly configured online. But maybe you’re based in the middle of the countryside, or in a location where street signs are hard for foreign visitors to read – and that’s when it gets tricky.
We’d love to know how you make sure your guests can get to your property easily. Do you get in touch with them beforehand? If so, how? And what kind of information do you share?
Leave a comment and let us know!
Ilaria thanks for posting this very sensitive topic. My location is certainly not the ideal. Hidden in the woods with road signs only in Greek language and not even shown in Google maps. Guests that are familiar with GPS and Google maps is easy for them to find us but guests that are not often get lost and as soon as they call me I go and meet them and bring them to my property. Although I send them detailed instructions they ignore them and of course they get lost. Since our road is unnamed I insist they use the pin shown in the booking listing but some of them just don’t follow instructions, especially Greek guests. In my listing I also have pictures with detailed google maps showing exactly where my property is. Communication is the key, but both parties have to cooperate....
I have definately the same problem - or even worse - because google maps shows wrong way to us (forest road doesn't exist in google maps).. Every time I send very detailed maps and road description, but unfortunatelly some of guest don't check their email boxes..
We have simular-named properties on both sides of the road on a mountaintop i Norway - I have to figure out a way to direct my costumers to my property.. But like M Adamopoulou said, communication is the key...
You should have your hotel properly marked on Google Maps, Open Street Maps and HERE.com. You should get your correct GPS co-ordinates from a site called https://getlatlong.net/. When you drag the pointer to your location, it will show you your correct Co-ordinates below. You can copy them and share with your guest. So you can send your guest map location on Google and also give them GPS Co-ordinates. Plus you can give them the directions as clear as possible. In my directions, I bring them to a particular well know landmark and from there I give them clear instructions on how to find us. EG: Come of the station gate no2, then walk straight for 20 meters. Then from the TPoint turn right. Continue walking straight, you will notice XXX on right after 100 meters, then YYY on left after 200 meters and so on. This wil help anyone come to your property with ease. If you are in some rural area, then you can mention any house, any building etc.
Our Hotel is just 5 km from the Tribhuwan international Airport (TIA) Kathmandu,Nepal.Our hotel is Located in the real heart of thamel,Kathmandu popularly known as a saatghumpti or Seven corner street in Thamel. You can catch a prepaid taxi or ask hotel for pickup service.We are the same street to Biggest trekking gear store known as Kalapatthatar store or Just opposite of Burger house and Electric pagoda Restaurant. We always request our customer to get the airport pickup service from the hotel after they book us with email template from booking.com. Many customer request to pick them up from airport and few customer like to come hotel by themself so for their convenience we always ask them to download our offline City map like maps me or google or Download from Booking.com. we always provide our official contact to customer after they book us so they also can directly contact us for support if any inconvenience in case.
See you soon in Kathmandu,Nepal.
Best Regards:
Devendra Karki
We email the guests very specific directions. We have noticed that GPS doesn't always work in the mountains...not just for our property but in general. So we include VERY specific directions in our arrival packet information.
We have the same problem with being of the beaten track. There are two ways to get to our property in Tumacacori, Arizona, USA. The shortest involves driving through a running creek that is usually 10-12 inches deep year round. There is an alternate route that takes about 7 extra minutes, but no water crossing (there’s a bridge). Added to that choice fir guests is that we have minimal lighting around us, so I try to get guests to check in early, when it is still light out.
I usually email prospective guests two days before their arrival and ask what they are driving and if they want directions via the short cut (they the water) or the primary way. This has worked well for the most part, but since we don’t get the guests’ ‘actual’ email address, I find that they don’t look st what I send them about directions and then they in a panic. I try to call if I don’t hear from them 24 hrs in advance but sibetines that doesn’t work either. It can be really frustrating to not hear from guests til the last minute and then they’re upset about the challenge of getting to the house. Once we get them to us, they love it, but two out of our only three negative comments had to do with this issue.
At this point, our plan is to recheck our Google location as suggested, since both Google and Siri send folks to the neighbors front gate. I also want to do a video of both ways to get to the house and post it on YouTube. My friends did that and it’s very clear.
Thanks for posting! Katie
Casapalomabandb thanks for idea about the video's. will for sure need to try that . I do agree with the BDC emails - guests do not much check to respond via that yes
Upon first contact from reservation or request from guests we would immediately respond with directions either via mail, sms or whatsapp. I would also if it is a dark night drive the guests in - meaning I would meet them at a specific beacon close to our village - 10min drive - and wait for them there in the meantime constantly texting or calling to make sure they are on the right track .. especially a first time traveller to SA or Western Cape I do that. It is scary for all to travel anywhere at night, thus easing that travel anxiety - and up till now has proven to be quite effective
- a second option is also to make sure guests know where we are by asking these questions per correspondence and guide them to look it up before their departure
-if travelling by rental cars of uber we ask them to before leaving the airport to give us a call that we speak to the drivers ourselves - thus hearing our voices and making sure they know we are awaiting their arrival
Eish Ilaria some of our biggest past problems were
1. guest do not know their geographical areas very well (they have read the website and the brochure and all mails send to them .....and would say "we do not see a wine farm" and say we false advertise as we are a village within - we are located in Cape Winelands - the region -
2. location (for some whom wants to be degrading and racist) means an area previously by SA apartheid laws zoned as a black neighbourhood usually on the outskirts of town now labelled as township too - and as we are in a village not all homes are large and well taken care of .. for many reasons but caring... so not for all of us not by choice , but by birth and life and thus starting our businesses in our hometowns.
we now have less than 0. 1% issues with guests trying to find us.
God bless, Benita
It seems you have an issue with being remote. As you say, most guests are Google Map specialists and find you - but many guests come totally unprepared with zero research on the property or even the country.
Our problems are less than yours - but we suffer from one way syndrome, our town making a series of roads one way so if you go wrong a long loop around is necessary to get back on track.More amazingly, those who take taxis from the airport usually have their taxi driver phone us asking directions!
My suggestion would be to do airport transfers if you close enough to the airport. Not only do you pick up your guest and deliver them safely to your door, you get time to achieve a good rapport with your guest in the trip back. Lastly, it is a good alternative form of income - we charge €3 less than the airport taxi service and still turn a healthy profit.
yes, this is a problem when guests come unprepared.
Hi, I do not think it is very difficult. We send our apartment address and google location map via whatsapp. Google map is good except 14-17 meters. I do not think that it should be problem for anyone in locating our house. We do not find problems with foreigners but we have noticed the problem arises with domestic guests in locating the house..
Hi! guys
I agree.... with foreigners we have no problems. They follow our instructions and using their GPS they find our property. The domestic guests dont always use their GPS, most of them think that they know the rural area and of course they get lost....ha...ha...so I have to go and pick them up.
Cheers!!!
With domestic guests, I have seen this problem that they feel they know all while foreigners come well prepared and land in the house. When I am sending my current location, it is easy to follow map and rest use brain. Nothing else is required.
yes Ish, that's true foreigners also with us find us, but the domestic travellers like you say just need to follow the instructions I suppose one feels familiar and ok with following instinct rather than the map- hillarious but the nature of the beast for sure - I have been quilty many a time thus just laughing about it. God bless. Benita
Dearest Maria you give me a good laugh on this very cold winters day in at Lumley's Place Guesthouse today - Yes i also need to go fetch the locals around the corner... and us being off the beaten track as they would say - but its only a small village 1min off the highway - God Bless
Hi Benita!!!
Winter??? Oh my God!!! Our Summer just began and it is very hot...
We enjoy swimming every day in our nearby beach with lovely friends and have fun till late in the afternoon or night...
Laughs...laughs...more laughs....life is to short for worries...I am sure our fellow partner Michael agrees...
Dear Benita I checked out you beautiful place!!! Your property is excellent....delicious breakfasts, stunning colors, amazing garden...big...big... beds not only for sleeping... your guests must adore them.
Please have a look at your no. 24 picture. It’s not in the right side, at least in my iPhone.
Wish your winter days are warm and relaxing.
Cheers!!!