Marketing tips
Making Your Vacation Rental More LGBT+ Friendly: A Path to Diverse and Happy Guests
14 Feb 2024
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By Sophie Eminson
As we celebrate LGBT+ History Month, we’re challenging the status quo and embracing diversity. One important factor is ensuring that your vacation rental property is inclusive to all travellers, no matter their gender or sexuality. So let’s embark on a journey of growth for rental hosts one and all.
Dictionaries Speak a Universal Language
Communication is the cornerstone of any successful hospitality endeavor. Your words, whether typed or spoken, have the might to inspire comfort or sow seeds of discomfort. Reimage your property's description, welcome packs, and online communications to employ gender-neutral language. Remove the ‘sirs’ and ‘madams’ from your vocabulary and instead discuss your ‘guests’ and ‘travellers’.
Instead of ‘his and hers,’ offer ‘ours.’ Even something as small as presenting a shared bathroom as ‘guest bathroom’ can work wonders. Offer sanitary products in every bathroom, matching robes and towels.
A Local Guide, In Every Sense
When considering your welcome pack, you may include local bars, cafes and restaurants. Your recommendations on local eateries and haunts should echo the same depth of inclusivity. In your welcome pack, suggest that delightful new bistro without any qualifiers, or stand-out quiz night at a local LGBT+ friendly bar. To your guests, these aren’t recommendations—they are your own personal roadmap of a community that’s ready to embrace them.
When The Bunting Flies High
Finally, let's celebrate. Know the date of your local pride event and deck your rental in full technicolor to honor the patrons who make it vibrant. In honor of the festivities, don't just add a flag; adorn your space with care and thought. If you've ever seen a room decked for Mardi Gras, you know that exuberance can be a decorum all its own.
Is this strictly about LGBT+ friendliness? Absolutely not. The steps you take to embrace diversity serve a wider courtyard of humanity. Each change makes your rental a haven of belonging and recognition. In the last measure, making your vacation rental LGBT+ friendly is not just about flying a flag, or replacing ‘Mr. and Mrs.' with ‘Mx.’ It’s the subtle shift in attitude, the welcoming space you craft, and the true universality of belonging that you offer. Open your doors to everyone. Once we do that, we truly embrace the breadth of what it means to be human.
