Partnering Up Turns Rentals into Community Builders
Hosts who collaborate with local businesses are seeing 20-47% more bookings. Here's how to turn your neighbors into your best growth strategy.
Why Today’s Travelers Want a Taste of Your Town
According to the Adventure Travel Trade Association, over 70 percent of modern travelers now seek out locally owned accommodations, experiences, and eateries. In 2023, cultural experiences such as city walking tours, museum visits, and artisan-led classes dominated tour bookings, according to Booking.com’s Trends Report.
Guests want to meet the makers, taste the town, and walk Main Street. You can help them do it.
“Community is the new amenity, and collaboration is the check-in.”
How Hosts Are Growing With Local Allies
When hosts collaborate with local businesses, they do not just improve their marketing. They improve their place.
For example, Airbnb’s Italy Rural Tourism Initiative saw a 25 percent boost in rural bookings when hosts partnered with lesser-known towns to promote unique experiences. The program funneled foot traffic to small museums, cafes, and markets in under-visited areas.
Similarly, Airbnb’s 2023 Host Report found that properties offering bundled local experiences saw a 47 percent lift in seasonal bookings compared to similar listings that did not.
Collaborative stays also help hosts earn more and review better. Guests perceive greater value when they experience the community alongside their lodging. Airbnb data shows that experience-based packages offer a 15-20% premium over standard listings in the same market.
Why This Matters Now
When you collaborate, you don’t just market your property, you strengthen your place. A seaside rental partnering with a surf instructor and local taco stand becomes more than lodging; it becomes a story travelers want to live.
Consider this: Airbnb’s collaboration with the Italian government to promote under-touristed towns resulted in a 25% rise in bookings for rural properties in 2023. When vacation rentals become gateways rather than endpoints, locals gain foot traffic, guests gain connection, and tension around rentals eases overnight.
Properties that collaborate with local events see a 47% increase in seasonal bookings, according to Airbnb’s 2023 Host Report. And here’s the kicker: vacation rentals offering local experience packages command 15-20% higher nightly rates.
Cooperation and partnership aren’t just good citizenship; they’re good business.
Four Ways to Build a Main Street Package
1. Bundle the Value, Share the Story
Example: Partner with a taqueria, local guide, and bookstore. Guests get 10 dollars off lunch, a two-hour walking tour (40 dollar value), and a 10 dollar shop credit. You charge 59 dollars as a package add-on. Guests save 11 dollars, and you can either split the revenue 60/40 with your partners or keep the margin if partners offer perks at no cost.
2. Co-Market Where It Counts
Use Instagram or Facebook Reels to co-promote partners. Repost user-generated content and tag each other. AirDNA’s 2023 trend report suggests co-marketing significantly boosts engagement, with some hosts reporting up to 2x increases.
3. Make Maps That Tell a Story
Use Canva to design a printable passport. Place it in welcome folders or add a QR code by the front door. Highlight who runs each business, what they offer, and why you recommend them. This small gesture makes your community feel curated and personal.
4. Automate Without Losing the Personal Touch
Set up a pre-arrival email using Mailchimp or your property management software to go out 48 hours before check-in. Introduce guests to your top three local picks, explain what makes them special, and include direct booking links or directions.
Start with one email, one tag, one bundle. Small actions build trust.
One Farm-Fresh Partnership That Grew a Community
In rural northern Wisconsin, Bark Point Ventures, a vacation rental company with over 40 properties, launched a hyperlocal farm goods program in partnership with the nonprofit Authentic Superior. Guests pre-order produce, meats, and handmade goods before arrival. The items are delivered to their cabin before check-in, and guests pay producers directly.
The results by 2025: over 25,000 dollars in direct revenue for local farmers annually. One farmer said it helped her pay off her farm mortgage. Owner J. Erin Hutchinson calls it “enormously popular,” citing “countless positive guest comments” and an increase in repeat stays.
This is not just a feel-good initiative. It is a working model for how rentals can become essential parts of their communities.
Use AI to Save Time, Not Replace Connection
AI does not create connections, but it can make the behind-the-scenes work smoother. Here is how hosts are using it today:
Weekly partner updates: Summarize communications with three or more vendors into a single guest-facing blurb.
Faster writing: Draft pre-arrival emails or Instagram captions, then adjust for your tone.
Smarter review tracking: Scan reviews for recurring mentions of local favorites so you know what is resonating.
Try This Prompt:
I run a [vacation rental or small hotel] in [location].
Here are 3 to 5 local partners nearby: [list].
Please generate:
- Three “Stay + Experience” packages (name + short description)
- One guest-facing social caption per package
Tone: community-rooted, warm, not corporate.
Start with businesses you personally patronize. Authenticity matters more than perfect partnerships.
Copy this into ChatGPT or your preferred tool and test a few options that match your vibe.
What drives me.
Around the world, short-term rentals often face criticism — seen as disruptive or disconnected from local life. But when owners and hosts invest in their neighborhoods, promote local businesses, and create meaningful guest connections, they become part of the community, not apart from it.
That’s what drives my passion: helping hospitality operators build bridges, not just bookings — one conversation, one collaboration, and one great stay at a time.
What’s working in your town?
Have you partnered with a local business? Drop your stories in the comments. We’d love to hear how collaboration is building your bookings and your community.
Completely agree. This is one way that the little guy/gal has an advantage over bigger corporate names. People prefer working with the local business once they've established trust.
Yes totally agree with this thinking. It makes so much sense and literally everyone wins, guest, venue and local businesses. I was recently suggesting similar ideas to a UK distillery, e.g. distillery tour and a stay at the local hotel for a bundle price.