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Choosing to book your stay in vacation home rentals instead of major hotel chains can make a big difference in the places you visit.
Your Impact on Communities as a Traveler
Travel is a wonderful way to explore new places and experience different cultures. However, there’s a certain caveat that when we travel, we must consider how we can leave a significant impact on the places we visit just as they leave an impact on us. For each of our away-from-home travels, it all starts with our smallest choices.
Do we buy coffee from a multinational coffeehouse chain or from a small local shop? Do we purchase souvenirs from a mall or from street stands? Do we check into a familiar major hotel or immerse at a locally-owned rental property?
When enjoying our away-from-home vacations, it’s easy to forget to be mindful of our actions. Luckily, Rent By Owner has a solution, and it all begins with booking your stay at a vacation home rental.
How Choosing Vacation Rentals Empowers Local Communities
Yes. It does, in fact, make a huge difference when we choose to stay at a vacation home rental instead of in, say, a multinational hotel chain. This is especially true when we’re traveling far from home.
Where we choose to spend our time dictates who we’ll come to interact with. Who we interact with dictates where we’ll spend our money. And where we spend our money dictates who benefits from our purchase, whether large corporations or small to medium-sized business owners.
Making Meaningful Connections
Let’s break down how staying at a vacation rental empowers local communities:
Choosing to stay in a vacation rental allows you to connect with local property owners, managers, and neighbors. This not only gives you a more personalized and high-touch experience, but it also fosters meaningful relationships with the people in the community.
By getting to know locals and supporting their businesses, you are not only enriching your travel experience, but you are also contributing to the economic growth of the locale.
Empowering Local Economies
It’s not difficult to see how staying in a vacation rental means you are supporting local businesses. Most vacation rentals are owned and operated by individuals or small companies from the places you visit, and the money you spend goes directly to the locals. This helps boost the area’s economy and even creates more jobs in the community.
By choosing to spend your money on local products, services, and experiences, you are helping to ensure the long-term sustainability of the area. Moreover, you’re helping prevent tourism leakage when traveling far from home. Tourism leakage is a phenomenon that occurs when money leaves a local community to benefit larger, sometimes overseas corporations.
In fact, a study by the U.S. Travel Association found that for every $100 spent on travel, $47 stays in the local community when using a rental service. In contrast, only $5 stays in the local community when using a national chain hotel. By choosing to support local businesses, you’re helping to create more opportunities for its residents, which ultimately benefits the entire community in the long term.
Respecting Heritage
Traveling is definitely more than just sightseeing or trying out new delicacies. More can be had in immersing ourselves in the local culture and learning about the community’s history and traditions.
When we stay in a vacation rental, we gain the opportunity to experience the local way of life and learn about its heritage. Vacation home rentals are often seated at the heart of the locality, as most are also considered residential properties.
Having easy access to local culture means we can also support local artisans and craftsmen. It’s more convenient to purchase their handmade goods and products as opposed to scouring the mall for keepsakes, often with a heftier price tag. The best thing about supporting these artisans and craftsmen is that we can help preserve their cultural heritage by buying locally.
Protecting And Preserving Local Flora And Fauna
Tourism does have a significant impact on the natural environment, but there are ways to minimize it.
For one, choosing a vacation rental over a hotel during your away-from-home travels means decreased patronage for commercial establishments. This can help prevent overdevelopment in localities and keep the natural environment intact.
Additionally, many vacation rental owners take the initiative to implement eco-friendly practices in their homes. There are those that use solar panels or provide recycling bins for guests. By staying in a vacation rental that prioritizes sustainability, you can reduce your environmental impact while still enjoying your trip.
Preserving Local Architecture
Many vacation rental properties are uniquely designed with local culture in mind. Some are even old heritage houses, while others are an integral part of the locale’s history. When we opt to stay in these types of properties, our rental fees go towards their preservation and maintenance.
Supporting Local Non-Profit Organizations
Many vacation rental owners are involved in supporting local non-profit organizations, and staying at their rental property can help contribute to these efforts. If you want to be more proactive with your sustainable travel practices, a little research goes a long way. You may even contact and ask property managers and owners themselves.
In conclusion, every choice we make whenever we venture far from home has an impact on the communities we visit. By making conscious decisions and supporting small and medium-sized businesses, we can contribute to the economic growth and sustainable development of the places we visit.
Make Better Choices With Rent By Owner
Looking to make a positive impact on the communities you visit while traveling? Choose vacation rentals through Rent By Owner!
We believe in supporting local businesses and communities, so we partnered with reputable OTAs, property managers, and homeowners. While ensuring we can support local businesses, we also guarantee that the rentals you stay in are clean, safe, and secure.
Let us know where you plan to go next!
TLDR
Opting to stay at vacation rentals or your away-from-home travels over large hotel chains offers a significant positive impact on the local communities we visit. By supporting local businesses and non-profits, we not only contribute to the area’s economic growth but also help preserve its cultural heritage and natural environment. Booking with Rent By Owner can help you make more conscious choices and make a difference as a responsible traveler.
