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I am excited to offer you all early access to Pearlshare’s new local travel guide builder. I’m not allowed to give too much away, but here is what I can reveal:
You will be able to create local area guides - add all of your favourite places to eat, drink and things to do on one easy-to-share link.
The guides aren’t attached to your listing - each guide you create can be used for any number of properties.
The best guides created will be featured as part of the official launch campaign.
It allows you much more flexibility than the traditional “guidebook” feature that Airbnb offer - please take a look and let me know what you think. Sign up here: pearlshare.com/hosts
Between and Yelp and Tripadvosir. I think people have all the info they need already
and I’d rather have the guest research and make a decision instead of them counting on my recommendation. Like Billy-Bob says, places change rapidly and we’re to busy cleaning rooms to keep up.
BB…your experience is similar to mine. I only wish we had an Olive Garden, TGIF just for mediocre consistency. I have been contemplating what to put together because I do get guests asking for recommendations.
I now have 3 that consistenly receive excellent reviews. I didn’t even know about the little gem that is only a few miles from the rental and offers a three course meal menu prepared by the chef daily. Kids are not made welcome…no high chairs or booster seats - and no kids menu. Many restaurants in my area open up and the owners have never even worked in the restaurant business. Or they mimic every other redneck menu of chicken finger and fries basket, etc. My town has a little over 1,100 full time residents and you know if Sally is cooking that night then your meal should be good, but if Roger is cooking then expect non-seasoned cold food that he slapped on a plate. So I decided to only stick with the three recommendations and then list the others and places where you wiil pay for the lake view but food is nothing spectacular. Haven’t figured out how to word that yet.
But the one and only major grocery down the street does have country plates for $5 which is cool for those on a budget who don’t mind eating anything fried, grease laden, etc. But then it depends on who is working too. The country plate is the mystery meat/casserole/spaghetti bake of the day with two sides and a tiny square roll, or 4 chicken tenders with same sides, etc. But your chicken tenders may be dried out and employee only gave you three. Nothing wrong with three if they equal the size of four…but sometimes that doesn’t happen…and they are sooooo dry. Then another time you get four nice size chicken tenders that were pulled from the fryer when they were juicy. Inconsistency definitely sucks when it comes to recommendations.
We just made a website with recommendations and info that our guests find useful. It’s part of our check-in package and has maps, walking tours and links to other city blogs that are up to date on food & event reviews. Guests love it! They get the link after a confirmed booking.
I love TA. I regularly write reviews and use the app to find places near me. It would hard to beat - i’ve been a member for year and its really built up.
It’s going to be a little different to tripadvisor. Instead of focusing on reviews, Pearlshare is actually designed to help you share little tips - e.g. “try the sea bass” - and put all of your favourite places under one link, so it’s easy to share with guests. A bit like this: http://www.pearlshare.com/collections/1654?token=3cbca716-c30c-4179-aa56-c91a6dfec799
The sentiment you express his is one of the reasons Pearlshare was created - if people want mediocre recommendations, they can head to some of the well-known sites and see TGIs etc.
We built Pearlshare as a way to share those hidden gems. That unassuming restaurant that locals love, the coffee shop who’s portugese custard tarts are to die for…
Guests often don’t have any local knowledge, so arming them with a little as they arrive helps to welcome them to your area. Airbnb’s own Chip Conley explains that concept in this video:
