Plum Guide: Everything Hosts Need to Know

While Airbnb, Vrbo, and Booking.com are the major booking sites for vacation rentals, there are many niche platforms where hosts can list their properties, including Plum Guide. This online travel agency specializes in offering a curated collection of vacation rentals.

If you are looking for one more channel to market your Airbnb luxury property, Plum Guide can offer a valuable opportunity to reach discerning travelers looking for high-quality vacation rentals. So, how does Plum Guide work for property owners, and how can you list your rentals on this platform?

Marketing your properties on multiple channels is key to building a thriving short-term rental business. And if you streamline your operations using vacation rental software like Hospitable, you can diversify your revenue streams and grow a sustainable business without increasing your workload.

What Is Plum Guide?

Founded in 2016, Plum Guide is a London-based vacation rental platform that offers a unique selection of homes, apartments, and villas in the most sought-after destinations worldwide. Plum Guide has over 30,000 of the world’s most remarkable homes across over 30 countries, including the US, the UK, Ireland, Australia, Canada, France, Italy, Germany, Norway, and more.

The platform targets discerning travelers with high expectations—they value great design and perfect locations and expect absolute quality without exception. So, unlike Airbnb and Vrbo, where anyone can create a listing for their home or apartment, Plum Guide is very selective about the properties they list to guarantee a high-quality stay for guests.

Their team vets every rental and selects only the best homes in each destination (across three categories). According to the company’s website, only about 3% of all reviewed properties on the market make the cut and are featured on the Plum Guide. So listing with Plum Guide can help your rental stand out.

If your property meets the criteria and you’re accepted into Plum Guide, you can reach serious and selective travelers who don’t typically use popular OTAs like Airbnb, Vrbo, Booking.com, or Agoda. They demand quality service, and since they are more mature, with an average age of 45, they are more reliable and more likely to treat your home respectfully, so they can be your ideal guests. Travelers who book through Plum Guide also tend to stay longer on average and cancel 30% less than guests on other platforms.

Listing your property on niche sites like Plum Guide in addition to your listings on major global OTAs, such as Airbnb, Vrbo, and Booking.com, and your direct booking website will allow you to extend your reach and diversify your audience. And if you opt for Hospitable, our tool can help seamlessly sync calendars across your various booking platforms with iCal imports and avoid double bookings.

Watch the explainer video to learn how this Hospitable’ functionality works and check out our help article for more detailed guidance.

Plum Guide Rentals: How Are They Vetted?

According to Plum Guide, all the rentals on their platform have passed multiple stages of vetting. Every time they launch a new destination, they use AI to systematically review every property available to rent and shortlist only the ones with exceptional design, excellent reviews, and great locations.

Then, in-house home experts review homes that have gained AI approval. Plum Guide experts look at multiple factors to ensure guests have the best possible stay. To meet the criteria, Plum Guide rentals must have thoughtful design, with some remarkable features, and be impeccably clean and well-maintained. In-house experts also vet every host to ensure they are reliable, responsive, and attentive.

Every Plum Guide rental is expected to have the following:

• A full, detailed home manual
• Comfortable beds and quality bedding
• Good shower pressure and reliable hot water
• Well-equipped kitchens with ample crockery
• Basic kitchen supplies and quality toiletries
• Connecting and size-appropriate living space
• High-speed WiFi.

To be listed, a vacation rental property is expected to meet at least 75% of the above criteria. When it lacks one or more elements, they clearly state that in the listing, adding home truths to prevent any unwanted surprises. This way, potential guests can have the right expectations about the vacation rental before they book a stay and won’t be disappointed.

How Can Your Rental Get Listed on Plum Guide?

If you own a vacation rental property you want to list on Plum Guide, you can submit an application on their website to begin the review process. You need to fill out a form and provide your first name, last name, email, phone number, a link to your existing listing on Airbnb or Vrbo, your website, or any other link that displays your home photos, and your property address.

Once they receive your application, Plum Guide will evaluate your home or apartment according to its strict quality standards, and if your property meets them, you’ll be asked to sign a listing agreement. Then Plum Guide professionals will create a listing for your vacation rental on the platform to ensure that the information on the listing page accurately represents the space.

It’s free to apply, but there is a one-time membership fee of £300/€300/US$400 + taxes. It will be deducted from your first Plum Guide payout after you get a booking. The one-time joining fee covers the costs for creating, merchandising, and advertising the listing.

They also charge hosts a service fee of 3% with each booking to cover the costs of running the Plum Guide platform. The service fee allows them to offer a concierge team to guide guests toward your home and provide customer support.

Final Thought

Being included in Plum Guide’s carefully curated collection of homes can give your vacation rental property a sense of exclusivity and help expand your audience to bring in more satisfied guests. Since most travelers who choose Plum Guide don’t use other OTAs, you, as a host, will have an opportunity to attract responsible guests that you wouldn’t likely reach otherwise.