If you host short-term rentals, you know the message: 'We can't find the place. Where exactly are you?' Every guest who gets lost costs you time, reviews and bookings. Here's how to make sure nobody ever circles your block again.
Google Maps pins are often wrong for apartments inside courtyards, houses down unmarked lanes, and rooms above shops. GPS drifts in narrow streets and tall buildings. Street numbers are missing or misleading. The result: a guest 200 meters away, standing at the wrong entrance, calling you at midnight.
Create a photo route from your nearest station, landmark or car park to your front door. Walk the path, photograph each turn - the corner with the blue shutter, the gate with the red lantern, the stairs to the second floor - and add a one-line direction to each photo. Send the link in your check-in message. The guest follows real photos, not a drifting blue dot.
Add the route link to your pre-arrival message, your house manual, and the pin you share. One guest uses it, the next one gets told about it by the previous one. Every stay without a 'where are you' message is a 5-star review you no longer have to rescue.
While you're at it, correct your listing's map pin in the platform settings - but know that pins still fail in old towns and covered streets. A photo route works everywhere, because it shows what to look for instead of relying on coordinates.
Guests love a route to the best late-night noodle shop or the viewpoint at sunrise. Create one 'from your door' route as a local guide - it earns you points, and guests remember the host who went the extra step.