What is “Plum Guide”? | The Ultimate Guide to List your Vacation Rental

Are you familiar with Plum Guide? Relatively new to the vacation rental platform Plum Guide is where the “Haute Monde vacation homes” get listed. Want to learn more? Let's get started.

What Is Plum Guide?

The Plum Guide name derives from the company's original name "PLU&M" which stood for "People Like You & Me". The London-based company launched its operations in 2016, consistently curates the “creme de la creme” of the vacation rental market, poised to creating waves within the industry with its distinctive approach. The variety of properties listed by Plum Guide is staggering, with properties available in over 60 destinations around the world inclusive of 5,000,000+ listings to choose from.

According to Forbes, Plum Guide is the “stress-fresh marketplace” for the top 1% of vacation homes that offers more than just a booking platform. This is a benchmark for exceptional destination homes. Plum Guide, dubbed the "Michelin Guide for Homes," uses a proprietary algorithm to find properties in a given area that are the most highly rated and are very conveniently located. With the help of Plum Guide hospitality critics, they interview the host and inspect the property. Ultimately, only one property out of every 100 in each city is selected to join the prestigious portfolio.

What makes Plum Guide transcend from other OTAs? Doron Meyassed, founder of London-based vacation-rental-platform The Plum Guide, states “We can’t afford to ever have a disappointed guest. To Plum that would be what an airplane crash is to an airline”. By identifying the short-term rentals with near-perfect customer ratings, Plum Guide puts a spotlight on the top one percent of properties in the cities featured on its platform. Thus, Plum Guides' mission is to find and award the best homes with a seal of approval.

With the objective of building a definitive collection of the world's best vacation homes, the Plum Guide is developed by experts, psychologists, and restaurateurs to offer an overwhelming selection of properties that are all exquisitely furnished, and provide a stay that transcends the typical vacation rental stay.

"The Science & Art Behind The Perfect Stay."

What ingredients does a home need to deliver the perfect stay? To determine this, there is a formulated test and a set of specific criteria to find the perfect vacation rentals and hosts in a systematic way. If a home meets the requisite, it qualifies for The Plum Guide collection. The Test comprises 500 questions and a vacation rental has to meet 150 criteria to qualify. This process is conducted by a Plum home critic who will visit the property once the initial screening is done.

How The Plum Guide works?

A meticulous, multi-staged vetting process is applied to both the property and the host. Areas of focus include neighborhood, design, amenities, and hosting, which must be plum approved. Plum Guide sends actual humans to inspect each property. Rental properties, ranging from one-bedrooms to mega-mansions, receive ratings based on a rigorous checklist that measures everything from the height of the showerhead to how fluffy the pillows are.

What are the Plum Guide criteria?

As there are 150 criteria, we have chosen a few that are tested as part of the Plum Guide which is as follows:

• WiFi speeds
• Mattress and pillow quality
• Noise levels in the room
• Host responsiveness
• Water pressure for showers
• Quality of guest toiletries and linens provided
• Kitchen utensils and cookware
• Basic Pantry provisions are included (e.g., pepper/salt, oil, coffee, tea, sugar)
• Location
• Neighborhood
• Safety
• Access to the property (steps, elevator)

It's just a small sample of what a Home Critic will look for, but it gives you a general idea of what Plum Guide looks for in its properties.

To find out what a home critic's secret tells are, click here.

The Plum Award

Plum Award is the gold seal for travelers that ensures they're going to a property that has been meticulously selected, and has state-of-the-art amenities guaranteed to provide a memorable stay. Plum Award is a global trust mark for exceptional quality in vacation rentals, and it is set to become the first globally recognized "quality mark" in the market. It’s the plum way of ensuring only the best homes can be found on Plum Guide.

To win the Plum Award, homes must pass all 4 stages of The Plum Test, culminating in a personal home visit from an independent Home Critic.

How does it work?

1. A database of available homes is created every time a new destination is launched
2. Review each home in turn, and shortlist those in excellent locations, with stylish designs, and with excellent reviews.
3. Plum Award contenders are chosen following a host interview. These are our upcoming homes.
4. Plum Award-winning homes must complete two final stages: they must delight a Plum Guide guest, and they must pass the Plum Home Test, conducted by an independent home critic.

Nominated homes are the up-and-coming homes that have passed 3 out of the above 4 stages.

Awarded homes are homes that have passed all 4 of the above stages. To win the Plum Award, a home needs to delight a Plum Guide guest, and pass the Plum Home Test.

Why List On Plum Guide?

When listing on Plum Guide it presents a unique opportunity to showcase your high-quality property/properties. It is a platform for a new breed of hosts and property managers who have thoughtfully designed each piece of furniture and artwork to make their homes into an amazing guest house on par with a 7 star rated hotel (or better!).

Mini Manual To Onboarding On Plum Guide

Head over to the Plum Guide Page and click on the button LIST MY PROPERTY

Step 1: Home and Host Details

• Full Name
• Email ID
• Contact Number
• Link to existing property listing
• Property address
• Zip code and Country

In this section, Set the ground rules for your home and let guests know what additional services you provide. Include essential tips about your home and the services you offer. In the terms and conditions section, you will be required to sign an agreement Host / Plum Agreement Plum Guide will then screen and review the information, and if it meets its initial criteria, it will be listed.

Pro Tip: Find your property address on google maps with this simple guide

Step 2: Instant book, cancellation policies, upload your photo, contact details

If you want to make your home sell, this is the place. Choose your cancellation policy - 96% of bookings are on Relaxed or Reasonable policies, and choose if your home can be on Instant Book - homes on Instant Book get 80% more bookings. Find out more by clicking here.

Cancellation Policy Every home on Plum Guide has a cancellation policy applied to it at the point of booking, which defines the terms of cancellation.

Step 3: Pricing

Set your prices and discounts. Make sure your prices are the same as on any other platform. You are required to input the default nightly price here. You can set weekly and monthly discounts in this step too. Homes with weekly and monthly discounts get 30% more bookings than homes without discounts. At Plum Guide, it’s all about having the best homes, not the most expensive, so ensure that the pricing you input is in line with the pricing presented on your other platforms.

Step 4: Automate Sync your calendar

To sync your calendars across platforms, add your iCal link to your Plum Guide listing.

Step 5: Payments

Input your bank details so you can get paid for the stays and services you provide. Please fill in your VAT number and the Registration number of your home (touristic license) if your home is in the UK. If you are a host in the US, please choose if it’s personal or commercial.

Note, before completing the listing and onboarding you can see a mock-up of your listing. To find out more click here. If you note that something is incorrect on your listing after you onboard the site, there is also a way to get about it. Find out how by clicking here.

• If your property is selected, you will be contacted to schedule a meeting. This meeting will comprise the aforementioned Plum Test and vetting process.

• Thereafter, upon having a chat with you (the host) your listing will be crafted by the writers at Plum guide based on the information you provided above and on the notes from the meeting, giving it a more personalized touch.

• A Plum photographer will be sent if the Plum team thinks your home would benefit from a shoot to showcase its best features.

• Before your first Plum guest arrives get ready for the mock test. The host is briefed prior by The home critic team, to be prepped and guest-ready, The expectation is to view the property as the guest would see it. To match your vacation rental home perfectly with more guests, this is the final step and will help to boost your bookings by matching the ideal guests to your property. Please click here if you would like hosting tips.

Passing this test makes you a plum-approved host! You can then start welcoming guests. Don't forget to delight your guests - and win your property a Plum Award!

Why Do Hosts Love Plum Guide?

Guest stays are longer

When Guests book a vacation through Plum Guide, they tend to stay longer on average, meaning higher occupancy rates and fewer changeovers. According to the 2021 travel trends, in the USA, the average length of stay is 11 nights in comparison to the 13 nights in the previous year.

Preferred Guests

The Guests who will be visiting your property will be one of a kind. So you will be catering to a niche clientele. These guests value high quality and are typically more respectful. These guests have also been vetted through the plum team. The Matchmaking service which accounts for 75% of the bookings, means someone from the Plum Guide team has already interacted with the guest prior. It means you'll deal with less hassle and issues when hosting your guests. The likelihood of returning guests is also very high.

Zero admin

The plum team creates your property listing. A unique and engaging listing description is created from the information you provide and the information obtained from the one-on-one interview.

Site listings need to have standout photos and a thumbnail photograph that captures the guests' attention. This and your property floor plan is captured by a Plum Photographer taking the burden off your hands.

Note: Plum Guide owns all rights in any photos, text, or information created or developed concerning your accommodation. This means that you cannot use these photos (or information/text) elsewhere without permission. Learn more about the Host / Plum Agreement.

Plum Guide - Stats And Facts

According to Padlifter, The average Plum Guide host makes an extra $23,800 in premium bookings in a year. Despite the higher earnings, if the same home is on The Plum Guide, it could earn 56% more per booking than on other platforms – that’s an average booking value of $2700, instead of just $1780 on other platforms. Also good to know is that the average age of a Plum Guide guest is 56, compared to 35 on other booking websites. Rest assured you can expect more respectful guests and fewer damages.

Plum Fees:

For all bookings, the host service fee is 3% of the total accommodation charges plus any applicable local and sales taxes. However, there is a charge of a one-time fee of £300 ($411), which is deducted from the payout of your first Plum booking. If you never get a booking, you won’t be charged.

That’s it.

How Can Hostaway Help?

Hostaway offers a channel management solution for vacation rental properties that enables users to manage bookings, availability, and rates across unlimited channels. What's more, Hostway offers many more scalable solutions to support fast-growing vacation rental property managers! Hostaway is integrated with the biggest and boldest names in the world of vacation rentals. Discover how vacation rental property management services can make your property easier to manage. Take advantage of our free demo and schedule a preferred time with one of our product experts to receive actionable advice and discover how Hostaway can fit your property management business & unlock growth potentials for you.

Further Reading recommendations: Choosing your Vacation Rental Tech Stack Best Revenue Management Software for Vacation Rentals