1. The Entrance to the Property

This will be your guest’s first interaction with your property, the exact moment their pent-up excitement becomes reality.

Imagine booking what was dubbed a five-star stay on Instagram and the first thing you drive by on the property is an abandoned house reminiscent of The Shining.

Compare that to a winding forest road that opens up to one of the most amazing views. A massive difference in experience, before they even reach their unit.

Two Aspects to Consider:

• On-Property: What the guests see and experience while driving to the units. This can be somewhat controllable through improvements.

• Off-Property: The quality of properties and area surrounding yours. Would the drive excite or unsettle guests?

2. Access From Main Roads

Are the guests having to rough it through an hour of mountain passes to reach your location? Or navigate unpaved roads with poor directions and no service?

If a guest struggles to get to, or even find your property, they will be frustrated before you have a chance to “wow” them.

This is also an important factor when considering F&B. Are you near any grocery or dining options? If not, on-site dining becomes crucial, which can be costly for smaller operators.

3. The Neighbors

Understanding your neighbors AND future neighbors is essential.

Are you nestled up to the back end of a power plant? Or even worse, a suburban development?

The best neighbors for an experiential hospitality project are:

- No neighbors as far as the eye can see (all visible property is yours)

- Federally protected or state protected land or parks

- A utility easement (with your land on the backside)

The most important part: research any planned projects on neighboring land.

You might have an amazing view now, but maybe the ranch in front of your property just sold and they are planning a cookie cutter subdivision.

4. Views, Views, Views

The views at a unique stay or landscape resort are probably more important than at any other piece of real estate.

Here is our view-finding strategy:

(check as many of these boxes as possible for optimal Instagrammability)

- Protect your view: Could your view be impacted by future developments?

- The view should look as good in pictures (with an untrained camera) as it does in-person.

- Understand angles: Do ideal locations on your property catch sunset or sunrise?

- Layers to the view: Having hills at various depths/ distances from your viewpoint.

“Layers" are crucial for Instagram-worthy views. Views from too high up or far away can appear flat in photos. 

Varied depths of hills, mountains, trees, or rock formations create shadows and layers, resulting in more interesting backdrops for pictures or videos. (see below)

5. The Two Senses

Sounds and smells – two easy to miss items on your site visit checklist. Yet, they could have a large impact on the guest’s experience.

- Sounds

Is the property as peaceful as you’re assuming? Are you close to a business that produces a lot of noise? Are you on a popular road for motorcycles or sports cars?

- Smells

Are you by any farms, businesses, factories, etc that produce off-putting smells?

6. On-Property Natural Features

This is what really takes a property from good to great. Rock formations, live water features, overhanging ledges, or any other natural features.

Take Amangiri, they built their pool right around the natural rock formations on their property and even have small sand dunes between their tented stays.

What to look at when judging the quality of natural features on a property…

✔️ Are they in “usable” locations that you can build around?

✔️ Are they spread around the property or just in one location?

✔️ For water features: How strong is the water flow? Would it need to be enhanced?

Finding unique ways to incorporate these natural features into your stay can 10x the virality of your property on social media. And in turn, increase ADR.

Choosing the right piece of land can be a daunting task. Even more so for an experiential hospitality project. Keep this list in the back of your mind when searching for land.