What's happening today? How local events bring the guest guide to life

A traditional guest guide answers the questions that come before or around arrival very well: where to park, how to get in, what the Wi-Fi password is, when to leave the property.

That information is essential. But once found, the guide is usually closed.

The stay, however, does not stand still. Days change, the weather changes, plans change and the destination offers different opportunities. An exhibition may start that very afternoon. Over the weekend there might be a market, a family workshop, a guided tour or a small local initiative the guest would never have discovered on their own.

This is where a guest guide can stop being only a container of instructions and become genuinely alive.

Another reason to return to the guide

It is unrealistic to expect a guest to check a guide every day when it always contains the same information.

If, instead, the guide can show what may be useful today, tomorrow or over the weekend, the reason to open it changes.

There is no need to promise the guest will come back every day. It is enough to offer them a concrete reason to do so:

• see what is happening nearby;
• find an activity suitable for children;
• discover an indoor option;
• understand what to do that evening;
• find an event on the map that is easy to reach.

Local events add a time dimension to the guide. They do not just describe the place: they connect it to the real days of the stay.

The destination is not a static list

Many digital guides present the destination through a stable collection of restaurants, beaches, museums, shops and recommended places. That content stays useful, but it does not tell the whole story.

A destination is also made of temporary occasions:

• weekly markets;
• neighbourhood festivals;
• exhibitions;
• small concerts;
• cultural activities;
• workshops;
• guided tours;
• food and drink initiatives;
• family events;
• seasonal happenings.

These are contents that can be very interesting for a few days and completely irrelevant once they end. That is why they should not be treated as permanent points of interest. They need dates, times, visibility windows and management that stops them from being suggested when they are already over.

From a poster to useful guest content

In the daily life of a property, local events often arrive in a shape that is not ready for a digital guide. It might be a photographed poster, a PDF programme, a leaflet handed over by an association or an image shared by a local partner.

The task is not just to read that information. It has to be turned into an ordered piece of content:

• title;
• description;
• date;
• time;
• location;
• any price;
• practical notes;
• coordinates, when available;
• cover image.

With StayFast, a photo or a PDF can become the starting point for one or more event drafts. Automatic extraction does not replace the property's control. The owner reviews the information, fixes what needs fixing and decides whether to publish. Nothing is shown to guests automatically.

This step matters: AI can speed up the work, but editorial responsibility stays with the property.

The image is part of the experience

An event without an image risks looking like a plain line in an agenda. A good cover, on the other hand, helps the guest immediately understand the kind of experience on offer and makes the cards in the guide easier to recognise.

When the import starts from a photograph, that same image can be proposed as the event cover. But it is never used without an explicit choice: the owner must confirm they have the right to publish it. Otherwise it can be replaced with another authorised image.

Here too the principle is the same: automate what saves time, without turning automation into uncontrolled publication.

Where guests meet events

A local event only becomes truly useful when it does not stay isolated on a page that is hard to find. In StayFast it can be met in several moments of the stay.

In Explore

The guest sees available events alongside the other things to discover. They can focus on what is happening today, tomorrow, in the next seven days or over the weekend. A photo, a date and a location make the content more immediate than a plain text list.

On the Map

When valid coordinates are available, the event can appear on the map. That adds a practical question to the discovery: 'where is it in relation to the property?'. Not every event needs a marker. If the position is not precise enough, it is better not to invent one.

In the Concierge

The guest can ask what there is to do today, whether there are events this weekend, whether there is something for families or indoors. The Concierge uses only published events that are still valid and actually present in the property's content. It should not invent prices, times or missing initiatives. When it finds a relevant event, it can also offer a direct link to the corresponding card.

A local event and a Last Minute are not the same thing

An event tells the guest about something happening in the destination. A Last Minute has a more promotional function and can offer a time-limited opportunity. The two can be connected, but they should not be confused.

The property may decide to turn an event into a Last Minute opportunity, but:

• the promotional copy stays distinct;
• the visibility window must be confirmed;
• publication is separate;
• translations are handled on the final copy;
• the event continues to exist as informational content.

This avoids automatically turning every local happening into a promotion.

There is no need to show everything that happens

StayFast does not aim to be a general tourism portal or a copy of the municipal agenda. A guest guide works better when it curates.

The question should not be 'what are all the events in the area?', but 'which events can actually be useful or interesting to the guests staying with us these days?'.

A property knows its own audience and its own territory. It can choose a few relevant contents instead of filling the guide with a long, hard-to-read list. The quality of the selection matters more than the quantity.

An advantage for the property too

Local events do not only enrich the guest experience. They can help the property to:

• give value to the local area;
• collaborate with local partners;
• offer more current suggestions;
• avoid repeated messages on WhatsApp;
• give a concrete answer to 'what can we do today?';
• make the guide useful beyond the arrival moment.

A small property does not need to build a complex calendar or turn itself into a tourist office. It can start with a few genuinely relevant initiatives and update them when needed.

A living guide during the stay

A static guide describes what does not change. A living guide also accounts for what does change:

• the phase of the stay;
• the season;
• the opportunities available;
• activities in the coming days;
• what may be useful right now.

Local events reinforce this idea. StayFast is not trying to keep guests inside an app: it is trying to help them experience what lies outside the property more fully.

And when the guide manages to connect practical information, destination and the real time of the stay, it becomes something worth reopening. Not because technology forces it. Because there may be something new to discover.