STRSS 19 – Airbnb Cohost: How to Manage and Scale from 24 properties w/ Erica Mattia

Video Transcript

 

00:00:00

So if someone says to me, how do you do this business? I can tell them all of the facts, but my truth is that I’ve used. Like I’ve been lucky, I guess, to have these connections to help me grow it. If someone’s looking to do this, then building their network is really, I think

 

00:00:16

This is episode number 19 of short-term rental success stories. Welcome back to short term rental success stories. I’m your host, Julian Sage. This is a show where I talk to hosts about their journeys and starting and growing the short-term rental business. My goal is that you’ll be able to walk away with practical information. That’ll help you become a better host and learn how to scale your business. Like any exceptional hosts that we all strive for five star views. So please go on over to iTunes and let us know what you enjoy as it really helps support the show. If you haven’t done so already going over to a Facebook group, the host nation to connect with the community and other professional hosts that have been featured on the show today, I had the honor of speaking with Erica Matea. Erica is a full time Vacation Rental property manager in the Ontario Canada area was over 24 listings.

 

00:00:57

Erica, having a background in network marketing was able to utilize her experience and sphere of influence to find clients and build a successful co-hosting business model. But I love so much about this conversation is just how humble and personal Eric is. Eric is successfully managing a very good sized portfolio of properties, but she’s a constant learner and even shares that she listens to other hosts in the show to help lead success habits and other tips. Erica shares the journey she’s been on and how it’s impacted her life today. The importance of networking and how to build your sphere of influence, how to price your time and services you offer, and the secret to managing multiple properties successfully. If you like my show notes and the success secrets that I took from this episode go to Short Term Sage dot com slash, or if you’d like my show notes sent directly to your inbox every week, then go to Short Term Sage dot com backslash showmance with all that being said onto this week’s conversation. Welcome back hosts that I have the special honor of speaking with Erica Matea. Erica, would you please let the audience know a little bit more about who you are and what inspired you to get into short-term rentals?

 

00:02:01

Hi. Yeah, for sure. So I’m Erica I’m from Ontario, Canada. I am a, I like to call myself a retired chiropractor cause I did that for five years and then decided it wasn’t really for me. So I took a year off from practice and I was earning an income with a network marketing company that I was working with. And it, what I did was I, well, a friend of mine actually bought a Vacation Rental property to just rent straight out. And I thought that was amazing. I didn’t realize you could buy a property to just do vacation rentals. I just kind of thought you had to like also live in it. So when she said that, I thought, you know what, I’m going to throw our house up on Airbnb and see what happens. And it was just my husband and I at the time and our cat and I was like, honey, someone booked her house this weekend. So we had to basically get it ready and have people stay. And it started to take off where people were saying a lot. I didn’t expect that. And so then I started to get referrals from other people who wanted me to manage theirs. And it’s been over, I guess, four years now it’s grown to just keep taking properties when people offer them to me.

 

00:03:16

Y you know, that’s you, so you were basically doing the co-hosting model before cohosting was really even a thing.

 

00:03:23

Yeah. Yeah. And I actually never picked up on using it as Airbnb has it set up, like, I’m not actually a co-host on any of the properties. I just use the owner’s account. So I didn’t actually use it the way that they want it, but it doesn’t really work for me. I’ve tried it once or twice, but I don’t like how they do it. So,

 

00:03:44

So with, you know, so 20, 25 listings that you’re basically, you’re managing them like a full service, like a, like a full-time you, what, what are the responsibilities that you’re handling with these 24 24 units?

 

00:03:58

I take care of guests, communication and communication with the cleaners. That’s like the big chunk of my work. I do take care of pricing to an extent it’s the owners get to like, navigate where they want me to go with it, but I’ll take care of it overall. And I do some property management in a sense that like, I’ll speak to the electrician, who’s going to have to go in and fix something or the lawn care team. So overall, generally the property owner should be able to not be involved much unless I have a question, something that I didn’t know what they might answer, but some owners like to be more involved. So it kind of depends on the owner.

 

00:04:40

So w with, with 25 listings, I mean, that’s, you know, that that’s a pretty significant amount at that, at that point, you know, with, with co-hosting typically you’re, you’re not getting, you’re not getting the full amount. W w what are you getting for like a percentage with, with your listings, or is it different per person?

 

00:04:58

It is different per person. I started out offering different levels of percentage, like 10%. What was my lowest and 20% was my highest. So I had 10, 15, and 20. And what I learned after the, after doing that for a bit was that I don’t want to offer the 20% option. And I also don’t want to offer the 10% option. What I can do is the 15%. And so essentially everyone just gets 15% off the gross now that they paid for me.

 

00:05:28

What made you kind of conclude to that?

 

00:05:31

I mean, I came up with those numbers on my own, which was kind of funny because then I did my market research after having started. Cause I, I mean, I just started with one person’s cottage or rental, right. So I’m like, oh, let’s think about this. But when I did some market research, I started looking at a few other people who are already doing this. And they are generally between 10 and 20% as well. So it helped me to feel like what I was doing was fair

 

00:05:57

With 25 listings where you’re getting around a 15% per unit, you know, is when, when does that become a point where it’s like, okay, this is able to replace my, my standard income or, you know, my cost of living.

 

00:06:14

Well, obviously that’s a little bit subjective depending on what you need, but I was able to replace it within, I would say a couple years. And at this point it’s doing that for sure. And I can see how it can earn more. I’m at a point where I have to probably earn a little less to grow, cause I need to get some help. So I might have to start looking at the numbers a little bit differently, but yeah, it didn’t take too long. I mean, part of the key too is having properties that bring in more income. So like my cottages up in what’s called Muskoka around here. It’s like a basically like country, it’s going to earn more per night than a semi in the city, you know? So

 

00:07:08

I want to start kind of from, from the beginning with, you know, just starting off this co-hosting business, you started off, you were just renting out your, your, your primary unit and then you started getting clients. What, what, what was the like key, pivotal point when you were able to transition from just renting out your, your own unit to when you were actually able to start building like this clientele list?

 

00:07:32

It happened fairly quickly because in, I guess, 2015, it wasn’t near as popular to have these Airbnb or vacation rentals that were your, your home home. And so when I started renting hours, it was a house that we were flipping. So it wasn’t like we didn’t move in all that much. It was easy to have guests just take the whole house and our stuff was mostly away, but our friend who’s a realtor. He saw what I was doing and said he was going to buy a property and wanted me to help renovate it and then manage it. So I started doing that for him. And then he bought another one. And then what actually happened was he had a friend who was a property investor who wanted to buy one and asked and suggested I take care of it for him. And I actually said, no. I was like, I can’t handle more than three. Like I need to do the perfect thing to be. Right. I can only handle three. And he laughed and was like, you’re really going to turn this down, Erica. So I said, all right, I’ll give you a try. And then that guy bought another one. So he has three now. So it kind of was referrals that way. Plus on social media, I post what I’m doing. And so people started referring me just because they knew that’s what I was doing.

 

00:08:48

So you have a network marketing background, you know, selling, selling products, similar to like the Avon Mary Kay model, where you’re building up this like network and this clientele list. And you know, that, that, that type of business model, you know, just, just off the top of my head, that seems like a business where it’s very, you have to know, like, and trust the person in order for them to be able to want to work with you. You know, how has maybe that background been able to benefit the co-hosting model? Cause I feel like they would go really well hand in hand

 

00:09:21

Then huge. Like, I don’t know, there’s obviously some people that feel like network marketing is a negative thing, but to me it practically saved me from what’s doing something that didn’t feel right to something that feels amazing. And it taught me a lot of skills in networking and taught me a lot of skills in earning income in ways that were non-traditional. And I think, and I mean, there’s a lot of training on self-development and network marketing too. So that really helped a lot with this kind of business running my own business, managing, and I have to manage a lot of people now. And I really think that that gave me the skills and because I went to school to be a chiropractor that taught me zero skills other than anatomy and science, you know? So those things aren’t really doing much for me right now.

 

01:10:14

How much would you say of your business is built off of your like networking for the cohost thing? Because I know lots of people that are getting into the space that want to try the co-hosting method because, you know, it’s very easy minimum bar entry, you know, and you just did it from just a, you know, simply a referral from a friend. How much of that your business has been grown from your active networking versus just the referrals building on top of each other.

 

01:10:42

I think the networking played a big role. So initially the got my realtor who gave me the first property that wasn’t mine. I met him initially because I wanted to show him the products of my network marketing business. So him and I started communicating when we hadn’t for years based on that experience. So after, you know, he starts taking the products, we keep talking and then he sees that we’re flipping houses and so on. And also my friend who told me, she bought her first Vacation Rental to just use as a rental. I met her through network marketing. So through building that business and going to local events and trying to network that and networking my chiropractic business. Right. So I always knew the connections were important, but it really has. It’s, it’s actually truthfully one of the things that I can’t give to someone. So if someone says to me, how do you do this business? I can tell them all of the facts, but my truth is that I’ve used, like, I’ve been lucky, I guess, to have these connections to help me grow it. So you, if someone’s looking to do this, then building their network is really, I think, helpful, really important.

 

01:11:59

W what would you say are like, maybe some of the key people, because I see lots of people, like in these short term rental groups, and there, it seems like they’re, they’re marketing to other short-term renters. W w w what type of, cause you, you went the, the realtor, realtor, property investor route, and some other different ways. W what would you say for someone that is maybe just starting, like, which kind of pathway should they go if they don’t really have that experience with like, maybe that network marketing?

 

01:12:28

Yeah, sure. I mean, I can think off the top of my head that the area that I live in has like a local business meetup every month. Right. And that’s called the chamber of commerce. They might have it in the states. I’m not sure, but you can go to that and talk to people that are of all different backgrounds, for sure. Realtors, because either they’re property investors or they have property investors, but some of my customers are just people who have a second property. So, I mean, anywhere you can go to meet up people who probably can’t afford a second or third property, you’re going to be able to talk to them about, oh, Hey, if you’re not there most of the year, why don’t we just rent it out? Or when you some money, and when you want to go walk it off,

 

01:13:15

What are some of the, the, the key parts to being able to build a solid relationship with people? Because, you know, is it as easy as just like, Hey, I’ve got a unit, let me take on yours, or is there a little bit more work that has to be done on maybe building that relationship, if you wouldn’t mind educating this?

 

01:13:32

Well, at the beginning, they’re going to have to take a bit of a chance on you just like you’re learning, right? But at three you have at least a few properties to showcase. Then you can basically show them your portfolio of what you already are managing. And that will help build some trust. And I have a website it’s not great right now, but it exists. And I put some of the reviews that I’ve gotten on that. So people can see the reviews specifically with your name as the cohost on it. And then if you have an annual income to show, you can show what a property might make annually with your care. People like to get an idea of the numbers. For sure. And then maybe one thing I do that maybe isn’t normal in like a sales type of industry is be super honest and maybe like a little too negative, let’s say, cause I’ll say, I’m not sure you’re going to earn more than a long-term rental. Like, I can’t guarantee it. I’m not trying to sell it, but you could, and you can at least stay in the place if you want to stay there too. Right. So, and you, I mean, I’m sure it’s the same everywhere, but there’s a lot of stipulations with long-term rentals and getting people out. And if they don’t pay and I can talk to them about how this doesn’t have those kinds of issues.

 

01:14:55

So, so you, when, when you have a prospective client that you’re, you’re looking to take on, you said one of the things that you do is you you’re showing them maybe like the reviews, like people that have left reviews on your prop, on the properties that you’re managing, you show them the income that it could be potentially earning. What, what are some other things that you’re like, if, if, if I’m a potential client, like, what are you speaking with me about? Are you trying to convince me, or are you just trying to educate me? What, what are the things that you’re showing me during my business?

 

01:15:28

Yeah. I’m usually just trying to educate, cause I don’t, I feel like if I’m convincing and I convince you wrong, I want you to make the decision. I’ll give you all of the information that I have. And then you have to make your own choice as a potential property owner. I do think that this is advice for anyone looking to do this, or getting started with this that have confidence in what you can offer. Of course, you’re going to want to do the very best that you can. But like, if you’re just trying to get customers, you’re going to end up with things that don’t work for. You do, do what works for you, right? So sometimes people will say to me, well, your 15% is too high. And I say, okay, call me back. If you want, if you find something, you don’t find anything better, call me back. And it’s not uncommon for me to hear back from them later. Sometimes people will try someone else because it is cheaper. And then they’ll still ended up calling me because it is true. You get what you paid for, but also this isn’t an easy job, even though people think it might be, it is pretty easy when you only have one or two places. But if you want to scale it, it becomes a lot of mental work.

 

01:16:40

Well, that’s a perfect transition, Erica. So what has been the most challenging part of scaling this co-hosting business?

 

01:16:46

Personally, I found that organization systemization has been my biggest challenge. Like if I could, I didn’t organize. So this is something they taught in network marketing that I should’ve used in this business. And when you get your first associate act like you have hundreds of associates treat them the same. So when you, your first property treat it as if you had hundreds of properties and come up with systems and come up with, like, I have a word document of what I want to ask the owner when, you know, how do they want their business to look if I had done that with every single person from the start of the easier. So really that is where I’m trying to catch up right now is getting everything to be under the same sort of system. But the other challenge is growing from different sizes. So managing, like I said, three, two, then six or seven. And then going from like, I think I stopped at nine feeling like I couldn’t handle it anymore. And how you go from nine to 25 and now how you go from 25 to 50, like the different leaps, you have to find how, how you’re gonna start doing that. Like it’s, it’s got challenges.

 

01:18:01

So, so different, different levels. You, you say like the more properties that you start to take on the better your systems have to be, what are some of the systems that you have to start implementing maybe from like the very beginning in order to be able to optimize your, your co-hosting model? Because it is very intensive when you’re managing that many listings and you’re dealing with not only the clients, but you’re also dealing with the people that own the property, and maybe you’re dealing with the, you know, the, the cleaners and the, the, the, the electricians and stuff like that. So it’s a lot of people and a lot of things that you’re managing. So what are some of the systems that you should be starting off with in the beginning to be able to set yourself up in the future?

 

01:18:44

Well, I use Smartbnb and I would recommend using that even if you only have one property it’s reasonably affordable, even for just one property, but it’s very affordable when you have more than one. So that sends automatic messages. And that I wish I had known about that at the beginning. I’m not even sure if it existed back then maybe so that I would suggest a hundred percent. And then the other system that, like, I guess that’s a little bit piercing to say, but I’m not super number oriented. So pricing, I like don’t pay attention. Like some people do so pricing to keep it all organized, like a separate document that says what you were charging each month and you know, how much you went up or down based on discounts and events and that kind of things so that you have your past year’s record.

 

01:19:38

So starting that right away. And if you have an, a property you’re caring for, for someone else making notes throughout the season of how to improve their listing and sending maybe an annual or bi-annual email with some feedback on their property and suggestions, because generally a property investor, if they’re an investor, doesn’t have a whole lot of time to deal with you making suggestions like every week, anything like that. But if you’ve been doing it once or twice a year, they’re more likely to make those improvements based on the feedback. And then lastly, you have to act like, what if something happened to you? So if you were just to like, I don’t know, end up in a coma, who’s going to take care of this business. Right? So I have a separate document with all of the information as if someone else needed to take over what each property needs, like where where’s the router, what’s the wifi code. What’s, what’s the backup lockbox. Where is it? Like, who’s the cleaner, how do we get ahold of that person? So all of that per property, if you just set up a standardized sheet and filled it out, as you got a new property, it would be a lot easier than me having to, like, now I’m having to go back and kind of fill out my sheet. Basically.

 

02:20:52

You said, you know, something really key though. You said that every, every property that you do have, you’re, you’re setting it up as if someone else, if they needed to take over that, you could just kinda give them the Baton and they can run with it. So, so what would you say is kind of the next step? Cause right now you are managing the majority of your properties. There’s one property that or five properties that you have where you have an assistant that is basically like you pass the Baton to them, but so what’s the next step? Like you’re, you know, you’re, you’re managing 25 listings. When does that become a little bit too much? And like, what would be the next step in like the order of scaling up?

 

02:21:30

It’s funny because me, I believe it a lot in the universe taking care of me and I was like, okay, universe, I don’t need any more right now. Just like, let’s just stop for a little bit. Cause I don’t know if I can handle it anymore. So I do feel like around 25 to 30 is my breaking point for not getting any more help. I do. I am starting to search out for someone who can help me as my assistant. The other person who’s helping me is awesome. But I don’t think I can give her more because she has some of her own properties and some other work she does. So I do need someone else. And it’s just that leap of like finding that person, which is a really easy job, technically like they can work from anywhere. It’s just like what I do, but finding that person who gets it the way that I get it and is available pretty much 24 7, because that’s what you need for guest communication. Right. So once I have that next person, I can take on like past 30 properties.

 

02:22:35

Okay. And so once, once you, you know, so once you take on that extra person, you can start adding some more properties. Is there a point where it’s like, you can just kind of like have teams that are managing this or is it you always have to be really involved in the business?

 

02:22:51

In my mind, I would love to only for me take care of the communication with the property owners and sourcing new properties and all of the like big picture of the business. Right. But I’m like super nervous about handing off the guest communication because I’ve gone, I’ve grown, this builds business by referrals. So for me, obviously what I’m doing is important to the people, right? So I guess it’s kind of like any business in a growth pain where you want to keep the same quality and still grow. So I don’t know. I don’t know how big I’d actually want to go, cause I don’t want to lose the personal touch. And I don’t like not knowing, I don’t like the owners thinking, I don’t know what’s going on. You know?

 

02:23:38

So you know, this, this is a very, you you’re, you’re, you’re really partnering with a person in order to basically operate their business. So what are, what are some of the things that like you’re looking for when you’re finding a new client, are you just looking out there and whoever says that they have a property that you’ll take them or is it a specific and so what, what’s your criteria for screening a potential client?

 

02:24:01

So usually when someone says they’re interested in renting their property and they want to talk to me, my first like email to them is maybe a little bit harsh, but it’s like, it’s like, I care about the customer and the guest so much that if you don’t care about them that much, and you just want to earn money, then this is not the right. I’m not the right person for you. So your guests might want more coffee at midnight on Friday, I’m going to try to get them more coffee a minute. Right. And if you’re like, well too bad for them, then we’re just not the right match. So of course, I’m going to tell the property owner, the guests are number one because they are, but in the end, the property owner is still number one because they’re the one actually paying you. So it’s a balance between the two, but you know, if someone doesn’t want to maintain their property, they don’t want to spend that much money.

 

02:24:52

They’re just like, oh, we just want to make some money here. And there, that’s not the right person for me. So I will tell them. And if they don’t answer kind of properly, like, yes, that’s what we want. Then I will say, okay, then we’re just not the right match. But generally what I want is someone who cares about their property, whether they’re staying in it themselves, or they maybe like, I have one where they built it themselves, even though they don’t stay there. So somebody that really cares about it. I don’t just want these like just investment pieces so much.

 

02:25:25

So, so once you’ve sent that email to kind of set those expectations, you found someone that really does care about the, the, the, the customers and that they are, you know, having a, a good experience. What, what, what’s your criteria for like the property itself or maybe the location, or there are different types of stuff like that.

 

02:25:48

I have preferences. I’d rather it be somewhere where I think it will rent well for tourism, but I, I don’t really care if they want it. Like, there’s one out in the middle of the country that these people are looking at getting these to take care of it. And I said to them, I don’t know how many people are going to go. Like, some people obviously want a country getaway, but I don’t know if it’s going to be every week or every weekend or whatever. So it doesn’t bother me if it doesn’t rent as long as we’ve set up that like, idea that it might not rent. But I, I would prefer something that obviously has a higher guest, like check in, check out and also something interesting. I love houses. And I love like just driving down the street and looking at different houses, my husband and I we’d flipped eight or nine houses now. So an interesting house or cottage, whatever, like condo is way more fun for me than just like something kind of boring, which is going to rent better too. I try to tell the owners this, like, if your property, if you find an interesting property, buy that over the standard one glow,

 

02:27:01

You said that you have preferences for locations and you know that you’re trying to find a home. That’s pretty interesting. Are you, when do you like look at, so let’s say someone is already renting on their, their unit and maybe they do have like the, the history. Are you looking at that history and like seeing like how much you would be able to make off of that? Because cohost thing is it’s pretty intensive. Like if you’re helping someone to be able to better optimize their listing and take, really kind of manage it for them, that that can be a lot of work, you know, with the descriptions of photos, you know, getting everything, set up the house rules, all of that, you know? So what are you kind of doing to screen out those clients that you wouldn’t want to take, because maybe it’s just not worth your, your time or your, your, your effort?

 

02:27:55

Well, I do charge a fee to set up a listing. So whether someone, if they have no listing at all, I have a fee and then I’ll charge to cohost beyond that fee. Everyone pays the setup fee. And then like, this actually happened more recently where I took a listing that was already existing and optimized it to what I would do. And I turned, have a fee for each part of that. So like optimizing the listing, doing new photos, putting up a guide book and some information around the house. So they ended up paying, not the same price, but a close price to setting up a new place. So once they paid for that, I feel like it’s fair. And if something happened and they had just got rid of me, at least I got paid for that work, but I guess it’s because I’m getting so busy that I don’t really mind if the property isn’t booking a lot in the sense that I’m not, I want it to book because I earn a percentage too. Right. So it’s fair that it’s booking and we’re earning a percentage that way. But if it was something that we both knew was going to be slow, but just have it out there. I wouldn’t turn that down because it doesn’t bother me.

 

02:29:05

And what do you, what do you do to set your units apart? So once you take them on, are you optimizing them a certain way? Or w w how do you make your stand out amongst the rest?

 

02:29:15

Thinking about that, actually, what do I do? I don’t know. I try to ensure that the photos are professional and that I want the place to be decorated. The one example I can give you best is my own cottage, because our cottage we have on Airbnb and we put like all of the amenities, we get so many comments about how there’s everything you need is there. Right. And I’m constantly updating the decor on it and making sure it’s really cozy space. Like it’s always five star reviews, but all the rest of the properties, I don’t own them. So I can ask for really cool decor or, you know, all the amenities, but the owner gets to choose to an extent, like, I have a list if you don’t want to do these things, and I’m not going to manage it. But beyond that, like it’s up to them. So I have some really neat properties where the owners really care. And then I have some that are just kind of more clean, let’s say, cause they’re not so interested in the interesting factor of it all. So I’m not really sure how I make them stand out other than it’s best as I can. I communicate, well,

 

03:30:33

You know, one of the, one of the things like for me, like I just realized when speaking with you is like, I’m a control freak. Like I, when I have, when I have something it’s like, I want to stick my fingers in it. And like, I’m making it like all mine with the cohost thing though. It’s like, I imagine that it’s like, you, you really have to give up that control because now you’re working with someone else. And, you know, it’s the extent of how much that they want to invest in this. What are, what are some of the, like, things that you like, because once you start scaling up, like you have, you have 25 listings now, and I’m planning on taking more. I imagine that you can’t invest that much time and energy into, you know, getting the, the, the pillows decorative pillows the right way and that and everything a certain way. So how do you, how do you kind of, what, what type of service are you providing to be able to get the listing to the way that you feel so that it can start becoming more profitable?

 

03:31:33

Well, there’s two different spectrums of this. So the most recent one that I optimized, I I’ve asked a number of times to spend money on decor. And the answer has been no. So I have, my hands are tied. I can’t get anything. And, but I’ve made it as best as I can without spending that money. On the other hand, one of the owners has bought a few places in Quebec and I actually fly out there. I do the shopping. I mean, they charge a fee to do this, but it gives me sort of a reasonable budget to do the shopping. I go to some like Jake core places. I go to Walmart and all of the Canadian shops together. I’m like Canadian tire. You guys not know that, but go get all the supplies. And when I get to do that, then I can know that it’s got all of the details that I would want it to have.

 

03:32:23

So like you said, it’s like, depending on how much the owner will let me do, I will do. And it’s you, it is a letting go process. Like there’s a few places that, you know, I know it would rent better with some improvements, but it will them a few thousand dollars. There’s that show it’s on Netflix, stay here. I think it’s called. And it’s basically flipping vacation rentals. And like, I wish every owner would watch that because they put thousands into renovating and then decorating this place. Right. And it pays you back, but it is a big investment initially. So that’s kind of where the balances.

 

03:33:06

So with, you know, I think that’s pretty cool that you said that you’ll actually fly out to certain units to be able to optimize them. Do you have, is that like a system that you have in place? Like, do you, did that just kind of situation come up the first time and you’re like, I don’t have a system for this. I need to be able to create something so that if someone else needs me to fly out, I know what the charge is. I’m like, how do you even come up with those numbers? Like, this is how much my fee is to fly out to your unit and fix it up and decorate and spend all this time.

 

03:33:37

It’s hard to decide. And then it’s kind of, I mean, you can use other people’s pricing, right? If you can find someone else doing that to kind of give you a guide, but I also just kind of like said, well, what is my day worth? And for me, it was a little bit easier because I was a chiropractor. I was charging $50 to see someone which was usually about half an hour. So really I was charging about a hundred dollars an hour. So I felt like there’s no qualms in charging that now, like, even though it’s not the same business, I just, that was kind of a set point that I had started at. Right. And then it was like, okay, well now I’m in a day in travel. So I’m losing that whole day of work, even though technically I can still do some work on the go.

 

03:34:20

Right. But so what’s that worth of a day of travel. And then I would add on like, so when I did some work as a chiropractor, I worked for my college and they would pay for the hotel and they would give you an amount for your mileage and amount for your meals. And so I just would add that on because I thought, well, that makes sense. It shouldn’t cause me to go, but I’ll, I’ll get reimbursed basically for the expenses that I incurred to do this. And so you just, you just turned it and then if they will pay it, then, you know, okay. That, that works.

 

03:34:54

I think he hit on, on a, on a really big point that lots of people that are getting into the space, they’re, they’re trying to offer everything. They’re like, I’m going to, I’ll do everything for you. And you know, I’ll go out to your unit, I’ll do all this. And it’s a, it’s a lot of service that, that some people are providing. At what point do you start saying, you know, I have to start charging for this stuff. And that’s kind of like an awkward thing. Like if someone else is saying, I’ll do everything for you for free. Just, just let me take you on as a client versus, you know, you, who’s saying, Hey, I’m going to, I’m going to charge you for my time. I’m going to charge you for the meals. I’m going to charge you for the miles. I mean, there’s, you know, your time is worth it. So what, when, you know, when do you say, like, I have to start charging all these people?

 

03:35:41

I think I did a bit of that at the beginning, for sure, too. I think it’s important to have some properties under your belt to have a bit more of that confidence that like, I am doing a good job. I mean, you could do it without any properties and just say, I’m going to do a good job. Right. But if you have that proof of like, these ones have been running for a year and they are renting really well, and the owner’s really happy. Do you want to talk to the owner that as a referral, it’s easier to do that, but they always talked about this in chiropractic. Actually the guy who charges the lowest amount is what we’re worth. So all of the people that went out and that go ahead and do all of this for free your devaluing, what we’re doing. So it’s important if we all come together and like charge what we’re worth, I know it’s hard because sometimes at the beginning you just really want to earn money and get started.

 

03:36:39

But I would say, if you do that for one person, you have to say to them, this is my, like, you’re my first. So you get these special bonus features. But like, if you tell anyone about me, don’t tell them that I’m doing all this because I have to grow and change things for the next person, because that happened to me. I was doing the 10% and I didn’t want to offer that anymore because it was a little bit too hands-off I needed to know exactly what was going on. And I started getting referrals and they were telling them, well, she does it for 10%. So I had to actually have that conversation and say, I don’t actually do that anymore. This guy gets grandfathered in because that’s where we started. But if you want to take, use me now at this point, it’s going to be 15. And I mean, everyone had said okay to that in the end, but it was a little bit of an awkward time. Right. So,

 

03:37:28

So, so when you’re, when you’re trying to optimize a listing, now you will, do you give them like a sheet or something that says like, these are my fees for the different types of things that I’ll be working with you, do you, do you charge that like for, like, at making the description better taking photos or doing all that, like w w what, what, how, how do you break down the different services that you are doing apart from what your daily operations would be?

 

03:37:55

I basically, so I charged 400 Canadian plus tax to set up a new property. So I tried to cut that, like, figure out what of that 400 I was doing. And so I dropped it into parts. So it’s like, well, the photos, photos are always on top of that, but I can usually get someone to do the photos for $80. So charge them $80 and just get the photos. But if I was doing a new guidebook, it would probably be, I forget my, like I had my pricing written out, but let’s say a hundred dollars for new guidebook and another, a hundred dollars for your listing to be optimized, because it already exists. They don’t have to charge 200, but you know, or 400, but I, I do charge 100. So I kind of divided out that way. And it’s the same thing with the percentage, 15% to me covers the conversation before the guest stays. It covers while the guest is staying, and then it covers the review and any conversations after the guest stays. So I figured out what is each of those parts worth? Because it does happen that a homeowner will choose to take their listing down or have someone else manage it, or they’re going to manage it or whatever. So how much do they owe me for the part I have already done for their, their stays that haven’t stayed basically.

 

03:39:12

And what about like extenuating circumstances? Like if someone breaks something and now you have to get the, you know, some people there, or like, you know, someone ruined all the sheets and now someone has to replace in all the, all the linens.

 

03:39:28

Yeah. I mean, I take that into account with the 15%. So generally any damages stuff I’ll deal with what? For no extra fee, because yeah, I think, I think that’s fair. Like there’s a lot of time when you’re doing that thing. Right. Like for a property, I have my updates on end. We have do nothing. And then all of a sudden you do a whole lot, so it kind of balances itself out, I think.

 

03:39:53

Okay. And rolling on two. So is there any product or in your, in your rentals that you may be put in there that maybe helps save you time or money or anything like that?

 

04:40:05

Yeah, for sure. The lock like locked door, code thingy, having a code on the door. And then I always have a backup lockbox because something always goes wrong. Some places will have two lock boxes instead of a door code. Many of them, I have a nest camera on site, to be honest, the camera hasn’t done us a whole lot of good, but I like having that it’s there and we haven’t used any systems like noise aware or anything like that. Yet. Generally we keep supplies locked in a closet on site too. So if somebody does need something, I can usually get them in the closet instead of sending someone out there.

 

04:40:51

Okay. And is there anything that you do that helps your guests leave positive reviews?

 

04:40:58

I do think communication and amenities and keeping it clean. So those kinds of like are the things that people seem to love. So communicating enough, but not too much. And I use the Smartbnb system to automate my messages, but I also don’t ignore what the guest says. So if someone books their stay and then it automatically says, thanks for booking and sends all the info. I still review what they had said at some point, like within the day, because they might’ve asked a question, they might’ve said something I should comment on instead of just let the automated system that actually happened to me. I stayed in Toronto this past weekend and that was telling them I can manage 25 properties. And I really want to see what an Airbnb plus is all about that we don’t have them in our area and they never wrote back to me, but that like, they just automated it at all.

 

04:41:51

I’m like, all right. So it was kind of disappointing, you know, you felt like you’re just part of the system, but the communication is important. I think that a lot of people will comment. They got back to us real quick. Even if there was a problem you got back to us, you tried to help, you know, and what did I say? Oh, amenities. So just having things like coffee on site and garbage bags and whatever people like that, I have one place there’s actually five places. But once if one area that doesn’t bring a doesn’t even have linens and most of the time that’s the biggest critique is no linens. So,

 

04:42:30

And is there, is there one house rule that, that you kind of use in all your listings that has kind of saved you before?

 

04:42:37

Yes. I would say no extra guests that have not been approved by myself or the owner’s name that is big. We did have one place where there was a party. They brought in a bus of people. It was an issue.

 

04:42:53

How do you, how do you handle that? Like, if you’re not there, do you have to get like the owner involved or do you just have to go to the police right away? Or

 

04:43:03

This was actually close to my house. So I did go, which was probably not even worth doing, because they did not care that I came, why the owner called them a bunch of times. And so we ended up having to have the police come and that was the best method. In fact, anytime there’s an issue, you need to have the police go and have a police report so that Airbnb can see that you’re not just being like a mean host. They want to, they always want to make sure the guest is being treated fair. I understand that. But as the host and the homeowner, you need to have all your evidence and all your proof, otherwise they will refer to the guest.

 

04:43:43

Okay. And what, what would you do differently if you had to start from scratch?

 

04:43:48

Well, back to my systemization, I would have started with like a system. I would have had an, an email per homeowner of like questions. How, when do you want me to drop the price? When are you okay with pets? Like those kinds of questions right off the bat. So I don’t have to ask them every time. And then just having that sheet that, so if I had to hand over the property to someone out of nowhere, what was the info about the property? I would create that right from the start and using the automated messaging, those kind of things, and make it really easy to scale at least initially.

 

04:44:22

Okay. And w where do you see, you know, you, you you’ve been doing this type of co-hosting models for, for some time now, where do you see short-term rentals and co-hosting going in the future?

 

04:44:35

I don’t know. I have not thought about what will happen in the long-term for me, our area is getting more saturated with it. So there is going to be an issue with there’s too many properties, not enough guests. And I think that’s true for Airbnb. Also, they have a lot of properties and not as many guests, so it could end up going that direction where people keep offering more and more and more and charging less and less and less. So it’ll change to something else. But I don’t know what, so, although I know vacation rentals have been around forever and it’s not going to go away. It’s just kind of following the trends. And even if Airbnb is the way, like maybe something else will be coming up and so we should stay on our toes and ready to change if needed. Right.

 

04:45:23

And w w what’s the question that I can ask the next professional host, something that, that maybe you’re curious about,

 

04:45:33

I’m super curious about getting help. Like, I don’t understand how to get help. Like who, what do you all, what do you hand off? What do you pay someone that you do it, like, it’s like a really weird business because it’s 24 7 with guest communication, and it might take two seconds to write back a guest. That’s not like hourly. So I’d love to hear about how other people are growing from one to two and three and getting to those stages, instead of someone that already has a team of 30 or something, you know, that’s way beyond where I’m at at this point.

 

04:46:10

Okay. Very cool. Yeah. We’ll, we’ll try to get some people on the show that are kind of already at that process where they’ve kind of built up that, that, that team to help them manage their business. And we’re, we’re really big book readers. I love reading books and learning and growing. Do you have any book recommendations that something that has maybe really changed your business or your life?

 

04:46:31

Well, the one optimize your Airbnb. Thank you. Changed the name of it, Daniel. He, his book is excellent. I like tagged every page and use all the info from that. So that one’s really good for this business. And then I’ve done so much reading through network marketing on personal development that you can start exploring sort of the self development world, and that will help your business quite drastic.

 

04:46:59

Do you have a favorite favorite? A self-help book?

 

04:47:05

No, I’m a perpetual learner. I like listen to a new book every day, so, so no, but lately I’ve been wanting to Eckerd totally a lot and the power of now, and that one is making a big difference in my life. Actually,

 

04:47:21

I just finished that book as well. I just finished that.

 

04:47:25

It seems like, I mean, this business can, cause I found it can cause a of anxiety and maybe some people aren’t as from, to it as I am, but you could get anxious about what could go wrong. What’s next, what’s coming up. Right. And so learning to be present and just deal with it and the moment and not, not worry about it after that moment that you’ve dealt with it is really important because otherwise you’re going to have a scatter brain and not do a very good job anyhow. So

 

04:47:54

Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful. Thank you so much, Erica. It is such an honor to be able to speak with you. You share just a wealth of knowledge in this episode for people that are looking to get into co-hosting or looking on how to build this business, you just shared so much golden information for people to set themselves up on the right foot. And until next time, host nation, keep on hosting Hopi hosts benefit from the show. If you found value, please go on over to iTunes, leave us a review and let us know what you enjoy about the show. If you’d like to talk the hosts that have been featured in these episodes, as well as the community, going over to our Facebook group, the host nation, talk to your hosts and the next step. So to keep on hosts.