Latest / Host Planet: Airbnb, Holiday Let, and Vacation Rental Insights / Winning World Cup Hosting Strategies: Boost Your Bookings with Tyann Marcink Hammond
Transcript
- 0:00We're going to have a hosting crash course for the World Cup
- 0:04and the city of Kansas City actually reached out to our
- 0:07alliance saying we need help because we are short about 500
- 0:13short term rentals for the World Cup.
- 0:16So this event is for anyone who is planning or thinking about
- 0:20wanting to host during the World Cup.
- 0:22Host planet is heading to Kansas City in Missouri.
- 0:26We'll be helping vacation rental hosts prepare for next year's
- 0:30FIFA World Cup, which has been held in the US of Canada and
- 0:33Mexico. Tian Marcink Hammond is the
- 0:36instigator behind the World Cup hosting Crash Course, which will
- 0:39take place on the 14th and 15th of November.
- 0:42Find out what convinced her to organize this event.
- 0:45Which major? Brands will be involved and what
- 0:48hosts will learn during. The conference on today's.
- 0:51Host Planner Podcast Tian, welcome to the House Planet
- 0:59podcast. Now I'm excited, and that's
- 1:02because House Planet is heading stateside all the way to Kansas
- 1:07City, in fact, in Missouri. Why on earth am I going to
- 1:11Kansas City in November? I mean, besides the Kansas City
- 1:16BBQ. Hello.
- 1:18I mean, that's good enough to come over across the big pond.
- 1:21Just come see us. But there is another little tiny
- 1:25global event happening in Kansas City and Missouri, and that's
- 1:30the World Cup. And we're one of the host cities
- 1:32here in Missouri. And we are so excited to have
- 1:36the world coming to visit us in the United States, Canada,
- 1:39Mexico and our little tiny town, tiny town of Kansas City, MO.
- 1:45And with that, the Missouri Vacation Home Alliance that I
- 1:51represent is we're going to have a hosting crash course for the
- 1:56World Cup. By the way, I'm Tiane Marcin
- 2:00Hammond from Branson family retreats in Missouri, house
- 2:02vacation rentals, and I started in the vacation rental industry
- 2:05back in 2007. So I'm going on 2 decades here.
- 2:09And when the World Cup was coming here and then we throw in
- 2:14some things about politics and property taxes in Missouri.
- 2:18And Fast forward to 2025 in the winter and the city of Kansas
- 2:22City actually reached out to our alliance, the Kansas City Short
- 2:25Term Rental Alliance saying we need help because we are short
- 2:31about 500 short term rentals for the lodging for the World Cup.
- 2:37And the Kansas City Alliance said, yeah, we know what to do.
- 2:39We're going to reach out to the state alliance.
- 2:41And we have all been working together to make this the most
- 2:46impactful event for host globally.
- 2:51Fantastic. Now I should probably explain
- 2:54that this event combines my last two careers really because I
- 2:59spent 10 years in Qatar working on the World Cup projects for
- 3:03the local organizing committee. So and all I know all about
- 3:06accommodation issues because there were plenty over in Qatar.
- 3:10And of course, recently I've been running House Planet, which
- 3:13is very much part of the short term rentals world.
- 3:15So this is very nicely combining 2 of my big passions, football,
- 3:19soccer to you guys in the States and short term rentals.
- 3:23So tell us about the event then the World Cup hosting Crash
- 3:27course. Who is this for?
- 3:30So this event is for anyone who is planning or thinking about
- 3:34wanting to host during the World Cup.
- 3:37So that's approximately 3 months in the summer in North America.
- 3:42And when the city of Kansas City reached out to us saying that
- 3:45they needed more hosts, we realized, you know what, we can
- 3:48help with that. But the caveat is, is I want to
- 3:52lay the foundation of education so that you don't have all these
- 3:56people. Oh, yeah, we're going to make so
- 3:57much money. And then either A, they don't
- 4:00make the money they were expecting because expectations
- 4:03were totally out of whack, or they realize, you know, hosting
- 4:07is not a trip to the beach where you sit there with your little
- 4:10umbrella drink and your toes in the sand type thing.
- 4:13There is a lot of work to do and there is a lot of responsibility
- 4:18in caring for people who come to your home.
- 4:21And so we wanted to make sure that Kansas City specifically is
- 4:26going to be the best guest experience, the safest homes,
- 4:31and have this incredible foundation and experience for
- 4:35everybody who's coming to the World Cup.
- 4:37So that we can be at that shining example to our
- 4:40community, to the economy and to the city as well how important
- 4:45this is to partner and work together.
- 4:48And from that, we realized we can't just keep it to ourselves.
- 4:52So we've invited all of the host cities to join us in this
- 4:55initiative. So we've already got Atlanta and
- 4:58Dallas on board to follow us, as well as the country of Mexico.
- 5:02So it's really, really, really exciting, if I can say really as
- 5:06much as possible, because I know I, I've read, I've read that the
- 5:09Brits don't like it when US Americans say really, really all
- 5:12the time. But you know, that's part of my
- 5:14vernacular. It's, it's really wonderful.
- 5:16Thank you. OK, we'll talk now for all you
- 5:19hosts out there. You know that moment when you
- 5:21guest messages you again? With Hey.
- 5:24What's the Wi-Fi code? Or you're staring at 5 different
- 5:27calendars wondering if you've. Accidentally.
- 5:29Double booked the cottage yes, we've all been there.
- 5:33That's why here at Houseplanner we recommend housefully.
- 5:37It's basically your rentals Control Center.
- 5:40It handles bookings across all the big platforms, syncs your
- 5:43calendars to ensure there are no double bookings, automates guest
- 5:47messages and even creates these really slick digital guidebooks
- 5:50that stop all the repeat questions.
- 5:53Honestly it just makes your life easier and.
- 5:56Keeps your guests happier, helping you achieve.
- 5:59Those all important five star reviews and here is a little
- 6:03bonus. If you're a House Planet
- 6:04listener, you can get $500 off onboarding for House Philly's
- 6:08property management software and 30% off digital guidebooks for
- 6:13life. Just hit the link in the show
- 6:15notes and use the codes Planet 500 for the PMS and House Planet
- 6:20GB for the guidebooks. And if you'd like.
- 6:23A proper walkthrough. There's also a link to book a
- 6:26demo with Frank Bosey from House Philly.
- 6:28He will show you how it all works.
- 6:31Less stress. More Bookings.
- 6:33Sorted with hopefully. OK, so it's on the 14th and 15th
- 6:39of November, so 2 day event. So who can we expect to hear
- 6:43from? Who are the brands that are
- 6:45going to be there? And what specifically are people
- 6:48going to learn when they come for these two days?
- 6:51So we actually have Airbnb and booking.com headlining the
- 6:55event. Verbo is also a sponsor as well.
- 6:59It is just phenomenal for the online travel agents, the OTAs
- 7:04to understand and under score the importance of this education
- 7:09for people to to learn from and to build that foundational
- 7:12hosting. And so they're coming.
- 7:16We're also bringing in the industry experts like yourself,
- 7:19James. I was so excited when I
- 7:21remembered in the little bit back on my mind that wait, James
- 7:24has hosted before. And what is one of the biggest
- 7:27impacts is when you can talk to someone live in person, face to
- 7:30face of someone who's walked the path before you.
- 7:33So we're really excited that host Fully is sponsoring James
- 7:36to bring him over the pond to talk to everybody.
- 7:40Then we have Justin Ford with Breezeway Safety talking about
- 7:43safety. We've got Nick Massey coming
- 7:44from Proper Insurance to talk about accidental damage
- 7:47protection and your liability protection.
- 7:50And then we have Ashley Ching within Haven to talk about the
- 7:54fees and how you have to consider what is your cleaning
- 7:58fee? What what are some other things
- 8:00you must charge besides your nightly rate.
- 8:03We're going to have Kyle Driscoll from Price Labs to come
- 8:05talk about revenue strategy. So not, not, this is how you use
- 8:10Price Labs, it's how do you price your place, What should
- 8:14your strategy be and what can you expect?
- 8:18We've got Air DNA coming to open the event to talk about the
- 8:21realistic expectations of how much could you charge, what kind
- 8:26of occupancy you should look at, at what point are people going
- 8:29to start booking their places. And that's one of the reasons
- 8:32we're doing it in November is because people are already
- 8:34thinking about booking for next year and you've got to get your
- 8:37listing going. I'm going to talk about being a
- 8:40good neighbor, making sure that you're respectful of your
- 8:43community and your neighbors and the local ordinances, as well as
- 8:47your guest communication, your guest experience, and making
- 8:51sure that you are letting people know all about the absolute best
- 8:55places to visit while they're in the United States and in your
- 8:57area, such as the best Kansas City BBQ.
- 9:00We're going to take James out too.
- 9:02And then we've also got Jen Saxton from host GPO who's going
- 9:06to talk about what is the basic one O 1 supplies you need at
- 9:11your house. Now, to me, this is very
- 9:13important because I have a lot of friends from the UK and
- 9:16Europe. And one of the things that we do
- 9:19in the Midwest is, yeah, we drink tea.
- 9:22But I'm sorry, James, we actually, I don't know if you
- 9:25want to hear this, but we put the mug of water in the
- 9:28microwave to heat it up. And I, I know that.
- 9:33Yes, yes. So one of the things is Jen will
- 9:36be talking about if you're going to host people coming over the
- 9:39pond, make sure you've got a tea kettle for them because that is
- 9:42the proper way to make a cup of tea.
- 9:47Fantastic. Yes.
- 9:48Properly making sure that the the Europeans and especially the
- 9:51tea drinkers from England are are properly looked after.
- 9:54I love that. Yeah.
- 9:55Great that you mentioned hostfully there.
- 9:57So hostfully actually are going to be sponsoring an ebook that
- 10:00we're going to be working on together.
- 10:03And this is going to be a free resource for everybody who comes
- 10:07along to the event, but also anybody who wants to download it
- 10:09generally. So what can people expect from
- 10:13that ebook? So the the event itself is going
- 10:16to be your foundation and then the e-book that we're going to
- 10:19release that day will be the next steps after your
- 10:23foundation. So the event will give you
- 10:26everything you need or you don't have to have tech if you don't
- 10:29want to, but there will be tech available.
- 10:32And then those next steps are if you want to do even better, if
- 10:36you want to get a little bit of technology, if you feel like
- 10:39you're already getting addicted to hosting in the industry, what
- 10:43are those next steps that you can do better?
- 10:45What will give you that edge over all your other competitors?
- 10:49Those are the next things. So we're making sure that we're
- 10:51having a good foundation plus the next steps.
- 10:55Now the other thing I forgot to mention, James, they're not
- 10:57speaking, but they're going to be there is we're going to have
- 11:00data LED designs. So they are bringing the data
- 11:04about the interior design of what you can do to make your
- 11:08place stand out. In addition, we'll have touch
- 11:11day there with the event guide and being able to provide
- 11:14guidebooks for you to provide to your guests as well.
- 11:18So it's again, really exciting for all of this to come together
- 11:23and all the support of the industry because this is a level
- 11:27of education that has been missing for quite a while.
- 11:31And I absolutely love seeing everybody coming together and
- 11:35supporting this and supporting MOVA, the Missouri Vacation Home
- 11:39Alliance through this. And OK, one more that I forgot
- 11:42to mention is we are partnering with the City of Kansas City.
- 11:46And I have just gotten confirmation that we're going to
- 11:49have the folks from the city themselves there to speak on the
- 11:54regulations for locally as well as the lodging tax remittance.
- 11:59So that we have the people who are receiving your tax reports
- 12:04and the money. They're going over exactly how
- 12:07to do it so that there is no confusion on what happens and
- 12:11making sure that we're partnering together so that
- 12:12everybody can be responsible. Fantastic.
- 12:16Yeah. So that e-book working title, 6
- 12:18Steps for 26. So look out for that.
- 12:21It will be across our social media and on our websites.
- 12:26An interesting point there you make about major events, because
- 12:29when we go to conferences, we learn a lot about the data and
- 12:33the revenue in relation to major events.
- 12:36But there aren't any events or conferences like this which
- 12:39specifically talk about how you can be a host during a World Cup
- 12:44or an Olympic, the Games, or for a major rock tour or or anything
- 12:48like that. You know, how important is it,
- 12:49do you think to start getting really specific when we have
- 12:52major events like the World Cup? So I think it's so, so important
- 12:57that one, I'm dedicating, volunteering my time to do this.
- 13:02But it creates that foundation of people to understand their
- 13:06responsibility to their own house.
- 13:10They're to respecting their neighbors, to respecting their
- 13:12community and not just trying something out and throwing it up
- 13:18there and realizing they're going to get themselves in a lot
- 13:20of trouble because they don't think through things that could
- 13:23happen. And so one of the things we'll
- 13:25be going over is what are the policy decisions you need to
- 13:29make ahead of time? Are you going to accept pets for
- 13:32someone who might be driving in or flying in with their animal?
- 13:35Are you going to do what time for check in and check out?
- 13:39How does that affect or how is that affected by flight
- 13:43schedules and where people are coming from?
- 13:45Are you going to collaborate with others so that they can go
- 13:49from your city to a vacation area and then come back?
- 13:53What are the logistics in your target market that comes
- 13:56together? And when you dig deep into what
- 14:01people are coming for and who it is that is coming, you can
- 14:04better serve them. And then you can realize, hey,
- 14:08this is something I love to do. Maybe I want to invest in a
- 14:11vacation home in another location or maybe it's the way
- 14:14you can serve your community. Because for instance, one of my
- 14:18brands, it's historical homes in Missouri, wine country, and a
- 14:22lot of our guests are coming for family, whether it's family
- 14:25reunions, weddings, and a lot of funerals even.
- 14:29So it's a very different type of guest and being able to serve
- 14:32that type of guest. So in essence, the same thing.
- 14:35When someone's coming for a very specific event, there are things
- 14:38you need to be aware of to make sure that you're serving that
- 14:41specific guests and making sure that they walk away with a
- 14:44feeling of care and being welcomed and that, hey, they
- 14:48want to return to your area again, Maybe next time to
- 14:51explore more. Yeah.
- 14:53And talking of knowing your guest, I think the draw for the
- 14:56World Cup is going to take place in early December, I think the
- 14:595th of December. Don't quote me on that.
- 15:01But at that point, you'll start to know which countries are
- 15:04going to be playing in Kansas City.
- 15:07And this, of course, helps house and property managers because
- 15:10they'll know which nations are coming.
- 15:11You can start preparing. You can even maybe put some
- 15:14flags or merchandise of those countries in, in your photos.
- 15:17And that might entice them to start to start actually booking.
- 15:21And then of course, you can prepare things like, you know,
- 15:22different languages, you might, you might need videos in Spanish
- 15:26if you've got fans from Spain or Mexico or, or something coming
- 15:29along. So it leads me on really like in
- 15:32terms of the excitement, how much is the excitement building
- 15:35in Kansas City? Are people thinking much about
- 15:37the World Cup? And obviously you are, but I
- 15:38mean, generally, oh, they, they are.
- 15:41And there's, there's a call out for volunteers to actually help
- 15:44with the event. There's a full, full on
- 15:47committee just for the event. And so much preparation is going
- 15:51on, so many partnerships and collaborations.
- 15:54It's very quite exciting that all of this is coming together
- 15:57in this manner. And when you mentioned, you
- 16:00know, making videos on how things work, it reminds me of
- 16:04the first time I went to London and I got into my hotel room and
- 16:08James, I could not figure out how to turn the light on.
- 16:11I was tired. I was so completely exhausted
- 16:16after the flight over there. And I couldn't, I was, I was in
- 16:19tears, literally in tears because I could not figure out
- 16:22how to turn the light on in the hotel room.
- 16:24And instead of calling the front desk, I called my friend Andy
- 16:29McNulty, who brought me over there for an event.
- 16:32And I said, Andy, I, I know this is a simple question, but I
- 16:36cannot turn the light on. And he's like, what, what do you
- 16:39mean you put your card in the slot, right?
- 16:40I'm like, what do you mean I put the card in my slot.
- 16:43So, you know, you guys are used to, oh, you put the card in the
- 16:47slot by the door to make sure that the electric says, Oh yeah,
- 16:51there's someone here and we can turn the electricity on for the
- 16:54room. Or the fact that you have little
- 16:56on off switches on every single outlet and that if I plug my
- 17:00phone in the charge and that outlet isn't turned on, my
- 17:03phone's not going to charge. You know, there are little
- 17:06idiosyncrasies between the different cultures that, you
- 17:10know, we will need to be reminded here in Kansas City and
- 17:12Missouri and the United States. OK, What is it that is normal
- 17:16for us that is not normal for someone else?
- 17:19And then create those videos, as you said, put it into your touch
- 17:22day guidebook and make sure they're also translated for
- 17:26their language. And there's so many little
- 17:28things that you have to navigate when you host someone to make
- 17:32sure that they have a great time.
- 17:34Definitely. Yeah.
- 17:34And it even like extends to just the, the cultures and different
- 17:39tips and things to, to, to expect.
- 17:41I mean, even if you're coming like from from Europe or the UK,
- 17:44there's a lot of things that are different.
- 17:45If it's your first time in the States, you know, leaving tips,
- 17:47for example, you know, it's kind of tips everywhere in the States
- 17:51is is expected, which is not necessarily something that
- 17:53you're used to. And I'm looking forward as well
- 17:56actually to comparing the World Cup in Qatar, which is in a
- 18:00very, very small area compared to the World Cup in 2026, where
- 18:05which is obviously in three countries.
- 18:06So you've got the US, you've got Canada, you've got Mexico.
- 18:10I think, I think the 16 venues, 16 stadiums in 2026, we had
- 18:14eight and the longest distance between stadiums in Qatar was
- 18:19about 55 kilometers and the longest distance between
- 18:24stadiums in this World Cup in 2026 is going to be thousands of
- 18:28kilometers. So there's going to be some
- 18:30really interesting comparisons, I think.
- 18:33And, and another thing as well is just as the scale of the
- 18:36World Cup, I mean, obviously, you know, soccer isn't the most
- 18:39popular sport in the US. We know that.
- 18:41But I think the average viewership for a match in the
- 18:45World Cup is about the same as the average, average viewership
- 18:48globally for the Super Bowl. So it's like having a lot of
- 18:51Super Bowls back-to-back over a / a month long period.
- 18:55So yeah, it's going to be going to be really exciting.
- 18:58Fantastic. So 14th and 15th of November.
- 19:00Where can people go to find out more information and how much is
- 19:05a ticket? Yeah.
- 19:06So head to hostingcrashcourse.com.
- 19:09Super simple posting crashcourse.com and the ticket
- 19:12for a alliance member in Missouri is only $79 for the
- 19:17early bird rate. You can also sign up for our
- 19:19video course. We're going to record all of
- 19:22this because it is such good foundational education that we
- 19:25want to make sure everybody has an opportunity to access it, not
- 19:30just at the event, but leading up to and throughout the World
- 19:33Cup event and then beyond that as well.
- 19:37So there's going to be a video course that you can sign up for
- 19:39if you're not going to come to Kansas City.
- 19:41And you don't have to be someone who lives in Kansas City or the
- 19:45area to come to the event. So if you are just interested in
- 19:49hosting or you think, Oh yeah, are my, I'm going to host in our
- 19:52area, but then you're not having an event, come over to Kansas
- 19:55City. We've got an International
- 19:56Airport, easy fly. If you are in the Midwest, you
- 20:00know that anything under 15 hour drive is absolutely doable.
- 20:04So you can do that. And come stay with any of our
- 20:07Kansas City Alliance members or the hotels in the area.
- 20:11We're really excited that the event venue is a recently
- 20:15renovated historical auditorium that the city of Kansas City
- 20:19runs. So it's been sponsored by a city
- 20:21Councilwoman to take care of it for us.
- 20:24So even in a city venue as well, it I'm just so thrilled.
- 20:30It's absolutely fantastic. And then James, one of the
- 20:33things that also really excites me is that this event will now
- 20:38give us the opportunity to have a story of data to tell when an
- 20:44area has education versus an area that doesn't have
- 20:47education. What happens with new host?
- 20:51Is there a difference in the reviews they get?
- 20:53Is there a difference in the what the guests say in the
- 20:57reviews with the cleanliness, with the experience, all of that
- 21:00story? We're going to now have the data
- 21:02for by next year. And what's really fun is Air DNA
- 21:07is going to give us that data and they're going to sponsor for
- 21:10us the World Cup hosting challenge.
- 21:14So I'm going to come up with some various awards that the
- 21:18different areas can go after for this challenge.
- 21:21So it's the World Cup hosting challenge between the different
- 21:23host cities. And we'll see who can do the
- 21:26best with the increase in reviews and the way the guests
- 21:30feel, as well as the increase in new host and new properties.
- 21:35And did they meet the demands? Did they fill up with occupancy?
- 21:39What kind of rates are they getting?
- 21:40All of that data story is going to be in front of us.
- 21:43Superb. That is fantastic.
- 21:45Yeah. Because so often people start
- 21:47with a property, you know, like me really years ago, don't
- 21:50really know what they're doing. You know, there aren't many of
- 21:52these crash courses knocking around where you can pay $79 and
- 21:55come along for a couple of days and learn about it.
- 21:58So yeah, really, it'll be great to see the impact of a course
- 22:02like this on people who are new hosts and they're doing it for
- 22:04the first time and, you know, getting involved during such a
- 22:06massive event like the, like, the World Cup as well.
- 22:09Tiane. Fantastic.
- 22:10I'm really looking forward to November and being a part part
- 22:13of this. Everybody should look out for
- 22:15all the comms that we'll be doing across our channels,
- 22:18including the links to the event and of course, the ebook that
- 22:20we're doing with Housefully. Thanks again to to Housefully
- 22:23for getting involved with this. And and yeah, I'll see you for
- 22:26that barbecue in a couple of months.
- 22:28All right, Sounds good. Thanks, James.
- 22:29Safe travels, Grace chatter Tiane Marcin Hammond there about
- 22:33the World Cup hosting crash course.
- 22:35Hope to see you in Missouri. All right, that's it for today's
- 22:38show. Remember, this podcast is
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- 23:17managers. That's it for today's episode.
- 23:19Until next time, happy host.