Latest / Host Planet: Airbnb, Holiday Let, and Vacation Rental Insights / What STRs Must Learn from Holiday Parks & Hotels

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What STRs Must Learn from Holiday Parks & Hotels · Host Planet: Airbnb, Holiday Let, and Vacation Rental Insights

0:00
To put it simply, offer a reason to book direct that ties into,
0:04
you know, a great website and the booking experience, making
0:07
sure it's just as easy as that can be.
0:09
What can short term rentals learn from holiday parks and the
0:13
hotel industry? What is the lean tech stack that
0:16
every operator needs? And what are the simple ways to
0:20
achieve more direct bookings? Zenvale from RMS Cloud will be
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answering all these questions and more on today's House Planet
0:27
podcast. Zen, thank you for joining us on
0:35
the House Planet podcast. What can short term rental
0:38
operators learn from holiday parks?
0:42
Thank you for having me, James. And that's a really, really
0:45
great question because holiday parks sometimes I find are a
0:49
little bit underrepresented when talking about industry focus and
0:52
perception. And even myself.
0:54
When I joined RMS over five years ago, I had to learn a lot
0:58
about the park space, having worked in and with hotels
1:02
previously. And it is such a fascinating
1:04
area. But one thing to know about
1:07
Parks is the focus is really and truly on the guest experience
1:11
and entertainment. And a lot of the times they are
1:13
seasonal. They have high seasons, low
1:15
seasons. And they also have had more
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recently an influx of digital nomads.
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You know, the whole van life, popularity on social media, all
1:23
of that kind of stuff. We had a recent company event
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and I'm going back to the question, but in a roundabout
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ways. I apologise in advance, but we
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had a recent company event and we had a customer panel and one
1:35
of them was a, a park operator with a group of parks.
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And one thing that really stood out to their guests was the fact
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that what they what their guests did is they came to the park,
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stayed there for a couple of days and then went on three or
1:49
four day hikes and the luggage and things like that.
1:52
They left with the park. And what the park actually did
1:55
was then took the luggage to the next site within their
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portfolio, within the park portfolio, meaning that they
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were generating extra revenue from that guest because they
2:03
were staying within the portfolio.
2:05
And they were also adding that added service and that added
2:08
guest experience to their guests as well.
2:11
But when it comes to STR specifically, we're finding a
2:15
lot of our STR customers are already creating their memorable
2:18
experiences, you know, thoughtful notes, birthday
2:21
cakes, hampers, things like that.
2:24
But taking it to more of a personal note, me personally,
2:27
when I'm travelling, having a 2 year old toddler who's a very
2:31
fussy eater, I recently went abroad to the Middle East with
2:34
my family and stayed in an STR. And one thing that really stood
2:37
out to me and it's something really, really simple is a high
2:39
chair. And that high chair made all the
2:42
difference. You already mentioned you've got
2:45
a daughter that HI made all the difference when it came to
2:47
feeding times with a very fuzzy toddler.
2:50
So these little touches on the guest experience mindset really
2:53
do make a huge difference. Other areas that I suppose
2:58
holiday parks and STRS can learn from holiday parks is ancillary
3:03
revenue. So what I'm talking about there
3:05
is parks are great at boosting revenue when it comes to
3:09
activities, when it comes to events, you know, bike hires,
3:11
hampers, things like that. One of our specific STR
3:17
customers, Buckingham and Lloyd, they offer this curated
3:20
experience of service. So whether it's personal
3:23
training, nanny services, even yacht chartering, they offer all
3:27
of that as part of, you know, the guest experience and they
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drive ancillary revenue from there.
3:32
And there's been a lot of discussions recently about
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Airbnb's new service offerings. So they've actually done that
3:37
prior to this and STRS themselves, even through
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smaller, smaller components, can learn from that and offer these
3:43
curated experiences to drive this ancillary revenue.
3:47
One thing parks do really well is automation.
3:50
So talking about seasonality that I mentioned a little bit
3:52
earlier, they have, you know, weekly stays, so guests checking
3:56
in on a specific day of week, huge lines and things like that.
3:59
But park operators who are savvy, they've already handed
4:02
all of all of that through the digital guest experience and
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they're just driving the guests direct to, you know, the cabin
4:08
or the large, ETC, that they're staying in.
4:10
Now, a lot of SDRS are still managing components of this
4:14
manually when it can all be automated, even things like, you
4:17
know, chat and messaging through AI, that can all be handled for
4:21
you, especially when you've got a lean operation.
4:23
And I know, I mean, this isn't anything that's ground breaking
4:26
this thing that they are things that have been discussed before,
4:29
but these are things that parks do that are doing really, really
4:31
well. And SDRS, especially when
4:34
they're scaling could really, could really benefit from this
4:37
kind of process and mindset, I guess is, is, is what I'm
4:41
saying. Yeah, having the having the high
4:44
chair there very important and gosh, I know all about fussy
4:46
eaters got got three kids one of them not fussy at all the other
4:51
two, my goodness, chicken Nuggets, Turkey, dinosaurs and
4:54
pizza is about the the as as far as they go.
4:59
OK, real talk now for all you hosts out there, you know that
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Less stress, more bookings sorted with housefully, but with
6:18
upselling. You make an interesting point
6:20
there with the parks, they've kind of got this down to a tee.
6:24
They've got all these different things that they can offer and
6:27
you know, usually a guest is going to come along and take up
6:29
at least one or two of them. And it's it's extra revenue in
6:32
the bank. And I feel with short term
6:33
rentals, some of the, you know, professional, really top end
6:38
operators, they offer upsells as a matter of course.
6:41
And kind of the rest of us, and I'd probably include myself in
6:44
this, we're just not very good at it.
6:46
We're not very good at kind of curating the full list because
6:49
it can be with upselling quite a hands off experience even for
6:53
the host. You can, you know, it's a matter
6:55
of supplying a lot of links and and hopefully seeing a bit of
6:57
extra revenue come in. Yeah.
6:59
No, that's definitely a really, really good point.
7:01
By the way, I am in the chicken nugget phase at the moment as
7:03
well. But I completely appreciate what
7:05
you're saying. But there are opportunities
7:07
where it where it doesn't mean, you know, just even working with
7:11
local businesses, guests do you want that personalized
7:13
experience as you'll know when they're staying in STRS And then
7:16
local experiences make the whole world a difference when it comes
7:19
to guests choosing or selecting their stay, which may lead on to
7:24
another point. But the way that you market all
7:26
of that as well is forming that guest perception as they're
7:29
deciding where they are going to stay as well.
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So having all of that as a whole journey as opposed to isolate it
7:36
is quite important as well. Yeah, I remember a while ago
7:39
interviewing a host over in the States, I think it was a cabin
7:44
rental and they had a fireplace. And of course the guests come
7:47
along, they want to use the fireplace, and their biggest
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upsell was firewood costs them a few dollars.
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They charge the guest $30.00. So every time they're making
7:57
loads of profit just on firewood and pretty much every guest
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wants it. So imagine that, you know, $30
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upsell every single guest, It's it's going to add up.
8:05
So, so consider it. OK, so we talked about holiday
8:09
parks then. What do you think STR operators
8:12
can learn from hotels? Interesting one because with
8:18
hotels what they tend to have is consistency.
8:23
When I talk about, sorry, I couldn't say the word, then when
8:26
I talk about consistency, I'm talking about, you know,
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repeatable services, repeatable guest experiences.
8:32
They provide the same quality. They've got SOP, standard
8:35
operating procedures for everything, including, you know,
8:37
housekeeping check in, check out St.
8:40
OS could potentially benefit from having that same level of
8:43
consistency when it comes to the guest experience.
8:47
But taking it, we were talking about ancillary revenue when
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when we were discussing holiday parks.
8:51
But revenue management is something that hotels do really
8:54
well as well. So, you know, there's a lot of
8:57
revenue management systems which have traditionally been geared
9:00
towards hotels and hotel groups. But we're seeing more and more
9:03
coming out into the market that are focused on STRS.
9:07
But if you're a smaller operator at this stage, it doesn't mean
9:10
you need a fully fledged revenue management system.
9:12
You could just use the automation tools that you have,
9:14
you know, in your property management systems.
9:16
A lot of property management systems nowadays come with
9:18
dynamic pricing, looking at your inventory and you could utilize
9:21
that to maximize your revenue as well and not having the siloed
9:25
systems or tools in place. Other areas, I mean, crisis
9:29
handling, the kind of giving that guest that East or that
9:32
Peace of Mind. STRS, I suppose should prep a
9:36
little bit more for the unexpected.
9:37
You know, plumbing problems, maintenance issues.
9:40
I'm sure you've come across them in the past as well.
9:42
No shows with response templates that are automated.
9:46
Things like that that they could do for utilising technology or
9:49
just by having processes and the correct systems in place.
9:54
Yeah, the, the, SO PS, those standard operating procedures
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and if you do have a few rentals, you're probably not
10:01
going to create something. It's just kind of something that
10:03
happens organically. But if you're growing and you're
10:06
getting a team together and you've got cleaners and handy
10:09
people and plumbers and all the rest of it, having those SO PS
10:12
can really make a difference in, in how you run the operations.
10:15
And I, I think as well, though, with the hotels as a guest, you
10:17
know, you're getting that level of consistency every time, you
10:21
know, you know, the the room's going to be clean, you know what
10:24
the check in experience is going to be like.
10:26
And yeah, if you can try and emulate that, it's it's
10:28
definitely going to help you. But let's flip this on its head
10:31
a bit then. What do you think holiday parks
10:34
and hotels can learn from vacation rentals?
10:39
So I mean, as Apms, we're quite niche because we operate in all
10:42
of these, all of these verticals.
10:44
And we do do comparisons between where we're seeing trends in the
10:48
industry from one vertical to another.
10:51
And one of the areas which has shifted quite a lot from the OR
10:56
from the STR space to the hotel space is that self-service and
11:00
that automation. So you know when I was talking
11:03
about earlier relating to holiday parts for STRS as well,
11:07
a lot of our STRS, the guest journey is automated and hotels,
11:11
they try and find that fine balance between the two.
11:14
But more and more guests, especially as guest expectations
11:17
are changing, that automation is key and can be very easily
11:22
delivered as well. And I suppose parks and hotels
11:26
could streamline the operation a little bit more by offering more
11:29
self-service tools. But at the same times with STRS,
11:32
I myself from the United States and STRS, because of the
11:34
authenticity and the personalisation and the ease and
11:38
the feel that I'm living like a local, I guess.
11:40
And hotels have started adapting to that by offering, you know,
11:44
items with more local character decor from local artists,
11:48
regional produce, things like that and really maximising that
11:51
as well and partnerships with nearby businesses as well.
11:55
There's something that we're starting to see in the holiday
11:56
pot space more and more. We talked a little bit earlier
12:00
around the marketing side of things, you know, around social
12:02
media. I feel like STRS are actually
12:05
doing this really, really well, especially STR groups, you know,
12:08
who are using that as a revenue driving channel.
12:10
Now hotels are increasingly moving towards this space in
12:14
terms of social media, but holiday parks, I suppose they've
12:18
got locations that are sometimes fantastic, like, you know,
12:22
really Instagrammable with great photos and things like that.
12:25
So they should use that marketing mindset to drive that
12:28
guest journey or that guest that proposed guested book at their
12:32
at their location. Other areas which we're finding
12:36
is the flexibility of staying with STRS.
12:39
You've still got standard check in, check out times with hotels
12:42
and with holiday parks. And I mean that frustrates me as
12:46
an industry personally because I feel like it should be a lot
12:49
more flexible than it is right now STRS or we're seeing some of
12:52
our customers adapting that a little bit.
12:55
And I suppose hotels could learn a little bit more from that as
12:58
well when it comes to vacation rentals and hotels.
13:07
Hotels are really good in terms of upselling and looking at
13:11
their guest data and STRS or what we found are not using that
13:18
as a revenue opportunity. So what I mean by that is look
13:22
at the guests that is staying with the other type of guests.
13:24
Are you getting predominantly corporate?
13:26
Are you getting, you know, predominantly families and cater
13:29
to that and market to that as well?
13:31
I mean, you could have a complete mixed bag where you
13:33
need to adjust and shift your approach a little bit, but it's
13:36
about knowing your data and knowing your guests and knowing
13:38
who is booking with you and why. Really interesting insight
13:42
there. So what do you think is the
13:45
ideal lean tech stack for STRS? The ideal lean, lean tag stack
13:54
would be PMS, channel PMS and property management system.
13:58
A channel manager for distribution payment automations
14:02
is something that's quite key with SDRS.
14:04
So there's no, you know, manual sending of links or manual
14:06
payments. It's all automated and really,
14:09
really smart guest messaging and interaction tools with guests.
14:13
But when it comes to the check in and the automation side of
14:15
things, making sure that STR operators are supported with,
14:19
you know, digital guest journeys through their PMS provider
14:22
because it doesn't really have to cost a lot.
14:24
You don't have to get 10 different tools to accommodate
14:27
all of this. A lot of down which you can have
14:28
that streamlined into one without over complicating
14:32
things. But additionally, outside of
14:34
that, if you look at STRS who are scaling and growing, looking
14:38
at revenue management systems as well, that will help you drive
14:42
revenue as you scale and grow, looking at, you know, the
14:44
availability in the market and how that can be maximized for
14:48
your operation as well. So these are some areas in terms
14:51
of tech stack that are ideal when it comes to when it comes
14:54
to STRS. Makes a lot of sense.
14:57
Let's talk direct bookings then. So what do you think of the top
15:02
three ways that short term rental operators can achieve
15:05
more direct bookings? Well, to put it simply, offer a
15:11
reason to book direct that that is that is the main component
15:16
that you need to look at. You know, small perks.
15:19
We've talked a lot about, you know, marketing to the type of
15:22
customer or the type of customers that you generally get
15:26
and offer a reason for them to book direct as well.
15:29
And that ties into, you know, a great website and a booking
15:33
journey and a booking experience as well, making sure it's not
15:36
over the complex, making sure it's just as easy as Airbnb if
15:40
you went onto Airbnb or booking.com and owning that
15:43
guest journey as opposed to the third, using automated emails,
15:46
SMS guides, things like that in order to encourage your guest to
15:50
book direct. I'm going to add the 4th if
15:53
that's OK. It's more around, I think we
15:55
touched on it a little bit earlier as well, but having that
15:57
really strong social media presence.
16:01
Now our Middle Eastern STR customers, especially in Dubai
16:04
are seeing a lot of business coming from their social media
16:07
platforms. And I feel like that's just
16:09
going to shift more and more, especially with with digital
16:11
nomads, etcetera. So I think having that strong
16:14
social media presence is an area that STR should really focus and
16:18
drive. Yeah, give them a reason and and
16:20
be visible on social media. Yeah, I think they're great. 2
16:24
great really simple tips there to achieve more direct bookings.
16:29
Which integrations then deliver the best ROI for STR operators
16:34
and how do you measure that ROI? In terms of integrations that
16:40
we're finding that are the most popular with our, with our STR
16:43
customer base are channel managers.
16:45
And that's an easy way to measure looking at where your
16:47
bookings are current from and what channels are the most
16:50
profitable for you as well. Payment gateways and automation.
16:53
That's obviously reducing a burden on manual processes and
16:57
guest automation tools. Again, we've touched on that a
16:59
little bit earlier. So, you know, cutting the manual
17:02
work, making sure you've got AI agents potentially or chat bots
17:06
to respond, I guess to the mundane in the day-to-day.
17:09
So STR operators often on a lean operation can really focus on
17:13
driving that guest experience. I did touch on revenue
17:17
management systems earlier as well.
17:18
And I think that is a key system or tech to consider, but I
17:25
suppose it is also for the type of STR operator that you are
17:29
because if you're quite small scale at this stage, it may not
17:32
be right for you to look at a revenue management system for
17:35
your for your operation as well. Tell us a bit more about RMS
17:39
then and where people can find out more information.
17:43
So RMS, we're a property management system and a platform
17:46
designed to help operators run everything from campgrounds to
17:50
hotels to SDRS. We really do focus on automating
17:54
the operational stuff, including, you know, bookings,
17:56
payments, guest communications, so that teams can really spend
18:00
time on what matters the most, which is the guest experience.
18:04
You can head over to rmscloud.com, connect with us on
18:07
LinkedIn, where we share a lot of industry insights and
18:09
updates. We've launched a few recent
18:12
studies and things like that that you can take a look at
18:14
there as well. Fantastic.
18:15
And we'll put that link in the show notes.
18:18
OK then. So we've got a few questions to
18:20
finish. What's your favorite brand in
18:23
the STR space and why? This is a really tough one
18:27
because I have so many. We've got a lot of fantastic
18:32
customers. I've already called out a couple
18:34
of them as well. So Buckingham and Lloyd in the
18:36
UK, Steak Cake in the Middle East in Dubai.
18:39
They're a fantastic brand. Clicks in Australia and they're
18:42
a great one. I know that's not just one,
18:44
that's a few. So yeah, in terms of tech
18:47
partners, I suppose Breezeway is a recent inspiration that we've
18:51
done and they really help operators streamline their
18:54
business processes from cleaning to maintenance and guest
18:56
messaging. So they're one of my favourite
18:58
tech partners that we work with or tech brands.
19:02
Fantastic, yeah, lots of good shout outs there, including for
19:04
Breezeway, one of our sponsors. So all good, an individual shout
19:09
out then. Is there someone in the STR
19:10
space you'd like to give a shout out to and why?
19:13
I won't shout out anyone individually because I don't
19:16
want to upset anyone else, which is a bit of a cop out, but I
19:18
will shout out to all of their fantastic RMS Cloud SDR
19:22
customers that we have on our portfolio.
19:24
All right, we'll let you get away with that.
19:26
One final question then. Biggest lesson learned during
19:30
your time with RMS? Whoosh, OK, the biggest lesson
19:36
learnt. There's been quite a few in my 5
19:39
years to be to be honest. I suppose more recently in my in
19:44
my role that I've been in for the last 12 months as CRO, the
19:48
tech space is moving really, really fast and data-driven
19:52
decisions are key in everything that you do as a business and
19:57
even as an operator. So you can have the mushroom
19:59
burst tech stack, but if you don't have access to clean data
20:03
and if you don't know how to use your data, it could be a
20:06
problem. I mean, if you look at AIAI is
20:08
already reshaping the guest experience and the staff
20:10
experience as well. But every AI system relies on
20:14
quality data. You know, in feeding large
20:16
language models. You need to make sure that you
20:18
have access to that as a business.
20:19
So I suppose one of my biggest lessons is making sure that you
20:26
have access to clean data and you know how to use your data,
20:29
and data-driven decision making is key in everything that you
20:32
do. Makes a lot of sense to me, Zen.
20:36
It's been a real pleasure chatting to you and learning
20:38
more about RMS Thanks for joining us on the Host Planet
20:41
podcast. Well, thank you very much.
20:43
Lovely chatting to you as well James.
20:44
Great chatter Zen Valley there from RMS cloud.
20:47
Remember, if you want more direct bookings, give your
20:49
guests a reason to book direct. All right, that's it for today's
20:53
show. Remember, this podcast is
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