Latest / Host Planet: Airbnb, Holiday Let, and Vacation Rental Insights / Inside Norway’s Cabin Rental Market

Transcript

Inside Norway’s Cabin Rental Market · Host Planet: Airbnb, Holiday Let, and Vacation Rental Insights

• 0:00
  Welcome to the House Planet Playbook, your go to guide for
• 0:03
  mastering short term rentals. In this special series, we're
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  sitting down with 30 of the world's top property managers to
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  industry. You'll hear their stories, learn
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  the key lessons they've picked up along the way, and discover
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  We've also developed an e-book featuring the stories of every
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  manager in this series and you can download it for free.
• 0:35
  Head to Houseplanet dot Club to find out more.
• 0:38
  In today's episode, we're chatting to Mina Sarsdad from
• 0:41
  Cabin Living in Norway. Stand by for a deep dive into
• 0:45
  Scandinavian hosting, cool occasions, and always going the
• 0:49
  extra mile for your guests. This special series is brought
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• 1:29
  Meena, Thank you for being part of the House Planet Playbook.
• 1:32
  Let's start with you. What's the name of your company?
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  Where are you located? And how many?
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  Rentals, do you manage? So our company is named Cabin
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  Living and we are located in Norway, but we also have some
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  units in Sweden and right now we have around 8090 properties.
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  So tell us the story of your company.
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  How did you get started? So I'm not the founder, that's
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  my bosses, but they started with just, you know, one or two
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  cabins up in the mountains. And then they saw the interest
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  and they grew from there just by a little bit of reputation.
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  And at some point it came to so many cabins that they needed to
• 2:15
  hire more people. And then I came in in the team.
• 2:20
  So tell us about the market, what are the unique challenges
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  and opportunities of where you operate?
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  Well, in the market, I would say that is a little bit like
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  everywhere around now that you have always have to negotiate
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  pricing with subcontractors. And it's like very complex to
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  get like the right prices also for like the operational cost
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  for us, for the partners, for guests.
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  It's like everything is rising with taxes.
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  But then it's like just to find a good solution for everything.
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  And also some of the not maybe in the market, but also like
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  sometimes with the OTA platforms with the communication with them
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  and to manage everything and the connections there can be a
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  little bit challenging. But the opportunity is, is that
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  Norway is a small country, but we have really beautiful nature.
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  And I think a lot of people recently from other countries
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  want to come and visit Norway also because it's the
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  temperatures are rising so much in Europe.
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  I'm not sure this is not fact based, but I think a lot come
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  here for more like the Caucasian stuff.
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  And also I think because we see a change in the world with so
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  much rising cost that a lot of cabin owners, they want to try
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  to pay down some loans or something by having an extra
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  income and that comes from renting out their holiday home.
• 3:55
  Cool occasion. I like that term.
• 3:57
  Yeah, we could do with one of those in the UK.
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  So it's about 30° at the moment. So we're all sweating buckets,
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  especially as we don't have much air conditioning around here.
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  So in terms. Of your normal guests, what's
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  your usual? Guest avatar is it generally
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  people on holiday, skiing, that kind of thing?
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  Yeah, In the winter season season, it's generally families
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  or couples coming for skiing. But we see also now in the
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  summer that people come to the mountains also for like hiking,
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  because we have a lot of mountains here that is good for
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  hiking and also a lot of mountain biking and stuff like
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  this. So usually are like families or
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  couples that travels here. And generally, is it people from
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  Norway who are visiting your cabins or I imagine you've got
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  people from all over the world? Yeah, it's, it's all over the
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  world. Of course there are a lot of
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  people from Norway, but we see from all over the world and also
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  a lot from Europe now and the US and UK everywhere.
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  So talk to us about guest experience.
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  How do you deliver a great guest experience?
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  We have like in our software, we have automated messages so all
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  the information is provided for the guests before they arrive.
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  And we also try to be like in like proactive, so seeing the
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  need of the guest before they maybe see it themselves by
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  offering firewood delivery or extra service like cots, travel
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  stuff for children and linen and towels and things like this.
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  Or also we are very personal so if things happen during their
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  stay, we have super good cleaners that can go and help us
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  check out stuff. And if they have problems with
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  heating water, we always try to find a way so there is they will
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  be as comfortable as possible. So always finding a way.
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  To keep the. Guests happy How do you keep
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  your owners happy at the same time?
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  I think it's the same there that you need to have like close
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  contact with them and we have our own like portal, our own
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  website where the owners can log in and then they send us
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  messages, we send them messages. We there they have like full
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  overview of their payouts and they can fill out facilities and
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  we sometimes call and talk with them.
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  So we always try to like keep a close relation with them.
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  So if there is something we call or we text and then we can
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  figure it out before it becomes like even bigger problem or
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  that. So what makes?
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  Your brand stand out among the competition in Norway.
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  I think it is that we are so personal.
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  Like today one of my bosses, he is now up in one of the mountain
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  areas and then there was 1 owner that needed help with something
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  and then he's like I can go there, I can check, I can fix.
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  He calls or he goes there himself in personal.
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  I think it is that we are so personal and value the guest and
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  the owner so much that we kind of go a little bit extra mile.
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  Sounds great. What's been your biggest lesson
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  learned since you got involved with the company in terms of
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  property management? I think it is that details
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  matter. You need to pay so much
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  attention and be so focused. Like take the extra few seconds
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  to but like double check the information, read the messages
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  correctly because sometimes if you make one mistake or you
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  oversee something it can be a lot of after work.
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  That's what I learned. So just be take that extra 2nd
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  and double check everything. And what do you love most about
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  hosting? I think it is the variety
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  because every like you come up in so many different situations,
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  so you'll learn something new every day.
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  And also here at my company is like we had to learn from each
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  other. It's not that they are just
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  teaching me, we are teaching each other.
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  If we have a problem, it's like OK, we need to figure it out
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  together or if it is a challenge.
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  So I think the variety and that you're constantly learning.
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  And in terms of the situation in Norway?
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  We hear lots about regulation. Or certainly here in the UK and
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  other parts of Europe and around the world.
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  What's the situation like in Norway?
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  In Norway right now, we do not have all these regulations and
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  not so much I can see in some of the bigger cities I have seen
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  it's become a problem because of the Airbnb's, but that's in the
• 8:59
  cities. We have some apartments in the
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  cities, but mostly we are up in the mountain areas or the coast
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  area and there it's not so much regulations yet.
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  So we are lucky in that way. You're, you're very lucky in
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  that way, yes. And and what does your?
• 9:16
  Company do in terms. Of social.
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  Media and marketing and I'm really.
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  Interested. To know as.
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  Well, do you? Try and drive direct bookings to
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  your to your site as well. Yeah, I think that's the goal
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  for every property manager is like we have Instagram and
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  Facebook and LinkedIn and we use them for a little bit different.
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  Yeah, there are different platforms.
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  You need to use them differently.
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  So in terms of like Instagram is more for the guests to be
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  inspiring and to show our properties or tell about things
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  that are happening in the mountains to be more inspiring.
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  But Facebook is more for the informational part to like,
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  inform about, maybe bigger. We also use WordPress.
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  We post blog posts, but that's more longer informational stuff
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  that also can be helpful for attracting owners.
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  And LinkedIn can be more for companies like you're going to
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  show like your voice, your experience and things like that.
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  And sometimes we use meta ads and to get more owners also.
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  But yeah, direct booking is something I think we all strive
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  for and. What kind of direct booking
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  tactics have you been using and which ones have been the most
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  effective? In like sometimes on Instagram
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  when we post, we always put the link to our direct website.
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  But also sometimes when we communicate with the guest, we
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  sometimes be like, hey, if you want you can look with us direct
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  if there is like some problems or something.
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  But of course we also respect the platform rules.
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  So you need to be, we need to be respectful of them also.
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  But then I think a lot of them, the guests are becoming more
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  mindful about that. If they book through an OTA and
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  they like you, then they sometimes contact you direct
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  after and then they book with you direct instead.
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  Or they send us a message on the OTA.
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  Or they find us through the OTA and then they go to our web page
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  and book. You mentioned that you're
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  operating in Sweden as well. Do you have any other growth
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  plans for the business? The growth plant I think is to
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  build like a strong foundational reputation so that we can be
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  growing just by referral. I think that would be kind of
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  the dream scenario that also people are re booking that we
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  get repeated guests through our direct booking and that we get
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  new owners and also keep the owners and the good relationship
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  with them. But through referral.
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  I think that's kind of the goal. And do you pay much attention?
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  To what's happening in other countries to see what you can
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  learn and, and pick up and, and do you speak to other operators
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  in Norway? I mean, are the conferences
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  there perhaps where you can network and and learn from other
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  businesses in the space? Yeah, it's like there is a lot
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  of webinars and podcasts. So I try to keep updated when I
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  see there are stuff that can be useful for us also to learn.
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  And we are also in a collaboration with one of the
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  big ski destinations here, so we can go there on the workshops
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  and they also like market for us.
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  So I think it's important to also go to some of the live
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  events and just to be connecting and talking with people.
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  So we do a little bit of that. And also it's, I think it's good
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  to just see about the regulation that happens in other countries
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  in case it will happen with us as well.
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  Be prepared. Yeah, that is for sure.
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  OK then Mina. So we've got a few quick fire
• 13:12
  questions. Which PMS do you use?
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  It's called IGMS. Which dynamic pricing tool do
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  you use? We have developed our own
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  pricing system which we run through an API from our platform
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  to Igms and then it pushes through the OTAs.
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  Very good. Which piece of tech couldn't you
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  live without? I think it's all the all the
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  tech that has with automated messages to do and that can like
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  automate repeated tasks, ideally allowing pets.
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  Yes, or. No.
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  Yes, because I feel a lot of people in Norway, they go to the
• 13:59
  mountains and they want to bring their pets.
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  Makes sense? Same question, but.
• 14:05
  For hot tubs, yes or no? Yes, but only if they're proper
• 14:10
  routines in place. Or else it can be a lot of high
• 14:16
  cost and damage if it's not taking good care of.
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  They've got to be. Cleaned properly, ideally self
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  checking or a personal welcome for us self checking because
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  then I feel the the guests can just come whenever they want,
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  they can go whenever they want and they can just relax
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  immediately. And as we, as I said, we send
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  out all the information beforehand.
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  So I think people who maybe book private homes also want to maybe
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  be a little bit more private. As for an hotel telephone call
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  or AI response, if it's just a quick message, like what is the
• 14:57
  Wi-Fi password, then I think AI response.
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  But if it's a bigger issue or something that needs more
• 15:02
  empathy, then I think a phone call is better.
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  And what's your most memorable hosting moment?
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  I think it's every time we manage to our team manage to
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  just if it's an issue that comes just right away, we managed to
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  just kind of like fix it immediately with everyone around
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  us. So I think it's just how quick
• 15:29
  we are to respond and to fix and that we all we always solve it.
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  Shout out time then, is there an individual in the short?
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  Term rentals industry that's helped you that you'd like to
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  give a shout out to. Yeah, I would give a shout out
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  to my manager Tatiana, because she has taught me so much and
• 15:49
  especially in the importance of details and the value of strong
• 15:53
  communication. Nice shout out for Tatiana there
• 15:57
  and. Final question then ultimate
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  goal for the business. I think it goes back to what I
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  said, that we will be the be referred because of our
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  reputation and grow in that way. Fantastic, Mina.
• 16:14
  Thank you for joining us. Thank you for being part of the
• 16:16
  Host Planet Playbook and for telling us what's happening in
• 16:19
  Norway. Thank you for letting me come.
• 16:22
  All right, that's it for today's episode.
• 16:23
  My thanks to Mina for sharing her journey and for being part
• 16:26
  of the host planet playbook. Remember, the series is brought
• 16:29
  to you in partnership with Hospitable, the all in one
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  property management software designed to save you time and
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  help your business thrive. Hospitable automates your guest
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  messaging, syncs your calendars across platforms, handles team
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  tasks and so much more so you can focus on delivering a top
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  notch guest experience or just get some of your time back.
• 16:51
  And here's the good news. House Planet Playbook listeners
• 16:53
  get an exclusive 14 day free trial plus 25% off for the first
• 16:58
  three months. Head to hospitable.com/house
• 17:02
  Planet to claim your offer and start running your rentals on
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  autopilot. For more free education for
• 17:08
  vacation rental hosts, head to Houseplanet.
• 17:10
  Dot Club. Where you can sign up for our
• 17:12
  newsletter, listen to our podcasts and download our suite
• 17:16
  of ebooks. Until next time, happy hosting.