Latest / Hospitable Hosts / Building A Data-Driven, Personal, and Community-Centric Rental Business
Transcript
- Miles - Hospitable: Okay, hello Kathleen. Thank you so much for joining us today. Thank you for listening to today's episode. If you enjoyed the episode, please don't forget to like, share and subscribe and listen out for our next podcast episode coming real soon. Thanks again. Hello and welcome to today's episode of the Hospitable Hosts podcast. I am your host for this episode, Myles Hobson, Head of Marketing here at Hospitable. Today I'm speaking with a customer of Hospitable, Kathleen Catalda. She's the founder of Discovered in Travels, a boutique family run short term rental management and consulting company based in the Poconos. As always, if you enjoyed today's episode, please don't forget to like, share and subscribe on your favorite podcast platform. Cathleen: Hi, thank you so much for having me. I'm so excited to be here. Miles - Hospitable: Awesome. Thank you. So Kathleen, maybe you can give us a bit of background on yourself. I just recorded the intro on you and to tell our audience about you, but maybe in your own words, you can kind of tell us a little bit more about who you are, why you're here today, and maybe your experience in the short-term rental industry. Cathleen: Absolutely. So my name is Kathleen Cataldo and I am the founder of Discovered and Travels, which is a boutique local family-run full-service property management business. We are based in the Pocono Mountains in Pennsylvania and besides just full-service property management, we do also offer consulting services for people that are just getting started in the short-term rental industry. or the Poconos market, or for hosts and property owners that want to optimize their listing or learn how to self-manage as well. So my background is really in the fashion and beauty industry. I spent over a decade working in those corporate industries in the heart of Manhattan and New York City being a fashion trend forecaster. And back in 2023, I decided to basically take that corporate trend forecasting experience and apply it to the short-term rental industry because it was a time where my family, decided to build our first STR from scratch. And I was like, okay, I'm going to learn how to manage it. And I realized that so much of my trend forecasting experience, I could apply to this industry and I fell absolutely in love with it. And now it's what I do full time today. Miles - Hospitable: I love it. So maybe for our audience, you can explain a little bit about kind of what are some of the aspects from, you know, your trend forecasting for the fashion and beauty world that you apply to shorts and rentals to help you kind of stay ahead of the curve. Cathleen: Yeah, so definitely looking at consumer insights data and predicting what the guest is going to want before they even ask for it. So that's something that I was constantly doing when I was working in the beauty and fashion industry with multi-million dollar brands that would have to decide what products they were going to invest in and create two to five years in advance. So I apply that same methodology by really studying different guest patterns, by looking at lifestyle shifts, behavioral shifts, environmental shifts, economic shifts, and realizing those repeat patterns over and over again and deciphering which ones are here to stay that we can invest in long term ⁓ to really future proof our listings but also get ahead of what the competition is doing as well. Miles - Hospitable: That's awesome, I like it. And then just kind of thinking about branding. So I think that's something that's obviously you can bring across from that world as well. And I'm under the impression that you kind of operate quite a brand forward, short-term rental. Is that the case? And do you find that it's something that allows you to kind of maybe charge kind of premium rates for your short-term rental? Cathleen: Okay. Absolutely. So branding, and I know you probably know this, but it goes far beyond just a logo and colors. It's really all about defining who your target guest persona is. And when working in the fashion and the beauty industry, I would spend countless hours with different brands, marketing teams, consumer insights teams, buying teams to really drill down like who their core customer was so specifically on like, what do they eat for breakfast? What type of car do they drive? How do they spend their time with family? So understanding that is so often overlooked I find with most short-term rental hosts or clients that I'm working with I can't tell you how many times I'll ask them So who do you want your core guests to be and they respond just saying families, which is great But it's also super vague. So branding Yes, you want to have a pretty logo and pretty colors to make it look professional and polished But then you need to decide like okay. So what type of family do we want to bring in? I always ask them, do you want to bring in young millennial Gen-C families that are just getting started and have infants? Or are you trying to bring in that multi-generational family that has the grandparents and the parents and maybe those older grown children that are in their twenties? the products that you put in the home, how you create the experience, how you decide that home is going to look very different for those two separate groups of families. So really brand forward, short-term rental hosts, it's all about building that experience around the target guests, tying in that brand story for them as well. Miles - Hospitable: I like it. And then I think really related to that, obviously at the top you kind of talked about being boutique family-led. Is that something that kind of helps give you that advantage or that ability to personalize a bit more versus the big guy kind of property management comfort? Cathleen: Absolutely. I would say that is our biggest differentiator and our biggest selling point when I'm speaking to potential property management clients. Really having that boutique family-led company allows us to have personal ownership and genuine care when it comes to the properties that allows us to treat every home like it's our own and that is always our goal. Discovered in Travels, we are currently managing eight properties. being one that we own as a family. And it just allows us to have more attention to the details. We're able to problem solve a little bit faster because there's not all these different chains of command. We're also able to offer a really high touch experience for the homeowners and the guests that the bigger property management companies just simply can't because their focus is systems and scaling, which is awesome, but they don't have the time to focus on the personalization the same way we do. So for us, it's really important to be building relationships with the guests so that they come back again and again. Our reputation as a company is really important. We want to have a really strong name for ourselves in our market. And then our approach, you know, we're able to do things because we have more time, like having detailed home inspections before every single guest steps foot in the house, or we're checking the cleaner's work, we're troubleshooting all the amenities to make sure that it's going to be seamless for our guests. And then back to the personalization piece, like we are able to add those special touches. all of our guests, know, are you celebrating something special? And they tell us, yes, I'm celebrating a birthday or an anniversary or a bachelor or a bachelorette. And then we will go into the home, we will put happy birthday signs, we'll have a bottle of champagne, a personal written note. And all those things take extra time and attention. And that's where the larger management companies can't always replicate that. Miles - Hospitable: Nice, and you did touch there on kind of having more repeat guests. Do you find that you do have a decent amount of repeat guests at your properties? Cathleen: Absolutely, yes, we do because again, we are not just creating a place to stay, a pretty house with beds. We are creating an experience for that guest from the minute that they walk in the door. And there's different ways that we do this. Like I can give you the example with the Pocono Bar-Nominium. That's the property that my family owns. ⁓ We decided upfront that our poor guest was going to be... people that are working professionals from New York City, New Jersey, Philadelphia, and they're burnt out corporate workers that want to get away for the weekend, and they're typically celebrating a milestone moment. So we took it a step further and thought, like, how can we make this just the easiest possible experience for them? So we actually have a concierge menu that plays into all these different events that the guests can choose from if they are planning a big event like that. So whether that be private chefs, in-house massage therapy, we have permanent jewelry parties, and most recently we even started offering Highland Cow Cuddling sessions so people can come and just de-stress and relax. Miles - Hospitable: Wow, that sounds like a pretty luxury service. I like it. That's cool. I guess that's something that other people can create, That's pretty unique, I guess. But having that kind concierge service and that upselling of kind of other experiences and opportunities, probably something that other hosts can definitely learn from and implement themselves. Cathleen: Yes. Definitely. Miles - Hospitable: And so we'd love to kind of think about, you touched there on, I guess, some luxury elements with the Concierge service. Is there anything that you do from kind of a design or amenity-wise that you're kind of trying to be a bit more luxurious and trying to attract a higher spending guest in the different properties? Or is it kind of, is it purely based on that experience side of things versus the property design itself? Cathleen: It's definitely a combination of both. They go hand in hand. For example, you know, our property, we have branded robes as well, like by the hot tub. Miles - Hospitable: Mm-hmm. Cathleen: branded slippers, branded coffee mugs, to-go coffee mugs, everything that tells that entire story. So again, from the minute that they book that house, we want them to know that every single detail that we put in the home was intentionally for them, not just checking off a box. And often a lot of our guests will say that in the reviews. They'll be like, wow, I've never stayed at a property like this where there were so many extra special touches. attention to detail. From a design standpoint, like of course we're always thinking about how can we put a standout amenity in the home. So for the Pocono Bar and Minium, for example, we installed a very high-tech golf simulator, which at the time was the only property ⁓ in our area that had a golf simulator, and that allowed us to bring in golf groups. specifically. So if you are a golf group, you know, you can come to our property even in the wintertime and you can hit golf balls. But then in the summertime as well, you know, we even offer private transportation services to the golf courses for these groups, we recommend to them what the best golf courses are. So again, it's like blending that setup of the physical design of having that amenity there, but then marrying it with the experience of just making it seamless for that court. Miles - Hospitable: That's amazing. And then kind of talking about making it seamless for the guests. How are you managing all this? You've talked about it being a family-owned business. ⁓ Is it all hands on deck across the family? Do you have a team of people helping you? ⁓ Are you using software as well to help automate things? Cathleen: Yes, absolutely. For our property that we own, it's definitely all hands on deck. You know, it's my mom who is a partner in the business with me as well. She's our operations manager. My dad and my brother actually built the home from the ground up. They're home builders. So any type of like troubleshooting, handyman related issues, like they handle that. My aunt and my uncle are the cleaners of the property. So it's truly all family for that property. And then for the property, that we manage and we co-host. It's the same thing as myself, my mom and I, and then we have one other team member that's a very close friend of mine that we recently brought on. But yes, we definitely utilize technology. Hospitable has been with us since day one. ⁓ And I cannot tell you how happy I am that we decided to... work with hospitable and implement that from when we had just one property in the beginning. Quickly we were able to go from one property to four properties to eight properties and there were so many different things within hospitable that just allowed us to scale a little bit faster even though we are still so small in boutique. Like for example the rental agreement automations in hospitable that is something that we recently implemented and a lot of the communities that we manage in, they have specific rental agreement forms that have to be filled out, specific information we need to collect from guests. And we were spending so much time, and this is when it was just my mom and I, literally tracking down guests that weren't filling out that information. And now it's so nice to have that automated with hospitable, where if they don't fill it out as soon as they book, There's automated triggers and messages a day after, three days after, seven days after that gets the guests to fill out that information. So that was something that was completely taken off our plate for the most part and has made it so much more seamless and easier for us being such a small and mighty team. Miles - Hospitable: That's great to hear. And then just kind of, guess, future gazing a little bit. What's the plan with the family business? it you're trying to manage even more properties or are you just kind of looking to consolidate what you have now and maybe look at how do you actually save yourself even more time on the existing? Cathleen: Yeah, so we're definitely at a point now where we're looking to bring on a few more properties. ⁓ Our goal is to get probably up to about like 12 by the end of this summer. We're in talks with two more at the moment. And then the second goal is to really start building more of our own properties that we will own as well. know, having done that with the Pocono Barnuminium, it was really successful and it's helped us so much because we started managing other people's properties as the Barnuminium was being built to get the experience. And now we see both sides of the coin. We know what it's like. to be investors and owners ourselves, and that just helps us be better managers for our owners as well. Miles - Hospitable: I like it. And the next investment property of your own, is that going to be your dad and brother building that one as well? Or you think you're going to pick something already built? OK. Cathleen: Absolutely. Yeah, absolutely. It's already in the works. I bought a piece of land. about two years ago now. ⁓ And yeah, we're working on the plans to build a smaller property. ⁓ And yeah, we have an amazing resource, you know, I always feel very blessed coming from a family of home builders. So that's kind of where this whole family business started because, you know, they're the home builders, my mom's an ex real estate agent, I have this background in branding and marketing, trend forecasting and sales. So All of us putting our heads together really just creates such a wonderful partnership for the short-term rental business. Miles - Hospitable: I love it. And then just, I guess, one more question around that topic. You're thinking about kind of adding more properties and managing more properties. ⁓ The Poconos is pretty crowded market to some degree. I think they've got a decent amount of competition down there. What are the main things that you think are kind of differentiating your properties? You've kind of touched on them already, but what's kind of the main thing that you think that keeps you occupied throughout the busy months? Cathleen: Yeah, it definitely helps that we're local boots on the ground. from like, I was born and raised in the Poconos area. ⁓ My family had my father's had his home building business for the past 30 plus years. So that does definitely give us an advantage and edge because we know like, what are the best HOAs to be investing in? We know all the ins and outs of the market. We know how to give the best local recommendations for our guests. So that's a piece of it. But then it's that really like, future forward data driven approach like every property that we will invest in that we will build or that we will buy we're always going to think you know is this going to be relevant five years from now or what can we do to make sure that this property is still going to be unique down the road and having that future forward approach I think will really help us to sustain and already has helped us really stand out in that market. The majority of the homes that we manage are in the top five to 1 % ⁓ of the market on Airbnb, which we're really proud of. Miles - Hospitable: That's great. Okay, to wrap things up, I would love to do a quick little bit of rapid fire questions if that sounds good to you. Cathleen: Yeah, let's do it. Miles - Hospitable: Cool, okay, so three quick questions. I'll say them as quickly as I can and then you try to answer as quickly as you can as well, Cool, so what is the biggest waste of money you see new hosts spend their budget on when they are first setting up a house? Cathleen: flashy furniture and trendy decor that will be out a year from now. Miles - Hospitable: I like it. Okay, if you had to predict the state of the short-term rental industry five years from now, will the mom-and-pop host still be able to compete or is the industry moving towards those larger more corporate property managers? Cathleen: Definitely mom and pops will still be able to compete as long as they treat their home as a brand and create repeat guest experiences for their guests. All about the personal touches and like going above and beyond. But I think that the mom and pops are still here to say also this is way longer than rapid fire, but also they're using professional tools like hospitable for example. Miles - Hospitable: Sweet, sounds like, don't worry, there's no actual timer or anything. It's fine. Cathleen: That was way more than a one word answer. Miles - Hospitable: All good. All good. Okay, final one. So if you were starting out today as a property investor and maybe you didn't have your dad and brother building a property for you, where would you buy a property and what type of property would you buy for a short-term rental? Cathleen: Yeah, I'm really biased and I'm really true to my hometown. I would buy, I would still buy in the Poconos, but I would invest in a small, tiny, very luxury couples retreat. I feel like that is definitely a white space ⁓ in the Poconos market. And that's the, that's actually the plan of the house that we're going to build next. Miles - Hospitable: Nice, I love it. Sounds like a great plan. Awesome. Cool. Okay, Kathleen, that was it. Thank you so much for taking part. Those were quick enough. Don't worry, some people take even longer than Cathleen: Thank you. Good to hear. Miles - Hospitable: Awesome. Okay. Thank you so much for joining us today, Kathleen. Cathleen: Yeah, thank you so much for having me. This was a lot of fun.