Latest / Host Planet: Airbnb, Holiday Let, and Vacation Rental Insights / From Broadway to Bookings: Sarah Karakaian's STR Journey

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From Broadway to Bookings: Sarah Karakaian's STR Journey · 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
• 0:06
  sitting down with 30 of the world's top property managers
• 0:10
  to. Uncover what really drives.
• 0:11
  Success. In the vacation rental.
• 0:13
  Industry You'll hear their stories, learn the key lessons
• 0:17
  they've picked up along the way, and discover the game changing
• 0:20
  tech they use to deliver five star guest experiences.
• 0:24
  If you're serious about growing your STR.
• 0:26
  Business, you're in the right place.
• 0:29
  We've also developed an ebook featuring the stories of every
• 0:32
  manager in this series, and you can download it for free head to
• 0:36
  house Planet dot Club. To find out more in today's
• 0:39
  episode, we're chatting to. Sarah Karakayaan from Ohio and
• 0:44
  thanks for visiting fame. Hear how Sarah went from
• 0:47
  Broadway to short term rentals. And building 1 of the.
• 0:50
  Biggest educational platforms in the industry.
• 0:59
  This special series is brought to you by Houseplanet and
• 1:02
  Hospitable, the smart AI powered property management software
• 1:06
  trusted by hosts worldwide. With Hospitable, you can
• 1:09
  automate guest messaging, sync calendars across platforms and
• 1:13
  manage your rentals with ease, all from one powerful, easy to
• 1:17
  use platform. If you're keen to run your short
• 1:20
  term rental on autopilot, try Hospitable today.
• 1:24
  Visit hospitable.com/houseplanet to see how the platform can save
• 1:28
  you time, which you stress. And maximize your earnings.
• 1:32
  Sarah, thank you for. Being part of the House Planet
• 1:34
  Playbook, let's start with you. What's the name of your company,
• 1:38
  Where are you located, and how many rentals?
• 1:41
  Do you manage? Oh my, that's a complicated
• 1:43
  question. My brokerage license and the
• 1:49
  property management company is Steyr Hospitality Co.
• 1:53
  The glamping site that I manage is called Rich Hollow Retreat,
• 2:00
  but then I also have a company called Thanks for Visiting where
• 2:03
  we talk about short term rentals all day long.
• 2:06
  So there you go. Fantastic.
• 2:09
  And where are all these located? Are they different locations?
• 2:13
  Nope, we are fully in Ohio in the US in Columbus, OH area.
• 2:20
  Superb. So tell us then, how did you get
• 2:22
  into the world of short term rentals?
• 2:24
  It's. A fun story.
• 2:26
  I used to be a, an actress in New York City, so musical
• 2:30
  theater. And I actually, I actually did
• 2:33
  the thing. I actually worked and made money
• 2:35
  and it was awesome. But in between jobs, in between
• 2:39
  shows, gigs, if you will, I did what most respectful actors
• 2:44
  would do, which is get a job at a restaurant or a hotel or
• 2:47
  something temporary so that I could make money.
• 2:50
  And at the time I was very concerned about building wealth.
• 2:55
  I was like, I don't they have you could do like a four O 1K,
• 2:58
  but my husband and I were just like, what are we going to do?
• 3:01
  Am I ever going to be able to retire?
• 3:03
  What have you? So I read rich dad, poor dad,
• 3:06
  like a lot of people do, and I got the bug and just started
• 3:11
  talking about real estate with with anyone I could and a friend
• 3:15
  of mine, this was 2010 was like, well, I don't know about real
• 3:19
  estate, but I have been using this app.
• 3:22
  It's called Airbnb and I let people stay in my second bedroom
• 3:27
  here in Queens and I am making so much money.
• 3:32
  And I was like, tell me more about this.
• 3:34
  So Long story short, I took my restaurant and hotel experience
• 3:39
  and I was able to run the numbers and figure out I could
• 3:43
  buy a property here in Queens, which is in New York.
• 3:47
  And if I can get this Airbnb thing to work out, we can afford
• 3:52
  this home. And so we figured out a way to
• 3:55
  purchase the home. Obviously then you can't use
• 3:58
  future short term rental revenue to qualify.
• 4:01
  But so I we figured that part out.
• 4:03
  We had mom and dad help us look good and bought that property,
• 4:09
  rented out the basement apartment and never looked back.
• 4:13
  So that was 2010, got very addicted, made some very big
• 4:18
  moves that can keep investing in short term rentals, opened up a
• 4:22
  property management company, sold it work for that company
• 4:25
  like it's it's my whole life, it's everything I do and I love
• 4:28
  it. Amazing.
• 4:31
  Can you believe how far you've come and that short term rentals
• 4:34
  is now your life? And all from that post reading.
• 4:38
  Rich dad, Poor dad. No, because all I wanted to do
• 4:41
  when I was little was be an actor.
• 4:43
  And I was like, I will live and die in New York City.
• 4:46
  I will. My top shoes will be on my feet
• 4:49
  and that is what and and it's just funny how life does take
• 4:52
  you down these different roads if you let it.
• 4:55
  I regret nothing. I got to live that life and it
• 4:57
  was awesome and now I'm living this life and it's awesome.
• 5:00
  So I would not have believed you.
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  I mean I've been, I moved to Columbus, OH from New York City
• 5:06
  to do short term rentals and that is why we moved.
• 5:10
  And if you would have told me 8 years ago that I would be living
• 5:13
  in Columbus, OH talking to you right now like you are nuts
• 5:16
  because I love New York and I love that life, but life had
• 5:19
  other plans for me. So exactly where I should be?
• 5:23
  Is there still a bit of a acting book there?
• 5:25
  Is there still something maybe calling you back, maybe in a few
• 5:28
  years? No, honestly, if anything I kind
• 5:31
  of. I need to get my act together
• 5:33
  and join a choir. I miss singing, but we have so
• 5:38
  much fun at thanks for visiting, creating content and sometimes
• 5:42
  that performance shows up in our YouTube videos, our Instagram
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  post, Excuse me. So I get a little bit of it
• 5:49
  there, but no I I love what I do.
• 5:53
  Fantastic. What a brilliant journey.
• 5:57
  OK then, So what? Are your top. 3 tips for
• 6:01
  delivering an outstanding guest experience.
• 6:05
  I #1 tip that comes to my head is not letting the cleaner be
• 6:11
  the last person in our properties before our guest
• 6:14
  arrival. For me, an inspector between the
• 6:17
  cleaner and guest arrival is has always been our secret sauce.
• 6:20
  Not so secret anymore. But that one one day when I
• 6:26
  declared I will never let it just be the cleaner and then
• 6:28
  guest arrival has changed everything for our ratings, for
• 6:32
  our reputation, for everything about our short term rentals.
• 6:36
  So that's tip #1. Tip #2 is to know your numbers
• 6:40
  like the back of your hand. And I mean from from pricing to
• 6:46
  your business numbers. So many hosts are really
• 6:50
  obsessed with taking care of their guests and they should be.
• 6:53
  But you, we believe that you should take care of yourself and
• 6:57
  your business just as much as you take care of your guests.
• 6:59
  It's kind of like putting that oxygen mask on.
• 7:01
  And if you do that, your guests will be taking care of as well.
• 7:05
  So that's tip #2 tip #3 I got to say it because if I didn't, he
• 7:12
  would come haunt me, which is safety is really important in
• 7:17
  short term rentals. And I don't know if you guys
• 7:20
  know Justin Ford, but the day I met him back in 2018, I was
• 7:24
  like, OK, I need to step this up a bit and make sure that our
• 7:29
  property and our guests in our communities are safe.
• 7:31
  So without that too, it's almost like an oxygen mask as well.
• 7:35
  What's been your biggest lesson learned since you started as a
• 7:39
  property manager? Biggest lesson learned is that
• 7:43
  boundaries are a good thing when you get started managing for
• 7:49
  other people. You want to please everyone.
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  You want to please the guests, you want to please the owners
• 7:54
  you want to please. I mean, I was sending cookies
• 7:57
  down to the licensing department too because I wanted them to be
• 8:00
  on my good side here in the city and so.
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  But you if you are everything to all people, then you are kind of
• 8:09
  going to blend into the background.
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  So the once I started creating boundaries for myself in terms
• 8:15
  of the kind of properties that I would bring into our portfolio,
• 8:18
  the kind of owners that would be a really good partner with us,
• 8:24
  the better and the more profitable our company became
• 8:27
  and the more happy myself and my team became.
• 8:31
  And it was the hardest thing to do.
• 8:33
  But when you say no or when you put a boundary up, you are
• 8:37
  saying heck yes to everything else.
• 8:39
  And that is when you can truly unlock that next level in your
• 8:42
  business. So boundaries for me was a big
• 8:44
  lesson. It took a while to learn it, but
• 8:46
  then once I did it was awesome. You mentioned owners there.
• 8:51
  What are your top tips for keeping owners happy?
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  Transparency, We, what separates us, at least in our area is
• 9:02
  being perfect true professionals, understanding
• 9:05
  what it is that they want, which is to make money and the right
• 9:09
  partners for us want us to take care of their asset.
• 9:12
  And so for us to consider ourselves, I always tell our
• 9:15
  team that we are asset managers. And when you say that and when
• 9:19
  you speak with those words, you kind of hold your, your head up
• 9:22
  high, your shoulders rollback a bit and you have a lot of pride
• 9:24
  in what you do. So it's not just coordinating
• 9:26
  cleaners to come in and out, it is truly managing this asset,
• 9:30
  which is the biggest investment a lot of people can make and
• 9:34
  that's a lot of responsibility that we have.
• 9:36
  So when I say transparency, we are very transparent about our
• 9:40
  pricing strategy, about our preventive maintenance
• 9:43
  strategies, about our our guest review strategies and how we
• 9:47
  plan on building up the reputation of the company in our
• 9:50
  area. All of that proactive
• 9:53
  communication when we have the right owner in our portfolio,
• 9:56
  they love it and they really appreciate and they're proud to
• 9:59
  be a part of what we have to offer.
• 10:01
  And so, yeah, that that that's what I would say.
• 10:06
  Tell us a little bit more about your location then in Ohio.
• 10:09
  What are the main challenges and opportunities where you are?
• 10:13
  Yeah, so oh, Columbus, OH is urban.
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  That being said, I mentioned I have a glamping project to about
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  an hour South and hour N like an hour outside of Columbus.
• 10:25
  You can go. People think of Ohio as this
• 10:27
  like flat, boring state. I did too.
• 10:30
  I came to the state kicking and screaming, but I knew that it
• 10:33
  would help me achieve our goals, our investing goals.
• 10:36
  But it's actually not true. There are a lot of rolling hills
• 10:41
  and hiking and a lot of cool stuff outside of Columbus.
• 10:44
  So opportunity there is, there are some really cool people
• 10:49
  creating very cool stays, very unique experiences and stays.
• 10:53
  And so I want to be a part of that opportunity as well.
• 10:56
  But Columbus, OH itself is an urban market.
• 10:59
  And so people are staying coming to Ohio, Columbus, OH for the
• 11:06
  Ohio State University, which is one of the biggest college
• 11:10
  universities in the United States of America.
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  We are football champs 2024. And so yeah, there and there's
• 11:21
  it's also growing. So we've also started a midterm
• 11:25
  rental section of our business as well because a lot of
• 11:28
  traveling professionals are coming to stay here to do jobs,
• 11:31
  a lot of building, going on a lot of healthcare in our area.
• 11:34
  Columbus, OH is very exciting. It's very diverse.
• 11:37
  And it's also kind of like not a lot of people know about it.
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  So I'm fully enjoying partaking in all the opportunity here.
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  So what makes your brand stand out from the competition?
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  I think what I mentioned before, transparency and a pride in
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  being professional but approachable, I have always for
• 12:01
  us in Ohio, you know, there's it's a Gray area when you want
• 12:06
  to manage someone else's property, especially a short
• 12:08
  term rental, because it's not technically a person who's a
• 12:11
  tenant yet. They have to stay 30 days or
• 12:13
  longer. But ever since I moved to
• 12:15
  Columbus and I opened up the management side of what I do, I
• 12:19
  wanted to be licensed. I wanted to be knowledgeable.
• 12:22
  I wanted to be that professional where whether a guest wanted to
• 12:25
  stay for one night or 30 nights, anyone who's in My Portfolio
• 12:29
  could benefit from from me being able to host that person.
• 12:33
  So professional, fully serviceable, we take care of
• 12:37
  everything and that was the boundary I had to set.
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  I think that if you're listening out there and you, you've got
• 12:43
  these clients asking these things of you, these owners,
• 12:46
  that it's something that is outside of the normal thing that
• 12:49
  you do. I thought I was being hospitable
• 12:51
  by catering to that. And I learned very quickly, like
• 12:54
  when you build the right systems and you build the right program,
• 12:59
  that's when magic happens. And so when someone asks you
• 13:02
  step outside of that, you can quickly lose sight of those
• 13:05
  systems. And that's when chaos can ensue.
• 13:08
  And so for us, being full service and saying we will fully
• 13:13
  take care of your property and you're going to love it.
• 13:16
  You don't want to be a part of this process or this process
• 13:19
  because it's going to mess with the magic, I promise you.
• 13:22
  And so that full service transparent approach and also
• 13:28
  being involved in our community, we try to we're any just like
• 13:32
  any other small business. So when not that we've done this
• 13:35
  yet, but you know, they're small businesses that that will
• 13:38
  sponsor a soccer team or we'll have a tent at a, a dog
• 13:44
  adopting, you know, 5K things like that.
• 13:47
  Like we get involved too, because we're a part of our
• 13:49
  community. We, we, we let, we allow people
• 13:52
  to stay within the local neighborhoods and we want to let
• 13:55
  people know like we're not hiding from like that's a,
• 13:57
  that's a huge source of pride for us.
• 14:00
  And so all those things make up what we do and why we're proud
• 14:04
  of what we do. What do you love most about
• 14:07
  hosting? Oh, that's a great question.
• 14:12
  And it would be, if I'm being completely honest with you, it's
• 14:18
  one time in my life where it's actually celebrated to be
• 14:22
  obsessed with the details. I've been told, James, that I
• 14:26
  can be a little aggressive, I can be a little high maintenance
• 14:32
  with my expectations, but that really pays off when you're
• 14:35
  managing property, when you expect excellence and you hire
• 14:39
  people who also love that you expect excellence, really great
• 14:44
  things can happen. But when I tell you the beds are
• 14:47
  made a certain way, the towels are folded a certain way, the
• 14:49
  remote is in a certain spot, and I get to like live out my dreams
• 14:54
  of being highly detail oriented. And it's actually celebrated
• 14:58
  with reviews and clients staying for 5678 years with me.
• 15:04
  That is my favorite thing, getting to be who I am, I guess.
• 15:09
  Kind of like what Monica from Friends, You know, everything
• 15:12
  has its own place. Something a little bit like
• 15:13
  that. 100% like that and it's like the lover, but you hate her
• 15:17
  and that's OK, you know? You mentioned it at the start.
• 15:22
  Thanks for visiting. We can see the TFE there for the
• 15:25
  people watching on YouTube. So tell us about thanks for
• 15:29
  visiting. How did that start and?
• 15:31
  And how do you help? Hosts and property managers.
• 15:34
  So when I first moved to Columbus, OH at the time how I
• 15:38
  was making money was I was, I had a blog and my husband and I
• 15:42
  had a YouTube channel and we were doing DIY projects.
• 15:45
  They were, they happened to be in short term rentals.
• 15:48
  So before that we actually got on an HGTV show.
• 15:53
  We were flipping a short term rental and the fact that we got
• 15:56
  on that show and we did it for 8 episodes and we had so much fun
• 16:00
  doing it. I was like Nick, I think that's
• 16:02
  my husband. I think we can, we can.
• 16:05
  We're supposed to be doing this something with short term
• 16:07
  rentals and vacation rentals and, and fixing them up.
• 16:10
  We both have a a past of being quite handy.
• 16:14
  And so we moved to Columbus, OH. We were blogging, we were
• 16:17
  getting brand deals, you know, Lowe's, Home Depot, Delta like
• 16:23
  to, to do projects online. And a friend of mine who I met
• 16:29
  online on Instagram was like, Hey, you should meet this girl,
• 16:33
  Annette Grant. She is, I mean, it didn't happen
• 16:36
  exactly like this, but I'm, I'm trying to make this story very
• 16:39
  short, but you guys should meet. And so we ended up meeting at a
• 16:42
  City Council meeting here in Columbus, OH, because right when
• 16:45
  I moved here, James, they were trying to limit how we could
• 16:49
  short term rent property. And I was like, I just gave up
• 16:52
  everything in New York City to come and do this, this thing, I
• 16:58
  can't happen. Like this cannot happen.
• 16:59
  I have to be able to do this here.
• 17:01
  And so I showed up and so did she.
• 17:03
  And so we, we, we did that. We actually spoke up and fought
• 17:08
  and won fair regulations here in Columbus, which is incredible.
• 17:12
  They're actually quite favorable.
• 17:14
  And we met for coffee after that and we just started talking
• 17:17
  about laundry and we started talking about guests and we
• 17:21
  started talking about getting more property into our
• 17:24
  portfolios because she was also managing rentals.
• 17:27
  And she's like, you know, I'm starting a podcast.
• 17:29
  I know you do some blogging and some Youtubing.
• 17:31
  Would you want to come be a guest on my podcast, maybe talk
• 17:34
  about some projects that you're doing?
• 17:36
  Maybe what you know, what sort of upgrades could you make to a
• 17:39
  short term rental that actually moved the e-mail?
• 17:40
  I was like, yes, begin the podcast together.
• 17:43
  There is so much synergy and energy and just like the best
• 17:46
  friend connection type thing. And she's like we, she had
• 17:50
  already done about 8 or 10 episodes something like that,
• 17:52
  but she ended up scrapping them, not publishing them and saying
• 17:55
  to you and do this together. We had no idea where it would
• 17:58
  take us. We didn't know that it would be
• 18:01
  an entire full time job for both of us with a team of people, but
• 18:06
  that podcast is still going on today.
• 18:09
  And now it's also a YouTube channel and we have a community
• 18:13
  of people and our whole mission, James is back when we started
• 18:18
  here in Columbus, there were a lot of bad apples.
• 18:21
  There were a lot of people doing it just for to just to make
• 18:25
  money and they were getting a really bad rap reputation here
• 18:30
  in Columbus. Yes, the company, but also short
• 18:32
  term rentals in general. And then they started getting a
• 18:36
  following of people who are like, Oh, I have to do is get a
• 18:38
  property and get a VA and everything's going to be, and
• 18:41
  then, you know, cash the checks And it's like, no, it is one of
• 18:45
  the hardest jobs I've ever had because you have the, the guest
• 18:50
  as a client, the owner as a client.
• 18:52
  I think the property in some way, shape or form is, is a
• 18:55
  client, something you have to take care of and, and maintain.
• 18:58
  And it's a very difficult job. And I, we just really didn't
• 19:01
  like how flippant was becoming to be a host and how quote UN
• 19:05
  quote easy it is. And so for us, it was like, we
• 19:08
  have to speak up and we have to share all the nuances that go
• 19:11
  into doing this well, to doing it safely, to be good community
• 19:15
  members. And we just never stopped
• 19:19
  talking about that since 2019. And so we're still doing that
• 19:21
  today. And so thanks for visiting.
• 19:23
  Yeah, is, is is very aligned with like what Host Planet does
• 19:26
  too, is just sharing really good tips, sharing people's stories.
• 19:30
  People want to get started. They don't know how they want to
• 19:32
  manage someone else's property. They don't know what to say or
• 19:34
  how to get all those things. We talk about all of it because
• 19:37
  it's such a rewarding industry. And we want people to feel like,
• 19:41
  hey, if you want to have fun while talking about this, then
• 19:44
  we would love for you to listen. Well, that's what.
• 19:46
  Thanks for visiting us. And you do plenty of courses
• 19:50
  right for people who want to find out more.
• 19:52
  And I'm interested. Like what are the most common
• 19:55
  questions you get, especially from new hosts?
• 20:01
  You know, a range from what kind of TV should we get, what kind
• 20:07
  of sheets should we get to I'm a new host and I feel like I don't
• 20:12
  have bookings, you know, so they, they get very fresh and
• 20:15
  they don't have bookings. And so that's when we teach them
• 20:18
  about pricing and calendar management and marketing.
• 20:23
  So many people, you know, they really just rely on Airbnb for
• 20:27
  their leads. And so the newer hosts, we kind
• 20:30
  of have to. It's so interesting, James, if
• 20:32
  you're in any other business industry that I can think of,
• 20:37
  you never would just think you put yourself on this platform,
• 20:40
  you don't, you would never not have your own website.
• 20:42
  You would never not have some sort of marketing strategy to
• 20:46
  get e-mail lists or phone numbers.
• 20:47
  And so we're having to kind of reverse the mindset of a lot of
• 20:52
  new hosts. And that is also kind of like as
• 20:55
  our job as well as, you know, don't build your whole business
• 20:58
  on this rented land, especially if you're an investor, you own
• 21:03
  property and you're managing other people's property.
• 21:05
  It's a very dangerous thing to do.
• 21:06
  So those questions too are are ones that we have to meet head
• 21:12
  on and be gentle about, but also convincing because we want great
• 21:17
  hosts to be around for a really long time because staying with
• 21:20
  in someone's home is such a fun experience to have and we just
• 21:24
  want to make sure that we're keeping keeping it possible.
• 21:28
  If somebody approaches you and says, hey, Sarah, I love what
• 21:31
  you're doing, I love all the properties that you manage, I
• 21:33
  want to start out by myself. What would be your top pieces of
• 21:37
  advice to that person? Yeah, I when I moved to
• 21:41
  Columbus, I didn't know anybody, not one soul, just my husband
• 21:45
  who I brought with me. And that's what I wanted to do.
• 21:48
  So what worked for me, and this is what I tell people to do, is
• 21:51
  to offer to speak at local brokerages.
• 21:57
  Real estate agents are hungry for connection.
• 22:01
  They're hungry for education. And then they know a ton of
• 22:04
  people. So if you can go do a 1520
• 22:07
  minute presentation on whatever you're good at when it comes to
• 22:09
  short term rentals, whatever it is like there are so many things
• 22:12
  that if an agent could be a little bit more knowledge about.
• 22:15
  So they look really great in front of their clients and
• 22:17
  they're then they're like, oh, I know, hey, this is the person to
• 22:20
  go to Sarah. She's she's the girl.
• 22:22
  As she's talking all the brokerages, she's doing all the
• 22:24
  things and showing up as an expert.
• 22:28
  You will become the go to person.
• 22:31
  And then while you're doing that, just make sure you're
• 22:33
  backing it up with actual expertise, with actual
• 22:37
  experience. And so say yes to opportunities
• 22:41
  too. I talked about boundaries, but I
• 22:43
  think those boundaries have to be earned.
• 22:45
  I think you have to know what a boundary for you even is.
• 22:48
  So at the beginning, you're going to have to say yes to
• 22:51
  opportunities to understand what you want to build and how you
• 22:54
  want to build it. But for me, and I know a lot of
• 22:57
  people, getting up and speaking isn't a thing they want to do or
• 23:00
  isn't. It's kind of scary.
• 23:02
  And so if, if that's scary to you, then I, you know, I, I
• 23:06
  don't know, because that's, that's how I did it.
• 23:08
  And so I can only speak to, to what worked for me.
• 23:10
  But also actually, I'll give one more tip, James, is I found one
• 23:14
  of my biggest clients. I was on, I had an Instagram
• 23:19
  page and I was just doing Instagram stories.
• 23:22
  And what I was doing was showing them, you know, my very tidy
• 23:25
  housekeeping closet that I had in the home and how it was very
• 23:28
  important that we did this, this and that.
• 23:30
  And I was just a Geo tag that I was in Columbus, OH and I had,
• 23:33
  you know, hashtag STR, hashtag short term rental and people
• 23:37
  locally were watching me. And so one person, well, many
• 23:40
  people, but this one person DMV and she was like, I've got a
• 23:43
  couple properties. I can't manage them anymore.
• 23:45
  She's to stay at home mom who is also self homeschooling.
• 23:49
  And that relationship was huge for me.
• 23:53
  So I didn't have to stand in front of a whole bunch of
• 23:54
  people. I was just on Instagram stories
• 23:56
  talking about my love of the details.
• 23:59
  And so when you talk about what your superpower is, you will
• 24:02
  then attract other people who appreciate your superpower and
• 24:05
  those relationships can also blossom.
• 24:07
  So there's a tip for someone who maybe doesn't like to speak in
• 24:10
  front of a lot of people. Yeah, Helps if you've been on
• 24:12
  Broadway, right? It, you know, it does, I guess
• 24:16
  for me, like I like that 4th wall.
• 24:18
  It's, it's hard. If I can be on a stage in front
• 24:20
  of a bunch of people, that's OK. But when I am like networking at
• 24:24
  a, let's say a conference and I just have to find one person to
• 24:27
  talk to, that is terrifying for me.
• 24:30
  So yes and no. Right.
• 24:32
  Like it's, yeah, it's I guess specific.
• 24:36
  I get that. I actually, I put something on
• 24:37
  LinkedIn a few weeks ago and it was along the lines of if you
• 24:41
  start a business, you have to embrace the cringe.
• 24:46
  You have to talk about yourself. You have to do selfie videos,
• 24:49
  you have to post photos. And yes, there were going to be
• 24:51
  people who say, oh, I'm sick of him.
• 24:54
  Or oh, I wish. You know that person to just
• 24:57
  stop talking or whatever, but. You've.
• 24:59
  Just got to forget that and and get on with it because if you
• 25:01
  want to grow your business, if you want to become the go to
• 25:05
  person, you've got to embrace it.
• 25:07
  Stick, stick the crampons on and climb cringe mountain.
• 25:10
  That's what I think. Emma Cole put that from
• 25:12
  Touchstay. She put that on the comments and
• 25:14
  I thought that's a great way of looking at it.
• 25:18
  All right then Sarah, so we've got a few quick fire questions
• 25:20
  now. Which PMS do you use?
• 25:22
  Hostfully. Great shout out for host fully
• 25:26
  there. Which dynamic pricing tool do
• 25:28
  you use? Price Labs.
• 25:30
  Price Labs, Which piece of tech couldn't you live without?
• 25:33
  Breezeway. Excellent.
• 25:37
  Ideally pets, yes or no? Yes, I am a big dog lover, huge
• 25:43
  all the dogs, I want them all. Ideally hot tubs, yes or no?
• 25:50
  Yes, if you want to make money, know if you want to stay sane.
• 25:55
  Self check in or a personal welcome?
• 25:59
  Oh, that's a tough one James. Self check in.
• 26:05
  Telephone call. Or AI response.
• 26:08
  Telephone. Phone call.
• 26:10
  And what's been your most memorable hosting moment?
• 26:17
  I got to manage a viral property, an Instagram famous
• 26:23
  property, and that was a very proud moment for me that I got
• 26:25
  to be a part of probably arguably the most popular short
• 26:30
  term rental here in the US. That was very cool.
• 26:32
  Wow, can you say where that was? Yeah, the cliffs in, in, in
• 26:37
  Hocking Hills, if you go to their, I think it's the cliffs
• 26:41
  dot Hocking Hills, their Instagram handle.
• 26:42
  I, I don't know. Oh my gosh.
• 26:44
  They, what they did was they uncovered a waterfall on their
• 26:46
  property and in for Ohio, it's huge.
• 26:48
  And so when I managed it to have people flying from the UK or
• 26:53
  California or Arizona to our property, it was huge.
• 26:56
  But it got picked up by all these huge publications.
• 26:59
  And when I tell you they've never been on Airbnb, it's only
• 27:03
  been direct booked from day one. And we are, I no longer manage
• 27:07
  that property because the, the property owners who are
• 27:09
  incredible human beings are self managing now and they have a
• 27:12
  whole robust team. They've they're sold out all the
• 27:15
  time. They, they open their calendar
• 27:16
  up years and it's, it's crazy. It's a really special property.
• 27:20
  So. I love that.
• 27:21
  Amazing. OK then, so shout out time.
• 27:24
  Is there an individual in the STR space who's helped you that
• 27:28
  you'd like to give a shout out to?
• 27:29
  Justin Ford, he is relentless on his pursuit for safety and short
• 27:34
  term rentals and I don't think he gets the credit he deserves.
• 27:37
  He's kind of the ones people where sometimes it's like, gosh,
• 27:40
  Justin again, But when I tell you he's literally saving lives.
• 27:43
  We've had people who have told us, hey, I either I listened to
• 27:47
  that episode with Justin Ford or I saw the real about Justin Ford
• 27:51
  and I got this our patio checked out or our, you know, our
• 27:55
  they're on a high rise and it was maybe days away from
• 27:57
  collapsing. Like those stories, names, I get
• 27:59
  them all the time. And so Justin Ford and his
• 28:03
  pursuit of safety and short term rentals is, yeah, my shout out.
• 28:06
  Great shout out for Justin. Question to finish then ultimate
• 28:10
  goal. Well, we say ultimate goal for
• 28:12
  your STR business. For you, we can say ultimate
• 28:14
  goal for your STR businesses. Ultimate goal is to be in
• 28:18
  business for a really long time and to be legacy projects just
• 28:25
  passing down to family members and a business we can be really
• 28:29
  proud of our reputation that perceives itself.
• 28:33
  Superb Sarah, it's been a real pleasure.
• 28:35
  Thank you for being part. Of the House Planet Playbook.
• 28:37
  Thank you so much. All right, that's it.
• 28:39
  For today's episode my. Thanks to Sarah for sharing her
• 28:42
  journey and for being part of the House Planet Playbook.
• 28:46
  Remember, this series is brought to you in partnership with
• 28:48
  Hospitable, the all in one property management software
• 28:52
  designed to save you time and help your business thrive.
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  across platforms, handles team tasks, and so much more so you
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  Or just get some of. Your time back and here's here's
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  the good news. Houseplanet Playbook listeners
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  hospitable.com/houseplanet to claim your offer and start
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  running your rentals on autopilot.
• 29:24
  For more free education for vacation rental hosts, head to
• 29:28
  Houseplanet dot Club where you can sign up for our.
• 29:30
  Newsletter. Listen to our podcasts and
• 29:32
  download our suite of ebooks. Until next time, happy hosting.