Latest / Host Planet: Airbnb, Holiday Let, and Vacation Rental Insights / This Dog-Friendly Airbnb Strategy Gets 95% Direct Bookings
Transcript
- 0:00Welcome to the House Planet Playbook, your go to guide for
- 0:03mastering short term rentals. In this special series, we're
- 0:06sitting down with 30 of the world's top property managers to
- 0:10uncover what really drives success in the vacation rental
- 0:13industry. You'll hear their stories, learn
- 0:15the key lessons they've picked up along the way, and discover
- 0:18the game changing tech they use to deliver 5 star guest
- 0:22experiences. If you're serious about growing
- 0:25your STR business, you're in the right place.
- 0:28We've also developed an ebook featuring the stories of every
- 0:31manager in this series and you can download it for free.
- 0:35Head to House Planet dot Club to find out more.
- 0:38In today's episode we're chatting to Sarah Sokol from
- 0:40Little White Dog Properties. Stand by for a deep dive into
- 0:44hosting 4 Legged Friends and how to achieve 95% direct bookings.
- 0:54This special series is brought to you by Hostplanets and
- 0:57Hospitable, the smart AI powered property management software
- 1:01trusted by hosts worldwide. With Hospitable, you can
- 1:05automate guest messaging, sync calendars across platforms and
- 1:09manage your rentals with ease, all from one powerful, easy to
- 1:12use platform. If you're keen to run your short
- 1:15term rental on autopilot, try Hospitable today.
- 1:19Visit hospitable.com/houseplanets.
- 1:22See how the platform can save you time.
- 1:24Reduce, dress and maximize your earners.
- 1:27Sarah, thank you for being part of the House Planet Playbook.
- 1:30Let's start with you. What's the name of your company,
- 1:33Where are you located, and how many rentals do you manage?
- 1:37Hi, James. Yeah, hi.
- 1:38I'm Sarah Sokol. I am currently in Mid Coast
- 1:42Maine. My property, I have one.
- 1:45I'm a solo owner and manager of one property here on the coast
- 1:50of Maine in Georgetown. The name of my business is
- 1:53Little White Dog Properties. I think that's hopeful that
- 1:56they'll be more properties in the future.
- 2:00Yeah, it's a lovely 3 bedroom, 2 bath cabin right on the water on
- 2:06a lovely little island in coastal Maine.
- 2:08It's close to heaven if you ask me.
- 2:10Sounds wonderful. OK then, so tell us how you got
- 2:14started in the world of short term rentals?
- 2:17OK, so I guess I'll say what everybody else always says.
- 2:19I fell into it, right? Isn't that what everybody says
- 2:22about it? Oh yeah.
- 2:25I've always kind of enjoyed taking care of people.
- 2:28I've always enjoyed taking care of a home.
- 2:30I've been kind of very domestic my whole life.
- 2:33And I think I thought when I was a kid that I wanted to possibly
- 2:38run a bed and breakfast. And then as I got older and
- 2:43vacation rentals and short term rentals became such a thing, I
- 2:46realized that that might be a little bit more of like what I
- 2:50want to get into, at least for this stage of my life.
- 2:53So oddly enough, in the summer of 2020, it seems like that's
- 2:58kind of when a lot of people jumped on board.
- 2:59That was just financially when myself and my now ex-husband had
- 3:04the opportunity to purchase a property to use for this type of
- 3:08thing. So we went ahead and did that
- 3:10and I haven't looked back. I've been enjoying every second
- 3:14of it. I just am in the midst of my
- 3:16fifth summer, which is our busy season here on the coast.
- 3:20I can't believe it's been 5 summers already.
- 3:23I love this. This is a really nice compliment
- 3:26to my full time job. It's just a nice way for me to
- 3:30kind of scratch that itch of being a caretaker for four
- 3:34people and to share this state that I have adopted and I love
- 3:39so much. So tell us about your your other
- 3:42job and how the skills that you've got in that help you to
- 3:46run your rental. Yeah, so I am a positive
- 3:50reinforcement dog trainer. I have been voted best dog
- 3:55trainer in the state of Maine for nine years and ranked 25th
- 3:58best in the country. I've been doing this a really,
- 4:02really long time. And the one misconception with
- 4:07training dogs is that this is you're working with dogs, which
- 4:11they are there, but I'm really working with people.
- 4:14And I think that what I've learned a lot over all of these
- 4:18years training dogs and and teaching people how to train
- 4:21their dogs is how to communicate well with people.
- 4:24And I, I have very high standards myself for how I
- 4:29interact with businesses and how I expect businesses to interact
- 4:31with me. I've had a long time to be able
- 4:34to practice putting those skills into play my dog training
- 4:38business, that hospitality, so to speak, in my dog training
- 4:41business with my dog training clients.
- 4:44And so when I started the vacation rental, it kind of just
- 4:49fell into place because I was already taking care of people
- 4:52and being very hospitable in my dog training job.
- 4:57So it was kind of easy for me to kind of bounce that over into
- 5:00the vacation rental. The other thing that has kind of
- 5:03bled over is the dogs. I always joke that I'm a crazy
- 5:07dog lady in any forum that you put me in.
- 5:10So obviously my vacation rental is very dog friendly.
- 5:14I, if I was going to do this, I was going to do it.
- 5:16And I've jumped in and I've really embraced welcoming dogs
- 5:21rather than just tolerating them or being pet friendly.
- 5:25And what that gave me, and because my dog training business
- 5:29is so successful my very first year that I opened the vacation
- 5:34rental, I, like everybody else, had my properties on the, my
- 5:38property on the OTAs, but I had a direct book site as well.
- 5:41I wasn't afraid of direct bookings because I am used to
- 5:44running my own business and taking registrations through my
- 5:47own website. So just because I was able to
- 5:50share this new venture with my dog training clients and because
- 5:54I had such a lovely relationship with all the people that I help
- 5:57for dog training, they shared my new business venture with
- 6:02everybody they knew that had dogs who are looking to travel
- 6:05to Maine. And my very first year in
- 6:08business, I was able to book 50% of my bookings direct.
- 6:12My very first year in business, I'm up to 95% direct book
- 6:17because of the dog piece of this and because dog people are
- 6:23really passionate about their dogs and they want to find a
- 6:26place where they are able to take their dogs and and where
- 6:29they're welcomed with their dogs.
- 6:31That's really outstanding. 95% direct bookings is amazing.
- 6:36So you say that the the dog friendly aspect is, is really
- 6:40helping you to nail down this niche Really.
- 6:42So, So what does your property look like then?
- 6:45So tell us how it really enhances the experience for
- 6:48people who've got dogs. Yeah, for me, it was important
- 6:52for the dogs to feel welcome there and not just an
- 6:55afterthought. So I'm really catering to guests
- 6:58who are bringing their dogs. I have some guests who don't
- 7:01bring dogs. Usually those people have dogs,
- 7:04they're just travelling by plane and maybe aren't necessarily
- 7:07bringing their dogs, but the property is really catered to
- 7:11welcoming dogs as a first thought rather than an
- 7:14afterthought. Part of this is because
- 7:16obviously I want to make people come and stay with me who have
- 7:19their dogs. Part of this though, if I'm
- 7:21being honest, is to make the lives of my cleaners easier.
- 7:24So for example, I supply dog beds, washable dog beds that
- 7:29helps keep the dogs maybe on that bed versus on the rug or on
- 7:35the sofa. If the dog is comfortable on the
- 7:37sofa, fine with me. I provide washable covers that I
- 7:40ask us to put on top of the sofa.
- 7:43This makes those changeovers a lot easier if the dog is getting
- 7:47on and off the furniture. I provide dog toys, I provide a
- 7:51pet first aid kit. I've got all sorts of agility
- 7:54equipment in the yard for my dog guests bowls.
- 7:58I I have a crates available for my clients to use.
- 8:02So it, it makes it as easy as possible for my guests to bring
- 8:06their dogs with them. But again, in turn, this also
- 8:10makes it easy for me to host dogs and easy for my cleaners on
- 8:14those changeover days, especially because in the
- 8:16summer, we're always same day changeovers.
- 8:19So that we're able to provide a rental that has that's spotless,
- 8:24that is not only welcoming to dogs, but it's spotless.
- 8:26And I have so many guests who say, especially in their
- 8:30reviews, how they can't believe that this is such a dog
- 8:32welcoming property considering how clean it is.
- 8:37Yeah. I was going to ask you kind of
- 8:38what makes your brand stand out among the competition, but I
- 8:41think you've kind of explained it really well.
- 8:44I mean, are there any other similar properties in the area
- 8:48doing what you're doing or are you pretty unique?
- 8:52Not what I'm doing, no, not in, not on the island that my
- 8:55property is on. Yeah, I do think that that's
- 8:57definitely what makes me stand out and what keeps my calendar
- 9:01really full. I think the other thing besides
- 9:05obviously welcoming dogs is I'm also not afraid of having
- 9:07multiple dogs. I recently had four dogs stay.
- 9:10I will take more dogs. Obviously I'm aware of space, so
- 9:14if I'm at my Max cap for people, I'm not gonna take 5 or 6 dogs
- 9:18as well. But if if I've got a couple who
- 9:20has six dogs, come on, bring me all the dogs.
- 9:22I'm totally fine with that. And these are people who have
- 9:25heard time and time again from James that will tell me we never
- 9:28traveled before because we have 6 dogs and now we've got a place
- 9:32that we can go. And that's how I'm building
- 9:35repeat guests and they're telling their friends with six
- 9:39dogs that they can go and stay in this property.
- 9:41Like we all the crazy dog people, we all talk to each
- 9:46other and they're all just letting everybody know that you
- 9:49could, you've got this fantastic place that you can go and bring
- 9:51your dog. You mentioned 50% direct
- 9:54bookings in year 1, you're now up to 95% direct bookings.
- 9:58So how did you make that jump from 50 to 95?
- 10:01What were the tactics that you implemented?
- 10:04It was just slowly over time, I'm building my social media
- 10:08presence. I think was was big.
- 10:10I also have a group that I started a Facebook group called
- 10:15Dogs welcome. When I, when I after the first
- 10:19year, I wanted, I leaned into being dog friendly the first
- 10:23year, but I went a step further after the first year and really
- 10:27that's when I increased the number of dogs I would accept.
- 10:29That's when I dropped my pet fees I was looking for.
- 10:33I love, I love the evil social media.
- 10:37I love it for marketing purposes.
- 10:38I think it's a great way. That's how I get a lot of my dog
- 10:41training clients. So I started researching groups
- 10:45that were were there for connecting people with their
- 10:49dogs with vacation rentals or hotels or anything along those
- 10:53lines that are pet friendly. And I found a ton in the UK and
- 10:56nothing in the United States. And I was like, OK, opportunity
- 11:00presents itself. So I created this group called
- 11:03Dogs Welcome and Facebook. I posted it.
- 11:05This just goes to show you again the power of dog.
- 11:08I posted it. A friend of mine runs the Canine
- 11:10Enrichment Facebook group who he's got like 500,000.
- 11:14He's got a massive amount of people in that group.
- 11:16Anyhow, I posted it, asked his permission, posted in his group.
- 11:19Within 24 hours, I had grown 1000 group members just within
- 11:2324 hours of starting that group. And it is just progressively
- 11:26grown over the past for years. So I think that that group has
- 11:30played a huge role in getting my property out to people with
- 11:35dogs, as it has with a lot of other property managers and
- 11:39owners who are also pet friendly.
- 11:41And how much has the vacation rental helped your other dog
- 11:45training business? Not as much as I probably could
- 11:52push it. I'm a little nervous about
- 11:53walking that line to be honest with you.
- 11:56I don't want to promote too much my dog training to my my guests
- 11:59because they're on vacation. I also don't want them to think
- 12:02I think their dogs are naughty. But I but I do do a couple of
- 12:08things I have in my digital guidebook.
- 12:11I do have a section on on all the pet friendly stuff.
- 12:14And I do have a code for my guests to get my one of my
- 12:19training videos for free. And I do have people that take
- 12:21it up on take me up on that. And then of course that adds
- 12:24them to my e-mail list. I have had a few crossovers
- 12:27where I've had a couple of clients who have started
- 12:31following my dog training business on social media because
- 12:33of the connection through the vacation rental and have set up
- 12:37both virtual training sessions with them.
- 12:38And a couple of times I've, I've this one client, they've come
- 12:41every year for the past five years and I've actually gone to
- 12:45my property while they were staying there and done a couple
- 12:48of sessions with them. So not a ton, but that's not
- 12:51really what my goal is here. But it is kind of neat when they
- 12:54kind of crossover in both directions.
- 12:56So tell us about your location then you're in Maine.
- 12:59What are the main challenges and opportunities where you are?
- 13:04Oh, biggest challenge is definitely the season.
- 13:07So summer is obviously, you know, the busy season here as it
- 13:10is, I'm sure with most hosts. But we have a really dead
- 13:14offseason. It gets cold here, it gets wet
- 13:17here. This is just, it's very
- 13:20difficult in the offseason to have a full calendar and that's
- 13:24part of it. Just accepting and understanding
- 13:26that that is that is what it is in Maine that you're going to
- 13:30have kind of a slower offseason. The good news is because of the
- 13:34niche that I'm in, I actually am able to maintain a somewhat full
- 13:40calendar during the offseason. Most rentals around here are
- 13:44June, July and August is their busy season.
- 13:47I'm full all the way into October.
- 13:49I usually get Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year's, and then
- 13:51in the winter, which is really when the beast of it is.
- 13:55It's really difficult to get bookings in the winter here.
- 13:58I'll take the occasional weekend from people who live in
- 14:01Massachusetts and come on up this way and it's enough that
- 14:05it's worth me staying open. I think that's another piece is
- 14:08nobody else is open this time of year.
- 14:09So for people who are looking together way, it's an
- 14:12opportunity for them. But that's definitely been the
- 14:15biggest challenge. But it's it's it's cyclical and
- 14:18I know that it's coming. So I'm able to very easily
- 14:20prepare for that. So what are your top three tips
- 14:25for delivering an outstanding guest experience?
- 14:29I think that one thing that is important to me is to not assume
- 14:34the worst from my guests. I know that sounds like a
- 14:37strange thing for their experience, but I've noticed
- 14:40that there's sometimes some hostility within the host groups
- 14:46on Facebook about they hear 1 little thing from the guests and
- 14:49they're just gonna assume that their their guest is gonna do
- 14:52this, that or the other to their property.
- 14:55And I think that that starts you, your first interaction with
- 14:59that guest with already a chip on your shoulder.
- 15:00And that kind of just bleeds into every other interaction
- 15:03that you have with that guest. So I think that assuming the
- 15:08best of people is going to help you provide your guests with as
- 15:13good of experience as you possibly can.
- 15:16I think also be generous, be generous with your time, with
- 15:20your communication, your knowledge of the area.
- 15:23Be generous with your gratitude, with your care for them, with
- 15:28your supplies, give them the toilet paper they need.
- 15:32Be generous, right? And I think also, and it kind of
- 15:36goes along with the first thing that I said, but don't take
- 15:39things personally. So people are different types of
- 15:43communicators. People have different ways of
- 15:45living their lives. And not everybody's going to
- 15:47match up with what you think people should be doing in your
- 15:51property or with you. As far as communication goes, I
- 15:55never, this is a business. I never take things personally
- 15:58that any of my guests are out to attack me or to cause a problem.
- 16:03And so I think that that gives me a little bit more freedom and
- 16:06opportunity to provide a really nice experience for them because
- 16:10I don't I'm not upset or bothered if they do things a
- 16:14little different then I would assume that someone would do in
- 16:17a property. Great advice.
- 16:19I think what have been the biggest lessons learned over the
- 16:23past five years? I'm a superhero.
- 16:29No, what I mean by that is I have learned, and this is this
- 16:32is affected my my everyday life. I have learned that no matter
- 16:36what problem presents itself, I can totally solve it.
- 16:40Like, you know, the thing with these homes is they're ticking
- 16:42time bombs. Everything's going to break at
- 16:44some point. And if your property is full at
- 16:46some point, that's going to happen when there's a guest
- 16:48there, right? And I've had my share of things
- 16:50that have gone wrong over the years.
- 16:54Oh gosh, we have this horrible winter storm over over Christmas
- 16:57one time. And I have a whole house
- 16:59generator and I was, I knew I was running low on propane
- 17:02because it had been on generator for like 4 days already.
- 17:05I'm trying to get an emergency delivery.
- 17:07The entire like whole area has been out for four days.
- 17:10Propane companies can't get there.
- 17:14They have to actually go into a hotel.
- 17:15My guest on Christmas Day, I got everything resolved.
- 17:19Like that's a nightmare situation, right?
- 17:21Everything was resolved. So yes, there are things that I
- 17:25have implemented and put into place to help those situations
- 17:27not be as bad as they could be. But I've also, I've just learned
- 17:31that no matter what comes up, I'm not going to be worried
- 17:33about it. I'm going to be able to resolve
- 17:34it. And that has that has affected
- 17:36my everyday life with any problems that present themselves
- 17:39regardless as to whether or not that's in my vacation rental
- 17:42business, my dog training business or in my personal life.
- 17:45Yeah, there's, there's always something with vacation rentals.
- 17:49There's always something to pay for just about every single
- 17:51month. What do you love most about
- 17:55hosting? I think there's two things that
- 17:58really stand out. And 1 is this state.
- 18:01I'm not from Maine. I've had the privilege of, of
- 18:03calling this state home for the past 13 years.
- 18:06I am so obsessed with this state.
- 18:08I cannot believe I found it. I cannot believe I'm lucky
- 18:11enough to live here. And I, I'm just so smitten that
- 18:15it, it kind of tickles me that I get to share this place with
- 18:18other people. So I think that's probably the
- 18:20biggest one. But you know, a close behind is
- 18:22that I'm able to provide people with dogs an opportunity to
- 18:25travel with their dogs. And as an individual who has
- 18:28given up on travelling many times in the past because I
- 18:31couldn't take my dog with me, I know how special and important
- 18:34that is. And really what I'm trying to do
- 18:36in all of my businesses is to improve dogs lives.
- 18:41And so this is just another opportunity for me to do that.
- 18:44Superb. OK then Sarah, we've got a few
- 18:47quick fire questions. Which PMS do you use?
- 18:50Owner Res. Which dynamic pricing tool do
- 18:54you use? I don't use any shocker.
- 18:57I know, it's very strange. I just have the one property and
- 18:59we tend to book way way out, so I don't actually use one.
- 19:03You're not the only one. Which piece of tech couldn't you
- 19:08live without? Well, owner Rez is awesome, but
- 19:11I would say in addition to owner Rez, I love Canva.
- 19:14I I can really have some fun in Canva.
- 19:17Great for all the social media and all the.
- 19:18Marketing and 100% yes. I think I know the answer to
- 19:24this one. Pets yes or no?
- 19:26That's a big old fat yes, absolutely.
- 19:30Hot tubs yes or no? I do not have a hot tub.
- 19:33My property is a little on the remote side and getting someone
- 19:36to go down there and care for it on a regular basis is tricky.
- 19:39I'm also on a well so filling it makes me a little nervous so
- 19:41that's a no for me. Ideally a self check in or a
- 19:46personal welcome. It's a self check in, but I've
- 19:49done a lot of communication leading up to that check in so
- 19:54typically my guests aren't strangers to me even though it
- 19:57is a self check in. And ideally telephone call or an
- 20:01AI response. Oh, telephone call for sure.
- 20:04And what's been your most memorable hosting moment?
- 20:09I have a client who has stayed with me every summer and a
- 20:14couple years ago she's always brought her dog.
- 20:16A couple years ago she did let me know prior to her stay that
- 20:19her dog was sick, terminally ill, and wanted to know like in
- 20:23proximity with the closest emergency vet clinic was.
- 20:26That's why she was telling me that.
- 20:28The dog did end up passing a couple of weeks after her stay
- 20:31and she sent me the most beautiful e-mail about how
- 20:35special it was for her to be able to spend that time with her
- 20:38dog in my property and how she's will cherish that forever.
- 20:42I was a little worried she wouldn't come back after that
- 20:44because it might have been sad for her, but she did continue to
- 20:46come back even without the dog. And to me, that was that was
- 20:50just everything that I could give this woman that last little
- 20:53time with her dog and make it so special.
- 20:56Fantastic. OK then shout out time.
- 20:59Is there an individual in the STR industry who's helped you
- 21:02that perhaps you'd like to give a shout out to?
- 21:05Absolutely. Justin Ford.
- 21:07So Justin is from Maine, lives in Maine, even though he travels
- 21:11more than he's here. And when I first opened my
- 21:14business and started my property, I did post in one of
- 21:16the Facebook groups, he stepped out and said, hey, I'm local to
- 21:19you. I'd love to come take a look at
- 21:20your property if you'd like to have me and, and take a look for
- 21:23a safety perspective. And I absolutely jumped on that.
- 21:26So I've met him numerous times. He's done a personal walk
- 21:30through my property. I've implemented tons of changes
- 21:33from a safety standpoint, all things that he recommended and
- 21:37he, even when I had one of the many crises that I have had over
- 21:42the years and I ended up with an empty weekend on Labor Day
- 21:47weekend, he even had his Good Morning America film segment
- 21:51recorded at my property, so that was a nice little bonus.
- 21:54It worked out even though I ended up having to have my
- 21:57property empty that weekend. So Justin's been fantastic.
- 22:00I've learned a ton from him and he's really shown me and
- 22:03welcomed me into this space. Great shout out for Justin
- 22:07there. Final question then, Sarah,
- 22:09ultimate goal for your business. I think that just to continue to
- 22:14do what I'm doing, keep bringing the dogs in, keep bringing the
- 22:17people in. I think that the other goal that
- 22:19I would have is to grow a little bit.
- 22:22My ex-husband was not super interested in in in adding any
- 22:26more properties. And now that that's not a
- 22:28problem for me anymore, I'm ready to bring some more
- 22:30properties on. I'm considering dabbling in
- 22:33midterm rentals a little bit. So we'll see what the next
- 22:37couple of years bring as far as as adding more properties goes.
- 22:41More properties, more dogs, the advantages of divorce.
- 22:44I didn't think we'd finished there, but here we are.
- 22:49Sarah, it's been a real pleasure.
- 22:50Thank you for being part of the House Planet Playbook.
- 22:53Thanks for having me. I appreciate it, James.
- 22:55All right, that's it for today's episode.
- 22:57My thanks to Sarah for sharing her journey and for being part
- 23:00of the House Planet playbook. Remember, this series is brought
- 23:03to you in partnership with Hospitable, the all in one
- 23:07property management software designed to save you time and
- 23:10help your business thrive. Hospitable automates your guest
- 23:13messaging, syncs your calendars across platforms, handles team
- 23:17tasks and so much more. So you can focus on delivering a
- 23:21top notch guest experience or just get some of your time back.
- 23:25And here's the good news. Host Planet Playbook listeners
- 23:28get an exclusive 14 day free trial plus 25% off for the first
- 23:33three months. Head to
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- 23:41For more free education for vacation rental house, head to
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- 23:51Until next time, happy hosting.