Latest / Host Planet: Airbnb, Holiday Let, and Vacation Rental Insights / Australian Host Reveals What Actually Works in Swiss Short-Term Rentals

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Australian Host Reveals What Actually Works in Swiss Short-Term Rentals · Host Planet: Airbnb, Holiday Let, and Vacation Rental Insights

• 0:00
  Welcome to the House Planet Playbook, your go to guide for
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  mastering short term rentals. In this special series, we're
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  manager in this series, and you can download it for free at the
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  House Planet dot Club to find out more, in today's episode
• 0:39
  we're chatting to Karen Zimmerman from Switzerland.
• 0:42
  Stand by for a chat about Swiss Australian hospitality, digital
• 0:46
  guidebooks and the first year of running a successful rental.
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• 1:29
  Karen, thank you for being part of the House Planet Playbook.
• 1:32
  Let's start with you. What's the name of your company,
• 1:35
  Where are you located, and how many rentals do you manage?
• 1:39
  Hi James. Thanks so much for having me.
• 1:42
  I am located in Central Switzerland in a small village
• 1:46
  called Fitznow and we run 1 so short term rental and we've
• 1:54
  named it Chalet Oz. It's a little bit of a sort of a
• 1:59
  back to my roots from Australia with sort of deco in Australian
• 2:04
  style, but keeping the Swiss chalet style as well.
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  So a bit of a mix. Superb.
• 2:10
  So how did you get started in the world of short term rentals?
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  Well, it was actually my husband's brilliant idea to, to
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  build. He's always had a dream to build
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  a garage in the house. And we had quite a bit of land
• 2:25
  at the back of our house that we really did nothing with.
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  So we converted it basically into this, yeah, a short term
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  rental and had the house custom made.
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  So we built it ourselves. It was like a, it's like called
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  a block house in German. So piece by piece.
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  And yeah, that's how, and we've only been open almost a year.
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  So our first anniversary would be 1st of August.
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  So it's been a been a busy year. So talk to us about what you did
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  in terms of research and setting up the property and and how much
• 3:01
  have you learned over this first year.
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  It's been a big learning curve, but I've loved it.
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  Actually, I've been running a Wellness business from home.
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  So I sort of had that customer service.
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  I had that sort of bit of a background.
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  So this kind of is, is on another level.
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  It's just very different and just how different people are
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  and, and how different habits and, and how they communicate as
• 3:31
  well. So it's been really interesting
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  from that side to to deal with people and their differences.
• 3:37
  So compared to what you know now about hosting, what advice, if
• 3:42
  you could go back, would you give yourself at the start of
• 3:44
  your journey? I would say just believe in what
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  you've done and believe in what you've produced because it's
• 3:53
  quite nerve wracking. You never know because we're in
• 3:56
  a small village and there are a few air sort of, you know, short
• 4:02
  term rentals and Airbnb. But yeah, it was you just have
• 4:07
  to have belief and we knew we had a sort of quite unique
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  product or, you know, base in, in terms of what everyone else
• 4:15
  offers around here. So just believe in what you're
• 4:19
  doing. And if and I always look at it,
• 4:21
  is it if I like something, then I'm pretty sure someone else is
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  going to as well. So just have faith in that.
• 4:29
  So tell us about your property then.
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  Why does it stand out in the local area?
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  We yeah, Fitz now the village is like a super touristy village
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  anyway and we have a connections up to Mount Ricky with the train
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  station. So where we're located we're
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  sort of we're on street level and a lot of other short term
• 4:51
  rentals here in Fitz now kind of more up the mountain.
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  So we're really easy to access. We're like 2 minutes to the, to
• 5:00
  the train station. You've got a minute's walk, you
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  can go and jump in the lake. And just our, our style is very
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  different to everyone else that we offer.
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  Like as a, this block house that we have is very different and I
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  think it's quite appealing. It gives you that Swiss feeling
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  without being to, you know, there's no sort of that Scandi
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  feeling or it's, yeah, we've made it feel comfortable for
• 5:29
  people. So tell us about the type of
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  guests that you're attracting and what have you done with the
• 5:35
  rental to to make it appealing to them?
• 5:39
  Well, we're getting guests from all over the world, which is
• 5:42
  amazing. I, I love it.
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  I would say probably our most, most are American who come and
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  then sort of Asia region and then Swiss locals as well, which
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  is they're sort of and, and a lot of people from Germany too.
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  And I've just tried to make the chalet with lots of different,
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  just small things like a welcome basket and, and people love the
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  fact that there's Swiss products in there.
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  And, and it's kind of, it's free and a lot of attention to detail
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  like coffee pods and you know, your toiletry, shampoos,
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  conditioners. And I think the little touches
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  are what helps because it is a big investment when you, you
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  decide, oh, I wanna come and stay.
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  Or a lot of people are travelling to Europe and they
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  use this as their kind of, they'll stay here for two nights
• 6:37
  or three and then they move on to the next country.
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  So you kind of have to make them walk in and go, oh, I feel at
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  home. I know that everything I need is
• 6:48
  here. And little extras like the
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  picnic backpack and cooler bag and just small things I think go
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  a long way. Just tell us about the local
• 6:59
  area, describe it, and talk to us about the challenges and
• 7:03
  opportunities of hosting where you are.
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  The challenges are probably the fact that it's quite small and
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  you know, there are some regulations in regards to, you
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  know, what can get rented out and how long.
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  I think that's sort of standard. But the opportunities are are
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  huge because we have a really great tourism, sort of a a local
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  village tourism sort of committee.
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  And then the region that is another big tourist office and
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  there's lots of events going on. And there's always something
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  like the Riggy Barn station celebrated like 150 years.
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  And it's a huge, huge event. And it's awesome for tourists if
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  they happen to be here at the same time.
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  So in the summer particularly, there's a lot of stuff going on.
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  But also in the winter we have the skiing aspect and the snow,
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  yeah, not so much skiing as they used to be, but it's more the
• 8:04
  snow and and families coming from like Zurich or somewhere.
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  We had quite a few in January and February.
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  So I think it's there's a lot of opportunities and I'm always
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  looking for something like to give to let our guests know,
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  hey, this is happening when you're here or so that they're
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  not just here in Fitz now for a little bit or maybe they go to
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  the next village or for that, you know, event or party,
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  whatever's happening. So it's just always something
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  going on, which is great that I can let the guests know that
• 8:38
  that that's happening while they're here.
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  And you said that the rental had been inspired by Australia,
• 8:45
  which which clearly is is home for you as well.
• 8:47
  So tell us how you ended up in in Switzerland and from from
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  Australia. Yeah, I met my husband in Perth.
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  He a lot of Swiss people. There's like a whole generation
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  of his age who never learned English because it wasn't in
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  schools at the time. So a lot of people and still do,
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  like, go traveling to Australia because it's the place you want
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  to go. And, and I mean, you end up
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  being in a class full of all Swiss people, but hey, you, you
• 9:17
  still learn. And that's How I Met him.
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  So. And that was, yeah.
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  I've been here 22 years now, so. Yeah, long time.
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  So tell us then your top tips for delivering an outstanding
• 9:35
  guest experience. I would say definitely the
• 9:38
  little touches and also listen to what your guests say.
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  There's always something that maybe you've forgotten or like I
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  had some friends stay a couple of months ago and they were
• 9:51
  like, oh, you need more mirrors. So right quick, let's go get
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  more mirrors and just little things like that or yeah,
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  initially I'd even forgotten a Corkscrew.
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  And it's just those small things that you think, oh, OK, I need
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  to remember that. But the small touches I think
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  are important. Yeah, very much so.
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  I remember a few times when I've stayed at my rentals, I always
• 10:16
  end up buying something new for the kitchen because there's
• 10:19
  always something missing and you only find out really by, by a,
• 10:25
  by staying at the rental. So what's, what's the been the
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  biggest lesson learned would you say of your, of your hosting
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  journey so far? I think it's to be just remember
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  that people don't read everything you send them and
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  just, you know, small things like where they should park that
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  next time just give the different instructions about
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  which sign you need to park in front of.
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  But we've been very lucky that we've had sort of, we've had no
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  issues with guests as such. When I was sort of researching
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  everything, I joined a lot of American Facebook groups and
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  they're the worst because so many bad things happen.
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  And but we've been super lucky that everyone treats our house
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  with respect. And, and I think it's, yeah, you
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  just have that, that personal connection with them.
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  I try and greet them. If I see them that they've
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  arrived, I'll come out and say a quick hello.
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  And to me, that's important. And when you were setting up the
• 11:36
  rental, do you get most of your bookings from OTAs like Airbnb
• 11:40
  and booking.com or you're trying to drive direct bookings?
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  How did you approach that from the start?
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  Well, from the beginning, we went on, started with Airbnb and
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  as you say, that was, we put it online, it was like June last
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  year, middle of June and within, you know, a day or so we got, we
• 11:57
  had our first booking. So it was, that was pretty cool
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  for us. And then we got bookings in like
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  July and August, September, and then there was like nothing in
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  October, November, December, it was like crickets.
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  So then I went on booking.com and it just went absolutely mad.
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  Like over Christmas. I think that's when people are
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  planning and you know, every 5 minutes it felt like we were
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  getting, you know, the Dings from the, the app saying, hey,
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  you've got another booking. So that was great because I
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  think for the first year, it's a big learning curve and you're
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  still thinking, OK, with the pricing and, and how, how is it
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  going to work? But now I'm, we've been through
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  this first year, I've learned a lot.
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  We, we kind of know, you know, sort of how people think and how
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  they work. And it's time to, yeah, work on
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  the website and get more direct bookings because I can see the
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  Commission that we pay. And it's just like, oh, it's
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  pretty upsetting, yeah. If someone came to you Karen,
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  and said, oh, I've seen what you're doing, I I love your
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  rental and things and I want to do something similar, what would
• 13:14
  your top tips to them be? I would say, yeah, I'm just the
• 13:25
  things that you like are probably a good indication of
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  what is a general consensus. Just keep the furniture and
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  everything sort of warm and it doesn't have to be luxurious,
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  but have a bit of style and, you know, not too much IKEA
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  furniture, even though it might be a cheap route to go.
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  Just adding those extra, buying those extra sort of like not
• 13:57
  luxurious, but sort of cost effective things to.
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  I think they also make a difference too, because people
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  appreciate that you've put the effort in.
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  Not that you think, Oh my gosh, you know, somebody's going to
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  ruin that or ruin this. I, I don't think that's the way
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  to, to, to look at it. It's just that people will
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  respect your, your house. So yeah, just yeah, go for it.
• 14:24
  What do you love most about hosting?
• 14:28
  Just meeting the people, even if it's only just a quick brief
• 14:32
  hello or anything, it's nice just to see because when people
• 14:37
  book through Airbnb and booking.com and you don't find
• 14:42
  out where they're from or anything about them, only just
• 14:45
  you know, the country or the and their preferred language.
• 14:48
  So it's, it's interesting just to, to meet people.
• 14:53
  And I think for us, it's a quite a family affair too.
• 14:57
  I mean, we built this whole house as a family.
• 15:00
  The girls and I put the kitchen together.
• 15:03
  My husband built the house as well.
• 15:05
  And he's a plumber by trade. So having that family influence,
• 15:10
  like my girls, if they see someone and they know I'm busy,
• 15:12
  they'll go out and say hello and have that same approach that I
• 15:18
  do. And it's mainly just to, yeah,
• 15:21
  just to say hi and people can make their way to the chalet
• 15:24
  and, and check in. But I think, yeah, that family
• 15:27
  influence is is a big part of it for us too.
• 15:31
  Fantastic. OK then Karen, we've got a few
• 15:33
  more quick fire questions now. Not sure if it applies to you,
• 15:38
  but do you use APMS? If so, which one?
• 15:41
  No, I don't, no. Dynamic pricing tool?
• 15:45
  Do you use one of those? No, no.
• 15:49
  Is there a piece of tech that you couldn't live without to run
• 15:52
  your business? My touch state digital
• 15:56
  guidebook, which I'm absolutely obsessed with.
• 16:00
  I love it. I just think that's made a huge
• 16:03
  difference for me. And yeah, just the fact that you
• 16:09
  can change it and, and people are looking at it.
• 16:11
  So that's the the important part.
• 16:14
  Generally they're looking at it so that I think for me, that was
• 16:17
  a big, a big change in in what I found would appeal to most
• 16:23
  people these days because they can, while they're waiting for
• 16:25
  their flight, they can sit and read what they need to and or
• 16:30
  you know, journey in the car. So I found that a huge help.
• 16:34
  Yeah, it's a great piece. Of yeah.
• 16:37
  Ideally then pets, yes or no. We do have Pets at Home, but
• 16:42
  not, yeah, I mean, I know how much hair they lose and just the
• 16:46
  thought of the extra work of that is just no.
• 16:50
  So we've said we're not dog friendly, unfortunately.
• 16:53
  And again, we get a lot of tourists, so you know, that
• 16:57
  don't travel with animals. I do feel a bit bad, but yeah,
• 17:03
  that's kind of the choice we made.
• 17:06
  Hot tubs yes or no? Well, I've run a Wellness
• 17:11
  business and we do have a hot tub in the business with a sauna
• 17:15
  and everything. They are a lot of work.
• 17:19
  But I think, yeah, definitely a bit of a draw card as well.
• 17:24
  I mean, ours is not included in the the rental costs.
• 17:27
  It's actually additional. But we've, I was speaking to
• 17:32
  some people during the week and, and saunas and and that sort of
• 17:35
  things like outdoor tubs are becoming more, more the thing
• 17:39
  like a special event or a special thing to organise, Yeah.
• 17:44
  Yeah, a nice thing to offer if you can.
• 17:47
  Yeah, absolutely. Ideally then a self check in or
• 17:51
  a personal welcome. A little bit of both, like I say
• 17:56
  a quick hello and then they're fine.
• 17:58
  I have asked if people want to want me to show them round and
• 18:02
  generally they're OK with that. But yeah, I think, yeah, a
• 18:07
  little bit of both. But definitely self checking for
• 18:10
  sure. Especially, I mean, we're lucky
• 18:13
  we live right, you know, right next door.
• 18:16
  So it's easy for us if there's any issues.
• 18:18
  But if you don't live next door or whatever then definitely self
• 18:22
  checking, yeah. Telephone call to a guest or an
• 18:27
  AI response. That a bit telephone call, yeah,
• 18:31
  For me, definitely, yeah. And what's been your most
• 18:36
  memorable hosting moment so far? It'd probably be the first
• 18:40
  booking we had and or the and the first review, like the first
• 18:46
  family, they were super excited that they were the very first
• 18:50
  ones here and just what they wrote was just so nice.
• 18:53
  So it was kind of a confidence boost that you get.
• 18:57
  Oh, OK. We've put so much work and time
• 18:59
  and effort into this, and to have that as your first review
• 19:04
  is awesome. So yeah, I think that's probably
• 19:07
  the highlight. And just, yeah, you always get
• 19:09
  excited and you always think, oh, you know, I hope
• 19:12
  everything's OK. And I'm always checking, making
• 19:14
  sure that people if they need anything.
• 19:17
  And I think it it works it that the not to be overly in
• 19:23
  communication with people, but just that right balance.
• 19:28
  Shout out time now. Is there somebody in the short
• 19:31
  term rental industry that you'd like to give a shout out to?
• 19:34
  Perhaps they've helped you in your journey.
• 19:36
  Yeah, I've I've for Sarah Orchard from the Fully Booked
• 19:41
  Business Club. Yeah, I've just joined her, her
• 19:46
  club actually, but I've been sort of watching her and
• 19:49
  listening to her podcasts for the last year or so.
• 19:53
  And I love her ideas and and how they're not overcomplicated and
• 19:59
  just joining the club. I've had so many aha moments
• 20:02
  already and the people in there are fantastic.
• 20:05
  So she's, yeah, definitely got a good thing going.
• 20:09
  Yeah. Great shout out for Sarah there
• 20:11
  and questions to finish ultimate goal for your business.
• 20:16
  Just more direct bookings yeah. So I'm not handing out all that
• 20:20
  money to the the big OTAs, but yeah, that's my goal for this
• 20:26
  year is working on my website with SEO.
• 20:29
  And yeah, I mean, I do do social media whenever I can and just,
• 20:35
  yeah, just keep, keep on going with it.
• 20:37
  And and I kind of when I'm doing my social media, I kind of get
• 20:41
  to be a tourist in my own little town as well.
• 20:44
  So that's quite fun to see it from, from that perspective as
• 20:47
  well. Yeah.
• 20:49
  Superb, Karen. Thanks for joining us on the
• 20:52
  podcast. It's been a real pleasure.
• 20:53
  And thanks for being part of the Host Planet Playbook.
• 20:56
  Thank you. I've enjoyed it.
• 20:57
  Thanks a lot, James. All right, that's it for today's
• 21:00
  episode. My thanks to Karen for sharing
• 21:02
  her journey and for being part of the Host Planet playbook.
• 21:05
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