Latest / Host Planet: Airbnb, Holiday Let, and Vacation Rental Insights / Designing Magic at Acorn Glade: Guest Experience, Community, Direct Bookings (and Alpacas)

Transcript

Designing Magic at Acorn Glade: Guest Experience, Community, Direct Bookings (and Alpacas) · 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 to
• 0:10
  uncover what really drives success.
• 0:12
  In the vacation. Rental industry.
• 0:14
  You'll hear their stories, learn the key lessons they've picked
• 0:17
  up along the way, and discover the game changing tech they use
• 0:21
  to deliver five star guest experiences.
• 0:24
  If you're serious about growing your STR business, you're in the
• 0:27
  right place. We've also developed an book
• 0:30
  featuring the stories of every manager in this series, and you
• 0:33
  can download it for free at the House Planet dot Club to find
• 0:37
  out more. In today's episode, we're
• 0:39
  chatting to Wendy Wilkinson Co from Acorn Glade, New York in
• 0:44
  the UK. Stand by for a deep dive into
• 0:47
  escaping the rat race, taking over a glamping site and the.
• 0:50
  Power of wildlife. Including entertaining alpacas.
• 1:00
  This special series is brought to you by Host Planet and
• 1:03
  Hospitable, the smart AI powered property management software
• 1:07
  trusted by hosts worldwide. With Hospitable, you can
• 1:10
  automate guest messaging, sync calendars across platforms and
• 1:14
  manage your rentals with ease, all from one powerful, easy to
• 1:18
  use platform. If you're keen to run your short
• 1:20
  term rental on autopilot, try Hospitable today.
• 1:24
  Visit Hospitable dot com forward slash host planet to see how the
• 1:28
  platform can save you time, reduce stress, and maximize your
• 1:32
  earnings. Wendy, thank you for being part
• 1:34
  of the House Planet playbook. Let's start with you.
• 1:37
  What's the name of your company? Where are you located?
• 1:40
  And. How many rentals?
• 1:41
  Do you manage? Hi, James, thank you very much
• 1:44
  for inviting me. So we are located about 10 miles
• 1:48
  South of the beautiful City of York in the UK.
• 1:52
  And we've got four different units, so four different rental
• 1:56
  units available. And yes, we're very excited to
• 2:02
  be here and to share some things with you.
• 2:05
  Fantastic. So tell us then, how did you get
• 2:07
  involved? In the world.
• 2:08
  Of short term. Rentals.
• 2:10
  Well, both Andrew and myself were driving up and down the
• 2:15
  motorway, the M25, repeatedly, and both of us were working with
• 2:21
  big corporate companies. He was in motorsport and I
• 2:26
  worked for British Airways as a cabinet service director.
• 2:31
  And so we were busy, busy, didn't see each other.
• 2:34
  And suddenly it just dawned on us that we were just on this
• 2:40
  trail of, of, you know, the rat race really.
• 2:43
  And so we decided to sell up and come up to Yorkshire.
• 2:49
  Andrew's originally from Yorkshire, so that's how I've
• 2:51
  got my passport to get here. And Oh yes, and we were looking
• 2:57
  for something else to do and we had sold everything.
• 3:04
  So we had some money to invest in something.
• 3:07
  And we came across Acorn Glade glumping.
• 3:11
  It was up and running and the the owners had decided they
• 3:17
  wanted to retire. So we went to look at it and we
• 3:21
  both looked at each other and went, oh, this is it, can we do
• 3:26
  this? So that's how we started.
• 3:29
  And from there, as a guest said this weekend, who was here six
• 3:34
  years ago and they've returned this weekend and they said
• 3:38
  you've moved this up a couple of notches, haven't you?
• 3:41
  So I took that as a huge compliment, really.
• 3:45
  Yeah. Fantastic.
• 3:46
  And was it always the plan to go into the glamping?
• 3:49
  Side of things. Not really.
• 3:52
  We just fell into it to be honest and we realised that it
• 3:57
  had huge potential. But it also has given us a
• 4:00
  lifestyle change, complete lifestyle change and because of
• 4:04
  our expertise, because of mine. I was travelling for 25 years
• 4:09
  and stayed in a gazillion hotels and Andrew was also working with
• 4:15
  the Grand Prix and things like that.
• 4:17
  So we've always been around people and, and, and knowing and
• 4:21
  getting the feel for people and, and what they like and sort of
• 4:26
  tapping into that. And so we, we, we've moved it
• 4:29
  from there really. So you mentioned there, the
• 4:32
  guests say? That you've taken it up a couple
• 4:34
  of notches, so. What have you implemented?
• 4:37
  What have you done differently to improve the guest experience
• 4:40
  there? So what we have done is we've
• 4:43
  removed a couple of units that were there, IE yurt.
• 4:47
  There were two yurts, fabulous structures, beautiful to stay
• 4:52
  in, but they weren't year round project because they just got
• 4:55
  too cold and so that wasn't going to work for us.
• 4:59
  So we decided to build some log cabins and they're all bespoke.
• 5:05
  I drew a picture and we've built them so they're very quirky and
• 5:12
  we've sort of moved it along that way.
• 5:14
  So now that they're fully insulated, they've got lock
• 5:16
  burners so we can we can run year round and be open from
• 5:22
  Christmas right round to Christmas.
• 5:25
  So tell us then your top tips. For delivering an outstanding
• 5:29
  guest experience. So we're very fortunate because
• 5:32
  we live on site. So my passion is to meet and
• 5:36
  greet every single guest. I, I memorise their names and I
• 5:43
  memorise where they've come from so that I've got an opening
• 5:46
  gambit when they arrive to ask how their arrival was, their
• 5:50
  drive was and, and that kind of thing.
• 5:53
  And I make a sort of a little note of things within the 10
• 5:58
  minutes that I get to talk to them about them so that if they
• 6:02
  have children, if they're, they're teachers, what maybe
• 6:06
  what their line of work if they offer that information.
• 6:09
  And then from there I can build on what I can then recommend for
• 6:15
  them to do. So if they love for historical
• 6:17
  city, of course I'll steer them towards York.
• 6:20
  If they want to go and explore the beautiful worlds and their
• 6:23
  walkers, I've got maps I can give so I can be their local
• 6:27
  expert too without bombarding them with too much information.
• 6:33
  I'm sort of their electronic guide to what they want to do.
• 6:38
  But it's about tapping into. I get, I can get a feeling for
• 6:41
  what people want to do for their weekend or their few days away.
• 6:46
  And they're very open to, to tell.
• 6:49
  Everyone's got a story, haven't they, at the end of the day?
• 6:52
  So they're very open to telling, telling me what they're, why
• 6:56
  they're there. They might be celebrating.
• 6:59
  They might be just getting away because I've had enough, you
• 7:02
  know. So yeah, there's there's those
• 7:05
  tips really is getting some getting to know their names,
• 7:08
  meet and greet if you can, and and be your expert local guide.
• 7:15
  You mentioned before then that you spent 25 years with British
• 7:18
  Airways travelling all over the world, going to so many
• 7:21
  different hotels and experiencing various different
• 7:24
  types. Of hospitality, what did you?
• 7:26
  Learn from all that travel that you apply today.
• 7:32
  I suppose what I said slightly earlier was everybody's got a
• 7:36
  story as to why they're there. And if you can tap into that,
• 7:40
  you can make people feel very comfortable and very welcome
• 7:44
  quite quickly because you you show empathy and you understand.
• 7:50
  And then you can open major conversations and just be and
• 7:54
  listen. Yeah, listening is, is, is so
• 7:58
  important and, and asking for that information as well,
• 8:01
  because the more information you get, the more power you've got
• 8:04
  really as as a host to really curate that experience.
• 8:08
  So, so just talking a little bit about York.
• 8:10
  Then where you? Are just tell us about the
• 8:14
  challenges and the. Opportunities of the location
• 8:17
  where you're operating. So we're, we're rural and so we
• 8:24
  do really guests do need a car. However, there have been a few
• 8:28
  people who've arrived by train and then we've got to deal with
• 8:32
  some taxi companies who will offer some discounts.
• 8:37
  So prior to the guests arriving, we ask those kind of questions,
• 8:40
  are they coming in the car? Are they coming by public
• 8:43
  transport? And then we can recommend that
• 8:45
  also on our website, we've got all the maps of the local
• 8:49
  motorways and, and ways in which they can get here.
• 8:54
  And then we try and encourage them to leave the car and
• 8:56
  actually enjoy the local area and go for a walk along the
• 9:01
  canal, go to the local pub and feed into the local community
• 9:06
  really, because that brings in, you know, some good, good
• 9:10
  revenue for all of us. And I want to be on good terms
• 9:14
  with our village because it's important.
• 9:17
  So how important? Is it to be a good neighbor and
• 9:21
  to have those great relations with your local community?
• 9:24
  Hugely because there's often actually business to be
• 9:30
  generated through that. I'll give you an example
• 9:33
  yesterday. Someone who lives in the village
• 9:37
  has got 2 little boys and they were desperate to come and see
• 9:40
  the alpacas and the Wallabies that we have.
• 9:43
  And so of course they're very welcome.
• 9:46
  They came on their bikes. We we chatted about what we have
• 9:50
  here, we showed them around and, and the the chat said this is
• 9:55
  brilliant. I can let my family come and
• 9:58
  stay here because we haven't got very much room in my house.
• 10:02
  And I said of course that's not a problem at all.
• 10:04
  And then it turns out he works from home and has been looking
• 10:09
  for a space to actually get away from the house.
• 10:12
  So we're now in negotiation and providing A workspace for him
• 10:16
  during the week, which is brilliant for us.
• 10:19
  Perfect. Yeah, that sounds fantastic.
• 10:21
  And yeah, just just the power of getting to know your local
• 10:24
  community, obviously. You've got the.
• 10:26
  The wildlife aspect there. Is that one of the ways that you
• 10:30
  really stand out in your local area?
• 10:33
  I mean, how else does your brand stand?
• 10:35
  Out among the competition. Yes.
• 10:37
  Well one thing I don't see that we have competition because I'm
• 10:41
  very happy to work with other glamping sites, recommend each
• 10:43
  other. There's there's no point in
• 10:45
  being competing. We are very lucky.
• 10:49
  I think some glamping sites, they might have wonderful
• 10:53
  structures and everything else, but they can be bit like
• 10:57
  porridge when it comes to hospital, the actual
• 11:00
  hospitality. So I think the way that we stand
• 11:03
  out is we have us, but we also have a wonderful lake and we
• 11:10
  are, we are classed as an area of, of ecological interest.
• 11:15
  So we've, we have everything solar lighting so that it all
• 11:21
  dulls down, dims down at night to enable the bats and all the
• 11:25
  owls and everything else to do their thing really.
• 11:29
  So it's not about us changing it, it's about about trying to
• 11:34
  share information about it for the guests and also to be within
• 11:39
  nature and living with it rather than trying to change it.
• 11:43
  So yeah, we've got wildflower meadows and and we actually have
• 11:47
  a fishery as well so people can come and fish when they come to
• 11:51
  stay. So.
• 11:52
  And we've got the free range alpacas that make everybody
• 11:55
  laugh. It sounds absolutely idyllic.
• 12:00
  It reminds me a little bit. I stayed recently in the Lake
• 12:02
  District in a log cabin and it was just so relaxing even though
• 12:07
  I've got 3 little kids with me who who want my attention
• 12:09
  constantly. But but yeah, it is.
• 12:11
  Incredibly relaxing when you get around nature.
• 12:13
  I mean in terms of your normal guests, is it families, walkers,
• 12:17
  What are your. Usual target guests.
• 12:19
  Like no. So our ideal guest is couples or
• 12:25
  maybe 2 friends or no children because actually, and I think
• 12:31
  you might agree, parents need a break too.
• 12:34
  And, and as much as you love the children, it's really important
• 12:38
  to take some time out. And I often hear guests saying,
• 12:42
  oh, it's just nice we can sit and talk to each other without
• 12:45
  the interruptions. And I think it's really
• 12:49
  important and especially in these days when couples are both
• 12:53
  working, juggling that whole children and maybe even sandwich
• 12:59
  generation that have got looking after elders, looking after
• 13:02
  children. And it's it's you don't realize
• 13:06
  it and until you actually stop how tired you've become.
• 13:11
  And interestingly, we had that conversation with two lots of
• 13:13
  guests this weekend and they just, they just felt they had to
• 13:18
  escape. It was really last minute.
• 13:19
  But they only booked within a week.
• 13:22
  So yeah. It sounds like a.
• 13:24
  Complete break from. Life going to going to your.
• 13:27
  Place So then tell us what's your biggest.
• 13:31
  Lesson learned since you started this glamping site.
• 13:36
  My biggest lesson learned is I realized I knew nothing about
• 13:39
  social media at all. And so I've really, really had
• 13:44
  to study, listen, watch, and I've had to be like a sponge to
• 13:50
  try and become visible and build the brand because I realized
• 13:55
  that we really needed, we really need to get out there with that
• 13:59
  brand and be visible. And whether that's on social
• 14:04
  media, Google, YouTube, I'm trying to build the YouTube
• 14:09
  channel and all that kind of thing has been a real challenge
• 14:14
  because I didn't, I really know much about it.
• 14:17
  And then comes on top of that, the multi layers of, of
• 14:22
  marketing, PR, all that. So I've had to really, really up
• 14:26
  my game and I'm still learning. I'm very open to learning, but I
• 14:30
  am still learning. And of course, everything
• 14:33
  changes so quickly. And so, yeah, I, I've sort of
• 14:37
  pull on various people for that. But yeah, trying to keep abreast
• 14:41
  of it is quite tough. It is tough, of course, when the
• 14:46
  social media channels are changing their algorithms all
• 14:48
  the time. And and like you say, it's just,
• 14:50
  it's just a constantly changing world.
• 14:54
  Moving on then. I mean, what do you love most?
• 14:57
  About your work. I love the fact that I get, to
• 15:05
  me, it's such a diverse group of people, but they're they seem
• 15:12
  to, I don't know what it is, but they seem to be drawn to it.
• 15:16
  And so perhaps we are putting out the right message and we're
• 15:20
  getting the right guests coming in now.
• 15:22
  We've turned that round because we were 7030, I think it was
• 15:26
  reliant on OTAs, but now we're 3070 because I think we're
• 15:33
  getting the right message out there.
• 15:36
  It has been a challenge, but I think we're getting there
• 15:39
  gradually. And how have you?
• 15:41
  Built that direct booking side of things.
• 15:44
  How have you flipped it from 7030 to 3070?
• 15:48
  Well. So we are on some of the the
• 15:51
  platforms because I think we can't afford to spend that
• 15:55
  amount of money on marketing frankly.
• 15:58
  So we're using them as as a search engine really for people.
• 16:03
  So yes, we'll get them booking and they'll come through the
• 16:07
  various platforms. But once they get here, I am
• 16:11
  sure that I get their emails, I am sure that they understand the
• 16:16
  difference that we can make to them financially and we're we
• 16:19
  can offer them better prices and different offers.
• 16:23
  And so yeah, we convert, we convert them and we're also
• 16:29
  running at 60% return business at the minute.
• 16:32
  So that's really good. And of course, they all go away.
• 16:36
  And word of mouth. Yeah, once once you get that
• 16:39
  guest arrives and like you say there at the start, you make
• 16:42
  sure to meet every single guest. So you've got that personal
• 16:45
  relationship straight away which which is striking.
• 16:48
  Up and you're finding out stuff about.
• 16:49
  Them as well, so it. All it all helps.
• 16:53
  OK then Wendy, so we've got a few more quick fire questions
• 16:55
  then. Which PMS do you use free to
• 16:59
  book? OK, which dynamic pricing tool
• 17:03
  do you use? Don't do it.
• 17:04
  We we don't look at that yet. We're quite happy with who we
• 17:10
  are and where we are. And so we don't really have the
• 17:12
  competition locally. So we can adjust our prices when
• 17:16
  we need to and when we want to. OK, which piece of tech couldn't
• 17:20
  you live? Without.
• 17:23
  I think actually it's my phone because I can use it to to
• 17:31
  upload and do social media when I'm out and about over on the
• 17:34
  site. I can take pictures all the
• 17:36
  time. And now I'm starting to
• 17:38
  integrate a bit of AI here and there, which I'm really
• 17:42
  enjoying, but I don't like cheesy AI.
• 17:47
  Some of it's just awful. So yes, I'm I am using it now
• 17:52
  for various parts of the business, but tweaking it big
• 17:56
  time as well. But it just helps me, gives me
• 18:00
  ideas, and because I'm relatively creative, I can
• 18:04
  generally work on that. Fantastic pets then at your.
• 18:09
  Rentals. Is that a?
• 18:10
  Yes or a no? That's a no because of the
• 18:13
  alpacas. That makes sense.
• 18:17
  Hot tubs, yes or no? No, because I can't be doing
• 18:20
  with the chemicals and we've got no way to drain them because it
• 18:25
  would go in Leech into the lake. So no, thank you.
• 18:28
  But we might be considering saunas.
• 18:32
  OK, All right. Yeah, there's saunas are
• 18:34
  becoming more and more popular. I think I know the answer to
• 18:37
  this one as self checking or a personal welcome.
• 18:41
  Personal welcome every time and a personal goodbye as well.
• 18:46
  Love it. Telephone call or an AI?
• 18:50
  Response. Telephone call, but generally
• 18:53
  not needed because I've pretty much covered their questions,
• 18:57
  but they are always welcome to speak to me at any time and they
• 19:00
  have my number. And what's been your most
• 19:05
  memorable hosting moment? So.
• 19:07
  Far. There's there's a couple. 1 is
• 19:13
  when people propose out of the blue which is very exciting but
• 19:17
  I always make sure there's something sparkly in the fridge
• 19:19
  just in case. Not a diamond and also actually
• 19:26
  a winning some awards. We have won best Camping,
• 19:30
  Glamping and Holiday Park East Yorkshire and Responsible
• 19:35
  Ethical and Sustainable Tourism award for East Yorkshire in the
• 19:40
  last two years. So I'm really, really proud of
• 19:44
  that, you know, and it's getting the word out.
• 19:48
  It's great PR, fantastic. Yeah.
• 19:51
  Superb achievements. OK, then shout out time.
• 19:54
  Is there an individual in the short term rental industry who's
• 19:57
  helped you that you'd like to give a shout out to?
• 20:00
  I've got two. I've got Sarah Orchard and I've
• 20:04
  got Paul Anderson of Insta booked.
• 20:08
  Fantastic. Great.
• 20:09
  Shout outs there and questions to finish then ultimate goal for
• 20:12
  your business to scale it a bit more to get the brand out there
• 20:17
  and to be the go to bolt hole for people who just need a
• 20:22
  break. I love it.
• 20:24
  Excellent. Wendy, it's been a real
• 20:26
  pleasure. Thank you for being part of the
• 20:28
  House Planet Playbook and for joining us today.
• 20:31
  Thank you and it's great to meet you guys.
• 20:34
  All right, that's it for today's episode.
• 20:35
  My thanks to Wendy for sharing her journey and for being part
• 20:39
  of the host planet playbook. Remember, this series is brought
• 20:42
  to you in partnership with Hospitable, the all in
• 20:57
  So you. Can focus on.
• 20:58
  Delivering a top notch guest experience or just get some of
• 21:01
  your time back And here's the good news.
• 21:04
  House Planet Playbook listeners get an exclusive 14 day free
• 21:07
  trial plus 25% off for the first three months.
• 21:11
  Head to hospitable.com/houseplanet to
• 21:14
  claim your offer and start running your rentals on
• 21:17
  autopilot. For more free education for
• 21:19
  vacation rental hosts, head to Houseplanet dot Club where you
• 21:23
  can sign up for our newsletter. Listen to our podcasts.
• 21:26
  And download our. Suite of ebooks until next time.
• 21:29
  Happy hosting.