Latest / Host Planet: Airbnb, Holiday Let, and Vacation Rental Insights / Full-Time Job Doesn't Mean You Can't Build Short-Term Rentals

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Full-Time Job Doesn't Mean You Can't Build Short-Term Rentals · Host Planet: Airbnb, Holiday Let, and Vacation Rental Insights

0:00
Welcome to the host 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.
0:08
Managers to uncover. What really drives success in
0:11
the vacation rental industry? You'll hear their stories, learn
0:15
the key lessons they've picked up along the way, and discover
0:18
the game changing tech they use to deliver 5 star guest
0:22
experiences. If you're serious about growing
0:25
your STR business, you're in the right place.
0:28
We've also developed an ebook feature the stories of every
0:31
manager in this series and you can download it for free.
0:34
Head to House Planet dot Club to find out more.
0:38
In today's episode, we're. Chatting to Brendan McNeil.
0:40
From Michigan, stand by for a deep dive into how a dad of four
0:44
runs seven rentals, the challenges of Co hosting, and
0:48
outstanding guest communication. This special series is brought
0:56
to you by Hostplanet and Hospitable, the smart AI powered
1:00
property management software trusted by hosts worldwide.
1:04
With Hospitable, you can automate guest messaging, sync
1:08
calendars across platforms, and manage your rentals with ease,
1:12
all from one powerful, easy to use platform.
1:15
If you're keen to run your short term rental on autopilot, try
1:19
Hospitable today. Visit hospitable.com/hostplanet
1:23
to see how the platform can save you time, reduce stress, and
1:27
maximize your earnings. Brendan, thank.
1:30
You for being part. Of the house planet.
1:31
Playbook. Let's start.
1:33
With you, what's the name of your company?
1:35
Where are you located? And how many rentals do you
1:38
manage? Awesome.
1:39
Well, yeah, thanks for having me.
1:40
I appreciate the opportunity. Yeah.
1:43
So the name of my company is know my stays and OMI stays and
1:48
we're located in Michigan. So know my is kind of short for
1:51
Northern Michigan. So a little bit of play on words
1:53
there. Yeah.
1:55
And you know, as a, as a true Michigander, you know, the nice
1:58
thing about us as we get, we have a little map that we carry
2:00
around with us. You know, I don't know if you're
2:02
familiar, but this is like the map of Michigan.
2:04
So I'm, I'm located like right up here and our, our rentals are
2:07
kind of all in that area. So I have, I own two of my own
2:12
properties and then I help manage five additional ones.
2:16
So that's, you know, I guess managing on an ongoing basis
2:19
approximately 7 units at this point.
2:22
Superb. And how did you get involved in
2:25
short term rentals? Yeah, I, you know, several years
2:29
ago was kind of, you know, we had our first child, I guess
2:33
eight years ago. And when that happened, you
2:35
know, it kind of got me thinking about a lot of things in my
2:37
life. And one of those was like
2:39
finances and how do I, how do I want to create a better life for
2:44
not only myself and our family, but or my wife, but also like
2:48
the additional kids that we're going to have.
2:49
You know, my first daughter came.
2:51
And so at that time I looked at real estate and I was like,
2:56
that's, that seems to be the path that people build wealth
3:01
and just a way to do that. And so I kind of went down the
3:03
path of real estate and I always thought long term rentals, this
3:06
is what I'm going to do. I'm going to have a tenant and,
3:09
and it's going to be a long term rental thing.
3:12
And I bought the books and I was like, man, like this, it seemed
3:16
like a lot of work for not a lot of reward from a again, strictly
3:19
financial position, which is where I was coming from at the
3:22
time. And and then I came across, I
3:26
think it was Avery Carl's book about like short term rentals
3:29
and kind of got into that. And I was like, man, there is
3:31
more opportunity and in the real estate realm than the than the
3:34
long term rental game. So, so I started going down that
3:39
rabbit trail. I was like, man, there's a lot
3:41
of opportunity here, you know, not only from a financial, you
3:44
know, but for just creating a business.
3:46
And I felt like I didn't see the business piece of it with, with
3:51
the long term rental. So, so I kind of went down that
3:53
rabbit trail, you know, kind of teetered and sat on my hands
3:57
probably too long, but I, I, I pulled the trigger.
4:02
I was like, OK, we're going to do this and kind of like
4:03
committed, we're going to do short term rental.
4:05
So it kind of just happened since, you know, I, I, I like
4:10
the idea of creating good experiences and like helping
4:13
people and like, I didn't think I could get that with the long
4:16
term rental. So, so all of those factors, it
4:18
just kind of allowed me to, it just kind of seemed like a good
4:22
fit I guess to to start jumping into the short term rental
4:25
world. So I imagine you started with
4:28
your own property and then you've you've built up and
4:30
scaled to managing others. So just tell us about the
4:33
journey. Yeah, yeah.
4:35
So we bought our first property actually just last January.
4:40
So we're still pretty newbies. I would say overall it's just A1
4:44
bed 1 bath condo over in Traverse City, MI and really
4:49
good tourism spot in, in Northern Michigan.
4:52
But yeah, we, we started there and we kind of got it all set
4:56
up. We did, we did everything
4:57
ourselves, but the furniture together did all that stuff and
5:00
kind of hit the ground running and had a really good, you know,
5:02
really first good first summer. That's the busiest time for our
5:05
area. There's a lot of lakes and it's
5:07
like really close to Lake MI, which is a really big draw.
5:10
So, and you know, it just went, it just went really well.
5:12
You know, obviously there were hiccups along the way, but from
5:15
a, from an overall, when you look back it, it was good.
5:17
And I was like, OK, this is something that we're interested
5:20
in. So, you know, I kind of was
5:23
tossing around the idea of Co hosting.
5:25
I kind of come across that concept through that process of
5:28
research and short term rentals and and through, you know,
5:32
starting my own. And so I was like, yeah, let's
5:34
let's maybe start this. I didn't really know where to
5:36
begin. And then I saw one of the
5:39
Facebook groups. I'm part of many of the Facebook
5:41
groups out there that are related short term rentals.
5:43
And there was someone I just might have even been in a com.
5:47
I don't know. I, I don't think it was a
5:49
coincidence that I came across this comment.
5:51
Someone was like, hey, I'm just opening my first short term
5:55
rental in Gaylord, which is the city I live in, and I'm looking
5:59
for someone to help me out. And I just like didn't have
6:02
anything set up. I was just like, I don't know
6:04
what I'm doing. And I just responded and I was
6:05
just like, hey, I would be happy to do that.
6:08
I'd love to talk to you and kind of see what we can do.
6:10
And, and after talking with her, you know, she was like my first
6:14
Co hosting client. I think that's, that's really
6:17
where it all started. And she's been great.
6:18
And you know, I still work with her a year later at this point.
6:21
And it kind of got me going and, and kind of helped me build that
6:24
rapport of being able to be a host not only for myself, but
6:29
for someone else as well. So, so anyway, and then a couple
6:33
months later we got our next property at the end of November
6:37
I believe. And then we've just kind of
6:39
gradually picked up a couple other people here along the way
6:42
and you know, have a couple more on the pipeline.
6:44
And that's just kind of how it's been all very natural.
6:47
Haven't done a whole lot of other stuff just as people I see
6:50
needs, I reach out and we connect or even through kind of
6:55
the Co host network that Airbnb has.
6:57
I've had a few people reach out that way too.
7:00
So, so yeah, so that's kind of where we are today.
7:03
And it's been it's been great because I, I work full time
7:06
outside of this too. And so being able to kind of
7:10
grow a little bit more naturally, a little bit more
7:12
slow as it's kind of fits our our lifestyle at this point.
7:16
So. How much research did you do
7:19
going into that first property and looking back now?
7:23
What are the things that maybe you wish you'd done a little bit
7:26
differently? Yeah, there was.
7:28
I, so I'm a, I'm ACPA by trade and I kind of fit that mold of a
7:33
little bit risk averse, kind of like, I don't know, very
7:37
analytical, methodical, kind of want to know everything before
7:41
jumping into something. So I probably did too much
7:46
research on the front end of like, I need everything to be
7:50
perfectly lined up and I need to know exactly how everything is
7:53
before I jump into it. And I'd say that's probably
7:57
like, looking back, I'd say that would be one of the things that
7:59
I would change. I think sometimes you kind of
8:01
got to jump in and learn by doing and not like you can only
8:05
know so much and plan for so much.
8:09
Like things change constantly. So I wish I would have, I wish I
8:14
would have jumped in a little bit sooner.
8:18
But yeah, I mean, it was probably, like I said, it was.
8:21
So my daughter's 88 years, I started looking at real estate
8:24
and I got my first property just last year.
8:28
So seven years of kind of like looking at the idea and tossing
8:31
around the idea. You know, once I land on short
8:34
term rentals, it was maybe a year or two, but it was just one
8:38
of those things that, yeah, I mean, I just, I wanted to make
8:41
sure I knew all the systems, all the technology I would need.
8:44
You know, how, how do I address guests?
8:47
Do I do long distance? Can I do, I do locally?
8:50
You know, like all of those things, I felt like I needed all
8:52
the answers right away and that's just not true.
8:55
I, I should have just pulled the trigger sooner and done it.
8:58
And even just the, the financial piece of how am I going to get a
9:02
down payment? How am I going to pay for
9:03
furniture, all that kind of stuff?
9:04
Like I, I think I, I limited myself on it all has to be me
9:09
and it all has to be cash with, you know, I have to build this
9:13
up. And, and, and I didn't like
9:14
think about partnerships or I didn't think about, you know,
9:17
other things that I, that I wish I would have kind of going into.
9:21
And I've kind of had a mindset shift, I would say, in the last
9:25
two years, which is the catalyst of what got me to the first
9:28
property. If people talk to you and say I
9:33
want to emulate what you've done, I've I've got a full time
9:36
job, but I want to get involved in short term rentals as well.
9:39
What would your top tips be to those people?
9:42
Oh, that's a good question. I would say start slow.
9:48
Like I said, I I think building with the one and something
9:50
that's it's super manageable. Like I said, a one bed, 1 bath,
9:54
it seems very doable. It wasn't this massive mansion
9:59
that you know, have tons of tons of amenities, a hot tub, but
10:04
swimming pool of this or that. Like it's just, I think just
10:07
getting the ball rolling, kind of getting your feet wet to kind
10:09
of workout those processes, I think was one of the the best
10:14
things that could have happened to me because then because there
10:16
were times that I failed, the processes failed at the time and
10:18
like cleaners weren't scheduled correctly.
10:20
And it kind of like allowed me. And it's, it's A1 bed 1 bath.
10:23
So like it's easier for someone to come in last minute to, to
10:26
quickly turn over, you know, when those little things and
10:29
it's part of an HOA, which I know some people like don't
10:33
like, but it's very short term, short term rental friendly.
10:37
So like, so like there's not a lot of extra things that I
10:40
needed to do. Like I didn't have to coordinate
10:41
lawn care or snow plowed snow was huge in the area.
10:45
So like all of that stuff it working full time.
10:48
It was nice to just being able to not have to worry about some
10:52
of those things. And then as you feel more
10:55
comfortable then kind of growing a little bit more naturally.
10:58
So, but yeah, I mean being willing to put in the work as
11:02
well. I mean just that tip because,
11:04
you know, there are several late nights I think I would go, you
11:08
know, getting the property set up.
11:09
I'm a Family Guy. I have 4 kids now and I when we,
11:14
when we had our first condo last year, our our fourth was just
11:18
born like a month or two before that.
11:20
And so wanted to be home for my wife to help support and do
11:23
those things that I needed to do as a dad.
11:25
So I would drive an hour starting at like 9:00 PM and not
11:29
get home till like 2:00 AM and then wake up for work the next
11:32
day. So like you have to be willing
11:34
to put in the work as well. And it was a grind for a short
11:37
period, but but it's well worth it.
11:40
And again, it's, it's, that was a short time to just get it up
11:44
and running. So, so those would probably be
11:46
the the two things is start small, be willing to put in the
11:49
work and and then grow a little bit more naturally and not try
11:53
to try to do too much too quickly.
11:56
Tell us about Michigan then what are the main challenges and
12:00
opportunities of your location? Yeah.
12:03
So, so I'm in northern Michigan, which you know, being from the
12:09
area, one of the things that I like about Michigan is growing
12:13
up. So I grew up kind of on the
12:14
South side of Michigan. So Michigan is very populated
12:19
kind of on the West side. Southwest side you have Grand
12:22
Rapids, Kalamazoo, Holland, like it's a very populated area.
12:26
And then on the east side S, you have like Detroit and the
12:28
surrounding area there, which is also very populated.
12:31
And then once you get to a certain point up north, it's
12:34
less populated, but people from downstate have always, I mean,
12:38
even before Airbnb and short term rental, the way it's blown
12:42
up would always go up to their lake house or their cabin up
12:45
north. And so it's always kind of been
12:47
like this like a market like there have, there's a mom and
12:52
pop shops that aren't listed on there that people go to every
12:55
year because they just, it's, it's beautiful.
12:57
A lot of lakes, a lot of forests, a lot of nature related
13:00
things. Traverse City is probably the
13:02
biggest city up north, which is becoming a little bit bigger of
13:05
a of a city than it, you know, it was historically.
13:08
So that's becoming more like a Grand Rapids, but it also still
13:12
has like a lot of beaches and things.
13:13
So it kind of has that both. So so that's really the draw to
13:17
the northern Michigan is people during the summers especially
13:20
just Flack up, love to be on the lake, love to be in nature, that
13:23
sort of stuff. So, so from an opportunity
13:26
standpoint, I just really love that, you know, this is stood
13:31
the test of time. First of all, like before
13:34
Airbnb, it wasn't something that boomed during COVID and not sure
13:37
it's going to, you know, last afterwards.
13:40
It's always been something that people want to come up and
13:42
escape on the water up north. And really because it has been
13:48
like kind of has that history, there's a lot of, you know,
13:51
older operators that haven't necessarily caught up to some of
13:54
the Airbnb, you know, standards at this point or the short term
13:59
rental standards of having excellent properties.
14:03
So I think there's a lot of opportunity in that regard to,
14:05
you know, to create an experience of property that
14:08
stands out from the rest. So, so that is one of the things
14:12
that I, I really like about it. And then I think some of the
14:16
challenges though, you know, we are in a, we are in a small
14:19
town. So like I live in a town of 6000
14:21
people and one of our rentals is in this town finding, you know,
14:26
the support, like, you know, adequate cleaners and adequate
14:30
handyman and some of those things.
14:32
It's probably one of the harder things to do.
14:35
And again, trying to get them on board with your processes.
14:37
You know, they've, you know, you'll find people that are been
14:40
doing it for 15 years and they've always done it this
14:43
certain way. It's shoot me a text.
14:46
I need you to update this Excel spreadsheet.
14:47
I need you to do this. And it's like, well, can I just
14:50
automatically send you a text through my property management
14:53
software, You know, like it's like trying to like pull teeth
14:56
sometimes on, on getting people up to snuff.
14:59
But thankfully, you know, we're kind of we, we found the people
15:02
we need at this point. But, but that's one of the, I
15:05
think the main challenges. And I will say the other
15:08
challenge is just the seasonality.
15:09
So our condo in Traverse City definitely is way slower in the
15:15
winter. There's not a lot of winter
15:16
activities. There are some in other areas,
15:19
so like where my I have a lake house, a four bedroom lake house
15:22
and Gaylord, like I said, there's like snowmobile and
15:25
there's small ski. There's skiing in Michigan,
15:29
which you know, after living in Colorado for a couple years,
15:32
it's not quite the same, but but it is, it is skiing.
15:36
And so there is some of that in some of the areas of northern
15:39
Michigan as well. But but it definitely dies down
15:42
a lot in the winter. So trying to navigate that,
15:44
whether using midterm rentals or things like that is one of the
15:48
things that that I think is challenging.
15:51
Finding great cleaners is a challenge, I think.
15:54
Wherever you are in the world, what are your top tips for
15:59
delivering an outstanding guest experience?
16:03
Yeah, I think, you know, one of the things is, is communication
16:09
and I think on a couple different fronts, I think over
16:12
communicating on the front end to be able to set clear
16:15
expectations. You know, we have a lake house
16:18
that's a little bit older, has a little bit of it has some some
16:25
unique things, funny things about it that like it has a
16:27
boiler heating system which just makes funny noises or things
16:31
like that. And so being really upfront and
16:33
clear to guests like hey, this is what you can expect.
16:35
You know, it's not going to really impact you that much.
16:37
It's really small, but it's you know, you set all those clear
16:40
expectations. We have it in our listings.
16:42
We have it in part of our, our communications that we send
16:46
like, hey, just so you know, there's a few unique things
16:48
about this that I just want you to, to be aware of.
16:50
It's not going to impact your stay that much.
16:52
But if they know it and then they hear the sound, the, the,
16:57
the water going through the boiler system, then it's not a
16:59
surprise. And it, and it just allows them
17:01
to be like, oh, he, he, he mentioned that that's not a big
17:04
deal. So I think over communicating
17:06
those things really helps. It has really been helpful for
17:12
us and I've noticed that in reviews that we get that's a
17:17
common thread of like, Hey, he over, you know, he communicated
17:19
a bunch of stuff to us ahead of time and and I think that that
17:22
helps the experience. And then on the back end, I
17:26
think being responsive and being available.
17:28
So, you know, I really pride myself on on being able to
17:33
respond quickly to guest messages.
17:35
Like that's really, I've really prided myself to be available
17:38
and being, being quick to respond.
17:42
And, and again, that's something that a lot of guests have
17:45
acknowledged in, in our reviews and things.
17:47
So, so communication I think is just, they just kind of want to
17:51
be heard. They want to, you know, they
17:53
want to be have a good experience and they want to know
17:55
what to expect. And so if you can communicate
17:57
those things appropriately, I think that's, that's a huge part
18:01
of the paddle of creating a good experience.
18:04
But and then I think, you know, kind of on even on a smaller
18:09
scale, just being quick to solve problems.
18:10
Like if there's there's an example we had, they couldn't
18:15
find the remote to the TV and it was just like, oh, I'm so sorry,
18:18
let me just Instacart your remote.
18:20
And within an hour they got, they got a remote and it was
18:23
like they were just blown away just by that small little act,
18:27
which cost me maybe 30 bucks to, to all, you know, all in to do
18:31
when it was just like it was quick, it was fast solved the
18:35
problem and they loved it. So, you know, sometimes, you
18:38
know, I, I think we, we myself try to create everything and
18:43
make everything like perfect ahead of time.
18:45
So there's no issues. And obviously that's the goal,
18:47
but I don't know if I've had a stay that's been perfect.
18:50
Like that's just like they're every guest has different
18:53
things. So I think like being willing
18:56
and able to just like respond to their problems or to their
18:59
questions quickly. Like it gives you the I see it
19:02
more as an opportunity. It gives you an opportunity to
19:04
respond quickly and to create that experience that maybe they
19:08
wouldn't have if everything was, you know, if they don't make any
19:11
comments during this day. But I like being able to to
19:14
solve a problem for them and then it leaves them in a good
19:17
experience. So, so yeah, that'd probably be
19:21
probably the biggest things that I would say.
19:23
Some of our properties leave little gift bags or whatever,
19:26
but you know, I honestly nobody has commented on any of that
19:30
stuff. It's mostly the communication.
19:32
So from my experience at least, that's that's been huge.
19:36
Yeah, it makes a lot of sense. And also you're you're Co
19:39
hosting as well. So talk to us about Co hosting,
19:43
how that works for you and how you keep the people that you're
19:46
working with happy. You know what, what are they
19:49
looking for? I imagine it's quite a range.
19:50
You know, some people want somebody who's basically going
19:52
to do everything, and other people just want a bit of
19:54
support. Yeah, yeah.
19:57
And you know, I'm, I'm small enough right now that I feel
20:00
like I'm still I, I'm still willing to be flexible with
20:04
different owners on how I operate.
20:05
And because I have so many different people.
20:07
So I think I'm still trying to learn to like set the exact
20:11
like, how do I want everyone going forward to look like this?
20:15
But yeah, I mean, right now I have one owner that is.
20:20
Like you just said, very hands off, like I barely hear from
20:23
him. I, I act very much like the
20:26
owner of the property in many respects.
20:28
And that works for him. And that's great.
20:32
And it's, it's easy enough for me because I treat it just like
20:34
my own property. I would and, and, and kind of go
20:37
from there. And then another, there's
20:41
another person that she's a little bit more hands on.
20:43
She, she, her family has a cottage like right around the
20:47
corner. Like they're one of those
20:48
Michigan people that came up north every, every summer and,
20:52
and they still do. And so she's around the
20:55
property. So she'll come like restock and
20:57
do some of those things. And you know, we're, we're just
21:00
in constant communication via text.
21:01
If if she's going to be in the area and wants to stop by and do
21:05
whatever she needs to do. But yeah, so, so yeah, so that's
21:09
how. But most of it is, it is truly
21:11
like a Co hosting arrangement where I do bill them, you know,
21:15
from a financial perspective operation operationally like
21:18
kind of at the end of the month for for my services.
21:21
I am not like handling the funds for them.
21:23
I'm not like I said, I don't have internal cleaners.
21:26
It's a kind of a one man shop right now.
21:30
But yeah, maybe someday down the road that that will change.
21:33
But that's just kind of how we operate.
21:35
There was one opportunity that came up where that this owner
21:42
wanted to, to maintain more control than I have for most of
21:46
my other properties. Most of them I, I am like doing
21:48
guest communication, managing the schedule, those kind of back
21:51
end things or things that I do for all of our properties.
21:54
And there was 1 owner that came in that wanted to to do more of
21:57
that. I was just going to be kind of
21:58
like feet on the ground if something came up and that ended
22:02
up not working out. And that's one of those things
22:04
that I think I have my systems in place for a lot of those
22:10
things. And then I was trying to fit
22:12
this person, this owner into. I wanted the I didn't want the
22:16
opportunity to go away like I I but I was trying to fit them in
22:20
to a system that just it didn't it wasn't compatible.
22:23
I it was totally separate. Things fell I I failed at times
22:27
and we have sense separated and it just didn't work out.
22:30
But so there are things that I'm learning along the way that
22:33
like, hey, I have things in place and I won't accept another
22:37
Co host opportunity like that because it just doesn't fit with
22:40
that. And so I like I said, I'm
22:42
constantly developing what that looks like.
22:44
And sometimes it comes through failure that that's that's,
22:49
that's being developed. What do you love most about
22:53
hosting? I love being able to provide.
23:00
It's really good experiences to guess.
23:02
So I I look at what they're spending and I'm like, man,
23:07
these people are spending a lot of money at properties that I
23:09
own or manage and I just really want them to have a good time.
23:13
And like I love it when I get a review that says like, hey, this
23:17
place was amazing. This the host was super
23:19
responsive, was super like that. Just I love that.
23:22
Like that to me is like, that's what I do it for is like that
23:25
piece. I just love being able to have
23:28
guests come and experience what we are trying to offer them and
23:33
just love it. I mean, that's, so that's,
23:35
that's what I love about it. OK.
23:37
Then Brendan, we've got a few more quick fire questions now.
23:40
Which PMS do you use? Hospitable.
23:45
Which dynamic pricing tool do you use?
23:48
Price Labs. Which piece of tech couldn't you
23:52
live without? If we're talking like physical
23:57
tech, like hardware, like my phone, because that just like
24:00
has everything to the hospital between the hospital app, like
24:04
like I said, Instacart, I live and die by by if someone needs
24:07
something right away, like I texting everything is on my
24:10
phone. Like I, which sometimes my wife
24:13
hates, but I, it keeps the business operating And yeah,
24:16
that's, that's what I use the most.
24:19
Ideally pets. Yes or no?
24:23
Yes. Ideally hot tub.
24:27
Yes or no? Yes.
24:30
Ideally self check in or a personal welcome.
24:35
Self check in. Telephone call.
24:39
Or an AI response. From a quantity perspective,
24:44
most of my responses are AI. There are instances when a
24:49
telephone is better and needed, yes.
24:54
And. What's been your most memorable
24:56
hosting moment so far? I, so the way my mind works, I,
25:03
I, I tend to dwell on the negative and I'm really trying
25:05
to change that mindset, mindset. But one of them is a negative is
25:10
the most memorable. There was a time last summer
25:13
where we had some sort of mix up on the, on the cleaning
25:18
schedule. And so I had to drop what I was
25:20
doing on a Saturday and I had to go clean the property myself,
25:24
which I found out I am not good at.
25:28
So I, I did the cleaning. I focused on the areas that I
25:32
really thought I needed to because I was already short on
25:34
time. It wasn't like I found out first
25:36
thing in the morning and I had time to plan.
25:38
It was just like no go when I had to go clean.
25:42
And so I did clean what I needed to clean well, or so I thought.
25:47
The guests come in, they kind of, you know, I check in with
25:51
them after they get in and all that stuff and they say, oh,
25:53
everything's fine, everything's good.
25:56
And then come to the last day of the stay, I get a really long
25:59
message from the the guest saying that things were not so
26:03
good and kind of created a punch list of, you know, primarily
26:08
cleaning related things that were not good.
26:11
And I was like, bummer. And I knew and I just like was
26:15
expecting. I was like, well, here I hit all
26:18
five stars up to this point, everything was great and I was
26:23
expecting, you know, here's the first not five star.
26:28
And come to find out, they actually gave me a five star,
26:32
which was really odd. But that that's the crazy part
26:36
is they actually wrote a handwritten note in the property
26:41
for the next guests that also listed out all the problems.
26:45
And so that one was that one was a tough pill to swallow because
26:49
we didn't find it until the one guest had stayed in between and
26:53
then we found it after that. So, so anyway, it was a really
26:56
weird situation that they would, you know, I was thankful that
26:59
they gave the five star, but it was crazy that there were so
27:02
many issues and handwritten notes with a bunch of things
27:06
that were wrong. So it yeah, that's definitely my
27:08
most memorable. I still have the the letter be
27:11
the handwritten letter. It's kind of a momento.
27:13
They're like, OK, this can't happen again.
27:16
So, OK, well, so long as it's not framed in your office or
27:19
something. Right, right.
27:20
No, not like that. But I think, don't worry, I
27:23
think we've all been there on a Saturday when you get the call
27:26
from the guests and say, hi, I've just checked in, it hasn't
27:29
been cleaned. It happened to me, I think a
27:32
year ago. I was like, thankfully I was
27:34
very close by to the property. Yeah, And I could just pop round
27:37
and trying to sort things out. But but yeah, it's it's the
27:42
nightmare call that we we all dread as.
27:47
All right then, Brendan. So a question to finish then.
27:50
Ultimate goal for your STR business.
27:53
Yeah, I think mine has less to do with dollars and cents
27:59
really. It's really just I'm trying to
28:00
create multi generational legacy, you know, like that's
28:04
big picture. It's more about a life goal and
28:07
the short term rental is one of those means to which to to do
28:11
that. So, you know, something that our
28:14
kids can some, you know, as they get a little older, grow into
28:18
and help and help operate and kind of do that sort of stuff
28:21
and then financially be able to set us up to be able to create
28:25
that multi generational legacy that we that we hope.
28:27
So we're going to kind of just keep going on the grind and keep
28:30
picking up properties as they come up.
28:32
And as the opportunity comes up and as Co hosting opportunities
28:35
come up, as long as it's a good fit, we're going to keep growing
28:38
that and hopefully leave our normal W2 job and and again
28:42
create this this legacy. So.
28:46
I think that's a great goal, Brendan.
28:48
It's been a real pleasure. Thank you for being part.
28:50
Of the Host Planet Playbook. Awesome.
28:52
Thank you so much for the opportunity.
28:54
All right, that's it for today's episode.
28:56
My thanks to Brendan for sharing his journey and for being part
29:00
of the host Planet playbook. Remember, this series is brought
29:03
to you in partnership with Hospitable, the all in one
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property management software. Designed to save you.
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can focus on delivering a top notch guest.
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Experience or just get. Some of your time back and
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get an exclusive 14 day free trial plus 25% off for the first
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