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Airbnb's New Rules Explained: What Every Host Needs to Know · Host Planet: Airbnb, Holiday Let, and Vacation Rental Insights

0:00
For any operator who is serious about building a business, I
0:03
think that building a brand is no longer optional.
0:06
Here's a link to book direct next time.
0:09
Is that something that hosts should not be doing within
0:12
Airbnb? If there's one thing to be said
0:14
about our industry is that hospitality, both with field
0:17
operations perspective and beyond is.
0:21
What do Airbnb's policy changes mean?
0:24
For hosts, are you still? Able to share links?
0:27
Can you encourage your guests to book direct next time or will
0:30
that get you banned? Perhaps.
0:32
If you're only listed on Airbnb, now's the time to diversify your
0:35
business and double down on other OTAs and direct booking.
0:40
Simon Cerusi from Sweet Up is the special guest on today's
0:43
House Planet podcast, and he has answers for all.
0:46
Of these important questions. Simon, thank you.
0:54
So much for joining us on the House.
0:55
Planet Podcast. Airbnb.
0:57
Just introduced some big policy updates.
1:01
What are the major changes? That hosts need to know.
1:05
Absolutely. Thank you for having me, James.
1:08
I'm excited to be here. So there's quite a few things
1:13
that Airbnb has announced or in some cases reiterate.
1:17
I think that that's one thing that's quite important about
1:20
those policy changes is that some of these were actually
1:23
always present in one way or another.
1:26
But I think what Airbnb is doing here is pushing a bit harder on
1:30
them and, and at times clarifying the language to
1:33
ensure that there is less uncertainty as to how to be
1:37
compliant with the platform. So I think what, what makes this
1:42
a bit tricky is that Airbnb announced those policy changes
1:45
in an e-mail about, you know, in mid-april 2025 with the target
1:53
date of enforcement of May 10th. And in between that time, I
1:57
think a lot of hosts and operators have asked questions
2:01
when is the best place to go find things.
2:03
So there are two main first articles that I think I'd invite
2:06
everybody to check out because because it is technically split
2:08
into two Airbnb help articles, one around off platform fees and
2:15
another one around links, secure deposits and off platform
2:22
behavior in general. One of them is a bit shorter
2:25
than the other, but I think they complement each other quite
2:27
nicely. So in terms of what what was
2:30
said there. So the first thing I think worth
2:32
noting is there's something about fees there.
2:34
The second big component I think is about links.
2:37
So the first portion of that fees is that Airbnb is, is
2:41
making a clear distinction as to what is a mandatory fee and an
2:44
optional fee. Mandatory fees are typically
2:47
going to be things that have to be booked for the state to occur
2:51
in the 1st place. That could be, you know,
2:53
additional taxes that could be a pet fee, right?
2:58
Or if if you have a pet fee and I guess it's coming with a pet,
3:00
it is mandatory to pay it those fees.
3:04
Airbnb is is effectively clearly stating have to be completed
3:08
whenever possible at booking. Now I'm stating whenever
3:13
possible here because there are exceptions to this.
3:15
For example, if you're in a region where you may collect
3:19
specific city taxes that Airbnb doesn't support out of the
3:23
block, you have the ability and the right to collect those
3:27
outside of the platform. There are also potentially other
3:31
exceptions, though Airbnb again, isn't stating these very clearly
3:35
in the in the terms and conditions.
3:38
So I would probably inquire with Airbnb directly if you have a
3:40
particular mandatory fee that concerns you and then there are
3:43
going to be optional fees. So optimal fees are going to be
3:46
things that a guest can typically add on to a
3:49
reservation to improve it, whether it's an early check in,
3:52
a late check out, pool heating or other types of services.
3:56
And what's interesting here is how Airbnb makes a distinction
4:01
between hosts and hotels. And I think they're using the
4:05
word hosts versus property managers in intentional ways as
4:09
well. And for some, it may blur the
4:11
lines of it because some property managers at a certain
4:14
scale tend to operate a bit closer to have a hotel operate
4:17
than how a traditional one or two unit hosts may may do
4:21
business. And so for those optional fees,
4:24
everybody is saying two things. The first one is that they
4:28
should be disclosed inside the listing very clearly.
4:31
So if you have an early check in available, it shouldn't be
4:34
something that comes at a surprise after a guest requires
4:37
requests it in a message. It should be what is the early
4:40
check in price and what are the options to be able to request
4:43
it. The second thing that Airbnb
4:45
states is that those optional fees need to be actually
4:47
collected inside the platform. So you can no longer send a
4:52
Stripe link or an invoice to your guest to collect an early
4:56
check in, including in the event of being a software connected
5:00
host. The software connected host
5:02
portion applies specifically to security deposits in some
5:07
locations in which Airbnb still allows and has any is lenient
5:10
with collecting security deposits outside of the
5:13
platform. But they are pretty clear that
5:15
things like early check in and others should be done through
5:18
the resolution center. Now this obviously brings a lot
5:22
of complications that I'm sure we'll be, we'll be chatting
5:24
through. Now Airbnb makes an interesting
5:26
distinction here by mentioning hotels and they're saying that
5:29
for hotels some optional fees that are collected in the course
5:34
of normal business practice, which is again a hard term to
5:37
define, like parking can be collected outside of the
5:41
platform. I think the point of BB is BB is
5:45
trying to make two points here. The first one is that hotels,
5:50
which I think to some extent includes some professional
5:52
operators as well, may, may sometimes have to abide by other
5:57
rules merely by the partners that they may, they may operate
6:00
with a parking, third party parking that potentially lives
6:04
on site may have to collect payments through their own
6:09
payment processing. And it may be really challenging
6:11
to get that done through the resolution center.
6:13
I've been he still wants the guests to have a good stay and
6:16
operators be able to operate. So I think that's why they're
6:18
making these interesting distinctions there.
6:21
But I think the the the take away here should be that
6:23
whenever possible, all fees should be 1 disclosed prior to
6:30
booking, ideally as part of the fees themselves that a guest can
6:34
add like a pet fee for example in booking or at the very least
6:39
in the listing description itself.
6:42
And then the second thing is when possible, collect those
6:44
fees through the resolution center as opposed to a through a
6:48
third party platform. So I think that that sort of
6:50
summarizes a little bit what Airbnb is doing around fees and
6:54
the sort of additional control that they're putting there.
6:57
The second, I think big portion is around links.
6:59
What's really crucial about the link sharing policy is that
7:04
Airbnb actually states pretty clearly a couple of exceptions
7:07
there at the right at the bottom, conveniently of the
7:11
policy article itself. And there's I think two big ones
7:14
here that are worth noting. The first one is any any
7:19
concierge platform that aims to improve the guest's stay is
7:23
still very much authorized. So that includes, you know,
7:26
guest portals, guidebooks, and other types of platforms of the
7:31
sort. The second thing is links that
7:34
enable the guest to access specific parts of the property
7:38
or benefit from specific amenities like controlling so no
7:42
speakers or unlocking a door. But what Airbnb is stating here,
7:46
and that's when things can get a little hairy, is that a host or
7:52
an operator cannot require a guest to be able to check in
7:56
using one of those concert apps. So you know, in other words,
8:00
everything is saying you can share links, but they have to be
8:05
an additional, bring an additional value to the Airbnb
8:08
experience of the guest, not be essential to it.
8:13
I think that you know all this means at the end of the day for
8:16
for software for software's like these, amongst which sweet OP
8:19
is, is to ensure that they are flexible enough to work with
8:24
various platforms through their inner workings and through work
8:27
flows that they've put in place. Let's break down a couple.
8:31
Of things then we've got mainly fees and links.
8:35
When it comes to the fees, Airbnb just saying we want our
8:39
cut of anything extra. And with the links, is it very
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basically don't be sharing direct booking channels with
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guests because we want to keep everybody in Airbnb?
8:53
Yeah, I think that's that's exactly right.
8:55
I mean, on, on the first point around fees, it's remains
8:58
unclear what the exact strategic financial goal of Airbnb is, if
9:04
there is one. I think that at the end of the
9:08
day, Airbnb is, is really doing this from positive intent.
9:15
Those policy changes here. I think the main goal is
9:18
ensuring that the guest experience is frictionless, that
9:22
for the likely majority of guests that are booking with,
9:25
you know, individual hosts or smaller hosts, that they can
9:29
stay on platform and they're not being being bonged around to
9:32
different softwares. But I do obviously believe that
9:35
there is also a certain position of control and being able to
9:39
control the experience isn't just to make it frictionless.
9:42
It's also to be able to control the flow of funds and know how
9:45
much is being spent by the guests.
9:47
You know, Airbnb obviously has relaunched Airbnb experiences
9:50
too. And so I think they're very much
9:52
intended intend. They're very much intended to be
9:56
part of the Airbnb stay. You know, you book a stay with
10:00
Airbnb, you can book experiences through Airbnb experiences and
10:03
not with third party experience provider, whether that is a
10:06
host, a partner of the host or something else entirely like
10:09
Vidor, for example. So I think there there's
10:12
definitely a component there of, of wanting to control the fee.
10:16
Now whether or not that means Airbnb will take a cut remains
10:19
to be seen as so far any resolution center fees have not
10:25
been subject too many fees. However, one thing is certain is
10:29
that any fee taken at booking are subject typically to the
10:34
Airbnb Commission, so it remains to be seen how far they take it
10:40
for fees themselves. Yeah.
10:42
I mean, with the the resolution sent to there, if somebody wants
10:46
to stay another night and you request some extra money, you
10:50
can then potentially just block your calendar, take the extra
10:53
money. And Airbnb might not know that
10:56
they're staying an extra night, but they're just paying the
10:58
extra for it. And obviously that amount of
10:59
money is not subject to Commission.
11:01
So I imagine this is what Airbnb want to stop and they'd rather
11:05
that anything extra is included right at the start so they get
11:09
their cut and then I just want to go back to the direct booking
11:13
angle as well. Because there are.
11:15
Hosts and property managers out there.
11:17
Whenever they get a guest. From an OTA like Airbnb or
11:20
booking.com, their goal is to turn that guest into a repeat
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Booker who books direct next time.
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So if. After a guest stays, you then
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contact them and say. Hey, great to host you.
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Here's a link to book direct next time.
11:35
Is that something that hosts should not be doing within
11:38
Airbnb? I definitely think that hosts
11:41
need to be more careful with their BNB guests in terms of the
11:44
language that they now share. Ultimately, the Lync policy, I
11:48
think you said it very, you know, correctly here is about
11:52
not necessarily damaging the ability for any operators to
11:56
conduct their own business and, and have their own direct
11:59
booking strategy, but rather to not either forcefully convert or
12:05
highly incentivize in financial in financial methods like
12:09
discounts and such guests to book off platform once their BNB
12:14
has brought that guest. I think that ultimately hosts,
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you know, have long seen Airbnb and other OTAs as a bit of a, of
12:20
a, of an acquisition tool that then enables them to build their
12:24
brand with these new policies. And specifically with Airbnb, I
12:28
think there's a couple of things that that property managers need
12:30
to do. One, try to never try to
12:34
circumvent Airbnb for existing bookings, especially for
12:39
inquiries. I've seen folks in the past, you
12:43
know, using hidden messages in inquiries.
12:47
Obviously links and other things at the inquiry stage are
12:49
typically completely blacked out by Airbnb, but have been able to
12:53
find ways to encourage a guest to book off platform.
12:56
That's that's the behavior that I would obviously highly
12:58
discourage in the 1st place. It's always been something
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Airbnb frowns upon heavily. But in terms of extending
13:03
guests, I think unless the guests under of their own
13:07
volition, I think it's an important component that we can,
13:10
we can touch on goes and decides to go on your website and books
13:13
direct for an extension that you should when possible extend that
13:21
guest on Airbnb itself. And that Airbnb will clearly
13:24
frown upon clear calls to extend the booking off platform.
13:30
I think at the end of the day, you don't want to ask guests
13:34
here, book direct for a discount.
13:38
What you want to do is one, I'm sure that you're using first
13:41
vetted software that either is connected to our VMB or connects
13:44
to a software that is. And ideally also, you know, work
13:50
with softwares in general that do not charge transaction fees
13:57
because typically these softwares is going to be in
13:59
their interest to take a guest off platform and to have the
14:02
transaction happen on their software because that's what
14:05
their business model relies on. So I think that Airbnb is sort
14:07
of pushing against these as well.
14:10
I think at the end of the day, a big reason, you know, behind
14:12
Airbnb's move as well is, is a clear jab at some larger short
14:18
term rental brand that immediately bring a guest to a
14:23
downloadable app or a completely different experience outside of
14:27
the platform. You know, brands like Saunder
14:31
have been known to do this in the past.
14:32
And I think everybody is clearly trying to put a halt to that.
14:37
So hosts have think, have to think about their their direct
14:41
booking strategy, not simply as a way to offer a discount to
14:44
guests and encourage them that way, but rather as a way to, but
14:49
rather as as you know, how can as an operator ensure that my
14:54
brand speaks for itself so that guests are on the of their own
15:01
religion encouraged to book direct.
15:04
I think that, you know, having the that term, you know, the
15:06
brand speaks for itself really comes to to a light here,
15:10
literally because you cannot explicitly have, you know, tell
15:13
their tell a guest and speak to a guest and tell them to to book
15:18
with your brand directly. So I think it's just rethinking
15:22
a little bit how your direct booking strategy works today.
15:28
Yeah, be careful with what you're sharing in the Airbnb app
15:33
and on the messaging. Of course, take extra care,
15:35
especially with the with the links that you're sharing.
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first. The details, I mean, we've
16:33
touched on this a little bit, Simon, but what does this new
16:36
policy say about Airbnb's future direction?
16:41
Yeah. I mean, I think it it it does
16:46
hail some positive change in terms of how they're
16:49
continuously, I think investing on the platform in order to
16:52
ensure that guests have hosts have more features enabling to
16:57
collect things like that feed. The Airbnb 567 years ago had
17:01
didn't have any of that. It was, you know, the very
17:04
beginning, you know, the resolution center was even more
17:06
Van Bronz than it is today. And that was really your only
17:09
way of collecting those types of feeds.
17:11
So Airbnb has made, I think significant investments there.
17:15
But on the other hand, it could spell, I think a similar
17:19
approach to how more traditional OTAs are tackling things.
17:24
And I think for the majority of of OTAs like booking.com and
17:28
Expedia, any payments made online prior to arriving to a
17:33
hotel is going to be subject to that OTAs Commission.
17:36
If you're booking a room with a breakfast option where the rate
17:40
instead of it being 200 a night is 250, you know the OTA will
17:46
take a full Commission, not on the 200, but on the 250 itself.
17:50
So it could potentially spell, it could potentially predict
17:58
this type of behavior from Airbnb and other I think host
18:04
friendly OTOTAS like Verbo, or it could simply be an attempt to
18:09
make the guest experience frictionless.
18:11
I think that at this stage where we the only thing we can do is
18:15
is wait. And in the meantime, I'm sure
18:17
that we're as compliant as can be.
18:20
Yeah, and with direct booking, maybe it becomes kind of a
18:24
little bit simpler. Don't do things within the
18:26
Airbnb app, but have AQR code in your listing which people can
18:30
actually scan or give people a call.
18:33
Give your guests a call if you've got their number and ask
18:36
them how they are. I know it's it's not the modern
18:39
way to pick up the phone and give people a call, but it it
18:41
might help with with your guests and getting more direct
18:44
bookings. Another thing to mention in in
18:47
relation to this Simon is. Is does this kind of stress the?
18:51
Importance for hosts out there who were only on Airbnb that
18:55
they need to potentially diversify a bit to go on other
18:59
OTAs like Verbo or booking.com and also develop their own
19:04
direct booking strategy if they don't have one already.
19:07
Because if you do fall foul of these rules, Airbnb might be
19:10
quick to get rid of your listing.
19:14
Yeah. So I think it's, it's, it's
19:16
first, I think crucial to, to separate a little bit different
19:20
kinds of hosts, right? I think for a smaller host who
19:23
is hosting an Airbnb with a couple of homes, whether that is
19:28
whether they're owner operators and they own those homes or they
19:30
manage a couple of homes for friends and family and maybe a
19:33
couple of other folks. I think that in, in this
19:36
situation, reliance on OTAs is absolutely fine because at the
19:40
end of the day, OT reliance also means less work in having to
19:47
manage the flow of direct bookings, the communication
19:50
outside of the platform being, you know, handling payments via
19:53
Stripe or another payment processor and all the
19:56
complications that come there. So I think that it's, it's still
19:59
perfectly OK for, for these types of posts to, to rely on
20:03
OTAs for most of their of, of their revenue.
20:09
However, for any operator who is serious about building a
20:13
business, building a brand. The building a business first
20:18
and foremost, I think that building a brand is no longer
20:21
optional. It used to be that you could
20:24
really put heads into beds where you could have a home, furnish
20:29
it as long as it's clean and decent folks would book.
20:34
Today, one competition is highly intensified on OTAs themselves.
20:39
I think we've all witnessed this over the last couple of years,
20:42
but I think more so hosts and operators, I think it's it's now
20:48
inevitable. If they want to build a brand,
20:50
they have to diversify. I think they have to do it for
20:53
two reasons. I mean there's a keyman risk
20:55
there where having a good chunk of your revenue come from one
20:59
platform is always risky. Anything could happen the
21:02
platform that could be financial downturn for set OTA, which is
21:06
unlikely, but more likely a guest could complain about
21:10
something and you could be soft band or hard band for a certain
21:13
number of days which could impact your business
21:15
significantly. But then I think there's also
21:17
obviously more practical things that we all know about, which is
21:19
OTAOTAS takes significant fees. And I think investing a good
21:23
chunk of the fees you would be paying in building a better
21:25
brand and about doing some direct marketing, some better
21:28
SEO, some better website building and building that guest
21:31
experience that is gonna speak for itself and encourage guests
21:34
to book again with you is going to pay off.
21:38
I think Hoster often hesitant to do this because of the work that
21:42
it involves, but I think that it's no longer an option And
21:46
investing in that brand, whether whether it's with AQR code in
21:49
the unit that enables guests to be able to find you easily,
21:53
whether it's, you know, sharing your website, not in a not in a
21:57
a way to encourage guests to book with you, but simply as a
22:01
way for guests to discover your brand and what you're about
22:04
having a clear voice when you communicate with those guests
22:07
and not, you know, highly prefab pre made messages that are
22:12
written by AI and then occasionally picking up the
22:16
phone with those high value guests.
22:17
I think all of those things are are really important.
22:22
And if there's one thing to be said about our industry is that
22:25
hospitality, both from a field operations perspective and
22:29
beyond, is going to remain a highly human centred industry.
22:39
And that's something to be taken advantage of, not something to
22:44
shy away from. You know, I think automation is
22:46
fantastic, but it also has its limits and we need to be aware
22:49
of these. Yeah, we need to retain the
22:51
human touch. I think that is really, really
22:53
important. All right then we've we've done
22:55
plenty there on on Airbnb. You've mentioned your company a
22:59
few times, sweet OPS, So tell us about it and tell.
23:02
Us the story of your business. Yeah, So I think that the sweet
23:07
up journey started almost more than a decade ago.
23:11
I was in my early 20s living in 190 square foot studio in, in in
23:17
the East Village of New York, which sounds more romantic than
23:20
it is. And whenever I visited family
23:25
back home, I'm, I'm originally French, so I would travel home
23:28
at least once or twice a year. I did some quick math and, and
23:32
was realizing that I was paying, you know, basically $70 a night
23:35
for my apartment to sit empty. And, and that's what I
23:38
discovered. I think Airbnb, the BNB was
23:42
still a pretty new company in, in 2013, 2012, 2013, I think
23:47
about 50 to $6 million of revenue back then, which is, you
23:50
know, still a lot looking back, but nothing compared to today.
23:54
And obviously most saw it as a cool way to travel like a local,
23:57
which I think is was true for me.
23:59
I also saw it as a way to make real estate more efficient,
24:02
especially when you think that when you realize that in the
24:04
United States, almost 10% of homes just sit empty.
24:09
And, and that sort of seemed crazy to me, you know, in my
24:12
scale of living, my leaving my apartment empty for an entire
24:14
week. So it led me to to an
24:16
interesting path. I became a pretty early hosts in
24:19
New York prior to any of the complex, you know, zoning
24:23
regulations and other regulations hit the city.
24:26
I eventually joined a company called Travelclick that built
24:30
software for hotels where I actually built back in 2015,
24:35
sixteen direct booking software for hotels.
24:40
As I think hotels were going through what property managers
24:43
in the vacation and short term rental space are going through
24:45
now, which is big direct booking renaissance.
24:49
And and really the turning point.
24:51
It was when I, when my Co founder and I, Jean Manuel and
24:54
myself in 2018 launched so suite, our own short term rental
24:59
brand in Philadelphia. And we we decided to take a
25:03
different approach really from the get go here and we brought
25:06
everything in house. You know, we had intentions to
25:09
scale, but we also had intentions to understand the
25:11
business in and out. So housekeeping, maintenance,
25:14
guest experience, truly everything, even bookkeeping and
25:17
accounting. But when we started getting into
25:20
about 100 to 150 properties, we really started hitting a wall.
25:25
And the wall was that at the end of the day, we just spoke about
25:28
it, that this is a human centered industry and human
25:32
capital is very hard to scale. Every time your team grows,
25:36
you're not just adding human beings to the mix, you're also
25:39
adding complexity to your operation.
25:42
And given our technology background at this stage, you
25:47
know, Jean Jean Manuel as as an engineer and a mathematician,
25:50
and I've worked in product and hotels for a while, we decided
25:54
that there was a better way for teams to work smarter together.
25:58
And, and so the first thing we did was look, look out, look out
26:01
word and, and, you know, tried every single technical solution
26:04
that we could find. And they're great tools out
26:07
there, but we often kept running into the same issue.
26:11
Best in class solutions would connect to our PMS, but they
26:15
wouldn't necessarily talk to each other.
26:17
So while our PMS did a great job at handling bookings, pushing us
26:20
on many channels, handling some of our bookkeeping and
26:23
accounting, we still needed separate tools to properly
26:26
screen guests at scale, manage guest communications utilizing
26:29
smart devices, tracking maintenance and housekeeping
26:32
tasks, and equipped. It became a bit of a Jenga
26:36
tower. It's quite unstable, painful for
26:39
our staff to, to use as well. And I think it also created a
26:42
bit of a disciplinary related guest experience or a guest
26:45
where, you know, experiencing exactly what Airbnb is fighting
26:50
against now, which is ping pong between different things
26:52
throughout their, their stay from different booking platforms
26:55
to pre-check in and, and etcetera.
26:58
So that's, that's when, you know, it hit us that we could
27:00
make all those systems work together by building a more
27:03
unified guest operations tool. And that's when Sweet Op was
27:06
born. It enabled us to almost double
27:09
the business then and it's grown since then into something much
27:15
bigger. So we, we really ended up
27:17
building what we wish we had as operators and technologists,
27:21
which is a guest operations platform that can handle
27:24
everything that happens once a guest has booked.
27:28
So that ranges from, you know, beautiful branded guest portal
27:33
with everything that they need at their fingertips and the
27:36
ability for them to make additional requests, process
27:39
upsells as well and other optional fees.
27:42
A guest screening process, but one that is a bit unique in that
27:46
that makes guests feel welcome instead of necessarily
27:49
interrogated. A smart device management that
27:54
helps you ensure that your device never become a headache.
27:58
I think that's something that's always, you know, interesting so
28:00
that this industry tries to be contactless and efficient, but
28:03
the more devices you add, the harder it is to take care of
28:06
these and they can quickly become a liability.
28:08
So ensuring that you can stay on top of it easily and, and have
28:11
obviously the automations that those devices can provide.
28:15
And then finally, a task management to tie it all
28:17
together so that nobody's really left wondering what's happening
28:21
and when it's what needs to be done.
28:23
When the device goes out of battery, a task gets created.
28:25
When a guest checks out, a task gets created for the right
28:28
person as well and the right folks get notified along the
28:31
way. I think in general, like this
28:33
industry is can be very stressful and whether it's
28:39
answering late guests calls at night, handling, you know,
28:43
hundreds of 4:00 PM check insurance depending on your size
28:45
and scale. We really wanted for daily check
28:50
insurance and check outs to be the easiest part of your day,
28:53
not a moment that an operator treads and and ensuring that
28:57
your operation could really run like clockwork.
29:00
So that's that's how Sweet Up came to be.
29:03
Fantastic, So. Who?
29:05
Is sweet up really for? What's your ideal?
29:08
Customer Who are the people in our audience that should really
29:11
be taking a look at what you're offering?
29:14
So I think it's, it's a, a folks that are one looking to
29:17
potentially consolidate existing tools and that are having a hard
29:22
time balancing all of these different softwares day in, day
29:26
out. I think the second types of
29:28
customers are going to be folks that take automation and their
29:33
business seriously. If again, this is sort of a a
29:38
hobby and they have one home sweet up may not be the best fit
29:42
for them, although we do have some some some hosts with one or
29:48
two homes, but they're highly branded.
29:50
They take it, they still take it extremely seriously.
29:53
They have, you know, twenty, 3040% directed bookings.
29:56
Even with two homes in in destinations that may not
29:59
sometimes lead to a lot of returning guests.
30:01
So I think that, you know, size isn't so much of a factor,
30:05
though the product is built for scale.
30:07
So on the average operator using speed up has about 100
30:12
properties under management typically or ownership, but it
30:16
really ranges from from, you know, one to 1000.
30:20
And that's really, I think what the beauty of the tool is.
30:22
Is it it just helps you run your business better.
30:26
How much? Does the solution cost?
30:27
I imagine it'll depend on the number of properties, but kind
30:30
of ballpark figures I guess. Yeah.
30:32
So in in pounds it, it costs, it depends.
30:39
So it's a very modular product. I think it's worth saying that.
30:43
So we really want operators to only invest in the modules that
30:46
they need. If you don't have smart locks,
30:50
then you don't need to pay for that.
30:53
Similarly, if you don't need to do any guest screening because
30:56
of the location you're in or the segments that you're in, that's
30:58
something that you can also exclude.
31:00
So depending on your size, it's going to range from anywhere
31:03
from 7 or 8 lbs to 15 to 18 lbs per property per month.
31:11
And with Suite Up, we really want to ensure that the product
31:15
is going to have an ROI for you. The ROI should come in two ways.
31:19
There should be an immediate financial visible ROI where
31:23
you're able to sell more add-ons to your stay and other features
31:28
that are going to generate anywhere from 30 to £70 per
31:31
property per month, an additional revenue.
31:34
And then the second portion should be time saving.
31:38
You should save hours for every property that you have.
31:42
And I think the third one is brand building and that one is a
31:45
bit more intangible. But having an experience that is
31:48
digital but still highly personalized reflects your
31:51
brand's look and feel end to end and allows you to capture guest
31:56
sentiment from booking all the way to check out and be aware of
32:00
changes so that you can take action and maintain the quality
32:03
of your brand. I think has a has a massive and
32:06
growing impact and importance for hosts and operators today
32:11
and and suite up is is set on helping those independent
32:15
operators be able to offer the same experience then a massive
32:19
hospitality brand has been able to offer for some time now.
32:22
Sounds like a great solution. Speculate to accumulate people.
32:27
Simon, tell us the website address.
32:29
Where can people find out more information?
32:31
Yeah, so to find out Morehead to sweetheart.com, we do no strings
32:37
attached demos and trials as well.
32:41
Happy to to chat as well and talk shop.
32:44
This is an industry I'm really passionate about, so if you want
32:46
to just talk operations and have a quick demo, we can do that
32:50
too. Superb, and we'll put all these
32:52
links in the show notes so you can easily find Simon and Sweet
32:56
Up. Search and Stay is the holiday
32:58
rental platform made for property owners.
33:01
The Australia based online travel agency prides itself on
33:04
being owner friendly and guest focused.
33:07
Hosts and property managers who use Search and Stay can list,
33:11
book and manage properties for free, with the site only
33:14
charging a minimal affordable rate for each.
33:16
Confirmed. Reservation Search and Stay is
33:19
committed to being the most affordable holiday rental
33:21
booking platform for both hosts and guests.
33:24
Head to the website for further details.
33:26
Search andstay.com just before we get to our.
33:30
Questions to finish. What trends are you seeing?
33:34
In the industry this year that hosts and property managers need
33:36
to be aware of. Yeah.
33:39
So I mean, I think what's really, really there's a couple
33:45
of things that are happening in 2025.
33:47
I think the first one is regulation.
33:50
It's been always a top of mind topic for folks, but I think
33:55
that governments are now moving faster than they were in the
33:58
past, sometimes detrimentally, because laws are being pushed
34:03
without a clear measure of the success of how it's going.
34:07
It's actually working and like a retrospective after a year or
34:11
two of how it actually has worked.
34:14
But I think that it's really crucial for anyone who takes
34:17
this, takes this as a business and seriously to be aware of
34:22
zoning regulations when they enter a new market, permit
34:26
regulations, taxes and fees as well.
34:29
All of those things ultimately are going to impact your bottom
34:32
line in one way or another, whether it's through additional
34:37
fees or whether it's through legal fees or expediting fees.
34:42
And I think that this speaks to a broader trend of operational
34:44
efficiency. It's so important for operators
34:49
moving forward to take operations really seriously.
34:53
This isn't just about gender squeezing every dollar out of
34:55
every guest by by, you know, optimizing your price, which is
34:58
really crucial and still something that wanted to pay
35:01
attention to. It's about ensuring that your
35:03
operation runs efficiently, that you don't have any leaking
35:07
costs. And so I think there's an
35:09
interesting trend emerging there from a software perspective too,
35:12
which is that, you know, one of the most incredible thing about
35:15
this industry is how open negation rental instrumental
35:18
operators are to software. I think that's a very big
35:21
distinction to the independent hotel industry where
35:24
structurally there's a bit more red tape and we're now noticing
35:31
I think folks that are saying, OK, well I have, I have all
35:34
these softwares now I'd like to consolidate.
35:38
I'd like to take a step back and look at my stack and, and make
35:41
sure that everything actually has a return on investment for
35:44
me. Things that are nice to have can
35:46
be cut off and things that are must have or have a clear ROI
35:50
can be kept. So I think there's there's a
35:52
more methodical approach that we're noticing and I think that
35:57
it's largely tied to the need for for efficiency and and
36:01
operational excellence. Yeah, 100% agree.
36:04
I think there's a lot of property managers out there that
36:06
would like to reduce their tech stack a bit.
36:09
They're wondering all these monthly fees, you know, where's
36:11
all this money going? Am I, am I getting an ROI?
36:13
And then on the regulation, yeah, definitely.
36:15
I mean, we've been asking the UK government for a long time, get
36:18
the data first, find out, you know, how many properties they
36:21
are and the impact that they're having before implementing
36:24
policy. But yeah, we've, we've been
36:26
speaking into a barren tunnel about that for for a long time.
36:31
All right then, Simon. So we've got a few questions.
36:33
To finish your favorite brand in the STR industry and why?
36:38
Apart from Sweet Top, of course. It's, it's very hard to name
36:42
just one, but I'm actually, I'm I'm a really big fan of what Red
36:49
Cottage is is doing. They're a New York based brand.
36:54
They have a pretty big presence in upstate New York with a large
36:58
focus on really beautiful vacation homes.
37:02
And actually, you know, interestingly enough, after some
37:05
some LinkedIn ping ponging, I had the opportunity to meet the
37:08
founder, Matthew Orley for coffee a few weeks ago.
37:11
And I think what's really special about them is that
37:14
they've been able to marry the independent operator mindset
37:19
that truly makes every guest feel cared for, feel tended to
37:25
as if you had as if you were a host with one home almost
37:28
welcoming the guest in person. Obviously, they're, they're not
37:30
able to do that at their scale, but they've been able to marry
37:33
this with scalability and with an operations that scales a
37:38
business that is profitable. And, and I think that is in many
37:41
way a fairly recession resistant.
37:45
They also have a, an annual membership program, which I
37:49
think is one of it's one of it's first kind in our industry where
37:53
where guests can pay an annual fee to be able to access member
37:57
only benefits discounts as well. And, and I think that works
38:01
really well for them because they are a weekend destination
38:06
for folks, especially in the Northeast.
38:09
So I think what this speaks to is like as a, as a, as an
38:12
operator, as a property manager, think about the type of guests
38:16
that are staying with you. Are there guests that are coming
38:19
for the weekend for the most part or do you have, you know,
38:22
most of the guests coming for work?
38:24
Try and find your segments and try and come up with interesting
38:26
strategies that are going to work for these types of guests.
38:30
I think David nailed that and I'm quite impressed about what
38:35
they've been building over the last few years.
38:38
Super great shout out there for Red.
38:39
Cottage an individual. In the STR space you'd like to
38:44
give a shout out to and why? Yeah, it's also hard to just
38:48
name one. We've had so many incredible
38:49
advocates and, and, and folks in the last few years.
38:53
But you know, one person and really it's a, it's a team, but
38:59
that I've been quite impressed with recently.
39:02
It has been the Renjoy team. It's a, it's a property manager
39:09
based in the US and, and Colorado Springs area and
39:15
specifically. And I've had a chance of
39:17
meeting, you know, Michael and Reed and a few members of their
39:19
team and they're, I think they're relentless pursuit of
39:25
data integrity has been really impressive.
39:27
They've built their own internal tool, you know, built in part
39:32
like Airtable and other things in order to not only track
39:37
performance data in, in micro ways, you know, understanding
39:41
how each of their team member is performing to be able to provide
39:44
the right level of training or coaching needed and fill the
39:46
gaps all the way to understanding how each stay is
39:50
doing. And they they've done so for
39:54
their own sake, but also to offer more transparency to
39:57
owners. So they're sort of building
39:59
better owner reporting and and better KPI sharing with owners
40:02
to ensure that it offers a more self-serve experience for them.
40:06
So I think I'm, yeah, I'm quite impressed by what the team, the
40:10
team's been doing and I'm excited to follow, follow along
40:13
their growth. Superb.
40:15
Finally, then your number one. Lesson learned since founding
40:19
Sweet Up. That's that's I think that's a
40:25
great question. So many lessons when I think you
40:28
create a company and I think the one I would stick with the most
40:31
is to try and stay focused. It's extremely distracted when
40:37
you create a company, including a property management company to
40:41
be distracted by the markets and macroeconomic conditions and be
40:47
worried by that. If you're, you know, a digital
40:51
product person and, and junkie like me, it's really hard also
40:55
to store away from one's desire to build many features that you
41:01
feel are needed in the industry. Because it when you know as, as,
41:03
as an ex property manager, it was also really hard to, to, to
41:06
choose what ancillary services or cool unique things we could
41:10
offer a guest to differentiate ourselves.
41:12
And I think the third really easy thing to get distracted
41:15
with is, is what the competition is doing in general.
41:19
It's a space that has a lot of new emerging players.
41:23
And so it's easy to to think, well, they're doing this, maybe
41:27
we should do it too. I know I'm not trying to say
41:32
stay in your lane, but in some ways, you know, keeping your
41:36
head down, being aware of all those things that are happening
41:39
here. It's not just about playing the
41:40
ostrich and putting your hand over the sand here, but truly
41:43
picking a couple of of important KPI's for you to do.
41:46
Picking a couple of initiatives for you to hit on an even
41:49
quarter or whatever timeline you're working to and sticking
41:53
to them with the level of flexibility in the event that a
41:57
unique opportunity occurs or comes up along the way would be
42:01
really my my number one lesson and one that would have saved me
42:07
a lot of time had I stuck to it at the beginning of my
42:10
entrepreneurial journey. I get it.
42:12
Yeah. Run your own race.
42:13
Yeah. Don't worry too much about
42:15
what's what's going on elsewhere.
42:17
I love it, Simon. It's been a real pleasure.
42:20
Thanks for chatting about Airbnb and telling us all about Sweet
42:23
Up. Thank you so much for having me,
42:25
James. It was fantastic to be on the
42:27
podcast today. Great to chat to Simon Cerusi
42:30
there from Sweet Up about those Airbnb policy changes and his
42:34
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42:37
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