Latest / The Inspired Stories Podcast / Tim Smith on Challenging the Status Quo in Vacation Rental and Why Doing the Right Thing Keeps Paying Off

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Tim Smith on Challenging the Status Quo in Vacation Rental and Why Doing the Right Thing Keeps Paying Off · The Inspired Stories Podcast

0:04
Welcome to another edition of the Inspired Stories podcast,
0:08
where leaders share their experiences so we can learn from
0:11
their successes and be inspired by how they've overcome
0:14
adversity. As you listen today, let one
0:17
idea shape what you do next. My name is Anthony Kotaspodi and
0:20
today's guest is Tim Smitty Smith, owner and operator of
0:25
Casa Go New Smyrna Beach and Casago Daytona, a vacation
0:31
rental and property management companies serving Florida's
0:33
Central Atlantic Coast. Part of the larger Casago
0:37
network, Smitty brings a hands on owner first approach focused
0:42
on clear pricing, spotless homes and the five star stay every
0:47
traveller hopes for. Now, under Smitty's leadership,
0:50
the operation has grown to manage more than 200 vacation
0:53
rental homes and has earned Airbnb Super Host and VRBO
0:58
Premier Host recognition year after year.
1:02
Guests consistently leave glowing reviews and Smitty is
1:05
frequently invited to speak at leading industry events
1:08
including VRMA and VR Nation. Known for raising the standard
1:13
in a rapidly evolving space, Smitty combines modern systems
1:18
with a personal commitment to homeowners, guests and long term
1:22
excellence. Now before we get into all that
1:24
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All right, back to our guest today, the owner operator of
2:17
Casago NSB and Casago Daytona, Tim Smith Smitty.
2:22
Thanks for making the time to Share your story today.
2:25
Thanks for having me. So I pronounced casago and
2:29
casago multiple ways in the intro there.
2:32
What's the correct pronunciation?
2:34
How do we do this? Either one is acceptable.
2:37
The founder decided years ago that as long as somebody's
2:40
saying it one of the two ways, they're talking about this and
2:42
he's good with it. All right, like it.
2:45
So let's get, I'm going to kind of skip over a whole bunch of
2:48
your experience. We're going to touch on it, but
2:52
lots of different work experiences, right server at
2:54
Olive Garden. Early on you were closing loans
2:58
and boosting sales for Pinnacle companies.
3:01
You help companies with their sale force.com consulting needs.
3:06
But I want to talk about the part of your life that started
3:08
back in March of 2020 when your adult kids asked you to move
3:13
back to Florida. Why was that?
3:17
Thanks. They, yeah, they, I lived in
3:19
Manhattan for about two years at that point.
3:21
I've been in Central Florida forever.
3:23
So as I get to Manhattan and I'm loving it, but kids, grandkids
3:28
are coming along. They wanted to see more time
3:30
with me. And so I came down for a long
3:34
week in actually March 11th of 2020 and ended up purchasing
3:39
what I thought was going to be a, you know, a place to stay
3:42
when I visited the family. And instead I'm still there.
3:46
What kept you there? March 11th of 2020.
3:50
So March 13th everything changed as we know.
3:53
And that was not the best time to go back to, you know,
3:56
literally Manhattan down, you know, financial district from
4:00
Manhattan was not the spot to be at that point.
4:03
Yeah, COVID was running wild. It it was a hard place to live.
4:08
You know, with the pandemic going on, a lot of people were
4:11
moving out of Manhattan at the time.
4:14
So you're down in Florida. State's a bit more open.
4:18
You, you've got kids there, the nice weather.
4:22
And then the opportunity to purchase Oceana Beach Club
4:26
rentals came about. Tell us how that unfolded.
4:29
Yeah, I purchased in there. I knew I was going to anyway.
4:32
Had been coming over for years to vacation there and the on
4:37
site manager at the time said, hey, I know you're looking to
4:39
buy more property, but have you ever considered buying the
4:42
company that manages the properties?
4:46
It was it was a great building. It's in the perfect location for
4:50
New Smyrna Beach. And the pricing and timing was
4:54
correct. It was a series of owners that
4:57
just never really paid that much attention to it.
4:59
And so they were, you know, COVID really scared them.
5:04
And so they wanted out and gave me the right price and the right
5:07
deal. And so I said, let's try it.
5:10
And So what exactly were you acquiring the?
5:13
Short term rental or vacation rental management company
5:16
happened to have all of them in the same building and so it was
5:20
Oceana Beach Club Rentals. So there's one complex where
5:24
you've got the management contracts for all the units.
5:27
The units are owned by individual people, individual
5:31
owners. Everyone's taking the
5:33
management. Sorry.
5:35
Yes, yes. We didn't have all of them in
5:37
there at that point. There was about 30 out of 55.
5:43
But it made sense. I just sold a previous company.
5:46
I was didn't know I was looking for something to do, but I was I
5:49
guess. And so, yes, we manage it on
5:52
behalf of those individual owners.
5:55
OK. What was the first big project
5:58
that you undertook? Rolled up your sleeves?
6:01
Got in there? What did you want to do?
6:03
Well, the first thing actually was just how to open back up
6:06
with COVID because we were closed down.
6:09
Fortunately, we were registered as a hotel, so we were able to
6:13
open up quicker than most of the places around us.
6:17
Florida was not a horrible place to share, you know, to go
6:21
through COVID in beachside town especially, we have a lot of
6:26
outdoor dining already. So we were all still able to
6:29
eat, drink, walk around, walk the beach.
6:31
You know, it was a great spot to be for that.
6:34
And so really just getting it open from there and then
6:37
learning the business. I had no idea this business even
6:40
really existed. So I had to start to learn the
6:43
business and what was the right way to do things.
6:45
So the properties that you had been buying before were these
6:50
properties that you then turned over to a management company to
6:53
rent out for you? Were these properties that you
6:55
just used for your own personal enjoyment?
6:58
There were things they used for myself or they were long term
7:00
rentals, which is a whole different world and so I would
7:03
let someone else manage the long term rentals or they were just
7:06
mine that I would hold for a bit and get rid of.
7:08
But vacation rental or short term rental is a whole different
7:12
world. And so how was it that you guys
7:14
were already set up or I figured how you put it organized as a
7:18
hotel? Because at one point when it was
7:22
first built, it was supposed to be a hotel and then so they had
7:25
that license, they had gotten that grandfathered in.
7:28
And so we used that to our advantage.
7:31
Oh, nice. OK, so how many units do you
7:36
have in that building today? It was 30 at the time.
7:40
At the moment we're at 49. OK, what is Casa Go?
7:47
How does this fit into this picture?
7:49
Yeah. So Casa Go is a national
7:51
company. It is a franchise business.
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We went through some things in 2023 and realized that as much
8:00
as I could learn about the business, I hadn't been doing it
8:02
20 years. I didn't know everything and
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didn't know all the right connections, so forth.
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And so I wanted to look for a way to get the support that I
8:11
need it. And when you're in a small town,
8:13
that's not always you can't just go grab people and bring them
8:16
over to you. And so I joined Costco.
8:19
Specifically, I purchased the franchise area for Daytona and
8:23
New Smyrna Beach. OK.
8:27
And what resources did this make available to you?
8:30
Yeah, it's actually been really, really helpful from a few
8:34
standpoints to technology. There was already an existing
8:37
platform that was built out the way it should be or the way that
8:40
they recommend. So there was that.
8:43
There was pricing power as we talked to vendors throughout the
8:46
industry, being part of Costco, which is now the largest
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property manager in North America, then you know, we get
8:53
pricing benefits that way. And they have a really great
8:57
support team that has seen pretty much anything.
9:00
They've been doing it 20 years. So something comes along,
9:02
whether it's a guest situation, an accounting situation, or even
9:07
a technical. Why is this happening?
9:09
This way? They've got a team we can call
9:11
on to help fix it quickly versus trying to struggle through to
9:14
figure it out. Is another one of the big lifts
9:19
or the big assists here? The fact that now your
9:22
properties are listed on this national platform and so does
9:25
that help more people find you and your properties?
9:29
It does. We've because of our history and
9:35
building our own sites, we actually still get most of our
9:37
bookings from our own direct websites.
9:41
But Costa Go and now the costa.com, which Costa Go
9:44
purchased them last year, those are starting to really ramp up
9:48
and be high, high volume search engines for folks, you know be
9:54
it Airbnb, Verbo, now more and more are going to vicosta.com
9:57
and Costa go.com. So yes, it will drive business
9:59
as well. So how many units do you own
10:03
yourself versus how many units are you just managing for other
10:08
folks? At this moment I only own the
10:10
one I live in which will be a rental shortly, but other than
10:14
that we manage for individual owners.
10:16
Some have one, some have two, some have 10.
10:19
So all individual owners at this moment.
10:22
Do you want to say more about the number of units that you're
10:26
managing for folks? So we currently manage about 230
10:31
now and growing pretty weakly thankfully throughout Daytona,
10:38
New Smyrna Beach, the entire area, all beach side and they
10:43
range from studio condos up to 567 bedroom homes right on the
10:48
ocean. So a nice variety for folks that
10:50
are looking for somewhere to stay.
10:53
And how do you grow? How do you find new units to
10:56
manage? That is a fantastic question and
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it's one that's debated often in the industry.
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We tend to grow to begin with, we grew just by doing a great
11:07
job and that owner would tell a different owner, right.
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So then they would sign up with us and we continue to grow that
11:12
way. Over the last 12 months or so,
11:17
we've actually taken on two other competitors, one
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competitor locally that we've been able to remove a lot of
11:25
their owners over to us because they want it, what we are
11:28
offering versus what they are offering.
11:30
And then Costa Go, the corporate did buy Vicasa and we had the
11:34
opportunity to purchase those contracts for all of the homes
11:37
in our area. Interesting.
11:40
And so walk us through the Go ahead, Teddy.
11:45
So that's one way. And then there's also just
11:48
natural organic, we'll call it right where you're out and about
11:52
and somebody says I'm buying this place where you rent it for
11:54
me. They ask the other owners in the
11:56
building, their friends and family and you know, they send
12:00
them to us. So we're very grateful that we
12:02
get a lot now on a regular basis from those other owners
12:06
referring folks to us. Do you need a certain number of
12:11
units within, call it a square mile radius in order for it to
12:15
make sense for you to do? Like if something's 100 miles
12:21
away and you're only getting one unit and you're get your team
12:25
there to do what they need to do, doesn't make a whole lot of
12:27
sense, right? It doesn't.
12:29
And that's something we consciously made a decision a
12:32
little while ago. We had the opportunity when we
12:35
purchased the Picasso properties, we had the
12:37
opportunity to take on another 70 or so in the county, the two
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counties below us. And we made the decision that
12:44
that's not for us. Even though it's only an hour
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away. It's just we have plenty of
12:49
opportunity here. Let's focus on what we have and
12:51
who we can serve in this area, partly for the team's sake,
12:56
right? They're not driving all over
12:57
creation and partly because if something happens and the guest
13:00
needs you, you're not an hour or two hours away, you're 1530
13:04
minutes, etcetera. So we do focus on that.
13:07
We call it efficiency of having them close by each other.
13:12
So walk us through the services that you actually provide.
13:17
Yeah. For for vacation rentals, we are
13:19
actually a full service company. So that means we're going to
13:22
handle everything from the marketing to the guest services,
13:26
the guests while they're here, before they get here, remarket
13:29
to them afterwards. There's a lot to come back to
13:31
our area. We want them to come back to the
13:33
same place if they loved it. We handle pricing, not just
13:37
pricing the properties, but pricing strategy, how to drive
13:40
the most revenue for them, cleanings, inspections,
13:43
maintenance. We actually consider ourselves a
13:46
bit more of an asset manager for that owner, right, making sure
13:49
their property while they rents it out and there's going to be
13:52
wear and tear, how do we take the best care of it along the
13:55
way. And so we have some owners that
13:58
are it's all about how do you take care of the property and
14:00
others or how can you give me the most money and we lend those
14:03
two together for results. I'm curious what percentage of
14:08
your clients are also using the unit themselves on occasion?
14:16
It is their property and they can use it as much or as little
14:18
as they would like. There is a 20% of them that like
14:24
to use it during the peak season and so they're using it as the
14:28
owner and I can't blame them. They're from Michigan,
14:30
Wisconsin, etcetera. Why wouldn't you rather be in
14:33
New Smyrna or Daytona, February, March and April?
14:36
So about 20% use it that way. Some use it, you know,
14:41
sporadically through the year and some actually buy it, come
14:45
down once a year and you know they're fine how you take care
14:48
of it the rest of the year. And I would assume that your
14:53
pricing is some sort of a fixed monthly or annual fee plus a
14:57
success fee for whatever percentage of the times that
15:02
you're able to sell it or fill it.
15:04
So we actually take a Commission on the bookings themself.
15:07
So our job is to get them booked at the right price, the right
15:10
amount to the right guest and then we get a Commission on
15:13
those, on that, on that RAT. But no flat fee.
15:19
We don't. There are some that do that and
15:21
we've just decided we're OK paying on, you know, being paid
15:25
based on results. And so we don't have a monthly
15:28
fee, we don't have a annual fee, nothing like that.
15:31
We expect them to invest in their property if we point out
15:34
things that need to be fixed or upgraded, but there's no set fee
15:38
to us every month now. Oh wow, so that client that
15:42
comes down and stays for a month during peak season, it's taken.
15:47
It's taken out of your pocket. It is taken out of our pocket.
15:50
Yes, it's taken way more out of their pocket, but yes, it is a
15:55
it does. And of course, we still take
15:57
care of them while they're here too.
15:58
If they need something taken care of in their property, we're
16:00
going to do it for them. If they, you know, somehow
16:04
destroy linens and we need to bring them to linens, we're
16:07
going to still take care of them.
16:08
We, we appreciate the fact that they let us use their assets the
16:11
rest of the year. So it's part of the business.
16:15
What is Gunsmith Holdings Smitty?
16:17
Is this something relevant here? Not so much.
16:21
It's our umbrella company, my wife and I.
16:23
Her maiden name is Gun. We decided that, you know, about
16:28
five years ago we would as we started to buy things or invest,
16:32
then it would be under the holding company, that's all.
16:35
Got it. OK.
16:36
So not a separate business, just, yeah, the holding company
16:39
for what you guys are doing, what we're already talking
16:40
about, yeah. Yeah, this business is enough to
16:43
keep anybody busy. Yeah.
16:45
And you're very much a hands on operator, right?
16:47
I mean, you're often the one that's picking up the phone when
16:50
somebody calls. It could be that, it could be
16:53
even as last night I happened to be the closest one when
16:56
somebody's heat wasn't working. And yes, we still need heat
16:59
sometimes in Florida. And so I was the one that went
17:02
by, made sure got taken care of, heater was put in, the electric
17:06
was working, everything was good to go.
17:08
So I am involved that way. I do have an amazing team
17:12
though, so most of the day-to-day now I don't know
17:15
anything about or you know, I trust them.
17:19
Tell me more about your team. How big is it?
17:22
How do you train them? How do you find good folks?
17:24
How do you hold on to them? That is the crux of any good
17:28
business, I think. And what one thing I'd like to
17:30
brag about is our team. If we were in a different
17:33
industry, we'd still be a success, I believe, because they
17:36
are that good. Most of them haven't had any
17:38
experience in the hospitality space.
17:41
They were really good at XY and Z, be it leadership, my CEO ran
17:48
investment, real estate investment firms and stuff.
17:51
And so she has come over. She's the glue that make sure
17:55
everybody is taken care of and happy and operations aspect of
17:59
things. And so she's also my translator.
18:02
I say where, you know, as an entrepreneur, sometimes we throw
18:04
out crazy, wonderful, wild ideas and while they might be great,
18:08
it scares the everyday staff. And so she translates that for
18:11
them. We find them through referrals
18:15
have been the biggest way we've done it.
18:16
It's really the only way in a small town that you can do that.
18:20
And so referrals, we spend an enormous, enormous amount of
18:25
time on training hand in, hand, in hand.
18:29
We do inspections. The biggest business, the
18:33
biggest number of employees we have is cleaners and
18:35
maintenance. They're also the whole critical
18:37
part of the business. We can sell all day, price all
18:40
day and everything else. If it's not clean and not taken
18:42
care of, it's just not a good experience for the guests and
18:45
we're going to lose them and lose the owner over time.
18:48
And so the cleaners, it's and the maintenance have all been
18:51
100% referral based. They get training constantly,
18:54
they get inspected constantly and we could not do it without
19:00
them. We are now at 40, 40 people on
19:04
the team. Yeah, I know what you're saying
19:09
in terms of the cleaners and maintenance being such a
19:11
critical part of all this. I've not been on your side of
19:15
the business. I've been on the customer side
19:17
where my family goes to the same place in North Carolina for
19:21
beach vacation every year. And the thing that we want,
19:25
right, we want to check in as early as we can, right?
19:28
So when those cleaners are there and they're, and they do a great
19:30
job and they turn the units around so fast.
19:33
I, you know, they've got hundreds of units in the area to
19:36
do and you know, on that same day and then right if
19:39
something's broken when we check in, like how soon is somebody
19:42
going to get here? That is the one area they do not
19:46
let me help is clean need for maintenance and I'm like I used
19:49
to be in the military I can clean Nope not allowed so.
19:53
No your limits. Yes, yes, their standards are
19:57
better than mine, Even so. You know, the other part that I
20:00
can really relate to though is, you know, being an entrepreneur,
20:04
you come up with all these great ideas, right?
20:06
You want to, you're so excited about something, you want to
20:09
tell your team, you want to get them started on that and.
20:12
Man if you if you don't have a filter you can give your team
20:16
whiplash going from 1 great idea to the next.
20:20
You can. And I've even had to learn.
20:21
I'm a big guy and now a big bald guy, and you're the owner,
20:26
you're the CEO. So you say something, even if
20:28
it's just a question, trying to be curious about how they did
20:32
something or did they notice this or did they take care of
20:34
that. They get worried, you know, and
20:36
even though they've never seen me angry, we're always laughing.
20:39
We poke great fun with each other.
20:41
You're still the CEO. And so sometimes they take that
20:44
too personal. And so I have to be careful that
20:46
feed that to Brittany. She'll take care of them and
20:49
make sure that what I still want to achieve happens, but without
20:54
without freaking them out. Yeah.
20:58
What sets you apart from other companies when somebody chooses
21:01
you guys, Smitty? Why are they choosing you over
21:04
another option? Yeah, that's pretty much
21:10
something that we've tried to determine so that we can then
21:12
continue to do that, right. We've we've been who we are and
21:16
we've made the decisions we've made over the last few years
21:19
because we thought it was the right thing to do.
21:21
And as people are attracted to that, then any business owner
21:24
should want to go, all right, if that's working, how do we make
21:27
sure that we do it going forward?
21:29
How do we market that? How do we let people know that?
21:32
And so we are, we are owner centric.
21:36
A lot of folks love to talk about guest experience and
21:40
getting repeat guests and so forth.
21:42
And yes, guests, of course, they're the ones that pay our
21:44
bills. But for us, it's all about the
21:47
owner. These owners are trusting us,
21:49
especially in our market. They're trusting us with their
21:51
second home. Most of the time they want you
21:54
to take great care of it. It's a big investment,
21:57
especially beachside. Now it's going up.
21:59
And so we are, we are focused on them.
22:02
What makes sense for them that could be anything from not just
22:07
putting any guests in there at any price like some companies
22:10
will do. It could be constantly
22:16
inspecting their property, going the extra mile to say, hey, you
22:20
got to do this, we're going to take care of it.
22:22
We'll you can pay us back later on it that kind of thing.
22:25
Really partnering with them. So I think from an owner
22:28
perspective and from the overall who we are perspective, why they
22:30
would give us our property is the fact that we take care of
22:34
them. We treat it as a partnership.
22:36
We over communicate with them. I just did an owner webinar
22:40
couple days ago, sharing and telling them, you know, here's
22:45
what we messed up in January, here's what we're doing to
22:47
change that and so it never happens again.
22:50
Just being transparent and moving forward.
22:54
I know one of the things that you put a big emphasis on is
22:57
transparent pricing. Smitty, can you explain how
23:01
maybe some others in the industry are using pricing that
23:04
is less than transparent? Yeah.
23:08
So it's changed a little bit because of course during the
23:11
last administration they decided and they started to enforce no
23:16
more teaser pricing as it were, right.
23:17
And that went across a lot of industries from day one.
23:20
We want it all in pricing. It's so annoying on any website.
23:25
And this is true whether it's a flight or hotel tickets,
23:29
whatever it might be where you go, oh, that's a great price.
23:33
And then you click and it's 40% higher because of fees and taxes
23:37
and so forth. I think most travelers today,
23:41
they just want to know what the number is, what's it going to
23:43
cost me to stay? And if I'm OK with that, I don't
23:46
care what's rent, what's taxes, what's fees.
23:48
They just want to know what it's going to cost them.
23:50
So from day one, especially when we rolled out our new site, it
23:53
was all about transparent pricing.
23:55
This is what you're going to get.
23:57
Yes, it does put a bit of a challenge honestly, because
24:00
there's others that don't do that.
24:01
So if you're comparing my two-bedroom, 2 bath condo for a
24:04
week in July, on their initial page, it's going to show you the
24:07
full price. The other sites are going to
24:09
show you what the nightly is and you won't realize that we're
24:14
actually better until you get to their checkout page.
24:18
So that's a big part of it is we just wanted to you get what you
24:22
see, you get, well, you get what you see, but you're also paying,
24:25
you know, you know from the moment you're looking what your
24:27
total costs are going to be. Do you ever feel like a poll to
24:31
go back on that strategy? Do you feel like you're
24:33
disadvantaged at all because maybe you weren't getting the
24:36
initial clicks that you would? Of course, especially at the
24:41
beginning, especially being you know at least half direct
24:45
bookings, people come to our site, we've done a great job of
24:48
building the SEO. So they see New Smyrna Beach,
24:50
let's go stay there and they tell them that let's go stay
24:52
there and where do we stay? And if they do compare against a
24:55
different site, it is. And so while there is a pull to
25:00
go back to that, I still think maybe it sounds cliche or easy,
25:05
but I still think doing the right thing is the right thing.
25:08
And it's our job to let them know why it's different and why
25:12
it's that way. And hopefully enough we'll
25:15
realize that. Appreciate it.
25:17
Let's talk a little bit more about doing the right thing.
25:19
How do you do that for your team?
25:22
How do we do the right thing and take care of them?
25:26
Oh, there's many ways to do that, of course.
25:29
Setting expectations from day one, right?
25:32
What we expect from them, what we don't expect, constantly
25:36
guiding them, coaching them, giving them the second chance if
25:40
there's a mess up. One of the big things I've
25:43
always done in business and I still do today, we just had this
25:46
last week. Let's say a front desk person,
25:50
you know, a guest services person messes up on the pricing.
25:53
They gave a ridiculous discount and they promised this something
25:57
XYZ to the guest and it turns out that's actually going to
26:01
cost us money. We're not going to take it from
26:03
the owner. That wouldn't be right.
26:04
So it's going to cost us money on that particular vacation for
26:07
that guest. Do not call them out on it.
26:11
We have a one-on-one. We explain what happened, how to
26:14
change it and you know, it's a training opportunity.
26:18
Never, ever. In fact, they reached out and
26:21
said why don't you just take the difference out of my pay over
26:24
the next few weeks? No, that is not going to happen.
26:28
And so doing the right thing by them is doing the right thing by
26:31
the same time. We do not allow guest owners to
26:35
treat them horribly. Cursing is never allowed.
26:39
Treating them, you know, like they're just a peon and a you
26:44
know, and work for you is not acceptable.
26:46
We will, and we have removed owners from our program for not
26:51
being partners with us and treating our team badly.
26:54
Wow, can you you feel comfortable sharing one of those
26:58
stories? Yeah, it's just one particular
27:02
one. And they're in the building that
27:03
we have a large number of properties in and just a
27:07
horrible attitude and treating people, cursing at them even on
27:14
things that weren't really problems.
27:16
But you know, if if you purchase a property at the wrong price
27:19
and you think you're going to make money on it, that's
27:22
suddenly becomes our problem. And she just kept going on and
27:26
on and mistreating them, undercutting them, trying to go
27:29
behind them, blame them for things, etcetera.
27:31
And it just became like, now that you're, it's not OK for you
27:35
to treat our people that way. She's like what you're she
27:38
wasn't happy about it. But I care more about the team
27:43
and that long term success of the team and the person and our
27:46
people than I do anyone particular owner.
27:49
We actually have a saying. No one owner, no one guest, no
27:54
one team member is going to prevent the success of all the
27:57
rest of us. Wow, it really is all about the
28:02
team. You mean that wholeheartedly?
28:05
I do. Yeah.
28:08
What are some things that you guys are doing differently
28:10
behind the scenes to ensure that guests are getting that five
28:14
star experience every time? There's things and sometimes
28:23
it's hard to say because I know what we believe is just a
28:26
standard. This is just the way it's
28:27
supposed to be and it's not always that way.
28:32
So when we go above and beyond what we just figure that's the
28:36
way you're supposed to do it. I think the easiest way to make
28:40
the cases to show you. So we took on, like I said, a
28:43
local competitor here locally, they they weren't really taking
28:49
care of the owners. They weren't taking care of the
28:50
properties. They were marketing on one
28:52
channel alone and the one of their employees just decided,
28:57
you know what, they're not taking care of my owners.
28:58
How can we do it better? She joined us.
29:01
We've been able to 1 by 1. Those owners found out about it
29:05
came over, they were shocked at how their properties were taken
29:09
care of by US versus previously. And we don't need to go into
29:16
details as how gross some of those things were because guests
29:18
were staying on them. But the moment we got a hold of
29:20
them, they were taken care of. They were brought up to
29:22
standards. And yes, sometimes my team will
29:26
go overboard with trips to fix stuff, trips to clean things,
29:30
extra chemicals, extra doing it the right way, etcetera.
29:33
And that's OK with the properties that we just took on
29:36
150 Plus all at one time. There's been quite the
29:39
revelation that other companies are OK with, you know, maybe not
29:46
quite fixing a door or, you know, the microwave doesn't have
29:49
to work correctly or a shower curtain doesn't have to be
29:52
replaced every week or every month and they just let it go.
29:56
That's just not OK. He said he didn't want to get
30:00
into the details about how filthy some of these places
30:03
were, but maybe give us one story if you don't mind.
30:07
We're talking like. Roaches, what's going on?
30:10
No, no, no, not roaches, but mold.
30:12
We had one building that had mold throughout and yet they've
30:14
been, the previous company was still renting those out.
30:17
We immediately put a stop to it, lit the guests to other places.
30:20
So they're not losing out of our vacation, but the owners are
30:24
fixing that. They've had to fix it or we move
30:26
on. We're not going to allow guests
30:28
to have that experience. That's part of it.
30:31
The shower curtain thing was not a side note.
30:34
They're the local company. I don't think it changed the
30:36
shower curtain in yours and I know I changed mine twice a year
30:40
anyway, much less a gas. So we change those constantly.
30:43
We change the comforters. I didn't realize this.
30:45
A lot of companies don't wash the comforters ever on a bed.
30:50
Hotels even don't do it that often.
30:52
I found out we actually do it after every stay, which
30:55
increases my cost, increases the headaches, increases the
30:58
transition time and everything else.
31:00
But the teams decided that's the best way to make sure the guest
31:03
has the five star experience and they put into place without
31:07
getting my input. OK, I'm not going to go back on
31:09
that. That's perfect.
31:11
I want to understand that from a logistical standpoint, does that
31:14
mean you've got 2 sets of comforters?
31:16
So one that you're bringing in and then you're taking the ones
31:19
off and taking it to a cleaner. Ideally in this industry, you
31:23
have three, you have one on backup, one on the bed and one
31:27
being cleaned. We happen to own our own
31:30
laundry, so that does help with that.
31:33
But no, there are times where you know it may not be able to
31:37
get cleaned in time, so you got to go grab one from somewhere
31:39
else. And it it could be a
31:41
logistically challenging, but again, the team, it's the right
31:45
thing to do. Have you ever heard of that
31:47
before in the hospitality space? No, I, I'm.
31:51
Going to say I have not even close.
31:56
Oh, what else do you? Is there another story like
31:59
that? Something like because that
32:00
one's just like wild to me. You change the comforter after
32:03
every stay. Yeah, like I said, I wasn't
32:06
aware of that, but they insist on it.
32:08
That's how great your team is. They're just making those
32:11
decisions. Yeah, you built the, you built
32:14
the, the culture there and now they're all on board.
32:18
They're they've fed into it and and they're just, they're the
32:22
ones pushing it forward now. They take it to the next level
32:25
and that's fantastic. And I didn't counteract them,
32:29
even though, yes, from an entrepreneur or from a business
32:31
owner standpoint, you think about the cost, the mileage, the
32:35
extra cleans, the extra cost of having them on hand, etcetera.
32:39
But a, it makes the guests feel even more special.
32:42
And more importantly, the team doesn't feel betrayed or that it
32:46
comes down to every dollar. Their task is to make that guest
32:50
get a five star experience. And that's true whether it's a
32:53
studio on the beach or it's a 7 bedroom home that they decided
32:59
that's what was needed to make sure they felt like they were
33:01
providing that value to them. So OK, I can't counteract that.
33:05
That's wow. OK, what's on the horizon?
33:09
What does future growth look like?
33:15
In our area, we have a huge opportunity to take on
33:20
additional properties by letting folks know that we are
33:24
different. The words getting out from the
33:26
owners that have come over to us.
33:28
So we'll we'll be growing. We'll be growing steadily.
33:33
I say steadily. And then all of a sudden
33:35
something comes along and we have the opportunity to grab
33:37
202530. But after we just did A1502530
33:43
sounds pretty light. So we'll be growing.
33:48
We'll be growing with the right properties, We'll be growing
33:50
with the right owners. That's still going to be a key.
33:52
We don't, nobody wants to partner with somebody that's not
33:54
a fit. So just continue to grow.
33:58
As long as we can still do the job at the level that we expect
34:03
as a company, then I'm OK with growing.
34:07
Any fun or interesting internal initiatives, maybe things that
34:12
aren't directly tied to bringing in new clients, but I don't know
34:17
things you're doing for efficiencies or something on the
34:22
operational side? We have done a few things lately
34:28
because what we thought was really working well at 70 in
34:32
November 1st and now we're at 2:30.
34:36
You know, you can plan and strategize and study and map it
34:40
all out and everything else, but until and where they say until
34:43
you're in the ring, the plan goes out the window.
34:47
The team, the team has really evolved some of them into, oh,
34:54
they might have been doing this for us for two or three years,
34:57
but now that there's an opportunity to do something else
34:59
and they're better at it and enjoy it more.
35:01
So we're doing a lot of team transition to get them more in
35:05
the spots where they where they should be for their sake and
35:08
for, you know, the results. Another big area that we are
35:12
rolling out is we will have to roll out benefits this year.
35:16
We're hitting numbers that will make us do benefits and we're OK
35:20
with that. I'm looking forward to having
35:21
that opportunity for them. You know, so many of them,
35:24
especially cleaners, are living in a week to week and it
35:28
shouldn't be that way. We pay higher than everybody
35:31
else around here already, but there's other ways you can those
35:36
other ways you can reward them and just thank them for being
35:38
around internally. We're also have rolled out new
35:43
marketing campaigns that we have never done before.
35:45
We're rolling out policies and procedures for guests that we
35:48
have never done before and nobody else is doing yet.
35:53
Like what? So we have gone to the most
35:56
flexible cancellation policy you can have.
36:00
That means even Airbnb the day before right?
36:03
You can cancel and still get a full refund.
36:05
Our direct sites and every other channel you can cancel 7 days
36:08
before. I want to point out though, that
36:11
that is not only unique, it's, it's, I don't say, oh, don't
36:18
necessarily say put a flag on, but it's something that makes us
36:21
so different for the good of the guest, especially in today's
36:26
world where everybody's unsure about, you know, like via
36:28
tariffs or weather or whatever it might be, you know, how do I
36:32
book something this far ahead? So many of our guests are coming
36:36
back and back every year, but now their grandkids are playing
36:39
baseball and they can't, they know they can come back here
36:41
next year. Why prevent them from booking?
36:44
Let's not give them the Peace of Mind and let's provide them the
36:47
Peace of Mind that they can book knowing that they can cancel up
36:49
to seven days before, still get a full refund and our owner
36:53
still gets paid. So we're protecting the owners.
36:57
We're protecting, you know, we're providing great value to
37:00
the guest. Most folks in this area, you
37:03
have to pay 60 days in advance before arrival.
37:09
You have to be paid in full, and you don't get a refund if you
37:12
cancel. There's some folks in this area
37:16
that charge a $600.00 deposit, for example, and the moment
37:19
you've paid it, it's gone. It doesn't matter what happens
37:23
in life for you, you lose that money.
37:26
We don't think that's right. So part of me is like, OK, this
37:33
is a fantastic policy, protects the guests, protects the owners.
37:38
But then as the business owner, you're highly exposed.
37:42
I mean, if you let folks cancel 7 days in advance and get their
37:45
money back and you are still paying the owners, I mean,
37:49
what's the likelihood that you're going to fill that spot
37:51
with somebody else? So there are mechanisms,
37:56
financial mechanisms behind the scenes that are allowing us to
37:59
do that. Yes, there's a cost.
38:01
Of course there is and there's a, there's extra cost and
38:04
headache for my accounting team. But what we would do in that
38:08
case, what we've always done in that case is if somebody cancels
38:11
that close, social media burst, some AI tools that we use,
38:18
e-mail marketing calls, etcetera, you know, things that
38:22
you can try to do. There's a couple of channels
38:24
that focus on last minute bookings.
38:26
So yeah, you're pretty much being very aggressive with the
38:29
pricing, but you can still try to fill it.
38:32
So we, we still, we'll still be OK financially as a company.
38:38
And the main thing is the owner will still be OK.
38:40
We still have their asset to keep trying to get new people in
38:42
there and keep them happy. That's wild.
38:45
You guys are like Southwest Airlines up until recently
38:49
anyways. Right, that's a great
38:53
comparison. I like that, but it it honestly,
38:56
and I'll be, I'll be honest, I, I fought that idea for probably
39:02
6 to 8 months until I realized that it is the right thing to
39:06
do. I was able to do the math.
39:08
Yes, it could cost us money in the short term, but over the
39:10
long term, it's the right thing for the guest.
39:12
It still protects the owner. And so let's the let's go do
39:17
that. And by the way, the results
39:19
speak volume bookings. The first 45 days we rolled it
39:23
up, rolled it out, bookings year over year went up 89%.
39:28
Whoa. Yes, cancellations went up 10 to
39:33
14%. I will take that change any day.
39:37
OK, the proof is in the pudding. You had no idea it was going to
39:42
play out that way. No, I thought it will increase
39:45
bookings, of course, because it gives people and I knew
39:48
cancellations would go up. And of course my mind's like, oh
39:51
boy, did it go up too much then with this and that.
39:54
And no, the proof is in the pudding.
39:56
And maybe it's cheesy, but it's also kind of cool to be rewarded
40:02
for doing the right thing, if that makes sense.
40:04
I mean. But it's like, oh, we did the
40:08
right thing because it's the right thing.
40:09
Oh, and it's working out great for our owners and us, OK.
40:13
Isn't it funny how that happens? So tell us a little bit about
40:18
the way that you guys are using AI.
40:24
We use AI in a couple of different manners.
40:26
We use it in our communications, of course, often times if it's
40:31
an upset guest or an upset owner or questioning owners, they're
40:35
not really upset. They're just, you know, they
40:37
want, they want handhelding, They want to know what you're
40:39
doing for them. We're going to use AI to help us
40:42
structure that that answers or all those answers.
40:47
It is trained to be our voice. And also my team can use our AI
40:50
to make sure that they're still sounding like us.
40:54
That's part of it. But then behind the scenes on
40:56
the, the website, for example, we have AI in place where if you
41:01
go look at a A2 bedroom, 2 bath condo in Daytona Beach Shores
41:09
and there's probably 5000 of them.
41:12
But if you're looking for one of those and you click on that
41:16
like, wow, this might be work. This might not down or below you
41:18
a lot of the CDs would they say, oh, you might also like or also
41:22
recommend it. Those three are created or
41:25
excuse me, those three are put there by AI based on your online
41:29
persona and knows a lot about you.
41:31
So it's going to put the three properties in front of you that
41:35
you might click on 1st. It actually now has started
41:37
rolling out where even the picture in those also
41:42
recommended are going to be the picture you're most likely to
41:45
click on based on previous behavior.
41:47
That's true on our websites. That's also true in our e-mail
41:50
marketing. We no longer have to go, OK, I
41:52
want these four to be focused on in this e-mail campaign.
41:56
It's going to be the four or three or four that that
42:00
recipient is most likely to click on.
42:02
And AI makes that possible so that every e-mail actually is
42:07
has different properties in it based on that who's receiving
42:09
it. That's really cool.
42:11
Are there some ways that you intend to roll AI out?
42:15
Maybe some projects you're thinking of or started working
42:18
on? No, there's definitely a lot of
42:21
opportunity in the space to use AI at, I'm sure this is true in
42:26
every industry, but you go to a conference and it's supposed to
42:28
be about revenue management also.
42:30
And it's about AI through and through.
42:33
And so it needs to, it needs to take hold a little bit better.
42:37
And also right now everybody's just tending to go, all right,
42:40
well, I'm just going to turn it over to AI.
42:43
I've been in Salesforce world, I've been in software world
42:45
forever. I believe in processes that love
42:47
technology. I love AI, use it constantly,
42:50
but it doesn't replace us, especially in the hospitality
42:53
business. It needs to handle the minutiae,
42:57
the instant answers, the common sense things in the background
43:01
while our team actually focused in on that guest.
43:05
And my team's not having to worry about responding to where
43:09
the coffee Baker is or where the when the pool opens and all
43:11
that. Because AI can handle that.
43:13
That's great. We can spend more time with that
43:14
true relationship. We also use AI to build all of
43:19
our listings. So that's taken hold just in the
43:23
last few months. And so AI is constantly looking
43:26
at them and even tweaking them some based on results and how
43:29
where people click and all that. And then pricing, of course, has
43:35
AI and algorithm and algorithms in place.
43:39
So we're rolling that out more and more as well.
43:42
Are most of your AI tools or utilizations in house or are
43:49
using third party platforms that are using AI to help deliver
43:53
these results? For communications and listings,
43:57
that's all in house. It's things that we've built or
44:00
take other people's and built upon for the websites, for
44:05
pricing, for other things like that.
44:08
That's all. That's third party providers.
44:13
Gotcha. Let's shift gears here, Smitty.
44:16
I, you know, in my experience, every success story there is,
44:21
you know, something behind that story that almost broke
44:24
somebody. I would be curious to hear about
44:26
a big challenge that you've overcome in your life, whether
44:29
it's personal or professional, how you got through that, what
44:32
you learned. Yeah.
44:35
So most recent 2023, we were doing this business, I was
44:42
trying to figure it all out on my own.
44:44
This was before we went with Qassago.
44:46
We brought in an outside operations person and there was
44:52
a misappropriation of funds, we'll say and so much so that it
44:59
meant we weren't going to be able to be able to pay owners.
45:03
And you know those owners, those funds sit and trust with us that
45:08
you know, we gather money now once the guest stays, then the
45:10
owner gets paid. That money isn't trust.
45:12
We're not, we shouldn't have be using that anyway.
45:16
So we went through that and it was of course it was personally
45:21
painful because you know, you trust this person, you're
45:24
building a business together, etcetera.
45:26
And then it was financially painful in that we had to go
45:31
raise money to make sure that we came out of that with the owners
45:35
intact and our business intact. We did that.
45:39
It was also a little humbling, rewarding maybe.
45:44
I'm not sure. We did not lose a single owner
45:47
through the process. And I know that we all talk
45:52
about gaining trust and earning trust from the folks we work
45:55
with and so forth. And I think that proved to me
45:58
that doing things the right way the previous three years meant
46:02
when something like this happened and being transparent,
46:04
which we always are, being transparent, being open to being
46:07
honest, what happened and what we're going to do to fix it.
46:10
We didn't lose a single owner from that experience.
46:12
They were all made whole, of course, and we were stronger and
46:18
tighter controls because of it. So a couple of follow-ups there.
46:23
How did you guys go out and raise money?
46:25
Like, who wants to get, who wants to throw into the pot for,
46:29
you know, an environment where money was just stolen
46:31
internally? Yeah, so it was worked with
46:36
local attorney, we put together a raised document and I went out
46:41
to folks I know. So it was friends and family and
46:44
actually it was two of our owners as well, turned around
46:46
and made the biggest investment believing in myself, what we
46:51
were doing different and where we were going to take the
46:54
business. Was it just a debt note?
46:58
Is it, you know, convertible into equity like kind of how'd
47:01
you structure it? Just debt note.
47:03
Just not OK. And then what did the
47:06
communications with the owners look like during this time?
47:11
The moment we realized that, we immediately sent an e-mail app
47:15
and to tell them what we're going to do and we're going to
47:18
get back to you the next day with the plan.
47:20
And we kept every commitment that we put in place at that
47:23
moment when we were going to answer them how they were going
47:25
to get paid, the structure to get them paid.
47:30
And there were phone calls, but there weren't as many as I
47:33
expected. Partly because here's what we're
47:36
going to do. And this should happen anytime
47:37
there's a bigger than a hiccup, but anytime there's a set back
47:41
or hiccup is here's what happened.
47:43
Here's what we're going to do to fix it and then meet those
47:46
obligations for those commitments that you said.
47:49
And we did that and there's a lot of lot of communication
47:54
going on. What was the timeline from when
47:57
you discovered the problem to when you had a plan in place?
48:03
So we discovered the problem and the plan in place was maybe 2
48:08
weeks. It wasn't something that you
48:10
could wait on, right? We needed to pay out owners the
48:13
following month and so we needed to have a plan in place really,
48:18
really quickly. And that was 2023.
48:21
I wasn't quite there. I didn't know how much I could
48:25
use it to take care of things with me or to help me.
48:27
And so it was all me and attorney and account and so
48:30
forth trying to work all that out.
48:32
From there it was about four months of raising funds and then
48:40
we were OK from that point forward.
48:43
Do you feel comfortable saying more about how you discovered
48:46
the problem? The person suddenly disappeared
48:58
from communications and he was somebody that always talked to
49:00
us constantly and he wasn't local.
49:03
That's another catch there. And so we started diving into,
49:08
you know, where is he? What's going on?
49:10
We heard that he was picked up and arrested for something else.
49:14
And that caused us to go hold on and immediately start looking
49:18
into every account, every connection, every conversation,
49:21
and so forth. Wow.
49:24
Oh, so painful. But I go ahead.
49:28
You've got more you want to say? There's many.
49:30
No, a painful is that that's a, that's a fairway to put it both,
49:34
like I said, professionally and I get it, it's business.
49:37
You could just say, oh, it happens, move on, owners would
49:40
get over it, etcetera. But I took it personal.
49:43
I took it personal, the betrayal.
49:44
But I also took personal, these folks trust me to take care of
49:48
their property, to also pay them when they're supposed to be
49:51
paid. My staff requires, you know,
49:54
payroll and it was, it was a tough, tough time period.
49:59
Yeah. What are some controls that
50:02
you've put in place from this painful experience?
50:06
My accounting team can see bank balances.
50:09
They can't make internal transfers even.
50:11
Nobody can move money around on the bank accounts.
50:15
Nobody can sign checks. I may be a bad habit, but I look
50:22
at the bank account every single morning, you know and I know
50:25
that's folks have said, yeah, that's going to be your hardest
50:28
thing is trusting people. Again, I said yeah, OK, so be
50:31
it. That's from a personal
50:35
standpoint what we've done. But then also with the business
50:37
when we went to Casago, the software that we regained or
50:41
regained as part of that, we don't have any owners details as
50:46
far as their bank account information, not at all.
50:49
We don't write checks anymore to them.
50:51
It's all through software that automatically it holds their,
50:56
you know, private information. I don't want anybody on my team
50:59
to be able to see it. It's just we removed all risk as
51:02
possible. Smitty, what's your superpower?
51:10
Yeah, we can. You know, you can be glib about
51:13
it and say one word or I think it's more I'm not comfortable
51:19
with things. Things have always been done
51:23
this way. I'm just wired to ask, you know,
51:27
can we do this better? Can we do a different?
51:29
If I had to do one word, I would say you'd like a challenger.
51:32
Just challenge the status quo, particularly in this industry,
51:37
in this area. It's always been done this way
51:40
for 3040, sixty years. And I wasn't OK with that.
51:44
And so I knew that coming in. If I challenge those assumptions
51:49
and some of them, they've been doing that way because it's the
51:52
right way to do it. And that's great.
51:55
But if you don't just fall back on those things and you see
51:57
about how you could do better, how you could challenge the
51:59
status quo, then you that's when opportunity happens.
52:04
That's when fun happens. That's when opportunity happens
52:07
as well. What is your process look like?
52:11
Is it just continuing to ask the question why?
52:15
It is. Somebody asked me one time
52:16
what's the skill set that is required?
52:19
And I think kind of like a journalist, just why, right.
52:23
And I know I've read different articles and books and stuff
52:26
about the five wives or this or that.
52:28
But to me, it's always OK. And my mom would tell you I've
52:32
been this way my whole life. Don't just because that's the
52:34
way it's done. It's never going to work for me.
52:38
And so yeah, I'm just constantly asking why?
52:40
Can we do it different? Again?
52:42
It may be better or may not be better, but can we do it better?
52:45
Can we do it differently? I like that.
52:49
Any daily practices, Smitty that you know something to help you
52:54
start your day, Maybe something to help you end the day or just
52:58
keep you on track in between? The biggest thing for me from a
53:03
personal standpoint is meditation.
53:05
I took on Transcendental Meditation in the fall of 2023.
53:11
I knew I had to do something different.
53:13
And so I tell people all the time.
53:16
I don't know if it necessarily helps, but I sure know if I
53:19
don't do it, if it matters. And so every morning, that's one
53:24
of the first things done. Depends if the dog's ready to go
53:27
out or not. Other than that, it's usually
53:29
the first thing and then we go out for walks.
53:33
It's usually done twice a day. And I'll be honest, there's
53:35
times when stress happens again and you go, you know what, let
53:39
me take that 20 minutes to meditate.
53:42
Free the mind. I think we come back stronger
53:44
after something like that and people's meditation could be
53:46
running or, you know, weights or whatever it might be.
53:51
But that's been the biggest thing to change my success.
53:56
And what does that meditation look like for you?
53:58
You're seated cross legged. You're focusing on your breath.
54:04
No, I said I'm a big guy. So there's no cross seated.
54:07
There's no, you know, crisscross on the floor.
54:11
There's a not even really the yoga that you're supposed to
54:13
start with a little bit of stretching, but then I'm sitting
54:17
on the couch. Nothing's crossed.
54:21
Quiet. It's amazing how quiet it can be
54:22
in the morning here. And just there is a mantra that
54:27
I use and it goes, and then you're done.
54:32
And you slowly come out of it and you go, all right, I got
54:34
this. So for you, the mantra is a
54:37
sound or a single word that you're either vocalizing or just
54:41
focusing on. It's a word that I focus on.
54:45
I mean, the idea is that there's no thoughts, but that doesn't
54:48
happen in my head. And so as those other thoughts
54:51
come in, then you go back to the mantra to replace them.
54:55
And then there's times where you really do transcend and all of a
54:59
sudden they're it is silent, you don't hear a thing so.
55:03
And what does that moment feel like?
55:07
Peace. Yeah.
55:09
It's the first word that comes to mind.
55:10
No one's asked me that yet. So that's the first word that
55:13
comes to mind. I know.
55:13
Yeah, it's peace. It's it's the rest of it is
55:17
going to be OK. Yeah, I like that.
55:21
Yeah, we talked a little bit about what the future looks like
55:23
specifically for you and your part of Casa Go.
55:27
What do you think the future of the overall industry looks like?
55:31
What are some changes that are coming?
55:35
Wow, that is a great question. I do think there's going to be
55:39
some consolidation. Again.
55:42
I hope that it's not the consolidation that happened with
55:44
the Picasso world where suddenly they had 40,000 and they were
55:49
doing it from all, you know, all from one spot or you know, a
55:53
couple of call centers. It just it doesn't work that
55:55
way. So I think there's going to be
55:57
some consolidation. As long as they keep the local
56:00
mindset behind it, it's going to be good.
56:03
Technology is still going to be there.
56:06
It's still a long way to go. A lot of folks do not use it.
56:11
Flexible pricing, a lot of people don't market at all
56:17
except maybe on Airbnb. So I think there's going to be
56:21
the industry's going to step up to do more and better for the
56:24
owners and not just focus 100% on the guest experience, which
56:29
yes, we have to like I said, but it's about the owners.
56:33
Without them, we don't have anything to to market to rent.
56:38
What's your favorite thing to do outside of works maybe?
56:43
Grandkids on the beach. How old are your grandkids?
56:47
Oh, I have 5. They range from 7 to 20.
56:52
So just getting out there, the phone's put away and you're on
56:57
the beach and you know, I haven't been in the water in a
57:00
year or two, but sitting there right on the beach with them
57:03
having a blast, that's that that works.
57:06
Nice. I've just got one more question
57:08
for you today Smitty. But before I ask it, I want to
57:10
do 3 quick things. Anybody who wants to get in
57:13
touch with Smitty? Tim Smith, couple of options.
57:17
We've got his e-mail address smittysmitty@casago.com.
57:23
Smitty at casago.com. Also, you can find him on
57:25
LinkedIn, he's Tim Smith 19. That's pretty easy, right?
57:30
Tim Smith, 19 on LinkedIn. So if you're enjoying the show
57:33
today, please take a moment to subscribe wherever you're
57:36
listening. It sends a signal that helps
57:38
others discover our show. So thank you for taking a quick
57:41
moment to do that right now. And as a reminder, if you want
57:44
to get more hospitality employees access to therapists,
57:47
doctors and prescription meds, that is paradoxical as it seems
57:51
actually increases company's net profits.
57:54
Reach out to us at Add Back benefits.com.
57:56
So last question for you Smitty, a year from now, what is 1 very
58:00
specific thing that you hope to be celebrated?
58:06
I hope to be celebrating that we've actually got through this
58:09
latest transition and the additional ones that I know
58:12
we're going to come and we do it a little bit better.
58:17
Less stress on the guest or sorry, less stress on the team
58:22
and you know, the guests still think everything's fantastic.
58:25
That's the key thing and that we continue to grow the right way,
58:29
doing the right thing, but without it driving anybody
58:35
bonkers or burning them out, including myself.
58:39
What's something that you learned from this recent growth?
58:43
You know, back in November, you guys took on a whole bunch of
58:46
additional units at one time that you can apply to that next
58:50
burst that's likely to come. The planning is as as planning
58:58
as you can do as much planning as you can do is.
59:00
It's not enough You you can only, you can play in and play
59:04
in, but you have to be flexible enough that when that moment
59:07
hits because things are going to come your way, it just always
59:10
does that. You've got to be ready for that.
59:13
And all that happens because you've told the team you've
59:17
built the environment for them that they can go be who they're
59:19
supposed to be. And so plans can fall apart, but
59:23
the team doesn't. It works out.
59:27
Tim Smith Smitty from Costco, I want to be the first to thank
59:31
you for sharing with your time and your story with us today.
59:33
I really appreciate you being here.
59:36
Thank you for the time, I enjoyed it.
59:38
Folks, that's a wrap on another episode of the Inspired Stories
59:41
podcast. Thanks for learning with us and
59:43
if one thing stood out, put that into action today.