Latest / Host Planet: Airbnb, Holiday Let, and Vacation Rental Insights / How Wild Hideaways Became Ireland’s Dream Luxury Lodge Escape

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How Wild Hideaways Became Ireland’s Dream Luxury Lodge Escape · Host Planet: Airbnb, Holiday Let, and Vacation Rental Insights

• 0:00
  Welcome to the House Planet Playbook, your go to guide for
• 0:03
  mastering short. Term Rentals.
• 0:05
  In this special series, we're sitting down with 30 of the
• 0:08
  world's top property managers to uncover what really drives
• 0:11
  success in the vacation rental industry.
• 0:14
  You'll hear their stories, learn the key lessons they've picked
• 0:17
  up along the way, and discover the game changing tech they use
• 0:21
  to deliver five star guest experiences.
• 0:24
  If you're serious about growing your STR business, you're in the
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  right place. We've also developed an book
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  featuring the stories of every manager in this series.
• 0:33
  And you can download. It for free.
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  Head to House Planet dot Club to find out more.
• 0:38
  In today's episode, we're chatting to Amy O'Sullivan from
• 0:41
  Wild Hideaways in Ireland. Stand by for a deep dive into
• 0:45
  luxury rural rentals, going after direct bookings from day
• 0:48
  one and constantly managing guest expectations.
• 0:57
  This special series is brought to you by Host Planet and
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  trusted by hosts worldwide. With Hospitable, you can
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  automate guest messaging, sync calendars across platforms and
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  term rental on autopilot, try Hospitable today.
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  Visit hospitable.com/host Planet to see how the platform can save
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  you time. Reduce and maximize your
• 1:29
  earnings, Amy. Thank you for being.
• 1:31
  Part of the host. Planet Playbook.
• 1:32
  Let's start with you. What's the name of your company,
• 1:35
  Where are you located, and how many rentals do you manage?
• 1:39
  So my name is Amy O'Sullivan and I'm the founder of Wild
• 1:42
  Hideaways Ecospa Retreat. So we are right in the bottom
• 1:46
  southwest corner of West Cork in Ireland, about 10 kilometres
• 1:51
  away from Bantry and we have 6 luxury lodges, each sleeping two
• 1:57
  adults and we also have an on site spa, a sauna and lots of
• 2:01
  other lovely little bits and pieces.
• 2:04
  Sounds idyllic. I don't detect an Irish accent
• 2:08
  there. So how did you end up in
• 2:10
  southwest Ireland? So I've got a bit of a story.
• 2:13
  So I met my husband about 30 years ago in Manchester when I
• 2:18
  was at university 'cause I am from Somerset in England.
• 2:21
  And then we went over to Australia for 17 years and in
• 2:24
  2014 we decided to move to his hometown, which is here near
• 2:29
  Bantry in West Cork. Because at the end of the day,
• 2:32
  all Irish boys end up coming back to Mammy, so that's how we
• 2:37
  ended up here. But I absolutely love it here
• 2:39
  and it's it's a real home for me and the community is absolutely
• 2:42
  fantastic. That's the best thing for me.
• 2:44
  The community is just amazing here.
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  So how did you end up in the short term rentals world?
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  Completely by accident. I expect you hear that a lot.
• 2:54
  So it was, it was during COVID. So we were in COVID and we had
• 3:00
  all this amazing space around us.
• 3:02
  We were able to go out and walk the dog and have fresh air.
• 3:06
  We were really in a lovely little bubble.
• 3:07
  And we were watching the television and seeing all of
• 3:09
  these reports of, you know, all these people cooped up in cities
• 3:13
  in these apartments, not being able to go anywhere or do
• 3:16
  anything. And I just turned to my husband,
• 3:17
  John, and I just said, we've got something so special here.
• 3:20
  When this is all over, I want to share it.
• 3:22
  I want to share it with everybody.
• 3:24
  So that's how it ended up. And we we turned the field next
• 3:27
  door into a short term rental space.
• 3:30
  And that's that's how it came about.
• 3:33
  So what did you do before deciding this?
• 3:36
  This short term rentals venture was for you.
• 3:38
  Music and drama teacher. So that's, I couldn't work at
• 3:42
  all during COVID. And that's what kind of like
• 3:44
  spurred me on for this because, you know, there was no singing,
• 3:46
  there was, there was no classes, there was nothing going on at
• 3:49
  all. So yeah, that's, that's my past
• 3:52
  life and, and, and now I'm a host and I absolutely love it.
• 3:55
  Best thing I've ever done. So the light bulb moment was
• 3:58
  during COVID. So tell us about the journey
• 4:01
  since then and and what you're doing now.
• 4:03
  Yep. So it was quite a difficult
• 4:05
  journey to begin with actually, because planning was quite
• 4:07
  difficult for us to get. We are in rural Ireland.
• 4:11
  There is, it's quite draconian actually the planning system
• 4:16
  here. So it's very difficult to get
• 4:18
  our planning through. We had to keep giving different
• 4:20
  ideas. They didn't say no on principle,
• 4:22
  but they really wanted to kind of control the type of buildings
• 4:26
  we were putting in and, and you know what we wanted to do.
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  So that was a really, really long journey.
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  But once we got our planning, then we started building.
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  My husband's a ground worker, so he did all the ground works for
• 4:37
  us. And then we got a builder in
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  then to, to purpose build the lodges.
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  I had a really clear idea of what I wanted them to look like
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  and I designed them myself. And then the fun bit started.
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  I went in and, and did all the decorating, which is my favorite
• 4:50
  part. Had a very, very clear vision of
• 4:53
  what I wanted them to be. So I was kind of thinking 5 star
• 4:57
  hotel in the middle of a field that was kind of like my vision.
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  So I really wanted to to to go all out on the on the decor.
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  So that was really fun. I really enjoyed that.
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  And then the journey started with, you know, marketing and
• 5:12
  getting our name out there. So we officially opened in
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  October 2023 for a little six week period just to test out the
• 5:20
  market to see if some of the USPS that we're offering were
• 5:24
  working. We then shut down for six weeks
• 5:28
  to reassess and we went over to Australia to visit our children
• 5:31
  because both of our children live there.
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  And we came back then and we opened officially in February
• 5:36
  2024 and we've been open ever since.
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  Talk to us about that promotion and marketing journey.
• 5:43
  How did you make sure that you were getting as many direct
• 5:47
  bookings as possible from from as early on as possible?
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  So one of the things that I really wanted to do was to have
• 5:53
  direct bookings. And so we got our own website
• 5:56
  right from the outset and we made sure that when we opened,
• 5:59
  we had that up and running. We, we've got a grant actually
• 6:04
  with the Leo, which is the local enterprise office to help us
• 6:09
  with that, which is a really, really great service here in, in
• 6:11
  Ireland. So we got that grant and we went
• 6:14
  to a local company, really wanted to go with a local
• 6:16
  company who knew the area. I really wanted the website to
• 6:21
  be very rich in photos and content because we are in such a
• 6:25
  beautiful area. I wanted that conveyed on the
• 6:29
  on, on the website. And you'll notice when you go
• 6:31
  into the website, the first thing that pops stuff is a
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  beautiful video, really gives you that user experience as soon
• 6:37
  as you're on the website. So that was really, really
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  important to me. And having that website up and
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  running straight away was absolutely brilliant.
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  And then of course, embedding into it a really good booking
• 6:45
  engine. So everything run really, really
• 6:48
  smoothly. So that side of it was quite
• 6:51
  easy getting out and getting heard and letting people know
• 6:55
  who we are and where we're from. That was more challenging.
• 6:59
  And it came, you know, drip, drip, drip.
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  But once word of mouth got out, once we had a couple of articles
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  in newspapers and, you know, people started to hear about us,
• 7:08
  talk about us, started to get a little bit more well known on
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  social media. We did a couple of collapse.
• 7:14
  We did some competitions and then, you know, people started
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  talking about us and, and, and then that's when the bookings
• 7:21
  really took off. And where are you now in terms
• 7:25
  of direct bookings and getting those repeat guests?
• 7:29
  So we have about 65% direct bookings which we're really
• 7:32
  proud of. Mostly the direct bookings
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  happen with our Irish customers which are in the off peak
• 7:40
  seasons and then we find that in summer we do get a lot of OTA
• 7:45
  bookings. They're foreign, you know from
• 7:48
  Europe, Europe or America and they're just going straight to
• 7:53
  to the OTAs and then booking with us.
• 7:55
  So offseason most of our bookings are direct.
• 7:59
  Yeah, sorry, what was the second-half of the question?
• 8:00
  That's me. Can't remember the second.
• 8:02
  Can you remember the second-half of the question?
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  Just about took me a second. How do you make sure you?
• 8:07
  Get the repeat bookings as well. It well, having five star
• 8:11
  reviews is amazing. So you know, we always ask our
• 8:15
  customers once they've stayed, will they leave a review and
• 8:19
  then you know, the ones that bother to take the to leave the
• 8:22
  review, we always make sure that we touch base with them and
• 8:25
  thank them for the review and offer them to come back for a
• 8:28
  stay and to book direct again. If they haven't the first time,
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  we offer them to book direct and we always give our repeat
• 8:36
  customers a little gift when they come as well.
• 8:38
  So we've got, we've got one couple that have been four times
• 8:41
  since we've been open and we've only been open for 18 months.
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  And they call it their little corner of paradise that they
• 8:46
  love to come back to. Word of mouth is a great thing
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  too, you know, having repeat customers talking to other
• 8:51
  people and we provide them with a really good, great experience,
• 8:55
  a really unique experience. So they want to come back?
• 8:58
  Yeah, I think asking for a review is a really underrated
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  tactic in in this space and not everybody does it.
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  So yeah, that's that's kind of first thing to do.
• 9:07
  So in terms of the unique experiences that you offer, how
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  do you you know what makes you stand out among the competition?
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  OK, so I wrote this down so I didn't forget.
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  So we're in a very rural location and our location is,
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  you know, our main USP. We have the most amazing views
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  of Bantry Bay and the surrounds. We are in the middle of farming
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  land. We're in a beautiful rural
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  community. So that's something that's very,
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  very different for a lot of people.
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  And most of our customers, they do come from the cities.
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  So that's a natural USPI. Suppose you could say the other
• 9:43
  side of the coin is that, you know, we do offer a real luxury
• 9:46
  experience, but we are also eco friendly as well.
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  Well, so sometimes those two things don't go together too
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  well. People think eco and they think,
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  oh, they're going to be staying in a yurt and they're going to
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  have to pee in the field and poop it apart and you know, all
• 10:00
  that kind of stuff. We, we, we are eco friendly.
• 10:02
  We are, we've got really, really strong eco policy and that is
• 10:07
  advertised on our, on our website.
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  We only use local products. We, you know, only use eco
• 10:13
  friendly products in our cleaning and everything that we
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  provide, but it is a luxury experience.
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  It is like staying in a five star hotel.
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  So we're kind of hitting both of those marks.
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  And the other thing that makes us really unique is that we have
• 10:27
  our own on site spa. So not very often in these very
• 10:31
  rural locations do you find an on site spa that you can go to
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  and book a massage or a facial or a body scrub, or we've even
• 10:41
  got a yoga studio. So you can, you can have a yoga
• 10:43
  class if you want to. So those number of USPS, you
• 10:47
  know, really make sure that our guests, you know, everything's
• 10:51
  being hit that they want. And it also makes us attract the
• 10:53
  right kind of customers. So basically I'm selling what I
• 10:56
  like in a holiday and I'm attracting those kind of people
• 10:59
  back again. Perfect.
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  Yeah, it sounds like you're ticking a lot of boxes based on
• 11:05
  your location. Then what are the?
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  Main challenges and opportunities.
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  So the challenges and the opportunities actually are the
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  same. And I'll explain what I mean by
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  that is that we are off the beaten path.
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  We are very, very much out of the way.
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  So we don't get Dr. Bys, we don't get people driving by
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  going, oh, that looks good, I'll go there next time.
• 11:25
  People don't discover us that way.
• 11:27
  So, you know, we have to be, we have to be very kind of unique
• 11:32
  on how we get people to know where we are and what we're
• 11:34
  doing because, you know, we, we, it's not like in the old days,
• 11:39
  you know, you have a, a guest house and there's a flashing
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  sign saying, you know, we, we've got availability.
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  People just wouldn't see us. So that is one of the, the
• 11:47
  challenges. We're a hidden gem.
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  And that also is obviously, you know, one of our one of the
• 11:53
  opportunities because we are in the middle of nowhere.
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  It's very unique in, in this kind of environment to be able
• 12:00
  to go somewhere and, you know, not meet anybody else and to sit
• 12:05
  in absolute silence and to be able to look up at the sky and
• 12:08
  to see every single star in the sky because there's no light
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  pollution To sleep in a room that is absolutely blackened
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  out, but you've got your curtains open because you are in
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  the middle of nowhere. So, you know, the two things are
• 12:22
  the same. And we have challenges, but they
• 12:23
  also offer opportunities. What are your top tips for
• 12:27
  delivering an outstanding guest experience?
• 12:30
  So #1 is managing guest expectations.
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  So we need to make our customers aware that we are in the middle
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  of nowhere and they are very aware of that.
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  They are told that we are 10 kilometres away from the nearest
• 12:46
  town and they need to come either prepared with food if
• 12:50
  they are going to do self catering or if they want to
• 12:52
  avail of our hampers they need to pre-order them.
• 12:55
  So they're told all of that in advance.
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  So managing those expectations means that we don't get people
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  turning up going, oh, you know, can we get a bus into town
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  because we want to go for something to eat.
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  And then I then have to say to them, I'm sorry, no, there's no
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  buses. And you know, the nearest
• 13:11
  restaurant is 10 kilometers away.
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  So it's really important. And by doing that, you do also
• 13:16
  maintain your five star guest review score because you're
• 13:20
  managing those expectations. People know what they're getting
• 13:22
  when they turn up, so they've got no way of being
• 13:24
  disappointed. So it's my #1 tip #2 is being
• 13:28
  really present on the guest journey.
• 13:30
  So we have 12 points of contact all the way through our guest
• 13:35
  journey, and that's before, during and after the stay.
• 13:39
  So before the stay, every single guest that books with us,
• 13:42
  whether they're booking directly or whether they're booking
• 13:44
  through an OTA, they're given a link to a guest app which has
• 13:49
  all the information on the lodge and also a shopping basket of
• 13:54
  things that they can buy. They're told about all the
• 13:57
  different things that they can do in the area.
• 13:59
  They're told where the dog walks are, where the beaches are and
• 14:03
  then when they're here we ask them how things are, how things
• 14:07
  are doing. We ask them if there's anything
• 14:11
  they need and this is all done through a messaging channel.
• 14:14
  And then when they leave, we ask them for their five star review
• 14:16
  when we follow up and ask them if they'd like to join our
• 14:18
  e-mail list. So if following making that
• 14:20
  guest journey seamless. And look, you know, there's all
• 14:24
  different types of guests. You've got guests that hang on
• 14:26
  to every word you say and want to feed on that information.
• 14:29
  And you've got other guests that turned up on the day and
• 14:30
  download all the messages at once.
• 14:32
  But you know, you've, you've provided that information and
• 14:36
  you know, the guests love it. And they, they really feel like
• 14:39
  even though they're not having that face to face, they feel
• 14:41
  like they're being looked after. And yeah, that's really
• 14:44
  important. And tip #3 is have a really
• 14:48
  great staff. So we employ only very local
• 14:51
  people from our area. And our staff is like our
• 14:54
  family. We, you know, we, we do fun
• 14:58
  stuff together, We enjoy each other's company.
• 15:00
  We all respect each other. And you know, we feel we have an
• 15:05
  open relationship that we feel that we can, you know, air any
• 15:08
  grievances in a really respectful, friendly way.
• 15:11
  And you know, everyone's on the same page.
• 15:14
  Everyone wants the best for the business because we are a
• 15:16
  family. So having a great staff is also
• 15:18
  really important. In your guest communication tips
• 15:23
  there that you mentioned, you were talking about offering
• 15:26
  people hampers and this kind of thing.
• 15:27
  Is upselling something that you do focus on and you find that it
• 15:31
  brings in some extra income for you?
• 15:33
  Upsetting is a huge thing for us.
• 15:35
  It was something that took off very slowly, but as I became
• 15:38
  more involved in it, it's yeah. Especially because we're in the
• 15:42
  middle of nowhere and you know, guests, they a lot of guests
• 15:46
  turn up thinking, oh, we were going to go to a restaurant and
• 15:49
  then they get here and they change their mind.
• 15:50
  They're like, Oh my God, we don't want to leave.
• 15:52
  And we are, we're an experiential destination.
• 15:55
  You know, the experience is staying here.
• 15:56
  We're not just a place to sleep so you can go off to a fancy
• 15:58
  restaurant in town. It is, you know, this is the the
• 16:01
  destination. So selling up, selling hampers.
• 16:04
  We do breakfast hampers, we do pizzas, anti pasty platters,
• 16:10
  wine, beer. We also upsell things like fire
• 16:14
  pit baskets and we do also, which is really popular with our
• 16:18
  romance, with our romantic couples, is romance packages and
• 16:23
  celebration packages with balloons and flowers and all
• 16:25
  that kind of stuff. So everything's waiting in the
• 16:27
  room when they arrive. And we get a lot of celebrations
• 16:30
  here. We get people.
• 16:33
  We've had four or five proposals here as well, which has been
• 16:36
  really lovely. So it's, yeah, the upsells are
• 16:39
  absolutely massive. And just recently now I've
• 16:42
  started to collaborate with other women been in business in
• 16:46
  the area to provide upsells in the form of experiences.
• 16:50
  So collaborating with a lady who does forest bathing experience,
• 16:55
  another lady that does a foraging tour.
• 16:57
  And I'm starting to collaborate with them and, and offer those
• 17:00
  as well to my guests so that they can have a whole package of
• 17:03
  things to do and see in the immediate area.
• 17:07
  The last thing I want is people to come and check in here at
• 17:10
  Wild Hideaways and then travel 3040 miles down the road to go
• 17:13
  and do something. I want to keep stuff local and
• 17:16
  we've got a little micro tourism area here and try to keep that
• 17:18
  local by upselling things and coordinating with very local
• 17:23
  businesses is the way to go. Yeah.
• 17:26
  How important do you think it is to be seen as kind of a net
• 17:29
  positive for your local community and to be embedded
• 17:33
  within it? Really, really important,
• 17:35
  especially in West Cork. I mean, community is just huge.
• 17:40
  I always say that being in West Cork is like being in an episode
• 17:43
  of Heartbeat. Don't remember that, you might
• 17:45
  be too young for that. But it was, you know, a lovely
• 17:50
  little sitcom set in the 1950s. You know, the community here is
• 17:55
  very, very strong. Everybody knows their neighbors,
• 17:57
  everyone looks after each other. And it was very, very important
• 18:01
  to us to especially my husband is from the community, he was
• 18:05
  born here. So it's very important to us to
• 18:08
  not only be seen to be involving the community, but we actually
• 18:12
  genuinely wanted to because we are a very strong part of our
• 18:15
  community and we wanted to involve ourselves in that.
• 18:19
  And you know, before we even put a footing down here, we
• 18:23
  consulted with the community and asked what their views were
• 18:26
  about us, you know, having wild hideaways here because this is
• 18:30
  the first thing of its kind in the area.
• 18:32
  And we wanted it to be a really positive experience for
• 18:35
  everybody. And that's also one of the
• 18:37
  reasons why we aren't and won't expand.
• 18:41
  We're not interested in having a wild hideaways with 15 or 20
• 18:45
  lodges because that would impact negatively on our community.
• 18:49
  It would increase the traffic on the roads.
• 18:52
  It would make it impossible for the tractors to get backwards
• 18:54
  and forwards to their their fields.
• 18:56
  So, you know, just having a small amount of lodges and just
• 18:59
  a small amount of traffic is, is perfect for us and we're
• 19:03
  respecting the community and in turn the community respect us.
• 19:07
  Superb. I love it.
• 19:08
  Yeah. There's a real blueprint there
• 19:09
  for for setting up a a luxury abode like you have it within a
• 19:15
  very strong community. What's?
• 19:18
  Been the biggest lesson learned. Organization.
• 19:23
  Yeah, that is. I mean, I am an organization
• 19:25
  freak, but I didn't, I didn't understand when I first set out
• 19:30
  quite how organised you had to be.
• 19:33
  And for me, you know, being organised is my key to
• 19:37
  eventually having a passive income, which is where I'd like
• 19:40
  to be. So things like setting up
• 19:42
  automated systems, using the right kind of plug insurance and
• 19:46
  having those in, taking the time to properly train your staff and
• 19:52
  having, you know, really, really good Sops and making sure that
• 19:56
  they know about those Sops. And if we have a staff member
• 19:58
  that's off sick or we have to bring someone in, they can
• 20:01
  follow that SOP. Very everything just runs
• 20:03
  seamlessly. So having everything really,
• 20:05
  really organised. Also having a huge Bank of
• 20:10
  content that you can go to at any time.
• 20:13
  And I would add to that seasonal content.
• 20:16
  So we've only just finished at the end of last year getting our
• 20:20
  Bank of, of seasonal content up because obviously last Christmas
• 20:23
  was our first Christmas that we were operating.
• 20:25
  So we now have thousands of photos and videos of wild
• 20:29
  hideaways, all in a lovely Google file that we can use at
• 20:33
  any point. And that just makes social media
• 20:35
  so much easier. Advertising, updating my
• 20:38
  website. So it really is about
• 20:40
  organization and working on your business, not in your business.
• 20:46
  And I certainly would not have time to be to be that organised
• 20:51
  if I was up changing beds and cleaning bathrooms.
• 20:55
  You know, it's we have the staff to do that so that I can spend
• 20:58
  the time getting organised and getting my business working
• 21:00
  smoothly. What do you love most about
• 21:04
  hosting? I just, I love the thing I love
• 21:08
  about hosting is when I get that five star review in and the
• 21:12
  little bubble happens in your chest and you some people write
• 21:14
  the most wonderful, beautiful things, you know, and I, I'm
• 21:17
  humbled every day when one comes in and people say, you know, we
• 21:21
  had a couple of weeks ago, this lady said, you know, we've,
• 21:23
  we've had a really difficult year.
• 21:25
  You know, we've had a, we've got a two or three children.
• 21:28
  We just haven't spent any time together and just the two days
• 21:31
  we spent with you gave us an opportunity to to rest and
• 21:34
  reconnect together and remember who who we are.
• 21:37
  And she wrote all of that in a, in a review.
• 21:39
  And that's just to know that what I've created has helped
• 21:43
  somebody have that experience is it's humbling and it's just,
• 21:47
  it's the most wonderful feeling in the world.
• 21:48
  It really is. Lovely.
• 21:51
  OK then Amy, we've got a few more quick fire questions now.
• 21:54
  So which? PMS do you use?
• 21:58
  We used clay beds. We started off with Glamp
• 22:00
  Manager and quickly realized that we were outgrowing it
• 22:04
  within about 3 months, so I went with one with all the bells and
• 22:07
  whistles. Which dynamic pricing tool do
• 22:11
  you use? We don't something I'm looking
• 22:14
  into, but we it's a bit difficult for us.
• 22:17
  We don't have any similar properties in the area to base
• 22:19
  our pricing strategy on. And so, yeah, I do manually
• 22:23
  obviously adjust my price depending on occupancy rates.
• 22:28
  You're not the only one. There was somebody else who I
• 22:29
  interviewed last week said I don't believe in dynamic
• 22:31
  pricing. Which piece of tech couldn't you
• 22:35
  live without? Whistle for Clyde Beds, that's
• 22:38
  the messaging service. Could not live without that.
• 22:42
  Pets yes or no? Absolutely.
• 22:45
  Dogs are just as welcome as humans at wild hideaways.
• 22:47
  We never charge extra for them and they get their own welcome
• 22:49
  pack when they arrive as well. We love dogs here.
• 22:52
  Hot tubs yes or no? That's a yes and a no.
• 22:56
  So no to hot tubs, but yes to alfresco seaweed baths.
• 23:00
  And every single one of our lodges has an alfresco seaweed
• 23:02
  bath on the side. I think you'll be the only one
• 23:06
  in these in this series with an alfresco seaweed bath.
• 23:11
  Self checking or personal welcome?
• 23:14
  So that's both as well, self checking code sent with a very
• 23:17
  personal welcome message and when they check in they get a
• 23:20
  home baked treat as well. Sounds superb.
• 23:24
  Telephone call to your. Guest or an AI response?
• 23:27
  Telephone call. I think AI has got its uses, but
• 23:30
  nothing beats the personal touch, especially in my
• 23:32
  business. And so far, your most memorable
• 23:36
  hosting moment. That would be my first ever
• 23:39
  guest. October 27th, 2023.
• 23:43
  The poor woman, I think I hounded her.
• 23:47
  I was texting her every 10 minutes.
• 23:48
  Is everything OK? And I I think I must have
• 23:51
  checked the room with the cleaners about 10 times before
• 23:53
  they checked in. And yeah, it was.
• 23:56
  I was so nervous but so relieved when they said they enjoyed the
• 23:59
  stay. So yeah.
• 24:01
  Shout out now Is there an individual in the STR space
• 24:05
  who's perhaps helped you that you'd like to give a shout out
• 24:08
  to? Yeah, but two actually Mark
• 24:10
  Simpson during COVID, I actually, I found his podcast
• 24:14
  the real really early ones when he was still running the
• 24:17
  granary. And I listened to them
• 24:18
  religiously on my walks during COVID and that's how I learned
• 24:22
  all about STR and getting direct bookings and I listened to every
• 24:27
  single one of them. So him and then through some
• 24:30
  training I, I did with Mark Simpson and Paul Anderson, the
• 24:33
  social media hotelier completely helped me get rid of my anxiety
• 24:37
  with Instagram. I'd never used Instagram until,
• 24:39
  you know, 18 months ago. So shout out to him as well.
• 24:43
  Both of those people have been really, really influential.
• 24:47
  Two big friends of host planet. Final question then.
• 24:50
  Ultimate goal for your business. Ultimate goal for my business is
• 24:54
  for me to have a passive income by 20232030.
• 24:59
  Sorry, 2023 is passed. They're completely passive
• 25:03
  income by 20-30. But I still want to retain our
• 25:07
  five star review score and I keep wanting to uphold our
• 25:11
  amazing guest experience And I, I will not compromise one for
• 25:15
  the other. So if I can get all of that in
• 25:18
  one go, then you know, that's my ultimate goal.
• 25:22
  Superb Amy, it's been a real pleasure.
• 25:25
  Thank you for being part of the Host Planet Playbook.
• 25:27
  You're very welcome. My pleasure.
• 25:29
  All right, that's it for today's episode.
• 25:30
  My thanks to Amy for sharing her journey.
• 25:32
  And for being part. Of the host Planet playbook.
• 25:35
  Remember, this series is brought to you in partnership with
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• 26:13
  And for more free education for vacation rental house, head to
• 26:16
  House Planet dot Club, where you can sign up for our newsletter,
• 26:20
  listen to our podcasts, and download our suite of ebooks.
• 26:23
  Until next time, happy hosting.