Latest / Host Planet: Airbnb, Holiday Let, and Vacation Rental Insights / How Vacation Rental Hosts Can Attract Digital Nomads

Transcript

How Vacation Rental Hosts Can Attract Digital Nomads · Host Planet: Airbnb, Holiday Let, and Vacation Rental Insights

• 0:00
  Hello and welcome to House Planet Bite Size, the podcast
• 0:03
  brought to you by host Planet and House Philly.
• 0:06
  My name is James Valley, the founder of House Planet, and our
• 0:09
  goal is to share everything you need to know about buying and
• 0:11
  managing short term rentals. Today's guest is Rebecca Holland
• 0:15
  Van Locke from Fraser's Hospitality and she'll be
• 0:18
  sharing 5 tips to set up your property for work Asians.
• 0:21
  OK, real talk now for all you hosts out there, you know that
• 0:24
  moment when your guest messages you again with hey, what's the
• 0:29
  Wi-Fi code? Or you're staring at 5 different
• 0:31
  calendars wondering if you've accidentally double booked the
• 0:34
  cottage. Yes, we've all been there.
• 0:38
  That's why here at Houseplanner, we recommend Housefully.
• 0:41
  It's basically your rentals control centre.
• 0:44
  It handles bookings across all the big platforms, syncs your
• 0:47
  calendars to ensure there are no double bookings, automates guest
• 0:51
  messages, and even creates these really slick digital guidebooks
• 0:55
  that stop all the repeat questions.
• 0:57
  Honestly, it just makes your life easier and keeps your
• 1:01
  guests happier, helping you achieve those all important five
• 1:05
  star reviews. And here is a little bonus if
• 1:08
  you're a House Planet listener, you can get $500 off onboarding
• 1:12
  for House Fillies property management software and 30% off
• 1:16
  digital guidebooks for life. Just hit the link in the show
• 1:19
  notes and use the codes Planet 500 for the PMS and House Planet
• 1:25
  GB for the guidebooks. And if you'd like a proper
• 1:28
  walkthrough, there's also a link to book a demo with Frank Bosey
• 1:32
  from House Filly. He will show you how it all
• 1:34
  works. Less stress, more bookings
• 1:38
  sorted with housefully. Rebecca, thank you for joining
• 1:47
  us on host planet Bite Size. You've got 5 tips to share on
• 1:51
  how to set up your property for work Asians, so take it away
• 1:55
  with tip #1. Thank you.
• 1:57
  So for tip number one, I think it's all about flexibility,
• 2:02
  trying to blend work and leisure.
• 2:05
  Now that might mean flexibility in design of the room, in design
• 2:10
  of the furniture, but equally flexibility and customers length
• 2:15
  of stay and everything else as as well.
• 2:19
  We've got rooms where you can have a soft comfy chair with a
• 2:23
  little laptop table, but we've also got workstations with
• 2:28
  proper chairs, quieter areas in our common spaces where you can
• 2:33
  go away and have a conversation and and equally common spaces
• 2:39
  within our cafe areas where you can sit with like minded
• 2:42
  individuals and work within a buzz.
• 2:45
  I think it's all about flexibility.
• 2:47
  It's all about designing space that can adapt to all those
• 2:51
  different elements. Definitely tip 1.
• 2:55
  Makes a lot of sense, especially with I imagine in, in the
• 2:57
  digital nomad world, some people are going to find themselves in
• 3:01
  a city and think, oh, you know, I'll give it a couple of weeks
• 3:03
  here. But then they fall in love with
• 3:05
  it and say actually I want to stay for a few more months.
• 3:07
  So you need, if you can, if you can work with that and make your
• 3:10
  place available for a bit longer, it's, it's going to go
• 3:12
  pretty well. OK then, Rebecca, so tip #2?
• 3:15
  So tip #2 has to be about fast, reliable Wi-Fi.
• 3:21
  So wherever you go, if you want to work, even if you want to
• 3:25
  play, you need Wi-Fi and you need that connectivity.
• 3:29
  Especially for people for coming long far from overseas who maybe
• 3:33
  haven't changed their SIM, don't have the best data package,
• 3:37
  Wi-Fi is a must. And I think a good opportunity
• 3:41
  for people is actually even to guarantee speeds.
• 3:45
  Work is work. You need to stay online today,
• 3:48
  24/7. You need it to be there all the
• 3:51
  time. So definitely tip #2 you can't
• 3:54
  do without this one. It is so important, especially
• 3:58
  if you're a business like mine and you're recording podcasts.
• 4:02
  I was in, I was in the Philippines earlier this year
• 4:06
  and I was at one place in an apartment and the Wi-Fi was
• 4:09
  absolutely horrendous. So, yeah, recording a podcast,
• 4:13
  stressful, very stressful and a big, big challenge.
• 4:16
  And you know what, one thing that we say sometimes to our
• 4:18
  house and property managers, and there are some tools and
• 4:21
  companies out there to help you with this is to put the Wi-Fi
• 4:25
  speed of your property in your listing.
• 4:27
  You know, tell, tell, tell people what to expect.
• 4:29
  Absolutely, totally. Tell them totally.
• 4:32
  It's important and I think people really appreciate that.
• 4:36
  They know they then have the confidence to jump on and and
• 4:40
  keep going. I think that's really a must.
• 4:43
  So then Rebecca tip #3. Tip 3 is all about flexibility,
• 4:49
  and that means within the service department world very
• 4:52
  much sort of having housekeeping functions that work around that
• 4:58
  9 to 5, not 9 to 5. It could be 924 hours a day
• 5:02
  working environment, making sure that people can check out late
• 5:07
  if that's what they need because they're there working within
• 5:10
  their environment, making sure that the other elements that are
• 5:14
  working around them are flexible to accommodate that work ethic
• 5:18
  and that work dynamic that they need to put in place.
• 5:22
  So I think that's really important within that
• 5:24
  environment. It's not an office, but we've
• 5:26
  got to understand and respect that environment that people
• 5:30
  need when they are working. So it's very much adapting your
• 5:34
  other services and facilities to support that flexibility to help
• 5:38
  them working while they're staying away from home.
• 5:42
  That's tip 3. Definitely, I mean, I think as
• 5:45
  well and and how you can maybe apply that as a short term
• 5:47
  rental. You can signpost places to work.
• 5:50
  There might be Co working spaces.
• 5:53
  You know, when I started this business, I was based in Doha
• 5:56
  for a little bit because I've been living there for a while
• 5:58
  and I did a lot of my work in an Internet cafe downstairs because
• 6:01
  I've got tiny kids upstairs who would making a.
• 6:04
  Lot of noise. They struck me all the time.
• 6:07
  So I was like, right, I'll, I'll go down to the cafe can have all
• 6:09
  those meetings and, you know, you meet other people who were
• 6:12
  maybe building businesses as well.
• 6:13
  So, so, so yeah, you know, if you don't have the facilities
• 6:16
  yourself, signpost where where people who are working at your
• 6:19
  place can go. OK then, Rebecca, so tip #4?
• 6:24
  So tip #4 is all about having some well-being extras around
• 6:29
  you. Now that might mean a fantastic
• 6:31
  coffee. I'm a coffee holic.
• 6:33
  Coffee holic, having a good coffee, having a great pastry,
• 6:37
  having food and beverage, having other people having those
• 6:41
  facilities around you that can help you keep going.
• 6:44
  That might mean a gym. You might be able to pop down to
• 6:47
  the gym and then pop back and carry on working.
• 6:50
  It's about having those other facilities that are really close
• 6:53
  by that mean that this is a destination that you can really
• 6:57
  put your head down, work and concentrate and then have those
• 7:01
  facilities at hand to help you along the way.
• 7:03
  So I think that's. Definitely, yeah, the well
• 7:06
  being's a good one because whenever I go away, I tend to
• 7:09
  have, I don't know why, but I tend to have a little bit more
• 7:11
  time when I'm working away to go to the gym first thing in the
• 7:15
  morning or to go for a coffee. And, and another thing you can
• 7:18
  do as well is signpost these things to your guests and even
• 7:21
  talk to the businesses and say, if I send guests your way, will
• 7:24
  you give them a 10% discount or something like that.
• 7:26
  So it's a it's an opportunity to really kind of immerse yourself
• 7:29
  in the local community as well. Yep, totally, absolutely agree
• 7:33
  with you. Yep.
• 7:34
  Tip 5 then Rebecca. So tip 5, I actually think you
• 7:39
  can, and I think this is going to be an ever growing areas,
• 7:43
  actually bring in a membership for people that want to use your
• 7:46
  space to work. Now that could be bringing in
• 7:49
  locals, which brings a wonderful blend of people within the
• 7:53
  environment to be able to come in, use your space, help support
• 7:58
  and create that on yours for other people to come down from
• 8:01
  their apartments and work within the space.
• 8:04
  Having that opportunity to have locals that come in and use it,
• 8:08
  know it, use the other facilities within the
• 8:11
  environment, I think is a great way to actually drive this
• 8:15
  forward. People drive people on beyond
• 8:18
  strives people to come down and come in and there's nothing nice
• 8:21
  at work working than with working with other people
• 8:24
  working around you. So I would say that try
• 8:28
  membership and you'll be, you'll be surprised how many people
• 8:31
  want to come and be a part of that community and work.
• 8:35
  Sounds great. OK, then.
• 8:36
  So 5 brilliant work Asian tips there.
• 8:39
  We've got flexibility, very strong Wi-Fi, of course,
• 8:43
  convenience certainly with the amenities and different
• 8:46
  facilities, well-being extras and potentially a membership as
• 8:50
  well. OK then Rebecca, before you go,
• 8:52
  just tell us a little bit about Frasers Hospitality.
• 8:55
  So we're an international service department operator.
• 8:59
  We've got more than 120 properties in 70 cities across
• 9:04
  the world, predominantly Asia, N Asia, Europe, Africa, Middle
• 9:10
  East. We love looking after people.
• 9:14
  Our whole ethos is about driving experiences within our places,
• 9:19
  making places and creating places for good.
• 9:22
  We have 5 dimensions that we live by and that's what we try
• 9:26
  to deliver to our customers, which is to live learning, live
• 9:30
  connected, live Wellness, live experiencing and live giving
• 9:35
  back. That's the ethos by which we
• 9:38
  drive our serviced apartment business.
• 9:41
  If you want to find out more, please look at our website
• 9:44
  www.frasershospitality.com. Superb, Rebecca.
• 9:50
  It's been a real pleasure. Thank you for joining us on
• 9:52
  House Planet Bite Size. Thank you so much.
• 9:55
  Great to chat to Rebecca Hollins Van Lock there from Fraser's
• 9:57
  hospitality and here those workation tips.
• 10:01
  All right, that's it for today's episode.
• 10:02
  Remember this podcast is brought to you in collaboration with
• 10:05
  House Philly, which is trusted by short term rental
• 10:08
  professionals across the globe. As a House Planet listener, you
• 10:11
  get 2 exclusive offers, $500 off onboarding for House Philly's
• 10:15
  property management software. Just use the code planet 530% of
• 10:20
  digital guidebooks for life use the code Houseplanet GB.
• 10:25
  To grab these deals, click the link in the show notes or head
• 10:28
  to housefully.com. For more free education tips and
• 10:31
  trends from the STR industry, visit Houseplanet dot Club,
• 10:35
  where you can sign up for our newsletter, listen to our
• 10:37
  podcasts, and download a suite of ebooks for hosts and property
• 10:41
  managers. That's it for today's episode.
• 10:43
  Until next time, happy hosting.