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276. Hosting Hotline: Maximizing Your Nightly Rate For Major Events · Thanks For Visiting

• 0:00
  Hello, welcome back for another great episode.
• 0:02
  My name is Sarah Karakaian.
• 0:03
  I am Annette Grant.
• 0:04
  And together we are--
• 0:05
  Thanks forVisiting.
• 0:06
  And this is the--
• 0:07
  Hosting Hotline.
• 0:08
  We're going to mix it up a little bit today for the Hosting Hotline.
• 0:11
  We've got a question from one of you, amazing listeners, but we're
• 0:15
  bringing in Colleen, our Director of Operations and also our revenue manager
• 0:20
  for our property management company.
• 0:22
  So we thought who better to answer a question about numbers than Colleen.
• 0:26
  Here we go.
• 0:28
  Hi, Annette and Sarah.
• 0:29
  This is Vanessa.
• 0:30
  We met last month at InvestHer Con.
• 0:33
  You guys were so great talking to me and Jasmine and allowing me to have
• 0:36
  my short-term rental fangirl moment.
• 0:39
  I love you guys so much.
• 0:40
  I appreciate the insight you gave us there and sharing a glass of wine.
• 0:44
  It was awesome.
• 0:45
  Hopefully we'll get to see you again in September in Columbus.
• 0:49
  We'll see.
• 0:50
  I am writing to ask you about pricing for the solar eclipse.
• 0:54
  Next April, 2024, going through, I believe, your area, North of Columbus,
• 0:59
  and through my area and the Finger Lakes of New York, is the total eclipse.
• 1:04
  And I've heard people say you should triple your nightly rate for this event.
• 1:08
  I've heard people say, leave your rate the same, but set a five-night minimum.
• 1:12
  Early April is still off season for me, so I really want to take
• 1:17
  advantage of this rare, rare event.
• 1:20
  Just curious what you guys are going to do, and what do you suggest those
• 1:24
  of us that are in off season do to capitalize on this once-in-a-lifetime
• 1:28
  or every-few-decades event?
• 1:30
  Thank you again for everything and sharing all your insight.
• 1:33
  I appreciate you guys.
• 1:35
  Follow me at little_blue_cottage_flx.
• 1:41
  Thank you.
• 1:43
  Yay.
• 1:44
  All right.
• 1:46
  I just have to say a couple things.
• 1:47
  Number one, we did meet Vanessa in person at a conference.
• 1:52
  If you have not got your tickets to our conference, what are you waiting for?
• 1:55
  It's going to be so good.
• 1:56
  Wait, can I just give a little teaser?
• 1:59
  Yes, but after I say, Vanessa said, we'll see.
• 2:02
  She has bought tickets because, a, she knows what's up.
• 2:06
  And b, she wants to up level what it means to be a host.
• 2:08
  And c, hang out with us once again.
• 2:11
  But yes, Sarah, what's the teaser?
• 2:13
  We're announcing--
• 2:14
  On this once-in-a-lifetime event.
• 2:16
  We are announcing our speakers as we get confirmed speakers coming on, and the
• 2:20
  topics we're going to cover go from SEO to Facebook, Instagram ads to hearing
• 2:27
  from a potential celebrity speaker.
• 2:31
  I know we're not talking about you Annette.
• 2:32
  Oh, I was going to say they know I'm going to be there.
• 2:35
  We cannot wait to announce so keep your eye on--
• 2:38
  D list celebrity.
• 2:39
  Keep your eye on tfvcon.com, and of course we'll let you know here on
• 2:43
  the hosting hot tips as those unfold.
• 2:44
  But Colleen, you're no stranger to the show now.
• 2:47
  Welcome back.
• 2:49
  Thank you for having me.
• 2:51
  All right, let's dig in.
• 2:52
  This is an excellent question.
• 2:54
  And if it's not the solar eclipse, it might be the Super Bowl.
• 2:59
  It might be a concert, Taylor Swift.
• 3:02
  Whatever that is.
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  But please be mindful that this specific question, if the eclipse
• 3:08
  isn't rolling through your town in April 2024, something will be coming,
• 3:13
  no matter the size of your town.
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  So let's dish how we would handle this, especially with
• 3:20
  this advanced notice, Colleen.
• 3:23
  Definitely.
• 3:23
  So made a couple notes here.
• 3:26
  So some items that I would keep in mind just as hosts when you're
• 3:29
  talking about a citywide sellout and exactly what Annette said.
• 3:33
  So, yes, the solar eclipse, it's a once in a lifetime, or once every 25 years, or
• 3:37
  whatever it is that's going to come, but citywide sellouts, those are constant.
• 3:41
  Depending on your market, those could be every weekend or once
• 3:45
  a month in your community.
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  That could be a huge concert, like Annette said.
• 3:48
  Taylor Swift could be in town.
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  That could be some major sporting event, but it also could be a
• 3:53
  conference that's coming to town.
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  All that is citywide is it's just something that's creating demand
• 3:57
  and compression in your market.
• 3:59
  So what that means is that, yes, there's going to be an influx of people coming
• 4:03
  to your area, but the same usual suspects are still going to be in the area.
• 4:08
  So that's your business traveler every week.
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  That's your leisure person on the weekends.
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  That's people coming to stay at a hospital, or whatever.
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  So all it is is just additional compression in your market.
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  So when you're approaching a citywide sellout, number one, you should always
• 4:19
  be checking events in the area, what's going on, because yes, a name like
• 4:24
  Taylor Swift or once-in-a-lifetime solar eclipse is a big deal, but even
• 4:27
  a small consort that might not be super important to you is still going to
• 4:30
  create that compression in your market.
• 4:32
  So when you're thinking about that, the goal for a citywide is that
• 4:35
  you never want to be the first property that's sold out, ever.
• 4:38
  While it's super fun and exciting to fill really quickly because, oh, the
• 4:43
  rates are so high, if you're selling out first, then you've offered yourself
• 4:46
  no flexibility on increasing your rate.
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  So my first recommendation for a citywide is close your books
• 4:52
  or mark your price 500% above your normal rate, whatever it is.
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  And ultimately, someone might book it, and then no harm, no foul.
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  But you don't want to be the first one sold out.
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  So I also recommend shopping your competitors.
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  And don't just shop your competitors once.
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  You want to shop your competitors monthly as who else is sold out in the area?
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  Do I need to consider adjusting my rate?
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  So we have a pretty big citywide in our short-term rental business.
• 5:17
  It happens the first week of March.
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  So right now, our books are closed.
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  We'll open those up about six months ahead of time at a, exactly
• 5:24
  what I said, 500% increase.
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  And then that's that.
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  As we get closer, we'll lower it.
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  And the thing that you have to keep in the back of your mind is if the event is as
• 5:33
  big and as serious as you say it's going to be, you are going to fill that space.
• 5:38
  So don't panic and lower your rate three weeks out, thinking-- because there's that
• 5:42
  person that hasn't booked their space yet.
• 5:45
  Her name's Annette Grant.
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  Yes.
• 5:47
  Annette, you're up.
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  I know I didn't tell my friend last week, and she's like, uh, can you
• 5:52
  send me your flight information?
• 5:54
  I was like, oh, I should book that, and then I'll send it to you so you
• 5:57
  know when to pick me up tomorrow.
• 5:59
  I have a question, Colleen.
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  With the completely blocking, that scares me.
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  I'm nervous.
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  AD MARKER
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  Why am I taking myself completely out of the game?
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  Well, you're taking yourself out of the game because you're going
• 6:12
  to sacrifice rate if you don't.
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  So, if you open up first, there is that planner that's way out that is
• 6:20
  going to book that space, but you're not taking yourself out of the game.
• 6:23
  You just have your books closed for booking at this time with a strategy
• 6:28
  of when you're going to open them.
• 6:29
  Yes, that is scary,but--
• 6:30
  Okay.
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  So I have a game plan.
• 6:32
  I have a game plan.
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  I'm not shutting myself out of the game.
• 6:36
  Yes.
• 6:36
  Okay.
• 6:36
  Because I just--
• 6:37
  Yeah, it's not like you're taking yourself off the market.
• 6:39
  You're just close to arrival on that day.
• 6:41
  It's nothing.
• 6:42
  All right.
• 6:42
  Got you.
• 6:43
  Just wanted to get some clarity there.
• 6:45
  Yes.
• 6:46
  Um, so I want to just always put in the back of your mind, anybody that's
• 6:51
  cautious on how far can I really push the rate, you can always lower your rate.
• 6:55
  So in the event that you pushed it too far, that's fine.
• 6:58
  Just lower your rate, and you'll have to-- as the citywides or as
• 7:02
  you get more familiar, you'll get a better idea of your booking window
• 7:06
  as far as what is our normal time that we're going to start panicking.
• 7:10
  In our world, if it's Thursday and our arrival's tomorrow, I'm panicking
• 7:15
  if I don't have the space filled, but I'm not panicked if we're a week out.
• 7:19
  I'm not panicked if we're two weeks out.
• 7:20
  So that's, of course, going to be very market specific just like your percentage.
• 7:23
  I can't give you a percentage.
• 7:25
  That's going to be very market specific, but always know you
• 7:28
  can always lower your rate.
• 7:30
  You can always run a promotion.
• 7:31
  You will get that space filled.
• 7:33
  How do we justify?
• 7:35
  This has happened before.
• 7:36
  Let's say we go in, we do that top tier 500% plus rate, and you start
• 7:41
  getting those inquiries of people that are like, this is crazy.
• 7:45
  Why are you doing this?
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  Because they might see-- for Vanessa specifically,
• 7:49
  let's give her some verbiage.
• 7:51
  Someone's going to see that Thursday through Sunday is 3X, 4X the normal price.
• 7:57
  And they're like, why is your Tuesday 200 bucks?
• 8:00
  What's the best way-- obviously, you know this consumer is probably aware of
• 8:05
  the solar eclipse, and they're trying to lean on you as being some price gouger.
• 8:10
  What response should Vanessa give of this is a once-in-a-lifetime event, and that's
• 8:17
  why the pricing is reflected in that?
• 8:20
  How would you respond to that?
• 8:23
  I like to respond in a super positive manner, that, number one, we're so
• 8:27
  excited for the solar eclipse too.
• 8:28
  Yes.
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  We can't wait to host somebody here to watch this.
• 8:31
  It's awesome.
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  So already now you've made this connection with the guest.
• 8:34
  And then after that, you just want to say that you're comfortable with the pricing.
• 8:37
  It's appropriate for what's going on in the market, and that it's
• 8:42
  going to be-- the value is there.
• 8:44
  That's going to be a perfect stay for you, and all of those types of things,
• 8:48
  but at the end of the day, you're firm in your pricing, and you're so excited
• 8:52
  that the space is even available for them to book because it won't be.
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  It's going to get booked.
• 8:57
  So we're happy it's open for you.
• 8:59
  And certainly, if you want to start adjusting rates or think about all
• 9:03
  that, that's a conversation you're having 10 days out, two weeks out.
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  That's not a conversation you're having four months out with a guest about the
• 9:11
  price for Super Bowl, or whatever it is.
• 9:13
  They do know.
• 9:14
  And of course, the guest is going to ask.
• 9:15
  And that's why you have to, again, be confident in your pricing.
• 9:18
  And shop your competitors, so you know what you're saying is valid.
• 9:23
  That does bring up a good point, though, um, Sarah and I have talked
• 9:25
  about this before, is making sure that when you do increase that
• 9:27
  price, value is the key thing.
• 9:29
  So making sure that that guest is not walking in and just feeling like you guys
• 9:35
  just completely took advantage of them.
• 9:37
  Vanessa is actually in our membership, and she posted this question for the
• 9:41
  group inside of our Facebook group, and there were tons and tons of responses.
• 9:45
  And actually, one of our coaches made a really good point, to
• 9:48
  get the special glasses that you wear to watch the eclipse happen.
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  He said that those were completely sold out when this
• 9:55
  happened in his market recently.
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  And that the stores like had them under lock and key and
• 10:00
  were selling them for like a 100 bucks, and all this crazy stuff.
• 10:02
  So just to get those like in ahead of time.
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  And I've seen this on different Airbnb hosts, like, Taylor Swift comes to
• 10:08
  town, and they hide little clues or whatever around their Airbnb.
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  You can do very cost-effective things to make sure that event feels
• 10:16
  special when they walk inthedoor.
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  Experiential for that specific event that they're coming to town for.
• 10:20
  Love it.
• 10:21
  One of my favorite things you do, Colleen, as well, that would be a great tip for
• 10:25
  anyone listening out there is every year, we have in a spreadsheet, all of the
• 10:30
  events that might be sellouts for us.
• 10:33
  Citywide sellouts.
• 10:34
  That's such a good title.
• 10:35
  I know.
• 10:35
  It makes me feel excited about things.
• 10:37
  Yeah.
• 10:37
  Or it sounds like an adventure movie, like an adventure, but
• 10:40
  you're a citywide sellout.
• 10:41
  Okay.
• 10:42
  But what Colleen does is she lists all the citywide sellout events, and
• 10:46
  then we start tracking, how far out did we book it at that higher rate?
• 10:50
  Because then as your years go on, you're going to know what your sweet spot is.
• 10:54
  You're not going to be freaking out when you're like, ah.
• 10:56
  Yeah.
• 10:56
  When concerts come to town, people usually bite at a 400% markup three months out.
• 11:02
  You know what I mean?
• 11:03
  Or you can start to see those patterns and get really confident in how
• 11:06
  high you can push it and make sure that you really are capturing all
• 11:10
  the money that's out there for you.
• 11:11
  And as long as you bring that value and that stay, make it a little bit
• 11:14
  extra special-- I know, Colleen, we recently had a graduation for OSU.
• 11:18
  We did something really simple because it was like the first day of summer.
• 11:21
  We definitely pushed rates higher than we ever have, but we left them little gifts,
• 11:24
  and we always do the handwritten cards.
• 11:26
  And our reviews from that weekend were through the roof.
• 11:29
  They paid through the roof, and they felt like we treated them like--
• 11:32
  The service was through the roof.
• 11:33
  Absolutely.
• 11:33
  Yeah.
• 11:34
  Two things from this episode, host, that I hope you're listening to, is, a,
• 11:37
  really, push the pricing, look at the citywide sellouts at the compression.
• 11:41
  But don't be caught asleep at the wheel when these things come to town
• 11:46
  because it is not fun to know that you missed an opportunity to take
• 11:53
  part in these citywide sellouts.
• 11:55
  And it happens.
• 11:57
  We hear this from hosts all the time.
• 11:59
  Especially the hosts that follow us, a lot of times they just fall
• 12:02
  on the sword, and they keep the rate at what it was published at because
• 12:06
  they were like, that's my bad.
• 12:07
  I did that.
• 12:08
  So also take this episode as a, wait a second.
• 12:13
  I don't always know best.
• 12:15
  I don't always know all the things that are coming to town because
• 12:18
  there are going to be things.
• 12:20
  There's a huge board game convention that comes to Columbus that I would never
• 12:23
  even know about, or think about going to.
• 12:25
  There's some horse show that happens that sells us out.
• 12:27
  I never would have known about that.
• 12:28
  Do not be asleep at the wheel.
• 12:30
  Go on to different sites.
• 12:32
  Get the Google alerts.
• 12:35
  When I first got started, seriously, I went to the hotels, the hotel closest
• 12:40
  to me, and there were weekends sold out, and I was like, why is that weekend--
• 12:46
  there were all these weekends 12 months out that were already sold out.
• 12:49
  I was like if that hotel is already sold out, I need to
• 12:52
  figure out what's going on there.
• 12:56
  Whether you have a stadium or a convention center, get a hold of
• 12:59
  those calendars and see what's going on because there could be something
• 13:02
  midweek, a convention like TFV Con coming to town that you don't know about.
• 13:08
  You've got to get in a rhythm yourself of figuring out how to stay ahead of
• 13:14
  those dates that hopefully are coming to a town near you, your town specifically.
• 13:19
  Colleen, anything we didn't talk about that you want to make sure
• 13:21
  our listeners know when it comes to these pricing strategies?
• 13:25
  I have one note, to some knowledge, I want to spread as far as these
• 13:29
  citywides and raising the rates.
• 13:31
  It's obviously, super, super fun to jack up your rate.
• 13:34
  It's super, super fun to just take all that money right to the bank, but also
• 13:38
  reminding you that your entire business model shouldn't be based around that
• 13:42
  one or two citywide that's your area.
• 13:45
  So making sure that you're priced appropriately year round, and then just
• 13:50
  let those citywides be super, super fun.
• 13:53
  I love that.
• 13:53
  It's like icing on the cake.
• 13:55
  That's exactly what it should be.
• 13:57
  Just a little cherry on top.
• 13:58
  Yeah.
• 13:58
  Don't depend on those, those one or two--
• 14:00
  I like that.
• 14:01
  To make all of the funds.
• 14:02
  Those can be cherry on top.
• 14:04
  I like that.
• 14:04
  All right, Vanessa, we cannot wait to hear where you end up
• 14:07
  landing, how far out people book your space, at what rate it was.
• 14:11
  We will be sure to share that with you, listeners.
• 14:13
  If you would like to have your question answered here on the podcast, just
• 14:17
  like we answered Vanessa's, we do give priority to our HBM members,
• 14:21
  so that's why Vanessa's on today.
• 14:23
  But if we don't have any of our members with a Hosting Hotline question in the
• 14:27
  queue, you can go to thanksforvisiting.me.
• 14:29
  In the upper right-hand corner is a red Ask TFV button, and you can record
• 14:32
  your voice, ask your question, and we will answer it here in the podcast.
• 14:35
  So come hang out with Vanessa because she's got her ticket.
• 14:37
  Colleen is going to be at TFV Con.
• 14:38
  I will be there.
• 14:39
  What's the code, Annette, that's going right now?
• 14:41
  PODCAST.
• 14:42
  Use the code PODCAST.
• 14:43
  PODCAST gets you a discount.
• 14:44
  All right.
• 14:45
  With that, I'm Sarah Karakaian.
• 14:46
  I'm Annette Grant.
• 14:47
  And together we are--
• 14:48
  Thanks for Visiting.
• 14:49
  Talk to you next time.