Latest / Host Planet: Airbnb, Holiday Let, and Vacation Rental Insights / Under-Promise, Over-Deliver: The STR Strategy Behind Serenbe's 5-Star Reputation

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Under-Promise, Over-Deliver: The STR Strategy Behind Serenbe's 5-Star Reputation · 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. In this special series, we're
• 0:06
  sitting down with 30 of the world's top property managers to
• 0:10
  uncover what really drives success in the vacation rental
• 0:13
  industry. You'll hear their stories, learn
• 0:16
  the key lessons they've picked up along the way, and discover
• 0:19
  the game changing tech they use to deliver 5 star guest
• 0:22
  experiences. If you're serious about growing
• 0:25
  your STR business, you're in the right place.
• 0:28
  We've also developed an ebook featuring the stories of every
• 0:31
  manager in this series, and you can download it for free at the
• 0:35
  Houseplanet dot Club to find out more.
• 0:38
  In today's episode, we're chatting to Micah Adler from the
• 0:41
  Serenbee Wellness community located near Atlanta, GA Stand
• 0:45
  by for a deep dive into exceptional guest communication,
• 0:49
  reconnecting with nature, and how short term rentals can be
• 0:52
  the ultimate sales tactic in the real estate business.
• 1:01
  This special series is brought to you by Host Planet and
• 1:04
  Hospitable, the smart AI powered property management software
• 1:08
  trusted by hosts worldwide. With Hospitable, you can
• 1:11
  automate guest messaging, sync calendars across platforms and
• 1:15
  manage your rentals with ease, all from one powerful, easy to
• 1:19
  use platform. If you're keen to run your short
• 1:22
  term rental on autopilot, try Hospitable today.
• 1:25
  Visit hospitable.com forward slash planet to see how the
• 1:29
  platform can save you time, reduce stress, and maximize your
• 1:33
  earnings. Micah, thank you for being part
• 1:35
  of the House Planet Playbook. Let's start with you.
• 1:37
  What's the name of your company, Where are you located, and how
• 1:41
  many rentals do you manage? The name of our company is
• 1:44
  Serenbe Property Management. We're located right on the
• 1:48
  outskirts of the Atlanta metropolitan area in a community
• 1:52
  called Serenbe, which is a Wellness community that was
• 1:55
  founded right around 2004. And we have about 121 properties
• 2:00
  that we're leasing of which we've managed about 32 to 35 and
• 2:05
  then we have 21 short term rentals.
• 2:08
  So tell us, how did you get involved in the world of short
• 2:11
  term rentals? We have in our Wellness
• 2:14
  community a number of people that love to come down to this
• 2:16
  area and kind of visit. And sometimes they'll come for
• 2:21
  leisure, other times they'll come and have a work retreat
• 2:24
  here. And oftentimes people want to
• 2:27
  stay a little bit longer just because they feel relaxed in the
• 2:29
  community and there's a lot of amenities for them to enjoy.
• 2:33
  It's a it's intersection between human community but also
• 2:38
  interacting with nature. And so people ended up wanting
• 2:42
  and asking to stay a little bit longer sometimes and wanted a
• 2:47
  short term rental experience. So we started semi property
• 2:51
  management to attempt to capture some of that demand.
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  Fantastic. So tell us then, what are some
• 2:58
  of the unique challenges and opportunities in the location
• 3:03
  where you operate? I think some of the challenges
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  are definitely that we are kind of in a rural area, so we're
• 3:14
  definitely not in a metropolitan setting.
• 3:16
  And when you are in a more rural area, it's a little bit harder
• 3:20
  to attract, you know, talent that we can bring in and help
• 3:25
  manage, you know, the vendors and plumbers and electricians
• 3:29
  and handy people that we could employ.
• 3:32
  It's a little bit harder to maintain some of those, but that
• 3:35
  also creates an opportunity for us to create a community of
• 3:39
  different vendors that we can work with to help, you know,
• 3:41
  maintain and build our short term rental situation.
• 3:47
  Since you started Short Term Rental Property Management, what
• 3:51
  have been your biggest lessons learned?
• 3:53
  I think the biggest lesson learned is how to under promise
• 3:57
  and over deliver on a regular basis.
• 3:59
  And that is either with prospective guests, with owners
• 4:06
  or with vendors and making sure that we're over communicate at
• 4:10
  over communicating at every intersection possible to make
• 4:14
  sure that everybody understands what the expectations are.
• 4:17
  Everybody understands what the what the expectations are not
• 4:23
  sometimes are equally as important as what to expect on
• 4:26
  the positive side. And as we navigate each one of
• 4:31
  those, making sure that we're over communicating and setting
• 4:34
  clear goals for each one of those, you know key stakeholders
• 4:38
  as they experience the the rental.
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  What are your top three tips for delivering an outstanding guest
• 4:44
  experience? Really good clear communication.
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  So having prompt response when people are engaging, you know,
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  because we know that there's a window that kind of opens where
• 4:55
  somebody's excited about potentially engaging in on a
• 5:00
  vacation rental or or a rental when they're in the moment and
• 5:04
  they're trying to find a in our situation, we sometimes have
• 5:08
  retreats for businesses that will come down.
• 5:10
  And if we need to make sure that it, when people are researching
• 5:14
  those things and asking questions that were available to
• 5:16
  respond quickly and promptly. So good clear communication in a
• 5:21
  timely manner is really, really important.
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  I'd say that's number one, building building structure.
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  So making sure that we've operationalized what, what the
• 5:33
  steps are for securing a rental, for advertising a rental, for
• 5:36
  securing a rental, and then following up afterwards to make
• 5:39
  sure that we understand the impacts that it had on the
• 5:41
  property. And, and then #3 in terms of
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  tips is making sure that we have like a really clear
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  understanding of what the software systems are that we're
• 5:55
  using to help facilitate that structure that we've
• 5:58
  established. So we're operationalizing things
• 6:01
  and defining it and, you know, using an operations manual.
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  So everybody knows exactly what those steps are and what the
• 6:07
  guidelines are for working efficiently and working smarter,
• 6:11
  not harder along the way. And then what tools do we use in
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  Step 3 to help facilitate that business plan that we have to
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  help achieve the goals not only of the business, but the goals
• 6:23
  of the tenant when they come down or the guests when they
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  come down, to make sure that they're having a delightful
• 6:28
  experience. But also the vendors that we're
• 6:31
  working with, because we're only as good as the vendors that
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  we're creating a community with and making sure that they're
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  adhering to the standards that we define in our operations
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  manual. So we have the policies and
• 6:43
  procedures and then we need to have the software to make sure
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  that we can carry out those policies and procedures.
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  What do you think makes your brand stand out?
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  I think that over communicating, you know, as much as possible.
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  So I think that making sure that we're again, delighting the the
• 7:02
  guest that's coming. So whatever their expectation
• 7:05
  is, it's a little bit higher. Their actual experience is a
• 7:09
  little bit higher than what their expectation is that they
• 7:12
  come and they they have, they feel safe and comfortable and
• 7:14
  enjoy the property that they're experiencing.
• 7:18
  And so that's on kind of the, the guest side.
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  And then on the owner side, what helps us stand out is making
• 7:25
  sure that we have good clear communication both in
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  communicating any issues the property to make sure that
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  again, we're maximizing revenue to the owner, but also
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  preserving equity. You know, making sure that all
• 7:37
  the things that we need to get done for the property to
• 7:39
  preserve their equity is being done on a regular basis.
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  If there's any issues, we're over communicating those things
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  on a regular basis and then with the vendors that we create a
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  really enjoyable work experience when engaging with vendors and
• 7:54
  our staff that we have at Serenbe Property Management.
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  So creating that culture is a really important element to make
• 8:01
  sure that when people come and engage with Serenbe Property
• 8:04
  Management, that they feel energized and appreciate the
• 8:07
  vision that we have, which is essentially at Sarah B.
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  That if you come and you stay at Sarah B and you experience the,
• 8:14
  you experience it either as a vacation rental or you're
• 8:18
  experiencing it on business retreat, the chances of you may
• 8:21
  be buying a house down the road increases exponentially in order
• 8:26
  of magnitude because you kind of date ceremony a little bit
• 8:29
  before you buy ceremony. So it's actually a really
• 8:32
  amazing lead generator. We're about 550 homes that have
• 8:37
  been purchased, 550 rooftops that have been completed so far
• 8:40
  and developed and built. And when it's done, it's going
• 8:44
  to be 1500. So our short term rental program
• 8:47
  is really important to make sure that people kind of get a first
• 8:51
  hand experience and have a top class experience while they're
• 8:55
  doing it to get an understanding of whether they want to move
• 8:59
  here or not. And our brand needs to stand out
• 9:03
  to accomplish that. Yeah, interesting.
• 9:05
  So the short term rental is kind of the the taster environment
• 9:08
  before you potentially go and and purchase the the property.
• 9:12
  You talk there a little bit about the culture that you're
• 9:15
  creating at Serenbe. I'm sure there's a lot of
• 9:19
  businesses out there, property management businesses and other
• 9:22
  STR businesses who are keen to develop a really strong company
• 9:26
  culture. How is that something that
• 9:29
  you've developed? I think it's it's finding skill
• 9:35
  sets of, you know, I think we got to cast the vision right.
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  The the vision is at Sarah B. We want to get to to 1500 homes
• 9:43
  that are completed, right? That's the main goal.
• 9:46
  And that's the vision that every day we wake up trying to figure
• 9:48
  out, OK, how do we get a complete our community that
• 9:52
  we're developing over time. So we have to cast the vision
• 9:55
  and then we have to figure out, all right, what are the the
• 9:57
  steps that we need to take to help accomplish that vision?
• 10:00
  And one of those vision, one of those steps is obviously to
• 10:04
  create a short term rental opportunity for people to date
• 10:06
  it and experience it and make sure that it's a good
• 10:09
  experience. And then making sure within that
• 10:11
  we find employees that appreciate what not only that
• 10:15
  overall vision of Cerebee is that they appreciate the felt,
• 10:18
  the fact that it's a Wellness community, that we're doing
• 10:20
  something a little bit different and interaction between humans
• 10:23
  and nature, biophilic elements that are a part of that.
• 10:27
  Finding employees that appreciate that, but also are
• 10:30
  energized by working with guests, you know, over over
• 10:35
  communicating, under promising and over delivering at every
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  corner when we can. Are energized by, you know,
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  geeking out on software and figuring out how to
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  operationalize and, and make things more efficient.
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  Are excited about growth in terms of like, you know, every
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  problem is an opportunity, right?
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  And realizing that if you do have a problem, it's a good
• 10:56
  problem to have because that means that you are growing and
• 11:01
  you have a, you would have an opportunity to figure out how to
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  conquer the kind of the next chapter as we cross the chasm,
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  you know, the bell curve of growth and getting people
• 11:12
  aligned with all those elements, right?
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  So with the vision, overall vision and specifically at
• 11:19
  Stanbury Property Management, what we're trying to accomplish
• 11:21
  to accomplish that overall vision and that they're
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  energized by the tasks that are required in order to accomplish
• 11:29
  each one of those steps. So it's kind of like a balanced
• 11:31
  scorecard, you know, so you have your overall goal and then you
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  have each individual contributor to making sure that those
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  contributions that are made are having a significant impact in
• 11:41
  accomplishing that overall goal of the of the practice.
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  In the future, when you potentially have all 1500
• 11:49
  properties built and filled, will there always be room for
• 11:52
  vacation rentals at Serembi? Is that the plan?
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  Yes, we will always have opportunities for come for
• 12:00
  people to come and experience there and be.
• 12:02
  It's a, it's a different way of life.
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  It's the the sense of community, it's a sense of place.
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  It's a, it's a sense of being in nature.
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  And folks kind of feel like their shoulders come down when
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  they step into there and be. We have a lot of elements that
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  are just very different than what you experience in a city
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  from an architectural standpoint, but also from a
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  landscaping and environmental standpoint for folks to come and
• 12:31
  experience it and have made an international name for ourselves
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  based upon that. And so there's it's become a
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  destination Wellness community internationally.
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  And who is Cerem B for? And if somebody approached you
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  and said, I want to emulate what you're doing, what would your
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  tips be to them? I'd say Cerem B is for anybody
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  who is, who's interested in really having a deeper
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  connection to your neighbors and to nature.
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  So we're not a suburban development on the, you know,
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  outskirts of a big metropolitan area where a Wellness community
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  that's built within nature, respecting where nature is.
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  And so if you want to be social, you walk out your front door and
• 13:27
  you're connected through, you know, the streets and the
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  sidewalks. If you want to have a little bit
• 13:34
  more reflective time to yourself and get centered and do some
• 13:37
  forest bathing and be practice a little mindfulness in the woods,
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  then you can walk out your back door and it's connected to over,
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  you know, 38 to 45 miles of soft paved trails that weave through
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  natural elements. So I think there's it's a wide
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  range of folks that appreciate that sometimes living in cities,
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  people get into their car in their garage, they drive to work
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  inside a garage and then go up an elevator and they sit, you
• 14:10
  know, at a cubicle or a desk or an office and then come back
• 14:13
  into their garage and drive home and go back into their house in
• 14:16
  their garage. And don't really engage with the
• 14:19
  community that's around them and sometimes don't know their
• 14:21
  neighbors as well as they do or as well as they would like to.
• 14:26
  And So what we're trying to do at Serenbe is create an
• 14:29
  environment where folks can totally engage with their
• 14:32
  neighbors in a natural way. So there's little things that
• 14:36
  we've done such as we've pulled all the porches close to the
• 14:40
  sidewalks. So it kind of forces is a
• 14:42
  natural forcing function for social engagement.
• 14:45
  You don't have a mailbox at your house.
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  You have a male house, which forces folks to see each other
• 14:51
  at the male house and engage. You're not allowed to have grass
• 14:54
  in your front yard, but we have dog parks and fields where kids
• 14:59
  can play and engage after school at 3:00 where you know, you ring
• 15:03
  the the dinner bell and you're able to come home.
• 15:05
  But you don't necessarily have to worry about where your kids
• 15:08
  are. And you go and, and socialize in
• 15:11
  the dog park area where where you see grass.
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  So it's, it's a, it's a different way of thinking.
• 15:17
  And it's kind of goes back to how it used to be, you know,
• 15:21
  like in the 1940s and 20s and late 1800s where we didn't have
• 15:26
  necessarily as much social media and screens and everything else.
• 15:30
  And we're trying to re engage based upon what it means to be
• 15:35
  connected to humans and be connected to nature and how
• 15:38
  important that is for the soul to have that connection in that
• 15:42
  way. And so we're trying to that's
• 15:45
  usually the folks that are the most energized by being here are
• 15:48
  those folks. And in terms of tips and tricks
• 15:53
  for recreating a ceremony, I think we've really respected the
• 15:58
  land that we're on. We're on, we're in about 2000
• 16:02
  acres is ceremony on the whole, but we've rezoned 45,000 acres.
• 16:08
  That ceremony is a part of where that of the 45,000 acres, you
• 16:14
  can only develop on 30%. So it's 70% protected green
• 16:20
  space. And if you own 10 acres of the
• 16:22
  land, for example, you have transferred development rights,
• 16:25
  which they're called, which allow you to only build on three
• 16:29
  of those 10 acres. But if you want to trade one of
• 16:31
  those acres to your neighbor and give one of your transfer
• 16:35
  development rights to one of them, you can swap that acreage
• 16:38
  out and give them permission to grow on.
• 16:41
  So the whole idea is we don't care how you get there in terms
• 16:45
  of the 7030, but you're always going to have at least 70% of
• 16:50
  the 45,000 acres that is in Chattahoochee Hills where
• 16:54
  Serenbe resides. That's going to be in a
• 16:58
  conservation easement. A lot of other cities have heard
• 17:01
  that we're doing this and that we were able to figure it out.
• 17:04
  And big nod does Steve Nygren and Garni Nygren, who are the
• 17:07
  founders of Serenbe, who helped facilitate that in the zoning
• 17:11
  laws in Chattahoochee Hills. And a lot of folks are, are
• 17:15
  starting to think about it like, OK, you know, this we, we got
• 17:19
  this idea from Boulder County because between Boulder and
• 17:23
  Denver, you know, the area was just becoming suburban
• 17:26
  development all the way through. And every single house was
• 17:28
  cookie cutter across the way. And everybody had a big yard and
• 17:32
  people didn't know their neighbors.
• 17:33
  And it was becoming an issue to the point where Boulder County
• 17:36
  actually instituted for the first time in the US this 7030
• 17:40
  rule. Then we adopted it.
• 17:42
  And now all these other cities are doing it across the country.
• 17:45
  And we're hearing that they're doing it in other countries as
• 17:47
  well. And then within that, you know,
• 17:50
  from a architectural standpoint, it has to be interesting, right?
• 17:55
  You it has to be diverse, but it has to fit together.
• 17:58
  So when folks are building new communities, making sure that
• 18:01
  the the rooftops are aligned when you're going down the
• 18:04
  street, that it's not like a huge, massive, you know, estate
• 18:09
  house and then the next house is a small condo, you know, making
• 18:13
  sure that it's easy on the eye as you're navigating through the
• 18:15
  community. So you experience the aesthetic
• 18:19
  beauty of the community, but you also experience the human
• 18:23
  connection between human to human, but also human to nature.
• 18:28
  All those things are very energized for people when they
• 18:30
  come down here and are are good tips to consider as you're
• 18:34
  navigating recreating it. Fascinating.
• 18:39
  It sounds pretty idyllic I I must admit.
• 18:43
  Back to hosting then, Short term rental.
• 18:45
  So what do you love most about hosting?
• 18:49
  I think everybody on our team would agree on this, that
• 18:52
  hosting gives us an opportunity to meet people.
• 18:55
  And it's pretty you, you engage and get to meet such interesting
• 19:01
  people from different walks of life that have come from
• 19:03
  different social, economic, racial, ethnic backgrounds and
• 19:09
  hear their story and how they got to ceremony.
• 19:11
  And then also get to see what their experience is when they're
• 19:14
  here and, and watch them kind of thaw a little bit and being in
• 19:18
  the community where they're all sometimes really uptight and
• 19:21
  wound up. And by day three, they kind of
• 19:24
  come out and their shoulders are a little bit more relaxed,
• 19:26
  they're a little bit more centered, and they can't wait to
• 19:28
  come back. Watching that transformation for
• 19:31
  anyone to come through stair and be like that is pretty impactful
• 19:35
  and very rewarding and reinforcing to engage with the
• 19:38
  next, you know, guest that comes through the door.
• 19:42
  I think all those things are really rewarding and are
• 19:45
  energizing to kind of see the next guest and make sure that
• 19:48
  they're having a delightful experience along the way and to
• 19:52
  make sure that they're hopefully telling other folks about their
• 19:55
  experience and what they experienced from a bio
• 19:59
  psychosocial perspective. Internally and when they left
• 20:04
  and how important it was for their stay and how we
• 20:06
  contributed to that if we could. Fantastic.
• 20:10
  OK then Michael, we've got a few more quick fire questions now.
• 20:13
  Which PMS do you use? We use hospitable.
• 20:17
  Tell us about Hospitable. How's that helped you to grow
• 20:20
  your business? So I would say Hospitable is a
• 20:24
  unique software program that was recommended to us by another
• 20:30
  practice or another short term rental outfit in Minnesota that
• 20:37
  was using it. And I think what we've
• 20:41
  appreciated about the experience with Hospitable is that it's
• 20:44
  very forward thinking. It's very dynamic.
• 20:47
  It's a very modern user interface that is very
• 20:50
  influenced by AI. So and, and the new features
• 20:56
  that they come out with are meeting us where we are.
• 21:02
  It's not like we're coming up with new ideas and expressing
• 21:07
  them to hospitable. They're constantly taking
• 21:11
  surveys. Their employees are meeting with
• 21:14
  subject matter experts all throughout the country, whether
• 21:18
  that's in accounting or whether that's in reservation, whether
• 21:21
  that's in communication style and approach, using different
• 21:25
  languages, connecting with other vendors such as, you know, how
• 21:30
  are we going to do our turns for our cleaning service?
• 21:34
  And we don't want to have to use another system that's not
• 21:36
  integrated. They're already integrated with
• 21:39
  a, a platform that will allow that to happen.
• 21:42
  So they're forward thinking in a lot of ways and meet us exactly
• 21:46
  where we are based upon the challenges that we're having
• 21:48
  today. And sometimes they're already
• 21:50
  thinking about the challenges that we're going to have
• 21:52
  tomorrow and the next month or a year from now.
• 21:56
  And that's, that's what a partnership should be, right?
• 21:59
  It's not, it shouldn't be stagnant and just day one and be
• 22:02
  a, a lagging indicator of what is needed.
• 22:05
  It's actually a lot of leading indicators.
• 22:08
  And we appreciate that because that's, that's a company that we
• 22:10
  can grow with, that we can prosper with and create a
• 22:13
  burgeoning business with knowing that they're doing cutting edge
• 22:17
  things with technology. That's very forward thinking.
• 22:21
  Fantastic. Which dynamic pricing tool do
• 22:24
  you use? We use a little, a couple
• 22:26
  different dynamic pricing models.
• 22:28
  So sometimes we use Airbnb, sometimes we use hospitable
• 22:33
  because we're in a rural market. It's a little bit different, you
• 22:36
  know, because we have a, you know the prices within our
• 22:40
  little cluster of Sarah B are sometimes a little bit higher
• 22:44
  than the zip code around us. So we have to be smart and
• 22:48
  nimble and understand what that dynamic pricing structure would
• 22:51
  be. We appreciate actually that
• 22:54
  hospital budget came out with a new dynamic pricing model that
• 22:58
  we've been testing a little bit and we'll see how accurate that
• 23:01
  is for our kind of rural market to have a kind of a high end
• 23:06
  community within the rural setting.
• 23:09
  Which piece of tech couldn't you live without?
• 23:12
  I think the piece of technology that we couldn't live without is
• 23:17
  the the connection to the schlog encode system, which is the door
• 23:24
  lock. Because that gives Peace of Mind
• 23:27
  to the owners that a a new lock is being sent out right at the
• 23:30
  time of check out. And it's a good forcing function
• 23:33
  if somebody is checking out late that they need to pay a little
• 23:36
  bit more money if they want to do a late check out.
• 23:38
  So there's more revenue to the owner if that happens.
• 23:42
  And then we also don't have to navigate and worry about a new
• 23:47
  code being sent to the guest the morning of their arrival.
• 23:51
  And it simplifies, it simplifies the entire life cycle for the
• 23:55
  guest. We know that there's also new
• 23:59
  technology that's coming out with integrating the thermostat
• 24:03
  as well. A lot of owners say, how come,
• 24:06
  you know, the thermostat's down to 65° and we have a geothermal
• 24:09
  heating and cooling system that essentially breaks when that
• 24:12
  happens. So we're looking forward to
• 24:14
  exploring the thermostat integration as well to prevent
• 24:18
  folks from turning thermostats down too low, but also restoring
• 24:22
  it back to, you know, 72 to 70° when Fahrenheit when the guests
• 24:28
  leave to help make sure that we're preserving and reducing
• 24:34
  and minimizing as much as we can electricity bills to the owner.
• 24:38
  In an ideal world, allowing pets yes or no?
• 24:42
  Always no in terms of preserving equity of the property, but
• 24:48
  always yes in terms of maximizing revenue to the owner.
• 24:51
  Same question but for hot tubs. Yes or no?
• 24:55
  Same answer, making sure that guests aren't abusing
• 25:01
  temperature control where they go in and they dial it up to
• 25:04
  100°F and then leave it on all night.
• 25:09
  And not having controls to prevent the owner from having
• 25:13
  too much financial hardship as a result of some silly decision
• 25:19
  making by some guests. And but it is nice because it's
• 25:25
  another amenity that you can add that not only creates a point of
• 25:29
  separation from a competitive standpoint to other bookings
• 25:33
  that folks could engage in. Because if you have a hot tub
• 25:35
  and other folks don't, it's the middle of winter.
• 25:37
  It's a nice option to offer folks, but also it will allow us
• 25:43
  to have a higher night revenue, average revenue per night for
• 25:48
  each guest day. Ideally self check in or
• 25:52
  personal welcome. Self check in with a lot of
• 25:56
  gates, so making sure that the guests have a really clear
• 26:01
  understanding what the rules are and what happens when you break
• 26:05
  the rules across the board and what the consequences are and
• 26:08
  that we over communicate that to guests.
• 26:10
  I think there's, there's a little bit of sensitivity with
• 26:13
  that, right, Because if you over communicate to a guest and end
• 26:17
  up having, you know, 18 bullet points, will they actually read,
• 26:22
  you know, all those requirements?
• 26:23
  You know, we know when we've experienced this, that they have
• 26:28
  that guests have rule fatigue, meaning they'll, there's too
• 26:32
  many rules. They'll, it'll, they'll gloss
• 26:34
  over and sometimes only capture like the first couple rules that
• 26:37
  are on there. So being aware and sensitive to,
• 26:41
  OK, what are the most important rules to have for self check in
• 26:44
  to, to make sure that they know that we're aware of how
• 26:50
  important it is for them to be safe as guests in the property,
• 26:53
  to enjoy the property. But that we're also airtight and
• 26:58
  how we look at how they treat the property and that it will be
• 27:01
  inspected and you know, they'll be financial consequences if
• 27:04
  there's any issues with the property upon their departure.
• 27:08
  So it's kind of a healthy synthesis between defining what
• 27:11
  the rules are, being mindful of how much we how much content we
• 27:15
  have in there, and then also making sure that they feel like
• 27:20
  they're not being watched at all times.
• 27:22
  Telephone call or AI response? Telephone call always when
• 27:29
  things are escalated. I think it's really easy to say
• 27:33
  whatever you want to AI and and then not worry about what the
• 27:38
  ramifications are. But it's really hard to say
• 27:41
  something to another human. I think it's human nature not to
• 27:47
  feel that way. So when things are escalated or
• 27:51
  there needs to be a serious conversation about an issue with
• 27:55
  the property, always phone call. But if there's, you know, a
• 27:59
  question about where's the additional laundry detergent?
• 28:04
  And then we can use an AI tool within hospitable to say it's
• 28:08
  always going to be to the right of the dishwasher in the cabinet
• 28:12
  and there's always going to be two pods that are available to
• 28:15
  you. Should you need more than two
• 28:16
  pods, there's a grocery store for you to access that should
• 28:20
  you need it. So it's really nice to have AI
• 28:23
  tool for lower escalated items and then for higher escalated
• 28:28
  items that we have a. Phone call What's your most
• 28:32
  memorable hosting moment? Positive or negative?
• 28:36
  You decide. I'll start and then Jordan will
• 28:39
  give me a little some more editorial.
• 28:41
  All right. My most memorable hosting moment
• 28:46
  was being really clear that no parties were allowed at a
• 28:52
  property and defining that explicitly in the rules on both
• 28:59
  and how we advertise it for a short term rental.
• 29:02
  But then also as a reminder when they got the messaging, when
• 29:06
  they booked and when they checked in.
• 29:08
  So three different reminders that you know, X number of
• 29:12
  people maximum are allowed in the property and no parties are
• 29:15
  allowed unless approved by the owner.
• 29:18
  And when you stumble on a party at a property after you know
• 29:23
  that you've been explicitly clear that it's not allowed and
• 29:27
  you feel like how a parent childhood and a parent coming
• 29:35
  home and those those classic stories of breaking up a party
• 29:39
  when parents are out of town, but you're doing it with adults.
• 29:44
  And so you just look at everybody inside the house and
• 29:47
  everybody just looks so guilty. They're dripping.
• 29:50
  They're dripping with with shame and knowing that they read at
• 29:55
  least some of those things. And the, the instant that a
• 29:59
  human has to go in and break something up like that, and the
• 30:02
  stark transition between the, how much fun they were having
• 30:06
  thinking they were getting away with it, and then making the
• 30:09
  transition to breaking things down and transitioning out.
• 30:13
  I think that kind of stands out to me.
• 30:16
  But I think my my other most favorable moment is the quality
• 30:22
  of human interactions and what it means to interact with people
• 30:25
  and hear their story and where they've come from, where they've
• 30:28
  been, where they are today and where they're going and how our
• 30:32
  short term rental is a part of their journey.
• 30:35
  And that's just that's rewarding for me to be a part of that and
• 30:39
  hear that story and creating a little bit of a community and
• 30:43
  culture within our short term rental community.
• 30:46
  To hear that and to have those people come back is very, very
• 30:50
  rewarding. You know that we had, they had
• 30:53
  such a delightful experience, not only in our beautiful
• 30:56
  bucolic Serenbe community, but had a such a delightful
• 31:00
  experience in terms of how we hosted them.
• 31:03
  And, you know, whether it's birthday gatherings or we've
• 31:07
  heard of people having proposals, we've heard of people
• 31:11
  figuring out that they're, you know, engaged in having babies,
• 31:15
  you know, monumental experiences all the way to just a really
• 31:19
  great Friday, Saturday night, getting away and feeling
• 31:22
  rejuvenated when they go back to their their lives after being in
• 31:27
  our short term rental, Hearing those stories and having those
• 31:29
  people come back is really is really rewarding.
• 31:35
  Shout out time Now then, is there somebody in the short term
• 31:38
  rentals industry that you'd like to give a shout out to and why?
• 31:43
  Yeah, I think Jordan Mosley, who's my Sarah B property
• 31:47
  management manager and Itzel Mendez, who runs most of the
• 31:52
  property management elements have really architected a lot of
• 31:57
  the short term rental infrastructure to help
• 31:59
  facilitate all the guests that have come to Sarah B And then
• 32:04
  Steve Nygren and Garni Nygren, who helped develop the
• 32:08
  community. So they helped create the
• 32:10
  product and then Jordan and it'll help create the structure
• 32:15
  and the operations to make sure that we have accommodations for
• 32:19
  guests that could be able to come down and stay.
• 32:22
  And between those two, it's been a fun intersection for me to
• 32:26
  live in between to see it kind of come to life.
• 32:30
  And when we started this about at least with the the short term
• 32:36
  rental element, we've you know, we're at about 21 right now and
• 32:39
  that was about two years ago that we're at 0.
• 32:43
  And so we've we've grown kind of exponentially over the time.
• 32:47
  And then leasing, we were at probably 20 when I first started
• 32:52
  about 3 years ago and now we're at 121 and we managed probably 3
• 32:57
  or 4 properties and now we're at 32.
• 33:00
  So the vision of Sarah B create the product of being able to
• 33:05
  actually create a short term rental experience and then
• 33:07
  having a great team. And we'll be hiring more and
• 33:10
  more as we expand. And cuz we'll hopefully have,
• 33:14
  you know, when we're all said and done a couple 100 rental
• 33:18
  properties of which we'll be doing short term rentals for and
• 33:23
  and also a shout out to hospitable, which I think it's
• 33:27
  been a critical component that has helped facilitate our
• 33:32
  growth, right. So you're only a company is only
• 33:36
  as good as the vision, the employees that are there, the
• 33:40
  vendors that are a part of it and then you know, the software
• 33:43
  solutions that you can partner with to help facilitate the
• 33:45
  growth. Final question then, Micah,
• 33:48
  what's the ultimate goal for your short term rental business?
• 33:52
  The ultimate goal is that folks hopefully have such a delightful
• 33:58
  experience, both with their short term rental experience and
• 34:03
  engaging within the community that they're excited to be a
• 34:08
  part of the community long term. And that they want to buy a
• 34:12
  property here and help fulfill our dream of getting to 1500
• 34:17
  rooftops built in the community when that's when the community
• 34:21
  will kind of be finished for the most part.
• 34:25
  And right now we're at about 550.
• 34:27
  So we're about 1/3 of the way there.
• 34:30
  And so the dream is that the short term rental experience
• 34:33
  will help facilitate that. And then once Ceramby is
• 34:37
  completely built out with, you know, around 1500 rooftops that
• 34:42
  people continue to come here and feel rejuvenated and having
• 34:46
  positive biophilic interactions with folks in nature that is
• 34:52
  rejuvenating and helpful for them and wherever they are in
• 34:55
  their in their life. Super Micah, thank you so much
• 34:59
  for sharing your story and for being part of the Host Planet
• 35:02
  Playbook. Thank you so much, James for
• 35:04
  having us. Big shout out to Host Planet.
• 35:06
  We appreciate everything you're doing to help get the word out
• 35:10
  for short term rental community and what we're trying to
• 35:13
  accomplish at Sandy Property Management.
• 35:16
  All right, that's it for today's episode.
• 35:17
  My thanks to Micah for sharing his journey and for being part
• 35:21
  of the House Planet playbook. Remember, this series is brought
• 35:24
  to you in partnership with Hospitable, the all in one
• 35:27
  property management software designed to save you time and
• 35:30
  help your business thrive. Hospitable automates your guest
• 35:33
  messaging, syncs your calendars across platforms, handles team
• 35:37
  tasks and so much more. So you can focus on delivering a
• 35:41
  top notch guest experience or just get some of your time back.
• 35:45
  And here's the good news. House Planet Playbook listeners
• 35:48
  get an exclusive 14 day free trial, plus 25% off for the
• 35:52
  first three months. Head to
• 35:54
  hospitable.com/houseplanet to claim your offer and start
• 35:58
  running your rentals on autopilot.
• 36:01
  For more free education for vacation rental hosts, head to
• 36:04
  Houseplanet dot Club where you can sign up for our newsletter,
• 36:07
  listen to our podcasts, and download our suite of ebooks.
• 36:11
  Until next time, happy hosting.