Latest / Host Planet: Airbnb, Holiday Let, and Vacation Rental Insights / Cut Energy Costs and Enhance Guest Experience with resicentral

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Cut Energy Costs and Enhance Guest Experience with resicentral · Host Planet: Airbnb, Holiday Let, and Vacation Rental Insights

• 0:00
  Hello and welcome to Houseplanet Bite Size, the podcast brought
• 0:03
  to you by Houseplanet and Housefully.
• 0:06
  My name's James Farley, the founder of Houseplanet, and our
• 0:08
  goal is to share everything you need to know about buying and
• 0:11
  managing short term rentals. Today's guest is Suzanne
• 0:14
  Luscombe from Rezi Central and she's got 5 tips to share on how
• 0:18
  smart home tech can supercharge operational efficiency and cut
• 0:22
  your energy bills by more than 30%.
• 0:26
  OK, we'll talk now for all you hosts out there.
• 0:28
  You know that moment when your guest messages you again with
• 0:32
  hey, what's the Wi-Fi code? Or you're staring at 5 different
• 0:35
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• 0:39
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• 0:42
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• 0:51
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• 0:55
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• 0:59
  that stop all the repeat questions.
• 1:01
  Honestly, it just makes your life easier and keeps your
• 1:05
  guests happier, helping you achieve those all important five
• 1:09
  star reviews. And here is a little bonus.
• 1:12
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• 1:15
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  And if you'd like a proper walkthrough, there's also a link
• 1:34
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  He will show you how it all works.
• 1:39
  Less stress, more bookings, sorted with Postfully.
• 1:50
  Suzanne, thank you for joining us on House Planet Bite Size.
• 1:53
  You've got 5 tips to share on how we can improve operational
• 1:58
  efficiency at short term rentals.
• 2:00
  So take it away with tip #1. Tip #1 really look at how you
• 2:05
  can save money but avoid any issues with guest comfort
• 2:10
  because I think those are always the two conflicting things that
• 2:13
  how do I save money, but how does it not become an issue to
• 2:17
  the guests. So from our stance, it's really
• 2:20
  looking at that smart technology piece and ensuring that things
• 2:23
  can be done in the background. Not secretly because it's not
• 2:26
  there to invade on privacy, but to make sure the guest is none
• 2:30
  the wiser. But everything can be automated,
• 2:32
  making sure that your teams are completely hands off, but you
• 2:35
  see the money savings which are coming through.
• 2:38
  So when we say money savings, what exactly are we talking
• 2:41
  about? Smart technology, so using smart
• 2:44
  occupancy detection to know when guests are in and out of the
• 2:47
  property to ensure that things aren't just being left on or
• 2:50
  actually between stays. Cleaners are great at coming in
• 2:53
  and doing great jobs, but they're also really great at
• 2:55
  leaving heated tower rails on and heating to turn up high.
• 2:58
  So from our perspective, if you've got a way of actually
• 3:00
  automating everything but actually knows if someones there
• 3:04
  or not or if there's a booking or not, that can then actually
• 3:06
  reduce money in the background without anybody being number
• 3:09
  wiser. Yeah, it's, it is a huge issue.
• 3:12
  I mean, I see this at mine sometimes.
• 3:14
  I've I've walked into my rental and it's been absolutely red
• 3:17
  hot. And obviously the heating has
• 3:20
  been on for ages and I've even have guests say, how do I turn
• 3:23
  this down? It's it's it's red hot.
• 3:26
  So do you have any, I don't know, like stats or figures from
• 3:30
  people kind of a before and after they start using this kind
• 3:33
  of technology? What we've seen is around a 32%
• 3:37
  saving which is pretty massive. And I think that there is is a
• 3:41
  double edged sword because sometimes operationally you go
• 3:43
  into a property to get it ready for a guest and it's a cold
• 3:46
  winter's day. So you might whack up the
• 3:48
  heating and the guests might check in, not check in for two
• 3:51
  or three hours. And actually that kind of
• 3:53
  temperature can get quite intense.
• 3:55
  Or the other way you might have a guest in situ who turns it up
• 3:58
  because guess what, they've paid an all inclusive rate and then
• 4:00
  they go off for the day. And then in between that, as I
• 4:03
  said, you kind of got cleaners popping in or out or things just
• 4:05
  get left on. So from our perspective,
• 4:07
  actually an average of a 32% saving is massive, but also it's
• 4:11
  that guest guest comfort piece making sure that also then
• 4:15
  overheating. So for us, if you can automate
• 4:17
  it for using kind of iCal information, actually knowing
• 4:20
  when someone is going to check in and perhaps they're going to
• 4:23
  be running two hours late. And I don't know about you,
• 4:25
  James, but quite often part of the check in process, people are
• 4:28
  asked, what time are you checking in?
• 4:30
  And I always ask, well, how useful is that information?
• 4:33
  Because what are you using it for?
• 4:35
  Now in the case which we use you really like as an example is why
• 4:38
  don't you use that then to make sure that you're not overheating
• 4:41
  something or sending a team out beforehand?
• 4:43
  So somebody says actually they're checking it at 5:00 or
• 4:45
  6:00. Well, why not go on the system
• 4:48
  and just turn it on then? So it's getting rid of that old
• 4:50
  kind of programming or sending people out on the ground to do
• 4:54
  things and actually listen to what guests want and what would
• 4:57
  work for them, but also as a business, really protecting your
• 4:59
  margins. And that might be able to help
• 5:01
  your cleaning and operations team as well.
• 5:03
  If they know somebody's checking in much later, they can they can
• 5:06
  leave that a couple of hours. Yeah, interesting.
• 5:08
  OK, then. So number one is, is basically
• 5:10
  using smart tech to save money. What's tip #2?
• 5:14
  Well, you just spoke about it. So I think it's a good one to
• 5:16
  move on to, which is smarter housekeeping and void
• 5:19
  management. And I think a lot of the
• 5:22
  businesses that we're involved with, especially some of the
• 5:25
  bigger hotels and apart hotels, as well as obviously individual
• 5:28
  property management companies, what we tend to see is the
• 5:31
  housekeeping is done on, on the routine of someone's checking in
• 5:36
  at 3:00 and they're checking out at 11.
• 5:38
  Well, that's not always the case.
• 5:39
  Actually, somebody can check out early.
• 5:42
  So how do we know that? Or actually someone's checking
• 5:45
  out slightly later, but also to avoid kind of privacy, I think
• 5:49
  often you get people walking through the door and people go,
• 5:51
  oh, sorry, you know, we're still in here.
• 5:54
  But the really nice thing is having smart occupancy.
• 5:56
  You can see all those things, but on the flip side of that is
• 5:59
  void management and from someone who's dealt with a huge amount
• 6:02
  of voids in her time, even with new build homes, who's going to
• 6:06
  go round and check all of those? James, To me it's a huge issue.
• 6:10
  It's time consuming, even down to things like leaks and indoor
• 6:15
  air quality. And there's a lot of technology
• 6:17
  out there at the moment which says it does what it it should
• 6:20
  do on the team, but it doesn't. So for instance, we're looking
• 6:23
  at, well, not looking at, we've evolved kind of like leak
• 6:26
  detection. We actually just turn off the
• 6:28
  water. So if the water flow is over a
• 6:30
  certain amount, actually isolate a valve, right?
• 6:33
  Because that's sitting there void.
• 6:35
  Don't wait for a puddle to appear and make an assumption on
• 6:37
  it or have to have multiple devices around a property.
• 6:40
  So for us, it's really looking after the team.
• 6:42
  And also, I guess the costs, if I'm being honest, like
• 6:45
  operational teams cost huge amounts of money.
• 6:48
  We know that seasonality massively comes into this.
• 6:50
  And we know there's certain times of the year where, you
• 6:53
  know, businesses have to look to cut back.
• 6:55
  But what you want to do is then go, well, how can we do it in a
• 6:57
  smart way? How can we ensure that the
• 6:59
  operations aren't interrupted just because, you know, OK,
• 7:03
  frequency levels are down, but how can we ensure that perhaps
• 7:06
  our own assets or if it's a property manager, our clients
• 7:09
  are well protected. So the void management to us is
• 7:11
  massive. Makes a lot of sense.
• 7:14
  Yeah, Smart housekeeping. And I had something, actually,
• 7:17
  we've had a guy staying with us the last few weeks and he's been
• 7:19
  in Monday to Friday and we've had a few maintenance things to
• 7:23
  deal with and he's always leaving at 8:00 AM.
• 7:25
  And I say, are you leaving at 8:00 AM again?
• 7:26
  Because that's great because we can get in and spend a few hours
• 7:30
  and sort all those jobs out. And that's, you know, basically
• 7:32
  it's just basic communication, isn't it, with the guest.
• 7:34
  But I mean, of course, if you have the smart tech and, you
• 7:37
  know, somebody's gone, then yeah, it just makes it easier
• 7:39
  all round. OK then, Suzanne tip #3.
• 7:43
  Well, again, I feel like you're leading onto these even though
• 7:45
  we haven't rehearsed this. So I would say to speed to
• 7:48
  resolution. So from my personal experience
• 7:51
  and everybody else, one of the hardest things is managing when
• 7:55
  something goes wrong. And it is that communication
• 7:57
  piece. But what I really like now is
• 8:00
  having technology which allows you to triage from a distance.
• 8:04
  So actually having something that you can either be made
• 8:07
  aware of something before the guest is, which is super
• 8:09
  important, even down to the Wi-Fi going offline because we
• 8:13
  know that everybody needs Wi-Fi. I don't know how we ever
• 8:15
  existed, James, about a mobile phone or anything like that.
• 8:18
  But for me, it's the whole point that if somebody does ring up
• 8:21
  that you're not saying, right? Have you tried this?
• 8:23
  Have you tried that and they're going hold on.
• 8:26
  Well, I'm not a bloody boiler, you know, engineer or I'm not an
• 8:29
  electrician, which is half the time how people feel or they've
• 8:32
  arrived late in from somewhere or they're on holiday.
• 8:34
  Really. They're not meant to be an
• 8:36
  extension of your OPS team, right?
• 8:38
  But the other point to is that quite often I found that you
• 8:42
  could tell them what to do, but they don't feel confident in
• 8:45
  doing it. So from our perspective, if you
• 8:47
  can end up with a really good platform that you can dive into
• 8:50
  where you can actually either be made aware before you've touched
• 8:52
  the dashboard that something's wrong, or you can actually say,
• 8:55
  well, I know that the boiler is on.
• 8:58
  I know that the temperature is this.
• 9:00
  You can then actually triage from a distance.
• 9:03
  And the other part is cost, again, James, which I have to
• 9:05
  keep coming back to. And you'll know this every time
• 9:07
  you send somebody out from that operational team to check a
• 9:10
  boiler. It ends up being, well guess
• 9:12
  what? I don't know the levels in the
• 9:14
  boiler needed topping up or guess what, a fuse is spurred in
• 9:18
  the box. Those call out charges cost a
• 9:21
  lot of money and especially property managers, they have to
• 9:24
  put that bill to someone. So what we really like is having
• 9:27
  the advantage of triaging from a distance and then that way
• 9:30
  really cutting back those charges and also the guests
• 9:32
  super happy, right? They go, oh, so how you can tell
• 9:35
  that and we can go, oh, but you can test it.
• 9:38
  Oh, actually the living room light does work, but how amazing
• 9:40
  to be able to say we can do it from a distance or actually we
• 9:43
  know this really is an issue. We'll come now or we'll get that
• 9:46
  dealt with for you. Yeah, very much so.
• 9:49
  And often I find that these issues guests call up and it
• 9:53
  isn't a big issue. It is something really, really
• 9:56
  simple. So the last thing you want to do
• 9:57
  is have somebody sent out when really they've they've not not
• 10:01
  got anything to deal with that I can think of one recently had a
• 10:03
  couple of guests in and they couldn't work the hub on the
• 10:06
  cooker and it was because the switch had been switched off at
• 10:09
  the wall. It was as simple as that.
• 10:11
  And then another property we have AI guess it's a smart
• 10:15
  thermostat, but it has to be pointing, it has to see the
• 10:19
  Wi-Fi router for it to actually work.
• 10:21
  And sometimes the router just gets moved a very little bit and
• 10:25
  it can't see it. So it doesn't work.
• 10:26
  And usually it's as simple as just making sure that the smart
• 10:30
  thermostat can actually see it. It's finicky and not really that
• 10:33
  good, but it is something that causes issues.
• 10:36
  And it's a very simple fix. And the last thing you'd want to
• 10:38
  do is pay somebody £100, call out charge to actually come and
• 10:41
  diagnose that. All right then, Suzanne #4. #4
• 10:48
  data, but not distraction off of dashboards.
• 10:52
  The reason I say this is there is a huge amount of technology
• 10:56
  in the marketplace right now which is causing operational
• 10:59
  inefficiencies. You have got a lot of people in
• 11:02
  operational teams which are looking at very different parts
• 11:05
  of operations, whether it being somebody looking at the
• 11:07
  operations from a energy management perspective, it could
• 11:11
  be financial, it could be actually some on the daily.
• 11:14
  Running the housekeeping operations is a way bigger
• 11:16
  subject, I think than people realize for what's said on the
• 11:19
  team. But it's also imagining how that
• 11:24
  team actually managed this technology.
• 11:26
  There's so much technology out there and so many dash balls.
• 11:29
  And the theory is, are you giving somebody another piece of
• 11:31
  technology where they've got to log into it every day and
• 11:34
  they've got to keep an eye on it?
• 11:36
  And from our perspective, that's an absolute no go.
• 11:39
  We want to be an operational efficiency, not a distraction.
• 11:42
  So our tips are really to look at the technology, look at the
• 11:47
  perceived stack that you might have to have in order for that
• 11:50
  to work. Again, there's a lot of
• 11:51
  providers out there the minute who say we can do this if we are
• 11:54
  compatible or we, so I can't get my words out now.
• 11:59
  And if we integrate with this certain piece of equipment.
• 12:03
  But the problem is that is that that piece of equipment often
• 12:05
  has its own dashboard. So before you know it, you've
• 12:07
  got three or four or five or six different platforms.
• 12:10
  The people who are in the OPS team who are then going to be
• 12:12
  using it have got to delve into them and also understand them.
• 12:15
  And then from a training perspective, it's actually
• 12:17
  really difficult and actually quite daunting to say to someone
• 12:20
  check this checked out. So I would just say to people
• 12:23
  when they're looking at that kind of perspective about
• 12:26
  probably adding to their technology stack if they've got
• 12:29
  one at all, think about the bigger picture.
• 12:31
  And when you are using smart technology to reduce stuff and
• 12:33
  operational efficiency. Is there some answers by using
• 12:36
  something which covers a lot more of what you'd need rather
• 12:39
  than trying to do it piece meal and then having to view it all?
• 12:43
  Yeah, makes a lot of sense. I mean, often the last thing a
• 12:45
  cleaner wants is another app or another bit of tech to have to
• 12:49
  deal with. So yeah, I, I, I hear you.
• 12:51
  I get you. All right then, tip #5.
• 12:54
  This is 1 which really excites me, Energy mapping and people
• 12:59
  are like what? What's energy mapping?
• 13:02
  Well, how do you know the use across your individual property?
• 13:07
  Could be your apartment block, it could be your hotel, it could
• 13:10
  be your portfolio without actually knowing what's being
• 13:13
  used where across that premises. And for us, it's a really
• 13:17
  interesting thing which has come to light and we're dealing with
• 13:19
  a lot of clients at the minute going, well, where are the
• 13:21
  inefficiencies? So is it as simple as turn this
• 13:24
  off on up or down or is it actually we didn't realize that
• 13:28
  that particular appliance or for instance, in a hotel, we didn't
• 13:32
  realize that actually between certain hours there's no
• 13:34
  occupancy, but yet we're running all the time with power on.
• 13:39
  We've got lighting on, we've got cooling on.
• 13:41
  So actually now looking at whole buildings through phase three
• 13:43
  phase metering and establishing actually the usage and then work
• 13:48
  with people on what we call an energy management strategy, but
• 13:51
  mapping it out and I'll, I will show you when we've got time,
• 13:54
  James, how that really looks and feels.
• 13:56
  And it's quite incredible to see that all come together.
• 13:59
  Sounds fantastic. Sounds like a good thing to
• 14:00
  showcase an event or in a webinar to really, really
• 14:04
  explain it. OK then, great.
• 14:06
  So 5 brilliant tips there. Tell us a bit more about Resi
• 14:11
  Central Suzanne and where people can find out more information.
• 14:14
  So Resi Central, we are a stand alone business which believes in
• 14:18
  automation rather than manual intervention.
• 14:22
  So we have two parts to our business, one which is energy
• 14:25
  management where we are looking at across either portfolios or
• 14:28
  individual properties or blocks, hotels, whatever it may be,
• 14:31
  looking at the usage and helping people create really strong
• 14:34
  strategies to make reductions or even to charge back.
• 14:38
  And the other side is through our smart sensors, which
• 14:41
  actually are looking at the whole array of different
• 14:43
  monitoring within different properties and using it with
• 14:46
  smart rules through our engine to actually automate your
• 14:49
  operations. As I said before, we don't want
• 14:52
  you sitting on dashboards. We want, we don't want to think
• 14:54
  manual, but also we don't work on guesswork, James.
• 14:56
  We want to know if occupancy is if occupancy is high or not.
• 15:00
  So we want to use radar on microwave detection.
• 15:02
  We want to know if the link's there because of water flow.
• 15:05
  So we turn things off. So for us, it's all about making
• 15:08
  the change through instant impact.
• 15:10
  And the only time where alerts do get sent off to it could be
• 15:13
  the operations team is actually when human interaction is
• 15:16
  needed. In terms of where to find out
• 15:18
  about us, we're at www.resicentral.co.uk.
• 15:24
  Superb. And if people are interested in
• 15:26
  learning more, how much does it cost generally per unit to get
• 15:29
  residential installed? And I guess how much does it
• 15:31
  usually save people? So if we look at an average of a
• 15:34
  32% saving, which is pretty massive and you're talking from
• 15:39
  the basic bones of the system around £100.
• 15:41
  But as we add on more parts to which which conclude leak
• 15:44
  detection, all the kind of utility monitoring, you're
• 15:48
  probably looking at 500 lbs upwards.
• 15:50
  So for us it's about a very affordable piece of technology,
• 15:54
  but which shows true return on investment.
• 15:57
  And is that a one time cost or is there like a monthly cost as
• 16:00
  well? So we do a subscription model
• 16:02
  and So what we do is we give you an individual quote for exactly
• 16:05
  what you're looking for and we take you through that.
• 16:07
  We don't work with their parties.
• 16:09
  So just to be really clear on that, we can use whatever
• 16:11
  thermostat you've got currently in your own systems and we are
• 16:15
  non reliant on partners. So for us, we can put the system
• 16:18
  in there, but then what we do is we charge a monthly subscription
• 16:21
  based on what information and smart automation you'd like out
• 16:24
  the system. Sounds great.
• 16:26
  OK, Check it out, people. Suzanne, it's been a real
• 16:29
  pleasure. Thank you for joining us on host
• 16:31
  Planet Bite Size. Thank you.
• 16:33
  Great to chat to Suzanne Luscombe there from Resi
• 16:35
  Central. Check out the platform if you're
• 16:38
  keen to save big on your energy bills.
• 16:41
  All right, that's it for today's episode.
• 16:42
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• 16:45
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  Until next time, happy hosting.