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564. She Turned Her Family Ski House Into a Top-Tier Airbnb · Thanks For Visiting

1:04
Sarah Karakaian: Hello, welcome back to another great episode.
1:06
Sarah Karakaian: My name is Sarah Karakaian.
1:08
Annette Grant: I'm Annette Grant, and together we are...
1:10
Annette and Sarah: Thanks for Visiting.
1:11
Sarah Karakaian: Let's start this episode like we do each and every week, and that is sharing an incredible host and their property.
1:17
Sarah Karakaian: And today's host just happens to be the person we're interviewing.
1:21
Sarah Karakaian: And Annette, what can you share about her?
1:23
Annette Grant: Yes.
1:24
Annette Grant: Today we are sharing strategic host Gail and her five-star lodge, and this is a property that has been in her family for quite some time.
1:32
Annette Grant: The one thing I wanna highlight about the property is actually what Gail is doing right now to get direct bookings.
1:44
Annette Grant: And this is something that was right in front of her.
1:47
Annette Grant: Her Instagram, if you wanna check it out, is @morganmanorfrenchies.
1:51
Annette Grant: Yes.
1:52
Annette Grant: Did you hear Frenchies, as in dogs?
1:55
Annette Grant: Absolutely, because Gail has a giant community.
2:00
Annette Grant: She has been hosting events in the French Bulldog arena for a very, very long time, and Gail would like to tell you before everyone thought they were cool.
2:11
Annette Grant: She's an OG with the Frenchies.
2:13
Annette Grant: She has a community right there that she sees multiple times a year, and she can share her property with these trusted friends and colleagues.
2:26
Annette Grant: And so, so many of you are focused on finding new guests, people that you don't know, but you have an amazing group of potential guests in your own network that you've been building for decades.
2:41
Annette Grant: So this is something that we have encouraged Gail on her direct booking, you know, charge to start to look at the groups that she's already a part of and a leader of.
2:53
Annette Grant: So if you are out there and you have a full-time job, if you have your own community, whether it's a women's group, a church group, a car group, um, investing group, you have potential guests right at your fingertips.
3:06
Annette Grant: Tap into them just like Gail.
3:08
Sarah Karakaian: I am so excited to dive more into Gail's story.
3:12
Sarah Karakaian: Gail, welcome to the show.
3:15
Sarah Karakaian: Okay, I want you to take us all the way back before hosting and how you even got into this industry.
3:23
Gale Golden: Yeah.
3:24
Gale Golden: I'll be- I- it, it's a, an accidental journey, I guess.
3:27
Gale Golden: Um, I took a, a wonderful corporate job in another state and, um, I needed to move quickly.
3:35
Gale Golden: So I did not sell my house right out of the gate, but I was given a very, very generous relocation package.
3:43
Gale Golden: And so I bought a new house and then had to rent my old house.
3:48
Gale Golden: So that's how I became a landlord, um, and got into real estate in the first place.
3:53
Gale Golden: And for, you know, maybe 10 years, I was a longterm, um, landlord.
3:59
Gale Golden: Uh, rented it.
4:00
Gale Golden: Um, and then a funny thing happens.
4:05
Gale Golden: You have kids, you grow, they grow up.
4:08
Gale Golden: We started skiing, and we all decided we wanted a ski house, you know, that it was gonna be a place for our family to, you know, participate in the sport and have some fun.
4:19
Gale Golden: And, um At first we started looking at houses, and then we were like, "Eh, it's not quite- We're not feeling it," right?
4:28
Gale Golden: So, uh, we, my husband, uh, found this piece of land.
4:33
Gale Golden: I was actually in Detroit with one of the big autos.
4:36
Gale Golden: Um, it was a Monday morning at 8:30.
4:39
Gale Golden: He had gone with a friend to visit their mountain property in New York, and, um, he called me up at 8:30 and he said, "I found the property.
4:49
Gale Golden: This is it.
4:50
Gale Golden: We have to buy it."
4:51
Gale Golden: And I was like, "Tom, I can't be there for, like, three weeks."
4:54
Gale Golden: I mean, like, we have weekend commitments and I'm in Detroit Monday through Friday.
4:59
Gale Golden: And of course, this is before, I mean, I think there were cell phones but not really cameras.
5:05
Gale Golden: Right.
5:05
Gale Golden: And there was, you know, like you would take into the Instamatic, okay, back, it sounds like a long time ago, but it was like 2005.
5:11
Annette Grant: Right.
5:12
Gale Golden: And, um, he said, "Oh, we have to have it.
5:15
Gale Golden: This property's gonna go," blah, blah, blah.
5:18
Gale Golden: They had found a sign.
5:19
Gale Golden: The, the for sale sign had blown down off the tree, so nobody even really knew it was for sale.
5:25
Gale Golden: And I said, "Well, take some pictures."
5:27
Gale Golden: And then he's like, you know, he called up.
5:29
Gale Golden: Yes, it was for sale.
5:30
Gale Golden: The price was phenomenal.
5:33
Gale Golden: And we had been looking, so we had good sense.
5:36
Gale Golden: And, uh, he said to me, "Okay," um, I said to him, "I'll tell you what."
5:41
Gale Golden: He goes, "It's not gonna be here in three weeks."
5:43
Gale Golden: So I said, "I'll tell you what.
5:45
Gale Golden: Like, start the negotiations," assuming I could, like, drag this out for, like, three weeks.
5:51
Gale Golden: Um, and I said, "Give him kind of a lowball offer," you know, so, like, we have time to go back and forth.
5:58
Gale Golden: And, uh, he calls me back at 10:30, and they basically accepted the offer.
6:05
Sarah Karakaian: It, like, never happens like that except for moments like this.
6:07
Gale Golden: I bought it sight unseen, okay?
6:07
Gale Golden: I, uh, so I, like, wire- I was, I'm in fin- I was in finance, by the way, so I had the money wired really quickly.
6:16
Gale Golden: And, like, we were closed in less than three weeks, right?
6:20
Gale Golden: So, um, I paid cash for it, and that was the beginning of the journey to build our family ski house.
6:29
Gale Golden: Um, we built, it was a family project.
6:32
Gale Golden: We physically did the work.
6:33
Gale Golden: Yes, yes, banged the hammers, laid the stones.
6:37
Gale Golden: My husband is a licensed general contractor so it's not too crazy, right?
6:41
Gale Golden: But my boys who were like I think this point in their like early high school years, on weekends we would go up there.
6:49
Gale Golden: They would order the materials and we would build whatever we were gonna build that weekend.
6:54
Gale Golden: I have pictures in the house where like the studs are up and there's a bed you know?
7:00
Gale Golden: There's like we slept in it.
7:01
Gale Golden: We, so we, you know, it became this wonderful house.
7:06
Gale Golden: We called it, um, Five Star Lodge even back then.
7:10
Gale Golden: Um, and then we enjoyed it as a family, and we had a great time until the boys grew up.
7:18
Gale Golden: They had kids.
7:20
Gale Golden: Nobody had time for skiing.
7:22
Gale Golden: Um, and the house honestly sat empty for three years because
7:27
Sarah Karakaian: Oh, wow
7:27
Gale Golden: between us going back and f- nobody could seem to get there.
7:32
Sarah Karakaian: Mm-hmm.
7:32
Gale Golden: Um, and I finally, you know, kind of like the TV show Love It or List It, right?
7:36
Gale Golden: I'm like, "We're going to actually, um, rent this house, Tom, or we're gonna put it on the market."
7:43
Sarah Karakaian: Mm-hmm.
7:43
Gale Golden: Because we're, I'm spending, you know, tens of thousands of dollars every year for, um, you know, taxes and what, and maintenance, and nobody's there.
7:53
Annette Grant: And you had n- you had not, to that point, yet short-term rented.
7:57
Annette Grant: It was-
7:57
Gale Golden: Ever
7:57
Annette Grant: only family and friends.
7:58
Gale Golden: Only long-term rentals, right.
8:00
Annette Grant: So you even called it five-star lodge before you had ever-
8:02
Gale Golden: I know
8:02
Annette Grant: even had your first-
8:03
Gale Golden: It was just-
8:03
Annette Grant: You were, like, foreshadowing
8:04
Gale Golden: it was kind of a cowboy joke, really, but that's-
8:06
Annette Grant: Okay
8:07
Gale Golden: that's another story.
8:08
Annette Grant: Okay.
8:09
Gale Golden: Anyw- anyway, we, um, I, uh, you know, in the area, VRBO had been there for a long time.
8:15
Gale Golden: We actually look right at Gore Mountain, which is a, a very, like a five-peak ski area, uh, near Lake George in New York.
8:23
Gale Golden: Um, it's right in the middle of the Adirondacks.
8:27
Gale Golden: We had this incredible, we still have it, uh, someone called it the other day, million-dollar view, um, of the skyline.
8:36
Annette Grant: Mm.
8:36
Gale Golden: Um, and so I started to rent it.
8:39
Gale Golden: You know, I, I, you know, I, I got some books.
8:42
Gale Golden: I read what to do.
8:43
Gale Golden: I was like, "Okay, and what's this Airbnb thing," right?
8:47
Gale Golden: So I, I listed Airbnb-
8:48
Sarah Karakaian: Wait, what year was that?
8:49
Gale Golden: Oh, God.
8:50
Gale Golden: I was, I've been a host for 10 years.
8:52
Gale Golden: Okay.
8:52
Gale Golden: So-
8:53
Sarah Karakaian: So, like, 2016-ish.
8:54
Gale Golden: Yeah, '14, '15, '16.
8:56
Gale Golden: Okay.
8:56
Gale Golden: In that ballpark.
8:57
Gale Golden: And, um, so-
8:58
Annette Grant: I know, I think we kinda all forget it's already 2025.
9:01
Gale Golden: I know, every day.
9:01
Gale Golden: I know.
9:01
Annette Grant: I mean, it's like- Oh, wait, it's 2026.
9:03
Annette Grant: I just said the wrong year.
9:05
Annette Grant: Oh, my God.
9:07
Gale Golden: I love it.
9:08
Gale Golden: I love it.
9:08
Annette Grant: We absolutely...
9:09
Annette Grant: Oh, my gosh.
9:09
Annette Grant: Wow.
9:10
Annette Grant: Oh, my God.
9:11
Gale Golden: See, that's why you said 10 years.
9:11
Gale Golden: This year and this year has flown by, I can tell you.
9:14
Gale Golden: Um, so I became a host.
9:16
Gale Golden: Um, I learned a lot.
9:17
Gale Golden: I cleaned myself.
9:19
Gale Golden: I used to drive.
9:20
Gale Golden: By this time, I had left my corporate job and I was consulting.
9:23
Gale Golden: I had a consulting business on my own.
9:26
Gale Golden: I had turned 50 and didn't wanna do that anymore, but still kinda kept my hand in the industry, had about eight or 10 clients that I worked on, a few, for several months of the year, and then kinda
9:39
Gale Golden: so- semi-retired, right?
9:41
Gale Golden: So this gave, it was a great opportunity for me.
9:44
Gale Golden: Um, I actually would drive up to do the cleaning, and clean a nine-bedroom- Three-bathroom house myself.
9:52
Sarah Karakaian: How long of a drive?
9:53
Gale Golden: Four hours, each way.
9:55
Sarah Karakaian: Wait, how often a month, how often a month would you go up there and do this?
9:58
Gale Golden: Well, I think in the beginning we were mostly rented on weekends.
10:03
Annette Grant: Okay You know.
10:03
Sarah Karakaian: That's like four times a month at least.
10:05
Gale Golden: Yeah.
10:06
Gale Golden: So I would, like, get in the car, and because it was also an excuse for me to get away, right?
10:11
Gale Golden: And also be by myself.
10:13
Annette Grant: I get you.
10:13
Gale Golden: It's a wonderful place to be by yourself.
10:15
Annette Grant: Mm-hmm.
10:15
Gale Golden: I mean, the sounds at night are, like, you only hear them on YouTube if you play mountain sounds, right?
10:21
Gale Golden: So I was there the other night and I was thinking to myself the same thing.
10:25
Gale Golden: You know, the owls.
10:27
Annette Grant: Mm-hmm.
10:27
Gale Golden: The, like, rustling in the trees, you know.
10:29
Annette Grant: And- And you have to clean nine bedrooms?
10:31
Gale Golden: I- no, not nine bedrooms, nine beds.
10:34
Annette Grant: Nine- Okay, that was
10:34
Gale Golden: my fa- Five be- five bedrooms.
10:35
Annette Grant: But still, that's so many sheets.
10:37
Gale Golden: Not, yeah, n- yeah.
10:38
Gale Golden: And all the laundry, right?
10:40
Gale Golden: Um, it sleeps 14 people 'cause it's, it's a big house.
10:43
Gale Golden: It's on three levels.
10:44
Gale Golden: It was designed so, um, when we were there, we call it the condo level, which is where the deck is.
10:50
Gale Golden: It has a big wrap deck.
10:52
Gale Golden: And, um, but the boys, when they had families, could each have, uh, their own floor.
10:56
Annette Grant: Mm-hmm.
10:56
Gale Golden: And so the house was really kind of designed to create a place where we could connect with each other but not be on top of each other.
11:04
Annette Grant: Mm-hmm.
11:04
Gale Golden: It's not ginormous.
11:06
Gale Golden: I mean, it's, like, maybe 2,200 square feet and 1,100 square feet of deck.
11:10
Annette Grant: But thoughtful in the design.
11:12
Gale Golden: But thoughtful.
11:13
Gale Golden: Very thoughtful design.
11:13
Gale Golden: It's very intentional.
11:14
Annette Grant: Mm-hmm.
11:15
Gale Golden: It's very intentional.
11:16
Gale Golden: Yeah.
11:16
Gale Golden: Everything in there is intentional.
11:19
Gale Golden: And, um, you know, it was really about our family making memories, but it became about a lot of families making memories.
11:26
Annette Grant: Well, you said love it or list it earlier.
11:28
Annette Grant: Yeah.
11:28
Annette Grant: Did you and your husband have a conversation that we want to make X amount of dollars in revenue-
11:33
Gale Golden: No
11:33
Annette Grant: and if we don't hit that, we list it?
11:35
Annette Grant: Wha- wha- w- Was there a discussion of, hey, this is the line in the sand, we will list it?
11:41
Annette Grant: What was w- the conversation?
11:43
Gale Golden: Yeah, that, that's a great question.
11:44
Gale Golden: And, you know, it's embarrassing to me as a finance person that I really never, and I think I, I mentioned this to you guys when we first met, that I, you know, it's a little embarrassing that I did
11:55
Gale Golden: not really treat this like a business.
11:58
Sarah Karakaian: Mm.
11:58
Gale Golden: Um, I, um-
11:59
Sarah Karakaian: That's so common, Gail.
12:00
Sarah Karakaian: I know I've told you that.
12:00
Gale Golden: I, I know you did, and I was like, it, it's embarra- like, I feel like I'm, you know, in a meeting admitting something, right?
12:07
Gale Golden: I'm like, I'm a finance person and I've never done, put the, a PNL on this thing except at tax time, right?
12:14
Gale Golden: So, um- Anyway, we, I, I started, you know, kind of that's how I started.
12:20
Gale Golden: I learned lessons, you know, about the guests.
12:22
Gale Golden: Uh, I learned about hospitality.
12:25
Gale Golden: I started reading lots of books.
12:28
Gale Golden: Um, people were starting to get more professional- Mm-hmm about hosting.
12:32
Gale Golden: Um, and I kind of grew up a little bit with the industry.
12:36
Gale Golden: And then, um, kind of a funny th- you know, and, and, and the house actually did very well.
12:42
Gale Golden: At first, it was mostly ski season, then it was ski and summer, then it was rafting in the fall, then it was leaf peeping.
12:49
Gale Golden: And before I knew it, I had a y- pretty much a year-round property except a couple of shoulder weeks.
12:55
Gale Golden: Um, we're in one right now, so there's a lot of activity at the house as we're resetting for the next season.
13:01
Gale Golden: But, um, and even listen to me say that, I mean, I, I never even thought of those things.
13:05
Gale Golden: I took the picture with my iPhone, um, which I got yelled at when I joined the crew.
13:12
Gale Golden: And boy, that was the best thing that ever happened to me, 'cause boy, are my pictures phenomenal now.
13:19
Gale Golden: Um, and I remember Wendy, you know, saying, you know, "You got a great place and crappy pictures," you know?
13:25
Sarah Karakaian: Wendy is one For everyone listening- Yeah Wendy is one of our strategists, and she's been a strategist on our team for years, and she is known for her direct
13:34
Gale Golden: Very
13:35
Sarah Karakaian: but she's lovely person, right, Gail?
13:37
Gale Golden: Yeah.
13:37
Gale Golden: She's very direct.
13:37
Gale Golden: And right.
13:37
Gale Golden: And she did it, I mean, she did it lov- lovingly.
13:40
Gale Golden: I mean- Yeah it was in my best interest, right?
13:42
Sarah Karakaian: Right.
13:43
Gale Golden: And, you know, kind of what happened to the industry happened to me.
13:47
Gale Golden: So there weren't a lot of rentals except for some s- people renting their ski houses or for the, rented for the summer, skied in the winter.
13:55
Gale Golden: There wasn't a lot of, um, of it, but as the industry grew and people, and the, you know, people's desire to stay in an, uh, in an Airbnb or a short-term rental property became out- out- outpaced the hotel
14:09
Gale Golden: business.
14:10
Gale Golden: And we actually were ripe for that because we don't have a lot of hotels.
14:14
Sarah Karakaian: Mm-hmm.
14:14
Gale Golden: So there was, you know, they have this great big ski mountain and no place to stay.
14:19
Gale Golden: Um, so but then what happened is everybody became an Airbnb, and the market started to saturate.
14:28
Gale Golden: And then it got tougher, you know?
14:30
Sarah Karakaian: Mm-hmm.
14:30
Gale Golden: Um, and-
14:31
Sarah Karakaian: When was this?
14:32
Sarah Karakaian: Like, if you could pinpoint a year where you really felt that new challenge.
14:36
Gale Golden: I think it really started before COVID.
14:39
Sarah Karakaian: Okay.
14:39
Gale Golden: And then COVID kind of gave us a little happy period, right?
14:44
Gale Golden: Um, and then after COVID, maybe a year or two after, then it really got competitive, 'cause everybody had learned to make money not going to work.
14:54
Sarah Karakaian: Mm-hmm.
14:54
Sarah Karakaian: Mm-hmm.
14:55
Gale Golden: Right?
14:55
Gale Golden: And now, um, I was competing.
14:58
Gale Golden: I felt sometimes like it was a race to the bottom on the prices.
15:02
Gale Golden: Um, I was like, "Maybe this isn't a good idea.
15:05
Gale Golden: Maybe I shouldn't do it anymore."
15:08
Gale Golden: And then, um, I had been following people like Kenny Bedwell and Bill Faith on their journeys, even from when they first started, and just listening to their information.
15:21
Gale Golden: And I had attended a couple of different mastermind kind of things.
15:26
Gale Golden: Nothing serious, but, and then I saw a Facebook post, an, a ad, and it said, "Kenny Bedwell likes this," which made me look at you, okay?
15:37
Gale Golden: 'Cause I really trust Kenny.
15:39
Gale Golden: Oh, wow.
15:40
Gale Golden: I love his data.
15:41
Gale Golden: He has, for those people who don't know, he has a company called STR Insights that has amazing data.
15:48
Sarah Karakaian: We love Kenny.
15:48
Gale Golden: Um, and we love him t- I love him, too.
15:51
Gale Golden: And, um, I watched him form his company, and then start this, and I was one of the first customers, right?
15:58
Sarah Karakaian: Oh.
15:58
Gale Golden: So, so, um, you know, I thought, "Well, if Kenny likes them, I, I, I think I'll, I'll take this bootcamp," right?
16:06
Gale Golden: Mm-hmm.
16:06
Gale Golden: And that, it was last fall.
16:08
Gale Golden: It was after really a terrible year.
16:11
Gale Golden: Mm-hmm.
16:11
Gale Golden: Um, I had had to shut the place down for, um, a month to make a new driveway.
16:16
Gale Golden: I had to do some pretty big work.
16:19
Gale Golden: Um, and it wasn't a great year for the property.
16:23
Gale Golden: Um, and now I, you know, I'm more seri- I've got more serious about it, and I thought, "Well, I can do this bootcamp thing."
16:31
Gale Golden: And it was gonna be a sprint.
16:32
Gale Golden: Well, for me, it was more of a jog, I said.
16:34
Gale Golden: But, but I, I was gonna do it.
16:37
Gale Golden: Well, little did I know the education I was gonna get in revenue management, marketing- Um, and so many more things, and all the great hosts I was gonna connect with, along with the great team you guys have assembled.
16:52
Gale Golden: And, um, I, you know, I, I learned Price Labs 'cause I was on another system that ha- was kind of a do it for you, but they weren't doing it.
17:03
Gale Golden: You know, they did it for a while, and then the last year was terrible, right?
17:07
Gale Golden: And, um, I, I learned how to do revenue management in Price Labs, and, you know, that's my first thing in the morning, you guys.
17:14
Gale Golden: I get up, I have coffee, and I sit down at Price Labs.
17:18
Sarah Karakaian: I love that.
17:19
Gale Golden: And I look at my, my base rate, uh, if it's, uh, my weekly, so I'm taking some data that I throw into AI that keeps track of it for me, um, to chart out things so I know if
17:31
Gale Golden: I need to make some moves as we're going into the season.
17:35
Gale Golden: Am I booking properly, at the right pace?
17:37
Gale Golden: Who even knew?
17:38
Gale Golden: I didn't even know these words a year ago, okay?
17:40
Gale Golden: And now I talk about, you know, ADR, and I, and RevPAR, and, you know, I'm like, you know, the, the, you know, the junkie of all the words.
17:49
Gale Golden: But it's, it's, um, it's like now I know my business, and I know, um, what was gonna happen.
17:58
Gale Golden: I had a good idea, and I just kind of...
18:02
Gale Golden: I, I trusted you and the team so much, I just trusted the process, and d- whatever you told me to do, I did it.
18:09
Gale Golden: I didn't...
18:10
Gale Golden: I think I've said this to you guys before, I didn't do anything special.
18:14
Gale Golden: I just did what you told me to do.
18:17
Gale Golden: And, um, so we were in a shoulder season.
18:20
Gale Golden: It was right before Christmas time, that fall session you had.
18:24
Gale Golden: Not sure if it was your second or third session like this that you guys had done.
18:29
Gale Golden: Um, and I, you know, networked with a bunch of people, got on as many calls as I could, and when I could, and I listened to every recording.
18:35
Gale Golden: I never missed a one.
18:37
Gale Golden: I think I did, like, 80 or 90% of the courses.
18:40
Gale Golden: Um, and I, you know, I just did it.
18:45
Gale Golden: I, I adjusted my rates.
18:47
Gale Golden: I went, you know, "I hope Colleen's right," and I just kept clicking.
18:51
Gale Golden: You know, I learned about far-out pricing and all this other stuff to kinda, like, safety net myself.
18:56
Gale Golden: And, and I'll, I'll I actually also have nine medium-term rental properties, so th- I have one short-term rental and nine medium-term, and I'll never forget this, um, kind of, like, people say, "Well, what mistakes did you make?"
19:10
Gale Golden: And I'll tell you my f- my favorite one is I, I put a maximum price on a property y- of $1,000, which I thought, "This property will never get $1,000."
19:23
Gale Golden: And, like, two weeks later, don't I get booked for $1,000?
19:26
Gale Golden: And I learned a lesson about not putting a maximum.
19:30
Gale Golden: But that's, like, my, my big lesson.
19:32
Gale Golden: It wasn't this property, thank- thankfully, but.
19:35
Gale Golden: So I went into the, um, ski season, which just has really finished a couple weeks ago.
19:41
Gale Golden: Um, and I was You know, I've done all my numbers.
19:45
Gale Golden: I try to keep up with it monthly the way you guys show us all how to do, and I'm 60% ahead of last year, of 2025.
19:55
Sarah Karakaian: Wow.
19:55
Sarah Karakaian: Yeah, that's great.
19:56
Gale Golden: 60%.
19:58
Gale Golden: And, um- I think in Jan- since Christmas, I think I had one opening in, one night in January, and maybe one or two in February.
20:08
Gale Golden: The rest of the time was occupied.
20:11
Gale Golden: Never have I done that, ever.
20:14
Gale Golden: I, uh, doubled, you know, more than doubled the, uh, revenue from the year before.
20:19
Gale Golden: Those are exact numbers.
20:21
Gale Golden: Um, and I've, I'm forecasted to more than double what I did last year for the year.
20:28
Gale Golden: If everything, you know, falls into place.
20:30
Sarah Karakaian: Sure.
20:30
Sarah Karakaian: Sure.
20:30
Gale Golden: For the s- the summer is actually our big money time, so I'm, like, really excited.
20:35
Gale Golden: I've done my pricing.
20:36
Gale Golden: I even segmented the summer into three seasons, you know, kind of early, peak, and late.
20:42
Gale Golden: Yeah.
20:42
Gale Golden: Made ju- adjustments.
20:43
Gale Golden: I'm like, I'm like, I'm g- like, now a revenue management nerd, right?
20:47
Gale Golden: And I'm like, but I'm having fun.
20:49
Gale Golden: I'm having fun with the numbers, obviously, when they come together.
20:53
Gale Golden: But, um, I've, you know, I've had, I've had to learn a lot of things.
20:57
Gale Golden: I mean, being that booked meant I ha- my team had to really perform.
21:02
Annette Grant: Mm.
21:02
Annette Grant: That's-
21:03
Gale Golden: Right?
21:03
Annette Grant: That's a side effect, right?
21:04
Annette Grant: A good-
21:05
Gale Golden: Yes, it- I
21:05
Annette Grant: mean-
21:06
Gale Golden: Yes, it i- It's an operational thing I wasn't cleaning by now, by the way.
21:08
Gale Golden: Good.
21:08
Gale Golden: Good.
21:09
Gale Golden: I d- I did, I did that for two seasons, and then I was like, "I'm done with this, okay?"
21:13
Gale Golden: But at least I knew how it needed to be cleaned-
21:15
Sarah Karakaian: Absolutely
21:15
Gale Golden: and what needed to be cleaned.
21:17
Gale Golden: And I kinda think everybody sh- I still go to all my mid, medium term rental turnovers even though I'm not doing the work.
21:23
Gale Golden: I'm probably the inspector- Inspector,
21:25
Sarah Karakaian: yeah
21:25
Gale Golden: so to speak.
21:26
Gale Golden: Um, uh, you know, we, I have a deep cleaner for those, but sh- I mean, I just wanna make sure it's spit spot when the people move in.
21:33
Gale Golden: So, but yes, it was, I learned about having, um, a better maintenance person than I had, which I now have an awesome one.
21:40
Gale Golden: I, I kept the same cleaner, but we have, um, more controls.
21:44
Gale Golden: I do have BreezeWay, um, which I didn't have before.
21:48
Gale Golden: Um, and, like, my cleaning sometimes could be variable in my reviews, it now is not.
21:55
Gale Golden: Um, and you know, it's now, it's now great.
21:59
Gale Golden: Uh, my photos, though.
22:01
Gale Golden: You guys, my photos blew me out of the water.
22:05
Gale Golden: I, I had managed creative people in the past for advertising purposes, but, um, I knew how to, I knew what a shot list was and stuff like that.
22:15
Gale Golden: But, like, I took stuff like Wendy gave me, basically, and s- and built my shot list, hired the right person.
22:22
Gale Golden: I interviewed, like, four.
22:24
Gale Golden: Hired the right person, who came up, and the, my hero photo for this house is so gorgeous.
22:30
Gale Golden: It's on his website, it's on my website.
22:34
Gale Golden: I love it.
22:34
Gale Golden: It'll be, it, you know, it, and now I'm getting a website.
22:37
Gale Golden: I have a website being built- called, it's gonna be, uh, it's called StayFiveStar.
22:44
Sarah Karakaian: I love it.
22:44
Gale Golden: Yeah,
22:44
Sarah Karakaian: StayFiveStar.
22:45
Annette Grant: I wanna pause, Gail, for a second.
22:48
Annette Grant: For all the listeners out there, because you're, you're giving a lot of, of numbers, 60%, double.
22:54
Annette Grant: What does that really mean-
22:56
Gale Golden: Okay
22:57
Annette Grant: to you, though, and your prop- to your family?
22:59
Annette Grant: When we're talking, is this, is this a significant amount of, of money that's gonna move the needle for you and then continue to move it f- forward?
23:08
Annette Grant: So c- let, let's just pause for a second a- and just kind of, if you could give that narrative to us of what it really, what that impact is.
23:15
Gale Golden: Um, it impacts a lot at, my age.
23:18
Gale Golden: I'm 68, my husband's 71.
23:21
Gale Golden: Um, retirement, I mean, we say retirement.
23:23
Gale Golden: This is my retirement, you guys.
23:25
Gale Golden: I love it.
23:26
Gale Golden: I don't see myself really, but real estate has been my retirement.
23:30
Gale Golden: Um, I, I eased out of consulting, and so, um, it's my pension plan.
23:35
Gale Golden: It's how I took my resources and invested them in myself and property I could touch and feel.
23:43
Gale Golden: Now, I don't want e- everyone to think they should empty their 401, okay?
23:48
Annette Grant: Mm-hmm.
23:48
Gale Golden: Um, I still have those things.
23:50
Gale Golden: But, uh, you know, I did, we took assets, uh, actually they were liabilities 'cause we were, i- it was, you know, our second home, and we turned them into an asset.
24:01
Gale Golden: Um, and the money, um, it's so funny because, you know, I, I stuck my toe in the water about, what is this property worth?
24:10
Gale Golden: You know?
24:11
Gale Golden: So now we had a house on the street sell for a significant amount of money, um, and I've been sticking my toe in the water, and I actually called Kenny, and I called Bill, and I said, "Hey, I
24:22
Gale Golden: have this property and this is what we do, and, um, you know, what, if an investor was gonna buy this, what would they be looking for?"
24:30
Gale Golden: And he said, "Well, they'd wanna get- You know, X amount of money per year on this, and it wasn't where I was last year, but it is where I'll be this year.
24:41
Annette Grant: Mm-hmm.
24:41
Gale Golden: If everything flows through like it has from the winter, and we continue to practice everything we've learned, um, all the way through, I think, you know, now it looks like a property an investor would wanna have because the
24:56
Gale Golden: revenue matches it.
24:57
Gale Golden: So does it mean I'm going to sell it?
25:00
Gale Golden: I don't know.
25:02
Gale Golden: I, I look, I sometimes I think, "Well, maybe I should pivot, or maybe I should do this," but you know what?
25:07
Gale Golden: In the meantime, I took what was, you know, eh, and made it really special.
25:13
Gale Golden: You know, it's a top-tier property now.
25:16
Gale Golden: Love that.
25:16
Gale Golden: It's, there's no doubt.
25:17
Gale Golden: In fact, that million-dollar view quote came from a real estate agent who came over the other day, and she sat down in, on the sofa in the great room, and she goes, "That's a million-dollar view right there."
25:27
Sarah Karakaian: Mm-hmm.
25:28
Gale Golden: Right?
25:28
Gale Golden: So-
25:29
Sarah Karakaian: And a sense of pride that you feel, too, Gale.
25:31
Gale Golden: Yeah.
25:31
Sarah Karakaian: And it sounds like to me, correct me if I'm wrong, because I don't wanna misinterpret this, but it sounds like to me, the way you told your story just now, is you had this opportunity, you had this property,
25:40
Sarah Karakaian: you were DIYing it, you were cleaning it yourself.
25:42
Sarah Karakaian: You had the golden era of COVID, where it was kind of easy to get business.
25:47
Gale Golden: It was easy, yep.
25:48
Sarah Karakaian: Mm-hmm.
25:48
Sarah Karakaian: But then it got hard, and so then when you, when you joined us, you did the boot camp, and then you joined us inside of Strategic Host to continue to work with us.
25:54
Gale Golden: Yes.
25:54
Sarah Karakaian: You fo- focused on the numbers, but then that spiraled into operations and marketing your listing correctly.
26:01
Sarah Karakaian: And, and I want you to get into this soon, this Staycation USA opportunity, but-
26:06
Gale Golden: Oh, yeah.
26:06
Sarah Karakaian: Hang on tight on that.
26:07
Sarah Karakaian: But it sounds like the numbers was a catalyst to tightening up everything else that makes your asset even more valuable.
26:14
Sarah Karakaian: Would you say that's correct?
26:15
Gale Golden: Oh, oh my God, yes.
26:17
Gale Golden: And even, um, you know, my husband's Yankee.
26:21
Gale Golden: He doesn't like to part with his money, right?
26:24
Gale Golden: And, um, I'm thinking to myself, "You know, I need to put about 30 grand into this to do, you know, to do X, Y, Z.
26:30
Gale Golden: I want, I wanna take down, like, this acre of trees that's disturbing my view," and, you know, all this kind of stuff.
26:35
Gale Golden: And I'm, and I need to, you know, the exterior really needs to be stain- restained, and the deck needs to be staged with entertainment areas.
26:43
Gale Golden: And you know, it's like, I'm like, I think about this so, so differently.
26:49
Gale Golden: And, um- You know, uh, un- unfortunately for him, he had to have some surgery this winter, which is- Oh you know, limited.
26:57
Gale Golden: No, it's l- it's, it's a good thing.
26:58
Gale Golden: He- Okay it's gonna make his mobility better.
27:00
Gale Golden: And so he kind of took his eye off the ball, in which case I just stuck my foot in the door and said, "Okay, time to spend some money," and I scheduled all these things.
27:10
Gale Golden: B- I said, "Just don't worry about it.
27:11
Gale Golden: I'll take care of it."
27:13
Gale Golden: You know, and, you know, usually it's the kind of construction things, and he'll, will handle that part.
27:18
Gale Golden: I kind of handle the marketing and the hospitality.
27:21
Gale Golden: And, um, he had to take his eye off the ball, and I just went with it.
27:26
Gale Golden: So he actually, um, is going up today to see the million-dollar view.
27:31
Gale Golden: 'Cause I've been complaining about this even before we rented it, and said, "Those trees really need to come down.
27:36
Gale Golden: I mean, I can only see the view in the winter, and, you know, I wanna see it all year."
27:41
Gale Golden: Yeah.
27:41
Gale Golden: And, you know, so I f- but I found also some great people to work with, you know, up there.
27:47
Gale Golden: Um, it can be hard when you're in a rural area, finding the right, um, you know, contractors and, you know, that have the right skills to do what you need.
27:58
Gale Golden: Um, and so we did, and I, you know, I ordered all this furniture.
28:02
Gale Golden: I, I used AI, um, to s- stage my deck.
28:05
Gale Golden: I used my own photography and had AI stage my deck, so now it's gonna have a living room and a dining area and a grilling area and a lounging area.
28:15
Gale Golden: And, you know, so it looks, it looks beautiful on AI.
28:18
Gale Golden: Hope it looks as good when we finish.
28:19
Gale Golden: But yeah, I do think about it different.
28:22
Gale Golden: I think about how the guests are gonna enjoy it and, um, you know, what- What elevates this property over the competition?
28:32
Gale Golden: You know, why, I d- I, I'll tell you one thing, you know, and I hear this all the time, you have to have a hot tub, you have to have a pool table, you ha- I have none of
28:40
Gale Golden: those things.
28:41
Sarah Karakaian: Oh.
28:41
Gale Golden: And yet I get 30% more than everybody else.
28:45
Sarah Karakaian: Wow.
28:45
Gale Golden: Um, and I think it's bec- for two reasons.
28:50
Gale Golden: Uh, one is my design.
28:51
Gale Golden: The house is, it screams Adirondack.
28:54
Gale Golden: So if you go up there, you get the experience.
28:57
Gale Golden: There's windows on every side.
28:59
Gale Golden: You f- the outdoors is indoors, you know?
29:01
Sarah Karakaian: Mm-hmm.
29:02
Gale Golden: And I think that makes people just sit there in awe of what they're seeing, 'cause it's such an incredible place.
29:09
Gale Golden: And, um, the other piece to that is we did other things to get people to connect.
29:16
Gale Golden: And I hear this all the time from my guests, you know, I actually played board games with my son, right?
29:24
Gale Golden: Uh, now, now I don't want pe- people think that nothing goes on here.
29:28
Gale Golden: I have three Roku TVs and- fast speed internet, okay?
29:31
Gale Golden: So, but I don't have video game machines.
29:35
Gale Golden: I don't have pool tables.
29:37
Gale Golden: I have things that make people connect.
29:39
Gale Golden: We have, like, a huge puzzle table.
29:41
Sarah Karakaian: Mm-hmm.
29:41
Gale Golden: And I have different puzzles for every season.
29:44
Gale Golden: And it's funny, I leave them set up so the next guest actually works on that puzzle.
29:49
Sarah Karakaian: Mm-hmm.
29:49
Gale Golden: And I have a book there that they can write in it, so the next guest can read who was there before them.
29:56
Annette Grant: Oh, that's a really cool idea.
29:56
Annette Grant: Like, if they don't finish the puzzle-
29:57
Gale Golden: Yeah, just- there's kind of
29:58
Annette Grant: always-
29:59
Gale Golden: And, and I say that puzzle in perpetuity just leave it.
30:01
Gale Golden: Yeah.
30:01
Annette Grant: Oh, I love that.
30:01
Gale Golden: Just leave it for the next guest.
30:03
Annette Grant: Like, that, that's, that's a really cool idea.
30:04
Gale Golden: Um, we have telescopes with constellation pictures.
30:08
Gale Golden: Mm-hmm.
30:08
Gale Golden: You know, that, books on con- so they, 'cause the stargazing there is pretty incredible.
30:13
Gale Golden: We have, um, I have this book that I got from, um- Uh, the Audubon Society with bird sounds of the Adirondacks, so they can actually play that on the deck with the kids and the birds will respond.
30:26
Gale Golden: It's-
30:26
Annette Grant: That's so fun.
30:27
Gale Golden: One day my husband said, "Shut that thing off," because the birds were cra- going crazy.
30:33
Gale Golden: And it was really the Audubon book.
30:34
Gale Golden: So I have things like that that allow people to connect and have fun.
30:39
Gale Golden: Um, you know, I have every vintage game you can think of from Battleship to Scrabble.
30:45
Gale Golden: Um, and-
30:46
Annette Grant: Love that
30:47
Gale Golden: you know, we have qu- you know, obviously some outdoor things.
30:49
Gale Golden: We have a huge, I call it the Fred Flintstone fire pit 'cause it's got the rocks, you know- massive rocks, you know.
30:56
Gale Golden: Um, and I, so it's, we've just created this special Adirondack experience.
31:01
Gale Golden: And we are central to a lot of things, so, you know, people want to go to Lake George, wanna go shopping, wanna go skiing, wanna go zip lining, wanna tube down the river, wanna raft, everything is really within
31:13
Gale Golden: about 20 minutes.
31:15
Gale Golden: Um, and, and we're in a, a really cute little town that has, um, you won't know you're in a town at my house because it feels so remote, but, uh, in two miles, you know, you have the grocery
31:25
Gale Golden: store and all the things, you know, you need.
31:28
Gale Golden: Um, and I think- It's all- I think we've just created this great experience, I would guess.
31:32
Sarah Karakaian: You have.
31:32
Sarah Karakaian: And so talk to us about it being selected for- something really special.
31:38
Sarah Karakaian: Can you share a little bit about that?
31:39
Gale Golden: Yeah.
31:40
Gale Golden: I mean, I actually thought it was a scam or, you know how-
31:44
Sarah Karakaian: Really?
31:44
Gale Golden: sometimes on Airbnb, especially more than VRBO, you'll get a scam message, and you kind- Yeah if you've been doing this a while, you can see them pretty quickly.
31:54
Gale Golden: And this person reached out to me and said she was a producer.
31:58
Gale Golden: And at first I thought, "Oh, she wants to shoot something at my property."
32:01
Sarah Karakaian: Mm-hmm.
32:01
Gale Golden: "And now I'm gonna have to do all these agreements if I wanna do it."
32:05
Gale Golden: And, um, but she did, but it was for Staycation USA.
32:10
Gale Golden: So I took her information and validated it, and it was, she contacted me through my, um, listing on Airbnb.
32:19
Gale Golden: And guess what she saw as the first image?
32:21
Gale Golden: That spectacular hero image.
32:24
Gale Golden: So I can thank Wendy for pushing me hard enough to do it.
32:28
Gale Golden: Um, and May 2nd is our filming.
32:31
Gale Golden: So we'll be one of six houses, um, on the Lake George region, um, uh- Okay episode.
32:38
Gale Golden: And they'll go from Lake Placid, which actually is quite a distance from us, maybe 80 miles, um, all the way to Lake George, but we're one of six.
32:47
Gale Golden: And I was like, "Wow.
32:49
Gale Golden: Wow, wow, wow."
32:50
Annette Grant: That's so cool.
32:50
Gale Golden: Yeah.
32:50
Annette Grant: Tell us about what is So someone who doesn't know what Staycation USA is, what is it?
32:55
Annette Grant: Where will-
32:55
Gale Golden: Yep.
32:55
Gale Golden: Mm-hmm.
32:55
Sarah Karakaian: Where can we see it?
32:56
Sarah Karakaian: What's going on with it?
32:57
Gale Golden: Yep.
32:57
Gale Golden: So the Destination Channel is a channel that you can get.
33:01
Gale Golden: Um, they have lots of shows.
33:03
Gale Golden: Uh, one of them is called Staycation USA.
33:06
Gale Golden: Um, I think they have Staycation Europe.
33:08
Gale Golden: They have Staycation, like, different, um, it's- it's, um, five season Emmy award-winning show.
33:14
Sarah Karakaian: Wow.
33:15
Gale Golden: Um, about properties, uh, like ours.
33:17
Gale Golden: And, um, that are special or areas that are special.
33:22
Gale Golden: And, uh, people, you know, can watch them and think about maybe going to use them.
33:27
Gale Golden: Um, it's an interesting model that they have in that I will have access to all the footage.
33:34
Sarah Karakaian: Mm-hmm.
33:34
Gale Golden: I can edit the footage.
33:36
Sarah Karakaian: Oh, okay.
33:37
Gale Golden: Um, it becomes a brand asset for me.
33:39
Gale Golden: Absolutely.
33:40
Gale Golden: I can pay a little bit of money for that.
33:42
Gale Golden: Not a huge amount, but, um, more than, I mean, I could have never hired this crew to come in.
33:47
Annette Grant: Absolutely.
33:47
Annette Grant: Right?
33:47
Annette Grant: Right.
33:48
Annette Grant: For-
33:48
Sarah Karakaian: Right.
33:49
Gale Golden: And, um Actually right after that shoot we're gonna reshoot our house because, you know, all the new stain is on- Yeah the deck'll be, you know, you know.
33:58
Gale Golden: So I kind of, I was thinking, "You know what?
34:00
Gale Golden: I need summer photos."
34:02
Sarah Karakaian: And you actually though, let's talk, you do need summer photos.
34:05
Sarah Karakaian: And I think people-
34:06
Gale Golden: I do.
34:07
Sarah Karakaian: I mean, I know the leaf peeping is really, uh, an especial time for your home, but, Annette and I talk about this so, and we talked about one of the strategists in our coaching program, Wendy, she's really big
34:16
Sarah Karakaian: on this, Gail.
34:17
Sarah Karakaian: I know you know this.
34:18
Sarah Karakaian: She hires multiple photographers at multiple points in the year, and not just once.
34:22
Sarah Karakaian: Like, she revisits how her properties are positioned in market, marketed.
34:23
Sarah Karakaian: Yep.
34:23
Sarah Karakaian: Um, and she'll, like, put these photo- together in a way that tells a story, and she's always changing that story.
34:23
Sarah Karakaian: So I think this is gonna be great for your summer season for you to have.
34:24
Gale Golden: I do too.
34:24
Sarah Karakaian: Those assets.
34:24
Gale Golden: I do too.
34:24
Gale Golden: And I have to tell you, I was the first one in the area to really have drone photography.
34:24
Gale Golden: But I was doing, um- It's prime center some competitive analysis the other day to see if my, where I was positioned on my summer prices for the Fourth of July week.
34:52
Sarah Karakaian: Mm-hmm.
34:52
Gale Golden: Um, because I really wanted to be double what everybody else was.
34:55
Gale Golden: And I know that seems risky, but I've learned my lessons about how to make this work.
35:01
Gale Golden: And, um, when I did it, went to look at my com- you know, I have my comp list, which I didn't even know I was supposed to have, but I've learned from you guys.
35:09
Gale Golden: I watch them like a hawk.
35:11
Gale Golden: That's something I look at in the morning when I do Price Labs, um, and look at base rate.
35:16
Gale Golden: I look at what the competition is doing.
35:18
Gale Golden: I look at my seven-day pickup.
35:21
Gale Golden: I know what that is.
35:22
Gale Golden: Uh, you guys are laughing, but like, see?
35:25
Annette Grant: No, we love it.
35:25
Gale Golden: I, uh, because you- I mean, this is, I look at all these things to make decisions, right?
35:28
Gale Golden: But I looked at the, I was looking at the photography and one person has almost an identical photo to me.
35:36
Sarah Karakaian: They're starting to copy you.
35:37
Gale Golden: That's, yeah.
35:37
Annette Grant: Yeah.
35:37
Annette Grant: That's what happens.
35:38
Gale Golden: Yeah.
35:38
Gale Golden: I was like, "Well, that's what happens when you lead the market," right?
35:41
Gale Golden: So.
35:41
Sarah Karakaian: That is.
35:42
Annette Grant: So good.
35:42
Annette Grant: Gail, what, there are a lot of hosts, we wanna be, keep it real right now, there are a lot of hosts.
35:48
Gale Golden: Mm-hmm.
35:48
Annette Grant: Struggling right now.
35:49
Gale Golden: Yep.
35:50
Annette Grant: A, potentially- Mm like, similar to you, maybe they were coasting, COVID hit, there was not It, it was easy breezy, you know, no one could go anywhere else in the, in the world, right?
36:01
Annette Grant: And now they're, they're, they're confronting their property, they're confronting their pricing, they're, they're really confronting this as a, a, a choice that they have made to build wealth for.
36:12
Annette Grant: themselves and their family.
36:13
Annette Grant: What would you offer to a host that is struggling, and struggling to figure out, "Do I continue to invest in this property?
36:21
Annette Grant: Do I sell the property?"
36:23
Annette Grant: What was that moment for you where you decided to invest in yourself-
36:28
Gale Golden: Right
36:28
Annette Grant: and in your property?
36:29
Gale Golden: Yeah, that, I, I mean, that wa- And it, and you know what?
36:32
Gale Golden: I still go through those questions.
36:35
Annette Grant: Mm.
36:35
Gale Golden: You know?
36:36
Gale Golden: Um, especially as we's got, we've gotten older, I'm like, "Should I bring it in closer?"
36:41
Gale Golden: You know, "Should I look for something, you know, should I pivot to another area?"
36:45
Gale Golden: Um, I would say two things.
36:47
Gale Golden: Um, if you like this business, number one, if you like hospitality and you like, um, creating these wonderful experiences for people to enjoy, and you know that's something you l- enjoy doing, you can do that for a long
37:02
Gale Golden: time, right?
37:04
Gale Golden: You can do it from your home.
37:05
Gale Golden: You don't have to be there, although it does...
37:08
Gale Golden: There is some benefits to showing up, I agree, but you don't have to be there, so you can be remote.
37:14
Gale Golden: Um, and I would say it's worth the investment to s- just see what you can do.
37:21
Annette Grant: Mm.
37:21
Gale Golden: I mean, I was like, I, I thought, "Well, I'm just gonna give it...
37:26
Gale Golden: I'm just gonna try, and then I'm gonna learn revenue management."
37:30
Gale Golden: I kind of coasted over that, you know?
37:32
Gale Golden: I let Beyond Pricing do it, or I let, you know, Airbnb Smart Pricing do it, or whatever.
37:38
Gale Golden: And I, but I had to, I had to learn it, you know?
37:41
Gale Golden: And I had to learn how to read my market, um, to understand my competitors, and to see, think about how I was gonna differentiate.
37:50
Gale Golden: Um, it's not hard Um, if you have the right, uh, tools and the right coaching, if you have those two things and you put some effort in...
38:01
Gale Golden: You know, I, I couldn't always...
38:03
Gale Golden: I- A lot of the, my, um, colleagues in the course were professional hosts that had, you know, lots of properties.
38:09
Gale Golden: That was not who I was.
38:11
Gale Golden: I was the single really spectacular property that was being underutilized, right?
38:17
Gale Golden: And, um, but I listen to what people do, and, um, I loved the positive, positivity of the whole thing.
38:27
Gale Golden: You know, like, uh, yes, w- we can be down on things, but we can also turn that around and say, like, "How do I make this work?"
38:35
Gale Golden: And I think what I, what I would say to people is it's, it's not...
38:41
Gale Golden: It might sound mysterious, but once you get in, it's not that mysterious, right?
38:46
Gale Golden: It's like, okay, you look over here, you look over here, you look over here, and now you have the picture.
38:51
Gale Golden: And, you know, it's funny 'cause I'm, you know, I'm going into my first summer season with you guys, right?
38:56
Gale Golden: And, um, I know last fall I kept thinking, "Oh, these prices are so high.
39:03
Gale Golden: No one's ever gonna book my place."
39:05
Gale Golden: And then we, our place is kind of funny because, um, our summer window's only 34 days, our booking window.
39:13
Gale Golden: So it, like a lot of places in, like, Cape Cod, where I am, they're already booked, right?
39:18
Annette Grant: Mm-hmm.
39:18
Gale Golden: They're already...
39:19
Gale Golden: They're probably in, um, Rhode Island coast, they're booked 80, 85% of the way now.
39:25
Gale Golden: I'm, I'm just beginning to book June, but I have two great, um, I have great, two great bookings in June, far longer, not just weekends.
39:36
Gale Golden: Um, I have one really great one in July, you know, when my rates go up over $1,000 a night.
39:43
Gale Golden: Um, and I'm like, I, you know, and I know that I'm gonna be...
39:48
Gale Golden: You know, I had to get my shoulder, my s- my pricing set up, and I'm ready to, I'm ready to watch it roll in.
39:55
Gale Golden: I'm like, I'm like ex- I th- I'm very confident about what the summer will be.
40:01
Gale Golden: Um, the other thing I, I learned some really new fun things, like parent child.
40:06
Gale Golden: I think, who was it?
40:07
Gale Golden: One of you guys.
40:08
Gale Golden: It was my first one-on-one was with, was with Sarah, wasn't it?
40:11
Sarah Karakaian: It was with me.
40:12
Sarah Karakaian: Uh, either one of us.
40:13
Gale Golden: Was it with y-
40:13
Sarah Karakaian: Yeah.
40:13
Gale Golden: One, I...
40:14
Gale Golden: And anyway, I remember you saying you need, in my little to-do list that came out of the first one-on-one, you said, "Parent child," and I thought, "What the heck is that?"
40:23
Gale Golden: You know?
40:24
Gale Golden: And yet I've had a, I had a, I didn't, you know, rock the world, but I had, I filled in dates I never was filled before.
40:33
Sarah Karakaian: Mm-hmm.
40:33
Sarah Karakaian: Sure.
40:33
Gale Golden: Um, and I do not, I could not lock every door, 'cause we have a stairway up to a loft that doesn't have any doors.
40:40
Gale Golden: But listen to this, you guys will love this.
40:42
Gale Golden: My husband goes, "Maybe I should put a door there."
40:45
Gale Golden: 'Cause that's about the door.
40:45
Sarah Karakaian: He's getting involved now.
40:46
Gale Golden: Yeah, because he goes, "I could do that.
40:48
Gale Golden: I could, I could get a door on there."
40:50
Sarah Karakaian: Oh, wow.
40:50
Gale Golden: You know, but I, uh, Wendy sh- told me how to buy screens, you know?
40:54
Gale Golden: Mm-hmm.
40:54
Gale Golden: And then, uh, we're dog friendly.
40:56
Gale Golden: Um, I think some people know this about me.
40:59
Gale Golden: I've been breeding and raising and showing dogs for s- for 40 years.
41:02
Gale Golden: Okay.
41:03
Gale Golden: Um, I currently have, I've had three breeds.
41:05
Gale Golden: The last one is French bulldogs, which are very incredibly popular.
41:08
Gale Golden: I've had them for 20 years when nobody knew what they were.
41:12
Gale Golden: Um, but-
41:12
Annette Grant: Yeah, you had bulldogs and Airbnbs before people even knew what they were.
41:15
Gale Golden: I did.
41:16
Gale Golden: I did.
41:17
Gale Golden: It's so true.
41:18
Gale Golden: But yeah, the, I had my little Frenchies, and so my house is built for dogs, because I have gates on the deck.
41:25
Gale Golden: I have a dog yard.
41:27
Gale Golden: And, um, one of the things we're putting in, um, after one of my one-on-my, um, one of my one-on-one calls is some more dog-friendly things.
41:36
Gale Golden: Like, you know how the Ritz has pillows, you can choose the pillow that's right for you.
41:41
Gale Golden: Uh-huh.
41:41
Gale Golden: Well, I'm gonna have some do- I have this big walk-in cedar closet with shelves, and I'm gonna put different dog beds, different sizes.
41:49
Gale Golden: So kind of like, that was like, you know, that's a fun thing, right?
41:53
Sarah Karakaian: Yeah.
41:53
Annette Grant: Uh, we're, we get- And those are, those are pictures to take, too, though, this next 30-
41:56
Gale Golden: Yes, we will.
41:58
Annette Grant: Of specifically, uh, your dog, like, at the gate showing it can't get through.
42:03
Annette Grant: You know, like it- Yeah a lot of places will say dog friendly, and then you get there, and dogs can run underneath the fence, or it's not as friendly as...
42:10
Annette Grant: They might allow pets, but it doesn't mean it's safe for them- Right to be outside.
42:14
Gale Golden: Well, it, you know, it's, it's funny.
42:16
Gale Golden: And we have a g- a fairly good sized dog yard, and, you know, we have a lot of wildlife where we are.
42:20
Annette Grant: Mm-hmm.
42:20
Gale Golden: You know, we have bear and all kinds of things.
42:23
Gale Golden: Anyway, um, it's a, it's a, it's pretty...
42:26
Gale Golden: You would have, I don't even know if a, a wolfhound could get over this fence.
42:29
Gale Golden: But, um, I think I'm gonna put some, like, a fire hydrant, you know, a stand with the poop bag kind of thing.
42:36
Annette Grant: Mm-hmm.
42:37
Gale Golden: You know?
42:37
Gale Golden: But, like, just little things that make it.
42:39
Annette Grant: Dog park.
42:39
Gale Golden: Easier for you to...
42:40
Gale Golden: Yeah, the, a dog park, basically.
42:42
Gale Golden: So I don't have the hot tub, but I do have a dog park.
42:45
Annette Grant: Okay.
42:45
Annette Grant: Right.
42:45
Annette Grant: And that's a dog, uh, dog lovers would love that.
42:48
Gale Golden: Yeah.
42:49
Annette Grant: I, I wanna know, Gail, what is your biggest win so far this year after joining Strategic Host?
42:56
Annette Grant: If you had to na- like, this, you were like, "Whoa, that is what I'm celebrating."
43:01
Annette Grant: I wanna share with hosts just like, they need to celebrate-
43:04
Gale Golden: Oh, boy
43:04
Annette Grant: more what's happening-
43:05
Gale Golden: Gosh.
43:05
Annette Grant: So how can you help them with that?
43:06
Gale Golden: I, I could give you 10.
43:08
Annette Grant: Um- Well, let's, we'll do three.
43:09
Annette Grant: Let's do three then.
43:10
Annette Grant: Go ahead.
43:10
Gale Golden: Okay, let's do three.
43:11
Gale Golden: So my, I think my b- Being so booked in January and February that I, I mean, I remember showing it to my husband, and he's going, "You're kidding me."
43:24
Gale Golden: You know, he's been looking at it for 10...
43:26
Gale Golden: So I don't- I have owner's reports, but you know who I do them for?
43:29
Gale Golden: Him.
43:30
Sarah Karakaian: Yourself.
43:30
Sarah Karakaian: Yeah, yeah.
43:30
Sarah Karakaian: Love it.
43:31
Gale Golden: I do them for him.
43:32
Sarah Karakaian: Yes.
43:32
Gale Golden: Okay?
43:33
Gale Golden: And that got him excited about what was happening, and I, you know, um, or so that was a huge win, 'cause he's always, every time a guest would message me that there was a problem, he would grumble.
43:47
Sarah Karakaian: Mm-hmm.
43:47
Gale Golden: These people," you know, blah, blah, blah.
43:49
Gale Golden: He's not the hospitality person for us.
43:52
Gale Golden: That's okay.
43:53
Gale Golden: Right.
43:53
Gale Golden: But, but he would grumble, "These people wreck things," you know, whatever.
43:57
Gale Golden: Something broke, you know, or it's not working.
44:00
Gale Golden: They didn't use it right, you know.
44:02
Gale Golden: And I'm just the opposite.
44:03
Gale Golden: I'm like, "Okay, tell me where you're standing, and let's walk through this," right?
44:08
Gale Golden: And usually it's just, I hate to say it, user error- Mm-hmm most of the time for my guests.
44:13
Gale Golden: Um, but you know, he's, he looks at it differently now.
44:18
Gale Golden: Like, he, he's not gonna be our hospitality person unless he's using AI.
44:23
Gale Golden: Um, but he, he is, like, he looks at it differently, and he sees it as an important part of our retirement income.
44:33
Gale Golden: Um, you know, maybe not having to touch savings because we have some income from this.
44:38
Annette Grant: Mm.
44:38
Gale Golden: Um, he looks at it more like an asset, um, a business.
44:45
Gale Golden: I mean, and he has been self-employed, as have I.
44:48
Gale Golden: Um, and I think he never kind of looked at it, but now that...
44:52
Gale Golden: So that was a huge win just between us, okay?
44:55
Gale Golden: That was one, um, the big, the definitely the, that I could be booked like that.
45:01
Gale Golden: You know, I always thought the winter was just a weekend thing, and I learned no.
45:06
Gale Golden: In fact, March was, like, 60-something percent occupied, and only April I had one or two weekends only.
45:14
Gale Golden: And, but I was, I couldn't wait for them to honestly have their vacation and move on, because I had plans for this.
45:21
Gale Golden: You know, it's shoulder season.
45:22
Gale Golden: We gotta, you know-
45:23
Sarah Karakaian: Let's go.
45:23
Gale Golden: Yeah yeah, I had my, my cleaner do her spring cleaning list.
45:28
Gale Golden: And you know, I- the other third big win for me was organizing the team.
45:32
Sarah Karakaian: Mm.
45:33
Gale Golden: You know?
45:33
Sarah Karakaian: Love that.
45:34
Gale Golden: And, and getting them on board.
45:36
Gale Golden: Like- They, sometimes they surprise me.
45:40
Gale Golden: Like, Molly goes, "Gail, what if I set up a hot chocolate bar?"
45:44
Gale Golden: I was like, "Aw, what a great idea."
45:47
Gale Golden: She even like b- We have this, like, beverage fridge, like, little bar area in the kitchen, you know, where the wine glasses hang and cabinets.
45:56
Gale Golden: Mm.
45:56
Gale Golden: And she made a whole hot chocolate bar there with, like, little containers of mini marshmallows and things you could a- you know, all different kinds of hot chocolate.
46:04
Gale Golden: That was my cleaner, okay?
46:06
Sarah Karakaian: Well.
46:06
Gale Golden: And that- That was her idea.
46:07
Sarah Karakaian: And that, that is a testament, Gail, to they see that you care.
46:11
Gale Golden: Mm-hmm.
46:11
Sarah Karakaian: They see that you've stepped up, and that is so infectious.
46:17
Annette Grant: Mm-hmm.
46:18
Sarah Karakaian: And I think people overlook that, especially when it's like, "My team, it's, I can't hire anyone.
46:22
Sarah Karakaian: There's no good help anymore."
46:23
Annette Grant: And it's like- Well, listen to the way you're talking about them ab- the loo- You just got lit up when you talked about that.
46:27
Annette Grant: It is.
46:27
Annette Grant: What you focus on expands.
46:28
Annette Grant: They can see you're pouring into it.
46:30
Sarah Karakaian: Mm-hmm.
46:31
Annette Grant: And they want to pour- Yeah, I mean- They want to pour their energy and stuff in
46:33
Gale Golden: they do, they do, and I send them the reviews.
46:36
Annette Grant: I love that.
46:37
Gale Golden: So when I, I mean, Molly cleans about 40 houses, so I, you know, I'm not her only.
46:41
Gale Golden: She- not just her, but she has a team.
46:44
Gale Golden: Right, right, her team.
46:44
Gale Golden: And I, but I send them the reviews and, uh, good and bad, right?
46:47
Gale Golden: Mm-hmm.
46:47
Gale Golden: And I say, "Hey, I think there's something here we gotta work on.
46:50
Gale Golden: You know, we, you know, we missed the boat on this one," or, "Wow, look at this, you know, we've had five great ones in a row.
46:58
Gale Golden: Uh, take the team to lunch."
47:00
Gale Golden: Mm.
47:00
Gale Golden: Um, or like Chris, who's, does kind of, he um, he really does construction, but you know, it's slow there in the wintertime, but he, he's, I said, "Why don't you do maintenance for houses like mine?"
47:13
Gale Golden: And I started to give him things, and then he kept thinking of more things.
47:17
Gale Golden: You know, like, "Oh, what if I did this, Gail?"
47:19
Gale Golden: Or, "What if I did that?"
47:20
Gale Golden: You know, um, and he opened up the view far more than I would have.
47:25
Gale Golden: But it looks fantastic.
47:26
Gale Golden: But he has, like, an artist's eye, and he, you know, you let people do what they're good at.
47:31
Gale Golden: Um, and you know, I, sometimes I had Molly or people on her team doing the maintenance.
47:37
Gale Golden: That wasn't their thing.
47:38
Gale Golden: Yeah.
47:38
Gale Golden: They're great at cleaning.
47:39
Sarah Karakaian: Yes.
47:40
Sarah Karakaian: Mm-hmm.
47:40
Gale Golden: And like, like, let's stick to what you're really good at, and, and I have Chris do these other things, and she doesn't have to drop what she's doing 'cause the coffee pot, whatever.
47:49
Gale Golden: And um, you know, it just worked out.
47:51
Gale Golden: The team.
47:52
Gale Golden: So those three things for me was, one, that I really could be fully occupied, two, that I got my husband on board, and three, that I have a team I can totally trust.
48:01
Sarah Karakaian: Wow.
48:02
Sarah Karakaian: That concise.
48:03
Sarah Karakaian: That- That's so good that's a wrap.
48:04
Gale Golden: I mean, and it really is thanks to you guys.
48:07
Gale Golden: I mean, I, I, I, I can't say enough.
48:11
Gale Golden: Maybe you don't charge enough.
48:12
Gale Golden: I don't know.
48:13
Gale Golden: But yeah.
48:14
Gale Golden: But it's, I learned, I've read the books.
48:17
Gale Golden: I've been to s- a couple of courses.
48:19
Gale Golden: I have never learned things like this-
48:22
Annette Grant: Awesome.
48:22
Gale Golden: Um, to this depth, um, you know.
48:25
Annette Grant: But you did the work.
48:26
Annette Grant: I actually, I, I want to say that, that you put the reps in.
48:30
Annette Grant: And you did the work.
48:31
Annette Grant: Because you can, you can learn all of these things, but if you don't take action on them, you can consume, consume, consume.
48:39
Annette Grant: But if the action is not there, it, you won't get the results.
48:42
Annette Grant: And so we wanna champion y- we wanna, like, receive that compliment from you, but give one right back even faster-
48:48
Gale Golden: Thank you
48:49
Annette Grant: that you did the work.
48:50
Annette Grant: And it's in, it's in your numbers.
48:52
Annette Grant: It's in your team.
48:53
Annette Grant: You are glowing right now just talking about your property, and it's exciting to...
48:58
Annette Grant: Like, you're getting Sarah and I fired up.
49:01
Annette Grant: Fired up.
49:01
Gale Golden: I love it.
49:02
Gale Golden: I'm like, now I want another one.
49:04
Sarah Karakaian: Well, and, but that, and this doesn't have to be everyone's, uh, goal-
49:07
Gale Golden: No.
49:07
Sarah Karakaian: Gayle.
49:08
Sarah Karakaian: But, you know, we, we do talk about this.
49:09
Sarah Karakaian: Like, once we teach you our system and we, and we get you on that path of feeling in control of at least knowing how things can be optimized in your business, then if you do wanna scale, then we
49:21
Sarah Karakaian: plug houses into that system.
49:22
Sarah Karakaian: But so often people talk about scaling the acquisition part, and we love that, you know, Kenny Bedwell is the help with that.
49:29
Sarah Karakaian: Like, we're here for that.
49:29
Sarah Karakaian: We love him.
49:30
Sarah Karakaian: We also have to then treat it like a business once we have that asset.
49:33
Sarah Karakaian: We have to make that pro forma come to life.
49:35
Gale Golden: Right.
49:35
Gale Golden: I mean, how do we optimize what we have?
49:37
Gale Golden: Right.
49:37
Gale Golden: And that's, that's really, um, that I made such a tremendous leap from one year to the next said that I had some things right, right?
49:45
Sarah Karakaian: Right.
49:46
Sarah Karakaian: Yeah, the core.
49:46
Gale Golden: The property, the location, the design.
49:50
Gale Golden: But I didn't know, I didn't market it well.
49:53
Gale Golden: It wasn't priced properly.
49:55
Gale Golden: Um, and then when you start to put the whole package together, that's when you get to optimization, and that's where it, the numbers really sing, and they reflect the effort that you've put into this amazing place.
50:09
Gale Golden: And it doesn't, you know, just for people that might be listening, because I do have other, like, a one-bedroom condo property.
50:16
Gale Golden: It's not a vacation rental, it's a medium-term rental.
50:19
Gale Golden: But you can still do it, you can still optimize it for what it is.
50:24
Sarah Karakaian: Absolutely.
50:24
Gale Golden: And if you know who your c- like, I knew who my customer was.
50:28
Gale Golden: It was family and friend groups.
50:29
Gale Golden: That's who I market to.
50:31
Gale Golden: You know, it's all about fam- you know, I do bachelorette parties.
50:34
Gale Golden: I just say, "No confetti, please."
50:36
Gale Golden: Uh, no glitter and no confetti, right?
50:39
Gale Golden: Right.
50:39
Gale Golden: Yeah, I see you guys laughing.
50:40
Gale Golden: You've cleaned it, too.
50:42
Annette Grant: Oh, it's the worst.
50:43
Gale Golden: Yeah.
50:43
Gale Golden: Um, and, you know, I, I've done bachelor parties a little less.
50:47
Gale Golden: Um, but I just make sure everybody knows the rules, okay?
50:51
Gale Golden: You know the rules.
50:52
Gale Golden: These are the rules.
50:53
Gale Golden: And, um, the other thing is I feel like, you know, don't cheap out on things like insurance.
51:00
Sarah Karakaian: Mm-hmm.
51:00
Gale Golden: We use Proper.
51:01
Gale Golden: It, it, are they expensive?
51:03
Gale Golden: Yes.
51:04
Gale Golden: Have I had bedbugs?
51:05
Gale Golden: Yes.
51:06
Sarah Karakaian: Mm-hmm.
51:06
Gale Golden: I had one, um, don't forget, I get a lot of people from New York City.
51:10
Gale Golden: It's the bedbug capital of, the second bedbug capital of the world.
51:14
Gale Golden: I think Paris is number one, right?
51:16
Gale Golden: And I get, I get bedbugs in a third floor bedroom, private bedroom.
51:22
Gale Golden: No.
51:22
Gale Golden: No other.
51:22
Gale Golden: So how did they get up there?
51:24
Gale Golden: A suitcase, right?
51:25
Gale Golden: Right.
51:25
Gale Golden: They came in somebody's...
51:26
Gale Golden: And, um, it was July.
51:29
Gale Golden: And I was gonna lose $15,000 in bookings.
51:33
Gale Golden: All right?
51:34
Gale Golden: 15 thou- you know, $15,000 'cause in New York you can't use certain chemicals- Mm-hmm so you have to kind of shut it down over a, a, a couple of weeks.
51:44
Gale Golden: So I called Proper, and I had bedbug coverage with no deductible.
51:50
Gale Golden: That's something they, that's standard on all their policies.
51:53
Gale Golden: And I, you know, presented it, and they paid me in nine days, including the business loss income.
51:59
Annette Grant: Wow.
52:00
Gale Golden: Yeah.
52:00
Annette Grant: That's impressive.
52:00
Gale Golden: So I was made whole.
52:02
Gale Golden: So, like, there's things like that that you really, you know...
52:06
Gale Golden: Make sure you shop around, and make sure that you have the right protection of risk.
52:12
Gale Golden: Um-
52:12
Sarah Karakaian: I agree
52:13
Gale Golden: but also, you know, just, you know, you know, love what you do.
52:17
Gale Golden: Love the pe- love the property, even if it's a little one-bedroom in your, you know, conversion studio in your garage.
52:25
Gale Golden: And your, you'll get the right guests.
52:27
Sarah Karakaian: Right.
52:27
Sarah Karakaian: You know?
52:27
Sarah Karakaian: Do it right.
52:28
Sarah Karakaian: Do it full out.
52:30
Sarah Karakaian: Gale, where can our listeners find out more about your property if they wanna go and stay with you?
52:36
Sarah Karakaian: Because that puzzle and that view- sounds so enticing.
52:39
Gale Golden: I know.
52:39
Gale Golden: I don't have a picture of the puzzle table, so that's gon-
52:42
Sarah Karakaian: Ooh
52:43
Gale Golden: that's on my, that's on my shot list,
52:45
Sarah Karakaian: uh, for n- That's unique.
52:45
Gale Golden: Yeah Absolutely.
52:46
Gale Golden: For next time, the puzzle table, and maybe the fire hydrant.
52:49
Gale Golden: We'll see.
52:50
Gale Golden: But, um, the, I, you know, we're just, uh, uh, through you guys, I found a great website builder, uh, Delaney Consulting, and they're building my website.
53:00
Gale Golden: But the, uh, web address is going to be stayfivestar.co.
53:06
Sarah Karakaian: Awesome, and we'll also put- Yeah the link to your OTA listing, too, in the show notes- Yes, yes so people can go check you out in the meantime.
53:12
Sarah Karakaian: Yeah.
53:12
Sarah Karakaian: Gail, thank you.
53:13
Gale Golden: It's actually being built right now, so we're excited.
53:15
Sarah Karakaian: I'm so excited for you.
53:16
Sarah Karakaian: I cannot wait to see it and those beautiful photos, especially the new ones that are coming for the summer.
53:20
Sarah Karakaian: It's just, it's all coming together for you, and it's been really-
53:22
Gale Golden: it is
53:23
Sarah Karakaian: fun to watch you, to watch you level up your business-
53:27
Gale Golden: Yeah
53:27
Sarah Karakaian: and to, and to continue to really go for it.
53:31
Sarah Karakaian: So Gail, thank you so much for your time, for being such a great host, and for inspiring others during today's episode.
53:38
Sarah Karakaian: I know that, that, that your tenacity is gonna be really infectious.
53:42
Gale Golden: Oh, great.
53:42
Gale Golden: Thank you, guys.
53:43
Gale Golden: I, it's been a wonderful six months.
53:45
Gale Golden: It really has.
53:46
Gale Golden: I'm looking forward to the next six.
53:48
Sarah Karakaian: That's right.
53:49
Sarah Karakaian: We love it.
53:49
Sarah Karakaian: With that, I am Sarah Karakaian.
53:51
Annette Grant: I'm Annette Grant, and together we are...
53:53
Sarah Karakaian: Thanks for visiting.