Latest / Hospitable Hosts / Mastering Guest Experience with AI and Automation
Transcript
- Miles - Hospitable: Thank you for listening to today's episode with Stefan. If you enjoyed today's episode, please don't forget to like, share, and subscribe on your favorite podcast platform and listen out for our new episode coming soon. Hello and welcome to today's episode of the Hospitable Hosts podcast. Our guest today is Stefan Scheurer, a German radio host with the best rated Airbnb in the country. Stefan is a hospitable power user who doesn't just use a tool, he builds a bespoke ecosystem around it. His focus on hyper-personalized guest experiences provides a fresh perspective for hosts who may feel limited by their software. Stefan: Yeah. Miles - Hospitable: Stefan. Thank you so much for joining us today. Today going to go into bit of ⁓ complex tech stack you've built for your short-term rental. ⁓ I love to ⁓ take a step back, though, and maybe just us a bit more your story of how you got into short-term rental hosting in the first place. Tell us about where you are based today. ⁓ Give us little bit of information about you as a person, too. Stefan: Yes, in my real life, I'm host of a German broadcaster and a radio and there I was CEO for many years of the internet. ⁓ Miles - Hospitable: Mmm. Stefan: So I know websites and something stuff like that, but I don't get into programming, like engineering something, websites also. I just use tools there and there. And one day we you know, we have on our short term rental, a funny cool air railway, a kind of a cable car in the garden. It's very, very crazy and special. And then we thought about making an Airbnb of it and we did it. Miles - Hospitable: Hmm. Stefan: and my wife built the house and now we are here. Thankfully, we found Hospitable because Hospitable has ⁓ one thing that it's best on the market. It's the possibility to automate the process of communication and a lot of more. But the most important thing is the communication of the guests for me. And I liked it from the very first moment. I like the spirit and the support. ⁓ There is nothing else in the industry and they fulfill my needs when I communicate to the guests. And this is what made us, I think, the best rated Airbnb in Germany. Yeah! Miles - Hospitable: Nice, excellent, yeah, a great achievement for sure. And so you talked there about hospitable being great for automation of messages. When in that journey of going, we've got this vernacular railway in the back garden, so we're going to build an Airbnb, did you go, we really want to automate our messaging. What was the light bulb moment that made you decide that if we're going to do this, we need to automate it? Stefan: Yeah. Yeah. So first of all, ⁓ part of the automation that I need in hospital and I like really much, it's a low frontier. Everybody can do it. And for my case, ⁓ reviews are the most important things for me. So this made me to the, I got 300, 400 ⁓ reviews and every review is passed off. And I really need this. Miles - Hospitable: Yeah. Stefan: Good reviews and I want to make everything to get to this good reviews This is a kind of a nerdy thing, but every host knows what I mean One day there will be a guest that give me a bad review, but I don't think about it now and for this automation It's one crazy tool to make this really cool. For example, what I use in hospital for the first to mention is that I decide if there is a family coming or there is a couple for a romantic stay coming. And these are absolutely different ways of guests and I want to cover them as best as possible. And from my experience, this is I tell the families that we can make babysitting, for example, and I tell the couples where they have a romantic dinner. And for all we know that the guests really... don't like to read long messages. They have seven seconds to read and see if there's something they know. ⁓ I make short messages with the specialized content and the hospital will help me. But there are other things. And these are the problems ⁓ that I know Hospital Can't fix all the problems on the world, so mine as well. The best thing is what I really needed in my house is that the cleaner, when the checkout is as a cleaner day, right? There is a time when the cleaner comes and I need the cleaner to know how many guests and which beds are in the next step, right? And this is something I don't know if I'm the only host or not, but I need it and the hospital don't have the chance to do that. So ⁓ I remember that I want to make more in automation and Miles - Hospitable: Mm-hmm. Stefan: I took the hospitable ⁓ API, it's a kind of connector, and user AI, artificial intelligence, and programmed for my website a kind of calendar for my ⁓ cleaner. And then, and now they know that the automation looks what the next guest, what they prefer, and put it in that calendar for the cleaner. And so I have several automations till now. Miles - Hospitable: Yeah. Stefan: It helps the guests feel cool, so make the organization good, it's a cleaner team, and make the guests feel good. For example, when they check in, they have the latest news about events right across here in my city. Something that the hospital is unable to do for obvious reasons, and can do that for all the world. Miles - Hospitable: Excellent. Mm-hmm. Stefan: but I can it for my location and the guests love it. And I often hear that they never have so much information to make them a great stay. And this is for example one. Miles - Hospitable: Mm-hmm. Nice. Yeah, that's very good. I like that you've kind of taken the simplicity of hospitable and gone, I want to personalize it even more and build even more on top and kind of done that and built it very custom to you and your area, obviously. Talk to me a little bit about home automation as well. So I believe you do some things with kind of smart locks as well and kind of making sure that the checking experience actually at the property is very smooth as well. Stefan: Yeah. Yes, ⁓ I use a smart lock integration from hospitable. This has one reason it's reliable. You know, if you make your automation on yourself, maybe there is once a month something doesn't work. And this is horrible if the gas can't entry the house. Right. And for this reason, I choose the hospitable way, even though it costs me more money for the new key I use, it costs a license. Right. I could automate that without money, but I rely on. Miles - Hospitable: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm. Stefan: And for other things, for example, for the climate, the AC, the air condition or the heating or the lights or the shutters, all the things we automated in the house. I have a smart home that is called HOMEY, one of the best in the market, all using the APIs and the interconnections between hospitable or other platforms. And if the guest, I know at 11 o'clock, if there's a guest today and making the right temperature for the rooms, I know hospitable has also gone that way to make the ⁓ heating going like that. But I need some more. I need the shutters and the lights and the warm water. For example, I make the warm water on or off ⁓ concerning this and all this home automation stuff really doesn't work. ⁓ or it doesn't need ⁓ some skills of programming or so. It's really that easy today that you can integrate this and the really cool hospitable connection, the API that I connect via knowledge from the artificial intelligence. It's really, really easy to make this and it's fun. And this is a thing too. Miles - Hospitable: Mm-hmm. Stefan: gives me money and gives me confidence that I save money for the heating, for example, gives me good prices because of the good reviews, right? And the good rankings on Airbnb and booking, but also it's really fun to do it. Miles - Hospitable: Mm. That's awesome. So maybe you can talk me through a little bit of how you actually kind of what's the process for one of those automations and the hot water, for instance, how exactly are you connecting that to your hospital account? So break it down on simple terms for someone that's, you know, thinking about doing that. And I know that it's you described it as being simple, and it's probably difficult to explain without visuals. And so if anyone's watching the video, we'll try and Stefan: Yeah. Yeah. Miles - Hospitable: get a video of this as well, but maybe you can just talk us through kind of, Stephane, of kind of the steps of going from the API to magically the hot water turning on at the right time. Stefan: Yeah, actually I use N8n, what is one of the three most important platforms for automation ⁓ nowadays. It's a little bit nerdy, but maybe you know make.com and you know set here for a long time, but these two platforms don't offer the comfort that we have with N8n. Miles - Hospitable: Yep. Yes. Stefan: It's German company, by the way, but don't mind. ⁓ It's just a cool company. Hospitable has its ⁓ connector, its open connector, and I can connect via a node, what it's called, to Hospital. And if there is a new guest, I get all the data ⁓ on my N8N instance, and I can do whatever I like. So in my case, I write it to a Google document, and I know the check-in, the check-in time, I know the name, I know email addresses. Miles - Hospitable: Mm-hmm. Stefan: something like that. And in the next step, I got all this data and I can make automation, for example, today is a guest coming and now I make the same article, the same connection to my smart home and say, please, the temperature go to 23 degrees Celsius or the shutter, please close because the day all the day is sunshining. I check the temperatures in the house when I know there's a guest coming. And this is very simple. If it sounds a little bit nerdy now, ⁓ I would recommend ⁓ take one day of your business and check YouTube and check automation with N8N and for example with Claude. It's one of the anthropic artificial intelligences. And ⁓ check if you like that what you hear on YouTube. the beginner's guides that need no knowing about coding. It's really low. It's a low frontier to get into this. And if you like it after a day, you can just try it. And there are several things that come in mind that you can do, like the warm water. Miles - Hospitable: Of course. Yeah, I definitely, I think it's one of those things where if you play around and just set up one thing to start, right, have a go at figuring out one little thing to automate, you'll kind of figure out how easy it is, and then you'll kind of get the bug ⁓ as you have done, Stefan, and become addicted to kind of automating more and more things. Stefan: Okay. Yeah. Absolutely, fully addicted. But you have such ⁓ cool ideas. For example, I sent from hospitable, I sent a link where I make a form. You know, in Germany, have all these stuff with the guest has to his name and to send the passport and all this. Absolutely. And you have the passport if you are not German. But if you're German, you don't need a passport and such things. Miles - Hospitable: I'm gonna stop. Hmm. Yeah, the local regulations and yeah. Stefan: And you can just tell the AI, example, this. You can tell the AI, I need this form. I need ⁓ to check ⁓ all the data that is the law want to have. I need a rental agreement. I need an invoice. I need something like a tourist fee of Baden-Baden. It's a city where I live, Baden-Baden. So all this put together, and ⁓ you have really much data that can't be delivered from hospitable on its own. And in my case, the guests need to ⁓ choose the bed. And I have, we can make it on the video later on, I have a check-in form where they can choose the bed by picture. And they click on the picture, they gave their name, they sent their ID card, and then everything else is made by the automation. This is so a great example. when automation saves your day time lots and lots more. Nowadays, if you check in a hotel or a rental here in Germany, you have to fill something out by hand and then make a copy of your passport. There is always ⁓ one or two humans doing just these things and ⁓ you don't need to nowadays. Miles - Hospitable: Yes. Nice, I like it. One other thing I was interested to ask about was you're using an electric car charging ⁓ port, I believe, as well, and you're essentially ⁓ charging guests, obviously, for the electricity there. Talk me through that. How does that work? Is that something that you're looking to make more money off of, or is it just part of the experience and convenience for travelers? Stefan: So Yes. It's kind of everything. Sure, it's cool if there is some revenue, But on the other hand, ⁓ I just like it. I have an electric car by my own and we have a great changeover in Germany with electrical vehicles and all over Europe. They are coming very strong. And the guests are not used to get the ⁓ car charged on the holiday home. Miles - Hospitable: Mm-hmm. Of course. Mm-hmm. Stefan: or on the hotel. It's very complicated on several reasons. And I thought, OK, I have a 600 euro ⁓ wall box. It's called in Germany wall box. And is it in English the same expression wall box where you charge a car? Why do the Germans call it English wall box when all of the other words are German? OK, I have these wall box where you can charge a car. Miles - Hospitable: ⁓ I'm not sure to be honest, I don't have an electric car myself so... Yeah. Mm-hmm. Okay. Stefan: And there is a QR code on the wall and the guests can scan that. ⁓ so I know this guest ⁓ is staying and want to ⁓ charge the car. And I just simply check when the car is charged, where the guest is still there. It's really, really simple because I know the time when the guest is there, of course, from the hospitable dates. Miles - Hospitable: Hmm. Yep. Stefan: And then I say, this time you charge this, that time you charge that. And if it's all over, I just make a Stripe link for credit card, but they can also pay by ⁓ direct or by gold if they want. But this is the real thing that it's funny and it gives revenue and it's ⁓ all connected via open APIs like hospital does. Miles - Hospitable: Yes. Stefan: the wall box does, the smart home does, the heating, all around us, ⁓ you have this possibility to connect each other. it's just about your creativity how to use it. ⁓ every day a new idea. It's bad. Miles - Hospitable: So, you know, every day a new idea is ⁓ the things that you're already thinking about, I want to automate that, I just need to get around to it or figure it out, or is it just a case of they'll come to you and you'll work it out there on the spot. Stefan: It was fun. In the first moment, was fun. I just wanted to try. And to be honest, it's something that has to do with artificial intelligence and making our life better. And we all read, artificial intelligence is coming and so, but what is the business case of that? I don't know. Do they make my email or do they sort my ⁓ files and folders? Miles - Hospitable: Mm-hmm. Yeah. Stefan: And I thought that this is a great example on what to do. We enhance the features that hospitable has and bring it to another level for the features I need. And the ground base is hospitable and the features I would like to have are these automations that are made on artificial intelligence only with very low knowledge of the programming code. And for sure you have to like it, right? But this is the future. This is the future. have two daughters. They go with the smartphones. And I mean, this is the future. need to know what they're doing. What are the social media? And so I need to know the possibilities of artificial intelligence and how to use it for me. And I think this is a great chance because it's fun and it gives revenue. Miles - Hospitable: I like it. Obviously outside of automation, know, so many five-star reviews, I assume you're kind of keeping the human element there as well, right? And you're kind of making sure that there's an outstanding guest experience. How do you do that? How do you kind of make sure that guests have an amazing state outside of kind of automating these experiences? What does a five-star experience feel like with Stefan, if I was to state your property? Stefan: Yeah. Okay, I can admit that it's more easy to make this five stars if you have an extraordinary location. And I have a house, it's cool and modern, but it's nothing special. I have ⁓ this cable car in the garden. I look just right now. But to be honest, it's not the most important thing. There are the basics everybody knows. The house has to be clean and it has to be fresh and... Miles - Hospitable: Mm-hmm. Stefan: So and all these something in between for the good revenues is the logic of the message, right? I've tried to get into my guests from the very beginning and that is easy because I go to holiday myself. And I know when I on the other way, I always know what is really bad. So for example, there are knives that don't cut. Miles - Hospitable: Mmm, yes. Blood knives are the worst thing. Stefan: It's one of the things everybody knows. So in my house, every knife is premium, right? It's low cost and every guest knows it. It's the feeling. It's like if you go to Euro Disney or if you have a late show and watching it and you feel you're at home. They talk to you in a special way. They know what you already wanted to and the guests are the same. I think holiday is a kind of a show that concerns relaxing. Okay, I'm a radio broadcaster, so I have to tell you this. this is a, for me, it's the experience, the guest experience. And there, there comes the hospitality features into when sending the message. When a guest is more than two days here, I ask the next morning if they had a cool, they come into the house very cool. If they need something, just... call me and even if I'm not there, often I remote. So, and I make clear, I want them to have a stay, a five-star stay or a 10-star stay if they are booking guests, I can defer that thanks to hospitable. So they know they are here for a five-star stay. So I mentioned it the first time and if they go, I mentioned it again. Miles - Hospitable: Yes. Mm-hmm. Stefan: Just leave everything in place. You don't need to clean something up. We will do it for you. And this is so great. I hope you got a five star. It may be a little bit strange, but that works. It's just psychology, to be honest. ⁓ And then the next day when the guest leaves, the guest always get a message that I really like that they clean the home very cool and If that would be so cool to support my family project here, because reviews and ratings are so important. And this is, I think, this personal connection. If I'm here on the location, I say hello every time. You know, it's five minutes saying hello. You will not get a bad review if they see your face. OK? And this is, it's so important. And if you feel, I have another chick. Miles - Hospitable: Mm-hmm. Yes. Mm-hmm. Stefan: I can tell if you feel there's something wrong with the guest. One time I had the guest that ⁓ said it smells like chicken in the house. We had chicken all around here for petting and so. But somehow the house smells like chicken and I said to the guest and I said it every time, every 20th guest, there is something not 100%. I go to the guest and I feel it, I know it and I say, you know what? Miles - Hospitable: Mmm. Okay. I'll see ya. Stefan: You go to one of my recommended restaurants and you go dinner with all the family and give me the bill. And ⁓ I have this sentence, I said this sentence maybe 10, 15 times in my life. And what do you think? How many people give me a bill to pay? Miles - Hospitable: Yeah, probably zero. ⁓ Stefan: Zero. Zero. Zero. It's such a kind of, ⁓ I don't know the right English word. The guest is the most important thing. And is there something you don't like? You go and go with your family, eat in a restaurant for zero euro if you want to. And they are great and happy and lucky. And the most problematic guests are super hosts as well. Miles - Hospitable: Yes, of course. Stefan: You Miles - Hospitable: Of course, yeah. Stefan: But they don't give you bad reviews, so it's unwritten law. Miles - Hospitable: Yes, of course, I like that. like that. Great. Awesome. Stefan, I don't want to take up too much of your time. You probably have more automations to go and build, or you've got to go to the radio studio. So I thank you very much for your time. It's been a pleasure chatting with you. Stefan: Absolutely, my thank you so much. And thank you for the great team you have. I really love it. And you don't pay me for this sentence. I really mean it. It's such a spirit that in inspired me, you know, if there was would not be hospitable with inter connection and the API, I would not be inspired. You inspired me and all the this is great. It's a great company and I love it. And so Thank you. Miles - Hospitable: Thank you very much, Stefan. Pleasure.