Short Stay Podcast

In this episode Sheli Grumet joins us from our supercharged partners, Guesty, where she is Marketplace Business Development Manager. Guesty’s Marketplace is a collection of providers that offer services and tech that reduces the workloads of short-term property managers and provides the right tools to grow their businesses. Marketplaces allows short stay property managers to link up and work with external technologies In this episode Sheli talks tech, marketplaces and automation. She shares her guiding philosophy/principal based on her experience in the industry and her unique position inside a huge tech company. She also talks about the future of the holiday let industry and it is super interesting. Dig in. 

We are delighted to sit down with Karen Mullins who is the UK and Ireland Regional Director for HomeAway - our Showtime sponsor at the Short Stay Show.  HomeAway is a pretty big deal and offers more than 2,000,000 holiday rentals worldwide.  In this 1-2-1 interview we delve into the world of HomeAway and find out what the future holds for the booking platform in the coming years as we talk about new releases and areas of focus for their booking customers as well as their short stay owners .  We also ask Karen for her take on the industry and where she thinks the short stay sector is heading. 

This week our host Elaine is joined by Mark Simpson who is the founder of Boostly, the marketing agency for the hospitality industry. In twenty years Mark has built up a wealth of knowledge on how to get your accommodation business to stand out from the crowd and take control of your own marketing as an accommodation provider Boostly helps short stay providers learn how to do their own marketing and bring in more direct bookings. In this podcast listeners will be able to learn about the the importance of adding your own marketing for short stay providers from getting started, to managing the marketing budget and planning which social media platforms are the best for accommodation businesses. Dig in - it's a good one!

In this episode Deborah Heather from Quality In Tourism joins us as we talk about their role in helping the short stay hospitality owners assure guests that their host is dedicated to high standards within their business to ensure a memorable guest experience. Quality in Tourism provide the accreditation for the Short Term Accommodation Association (STAA) – benefitting the Industry as a whole as they assess 300 – 500 properties per year in the pursuit of excellence. We learn about Deborah’s background and how she started out in this Industry and a look at how Quality in Tourism was born. We also look at Deborah’s passion for supporting the industry as a whole and the individual owners within it. Deborah takes us on a journey into how Accreditation works for and can benefit owners Quality in Tourism are attending the 2020 Short Stay Show at London ExCel on the 12 March and we talk about what visitors expect when they come and see their team on the stand Finally, we look at where Deborah thinks the future of the short stay industry is headed

This week our Elaine is joined by Fred who is CEO of Lavanda.  Lavanda have a super interesting story about how they have grown and evolved as the industry has changed in the last few years. In this episode Fred takes us on the Lavanda journey but also points to areas of growth, scale and distribution which are the key for any short stay and accommodation business.  Don't forget to subscribe and leave  a review

In this episode we chat with Humphrey Bowles who alongside Andrew Boldt founded GUARDHOG in 2017. GUARDHOG specialises in flexible, on-demand cover to take the uncertainty out of sharing your home, assets and skills. Take a listen to the podcast as our host Elaine Watt talks about the importance of insurance in the incredible growth of short stay and its impact for property owners and managers. 

It's the final pod of our session with Booking.com's Alessandro and in this third part we talk about the future aims of booking.com and its role in the industry in helping shape the future of short stay.  Despite welcoming 750 million guest arrivals since 2007 Alessandro views the industry as being on page one of a book with an exciting future.  Elaine and Alessandro talk about the new tools and features which property owners, managers and investors can use to deliver the best possible customer experiences and how Booking.com are adding value and knowledge to their partners in helping turn lookers into bookers.  Episode links -  Get started on Booking.com, get listed and become a partner - join.booking.com  Find out new partner tools and innovations for your short stay accommodation - partner.booking.com/propertymanagers

The Short Stay team are big fans of Sykes Cottage's big cheese - Graham Donoghue and this episode is value-packed with hints, tips and insights for property managers, owners, investors and short stay specialists spanning holiday homes and premium urban lets.  Graham has some pretty heavy duty digital and data experience prior to joining Sykes Cottages just over three years ago having spent a number of years at leading price comparison group MoneySuperMarket. In that time he has transformed Sykes with stunning growth driven by insight, metrics and performance reviews to ensure that guests keep coming back and property owners are fully booked.  In this episode Elaine and Graham discuss overlooking the basics like cleaning, the impact of hot tubs, wifi and pets on booking decisions 

We talk about the reason behind Channel Managers for property owners and managers in the short stay space as we catch up with Vanessa de Souza Lage from Rentals United - one of the leading technology providers in the space.  Elaine and Vanessa cover a lot of ground and discuss how the technology works and the best approach to take when it comes to channel managers.  Vanessa tells the story of Rentals United from the beginning when three rental agencies decided to come together to solve a problem. 

It is part two and in this episode Alessandro Pacilio, Global Product Marketing Manager, Booking.com talks to Elaine about the features of the platform and how it started in short stay and alternative accommodation nineteen years ago. Understanding the Booking.com platform helps property owners and managers perform better and secure more bookings for their businesses. Alessandrotalks about how Booking.com is helping short stay businesses of all sizes from homeowners to professional property managers with enhanced levels of service, care and support. Elaine and Alessandro also talk about protection for short stay businesses against fraudulent payments and how the Booking.com ratings and reviews are actually calculated.

In this episode we are joined by Alessandro who is Global Product Marketing Manager for Booking.com podcast host Elaine and Alessandro talk about his route into the short stay industry and his role within Booking.com.  They also talk about tips, trends and insight about how property owners, managers and investors can deliver the best experience for guests and travellers. 

Catherine and Jack take us through the Stasher story which started in 2015  Stasher is the world's first luggage storage network connecting guests with hotels and stores that can keep luggage safe while they enjoy their time in a city.  This episode covers a lot of ground in the start up story and give some great insight including their insurance policy which doesn't get used much and the success of the oft avoided cold sales call which snared them a deal with Premier Inn and Accor. 

Henry talks through the story of guest management platform YourWelcome and how it came to be through his own experiences of being a property owner renting out to guests.  In this episode Henry and Elaine discuss the value and opportunity of using digital guest service like YourWelcome to enhance your property and give you guests' the best possible experience.  It helps with communications, supplementary booking opportunities and allowing owners to to handle data in a responsible and GDPR compliant way.  Discover the emerging world of service in the short stay industry. 

Louise heads up one of our founder partners in the form of Pikl Insurance which offers specialist insurance for the property owners, managers and investors in the short stay industry.  In this episode Louise and Elaine talk about why property owners and managers need specialist insurance and how not being adequately covered can ruin businesses and properties.  This is a great story of a new emerging start up at the heart of the UK industry as it grows into one of the dominant hospitality sectors.