Transcript from the Episode
Intro
[00:00:00] Liam: Okay. Welcome to another episode on the Boostly podcast. This is the podcast that gives hosts the tools, the tactics, the training, and most importantly, the confidence that you can go out there and get some more direct bookings. My name is Liam Carlan, and I'm the co-host on the Boostly Podcast with Mark Simpson.
[00:00:17] Uh, So today we are going behind a host. This is where we look at successful and interesting short-term rental hosts from around the business. Today. We've found one in the UK who I'm looking forward to, to going through these questions as somebody I've known for a long time. And, uh, I consider a friend and also I've learned a lot from him.
[00:00:36] So I'm sure he's gonna share some tips and some really. Interesting and inspiring sort of stories really because, um, to do what he's done, certainly at his age, he makes me feel very old. Um, is absolutely amazing. So today we are going behind the host with Josh, guest from Guest Homes. Welcome along Josh.
[00:00:54] Josh: Thanks Liam. Uh, thanks for me on, uh, looking forward to it.
[00:00:58] Liam: Well, welcome so much and, and it's awesome to have you here. You know, it's just, uh, this is gonna be fun. So, uh, let's start off by you giving yourself, uh, an introduction. Who is ge? Uh, who is Josh Guest and, um, what do you enjoy most about hosting?
Josh Intro
[00:01:13] Josh: Yeah, so, uh, my name's Josh Guest. Um, 24 years old. Um, we manage and own slash rent to rent. Um, we've got a portfolio of 80 properties across the uk. Um, and the main thing that I like about hosting really is, um, given a good experience to customers and also to clients. Um, I kind of see those two as the main aspects to the business, um, because.
[00:01:45] 70% of our portfolio now is managed. So, um, the clients are really important and also the customer experience is really important. Um, and we've been more heavily focusing on that, um, probably in the last 12 months, um, to make sure, because I think that's quite a big one that a lot of people sort of skip over the actual customer journey and the customer experience, um, making sure that it's top level and it's, and it's for.
[00:02:15] It's making sure it's top level for the customer, not not where you think the customer should be. It's actually making sure the customer's actually rating it. Sort of 10 outta 10 experience doesn't mean you get a 10, 10. Review, um, that's what you're always aiming for, but you wanna give them a 10 outta 10 experience.
A bit more about the business
[00:02:33] Liam: Can you tell us a bit more about the, the business? So where in the world you host, um, if there is one specific place, and you mentioned the number of models, um, and what kind of guest avatar you tend to host as well? Yeah,
[00:02:47] Josh: sure. So, um, so we've got three different parts of the business. So we own a few properties.
[00:02:53] Um, we've just been buyings this year. Um, and then we manage about 55 properties. Um, and then we have, uh, just over 20 rent to rent properties or rent to SA properties. Um, the areas that we work in, um, predominantly now is around. Worcestershire slash the Kowa Terrafords, um, Cheltenham them, that sort of area. Um, and then we do also have properties in Norfolk and in Brighton.
[00:03:27] Um, We've got one in London as well, and then some in Swansea.
Advantages and disadvantages of some strategies Â
[00:03:31] Liam: You've also got the renter rents or rental arbitrage, which is, is is how some people listening will know it. And then you've got some your own, which of course you're fully in control of. Is it purposeful that you've done that kind of split across the P portfolio and is there, what would you say the advantages are and the um, I guess the drawbacks of each of those kind of strategies?
[00:03:55] Josh: Yeah, a hundred percent. Um, so originally because I didn't have enough cash to buy property, um, I originally started the rent to rents, um, or rent to essay. And, and then once I built up a decent cash flow of on that, I actually kind of seen it as, I needed to be a, that was, that's always the highest cash flowing method.
[00:04:19] Um, and I always thought of it as well, I need, I wanted to be able to support the business. Um, With the rent to sas as in support, my own salary. Um, as them, the business started growing, even the teams started growing. I wanted to be able to support the, like the premises and the team with the rent to sas.
[00:04:38] And then, and then I started adding on management. People started to ask me to manage their properties and I thought, oh, this is a great additional income as well. So then we started to scale up to the management side of things. Um, And then that was also, um, I kind of plused that as look at the bonus at the time.
[00:04:56] So then we, we were split. So, um, Because I didn't want it to be all risk heavy into one strategy. Um, so if anything goes wrong, say like, even like say like when Covid happened, if you were, we were still making some profits off our rent to essays because we just diversified the strategy a little bit. Um, but quite a bit, to be honest.
[00:05:18] Obviously a different had to be completely different client I was put putting in there. Um, but if it was management, we'd have probably lost. A lot of our revenue because the turnover would've been a lot lower. Um, so then we'd have made a lot lower profit. Um, so I think it's good having a diversity risk.
[00:05:36] Um, now we are mainly scaling up the management side, uh, because I kind of feel that's the quicker option to scale, uh, because we wanna try and get to a thousand units, um, by six years time. Um, So that's kind of the plan at the moment, and I feel like that's the quickest option to scale. Um, and also I feel like we can also, we can offer a really good service to our clients as well, uh, make them more money.
[00:06:06] Um, and it's a win-win for everyone. And then the, the purchase options, obviously is just a complete separate avenue. Which basically some of the profit that we're making from the business, I wanna keep buying more and more property, um, in class that has complete long-term investments. Obviously it's brilliant what we're making on the profit wise on it.
[00:06:27] Um, but just keep that into a complete separate part and just keep reinvesting that and then I can use that. Whenever I want to use that, either if I ever exit a business or if anything, uh, extreme happens, then there's always that side income there as well.
[00:06:45] Liam: I think it's one of the things which is interesting, um, certainly for me who's, who's also grown a, uh, short-term rental business is that, um, when I first came into short-term rental, I didn't really understand why people do certain strategies, but the.
Rent to rent is by far the quickest
[00:07:00] The rent to rent is by far the quickest way to get some cash flowing and to learn the systems or, or rent arbitrage. It just is, isn't it? And even now, some of the rent to rents are way more profitable than, uh, you know, sort of the management side of things, but the benefit of that management, like you say, is it just diversifies risk?
[00:07:19] You, you, you basically got. The opportunity to earn off somebody's asset and to help them make more money. But with none of the downsides, you're not having to buy the property, you're not having to buy the furniture, you're not having you, you know, all that cool stuff, which is, um, just given you such a benefit.
[00:07:35] And then of course, like you say, it just makes sense. Then you've even de-risked further by then owning a property. You're in full control. You've actually got an asset. And, um, it just seems like such a nice journey. And I'm, I'm, I'm. I know people who listen to this will go, Hey, that makes sense. That is something which is a good business model to to do, which is to start off with one of those models and, and work your way up.
[00:07:56] And for me, the thing that really helped was having renter rent. You learn the systems before jumping straight in on co-hosting or management because you don't know what you don't know until you start hosting, which is cool.
[00:08:09] Josh: So I think, yeah, a hundred percent you, you gotta make, um, That, that was kind of another thing, actually kind of make mistakes and learn everything yourself first.
[00:08:19] So, um, I felt like I couldn't manage a property. Um, this would be the same for like, I don't know when people, like, educate people or whatever. So, um, if, if, if you haven't done it yourself first, how can you offer that to somebody else? So I felt like I had to do rent to rent first because I needed to learn those areas, make sure it works.
[00:08:41] Give a proven model, and then I've got statistics, figures, facts, everything, and then I can be like, Here's this to a management client. Um, this is what I think we can earn. Um, obviously the market can change with any circumstances, but this is what exactly what we've done. This is exactly what our property looks like.
[00:08:57] Uh, and it gives a good example then to, uh, to them.
Outro
[00:09:00] Liam: Awesome. Awesome. Thank you so much. So, um, yeah, that brings us to the end of this behind a host, um, sort of podcast. Um, is there anything I missed? Any questions or final thoughts before we bring things to a close? Josh?
[00:09:13] Josh: No, that's, uh, brilliant. Uh, thank you for
[00:09:15] Liam: having me on.
[00:09:16] Thank you for joining us and again, thank you to you as our listener for Bruce Lee. Uh, we know there's lots of places you can put your attention and we really thank you for spending it with us here at Boostly. So that's it from Josh and that's it for me. We'll see you on the next one. Thanks very much.
[00:09:30] Bye for now. Having a blast. Gonna get it on the Boostly podcast.
[00:09:34] Josh: Bruce Lee led Bruce Lee cuz it's so hard on the tee Is loose leaf making up those rhymes? Don't write it just to we loose.
Before you leave
Please go and rate, review and subscribe on iTunes, Spotify Google Play or
Welcome to our latest podcast episode!
In this episode of the Boostly podcast, host Liam Carlan introduces Josh Guest, a successful short-term rental host from the UK. Josh shares his experience managing and owning a portfolio of 80 properties, emphasizing the importance of providing a top-level customer experience.
They discuss the different parts of his business, including owned properties, managed properties, and rent-to-rent properties in various locations. Josh explains the benefits of diversifying risk and pursuing long-term investments through property ownership.
The episode concludes with gratitude to the listeners for their support. Overall, it explores Josh Guest's journey as a short-term rental host and highlights the significance of excellent customer service in the industry.
Key Takeaways
- Josh Guest is a successful short-term rental host from the UK with a portfolio of 80 properties.
- He emphasizes the importance of providing a top-level customer experience in his business.
- His business consists of owned properties, managed properties, and rent-to-rent properties in various locations.
- The majority of his portfolio is managed properties, and he also owns a few properties and has rent-to-rent properties.
- He focuses on areas like Worcestershire, Cheltenham, Norfolk, and Brighton.
Here's the video for this episode:
Timestamps (audio)
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Transcript from the Episode
Intro
[00:00:00] Liam: Okay. Welcome to another episode on the Boostly podcast. This is the podcast that gives hosts the tools, the tactics, the training, and most importantly, the confidence that you can go out there and get some more direct bookings. My name is Liam Carlan, and I'm the co-host on the Boostly Podcast with Mark Simpson.
[00:00:17] Uh, So today we are going behind a host. This is where we look at successful and interesting short-term rental hosts from around the business. Today. We've found one in the UK who I'm looking forward to, to going through these questions as somebody I've known for a long time. And, uh, I consider a friend and also I've learned a lot from him.
[00:00:36] So I'm sure he's gonna share some tips and some really. Interesting and inspiring sort of stories really because, um, to do what he's done, certainly at his age, he makes me feel very old. Um, is absolutely amazing. So today we are going behind the host with Josh, guest from Guest Homes. Welcome along Josh.
[00:00:54] Josh: Thanks Liam. Uh, thanks for me on, uh, looking forward to it.
[00:00:58] Liam: Well, welcome so much and, and it's awesome to have you here. You know, it's just, uh, this is gonna be fun. So, uh, let's start off by you giving yourself, uh, an introduction. Who is ge? Uh, who is Josh Guest and, um, what do you enjoy most about hosting?
Josh Intro
[00:01:13] Josh: Yeah, so, uh, my name's Josh Guest. Um, 24 years old. Um, we manage and own slash rent to rent. Um, we've got a portfolio of 80 properties across the uk. Um, and the main thing that I like about hosting really is, um, given a good experience to customers and also to clients. Um, I kind of see those two as the main aspects to the business, um, because.
[00:01:45] 70% of our portfolio now is managed. So, um, the clients are really important and also the customer experience is really important. Um, and we've been more heavily focusing on that, um, probably in the last 12 months, um, to make sure, because I think that's quite a big one that a lot of people sort of skip over the actual customer journey and the customer experience, um, making sure that it's top level and it's, and it's for.
[00:02:15] It's making sure it's top level for the customer, not not where you think the customer should be. It's actually making sure the customer's actually rating it. Sort of 10 outta 10 experience doesn't mean you get a 10, 10. Review, um, that's what you're always aiming for, but you wanna give them a 10 outta 10 experience.
A bit more about the business
[00:02:33] Liam: Can you tell us a bit more about the, the business? So where in the world you host, um, if there is one specific place, and you mentioned the number of models, um, and what kind of guest avatar you tend to host as well? Yeah,
[00:02:47] Josh: sure. So, um, so we've got three different parts of the business. So we own a few properties.
[00:02:53] Um, we've just been buyings this year. Um, and then we manage about 55 properties. Um, and then we have, uh, just over 20 rent to rent properties or rent to SA properties. Um, the areas that we work in, um, predominantly now is around. Worcestershire slash the Kowa Terrafords, um, Cheltenham them, that sort of area. Um, and then we do also have properties in Norfolk and in Brighton.
[00:03:27] Um, We've got one in London as well, and then some in Swansea.
Advantages and disadvantages of some strategies Â
[00:03:31] Liam: You've also got the renter rents or rental arbitrage, which is, is is how some people listening will know it. And then you've got some your own, which of course you're fully in control of. Is it purposeful that you've done that kind of split across the P portfolio and is there, what would you say the advantages are and the um, I guess the drawbacks of each of those kind of strategies?
[00:03:55] Josh: Yeah, a hundred percent. Um, so originally because I didn't have enough cash to buy property, um, I originally started the rent to rents, um, or rent to essay. And, and then once I built up a decent cash flow of on that, I actually kind of seen it as, I needed to be a, that was, that's always the highest cash flowing method.
[00:04:19] Um, and I always thought of it as well, I need, I wanted to be able to support the business. Um, With the rent to sas as in support, my own salary. Um, as them, the business started growing, even the teams started growing. I wanted to be able to support the, like the premises and the team with the rent to sas.
[00:04:38] And then, and then I started adding on management. People started to ask me to manage their properties and I thought, oh, this is a great additional income as well. So then we started to scale up to the management side of things. Um, And then that was also, um, I kind of plused that as look at the bonus at the time.
[00:04:56] So then we, we were split. So, um, Because I didn't want it to be all risk heavy into one strategy. Um, so if anything goes wrong, say like, even like say like when Covid happened, if you were, we were still making some profits off our rent to essays because we just diversified the strategy a little bit. Um, but quite a bit, to be honest.
[00:05:18] Obviously a different had to be completely different client I was put putting in there. Um, but if it was management, we'd have probably lost. A lot of our revenue because the turnover would've been a lot lower. Um, so then we'd have made a lot lower profit. Um, so I think it's good having a diversity risk.
[00:05:36] Um, now we are mainly scaling up the management side, uh, because I kind of feel that's the quicker option to scale, uh, because we wanna try and get to a thousand units, um, by six years time. Um, So that's kind of the plan at the moment, and I feel like that's the quickest option to scale. Um, and also I feel like we can also, we can offer a really good service to our clients as well, uh, make them more money.
[00:06:06] Um, and it's a win-win for everyone. And then the, the purchase options, obviously is just a complete separate avenue. Which basically some of the profit that we're making from the business, I wanna keep buying more and more property, um, in class that has complete long-term investments. Obviously it's brilliant what we're making on the profit wise on it.
[00:06:27] Um, but just keep that into a complete separate part and just keep reinvesting that and then I can use that. Whenever I want to use that, either if I ever exit a business or if anything, uh, extreme happens, then there's always that side income there as well.
[00:06:45] Liam: I think it's one of the things which is interesting, um, certainly for me who's, who's also grown a, uh, short-term rental business is that, um, when I first came into short-term rental, I didn't really understand why people do certain strategies, but the.
Rent to rent is by far the quickest
[00:07:00] The rent to rent is by far the quickest way to get some cash flowing and to learn the systems or, or rent arbitrage. It just is, isn't it? And even now, some of the rent to rents are way more profitable than, uh, you know, sort of the management side of things, but the benefit of that management, like you say, is it just diversifies risk?
[00:07:19] You, you, you basically got. The opportunity to earn off somebody's asset and to help them make more money. But with none of the downsides, you're not having to buy the property, you're not having to buy the furniture, you're not having you, you know, all that cool stuff, which is, um, just given you such a benefit.
[00:07:35] And then of course, like you say, it just makes sense. Then you've even de-risked further by then owning a property. You're in full control. You've actually got an asset. And, um, it just seems like such a nice journey. And I'm, I'm, I'm. I know people who listen to this will go, Hey, that makes sense. That is something which is a good business model to to do, which is to start off with one of those models and, and work your way up.
[00:07:56] And for me, the thing that really helped was having renter rent. You learn the systems before jumping straight in on co-hosting or management because you don't know what you don't know until you start hosting, which is cool.
[00:08:09] Josh: So I think, yeah, a hundred percent you, you gotta make, um, That, that was kind of another thing, actually kind of make mistakes and learn everything yourself first.
[00:08:19] So, um, I felt like I couldn't manage a property. Um, this would be the same for like, I don't know when people, like, educate people or whatever. So, um, if, if, if you haven't done it yourself first, how can you offer that to somebody else? So I felt like I had to do rent to rent first because I needed to learn those areas, make sure it works.
[00:08:41] Give a proven model, and then I've got statistics, figures, facts, everything, and then I can be like, Here's this to a management client. Um, this is what I think we can earn. Um, obviously the market can change with any circumstances, but this is what exactly what we've done. This is exactly what our property looks like.
[00:08:57] Uh, and it gives a good example then to, uh, to them.
Outro
[00:09:00] Liam: Awesome. Awesome. Thank you so much. So, um, yeah, that brings us to the end of this behind a host, um, sort of podcast. Um, is there anything I missed? Any questions or final thoughts before we bring things to a close? Josh?
[00:09:13] Josh: No, that's, uh, brilliant. Uh, thank you for
[00:09:15] Liam: having me on.
[00:09:16] Thank you for joining us and again, thank you to you as our listener for Bruce Lee. Uh, we know there's lots of places you can put your attention and we really thank you for spending it with us here at Boostly. So that's it from Josh and that's it for me. We'll see you on the next one. Thanks very much.
[00:09:30] Bye for now. Having a blast. Gonna get it on the Boostly podcast.
[00:09:34] Josh: Bruce Lee led Bruce Lee cuz it's so hard on the tee Is loose leaf making up those rhymes? Don't write it just to we loose.
Before you leave
Please go and rate, review and subscribe on iTunes, Spotify Google Play or