The SECRET Tool That Airbnb Hosts Don’t Want You To Know About!

[00:00:00] Liam: Hi everyone. Welcome to the Boostly Podcast. This is the podcast that gives hosts the tools, the tactics, the training, and most importantly, the confidence. So you can go out there and get yourselves direct bookings. We've got Arthur from StayFi with us today. He's a returning guest and if you are in hospitality and you don't know about StayFi, where have you been?

[00:00:16] Liam: StayFi is one of the best ways to not only get direct bookings, but to market your business. It is. I'd say hospitality's. Uh, worst kept secret. 'cause everybody needs to know about this and it is the best way to, uh, to, to, to get your guests to come back and, and book. So we're gonna be talking today, uh, with Arthur about how you go about.

[00:00:38] Liam: Getting those emails, what mistakes to avoid and all the things that you can do to make your business stand out from everybody else's business. That doesn't take part in email marketing in general. So welcome along Arthur. Thank you for joining me today.

[00:00:52] Arthur: Yeah, thanks for having me again.

[00:00:53] Liam: So Arthur, uh, for those who haven't heard of stay fi, can you just give a little teaser as to what it's all about?

[00:00:59] Arthur: Yeah. So StayFi offers a service, which I'm sure you have encountered at a coffee shop or an airport or a hotel, where when a guest in a vacation rental logs into the wifi or joins the wifi network, in order to gain access, they have to put some information in what we call a captive portal, uh, which is branded with your company's name and logo.

[00:01:21] Arthur: Uh, and so that way we collect. The name, email, phone number of, not just the booker of the vacation rental, but everyone staying there, which could be 5, 10, 15, 20 people. Uh, and then within state five, we also have all the tools you need to go ahead and then follow up with those guests to make sure that they come back and book with you direct for their next day, or refer you, uh, to someone else in their network that wants to come and enjoy your vacation rental.

[00:01:47] Liam: That's really cool. And for people who in this industry, some will have heard of property management systems, what's the advantage of using like StayFi to build an email list compared to these other methods that some of the listeners might already know?

[00:01:59] Arthur: Yeah, so definitely the big difference is one, uh, we're gonna capture data from guests no matter which.

[00:02:05] Arthur: Platform they booked on, whether it's Airbnb, vrbo, booking.com, et cetera. Uh, so we're gonna capture that information no matter the OTA they came from. And then of course, the second and most important advantage is we're going to get after the non booking guest information. So a lot of times the PMS or whatever tools you're using, maybe to get an email today, they're just focused on the booker and the unique.

[00:02:28] Arthur: Characteristic of vacation rentals often is that they are large and have very large parties of many, many adults. Uh, and we just wanna make sure that you're getting brand awareness amongst everyone there, not just the booker. Uh, and that's not just great for remarketing In terms of other stays, that can also be helpful in terms of upsells, uh, getting other helpful.

[00:02:49] Arthur: Script information in front of the non booking guests, like a guest guidebook, so they ask less questions. So there's all sorts of advantages associated with engaging the entire guest party, not just the booker. And the wifi is definitely the best entry point to do that because it's something everyone will engage with during the course of the stay.

[00:03:06] Liam: And this is the thing, isn't it? 'cause most people have some sort of system where they get. One guest's email. But ultimately, if you're not collecting everybody's email, then you're missing out on a huge percentage of, of people who are coming to stay with you, who may come and stay with you again. But you can't retarget and remarket unless you're grabbing those emails.

[00:03:25] Liam: And this is, uh, something that, which I read in, uh, one of the magazines, which basically says that. 67% a a guest is worth 67% more a returning guest than trying to spend money on marketing to new people. So it's really important that people who have interacted with our businesses in hospitality really do know about our next offers and potentially that we've got their direct information to, to remarket to them is super, super important.

[00:03:51] Liam: Is there any kind of examples where. You've got where somebody's used stay fi and you've seen a noticeable jump in repeat bookings and, and particularly direct bookings.

[00:04:00] Arthur: Yeah, of course. Uh, you know, we've done a ton of case studies, whether it's somebody with just one listing or hundreds, uh, or over time they were growing their I.

[00:04:10] Arthur: Direct booking percentage. And not just that, but also their overall occupancy rate. Uh, because the email list is also a great way to advertise nights that maybe are not getting booked through the channels. And that's one of the most important things to emphasize is it's not just about cannibalizing an Airbnb booking with a direct booking, it's also about, uh, selling nights that otherwise would've gone unbooked if you're only on, uh, third party channels.

[00:04:35] Arthur: Uh, one that springs to mind is we have a customer in Canada called Cottage Days. They're mid-size property manager, you know, between 20 and 40 listings. Um, they already were doing great with direct booking, so in their high season they were already a hundred percent book direct. Uh, but what they used the email list for was actually to help push.

[00:04:55] Arthur: Solar season months because up there in Northern Canada it's very hot in the summer, not hot temperature. It's a little hot temperature wise, but very popular. But in the fall and spring when they're still open, not as booked, uh, and so they leverage the email list to get nights booked. In those weeks of the year.

[00:05:13] Arthur: Uh, so you can think of the email list, not just about driving up your direct booking percentage over time, which is obviously important, but think of it as a whole new source of demand, uh, that is gonna compliment channels so that you can increase your overall occupancy, right, and get occupancy rate and get more nights overall booked.

[00:05:30] Liam: A hundred percent. And who doesn't want more bookings? Especially when it's slow. And I guess one of the, one of the things that I often see is that people don't spend enough time just getting the emails or actually emailing out to people. And this is one of the things which we're trying to encourage people to do by listening to this, this podcast in general, is.

[00:05:48] Liam: Just take action and go and get, uh, go and get a software, which you can then email people. Um, so, you know, stay fi, go and start off, uh, by getting stay fi and just send your first email ultimately. 'cause until you start sending these emails and start marketing, then there's no way that you're gonna get.

[00:06:08] Liam: All of the potential that your business could get unless you are direct marketing. And this is why Brucely is so big on direct bookings that ultimately it increases your margins, it increases your, your profit. And, um, there's plenty of softwares around now that can help you to do this. Yes, your PMS can, yes, there's other, other ways to do so, but this is where you really want to capture everybody's data.

[00:06:30] Liam: So one thing when it comes down to data that people worry about. Depending on where they are in the world. And of course, stay fi is available. Um, people will be listening to this, uh, in lots of places, the us, the uk, perhaps Europe. One thing they'll be worried about is their local data regulations and are they allowed to collect data and all the stuff to do with privacy and all that stuff.

[00:06:53] Liam: How does stay fi help with this? Is it, is it all legit? Is it all okay for us to be doing this to our guests and collecting the data that we do?

[00:07:01] Arthur: I mean, I think that's one of the great reasons why collecting data on the captive portal or like the wifi splash page works, is because we can comply with any local.

[00:07:12] Arthur: Opt-in regulation and by default when you use stay fi with our own email tool, we are always placing a marketing opt-in checkbox on that splash page and making sure that every guest that receives your emails has opted into your marketing program. Uh, and that's the most important thing when it comes to email marketing.

[00:07:31] Arthur: And then obviously whenever you send an email through a tool, we include all the unsubscribed links that you're also required to. Um, and so we definitely want our customers to be compliant with. Email rules and we kind of enforce those if you do use our email tools. So you can't, uh, go astray and do something that's not compliant.

[00:07:49] Liam: That's cool. And just extending on that question ever so slightly. What if people are just generally a bit worried about collecting information from guests, they feel like they don't wanna be too salesy. What would you say to those hosts?

[00:08:02] Arthur: I'd say there's a few different angles to look at it. One is presenting your brand on a captive portal.

[00:08:07] Arthur: Actually. I think makes you look more professional as an operator, uh, because in the mindset of the guest, right, especially if they book through Airbnb, we need to educate them through a series of messages that you are not a quote unquote generic Airbnb, that you are an independent brand. Run by a real person, uh, that offers direct bookings.

[00:08:29] Arthur: And there are some associated, associated benefits to booking direct, right? So we need to have multiple touchpoints over the guest journey to educate them in that process, and especially educate the non booking guests so they're not just saying, Hey, we booked an Airbnb. Uh, and so presenting your brand on the splash page is one great way to do that.

[00:08:47] Arthur: And of course, following up with them right away. Uh, the splash page is also a great entry point to give the guests valuable information. So one thing that you can do with state fi, for instance, right after they log into the wifi, you can email them the guidebook for this property, uh, automatically with an automation so you can present the splash page as providing valuable.

[00:09:08] Arthur: Uh, information once they opt in and log in. And of course, if a guest doesn't want you to market to them, they can always not check that checkbox or they can uncheck it if it's pre-checked. Uh, so we're always giving the option to guess whether they wanna receive messages from you or not. Uh, so, you know, very, very, very, very rarely do we ever hear of any guests, uh, complaining.

[00:09:28] Arthur: And in fact, it's usually quite the opposite. They're usually impressed. Uh, and it's part of that education process to teach people about. The independent brands in our space and the advantages of booking direct versus going through a third party channel.

[00:09:42] Liam: Ultimately it's about feeling the fear and doing it anyway for, you know, we might be worried about how people perceive our company, but until we start putting our brand out there and in front of people, how do we know we've gotta get that feedback loop, haven't we?

[00:09:55] Liam: And for, for anyone listening, going, I dunno what a splash page is, ultimately that's, that's the page where somebody first logs in that they'll see Yeah. They see your brand, right? And they, they say that human needs seven touchpoint before they'll really recognize, uh, you know, a brand or, or really start to be familiar with it.

[00:10:12] Liam: So by having these touch points, by showing people your brand and, and our values ultimately as, as hosts, then it means that next time they see that brand, so the next time they see the email that comes through or your logo, then they're more likely to engage and go, I trust this brand. Right? And, and this is what it's, it's all about.

[00:10:31] Liam: What's one of the common mistakes you see from hosts, uh, when sending either their first email or getting email marketing set up in general, and how can they avoid it?

[00:10:42] Arthur: Yeah, I'd say that there is definitely some hesitancy of like, oh, if I don't send the perfect thing, I shouldn't send anything at all. I definitely think, uh, it's better to do something than nothing.

[00:10:54] Arthur: The biggest mistake you can make is to not email at all, and then once you get around to emailing, your list has gone stale. So you can imagine if you logged in, provided this host with your email and they didn't contact you for nine months, and then out of the blue you got an email, you probably would've forgotten.

[00:11:09] Arthur: You opted into their email list, you probably forgot who they are and why they have it. So it's really important that you start emailing right away. Uh, we help a lot with that by having automation. So you can set up an email in a minute that gets sent when they log in. You can send another email once they check out.

[00:11:25] Arthur: You can send an email, you know, a month later. Uh, those automated touchpoints are great because you set up an email one time and you know it's being sent to everybody on the schedule. Uh, but then it's important at some point to layer in. A monthly newsletter, uh, because you want guests when they are in the book.

[00:11:44] Arthur: Booking kind of time period for their next trip. The most important thing is that they remember to go to your website to look there as well, in addition to going to all the channels, which they're probably gonna do. Uh, and that's why it's just important you're in their inbox every month so that when they're in that trip planning phase, uh, they remember your brand and wanna engage with it and remember the benefit.

[00:12:04] Arthur: So that's the other key thing is just making sure you are driving home that value message. Most operators, we find the main value message is booking direct. Will be less expensive than booking through a channel. So that's the easy basic one. Obviously you can get more sophisticated and offer other types of benefits, like free show tickets or you guaranteed early check-in late checkout.

[00:12:23] Arthur: There's all sorts of other things we see people do, but the basic one is drive that value, money saving message and just doing that repeatedly in every email just so that it clicks with them, you know, they have to see it seven times. Right? Uh, so that when they are trip planning, they do compare the rate on your site versus the rate through a third party channel.

[00:12:43] Liam: A hundred percent. And one of the key things is actually do be best value direct. There's so many hosts, which, uh, you know, they say, Hey, I'm not gonna get direct bookings, but I dunno why. And you go and check and actually if they are more expensive on their website versus the, uh, the OTA well or that's known goal.

[00:12:59] Liam: So definitely if there's one thing you do right now or after this podcast is, is if you listen to this, go and just check your direct booking website. Price versus your OTA price and make sure there's lots of tools which will help you make sure the pricing is, is right. But ultimately, uh, that's one of the key things and one of the things that has occurred to me, Arthur, that uh, I remember you helping me with some advice on, and that was, uh, when you're saying people should, you know, ultimately just get started, sometimes they worry about.

[00:13:27] Liam: Making it the perfect email as, as you've mentioned. But one of the questions which I remember posing to yourself and to Mark, uh, not too long ago, which was, how is best to kind of construct that message? Should it be something which got lots of pitches, something we've, you know, jazzy text and stuff like that?

[00:13:45] Liam: Or should it be a simple email and. The, the, the main answer back was like, Hey, start with just simple text. It's one of the things which is most straightforward, like you're writing to a friend. You can then just put simple text in, get it sent. And ultimately you can always adapt and build and change stuff over time.

[00:14:04] Liam: Um, so you know, this, this is one of the things that, that people can take away is ultimately just get something out there early. And I know that, uh, stay Phi, you guys have got some, um, templates, right, that can help people with this.

[00:14:18] Arthur: Yeah, so we have a lot of what we call kind of one click rebuilt templates, uh, where even now we pull in information from your property management software even.

[00:14:27] Arthur: So we have one template that, uh, looks at your calendar for upcoming dates and we'll actually pull in the details, photos, prices of properties, uh, that have availability in whatever window you specify. So we're definitely getting way more sophisticated in helping people build. Emails that convert and actually push specific properties and dates because, uh, if you have a limited or smaller portfolio, uh, we don't want people to come to the website and be disappointed because everything is already booked, right?

[00:14:57] Arthur: So we're thinking of smarter ways to help engage your audience with the actual availability that you want to get filled. And the other thing, going back to the plain text email, as I think if you're a smaller host. Maybe haven't invested a lot into brand assets. Maybe you don't even have a logo, you just have a name.

[00:15:15] Arthur: The plain text email just fits so nicely, uh, into that brand because you're still presenting yourself as a more. Casual host, still professional, but not at like the level of sophistication of maybe someone with a brand and a very fancy website. And so that creating that one-to-one channel of, Hey, you stayed with me before.

[00:15:35] Arthur: If you want to come back, just email me and I can get you a better rate. That is a great way to get started. Uh, it's gonna have a high open and engage rate. And at the end of the day, a lot of folks who are booking short term rentals, they wanna work with. People and not with, let's say, kind of anonymous brands, so, so don't be worried about leaning into the personal brand, especially if you're on the smaller side, because that's kind of maybe what many of your guests are looking for anyways.

[00:16:00] Liam: I think that's great advice and, um, yeah, thank you for, for sharing those, those nuggets with us. What would you say is the best time, so somebody who's listening to this at the moment, just going, well, I know I need to do this, but I just don't know when, when is the best time to send these emails? And what kind of content should we put in there to encourage direct bookings?

[00:16:19] Liam: I know you've, you've mentioned the message, uh, which is, you know, it is cheaper, direct. What would you say to people who are worried about repeating that message too many times?

[00:16:29] Arthur: I mean, I think that's one of those things that can just be subtly interlaced, like on your website. I should say that right on the front page there we have in our kind of standard email template, there's always like a little section at the bottom that's like book direct and save that you can customize.

[00:16:44] Arthur: Then when it comes to the content outside of that, I definitely think it really comes down to your destination, understanding your calendar and who your guests are. So some like easy ones to start with are. Events in your destination, uh, whether that's ones that happen every year or there's special occasion events, uh, that's a super easy one.

[00:17:05] Arthur: Just figure out, get a calendar of what's happening in your, uh, destination. And then I. Feature those as they are relevant, kind of like in the appropriate booking window in advance. Another one is, if you are a property manager or even in someone who owns and operates multiple properties, you can feature specific homes like the X Home, the Y Home, maybe ones that person didn't stay into, or new homes that are joining your portfolio.

[00:17:30] Arthur: As you should also include your owners if you're a property manager and a cohost into your email newsletter. So, hey. This person is going above and beyond to promote my properties. And then of course, availability and discounts is an easy one if you know you have, or cancellations is another great one.

[00:17:48] Arthur: So if someone cancels and you have a, you know, a, some somewhat open cancellation policy and they do so X is in advance, uh, then you can feature that opening right there. So, you know, events. Properties, cancellations and discounts and openings. Those are kind of a great one to start. And then the other one would be like brand building.

[00:18:08] Arthur: So your story that maybe makes more sense in like a sequence, like as part of the introduction, once they subscribe, a dedicating email to who you are, why you're in hospitality, why you run this property, or multiple properties. Um. Then one other one, which can be great is if you have other services. So let's say you provide, uh, or help arrange services for your guests.

[00:18:33] Arthur: That can also be a great thing to emphasize as it may also be a differentiation with a direct booking versus an OTA of just making it easier to fulfill on those types of things for your guests.

[00:18:45] Liam: That's amazing. I mean, I'm, I'm gonna listen to this back as well because, and I advise everyone to do the same because ultimately those, when somebody says, Hey, I dunno what scent, well, there's so much that you could do from just that little segment there.

[00:18:59] Liam: So thank you so much, Arthur. So one of the reasons, uh, that we've invited you on is because I know you guys have got this new feature, as, as we're in springtime of, uh, 2025, you've got a new feature. Um, can you fill in the LY listeners on the new feature of, uh, stay phi?

[00:19:17] Arthur: Yeah, so we're launching a new product called Stay by Express.

[00:19:22] Arthur: Which makes it much more affordable and easy to launch our captive portal service in especially larger homes. So, to give a little context today, uh, when you wanna set up stay Phi in a property, you purchase these devices from us called Access Points made by a company called Ubiquity. Or you purchase them from ubiquity outside of the United States, like in the uk and then we help you set them up.

[00:19:46] Arthur: Uh, those range from like a hundred to $200 and it's a very great solution. If you have a regular size home and you just need to purchase one device. Uh, when you do have a l large property, you have to purchase many devices and then mesh 'em together. Uh, what we found is that a lot of those homes, they already have something like an ERA mesh, right, or a deco mesh.

[00:20:06] Arthur: And so what stay I express does is it's a less expensive device that plugs into your consumer mesh system like an eero, and then we'll turn that Eero network into the stay i captive portal. Uh, so it's a really great solution if you do have homes where you've already invested in what we call like a consumer mesh system because we could take that system and turn it into a PHI network at a much lower cost than purchasing, uh, the access points that, you know, we traditionally have been selling.

[00:20:35] Liam: That's awesome. So basically if you're listening to this, you've got a large home and it's been, you've been holding off just 'cause you're worried about will the wifi reach all areas. Ultimately there's no excuse. Now go and check out, stay fi check out this new feature. And you're, you're able to, to have stay fi in all areas it sounds like.

[00:20:52] Liam: Is that right?

[00:20:54] Arthur: Yeah. So if you are happy with your era setup, like your consumer mesh, we're just gonna turn that guest network you've been using into the network with the captive portal, and the upfront costs are gonna be much lower 'cause you just need to buy one little device from us as opposed to buying, you know, three or four access points and replicating that mesh, uh, with our, uh, other hardware.

[00:21:14] Liam: That is super, super cool and I know, um, being more accessible, uh, for, for people is super important, is something which, uh, US at LY have worked on as well. We've, uh, I know we've now got, uh, an interlinked, uh, system where anybody who's with stay fi and got the LY websites that will all work together now through Brucely Connect and there's a lot of, uh.

[00:21:37] Liam: These exciting features, which just ultimately make it very, very easy for anybody listening to this to do more direct bookings, which is the entire aim of why Mark Simpson started this podcast is ultimately, if you just do one little action from every podcast that you listen to, uh, then you're going to increase your direct bookings and certainly, uh, with tools like stay fi and putting it into action, email marketing, then, uh.

[00:22:02] Liam: You, you increases your, your chances of direct bookings in success massively. So, Arthur, thank you so much for, for coming on. If, if people want to check out stay fi, uh, where do they go? Where, what's the links to to go and check out?

[00:22:14] Arthur: So just go to stay.com and on stay fi you can sign up for our service. So you don't need to book a demo, you don't have to have a call.

[00:22:23] Arthur: Uh, anyone can go to stay fi, create an account and get started. And then of course, if you do have questions, you can go to our demo page and book time with our team and get a one-on-one. A tour of the product and help you get started, uh, collecting emails and sending more marketing, which at the end of the day is gonna improve your business, make it more resilient and profitable.

[00:22:44] Liam: Amazing. So guys, you heard it here first. The new feature for stay fi. You've heard how to do email marketing, what to send, and all of the things that ultimately is gonna increase your direct bookings. Big thank you Arthur, for coming on the Boostly podcast. I hope we have you back, uh, as, as your returning guest this time, and we hope to have you back again in the future and tell us all the new updates.

[00:23:06] Liam: Uh, thanks for listening to this on the Boostly podcast. We'll see you on the next one. Bye for now.