This OTA Alternative Is Saving Guests Thousands — Meet Savvy.com

[00:00:00] Liam: Welcome back to the Boostly Podcast. This is the podcast that gives hosts the tools, the tactics, the training, and most of all the confidence. So you can go out there and get yourselves more direct bookings. We do a spotlight series where we look at services, businesses, and things you just need to know about as a, a hospitality member and as a host out there.

[00:00:17] Liam: So, I. Today I'm joined by a special guest. We've got Eric, who is the founder and CEO of Savvy. It's a platform which is really shaken things up, up helping guests book vacation rentals, but without those fees. So this is really good for your list. For our listeners, for Boly listeners in general, we're gonna dive into what that means and how it can help you as a host.

[00:00:40] Liam: So welcome along Eric. Thank you for joining me today. Uh, glad to be here. Thanks for having me. So, the golden question, let's start with a quick intro, uh, for anyone who hasn't come across Savvy yet. Um, what is Savvy and what makes it different from the usual platforms out there? And if you give yourself an introduction to Eric.

[00:00:57] Eric: Great. So, uh, why don't I start with the introduction on me? 'cause that's what sort of helped us see the opportunity with Savvy and the need for, for. Such a, such a product. Uh, my history started a company called Bed and breakfast.com. Back, like in the early days of the internet, uh, we were the largest website in the world for information on bed and breakfast.

[00:01:18] Eric: We had the first central reservation system, uh, that we distributed to expedient Travelocity and, uh, all the big players for, uh, we also had the leading property management software system sold that 2010 to HomeAway. Uh, they got acquired by Expedia 2015. Uh, in 2013, uh, I co-founded a company called Turnkey Vacation Rentals.

[00:01:41] Eric: We were a, uh, technology enabled national branded property management company. Uh, we built it to be number two in North America, and we sold it to Vac Casa in 2021. Back somewhere 2012, uh, I, I bought, uh, an inn, a boutique inn outside of Austin, Texas. It was 12 keys. We've since taken it to 20 keys. Uh, it's a top rated, uh.

[00:02:08] Eric: Property on TripAdvisor and Google. Uh, and, and I've had a couple of vacation rentals. So suffice it to say, uh, I've been pretty squarely in hospitality for 30 years. I'm the old guy on the, on the block now. But, um, love hospitality. I love what it stands for. I love giving people, uh, uh, a reason and, uh, a way to create.

[00:02:30] Eric: Memories with friends and family and, uh, I think that's sort of what life's about. Um, the opportunity for savvy and, and what is it, is everybody that I know is sort of fed up with the fees on Airbnb, the fees on vrbo, even the fees on Ticketmaster, StubHub, hotel fees, uh, and then it creeps into gratuity.

[00:02:52] Eric: Inflation. I mean, in the States, you know, you, you go to get a hamburger now and it's like they spin the little thing around and they want you to tip 'em to $2 'cause they handed you, you know, your hamburger, your coffee, or your coke. It's, it's crazy. Um, and it just got outta hand. And, uh, we saw the, we were, I, I was as frustrated as everyone else and I think I, I just felt that.

[00:03:17] Eric: I've got the experience and, and the ability to fix it. So let's fix it. Let's create an OTA, if you will, that is book direct, that we're not forcing ourselves in between the guests and the host. Uh, and, and that let's get rid of the fees. Um, so travelers can save hundreds or thousands of dollars per reservation.

[00:03:41] Eric: Um, and let's allow the, the. Travelers to get directly in contact with the hosts. So hospitality can flourish. I mean, I don't, you know, we have, I think, uh, a great website@savvy.com. Um, Airbnb, very nice site. Vrbo, eh, but it doesn't matter how good your site is, it can't provide the level of hospitality to a professional.

[00:04:07] Eric: In the industry can. And so what we're trying to do is, is get out of the way of the middle and make it easy for travelers to find professionally hosted properties and do it for a lot less money. So they can either travel more often or upgrade their stay to a longer stay or a nicer place, or bring in a chef to cook for everyone or take everyone out on a excursion or whatever it is.

[00:04:32] Eric: And, and that's sort of what we're about.

[00:04:35] Liam: That's very cool. And something which speaks to our own heart here at Boly. Anything that can encourage more people to book, especially direct or without, um, you know, causing any, uh, more fees unnecessarily to all of the big, uh, which we already got enough, uh, enough money, we'd, we'd all agree.

[00:04:51] Liam: So. It sounds as though it's been quite a journey. What was the moment that made you think, Hey, there's gotta be a better way? Was that back in 2013, the Boutique Hotel? Or was that in the last few years? Was it since the dreaded COVID? When? When was the moment? Yeah, this, this has got legs. Great

[00:05:08] Eric: question.

[00:05:08] Eric: And there really was a specific moment. I mean, I think it built up and in 2000. 13 2010. I remember I met Brian Chesky at the largest bed and breakfast conference in the industry. I think it was in Vegas this year. Uh, I'm not sure. But anyway, you know, here's this guy and he is like, yeah, we're air bed and breakfast and we've got air mattresses for, they go on the floor of the living room and, and I was like.

[00:05:36] Eric: Okay. These guys are crazy. They're not gonna get anywhere and hats off to them. I mean, they built an amazing business and he's done a, he, he's a, he's a great leader. I think he's done a great job. Um, but it was, it was over time as it got more and more, I don't know, crazy, I don't know if it was, if it was just that Airbnb, uh, charge fees, but then the ticket master fees and then the, uh, the gratuity, it all was building up.

[00:06:03] Eric: But in. While this was happening, I, uh, I tried to book a, I booked a property in Seaside, Florida to take my wife and my daughter and a couple of her friends out there for a few days, and it was gonna be, uh, four nights for $400 a night, so like $1,600. So I expected cleaning feast taxes. We're gonna be at, you know, $2,000 or so, $2,700 for a four night stay that was supposed to be 1600.

[00:06:32] Eric: And I just thought, this is ridiculous. And I think that was what sort of threw me over the edge. And you know, as I started sort of bouncing it off of people like, Hey, you ever booked a vacation rental dude? Yes. So frustrating. And I just thought, okay, yeah, I, I know how to fix that. Let's, let's fix it. And we're not gonna, you know, there's a lot of people that will.

[00:06:55] Eric: Be happy to continue to use Airbnb or continue to use VRBO or Ticketmaster or StubHub or whatever. But I think there's a large segment of travelers that are savvy and that aren't gonna pay 15 or 20% more if they don't have to. So, uh, you know, we've, we've stood up the site. Uh, we've got a super cool.

[00:07:15] Eric: Price comparison tool on there that I haven't seen anybody else do. Right? You give, you find a property on our side and you give us the dates. We're gonna show you the savvy price, but then we're gonna show you this, the price for the same property, for the same dates on Airbnb and vrbo. So you can see right there that you're saving a chunk of money.

[00:07:32] Eric: I had lunch last week with a friend and uh, I told him what I was up to and he is like, oh, I'm trying to book a place in Port Aransas, Texas. It's down on the coast. He said, I'll check it out. I got a text from him the next day and he said. I just booked a place on your site. I saved $1,100.

[00:07:47] Liam: Nice. I'm

[00:07:48] Eric: like, okay.

[00:07:48] Eric: That's, that's what it's about.

[00:07:51] Liam: A hundred percent. A hundred percent. And during that, uh, answer, I just, that twig to get savvy. You know, like, it is like, Hey, get savvy about booking, isn't it? So I love that brand as well. Yeah. It's, uh, I

[00:08:02] Eric: mean, yeah, thanks. I think it, I think it resonates, I mean, savvy people, uh, whether it's a savvy property manager that wants to own that relationship with the guest, uh, and provide a higher level of hospitality and they sign up for our program, or it's a savvy traveler that's like.

[00:08:21] Eric: I'm done with those guys. I'm gonna, I'm gonna, I'm gonna use a, a newer, better way to do it.

[00:08:29] Liam: It's, it's very cool. So how does it actually work? Obviously you've saved the fees for both the guest and the travelers, so how does it work on the, on the both sides of the stay? What is it? What's the model? Yeah,

[00:08:41] Eric: yeah, yeah, yeah.

[00:08:42] Eric: It's, it's the, it's the original model that I launched in 1995 for bed and breakfast.com. It's the same model that Dave Klaus launched for vacation rentals by owner in 1995. It's an ad model, so. Professional host can list all of their properties, five or 500 or 5,000, uh, on our site for free. And when and if they want, they can choose to upgrade to, uh, a premium listing for a low monthly subscription.

[00:09:15] Eric: And no commissions, no booking fees, no transaction fees, no service fees. And they can do that for a month or two or three or all year by property. Um, they get to really use it, how it works best for them because, you know, if I'm a property manager, I get a new homeowner that signs up with me and maybe want to Boostly them up a little bit for a second to show them, bam, I sent you a reservation.

[00:09:39] Eric: Right? Um, but I may not need to do that in peak season. Because I may be sold out. I may not have inventory to sell. So why, you know, why pay us? So we try to create a model where, you know, if we can get the vast majority of property managers that all want to drive direct reservations mm-hmm. On the platform at no cost, so no risk to them, then it's valuable to travelers.

[00:10:05] Eric: And then more and more travelers are gonna come because we have the inventory. So, yeah. If out of all the, the free listings we get on our site, we get 10% of them ultimately to pay a low, flat monthly subscription. Great. That's, that's, that's plenty. We don't need to be. Making a thousand here and 3000 there and 600 here.

[00:10:28] Eric: I mean, that's, it's just, that's too much. We, we want the traveler to keep more of the money so they can have a better travel experience. We want the host to keep more of the money so they can have a successful, most often mom and pop business, and so that the homeowner can make more money themselves.

[00:10:45] Liam: Yeah, it makes sense. And I, I don't mind seeing more ads if I'm getting it. A, a direct price. Do you know what I mean? It just makes absolute sense. So, um,

[00:10:52] Eric: for sure. And you, you think about, our job is still to serve you properties we think you're gonna be interested in, right? If we flood the zone with a bunch of paid advertisements and none of them meet your criteria, you're gonna bounce and go somewhere else.

[00:11:06] Eric: So, you know, the, the, the magic sauce for us is going to be that we've gotta make sure that we're still serving travelers. Properties that meet their needs while giving properties that are paying a little, little more exposure.

[00:11:19] Liam: And, and everyone's got a, you know, you've gotta run somehow. Right? And I think that's what everyone's question is, how come it's free?

[00:11:25] Liam: And, and, and all of this, and it, it makes sense. And I've gotta be honest, I was on site last night. I didn't spot the ads. I think it's where the hu you know, human eye. You're drawn to the property and you, you're the, um, the experiences as a, as a book are very easy to book by the way. And, um, I didn't spot the ads so that it's, it's, it's marvelous when it comes down to it.

[00:11:45] Eric: Yeah. Liam. I will say just, just real quick, I mean, we've focused the last year and a half on building out supply. So we have 150,000 listings in North America today. Um, from 2,500 over 2,500 property managers. We we're just now starting to go out with the launch of savvy.com and drive awareness on the demand side so we're not pushing.

[00:12:12] Eric: Recommending that hosts upgrade yet. 'cause frankly, we don't have the demand yet where I want someone to pay us when someone's gonna pay us. I wanna deliver value and I'm not sure I can deliver value to everybody yet. So it's like, let's get, let's get demand going. Let's let people know there's a better way to book, a savvier way to book.

[00:12:32] Eric: And as we start getting more and more demand, then I think you'll start seeing more of those paid listings.

[00:12:38] Liam: Yeah. Makes sense. It makes sense. And you mentioned its professional hosts, what, what led to that decision and how does it affect the guest ance?

[00:12:48] Eric: You know, the second thing that we determined that people were frustrated with, with vacation rental websites behind service fees was consistency and showing up at a property and it not being as advertised or it not existing.

[00:13:07] Eric: I mean, you can have ratings and reviews, but, uh, the, the variability is what scares a lot of people, right? It's the same reason people in the states go to Starbucks instead of the local coffee shop, is they know what they're gonna get. Um, it's the same in vacation rentals. I mean, in speaking with people.

[00:13:27] Eric: There was a lot of frustration around consistency and variability, and we thought, you know, let's, let's make it where you have to be a professionally hosted property to be on our site, so. We wanna, we want properties that are supported by people, that it's their full-time job. They're hospitality professionals, not, Hey, it's me and I've got my buddy's place and two others, and I'm a property manager.

[00:13:54] Eric: No, you're not. That's a, that's a gig for you. That's a side hustle. We're looking for properties where. When a traveler shows up at 11 o'clock at night with their family in tow, and they go to go to hit the lock with their phone and the Bluetooth isn't working. Mm-hmm. There's someone that they can call that's gonna get their butts inside that house.

[00:14:15] Eric: They're not gonna be left outside in the car overnight because some dude doesn't get back to 'em. 'cause you know, they're out partying or whatever. We want that reliability, we want that consistency, and we wanna give travelers peace of mind.

[00:14:30] Liam: That's, that's, and ultimately, I a hundred percent identify consistency has been something which I have talked about for years.

[00:14:38] Liam: And there's, there's a story, I think this was written by the, the chap who, he owns the Hilton chain or something like this, but he said about, uh, if you have inconsistent experience, it'll actually switch you off quite quickly because you just don't know what to expect when you're paying your fee. If it's different each time you stop trusting to pay your fee because you don't know really what you.

[00:14:59] Liam: Paying for effects all of us. That's right. Um, especially if, so, if somebody goes and booked short term rent and they have terrible experience, all hosts lose out. All of the industry

[00:15:09] Eric: suffers. Oh, for sure. For sure. A hundred percent. Hundred percent. We used to have, back in my bed and breakfast.com days, we had a three Strike your out rule.

[00:15:17] Eric: Once an inkeeper keeper had three. Verifiably bad, uh, context to us on the stay. We're like, yeah, you guys are off the platform. Yeah, because it's bad for the industry, not just the site, but the industry. And I think all of us in the industry wanna maintain and protect that. And again, you can have ratings and reviews and you can have background checks, uh, and, and, uh, ID verifications and all that stuff.

[00:15:46] Eric: But ultimately, I think you do wanna, you do wanna weed out the trash. You don't wanna just leave it on the site because there are people out there that could care less about hospitality and they're just trying to make a quick dollar.

[00:15:57] Liam: Yeah, we don't want them

[00:15:58] Eric: on our site

[00:15:59] Liam: as, as a host as well. We've got responsibility as a, as a property management, uh, agency to make sure, I mean, I get so many investors go, oh, if I just stick some IKEA furniture in here and, and do this, how much can I make?

[00:16:09] Liam: And I'm like, yes, probably not for me. 'cause I want the people at the end to have a great experience. This isn't just a quick, you know, a quick turnaround of, of income. This is like, Hey, what's their experience? And you see them across a longer period of time. You know, if a listing's got high ratings, then it makes even more money in year two, year three, you know?

[00:16:29] Eric: Well, for sure. That whole repeat guest. Right. Yeah. I mean, it's, it's five times more expensive to get a new customer than it is to, to keep an existing one. So, uh, you know, yeah. You're gonna do that by providing a high level of hospitality.

[00:16:46] Liam: Um, and, and, and I also feel for the, the actual user. I, I mean like people spend their hard earned money coming to stay in, in the homes.

[00:16:54] Liam: That might be their one time that year. If it's a crap experience, then, then, you know, it shouldn't ever be like that. And this is why I'm so passionate. That's right. About making sure that hospitality is so good. No, I love it. I had this, I had this down before I've really understood, but I'm gonna ask it anyway on the basis of where do you see savvy fitting into the mix?

[00:17:14] Liam: Uh, went I to everyone listening to this is working hard to grow their direct bookings is savvy more of an OTA alternative. Or something in between? Or is it genuinely a direct booking? How does, what's your feelings on it? You

[00:17:28] Eric: know? Well, first of all, it genuinely is a direct booking. I mean, the host is the merchant of record.

[00:17:34] Eric: We're not processing the payment. We're not holding the payment. We're facilitating a reservation that's a direct reservation. I don't know what that means to a traveler. I know that on the supply side of the inventory, as a hotelier myself and as being in the industry, I know what book Direct means. I don't think Joe Average Traveler maybe understands that.

[00:17:59] Eric: Um, but I. When you, you know, we facilitate a reservation so when someone comes to Savvy and they find a property and they hit book it, we're gonna capture all of their travel information, their days that of stay number in their party, their credit card information, and we're gonna securely pass that through the property management software over the API to the host.

[00:18:22] Eric: And they're gonna process it just like it came from their website. Right. So it's truly a book direct reservation. Now where do I see us fitting? It's funny 'cause I hear people dog on OTAs, right? I just was in San Diego at the, uh, digital Travel Connect conference and it was a hotel conference. Um, and you know, typical stuff, ah, sick of the OTAs, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

[00:18:48] Eric: And it's like they're sick of the OTAs in the current. Format I would call us an OTA, but I would call us a booked direct OTA. Right? So where do I think we fit? I think we, um, what we're trying to do, and where I think we'll end up is create an OTA alternative. O-T-A-A-O-T-A two, I dunno what that is. Um, to where travelers can go to one place and see all the inventory and have a clean UX ui make the reservation, but the reservation's being processed directly by the professional.

[00:19:27] Eric: Mm-hmm. That way it's a win for the traveler and it's a win for the host. Now, where do we fit? I think, I wouldn't tell, uh, a host to get off of Airbnb and VRBO and get on us. I would say stay on Airbnb, stay on vrbo. They've got huge reach. We don't have much reach yet, but it's coming. But in the meantime, it's free to get on our site, get on our site.

[00:19:51] Eric: Travelers are gonna start shifting from Airbnb and VRBO to Savvy, and you wanna be there when they start wanting to save 15, 20. I saw one that was, and I'm not kidding, 50% more once you added the fees. On Airbnb than it was on vrbo, and it was like 38%, uh, uh, than air, than, uh, than it was on savvy. And it was like 38% more on VRBO than it was on Savvy.

[00:20:16] Eric: On average, travelers are saving 15 to 20% that's gonna move some material piece of the traveling public from Airbnb and VRBO to savvy.com. And so you wanna be there as a host if you're a savvy host 'cause it doesn't cost you anything. And then once we start driving some real awareness and visibility. We can help you build your book direct traffic, because we all know it's not free to build book direct traffic.

[00:20:46] Eric: You gotta spend money on your website. You gotta spend money on Google Ads, and you gotta spend it on SEO and you gotta spend it on social, and you're doing press and you're doing email marketing. I mean, it costs money to drive direct reservations. You can sign up with us, doesn't cost you anything. And we're driving direct reservation.

[00:21:06] Eric: So I think we've found a, a really sweet spot. It's, it's resonating with, uh, professional hosts here in the States. I mean, the fact that we've already added over 2,500, we're onboarding about over 3000 properties a week right now organically. Not a big property management company coming on, but just through our, you know, regular.

[00:21:30] Eric: Business.

[00:21:31] Liam: That's really cool and I love that. I love that it's kind of a disruptor in the space, you know, like it's, it's kind of sitting somewhere in the middle there, isn't it? Which is, is proper cause

[00:21:41] Eric: Yeah. It supports what hosts want and what travelers want. And that's why I think it's, it's, we're gonna see some good growth.

[00:21:50] Liam: Hey. That's why we wanted to, uh, have you on the podcast and, and introduce you to the, the listeners, or the listeners to the brand. Is is something which needs to be, uh, talked about. You mentioned obviously there's not, um, that, that push on the guest side at the moment, but still, uh, as we talked about VRBO, what, what kind of guests do you expect to use the platform?

[00:22:10] Liam: I think there's this kind of vision that people from VRBO are slightly better guests. People from booking.com are slightly worse kind of guests. Is it? Is there. Uh, kind of classical kind of guest that books through Savvy, or have you noticed any trade trends or shifts in patterns, uh, about you're gonna

[00:22:26] Eric: think,

[00:22:27] Liam: you're

[00:22:28] Eric: gonna think that this answer, uh, this was like a prefixed question, but it goes back to our brand, right?

[00:22:35] Eric: We think savvy travelers are gonna be the ones that we get, um. If, if you're booking, if you're, if you're, you know, a grandparent and you're booking a, a multi-generational trip, that's gonna cost $50,000 on the coast, uh, in the UK or Southern France, and you can save seven to $10,000, you're gonna do it.

[00:23:01] Eric: You just paid for everyone's travel or a day on the boat. Plus, plus. Plus, if, if you are, you know, fresh outta school and you're just starting your career and you've gotta go to, uh, you know, you're in a wedding in a town three hours away, and so you're sharing a vacation rental with someone that's $300 a night for two nights, 600 us, and you can save.

[00:23:29] Eric: A hundred dollars. I mean, that covered your gas costs, that covered, you know, maybe a night out for, so I don't, I don't think it's a specific, you know, gen X, gen Z Boomer, um, high-end, you know, uh, tight. Don't wanna spend a lot of money. I think it's, it's gonna be people that are smart and people that value their money.

[00:23:55] Eric: And most people that have made a lot of money did it because they're smart with their money and they value their money. So, uh, I, I truly a part of, of part of the brand of Savvy and savvy.com is, I really think it's gonna be the people that I. Art shops.

[00:24:09] Liam: Mm-hmm. I love that. I love that. I mean, like you say, there is no reason not to do it.

[00:24:13] Liam: And ultimately, this is what I've been saying for a while, which is there isn't a reason why I wouldn't book direct with a professional host. And people always go, well, aren't you worried about this or worried about that? And I'm like, no. As long as they're a professional host and they've got an easy way.

[00:24:25] Liam: Yeah. Book, and this is clearly got good reviews. There is no disadvantages to saving that money. And that does mean, like you say, you can go and spend that savings on, on the nights out. You can, you can still keep the same budget, but go and have more experiences, which is, is amazing. Liam,

[00:24:40] Eric: I, I, I couldn't agree more vehemently and I, all I would say is, you know, it's a huge market.

[00:24:49] Eric: It's a big industry. Uh, you look at the market cap combined of Airbnb, vrbo, and booking, and you're at 200 billion or so. Mm-hmm. Let's say that 10% of the people feel like you do. We don't need everybody If we can meet the needs of. 10% of the reservations, 5%, 15%. We don't need to be half of the industry or a third of the industry.

[00:25:18] Eric: It's a huge business, and you're saving people a ton of money, and the best part about it all is you're helping millions of people create great memories with friends and family. Mm-hmm. And that like, gives me goosebumps. I mean, it's like, how cool is that?

[00:25:34] Liam: Yeah. I, I, that's exactly the reason I'm in the industry is 'cause ultimately these are the memories that people will remember literally their entire lives.

[00:25:41] Liam: And we're helping them. Totally. Helping them do that. Totally. I mean, what not to love about this industry. I mean, yeah, yeah. There's some stuff which comes along with it, but actually when you look at the greater mission, then, uh, yeah, it's, it's, it's, it's pretty cool. It's pretty good, isn't it? Yeah. Yeah.

[00:25:57] Liam: You've got a lot of experience, obviously through the various businesses and, and the time in hospitality. I want, uh, the listeners to get an understanding of the, um, kind of some of the mindset and the lessons. What, what are some of the kind of standout wow moments and some of the challenges along the way across either this business or, or any business and, uh, how you got overcame the challenges?

[00:26:18] Eric: Mm,

[00:26:19] Liam: great.

[00:26:20] Eric: That's a great question. Uh. I think, uh, the, the, the challenges that I, I, I think are real in any business is, is putting together a solid team, right? And getting the absolute best people that you can. I. Afford on your team that, that have the background and have the experience. Um, and you know, when I first started out with bed and breakfast.com and, and I hadn't created a business yet, I mean, that was, that was really hard.

[00:26:52] Eric: Uh, it got easier when we did turnkey. Um, and I would say, you know, thankfully just because of, uh, the success that I've been fortunate enough to have in the industry and my length of time in the industry and the relationships. This time it just was easier because I knew people, right? I knew who to bring onto the team so that out of the gate, I mean our, you look at our advisors, we've got the co-founder of HomeAway on our advisory.

[00:27:20] Eric: We've got the founder of VRBO as an advisor. We've got four year CEO of Travelocity. As an advisor, I mean. Then you look at our employees, we've got people from HomeAway, from vrbo, from Expedia, from turnkey, from bed and breakfast.com. So it, it just gets easier, uh, with the amount of gray hair I have.

[00:27:43] Liam: You sort of collect people along the way, don't you?

[00:27:46] Liam: Is you do. I mean, you do. It's amazing because you find great people and you hold, if you find great people, you go, Hey, you know, come and join me on this project or, or come and do this. Let's go. And that's amazing. Yeah. I love that. I love that. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:27:59] Eric: I, you know, that, that, I mean, that's one thing I would say, uh, that is tough.

[00:28:05] Eric: Um, you know. Can be tough, right? To having, having access to capital and if you're gonna do that through friends and family, or you're gonna do that through, uh, angels, or you're gonna go the professional DC route and all the different. Um, just hoops you have to jump through for that. Uh, that's no fun.

[00:28:27] Eric: Raising money is not fun. I'd rather be out there creating cool experiences for people than raising money. But, uh, it's one of those things that, you know, you, you learn what people are looking for and, and what they need to see, and it gets easier.

[00:28:40] Liam: Mm-hmm. It's cool. It's the belief I imagine gets easier as time goes on.

[00:28:47] Eric: Well, for sure. And just the, uh, I mean one of the main things you learn when you're investing and or raising money is people invest in people. Mm-hmm. So, yeah, the idea is important, but people are betting on you that you can deliver and after you've delivered before, uh, it just, that gets easier, but doesn't mean it's a slam dunk, obviously.

[00:29:14] Eric: Still have to have the, the opportunity.

[00:29:17] Liam: Thank you for sharing that. I mean, I, you know, just the, the mindset does mean a lot. And certainly for somebody like me, I, I, I thrive off this stuff. So thank you very much Eric. So, zooming out a bit and talking about hospitality more generally, what are some of the sort of vacation rental, um, vacation rental industry?

[00:29:35] Liam: How is it evolving? What. Trends are you seeing and what do you kind of expect to happen over the next few years as regarding to how people are booking and, and using platforms such as savvy or, or any platforms at all?

[00:29:47] Eric: I mean, I think you're gonna see, uh, with the Vac Casa Casa Go merger, you're gonna, uh, and, and others out there, uh, whether they're doing a, a, a, a broader play like Evolve ca Vac Cago, um.

[00:30:04] Eric: But then you've got Wander and you've got others that are doing specific sort of niche branded. Property types. Mm-hmm. I expect you'll see more of that. Um, it's one of the things that we were gonna do when we bought the end that I own was we were gonna do a rollup of ends and try to do like a of, uh, of bed and breakfast and ends.

[00:30:24] Eric: And we realized, wow, that's a lot of work. And then we started turnkey and it was like, that's way more scalable and more fun. Let's go do that. But I think you'll see, uh, you'll see. Continued consolidation in the space. Um, 'cause there's efficiencies there. Uh, and, and you know, you just, when when you go to one destination and the property manager is only in that market and now you're going somewhere else, well then that doesn't help you.

[00:30:51] Eric: That you found a great property manager in Vail, Colorado, and now you're going to Miami, Florida. It's like, okay. So I think, you know. Continue. Things will continue there. You'll continue to see more and more emphasis on book direct because just not only the money that it saves, but the higher level of hospitality that is allowed to be provided in that scenario.

[00:31:18] Eric: Um.

[00:31:21] Eric: Yeah, and I, I mean, you, you've seen the supply can, it's been going crazy. I mean, the, the, uh, you know, occupancies, uh, is down here in Austin where I am, and, uh, probably in the States I haven't seen the latest, but just because there's so much more inventory. Right. And, and you're seeing some inventory go offline as.

[00:31:42] Eric: Uh, destinations come in and the governing bodies say, Hey, we're, we're gonna limit the number of, uh, short term rentals in this location, or et cetera license. Oh, the number that we allow licenses for, but. I, I mean, I tell you what, I, I, it's one of the oldest professions in the world, right? Hospitality. It's not going anywhere.

[00:32:02] Eric: It'll continue to evolve. You've got the whole wellness craze going right now, which is an admirable thing. I love it. Uh, people's mental health, um, and physical health. Uh, I, I think you'll continue to find the, the innovators out there and the, the creative people that will continue to bring the most amazing, um.

[00:32:24] Eric: Hospitality experiences that we've ever experienced to, to fruition. So I'm, I'm looking forward to it. That's for sure.

[00:32:32] Liam: I completely, you, you're absolute about that professionalization and, and you know, sort of, uh, trying to find a host in the other place that eventually you brand, which covers both, um, and that professionalization.

[00:32:45] Liam: That's very cool. And Eric, this has been so much fun because, uh, I've genuinely. I mean, I, I, I enjoy all of the guests that I speak to, but here I learned from your experience and hopefully our listeners do as well. So I wanna throw the mic open and just say, Hey, how do we find out more, learn about savvy, and, uh, come and see all the things

[00:33:06] Eric: I.

[00:33:06] Eric: Uh, yeah. Well, first of all, uh, really enjoyed the conversation myself. It's, it's always, it's, it's one of the cool things about being in the industry and the people that you get to meet and the stories that you get to share about hospitality, uh, is cool. I sort of icing on the cake. Um, hey, how do you find out about Savvy at, uh, savvy.com?

[00:33:23] Eric: It's an easy one to remember. Uh, if you're, uh, if you're a host, um, right now we're not. We're, we're in North America only. Uh, we've, we're, our plan is to roll into international, which will be Western Europe, to start, uh, Q4 of this year. Uh, we are in discussions with five different. Companies that represent about 200,000 properties, uh, internationally that we're hoping to get on by the end of the year.

[00:33:51] Eric: Um, but all the details are on the site. And if you're, uh, if you're a traveler, you know, next time you're together with friends and family and you're talking about vacation rentals, how you can help is just let people know that there's a more efficient way to to book. Vacation rentals with professional hosts that, that save you a lot of money and tell 'em to be savvy.

[00:34:13] Liam: Love it. I love it. And I know you're gonna have so many hosts reaching out as soon as this available and, uh, yeah. Excited to see. So Eric, we love to end these with, uh, squeezing every last drop of value. And the one question I'm gonna end this on is, is there a piece of advice, a mantra a so that's kind of resonated with you?

[00:34:37] Eric: Yeah. You know, I would, I would say, if you look back at my career, bed and breakfast.com turnkey, there's another company that I didn't mention. It's called Fun Air. Uh, I launched it in 2013. It's, we manufacture inflatable toys for mega yachts, right? You can check it out fun air.com. It's really, no pun intended, but it's fun.

[00:35:05] Eric: Um. And, and, and to now with Savvy. I think the common thread that you'll see with me is I like creating businesses that bring people together for experiences and hospitality. I, I think life is about relationships and, uh, with friends and family and anything that I can do. Uh, to create a successful business to enable that or throw gasoline on that fire and make it easier for people to create more of those or better of those.

[00:35:43] Eric: I think that's what's the driving force for me. And, and that's what makes it fun, is that it's not a business. It's like, Hey, if you, if you're passionate about something, it's not work, right? I mean, I'm, I'm, I'm fortunate enough that when I sold bed and breakfast.com, I, I don't need to be doing this. I don't need to launch savvy.

[00:36:02] Eric: Um. But I'm gonna, because, uh, uh, I just, I have to because I can do a much better job than what's out there. And that'll help a ton of people, whether they're hosts or travelers. And, uh, so that's what gets me fired up and that's what gets the team fired up. So as long as you have the reason for why you're doing what you're doing and that, that'll keep you going.

[00:36:28] Liam: Very cool, very cool deed. And, uh, Eric, thank you so much for joining us. On the blast. It's been fun. Um, thank you to, if you're listening on the podcast or perhaps you're watching on YouTube, check out the links underneath. Go and check out Savvy, and, uh, look to see you on the next episode of the Boostly.

[00:36:45] Liam: Thanks again. Bye for now. Sounds great, guys. Appreciate it. Having a blast. Gonna get it on the Boostly podcast. Bruce Lee. Let Bruce Lee 'cause it's so hard on the tees, loosely making up those rhymes. Don't write it, just do it loosely.