[00:00:00] Sean: You know, how you do anything is how you do everything. And, and so, and that's one that keeps me in check more than, you know, than I'm, say, I, I live by that. It's more like, um, you know, if I'm going to say yes to something and I'm going to commit and, you know, if I don't want to do it half heartedly because I, so, so it's just that, that idea, like, if I'm going to do something, I want it to be done well.
[00:00:22] Sean: That's one thing that's on my mind.
Introduction to Hostshare
[00:00:43] Liam: Hi, welcome back to the Boostly podcast. This is the podcast that gives hosts the tools, the tactics, the training, and most importantly, the confidence for you to go out there and get more direct bookings. We do a. Behind the, well, behind the services kind of, uh, podcast on this, where we dive into services that you need to know about as a host, these services will help you in some way, sometimes they'll help you, help you with direct booking, sometimes they'll help you with other things.
[00:01:10] Liam: And today is one of those services, which is really interesting and is going to help you with filling gaps or getting value for the gaps within your calendar, as well. As a host, I'm not going to go much further into that. I'm going to let our special guest explain exactly what I mean by that, but let me welcome.
[00:01:27] Liam: We've got Sean Wilkinson. He is the co founder from Hostshare. And he's going to show us exactly what Hostshare is today on this podcast. So welcome along, Sean. Thank you for joining me.
[00:01:38] Sean: Hey, Liam. Hey, thanks so much for having me, man. Thank you for being here.
[00:01:41] Liam: Sean, first question is what can people expect from the next sort of 20, 25 minutes over this podcast?
[00:01:47] Liam: What would you like them to remember?
The Value of Trading Vacancies
[00:01:48] Sean: Well, the main thing I would like them to remember is that, you know, as, as a short term rental owner and a host, you're always going to experience, um, vacancy, you know, any time or any year, uh, throughout a calendar year. And so the main thing that we do is we allow you to trade those vacancies for vacations all by utilizing last minute vacancy.
[00:02:09] Sean: So that's, that's kind of the goal. Um, you know, you get about between on average, our people are getting around 340 a night in savings when they go and travel and an average of about, it would be between, I mean, you can get all the way up to 20, 000 a year and, and value just by utilizing those last minute vacancies.
[00:02:27] Liam: Why is this important to you? What, what really. Um, when did you pick up on this problem and why are you trying to solve it across the industry?
[00:02:36] Sean: Yeah, well, the main, main thing we realized was, you know, I, I, I'm actually not sure on this number, but between 7 and 10 million short term rentals, you know, worldwide, um, and, and across that whole, you know, across them all, it's about a 60 percent vacancy factor if you look at any given year.
[00:02:55] Sean: Which was like, which is crazy to me, you know, I, I knew we were experiencing that on our own places between, you know, midweek and off season, but then to realize that this, that means that every night that there's between, you know, four and 6 million short term rental sitting empty. And I was, you know, it was kind of shocking to realize that there was that much waste happening and how much that really, if you were able to figure out how to fill some of that, the value that I could bring host.
The Problem of Vacant Rentals
[00:03:22] Sean: And so, um, so, yeah, we, you know, the goal is just to. To enrich lives of hosts by, by utilizing waste, you know, that's kind of the, the like mission of the, of the company. And, um, cause there's, there's inevitably going to be waste and in short term rentals, you're always going to experience some vacancy. And so now this is just a way that you can, you can trade some of that vacancy for, uh, for vacation nights and, you know, staying at other people's properties.
[00:03:50] Liam: Take me back. How long has the company been, uh, been around for and why? Take me back as in how did it get created? I mentioned you're the co founder. Was it? Yeah. Was this a few people came together? Take me back through that.
[00:04:04] Sean: It's, it's a funny process because I mean, so it was my brother and I that, that initially kind of stumbled upon the, the concept in a, you know, in a roundabout way.
[00:04:14] Sean: Where we were, so we're both actually, we're both private pilots too, and, um, I, I've been both, or I was in, uh, commercial real estate and he was found founding a, uh, uh, engine, uh, internal combustion engine company. And so we, we both had about 4, 4 short term rentals each and, but they were for both of us were kind of afterthoughts and.
[00:04:40] Sean: As pilots, we realized, you know, we're, we're partnered in on a plane together, and we actually have another partner there. And we were realizing, man, these assets that people have, the most expensive assets people have sit empty or not being used. Like, you know, I mean, in, in terms of yachts and planes, like, you know, 95 percent of the year, they just sit there.
[00:04:59] Sean: Right. And they're just such expensive assets. And so that was kind of one thing we started like, man, what, you know, how do you utilize some of that waste? And then we, but then we looked at our short term rentals and like, man, you know, we're not the only ones that experience a lot of vacancy at these properties and they just sit there.
[00:05:16] Sean: And, you know, we, we knew about. Things like, uh, you know, exchange programs and stuff where you could, you could do a, uh, a home exchange or, you know, like third home, home exchange, those sorts of platforms, which are awesome, but those, but then they're, they're primarily for, for their primary residents to be able to exchange it kind of a direct exchange with somebody.
[00:05:38] Sean: And, and you're, if you did that with a short term rental, you're going to be giving up. Revenue nights in the future. Cause it's like it's further out in the future. So, so that, that was kind of how we came about. All right. Well, if it was last minute as an operator, I would trade those nights with another, with another host anytime, if I could just have the ability to do the same thing.
[00:05:59] Sean: And, and so, so we, we kind of stumbled upon that. We figured out, all right, let's, let's say everybody, you know, gets three weeks of free travel. Um, Which is like, if you, if you're on the platform, you automatically get three weeks of free travel. And you're basically are, are only depending on your price point of your property per night.
[00:06:20] Sean: If you fall above our, our, uh, our median price, right. You'll share less nights than, than 21. So say. Say our average is, I think is our average is 250 a night, 260 a night. And, um, and then, so say if you have a thousand dollar night property, you might only share about, about six nights a year, but you still get 21 nights of free travel.
[00:06:42] Sean: Um, and if you're below that, then you'll, you'll share more, but it's only if you're vacant, right? It's only if you're vacant last minute and another host wants to come book it. So if you're not vacant, then it's just, we're just kind of going off law of averages.
How Hostshare Works
[00:06:55] Liam: How do I stop people asking for the nights which, um, which I still might sell because basically how close are those nights would get them to advertise?
[00:07:07] Sean: So it's, it's only a five night window, right? So if I was booking for tomorrow, I could book up up to that five night horizon. Um, but, but you can't book up beyond that five night horizon. And then once your property has been, all your nights have been used up. So say, say you have that thousand dollar night property, and you're only going to share five nights.
[00:07:28] Sean: six nights a year. Once those nights are used, um, then, then it won't be on the platform any longer.
[00:07:34] Liam: How does it work for, for the hosts, um, listening to this? If somebody listens to this, wants to sign up, what is the process? Do they, um, do they have to list all of their places individually? Is there a lot of work involved?
Simple Setup Process
[00:07:48] Liam: What does that process talk us through that?
[00:07:52] Sean: And when we, when we got started in the development, one thing that we were really keen on is just making it as simple of a process to sign up, you know, there, there was a couple of things that, like, we just, we spent a lot more time on them than I had expected to, you know, we, we brought on a development team as partners to, you know, And which was, you know, which was, uh, because my brother and I aren't from the, uh, you know, aren't aren't in that world.
[00:08:19] Sean: And so, so we found some strategic partners that we were able to bring in and they, they were able to, um, to dive in and get this thing, um, get, get this, this platforms, uh, up, up and up and running. And 1 of the main things that we, that we started on was just a, you know, Very simple. Uh, you know, you, you, when you sign up, you just put your Airbnb link in, it scrapes all their, all their information from their website from, and, and brings it into a, to uh, uh, profile on host share.
[00:08:53] Sean: And they basically just have to, I, they have to confirm a few, uh, details. They do a, you know, persona ID verification, um, and then depending on, on if they're. there's a few things we have to do to make sure that they they are qualified to host that property. We don't want people, you know, to falsely be Putting in properties that they can't host, um, and then they just have to import their calendar and export it, you know, via the ICS, um, calendar and, and then now, now it can communicate to all their, you know, PMS systems and Airbnb and, um, and it's, it's just very simple.
[00:09:35] Sean: Like, it, it takes, it takes probably 3 to 5 minutes to get your property up and running on, on a host share.
[00:09:41] Liam: Thank you so much for this, Sean. This has been really fun. And, um, I think it's a great idea. Like I said, I'd love to see concepts like this come to fruition. Um, can you leave us with mantra or what motto has resonated with you, uh, either in business, in life, in, in short term rental, however.
Sean’s Motto: How You Do Anything is How You Do Everything
[00:09:59] Sean: I would say, I mean, there's a, there's a couple of things that I. That I just, if, if I'm just like thinking to myself, but like, um, you know, one, one would be, you know, how you do anything is how you do everything. And so, and that's one that keeps me in check more than, you know, that I'm say I, I live by that.
[00:10:18] Sean: It's more like. Um, you know, if I'm going to say yes to something and I'm going to commit and, you know, if I don't want to do it halfheartedly, because so, so it's just that that idea. Like, if I'm going to do something, I want it to be done well. And, um, and so, um, that's, that's 1 thing that that's on my mind quite a bit.
[00:10:38] Sean: And when I make a decision, it's like. Well, can I do this? Well, if I'm going to, if I'm going to commit to it and, and, uh, it helps, it helps keep me in check sometimes.
[00:10:48] Liam: I love it. I love it. It's very true. And the more I see successful people, they don't do, you know, thousands and thousands of tasks. What they do is they, they commit in one direction, but they give it their all and, and this is really important.
[00:10:59] Liam: So Sean. This has been really, really fun. Um, yeah. I, uh, I look forward to seeing you guys be successful and seeing you at the events and, and all of that. Um, all that cool stuff and, um, yeah, thank you again. I look forward to, uh, seeing you on the next Boostly podcast. Bye for now.
