Concierge Secrets – How Amenities Can Make Or Break Your Bookings

In this episode of the Boostly podcast, we sit down with Annie Sloan, co-founder and CEO of The Host Co. Annie shares her expertise on how hosts can enhance guest experiences and generate additional revenue by offering creative amenities. From automating upsells to providing value-add services, Annie explains how amenities can streamline operations and improve guest satisfaction. Tune in to learn how you can take your short-term rental business to the next level!

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The Importance of Upsell Communication

[00:00:00] Annie: If you are not communicating. the upsell amenities that you have right when they book. It's, it is a big missed opportunity, uh, because when they're there, they only have so much bandwidth and they generally don't want to be looking at their computer or reading a brochure. 

[00:00:32] Liam: Hi, and welcome back to the Boostly podcast. This is the podcast that gives hosts the tools, the tactics, the training, and most importantly, the confidence.

Introducing Annie Sloan and The Host Co.

[00:00:38] Liam: So you can go out there and get yourselves direct bookings. Today, we are interviewing somebody on the Boostly spotlight series. This is a series where we talk to industry leaders, where we talk to people. Interesting people who basically can bring more value to you as our valued listener today. I'm super excited.

[00:00:57] Liam: We've got a really special guest and we're going to be diving into concierge amenities, how it can really have an impact on your business, but also on your bookings and direct bookings. Of course, we're always going to be talking about. So let me introduce, we've got Annie Sloan. She's the co founder and CEO.

[00:01:14] Liam: of a company called The Host Co. It is an amazing company and you're going to really want to sit and listen for this. It'd be about 20, 30 minutes. We're really going to deep dive into what they do and how you can utilize them within your business. So welcome along, Annie. Thank you for joining me today.

[00:01:30] Annie: Thank you, Liam. I'm very excited to be here. 

[00:01:32] Liam: So Annie, what can the listeners expect for the next sort of 20, 30 minutes? What would you like them to take away from this podcast? 

[00:01:39] Annie: So, uh, The thing that I would love for everyone to take away is how surprisingly beneficial amenities are beyond revenue amenities.

[00:01:51] Annie: People think, you know, oh, late checkout, but one, there are so many more creative amenities out there. Um, all of the things that you can do with amenities that as a host, you probably already have in your mind, but haven't connected to. Oh, those things I can actually offer. Um, and all of the different benefits of marketing that amenities bring interesting amenities.

[00:02:09] Annie: And also all the pain in the bleep that amenities actually improve, uh, from your stay, um, for your guest stay and, um, all the things that they can make more efficient and you can operationalize through amenities, you know, people. People think amenities and upsells. They think, Oh, you want to sell someone coffee?

[00:02:28] Annie: That's so tacky. And you know what, that is tacky. I wouldn't do that in my own rentals and I don't do that in my own rentals, but having a value add service where you write when someone books can say, um, if you'd like to add any upgrades, if you'd like to add any services, really positioning things as a value add for your users.

[00:02:48] Annie: It makes a world of difference in so many ways. And I hopefully can even cover all of those different ways in this 20 minutes. I'm quite obviously excited. 

[00:02:58] Liam: Why is this business or why is this service important to you? Let talk us through what, what made this important for you? 

The Origins of The Host Co.

[00:03:06] Annie: So, um, I'm a short-term rental host.

[00:03:09] Annie: Uh, I've been a host since 2009, um, since the early days of, uh, Airbnb. Prior to Airbnb, I listed my apartment in San Francisco on Craigslist, which is super sketchy. Don't recommend anyone , I would say, oh yeah, just, uh, send me a copy of your license, you know, and then I'd go to Guatemala for a month. So, not great, but I've been a short-term rental host for a very long time, and my co-founder Michael.

[00:03:35] Annie: founded and built a large property management company called Times A Real Estate. And for years, Michael and I talked about the inefficiencies with guest questions that you could not answer. So, um, you know, it's, it's midnight and you're at a bar with your partner and your guest, one of 10, maybe that evening says, Hey, we're interested in a late checkout.

[00:03:55] Annie: Oh, okay. Let me leave the table. Let me go to the corner. Let me text the cleaner, right. Or Hey, a guest just asked for a mid state clean and it's 11 PM and you're at. Your kids recital or something like that, right? Um, not only is it really an efficient that you're probably taking a lot of time to do that.

[00:04:12] Annie: It's also that you have to then contact other people, right? Um, so not only that, we would have questions for our rentals minor and Joshua tree. My co founders are in Southern California. Also in death Valley. You get the questions like, hey, it's midnight. Again, it's Friday. We're out of firewood. We already used the free firewood you gave us.

[00:04:32] Annie: We're 30 miles from a store because we're in Death Valley or the middle of Nevada, right? What do we do? And our whole thing is, man, we should just figure out how to answer these questions. Even if the answer is no, we should take care of a lot of these problems. And also, there's a lot of revenue to be made in this space, um, with things that you can't anticipate your guests already needing and asking for that we're not doing, right?

[00:04:56] Annie: Also, because our rentals are in Southern California, there's this joke, you know, people, um, people throw open the doors and then crank up the AC. It's probably the opposite of the UK, right? They just open the doors and turn on the heat maybe, but, um, it's just a sunk cost often after they check in. And, um, We would often talk about the analog of hotels, hotels, a full service hotel makes about 30 percent of their revenue from upsells, but they're not positioning.

The Hotel Analogy: Upsells Done Right

[00:05:22] Annie: When you walk into a hotel, you don't think, oh, they're starting to sell me stuff. You think, oh yeah, I do want a massage. Oh, you have a chef, right? All of those types of things that they're actually making money on. Um, so I was in big tech, uh, my co founder was still property manager and I said, let's build something for our own units for, for our own properties first and just see what if it works.

[00:05:44] Annie: And we put it in seven of our own homes first and it went gangbusters. Right. It's very interesting because I was just in tech, I was at Facebook prior to this. Did not think I would make a left turn into what I'm doing now, but in 2021, I left Facebook and here we are. So 

[00:06:02] Liam: you mentioned the hotels and how they make extra revenue all the time.

[00:06:07] Liam: And there's a certain mindset I think around, say, when you see a mini bar in a hotel, you assume that if you're going to take something out of it, you're going to get charged, right? But why does guests assume that if there's something in there that it's just free because you've left it in there, you know, there's definitely that assumption in my opinion, but maybe a location thing.

[00:06:26] Liam: Is that the same as what you've found that there's a kind of mindset difference? 

[00:06:31] Annie: Yeah, I think there is a mindset difference because it is a short term rental and your guests are expecting everything to be included. I mean, I think that's also. The marketing positioning of the short term rental industry has been we're not hotels and we host because we're your best friends where Behind the curtain.

[00:06:51] Annie: You're also you're running a business, right? So I think that's that's an interesting part of it. Um, the other part of that is, I always say to our users, don't sell anything under 20 because you also look, I mean, if you had a, if you have a hostel or if you have lots of products that you people require, yes, but, um, you should be including everything that you have in your budget to provide good hospitality.

[00:07:16] Annie: Right. Um, obviously if it's an 8, 000 a night cabin cabin, uh, I don't know, mansion in Tahoe, you should be providing a lot of those amenities because that's a good hospitality, right? Um, hotels, there is, it's a little bit of, it's not a person, it's a hotel. So we're kind of sitting somewhere between, between that as well as we can kind of make it.

[00:07:38] Annie: feel a little bit like amenities are from a different company rather than you, which is helpful. Um, but mini bars in general, um, it should be included. We've certainly seen people say, Oh, I wanted to sell granola bars. Well, if you leave granola bars out on the table, your guests, of course, you're going to think, Oh, what a nice host.

[00:07:53] Annie: Thanks for the granola bars. Right? 

Overcoming Challenges with Amenities in Short-Term Rentals

[00:07:55] Liam: The challenge of offering amenities is, is vast. And you mentioned As a short term rental host, you realized it was difficult. Why is it so difficult for for people to offer these? I mean, for me, as you know, some of the challenges, I guess, what are some of the challenges when it comes down to amenities in general for hosts?

[00:08:15] Annie: The first one is communication. One, I think a lot of us have tried this over the years. I'm going to leave something on the counter and a note that says Venmo me, right? What happens then is, Oh, I tried to Venmo you. It didn't work. You're like, Oh, okay. Here's my phone number. Oh, wait, how much is it again?

[00:08:34] Annie: Oh, can I leave this? It just generates more operational inefficiency and more conversations. So, um, automating communication is the first piece of that. You should, and through the host code, just basically set it and forget it, right? The second part of that is, if you are not communicating, The upsell amenities that you have right when they book, it's it is a big missed opportunity because when they're there, they only have so much bandwidth and they generally don't want to be looking at their computer or reading a brochure.

[00:09:04] Annie: Right? So, um, what we do is we enable any host to have this little digital storefront that right when they book, they see that they can get a late checkout. They can get an early check in. They get a mid stay clean. They can get fresh flowers. They're staying for 2 months. Hey, are you interested in a dog walker?

[00:09:19] Annie: Um, all the way through, do you need a parking space? Because we're in an urban area and we've got two parking spots, by letting people know what is available right when they book, it eliminates a lot of those communication problems, and also they can then digitally pay for it as well. But it also creates what I would call that first.

[00:09:38] Annie: really huge kind of hidden benefit is people know what's available. So either they're willing to pay for it or they don't ask. So if you have 10, 10 doors, uh, you're going to get eight people asking you for a late checkout. Two of those people are probably going to be willing to pay 30 or 50 for the late checkout, right?

[00:09:59] Annie: When you let them know, right, when they book, we have these opportunity upsells for you. Um, and they have a cost. You're going to get 2 people asking who are the 2 people that are actually willing to do it. So if you just cut down on a ton of questions, same thing for something like firewood, or if you have things on site to rent, right?

[00:10:16] Annie: Um, it's this. It just takes care of all of that communication path with you. Um, it will even texture cleaner if someone wants a mid stay clean and say, Annie Sloan wants a mid stay clean one month from now at this location at this time, can you do this right? And we'll pay you out. So that is the number one thing is the communication.

[00:10:34] Annie: And honestly for my own rentals, and I would say maybe for my co founder, I mean, the revenue is great, but the efficiency it creates is. Pretty, pretty great. 

Maximizing Revenue Through Amenities

[00:10:44] Liam: Is there anything else that we haven't covered that you want to squeeze in? 

[00:10:48] Annie: Um, you know, the one thing that we haven't talked about, which is so funny, is revenue.

[00:10:53] Annie: So you actually do, amenities can bring you a whole lot of revenue. Um, how it works with the host co is, um, first of all, the host goes free to use and we take a small commission on your sales. Uh, we also have subscriptions. So you keep a hundred percent of your revenue. Um, we have property managers that we were paying out 11, 000 a month and they are selling late checkout, firewood, and an occasional massage.

[00:11:17] Annie: They just have a bunch of properties on the lake. So the revenue piece. I kind of try to not avoid it, but I say there's all these other things it does, but it's really great for the actual revenue as well of increasing your revenue. That is not a way that is around your ADR. 

[00:11:36] Liam: Definitely. And I think that brings it nicely background as a bridge because we talked about how hotels are making it ultimately.

[00:11:43] Liam: You listening to this can be making extra revenue now, even if it's a small amount, everything starts to add up. Doesn't it? So it's a super way, like you say, to make extra revenue as a host. So thank you so much, Annie, for, for coming onto the Boosley spotlight series of the podcast. Um, if you'd like, if you're listening to this and you want to go and check out.

[00:12:02] Liam: The links are gonna be in the comments or around somewhere. However, you're listening to this piece of media on YouTube or podcast, you can check out the links below. Thank you so much for, for listening to this. Annie. Thank you for your time on the podcast. We'll see you on the next one. 

[00:12:16] Annie: Thank you so much.