Welcome to our latest podcast episode!
In this podcast episode, Liam introduces Bob Garner, an expert on environmental issues in the short-term rental industry. They discuss the benefits of eco-friendly practices for rental owners and where to begin implementing them.
Bob shares his experience of converting a farmhouse into eco-friendly holiday apartments and highlights the importance of reducing greenhouse gas emissions. He explains that eco-friendly practices can save money, attract more bookings, and improve customer satisfaction.
Bob advises starting with small, cost-effective steps and being transparent with customers about sustainability efforts. He encourages rental owners to embrace sustainability for business success and the planet's well-being.
Liam thanks Bob and the listeners, ending the episode on a positive note.
For a further look into environmentally-friendly rental solutions, you can visit Enviro Rental at “https://envirorental.earth/“.
Key Takeaways
- The podcast episode discusses the benefits of eco-friendly practices for rental owners in the hospitality industry.
- Bob Garner, an expert on environmental issues, shares his experience of converting a farmhouse into eco-friendly holiday apartments.
- Eco-friendly practices can save money, attract more bookings, and improve customer satisfaction.
- Rental owners are advised to start with small, cost-effective steps and be transparent with customers about sustainability efforts.
- Embracing sustainability can lead to business success and contribute to the well-being of the planet.
Here's the video for this episode:
Timestamps (audio)
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Transcript from the Episode
Intro
[00:00:00] Liam: You are listening to the Boostly podcast. We help hosts all over the world, discover the tools, the tactics, the training, and most importantly, have the confidence to go out there and get some more direct book-ins. Today you're gonna discover how eco-friendly changes can support your bottom line, and ultimately where to start with it all.
[00:00:17] And, uh, let me introduce. To you, a very special guest indeed, someone who I've been looking forward to speaking to, who I've listened to many times. Uh, today we have Bob Garner joining us and uh, I'm excited. As I say, he, if you dunno who he is, he's a thought leader on environmental issues. He's a coordinator of.
[00:00:36] Tourism declares climate emergency. He's the founder of Green VR events. He's a short-term rental host, um, who owns a short-term rental with sustainability at his core. Um, it's called Castel Deke. Did I pronounce that right, Bob?
[00:00:52] Bob: Not bad. Not bad,
[00:00:54] Liam: Okay. Not bad. And he's also, um, environmental, which is a one-stop shop for short-term rental, uh, operators interested in sustainability.
[00:01:05] So we're gonna be talking a lot about sustainability today and all the things that you can do as a host, which is gonna help you and your guests at the end of the day. So thank you and welcome along Bob.
[00:01:16] Bob: Great. Thank you very much, Liam. It's great to be here. Lovely to talk to you.
[00:01:19] Liam: So first of all, Bob, I know given you a bit of an introduction, but if you can just add to that, um, anything you'd like to mention and, uh, to also add to the end of that, why you do what you do.
Bobs Intro
[00:01:29] Bob: Yeah. So, um, we, uh, run Kaki, me and my husband. Uh, we live in Italy. We move from London, 18 years ago, and bought a derelict farmhouse in Royal, uh, Le Marque in Italy. And converted it into self-contained luxury, eco-friendly holiday apartments. And at the time, 18 years ago, we didn't know much about environmental issues about short-term rentals, but we knew we wanted to do something.
[00:01:57] Uh, and essentially what we've done over these years, uh, Just build up our expertise and our, uh, knowledge about what works in short-term rentals around sustainability. Some things work, some things don't. How you communicate with your guests, what, touchpoints most interest them, and how you can make money by being environmentally sustainable.
[00:02:18] And we've put all that in place and honed it and fine-tuned it over the years and got to the point where We have a really deep understanding now about sustainability and short-term rentals, and I've gone on then to do other things with, uh, green VR events, which we can talk about, and environ rental, both of which are about bringing sustainability to our industry and helping different people in our industry to be sustainable, to make money up, sustainability, and to do the right thing for the industry because as an industry, we are part of tourism.
[00:02:53] This accounts for 8% of global greenhouse gases. Everyone knows about the climate emergency. We don't need to go into the details here. Um, but our industry has a role to play. We are responsible for some of those emissions, and then we need to start thinking about how we are gonna get those emissions down. So one of the key targets that people don't hear about, is a great deal.
[00:03:14] In any industry is that everybody, every industry, every business, everybody in the world, we need to bring our emissions down by 50%, five-oh, 50% by 2030, so that we can stay on track to reach the targets of 2050 that many people have heard about. So without going into the technicalities, what that means is most short-term rental businesses are not yet doing anything around sustainability.
[00:03:40] They're not even probably aware of that target. So what we've gotta do is get people talking about that target, understanding that target, understanding their emissions, and then starting to see how they can bring their emissions down while at the same time growing their business and attracting new customers.
[00:03:57] Because at the end of the day, we've got to still be successful businesses. So, you know, that's what we've put into place in the last 18 years. And that's what I preach and talk about and try and persuade and control people to get involved in because it's the right thing to do for them. It's the right thing to do for their customers, and it's the right thing to do for the planet.
How do eco-friendly practices help
[00:04:16] Liam: I love that. How do eco-friendly practices help short-term rental owners? What? How does it make a difference to their bottom line?
[00:04:25] Bob: Well, it makes a difference in several ways. You know, first of all, you can save some money on certain initiatives. So the fact of taking some eco steps will save you money.
[00:04:35] Um, and that might be because it reduces your costs, or it might be that you get, and I know something dear to your heart. And on this podcast, you get a lot more direct bookings. And when you get a lot more direct bookings, then it reduces the commissions that you need to pay to the OTAs. It increases your return on investment and makes you more successful, has people coming back and you get much better quality reviews.
[00:05:02] So for instance, here we are at Casal Biki here in Italy. We have a 90% book direct rate. We have a 65% return rate, and we get referrals on top of that, and we've built that around sustainability and great customer service. The two must go hand in hand. But when you can build a business like that, you attract guests who are looking for those sorts of stays.
[00:05:26] Guests come and they're, they attracted to the fact that you're doing the right thing for the environment and they're playing their part. And I can talk about what that means in a moment. Um, and they go home more satisfied, um, and, and happier that they've had a great holiday, but they've also done it more environmentally friendly and that they've played a part in that.
[00:05:48] And then, then that. Pass over to reviews as well, because they're more likely to give you a review. They're more likely to give you a better review, and they're more likely to give you a more nuanced review, which talks about the depth of the customer experience and what you're trying to do in giving back to the planet or giving back to the community doing the right thing.
[00:06:07] And what's interesting is that you know, All you are doing at the end of the day is you are aligning your business values and the way you run your business with the values of the customers who are looking to stay with you, and, and that's when you hit the sweet spot. When you get people who come and stay with you and they're thinking, well, this is great.
[00:06:27] You know, Bob has the same ideas that I have. He wants to do the same things I want to do. He's got those own principles. I'm feeling comfortable here. This is a great place to stay. I want to come back, I want to recommend it to my friends. And, and that's, this is all part of the, of the rationale around being sustainable, is attracting yourself at being attractive to those customers who want to stay sustainably.
[00:06:52] Because what we're seeing in the data that comes out from booking.com and Expedia is that around 80% of consumers are surveyed. Would like to stay sustainably in their next short-term rental. Now, it doesn't mean that they will, but they would like to do that. And even if it was only 50% of that, if it was only 40% of people looking to stay, sustainability, that is a huge demographic out there.
[00:07:17] And what I'm always saying to people, and what we've learned is by building some sustainability practices into your business, branding yourself for sustainability. And that's important. You need to brand yourself. You need to blog about it. You need a page on your website. You need to let people know that you're out there and that they can find you.
[00:07:36] Without greenwashing, that's important too. Um, and then you can attract those customers. Um, but to come back to your original question, what you need to be doing is, I think first doing some of the low, hanging through, doing some of the easy, quick wins that you can do without spending any money, but that you can start to pivot your organization to being greener, um, and genuinely greener.
[00:07:58] And talking to the consumer about what you're doing and also being honest, at the end of the day, you know, you put on a page, on your website, you say, we've done X, Y, and Z, and next year we're gonna do A, B, and C. Nobody's gonna criticize for that. Nobody's expecting you to be perfect from day one.
[00:08:16] What they're looking for is that you've taken some serious steps and that you have some genuine intention that comes from the heart, that you're going to take it further than you're going to do more, and people will be pleased with that. You don't need to greenwash, you don't need to exaggerate it.
[00:08:30] You don't need to pretend it's any more than it is. We're all on a journey. Everybody understands that some of us are further ahead than others, but it's never too late to engage with this topic and start to think about what you can do. Um, and that's why, you know, I talk all the time about doing it for the right business reasons, as well as doing it for the planet and doing it for the customers.
[00:08:52] Do it for yourself because you can be more successful.
Outro
[00:08:55] Liam: Thank you so much for spending your time with us today, Bob. And thank you too, if you're listening to this on the Boostly podcast, we know there are a lot of places you can put your attention. We appreciate you putting it with us. So, um, thanks again Bob and uh, yeah, we'll see you on the next one having a blast.
[00:09:10] Bob: Gonna get it on the Boostly podcast. Bruce Lee. Let Bruce Lee cuz it's so hard on the tee is loose leaf picking up those rhymes. Don't write it, just do it loose.
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Transcript from the Episode
Intro
[00:00:00] Liam: You are listening to the Boostly podcast. We help hosts all over the world, discover the tools, the tactics, the training, and most importantly, have the confidence to go out there and get some more direct book-ins. Today you're gonna discover how eco-friendly changes can support your bottom line, and ultimately where to start with it all.
[00:00:17] And, uh, let me introduce. To you, a very special guest indeed, someone who I've been looking forward to speaking to, who I've listened to many times. Uh, today we have Bob Garner joining us and uh, I'm excited. As I say, he, if you dunno who he is, he's a thought leader on environmental issues. He's a coordinator of.
[00:00:36] Tourism declares climate emergency. He's the founder of Green VR events. He's a short-term rental host, um, who owns a short-term rental with sustainability at his core. Um, it's called Castel Deke. Did I pronounce that right, Bob?
[00:00:52] Bob: Not bad. Not bad,
[00:00:54] Liam: Okay. Not bad. And he's also, um, environmental, which is a one-stop shop for short-term rental, uh, operators interested in sustainability.
[00:01:05] So we're gonna be talking a lot about sustainability today and all the things that you can do as a host, which is gonna help you and your guests at the end of the day. So thank you and welcome along Bob.
[00:01:16] Bob: Great. Thank you very much, Liam. It's great to be here. Lovely to talk to you.
[00:01:19] Liam: So first of all, Bob, I know given you a bit of an introduction, but if you can just add to that, um, anything you'd like to mention and, uh, to also add to the end of that, why you do what you do.
Bobs Intro
[00:01:29] Bob: Yeah. So, um, we, uh, run Kaki, me and my husband. Uh, we live in Italy. We move from London, 18 years ago, and bought a derelict farmhouse in Royal, uh, Le Marque in Italy. And converted it into self-contained luxury, eco-friendly holiday apartments. And at the time, 18 years ago, we didn't know much about environmental issues about short-term rentals, but we knew we wanted to do something.
[00:01:57] Uh, and essentially what we've done over these years, uh, Just build up our expertise and our, uh, knowledge about what works in short-term rentals around sustainability. Some things work, some things don't. How you communicate with your guests, what, touchpoints most interest them, and how you can make money by being environmentally sustainable.
[00:02:18] And we've put all that in place and honed it and fine-tuned it over the years and got to the point where We have a really deep understanding now about sustainability and short-term rentals, and I've gone on then to do other things with, uh, green VR events, which we can talk about, and environ rental, both of which are about bringing sustainability to our industry and helping different people in our industry to be sustainable, to make money up, sustainability, and to do the right thing for the industry because as an industry, we are part of tourism.
[00:02:53] This accounts for 8% of global greenhouse gases. Everyone knows about the climate emergency. We don't need to go into the details here. Um, but our industry has a role to play. We are responsible for some of those emissions, and then we need to start thinking about how we are gonna get those emissions down. So one of the key targets that people don't hear about, is a great deal.
[00:03:14] In any industry is that everybody, every industry, every business, everybody in the world, we need to bring our emissions down by 50%, five-oh, 50% by 2030, so that we can stay on track to reach the targets of 2050 that many people have heard about. So without going into the technicalities, what that means is most short-term rental businesses are not yet doing anything around sustainability.
[00:03:40] They're not even probably aware of that target. So what we've gotta do is get people talking about that target, understanding that target, understanding their emissions, and then starting to see how they can bring their emissions down while at the same time growing their business and attracting new customers.
[00:03:57] Because at the end of the day, we've got to still be successful businesses. So, you know, that's what we've put into place in the last 18 years. And that's what I preach and talk about and try and persuade and control people to get involved in because it's the right thing to do for them. It's the right thing to do for their customers, and it's the right thing to do for the planet.
How do eco-friendly practices help
[00:04:16] Liam: I love that. How do eco-friendly practices help short-term rental owners? What? How does it make a difference to their bottom line?
[00:04:25] Bob: Well, it makes a difference in several ways. You know, first of all, you can save some money on certain initiatives. So the fact of taking some eco steps will save you money.
[00:04:35] Um, and that might be because it reduces your costs, or it might be that you get, and I know something dear to your heart. And on this podcast, you get a lot more direct bookings. And when you get a lot more direct bookings, then it reduces the commissions that you need to pay to the OTAs. It increases your return on investment and makes you more successful, has people coming back and you get much better quality reviews.
[00:05:02] So for instance, here we are at Casal Biki here in Italy. We have a 90% book direct rate. We have a 65% return rate, and we get referrals on top of that, and we've built that around sustainability and great customer service. The two must go hand in hand. But when you can build a business like that, you attract guests who are looking for those sorts of stays.
[00:05:26] Guests come and they're, they attracted to the fact that you're doing the right thing for the environment and they're playing their part. And I can talk about what that means in a moment. Um, and they go home more satisfied, um, and, and happier that they've had a great holiday, but they've also done it more environmentally friendly and that they've played a part in that.
[00:05:48] And then, then that. Pass over to reviews as well, because they're more likely to give you a review. They're more likely to give you a better review, and they're more likely to give you a more nuanced review, which talks about the depth of the customer experience and what you're trying to do in giving back to the planet or giving back to the community doing the right thing.
[00:06:07] And what's interesting is that you know, All you are doing at the end of the day is you are aligning your business values and the way you run your business with the values of the customers who are looking to stay with you, and, and that's when you hit the sweet spot. When you get people who come and stay with you and they're thinking, well, this is great.
[00:06:27] You know, Bob has the same ideas that I have. He wants to do the same things I want to do. He's got those own principles. I'm feeling comfortable here. This is a great place to stay. I want to come back, I want to recommend it to my friends. And, and that's, this is all part of the, of the rationale around being sustainable, is attracting yourself at being attractive to those customers who want to stay sustainably.
[00:06:52] Because what we're seeing in the data that comes out from booking.com and Expedia is that around 80% of consumers are surveyed. Would like to stay sustainably in their next short-term rental. Now, it doesn't mean that they will, but they would like to do that. And even if it was only 50% of that, if it was only 40% of people looking to stay, sustainability, that is a huge demographic out there.
[00:07:17] And what I'm always saying to people, and what we've learned is by building some sustainability practices into your business, branding yourself for sustainability. And that's important. You need to brand yourself. You need to blog about it. You need a page on your website. You need to let people know that you're out there and that they can find you.
[00:07:36] Without greenwashing, that's important too. Um, and then you can attract those customers. Um, but to come back to your original question, what you need to be doing is, I think first doing some of the low, hanging through, doing some of the easy, quick wins that you can do without spending any money, but that you can start to pivot your organization to being greener, um, and genuinely greener.
[00:07:58] And talking to the consumer about what you're doing and also being honest, at the end of the day, you know, you put on a page, on your website, you say, we've done X, Y, and Z, and next year we're gonna do A, B, and C. Nobody's gonna criticize for that. Nobody's expecting you to be perfect from day one.
[00:08:16] What they're looking for is that you've taken some serious steps and that you have some genuine intention that comes from the heart, that you're going to take it further than you're going to do more, and people will be pleased with that. You don't need to greenwash, you don't need to exaggerate it.
[00:08:30] You don't need to pretend it's any more than it is. We're all on a journey. Everybody understands that some of us are further ahead than others, but it's never too late to engage with this topic and start to think about what you can do. Um, and that's why, you know, I talk all the time about doing it for the right business reasons, as well as doing it for the planet and doing it for the customers.
[00:08:52] Do it for yourself because you can be more successful.
Outro
[00:08:55] Liam: Thank you so much for spending your time with us today, Bob. And thank you too, if you're listening to this on the Boostly podcast, we know there are a lot of places you can put your attention. We appreciate you putting it with us. So, um, thanks again Bob and uh, yeah, we'll see you on the next one having a blast.
[00:09:10] Bob: Gonna get it on the Boostly podcast. Bruce Lee. Let Bruce Lee cuz it's so hard on the tee is loose leaf picking up those rhymes. Don't write it, just do it loose.