Welcome to Boostly Podcast Episode 555.
In this episode, Mark speaks with James Mitchell who has been in property since 2018.
James started with short-term rental, cleaning management, maintenance before focusing on buying a property.
He recently bought an old guest house in Whitby and renovated it to create a luxury high-end holiday let for 14 people.
James worked on the renovation himself and is currently working on the bungalow to add two more rooms to the property.
The property has been live since August 2022 and is currently focusing on wedding venues and retreats during the slow season.
James has been reaching out to companies that run retreats to advertise the property.
They also talk about the way James fills the weekdays by targeting corporates, companies, and potential wedding guests.
Here's the video for this episode:
Timestamps (audio)
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Transcript from the Episode
[00:00:00] Mark: All right, everybody, um, excited for this today. It's gonna be a good one. We're gonna talk about something new and it's gonna be, uh, very overwhelming for a lot of you, but there's a very simplistic way to implement it into your, to your business, and we're gonna get straight into that after we introduce our guest today.
[00:00:15] So, Mr. James Mitchell, can you please just give us the big background, um, how long you've been in property, uh, what involvements you have in short-term rental and, uh, and how you are helping this, uh, this.
[00:00:26] James: Cool. So, uh, yeah, so I've been in, uh, property since 2018. Uh, started off with, uh, doing sort of rent to service accommodation stuff in Cambridge, which kind of quickly moved into doing cleaning management, maintenance, that kind of thing.
[00:00:41] Um, Now we've sort more focused on actually buying property. So very recently we bought, um, a property up in Whitby at the beginning of, uh, 2022, which was an old guest house, which we've turned into like a, all singing, all dancing, like luxury high end holiday left [00:01:00] for 14 people for the main house. So it's like got games room, hot tub, um, this massive dining room.
[00:01:06] And I did all of that work myself. Uh, which Absolut. Killed me over the last year. Um, and then now we are finishing off the, uh, the bungalow to add on another two rooms onto the whole site so that we could have like big parties of like up to 18 people, that kind of thing. And, um, really just really enjoy just actually getting the investors on board, building out the projects, and then running them self like delivery and self-managing the properties ourselves and.
[00:01:36] Mark: Nice. How long has the property been live for now?
[00:01:39] James: So we've uh, we launched in August of, uh, last year. So we've pretty much had our first kind of 4, 4, 5 months.
[00:01:48] Mark: So you've just had your first kind of slow season, cuz Whitby is obviously Yeah. Go's obviously very touristy. So how did you find it? Have you found it, you've been able to get people in even though it's technically the slow season, [00:02:00] the shoulder season as we.
[00:02:02] James: Yeah, I mean we started off really well cause obviously had August and then the bank holidays, weekend's been really, really good. Um, the one thing I've been really focusing on there is like wedding venues and, uh, retreats. So only a couple of weeks ago we had a couple of companies come up that are doing wellness retreats and uh, yoga retreats.
[00:02:20] So they're gonna take like the Monday to Friday stuff, which is the bit that we kind of struggle with. And the same thing, the weddings. Um, the people that are coming next month, you know, they're taking it for nine days, but they're bringing people over from America. So those kind of fill-ins, I think that's what we really need to focus on.
[00:02:39] Retreats is gonna be, and like on location, photo shoots and stuff like that. Cause it's quite picturesque over there. Yeah. So, If we can do that to fill in the middle. I think we are, we're golden. Really.
[00:02:50] Mark: If anybody knows Goland, if anybody's based in the uk, not even based in the uk you know, Goland, you'll recognize it from heartbeat, uh, the nineties, uh, sitcom and all, all that.
[00:02:58] Cool. So it is very picturesque. [00:03:00] People love going up there. I mean, I, I grew up in that area, so I know it, know it well and it's very interesting. But you've got a big property and the way that you are filling those Monday to Fridays, those Monday to Thursdays, is. Corporates, how are you, how are you going about putting in your, your marketing knowledge into getting them aware of this property?
[00:03:18] Because obviously Goland isn't like on, you know, easy to get to . How are you sort of getting in front of these people? How are you sort of, uh, getting the awareness of it? How are you speaking to these potential wedding guests or companies and corporates?
[00:03:30] James: So, um, so when you said, mentioned it, actually Heartbeat is actually the, the, uh, heartbeat was actually filmed in the house.
[00:03:35] So we actually had like eight episodes in the house, which is wicked as well. Um, so, um, as far as the retreats, what I did is I went online and I found a lot of the companies that, um, Like actually run retreats. So it's a case that they all advertise in the same sort of place and you just reach out to them to say, I'm, to be honest, I was a little bit cheeky.
[00:03:55] Cause some of them I just said like, I'm actually looking to run a retreat. Could I have a conversation with you? Cause it's the only way [00:04:00] you get, you know, you, you get their details basically. So just message them there and there's went through these all the amazing things we can do for you. We can do food, we can do everything.
[00:04:09] Everything that you need. We've got the space. Like come and do it. Um, and then they basically just started replying and saying, yeah, actually we are thinking about a different venue. We had one that was like, um, Yoga retreat. They've said like, oh, this other place is quite shabby chic, but it's actually more shabby now.
[00:04:25] Like they had one of the bedrooms, they didn't have like a piece, a paint of glass in, so they were like, yeah, I think we meet. We maybe have to look at a new venue. But they run like retreats all year round. It's not like a one off. So, They're perfect for like repeat business. They like, they're brilliant for that.
[00:04:41] So I just wanna
[00:04:42] Mark: dig into one thing that you said. They were advertising anyway. So they were advertising what, did they come up on your Facebook feed or did you like go look at the magazines? Like what was like, how did you find them? Cause they're advertising anyway. Cause this is like key for a lot of people listening.
[00:04:55] James: So that would be, um, if you type in wellness retreats into Google [00:05:00] or um, or yoga retreats, there will be loads of websites that basically is like a marketplace for all the different, like not just UK but like around the world completely of these amazing places to go. And they've all been rated and quality.
[00:05:13] And what these people are doing is purely. Finding an Airbnb or something like that. Um, and they're basically just booking it out and running their retreat from there. So my thoughts was, right, well, if I get in contact with them and say, don't go to that venue. Go to mine, then that's basically how we, and then if you type that into Google, you actually into certain specific areas, you then start coming up with those companies that run those.
[00:05:39] Yeah. And then you can go directly and say, yeah, what about, come to see, like, look at my venue. Here's a video, here's a 360. Uh, even the day that I put on last week was for two companies to come up at the same time and I just show them around the house. Yeah. Like on the, on a Wednesday midweek. Yeah. And just said, look, just come up, you know, go for lunch and I can show the local, local [00:06:00] waterfalls.
[00:06:01] Um, one of them, we just literally just took them. Took 'em for a coffee. Yeah. Took them to the local waterfall, which is like 15 minutes away. And they were just sold. They were, I was like, you could do like a mindful walk down to here in the morning and then do some yoga and,
[00:06:14] Mark: and they're like the, uh, out of interest and just as literally mean local knowledge.
[00:06:18] Where's, which waterfall did you take 'em to? It's the mallon
[00:06:21] James: spout. Yeah, I know what you mean. So, yeah, so basically we are, we are perfectly located cuz we've got the homestead kitchen, which is across the road, which the guy, the chef there is a mixing star chef from London and they homegrown in their background.
[00:06:32] Then you've got the Manian Smart hotel to the, to the left and then have just opened up a cafe in the middle, which is basically great for cafe, like grab a coffee panini and then you walk between there, 15 minutes, you're at the local, you the nearest waterfall and there's like five waterfalls that you can go to around there.
[00:06:50] So, I just, I just sold them on to say, look, these are, people are gonna love this. Like the fresh air, the waterfall, grabbing a coffee, mindful walk, you know, [00:07:00] and then brought them back. And then they were like, yeah, we'll book. And they book April, November now.
[00:07:04] Mark: That's perfect, and you combine that with your property.
[00:07:07] So obviously like the, when you designed your property, you did the decoration and you know, you, you'd laid out, laid out all the floor plans and whatnot. It was obviously geared up so you can have a big party, like a, a re family reunion wedding. Yeah. But you've obviously geared up as well. So the, it is ideal for a potential company as well.
[00:07:25] James: That's exactly it, and that's, that's our strategy kind of moving forward, is to pick up a property that is kind of 380 to kind of 500 square meters. So the, the beacon is 370, so. , you've got every room's on suites, there's seven bathrooms. Like there's no worry about having individual people all taking showers at the same time.
[00:07:46] And then there's plenty of space, like the garden room. I mean, you could put 12 people in there on yoga mats, like really comfortably. Uh, and I've set it up to make sure it's all nice and warm all year round so that they could go in there. And then if you've got business [00:08:00] retreats, you've got this massive boardroom.
[00:08:02] Seen 16 people. Yeah. So that you can put a projection screen, one end, move the table slightly back, and then you've got 2, 2, 2 people, eight side, side by side and someone presenting it's, you know, multiple users base use, basically.
[00:08:15] Mark: And this was a guest house, right? Yeah. And a, a, a guest house with owners that wanted to come out the market.
[00:08:21] They wanted to sell up and, you know, been able to flip it round and turn it into a, a huge retreat place.
[00:08:27] James: Yeah. Well basically these, these people like the, um, they actually. Uh, they hadn't been paying the bill, so the people that used to own it wanted to get out of running a guest house. They were so sick and tired of it disappeared off the porch.
[00:08:41] Call these people, said, oh, we'll pay your mortgage, we'll take care of it. Never paid the mortgage. Then three years later, they found out about it, that the mortgage hadn't been paid cuz they'd started getting repossession letters. And then these people just liked it and then they came back and the house was repossessed.
[00:08:57] So we, we, it'd been empty for [00:09:00] about three and a half years. Yeah, when I bought it.
[00:09:03] Mark: Wow. So I obviously perfect timing, you know, time, fine, work place right time. Yeah. Right. Time was Wi always, was Whitby the one that you had in mind, or did it just came across and you just thought Perfect?
[00:09:13] James: No, um, I was actually looking in Norridge and then, um, and then, uh, friends basically sends like, what'd you think of this?
[00:09:20] Like, we, we put an offer in about a year ago and it's still not gone anywhere. Um, what'd you think? And I just was like, yeah, I'm gonna, Yeah, it just went, yeah, just went up and saw it, saw the agent. She goes like, you're the, like the 250th person. I said, I'm gonna buy this. And she just thought this young kids like come up here like, um, trying to buy it
[00:09:39] Mark: and, uh, assumed that everybody's gone into it as well.
[00:09:42] Not thinking like the grand scale as you had. They were thinking we're just gonna tap it in as a guest house. Right. And then once they run the numbers before, maybe not, or maybe convert into something else that you just came in and just got, right, this is what we're gonna do and is that we're gonna make it.
[00:09:55] James: Well, the biggest problem was is that when you're trying to buy a commercial property and there isn't existing [00:10:00] books, Yeah. You can't get a commercial mortgage on it. Yeah. So the only way to do that is to then go, and bricks and mortar is residential, but. , you'd have to convert it into a residential, into c3.
[00:10:11] Yeah, come to c1. But my dad is my architect. So we basically, before we'd had an accepted offer, I convert, I actually put a planning application in behind the scenes to have it converted and we had, cuz it is repossession yet to complete in 28 days. Yeah. Basically. Super, super quick. So we'd put the application in and then about three or four days before we were supposed to exchange, We've got the planning application come through to accept it, to change of use.
[00:10:38] So it was, we're talking, you know, like that saying of like, who dares wins, basically that, yeah, that is basically what we did.
[00:10:47] Mark: And now you've done this, you've got the model, you know, it's obviously gonna be super successful. So now you can replicate it maybe somewhere a little closer to home. So .
[00:10:54] James: Yeah, I don't, yeah, I don't fancy driving up like four like, cause I was driving.
[00:10:58] Um, to open up site at [00:11:00] 7:00 AM so I'd leave house at 3:00 AM every Monday morning, um, for like 6, 6, 7 months. Yeah.
[00:11:06] Mark: And like you say, when you get up there, it's not just a quick one off the motorway, you've gotta get through the, the mowers and all that stuff, so it's not an easy one around the sheep, on the sheep and all that.
[00:11:14] So brilliant. But we're not talking about this amazing venture. This is obviously, uh, something that everybody can go and look at and follow in. It's did what Beacon do you say? The beacon in go. Yeah. Beacon Goland. Yeah, beacon Goland. Go tap that up and go look into that. That's fantastic. What we're here to do today is, so James is the cool stuff.
[00:11:31] Yeah, very cool stuff. So, James' Niche now has come from helping people with like VAs and systems and structures into now talking about tech for property. And, uh, all you need to do is go check out the YouTube channel and you can see how he's delving into all of these things from G P T to, to all of the amazing stuff.
[00:11:47] But what I want, what I want him to do today is talk. Something that is called nfcs. So it's not NFTs, it's not those fancy images on on Doy monkeys. monkeys. This is something that you can benefit [00:12:00] you right now and the cool thing is it is very, very cost effective, but it'll have a maximum return of investment.
[00:12:05] Like the ones that act on this first. You will get the benefits more than anybody else, I promise you that. So I'm gonna hand it over. I will share my screen when you want me to share my screen. Um, but just te tell us a little bit more of what an N F C.
[00:12:21] James: So A N F C is called near frequency communication.
[00:12:26] So, um, if you think of like your credit card, so every time you go and make a payment and you tap it, use your tap and pay, basically that is an N F C. That's what that technology is. And then the thing is, is that that technology is so easy for you to use in your business. These tokens, you can grab them for like pence with sticky back, and they essentially can be attached to anything that you'd like.
[00:12:53] You can have 'em as a physical token or you can have as, as a sticky and you can program these [00:13:00] tokens, um, using your mobile fine. Yeah, and it is super simple. Um, basically you can download an app that allows you to read and write the tokens and the core stuff is, is, yeah, that's it, are the NFC tools. You download that, it's completely free and it allows you to write these tokens and do whatever you want.
[00:13:25] So we are talking about practical applications as far as simple stuff is sending a text message, sending an email. Jumping onto the wifi, um, basically creating shortcuts on your phone, anything, and it just really kind of, it, it, it reduces the resistance on carrying out tasks for guests and for your cleaners and any other application that you, you know, kind of think of as far as generating business really.
[00:13:53] Yeah.
[00:13:53] Mark: So NF NFC is the best way to describe it is it's gonna enhance your guest experience and [00:14:00] it. It'll replace QR codes. I feel like this is where
[00:14:03] James: we're sort of gonna go. Oh, a hundred percent. Like literally, yeah.
[00:14:06] Mark: Yeah. So at the moment, obviously QR codes have been very populous since the start of 2020.
[00:14:11] And you know, you can see 'em now in every restaurant. And obviously a lot of hospitality venues have 'em as well. This is like the next step up because the friction is that to have a QR code to work, you've got to then unlock your phone. You've gotta get your camera out, you've got to then hold it over it.
[00:14:25] You've gotta scan it, and then it's got to read it, and then it's got to go to the, to the right. The simplest way of explain. An N F C is, you know, just like I showed here on the screen, when you jump on a, on a bus or you know, you could do, do a payment, um, you know, you do your contactless payment, that is what that little chip is, is that correct?
[00:14:43] That's basically what that chip is. So what we gotta do now is of course, like we're not just gonna talk about an NFC and say that's it. Brilliant. What I wanna do is have some like, use cases of how we can implement it into our short term rental businesses, into our medium term rental business, into our hospitality business, but also as.
[00:14:58] How you are planning on [00:15:00] and how you have already implemented it into your, in, in, into your business. So can you just walk us through a couple of case studies, a couple of like ways that you are testing this technology right now?
[00:15:09] James: Yeah. So, um, So one of them was, um, trying to improve like the guest experience, like before they get to the property.
[00:15:18] So, um, particularly with Goland, you know, um, as far as like getting there, obviously, like you talked about, is that it's not an easy way of getting there. It's, you can easily get lost. So what we decided to do is, yes, we can send them, you know, links and whatever. So I decided to send them like a post. With a token, a pre-programmed token in there for showing them around the property.
[00:15:40] So it would be like, you know, look, we're, we are looking to, um, welcome you to the property, we'd love to show you around. Just put your phone here and watch a video, uh, of a tour of me taking you around the property. So, , it already like set sets the tone of like how we're trying to interact with the guest.
[00:15:58] And I think that's quite, [00:16:00] um, that kind of, we tried that out, got great feedback from the guests and said, oh, that's really, really helpful, really useful. Um, so that was a really good one. Another one, um, is for reporting maintenance. So, um, you know, we would have like a little bit of a, you know, paper plaque, um, and also in the guest book as well.
[00:16:20] and they could go up to it and say, do you want me to report a maintenance issue? Scan your phone Here. They scan the phone and it brings up, uh, an email directly onto their phone, which subject saying I'm at the beacon maintenance issue. And then the subject saying, I'm currently staying at the Beacon. I would like to report a maintenance issue.
[00:16:37] It is the following. And then they can just type in to say, um, You know, we've run out a Lou role, whatever, um, or, you know, there's a, there's a ding in the front door that we need to sort, have the sort out. It's not like closing properly and it just sends out emails directly to the guest managers. So, as far as al practical application, it just reduces that resistance.
[00:16:57] Um, we've also tried another one, which [00:17:00] the same, same thing. Instead of saying a message, we can actually open up a face. So you could scan the, you know, scan the token and then instantly just show up like a FaceTime with a guest manager to then start having a conversation. And then they can start showing around the house and going like, look, that's what I mean by the problem.
[00:17:19] We're gonna need someone to come out and have a look at that. And they're like, great. So we haven't had that scenario yet. We've not used it in, but we've we're trialing it and seeing how that would, but you can see the, the, the reducing of the resistance and how the interaction with the guest is like, it makes it so much easier for them to like, deal with the situation.
[00:17:38] But it's, it's
[00:17:38] Mark: some of the, um, a lot of people saying, I dunno who came with this quote, but money loves speed and it hates friction. Right. And um, yeah. If you can have some, even in the most simplest of, of, of ways of use cases of using this. So you walk into a property like you've done the big drive, you know you've dodged a sheep, you've got in right, and you, you wanna get on the wifi because the phone reception isn't the best up in, up in Gotham, right?
[00:17:59] Or just [00:18:00] anywhere. Right? Your phone reception's not the best you wanna get on the wifi. You then got to go and find the guest book. You've gotta open it up. You've gotta find the code, you've gotta tap it in. You know, obviously it's got that stupidly long code that you know, you've gotta like look at it all.
[00:18:11] And the kids are screaming, they want to go on YouTube. You know all the things, right? You just wanna have a beer and sit down. How easy would it be instead where you walk in the property, there's a sign saying to use the wifi. Tap your phone here. And that's, that's it. That's literally it. And then they are connected to their wifi, and then jobs are good.
[00:18:27] And that's like the super simple case study. Like soon as they walk in the door, you know, you've got a nice little sign. And it doesn't have to be massive. Like these chips, like James was saying, is they're, they're tiny. If I just bring this back again, it's like the size here of them is 25 millimeters, but 42 millimeters.
[00:18:45] Um, and they're so. As well. But you can put 'em in places like, so you mentioned that you, you put 'em on like postcards, like where else are you starting to like place these and how are you sort of using them?
[00:18:57] James: So the same thing like with like what you said about the [00:19:00] wifi, um, We tend to, what we're trying to do is have like a, um, like an entry pack.
[00:19:06] So I haven't done it quite yet, but the, the idea is obviously they'll have like for a tour of the house, like take this round with you and then they can scan it and then take the tour. The ones in Cambridge, we've, we wanted to do with, um, doing purchases for em, for going punting, for example. Yeah, so they can then, uh, do, they can say, I want to go punting, basically.
[00:19:27] And then, you know, those, it's very popular in, in Cambridge. You know, a punt might be 60, 70 pounds, like per person almost. And then we might make 10, 20% on top of that, and then we'll go and book it for them. But they could basically, they, they scan it and then, um, that then brings up a payment page, they can make their payment, and then my guys go and book it and, Give them the dates, that kind of thing.
[00:19:49] So that's the
[00:19:50] Mark: next thing I wanted to go was upsells. So upsells is gonna be key for this. Now obviously there's amazing tools like, uh, uh, mount, and obviously there's host co and all those things, but this just makes it [00:20:00] super simple. So you've got like, say your greeting card, like you can call it your guest itinerary, like your travel itinerary while you're in the property.
[00:20:07] What, while you're in the area, these are like the packages and the things that you can do and, and this is what you can upsell. And the cool thing is, is that you can. When they arrive. But in that repost that you're sending out in the post, you can have it there as well. And it's all done by a tap, tap, tap, tap.
[00:20:22] So, uh, it's, it's, it's really,
[00:20:25] James: yeah, to be honest, you've just come onto it perfectly, which is like, you could literally send like two or three of these cards, cuz the thing is they associated literally like a little, uh, we're talking like a little credit card style in a, in a card. And you could just go, if you wanna book some dinner, If you wanna go and book, uh, your day out here, like bang, and then you could then that would then go to the premo payment pages and they can just pay it like before they even get there.
[00:20:48] Do you want, do you want shopping delivered?
[00:20:51] Mark: So I'd like a QR code. You can change the domain on where it goes to. Sorry. You can't change the domain when you call a QR code, but with nfcs, with these little [00:21:00] tokens. So when you're programming it in, I assume it's like coded for each one. So one will be like, if you buy 50, you'll have one to 50 numbers.
[00:21:07] Once it's programmed in, and once you've got these little, once you've got these little things and you've got the little stickers, uh, how easy is it to, to change the location where they go to? So say for example, you change your upsell or X, Y, and Z, do you have to go and change the, the little card, the, the, the, the little sticker, the little magnet thing?
[00:21:23] Or can you do it from literally logging onto the app?
[00:21:25] Do
[00:21:25] James: you, do you know, so yeah. So what you would do is, um, basically you. Get the, get the token basically. And then you take your phone, uh, that is on the NFC tool and you'll literally scan it on and you, which will read it. and then you can then, uh, override it or to lock it.
[00:21:43] So from the app, so ditch as long as you are within, I think it's about four centimeters, basically, you will just go over it to it, it will show what's on it, and then you can then clear it off on the app and then write it again. So they are basically, you can read and write them so easily and then lock them as [00:22:00] well.
[00:22:00] So that's the most important thing, is like you can lock them so then they don't accidentally do it,
[00:22:04] Mark: never change them. Well, let's go onto the good news. So people are thinking this, right? This must be really expensive, this. Now you can see here they cost 30 p each, so you can buy a hundred for like 25.
[00:22:15] Quit. So, um, it's so easy to get started. This is just one that we found on the uk. I assume they're worldwide.
[00:22:23] James: Yeah, yeah. Yeah. I At least you just found this. This is the one that, um, that we've, we've tried out and they're, you know, pretty good. Really?
[00:22:30] Mark: Yeah. It looks like, yeah, you, us, so basically worldwide.
[00:22:33] And it's something you can get started with right now, like for. For a, a guest experience, from an upsell point for just making life easier and something that you can implement today, it's, it's so easy to do and if you are gonna be first movers on this, your guests are gonna have that wow factor. So, uh, again, I love sending someone out in the post once a guest books.
[00:22:52] If you can just figure out how you can put together like a couple of cards or even like, just, you know, go on, go on wherever and have like a little magazine, like a little [00:23:00] welcome magazine. Then they can be looking through and getting excited about the. About you stay. Um, and you can have it where they can literally tap the phone.
[00:23:08] They don't even need to scan it. They can tap a phone and then the action can be done way beforehand. So you can, you can make more money from the booking. And yeah. And, but then you've got obviously the maintenance side that we talked about, like the, the, the friction side. Um, and you know, you can do it all from literally tapping, which is, which is gonna be, you know, this is gonna kill the QR code.
[00:23:28] Is there any final. So use cases. Is there anything else you are thinking of potentially doing it apart from maintenance and, you know, FaceTimes to report anything? Is there, is there anything you can do with like your, your cleaning team or anything like that that, that you can use these for? .
[00:23:43] James: Yeah, I think, um, the thing is, it's just, it is pretty endless, but with the cleaning team, it's like knowing when someone's gone in the property, when they've come out the property, you know, scanning it like their location and stuff like that.
[00:23:53] But it, it's also like just using it for the, you know, obviously when we talked about the upsell, like the affiliate links, because [00:24:00] sometimes they, people will buy stuff and they will look at the link and go, I'll buy that later. But then they go and type in their own U URL and. So as far as like using you, you know, even if it's like you've got an agreement with the tax local taxi firm or, or restaurant and stuff like that, they can book it through that.
[00:24:16] I think that that's this really strong like credit card case where you can give them like these cards to say wherever you are, just book this credit, you know, book it from here.
[00:24:24] Mark: I've just had a four. Um, so you, you. , you've got your properties and you've decked it all out in, in whatever, right? My, we've stayed in properties and, and like Laura and I, my wife have turned what River said that is an amazing like, insert piece of furniture, like lamp or whatever.
[00:24:38] You could literally go and get this and like put a little sticker on it, on the back, on the base or whatever, and you can say to somebody and you'll let your digital guy book. If there's anything in this property that you like, you can actually take buy it and then you can just go and tap it on your phone.
[00:24:49] Ah, man.
[00:24:50] James: Yes. Yes, cuz obvious. My, um, Kelly, my wife, um, she does our interior design. She's got her own business, Mitchell Cohen Interiors. And we have started putting [00:25:00] in like, she does all of the, finding the fabrics, just getting all of the, um, the cushions and everything put together. And we've, so our property's quite unique.
[00:25:07] Yeah. Whereas she's now got those, um, cushions and stuff online, on her own online shop that you have literally just. Yeah, there's, we should put those on there and just basically say, go, if you like this, go and buy it from our shop. Yeah. It's
[00:25:21] Mark: like, uh, You like it, take it home. Yeah. It's the premier in slogan, isn't it?
[00:25:26] You know, take our beds home. Um, you can literally do that. You can buy it, be, be, you could take it home. So yeah, the possibilities are endless. It's so cheap to do. It's simple to implement. It's so easy to set up. Um, You may be thinking, well, the technology behind the scenes sounds complicated. Um, like you can vouch for this, James, it's, it's very easy to sort of program and, and put in, if you've ever created a Zapier , if you've ever, sorry, if
[00:25:49] James: you've created a Zapier, like you can definitely do this.
[00:25:51] Yeah. Um, the what just also, the one thing I forgot to say is that obviously on your apple, on your phone, uh, you've got an app called [00:26:00] Shortcut. Um, which comes standard with the phone. That is our allowing you to create any kind of sequence of shortcuts on your phone. And instead of like you tapping it on your phone, you can basically have that programmed onto the token.
[00:26:13] So any sequence of like shortcuts on your Apple phone, you can then transfer that to the token as well. So that's turning your lights on curtains, remote switches, you know, you name it, you know, talking to Alexa, anything like. That that's the, you use that app to basically do it as well. Brilliant.
[00:26:30] Mark: So if you like talk like this, if you like technology and how it can implement your short term rental business, then uh, James's YouTube channel is definitely the one to go and check out where's the best place, how can they find it, what do they type in, how can
[00:26:42] James: they get more, um, so other James Mitchell or um, cause my company's Dalton, which is I am Daton.
[00:26:48] So it's anything I am daton is basically where my tag. TikTok, Facebook, everything else, and YouTube basically.
[00:26:55] Mark: And, uh, we were just very quickly, uh, talking about this beforehand, but if you wanna look at the [00:27:00] next step and the next things that are gonna be talked about on the channel, depending on when you do tune into this.
[00:27:04] Yeah, there's some new technology come in with the whole G P T and all that cool stuff. And this is just a very quick showcase of one. It's called, uh, adept. So just very quickly from what you know, and it I know, depends on when you watch this or when you come back to this. It may or may not be available yet.
[00:27:19] The wait list is there. But just give a quick overview of what you believe that it will be able to do for businesses once it's live.
[00:27:27] James: Um, so, so basically this is, um, allowing you to do a sequence of task by just asking, so, um, you know, for example, it says, look me up a property that's, you know, three to five beds, that's, um, in this location for sale.
[00:27:41] You know, you could type that into there or even do voice, voice command, basically, and it will then carry out those sequence of tasks. Same thing with, you know, if you went onto booking.com and you said like, I want to go and change the cleaning fee. Um, to 200 pounds, it would navigate through to, you know, all of the [00:28:00] different pages that you have to scroll through and then change the cleaning fee like that's, It's the, it's the kind of, it understands the rationale with what you are saying to then go and carry out that task.
[00:28:12] So instead of using Tango to go through the steps of what you need to do to carry out that task, it's basically carrying out the tasks that you would use in Tango and just doing it for you. Brilliant.
[00:28:24] Mark: And then there's one quick of one that we wanna see, cuz this is a, this is as well exciting. It's called Sound Hound.
[00:28:31] And again, um, just for what you believe to be true, just have a little, so explain how we could potentially use it in, in hospitality.
[00:28:39] James: So again, you could have like a, uh, an iPad in the property and you go, right. I would like to go and book punting on Friday for six people. Actually, no, I would like that to do for two people and I don't wanna do it on Friday.
[00:28:50] I'd like to do it on Saturday at 11 o'clock. Um, it would then basically in real time, read what you're saying, changing the order [00:29:00] as you go through, and then you can then say, right once, once my booking's being confirmed, please notify all the parties as well. They. Tom, Dick, Harry, and it'll then go and send out messages to those.
[00:29:10] So it, it is taking AI voice recogni. and then actually carrying out those tasks in real time and then notifying people for it. So, you know, for example, like McDonald's that's, that's exactly where that McDonald's is coming. You wouldn't be pressing the button on the screen anymore. You would just say, I want a big mac, fries, shake, whatever.
[00:29:32] You know that that is. We're talking, they could implement that like tomorrow, but that's gonna be coming in the next year, I'd say. But for hospitality, it's, it's crazy because you could do multiple ordering of like amenities. So I want to go and book me a restaurant. Oh, by the way, on Tuesday, I've looked at my itinerary.
[00:29:50] You know, we haven't booked a restaurant. Can you go and book me a restaurant that's dog friendly?
[00:29:54] Mark: Yeah, done. There's some amazing stuff coming on. Um, I do definitely recommend James the channel to keep [00:30:00] on top of it all because again, when you can be the early mover in your market, in your town, in your city, in your village, then it just ex it, it raises you above.
[00:30:10] Everybody else by doing little things like this that just keeps you ahead of the game. It just means that you're never having a blank calendar in front of you. You're never worrying about where guests are gonna come from because you've just risen above the average. And if anything that is going to be this industry in 2023, moving into 2024, we're gonna say bye to average.
[00:30:27] Um, and we're going to be rewarded if we can make our guest experience as good as can. Yeah, and you don't have to spend millions doing this. You don't have to be a Las Vegas hotel casino. It's these tools and technologies now are bringing it so it's available for all. Yeah. Uh, the trick is you've gotta keep on top of it, so that's why you tune into this podcast.
[00:30:46] That's why you're gonna jump over to James's YouTube channel. So buddy, appreciate you doing that. I'll leave all of the links in the show notes that we'd went through today. And again, thanks very much and snap up those N F C little stickers. They cost a coup less than $30 and you can [00:31:00] have it in your business and implemented by the next couple of weeks.
[00:31:03] So go and do that. And then when you do report back, as always, mark Boley or just send us a message on the socials. Uh, but yeah. Brilliant. Thank you very much and we shall see you very soon. Thanks buddy. Having a blast. Can I get it on the Bruce
[00:31:16] James: Lee podcast? Bruce Lee. Let Bruce Lee cuz it's so hard on the tee is loose leaf.
[00:31:20] Looking up those rhymes. Don't write it, just do it loosely.
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