The Best Way To Build Trust And Increase Bookings

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[00:00:00] Liam: Okay, so we are back with another live episode of the Boostly Podcast. So, Today we're actually doing the Bushly Spotlight series. This is the series which focuses on the spotlight on people, product and services, who can help you within your hospitality business. And today we're gonna be discussing something really exciting.

[00:00:21] We're gonna be discussing Mark's new book, which is the book Direct Blueprint. And uh, this book is coming out in. Um, it's featuring people from all over, uh, hospitality services that can help you. These are the guys who are considered the Avengers to help your hospitality business really get some direct bookings.

[00:00:44] So, uh, depending on whether you're listening to this episode or whether you're watching on the live. Uh, will depend whether or not it's already been released or if it's pre-released. So currently as we record this, it is pre-release, but all the information you need to go and get a copy is go to [00:01:00] boostly.co.uk/blueprint.

[00:01:03] You'll be able to register for emails for when the book comes out, if it is pre-release, and then if not, if it's post-release, you'll be able to purchase it through there, which is really. So if you're tuning in on the live or you're on YouTube, what I'd love to know is where in the world you're watching from.

[00:01:17] So add a comment below as to where you're actually listening in from. Um, if you're on the podcast, obviously you can't do that, but just in listening for the next 30 minutes and enjoy. Today, the Spotlight series, we're joined by somebody really special, who's really taken the hospitality industry by storm.

[00:01:34] Uh, you can often find him on chat panels and is really considered a thought leader in his area of expertise as well as a host of an amazing business as well. So, I'm really pleased to introduce to you Chris Maughan from, uh, I-PRAC. He's the CEO and founder, and today we are gonna be talking about his chapter as he's one of the Avengers, one of the people you need to be, uh, in contact with and to, to hear about [00:02:00] from the book Direct Blueprint.

[00:02:02] So Chris, welcome along.

[00:02:04] Chris: Hi Liam. Thanks. Thanks for having me. Pleasure.

[00:02:06] Liam: No worries. So obviously I've not given you much of an introduction, but for the people who are watching and listening in, if you wouldn't mind just introducing yourself and and your business.

[00:02:16] Chris: Yeah, well I have, well, my name's Chris Maughan. I have been in short term rentals.

[00:02:23] Well, hospitality all my life. So I started in hotels, went under health clubs, and then into short term rentals. Uh, so I've had 22 years in short term rentals here in the south of France. I started 22 years ago with a small studio and set up my accommodation events company. Uh, today we 250 properties.

[00:02:44] Some of them are the, you know, the more sought after properties on the, on the French rear of the. We provide our accommodation services to big global brands like Google, Twitter, Spotify, mtv, Disney to see a few, and [00:03:00] that's the business that I'm still running today. But in 2014, due to an industry problem of fraud and trust and confidence within the short term rental sector, I decided that I would found a platform that built.

[00:03:14] Trust and confidence for both consumer and provider. So, and that's how IPRAK was founded back in, well founded in 2016, but we started the, the r and d in 2014. So we had two years of, uh, ups and downs and field websites and different things. But eventually we launched in 2016. And now we're well over 15,000 members covering over 300,000 properties.

[00:03:40] And, uh, yeah, we're just, um, you know, trying to bring that trust factor to the industry. So that's probably the, that's probably the short version of what I'm, what I'm all about.

[00:03:50] Liam: I mean, it's so exciting. I mean, that, that is first of all, wow, number of properties and as you say, hosting some amazing, uh, brands and businesses and some amazing, uh, some of the [00:04:00] rich and famous, you know, people from across the world.

[00:04:02] But then also to start a business which is then worldwide. And we're gonna dive into, you know, I-PRAC and exactly how it can help the people listening to this. Sure. Um, but before we do, I'd love to. Why did you get involved in the book? What was it that, um, that really, uh, you know, chi you into, into joining?

[00:04:21] Chris: Well, the biggest reason for me, um, is that I see a lot of advice and, and tips and insights on, on social media for people to do direct bookings. And I often look at it and think, okay, you know, I think there's too much noise around, around direct bookings, to be honest. And I think there's a lot of people teaching it who shouldn't be teaching it, and I think there's a lot of bad advice.

[00:04:52] Um, but there's a lot of good advice. So I just thought that what Mark was doing and Mark's such an experience like, you know, [00:05:00] operating within the marketing and bookings. So when he wanted to do this book, I thought this is the perfect opportunity to bring something to market that really is. The blueprint of direct bookings, so it's not just one person talking about what they believe.

[00:05:18] This is like Mark's gone out to the sick, to the industry and like pretty much got the, the greatest minds of, and the greatest companies and out there who can contribute to putting together like what Mark says, a blueprint of started bookings. And when, when he mentioned that to me, I just thought this is what the industry.

[00:05:38] You know, cause there's a lot of noise out there. It's very difficult to understand. Where do you start? Who do you speak to? Who do you listen to? Um, have they, have they already achieved what I'm trying to achieve? Or are they just selling something that to make for them to make money? You know? So it was important for me because this book really puts the 16 names of the people and CEOs, the founders of [00:06:00] these top end companies who were offering these fantastic services all in one.

[00:06:05] So once it's, once it's launched for me, anybody asking me about direct bookings, it's just gonna be a simple answer, you know, going by the, the book, the, the blueprint. And that to me is like, why I got involved with it. Because it's just the, it's, it's gonna be the number one tool for me.

[00:06:24] Liam: I love that answer because so many people do need that blueprint and what mark's done within the start of the book.

[00:06:30] I've been lucky enough to see a preview of, of, of the book before it's released and yeah, like you say, people do need that blueprint. So often people come to us and say, well, how do I do. This particular problem, depending on what it is, and each one of the chapters within the book is specializing in a, a particular, um, product service, which will help you achieve one of the things you need within your hospitality business, which is amazing.

[00:06:56] Which why he refers to you guys as the Avengers of, um, you know, [00:07:00] of, of direct bookings, which is really

[00:07:02] Chris: Yeah. And it's a great idea to bring them, them, their mind and let them do a chapter on their area of expertise, because that's who you want to. That's who, you know what I mean? We talk about direct bookings, you know, I mean, I've sat in, I've sat in panels before.

[00:07:17] Okay. Like direct booking panels at events, and I've sat down next to somebody who's talking about how they get bookings and what, what people should do to get direct bookings. And I've been in the same panel as these people. And when I've asked them the question, I said, so what? What's your OTE reliance percentage?

[00:07:36] Mm-hmm. like today. And they were like, well, I'm about 80, 85. I said, but I don't think if you are 85% book like OTE Reliant, you should be speaking about direct bookings because you haven't built it yet. Now when we talk, when I talk about being in the industry 22 years and building AEs here in the south of France, [00:08:00] I'm really proud to say that we've never used an ote, never once.

[00:08:04] So we've built a hundred percent DRE booking business over 22 years, of course. But we had different strategies back then that we didn't need to rely on an ote. So we've, we have actually built a 100% book DRE booking business within the short term rental, sps. Got all of these properties. High retention, high, high, high client retention.

[00:08:29] So for me, you've gotta be listening to people who have achieved it because then you can look at them and go, well, they must be talking sense. Cause they've already achieved it. They're not gonna be talking nonsense because they're just guessing, you know? And I think what all of the people in this book have all achieved high levels of success in their specific area of expertise.

[00:08:51] So, You've gotta be listening to them. So Mark, for Mark to bring them all together in one place. For me, it's [00:09:00] just, uh, fantastic.

[00:09:02] Liam: I mean, there's, there's not many people in the industry who can literally say that, first of all, that you've never used an OTA and one, and, and that's . No, I dunno. Any at all. Which is amazing.

[00:09:13] But also just the fact that you say is people, I've gotta have that credibility. And I know this is gonna come onto to that trust factor that, that we're gonna be talking about, but um, yeah, people have gotta actually be living it. And the people in this book are doing exactly what. They're preaching, which is amazing.

[00:09:32] So, without giving away the secret source, can you give us a brief, sort of a couple of bits about your chapter within the book?

[00:09:40] Chris: Yeah. Well, you, you know what I've, what I talk about is trust. Okay. And I, and I'm probably renowned within the industry for talking a lot. About trust and how it's important in the world of hospitality globally, but also within the ream of short term rentals.

[00:09:58] Because [00:10:00] if you work with direct clients all of the time and you have got that connection with them, and you can ask them direct questions about why they're booking with you, what's the reasons? And you know, you soon start to understand that it's not about the product. It's not about the price. They're booking with you directly because they trust you, you know?

[00:10:23] And my chapter is all about explaining to the unknown how important it is to build the foundation of trust. And that's this, that should be your starting point Now, the trust journey. The trust journey's not one that you get to. It's not a destination journey. You know, it's not something that you say, yeah, I'm there now and it's all done and it's all, you know, it's a constant, you know, you're constantly stacking trust as you, as you build your business.

[00:10:54] Um, cuz you can lose it at any time. So you've gotta be aware of that. So my chapter is all about [00:11:00] understanding the power and the value of in, of building trust within your business. Not only. From a consumer like your guests who have got to trust you to to book with you, but also how to gain, you know, owner attention through owners trusting in your brand as well.

[00:11:20] Because you know, if you don't have, if you don't have properties and you've got no, you've got no clients. If you've got no clients and you've got no properties, it kind of all links in. So you can't just concentrate on building trust with your potential guest. You've gotta build trust within your. So it's anybody looking into your business feels the trust factor, not just guests.

[00:11:43] You've got owners, you've got your staff, you've got your partners, you've got your local community, and you've got your guests. So that's what I talk about to make sure that you are building foundations of trust within your business so that that gives you the, the platform to [00:12:00] then start adding all of the other aspects of the market.

[00:12:04] Like that other people talk about in the book. Cause I always say, um, if you'd spend time and money on marketing, driving traffic to a website that nobody can trust, then what's the point? So get the trust factor first, like the baseline. And then start your marketing, you know, so, you know, so I talk a lot about that and, and about uncertainty and guest uncertainty and what you need to be doing to overcome all of that.

[00:12:33] So it's an interesting chapter and I think a lot of people's eyes will be opened into how it's written.

[00:12:40] Liam: I love, um, I mean, I'm lucky enough to have, have, have listened or, or to, to read your first chapter and, uh, yeah. I love the first it's introduced as a story, isn't it? The very first part of it. So, um, I know the people listening in, you, you're the first person, you, you're featured first within that book.

[00:12:57] Yeah. Say to, because it's so important and I [00:13:00] find myself every day, I'm talking to hosts, um, from all over the world now about different websites on behalf of Bruce Lee and. The one thing that for the people who have already got websites, often I go on their website and straight away I can see what is mystic missing is that trust factor.

[00:13:15] So the question I'd I'd post to yourself is, why is trust so important for people, you know, what is it within the process? Why do, why do we feel we need that trust?

[00:13:27] Chris: Well, you know, our, you know, the way that the human brain works is there, it's there for protection, for stopping us making crazy, stupid decisions.

[00:13:37] So, like, you know, it's, it's, it's subconscious. It's driven from the subconscious. So, you know, whether you, you use trust in everyday life without even thinking about it, right? So, Even whether, what restaurant you go to, what babysitter do you trust to look after your kids? What flight do you take? Do you, do you go on Easy Jet or do you go on John's flights?[00:14:00]

[00:14:00] You know, would you, what would you, would you go on John's flights or would you book Easy Jet? You're not gonna go on John's flight, you don't trust John's flights. Who are they? So subconsciously, you're always driving, you're always subconscious. Mind is always asking the question, you know, to protect, am I making the right decision here?

[00:14:15] So, Once you start to understand that people are asking that question and having all these uncertainties like, will the property be, will the property exist when I arrive? Will it look like the photos? Will it, will it be somebody there to check me in? Will it be clean? Will everything work? These are all subconscious questions that are getting asked, so.

[00:14:41] You've got to remove that uncertainty by implementing trust so that people can feel that they're in good hands. That's what it's all about. We're not seeing that nothing's gonna go wrong cause things go wrong within short term rentals. That isn't the issue. People have got to feel like they're in safe hands [00:15:00] cause they're putting you in your experience.

[00:15:05] As the hel, you know, they're trusting in you because a lot of these people are going away with family, friends, or bit for business. Imagine if something goes wrong. So you really are trying to just give them that opportunity to say, you can trust me. Everything's gonna be fine, you know, and that's all people want.

[00:15:26] What

[00:15:26] Liam: you want. You, you're right, because when I, even when I'm looking at websites, you know, I'm, I'm looking to, to book a place at the moment, as we, we said before we started the live. Yeah. Um, I'm looking at the quality of pictures, I'm looking at testimonials, I'm looking all that stuff. And really what I'm trying to establish is, can I trust this host?

[00:15:44] Is this host, does he care enough to make sure that my experience is, is good? Um,

[00:15:49] Chris: absolutely. But you've also gotta understand as well, there's like, like online. Like online, um, e-commerce, if you wanna call it, is [00:16:00] there's different levels of uncertainty. Like if you want to go online and buy, I dunno, a pair of shoes, Right online and you pay 40 pounds for the pair of shoes you pay, and you sat there at home waiting for the shoes to arrive.

[00:16:14] You know, if they don't arrive, what happens? It's not the end of the world, is it? You know, it's like you'll email them, you'll say, they haven't arrived, you'll do this. You know, it's only 40 pounds, so it's not really that. So the level of uncertainty is not very high. Right. But take it into short term rentals.

[00:16:30] Right. It's high risk because what you look like, you don't know the person you're broken. Right. You've never booked with them before. You don't know who they are. They haven't been recommended to you. You've found them online. Then you've got the price point. Short term rentals is always a high, highest, high price point.

[00:16:48] You know, you could end up looking at, let's just say more short term rentals for a week is probably gonna be about the the price of an average salary, monthly salary to give it an idea, okay? Could be more, could be less, [00:17:00] but as an average, that's a lot of money for somebody to worry. So the uncertainty level goes much higher.

[00:17:06] Cause all of a sudden it's like, okay, there's a lot more questions to ask. What happens if I don't, if I pay and it doesn't arrive? Or how am I gonna get my money back? What happens if it's a fraud? What happens if my kids have got nowhere to sleep that night? What we're gonna do? Do we? So all of a sudden your subconscious mind is going to overdrive and then you're just like, I'm not booking.

[00:17:27] So all of a sudden, because of the lack of trust and uncertainty, Because of that, you've lost the booking. So that's why it's important to deal with the, the, the uncertainty of a guest and dealing with uncertainty is just building trust. It's another word for just building trust, because if somebody trusts you, then they don't have as much uncertainty.

[00:17:50] Liam: Completely. Completely. And do you know, it's one of the reasons I think why people often, and, and I've heard this this week, where somebody turns around and go, yeah. I always, in [00:18:00] fact, this was a call I had this morning where she goes, whenever I go away, I always book through bookend.com. You know, you could, you could take that out and replace it with V RBO O or whatever.

[00:18:08] Yeah, yeah. But the whole concept is that. People have got this conception that, you know, they can trust these, these bigger brands more than, uh, you know, individual hosts. Obviously we know as hosts, actually, it still depends on that host at the other end as to whether or not they can trust them. But it's the, the brand itself is built up.

[00:18:27] Um, trust through removing the uncertainty to a certain degree, I guess because of some of the stuff you've spoken about of, you know, what happens if it goes wrong and,

[00:18:35] Chris: and that side. Yeah. Well, the thing is what, like, you know, at Airbnb, booking.com, vrbo, they're big brands, okay? They spend multimillion pounds, dollars, euros on one thing, trust marketing.

[00:18:49] Okay? That's what they know because if you look at an ota, they don't control the. Okay. And they don't control the company who lists the property, but what they [00:19:00] do know and what they do want to control is the guest. And the way to control the guest is through trust. So it's like, I'm not gonna book with you direct.

[00:19:09] I prefer to pay, prefer to, I'd prefer to pay a little bit more and book through booking.com because trust has a value. So don't think that just because you offer 10% discount, that's, that's in the realm of converting somebody a direct booking. It's not, cause somebody might, somebody might value trust that much more than 10%.

[00:19:30] So I would rather book and pay 200 pounds more just to know that when I arrive everything's gonna be okay. And booking.com have, and all the other OTAs they know. How a consumer thinks, cuz that's what they spend their money on. They spend their money, their marketing dollars on understanding trust marketing and that's why they build these brands that people can trust.

[00:19:51] We all know things go wrong and like you said, the end supplier is the horse, you know? So at the end of the day, [00:20:00] if the horse doesn't do a good job, it's on the brand of booking dot. You know, but booking.com as a brand, they're trusted. Airbnb, they're trusted because they spend that money to make sure consumers trust them.

[00:20:14] And that's what we have to do as direct booking. Um, operators, if you wanna build direct bookings, is to remove uncertainty and build that trust. And the only way to do that is through strategies and understanding how that all works.

[00:20:29] Liam: I think especially with these, these big brands, they understand that a lot of the times when people are buying, it's based more on emotion than necessarily, um, you know, it's not always based on logic.

[00:20:40] Like, for, for me, when I'm looking, I, I'm picturing, you know, is my family gonna enjoy theirselves? Here are is are they gonna be safe? Are they, um, and because it's more an emotional purchase, the cost itself, you're absolutely right, 10% higher or less, that's neither here or there. It's about getting.

[00:20:57] Emotionally, you want from that [00:21:00] expenditure, isn't it? We're

[00:21:02] Chris: very, you know, consumers are the more selfish people in the world. Mm-hmm. , I mean, we are, you know, we want everything. We want the best price, but we want the best service and we want everything going right. So we are quite selfish. We're not, there's no room for leeways in like from the consumer, you know?

[00:21:19] So. You know, this is why consumers are the ones who are looking to get the, um, the best for themselves. So if they don't feel that something is right, then they're very quickly to move on, to move on. You know? And it's very difficult if you lose trust with somebody, it's very difficult to get it back, you know, and this is why direct bookings and like a lot of the figures show that seven out of 10 inquiries will fall.

[00:21:49] Not convert due to trust. Mm-hmm. not due to product of price, it's just, it's just due to, you know, due to, um, due to trust. I mean, most operators have had it. I [00:22:00] mean, I've had it, you know, it's when people have called us as an inquiry, you know, I'm not seeing every a hundred percent of our inquiries. People trust us.

[00:22:06] We work on it a lot, but. Somebody's, you know, oh, I'm gonna speak to my husband and you know, I'm gonna come back to you. And then they never do. Oh, we've decided we're not coming now. And, but it's not, they're all just excuses, lying times out to 10 because they don't want to say to you, we're not gonna book with you because we don't trust you.

[00:22:24] They're just not gonna say them words to you. Yeah. But in the background, that's all. That's why they're not booking with you. So you've got to deal with the elephant in the room. And I talk a lot of times like, that person does not trust you. Right. Your job is to convert them into their trust. So deal with the elephant in the room.

[00:22:43] Talk about it, talk about trust, talk. That's why I tell people talk about trust. Because if you just expect people to trust you, you, you live, you're so naive, you've gotta work on it.

[00:22:56] Liam: I, um, I, I'd love to ask, I mean, especially on the live as we, as we're live [00:23:00] now, but also if people are watching this on, on one of the videos afterwards, but how many people out there, if you can put, you know, a comment just saying, have you ever felt a guest as booked with, not booked with you because they didn't necessarily trust you?

[00:23:11] I certainly would be a yes. I've certainly got people who I know haven't booked with me, have even talked to me, and then still unfortunately gone onto an OTA and booked. And I remember thinking, I mean, this is my early days, but I remember thinking, my God, what do I need to improve? What do I need to change?

[00:23:26] And that was one of the times which made me think I need to improve my website. You know, that was one of the reasons I've, I've now got Boosty website. But when, when you look at it, the, that trust factory is so important. So what would you say if there's a host out there just going, um, I don't think I can be as trusted as.

[00:23:43] Airbnb, what would your response be to

[00:23:45] Chris: them? Well, I think, I think first of all, you've gotta decide what kind of business you want to be running. I mean, you know, like if you want to be managing two or three properties and that's it, and maybe, maybe the OT is the way forward. You know, [00:24:00] um, you, you're gonna, you're gonna end up giving away the control, but you might not want to be investing in the long term strategies of, of booking direct.

[00:24:07] So I think the first aspect is you need to know whether you is, is, is a direct booking website, you, is what you want to build. Um, that's the first thing you need to understand. And then if you, if you decide that you, that's what you want to do, the first thing is to look at your website, because your website is where everybody's kind of seen who you are as a brand, as a company, as a service and everything.

[00:24:31] And find that. Ask yourself that question. Know if you saw that website, would you book through it? I mean, that's the first question. And if you're honest with yourself, you'd probably go, no. My website. Or poor, you know, excuse the French. So you've gotta be very honest with yourself in like, where am I in my journey?

[00:24:49] Where am I at my point of? Cause it doesn't matter where you are now, it's about where you want to be. And I think your web, it all starts with your website [00:25:00] and building that. Trusted brand within your website and getting all of the trust signals correct, getting all of your content trust marketed properly.

[00:25:09] Your, your, your thought doors on point, your company information on there, your contact details on there, your call to actions correctly, your design right on point. And all of these aspects come to floor so that when somebody's coming onto your website, they're not looking at it going, oh my goodness, there's no way I'm booking.

[00:25:31] You know, and if you look at some of the websites today, they're very under par. They're very pure. So I would probably tell people first thing is to look at your website, get that on point, invest heavily in your website, and then you can start building your brand around that. Cause that's when people start to look at your.

[00:25:50] Your website and that's when they're gonna look at and think, no, these are professional. Look at their website. Look at who they do, look at their, their trust page, look at their accreditations. [00:26:00] They, they've got everything on point. So for me, the first thing is your website. Cause that's what people look at when you are, when you are asleep.

[00:26:08] So you, depending on the quality of your website, could be decided whether you wake up to six inquiries or none. Mm.

[00:26:17] Liam: It's just so important. Cause there's so many people, I mean, we talk about it all the time, you know, just mobile or iPad friendly, you know, something which looks good. Something which is easily found.

[00:26:26] Things which have got the testimonials on ability to be able to contact the host easily. You know, there's, there's so many things that people can do to, to, to get their websites, to be more, uh, more trusted. So I'd, I'd like to dive into, um, two things, uh, two questions come off the back of that. The first question I'd have, uh, for yourself is, um, how.

[00:26:47] Widespread is the lack of trust in short term rentals would be the first one. And then the second one is, how can I pr help with with that?

[00:26:57] Chris: Well, I mean, [00:27:00] globally there's a massive problem with the lack of trust because if you look at how many operators are within the sector and the reliance on the OTs, I mean, then that just shows, that just shows how much the lack of trust that there is, um, across the.

[00:27:17] So there is a huge problem with trust, and I think once you start to build a professional standard within the sector, that's when you can start to say, look, all of the trusted operators are identified here and all of the non, you know, the, the people that we don't really know if we can trust or not are over here.

[00:27:40] And the way to do that is through. Professionalization differentiation. And the way that that's done today is through IRA because they identify who the professional and trusted operators are and who isn't. Now, I'm not saying that if you don't have ira, you are not trusted, but it's harder for [00:28:00] people to understand that they can trust you if you don't have it because you haven't been third party verified.

[00:28:06] And this is why I talk, why I practice so important because. Third party verification is so important. Okay. It's so important because we can all speak highly of our own businesses and you know, you can trust me, you can, don't worry about your money, you can trust me. It's all, it's fine, you know, but that's like, of course you are gonna say that it's your business, it's who you are.

[00:28:29] Fraudster are gonna say that. But if somebody on the outside, ie. A global trust, accreditation for your industry is saying to people, you can trust this company. That goes a long way because it's not you who's saying you can trust me. It's your global trust accreditation of your industry telling them that you can trust.

[00:28:51] So that's why IRA is such an important tool for direct bookings because you can stand out as I'm trusted and [00:29:00] there's my IRA certification, which means that any payments that are coming to me that you are paying are protect. So you are removing, as we discussed before, you're removing so many of the uncertainty questions that potential guests have.

[00:29:17] You know, what'll happen to my money? Will the property exist? Are they professional? Can they be trusted? Oh yeah, they can, because they're showcasing the IRA logo and we can go onto the IPR website and check them out. So that's why that's the power of. You know, like making sure that, um, you can differentiate yourself from the pack and stand out as.

[00:29:40] A trusted operator.

[00:29:41] Liam: You know, I think that's such an important thing to mention, isn't it? Because I still feel we're so early in this journey for so many hosts to be able to take the power back from the ocas and to, uh, have, you know, to have that trust factor and that for the first mover advantage, the people who are, you know, getting, um, I practiced certified [00:30:00] third party, um, verified, and being able to build that trust is just so important because at the moment.

[00:30:08] Is differentiating them from their competition. You know, certainly within, you know, within my market it certainly would, and that's one of those things which, when. When more and more people have that certification, it will eventually. I mean, hopefully it will become commonplace, but yeah. What's your, what's your thoughts of the future of, of the industry regarding

[00:30:29] Chris: trust?

[00:30:30] Well, that's what I think. I think a lot more people are understanding the importance of it now. I mean, I was, I was banging the drum about trust like seven years ago. Um, I built my business in can here on trust. Um, so, which is why I talk about it so, I know that direct bus, bus, direct business comes from, from, from trust.

[00:30:53] Mm-hmm. . Um, so more people are talking about it, it's getting more, it's getting more, um, [00:31:00] it's getting more traction at events. There's more, there's more other tools talking about how it helps trust. So I think trust is coming into a, into a mainstream, and I think there's gonna be a trend in the future where as people understand, That OTs aren't gonna be as powerful in the future in terms of how many bookings they're gonna be sending operators and horses.

[00:31:27] I think most of the professional people, the ones who really wanna stay in this industry and want and build, you know, good businesses are starting to look at it and go, wait a minute. We really can't just rely on OTs. You know, mark talks about it a lot. You know, don't build your house on somebody else's land.

[00:31:46] We saw what happened in March, 2020 when the, you know, the OTAs showed how much power they have over your business. And a lot of people were like, oh my goodness. You know, God, I, I need, I can't have them control my business. [00:32:00] So they all start to look at how direct bookings and trust and, but if you look at it, people are seeing trust as the, as the key ingredient to moving away from OTE Alliance.

[00:32:11] So the future, I think for trust, I think more and more people are gonna be investing in it, um, because they, they need to, and, and I think it's products like ira and I'm sure other products come on the market as well that can help host build more trust. So, I think there's, I think trust is gonna be massive in the, in the, um, in the future.

[00:32:34] And I think people are, if you look at trends like, you know, like property manage PMSs and dynamic pricing came into, you know, like all of a sudden everybody's focusing on dynamic pricing. That's the, the holy grail for successful business. Um, a good PMs is the holy grail for success. So it all leaves its trends are coming.

[00:32:53] But trust has never been one of them yet. Like, like the industry hasn't looked at it and went, okay, it's time to [00:33:00] concentrate on trust. Now that's coming. Mm-hmm. , I would say that's, I would say that's gonna be end of our, in the next 18 months to two years, people will be really heavily focused on. Building brand trust, increasing trust, accreditations, certifications.

[00:33:15] And I believe that's when Ira will come into its, you know, IRA's growing massively anywhere. But I think that's the point when, uh, the industry will, will blow up with, uh, with trust when it becomes a trend.

[00:33:28] Liam: I like that. I like that. And if there's a, somebody listening to either the live or the podcast at the moment, how do we find out more about I-PAC?

[00:33:35] Chris: You can go onto the website, uh, www.ihyphenpr.com and all of the information's there, and you can book in a discovery call with one of the team to just find out how that's going to, you know, benefit you as a company, you know, but it's not for everybody. I understand. You know, short, short-term rentals is, you know, there's different levels of it, but I think any [00:34:00] professional operator who's looking to build a brand, build a.

[00:34:04] Being this for the long term needs to be investing in trust and accreditations that are offered, recognized accreditations that are offered, like I'm not talking about these, like good to go ticks and Yeah. And things like that. They don't work. They're, they're not conver, they're not trust signals.

[00:34:21] They're conversion signals and they're not good. So real recognized industry accredit. People will be investing in them because it's the only way to mo to grow. You know, it's the, it's the way that's gonna happen and I, I strongly believe,

[00:34:36] Liam: I think you're absolutely right about the future is, is gonna be trust.

[00:34:39] I mean, even when, from even a guest's point of view, I mean one of the other people within the, uh, blueprint is super hog where there's verifying guests because there is that trust from the host point of view to trust the guest. And it's just so important to have a host that you can go and stay with, that you can trust who is certified.

[00:34:57] And then to be able to certify guests as well, [00:35:00] which is another chapter as we

[00:35:01] Chris: say, we, they're doing fantastic work, you know, they're growing it and you know, they're growing. You know, and what they do is, is, and I believe that they're the leaders in that, you know, they're not, they weren't first to the table, but I believe that they're becoming the leaders of that game.

[00:35:16] You know, the, the guest, um, the, the guest verification, and again, it is because of the, of, you know, some of the value of like this re estate that we're renting out. It means heavy, it's high value, you know, I mean, we rent, we rent some properties here on the closet. Um, you know, the, like, the value of the property's like 30 million.

[00:35:37] Mm-hmm. , you know what I mean? It's like, uh, so that somebody owns that. Mm-hmm. . So when an owner's coming to me with a 30 million real estate asset and saying, listen, can you manage it? They would need to know that they can trust us as a company to make sure that the people going in there are good clients.

[00:35:55] Mm-hmm. . But how do you do. Now we do it differently because we, [00:36:00] we're, we're direct bookings and we are a corporate agency. But for, so, you know, we can trust Google, we can trust, uh, Twitter and people like that there, you know. But if you don't know that person who's coming to stay in that high end, uh, property, who can help you with that.

[00:36:17] So trust goes both ways. I mean, I, when I talk about trust, I talk about like the guest side, like consumers trusting in the industry. Yeah. But it doesn't stop there. So it's, it's companies like Super Hog who are building that other aspect of trust so that people can, real estate can be protected. And also people can build good businesses by protecting their business, you know?

[00:36:39] And I think they're doing great work. And yeah, they're in the book as well aren't they.

[00:36:43] Liam: Yeah, they are. And this, you, you're absolutely right. It goes, you know, whether or not it's building a bigger client base if you're a management agency or even, you know, if you're doing these, these rent, rent, trying to get the trust from landlords there's, or trusting the guest.

[00:36:57] It is just all about, it's very central to, [00:37:00] to everything, isn't it? And um, yeah.

[00:37:02] Chris: Chris, I think I, I think as well, what we need to get into is like, is to educate the industry to invest in the trust logo. And then showcase them. Okay. Because it's all very well investing in I bracket and then or super hog, but they're not, they're not really showcasing the fact that you have, so like if you looked at a website today and you saw like, You know, I would like trusted by, and you've got all of your trust logos in a very visual place, and you start to see a trend of like, all of the professionals showcasing these logos.

[00:37:40] It's like, yeah. You know, like AB and Atto, they, they, they're a little bit different for the, uh, the travel industry. But for the re, for the short term rental industry, the trust logos like IRA and Super Hogan and all of the other, um, as. Um, quality and tourism. They're not, you don't see them anywhere [00:38:00] really.

[00:38:00] Right. You know, the only ones I see are the IRA ones. Mm-hmm. .

[00:38:03] Liam: They should be over the website, shouldn't they? They should be at the bottom of each page. Like, um, yeah, they

[00:38:09] Chris: should be, um, they should be promoting it more because it's like, cuz once you differentiate yourself at the minute, we all know about the, the short term rental industries like the wild West.

[00:38:19] There's no barrier to. So it's very easy to get in there. You can, you can get a, you can get your grandmother's net store neighbors property on your books tomorrow, add it on Airbnb, and all of a sudden you're a short term rental manager, right? That's wrong, really. Um, cuz you can't just go and open a hotel tomorrow.

[00:38:37] You can't just go and open a restaurant tomorrow. There's hoops to jump through. Health and safety aspects. There's certificates to get, you know, there's all of these different aspects that you have to cover. But the short term rental. There's no barrier to entry, so it's a bit of a wild west, free for all.

[00:38:53] What the professionals need to do is find a way how to differentiate themselves from the [00:39:00] whole global pack and stand out as the professionals. And the way to do that is building the trust factor, showcasing trust building brand, building good websites, building great services. And that's how you start to build an industry that's, that is trusted.

[00:39:18] Yeah. Cause we're not, we're not trying to achieve individual trust here. We're trying to, we're trying to achieve global industry trust so that people look at the industry of short term rentals and go, it's standardized. There's, there's obviously, there's bad operators, but there is good operators and they're all over.

[00:39:37] And this is the lawn board that shows that they are,

[00:39:40] Liam: I just think the, um, the other thing is just delivering on the service. You know, a lot of the time there, there's a great book by, um, this was the guy who started Marry at Hotels and, uh, he talks about service. He's always gotta be consistent. And, you know, if on one of your properties, I mean, relating that to a short term rental host, if on one of my properties I've, I've done my fire risk assessment and I've made sure [00:40:00] Everywhere's Clean and on the other one, I just haven't, the two experiences would be so different, wouldn't it?

[00:40:03] And it's about having. The same experience across all your portfolio.

[00:40:08] Chris: It's consistency, isn't it? It's, it's called brand consistency. I mean, I, I, I tell people as well with short term rentals, find out what kind of short term rental brand you want to be. Yeah. Like what, what, don't just turn around and wake up one day and say, right, I'm gonna be a short term rental manager.

[00:40:22] It's like, cause that, that's quite a long stretch. It's like, do you want to be, do you want to concentrate on corporate? Do you want to concentrate on weekend? Do you want to concentrate on tourism? Do you want to concentrate on luxury? Do you want to concentrate on, you know, mid stairs, long stairs? Find out.

[00:40:38] Don't just be that person who's like, oh, we just rent us. Mm-hmm. , you know, hone in on what you want to do and then start building your brand around what you do. So if, if you, if you are a luxury rental property manager, then anything on your website should be luxury. You know, and you should have that brand showing a luxury brand, you know, cuz you know, [00:41:00] you don't wanna be showing a luxury brand and then highlighting media opera properties.

[00:41:06] So you've gotta get that right and then you've gotta get your continuity right across the board. So yeah, you're right. It's like, you know, be consistent as well and grow. Grow at the right, the right pace. Cause I think today a lot of people try to grow too quick in terms of inventory. And then what happens is they start to really lack the service and then they start to lose properties and things like, and all of a sudden their brand goes down.

[00:41:33] Mm-hmm. . And it wasn't because they're a bad company, it's because they tried to grow too quick.

[00:41:38] Liam: Absolutely. And I mean, I, I love, uh, we could talk all day about trust branding and uh, one of the quotes in the book actually, Chris, is, uh, you mentioned, um, the psychology of trust is deep rooted enough to flesh out an entire book, let alone a single trap chapter.

[00:41:53] Yeah. So, I mean, just from today I know, would you be looking at, uh, expanding on it with a book in the future? [00:42:00]

[00:42:00] Chris: I've always, yeah. I mean, look, I've always thought about one day that I would write a book on, um, Purely on trust. Mm-hmm. , um, because I've studied it. Um, And I think it's something that I would like to do.

[00:42:14] Yeah. I mean we do need to see a full book on it for sure. And those are the ones being written. It's not on my radar right now, but I mean, I'm, uh, I never see a never so, uh, you know, but, um, I've got two words going on at the minute to be writing. This is perfect for me cuz it's just a chapter.

[00:42:31] Liam: Yeah, that's perfect.

[00:42:32] And, um, I mean, what we do towards the end of these is we just do a couple of quick fire questions. So, um, Chris, these, these answers can be short as long as you like, but, um, just for fun, uh, what would, if you could have any superpower, we talked about the Avengers at the start, so it would be wrong of me not to ask, what would your superpower be and why?

[00:42:50] Chris: Oh, superpower, I think I would, uh, God, what would my superpower be? [00:43:00] Um, don't know.

[00:43:07] Can we come back to that one?

[00:43:09] Liam: Of course you can. Of course you can. You don't have to. Um, so what book would you recommend, uh, to someone other than obviously the, uh, the Blueprint? What other book would you recommend that somebody go and read, uh, which has helped you on your journey?

[00:43:24] Chris: I've read a lot, but I would say one that stands out to.

[00:43:29] Is, uh, shoe Dog.

[00:43:31] Liam: Shoe dog. The Nike, the founder of Nike.

[00:43:33] Chris: Yeah. I think, you know, I've, I've, I've studied Nike a lot over the years in terms of their brand and, and trust and how they've, you know, done what they've done in with their, with their tick. Um, and it, you can read that book. I mean, I've read it more than once.

[00:43:55] And every time I've read it, it's given me something different to kind [00:44:00] of focus on mm-hmm. . So I, it's it, for me, it's, it's, uh, it's a fantastic book. If, if you haven't read it, then you, you that it's gotta be on your book list of

[00:44:09] Liam: reading. It is so good, isn't it? I've got it on Audible. That is, is a fantastic one.

[00:44:13] And finally, last but not least, is, is there a motto or a mantra that you love to live by?

[00:44:20] Chris: Yeah, I mean, I heard. I heard it, I heard it, uh, when I was, when I was young and it was from Churchill and it was kind of like when, you know, you know, I've gone through quite a lot of challenges in my life and I remember somebody saying it to me and I saw it on a big vision board once, and it said that when you're going through, hell keep going.

[00:44:43] And that really resonated with me because I'm somebody who's always pushed the boundaries to kind of challenge myself. Um, so when you're in a challenging situation, things can get a little bit kind of chaotic. And I've always been able to go back to that and think, well, this is really [00:45:00] tough time right now, so I'm, but the way to do is keep going.

[00:45:05] Yeah. And I think, and I live by that kind. You know, in different ways. It's not just that saying, but just, you know, when tough times come, you know, just, just, they're not gonna last. Mm-hmm. . Yeah,

[00:45:17] Liam: exactly that. Just keep put one foot in front of the

[00:45:20] Chris: other and just keep, that's it, you know, and it, and it's not so much that just that saying, it's just it, but that saying does, uh, you know, and I've got it written down on, on loads of my, you know, kind of boards and different things at home.

[00:45:33] So, uh, but it does resonate with me a.

[00:45:36] Liam: Awesome. Awesome. Chris, thank you so much for today. Um, you know, it's uh, just for everybody out there obviously who has, has listened to Chris, um, just make sure you go and check out first of all Ira. So it's i hyphen prac.com. And also, uh, obviously for today's, um, episode, it really is folks in the spotlight on the book.

[00:45:57] Blueprint. So, uh, Chris has got his copy up there [00:46:00] as well. Um, and depending on when you're listening, when you're watching, uh, you can find out more information. Boost lee.co uk slash blueprint and that'll tell you where you can get a copy or if you can pre-register for a copy if you're listening before it's released.

[00:46:14] So Chris, thank you so much for today. Is there any closing comments before we, uh, search

[00:46:18] Chris: your um, well, I'd just like to to, you know, just to go back to it, you know, I mean I think it's all about this isn't it today? And I think, I think we've already mentioned it, but I think there's so much noise out there when it comes to direct bookings.

[00:46:31] We all know direct bookings is going to. Very important to build a globe, you know, build a, a successful company within this space. So I think this book is gonna be the, the go-to book. And I think if you haven't got it or you haven't pre-ordered it, then you should. Um, but I think, yeah, I think it's important to highlight the importance of this book for the industry and the help that it's gonna give people moving

[00:46:58] Liam: forward.

[00:46:59] It's [00:47:00] definitely a, a, a sort of marking point, isn't it, in the, in the calendar. So it's December, 2022. Um, so this December it's coming out again. Some people will be listening to this after that time. But all details you can find, uh, boost lee.co uk slash blueprint. And, uh, thank you so much Chris. Um, yeah, bye for now.

[00:47:17] Christmas presents . Love it. .

[00:47:22] Chris: Having

[00:47:23] Liam: a blast. Gonna get it on the Bruce Lee

[00:47:25] Chris: podcast. Bruce Lee led Bruce Lee cuz it's so hard on the tees. Loose leaf. Picking up those rhymes. Don't write it, just do it loosely.

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