Introduction to Andy Cheetham and The Terrace Windermere
[00:00:00] Liam: Hi, everybody. Welcome back to the Boostly podcast. This is the podcast that gives hosts the tools, the tactics, the training, and most importantly, the confidence so you can go out there and get yourself more direct bookings. We do a mini series on this podcast where we interview interesting and successful hosts from all over the world.
[00:00:15] Liam: And we've got a wonderful host with us today. Who's got a really successful business and one, which I've spoken to, uh, one of the recent shows. And this inspired me to, um, share this podcast, invite him to the podcast and share his story because, um, he embodies everything, which I think all hosts should be doing, which is to really take action and to, to go out there and, and.
[00:00:41] Liam: To make it happen. So let me introduce to you today. We've got Andy Cheetham. He is the owner and managing director of The Terrace Windermere. Welcome along, Andy. Thank you for joining me.
[00:00:54] Andy: My pleasure. And, uh, yeah, great to see you again. I did enjoy yours and Mark's company, uh, at the show recently. It was great to see you both.
[00:01:03] Andy: So, uh, thank you so much for having me on.
[00:01:06] Liam: Tell me about your business. Give us the elevator pitch for those listening and haven't heard of yourself and your business. What can they expect from The Terrace Windermere?
The Terrace Windermere – A Unique Group of Large Houses
[00:01:14] Andy: Okay, so we're a group of large houses. We have six large houses, one small house, which just happened to come as, uh, with, with a large house.
[00:01:24] Andy: Buy one, get one free. Um, The, the terrace itself consists of five, uh, pretty large, um, Victorian properties, listed buildings. Um, they were built for the owners of the Windermere Railway in the 1850s. Um, and there, there have always been a private row, and there have always been holiday houses as such, or started as holiday houses, there have been various things in there over the years.
[00:01:54] Andy: And, um, yeah, so we, we slowly bought all of them. So we've actually got an entire, an entire row, uh, which is private. So it's a private street in effect. Um, and that makes us pretty unique. Each house sleeps between 12 and 14. 16 people. Um, and, uh, so every weekend, we fill every weekend, uh, and every weekend, uh, it's just full of people who have come to have a great time.
[00:02:27] Andy: Uh, we don't, uh, really ever need to worry about disturbing people because all the guests are there too. To enjoy themselves and Friday evenings, especially that kind of arrival, arrival madness that goes on when people come into the houses is very special
[00:02:44] Liam: for the hosts and for the people listening, what is it that you'd love for them to take away from our chat today?
The Importance of Direct Bookings and Boostly's Impact
[00:02:51] Liam: What would you most like them to remember about you and about The Terrace Windermere?
[00:02:58] Andy: Well, I think I'd like them to understand the business and, and, um, for them to, uh, understand, uh, what we do and how we do it. But, but I think today is, is a bit of a thank you, uh, for the Boostly crew. Um, and, uh, and what it's helped me with, uh, I've been in this business since 2006.
[00:03:22] Andy: Um, so quite a long time, 18 years, I slowly came into it. I had another job, um, and, uh, over that time, uh, I I've grown the business, but over the last year. Uh, I took this step after really after listening to your podcasts and, and reading the books of, of going more direct than I've ever been before. Um, and so a bit of this is actually about you guys, um, me thanking you, um, maybe a little bit unusual, but, uh, I just felt when I spoke to you, I thought, look, you know, it'd be nice to get on and just say, yeah, um, you've, you've given me.
[00:04:05] Andy: something. Um, and I really appreciate that.
[00:04:08] Liam: Talk us through where you were, um, I guess before, were you a hundred percent kind of reliant on the OTAs? How did you get your bookings originally? And talk me through the journey of the change.
[00:04:20] Andy: Yeah, so, so we, um, I was a founder and owner of quite a large advertising agency.
[00:04:28] Andy: I founded it in 1993.
From Advertising to Hospitality – Andy's Journey
[00:04:33] Andy: Um, so a long, long time ago, probably when you were in school or might not have even been born. No, no, I'm an old guy. I'm an older guy. Um, and look, I was creative director, uh, and I had a pretty good reputation. The company was in, in the North of England was probably one of the biggest and the best still going.
[00:04:56] Andy: Uh, we were bought out by WPP, who's a, which is a massive, uh, massive company, a global company. And I stayed on for a long time, but I also knew that I needed an insurance policy. I, I, I'd made some money from building the business, but I sold it when I was 34. Um, and rather than restart in advertising, which is, it's a big thing.
[00:05:22] Andy: It's a big thing. Um, and I have lots of things in my contract, which would stop me from trading in certain ways and with certain clients, uh, I, uh, so rather than Start again in advertising. I thought, well, look, I need something else. So I started the holiday business, um, actually by mistake. take a little bit.
[00:05:48] Andy: I'd like to say it was good planning, but, um, I, uh, in 2006, the property boom was like full flow. I mean, it was crazy. Um, and, uh, I, I thought I'd sold my business. I had a little bit of a kind of rush of blood to the head. I had a big boat in the Mediterranean. I had moorings. I had, I had a quite a hedonistic lifestyle, which I really enjoyed.
[00:06:15] Andy: And I don't regret it at all. Um, sounds fun for me. Yeah, we could see, we could see the world changing actually. Advertising is a good barometer. It's a good barometer of, of what's coming. You feel it before anybody else. You feel the clients you've started to think something's happening. So, um, I, I thought Yeah, my, my earn out is pretty much finished.
[00:06:41] Andy: Um, it doesn't feel like I'm going to get much more out of my shares. In fact, if anything at all, um, I'm burning through the money, uh, like, uh, uh, uh, a lottery winner, you know, or a bad lottery winner. There are good ones out there as well. But, uh, yeah. Um, and, uh, I better do something sensible. So I'll get into property.
[00:07:04] Andy: I'll buy somewhere in the Lake District. Somewhere I can get together with friends and, uh, Anyway, I'm in the process of buying it and my mother in law hands me an article from the Sunday Times, which I've still got somewhere. Uh, I should have bought it up for this, for this, uh, call. Um, and it said, it said, uh, Buying a holiday let.
[00:07:25] Andy: at this moment in time is like winning the property lottery. It was just a brilliant article. It said, this is what you got to do. And back in those days that, um, there were a lot more breaks than there are now. And certainly a lot more than there are going to be in the future. No matter who gets into government where we're, you know, it's going to get tougher.
[00:07:45] Liam: You mentioned that you bought a few places. Did you buy this terrace one after the other, or was this all one big purchase?
[00:07:53] Andy: The terrace took a bath. Um, nine years put together. Mm-Hmm. . So, uh, yeah. Uh, the, the first one was the middle one, uh, the middle house on the terrace. Um, and, uh, that, uh, I bought that next door was a guest house and uh, next door to that was a private house.
Acquiring the Entire Terrace Over Nine Years
[00:08:15] Andy: And, uh, so it was a mix. It was a mix. One of the private houses came up for sale. And actually a friend of mine said, Oh, I think I'll buy that. And he said, do you mind? And I said, well, actually I had, I thought I might buy
[00:08:30] Andy: uh, so, and that will make us competitors. And I'm not really sure about that. So we agreed.
[00:08:36] Andy: He, he went off and bought a holiday elsewhere and I bought that. Um, and then the guy in the middle. Eventually, who owned the guest house said, look, my, my wife's not well, um, I'm not sure about your clientele. We're a very, very quiet guest house and you, you're bringing all these people, groups of people in and, you know, would you like, let, let's not argue.
[00:09:00] Andy: Would you like to buy me out? So he got a good price anyway. So, um, he did very well out of it. And then the other two came up, um, again, I got on very well with them, did a deal, uh, off market, bought the properties and then I had, had the whole place. So that gave me, that gave me, uh, the ability then to sort of control how parking worked and how the bins worked and all of those awkward things that, that you, you get with holiday let's, you know, um, prior to that.
[00:09:32] Andy: People would rack up on a Friday with too many cars, park them in next door's car parking place, they'd come out, they'd argue, um, you know, the bins were difficult because our guests were generating a lot more waste than other guests and, you know, it just, you know, carried, carried on like that. So it was far better to own the whole thing.
[00:09:56] Liam: So Andy, to see us out, um, the question I'd love to ask is what mantra. has really resonated over your journey and still resonates with you today?
Life Mantra: Givers Get Lucky
[00:10:08] Andy: I think, I think it's more, more of a, a life mantra. And that's one that, uh, again, the Do Lectures actually, which I'm a massive fan of, um, uh, they have on their wall saying that givers get lucky.
[00:10:25] Andy: And I think if you can give more than you take. If you can help, if you can help people, if you can give just, you know, some thanks like today, that's all I can give you. I can't, I can certainly give you my subscription money, but I think, uh, if you can give, more than you're going to actually eventually receive more.
[00:10:50] Andy: And that's, that's how I run my life.
[00:10:54] Liam: Uh, it definitely resonates. So, um, thank you so much, Andy.
[00:10:57] Andy: Oh, you've given me a lot. So there you go. You got lucky.
[00:11:03] Liam: Thank you so much.
[00:11:04] Andy: Oh, we'll get Lucky .
[00:11:05] Liam: Yeah. Well, for sharing this journey with us and for, for coming on the boly podcast and, um, yeah, in inspiring the people who are listening to this.
[00:11:13] Liam: So thank you to, for listening to this on the Boly podcast. If you'd like to continue the conversation, you can come and join the hospitality community for your community on Facebook. And, uh, there is a book which Andy mentioned, which is the, uh, book direct playbook. It's available from, uh, Amazon or any.
[00:11:30] Liam: Main bookstore, I should think. Um, and it's by Mark Sins Simpson. And it can help you with tips on how to get more direct bookings. Thank you so much for listening. Uh, thank you very much, Andy. We'll see you again in the future, I'm sure.
[00:11:42] Andy: Thank you. Brucely Transitional company.
[00:11:44] Liam: Thank you.
[00:11:45] Andy: See you. See you soon.
[00:11:47] Liam: See you soon. Thanks. Bye for now.
