YT YouTube2Text

YouTube2Text → Transcripts → Insider Strategies From a Former Hotel PR Pro for Airbnb Wins

Insider Strategies From a Former Hotel PR Pro for Airbnb Wins — Transcript

by BiggerStays · 7,792 words · 1,087 segments · language en · Watch on YouTube

Open in transcriber Summarize with AI Download SRT/VTT

Full transcript

0:00You may think Airbnbs and hotels are
0:02very similar in nature, and you are
0:04right. What you can learn from hotel
0:06operations to take into your short-term
0:08rentals is some invaluable information.
0:10And today's guest used to work with some
0:12of the top hotels until she decided to
0:14build her own amazing short-term rental
0:17portfolio. And she did all of this while
0:18living in an expensive city like New
0:20York and balancing her family life. Not
0:23to mention, she renovated, furnished,
0:25and launched an Airbnb within 7 days.
0:27Today's guest is going to give a master
0:29class in how any average investor just
0:31like her can set her family up for
0:33financial freedom with just a few
0:35Airbnbs and a growing desire to run a
0:37real hospitality business. Let's get
0:39into it on today's episode.
0:46Running short-term rentals is constant
0:48work. Guest in, guest out, and you're
0:50still expected to be your own
0:51bookkeeper. I had multiple listings
0:53going and no real way to manage the
0:55money that was coming in. Between
0:56flipping beds and trying to match
0:58receipts from a payment a month ago, I
1:00couldn't even know if I was making real
1:02money. That's when I found Baselane.
1:03It's the official banking platform of
1:05Bigger Pockets, and it handles all of
1:07the tracking and reporting I used to do
1:09manually. Now I can see realtime
1:11financial reports for each listing and
1:13know if there's a problem that's
1:14arising. For example, last month I had a
1:16300% spike in my electric at one of my
1:18properties and I realized that I needed
1:20to do something. I quickly set up a
1:22smart thermostat inside of it and my
1:24electricity bill was cut almost in half.
1:26Thanks to things like Baselane, I
1:28avoided losing my profits and actually
1:30getting them back in my pocket. Start
1:31protecting your profits today by signing
1:33up at baselane.com/bp
1:35and you'll get your $100 bonus right
1:37when you sign up. Hey everyone, welcome
1:39back to another episode of Bigger Stays.
1:41My name is Garrett Brown. I'm the
1:42resident Bigger Pockets expert and today
1:45we have another expert in the field on
1:47Katie Klein. Welcome to the show.
1:49>> Thank you Garrett. I'm so delighted to
1:50be here with you.
1:51>> I'm super excited to chat about this
1:53because we have a little bit of a
1:55similar background. We both were in the
1:58hotel world and now we're diving into
2:00short-term rentals, which is its own
2:01form of hospitality as we all have
2:03learned. So, give me a little bit of
2:05insight in your background, you know,
2:07how you started before short-term
2:09rentals, so we can kind of set the stage
2:10for, you know, your skill set and how
2:12it's developed into becoming, you know,
2:14a successful investor.
2:16>> I love that you come from a hotel
2:17background, too. I think it's so crucial
2:19to the world of STRs, which I didn't
2:22realize until I got here. But as you
2:24said, I used to work um in PR and
2:26communications for some of the world's
2:28best hotel brands. So brands like Ritz
2:29Carlton, W Hotels, St. Regis, Luxury
2:32Collection, Lamaridian, Addition,
2:34Bulgary, and I led comms in both New
2:37York and in London. So that gave me such
2:39a great understanding of the industry,
2:42of guest experience, of how things are
2:44continuing to change, to innovate, um,
2:47and really what guests are expecting
2:49when they come to stay with our hotels.
2:51And I was also privy to a lot of
2:53conversations of where are the
2:55shortcomings in the hotel industry that
2:58the short-term rental space does better.
3:00And of course, we know there are
3:01shortcomings in the short-term rental
3:03space that the hotel side does better.
3:04But I think it's important to know that
3:06because we can then harness what we do
3:09better in short-term rentals than hotels
3:11as almost a superpower for our
3:13properties.
3:14>> Oh, I love it. This is going to be a
3:16good one. I can tell you have a wealth
3:18of knowledge that people haven't been
3:20able either had access to or been able
3:22to tap into. So, I can't wait to keep
3:23diving in and and really like hitting
3:26all those points. So, you know, you were
3:27working over in there and I'm sure you
3:29learned a ton on the back end. At what
3:31point did you start to get that itch for
3:32like, okay, I think I want to jump into
3:35the short-term rental world and, you
3:37know, use a lot of these tips and tricks
3:39and these shortcomings that I'm seeing
3:41to, you know, elevate in the spaces that
3:43I want to create. What led you down that
3:45path?
3:45>> There's a joke in the hotel industry
3:47that you probably remember well that
3:48everyone who works in the industry is
3:50like, "Well, one day when I have my
3:51hotel, I'll do it better." You know, and
3:54I almost feel like short-term rentals
3:56are like our mini hotels. And we'll
3:58probably jump into this at some point,
4:00too. They're kind of a gateway drug into
4:02hotels. I know you just recently had
4:04someone
4:05>> I say the same thing.
4:06>> You just had someone on the show who was
4:08talking exactly about this. But anyway,
4:10um I was living in the UK for about 6
4:13years. My husband and I were there
4:15together and we had our daughter there
4:17and unfortunately my mom is really sick.
4:19So, we decided it was time to move back
4:21to the States so that we could be closer
4:22to her, help my dad. And we were moving
4:24back to Atoria in Queens in New York
4:27City. That's where we were living before
4:28we moved. But we didn't really know if
4:31we were going to like it here. We were
4:33not parents when we lived here last
4:34time. Now we were. Our life had, you
4:37know, decidedly changed and we had
4:39changed as well. And then separate from
4:41that, it is really expensive to buy a
4:44home in New York City. And the size of
4:46that that you're going to get, you know,
4:48is going to be marketkedly different. So
4:50we had always been camping in Lake
4:52George when we first started dating
4:54many, many moons ago. And we really fell
4:56in love with that as a destination. And
4:59by the third day of camping, when I was
5:01like sweaty and missing like indoor
5:03plumbing and hot water, I would always
5:06think to myself like, wouldn't it be
5:07nice to own a house here someday? And I
5:10looked at the stats. I think it was back
5:12in May. The median sold price in
5:14Manhattan was $1.3 million, but the
5:18median sold price where we bought our
5:19first property in Warren County was in
5:21the 300s. So, it's a much more
5:24approachable way to get into real estate
5:27than to consider buying a primary home
5:29here. Plus, we didn't know how long we
5:30were going to be here anyway. So, coming
5:32from a hotel background, I was really
5:34excited about this property first and
5:36foremost for me and my family. I was
5:38thinking about the memories we were
5:39going to make there, about my kid or
5:41kids growing up there, about
5:43celebrations we would hold, and also
5:46being able to do things without what I
5:48like to think of as city-sized
5:50limitations. So, it's really hard for me
5:53to host an event with my family and my
5:55husband's family under our roof because
5:57we can't fit everybody. It's too small
5:58here, right? So, I was thinking about
6:00those types of things. And then from my
6:02hotel background, I thought, well, maybe
6:04I can put it up on Airbnb. I could treat
6:06it a bit like a hotel and if I'm lucky,
6:10maybe I'll cover my costs. And very
6:13quickly, I was blown away that not only
6:16was I covering my costs, but I was
6:17profiting off this property. So, talk
6:20about a gateway drug. I was completely
6:22hooked after that one. Less than a year
6:24later, we made an offer on another home
6:27about 40 minutes south in Saratoga. We
6:29got that one up and running. And I would
6:32say only a month or two after that one
6:34was live and performing really well on
6:37Airbnb did I think two things. Number
6:40one, this wasn't a fluke. This is a
6:42strategy. And number two, it was only
6:46then that I started to think of myself
6:48as a real estate investor. I think that
6:51terminology, of course, I had found
6:52Bigger Pockets and I was devouring all
6:54the content and the podcast and the
6:56YouTube channel and everything, but I
6:58think calling yourself or thinking of
7:00yourself as a real estate investor is a
7:02tough barrier to entry because people
7:04think, oh, they have more money than I
7:06do or more knowledge than I do. So, this
7:09was kind of a backdoor way for me into
7:12real estate investing where I think
7:13sometimes people start into short-term
7:15rentals as a real estate investor first
7:17and then have to learn the hospitality
7:19second.
7:20>> You said so many gems in there. I want
7:22to unpack so many things. The first one
7:23I really want to highlight to people is
7:25the thing I love about short-term
7:27rentals and I I argue this with Dave and
7:29everybody at Bigger Pockets all the time
7:30about like, you know, which which asset
7:32class is the best and which form of
7:34investing is the best. I love short-term
7:36rentals because it is the only out of,
7:38you know, the major ones. It is the only
7:40one that you actually can have the
7:42lifestyle benefits for. You don't need a
7:44massive empire to be a short-term rental
7:46investor because you can find a property
7:48in an area that you like, that you like
7:51to travel with your family, and that
7:53lifestyle benefit you can't do with
7:55other forms because you can still turn
7:57it into something that pays for itself.
8:00The guest is paying down the the the
8:02debt for you. You get tax benefits, all
8:04these things. And even if you don't make
8:06a ton of cash flow, there's so many like
8:09vital things to that like you mentioned
8:11like family memories and all this on an
8:12asset that you control and own. Like I
8:15love that approach because there's so
8:16many ways that somebody can just and
8:18there's a lot of people that watch this
8:19channel that they may have like one or
8:21two buy and holds and they're they're
8:23worried about, you know, short-term
8:25rentals are such a big business and a
8:26lot of times I I have to remind them
8:28that you can get into one rental that is
8:31beneficial to you and you can operate
8:33it. It's so much easier to operate
8:35short-term rentals now. Even I'm sure
8:36since you started a few years back, the
8:39amount of softwares and just automations
8:41and that and everything that are out
8:42there
8:42>> and information.
8:44>> Yes, 100%. And then the other thing that
8:46that I love is that about your your
8:48second point about now you considered
8:50yourself a real estate investor like
8:52because it is it is like a little bit of
8:53imposttor syndrome sometime when you're
8:55doing this because yeah like everybody
8:57starts and you're always you know like
8:58pocketwashing looking at the next person
9:00like oh they they they have a million
9:02dollars and they're real investors and
9:03it's like no you taking all of these
9:06steps that you even just starting and
9:08you're analyzing some properties and you
9:10got that itch like no you're you're a
9:12real estate investor at that point. You
9:14may not have a property under your belt,
9:16but those repetitions and that like you
9:18don't want to get analysis paralysis,
9:20but like once you start that journey,
9:22that is when you have officially become
9:24a real estate investor. You don't have
9:25to have the the big properties and all
9:28that to be that you it's the mindset
9:29more of it because now you're looking at
9:31things differently. So, I could go on
9:33hours about that, but I love it
9:34>> and that there's not just one playbook.
9:36Like, I like what you just said about
9:38pocket watching. I've never heard it
9:39described that way. That's so accurate.
9:41after I started and then I really went
9:44down the real estate investing rabbit
9:45hole. For a minute I kind of lost sight
9:48and I started, you know, hearing about
9:49door count and leverage and like growth,
9:52growth, growth and automation and this
9:54and that, right? And you start to think,
9:55well, I'm I'm just like this small fish
9:57over here or I'm not doing it right or I
9:59need to grow faster. But what you said
10:01first, that is my strategy, lifestyle
10:04first. So, every single property we have
10:06purchased, it's because it will impact
10:09mine and my family's life for the
10:11better. We just closed on our third
10:12property in the Fingerlakes, and that
10:15decision was first and foremost driven
10:16by the fact that I really wanted a
10:18waterfront property. I love being by the
10:20water. The Fingerlakes happens to have
10:23fairly affordable waterfront real estate
10:25and a built-in tourism scene. So, the
10:28numbers made it make sense, but the
10:30initial idea started by where do I want
10:32to go? Where do I want to get to spend
10:34time with my kids?
10:35>> Yeah, I know. I love it. We're going to
10:36dive into the numbers right now on that
10:38and talk about it. And the funny my my
10:40friend Luke likes to call it door
10:42disease about everybody wants so many
10:44doors and they're just worried about
10:45doors when it's like you could have a
10:47100 doors and profit $1,000 a month or
10:50you could have two or three doors and
10:52you profit 10,000 a month. Who's the
10:54better investor? You know, like that's
10:55how I kind of look at it. So,
10:56>> I love that.
10:57>> Let's dive into the first two properties
10:59just real quick on like because our
11:01viewers love numbers. So, so that first
11:03property in in in Lake George, what's
11:05your estimated revenue on it yearly and
11:08then what are your estimated expenses?
11:10Like, give a quick little breakdown
11:12about where that one lies in your
11:13portfolio just so people can have actual
11:15numbers. I'm tired of people saying
11:16they're making $100,000 a month on every
11:19property. Like, we need to get the real
11:21information out there if you're if
11:22you're willing to divulge.
11:23>> Oh my gosh. And when they say they're
11:24making a certain amount of money,
11:26they're not telling you about the
11:27expenses. So you're like, well, but how
11:29much are you spending each month as
11:31well? Um, so the Lake George property is
11:34doing very well for us. What I love is
11:36of course before I purchase a property,
11:37I look at AirDNA and Price Labs and B&B
11:39Calc to get that estimate. And
11:41especially for my first two properties,
11:43I always wanted to go super
11:44conservative. So that very first Lake
11:46George property, and this is what I
11:47would suggest to anyone getting started,
11:49I thought to myself, if no one ever
11:52rents this, can I afford this mortgage
11:54payment every single month? And I could.
11:56Things would be tight. I wouldn't be
11:57able to save any money, but I could. So,
11:59that gave me the confidence to try. That
12:01property is profiting about $10 to
12:0412,000 a year right now.
12:06>> Nice.
12:07>> Yeah. The second property in Saratoga
12:09last year was a really good year for us,
12:11but it wasn't a full year. So, we didn't
12:12have a full year of expenditures yet. We
12:14did have our high season. So, that one
12:16we came in closer to 20K. I expect that
12:19to balance down again to be more 12 to
12:2115K in profit for this year. And the
12:24Fingerlakes will be interesting to see
12:26because that is my lowest projected
12:29revenue even though it's waterfront. It
12:32was also my lowest purchase price even
12:35though it's waterfront. So crazy. It's
12:37also my smallest property. It's a two
12:38bed, one bath where the other ones are
12:40both four bedrooms. So that will be
12:42interesting to see. I've been happy with
12:44the performance so far, but it's also a
12:46super seasonal market and that's the
12:48only of the three properties that we
12:49plan to winterize. So that really
12:51inhibits our earning potential, of
12:53course.
12:54>> And winterize, you're saying shut it
12:55down for the winter or anything like
12:57that?
12:57>> Shut it down.
12:58>> Yeah, fair enough. Every market's a
12:59little different. You haven't thought
13:00about like trying to get like a midterm
13:02rental renter in there or anything like
13:04that. I've heard that as options for
13:06people in those type of areas. Just kind
13:07of curious.
13:08>> It's something to potentially consider
13:09in the future. My main concern, and this
13:12is what I think makes it such a special
13:13place to rent as a short-term rental. To
13:16get there, you drive about 6 minutes
13:18down a gravel road through vineyards and
13:22then once you're through the vineyards,
13:23you have a little bit left of a gravel
13:25road as well. So, I don't feel confident
13:28that that will be fully plowed. And I
13:30don't have enough of an understanding of
13:31the snowfall in the region yet.
13:33>> You look at things like such a great
13:36perspective because, you know, you have
13:37a realistic view of everything, too. So,
13:39I love to hear that cuz everybody thinks
13:41everything's sunshine and rainbows or
13:43they're just super pessimistic and it's
13:44usually like it's something more in the
13:46middle of thinking of the issues and
13:48then, you know, counterbalancing that
13:50with, you know, the profit and
13:51challenges that you already have there.
13:53You have a really cool story about the
13:55Finger Legs property though that I
13:56loved. And one of the things that I
13:58really wanted to talk about was so you
13:59managed to renovate this property and
14:02fully furnish the whole place in seven
14:04days. Like seven days,
14:06>> can you walk me through that? I my mind
14:08is I just furnished a new tiny home and
14:10I don't even want to tell you the
14:11timeline I've been running on it. I do
14:13this for a living.
14:14>> Tell me the timeline.
14:15>> Yeah, we're probably at like 3 to 4
14:16weeks now, which is just furnishing the
14:18home because the wrong couch came in the
14:20ex like the bed. I had to get this
14:22custom furniture built and I should have
14:24been on that a month a like all these
14:25things that I personally overlooked. So,
14:27I'm like super impressed anytime I hear
14:29anybody's renovated and fully furnished
14:32a place in seven days. like give us the
14:34walk down of that, how you manage that,
14:36the the checklist you had, like give us
14:39a quick rundown of it.
14:40>> So, it starts in an even crazier way
14:42potentially, maybe not to your viewers,
14:45but we actually made an offer on the
14:47property without ever seeing the
14:49property. So, we did do a FaceTime tour
14:51with our realtor, but we weren't there
14:52in person. So, where this is in the
14:54Fingerlakes is about 5 hours from us in
14:57New York City, and I just had our second
14:59baby in May.
15:00>> Oh, congratulations.
15:01>> Thank you very much. When this property
15:03came on the market, we were like in the
15:05blureyed early days of the baby and like
15:08there was no way. We were just like
15:10going 5 hours in a car to like maybe
15:12have our offer accepted. That was really
15:14the big concern. And in the Fingerlakes,
15:16I haven't seen this in other regions,
15:17but I'm wondering if you're familiar
15:18with it. They do something called
15:20delayed negotiations. Have you seen that
15:22before?
15:22>> No, I haven't. This is the only market
15:24I've experienced it in where essentially
15:26if they think a a property is going to
15:28be a hot ticket, they'll put it on
15:29delayed negotiations and that means all
15:31offers are due by a certain date and
15:33time. And it's not like um this is
15:36opening bids type thing and we're going
15:37to have a war against each other.
15:39>> It's not like a highest and best offer
15:41thing or something.
15:41>> Kind of a highest and best at that time,
15:43but then we were able to put like an
15:44escalation clause where it said if there
15:47are other offers, we'll increase in
15:49these increments until a max of this.
15:52again, my third property, technically
15:54fourth because we still own a long-term
15:56rental back in the UK. I had never had
15:58any experience with this before, but
16:00anyway, we digress. So, we did a
16:02FaceTime tour, liked the property, felt
16:04like we had explored the region enough
16:06to know enough where this was and that
16:08this this really fit our buy box, made
16:10the offer, and it was accepted. So, as
16:12we're in the kind of closing procedures,
16:15I flew to Rochester, rented a car, which
16:19was about an hour and a half drive from
16:20Rochester to go for a day to scramble
16:24for really 2 hours taking every single
16:26measurement of the property. Again, not
16:28a big home, about 650 to 700 ft, two
16:31bed, one bath. So, not huge, but needed
16:34to make sure I was getting everything
16:36cuz this was my first and only chance to
16:37get the measurements. Then, of course,
16:39right as I finished, Delta canceled my
16:41flight home. So then I got to take that
16:43rental car five hours home. Just a
16:45little spoiler alert, driving five hours
16:47in a Jeep Wrangler. Not the most
16:48comfortable vehicle. I thought I would
16:50look cool in it.
16:51>> Could imagine.
16:52>> Anyway, we digress again. But from
16:54there, we had a extremely crazy Excel
16:58spreadsheet. Excel is my love language
17:01for every single room, every single item
17:04that would go into it. And that even
17:05went down to things like what K cups,
17:08what sugar pockets, you know, all of
17:10everything that was going into that
17:12house. We're extremely fortunate that my
17:13in-laws live upstate. Um, so they have a
17:16large garage space, so we had everything
17:19delivered to them. And we're talking
17:21about everything was delivering probably
17:23within 1 to two weeks. Like this wasn't
17:25a big time frame either because we had
17:27to wait to make sure the offer was
17:28accepted. And of course, there was
17:29moments of negotiations along the way.
17:32And then we never had an official
17:33closing date either until literally the
17:36day before closing. The irony of the
17:38closing date was my realtor just put a
17:41random date in the contract. And what he
17:43didn't realize was that was the Thursday
17:46of a week that we had a trip booked to
17:48the Fingerlakes. Anyway, I had booked a
17:50trip to just go on a family vacation
17:52thinking it would be my son's first trip
17:54with our our little family. And it
17:57happened to be then. and I made sure we
17:59hit that closing date, but it wasn't
18:01confirmed until really the day prior.
18:03So, it was very stressful and it became
18:05this kind of house of cards. So, we had
18:08movers pick up everything in one go,
18:10including a couch, including dining
18:12tables, all terrace furniture,
18:13everything. They picked up everything in
18:15one go from my in-laws. Then, this way
18:17they'd be able to deliver everything at
18:20one time rather than like having the
18:21sporadic Amazon packages come in. We
18:24outsourced a ton of work that we would
18:26typically do ourselves. Painting,
18:28tiling, we even had an electrician in to
18:31install our security camera, which is
18:32something that my husband would
18:33typically do. Landscaping, tree cutting
18:36to to just clear our view of the lake.
18:39So, we spent a lot more money on that
18:41kind of stuff because we had this
18:42condensed time frame. And most
18:44importantly, my lovely father and sister
18:47came up for about 4 days or so so that
18:50we could leave the kids with them and my
18:52husband and I would go and work these,
18:53you know, kind of 7:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
18:56days of just go go at the house and then
18:58come back for bedtime and dinner and
19:00everything with the kids. So, it was
19:02really intense. But because of how far
19:05away it is from our home, because of
19:07having such a young child, um, and my
19:10daughter is three, so she's also young
19:11as well, we didn't want to do the back
19:14and forth that we had done with the
19:15other two properties. The other two
19:16properties are about 3 3 and 1/2 hours
19:18from us, but we went every single
19:21weekend for probably 3 to 4 months, and
19:25those were closer to my in-laws, and we
19:27only had one child at the time, so they
19:29were able to watch our daughter, and we
19:30could work up there. This was just kind
19:32of like a whole different kettle of
19:34fish, as they say. We decided, let's
19:36spend more money on this one to
19:38outsource to get things done faster. And
19:41then 7 days from closing, we had our
19:43photographer there doing photos. And
19:45then we were up on Airbnb about 5 days
19:48later once we got the um edited photos
19:50back from her.
19:51>> Nice. That that is definitely amazing
19:54timing. And you laid things out very
19:57well for people to to get an idea of
19:58like, you know, a lot of people think,
20:00you know, like getting an Airbnb up or
20:02short-term rental, whatever people want
20:04to call it, is just easy. You throw some
20:06furniture in, slap it together, and it's
20:07up. Now, we know that those days have
20:10passed. You know, you can't just put a a
20:12air mattress in a place and and win
20:14anymore. But the you doing those two
20:18ones prior helped set you up for so much
20:21success. Yeah, you paid more and all
20:23this other stuff, but I'm sure you saved
20:24so much money on things you ordered. You
20:27you knew what you needed to order. You
20:28saved time, which you know, you could
20:30have waited. And I've been guilty of
20:31this before as having built a ton of
20:33places myself. I've been guilty of
20:35taking on more than I needed to, but
20:37that delays you from the opening a few
20:39weeks and that could be a difference.
20:42That same difference you paid somebody
20:44could change from you opening sooner.
20:46So, you you handled everything properly
20:48and your life lifestyle changed.
20:50>> Yeah, that's exactly it. And you're
20:51right, I didn't mention this, but
20:53because we were able to do it on such a
20:54compressed timeline, our first check-in
20:57was August 22nd. And again, what I
20:59mentioned with Winterizing, we really
21:01had 10 weeks to make money before we're
21:03going to be closed for 3 maybe 4 months.
21:06And as much as this is a lower mortgage
21:09than our other mortgages, I would like
21:11to not have to be out of pocket as much
21:13as possible. I'm going to have to be a
21:15bit this winter, I imagine, even though
21:18our calendar has been incredibly full.
21:20But at the same time, I needed to
21:22maximize the amount of time. And
21:24ironically, this particular property
21:26that we purchased was a short-term
21:28rental before. And so, our realtor was
21:31there going, "You have everything you
21:33need. The house is completely perfect
21:34for you." And I was like, "You have no
21:36idea that the first thing that's
21:37happening is junk luggers are coming in
21:39and removing everything. Everything is
21:41gone." the amount of people that will
21:43tell me like hey I found like even like
21:45I manage for a lot of owners and stuff
21:47too and the amount of times before if
21:49they don't do like a consultation with
21:51me before the amount of time people have
21:52bought a rental came to me and they're
21:55like hey like we ready to put it on
21:56Airbnb it was a short-term rental and
21:58then I look at what it was and it was
22:00like grandma's couch from the you know
22:02the 50s and the a mismatched rug you
22:05like and I was like that just because
22:07they ran it that way doesn't mean like
22:09you can just turn key and just get it
22:11moved moving like we're going to need to
22:12take that out and restart. So,
22:14>> and that host actually did really well.
22:16I thought that was such um a unique pro
22:18to be able to read all of the reviews of
22:21this property before I bought it because
22:24you've seen it before where things will
22:25be like, "Oh, the the heat doesn't work
22:27or the floors are squeaky or whatever it
22:29is." So, I got to see like are people
22:31complaining because it wasn't clean
22:33enough, in which case I can get a better
22:35cleaner, or they didn't like the
22:36scratchy sheets or the decor or what is
22:38it? or were they complaining about
22:40things that are going to be like
22:41physical things in the house that I need
22:43to change? And luckily, they weren't.
22:45But I will say our ADR is much higher
22:47now than it was for the previous owner.
22:50>> You've given out some gems right now,
22:51too, because people buy, you know,
22:53short-term rentals, Airbnbs all the
22:55time. And if you have the access to just
22:57go look at the reviews, that's so much
22:59more important than like what the owner
23:01made and all these things because people
23:03think, "Oh, I'll buy a place that made
23:05100K. I'm going to make 100K." And it's
23:07like that's so far from the truth. But
23:09you going in and seeing if there's a lot
23:10of complaints about the location, the
23:12neighborhood, like all these things you
23:14can't change, that's probably something
23:16you don't you're you don't even want to
23:18fight with. If you can change the, you
23:20know, yeah, like the cleanliness or the
23:22host wasn't responsive, all these
23:23things, like that's a simple fix. You
23:25can fix that in your sleep, you know?
23:27So, you nailed it on the head. You're
23:28you're giving out some some gems right
23:30now to people. tell people about what
23:32happened once you launched and like you
23:34know that quick turnaround and you know
23:36did the booking struggle or or did you
23:38come out the the gates swinging with all
23:40these things and getting it launched in
23:42that time.
23:42>> Yeah, I am so happy with how things
23:45went. So, first of all, I will back up
23:47and say there is this excellent book
23:49called Optimize Your BnB and I read it
23:53after my first property. I wish I had
23:55known it for my first. And I think
23:57you'll see a lot of companies out there
23:58that will say like, we'll get you to
24:00page one of your Airbnb results and then
24:02they want to charge you an astronomical
24:04amount of money. So instead, I was like,
24:06I'm just going to take the time to
24:07figure out how to do this myself. And in
24:10that book, he gives such a great piece
24:11of advice where he says that essentially
24:14the Airbnb algorithm is going to promote
24:17new listings for the first 30 days. It
24:19wants you to get bookings. It wants you
24:21to have visibility because it wants to
24:23learn, is this a good listing or is this
24:25not a good listing? And so, they're
24:27going to funnel a lot of traffic to you
24:29during those first 30 days. So, what
24:31this author suggested is only open your
24:33calendar for the first 3 weeks, 3 weeks
24:36from when you're opening the actual new
24:38listing. Drop your prices more than
24:40you're going to want to. Get those
24:42bookings in those first 3 weeks.
24:44handhold those guests and make sure you
24:46get those five star reviews because you
24:48know you're you're considered new on
24:50Airbnb until you have three reviews and
24:53then you're going to maintain your
24:54position on page one as opposed to
24:56having to claw your way back. So I did
24:58that with our second property. I was
25:00super super happy with how that
25:01performed. So I did that again for this
25:03time. We have 10 weeks that we're open
25:06for. We were booked solid for the first
25:0922 days. I think that was five bookings
25:13I want to say during that time. Not sure
25:15exact number. And we are booked for
25:17every single weekend of those 10 weeks
25:20with some weekday stays peppered in as
25:21well. And just got another one yesterday
25:23as well. So really happy with it. Now,
25:26is it enough money to get me through all
25:28of the time that I'll be not making
25:30revenue? I'm not sure yet. I have to
25:32see. But we are about $165,000
25:35of booked revenue already.
25:37>> That shows that you turning over that
25:40work. so quickly paid off, you know,
25:42like that is that is the proof that you
25:43needed to to like you don't need to wait
25:45two or three months doing it yourself
25:46and saving a couple thousand cuz that
25:49could be the make or break between you
25:51profiting this month or then you you
25:53being buried in even more costs. So, I
25:55I'm super excited to see how it develops
25:58and I know you'll you have the
25:59winterizing coming up and all that, but
26:01I can't wait to see the numbers and
26:03everything that come out next year, too,
26:04cuz I I I think anything waterfront is
26:06always just going to just crush the
26:09competition out there. You can't compete
26:10with that type of amenity if you have a
26:12regular property. So, I'm excited to see
26:14where it goes.
26:15>> And what I like about the Fingerlakes,
26:17and I saw this in Lake George, too, is
26:19yes, these are tried and trueue vacation
26:21rental markets. These are tried and
26:22trueue um tourism markets. So, you have
26:24people wanting to come to the area
26:26anyway, but you have a lot of old
26:28outofdate stock. So, in Lake George, you
26:30had a lot of like black and red plaid
26:33blankets and pictures of bears
26:35everywhere. And here, I don't know if
26:39there's an aesthetic. It's just, you
26:41know, kind of like here's my house and
26:42some iPhone photos. Like, don't you want
26:44to give me money for it? What I'm also
26:46seeing too is the drive radius from the
26:48pandemic has really lengthened. And
26:50there used to be a joke in New York City
26:52that New Yorkers wouldn't go more than 2
26:53hours outside the city. That's really
26:55changed. And because the destination is
26:57a bit further from major metropolitan
27:00areas, I'm seeing people stay longer,
27:02too. That is all you're I I'm sad that
27:05you are giving out all these gyms
27:07because now I feel like there's going to
27:08be a few people trying to get into
27:09finger legs to compete with you.
27:11>> Yeah, back off guys. No, just kidding.
27:13Come on over.
27:14>> Let's find your own market. Uh but no,
27:17you I really want to get into the the
27:20hotel side because I think that's so
27:21crucial and part of the reason why
27:23you've been crushing it with some of
27:25these early on ones. What are some of
27:27the thing and you mentioned earlier you
27:29saw a lot of the shortcomings that you
27:31know hotels have against you know
27:32short-term rentals but then also like
27:34how their strategy was coming together
27:36on the branding side just everything
27:37around there. What were a few like
27:40takeaways that you can compare now and
27:43you can tell have made you successful
27:45and and for and for the future with your
27:46short-term rental investing that you
27:48know some others may be able to pick up
27:49on
27:50>> the importance of photography first and
27:52foremost. I think we still see and I'm
27:55shocked every time I still see this. Not
27:57only iPhone photos, but an iPhone photo
28:00of an unmade bed. I don't have words for
28:02it because I'm like, if this is what
28:04you're putting forward to get me to give
28:06you my money, what is it going to be
28:08like when I actually arrive, right? So,
28:10I think investing in photography, there
28:13are creative ways to not have to pay a
28:16lot of money or any money. Um, I know
28:18when I first started out, Airbnb was
28:20running a promotion for brand new hosts
28:21where they gave you free photography.
28:23That was incredible. Another thing I've
28:25used from my hotel background is working
28:28with social media influencers. And I
28:30don't mean people who have millions of
28:31followers, and I don't actually even
28:33really care about them posting about my
28:36property on their channels. If they do,
28:38great. Sure. That's lovely. I'm more
28:40looking for content. So, what I've done
28:42with um both of my properties and now
28:45actually have someone booked in for the
28:46end of October is get them to come and
28:49say, "Come and stay for two or three
28:50nights. I'll cover your cleaning fee and
28:53in return, you're going to give me 30 to
28:5640 photos. You're going to give me a few
28:57drone videos. You're going to give me
28:59content." And that's a nice way to be
29:02able to show the seasonality of your
29:04property. I think the Fingerlakes are
29:05going to look gorgeous when the leaves
29:07start to change. or we had someone come
29:09and do a video for us um at our Lake
29:11George property with the snow on the
29:12ground in the winter time. So, these
29:14times of year that aren't my peak
29:17season, but getting great content might
29:19help me to drum up some more bookings
29:21during that time. So, those those are
29:23two really important things. The
29:24importance of good linens. I know the
29:26STR community is really split over
29:29colored or white linens. I am team white
29:31linens.
29:32>> Oh, yeah. You got to be you got to be
29:33team white linens. I I've been on both
29:36sides and and the worst side was
29:38definitely the colored linen side. I
29:40don't see how that's even a debatable,
29:41but some people love to debate it.
29:43>> I know. I understand it operationally,
29:45but like aesthetically, white just says
29:47like I have nothing to hide. I'm clean.
29:50Welcome. You're cozy. You know, all that
29:52stuff. Absolutely.
29:52>> It's better operationally with white cuz
29:54if you don't have your same beds all the
29:56same color, if you have one gets get
29:59damaged or stained and you're trying to
30:01turn over and put a new one, it's it
30:02just becomes this thing of mis miss, you
30:04know. Yeah, it's just it's a whole
30:06nightmare. So, I'm team white linens,
30:07team duvet, duvet covers white all day
30:10forever. So, never will never will will
30:12vary from that. You gave some great
30:14advice too on the social media
30:15influencers. some of my more, you know,
30:18basic kind of homes that I manage for
30:19people, they don't have the social media
30:22power sometimes. And some people are
30:23like, well, my property, you know,
30:25nobody wants will come stay at my
30:27property for free. But I keep always
30:28having to remind people that one, if
30:30you're having a property in an area that
30:32nobody wants to go to and nobody, you
30:34know, is willing to stay. There's
30:36there's probably some design things or
30:38something that you maybe needed to do or
30:40you didn't buy properly. But there's
30:42always opportunities to find, you know,
30:44partner with a local coffee shop or all
30:46these other things and maybe share the
30:48marketing cost for something and like do
30:50a shoot and get some content out of
30:51that. And there's a million ways you can
30:54utilize content creators that are out
30:56there to benefit. And they don't have to
30:58have a ton of, you know, they have to
31:00have good quality content, but they
31:01don't have to have a bunch of followers.
31:02Like you said, you need to look at their
31:04content and go like, I see the value in
31:05that. They I aesthetically like it
31:08>> and that's on brand for you.
31:10>> Yeah. And then at that point, like
31:11there's a bunch of people out there that
31:12are in the food and travel space and all
31:14this that you can make these
31:16adjustments. And if you don't have one
31:17feature that's really drawing them in,
31:19that probably means you need to like
31:21look at your property and go, "Hey,
31:22what's one way that I know I could get
31:25more creative because then at that
31:26point, not only is your marketing
31:28easier, but everything becomes like more
31:30simple in your in your terms of like how
31:32you're trying to expand it." So gave
31:34some great things there. Is there
31:36anything actionable? If somebody's
31:38watching this right now and, you know,
31:40they they probably got the itch to get a
31:42little further into the space, they hear
31:43some real numbers, like we're not
31:45gaslighting people out here into
31:47thinking they're going to have, you
31:48know, like insane profit returns on
31:50stuff, but good quality investing
31:53numbers. What would what would you tell
31:55somebody to take that next step into
31:56either finding their market or getting
31:58that first property if they're kind of
32:00sitting on the fence and and are not
32:02sure if this this is the route for them?
32:04Yeah, I think what's interesting about
32:06short-term rentals is I don't know if
32:09you will be successful if you are
32:11approaching this only as a real estate
32:13investor because I believe when you open
32:15your doors to guests, you shift from
32:18real estate investor to host. You shift
32:20into hospitality. So, you have to love
32:23that aspect of it. And if you don't if
32:25you don't want to manage guests and talk
32:27to them, and I get that, like that's a
32:29very specific skill set, hire a co-host.
32:32Hire a management company. get somebody
32:33who does. But the other part of this
32:36strategy that's so exciting, as we
32:38touched on earlier, is maybe you're not,
32:40you know, rolling in cash and quitting
32:43your day job and like buying a yacht
32:45from it, but you are getting a place to
32:48vacation for free. And those profit
32:50numbers are including the amount of
32:53times that my family and I go and charge
32:55the cleaning fee as well. So, to me, I
32:59think people should really start with a
33:00place that makes them happy. You hear a
33:03lot, especially in the hotel and the
33:04hospitality industry, about guest
33:06avatars and understanding your ideal
33:08target guest. A lot of times your ideal
33:11target guest is you. And that's what we
33:13saw with Lake George. We were traveling
33:15up there with at the time a one-year-old
33:18baby. And we thought it's really
33:20annoying to have to pack the pack and
33:21play every time. It takes up so much
33:23room in the car. So, guess what? We're
33:25going to have one there. And also, I
33:27hate the the flat mattress that comes
33:29with the pack and play. So, we're going
33:31to buy a nicer mattress for the pack and
33:32play and have sheets for that just the
33:34same way we do for our guests. And we're
33:36going to have a high chair there and a
33:38baby gate there. And we also had a dog
33:39at the time. So, we're going to put dog
33:41bowls out and have a colored towel cuz
33:44our towels are also white that we leave
33:46near it with a little dog treat that
33:48kind of signals like your dog and your
33:50baby are as welcome here as you are.
33:52They're not an afterthought to us as
33:54well. So, I think if you go back to who
33:57you are and what you're looking for,
33:59you're going to succeed. And what we
34:01talked about with design and like
34:02George, I knew this is a destination I'm
34:05obsessed with. I want to continue to go,
34:07but when I'm looking at the inventory on
34:09Airbnb on Verbbo, I'm struggling to find
34:11a place that looks like a type of place
34:13that I want to stay. So, if I can create
34:15that, there's got to be other Miis out
34:17there who are going to want to book it,
34:18too.
34:19>> No, I love it. you. We'll definitely
34:21have to have you back on after get
34:23through the next season of Finger Legs
34:25down the line because I'm sure people
34:26are going to be in the comments letting
34:28us know to come on for part two because
34:30there's so many like topics that you hit
34:32on that I wanted to just go, "Oh, let's
34:34talk about that for 60 minutes." You
34:35know,
34:36>> us hotel nerds unite,
34:38>> man. Uh you you gave some gems and a lot
34:40of things you said, "I'd be like, that's
34:42exactly the way I think." So, I love to
34:44to see the synergy that that we have on
34:46on a lot of investments. So, if
34:47anybody's watched made it this far, we
34:49appreciate you for watching this long.
34:51Like, let us know in the comments. If
34:52you want Katie to come back on for a
34:54part two or if you want her to answer
34:55any specific questions that you may
34:57have, Katie, if they do want to reach
34:59out to you and chat anymore, uh, where
35:01can they find you to connect with you?
35:02>> Absolutely. I host a podcast called
35:04Sweet Success. So, that's sweetessodcast
35:07online. That's a hospitality inspired
35:09podcast. I also write a newsletter
35:11called second home first which is about
35:13people like myself who live in high cost
35:15of living places rent in the high cost
35:18of living place because it's much easier
35:20and more affordable to buy your second
35:22home first and gives us all of that
35:24beauty of appreciation equity growth etc
35:27to be getting onto the real estate
35:28ladder. So that's at buy your second
35:30home first. BU Y your second home first.
35:33And then personally I'm at by Katie
35:35Klein and that by is B Y and I'm Katie
35:38with a K and Klein with a C like Psy.
35:41>> Nice. You I can tell you've uh done that
35:43a few times and it's very smooth. I like
35:45it. So yeah, we we'll put a lot of this
35:47in the description as well. And if you
35:49made it this far, please hit that
35:50subscribe button so we can see you on
35:52the next episode every time they come
35:53out. My name is Garrett. We will see you
35:55on the next episode. Take care.
36:09Hey, hey, hey.

About this transcript

This page contains the full transcript of Insider Strategies From a Former Hotel PR Pro for Airbnb Wins by BiggerStays, generated from the public captions YouTube serves with the video. The transcript has 7,792 words across 1,087 segments, with the original timestamps preserved so you can click any line to jump to that moment in the embedded player.

What you can do with it

Use the transcript to take notes, quote the speaker, build a study guide, generate a summary with ChatGPT or Claude via the YouTube Summary tool, or export it as a timed subtitle file with YouTube to SRT. You can also re-open it in the transcriber to translate the transcript into 100+ languages.

Free YouTube transcript tool

YouTube2Text is a free YouTube transcript generator — no signup, no daily limit. Paste any YouTube link and get the full transcript instantly, with timestamps, click-to-jump, translation to 100+ languages, AI prompts for ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini, and exports to TXT, SRT, VTT, or Markdown.