A PMS With a Different Spin: The Full Package

So welcome to another episode of the behind the Host podcast. This is the miniseries on the Boostly podcast with me, Liam Carolan. And today we are diving into the business of Clark Anderson Properties, based in the east coast of Scotland. And today we're joined by the founder and CEO Simon Anderson, and also Sandy Donaldson, the digital marketing executive. And we're going to be talking about their business, we're going to going to be talking about some of the things they've done to succeed in their business, which you may be able to pick up, you know, sort of success stories and things that you can utilize to put into your hospitality business. So thank you for joining me. Simon and Sandy, welcome along.

Yeah, thanks for having us.

Good to you.

If you'd just like to introduce the business and you know, sort of where you're based and what sort of thing that you're. That you cater for, what sort of hospitality business you are.

Yeah, of course. So, Simon Anderson. I'm the Anderson of Clark Anderson. My business partner, Stuart Clark is the other half. We are a holding management company. We started off with a few properties of our own and then slowly migrated into the management side of things, based out in Dundee. Here personally is where the head office is and we cover all of Scotland at the moment. We're trying to grow, particularly in areas such as Aberdeen, Glasgow, Edinburgh. Bit of a whirlwind last few years. It's been good fun and the team has grown since then and we're fortunate enough to have Sandy on the team as well and she can tell you a bit more about what she does.

So, Sandy. Yeah, thank you, Simon. Sandy, if you wanted to introduce yourself and what you do for Clark Anderson.

Yeah, so I started at Clark Anderson in November last year and obviously, like Simon says, they have experienced significant growth in a short period of time, especially over Covid. So I think the main aim now is obviously you've got your OTAs that we are quite successful on at the moment, but thankfully we discovered Bruce Lee and now that I'm working towards just a kind of focus on direct bookings, so that's my main role in the business moving forward. Anyway.

How many properties are you on at the moment, Simon, that you look after and manage?

Well, we're currently sitting at 80 and I believe we're closing this month at 85. Yeah, Stuart and the PM's property managers, they look after that side of things. But yesterday Stuart was saying that he's got another five lined up this week, which is fantastic. It's, you know, the team have got a lot to do with that. Everybody gets involved, everybody is contributing in some way. But yeah, 85, it's kind of, it's hard to believe actually. We came in to last year with 12 properties. Don't even know where the time's gone. Kind of blinked and more talking about 85 and 100 that's happened.

There's a couple of points I wanted to dive into there. You mentioned your business partner and how important is it to have defined different roles because there'll be a lot of people listening who, you know, want to have a business partner or thinking about starting up a hospitality business with a business partner. What advice would you have for them?

Yeah, I mean Stuart and I met and started the company in quite an unorthodox way. You know, give the full story. But the bullet points are that we met through a networking group and we went for a coffee to catch up. That first time kind of meeting each other tends to be the usual, you know, family, friends, what do you, what you into the golf, we read blah blah blah. And I actually can't quite remember how it came up. But we both discovered that we like the idea of doing something in property. We were kind of speaking more about longer term in life. We might like the idea of flipping or developing or something like this. So after a couple of coffees we landed on why don't we try something. We didn't have a whole lot of money to put into a flip, which means the return wouldn't have been fantastic. So we didn't really like the idea of that buy to let's wasn't something we were too keen on. And then my background was hospitality, his background was corporate insurance. And we saw a way to kind of put them together. So we actually just kind of shook hands. We still to this day don't have an agreement in place, but we're fairly committed now. So pretty sure he won't leave me hanging and I certainly wouldn't do it to him in terms of, in terms of the question. So Stuart and I, right at the start we just had an agreement that defining our roles were key. Yes, we're both 5050, we're both co owners, we're both directors, we have interchangeable titles. You know, I have CEO, he is managing director. It doesn't mean that I'm hiring him or vice versa, they're the same. But we always said you look after the sales, I'll look after the operation, we will make decisions together. But ultimately when you define it into one of those, we have the final Say, and if it goes wrong, there's no blame culture between us. It is what it is. We'll learn, we'll move on. And we've always stuck to that. So even earlier this week, Stuart went out to see two properties from the same owner. He came back. He wasn't overly keen with them. There was a couple of things he was nervous about that would impact the guest experience. At that point, you might be thinking, well, hang on, it's another two properties. It's revenue, it's this, it's that. But ultimately it's not the right decision for the company. And he decided we wouldn't be taking them forward. I haven't thought about it since that was his decision. He believed it's best for the company and we move on. Likewise, if I come to him and I say, I think we need a digital marketing executive, I think we need two operations assistant. His head might be thinking, okay, sales, what's coming in? Do we have money for that? Can we make it work? But as I'm saying, it needs to happen, otherwise I'll not be able to grow. He allows a decision to move forward. And it worked, which was great. If it hadn't, there wouldn't have been any blame culture. So I would definitely advise that you just have those open, candid chats. Get everything on the table. Don't leave the table thinking, he or she said this, but did they actually mean that? And make sure you're clear with your message. And I'm confident, like Stuart and I, it'll work and you'll be able to grow together. And if there's any failures, you'll both learn from them and just go on with it.

How excited were you when you started working for Clark Anderson about marketing? You know, so the hospitality company, really excited, actually.

I've worked marketing for about five, six years, but it was a new industry for me. So I've learned a lot in the past few months, but I really enjoy it. And I think there's a. There's a good energy in this kind of industry. And especially after coming out of what was a difficult time for maybe tourism overall. And because they've obviously experienced that growth, it is a fun. It is a fun place to work. And when Simon was explaining there about the relationship they have, the two partners.

When it comes down to some of the things which make Clark Anderson different. I know on the website, one of the things, things that is promoted is the concierge sort of services and the sort of digital guides and that side of things talk me through how they work. So if I'm a guest looking to book, how does that work with Mark Elton?

Yeah, so it's all incorporated into our automatic responses. So 24 hours before they check in, they'll get a link to our digital Air Guide. So I actually think it's a brilliant tool that we have one for each property and then that allows you to have all of your troubleshooting, WI fi, heating, whatever your check in instructions. But then you can also include the local area recommendations, food, drink, places to go, people, you know, anything around that area. So, yeah, brilliant tool. And although I'm big enough air guiding, I would never want to step away from that as a company. I know the word digital is in my job title. I do still think that is, you know, there's no harm in also having point of sale in the actual property itself, and especially when it's Airbnb. And, you know, you're so strict on, you know, you can't openly speak to the guest. It's sometimes quite nice to just leave, you know, like even a little card or something in the property to say, follow us on social media or here's our, you know, go online and look at our air Guide. And it's almost just kind of reminding them to move, you know, to go from what's in front of them to, you know, we've got so much information that we can also give you and it's just a click away.

Having a blast. Gonna get it on the Bruce Lee podcast.

Bruce Lee, like Bruce Lee.

Cause it's so hard and the tea is loose leaf Making up those rhymes don't write it, just do it loosely.