Catering to Modern and Traditional Check-In Methods for Guests

Hi and welcome to the new episode of the Boostly Podcast. This is the podcast that gives hosts the tools, the tactics, the trainings and most importantly the confidence for you to go out there and get more direct bookings. So my name is Liam Carolan and I'm the co host of the Boostly podcast. Today we're going behind the host of an interesting and successful short term rental host and learning about their business, particularly some of the more fun aspects of hospitality. So stick around for the next sort of 20 or 30 minutes where we learn about Lauren Maidwell and she is from Aunt Bellum's Cabin Rentals. You can go and check them out if you go to ww.auntiebellums with an s.com and you'll be able to go and see that awesome, awesome website. So welcome along. Lauren, thank you for joining us and.

Thank you so much for having me.

So let's get started by you just explaining where you're based in the world, what kind of hospitality business you know, who do you host? Is it, is it leisure, is it workers and and also how many units you've got. I know we talked briefly before we kicked off with this and I was pleasantly surprised. So yeah, go ahead, fill us in.

Sure. So we, we are in Gatlinburg, Tennessee. That's the Smoky Mountain National Park. So just outside of the Smoky Mountain national park and there are two main towns here, Scotlandburg, Tennessee and Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, same county. And this has been a popular vacation spot for going on 100 years. So we're a well established short term rental vacation rental market. So where we're located, we're within a day's drive of 70% of the United States population. So we're a big drive to destination. So it's, it's honeymooners, it's anniversaries, it's weekend getaways, it's youth groups and families and family reunions and sports teams. We have all sorts of sports complexes in town and we, we there's always events going on whether in the convention centers or just car shows. And so we service vacationers.

That's cool. That's really cool. And tell me about yourself then. So how did you specifically get into hospitality and what is your favorite thing about hosting?

Oh, it's a slightly more dramatic entrance than most folks, I think. I don't know, it's the vacation rental world is, it's a mixed bag. But so back in 2009 I was still in college in Georgia for air traffic controlling. Actually when I got a call One day that it was from my dad and his cousin, who I'd. I'd always called Aunt Shannon. His cousin had passed away and she had left the business to him. In the will, 51% to him. The other 49% amongst family. He eventually bought 100% of the company that was back in 2009. And he took over the business immediately. He fell in love with it. And he was working with a rubber manufacturing plant. He was the manager of a rubber manufacturing plant before. But he fell in love with vacation rentals and the people who had worked here for so long that he just went full time in Tennessee. My mom, she kept residency in Georgia because our tuitions were. Were paid for. So I finished school, and once I finished school, I moved here and started working for the family business. So that was like 2011, I think. So I joined my dad up here. My mom wasn't here yet, and I did fall in love with it. But I was young. I was in my young 20s, so I did have to spread my wings. And I bartended for six months, and then I traveled for six months, and then I begged for a job again. And so I have been full time with antebellums for about nine years now.

Amazing. And that's such a period of growth that. Since 2011. So that's really exciting. And where did you travel to? Just as a bit of a side question, where did you travel to and did that give you kind of the hospitality bug and see it from our guest's perspective as you're traveling?

Oh, I'm not sure that it did. Mainly because I was staying in hostels. Dirty, dirty hostels.

Hey, it's the best way to meet people and to, you know, sort of go and explore, you know, those places and connect with people, which is cool, right?

And not have to explore these cities alone. But I. I'd already backpacked. I backpacked Europe alone for about a month with the Eurorail pass and stuff. And so what I did was I flew into Portland, Oregon, and then through trains and buses and catching rides all the way down the west coast, the entirety of it, California, and then on into Arizona, Flagstaff, and then eventually caught a flight out of Flagstaff and just hostels all along the way and met people from all over the world. And a female traveling alone, you need companionship to kind of push the boundaries of where you feel safe going. And that's what hostels do for you, for sure. But no, I did not learn any good tips in hostels.

Probably a good thing. That's Amazing though. And what an experience and you know, sort of memories for life, which is cool. So let's talk about the cabins. What can a guest expect when they come and stay? What is Aunt Bellum's cabins like? You know, what can a guest expect to get experience wise from the Smokies when they come and stay?

Gosh, there's so much to experience here. Well, first off, they're going to get. So from the moment they book, it's communication, it's personable, easy here for you, hospitable communication, whether it's text message, email, phone calls, Airbnb messaging, whatever. And then the day of their check in, we shoot them out a video that I made and it just talks about, hey, you know, we try to be perfect but we can't be 100% of the time. So if you have an issue, let us know what we've got, people, we're going to come fix it. Don't not enjoy something during your stay when we could come fix it for you. You know, we want you to have the best vacation ever. It's your hard earned money, it's your hard earned time off. We respect that. Let us help you. And so they get to see a face, right? They get an intro that like they're doing their best to be great, but if they don't, I know they're here. This isn't your average host. This is a property management company with a fleet of individuals here to help me. So that trust is established and we've also kind of prepared them for what's provided and what's not provided and what we recommend during certain times of year when they check into the cabin because most people are doing virtual check in now, they come to our office. We love checking people in in person, but it's mostly virtual check in. They can expect a clean cabin first and foremost. They should be knocked out by, by how clean it is. And then beyond that, we just, we love our properties. We love our properties like they're our own or they're the our aunts and uncles property. So we take good care of them and everything should be in good working order. But if it's not, you call us. And in house guests are our number one priority. Whatever we're working on, wherever we're working on, an in house guest is our priority. And we will take somebody off their job and send them straight over to their place. And actually, like, I guess having an issue at a cabin could be seen as a bad thing, but we actually, we use it as an opportunity to impress the heck out of them. Because it's talking to us in person, it's meeting us. It's proving trust and reliability and communication that really impresses people. Like the cabin is great. But trusting in somebody is, is everything. So we use complaints as an opportunity to just impress them and make them feel comfortable and have conversation and call us for anything and kind of build a relationship, you know, and, and they may or may not remember the cabin, but they will remember that service that's so important.

And there's some, some points that I want to draw on because a lot of the people who listening to this are hosts themselves. They're picking up tips and finding out. It's one of the things in hospitality is such a. You belong in the family of hospitality. And by having other hosts explain their process and what guests like about theirs, then people can take things and put it into their own business. And the one word that you, that you said there was trust. You know, you really sort of said how you build that trust and couple of ways that you've done that is first of all by always having a clean cabin, which you know is outstanding when people walk in. I mean it's the most important thing about hospitality, isn't it? And then you mentioned that the video that you sent across as well. So that video, is it a generic video or is it a personalized one each time? How does that work?

It's not personalized. So I just went up to a cabin. It's really funny. It's like 50 seconds. It's totally funny. You guys should check it out. It's, it's on our YouTube page. Auntie Bellum's cabin rentals are on our TikTok Auntie Bellums. So it's just, I uploaded it to YouTube so that it was a simple link so that I could text message it to them like, today's your check in day. You might enjoy this funny, helpful video. And there's the link. So it's no, it's not personable, but it's me talking directly to you and being goofy and kind of poking fun of being oblivious when you first go into a property. So like one of the things I point out is like maybe you can't find your wifi password. Cut to a black and white scene and, and I'm looking at the bottom of a toaster on the phone being like, yeah, but I don't see the wifi password. You know, like it's okay to be disoriented. Like that's what we're Here for you're far away from home. It's a new property. Let us help you.

Yeah, that's cool. And that is. You remind me of, I've seen a few funny videos where people that do exactly that. I mean, if you go and stay somewhere, you know, to try and operate the oven or the heating or find the WI fi password is sometimes like decoding something, isn't it? You know, like trying to find that information. And so it's cool that you've poked fun at that and said, hey, let's call this out beforehand. If you want to find it, this is where you can find it. Which is, which is really cool. So when it comes down to that guest experience, one other thing that you mentioned was loads and loads of people are now doing self check in, you know, contactless check in. How has that changed in the time that you've seen, you know, since you've been doing this since 2011, how has that changed? Was the expectation more that people would do check ins back in the day and is that now? Are you seeing a clear difference where more and more people actually, as much as they enjoy the personal videos where they just want to, you know, come and check in by themselves.

So before it was just before the pandemic, it was before COVID we were 100% in person check in because we wanted to establish one, we're here, we have a storefront. We're here, here. We are human beings, not a voice on the phone, an actual person. Like people that you know and just answer all their questions and engage them. Like you can see if you might have to tell somebody that I don't. Where am I going with this? You know, like, hey, smoking outdoor. Just a reminder that smoking outdoors only. Or please make sure to leave the key in the key box in case of emergencies or hey, just a reminder like past 10pm no, no loud music. You know, you can kind of gauge that person and nudge them in the right direction. You get a feel for folks or an opportunity to give all sorts of local recommendations. And we have like mom and pop shops and restaurants printed up on a sheet that we could give to them if they're interested in it. But you can gauge this person. And oftentimes my girls Southern hospitality, they just end up chatting and having a good time with people. And so it was precious and it was priceless being able to check in 100% of our guests. So then when the pandemic hit and we had to go virtual check in, which is still full circle identity verification like we're seeing their id, we're seeing their credit card, we're matching their face to their id. So we know they are who they say they are. And we can rest easy in that, you know, contractually, legally, whatever. But for the first year, the damage in the cabin and the total disregard for property that wasn't your own, it was amazing. It was so disappointing. It was startling. But we learned with the pandemic that a lot of people were traveling to vacation rentals for the first time ever, not hotel rooms, because they didn't feel safe in hotel rooms, to vacation rentals for the first time ever. And it was, it was young people, it was the oldest of Gen Z and the youngest of millennials, and they just didn't know. They just didn't have the life experience to know how to take care of rental properties and what was respectful and what wasn't respectful. And if you're never seeing anybody, they're probably just some call center, God knows where, like they can't do anything about it. And then we started holding people accountable, you know, but after about a year, people wised up about how to be good guests, how to be respectful guests. It's kind of balanced back out. We don't have, as there's no more like blatant disregard for the properties anymore. And now it's just a matter of pure convenience. Like I said, we're within a day's drive of 70% of the population. So people are coming from all over the country into this one little town. It is so annoying to have to go and check in in one place. Like you should be able to get your virtual check in information and shoot it out to your family and you guys all meet there. And so we just realized pretty quickly there was no going back on this. It's, you know, and so it's the South. So people are still not comfortable doing virtual check ins and sharing their stuff digitally. So we still get about one third check ins in person and we, we cherish those, those check ins.

That's cool. Like you say there's, there's benefits to, to meeting people and you, you get that feel for people. And having this new system, you've now got the best out of both worlds. You know, you can, you can literally do what that person prefers as their choice of check in, which is cool. So one thing I'd love to dive into and we'll go into the tech route first, just because you mentioned how you can, you know, verify people and do that cool stuff, there'll be people Listening to this, who haven't, who hasn't set up those systems yet? What would you say in your experience or what tech do you use in your experience and in your business, which helps to first of all, verify those guests? And, and also more generally, what other tech do you use in your business which helps you.

So we are not a tech heavy company for two reasons. There's so much tech out there, there's so many moving parts. I don't want to compile this big chain of all sorts of different tech when our system's not broken. If I ever see a piece of tech that can genuinely make things more efficient, I'll be interested. But right now I feel like I have a system, we have a system that's not broken. Why introduce an expensive piece of tech that I can't see? I can't play it out of how it's going to offer me that much more time or efficiency or whatever. The reason being is we, we. The property management software that we use is called Bright side. And they do everything. They do reservations, they do direct integrations with Airbnb and VRBO and whoever else. They do maintenance work and work orders and it does accounting and it does key data dashboards and market marketing. It literally does everything. It leaves me not wanting for, for more tech. So there's a lot of property management systems out there and I'll take meetings with people just to see what it's all about to make sure that like, I'm getting what I need and we are in modern times and we are in the future. And I always walk away from, no offense to anybody I've done it with, who's listening. But I always walk away from those thinking like, man, my, my PMS is so badass. I hope that's okay to say. It's.

No, that's cool.

So awesome. They, it does absolutely everything. It leaves me wanting for nothing. The only additional piece of tech that we have is we use text requests for text messaging, which took our response rate. It was night and day either trying to call people or email people. We've had texting for about three years. Call or email people and they will get back to you on their own time. And their own time is check in day. You know, so then check in days were always just, it was, they were mad because everybody was finally calling in and asking all these questions that we were trying to help them out with months and weeks in advance and panicking about where to go and what, who, what were. And I just totally, my mind just totally went Blank text messages.

Text messages in general though, just how easy it is for people to respond to.

Yeah, so now you can shoot them a text and they can be in the bathroom, they can be in the meeting, they can be cooking and they can just respond real quick. So it's just been brilliant. And that is how we do texting and email. That is how we do virtual check in identity verification. We keep it incredibly simple. We say, if you'd like to check in virtually and skip coming to the office, send us a picture of your id, send us a picture of your credit card and send us a selfie. You can cover up all but the last four digits of your card. That way we can match your face to the face on your id, the name on your ID to the name on your card, and the last four digits on your card to what you paid with in our system. And we have to have all receipts and the contract signed. And once all that's done, then you have access to your property. But it's not the most tech savvy way to do identity verification. But if somebody's like, I'm not uncomfortable sharing that over text message, it's like, totally, we're here, come, come check in in person.

That's amazing. And do you know, it's one of the things which you often hear Mark talks about is, hey, go old school. You know where everybody's going, automation and you know all this stuff. If you go old school with that stuff, well, by phoning or texting and just getting that information manually. Well, actually it does the same job and you build probably a little bit more rapport with your guest as well. And you get to identify, hey, if there's somebody who's worried and wants to come to the office, cool. You know, you've got that feature if there's somebody who's very much like, yeah, there you go. You can kind of get the feeling that, hey, they might want to be more left. Left to their own devices and things like that. So, yeah, that's really cool. I love it. Let's talk about marketing. So, whereabouts. And just before we move on, what was the name of that badass PMS again? Just so we know.

Oh, it's. Bright side.

Bright side, awesome. You're gonna have a lot of people now tapping that into their notes or googling it right now as they're listening. So, yeah, definitely one to go and check out and one that I've not, not come across before, which is cool. So let's talk about marketing. You mentioned some of the places you're on at the moment. Where would you say most of your bookings come from? And do you do anything in the way of. We've got to ask it because we're the boostly podcast of direct bookings as well.

Oh yeah, we are. Oh, my sister would kill me for not knowing this. Right now. I think we're 85% direct booking.

Amazing.

Yeah, yeah, it's like four. We like to hear it's four point something Airbnb, it's five point something VRBox. And then for something with Smoky Mountains dot com, which is like a local. It's like Airbnb of the Smoky Mountains. It's pretty great actually. They're outperforming Airbnb right now, which is nice.

Which brings me on to the next question, which is how come is so high? What are you guys doing? And what tips would you share with somebody who wants to get to that 85%.

Okay, all right. I'll do my best here because I inherited a well established business. You know what I'm saying? We're almost 30 years old, 20, 24. We will be a 30 year old business and we're. It's a historic tourism destination. It's just so well known. I live really in an incredible place. It's so well known. So people have known you can book directly here for a long, long, long time. And not only that, you get your loyalty. Like they've maybe they've stayed with us two or three times and then they try another company because it was a better price. And then they realize like I'm, I'm never leaving antebellums again. You know, it was clean, it was reliable, they were, they were kind, they were communicative. So 30 years of establishing trust, 30 years of communication, 30 years of servicing some of the same people year after year and in their children and then their grandchildren and two more. Recently, it's become super duper apparent that booking with a property management company is a lot cheaper than booking on Airbnb in the Smoky Mountains. We've been here, we've got it dialed in and have for a long time. And we know what we can operate on and we know the specials that we can run. And we have so much data, we have so much data to be competitive in our pricing at all times. Where I feel like if you go on Airbnb, they're just, their pricing is baseline, so much higher. So established loyalty, established trust. It's a market where people know you can book, book direct word of mouth is huge. But at the same time, people are wising up and they're on Airbnb and they're looking because it is a brilliant platform, but they're realizing like, oh, this is a company, I'll go see what price they have on their website. And of course it's going to be cheaper because there's no Airbnb fee.

Definitely, definitely. And like you say, just that, what I want to pick up there is the brand loyalty. If you get an established, loyal customer base, then you don't need, you know, you don't need to always be out there doing different campaigns. You can use that loyal base and they will support you. And that is what keeps you, keeps you going. And of course, having a very well known name, I mean, one thing, you know, Auntie Bellum's sort of cabins, I mean, that's very findable, I imagine, you know, it must be very findable. So if they're searching for places and they see that, well, all they've got to do is go to Google and I'm sure you're gonna come up there, which is amazing. So one thing I'd love to ask is, you've been doing this since 2011. Is there any perceptions that have either changed over time and if there hasn't, is there anything that you'd go back and tell yourself some words of advice you'd love to go back and tell yourself back then if you could?

So, sure, a lot's changed over time. But my perception, not so much like what I've expanded on is just hospitality. Like, I don't like getting caught up in VR and STR and all those terms like this is hospitality. And year over, year over year, I, I do more for hospitality, I inspire the various departments to do more in hospitality and test the boundaries of hospitality. And that's all I've ever focused on. And if my perspective has changed, it's just been that it's, I don't know, I might be rambling here. It's not necessarily the cabin or the amenities that are going to keep people coming back. It's the hospitality and the communication, that's what's going to keep people coming back. And so trends change and you try to keep up with trends and you know, you get on all the platforms and you do what people like you abide by the trends, but none of those will, will earn you the, the loyalty and the love and the trust from guests that being hospitable does. So if anything, I get, I, as I get older and I learn more, you can Never go wrong in offering more kindness. Like there's no upper hand on kindness ever, ever. So what I would teach myself is to just never just expect the worst. Like don't like have resources in place to deal with the worst, but don't in every possible instance, don't expect the worst. Because a lot of times if something's horrible and you start unraveling it, you spend some time with it and you start unraveling it. At the core of that issue is a real struggle for somebody that is, it's easy to help them overcome. So many competitors just get so combative or defensive or expect the worst in order to protect themselves. And I mean I've been burned. I've been burned. And the result of the pandemic and real estate prices has really had me feeling jaded from time to time. But a friend recently said, are you even a property manager if you haven't been jaded at some point or another? You know, but there's no upper hand on kindness and don't automatically expect the worst and never be afraid to be wrong. Just learn. Just learn.

Cool. That's really cool. What, what does the future for the business look like? What are you hoping to do? Or is there anything which you're excited about, you know, sort of coming up either in 20, 23 or, or longer than that?

Yeah. So my dream is huge. It's absolutely massive because however close I get to it is going to be dang good. You know what I'm saying? So shoot shooting for the stars on this one. So it's ridiculous. Bear with me. But whatever. I want to be as synonymous with the Smoky Mountains as Dolly Parton is. By I, I mean Auntie Bellums cabin rentals. So that when people are like organizing their vacations to go to the Smoky Mountains, they'll be like, well, somebody call and check with Audi Bellums first. And if they don't have anything, then we'll just, we'll go from there. So I want us to be as synonymous with the Smokies as Dolly is. I would want to be proud of our company.

You know what? That is one of the things. Instantly you've reminded me. There's a book by a chap called Daniel Priestley called. He basically teaches how to become a KPI, a key person of influence in your area. And it's something which any hosts listening. If you can become the person that everybody mentions in your local, you know, or your area of sphere of influence, then you're going to pick up business and you're going to be the go to person. And that's exactly what you're saying there, which is going to be amazing. So I'm really excited for you, you know. And from this podcast I've really picked up a couple of things. First of all, the fun videos. Make the videos fun and to interactive so people can see the face of the business, which is really cool. One other thing which is evident is that it's not just doing it well once, it is that reliability you've mentioned a couple of times throughout this is that when people come and stay at your places, then they know what they're in for. It's reliable. They come back year after year. And this is something which I can't remember his name, the chap who invented the Marriott hotel chain, basically, who really brought that to what it is. One of the things which he talks about is that it's not just if somebody comes along, say the example he gives is the hairdresser, where he goes to a hairdresser and he gets his hair cut the first time and they give him like a cup of tea. The next time he goes, it's just as good the cut, but they give him like just a water instead, which he's a little bit disappointed. But the next time they go, they didn't do the head massage, but they did the first two times. But this time he gets his cup of tea again. And in the end he didn't go back after that time because it was just unreliable. It was. He didn't know what he was paying for or what he was getting. And this is one of the things which I completely get the vibe from your businesses that's reliable. They know what they're going to get is personable as well. And that's really cool. And that dream of being the KPI is so exciting and something which I can see which you're going to go off and do. So before we find out how we can get in touch with you, Lauren, what I'd love to ask is just a couple of fun questions. So these are more, you know, less about business, more, more just fun in general. So if you had, I don't know, $10 million right now, what would you do with it?

Oh, numbers like that absolutely startle me. I pay off family debt and I would buy, ooh, a piece of land with a view. I don't want a cabin, I don't want a property. I'd buy a piece of land with a view just to protect that land and maybe put a yurt on it or Something I pay off my partner's student loans, of course. I honest to goodness, I think I try to get rid of every single bit of it. Just helping people out. I have no interest in $2 million.

Love that. Love that answer. If you was to have a superpower, either, you know, a superpower like one of the Avengers or something like that, what would it be? Or what would you consider your own personal superpower is when it comes down to real life?

Ooh. So I just never got over that. That show, like Animorphs or something. Being able to turn into an animal. Are you kidding me? That sounds like a blast. And if I could choose any animals, I'd have to check out being a squirrel. They're just, like. They're just so athletic. It's just amazing the things they're capable of.

Nice.

Check that life out. Yeah. So being able to turn into any kind of an animal and my own superpower, I would say negotiation, compromise, just trying to draw the. The best out of a situation. I think I. I think I do a pretty dang good job of that all. Any issue that I tackle, I'm like, I can squeeze the best out of this. I know that I can.

Nice. Nice. I like that. And you've got me thinking about an animal. As soon as you say animal, I'd love to fly. Do you know what I mean? Like, that I'd love to be able to, you know, turn into a bird and fly. That would be awesome. And, like, say, jumping from tree to tree as a squirrel, which is cool. So that brings us really, to our last couple of questions. So the last couple of questions we always love to end with. Is there a mantra or a saying that you kind of really believe in or something that you live by?

Yes, sort of. So it was 2022. I wanted that to be a huge year for me. I needed. I wanted 2022 to be, like a. A professional catalyst for me. And the mantra, two words that I focused on the entire year, and I feel like it really came into fruition, and I don't even want to separate myself from this in 2023. I try to do things different every year, but it's been so good to me is just be fruitful. And in all that, you do be fruitful, and hospitality is. Is a part of that. But anytime I'd get worked up in a situation or about anything at all, I take a moment to kind of take a step back in my mind and just think, how can I be fruitful in this situation? Which typically leads me down the path of killing them with kindness. Like there's no upper hand on kindness. You know, just stick to kindness and you can't go wrong.

That it's definitely one that I've felt throughout this podcast and that I'll now associate with your business is kindness and just giving in general, which is amazing. That focus on hospitality has been very evident, which is amazing. So I'm sure there's going to be lots of people who a, they're going to want to come and stay in the Smoky Mountains and now they know exactly who they need to contact. Also they need to find out obviously that, that video which you mentioned. So where can people come and come and check you guys out? Where can they find out more information or follow you?

Yes. So I'm mostly active on LinkedIn and all my. I post all my videos to LinkedIn because the Strvr LinkedIn community is so amazing. Everybody's just incredible. It's a two. It's a true hospitality industry in and of itself. So Lauren Madewell on LinkedIn. All my stuff's on there and I'd love to follow you guys. TikTok is Auntie Bellums, Instagram is Auntie Bellums Cabin Rentals and YouTube is Auntie Bellums Cabin Rentals. So all the videos are on all three of those platforms and they're, they're goofy. I wear a bear suit in a lot of them. I've incorporated my reservations department in several of the videos. We went hard on Christmas content. There's some funny videos.

You know what that is? I'm gonna go check it out after this. So I'm sure everybody else is. And thank you so much for spending this time and letting us find out about your business and yourself and yeah, really excited to see what you guys do in the future. Is there anything I missed or any closing comments just before we draw it to a close?

I wish I had something inspired, but I don't really.

That's cool. We've got plenty of amazing snippets and bits of information and learnings from this, so thank you so much, Lauren. So that's buy from yourself, Buy from me. I know that everybody listening to the podcast. I know that there's a lot of places you can put your attention and we thank you for putting it with Boostly. We look forward to seeing you on the next one. That's bye for now.