Compliance and Regulations for STR Hosts

So you're tuning into 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. This is the mini series with myself, Liam Carolan. And this is where we shine the Boostly spotlight on services, people, experts that you need to be aware of if you're in the short term rental space. And today we've got a special guest. We've got Catherine Ratcliffe. She's coming to us from just outside of Tampa in Florida, and she's here to represent her business, which is STR Benefits Consulting. And really just talk about her journey and why that's important. What you're going to get out of this is you're going to get some information that you need to know about some of the regulations, some of the things that you should be aware of in regarding regulations, and also just some good tips and advice. So welcome along. Katherine, thank you for joining us today.

Thank you so much, Lyn. Good to be here.

So, obviously we've said roughly where you are, but if you just let the listeners know exactly where you are and if you give your elevator pitch for your business.

Sure. Yeah. No, I'm coming from Apollo beach, which is just outside of the Tampa Bay area, so kind of between Tampa and Sarasota, right in that little corridor. And yeah, I started STR Benefits Consulting. I've been a large group employee benefits consultant for the last 22 years and so started that journey long before I ventured into vacation rental ownership and management, originally from Canada. And so one of, one of the things that I always tell people is that I, when I moved here, I knew nothing about America. Well, I shouldn't say nothing about America, but I didn't know anything about American benefits, that's for sure. And, and really the geography of Florida either. And so the running joke was always that I spelt CIGNA with an S because I didn't know any differently. And when you come into, you know that, that space of starting a company and getting your first team member and all the rest of it, you know, you're told to decide if you're going to be an LLC or an S Corp and open a bank account and get an accountant and a credit card and that kind of thing, and the education kind of can end there. And so my goal is to help employers bridge that gap in understanding, you know, what sets you apart, to help you recruit and retain the top talent and really serve your team members as the vital resources that they are so that you can grow and scale your organization the way you want to.

And you are going to be speaking about this Averma. I understand that's coming up. And you've also been a member on a few podcasts. Just talk us through that event and what's going on.

Yeah, so I'm going to be speaking, I'm a panelist with Justin Ford and Andrew Bate at the international conference and we're speaking specifically on human trafficking. And, and both from a guest experience, a host and property management experience as well as the employer responsibility here in the US we have a piece of legislation called the Trafficking Victims Protection act which is a 20 year old piece of legislation that really shares that if the employer should have known then the employer can be responsible for civil penalties, that a team member or someone else can file suit against them. So just really talking about some best practices. Obviously nobody wants to associate their vacation rental property with any form of human trafficking, labor or other. And so our goal is to help with some best practices of some things that you can do to keep yourself on the right side of that percent.

And I want to dive more into that in just a moment, but before we do. So have you got your own short term rentals? How did the regulation sort of stuff and the career in that meet STR talk us through that?

Well, I think it's safe to say that nobody loves their insurance agent ever. Right. Maybe in property casualty if they bail you out of something but typically in the benefit side of things it, it's never, you know, this, this loving relationship and although I, I do have clients that, that adore me but they're at the member level. It's, it's often challenging. So my mom had died in 2017 and I sort of had this, you know, she was a nurse everybody loves, you know the, the nurses that they, that are out there and she had a ton of patients and colleagues and that, that, that came to her funeral and it was really, really moving. And I got that settlement letter from the estate talking about like this, this severs your, you know, relationship with the estate. And it just really struck me for my own children about what was going to be my legacy for them. And you know, I, I went out on a whim and bought a beach condo. My husband didn't even go with me because he thought I was so insane and he had an AC guy coming that day. So I, I went off with my middle daughter and bought a beach condo and decided to use it as a short term rental and really fell in Love with what was a similar mission of, you know, helping people have great experiences and understanding the empathy with which, and having been that mom that, you know, fails 51 weeks of the year in the one week you're on vacation, you're just trying to show up and get it right. It was fairly intuitive for me to see the pitfalls of what could make this, you know, better than the last vacation that they had. And so that's really the passion that I, that I moved forward with. And I wanted the kids involved too. So each of my kids are involved in the planning and you know, the guidebooks and all the rest of it. And so from there I grew up from 1 to 2 to 3 to 4. And they're not in the same locations, they're, they're spread out is very different than I think folks that scale in, in a specific geographic area. We, we're in Georgia, we're throughout different parts of Florida. And it's really just sort of our own little trail of what makes sense to each one of the kids and, and, and to me. And so I, I just loved it and I loved the data component. I'm, I'm a data addict. And so looking at, you know, the booking windows and the adrs and all the different things that, that folks can do, it really married up nicely to what was my day job of looking at data and patterns and identifying gaps and looking at how to, you know, improve revenue outcomes. And, and so it just seemed to make sense. And then I decided to, to make vacation rental management my, my full time role. And I just couldn't leave 22 years of knowledge and relationships. As I started to talk to folks in the industry, I recognized there was a deficit between what I did and what they knew how to do. And for the most part it's just because that market is very underserved and it's, it's tough to find the resources and the knowledge and you're so busy growing and, and worrying about all of the other components, the turnovers and all the rest of it, that understanding how an employee assistance program can benefit, you know, your team member and reduce your, you know, your turnover rates and all the rest of it that, that just wasn't even out there for, for anybody. So I felt that I could bring that level of knowledge from the large employer market down at a very customized approach for the short term rental and vacation rental space. Because I think we do take care of our team members in a different way that some of the larger employers actually don't, you know, they're, they're looking for the bare minimum. What do I have to do? Whereas from our space, because those team members are so critical, those boots on the ground are essential to, to making sure that that guest experience is the best that it can be. I think we have a different focus in, in taking care of our team members 100%.

So it sounds like it's been quite a journey going from obviously your existing career and then diving into short term rental. Really getting know, to grips with all the different things that you need to keep track of, to analyze the team is so important, especially because you've got properties which aren't, you know, like on your, in your backyard. These, these are properties sort of all over. Before we dive more into your services, what would you say is, if you could share just one piece of advice for somebody listening who's looking to do that, what would be your piece of advice regarding short term rentals? What should people be tracking and what are some of those patterns that you said you love to dive into?

On, on the actual rental side? I love to look at, you know, the booking windows and the ancillary events that are around and what drives folks to come to the area. You know, a lot of times when people find out where we are, a lot of times they're like, I would never have thought to put something in Ocala. And it's like, well, that's where the equestrian center is and my daughter rides. And that, that's what made sense to me. And so I would say, you know, my, my biggest piece of advice is to never stop listening, never stop learning and growing because there's always something new on the regulatory side, on the benefits side, it's like playing whack a mole. You figure one thing out and then something else changes. And I think that's very true in the vacation rental space too. I think a lot of us have experienced that this last year. You know, they had it figured out last year and then the game changed this year and there's, you know, been more regulation and you know, travel patterns are slightly different. And so understanding those components at a very specific level, when you're talking about taking care of your team, understanding that your team member today is not the same team member from a year ago. Right. Because their life evolves, they've, they've aged, they've had a baby, they've gotten married, they've gotten divorced, like whatever the things are, I have a kid that's getting ready to go to college and so things like identity theft and you know, Legal counseling and things like that are really important to me right now because she was going to go to college. And I always tell people what's the first thing your kid signs up for when they go to college? It's credit cards. And so, you know, teaching them about responsible credit and that they don't always listen to moms and dads because we obviously know nothing. We just are here to pay bills. So helping people understand that there are no stupid questions and somebody has been here before and let them take some of the hard work. My greatest resources have been the folks in this community that have taken the time to help me with sometimes some of the most basic things. I was at the Book Direct show last October and I won a destinationaire award with, with Will and Damian there. And I was sitting at the table trying to do a LinkedIn post and I had a marketing team, I had people that did this for me in my real career and I needed help linking in LinkedIn and it was the dumbest thing, but I was sitting next to John Ann and I asked him for help. And I afterwards, because I didn't know, you know, who everybody was, I felt so stupid that of all the people I asked somebody who's, you know, these tech gurus, but everybody is so giving in this industry and if you just ask the question, people will help you, anybody will help you with any piece of it. And I think that's one of the greatest privileges of working in this industry is that level of support that's out.

There a hundred percent. I also get the vibe from this, is that if, you know, and I read this somewhere, which is if you look after your people, your people will look after your guests. And that definitely comes through from, from this podcast. So let's dive into your services then. So who is it that you specifically help? What kind of hosts, you know, how many units do they tend to have and how do you best serve them?

So there's a, there's a couple of different structures because in this industry you'll have folks that are solopreneurs and then you'll have folks that, you know, have hundreds of employees and everywhere in between. And so there's an option for subscription based model where you can really, if it's just me and I need to understand a medical bill or, you know, I don't really understand what I'm being told, why is my prescription being denied? Like here in the US everybody's had problems with, you know, the, the glucose, like injectable medications because all of the pharmacy management Companies just went through a revamp on that. So if I'm one person and my prescription's being denied and I have no idea why, or I need a life insurance option and there's nobody that's helping me, because if you're one person, what I can tell you is nobody's helping you because there's just not a lot of revenue out there. You can access this and get some help and get some information. But on the larger side of that, if you are, you know, 25 employees, 65 employees, and you maybe have some formation of a benefits program, understanding the good, bad and ugly can be challenging because this is not your core competency. You might have a broker or somebody that's representing you, but you don't really know why things are happening a certain way, why you're being recommended to move. You might not have a full time HR director and you need somebody to help, you know, guide you along on the regulatory stuff. You know, the, one of the biggest ones we touched on before is the human trafficking component. You know, we've gone and everybody thinks of it from, you know, from a sex trafficking perspective. And they say, oh, I, you know, that wouldn't apply to me. And what they don't realize is you might have somebody that is putting folks that are not their actual dependents on the plan. And so dependent verification is very important. You know, you get to that point where you're so proud to be able to offer benefits. And I know for me, transitioning from, you know, being an employee to an employer offering benefits is, is a huge important factor for me. And so I would never want to find out that somebody who added a child that, that wasn't their child, that was actually their trafficking victim. Right. Whether that's on life insurance or what have you. So doing that dependent verification can help clean some of that up. And then also on the labor side, you know, we've gotten to a place where we're so high tech we don't ask for voided checks anymore. And so you really do need a banking letter to say, this is actually Catherine Ratcliffe's bank account and it's not going to my trafficker. And so those little details that are very easy to implement, they're, they don't cost you really anything if you're using a traditional payroll system and it keeps you, you know, safe from any of those regulatory concerns. Non discrimination testing is, is another one. And again, people say, oh, I would never discriminate. And you don't realize that you, by definition, you can end up in a situation where you are discriminating because only individuals of a certain pay rate can afford this benefit. Right? Or even because we're such a virtual industry. You might have folks that say you, you're based in the us but you have a VA in Canada and you can't just stick them on a life insurance plan here in the us that's, that's illegal. You've got to work through some of those things. But you don't know what you don't know. So I'm here as a resource to help with all, all of that. I've curated benefits that I think marry up to our industry specifically and then for folks who just want me to review contracts and provide savings, whether it's on the pharmacy component or even helping them choose a broker. Because sometimes you don't know who the good guys are and who the not so good guys are. And you don't want to be in that situation where you're just being steered for bonus money for a broker that, you know that's, that's not your intention. You're trying to offer a comprehensive program to really help your team members. I mean we, the sense that we all consider them, them family and their families are important to them. So there are very minimal things that you need to do to really demonstrate that and again reduce your, your turnover because that acquisition cost for that team member is so huge, especially with what we do. When you start talking about if they've, you know, if you've enter a quiet quitting situation with your cleaner, that is a huge problem. Right. And you, you want to make sure that everybody feels that culture that you're trying to demonstrate with your brand and that is how you know, one way to do that is within your benefit program.

If you're struggling on how to get direct bookings and overwhelmed on where to start, then I recommend you go and book in a call with Boostly and our team right now. We can walk you through exactly what we're offering, how we can help you and give you a portfolio of websites that we have worked with that are matching not only on niche, but could be in your location as well. Boostly has helped over 2000 hospitality businesses all over the world increase their direct bookings. And if you are interested, then all you need to do is go to Boostly. B O O s t l y.co.uk call and book in an appointment with one of our sales team.

You know what, there's a lot you've touched on there and from somebody I used to Manage a department store. So knowing how important it is, get your employees to buy in and using things like, you know, benefits and programs to be able to help them buy in and take care of them and the people they care about, you're going to get more buy in to take care of your business and, you know, your guests and, and everybody is in a better place. And it's great to hear that. So a couple of questions off the side of that, a very quick one for the people who don't know what quiet quitting is. Can you just elaborate what quitting is?

Sure. So quiet quitting is where you've mentally checked out of the position, but you're still sort of clocking in, so to speak. So you, your supervisor, your employer believes you are still doing your job, but you're doing the most basic format of it. And so with cleaners, that's where you can see things start to, to miss. Sometimes it's just an off day. Obviously people, people have those, but that's where they're just, they're unhappy, but they're going to continue to take the paycheck. And so nobody ever wants to be in that situation because you get the, the absolute bare minimum instead of somebody showing up 110% and truly as vested in the brand as you are when you created this and, and those little, little details. And I think about the parallels for, you know, the services we provide to our guests when we treat our team members the way we treat our guests, you can get that five star feeling back from them. So, you know, you think about organizations like Mount, where, you know, they're thinking of all the different ancillary things that are out there for the guests. A lifestyle benefit can do the same thing. Your team member may not need comprehensive medical insurance, but they'd love a bike, they'd love a gym membership, they'd love, you know, yoga classes. And you can put together something very, very, you know, cost effectively. And when you think about all the things people leave, whether it's, you know, the coffee bars and the waffle bars and all that sort of thing. If you think about that in a similar way with the benefit program and you're talking about 5 to $15 per employee investments, you can change the entire relationship with those team members.

That brings me nicely onto the next question, which is, and you may have shared some of that, you know, some of the advice already, but if there's somebody listening to this, just going, do you know what? I've thought about it for a while, but I am, you Know, I'm quite busy and you know, what would you say is the first step to really changing the, you know, to getting more of a buy in from their staff. And what would you advise is the very first step for them to do?

I would say reach out. Don't go it alone. It's, it's overwhelming. Right. It's a massive world out there. You can certainly do that. But I think if you, if you get in parallel to you, can you go out and, and get a vacation rental property and do all the hard work and learn all the lessons yourself? Sure. But it's, it's a whole lot easier to kind of lean into some of the experts and say, you know, what, what should I do? Because the difference is I can, I can screw up on a rental and cost myself some money. When you start talking about employment regulations, and this is true globally, you can end up with hefty penalties and end up in very, very negative situations if you're trying to go it alone and there's so many resources out there that are, you know, willing to, to lean in and, and help. It's just, you know, depending on your size, you, you may not get the, the best advice if you're, you know, really just getting going. And that's where I would say, you know, reach out and I, I can help walk you through all of that. And, and if I'm not the right fit, I can point you in the right direction.

Cool. And we will be sharing your, your contact details just at the end of the podcast, but before we do, just one other question in the subject you touched on, obviously was the human trafficking. So in the hospitality industry, I mean we traditionally, whether it is you run a restaurant or a short term rental, as many people listening do you need a lot of support staff, whether that's handyman, cleaners, inspection workers, you know, people like that. And also we're dealing with a lot of people who are coming and staying in our properties and we don't get a lot of information always about those as well. So thinking from a human trafficking perspective, is there anything that people listening should be always, you know, checking or doing or at least the basics to try and reduce the chances of, for instance, hiring a cleaning company and actually finding that cleaning company was using people who perhaps, you know, aren't correctly employed and that side of things?

Yep. Yeah, so absolutely. So one of the things we recommend when you're using any kind of third party vendor, right, anything pest control, what have you, is that you do have a clause within your contract where they test that they are not participating in any form of human trafficking. And there is training available in different states and different organizations offer training. And so one of the things we do is we encourage all of our clients to have every team member trained. There is a stigma that it's only this segment of the population that can be affected, but anybody can be a victim. And I think going back to the family side of that, your team members, children, your team members, spouses, your team members, loved ones, they can also be victimized. So the training not just helps in protecting your specific siloed industry, but it helps everyone. Right. And this is not a new problem. Human trafficking has been around for, you know, millennia, since humans. Yeah, since we started. We, it's the most horrific sales cycle is there. And so offering the training is one step. Asking your, your vendors and your partners, your industry partners to go through the training as well. There's, there's no gray on this. Right. You either are against human trafficking or you're not. And so I, I would find it hard to believe it's not a difficult training and you can track it the same way you do any kind of other training. Whether it's, you know, folks that process credit cards that have to, you know, do certain training for that. Um, you know, obviously we, a lot of us do safety trainings and those types of things. You can do a once a year training because the technology changes on how they reach out to people and, and, and that alone is a step in the right direction. Like anything, it's an evolution where if you start here, you can grow to there. And so that's, that's the first thing. Do the training. Ask your vendors to do the training as well.

Brilliant. And I know we've only got a short amount of time. I want to be respectful of, of your time. So just before we share your details, let us know just to change the, the tempo of it. What do you do in your free time? And, and who are the people who you, you spend your time with?

So I'm a mom of three teenage girls and so we are, we're all over the place with them and married. My, my husband Grant and I run this together and I'm a, I, I consider myself a reluctant runner. I do it because my mother in law, Hadley Gehrigs and she was in a wheelchair and my mother was in a wheelchair at the end of her life. So it's very important to me to use my legs while I have them. Dog lover, reluctant cat mom. But I'm there. My Youngest convinced me to do that. And you know, the kids are my passion. They're, they're my legacy. And, and I love them with, with every ounce of my being and would do anything. All of this is, is for them is, is what I consider it. So that's, that's who I spend my time.

A nice way, a nice sentiment to bring things to a close. So. And I do get that your business is about building something obviously with legacy and also solving a problem which is bigger than each of us. And I think it's something that all of us can take away from this, is that if there's something your business that you're passionate about, go and put that into your business. Make sure you're doing things right by the regulations and to reach out to the people who can help you with that. And speaking of which, how can we reach out to you then, Katherine?

So you can reach me at Catherine strbenefitsconsulting.com and my cell phone number, I give that out freely. That's 813-363-3408. It's obviously an American number. So. Yeah.

And should we mention your website as well? There will be a link around the, around this. Did you want to, to announce what that is?

Yeah, that is strbenefitsconsulting.com you can find me there. And I'm all over the socials too. LinkedIn is probably the one I'm most active on.

Thank you so much. So this has been really fun. I know we've only got a short time to share that, but hopefully people have taken away, I've certainly taken away from this. Obviously be more diligent around human trafficking. And although I know your services are based in the US at the end of the day, everybody listening to this, wherever you are in the world, can get something from this. And I thank you for paying attention on the Boostly podcast. If you're somebody who can get value from this, make sure you're sharing this with friends and, and making sure they come and listen to the Boostly podcast as well. Is there any closing things to take us out, Katherine, or any bits of advice or anything that we missed along the way?

No, I thank you so much for the opportunity. I think the biggest thing is to, to listen and to reach out and don't be afraid to make friends industry wide.

Thank you so much for your time. We'll see you on the next one.