Expert Tips From Hospitable Host: Laura Muse

Welcome to the best hospitable hosts interview that you are going to see today. My name is Mark Simpson and I'm joined by the fantastic Laura Mewes. And we are going to find out all about Laura, her business as a hospitable host and about the upcoming book. So firstly, can you let us everybody know who you are, how you got started and where we are right now.

So, Laura Mewes, I'm based in Sheffield. I have fabulous holiday lets in the Peak District. I got started in hospitality by accident as I know a lot of people do. We're property investors and developers and have been for the past nine years. And then after the C word Covid, as a young family with dogs, children, we just really struggled to find somewhere that had a five star luxury feel. We always had to compromise on some kind of amenity because we've got dogs or kids. So we thought, well, we're in property, seen this massive mansion, let's go buy it and turn it into a holiday let and underestimated the hospitality side of it. So it's been an interesting roller coaster.

So when did you purchase and where are we right now?

We purchased, we got the keys for Oxloor Grange that we sat in in January 2022 and then we got our second one June 22nd. And what are we now? 24. January 24th.

So two years later.

Yeah.

What have you learned in two years?

Oof. You're on call 24 hours a day.

I'm joking.

What have I learned? I do love what I do, but I've learned that to do this well, it's not a job, it's not a 9 to 5, it is a lifestyle. It is not investment strategy.

Okay, let's talk about the good, the bad and the ugly. So two years in of being a hospitable host compared to the life before, what has been the most enjoyable aspect of this business? This, this part of the industry?

Well, can I have two things?

Yeah.

Okay, so we, so, so our holiday homes, we've done all the interior design, we've renovated them. So I love that part of the process. Like, and you'll see going to this house, fox log range or candle house, there's a colour theme, but every room's unique and so people can come back time and time again and get a different feel. So I love that part of it and really for me is the reviews when people have left and you've imprinted like they've had memories for a lifetime, like there's no other industry you can really do. That in where people come back and it's a feeling when you walk in. It's not, obviously it's an exchange of money, but it's something that'll last forever.

Creating memories.

Yeah, it's something special.

Okay, so we've got the good. What's the bad?

Cleaners. I hope they're not around. Obviously you do get really difficult at guests, but there, I'd say like 1% and it's how you manage that. But my biggest learning curve is managing staff because we don't use external companies anymore. Obviously here there's 15 bedroom, 14 bathrooms. It makes no sense for me to use an external company. So we hire. And managing people's egos and expectations is something I try to navigate. I'm quite a strong character myself, so I have to sometimes have a little word of myself before I enter them interviews or the meetings that we have.

Let's talk about the secret sauce. So you've come at this and the reason why you bought this property, the reason why you started doing this, because you, you're scratching your own itch, so to speak, you can find a property that catered to your needs, family pet friendly, near the Peaks, and you've brought that into this. So what would you say is your secret sauce? What do you feel that you're doing that maybe others in Buxton or Derbyshire aren't.

I think how it actually looks is different to a lot of other places in the Peak District. When we were looking for luxury in the Peak District, there was very limited amount of properties we could compare to. But we are really big on working with other local businesses, so we try and connect our guests with other local experiences, local suppliers and things like that. So we want people to come and spend the money here in the Peak District and stay spending it here, not going off to Alton Towers, like Alton towers is like 20 minutes away from here. So I'm really big on that. I've started a podcast, which is the Peak District podcast, which is enabling people like myself, a holiday home host, to speak to bigger businesses like the Heights of Abraham, like the Crescent Experience, when, let's be honest, really they wouldn't normally speak to me because I have holiday lets and it's just really opened some doors. Like we've got a partnership with Buxton Opera House and I think that's what makes us special and we go above and beyond for us guests.

I feel if you were to sort of go back to your December 2021 and you could just have a little tap on Laura's shoulder from 2021 and say this is the one thing that you need to make sure you do. What would that be?

It would have the right PMS to start with. I think like right tech. I've been through three lots. I'm not even two years in. Like it's literally mind blowing. And researching it properly, not just taking people's opinions because everybody's business is completely different.

Yeah.

So having a tech and having a proper direct booking website. I'm not saying like she sat here but obviously, you know, it's my third one. Third one. So researching the tech for what I think I need the business to run like was. Has been extremely painful for me. I'm not gonna lie.

Also as well, you need to do it as in you look into the future as well.

Yeah.

So if you're. It's very easy to make decisions on where your business is right now, as in starting off. But your business, you've got to look like for two years down the line, if you're planning on having one property and one property only then, then sound. But if your business is going to grow, you need to be looking that far down the line. It's not like making the bigger budget now, but it's thinking about where you need to be because then future you will. Thank you. No.

And especially like if you want to like manage other people's properties etc. Whereas we don't want to do. We don't want to use that model as is. We would buy and run them ourselves.

Yeah.

But like the first lot of software just didn't even have them. Capabilities like. Well, as we all know, it was very antiquated.

I've got five questions that we've been asked from the team at Hospitable House and I'm going to ask you them one by one. So the first one, what is the one thing that belief sets you apart from other hosts when guests stay with you?

A feeling when they walk through the door.

Nice. That is quick fire. Okay, number two, what is your favorite amenity that most of your guests give you? Great feedback on?

The brass baths. We have freestanding brass baths. Personally, I don't like them because they're a bit cold, but everyone loves them.

I'll give you my top tip on this.

Go on. You did.

Yeah.

Do you want to share? I might put that in my guest book.

So before you get in a brass bath, get a shower first because then you get into a brass bath. If your body normal temperature, you get in it, your top half is freezing. It feels a Bit weird on the brass. You get a shower, get nice and wet and you get in and it's absolutely fine. So when you've traveled, what has been your most memorable experience as a guest?

Me And James did 21 holidays in one year. Like it were a bit nuts. We haven't been on one since. No, I'm joking.

Is this before kids?

This is before kids. So we went to the Maldives and the thing I loved about the Maldives was nothing was a problem. Anything you asked for was there.

Yeah.

Not like nothing was an issue. And I find I found a lot of places that we've gone over the years. Like things are a problem if they're not pre booked or like they literally would just bend over backwards for you. And they were just the nicest people. Like we even started texting one after for a while. Like, do you want to come live in England? But just they're just. And they're so relaxed. And that's what we try to do at our holiday homes is nothing's a problem. We can try and cater for any situation or anything that you need because I think that's what truly makes makes.

You stay in the year of 21 holidays, which is amazing in itself.

Never to be repeated.

Never to be repeated. But that's like two holidays a month. What from there was the best memory that you've had as a guest yourself? You can talk about the Maldives or anywhere else. What's the best memory that you've taken with you from being a guest diving in the Maldives?

So when we went to the Maldives, it rained for 10 days constantly. But luckily me and my husband are not. We don't sunbathing. We probably can do it for three hours and then we're bored. So we literally like dive three times a day for 10 days. And it was awesome. Like the stuff we saw room it. And when I went, I actually couldn't dive. So I learned to dive there. I mean probably the best place in the world to learn to dive. And then we saw these Hughes manta rays and I remember sat at the bottom and James had a cold. He was fuming. So he couldn't even go diving. So we're on my own. And these big manta rays were like swooping. Yeah, that's a feeling. And yeah. That I'll never ever forget.

Nice. Final question. What is your number one secret to being a successful hospitable host?

Offering as guests unique experiences. Nothing's a problem. And just trying to elevate their stay and make it as easy as possible. For them, so probably a few things there.

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.