Growing together through STR

Hey, everybody, and welcome to the Boostly Podcast. This is the podcast that gives hosts the tactics, the tools and the training, and most importantly, the confidence on how you can get more direct bookings. My name is Liam Carolan. I'm Mark Simpson's co host and today we are going behind the host of another successful and interesting host who is going to share some tips and some story on how their business got started so you can implement some of the tips into your business and we can all grow together, which is cool. So today we've got Zev and Melissa Forrest from Xenia Stays. They've come all the way from. I know it's virtual, but I still like to say they've come all the way from California, near la. And welcome to the Boostly Podcast. Zev and Melissa, how are you doing today?

Thank you so much for having us. We're really excited to be here and really just honored to be able to share some of our knowledge with all of your viewers.

Yeah, we're big fans of Boostly, big fans of Mark, and it's a pleasure being on the, on the podcast with you guys. And you as well, Liam.

Hey, I'm looking forward to seeing what you guys share today. And I always pick up bits of knowledge and learn myself, so it's going to be really cool. So, Melissa, let's start with yourself. If you can tell us obviously where in the world we know where you are, but where is your properties? What does your business look like, how many units you manage and who do you host? What kind of guests?

Okay, Liam, so right now we're actually sitting in unit number 11. We're in the middle of finishing this unit up. And all of our units are located in Southern California, around la, the outskirts of Los Angeles. And where we are in our business is we're in a part of our business where we're no longer just saying that we're Airbnb. We have started our direct booking website and really? Yes. And it's honestly all thanks to Mark. We were at an event last year where Mark gave a talk and it really hit home for us and we came home and started that direct booking site and started promoting ourselves as Xenia Stays, not Airbnb or just str. So we're really just fine tuning all of our operations, rebuilding our brand and yeah, we're in a really good place.

That's really cool. We love to hear that. And if every host, you know, if we can help a million hosts really get started on their book Direct Journey, then we're doing our job. So Zev, take me back to before the hospitality business Xenia started. What were you doing and how did you both get started in this industry?

Sure. Yeah, it's, it's, you know, it's, it's actually kind of a love story that I'm going to treat you guys through here. So before we started in the hospitality industry, Melissa and I both were working. We were working in real estate at a large international brokerage firm, commercial real estate firm. And that's where Melissa and I met. We met there in the kitchen and cooking eggs in a microwave. But we met there and, and then we were both selling commercial real estate. Melissa was selling apartments, I was selling retail properties. And Melissa said, hey Zev, there's this free workshop on how to start an Airbnb. Why don't we go take a look and see what they got? And I'm really interested in that business. So I was a little hesitant at first and then I said, okay, why not? Let's see what it is. And that's really changed the course for us ever since that free workshop. We started getting a lot more interest into the short term rental space, specifically Airbnb at that time. And then what happened was is the workshop then turned into a paid weekend event and they were teaching us how to buy properties and short term rent them and ideally buy a property and redo, let's say like the garage or add an attached adu so you have two listings under one mortgage. And then we went out, we did that, we bought our first property and we saw that it really worked and it worked well in the middle of nowhere where no one would really vacation. You know, it was just in such a suburban area. And then what happened was, I think we went and we started doing more research online about short term rentals and specifically the rental arbitrage space so that we could really pick up more units with, with a little bit amount of money. And then we got another unit. And then eventually, long story short, Melissa was able to quit selling real estate. And you know, being in the office from 7am to to 9pm When I was an agent, I then became a manager of the office. They offered me the position to become manager of the office. But then Covid hit three months later and they had to let me go, which was a blessing in disguise for me. And we realized that we can actually both focus together on the short term rental business and it will cover our expenses at that time and we can grow the business. We don't have to work as real estate agents anymore and we've been growing it ever since 2020.

Yeah. Let me, let me just add this was when we went to that workshop was in 2017 and we bought our first property in 2018 and we were just dating then. Now we're married.

That's amazing. So first of all, I love how you've turned like adversity into a good thing. You know, the loss of the job actually spurred you on in the business. But I know people are going to be listening to this. Obviously Melissa and Zev, you work together, you're in the day to day operational needs of the business. So how do you cope with that? Working with your partner? Any advice or tips that you can share to make that work? Because I know if me and my other half worked together, we'd end up probably killing each other, to be honest.

So we hear that a lot. Truly. I think number one is we truly respect, respect each other and our own individual knowledges. We're very different people. The way I think is very different than he thinks. He's very analytical, numbers driven and he's amazing in sales. I'm more hospitality design, you know, running the operations. So we just sat down together and we analyzed, you know, what, what are you going to focus on and what am I going to focus on? And we're going to stay in each other's lanes. So I'm not going to overstep, you know, any decision he makes that has to do with acquisitions or analyzing any deals and he doesn't overstep in anything that has to do with, with whatever I take care of. So we really just admire each other, we respect each other and.

Yeah, yeah. Well, I, I think what was really important was the prerequisite to working together. What really helped was working on our mindset, working on personal development, working on building a business mindset too. And, and as well as just getting to know each other personally, that really strengthening our relationship behind the scenes of the business really helped. Before going full, full, full speed ahead in the business so that we, we learned how to give each other feedback and how to take feedback both on the personal side which then trickled down into the business side, giving each other feedback. Like if I had some feedback on the design, which I do a lot. She doesn't, she doesn't, you know, tell me to go away and let me handle this. We, we know how to do that with each other and I get it that a lot of people can't work together, especially live together, let alone. Right. So I think what has really strengthened our relationship both, it's Symbiotic. Working together has strengthened our personal relationship and working together has also, in strengthening our personal relationship has then strengthened our business relationship. It's, you know, it kind of works together that way, which was a blessing as well.

Yeah. And I want to add, so he did mention that it starts with mindset. We did do a lot of self development work together for which was a program that was over a year where we really got to see each other rawly and really learned about each other, our weaknesses and our strengths and, and just learn how to communicate with each other which is really important. We don't make things personal. Right. It's just if we are going to give each other feedback, it's just feedback and it's nothing personal.

And lastly, Liam, I think that knowing what our values are, agreeing on our values and knowing that we're trying to reach the same goals as each other, we're in alignment with our goals and our values. Working together towards that goal and with keeping those values is really what creates a good foundation for both the business and in the home.

I completely agree. You know that like you say, the values is so important and actually we're going to name this growing together through hospitality because that's exactly what you've both done there, which is, is an amazing, amazing story and, and heartwarming to hear. At the end of the day that is the, the mindset stuff I'd like to dive into. But just before we do, what skills would you say are the most transferable skills from your, your background which was in a similar area? I guess property. But what was the transferable skills that you brought with you that are really important now when hosting in short term rentals. And Zev, if we start with yourself and then go over to Melissa.

Sure. So the first thing that comes to mind, I don't know if it's, it's so, so to hosting. So because my background in our business is acquisitions, getting more properties, whether that's through buying more or are we doing arbitrage or reaching out for co hosting. So I have a very big sales background. So what's helped me in growing our business has been the sales background, learning how to negotiate, learning how to speak with people, learning how to overcome objections or being able to provide solutions to people's problems. I guess that also could work with hosting as well. We really take a look into what people, the feedback that they give us, the problems that they have and we try to cater to their needs as well to our guests.

Yeah. And I want to add so where we Used to work. We used to make about 100 cold calls a day. Okay. Like, and we were there working 12 hours a day. So something that I took away from that, in addition to the sales aspect and knowing how to, you know, talk to clients and talk to prospects is just the hustle. Working hard and knowing how to be a problem solver in the moment. Right. Because whenever we had a deal that we were working on, anything could happen during the escrow process. But we were supposed to be able to problem solve things really quickly. And that's something that we were able to use for this business.

Yeah. And being a broker, being an agent between a seller and a buyer, you have to know how to mediate things. You have to know how to. It's almost like customer relations and communication. You have to know how to handle speaking to a buyer and speaking to a seller and having them meet in the middle and, and agree on something. And that's almost like what we do with hospitality. We have to cater to the, to our guests and we have to make sure that we can, we can meet them in the middle with what we provide and with what they get. Obviously we come from a stance where we want to over deliver and under promise for them. So I guess that also is something.

That's a good point.

I mean, that all makes sense. And those transferable skills, like you say, being confident to pick up the phone to people is something that we talk about at Boostly. Just be confident, talk to your guests. You know, this is a people to people business. Most businesses are, aren't they? And it is something which is so important to have the confidence by. It sounds like by picking up that phone so many times a day that's, that's enabled you to be able to get more clients for co hosting or arbitrage, but also then to have the confidence to, to host and those interpersonal skills which are just so important in hospitality.

Quick break from the podcast to let you know that the two Boostly books that we brought out, the book Direct Playbook and the book Direct Blueprint, are two of the top rated and the best selling in the hospitality category on Amazon for just two pounds. You can grab both of those books. Right now. The foundations and the structures that you need to put in place is in the Blueprint and then for 101 marketing tactics, that is in the Playbook. So go and grab a copy on Amazon now just type in Book Direct Playbook or the Book Direct Blueprint and we'll see you on the other side.

So that brings me on to the next question. And normally, if there's one guest on the show would normally just say, you know, what tips would you have for a host who's getting started and particularly for yourself? What I'd love to know is the operational, you know, the Airbnb setup side of things. But first, Zev, I'm going to go to you because you mentioned that you're the person who's doing the analyzing and finding the deals and also finding hosts to co host. So I'm going to make it more specific for yourself, which is what advice would you have for somebody who's looking to get started with more co hosting, more rental arbitrage, how can they find these leads and what have you done in your business, which somebody else may be able to emulate?

Sure. So I'm going to speak more so to the arbitrage side, because that was a bigger strength of ours. So I guess would you want to say like the steps to it or how would you want to go about that?

Yeah. If you was to break it down to, I know it's never as simple as a few steps, but break it down to a few steps that somebody would be able to follow.

Of course, that's fine. So you want to make sure that you first want to see where you want to start the business. And we typically say that you want to start your first property within an hour, maybe two hours max, but more so an hour drive from where you are if the city allows it. So the first step you want to do is, is take a look at the city that you're in, take a look at the neighborhoods, take a look at the communities within an hour, within an hour drive. And you want to go on Airbnb. Well, first and foremost, you want to go onto the city website and you want to check the ordinance. It's very, very important because everything you do thereafter, if you don't check the short term rental ordinance first, you will be wasting all of your time thereafter, everything you do after that. So first make sure check, gather the local ordinances for all the cities within an hour around you. Okay. Then after you get those down, you can then do a process of elimination because most likely some of them won't really be friendly for short term rentals, but the friendly ones, then you're going to go and look at those and take a look at the numbers. And a lot of seasoned hosts or people that are invested in this business go look at like Air DNA or Price Labs data, but you don't really need that to get started you can just go straight onto Airbnb.com and you can take a look at the properties within the community that you're looking at. And you want to look at the reviews. So you want to see, you know, how much demand is there. And we could judge that based on reviews of all the properties. So if each property around there has about, call it an average of 30, 40 reviews, that must mean they've had about 60, 80, 100 people stay at their property, give or take. And now you say, okay, great, so there's some demand. There's. Then you want to go in and see what their calendar looks like on each of those properties for a month or two months out. If the following month, let's say we're looking today December 1st, and we want to look at for the whole month of December. If the month is, let's say, I'd say 50% or 75% booked, then it's a fairly great property, it's doing well. So you want to average out all the properties you're gathering and making sure that they have a somewhat booked calendar. After you do that, go on websites that have properties for lease. So out here we have zillow.com, apartments.com, hotpads.com and I always say treat this process now as if you're going out looking to rent a property yourself, just like you were going to go and move into a property and you look at all the properties and you start calling all the leasing agents or the property owners or the property management companies and you want to go and start pitching your business. And you know, without getting into the whole pitch, you want to show them like that you are a, what you plan to do with the property, you know, what kind of, what kind of business that you operate and the guarantees that you're going to give them and the solutions that you'll provide and how you differentiate yourself between running your business out of their property versus a traditional long term tenant. You want an example of?

Yeah, like what's the benefit for the landlord?

Oh, what's the benefit? Okay, so some benefits for the landlord for why we would want to, why they would want to have us as their tenant are number one, we keep their property in pristine force. We call it a for sale condition at all times. So sometimes I get objections from the landlord that say, oh, there's going to be a lot of wear and tear on my property because you're going to have a lot of people coming and going. Well, first of all, even if I was a Long term renter, I can have as many people as I want coming and going. So that's kind of, that's kind of pointless. But I always say, hey look, a long term tenant has no obligation to even dust the place. They have no obligation to do anything to your home to keep it in a clean condition. It's really up to the, up to them what they want to do with it and how they want to give it back to you at the end of their lease. Because if they want to forfeit their security deposit that they gave you for such things, then so be it. But us as a short term rental business operator, whether it's a vacation rental or whether it's corporate housing, we are required to keep the property in a pristine condition. If there is a so much as a hair on the floor, it could be detrimental to our business. So imagine what kind of condition we are going to keep your property in at all times, Mr. Landlord or Mrs. Landlord.

Right?

So that's one thing we say for what's a really good benefit and I.

Mean just talking about that benefit when, when landlords say that, and I found it myself, I do rental arbitrage or rent to short term rental as we know over here, or rent to sa in some places, um, when we go to the landlord and they often say hey, you know, it's going to get, it's going to get used more than a home. And I'm like, well wait a minute, when somebody's living in a house, they're there a hundred percent of the time now in a short term rental, let's be absolutely honest, we don't get 100% occupancy. So actually already it's got less wear and tear most of the time than if it was a long term, you know, long term let. So that's really cool. One thing that I've really picked up on, Zev there as well is even as you've explained that to us here on the podcast and is it's the tonality and the confidence and that's, that's part of that sales which is coming in. I've, I've had, you know, friends and people who are looking to do what, what we do, you know, rental arbitrage and that. And sometimes you can just hear when they're talking to people, they're not conveying the right tones. You know, it is, you can say the message but you've also got to say it in the right way to get that, get that result, haven't you? From clients. Which really comes across yeah, yeah, of course.

Confidence is key and it's, it's said easy, done hard. So every time you tell people you got to be confident, right. And it just comes down to practice. You know, I don't expect someone that I'm, that I'm coaching or someone that I'm talking to and teaching them how I run this business or how to go out and get properties to just have wake up and have confidence one day, right? You got to go out there and you got to practice, you got to fall over and you got to want to fall over. You have to, you can't just expect to do it right the first, second or third time. You got to go out there and fall over as many times as you can and rush to fall over because you know that the more you fall over, the more you do something wrong, you're going to get better at it. You can't go into the gym and lift a hundred pounds, right? Curl 150.

Yeah.

It's all the reps, right. So the confidence comes with practice and experience.

And rejections.

And rejections, yeah.

Getting used to handling rejection is so important. So, Melissa, now coming across to yourself, once somebody's obtained their short term rental arbitrage, co hosting however they're doing it, or purchasing their first one, um, what are the steps that somebody could take to really be successful when setting up the operations side of things?

Before just talking about our operations, I do want to really, really tell everyone on here that as you're starting this business, make sure that you're putting a lot of love into the design and really not lacking on the investment for comfort places such as the couches, the beds, the bedding and the pillows. That's something that it we learned the hard way. When we first started, we were cheaping out on getting the cheapest couch, the cheapest beds, right? But that really reflected in our reviews and now we've been super hosts for five years back to back and we've got an amazing feedback on our comfort and our design, especially where short term rentals are going. Now we're getting more professional host people that are really investing into their design. So if you're really going to go into this, make sure that you're looking at all the hosts in your area, look at the designs and look at how you could stand out, how you could do better, how you could design something even more beautiful without forgetting about who your guest avatar is. So two things. You're designing to be better than your competition and you're designing for your guest avatar So I just wanted to put that out there. Something that we talk about a lot.

And 100%, if, if you buy, if you buy cheap, you buy twice. As I say over here. And it's so important. Like you say, the comfort side of things is just, it's got to be on point because that's what people are paying for a good night's sleep. You know, at the end of the day is, is the, the minimum I'd expect if I was staying somewhere.

Right. And the, the more beautiful your design is and the higher quality, the more you could charge and the better guest avatar you get staying at your place as well. So it's a win, win.

And then moving forward to the operational side of things. So they've, they've got their place, they've put in the quality bedding, you know, a nice quality sofa, you know, maybe even a bean bag or two. You know, that's nice. Key things which are unique for that kind of guest avatar. What would you say around the setup of, of the operations? Is there any kind of, any kind of things to make it easier for people when they first set up a short term rental?

Yeah. So one thing that really would help out is creating a checklist. You want to create a checklist for your cleaners and in this checklist you're including pictures of how your staging looks for each area of your house in order to create consistency each and every single time. So when your cleaner gets there, she goes down through the checklist and then submits it to you along with the pictures that she took at the end of the turnover of the home. Because a lot of times, and this is something again, we learn the hard way, where we didn't have consistency in our homes. We had a cleaner come and then we will receive feedback from a guest that, oh, maybe there was hairs right next to the toilet in a bathroom, but we didn't see pictures. So now we created a process where we created a checklist and then we have the cleaners do a final inspection where in that final inspection she's able to do a walkthrough and send us pictures of how she left everything. So this is really important to do. And, and then also you want to make sure that you're not thinking of this business as just Airbnb. Of course, we're in Mark's podcast right now, which is all about direct booking. But if I could look back and wish I could do something different, was not thinking that we were just Airbnb and started building our direct booking site and Direct booking contacts right from the beginning. So what we do now is that in our messaging with Airbnb, I have a link that I created. I created a link with Jotform, where guests, upon confirming they're able to click on the link, and then I give them the option that if they want to be, you know, added to our list of contacts to give us our email. And then once they do, then we start building our direct booking website. So you want to start thinking about building your contacts right from the beginning as well. And. And know that just being on Airbnb is not enough. You also want to be in different platforms and also, of course, with the focus on having your dye working website. And. Am I missing anything? So I think.

I think what would be really nice is it's just to tell them, like, so right after, like, we get a signed lease from a landlord, right to arbitrage, what do we do? We go in and we start putting tape on. What you taught me. I didn't know anything about design. You taught me a mood board. What's the next.

This sounds good. What is that? Putting tape on the floor. This is. I've not heard this before. Okay.

Yeah, that's really good. So when we first lock in a lease and we walk into a space, we're trying to create a space that's gonna really create a beautiful energy for our guests. So the tape that he's talking about is where we created the layout. First step is creating a layout before you could even start creating the design. And if we're going to host six people, we need to have a couch that's going to comfortably fit six people. So many times I see listings out there that the gap that say that they host 10 people. Then I look at their pictures and look at their couch, and it looks like it's only for four people.

Right?

So we start creating a layout with tape. So I start gathering different options of couches and look at the measurements. And then I start putting tape, just painters tape on the floor and outlining the size of the couch so that we could start forming the space and seeing where the dining table is going to go and what couch is going to fit better for the layout. And then the second step that I do, once I know what the layout is going to be, then I create a mood board. So what is a mood board? A mood board is something that I go onto Pinterest and I create. I type in the design that I'm looking for. So. So let's just say it's rustic. Or modern or transitional. You could type in the any name of the design. And you put mood board. After that, Pinterest will start showing you mood boards, which is pretty much, let's just say we have the bedroom mood board. It shows you the bed, the desk, and how to stage it according to the design. And then you start using that for inspiration. So when you start shopping for these furnitures, you just, you're looking at a picture, so you're not getting off the grid, right? You have pictures of each folder of each area of your house. You know what sizes you need because you created, you know, the outlets and the measurements on your floor, and you know, the color palettes that you're going to focus on. You don't want to get all crazy with your colors, right? You want to make sure that you stick to a color palette and you just follow your mood boards that you create on. On Pinterest. If you want to take it to the next level, which now I do, is then I go on PowerPoint and I start actually, the furniture that we're buying, I start putting it together in a picture. So I copy and paste a picture of a couch I posted on a PowerPoint page and then the rug so that I could see how it's coming together.

If you're struggling on how to get direct bookings and overwhelmed on where to start, then I recommend that 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 your 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 tly co.uk call and booking an appointment with one of our sales team.

I. I feel like there's been a 101 on, you know, how to get started. This is like a course for people, you know, but that is, it's true, all these little tips and, you know, just to break down a couple of those for people who, you know, may miss some of these important gems on there, which is by taping it out on the floor, you know, if you're hosting, say, 10 people, you know, if you've got space for 10 people around a dining room table, if you've got space for them on the couch, and that is so important because if your listing can Host that many people, you. You better make sure you can really accommodate these people, because that's how you keep your reviews up, isn't it? And how more people then, hey, that was a great place. It had literally everything we need. The other one you mentioned there was using mood boards and that top tip of using PowerPoint. I myself have used that where, like you say, you can easily then either download images, cut out the backgrounds, and actually put the furniture on. On the backgrounds, can't you? So it's really awesome. And that's a trick which we've learned from a previous guest that we had on here, and she's an interior designer who does it is Fabian Myler, her name is. And yeah, very good at what she does. But when it comes down to once you've sourced your place and you do these tips, all of this stuff is actionable advice. And this is exactly why we do behind the Host sort of podcast, because if you're new to hospitality, you may miss some of these awesome tricks and tips or like I did, learn from the mistakes after the first one. And then, you know, you lose a bit of ground, don't you? So you mentioned a piece of technology which I absolutely love. Jotform is amazing. And you mentioned you use that to collect the data from your guests. Is there any other tech within your business? What would you say is your favorite piece of tech and why?

Yeah, so we are using a PMS system now. So this is so hard for us to believe that we function without a PMS system for the first four years of our business. We now use Gatsby. But what I want to reiterate here is the importance of really creating templates that are part of your automated messages, but that don't sound like robotic. Right. You always want to make sure that you talk to the guests, always using their first name, even when you're creating your automated messages. Not just hello, you want to say hello, Liam. Right. And in part of that, we have a process of automated messages that we've created that really have made it, this business a lot easier and automated to do. And so when we first get a guest that confirms their booking with us, they get the first automated messages, which is the confirm booking message. Here's where we say thank you for choosing to stay with us. And this is where we really show our gratitude to our guests in choosing to stay with us. And. And then this is where we include the job form as well. And then this is where we open it up to them that they could always reach out to us for any questions that they have. And then the second message that they receive is obviously the, the check in information. And one thing that we've really created that has been really transformative for us is a very detailed check in process. So we use Google Docs for this. And so common sense is not common. Right. So in order to eliminate a lot of those questions regarding your check in, we use pictures where we create a step by step check in process. And it's like, it's very as simple as like step one. Yeah. On a Word document on Google Docs so we could share that link with them. But is as clear as like, this is the street that you're going to be turning on. We take a picture of that. This is the house from the front. And then we show them the lock. You're going to press this on the lock. And we're very detailed in that check in process. And we have received a lot of positive feedback from that and it's really eliminated all the questions we used to get before that because again, common sense is not common. So you really want to make sure that you're as detailed as possible when you share the check in messages from your guests. And then throughout the stay we have different touch points with the guests. And these are again, automated messages that are sent to the guests through our platform getsea that we have set up. And we check in with them right after they check in just to make sure that everything went well. And if they have any questions, they could reach out with us and then we check in with them again the next morning.

But I want to say if you're, if you're just starting out, you don't need guesty.

Yeah.

You don't need a PMS if you are just starting out. And you, and you, and you put your property on Airbnb, they have automated messages that you can use. And so to, to cover all of that, you could, you could do that on, on Airbnb if you don't, if you're not running multiple properties.

Yeah.

If I can fit one piece of tech in that I think is just so important. And it's, I think it's, it's pretty simple and it would seem common sense to me right now, but it wasn't common sense to me at the beginning was having a keypad lock that you can control from anywhere in the world. We used to have keypad locks that you couldn't control. You can only control when you're actually standing in front of and pressing buttons. So make sure we use The I think it's pronounced schlog in code lock. If it's available, it's pretty in high demand. But make sure that you have a keypad lock that you can control from anywhere. You can unlock and lock from anywhere, you can troubleshoot from anywhere. And you can add and delete different codes that you use for a plumber, for a handyman, for your guests, for your cleaners. It's very, very important and it's helped.

Us many times I've heard. Is that the one which will put the last digits of their phone number, you can even have the last digits of their phone number for check in.

Yeah, that's programming that way for sure. You can even program it down to, to only work at a certain time on a certain date and then through a certain time for a certain date. So if you want, if you really want to get nitty gritty about it, you want them to check in on Saturday at 4pm the lock will only work starting at that time. They check out on Sunday at 10:00amit will work up until 10:00am yeah.

So one thing I'd love to ask that sounds like you guys are really on top of the operations, the tech side of things of your business. Is there anything at the moment that you're researching or testing currently in your business and why?

That's really good question.

Oh, well, we actually just got the property that we're in right now. We are, it's our first pool property. So we are really trying. There's nothing that we're testing at the moment. Stay tuned for part two of this interview. But we're gonna, we're doing some research on some tech devices that will help regulate the heat of the pool and how to track. Because out here at least what we, what we've been told is that the per day cost of heating a pool can get pretty, pretty pricey. So we're kind of discussing between each other whether or not we want to bake that into the nightly rate, the cost of heating the pool, or if we want to charge guests a nightly rate, a daily rate to, to heat the pool as well. We know colleagues that do both. So there are. Depending on the heating system that you have in your pool, there are certain devices that you can use to control remotely from around the world and track if the heat has been turned on and if it hasn't been turned on. So we're going to do that for sure.

Yeah. And just to add. So I guess we could just talk about what is our tech stack look like right now. And so he mentioned we have the smart lock, swatch lock encode. We use minit. Right, Minit.

Yeah, Minit Minute.

It's pronounced minit minute.

I call it minute.

Which is our noise wearer device system. And then we also have, we prefer to have, let's see, oh my God, the nest. We prefer to have Nest systems on all of our homes so that we could also control how, you know, low our guest puts the temperature in, in the home and tech stack right in there.

You know, we're always looking for a new tech and ideally I think the priority for me, for the, for the tech is that I can control it from anywhere. Yes, because we don't want to if there's a, if there's an issue with the dishwasher even. And I've heard some people that have the ability to remote control the dishwasher or the washer and dryer. And like Melissa mentioned, common sense isn't common. We like to always break things down for the guests like as if you were explaining it to a three year old. So depending on the guests that we have, if the dishwasher wasn't working for some reason it could be an easy thing like pressing a self wash. And if we can do that from our phone. I would love that.

I'd love that as well. I mean tech is so important, like you say in any of the businesses, but particularly in hospitality because it's not like a hotel where you can just nip down to the room or like motel. You've got to be able to solve these problems from afar. And certainly Manute, the one that you mentioned there is controlling the noise level, isn't it? It'll monitor the noise level so you'll know if guests are having partied or how many people on the WI fi. And the other one you mentioned was Nest, which there's one across here in the UK which is Inspire Home automation. I use Nest myself in one and all these kind of things will just allow you. So when you cleaners are finished cleaning and you might have a day gap, you can just switch off the heating. So you just know that you're not costing yourself too much money as. Awesome, isn't it? So we could really deep dive in and I love talking to you both. I really feel your passion for the business and also how good the technology has been for yourself to allow the business to grow. And that kind of balance I'm really feeling from, you know, each of your personal skills of, you know, one really bringing on more clients, one doing the operations and that sort of things, but also bringing that together with, with all awesome tech as the foundations of the business as we reach towards the end of these. We love to do normally a quick fire round, but I figured that as there's two of you we could do. There's a game across here in the UK called Mr. And Mrs. I don't know if you've got it across there, but instead it's going to be a slight tweak that basically. So there's a few questions here and I'll come to Melissa first. No, sorry, I'll come to Zev first and we're going to ask a question based on Melissa's preferences and then she can agree.

Or the wedding game.

Yeah, absolutely. It's a bit like that. So yeah, first question is what is Melissa's favorite travel destination?

Oh, it is right now. Mexico.

Mexico, Is that right, Melissa? It is Amazing. So yeah, you score a point. There's no prizes for this, just for fun. But Melissa, what is Zev's least favorite job to do in and around short term rental and hosting?

Communication.

Yes. Awesome. Is Melissa. Question for Zev, obviously. Is Melissa a morning person or a night owl or somewhere in between or would she describe herself as one evening. Evening person for sure. Okay. Melissa, would Zev describe himself as an extrovert or an introvert?

Introvert.

Agree.

Yes, I agree 100%.

Awesome. Okay Zev, so what celebrity would Melissa most like to host in the short term rentals?

That's a good question.

They get a little bit harder.

Yeah, they are getting a little bit harder. Who does she like to host most? Maybe Mark from Boosley.

Celebrity. Do you know what he's gonna love? I'm gonna tell him.

Okay.

Celebrity. Okay.

I don't know.

Enrique Iglesias.

Oh, nice. Melissa looks surprised about that. What would your answer be, Melissa?

Oprah.

Oprah. Ah, brilliant answer. Yeah, superb. That'd be one of the people I'd love to have a sit down dinner with. You know the classic.

Yeah, Oprah.

Amazing. And for Melissa, similar type of question. But what musician or band would Zev most like to host in the short term rentals?

Primus.

Primus. Yeah. Ah, nice. Yeah, very nice. Yeah, love that. Okay, and the last question that we always finish on is, is there a motto or a mantra that you both either believe in or like to live by?

There's a lot, I feel like we always save them and then a mantra. I guess for me what comes up for me a lot is if it scares you, if it's, if it, if you're. If, if it makes you uncomfortable, then that means it's. It's gonna do good for you. Go for it. Yeah.

We say get comfortable. Being uncomfortable is a. Is Mark Simpson sort of motto. Really. And I have that in the back of my head whenever something comes up that I don't really want to do, and you just go, yeah, if. If it scares you, do it. You know, because I want to grow.

I want to add to that. And I would say never forget your why.

Never forget your why. I love it. Yeah. As, I mean, these kind of things that we pick up is just something which, you know, sort of resonates, doesn't it, with you and that you always think about. So one of the questions that people are going to have out there listening to this, because you've shared so much information, a lot of awesome gems, is how can people follow you? How can they get in touch with you? How can they see Xenia Stays? Yeah, how can they? What's the best way to do so?

Well, if you want to stay with us, you could go to zenius stays.com and we would love to host you in one of our beachfront units or our apartments out in Southern California. And if you want to follow us for more tips, I am Melissa M E L I S S A B Forest on Instagram. And we also have a YouTube channel, which is Melissa and Zev, where we release a new YouTube video every week. And we share a lot of these tips. We deep dive.

And you can find me at. At Zev Forest on Instagram. That's Z like zebra. E V like Victor Forest with two Rs.

And just for the people who want to search the website, Xenia is Xia, isn't it? Is that correct?

It's X I E like ele things E. Sorry. X E N I A and then stays. S T A y s x zen.com.com.

Awesome. Just for. For people listening in. So yeah, that is. That brings us to the end. So just before we end, is there anything I missed or any final thoughts or anything you'd like to share just before we bring things to a close?

For anyone listening to this, we truly, truly enjoy this business. We love hospitality. We love the folks that we meet in this business that have a passion for it as well. We love providing memories and great stays and homes for people to feel comfortable in. And with that, we love sharing knowledge and teaching others how to start this business, how to operate it in anything we can. So with that being said, we'd love to hear from. From everyone on what questions they have. There's no stupid question. It could be something small or large. And you know, give us a, give us a, a message on, on Instagram or on one of our YouTube videos. Put a comment in there. And we want to get back to you. We want to, to, to, to interact with everyone. And yeah, also for the investors out there that have a lot of cash sitting on the sidelines and they want to invest their money in, into the short term rental space but they don't really want to be in the operations of it. We are open to that as well. And reach out to us on Instagram or any other platform as well to do that.

That's awesome. I don't know what just happened to my camera at the end there, but yeah. Thank you so much, Melissa, for your time today. I've learned a lot and I'm sure our listeners have and thank you to you. If you're listening in on the Boostly podcast, I know there's a lot of places you can put your attention and I really thank you for putting your attention with Boostly and hope this has helped you to grow in some way. So thank you very much. We, we'll see you on the next one. Thanks very much.

Thank you.