Hospitality Heroes #2 - Helen Hares of Villa Andalucia

No, call them on the phone or the phone. I add an E to make it fit and say hi, can you discount a little bit? And usually they'll be happy to agree and that's why you should book directly. Now let me try and get this hashtag down. Here's a little cause that I respect. You've gotta make sure you book direct. Go to the hotel, go to the place. Don't do it through Google, a disgrace or booking.com or hotel.com. no, call them on the fon or the phone. I add an E to make it fit and say hi, can you discount a little bit? And usually they'll be happy to agree. And that's why you should book directly.

Good evening, good afternoon, good morning, welcome wherever you are. Tuning from in the world and today is the start of a little series that I want to put together for the Brucely podcast where I interview hosts from around the world. We're going to pick their brains and sort of find out a little bit more about them, find out their story and then we're just going to have a little bit of a discussion about what they do to try and generate their own direct bookings and how they are coping and especially with everything that else has been going on in 2020. I'm very lucky that in what we do with Boostly is that we have got hosts from, from all over the world and I wanted today to start with somebody that I've been very fortunate to go and stay with, been able to meet, go and see their, see their place, see their property, see their town, see their area and have a good chat with and let me bring you on in the live with me, Helen Villa Andalufia in Competa, Spain. Thank you very much for joining us. Can you please just start off with before we get into our chat, can you just please just start off by introducing yourself and just sort of tell your story about how you got into hospitality and to where we are right now and chatting live on Facebook, talking about all the things that I'm looking.

Oh my God. How long have you got?

As long as we need. This is all. The platform is all yours. Let's show you what to do on.

Okay. Hello, I'm Helen and I have been in the hospitality world over here in Spain for 14 years. My background prior to coming over in Spain was working for Barclays bank for 32 years. Also during that time, me and my husbands, we were in the hospitality industry in the fact of having businesses, a fish and chip shop first time round and secondly, we had a off license come corner shop and my parents used to keep a pub. So all my life I have dealt with customers and money and opening hours. So it's. So in a way it's been nothing new to me in doing that and obviously doing food as well. So I came to Spain. The main reason of coming over to Spain to live here was because I do have Ms. Multiple sclerosis and I am far healthier in a warmer climate. And so that's in a nutshell, a little story about me putting it down dramatically.

Yes. Yeah, we, when we came to go stay, so Laura, the boys and I, we came down to stay, we had some, some good chats. We found out and there is a. There is a long story behind it and that is the very sort of diluted version. So thank you for sharing. So why, why Competa? Why did you sort of settle on. On this area spent? Because there's so many destinations that you could potentially choose from. You know, there's many people in the hospitality community and obviously the groups, you know, you can see people settle all over. So what was it that drew you into.

Well, we had timeshare in Nejo, which is in the Costa del Sol, where I am not far from at all. And we basically every school holidays we came over to Spain because for me dry heat was a lot better. So I got to know the whole of the Costa del Sol all the way down to Portugal and done all the timeshares and one day I actually drove up to Kompata on my own. I wanted a bit of a breakaway and I just fell in love with the place and it was a horrible journey. I'm talking, you know, 20 odd years ago and there were no barriers on the road and you traveled the road. For some people it can be a bit daunting. But I just sort of fell in love with the place and it grew on me and I thought, right, Costa del Sol's not far away from England, Flights were becoming cheap. Ryanair had started and basically thought, this is a place we want to be.

This is it. And here we are, here we are still. So what I would love for everybody to do, whether you're watching live or on the replay right now, just tell us where you are watching from, watching this from. Because this is, like I say, this is a part of a series that I do want to put together where we interview hosts from around the world and chat about their businesses. And if you want to come on to do one of these interviews and have a chat, then Please get in touch markoostle.co.uk. so tell us where you are watching from in the world. Your business, your website. Give yourself a little bit of a promo and a bit of a plug because you never know who is, who is going to be watching this back on the replay. Okay, so we've got, we're in Competa, we've opened up the business. What was the first thing, if you remember back to then, what was the first thing that you did? So you opened the business and it's like right now we've got to get heads on beds, now we've got to get people through the door. What was like the first thing that you were doing back then to sort of spread the word about the business? What was the first sort of marketing tactics that you were doing back then?

Oh, right, 14 years ago. Right, okay. We got somebody sort of build a website for us and he was very good with SEO and at the time there was only myself and two other BBs incompetent. Whereas like now I just honestly can't tell you how many places, service, accommodations, etc. That there are here. So it was quite easy for me to get sort of recognized word of mouth. And even now I would say 60 to 70% of my direct bookings are repeat bookings. So it wasn't too hard to do and I think a bit of my background as well. And going back 14 years ago, I'd got Mailchimp. Now Mailchimp was nothing like it is now and it was just really a newsletter, no automations or anything like that. So I started to build up my database quite early on.

Let's just dial back a little bit. Can you just tell everybody that doesn't know you? Because we've got a lot of people who are in the live chat who obviously do know you from being in the hospitality community in the boostly academy. But can you explain to somebody who doesn't know what Villar andaluther is? Just explain what the business model is, if you don't mind, just for a couple of minutes.

Oh no, no. Oh no. Yes. Let myself villa aroundalusia. It's bed and breakfast. I've got four rooms. We're in a beautiful area. I call it my, my little hidden gem up in the mountains. Fantastic swimming pool, crystal clear water, looking down to the coast, surrounded by mountains and it's four bedrooms. Two of them are sort of. Come on Mark, what's the word I'm looking for? Self catering.

Yes, I was going to say a kitchenette inside. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

They've got kitchenettes. So I offer people to. They can have better breakfast if they want. If not, some of them can cater for themselves.

I fully recommend the breakfast. We. Every morning we had breakfast. We're out on the. On the garden, looking out over the view as the clouds are coming in. It was lovely in the swimming pool. I'm glad you mentioned that, because that is where Frankie first learned to swim with his little wobble one years old, kicking and flapping away. Yeah, lots of. Lots of amazing memories. And it's really interesting to me how you were saying that a lot of your bookings are repeat guests because it is that experience stay. You know, it's one of those places where you will make memories and you come back and keep coming back to. So, yeah, fantastic, fantastic work. And 14 years. And so in these 14 years of owning the business, running the business, marketing the business, bringing people in, what has been, would you say, the biggest shift for you personally? And we're talking solely on marketing, because this is obviously like a marketing podcast. It's what we do. What's been the biggest shift online that you have seen when you're having to sort of promote the business and talk about the business and how to attract guests?

Well, obviously I didn't really have to do that much at the beginning because, as I say, it was repeat businesses all the time. And I never thought I would spend as many hours as I do now back in front of a laptop PC again. Because when I thought bed and breakfast, it was just thinking, oh, people come and stay, I'll look after them, tell them all about the area, et cetera. I didn't think I would have to start thinking, how am I going to promote myself? How am I going to get people here? Because booking.com was around and we tried to advertise with them and they would not allow anybody unless they had 10 bedrooms or more. So we were out of it completely. And it wasn't until 2000. And what would it be? 2014?

15. 2015. Yeah.

I wanted a hotel to stay in. Need to Manchester Airport before I flew away on holiday. And I thought, oh, I'll have a look on booking.com and saw what's this? Bed and breakfast. And I thought, is this one of the reasons why I'm not getting as many people coming to stay with me anymore? And it was so easy for me to book a room. And I thought, yeah, this is going to start hitting me and Airbnb. I didn't really know anything about that. I was on holiday in Barbados and everybody said, oh, we booked through Airbnb. And I'm thinking, I need to look into these things. And that was like the start of it, of thinking my time is going to be spent more trying to get myself noticed out there. And then I'd gone through a divorce and I needed money and I'm thinking, I've got to do something now.

So you're talking about Airbnb booking dot com. Did you take the plunge and get listed on there, or did you sort of resist it and keep going down the direct booking route? What was like the sort of the transition from 2014, 2015 for the next couple of years?

Oh, I went with them. I went with them. And the fact that you've got to make them as this is something that you say to everybody as well, make them work for you, because I'd rather have 75% of something and give them 15% than have no, nothing. And so basically, that's what I did. I did go ahead with them.

And so obviously, at the same time, when did. Because obviously you're very active on social media, active on Facebook now. When did you start to start to look at that as a platform that you could promote your business on there? What sort of year are we talking here?

Oh, that's only been in the past, like, four years or so. To me, Facebook was just like keeping in touch with my son because he was in the UK and that was it, basically. And, you know, you could see how it was going, that you could. People were advertising and I'm thinking, I'm not paying for advertising. And it wasn't until I was at the stage where I started to lose my confidence, which a lot of people say to me, oh, I can't believe that. But I did, because the bookings weren't coming in as fast and furious as they were before, and I've got to do something about it. So I did sort of start looking and seeing that. I think it was on LinkedIn. I went on first, was in my background, thinking of going. Going on there and found somebody that did coaching and sort of started going down that line then.

Yeah. So social media came in sort of 2017, and obviously you're now very active on social media, Facebook. You know, I see the post a lot and obviously part of the hospitality community and now the boost, the Academy. So when. What would you say would have been the problems that you were having before you discovered, like, the Boothie Academy world, before you discovered me, what would you say, like, the problems were that you were having when it came to sort of figuring all of this out?

Well, I could see how I didn't know enough about it all and I needed to learn about it. And I could see, like, booking.com was great. You just go on and you book and then think. I went on to somebody else's site and thinking they got, as I didn't even know they were called booking engines in those days or whatever. And I'm thinking, I need something like that and I need help. So I needed to do something then. And obviously came across hospitality community and there were so many other people that were in the same boat as me.

Yeah, yeah. And so obviously you came into the hospitality community, started to figure it all out. So how did you actually find the hospitality community, which I always find is really interesting. Was it just a search or did somebody recommend it? Like, how did you first join our hospitality community?

Well, I'd been in another coaching group and that hadn't worked out at all. It was more of you do as I say and change things. And so it wasn't working out. And I think it was somebody who used to be in that same coaching group who had put on Facebook or she'd commented on something and hospitality community came up and I. And I went on to it then. And you did. I think I joined with you before doing one of your giveaways and it might have been the. The email that you have mentioned on the. Yeah, I think it probably was the email that you mentioned on the end of the. This, like, giveaway, and I had a go at that and I actually got two big bookings off it and I thought, this guy knows what he's doing here.

Yeah, well, the. The email that you're talking about. Sorry to. To jump in. Email you're talking about is a. Is a. Do you know anyone?

Email.

So again, what we. What we do is a lot of the time as business owners, we always maybe just forget that some of the best ways to get bookings is to sort of ask our previous guests who know the place, know the property for referrals, and it's something that we don't do. And sometimes, like Helen said, send an email out, structured it in a way that you could just copy and paste it and personalize it. And yeah, it's great to hear that you get some success and a lot of people do get some success from it. So you sent out the email, got a couple of bookings and thought, hang on a second, this guy, he might know what it was, what he's talking about. So from there you joined the Academy, which is fantastic. And that was, I think we're talking 18 months ago now.

So it's only about 18 months ago because September was my first giveaway. That was my, I think, my first giveaway. And so I didn't hesitate before I was hesitating because I obviously I like my money, but I did. You know what you talk about, you're so passionate about what you do and well, you are and you've already tried and tested everything before you give it to anybody to do as well. So there was no hesitation whatsoever to sign up. And I like the fact that I didn't have to pay all in one go as well, because at the time I couldn't have afforded to do it, but I did it and yeah, no regrets whatsoever.

If you're watching this, by the way, and you want to find out a little bit more about what Helen is talking about, just head over to boostlead.co.uk join talking about the Boostly Academy. There's lots of different ways to join. There's lots of. That page and that website that you go to explains everything, what it's about. If you're interested, please do head over there. So let's talk about from the 18 months that we've sort of been together, what's been some of the new tactics that you've maybe learned, what has worked, what maybe hasn't worked. How have you attributed to what I've been sort of teaching and how have you taken it from? Obviously my family business was based in the uk, you're in Spain, what have you learned and what have you been able to put into practice and what has worked. So let's see if we can share some tactics and tips to the people that are tuning in live or on the. Or on the replay.

I think what's basically helped me along is like all the templates that were there and setting up automations. Yes, I had got that with my, my previous coast coach, but your. Yours seemed to be more sort of down to earth and people seem to resonate with what you're putting out there. And I think one of the big things for me is you wouldn't have got. Well, that's probably wrong. I lost my confidence after I moved over here. I think leaving the bank or whatever and then seeing that I didn't know where I was going and I had to do something. I now am back to the confident person I was when I left work, when I semi retired and I could stand in front of a thousand, two thousand people and talk before and I'd lost all that and I can do it now and it doesn't bother me doing a live now or anything. You give me the confidence back for doing that. And you, you don't push us, you leave us to get on with it. Like when we went into lockdown, there was so much I couldn't cope with it going on to the hospitality community, listening to people and all the negative. I had to take myself away from it because it was pulling me down. And I know that I can come back whenever I want into Boosley and pick up where I was left off. And any questions, you'd be there. As you say, you're not going anywhere and you haven't gone anywhere, you're going to be there and it's good from that point of view. And at times I've said to you, I feel that you bombard us at times with too much and I can't cope with it, you know, so I'm just nudging away.

I leave you to get on with it and I'll just nudge and nudge and if somebody wants to act, they cannot, they just go off. Be quiet, Mark. Leave me alone. You can just turn the phone off. No, it's amazing. You have done really, really well. And again, thank you so much for coming on to here, onto this live and sharing your story. And obviously this year has been crazy for everybody around the world related to not just hospitality, but every businesses. What has been, would you say, one of the big things that you have done this year since coming out of lockdown? Being able to take bookings? Where have you noticed that the majority of your guests have come from? What have you done differently than what maybe you had to do before lockdown? And what could you maybe pass on? Final question would be, what advice would you pass on to maybe somebody else in Spain or to somebody else all over the world that maybe has had to pivot slightly and what type of guests that they are attracting?

Well, I've had to pivot from the fact that majority of my visitors are from northern Spain. They're not. They're not all English? No. Normally I've got the Belgian of Swedes, Norwegians, etc. And of course they haven't been able to come, so I've had to change my thought. And I know I've lived here for quite a while, but not enough for me to write a Facebook post in Spanish, so I've had to take on somebody to help me to do that. And to translate it for me. And because I'm up In the mountains, 30 minutes from the coast, in one of the lovely whitewashed villages up here, there are people that live down on the coast. Expats, not just English again, the Belgians, etc. Who've never even ventured up into the mountains. So I've had to sort of go out and promote myself on the groups, Facebook groups out there, like the Buy Sell groups I've been and put myself out on there. I've actually gone on to more websites that are aimed at people that live down on the coast, just to bring them up here. And I also got in with one of the local yoga teachers and got her to come. And we've done yoga classes outside because she can't do them inside. What a better place to do it than round the pool. And so she did that. And then I said, okay, I'll offer doing the breakfast. So I gave people breakfast.

It's a great. You've hit the nail on the head of some really good tactics that everybody can be doing. Number one, one, building relationships. Building relationships with other local businesses in the area. Number two, if you're looking for a real quick, quick sort of short win to try, maybe get bookings, these local Facebook groups that are in and around you right now are really useful for it because, again, not a lot of people are utilizing them. And, you know, at the moment, with Staycations, people are driving maybe a maximum two to three hours, the majority. So if you can just draw a big circle on a map around your property, look at where the towns, the cities, or the locations may be, and just sort of have a little search on Facebook. I mean, how long did it take you to find these groups, Helen? Would you say a Couple of minutes? 20, 30 minutes? Did you have to look far and wide or was it pretty simple to do?

In a way? It was pretty simple to do because, as I say, I'm 30 minutes. I'm only 17 kilometers from the coast, but 30 minutes driving up. So I just went for the local ones 40 minutes away. But I have also expanded now to like an hour away.

Yeah, yeah, fantastic. I think those are really two really fantastic tactics that everybody can be definitely taken away with. And I just want to say thank you so much. Much. So before we let you go, I do want you to give the business a big plug. So where's the best place that they can go to find out more about you? Have you got a favorite social media? Have you got an email list? Like, how can people keep in touch with you after this if they are watching. And what if they want to maybe check out a little bit more about Helen and Villa Andalithia?

Well actually I do have this wonderful site. It's done by Boosley and so you can go along to villarandalucia.org and find me on there. There's a nice pop up that comes up and you can put your email in in there and you can find out all about getting my digital guidebook which tells you all about the area etc. And I am more so on Facebook than anywhere else. I tend to enjoy being on there more. But I am also on Instagram and Twitter as well.

Thank you so much for Pinat. It was an absolute pleasure and I just want to say thank you very much for tuning in. If you have liked what what we have done today and you would like to do more, maybe you would like to come on with me and showcase your business and let us know what you've been doing. Then all I would love for you to do, send an email to markoosley.co.uk we'll have a look at some dates and we will get you on to the show. So this is the Boostly podcast that we are recording it for. If you want to go check out the previous episodes then all you need to do is head to boostly.com. Helen Again, thank you very much and thank you everybody for tuning in. We will be back again very soon for another episode but until then keep direct bookings, keep being proactive and really, really focus on one tactic right now. But you can do whether it's Facebook groups, whether it is building relationships and let us know how you get on RA.