How Regan attracts Insurance Stays and has grown her niche

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Hey everybody in the world of Boostly, we have gone live on Facebook as well as on the podcast. So welcome along to the Boostly podcast. This is a place that gives you the tools, the tactics, the trainings and most importantly the confidence to go out there and get more direct bookings. Today we're talking all about insurance bookings. There's a great big trend in short term rental to try and get longer term or mid term rentals that we're seeing a lot of and one of the best ways to do so is to target insurance bookings. So I'll let our guest today explain what they are, but we've got an expert who is in the world of insurance bookings. She's been in it and and lived it on two different size and sides and I'll let her explain about that in just a moment. But we've got a special guest. As I say, they are a host and the business that she's got. So is corporate rentalsaustin.com so you can go and check them out. It will. There'll be a new website. Sorry, a new brand as well coming along soon. So let me introduce Regan Sonnebend and let's dive into her story and get her tips on her journey. Welcome along, Reagan.

Thanks for having me.

No worries. Thanks for being here. So first question is, can you introduce your business? Where is it in the world and what does it look like today?

Sure. So, as you mentioned, Corporate Rentals Austin is the existing brand today. We are in the process of transitioning to Corporate Rentals USA to open up a number of new markets beyond Austin. Some of those that we have immediately in mind are Dallas, Chicago, where I am personally, and also in the Richmond, Virginia area. We have some other expansion markets that we're planning for the future, but those are the most immediate ones.

That's really cool. And we've had your business partner Vivian on the podcast before, haven't we? So it's exciting to get the update of, you know, how quick the brand's growing and the success and some of the tactics of getting these insurance bookings, which I'm really pleased to be sharing with everyone today. But before we do, take me back, what did you do before corporate rentals? And yeah, take me back to what you did before. Hospitality.

Absolutely. You know, it's interesting because hospitality has been a theme throughout my career. Actually, my first real job other than my grandmother's fabric store was with Disney on an internship in the mid-90s. Then later I actually first got into corporate housing in 1998 while I was in grad school and kind of doing some different things. At that time, what everyone was getting housing for was a lot of consultants working on Y2K projects. So it's certainly come a long way from there. I was out of the business for quite some time, spending some time in health care and then ad agencies and became an Airbnb host first in 2014. My, my own portfolio has grown since then. So I've had long term midterm and tradition and short term properties kind of over that period of time since I got started for real in 2014.

That's cool. And for those hosts who are listening to this who are just short term rental, what, what is the difference with midterm? What, what really makes a difference and why should hosts be considering it?

You know, that's a great question. And one thing that comes to mind when you ask that is the hesitation that I personally had when first being introduced to midterm compared to short term. And the reason I say that I had that hesitation because within the short term rental community, you'll hear a lot of hosts being very worried about anything 30 days or more because of tenants rights. And so, you know, they'll say things like, you know, don't take those rentals 30 days or more. So I had a real aversion to that at first. And when I first started hearing a lot about midterm rentals, it took me a while to get over that hump. But what I've realized is it's really brilliant because it offers much better cash flow than traditional long term rentals, but without so much of the day to day that you have with short term rentals, with frequent turnovers, with, you know, all the questions that come along with new guests in and out of the property, despite all the great things that we might put out there in our guidebooks for properties and things like that. So I've found midterm to be really the best of both worlds, but also more rewarding because in our case we do work largely with folks that have had insurance repairs done. So they've been through a lot. And to be able to offer them a comfortable place to be and to not have to worry about all of their housing woes for a moment is actually definitely rewarding. In fact, I've been through it myself. I had water damage in my home about a year and a half ago, so we were displaced and unfortunately I didn't have a property available, which is maybe not unfortunate, but I did have to rent a property from someone else. And I can tell you that the living experience that I had during that time is something that I want to avoid other people having to go through because it was a very vintage 1960s home with a, with a master bath that if you touched your elbows out when you took a shower, you would touch both sides. And the bathroom had pink glitter vanity, things like that. So glad to be able to provide a more comfortable experience for the folks that we work with.

It sounds like it's from experience, both from dealing with corporate and also from actually using, you know, short term rental in place of the midterm rental. So it's fair to say that you're an expert at this. Before we go into more about the tips on that on how to do it. What does the business look like today? How many units does it manage currently? And I know there's something that makes you guys pretty unique, which is the way that you're taking on hosts can you share a little bit about that?

Sure. And I do want to make the distinction that we're not managing for the other hosts, we're marketing for them. And so we're really making what I would call a curated marketplace of midterm rentals available. Everything that we do is focused around that specialty, not focused on short term rentals. And really, you know, there are the two key parts to what we do. There are the homeowners that are in transition that need the homes, but then there are also the B2B strategic partners that we work with, primarily insurance housing agencies, but some others as well.

And just like to take a moment just that's just really state how important it is to niche and to really identify who it is you serve best. Because is something which as a host and as somebody who's watched loads of, you know, people throughout the time, Mark Simpson and plenty of the other trainers in the space and mentors to try and identify who your avatar, who your perfect guest is is just so important. And if you haven't done so already, do you know, write down who it is, who you best serve because you don't have to know exactly who it is, but you need to start to identify it somewhere along the line. You need to start to identify who it is as best you can. And if you're unsure, as I was in the early days, just pick an avatar and go for it. Just really go for it in, in, in every way that you can. You can always change it along the way if you have to. But by really hanging your hat on one particular type of guest that you're talking, all your messaging is talking to all the experience is talking to the chances are that you're going to attract more of those guests and therefore you're to build a brand is a little bit easier. And that's what I love about corporate rentals, Austin, and obviously how quick it's growing and now stretching out, you know, sort of further afield. So let's talk about how do you actually get corporate stays? You know what, what are the tricks? Is it, are you listing in the normal places or how are you, how are you getting these, these bookings?

Sure. Well, we are listing in the normal places plus some and really a lot of it is networking, which I think, you know, when I think about the real estate investor community, networking is really the lifeblood for so many of us because you know, have different audiences that you need to network with, network with other investors. In this case, we're also networking with folks in the insurance side of the business with corporate relocation with those sorts of scenarios. But you do have others, some other corporate business, whether it's consultants, projects, things like that. But to your point about the avatar, that really is important even within the niche of midterm rental because you have to think about who it is you're trying to serve. There's a lot of talk about travel, medical professionals, but often those would be smaller units, sometimes apartments, sometimes townhomes, things like that. What we focus on is whole home rentals. We try as often as possible to have a fully fenced backyard. You know, thinking about the families that we might be serving, three bedrooms, two baths and out, 70% or so of folks that stay with us have a pet. So that fenced in backyard is really important and so really focusing everything we do around that, that core avatar that we work with. But of course having some things on the periphery of that as well.

I've got it. And you mentioned some of the things that are important to your guests. Is there other things that midterm guests need more? So. So you've mentioned obviously a fenced in garden because of course relocation is going to bring their pet. They can't leave the pet behind. Is there anything else to be considering for the hosts who might want to list with yourself or to be getting midterm rentals? What else should they be considering?

Sure. We really try to go above and beyond and surprise and delight the guests that we work with. Because if you think about someone who is being having their housing PA or by insurance or by corporate relocation, regardless, the cost is really not important to them because they're not paying it. It's feeling at home that's important to them. And it can be those little things like, you know, having an air fryer, not just the basics. It can be having a Keurig or having pour over coffee, finding out what it is that matters to them and just having some of those amenities in place, making sure they have the best possible wi fi that can handle all of the devices that they have and just eliminating some of those headaches so that their experience is one where they're able to actually enjoy being in the home. That's really what matters to them. And then if you think about the other side of it, the people that are doing the booking for them, you know what's important to them? Well, what's important to them is finding a solution for the housing for this particular family. So whatever we can do to be of service to the agencies that we work with to help them quickly find what they're looking for without all of the messaging and other things around it, but just the facts. Basically, here's what I need, here's the profile. I need to find something quickly to get this family in a home.

And do you know, that's a really important thing to mention because a lot of these agencies are actually competing against other agencies. It won't just necessarily be them, you know, who's got that potential insurance contract. So the faster they can get a response from you, the more certain they are that the host can provide a good experience, the more likely they're to come back to you and to pass you more leads and more leads and stuff like that. So that's really good to hear.

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 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 O-S-Tly.co.uk forward/call&book in an appointment with one of our sales team.

How do you go about marketing this to owners? Because I guess there's a lot of owners who will be interested in, and I love the way you put it, marketing with you as opposed to having their property managed with you. How does that process work and what does that look like?

Sure. So that's definitely a key piece of what we do. And my business partners and I really focus on networking within the real estate investor community for, for that part of things. And what we find is that, you know, there are a lot of investors that have done flips, they've done short term rentals, they've done different things. There are a lot of folks that are really getting interested in midterm these days. We do look for hosts that have been successful and have hosted as opposed to just doing long term rentals in the past because it is a different business and a different level of service. And so having those nuances and making sure that the service experience is something that will be satisfactory for the insurance and corporate partners that we work with is paramount to everything that we do.

That's really cool. And obviously you've talked about where the business started and obviously we've interviewed your, your business partner. What is the future of the business looking like? Because this is sounds like a really exciting space to be in.

You know, it really is. And as I mentioned, we have a few markets, including OWN here in Chicago that are expansion markets that we have in mind for the remainder of this year. We have our eye on some other markets, but we'll be doing that organically over time. Some of the things that we look at when considering different markets that we would expand to geographically are things like economic development data, the number of moves, the demographics. You know, is it families of four that are moving, is it senior citizens that are moving? And trying to make sure that we're really using that data to drive where we're headed.

That's cool. Has there been any challenges along the way? And if so, how have you overcome them?

Well, I will say with midterm, you know, really just finding the right properties that fit the niche, that fit the avatar that we're serving. I can tell you, you know, a lot of different things that I've experienced with short term rentals that were more challenging before I started moving into midterm rentals. But all of those bumps and bruises I got along the way with short term rentals have provided a lot more stability and better experience for the midterm rental part of things.

And you mentioned there that there's markets that you're expanding into. How do you track which locations work for, particularly for the insurance days? Because. And before, while you're thinking about that question, I always look at my local area and I'm coming from one sort of main city in amongst a very rural area. And the rural areas around don't get a lot of corporate stays or midterm stays. But is it the same? Is that what you're looking at, particularly more urban areas?

Not necessarily. I would say suburban is more the role for what we do. And you know, with that we, as I mentioned, some of that economic development data, population growth, things like that, just knowing that there's a strong pipeline of demand that would be coming at any given time. Unfortunately, wherever you are, rural or not, you know, people have disasters that happen either larger scale or within their own home. And so because of having that focus, it really does tend to be a pretty steady. But having enough population to support the business on an ongoing basis is really a big part of what we look at. In proximity to major highways, you know, to hospitals, to major employers, major employers is a big one. Things like that, that's really Cool.

And from your experience, obviously, you've been a host yourself, you're obviously now doing the corporate side of things, the company growing. What would you say is your top tip? What information would you love to go back and give yourself at the start of your journey, which is. Would really help you along your way?

Yes, I would say the biggest single thing is making systems and automation that save you from yourself. Maybe not from yourself exactly, but save you from those little hiccups that can happen. And really keeping track of, you know, maintenance requests and things that are coming in. And what are the top requests that we're getting so that we can proactively avoid those sorts of things. And so, you know, having a backup to the backup, whether it's for maintenance, whether it's for a cleaner, you know, there are such interesting little things that, that you would never think of until you've lived through it that can be problematic. You know, getting the trash out sometimes. Like, you know, if there's a turnover in your guests and, you know, you have that gap in between, or, you know, what do you do when you have a problem with the Internet? Because most of these things we have an easy solution for. But, you know, if Comcast is out or whoever your service provider is, those can be things that can be a little challenging to get dealt with when you're not on site at the property. So just having a plan before those issues happen helps make it so much smoother and also helps settle the nerves of the guests that you have, because they feel that confidence of knowing, hey, I've been there before. We have this.

That's cool. They. They tend to mirror your feeling. If you're panicking on the phone, then they'll be worried. They'll. They'll sense it, won't they? So what would you say is the main bits of tech that you use within corporate rentals? Austin?

You know, it's a really great question. And I mean, you know, there's all tech that we all use that I think people think of things like a channel manager, you know, direct booking, and those are critical to the business. But there are a lot of things that are maybe easier to overlook but that you interact more with on a daily basis. Whether that's, you know, in the case of, you know, thermostat, do you use a Google Nest thermostat or do you use a different one? Is the app that controls that easy to use on your phone? Is it easy for your guests to use? You know, so you have to think about all of those things? And also just the keypad for the door. There's a ton of different ones out there, you know, and there's actually one that I've used in the past that I found we were really getting a lot of problems with just the way that it functioned, that when people would hit it, the lights would go down before they had a chance to finish putting it in. And so once you start seeing like I'm having a problem with this same thing over and over, okay, fine, replace it. It's not worth it. And so, you know, the obvious tech, there's all the digital things that we do, but there's that smart home tech that's really critically important to a host in this space.

That makes sense. That makes sense. And one thing which really comes across with corporate rentals is really understanding who you are and what you need to grow. And that's something which I'm really excited for, to see the future of your business. Where is the place where you get inspiration from for either learning for the business or for mentorship? And that side of things, what sources and resources do you learn from and take inspiration from?

That's a great question. You know, I think today we have this opportunity to create our own curated feed of what we're getting, all of the newsletters that we subscribe to, all of the groups that we follow on Facebook and other places. And so it really does give us, us the opportunity to see exactly what we want to see. Those algorithms have made sure that's exactly what we see. And so I really get a lot of my daily reading from various communities that I'm a part of, from interaction within those communities, from the comments of others. So many ideas of things that I might never have thought of on my own. So just the community that you put around yourself really is kind of self generating of content.

That's cool. And any books, movies, podcasts that you'd, that you'd recommend the people listening go.

And check out, actually the one that we're on right now is a great one.

Thank you. Thank you for the plug.

Yes, of course. But it's so true. I mean, I really do find that, you know, other hosts that have, you know, lived through all the same things in different parts of the world and have had the experiences, have gone through the trial and error. That's where I really get my best advice from is, you know, other hosts in the real estate investor community.

That's cool. One question we love to ask on the Boostly podcast is, is there a mantra or a saying that really resonates with you.

Ah, yes. And my kids will attest to this and I have a few. But the one that comes to mind here is better to have it and not need it than need it and not have it.

So true. I say that all the time when I'm shopping and I end up with way too much stuff. Honestly, my other half guys, it's very true. You never know when somebody's just going to nip in for a cup of tea. I don't. I want to be able to offer them some cake or whatever it is. So. Yes, very, very true and very relevant to hospitality. That is true as well. Absolutely. Reagan. As we reach towards the end of these, we love to just do a couple of quick fire funk questions. You won't have been given a heads up on these ones at all. So these, if you do need a second think about them, let me know or just say, can we pass that one? Are you a starter or a dessert person? And if so, what tends to be your preference and why?

Okay, yes, I would say. I would say appetizer as opposed to starter.

Yeah, yeah, of course. America. British. British term.

Yes. But absolutely. And you know, sometimes I'll find that an appetizer becomes the meal, but I usually am done by the time dessert comes around. That's cool.

That's cool. Where in the world is on your top place to visit?

Oh, wow. You know, so many of the places are at the top. I've already been, but the one that I had not yet been, that I actually had plans to go to, then got pregnant. It wasn't a good idea, was Africa. And so we actually had a really great safari planned, but you can't get malaria shots when you're pregnant. So we ended up going to Antarctica instead, which was brilliant, but that one's still on my bucket list.

Nice. Nice. That would be. Antarctica is. Is a, is a top, top one. I've not heard anyone else say that. So. And finally, what do you like to do with fun and who do you like to. How do you spend your time? Is there family? Who are the special people in your lives?

Sure, of course. I have two teenage daughters, so that's always lively and exciting. You never have a dull moment with that. They both have exciting things underway. One's a gymnast, one's into engineering and robotics and will be headed off to college before I know it. We're a very pet friendly family in my household. We actually adopted and we knew it at the time, believe it or not. Pregnant, Great Dane, back in January of this year who then delivered 15 Great Dane puppies. Yeah, so that was quite the adventure. But dogs are always a part of our household.

Nice, Nice. Well, thank you for sharing that today. And thank you for sharing as well on the Boostly podcast. You know your business. If people want to find out more, where's the best place to do so?

Sure. Follow us on Social at Corporate Rentals usa. As we mentioned, the website is in transition from Corporate Rentals Austin to Corporate Rentals usa, but our social handles have already been updated to Corporate Rentals usa and certainly check out the website there as well.

It's really cool and as I say, it's great to have you on. Obviously we've had Vivian on in the past and hopefully we'll have one or both of you back again in the future as the business continues to grow. So thank you for sharing the story today. I hope if you listen to this on the Boostly podcast or watching this on the Live, you've got some really good bits of information and been inspired by Reagan's story. If there's somebody else you know who would get some benefit from this, please do share this with a friend, a fellow host. If you yourself do want to come and be a host on behind the Host on the Boostly podcast, feel free to send us an email coachly.co.uk and we can drop you the information on how to do so. So that brings us to the end of today's episode. Was there anything I missed along the way, Reagan or Last Cheers before we bring it to a close?

No, it was wonderful. I really think we covered a lot of great things, topics that I know everyone's talking about within this space and hope that it helps someone out.

Thanks very much and we'll see you on the next one. Bye for now.

Sounds great.