How to Stand out From A Sea of Accommodation Businesses - FULL INTERVIEW with Adam Rana

You mentioned something at the start, which I picked up on, which I liked. And you call it your referral scheme or your referral program, something that I haven't heard a lot about from the service accommodation world. I do speak about it to the Booster Academy members and to my hospitality world. But could you just sort of expand on that a little bit, tell people a little bit more about how you work it and what have been the results that have mean you're getting a lot of repeat bookings.

This is one of the most important, one of the most productive. And then which has resulted in one of the biggest revenue schemes, I would say revenue income is the referral scheme. And we trialed different ways of running a referral scheme where we were giving Amazon cards or gift cards for different retail or whatever. But what we ultimately decided was to give a percentage booking or a cash back to the customer which has stayed. So what they do is if they've enjoyed this day, they will recommend this to their friends, family or anyone they know and they will get an 8% return on the booking that they create. A successful booking they create, they get an 8% return. And this is something we implemented about three months ago. And it results for people what gives their interest in, gives them a reason, not just because of the experience that we're giving them, but there's a monetization of them bringing someone to a.

Welcome to Boost Hospitality podcast. This is season six, episode ten. My name is Mark Simpson, I'm the founder of Boostly. Now today I'm going to speak into Adam Rana. Adam. I was very, very fortunate to meet him a couple of months ago. Adam, if you could just take a few minutes just to introduce yourself a little bit more about you and just how you got into service, accommodation and hospitality, please.

Thank you very much for having me before. It's a pleasure to be on the podcast and then with all your audiences that you go around the world, just a bit of you've done, I think, a good job to introduce me, but just a bit about me. So my name is Adam Rana, based in uk Birmingham in West Midlands. I originally got into hospitality about end of 2017. My main background which got me led into this was my interest in traveling. Stay stayed around the world. I've traveled 35 countries, stayed in different hostels. Actually, that's what really got into. I wanted to start a hostel. So this is where I've got my idea, you know, from traveling, giving it back to other travelers in hospitality and customer service.

So talk to me then very quickly. About the different type of properties that you have in the Birmingham area.

I had to strategize and split into different customer base. So I have for example we have an avatar of a contractor base or a family base or a business corporate people. So I have a split of property which attract different type of market, this amount of consumers. So we have, I have three houses which are based just outskirts of Birmingham which we attract a lot of long term direct bookings or rather repeat bookings in my, in my case from contractors and referral. We run a referral scheme. So that's one avatar that I use to attract to my semi detached house or a three bedroom house around the outskirts of the city. Then I have a property base which one of them you stayed in which are more I say on the luxurious side on the upper end of the market which attract the international.

So you've got quite a few different type of properties. I like how that you've nailed down your ideal guest. Looking back then over the first year, what was or what has been one of your favorite failures that you've made? So something that you've done which was an error that you've learned from that you can maybe pass on to somebody else who may be where you were. Right. Back in 2018 when I started I.

Had one, well two properties a year and a half year back. Sorry. And now we have a portfolio of around 15 which is managed and owned properties of savage accommodations. So one of the biggest mistakes I think I made early on which has not hurt me so much, but it has and one of them was when people there was guests were asked extras or extra? Extra, extra items, extra things. So I can use an example of families coming from abroad asking for a traveling cot. That's just an example I give you. So they were asking for extra. And so this is something I didn't never provided. I never thought of not having kids. I never thought of there would be people looking for a travel cot. And we used to say no. Well, I said we. I used to say no. And I said oh look, unfortunately you don't provide that service. And that resulted in like just the mindset of a guest like oh, this is not a healthy guest. Even though we supplied everything else and we were happy on hand, helped with everything. It was just that one little thing which was not advertised. But they still wanted us to help them because they're not from the city, they're not from this country. So to summarize that one, that was one of the biggest failures which may have cost me Some money and cost me some reviews, I would say somebody as well. But now, because we offer that, it's not necessarily we make extra money, it's just that we provide the service and we keep the people happy and leave the choice in the customer's hand.

Could you just please just take a couple of minutes? Just explaining what you do in your other role for your other company, for the other job that you consult for and how have you sort of cross matched those skills and brought it into.

Accommodation, Use your other skills and transfer them into a business that you're passionate about. So for example, for me, I work as a consultant improving processes of our supplier base, putting in processes, improving our last customer experience, the customer end customer experience. So that is my, essentially what my background was and to a limited extent it is a little bit still. I know I'm focused on my business now, but the thing that I learned from there was working systemizing, processing processes, having a process map, a value stream mapping which is all come from my corporate strategic world, which is transformational.

You mentioned something at the start which I picked up on, which I liked and you call it your referral scheme or your referral program, something that I haven't heard a lot about from the service accommodation world. I do speak about it to the Booster Academy members and to my hospitality world. But could you just sort of expand on that a little bit, tell people a little bit more about how you work it and what have been the results that have mean you're getting a lot of repeat bookings.

This is one of the most important, one of the most productive and resulted in one of the biggest revenue schemes, I would say revenue income. It's the referral scheme. And we trialed different ways of running a referral scheme where we were giving Amazon cards or gift cards for different retail or whatever. But what we ultimately decided was to give a percentage booking out of cashback to the customer which has stayed. So what they do, if they've enjoyed this day, they will recommend us to a friend, family or anyone they know and they will get an 8% return on the booking that they create. A successful booking, they create, they get an 8% return. And this is something we implemented about three months ago. And it results of people what gives them interest in, gives them a reason, not just because of the experience that we're giving them, but there's a monetization of the, of them bringing someone to us. So there was a lot of people literally referring their families. So yes, this is our process of giving them money back. Type of thing.

Really, really good idea and it's good to see that it is working and you know, I'm watching from the outside in. I love how you document your journey. What made you think that this was the right time to grow? Like what is your feeling towards the future for you and the business in SA and how excited are you in all of this?

I am really, really excited and this has been one of my goals and final vision hospitality business in uk it was to create a team. By creating a team we can serve more people and help more people and make sure customers are happier rather than just running a business with one person. So it's really important when you hire someone, when I hired someone for some stuff, excited but it's creating the same values and the principles that has got me to this successful level which I would go somewhat successful of a decent sized portfolio of a good customer feedback. We have, we're running on a very good reviews from customers from different portals to make sure we continue that. What I do is I have a set of values and principle and a mission statement. So I have a mission statement that I filter down to that one employee is an operations manager, runs my guest, guest management, guest handling, issue management. Essentially what on the grand day to day business he wants, he's a customer facing person now so he needs to have the same value. So this is very important for all the listeners out there. Make sure why you start a new business, it's filtered down to this person. It's very easy to get lost hiring people and getting excited. But if you don't write those values down and stick them up in a bedroom that you're running it off or a basement, that which we do, we have team meetings in a basement in the house. So yes, having set values, a vision and making sure your top level employees are even filtered down to your day to day employees which are doing the cleaning or the maintenance, understand what your vision is and a firm believer that if they align with your vision and your goals, I think they will perform better and they will understand why you're doing something and why you want.

Could you just give a little bit of insight on the tools, the software that you're using. I think it'd be really helpful if you could just share a bit of the tools, the names, the software, what you're using.

The main one which is a digital guide, which is a customer facing tool, what we use is, Which is a really. Yes, it's Houseguideapp.com which is a really useful tune because very visual it's very easy to use. It's not an app even though it's called an app. But it's not an app called Link which allows the guest room not to. They don't need to download anything. It just click on a link and it gives them videos from check in videos for how to use, how to use a tv, how to use a remote, how to go on smart. So just creating that visual experience and an easy experience and the customers love it because it gives them the ease of use and which is what it's about customer experience. So that's one of the tools we use and it's really changed my business set me apart from competition. Competition. There's always going to be competitions except yourself for these tools which makes other people's life easier. You providing a solution. So that's. That's one of them that I've used behind the scenes. I use like auditing apps, something called an iauditor which we use widely in other industries like construction, building, health and safety just to create checklists and for your employees or your contractors to use and what you want the standards to be done by July. Pictures we take taken. So these are some of the apps that we used alongside my channel manager that we have to run our service innovation business which is pokey to what I use. And these are LinkedIn into our business model and day to day on your phone, they can use on your phone and they can be used on your Mac or for your laptop. So it's essential to have tools around your processes because you have that white suit for your people. You won't deliver the promise results that you have promised people.

What is the one thing that you see people getting started with property, with hospitality, with service accommodation. What is that one thing that you see him doing that the big mistake. So anybody else, like I say who's right at the very start can sort of avoid that pitfall.

One big mistake I would say is relationships. People I think a lot of people that I've known around the world in business and stuff if they missed a little trick, it's so easy. It's building relationships. Some of my business, my business has grown a lot. I don't like to talk my numbers to a portfolio of 15 units. It's because of relationship. Most of my business has come because either on the buying or the landlord side has come from because I've known someone and I've spent time with them gone for coffee. Main reasons I rather say not the only relationships have got me where I am. So just the People who are listening out there, I think just keep building relationship, think the long term game, don't think short term.

Again, one thing that you told me that you do differently is you just pick the phone up after somebody has paid you a visit. Especially like those direct bookings, you just pick the phone up, give them a call and you ask some very, very good questions. So I think the final thing that we'll cover on this interview is those questions that you ask to get feedback and good feedback. Could you just go through what they are and why it works and what have been the results of asking these questions that has helped you grow.

What about to touch on reviews? So reviews are key, customer experience is key. And growing your model, your business model. And one of the things that we implemented something called Net Promoter Score and what we do is literally run it by Ret Promoter Score. So if people can go and Google that and have a look, it's just a star rating 1 out of 10. How likely are you to stay, how likely are you to come back to our service department? And they will rate that 1 to 10. And if someone rates a 9 or 8, there is an opportunity which allows me to ask why? And take constructive feedback to improve that. So the next one is a 10. And it's always better than asking how was your stay? It's better to ask and ask them to rate and stay. And a lot of big blue chip companies do that. When you, a lot of people will remember when you put a phone down, you get it, you get a survey to rate out of 10. And I recommend a lot of, a lot of everyone to go out there in hospitality do that. Whether it's face to face or on a paper based or it's on a phone call. We as a company have a compulsory phone call that has to be made two days after this day which asks these questions. And if it's a 10, yes, happy days. And we always offer a discount for a customer to come back. But if it's less than a 10 allows me to continuously improve. So very important to continuously improve by taking this feedback and not getting hurt and continuously improving and keeping the business growing. This is how you will win against your competition. Wherever you are in the world is always going to be competition. Take these reviews and take them with constructive feedback. Use these tools like Net Promoter Score. And this is what's allowed me to grow the business.

There are a lot of things that you've been talking about in this interview tonight that so many people aren't talking about. So there's a lot of people that can watch this, whether it's live and I know there's a lot of people tuning in live or whether you're watching this black back on the replay or whether it's by audio in the podcast. There's a lot of things that people can be picking up from and all of those tools, those tactics, those tips, they're going to be in the show notes of this episode. So don't worry if you've missed it. Now, Adam, we really appreciate you coming on tonight and doing this. If there's anybody who has watched this or listened to this and wants to find out more about you, what is the best way to reach out and say hi.

So you guys can reach me out on Facebook, obviously if you're watching on Facebook Live. So Adam ADM and surname is Rana and I'm mutual friends with Mark. So you can find me through Mark. You can always also get me on Instagram which I document my journey there. So it's Adam a D a M R Triple seven and you can get me and see how I'm growing a business, what I do day to day. So it's really helpful just, just to get content and it's all free and you guys can see how I can improve your own businesses. And finally I've, I've had a chat with Mark earlier and it's something I'm willing to do in my busy schedule. I'm offering three discovery calls if someone wants to help or free content or some of the tools that I use and someone's stuck on a cushion. So if you I'm only offering this to three people. First three people to book on my discovery call and I'm happy to spend half an hour with each person to give them any advice you want in the service department, hospitality business, just generally in business. So yeah, hit me up and for first three people and my I will put this in the show notes, Mark. It's calendar.com so that's calendar.com Adam.

Nice.

You can get used. You can go on to take a time and just book a 30 minute calling. It's only for 30 people and so please go ahead and I'll be happy to talk to some of your listeners and I'll be delighted.

Superb. All right, buddy. I really, really appreciate you coming on tonight and thank you to everybody that has tuned in. As, as always, this has been the Boost Hospitality podcast. This is season six, episode ten. If this is the first time that you have ever tuned into one of these, you've got a lot of episodes that you can go and catch up on. It's available on itunes, it's available on Spotify, if you prefer video. But all the videos are on YouTube right now, on Instagram, TV, LinkedIn, you name it, there are videos there. So go to Boothly Podcast to go and find out all the individual episodes. And please, before you do leave, go to itunes. Leave one of those lovely five star reviews. It helps this podcast grow and to get more and more people aware of it. All right, this has been Boost Hospitality Podcast. My name is Mark Simpson. I'm the founder of Boostly. To go find out more about what I'm doing to help people increase their bookings, go to boostly.co.uk.