The Best Way To Build Trust And Increase Bookings

Okay, so we are back with another live episode of the Boostly podcast. So today we're actually doing the Boostly Spotlight series. This is the series which focuses on the spotlight on people, products and services who can help you within your hospitality business. And today we're going to be discussing something really exciting. We're going to be discussing Mark's new book, which is the book Direct Blueprint. And this book is coming out in December, is featuring people from all over hospitality services that can help you. These are the guys who are considered the Avengers to help your hospitality business really get some direct booking. So depending on whether you're listening to this episode or whether you're watching on the live will depend whether or not it's already been released or if it's pre released. So currently as we record this, it is pre release, but also all the information you need to go and get a copy is go to boostly.co.uk blueprint. You'll be able to register for emails for when the book comes out if it is pre release and then if not, if it's post release, you'll be able to purchase it through there, which is really cool. So if you're tuning in on the live or you're on YouTube, what I'd love to know is where in the world you're watching from. So add a comment below as to where you're actually listening in from. If you're on the podcast, obviously you can't do that, but just, you know, listen in for the next 30 minutes and enjoy. Today the Spotlight series. We're joined by somebody really special who's really taken the hospitality industry by storm. You can often find him on chat panels and is really considered a thought leader in his area of expertise as well as a host of an amazing business as well. So I'm really pleased to introduce to you Chris Maughan from iprac. He's the CEO and founder and today we're going to be talking about his chapter and as he's one of the Avengers, one of the people you need to be in contact with and to hear about from the book Direct Blueprint. So Chris, welcome along.

Hi Liam, thanks, thanks for having me. Pleasure.

No worries. So obviously I've not given you much of an introduction, but for the people who are watching and listening in, if you wouldn't mind just introducing yourself and your business.

Yeah, well, I have, well, my name's Chris Maughan. I have been in short term rentals, well, hospitality all my life because I started in hotels, went under health Clubs and then into short term rentals. So I've had 22 years in short term rentals here in the south of France. I started 22 years ago with a small studio and set up my accommodation and events company. Today we manage 250 properties. Some of them are the, you know, the most sought after properties on the, on the French Riviera. We provide our accommodation services to big global brands like Google, Twitter, Spotify, mtv, Disney to say a few. And that's the business that I'm still running today. But in 2014, due to an industry problem of fraud and trust and confidence within the short term rental sector, I decided that I would found a platform that built trust and confidence for both consumer and provider. So and that's how IPRAP was founded back in, well founded in 2016 but we started the, the R D in 2014. So we had two years of ups and downs and failed websites and different things but eventually we launched in 2016 and now we're well over 15,000 members covering over 300,000 properties. And yeah, we're just you know, trying to bring that trust factor to the industry. So that's probably the, that's probably the short version of what I'm, what I'm all about.

I mean it's so exciting. I mean that is first of all, wow number of properties and as you say, hosting some amazing brand businesses and some amazing, some of the rich and famous, you know, people from across the world, but then also to start a business which is then worldwide and we're going to dive into, you know, IPRAC and exactly how it can help the people listening to this. But before we do, I'd love to ask why did you get involved in the book? What was it that, that really, you know, kicked you into, into joining?

Well, the biggest reason for me is that I see a lot of advice and tips and insights on, on social media for people to do direct bookings. And I often look at it and think, okay, you know, I think there's too much noise around, around direct bookings to be honest. And I think there's a lot of people teaching it who shouldn't be teaching it. And I think there's a lot of bad advice but there's a lot of good advice. So I just thought that what Mark was doing and Mark's such an experience like you know, operated within the marketing and direct bookings. So when he wanted to do this book I thought this is the perfect opportunity to bring something to market that really is the blueprint of direct bookings. So it's not just one person talking about what they believe. This is like Mark's gone out to the sick, to the industry and like pretty much got the, the greatest minds and the greatest companies and out there who can contribute to putting together like what Mark says, a blueprint of direct bookings. And when, when he mentioned that to me, I just thought this is what the industry needs, you know, because there's a lot of noise out there, it's very difficult to understand. Where do you start? Who do you speak to, who do you listen to? Have they, have they already achieved what I'm trying to achieve or are they just selling something that, to make, for them to make money, you know. So it was important for me because this book really puts the 16 names of the people, the CEOs, the founders of these top end companies who were offering these fantastic services all in one place. So once it's, once it's launched for me, anybody asking me about direct bookings, just going to be a simple answer, you know, go and buy the, the book, direct the blueprint. And that to me is like why I got involved with it. Because it's just the, it's, it's going to be the number one tool for me.

I love that answer because so many people do need that blueprint. And what Mark's done within the start of the book, I've been lucky enough to see a preview of the book before it's released. And yeah, like you say, people do need that blueprint. So often people come to us and say, well how do I do this particular problem? Depending on what it is. And each one of the chapters within the book is specializing in a particular product service which will help you achieve one of the things you need within your hospitality business. Which is amazing, which why he refers to you guys as the Avengers of direct bookings.

Which is really. And it's a great idea to bring them their minds and let them do a chapter on their area of expertise because that's who you want to, that's who you know, I mean we talk about direct bookings, you know, I mean I've sat in, I've sat in panels before, okay, like direct booking panels at events. And I've sat down next to somebody who's talking about how they get direct bookings and what, what people should do to get direct bookings. And I've been on the same panel as these people and when I've asked them the question, so what, what's your OTA Reliance percentage like today? And they were like, well, I'm about 80, 85, I said. But I don't think if you're 85, book direct, like Aute Reliant, you should be speaking about direct bookings because you haven't built it yet. Now when we talk, when I talk about being in the industry 22 years and building AES here in the south of France, I'm really proud to say that we've never used an OTA, never once. So we've built 100% direct booking business over 22 years, of course, but we had different strategies back then that we didn't need to rely on an OTA. So we've, we have actually built a 100% direct booking business within the short term rental space and got all of these properties high retention, high, high client retention. So for me you've got to be listening to people who have achieved it because then you can look at them and go, well they must be talking sense because they've already achieved it. They're not going to be talking nonsense because they're just guessing, you know, and I think what all of the people in this book have all achieved high levels of success in their specific area of expertise. So you've got to be listening to them. So Mark, for Mark to bring them all together in one place, for me, it's just fantastic.

I mean there's, there's not many people in the industry who can literally say that first of all, that you've never used an OTA and one and that's. I don't know any at all, which is amazing. But all. Also just the fact, like you say is people have got to have that credibility and I know this is going to come on to that trust factor that we're going to be talking about, but yeah, people have got to actually be living it. And the people in this book are doing exactly what they're preaching, which is amazing. So without giving away the secret sauce, can you give us a brief sort of a couple of bits about your chapter within the book?

Yeah, well, you know what I've, what I talk about is trust, okay. And I'm probably renowned within the industry for talking a lot about trust and how it's important in the world of hospitality globally, but also within the realm of short term rentals. Because if you work with direct clients all of the time and you have got that connection with them and you can ask them direct questions about why they're booking with you, what's the reasons and you know, you soon start to understand that it's not about the product, it's not about the price. They're booking with you directly because they trust you, you know, and my chapter is all about explaining to the unknown how important it is to build the foundation of trust. And that's this. That should be your starting point now in the trust journey. The trust journey is not one that you get to. It's not a destination journey, you know, it's not something that you say, yeah, I'm there now and it's all done and it's all, you know, it's a constant. You know, you're constantly stacking trust as you, as you build your business because you can lose it at any time. So you've got to be aware of that. So my chapter is all about understanding the power and the value of building trust within your business, not only from a consumer like your guests, who have got to trust you to, to book with you, but also how to gain, you know, owner attention through owners trusting in your brand as well. Because you know, if you don't have, if you don't have properties and you've got, you've got no clients, if you've got no clients and you've got no properties, it kind of all links in. So you can't just concentrate on building trust with your potential gu. You've got to build trust within your brand. So it's. Anybody looking in to your business feels the trust factor, not just guests. You've got owners, you've got your staff, you've got your partners, you've got your local community and you've got your guests. So that's what I talk about to make sure that you're building foundations of trust within your business so that, that gives you the, the platform to then start adding all of the other aspects of the marketing like that other people talk about in the book. Because I always say if you spend time and money on marketing driving traffic to a website that nobody can trust, then what's the point? So get the trust factor first, like the baseline and then start your marketing, you know, so, you know, so I talk a lot about that and about uncertainty and guest uncertainty and what you need to be doing to overcome all of that. So it's an interesting chapter and I think a lot of people's eyes will be opened into how it's written.

I love, I mean, I'm lucky enough to have listened or to read your first chapter and yeah, I love the first. It's introduced as a story, isn't it? The very first part of it. So I know the People listening in. You're the first person you're featured first within that book because it's so important. And I find myself every day I'm talking to hosts from all over the world now about different websites on behalf of Boostly. And the one thing that for the people who have already got websites, often I go on their website and straight away I can see what is missing is that trust factor. So the question I'd pose to yourself is why is trust so important for people? What is it within the process? Why do, why do we feel we need that trust?

Well, you know, our, you know, the way that the human brain works is there, it's there for protection, for stopping us making crazy stupid decisions. So like, you know, it's, it's, it's subconscious, it's driven from the subconscious. So you know, whether you, you use trust in everyday life without even thinking about it, right? So what restaurants you go to, what babysitter do you trust to look after your kids? What flight do you take? Do you, do you go on easyjet or did you go on John's flights? You know, would you, what would you, would you go on John's flights or would you book EasyJet? You're not going to go on John's flight. You don't just John's flights. Who are they? So subconsciously you're always driving, your whole subconscious mind is always asking the question, you know, to protect, am I making the right decision here? So once you start to understand that people are asking that question and having all these uncertainties like will the property be, Will the property exist when I arrive? Will it look like the photos? Will, will be somebody there to check me in? Will it be clean? Will everything work? These are all subconscious questions that are getting asked. So you've got to remove that uncertainty by implementing trust so that people can feel that they're in good hands. That's what it's all about. We're not saying that nothing's going to go wrong because things go wrong within short term rentals. That isn't the issue. People have got to feel like they're in safe hands because they're putting you and your experience as the helmet. They're trusting in you because a lot of these people are going away with family, friends or for business. Imagine if something goes wrong. So you really are trying to just give them that opportunity to say, you can trust me, everything's going to be fine, you know, and that's all people want.

You know, you're right. Because when, even when I'm looking at websites, you know, I'm looking to book a place at the moment, as we said before we started the live. Yeah. I'm looking at the quality of pictures, I'm looking at testimonials, I'm looking all that stuff. And really what I'm trying to establish is can I trust this host? Is this host, does he care enough to make sure that my experience is, is good?

Absolutely. But you've also got to understand as well there's like, like online, like online e commerce, if you want to call it is there's different levels of uncertainty. Like if you want to go online and buy, I don't know, a pair of shoes, right, online and you pay £40 for the pair of shoes, you pay and you sat there at home waiting for the shoes to arrive, you know, if they don't arrive, what happens? It's not the end of the world, is it? You know, it's like you'll email them, you'll say they haven't arrived, you'll do this, you know, it's only £40, so it's not really that. So the level of uncertainty is not very high, right? But take it into short term rentals, right? It's high risk because what you wrote that you don't know the person you book them with, right? You've never booked with them before, you don't know who they are, they haven't been recommended to you, you've found them online, then you've got the price point. Short term rentals is always a high, high price point. You know, you could end up looking at, let's just say more short term rentals for a week is probably going to be about the, the price of an average salary, monthly salary. To give it an idea, okay, it could be more, could be less. But as an average, that's a lot of money for somebody to worry about. So the uncertainty level goes much higher. Because all of a sudden it's like, okay, there's a lot more questions to ask. What happens if I don't, if I pay and it doesn't arrive, how am I going to get my money back? What happens if it's a fraud? What happens if my kids have got nowhere to sleep that night? What we're going to do? It's all of a sudden your subconscious mind is going into overdrive and then you're just like, I'm not booking. So all of a sudden because of the lack of trust and uncertainty, because of that, you've lost the booking. So that's why it's important to deal with the, the, the uncertainty of a guest. And dealing with uncertainty is just building trust. It's another word for just building trust. Because if somebody trusts you, then they don't have as much uncertainty.

Completely. Completely. And do you know, it's one of the reasons, I think, why people often, and I've heard this this week, where somebody turns around and go, yeah, I always, in fact, this was a call I had this morning where she goes, whenever I go away, I always book through booking.com. you know, you could take that out and replace it with VRBO or whatever.

Yeah, yeah.

But the whole concept is that people have got this conception that, you know, they can trust these, these bigger brands more than, you know, individual hosts, obviously we know as hosts. Actually, it still depends on that host at the other end as to whether or not they can trust them. But it's the, the brand itself has built up trust through removing the uncertainty to a certain degree, I guess because of some of the stuff you've spoken about, of, you know, what happens if it goes wrong and that side.

Well, the thing is, what like, you know, Airbnb, booking.com, vrbo, they're big brands, okay? They spend multi million pounds dollars, euros on one thing, trust marketing, okay? That's what they know. Because if you look at an ota, they don't control the property, okay? And they don't control the company who lists the property. But what they do know and what they do want to control is the guest. And the way to control the guest is through trust. So it's like, oh, no, I'm not going to book with you direct. I prefer to pay, prefer, I prefer to pay a little bit more and book through booking.com because trust has a value, you know, so don't think that just because you offer 10 discount, that's, that's in the realm of converting somebody, a direct booking. It's not because somebody might, somebody might value trust at much more than 10%. So I would rather book and pay £200 more just to know that when I arrive, everything's going to be okay. And booking.com have and all the other OTAs, they know how a consumer thinks because that's what they spend their money on. They spend their money, their marketing dollars on understanding trust marketing. And that's why they build these brands that people can trust. We all know things go wrong and like you said, the end supplier is the host, you know, so at the end of the day, if the horse doesn't do a good Job, it's on the brand of booking.com, you know, but booking.com as a brand, they're trusted. Airbnb, they're trusted because they spend that money to make sure consumers trust them. And that's what we have to do as direct booking operators. If you want to build direct bookings, is to remove uncertainty and build that trust. And the only way to do that is through strategies and understanding how that all works.

I think, especially with these. These big brands, they understand that a lot of the times when people are buying, it's based more on emot. Emotion than necessarily, you know, it's not always based on logic. Like, for me, when I'm looking, I. I'm picturing, you know, is my family going to enjoy themselves here? Is. Are they going to be safe? Are they? And because it's more an emotional purchase, the cost itself, you're absolutely right. 10 higher or less, that's neither here or there. It's about getting what emotionally you want from that expenditure, isn't it?

And we're very, you know, consumers are the most selfish people in the world. I mean, we are, you know, we want everything. We want the best price, but we want the best service and we want everything going right. So we are quite selfish. We're not. There's no room for leeway. Is that in, like, from the consumer, you know, so, you know, this is why consumers are the ones who are looking to get the. The best for themselves. So if they don't feel that something is right, then they're very quickly to move, to move on, you know, and it's very difficult if you lose trust with somebody, it's very difficult to get it back, you know, and this is why direct bookings and like, a lot of the figures, sure. That 7 out of 10 inquiries will fall down and not convert due to trust, not due to product of price. It's just. It's just, you know, due to trust. I mean, most operators have had it. I mean, I've had it. You know, it's when people have called us as an inquiry, you know, I'm not saying every 100 of our inquiries, people trust us. We work on it a lot. But if somebody's, you know, oh, I'm going to speak to my husband and, you know, I'm going to come back to you. And then they never do. Well, we've decided we're not coming now. And. But it's not that they're all just excuses nine times out of 10, because they don't want to say to you, we're not going to book with you because we don't trust you. They're just not going to say them words to you. Yeah, but in the background, that's all. That's why they're not booking with you. So you've got to deal with the elephant in the room. And I talk a lot of times like that person does not trust you right now. Your job is to convert them into their trust. So deal with the elephant in the room. Talk about it. Talk about trust, talk. That's why I tell people talk about trust. Because if you just expect people to trust you, you're so naive. You've got to work on it.

I, I'd love to ask, I mean, especially on the live, as we're live now, but also if people are watching this on, on one of the videos afterwards. But how many people out there, if you can put, you know, a comment, just saying, have you ever felt a guest is booked with, not booked with you because they didn't necessarily trust you? I certainly would be a yes. I've certainly got people who I know haven't booked with me, have even talked to me and then still unfortunately gone onto an OTA and booked. And I remember thinking, I mean, this early days, but I remember thinking, my God, what do I need to improve? What do I need to change? And that was one of the times which made me think I need to improve my website. You know, that is one of the reasons I've now got Boostie website. But when, when you look at it there, that trust factor is so important. So what would you say if there's a host out there just going, I don't think I can be as trusted as Airbnb. What would your response be to them?

Well, I think first of all, you've got to decide what kind of business you want to be running. I mean, you know, like if you want to be managing two or three properties and that's it, then maybe, maybe the OTA is the way forward. You know, you're gonna, you're gonna end up giving away the control, but you might not want to be investing in the long term strategies of booking direct. So I think the first aspect is you need to know whether you is, is a direct booking website, you is what you want to build. That's the first thing you need to understand. And then if you, if you decide that you, that's what you want to do, the first thing is to look at your website. Because your website is where everybody's kind of seen who you are. As a brand, as a company, as a service and everything. And find out, ask yourself that question. You know, if you saw that website, would you book through it? I mean, that's the first question. And if you're honest with yourself, you probably go, no, my website shit or poor, you know, excuse the French. So you've got to be very honest with yourself, like, where am I in my journey, where am I at my point of. Because it doesn't matter where you are now, it's about where you want to be. And I think your web, it all starts with your website and building that trusted brand within your website and getting all of the trust signals correct, getting all of your content trust marketed properly, your, your photos on point, your company information on there, your contact details on there, you call to actions correctly, you design right on point and all of these aspects come to floor so that when somebody's coming onto your website, they're not looking at it going, oh my goodness, there's no way I'm booking here. You know, and if you look at some of the websites today, they're very under par, they're very poor. So I would probably tell people, first thing is to look at your website, get that on point, invest heavily in your website and then you can start building your brand around that. Because that's when people start to look at your, your website and that's when they're going to look at and think, no, these are professional, look at their website, look at who they do, look at their, their trust page, look at their accreditations, they've got everything on point. So for me the first thing is your website because that's what people look at when you're, when you're asleep. So depending on the quality of your website could be decided whether you wake up to six inquiries or none.

It's just so important because there's so many people, I mean we talk about it all the time, you know, just mobile or iPad friendly, you know, something which looks good, something which is easily found, things which have got the testimonials on, ability to be able to contact the host easily. You know, there's, there's so many things that people can do to, to, to get their websites to be more, more trusted. So I'd like to dive into two things. Two questions come off the back of that. The first question I'd have for yourself is how widespread is the lack of trust in short term rentals would be the first one and then the second one is how can I prac help with, with that?

Well, I mean, globally, there's a massive problem with the lack of trust because if you look at how many operators are within the sector and the reliance on the OTAs, I mean, then that just shows, that just shows how much the lack of trust that there is across the board. So there is a huge problem with trust. And I think once you start to build a professional standard within the sector, that's when you can start to say, look, all of the trusted operators are identified here and all of the non, you know, the people that we don't really know if we can trust or not are over here. And the way to do that is through a professionalization differentiation in the way that that's done today is through iprac, because they identify who the professional and trusted operators are and who isn't. Now, I'm not saying that if you don't have iprat, you're not trusted, but it's harder for people to understand that they can trust you if you don't have it because you haven't been third party verified. And this is why I talk, why I practice so important, because third party verification is so important, okay? It's so important because we can all speak highly of our own businesses and you know, you can trust me, you can, don't worry about your money, you can trust me. It's all, it's fine, you know, but that's like, of course you're going to say that. It's your business, it's who you are, fraudsters are going to say that. But if somebody on the outside, I. E. A global trust accreditation for your industry is saying to people you can trust this company, that goes a long way because it's not you who's saying you can trust me, it's your global trust accreditation of your industry telling them that you can trust. So that's why I practice such an important tool for direct bookings, because you can stand out as I'm trusted. And there's my I practice certification, which means that any payments that are coming to me that you're paying are protected. So you're removing, as we discussed before, you're removing so many of the uncertainty questions that potential guests have. You know, what will happen to my money? Will the property exist? Are they professional? Can they be trusted? Yeah, they can because they're showcasing the IPRAT logo and we can go onto the IPRAT website and check them out. So that's why, that's the power of iprat, you know, like making sure that you can differentiate yourself from the pack and stand out as A trusted operator.

You know, I think that's such an important thing to mention, isn't it? Because I still feel we're so early in this journey for so many hosts to be able to take the power back from the ocas and to have, you know, to have that trust factor and that for the first mover advantage. The people who are, you know, getting I practice certified, the third party verified and being able to build that trust is just so important because at the moment is different differentiating them from their competition. You know, certainly within, you know, within my market it certainly would. And that's one of those things which, when, when more and more people have that certification, it will eventually, I mean, hopefully it will become commonplace. But what's your thoughts of the future of regarding trust?

Well, that's what I think. I think a lot more people are understanding the importance of it now. I mean, I was, I was banging the drum about trust. Like seven years ago I built my business in can here on trust. So which is why I talk about it so much. I know that direct, direct business comes from, from, from trust. So more people are talking about it. It's getting more, it's getting more, it's getting more traction at events. There's more, there's more other tools talking about how it helps trust. So I think trust is coming into, into a mainstream and I think there's going to be a trend in the future where as people understand that OTAs aren't going to be as powerful in the future in terms of how many bookings they're going to be sending operators and hosts. I think most of the professional people, the ones who really want to stay in this industry and want and build, you know, good businesses, are starting to look at it and go, wait a minute, we really can't just rely on OTAs here. You know, Mark talks about it a lot. You know, don't build your house on somebody else's land. We saw what happened in March 2020 when the, you know, the OTA showed how much power they have over your business. And a lot of people were like, oh my goodness, you know, God, I, I need, I can't have them control my business. So they all started to look at how direct bookings and trust and, but if you look at it, people are seeing trust as the, is the key ingredient to moving away from OTA reliance. So the future, I think for trust, I think more and more people are going to be investing in it because they need to. And, and I think it's products like iprac And I'm sure other products come on the market as well that can help host, build more trust. So I think there's, I think trust is going to be massive in the, in the, in the future. And I think people are, if you look at trends like, you know, like property managed PMSs and dynamic pricing came into, you know, like all of a sudden everybody's focusing on dynamic pricing. That's the, the holy grail for a successful business. A good PMS is the holy grail for success. So all these trends are coming in, but trust has never been one of them yet. Like, like the industry hasn't looked at it and went, okay, it's time to concentrate on trust. Now that's coming. And I would say that's, I would say that's going to be in about, in the next 18 months to two years. People will be really heavily focused on building brand trust, increasing trust accreditations, certifications. And I believe that's when icloud will come into its, you know, iPad's growing massively anyway. But I think that's the point when the industry will, will blow up with, with trust when it becomes a trend.

I like that. I like that. And if there's a, somebody listening to either the live or the podcast at the moment, how do we find out more about IPRAC?

Well, you can go onto the website www.I hyphen track.com and all of the information's there and you can book in a discovery call with one of the team to just find out how that's gonna, you know, benefit you as a company. You know, but it's not for everybody. I understand, you know, short term rentals is, you know, there's different levels of it. But I think any professional operator who's looking to build a brand, build a company, be in this for the long term, needs to be investing in trust and accreditations that are offered recognized accreditations that are offered like, I'm not talking about these like good to go ticks and things like that. They don't work. They're, they're not convert, they're not trust signals, they're conversion signals and they're not good. So real recognized industry accreditations. People will be investing in them because it's the only way to move, to grow. You know, it's the, it's the way that's going to happen and I strongly believe that.

I think you're absolutely right about the future is, is going to be trust. I mean even when from even a guest's point of view, I mean One of the other people within the blueprint is Super Hog where that's verifying guests because there is that trust from the host point of view to trust the guest. And it's just so important to have a host that you can go and stay with, that you can trust who is certified and then to be able to certify guests as well, which is another chapter, as we say, they're doing fantastic work.

You know, they're growing it and you know, they're growing fast, you know. And what they do is, is. And I believe that they're the leaders in that, you know, they're not, they weren't first to the table but I believe that they're becoming the leaders of that game. You know, the guest, the, the guest verification. And again it is because of the, of, you know, some of the value of like this real estate that we're renting out. I mean it's heavy, it's high value, you know, I mean we rent, we rent some properties here on the quasit, you know, they're like the value of the property is like 30 million, you know what I mean? It's like so that somebody owns that. So when an owner's coming to me with a 30 million real estate asset and saying listen, can you manage it? They would need to know that they can trust us as a company to make sure that the people going in there are good clients. But how do you do that? Now we do it differently because we're, we're direct bookings and we're a corporate agency. But for, so you know, we can trust Google, we can trust Twitter and people like that there, you know. But if you don't know that person who's coming to stay in that high end property, who can help you with that? So trust goes both ways. I mean when I talk about trust I talk about like the guest side, like consumers trusting in the industry. But it doesn't stop there. So it's, it's companies like Super Hog who are building that other aspect of trust so that people can, real estate can be protected and also people can build good businesses by protecting their business, you know, and I think they're doing great work. And yeah, they're in the book as well, aren't they?

Yeah, they are. And just you're absolutely right. It goes, you know, whether or not it's building a bigger client base, if you're a management agency or even, you know, if you're doing these, these rent to rent, trying to get the trust from landlords, there's or Trusting the guest, it is just all about, it's very central to everything, isn't it?

And yeah, Chris, I think as well what we need to get into is like, is to educate the industry to invest in the trust logos and then showcase them. Okay. Because it's all very well investing in iPrechat and then or Super Hog, but they're not, they're not really showcasing the fact that you have. So like if you looked at a website today and you saw like, you know, I would like trusted by and you've got all of your trust logos in a very visual place and you start to see a trend of like all of the professionals showcasing these logos. It's like, yeah, you know, like Abter and Atoll, they, they're a little bit different for the, the travel industry but for the reap for the short term rental industry. The trust logos like IPRAC and Super Hogan and all of the other in ASAP quality and tourism, they're not, you don't see them anywhere really. You know, the only ones I see are the IPRAT ones all over the.

Website, shouldn't they, they should be at the bottom of each page, like.

Yeah, they should be, they should be promoting it more because it's like, because once you differentiate yourself at the minute, we all know that the short term rental industries like the Wild west, there's no barrier to entry. So it's very easy to get in there. You can, you can get a, you can get your grandmother's next door neighbor's property on your books tomorrow, add it on Airbnb and all of a sudden you're a short term rental manager. Right? That's wrong really, because you can't just go and open a hotel tomorrow. You can't just go and open a restaurant tomorrow. There's hoops to jump through, there's health and safety aspects, there's certificates to get, you know, there's all of these different aspects that you have to cover. But short term rentals, there's no barrier to entry. So it's a bit of a wild west, free for all. What the professionals need to do is find a way how to differentiate themselves from the whole global pack and stand out as the professionals. And, and the way to do that is building the trust factor, showcasing trust building, brand building, good websites, building great services. And that's how you start to build an industry that's, that is trusted. Yeah, because we're not, we're not trying to achieve individual trust here. We're trying to, we're trying to achieve global Industry trust so that people look at the industry of short term rentals and go, it's standardized. There's obviously there's bad operators but there is good operators and they're all over here and this is the lawnmower that shows that they are.

I just think the, the other thing is just delivering on the service. You know, a lot of the time there's a great book by. This was the guy who started Marriott Hotels and he talks about service has always got to be consistent and you know, if on one of your properties, I mean relating that to a short term rental host. If on one of my properties I've, I've done my fire risk assessment and I've made sure everywhere's clean and on the other one I just haven't. The two experiences would be so different, wouldn't it? And it's about having the same experience across all your portfolios.

Consistency, isn't it? It's called brand consistency. I mean I, I tell people as well with short term rentals, find out what kind of short term rental brand you want to be.

Yeah.

What? Don't just turn around and wake up one day and say right, I'm going to be a short term rental manager. It's like, because that, that's quite a long stretch. It's like do you want to be, do you want to concentrate on corporate? Do you want to concentrate on, on weekends? Do you want to concentrate on tourism? Do you want to concentrate on luxury? Do you want to concentrate on, you know, midstairs long stays? Find out. Don't just be that person who's like oh, we just rent us, you know, home in on what you want to do and then start building your brand around what you do. So if you, if you're a luxury short term rental property manager then anything on your website should be luxury.

Yeah.

You know, and you should have that brand showing luxury brand, you know, because you know, you don't want to be showing a luxury brand and then highlighting media properties. So you've got to get that right and then you've got to get your continuity right across the board. So yeah, you're right. It's like, you know, be consistent as well and grow, grow at the right, the right pace. Because I think today a lot of people try to grow too quick in terms of inventory and then what happens is they start to really lack the service and then they start to lose properties and things like, and all of a sudden their brand goes down. And it wasn't because they were bad companies because they tried to grow too quick.

Yeah, absolutely. And I mean I love we could talk all day about trust branding and one of the quotes in the book actually Chris, is you mentioned, mentioned the psychology of trust is deep rooted enough to flesh out an entire book, let alone a single chapter. So I mean, just from today I know. Would you be looking at expanding on it with a book in the future?

I've always, yeah, I mean, look, I've always thought about one day that I would write a book on purely on trust because I've studied it and I think it's something that I would like to do. Yeah, I mean we do need to see a full book on it for sure. And there's other ones being written. It's not on my radar right now, but I mean I'm, I never say never. So you know, but I've got too much going on at the minute to be right. This is perfect for me because it's just a chapter.

Yeah, that's perfect. And I mean what we do towards the end of these is we just do a couple of quick fire questions. So Chris, is these answers can be short as long as you like. But just for fun, what would if you could have any superpower, we talked about the Avengers at the start, so it would be wrong of me not to ask what would your superpower be and why?

Oh, superpower. I think I would.

God.

What would my superpower be?

Don't know.

Can we come back to that one?

Of course you can. Of course you can. You don't have to. So what book would you recommend to someone other than obviously the, the blueprint? What other book would you recommend that somebody go and read which has helped you on your journey?

I've read a lot, but I would say one that stands out to me is Shoe Dog.

Shoe Dog. The Nike. The founder of.

Yeah, I think, you know, I've, I've, I've studied Nike a lot over the years in terms of their brand and trust and how they've, you know, done what they've done with, with the tick. And you can read that book. I mean I've read it more than once and every time I've read it, it's given me something different to kind of focus on. So it's it for me. It's, it's, it's a fantastic book. If you haven't read it, then you, you, that's, it's got to be on your bucket list of reading.

It is so good. I've got it on audible. That is a fantastic one. And finally Last but not least is, is there a motto or a mantra that you love to live by?

Yeah, I mean, I heard it, I heard it. I heard it when I was, when I was young and it was from Churchill and it was kind of like when, you know, you know, I've gone through quite a lot of challenges in my life and I remember somebody saying it to me and I saw it on a big vision board once and it said that when you're going through hell, keep going. And that really resonated with me because I'm somebody who's always pushed the boundaries to kind of challenge myself. So when you're in a challenging situation, things can get a little bit kind of chaotic. And I've always been able to go back to that and think, well, this is really tough time right now, so. But the way to do is keep going. Yeah, but I think, and I live by that kind of, you know, in different ways. It's not just that saying, but just, you know, when tough times come, you know, just, just, you know, they're not going to last.

Yeah, exactly that. Just keep. Put one foot in front of the other and just keep.

That's it, you know, and it's not so much just that saying, it's just it. But that same does, you know, and I've got it written down on, on loads of my, you know, kind of boards and different things at home, so. But it does resonate with me a lot.

Awesome, awesome, Chris, thank you so much for today. You know, it's just for everybody out there, obviously, who has listened to Chris, just make sure you go and check out, first of all, IPRAC. So I hyphen prac.com and also, obviously for today's episode, it really is focusing the spotlight on the book, direct blueprint. So Chris has got his copy up there as well. And depending on when you're listening, when you're watching, you can find out more information@boostly.co.uk blueprint and that'll tell you where you can get a copy or if you can pre register for a copy, if you're listening before it's released. So, Chris, thank you so much for today. Is there any closing comments before?

We just like to, you know, just to go back to it, you know, I mean, I think it's all about this, isn't it, today? And I think, I think we've already mentioned it, but I think there's so much noise out there when it comes to direct bookings. We all know direct bookings is going to be very important to build a globe, you know, build a, a successful company within this space. So I think this book is going to be the go to book and I think if you haven't got it or you haven't pre ordered it, then you should. But I think, yeah, I think it's important to highlight the importance of this book for the industry and the help that it's going to give people moving forward.

It's definitely a sort of marking point, isn't it, in the, in the calendar. So it's December 2022. So this December that's coming out again. Some people will be listening to this after that time. But all details you can find@boostle.co.uk blueprint and thank you so much, Chris. Yeah, bye for now.

Christmas presents.

Love it.

Thank you so much for checking out today's podcast episode. Now before you head and go anywhere else, before you click to the next episode, before you do that, do me one big favor and go check out boostly.co.uk trust IPRAC are the sponsors of all of the Boostly content and the reason why I work with them and the reason why we spread the message of IPRAC is that when a host or a company is looking to get more into diary bookings, the main question they have is around trust, as in will a guest trust that I am a true and real business? Will IPRAC take care of all, all of that? And they've got a special offer that is only available to Boostly people. But to do that you need to go to Boostly which is B O o s t l y.co.uk trust you can find out all the information there. You can book in a demo, book in a call and then you will get your super special offer that is only available to Boostly peoples. Thank you again for tuning in. Do go check out Iprac. We'll be back again very shortly with another podcast episode. But until then we'll see you all very soon. Take care.