Why It's Important to Choose the RIGHT Management Company

Okay, so welcome to a new episode of the behind the Host podcast, the Boostly Podcast, where you can learn the tactics, the trainings and the tips to get more direct bookings. Today we've got a special host. Come and join us, Natalie Daubin from the Right Property Group. She's the manager and founder. They manage over 150 listings UK wide and they have an average score of over 4.8. So. So they're very good at what they do. You really need to know about the Right Property Group because they are leaders in the corporate booking sector. And today on this episode, hopefully you learned some tips how you can be as successful as the Right Property Group and how you can scale your business as well. So, Natalie, thank you so much for joining us today and welcome along.

Thank you for having me.

No worries. Absolute pleasure. Thank you for joining. So let's get started then by. Yeah, you explain and first of all, introduce yourself. I know you've given me an introduction there, but tell me how the Right Property Group got started.

So it was kind of a funny one, really. Well, I've been in property for about 17 years, but I, I did buy to let flips touched a bit of commercial, which I still own some, but it was a case of my husband, he sort of said to me, you know, let's start going into service accommodation. And I said, oh, I don't know about that. Is it wasn't something that we'd ever sort of discussed before were ever interested in doing. I hadn't heard great things about it. So when he sort of brought it up to me, it was like I didn't really want to do it. He said that you don't have to do it, you don't have to manage it. We'll just get another management company to do it. And I was like, okay. So we got these four properties, they were coming on two weeks apart. So we got the first one, we went in, we set the first one up and that went on with the management company. And then two weeks later we had no bookings on this first unit. The next one we went in, set that one up, two weeks later, we'd had no bookings for the first two units, we're setting up the third one and at this point I was getting really anxious and then knowing full well that we had the third one on and then the fourth one was coming on and we got to the third one and we were like, I said, I said to Greg, I said, look, I'm really, I'm really worried now. I was Getting to, like, sleepless nights. We'd had three events going out, full fun was coming on. And he said to me, you know what? That's it. I've had enough. I can't cope with you. You're stressing me out too much. So he went on, he pulled the plug on the management company and he goes, you're going to do it so easy. You're managing them. So I was like, oh, God, you put them on airbnb himself put them on the can. And literally within, like, two days, we had the first two units booked. And I was like, okay, so let's just do it then. So that was sort of where it stemmed from. So we just started managing them ourselves. They were, like, fully booked every week. These units were in Bedford, where we live. We were going in, checking them after the housekeeping, making sure everything was great. So that's kind of where it all stemmed from. And then in that same block, our housekeeper came to us and said, there's another girl that's got a unit there that's completely empty. It's with the same management company. And I was like, oh, okay. She goes, she wants to talk to you. I've told her about you guys. So she gave us her number and called her and she was like, I've had it for eight months. I'm ten grand down. Can you help me? And I was like, well, I've never, like, I've only ever managed for other people in HMOs. I've never done it for essay. I don't know if you know if I'm going to be good enough for you kind of thing. And she was like, no, you're doing it yourself. You can do it for me. So I was like, okay, I'll try it. So I took on her unit. And this literally was March when Covid hit. So I took her, no unit for her, and she was fully booked all through Covid, so. So I had her unit on as well. And then we. Then we ventured into Northampton. So we took on Northampton and then we had another one of our investors, who's still with us now, approach us for Stevenage. So it kind of just stemmed from there, like kind of a little bit of word, word of mouth. And that's how we just started to grow. So that's how we got into it. It was. It was Greg's idea. I didn't want to do it, but I had no intention of managing. So it was like an accidental manager situation. But, yeah, I love it now.

That's awesome. So Starting. You mentioned the area where you started with Bedford, and you got a few units there. So it's now been. That was back. So that wasn't that long ago, was it? I mean, that's been a really awesome.

Journey and a half, three years. Yeah.

Short period of time. So in that short period of time, talk me through, was there stages of growth where you went, you know, when you went from, you know, sort of your first three units that you talked about there, where you suddenly went, oh, my God, we're at 20. What. What was the mindset at the time as you started to grow?

Because this friend of mine, she's now one of my really good friends, actually, when she came to me and said, I'll manage for me, and I was a bit like, I don't know about this. And, you know, that was like my first ever management. It was going from there to then. When the next person approached me for management, I was like, yeah, I can do it now. And then going on from there. We grew really slowly in terms of the management side. We started taking on more rent to rent. And then when we hit, I think 20 units, that was my kind of point of, oh, we're kind of a little bit legit here. And then it's like you kind of get really busy. And I was getting phone calls because Greg, my husband, has a really solid marketing background. He was able to do a lot on Google. We ranked really high on Google, so we're getting a lot of calls from there. But it was. It was more. We grew from word of mouth, so people would sort of recommend their friends and things like that, and they were calling us. So that was kind of our sort of turning point where people were calling us and when people would call me and say, I've been recommended to use you, that kind of feeling of somebody telling somebody else that I'm good. There's nothing better than that.

No, the power of the referral network is so important and based on reputation, you know, and having. Even doing this, being open and honest and going, look, even one of the things you said, look, we've just started managing this. I'm not sure if we could do this back in 2020. And of course, you've proved you can. And the reviews themselves speak for themselves, so that is amazing. So there'll be people listening into the podcast and on the live who are thinking about scaling themselves and taking on units for management. What were some of the challenges along the way that you faced?

I mean, well, we had Covid.

That's a big One that was a.

Big one because we were so new at that point. We were really new. I think at that stage we were on about eight units and it was so fresh for us. And we were like, oh, this could be a, you know, a business for us. But then, surprisingly, we really grew through Covid that we had such a huge growth spurt through that. But we thought that was going to be a huge challenge. It was in the sense of we couldn't host any leisure, but we became really, really big in the contractor world and we gained. So we, we really grew in terms of the direct side. We've got a huge base for that. We got so many clients that we still have today. We, we grew quite big in the, the European side of the world. So that's where I think really built our base. But one of our biggest challenges, which is constantly ongoing, I think, is the, the guest side of things, the leisure side of things, which all, all hosts come up against. Especially with the OTA bookings. We find that, you know, people will book, and that was a big thing through sort of not only just Covid, but every summer, especially when it was. They'd book it. The prices were increased and inflated so high because they couldn't go abroad and they had no choice but to do staycations. And because everything was so fully booked, people would increase their prices as a host because they could, and people almost begrudge that. So they would book it and they'd be like, okay, I want it to be perfect because of the price I'm paying. And then they'd be like, okay, I can't afford this, so I'm going to absolutely annihilate this place. Even, even. Even if it's great to get a refund, we're finding that kind of happens every year now. And they're just going, they turn up and they'll say, oh, there was a hair here and now I want a refund. And they're kind of the same challenges that we find every year.

That's fair enough. And you mentioned, you know, a lot of your bases now come in direct. So how have you built up that base and how do they book direct with you at the moment?

So a lot of our clients that we've built up, I think it was instigated through the whole situation with COVID because we could only accept contractors. We built up the clientele through there, and we still got contractors that built that book originally. Then we've built them relationships, and then we were able to build up our European clientele. So that's why we have large groups, like really large groups that now stay with us. They come over and they move around the country. So we've built up that kind of clientele. So that's why we get a lot of direct bookings.

That's cool. So they've, they've come and stayed with you. They recognize how good hosts you are and then they're moving from one location to the next location. And you've got hosts in that location who can then come stay. What an awesome way to build those relationships and to keep that guest. There's something called lifetime client value, and that's what you're building there. You know, these same people are booking time and time again and they, you become their referred. Their referred host, which is cool. So one of the things which I know, you know, people will be struggling with is did you find that what your business needs and the tech it needs changed as you grew? So compared to there'll be people listening with one or two units, there'll be people with 10 to 30 units, and there'll be people with 50 units plus and 100 plus. What, what were the changes along the journey around what your business needed and the tech side of things?

Yeah, so we started off with one channel manager. So we started off using hostfully, which we really liked at the time. It was great, it was so easy to use. But then we had to change and because it didn't have all the facilities that we used that we needed to use. And then we've now moved across to Xavoo and Zivu. Just had what we needed to grow and to continue to grow. It had things like where it produce statements for us. And now we're just like, it's a great platform and name is going to be sitting there going, thanks, Natalie, for the shout out.

He will be sharing this name.

Yeah, I want some commission for this. You know, it's got the facilities that we needed to grow because it does. It massively changes in terms of what you, when you, when you've got a few units as to what you need. Same thing like dynamic pricing. We had to then move on to, to use price labs for that kind of tool where we could sit there and choose what we wanted for our nightly rates and things like that. And it's just, especially when you've got so many houses and you can't sit there. So for example, when we first had Bedford, we were able to sit there and say, what's going on next week? What's going on next month? We could do that manually. Now, when you're all over the uk, that's not something that you can keep on top of. So you need a tool that's going to be able to inflate the prices for you and know what's coming on board. Same with when I'm bringing on investors. So that's like, for example, I've got about 17 properties coming on board this month. I need to have a tool that's going to be able to log it all. So I use HubSpot for that. So it's all these kind of things, like the onboarding team can keep track of what I'm putting on, then they're ready to go and set up and do all the furnishing and staging and things like that. They can just grab it from me and run with it. So it's using all these kind of different things to help you grow as a business.

It's. Those tools are so important and I know some people use them from, you know, one unit upwards, don't they? But just having these tools, like you say with. With xivu, their reporting process, because you need that for your owners, the statement, well, that's a really important tool. So often we get asked all the time of which one is the best pms, and we say, well, it depends on you and your business needs. You know, if. If you've got one unit which is your own, you might not need all the features that some PMSs do, but depending on your business and the size, these features really do help you, help you grow, which is amazing. So, yeah, thank you for that. And when it comes down to the. You mentioned that, you know, at one stage you'll be able to keep track of the guests. How do you get all the information you need to guests? Is that all automated? Do you use any special softwares for that side of things?

All information to guests.

To guests for their stay?

So it depends on when you say information in terms of, like, checking information.

Yeah.

So that's all automated through our channel manager.

That's cool. Cool. And is there any other pieces of tech which you absolutely love and you rely on as a business?

I think there's several. I think it's all communicative, really. Yeah. I think it's everything together that we need. Is there something that, I mean, we have our management meetings where we sit down and say, we need this in order for this to work. There's something missing here that's this process isn't working and we sort of sit there and we discuss what some Someone's lacking or. And in that way we can say, okay, I've got an idea, how can that work? There must be something for that. And then we'll sit down and we'll work through it. And then someone has that idea or it's usually Greg. Whenever there's something techie that's missing, he knows what it is and he'll say, yeah, I know what that is, I've got that, I can put that in place. And he knows what system it is to make it work. So. And then we'll get it.

That's cool.

All the processes work more smoothly.

Yeah, it's that combination, isn't it like you say, between systems and people and just having the right mix between the two. So all of your units 150 now, is there anything they share in common? Is there certain places that you like to host? Is it the more contractor based or is it for people who are listening where they're thinking, oh, I need a management agent. Is it a case of you manage across the uk, is there places that you prefer?

So when we're on boarding properties I do get questions in terms of I'm either looking or give me advice on where to take on. I always say look for locations that is going to be not 100% of one or 100% of another in terms of leisure or contractor. And you want something that's going to be your bread and butter is always contractors. So I say look for something that you're going to be able to put contractors in. They're going to book seven days a week or they're going to book you Monday to Friday quite solidly, say three months or six months and then you're going to have leisure guests that are going to want to book the weekends. You're going to have a good strong occupancy. Yes. You're going to have locations the likes of Devon that you're going to have really, really high solid rates through the summer but then prepare yourself that it's not necessarily going to have a good occupancy through the winter months. So with them locations, I'm not going to say to my investors, I recommend going in some locations if you're going to want an all year round occupancy. So they're the ones that I recommend are really the, the combination of the two.

That's cool. That's cool.

Yeah. Because I always say, you know, you never know what's going to happen. Look at Covid, nobody ever could have predicted that. And if you ever get Something where it's going to be key workers only. Again, you want to be able to have a location where they are going to want properties in. So you want your bread and butter.

Of the contractors and sticking with the same theme. For hosts or property owners who are listening to this. Is there things or any tips that you'd give them about the properties? Things that make, you know, as a, as a big management agent easier. Is there tips that you'd have for them or what advice would you have if they were just getting started with, say they've got a X buyer to let property and they want you to manage it?

Yeah. So I have criteria when taken on a property. I have separate criteria for sourcing a property and I have separate criteria for internals. The, the exterior, exterior is always within 15 minutes drive of the town centre. No permit parking and no council estates. They're the criteria when looking for a property. When it's interior, I always say you want ideally three, four and five bedroom properties. Two bedrooms. Yes, they do work one bedrooms. 90 times of the time you're competing with hotels so they're the sort of the sweet spot, the three, four and five bedroom houses. And you don't want magnolia houses because in, even though they're fine, when you're in there, they look fine. You know, you dress them up, they look good, but in photos, no matter what you do to them, they look dated for whatever reason, they look dated in photos. And photos are what people look at to book your property.

That's cool. And just that, that interior design we touched on, the interior design is just so important even. What would you say to somebody who goes, well, if I'm hosting contractors, you know, does it need to be good interior design? What would you say to those people?

It really does because people have this perception of our contractors don't care. They really care. One thing that I always get from contractors is I love going to stay in a beautiful house because nine times of the time they're nicer than my house at home. So it's a privilege. And if I've got to work away for long periods of time, I want it to be somewhere that I really enjoy staying. So that's, that's the kind of the feedback I always get from them. And not only that is if they're going to say pay the same price for a house that looks really average and plain as a house that's really quite striking, what are they going to choose?

Exactly, exactly. And we find that they look after them better as well. If they're if they're presented in the right way and people look after the houses.

I mean, I. I often get it where people that are quite new coming into it, that want to go into service accommodation, they'll say to me, oh, but it doesn't have to look that nice if it's going to be, you know, majority of the people that are going to say there are contractors. And I say, actually, they look after the houses better than leisure guests do. They really? Do they care. And if they don't look after them, 95% of the time, it's actually their superiors and the people in the office that are booking these properties for them and they will say to us, if they don't look after them houses, you tell me. So. Yeah, they do, yeah.

They don't want to be in trouble with the boss at the end of the day. So in the journey that you've had, what's one perception that you've had about service accommodation which has changed over time?

Before coming in service accommodation, I always thought Airbnb was only leisure. I thought it was 100% leisure. I did not know this field was for contractors. I didn't even know it existed. And that was the biggest surprise to me.

Yeah, it's. I think people tend to think, I mean, they go, Airbnb. They go, oh, people just have parties in your houses and you just go, well, I don't know about you, but represents such a small percentage when there is, you know, so much more to it, isn't it? Like you say, there's contractors, leisure people stand for families and things like that.

Yeah, predominantly for, like, couples just to go away for a weekend. That's what I thought it was all about.

We often relate it to what, you know, what we do. Isn't it what we've used Airbnb for? And, you know, for us, it's a couple's break or as a family. So your day to day role, Obviously back in 2020, your day to day role was much more hands on. How has things changed now? You're at that stage where you've got 150 units. How many staff do you employ now or as part of the team?

So we have around 20 in house, staff in the office. Obviously that doesn't include any housekeeping, doesn't include our, our building team, our setup teams, but yeah, they're the ones that are physically in the office.

Amazing. And how has your job role changed your day to day routines? What has changed over, over the time?

Well, it's when it, when I first Started it. I did everything. I done sort of the guest relations, I done talking to the investors. I was, I'd done literally every role you can think of. Whereas now I don't talk to guests. We have our booking team for that. I don't deal with the, the builders. I don't deal with the onboarding team, let, sort of arranging the keys for collections for the setups. I don't deal with any kind of things like that. I don't deal with any finance. Yeah, there's, there's all them kind of things that I don't have any sort of sale input in. The only thing I do now is I look after the investors and the landlords. That's my sort of role.

There'll be people listening in who are doing all those things, wearing all the different hats in the businesses. And it's quite inspiring to hear that. You can get to a stage, you build out a team and you get to that stage and it's one of those ones where you pick the things that you're good at and you like doing and you can outsource the rest as you build the teams, which is, which is awesome. So, yeah, and what advice would you have for yourself if you could go back and, and start again? What advice would you give yourself now? Looking back, if any.

That's a really difficult question.

Anything.

I don't think I would change anything. I don't think I would.

That's cool.

I think, yeah, I think everything that I've done, I've learned from. So if I changed anything, I would just be changing things that I made certain mistakes on and if I didn't do them, then I wouldn't have learned. So I wouldn't change anything.

That's really cool. I like that answer. That is. That is really cool. And if somebody's looking to get started, so they're thinking, you know, I'm going to launch a management business. What tip would you, would you want to give them if they were just.

Getting started, if they're about to launch a management business? I would be, I'd say, get yourself out there, get yourself out there. Talk to as many people in the service accommodation network. It's a very different group of people. Generally what I experience is because I've been in property for such a long time, people in property are, they're not necessarily as close knit as service accommodation people. They're, they're so helpful. Everybody kind of comes together, you're close knit, they're so supportive. So if you want help, you want, you Want to know something? Everybody's so up for helping and supporting each other in service accommodation. It's like a whole different kettle of fish when it comes to property. So if you're coming into it, talk to people, be on the Facebook group, ask questions. If you're just starting out, I wouldn't say get a mentor because I think that's too early. I would say go and talk to agents. I would say buy a deal. I would say deal, source something. Get your first unit and talk to people and learn from your first deal. Do that because you can't learn unless you're doing it, unless you're in the thick of it. Learn from your first property. Once you've got the knowledge on your first one, you're fully in it and you know what you're doing, then start growing. Then when you feel ready, get yourself a mentor and then learn from their mistakes. That's how you grow.

I love that. What a brilliant bit of advice that is. And I'm sure there'll be people listening who can put that into practice. Because, you know, the, the fact that when you've got that first one, you can really get hands on and that's when the training really begins, isn't it?

Yeah.

What we always like to do is end these with some quick fire fun questions. So couple of questions. What do you like to do for fun? How do you relax?

I'm quite a party girl, so when I have spare time I'll be like, Greg, let's go out. Let's let ourselves our hair down. And you know, I love to go out, have a few drinks and dance.

So, so people can find you in the, the Bedford nightclubs with, with Greg partying. Basically.

I'm more of a bar kind of girl, not so much a of kind club. I've never been a club girl, but I do love a good dance. Spending time with my family and my little boy and my dogs, that's what I love. That's what I'm. That's my fun.

That's cool. And who inspires you? Anybody?

You follows me? Yeah. I tell you who inspires me. Shakira. Yeah, I, she's. She's someone. I'll tell you why. I, I love how she is so giving and how much she gives back. She's always stayed completely true to who she is and she. The amount of charity work she does I think is incredible.

That's amazing. That's amazing. And lastly, is there any books that you'd recommend people read or podcasts that people follow yours oh well, of course Mark will be pleased you've said that.

Yeah.

We'll give you your money afterwards, but yeah. Any other books or any other podcasts?

No, I'm not a big follower on books and podcasts. I don't have time.

No worries, don't worry.

Well, yeah, I don't, I don't have time to read books and, and stuff like that, so.

So if people wanted to get in touch with the right property group, find out about your management services, best place to do so would be the website, is that right?

Yeah.

So. Www.therightpropertygroup.co.uk for everybody who's listening and wants to check out Natalie and the right property group. I just realized we've been talking about Greg, it's worth mentioning is full name Greg Dorben for those who don't know him as well. Obviously it's your partner in crime and if there's any closing comments you've got for people listening at all.

No, not really.

I'd love to. It'd be a cool way to close. What do you think the future of the serviced accommodation and holiday let business is here in the uk?

I think there's going to be regulations coming in. I think it's good for people to be aware of that. They've already put it in, they've implemented it in Scotland. I think that's only a matter of time. In the next two years the council are going to implement of planning licensing the same way as they did with HMOs. So I think it's a case of when you're sourcing to be aware, make sure you know to have build up good relationships with landlords. So then when you do source a property that you can then go to them and say hey, I'm going to pay for it. Be prepared for me to take it on a long term basis as opposed to most deal sourcing deals are done on a three year basis. So they're the things, they're the conversations to start having when you're looking to deal source.

That's cool. Worth, worth looking out for the legislation coming in. Well Natalie, thank you so much for spending your time with us today. Really a pleasure to have you on the podcast. I've learned a lot from the podcast. I'm sure others listening in have as well. So thank you. I'm sure people are going to reach out to you at the right property group and yeah, if you know, we look forward to seeing what the future of the right property group does. So thanks again. Bye for now.

Thank you.