Your guide to furnishing a short term rental for maximum exposure

Welcome to the Boostie podcast. If you're joining on either the podcast or we've gone live on Facebook as well, which is cool. This is a podcast that gives host the tools, the tactics, the trainings, but most importantly, the confidence to go out there and get more direct bookings. Today we're shining the spotlight on another awesome service that you need to know about as a host. And I'm not going to go too long on the intro because I've got two people here who I'm really excited to introduce. Welcome along Jeff Ellulian and Jen Sexton and they're both from Host gpo. This is an awesome service that can help you furnish your short term rental and that's what we're talking about today. We're talking about how do you as a host furnish your short term rental for success. So let's dive in. So welcome along to yourself, Jeff. And to yourself, Jen.

Hello. Thank you so much for having us.

Thank you for, thank you for being here. So let's start off before diving into the service, if you wouldn't mind giving yourself a little introduction, your role within the company and anything else you'd like to share. And if we start with yourself, Jeff, and then move to end, is that okay?

Sure, yeah. My name is Jeff Lulian. I'm the CEO and co founder of Host gpo. So we're a buying group for vacation rental companies. We get discounts on furniture, linens, mattresses, amenities, and help you set up and furnish and restock your listings. I've been in the vacation rental industry about nine years and I've set up over 250 vacation rental homes.

Amazing. Thank you. And Jen, for yourself.

Yes.

Hello, I'm Jen Sexton. I co manage the design program here@host GPO. I am also a host myself and I am incredibly passionate about design and creating overall experiences for our guests.

Amazing. We couldn't have two better people to talk about how we can furnish a holiday home for success or a short term rental for success. So let's just start off by talking a little bit more about Host gpo. Is this important for people to really understand the service? First of all, where does it cover and what problem does it solve? And if we go to you first, Jen?

Yeah. So basically like Jeff said, we're a group purchasing organization for the vacation rental industry. So what we've done is we've kind of taken this collective buying power and we have targeted our very favorite vendors to set up our members for success. So, you know, like Furniture, mattresses, linens. We've kind of taken all of that guessing work out of it and we've given you basically the vendors that we know and we love and we trust.

That's cool. And anything to add, Jeff, or is.

Yeah, Jen nailed it. But I'll only add that we're in the US and Canada right now and that, yeah, that's, that's pretty much it. Our discounts tend to range from 30ish to 70ish percent off. So they're really substantial. They're the industry's best discounts. And we partner not just with name brands. So you know your West Elms, Crate and Barrels articles, Brooklinens, Public Goods, Rugs usa. Right. Those kind of more household names, but also with brands that would otherwise be only available to hospitality. So something like a standard textile linen where it's, you know, the number one hospitality linen company that sells to giant hotels. We make those also available to our members, things like Ace Hardware, which is a discount both online and in store. So it's really the things that you need both to get set up, but also on an ongoing basis from the brands that make the most sense for each of those categories.

Why should a host be even thinking about their interiors? I mean, I guess there might be hosts out there who have got long term rentals who are thinking, do you know what, I might be able to do this as short term rental. What should I be considering? Why should they even consider interiors in general? And if we stick with you, Jeff, on that.

Yeah, absolutely. So the way I always say is, is the first and foremost vacation rental hosts are our photographers. Right. And you're listing the picture that's on any listing platform or on your direct booking website. Right. That is what people are going to look at when they decide whether to click your listing or somebody else's. So you really need to make sure that right out of the gate you have something eye catching, something that is going to drive traffic to your listings and it's going to make you stand out against your competitors. You know, I recently saw a statistic that said that only 5% of vacation rentals, I believe it was in the U.S. but only 5% of vacation rentals are actually optimized, meaning that they have everything set up, you know, including pricing, you know, using the right PMS software, having automated messaging, but also being design focused and design forward and being like set up for, for that kind of success. So, so really optimizing your listing, making sure you're driving traffic there. And the second component of it is. You want to make sure that the designs that you're choosing and the furniture that you're choosing, the linens that you're choosing, are actually the right types that are going to last, that you're not going to have to replace and that are actually manufactured and graded. For this kind of vacation rental, use the pull out couch that you have in your house for when your buddies come over or, you know, you have some relative in town. That thing gets open once or twice a year. But really focusing on design means, you know, focusing both on how it looks, but also on getting the right kinds of products that can withstand the opening and closing of a three to four turnarounds a week, depending on how you're running your vacation rental. You know, that type of actual wear and use.

Do you think interior design is becoming, you know, expected, becoming the norm within the industry?

I definitely think that you need to elevate your property. I mean, what is really going to make your property stand out? Why is somebody going to choose your listing over another listing? So, yeah, I definitely think that you need to have, have really good interior design. It doesn't need to be complicated though. I mean, it can still be very simple, it can be timeless, it can be clean, but it also needs to be inspiring and inviting to your guests.

Why do you like interior design as from a personal level?

Yeah.

So I love it because it inspires me. Like, I love the feeling when I walk into a home and I'm just like, you know what, this is calming, this is inspiring. Like I want to be here, I want to stay here. I don't want to go outside. I want to be surrounded by the beautiful, beautiful things that are in this, this home. So for me, it's all about just that inspiration in general and just getting that overall feel.

Why does host GPO focus on interiors? What was, how did you come about solving this, this problem or when did you discover this, this was a problem that needed solving in the industry?

Yeah, absolutely. I really started host GPO in part because my vacation rental company and a lot of the other folks I was talking to were having the same problems. Trying to figure out when you look through an Amazon or you're trying to go to a retail store if these sheets are going to work and how long they're going to last for, and are these even the right ones or am I going to be able to buy this again in the future or. For me, it was setting up. I set up 16 units at a time once and I ended up going to Ikea and checking out with 48 shopping carts and I had my whole team with me and you know, we ended up going, you know, it was, it was probably one of the worst days of my life. And we ended up going to the house and getting there at night and realizing we had to build the furniture and, you know, set up these units and they looked terrible and they didn't perform well. And while I very much, you know, feel calm when I walk into a listing, like Jen says, and feel affected in that way, I was very focused on the bottom line. And that for me was the driver. I realized that the units that I was setting up with kind of inexpensive furniture that I was replacing, that didn't have that wow factor, that didn't look great, those were the ones that were underperforming. And when I started getting into more luxury units or even just setting up basic units nicer, those units were really outperforming everything else. And the, the roi, the money I was making back was immediate on the increase in spend, on getting something slightly better than kind of the most basic thing. So I've done a lot of the mistakes. I've done, you know, the Facebook marketplace, which isn't scalable because you have to go out and try to find stuff all the time. I've done the Wayfair roulette, I've done the ikea, you know, 48 hour build, little Allen wrench. I mean, I've done all of these things and I think that really resonates with a lot of people who have also gone through these experiences. And when you realize that you can get really quality furniture at discounted pricing through GPO and get it installed and really make a room that looks, for those of you that are watching, you know, that looks like the room that Jen and I are in, right? These are kind of both examples of what a more quality put together room could look like that just really changes the bottom line. And so, you know, I had a lot of those experiences which really led me to, to wanting to increase ROI and knowing how to do that through design.

That's really cool. Thank you guys. And I really, the aim of this, I really wanted hosts to start to think a bit more about their interior and how they can furnish their short term rental for success. And I think we've achieved that today. So thank you both for sharing so much value, for spending your time here with us on Boostly, and also thank you too. If you're listening in on the Facebook Live, if you're listening in on the podcast I know there's a lot of places you can put your attention, and I really thank you for putting it with Boostly. So was there any closing comments before we close things off, guys?

Yeah. What I have to say. There's one thing I have to say. Don't. Don't use full beds. I just. People make the mistake of putting full beds in your units. They technically can only sleep one person. So you're better off putting a twin and making a nicer room or two twins or just, you know, squeezing a queen if you can. That's just my last parting tip. If I don't tell people that and I see full beds and listings, it just drives me nuts.

I love it. I love it. The value keeps coming. Thank you so. Thank you so much. So that's for me. And that's bye from Jen and from Jeff. Having a blast. Gonna get it on the Bruce Lee podcast. Bruce Lee, like Bruce Lee?

Cause it's so hard on the T is loose leaf making up those rhymes. Don't write it, just do it loosely.