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[00:00:00] Sarah: Hello. Welcome back for another great episode. My name is Sarah Karakaian.

[00:00:03] Annette: I am Annette Grant. And together we’re are–

[00:00:05] Both Annette & Sarah: Thanks for Visiting.

[00:00:06] Sarah: And this is the–

[00:00:07] Both Annette & Sarah: Hosting Hotline.

[00:00:08] Sarah: If you want to get your hosting question answered on the hotline, go to hosting hotline.com, ask your question, and get it answered here on the podcast, and you’re going to help so many other hosts solve problems they didn’t even know they were going to have, or challenges they didn’t know they were going to have, and of course, help you along the way by getting your question answered. This week, we’re so thankful Patrick called in, and let’s all help him get his outdoor amenities dialed in.

[00:00:37] Questions: Hey, Annette and Sarah. It’s Patrick with Farmhouse 805 on the beautiful central coast of California. Got a big question for you. We’ve got a nice patio with a gas fire pit and a commercial grade barbecue. We’ve been having a lot of success with our STR, but we just don’t have the budget to do a swimming pool, and I’m not a big fan of the spas for the patio.

[00:01:01] But we’re thinking about adding a movie screen on the patio and maybe a little digital projector that guests can use with their cell phone or tablet or laptop to watch movies outside. Just trying to figure out if that’s something that would be attractive to guests. Love to hear your feedback. Love everything about your show. Keep it up.

[00:01:24] Sarah: Patrick, thank you for calling in. What a fun question! Annette is stalking farmhouse805.com right now. It’s amazing.

[00:01:33] Annette: They’re just showing off. There are extra chargers by the bed. I’m here for that.

[00:01:38] Sarah: They are. There’s B-roll on the website, which you know I love B-roll.

[00:01:43] Annette: There’s the fire pit. All right. You’re not lying. This outdoor air– look at that grill, is nice and clean. Way to go. Look at these. I think that’s an orange tree or a lemon tree.

[00:01:54] Sarah: Let’s dig in. Let’s do it. Let’s increase your amenities. So Patrick asked us specifically what our thought would be on a movie projector, a screen, and then maybe a way for his guests to be able to control the movie projector and the screen and watch things that they can control from there, whether it’s a iPad provided by Farmhouse 805, or maybe their own. And my first thing was going to be like, well, it is outdoor noise. Is that going to be okay with your neighbors? But looking at your site, it doesn’t look like you have neighbors super close by.

[00:02:26] Annette: And Patrick, we were just around slow, San Luis Obispo. We should have come and done a live Hosting Hotline. Yeah, it doesn’t look like he has any neighbors, so I don’t think noise, or the reflection, or the lights– and I’m pretty sure you can get these fairly inexpensively online, and it is very easy to get the screen and the device, the iPhone and then the player.

[00:02:50] This is one of those things that’s such a minimal cost, testing it out. And heck, if your guests don’t like it, bring it to your house. I like these low lift- type amenities that I think could be such a memory maker of watching their favorite movie on your property. I think is lovely.

[00:03:08] Sarah: I like to play out the event in my head, and then, of course, do it in real life. But okay, so everyone is going to go outside, and they’re going to watch something together. So are there maybe some recommendations, like what is the Farmhouse 805 recommended–

[00:03:21] Annette: Your favorite.

[00:03:22] Sarah: Movies to watch? Or family favorites. Is there anything that takes place in your area that might be special to the farm? And then I’m thinking, okay, where are they going to sit? I do see your Adirondack chairs around the fire pit. Are you imagining them moving them in front of the screen? Do you have different seats for that? And then what about blankets? Is it going to be cold outside when they watch when the sun sets?

[00:03:44] What about snacks? Are there glasses that can go outside that aren’t going to break. So you think about the whole experience and how you can not only make it so that it’s easy to reset guest to guest, and it’s really an easy lift or an easy as possible lift for your turnover team, and then of course, as enjoyable as possible for your guests to optimize watching outside.

[00:04:06] Sarah: And then once you get all the ideas in your head, on a paper, you want to have, I think, a friends and family open. Have your friends and family over to enjoy it, or have a guest who could be your beta user and see if there are any ways that you can improve that experience and make sure that you have everything they need when they go reach for it to really optimize that movie watching time.

[00:04:26] Annette: This is a great idea. I know there are lots of hosts, and you can just see the competition in your area. I understand a pool, or a spa, jacuzzi, isn’t something you’re interested in, but there might be something that’s a lower cost of maybe a sauna or a cold plunge.

[00:04:45] There’s a lot of other things that people are testing the market just to see. And I see you have some games outside too. You could do some other outdoor games, but I think definitely the movie screen is such a fun– because that can be enjoyed by one person, two people, a family, just friends. I think that’s something that everyone can definitely enjoy.

[00:05:03] Sarah: Another tip for you too, Patrick, is– and we’ve been sharing this with as many people as we can because we’ve been doing it on our own research from our competitors, Patrick, but if there’s anyone else that is around you that guests might consider to stay at instead of your place, to copy and paste all of the reviews from your competitors, paste it into ChatGPT, and prompt ChatGPT to pull out their favorite things about that guest mentioned in their reviews or the things that they say in their reviews that are missing from their stay.

[00:05:31] And that’s a great way without having to dig into data that you necessarily have to pay for to see what that return on your investment would be if you did invest in some sort of water feature. Are you missing out on revenue because you do not have a hot tub or a pool? And if you are and you’re okay with that, great. If you are and you’re not okay with it, I love Annette’s idea of, could you do a cold plunge, or maybe some other outdoor experience like a sauna, or maybe just a water feature that someone can sit around to and listen to and just enjoy in that regard?

[00:05:59] And then maybe you want to be completely different from your competitors and they don’t have this outdoor movie watching experience, but you do, and they are like me, and I’d rather not get wet when I’m relaxing. I also don’t like hot tubs or getting into pools. So I think the movie watching experience could be really cool and a way to differentiate yourself from other people that might want to choose where to stay in your area.

[00:06:22] Annette: And last but not least, I don’t know if your farm is a working farm or anything like that, but we just did a STR Share on a family that does something specifically around the farm, even just like some weekend events. I don’t know if there’s a way to have other potential sources of revenue if there’s some other things that you could do fun on the farm. And heck, you could even call it fun on the farm. So there you go. We’ll brand it for you.

[00:06:47] Sarah: Patrick, thank you so much for calling in, asking your question. Keep us posted. Patrick, will you email us when you launch your outdoor experience?

[00:06:56] Annette: Get the pictures on your website because your outdoor area on your website is–

[00:07:00] Sarah: Incredible.

[00:07:01] Annette: Incredible, everybody. And we’re going to give Patrick some free love right now because he called in. So go to Farmhouse 805 and check it out. If you’re in that area, please stay with them. And then also check them out on Instagram, @farmhouse805. And yes, we were just in San Luis Obispo, so maybe we’ll have to come back.

[00:07:21] Sarah: And if you, again, want to get your question answered on the hotline, go to hostinghotline.com. It’s a super simple process. We love answering your questions here on the podcast. It’s also just so helpful for us to know, what are hosts asking these days? What are things that you’re considering? What challenges are you up against? Let us help you face them, overcome them. With that, I am Sarah Karakaian.

[00:07:42] Annette: I am Annette Grant. And together we are–

[00:07:43] Both Annette & Sarah: Thanks for Visiting.

[00:07:44] Sarah: We’ll talk to you next time.