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[00:00:06] Sarah: Hello. Welcome back for another great episode. My name is Sarah Karakaian.

[00:00:10] Annette: I am Annette Grant. And together we are–

[00:00:12] Both Annette & Sarah: Thanks for Visiting.

[00:00:13] Sarah: And this is the–

[00:00:13] Both Annette & Sarah: Hosting Hotline.

[00:00:14] Sarah: If you want to get your hosting question answered, all you have to do is go to hostinghotline.com, ask your question, get it answered, if not by Annette and me, we will ask our community. We will ask our friends, our family, whoever can get you the right answer that you need to solve your problem. And then sharing that with everyone who listens in is going to help so many other hosts. And this week we have a question from Jonathan.

[00:00:41] Question: Hey, Sarah and Annette. We started hosting a few months ago, and things are going really well. We are starting to get in the swing of things, and I feel like we have our basic operation figured out, but I’m starting to look at tech. There’s so much out there. What tech did you add first to your business? Do I need any of it? Are they nice to have? I have some of my thoughts, but I was really curious on your insights, and anything would be so appreciated. Thank you so much.

[00:01:08] Sarah: What Jonathan didn’t tell us is, is this for one property or several? So we’re going to answer the question for one property first, and then we’ll lay on if you’re going to start co-hosting or if you just have several properties.

[00:01:21] Annette: We’re going to start at the very top. This is a software that everyone needs. And we’re going to say QuickBooks, but it could be a different accounting software. But Jonathan, the reason we’re starting with this is you use these words, “We’re doing pretty good, and we’re ready to layer on some tech.” And I just want to make sure before people start adding any sort of expenses to their bottom line, they understand where they currently are.

[00:01:47] Because we see people get really excited. They start layering on the tech, and they actually don’t know where they currently sit with their financials. And so I would implore anyone, we want to get your bookkeeping set up, dialed in to make sure that that thought that you have that, “We’re doing pretty good.” actually matches up with the numbers of your property.

[00:02:08] Sarah: And we’d be doing you a disservice if we didn’t match up that QuickBooks with business banking. And if you’ve been listening to the show for a while now, you know that we have put this financial platform through the ringer, and it is TFV-approved, and that is Relay. And it’s so easy to set up a business banking account with Relay so you can, from the beginning, keep your short-term rental revenue separate from your personal revenue and really understand the health of your business in a snapshot. Connect it with QuickBooks, and you are light years ahead of other people.

[00:02:40] Annette: And then that way, Jonathan, we know that all of those numbers are separate from any personal funds and that the success of your property is crystal clear. And once you have that dialed in, we want you to very quickly, if you are not already using a dynamic pricing software, this is that next step because this will– we like adding on tech that will impact your bottom line and not just once, but for each and every reservation.

[00:03:11] And when we go through these next few pieces of tech, they are integral in every single reservation. And that’s why we like to include them. So a dynamic pricing software, we suggest PriceLabs. So we want you to look into that, Jonathan.

[00:03:26] Sarah: Next up for me, I’ll never forget back in the day when I figured out how to get a smart lock to integrate with the reservations. Even with one property, that truly changed the game for me. So the next software I’m going to have on there is some sort of lock technology that can integrate with your reservations.

[00:03:46] Annette: Again, this is each and every reservation because, I’m going to put it out there. I’m going to put it out there. Back in the day, forgive me for my sins, hosts, but before I knew better, I gave the same code to every guest. And I know everybody is gasping right now, but I’m sharing that because I know there are some of you out there still doing that.

[00:04:04] Sarah: There are. I just stayed with them.

[00:04:07] Annette: Yeah. And you know what? The one time, because it happened, a guest checked in on the wrong date and my other guests were there. You don’t want to get that message. It is a giant safety issue. Luckily, the guests weren’t there, but could you imagine if they were there? There could have been a giant safety issue. It’s crazy.

[00:04:34] Sarah: Proper insurance was actually just talking about this on their social media, Annette. I don’t know if you saw it. But the liability that is wrapped up in a cleaner walking in on your guests when they have an active reservation. I don’t know. That’s actually an aspect of liability that I’m not familiar with fully. But the fact that there are claims and cases out there related to that, I don’t know how these hosts are still giving out the same code over and over and over again.

[00:05:00] Annette: And Sarah and I have stayed a few places this year. I feel pretty confident they gave the same code because it’s like it is the address or the Wi-Fi and the code are the same. But I’m telling you that this is something, knock on wood every single day, I cannot believe that I was that– that is sheer negligence on my part. And I’m calling myself out, and I’m hopefully I’m calling somebody– no, I’m serious. Because I just was so uneducated at the time. That was almost 10 years ago. So obviously I’ve learned a lot, but whoo. Jonathan, don’t do that. Get this lock technology.

[00:05:40] Sarah: Yes. And then third on our list is, especially because right now they are giving hosts their first property for free, we would say Breezeway. And you might think, well, isn’t Breezeway for a host that has many properties? And I disagree. Breezeway is a great way for you to treat your hosting business like the business it is. Get– whether it’s yourself or if you outsource the cleaning to a third party, having something that you can document.

[00:06:06] Annette: Yes, that’s the deal. I’m sure, Jonathan, this property is part of your wealth building strategy. It is an asset, and Breezeway absolutely helps you manage that, especially with the historicals in there. And when was that maintenance done? Because if you’re trying to then juggle your primary residence and a secondary residence, we all know also like, do you think you know when you’re going to change your filters? Do you think you know the last time? Do you think you know products you have in your home?

[00:06:34] Sarah: I’m going to put my hubby on blast, but he won’t mind because it’s for the sake of all of our listeners out there.

[00:06:40] Annette: This is good, actually. My jaw dropped on this one. Do it.

[00:06:43] Sarah: Nick, I love you so much. Don’t be mad at me because he does listen to every episode.

[00:06:48] Annette: I love you too, Nick.

[00:06:50] Sarah: So we were getting ready for bed–

[00:06:51] Annette: But maybe Breezeway.

[00:06:52] Sarah: We were getting ready for bed at our personal home, and all of a sudden the house got quiet. You know how your house has a hum to it? Well, it was our HVAC. It was our AC. And all of a sudden it went quiet. He didn’t say anything. He didn’t notice, and I noticed. It just went out. And our home, we just recently renovated it. Everything is brand new. I was like, that’s not good.

[00:07:13] And I sat there for a little bit longer and I was like, yeah, the house is getting warmer. So I went and I looked at the thermostat, and sure enough, the AC is not on. I go downstairs, the furnace is not running. Nothing’s running. I was like, oh my gosh. “Nick.” I’m in the basement.

[00:07:27] Annette: It’s a brand new furnace.

[00:07:28] Sarah: Brand new. I yell up at Nick and he was like, well. I was like, “The AC and the furnace is down.” So we reset it. I’d reset the unit. That’s my go-to for most things in life– just reset it. And I go, when’s the last time you changed the filter? Because he wanted to do that with the personal home. I take care of the everything else for all the short-term rentals that we manage, and the personal home [Inaudible]. He was like, like you said, I think a couple of months ago. I pull that thing out. It is caked. It’s caked. Changed it. Furnace started right away.

[00:08:02] Annette: We all need checklists.

[00:08:03] Sarah: We all need checklists.

[00:08:04] Annette: And Breezeway has got us covered.

[00:08:06] Sarah: Yeah. And I was like, “I’m going to take this back over.” He was like, “that sounds fine.”

[00:08:11] Annette: I love it. With Breezeway also, Jonathan, as you continue to host, there are other things that they can help you with. Maybe those nighttime hours you decide, you know your numbers and you’re like, “Wait, I don’t want to be on call 24/7/365.” You can start using Breezeway for other parts of your business, like Breezeway Messaging. You could start selling gap nights. You could have some of their team help you in those off hours. So that’s what we like too, is again, this technology that is impactful on each and every reservation.

[00:08:44] Sarah: Those are the three, and in that order too, Jonathan– PriceLabs, QuickBooks, and then a business banking, we suggest Relay. And then dynamic pricing because the dynamic pricing, everybody, that is the one app, they all help you make money, but it truly helps you make money and know where you’re at. Lock technology, Breezeway, and then I would layer on noise technology.

[00:09:08] Annette: Yes. Because that again, that’s impactful on each and every reservation. You want to make sure that you are kind to your neighbors, your community. And then also have a layer of protection for if maybe there are too many guests. Again, it’s a potential safety issue.

[00:09:27] Sarah: And then if you have more properties that you want to layer on, whether you’re a co-host or an owner operator, you’ve got more properties, and/or you want to be in multiple channels and have all those calendars talking to each other seamlessly, that’s when I would layer on a property management software.

[00:09:42] And then after that, I would layer on a more sophisticated marketing strategy. We like using StayFi as both the way to get the emails and also send out email correspondence through their email service providing technology that they now have. That’s how I would do it.

[00:09:59] Annette: I’m going to go on a rant really quick though. I feel very passionate I need to let Jonathan know this too. This is not technology, but if you have not invested in this yet, Jonathan, I am going to tell you to do this first. If you do not have professional photos taken of your property, I want you to spend the money there first.

[00:10:22] I have been shooketh lately at so many listings that I’m looking at that have not invested in professional photos. And I just want to let you know that could take your “we’re doing pretty good” to great– to next level. And so if you haven’t invested in that, I would actually do that very first. And again, that will be impactful on each and every reservation because guess what? You’re going to get more of them.

[00:10:55] So when I talk to hosts and they send me their link to their property and they cannot figure out why they’re not getting bookings and what’s going on, I have to take a deep breath and lay it on them lightly that like, this is how guests are finding you. Are we putting our best foot forward? That’s for potentially you, Jonathan, but anybody listening, that is where I would start. Because none of these other tech products are going to make the impact they need to be if you don’t have guests booking your house.

[00:11:33] Sarah: Mic drop. With that, I am Sarah Karakaian.

[00:11:37] Annette: I am Annette Grant. And together we are–

[00:11:38] Both Annette & Sarah: Thanks for Visiting.

[00:11:39] Sarah: Talk to you next time.