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[00:00:00] Andi: Real estate isn’t necessarily for the faint at heart, and you have to be willing to go through the highs and lows. And there are some lows. I realize, especially with this being on an HGTV show, it seems all glamorous and fun, there was a lot of, and continue to be a lot of very stressful moments. 

[00:00:19] Sarah: Welcome back for another great episode. My name is Sarah Karakaian.

[00:00:22] Annette: I am Annette Grant, and together we are–

[00:00:24] Both Annette & Sarah: Thanks for Visiting.

[00:00:25] Sarah: Let’s start this episode like we do every week, and that’s sharing one of you, our loyal listeners who’s using our hashtag on Instagram #STRShareSunday. We’ll share you here on the pod. Annette, who are we sharing this week?

[00:00:35] Annette: This week we are sharing @riverside.retreat.yxh. If you were looking at their feet, there’s a couple of things here that I want to point out. They have some really, really great reels. One of them is they’re basically screen sharing their Airbnb listings, and I thought it was a really genuine way to do it, and they tagged Airbnb, but it’s essentially taking all of the photos and giving someone a very concise feel of their listing of what they would see on Airbnb but just mimicking that.

Another thing that they did that was lovely, and I want to encourage everyone to take inspiration from their feed is they have a reel, also, that it’s all about small businesses in their community, and they’ve screenshotted their best coffee shops. But what they did there is they made an invitation, they made a call to action that their guests receive an exclusive guide with their stay, including recommendations to some of our favorite hidden gems and small businesses in the city.

We’re also building brand partnerships to share exclusive promotions and collaborations. And they make the call to action: if this interests you, reach out. So I love not just saying they’re doing it, but then putting it out there like, hey, here’s the invite. We’re all hosts here. You’ve got to make the invitation for people to reply.

So it’s not just saying they’re doing it. It’s also asking for those small businesses, those other partners in the area that might want to partner with them to reach out. This is someone’s dream to just be scrolling through and say, hey, I’m going to send them a direct message or an email that I want to partner with them. The last thing I want to say is they have– I want to know what the color is. They have the most amazing color in their bathroom, their paint. It’s almost

[00:02:21] Sarah: Like a mauve.

[00:02:22] Annette: Like a berry. Yeah. But it’s so good. But I love the way the colors have been woven throughout their space. So check them out. Check out their reels. Check out their static posts. But Riverside Retreat, thank you for using the hashtag, and can’t wait to showcase one of you. So make sure you use our hashtag STR Share Sunday. 

[00:02:41] Sarah: All right. We are going to get into the show here momentarily, and listeners, get ready. What was it? Last week or a few weeks ago, we had an episode where Annette asked me some questions about my experience on HGTV. Well, we have a much more current experience with HGTV with one of our Hosting Business Mastery members. Andi has a hotel in Florida, and she brought it into existence that she was going to not only have a hotel, but it’ll also be on TV.

[00:03:10] Annette: And I just want to say, the story starts with this hotel being bought to be torn down all the way full circle to goals of over a million dollars in revenue this year. Yes, you heard that right. Tearing it down and building something else to over seven figures in revenue. So hang tight. Get to the episode.

 Andi is an on-the-go mom of two, wife, portrait photographer, co-owner of Sunburst Inn, which was just renovated and shown on HGTV’s 100 Day Dream Home: Beachfront Hotel. Don’t worry. We’ll unpack that in today’s episode. And co-owner of 14 short-term rentals. She lives in Tampa, Florida, and her properties are all in Indian Shores and Indian Rocks Beach, Florida. Andi, welcome to the show.

[00:03:57] Andi: Thank you. Thank you guys for having me.

[00:03:59] Annette: We are so excited to have you, and we need to let our listeners know this is not our first time talking with Andi. Andi is one of our beloved members inside our Hosting Business Mastery Membership, so we see her on Zoom calls pretty much multiple times a month and constantly in contact with her. So we’ve been wanting to bring this episode to everyone for a long time because HGTV– let’s talk about the hotel. Let’s talk about HGTV. You are essentially living so many short-term rental hosts’ dream of television, hotelier, all of it combined, but let’s give them all truth.

[00:04:36] Andi: Let’s dig in.

[00:04:37] Annette: Um, let’s dig in. Andi, how in the world do you end up owing a hotel? Because you bought this pre pandemic before it was really a thing to buy these boutique hotels. So give us the story about the Sunburst Inn.

[00:04:52] Andi: Sunburst Inn is almost 75 years old. It’s a little mom and pop beachfront inn on Indian Shores. And when we bought it about six or seven years ago, we were not planning on being hotel owners. My husband is a builder, and our plan was to knock it down and put up townhouses. So we were not planning on owning a hotel, but the property is an amazing piece of property. It’s right on the beach. Indian Shores is a very small, quaint little beachfront town with about 15, 1,600 people. And so we were going to put up fabulous townhouses. 

Well, at the time, the housing industry wasn’t doing fantastic, and interest rates were pretty high. So we figured we would just hold onto it until the time was right, and then we would knock it down and put up townhouses. Well, through the years of coming out and staying here and meeting guests who were staying here, we just really fell in love with the place and decided, okay, we don’t want to tear it down.

We want to renovate it and make it something really cute and really boutique style. Um, but at the time that we decided that, it was going to be a huge undertaking because we were basically putting band-aids on bullet holes for a long time. And the property itself was fantastic, but the hotel had–

 It was old. It was very old-school Florida, and it just needed a lot of TLC and a lot of beautification. So that’s how we ended up with it. And how we got to where we are now is just because I decided, okay, I’m putting a lot of time and effort into it, and so in order to get the rate per night that we need, we really have to do a major renovation.

[00:06:32] Sarah: Can we talk about, if you know these numbers off the top of your head, purchase price, how much you put into it, and what is that average ADR you’re gunning for?

[00:06:41] Andi: Yeah. So we bought it for about 2.25 about, like I said, six, seven years ago. We do have partners on the project, another couple. And at the time, the average rate, and here in Florida, it changes with season and everything. Our busy, busy season tends to be around our spring break time, which is, January through end of March. But even then, our average nightly rate was well under $200. Some of our bigger rooms were maybe getting in the mid-200s to upper 200s, and then one of the rooms, we call the penthouse, and it’s a two-bedroom, two-bathroom apartment, and that was getting in the low threes.

 So my goal was to have it where all of the rooms, even our smallest, we had nothing with a one in front of it. Everything had a minimum of a two. So now I’m using PriceLabs, thanks to you guys, and so all of our rooms start at minimum, like 215 for the smallest room during our very low season, and then the penthouse will go up to about a $1,000 a night during high season.

[00:07:51] Annette: What?

[00:07:52] Sarah: Get it.

[00:07:52] Annette: Cha-ching on that. Just to confirm, Andi, because I don’t know if we went through it, the hotel has 12 different rooms, correct?

[00:08:02] Andi: Twelve different rooms that accommodate anywhere from two to six people. But we very much run it like a vacation rental. And I have gotten a lot of what we’re going to talk about today from you guys because, again, I did not have any hotel background. So we really have the mentality that each room is its own little short-term rental, even though they all live on the same property.

[00:08:24] Annette: I love it. 

[00:08:24] Sarah: I have so many questions

[00:08:26] Annette: And listeners, when you go to Sunburst Inn, what Andi just said, that they operate them each as individual short-term rentals, you will see that in the design because each room has its own identity. And so I think that’s a way that they’re crushing it there. Back to the 2.25 mill real quick.

[00:08:46] Andi: Right. 

[00:08:47] Annette: When you purchased that, was the hotel operable? Did you get the team alongside in that– obviously, you have to pay the team, but were the doors open when you bought it? Was it still “thriving”? Did it have systems? Did it have a team in place? Were you truly buying the business?

[00:09:09] Andi: Correct. It did. But I will say, everything about that was very dated and not very efficient. So there was already a team of staff members who were working here, but because it’s such a small property, there was two and a half FTEs. So it wasn’t huge. And we still don’t have a ton of staff because we don’t need a ton of staff, but it is very, very busy right now. I just hired two new people, so we’ll have four employees now. But yes, when we hired it, it was more or less turnkey because it did come with a manager and some turnover team members.

[00:09:48] Annette: So listeners, I just want to have you think about that when Andi’s talking about the purchase price. It wasn’t like she just purchased the hotel and then day one she had to start from scratch, so I’m sure– was that taken into account with the sale price, Andi, when they were selling it to you?

[00:10:05] Andi: The purchase of the business itself?

[00:10:06] Annette: Yes. Was that an– did you take that into account of the purchase price of the hotel?

[00:10:13] Andi: Yes, but honestly, it’s not like it was generating a ton.

[00:10:16] Annette: Okay. Yeah.

[00:10:18] Andi: And even for the several years that we had it, it wasn’t generating a ton. And this is going to sound counterproductive, but we didn’t care– it wasn’t super important to us that it wasn’t generating a ton because our goal was not to run a hotel. Our goal was for it to cover the cost of the property because we were going to knock it down. And so as long as it covered the cost of insurance and taxes, even if we broke even every year, we were like, okay. Even if we lost a couple of dollars every year, we were like, that’s okay, because the value of the property is just going to continue to appreciate.

[00:10:58] Sarah: Good job.

[00:10:59] Annette: I wish I could drop our mics, but we can’t because we need them right now. But that’s a mic-drop moment. No, Sarah and I just spoke at an event, and we were doing good deal, bad deal, and what you just said, that doesn’t fit on a spreadsheet. Everyone wants to talk about cash on cash. And I guess the long term, if you extrapolated, if you kept going year after year, those numbers would absolutely work, but a lot of people want to see this quick fix. They want the numbers to start working tomorrow.

[00:11:24] Sarah: It’s sexy. Because it’s sexy to do that.

[00:11:25] Andi: It’s not. It’s not. And my husband, he’s very savvy when it comes to real estate, and I’ve learned a lot. I’ve learned a lot of the real estate side of it from him. I’ve learned a lot of the short-term rental side of it from you guys. But I will say, real estate isn’t necessarily for the faint at heart, and you have to be willing to go through the highs and lows. And there are some lows.  I realize, especially with this being on an HGTV show, it seems all glamorous and fun, there was a lot of, and continue to be a lot of very stressful moments.

[00:11:59] Annette: Let’s talk about that. Sarah’s feeling you today because she’s on the rollercoaster right now with a property that she’s selling. But can you just give us and our listeners– if you don’t mind, let’s talk about one of those lows where it was like, I am done with this, or like, this just–

[00:12:14] Sarah: Burn it all down.

[00:12:15] Annette: Yeah. If you wouldn’t mind just sharing and being vulnerable, what were some of those lows? Because I do think we always talk about the highs.

[00:12:22] Andi: Yeah. So right when we started the project, a major hurricane was coming through. And, again, this property is 75 years old, so a lot of times it is easier to start fresh than to renovate because when you get into the guts of renovations, you don’t know what you’re going to find. You just don’t know.

So secretly, although this won’t be a secret because now I’m on the podcast with you guys, I was hoping that hurricane just knocked this whole thing down. I’m like, let’s just start all over again. Just knock it down. And it didn’t, obviously. We’re very thankful about that. But truly, it would’ve been easier if we would’ve started from scratch. 

 And there was only so much that we could do because it is a 75-year old structure and you’re under certain limitations. So a lot of it was more beautification, but it’s stressful dealing with the city. It’s stressful dealing with our construction team because somebody’s supposed to be here and then they don’t show up, or they start doing something and then there’s a problem. You’re always over budget. Anybody who says you’re not, they’re lying. They’re lying. You’re always going to go over budget. And then for that timeframe, we were closed down. So we had zero income.

[00:13:31] Annette: Ooh, that’s less than a few dollars when you were–

[00:13:34] Andi: Right. I mean, we had zero income and thousands and thousands of dollars going out the door. So it was very stressful. It still continues to be stressful. Exciting, but stressful because now we’ve got tens of thousands of eyes upon us, and that is exciting and wonderful, and it’s absolutely helped our bookings, but people are much more critical now. Much more critical.

[00:13:58] Annette: Mm-hmm. 

[00:14:00] Sarah: Yeah. For sure.

[00:14:01] Andi: So it’s fun and glamorous, but you open yourself up to all kinds of criticism as well.

[00:14:08] Sarah: I want to get into the whole HGTV component, Andi, because we’ve got a lot of questions for you there. But before we do, you are a photographer. You’re a full-time photographer, Andi?

[00:14:19] Andi: I am.

[00:14:20] Sarah: Talk to us about that. What was that like making that decision? Because you just said, real estate’s not for the faint of heart. We now all know, our listeners know that short-term rentals, it is part-time, but all the time. You know what I mean? A hotel, 12 units, that can very quickly become– managing your team can become a full-time. How were you doing it? How did you make this decision? What does your life look like moving forward?

[00:14:42] Andi: I don’t sleep, in all honesty. So I’ve had my studio for 16 years now. So I used to work in hospital pediatrics. I was a child life therapist. I did that for 10 years. Loved it. Then my first kiddo was born, and I went back to work at the hospital, and I was like, well, this is terrible. And then I would look at my paycheck, and I was like, ah-ha, I’ve got a master’s degree, and this is even more terrible.

And photography was just something that I loved and I was passionate about for years. And I was like, I’m going to see where I can go with this. And as things tend to happen, you dip your toe a little bit and then next thing you know, you’re on that rollercoaster. My son just turned 17, and so I’ve had my studio for just under 17 years now. 

Part of my business as a photographer besides just the visual aspect of helping people to look and feel good is marketing and networking. And so any business that’s going to be a thriving business, you have to know how to network and you have to know how to market. And so a lot of my business as well is the visual aspect of it with branding. So when it came time– I knew in my head the whole time what I wanted the hotel to look like. It was just a matter of getting the finances to do the renovation and then decide, okay, now we’re going to move forward and do it.

So it was easy for me, once we decided to do the renovation, to do the rebrand myself, to do all the pictures myself because that was in my wheelhouse. So that was something that was easy and very comfortable to me. But otherwise, if you’re going to do a rebrand, you do need to outsource and you need to hire somebody who’s better at it than you are.

[00:16:15] Sarah: And did you take a cut in clients then? I mean, they’re only so many hours in a day. Or are you doing all the hotel stuff at night and the photography studio during the day?

[00:16:25] Andi: I’m just like this, going back and forth between everything. I have a part-time employee at my studio, and I’ve got employees at the hotel as well. So they are doing a lot of the guest communication, all the room turnover, and I’m doing all the behind the scenes stuff. So all the stuff with our website, our social media, onboarding our new PMS system. 

[00:16:47] Sarah: Okay. Because I just know that a lot of– I would say, 90% of people who get involved in short-term rentals, it’s accidental. I mean, maybe these days it’s more thoughtful and more like, I want to do this thing, but it just happens to a lot of us, and I wanted you to share with our listeners how you’re balancing all the things. But I want to get into how–

[00:17:05] Andi: I probably wasn’t very helpful. 

[00:17:07] Sarah: No. No, it was.

[00:17:08] Annette: I want to make sure our listeners know too, Andi, and if you can just give a little titbit before we get to the HGTV, is managing 10 other short-term rentals also.

[00:17:15] Andi: Right.

[00:17:16] Annette: And those single-family homes?

[00:17:19] Andi: It’s a combination of single-family homes, and one of the buildings is a quadplex, so it’s four units. One of the buildings is another quadplex, but we’ve got a long-term renter in one of the units and then short-term renters in three of the units. And then the other two are, um, single-family homes.

So I have– one of my staff members at the hotel is my turnover queen, and so she does all of the turnovers at the vacation rentals because all my vacation rentals and the hotel are a solid 45 minutes away from my home. So she will do all the turnovers. So having a turnover person who you trust is definitely very critical.

She’s going to be moving soon, and so two of my other staff members at the hotel want to take on additional responsibility and additional work, so they’re going to take over the turnovers at the short-term rentals. The hotel and the short-term rentals are all within two to three miles of themselves.

[00:18:14] Annette: Love it. Awesome.

[00:18:15] Andi: So that’s super helpful.

[00:18:16] Sarah: Nice.

[00:18:16] Annette: Yeah, that is great. Okay. So you’re crushing it, but everybody– I mean, people want to know, did HGTV reach out to you? Did you reach out to them? Did you send them a DM? What happened here? How’d you get on the show?

[00:18:30] Andi: So during COVID– my husband’s name’s Pete. Pete and I watched a show on Netflix, and it was two girls– it could have been you guys. It was two girls who lived in Canada, and they bought a dumpy roadside motel and they did this great renovation on it. And we watched it, and as I’m watching it, I’m like, that’s Sunburst Inn.

We could do that. We could do this with Sunburst Inn. And at that point, we had already been debating like, what are we going to do with this? We either have to go all in and, like I said, put up the townhouses, or we have to go all in and make it a super cute boutique destination place where people want to come to and stay with us.

So we watched that. I should really message them and tell them that they were the inspiration here. And I have messaged them because I’m that person where if I have a question about something, I’m just like, mm, I’ll just message them. So I was like, we can do this. I know we can do this, and I’m going to get it on TV. And I don’t know how, but I’m going to put it out there to the universe, and I’m going to manifest that we’re going to get it on TV, and I don’t know how, but we’re just going to.

 Not even kidding. Months later– Brian and Mika are the hosts of the show. Mika in her real life is a real estate agent, and they live in the Tampa Bay area. I did not know this. So my husband had a piece of property that was for sale for a custom home, and I don’t know if it was Mika or her client who found the property and were interested in having a custom home built on that property, so they end up in my husband’s office. 

And so Mika says to my husband, oh, by the way, my husband and I have this TV show called 100 Day Dream Home. Would you possibly be interested in this house being on the show? And so she told him how it all works and everything. And she says, do you have any other properties, any other new custom homes that you’re about to start building? Because it all has to be within a certain filming timeline.

[00:20:29] Annette: Right.

[00:20:30] Andi: And he didn’t have any right then, but he said, but my wife and I have this little hotel out at the beach, blah, blah, blah. And they had never done a commercial property as part of the show, but he’s like, would it be something that you guys are potentially interested in? So her and her husband came out, they did a little sizzle reel with their phones. They were very interested, but they needed to get the approval by the powers that be from their production team and from HGTV, and they were all in. And so that’s just how it happened. It just snowballed from there. So my husband’s actually going to be on another episode with them this season with his house.

[00:21:06] Annette: Ah, love it. Double whammy. Okay, so we gave some timelines on the– you’ve been owning the hotel for six years. You get inspired during COVID while watching the Netflix special. Were you thinking, okay, we are– where did the money come to reinvest? When did the townhome dream die? Is that a zoning thing, or how did that just fade away?

[00:21:29] Andi: During COVID, and again, because my husband is a builder, it’s just been getting harder and harder to build. A lot of people aren’t working or don’t want to work, and a lot of supplies are not coming in on time, and so all of his projects are taking significantly longer than what they should be taking. Um, and the pricing of things is just going up dramatically. And then interest rates, of course, have gone up dramatically as well.

So we just decided it was too much of a financial risk to potentially build these townhomes and for the project to take way longer than anticipated, so then you’ve got carrying costs that you’ve got to cover for all that time, and then them potentially not sell. So it really was a financial decision on top of us having fallen in love with just the property. And we’ve had birthdays here and Thanksgivings, and we’ve deep-fried turkeys out on the beach and rented all the rooms.

[00:22:20] Annette: Where’s our invitation? Rude. Rude.

[00:22:24] Andi: It’s been really fun, and we’ve loved it here, so I’m like, I don’t want to get rid of it.

[00:22:29] Annette: Does the 100 Day Dream Home, if you’re allowed to– do they help you with any of the finances of fixing up your own property, or did you have to– is all this money coming out of your pocket to do this rehab?

[00:22:42] Andi: Yeah. So I’m not sure how much of that I can talk about, but I will say, they don’t pay for it. So they don’t pay for it, but they hook you up with vendors who are very interested in supporting your project–

[00:22:55] Annette: Right. Partners. Strategic partners.

[00:22:58] Andi: Who want to be able to advertise on that platform. So I’m assuming they just take their marketing dollars, and what they would spend on a national commercial, they–

[00:23:08] Annette: Got it.

[00:23:09] Andi: Donate to the cause.

[00:23:10] Annette: Got it. Got it. Strategic partnerships. That’s what we’ll say there. 

[00:23:14] Sarah: What was your hope out of the partnership with HGTV? Is it as simple as, you can always say the Sunburst Inn was featured on HGTV? Was there something that maybe the rest of us haven’t thought about that is another benefit of having your property be on the platform?

[00:23:31] Andi: Yeah. So first of all, like I said, Brian and Mika are local, and it was fun. It really was a ton of fun. They seemed to be able to make things happen, so that was extremely beneficial. They have some great ideas. The creative team that they work with really had some great ideas and made our rooms beautiful.

 And yeah, who doesn’t want their business to be on a national platform? I mean, we’ve pretty much been booked up ever since. But with that being said, I’m trying to be really strategic about the marketing relationships and partnerships that I have moving forward because the HGTV thing’s only going to last for so long.

 The replays I’m sure will continue to play for a while. When we watch the replay of the hotel that I was telling you guys about, I think at that point, it already had already been on for two years. So I’m sure replays will continue. But now that I’m allowed to talk about it, now I can really start building strategic partnerships and relationships with other people in my community, with other bloggers, and influencers, and content creators, and people who I can have come out here and talk about my property to people who would be a similar target demographic.

 But absolutely, HGTV and being on 100 Day was the springboard for all of that. Because, of course, we wouldn’t have the attention that we do now. So I’m, incredibly thankful. And like I said, just working with the whole team, it was so fun. It was such a great experience. I would absolutely do it again.

[00:25:01] Annette: Obviously, it’s a 100 days, so was your life completely turned upside down for the 100 days, or was it pockets of filming throughout the 100 days, or was it actually 200 days? Because obviously, there are things you got to do beforehand and during and after. Talk us through the actual timeframe since they give us a timeframe of a 100 days. I’m sure from conception to actual launch is a different timeline.

[00:25:31] Andi: Right. We stopped taking reservations knowing that it was going to happen, and we officially closed doors to start the renovation October 1st, and then we had guests checking in the very beginning of February. So it was just a little longer than a 100 days, but keep in mind what we were doing compared to what they’re doing on some of their other shows, we weren’t a brand new build.

We didn’t have to build new walls and build a new structure. It was really beautifying what we already have. But because there was a hurricane that came through and because of permitting and other things, um, there was a lot of things that were down to the wire, and we actually on– as paint was drying, we had guests checking it.

[00:26:14] Annette: Oh, right.

[00:26:15] Andi: That was a little bit crazy. And they’re not here filming every day.

[00:26:18] Annette: Right. Talk to us about closing. This would be a great lesson for all of our listeners, whether they want to do a slight rehab on their home. How did you plan for two things? Actually blocking your calendar. How far in advance did you have to start planning that? So the calendar blocking and then opening back up. And then financially, how do you forecast, holy smokes, we’re going to be closed for these months? This is the stuff I need to do. So how did you go about closing the calendar? Stopping it there.

[00:26:49] Andi: Before we officially knew what was going to be happening with the show, whether the show happened or not, we were going to do the renovation. So we had already planned that timeframe that that was going to look like. And we know that as a beachfront hotel in Florida, the fall tends to be your slowest season. Because January through beginning of April tends to be our highest season. The months that generate the least amount of money for us tend to be October, November, December because of the holidays and people not traveling as much or maybe just not coming to the beach. I don’t know. 

So it just financially made sense for those to be the months that we closed. We were planning on opening back up in, I think it was mid-January, and it didn’t happen, so we had to relocate some guests. Again, that’s the not so glamorous side, is having to call people and say, we’re not ready for you.

Fortunately, we had some other vacation rentals that we could shift people into. So some of those people took us up on that and some of them just canceled all together. So that’s not fun. But we knew what kind of revenue we were going to be losing, and we had a rough estimate of how much we wanted to put into it, so we were just prepared for that. We sold our office, and we took a lot of the money from our office and put that into the renovation.

[00:28:06] Annette: Nice. Thanks for being so honest about the refunds and that you did have to sell something else in order to fund.

[00:28:12] Andi: Yeah.

[00:28:12] Sarah: You figure it out.

[00:28:13] Annette: Reinvesting in that. Yeah, you just figure it out. 

[00:28:15] Andi: And understandably so, people were mad. There were people who were upset because the doors weren’t open and we were not ready for them. We told people ahead of time what was going to be happening, but still, we had people coming from out of town who had plane tickets and everything else, and we’re the only beachfront hotel in Indian Shores. Again, it’s a very small town. It’s a very small strip of beach. And so not only were we the smallest, but we were the cheapest of all the short-term beachfront vacation rentals also. 

[00:28:45] Annette: Ooh. So they couldn’t even change their reservation to anything that would compare. Ooh, you got them, Andi, you got them on that one.

[00:28:53] Andi: Right. So I just had to drop the price on some of my other short-term rentals to get them in there just to accommodate, just to keep people happy. That’s what I felt was the right thing to do. I will say, just since we’re being completely candid and vulnerable, because we were so inexpensive and I could only raise my prices so much based on the aesthetic of what we looked like, it was very– if you watch the show or if you look at any of our old pictures, we were a very dated, 1980s-looking mishmash of Facebook marketplace furniture–

[00:29:31] Sarah: You had some Golden Girls going on.

[00:29:33] Andi: That I found for the rooms. And so I charged accordingly. So our rooms were reflective of what the guests were getting, but I knew in order to make the money that we needed to make, where I needed to be, and how much I needed to make, but I couldn’t charge those prices looking like what it was that we looked like.

So it was a vicious cycle. I could only do so much with what I had without really putting a good chunk of change into it. And so our past guests, and I’m totally thankful for them, so I don’t want to make it seem like I’m not thankful, but our past guests we’re not happy about the changes at all.

[00:30:10] Annette: Is it because that you’ve priced them out now of their beachfront?

[00:30:14] Andi: A 100%.

[00:30:15] Annette: Have we tried any giving them offers during the off season, or you feel like you’ve just– because you probably had some really loyal people that were coming every year, correct?

[00:30:27] Andi: Right. So when they came this season, which was during high season, at that point, I had already raised all of my prices, we gave them old prices for their first visit. 

[00:30:37] Annette: Oh, wow. That’s nice.

[00:30:38] Andi: So they had the dirt cheap prices from what we were with the caveat that moving forward it’s new prices.

[00:30:45] Annette: I think that’s hospitality. That’s the way to do it.

[00:30:49] Andi: But I will tell you guys, none of them are coming back.

[00:30:51] Annette: That’s what I was getting ready to say. That’s the way to do it, but then I’m like, is it though? Because they’re never going to come back again. And you’ve upleveled the spaces. Um, that’s a rough–

[00:31:04] Andi: And they got to see and experience the spaces at old pricing.

[00:31:10] Sarah: Right. So the value–

[00:31:11] Andi: So they are– and that’s okay. Bless and release. Bless and release. I appreciate them. I’m thankful for them loving our property, but they didn’t care that it looks like what it looks like now because the location is insanely amazing. And so if the rooms were tired and sleepy, it didn’t matter because they were getting a beachfront room during peak season for less than $200 a night. So it didn’t matter. It was clean. It was always very clean. It just was very, very dated. So now that it has this cuteness about it and all these amenities, and we put hundreds of thousands of dollars into it, they don’t care about that. They’re not on board with that. 

There was a guest who’s here today, actually right before we started this podcast, and they came into the office and we were chit-chatting, and they had told me that they’re a past guests, and they’re like, we love it. We will be back next year. And I was like, thank you so much. We appreciate it. And I said, I really appreciate that you’re on this journey with us and you’re willing to still come with the new pricing. 

And they’re like, look at this place. How could we not be? And that made me feel so happy, but I think, especially as women, you try not to be sensitive about things. But if I have a 100 people who tell me something great, and then one person who’s like, ah, I guess you think you’re a big deal now. And then I’m like, oh, but you can’t take four weeks of my beachfront place in February for $185. I’m sorry.

[00:32:39] Sarah: No. It’s a sensitive topic, especially in all sorts of value-add real estate deals. And I don’t know if there is a perfect win-win scenario, Andi, so you’ve got to do what’s right for you and your family. I know how much heart and hospitality you put into your product. I have a question for you as it relates to– you mentioned you understand that this is essentially 15 minutes of fame with HGTV, and you want to leverage it. 

And I know you’re just on the other side of the show airing, so it might be a little premature question, but what things are you doing to leverage this opportunity that might get you some more bang for your buck with– what’s worked? Is it local connections? Is it just a plaque on the front wall that says it’s– what, for you, do you think is going to work?

[00:33:31] Andi: That’s a great question. And I’m still trying to figure that out because before the show aired, we were not allowed to talk about it. So I couldn’t do any marketing prior to the show airing because of course they wanted it to be a surprise and for the reveal and everything to be on the show, which I completely understand.

So now that we’re allowed to shout it from the rooftops, now I’m really trying to build relationships strategically with partners who see similar target audiences to those who I’m trying to market to. I’m trying to do hosted stays with influencers, and content creators, bloggers, people who can reach an audience of people who I think, again, would be our target demographic.

So I’m really specific too in the people who I’ve spoken to about what it is that I want to give them and what it is that I want in return. And this has been something every single day that I’m working on. I don’t just want you to come and post a reel. There’s got to be more than that because I want to collect people’s email addresses.

So maybe there’s a contest that we do between us that you’re posting, that I’m posting that’s going to encourage people to get through into my system, into a drip campaign so I can grab their email and I can do email marketing to them. Once I have your email address, that’s so much more valuable to me than if you liked my Facebook page or if you liked my Instagram page.

[00:34:51] Annette: Andi, I’m going to have to ask. You learnt about that inside of HBMM, right? We talk about that all the time.

[00:34:56] Andi: Of course.

[00:34:56] Annette: Especially influencer marketing and what the results really should be there. 

[00:35:01] Andi: Of course. And like I said, you have to be strategic about it because I think a lot of influencers are used to people just saying, oh, just come and stay and post something. I’m very specific about what it is that I want.

[00:35:14] Annette: Mm-hmm.

[00:35:16] Andi: And if it meets up with what it is that they’re willing to do, great. If not, that’s cool. Maybe we’re not the right fit for each other. That’s fine as well. But it really needs to be something where– everyone who I’ve talked to so far, I’ve told them I want it very much to be a partnership, not just a one-time hit it and quit it thing.

I want it to be where you create some content when you’re here, and then maybe in another month, you post about it again, and then in another month, you post about it again. And then I give you a coupon code, maybe, so that your followers can book with us between this time and this time using this coupon code, or something, so that they’re going to stay in my funnel.

[00:35:52] Annette: Right.

[00:35:52] Andi: And, um, I don’t want it to just be they just come and stay for a couple of days, they tell their followers about it, and that’s it. Because we all know from a marketing perspective, somebody needs to hear about you, see about you, be told about you, what, seven to 10 times before they–

[00:36:09] Sarah: Especially in today’s marketplace, it is fleeting. And so what you’re wanting is longevity from these partnerships. Reels are fleeting, likes and comments, whatever, that’s fleeting. So you want something that’s going to live on. You mentioned that you run this hotel like vacation rentals, so I know that your tech stack is geared towards the vacation rental, short-term rental industry.

Are there any other differences, though, from it being a 12-unit hotel versus your other short-term rentals that you can share with the audience if they’re wanting to do the same thing, like buy a larger property with more units but run it like a short-term rental with a short-term rental tech stack? Is there any other difference there?

[00:36:47] Andi: I mean, staffing. We don’t have staffing here 2/47, but we have a front office, and we do have staff that are onsite to change out towels, or help with room cleanup, or whatever. So I do have staff here. Although I have– in doing this, I’ve reached out to other small hotel owners just so I can get some support staff so I’m not just out here on my own trying to figure out what I’m doing.

[00:37:08] Sarah: Yeah.

[00:37:08] Andi: Um, and some of the ones who I’ve talked to are total digital platforms. They don’t have staff at all. Everything is completely digital. And it’s, again, more like a short-term rental but just with 12 doors. Depending on where you live, I’m sure that the regulations are a little bit different.

So that’s something that I would encourage each person to look into in their town or whatever community it is that they’re thinking about purchasing, and taxes, and all of that because this does fall under a different title. So some of the regulations here are different than with our short-term rentals. And in one of the towns that some of my short-term rentals are in, and I know a lot of people in the short-term rental industry are facing this, there’s people who don’t want to allow short-term rentals even though it brings in tons of money into their community. And some of these smaller towns, especially smaller beach towns are alive because of tourism.

[00:38:02] Annette: Mm-hmm.

[00:38:03] Andi: Um, that’s probably a topic for a whole other–

[00:38:07] Sarah: That is touchy subject.

[00:38:08] Annette: It is. Yeah. 

[00:38:10] Andi: But it’s something that people have to keep–

[00:38:12] Sarah: We have to talk about it. 

[00:38:13] Andi: Yeah. It’s something people have to keep in mind. And like I said, it is super exciting. It’s very fun. And several people have reached out from the group too, who’ve been like, okay, girl, this is my new goal. I’m like, okay. It’s not all peaches and cream.

[00:38:28] Annette: Right.

[00:38:29] Andi: And there’s been many nights that I’ve been up until 3:00 and 4 o’clock in the morning trying to figure things out. The other night there was– again, we don’t have staff here 24/7 so there was a plumbing issue at 1 o’clock in the morning. So we’re sending out an emergency plumber, and then as soon as that one room started clogging, down the line, the next room started clogging. So literally– 

[00:38:49] Annette: Dang it, those pipes being all interconnected.

[00:38:52] Sarah: Plumbing is– 

[00:38:52] Annette: Dang it, plumbing. Why’ve you got to connect? Why’ve you got– 

[00:38:55] Andi: Yeah. 

[00:38:55] Annette: A couple more questions. After the show aired, your, let’s say website traffic, the interest on your social media, how much of it was– if you had to give a percentage, how much do you think there were people truly interested in booking a stay versus, I want to check them out because I saw them on television?

[00:39:19] Andi: Oh, I can tell you the exact number.

[00:39:21] Sarah: Oh, good.

[00:39:21] Annette: Give it. Let’s do it. 

[00:39:22] Andi: From the time of Episode 1 until the time of Episode 2, because we were the season opener for the show, the season opener was 100 Day Dream Home, beachfront hotel, part 1 and part 2, so it was Friday and then the following Friday. So between those two Fridays, so within a week, we had 60,000 website hits. So I was like, if we can book 1% or a half percent of that– so I think a lot of them were lookers and not bookers. But I will say more or less, especially on the weekends, we’ve been between 90 and a 100% occupancy.

 The weekdays, obviously, we’ve got a little bit more flexibility. I’ll be interested to see what completely happens this summer because we’re a really good place to go for people who live in the Tampa Bay area. Like I said, I live in Tampa, about 45 minutes from the hotel. And so everybody who doesn’t live in Florida thinks that everybody who lives in Florida is on the beach all the time, which is not true.

 But a lot of people in the area of Tampa, where I live in, want to come out to the beach without necessarily booking a plane ticket and having to board their dog because we’re pet-friendly. So it’s a great staycation for people who are within an hour to an hour and a half drive of us who want to come out to the beach and have a little staycation and not have to board their dog and all those other things without having to, again, jump on a plane. So for a lot of our local people, it’s a great place for them to come because it’s not that deep. It’s relatively easy for them to get here and for them to book a stay without having to do all the drama of a big vacation. 

[00:41:01] Annette: So you’ve noticed an influx then of more local people coming to book now that the show has aired?

[00:41:09] Andi: Yeah.

[00:41:10] Annette: Awesome. And is Sunburst Inn– I want to help our listeners understand this too. You are listing every room individually on Airbnb, on Vrbo, on Booking.com. Is that how you’re operating too? They can come to your website and book a room or go to those OTAs.

[00:41:25] Andi: Yeah. I mean, it makes the most sense for them to book direct, from our website.

[00:41:28] Annette: Absolutely. But you’re still listing all the individual rooms.

[00:41:31] Andi: Yes. And I was so scared to– we had a direct booking website before, and only the penthouse was on Airbnb. Everything else was strictly direct. And I was like–

[00:41:42] Annette: Oh, cool. That’s interesting though. But that’s interesting.

[00:41:44] Andi: Why do we only have– but the way that we had it set up was it was easy for us to manage. Now, when you’ve got 12 rooms, well, essentially 13 because of the parent-child thing, on four platforms, I need it to run really smoothly on its own.

[00:41:59] Annette: Yeah. And last question for me is let’s talk about the revenue increase. With the work that you’ve done on the Sunburst, how much more are you charging per night? What is the financial impact of finally just digging in and saying, we’re going to make these changes?

[00:42:17] Andi: So my goal is to gross a million dollars a year. Yeah. Um, so that’s my goal. That’s my goal. Obviously, we’ve got insurance, and salary, and just general operating expenses, but my goal for my gross is to be a million dollars a year, if not more. And so besides just room revenue, I was also trying to think, and again, this is something that I’ve posted about in the group, like, okay, if I was a 100% occupancy every single room, every night for a whole year, and I looked on PriceLabs, if this is what it is, this is the max that I could potentially gross–

[00:42:52] Annette: Mm-hmm. 

[00:42:54] Andi: How do I get beyond that? What else do I do? So pet fees are in there. So that’s an additional stream of revenue. We have merchandise now. Right before we started this, somebody drove off the street, I want a t-shirt, because they saw it on TV. Now we have check in early, check out late.

[00:43:10] Sarah: Mm-hmm. 

[00:43:11] Andi: So those are things that we’ve added on both ends, and my staff knows when it’s available. I don’t want them to kill themselves trying to turn over a room so that somebody could check in early or check out late. But if and when that’s available, that’s an additional stream of revenue, which you could do at a short-term rental also. Um, so those are additional things. So yeah, my goal is a million dollars. So February, we opened. The show was last month or two weeks ago, three weeks ago, maybe. Last month was our highest grossing month ever.

[00:43:42] Annette: Nice. Okay.

[00:43:43] Andi: Yeah.

[00:43:44] Annette: Can you share what it was?

[00:43:46] Andi: Yeah. So it was 110. 

[00:43:48] Sarah: Nice, Andi.

[00:43:49] Annette: Okay. I’ll take something via DoorDash. Sarah and I need lunch if you want to DoorDash or something. 

[00:43:57] Andi: And this isn’t– we’re not even in high season. So if I can continue that trend, then I should be able to meet my goals. But I’ll be interested to see what happens during “low season” because we’ve never had a low season having just come off of a national TV show and having just done this massive renovation. So I don’t know what it’s going to look like. Maybe it tanks again. I don’t know. I’m hoping it doesn’t. I’m hoping between all the advertising and, like I said, the partnerships and people talking about it and sharing that doesn’t happen, but I’m not sure.

[00:44:29] Annette: Well, the one thing, and we’ll take this behind the scenes inside the membership, but I mean, the thing that’s just blatantly screaming at me right now is that the fortune is in the follow-up here, and these guests that are staying, the people that are coming to your website, getting these emails, and attracting those guests during that off season and figuring out what the numbers need to be to have them come stay. But I just feel like you’re really building some solid digital real estate, that equity there, and those slower months are not going to be slower months anymore. I mean, they might–

[00:45:04] Andi: I’m hoping that.

[00:45:05] Annette: Yeah. Obviously, the pricing might change, but let’s hope the occupancy is there and we know how to get you there. We can do that together and make sure that people are pouring in to it.

[00:45:16] Sarah: Well, let’s do a little– you want to make sure that your RevPAR, your revenue per available room is strong. So that’s where that ADR and occupancy–

[00:45:24] Andi: This is something, I think, that I had heard in the group as well. My goal is x per stay. And maybe I’ve got a bit more availability during the week. Maybe during the summer or whatever months were slower I do a buy two get one free, or get one free. So the main amount of what, at least, I wanted to get, I’m getting that amount. But now, if you divide that up over three nights, it costs 33% less for the guests per night, but I’m still getting at least x number of gross dollars based on me wanting at least a minimum two-night stay.

[00:45:59] Sarah: Yeah. Have fun with how you get to where you want to go. That’s why we’re all business owners. Because there is no ceiling to our creativity as long as we understand our numbers and of course, the market, how do we get there? And I love that you’re squeezing out. It’s not just about that room rate. It’s about those fees.

And listeners, if any of you think that charging for late checkout and late check-in is not hospitable of us, I really challenge you to think about that, what that allows you to do for your business that in turn has a better experience for your guests but also your team because there is a lot of back and forth. And I’ll tell you what, Annette and I have traveled a lot this past quarter, and every hotel’s doing it. So there’s really– it’s something that the traveler, they may not always like it, but they’ve not seen it elsewhere. So just kudos to you, Andi. 

[00:46:48] Andi: I’ll have people, when it’s available, who will do it on both ends. And I’m charging 35 for early check-in, 35 for late checkout. So that’s an extra 70 bucks.

[00:46:56] Annette: Mm-hmm. 

[00:46:57] Sarah: Yeah. That’s incredible.

[00:46:58] Annette: Yeah.

[00:46:58] Andi: If I have 10 people a month who do that, $700 extra.

[00:47:02] Annette: Yeah. And that’s more DoorDash you can send Sarah and I. Before we wrap up, Andi, I haven’t even told you this yet. I was eating dinner at a hotel bar actually in Arizona recently, and I sat next to a lovely couple. They were celebrating their anniversary, and we were chatting, and I asked what they did. They asked me what I did. I told them. They go, oh my gosh, our dream is to own a hotel. We have DVRed the 100 Day Dream Home on HGTV. We can’t wait to watch it. I go, oh, really? I’m like, I know her. She’s my friend. I was like, I–

[00:47:35] Sarah: Your name dropped. 

[00:47:35] Annette: I was like, oh, I know her. Got her right here. Pulled out my phone. I was like, Andi?

[00:47:40] Andi: Got her on speed dial. 

[00:47:41] Annette: We’re like this. We’re close. We talk all the time. So I want to thank you for making me look cool, uh, in front of some folks, but their dream is to do what you’re doing. So Sarah and I just applaud you for going after it. You’re doing it. I mean, you’re living your dream, but I do want to let you know you’re going to be super inspiring for so many listeners because this is people’s dream. You’re doing it. 

And I love that, what you mentioned earlier, with your kids and with your family, that’s why they wanted to buy a hotel because they were from Florida, and they live in Arizona now, and they were like, we want it to be for family vacations. We’ll rent it out ourselves, but then, obviously, have it a revenue-generating asset. You are literally living your dream and other people’s. So I’m just so pumped for you, and we are excited to follow along.

[00:48:29] Andi: I’m excited to see– and there’s still plenty that I need to learn, and there’s still plenty that I mess up on a lot, so I also don’t want people to think that it’s just like, poof. It’s just magic, and it just happens. Because there’s a lot that I still am daily struggling with and trying to figure out, and things that don’t go as planned, but it’s just life.

[00:48:49] Annette: Yeah.

[00:48:50] Sarah: Andi, where can our listeners reach out to you or support you?

[00:48:53] Annette: Book their stay. Where can they book their stay? 

[00:48:56] Andi: So it’s sunburstinn.com. It’s sunburstinn, I-N-N, .com.

[00:49:01] Sarah: Amazing. Well, thank you so much for your time, Andi. With that I am Sarah Karakaian.

[00:49:05] Annette: I am Annette Grant, and together we are–

[00:49:07] Both Annette & Sarah: Thanks for Visiting. 

[00:49:08] Sarah: We’ll talk to you next time.