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419. From Viral Listings to Booked Calendars: The Power of Niche Airbnb Design (Episode 419)
419. Kelly Straka & Wendy Doris
Welcome and Introduction
Sarah Karakaian: [00:00:00] Hello, welcome back for another [00:01:00] great episode. My name is Sarah Karakaian.
Annette Grant: I’m Annette Grant and together we are Thanks for Visiting.
Sarah Karakaian: Let’s start this episode like we do each and every week and that is sharing one of you our incredible listeners who’s sharing your short term rental with us at strshare.
com. Annette, who are we sharing this week?
Listener Spotlight: Lavender Haze Playce
Annette Grant: This week we are sharing at Lavender Haze Playce. And you spell that Lavender, L A V E N D E R, Haze, H A Z E, Playce, P L A Y C E.
And she happens to be the guest on the show today. So I encourage you to go to her account ahead of time, so you can get a visual on what this amazing space she has created. Spoiler alert, it is a Taylor Swift inspired property from front door to back door to backyard to all the bedrooms.
And you’re just going to want to check out her Instagram to see when you have a niche product like [00:02:00] this. How she is infusing , Taylor, how she’s infusing a lot of photos of guest stays there. But we just want you to see the color, see how she’s running it. And don’t just go and like, but follow along to how, Kelly is building out her entire portfolio.
So again, go check out Lavender Haze. And the best part is I just want you to peruse through and get a feel for the property ahead of this episode.
Sarah Karakaian: And so maybe you ask us , should I have an Instagram page for each property for my whole portfolio and it looks like Kelly the owner of the property I mean that is for her short term rental that is titled Lavender Haze Playce
she’s got a second property. That’s called ERA Zona But it’s ERA Zona cuz it’s Taylor Swift themed and it’s in Arizona and she’s got another one So I’m guessing she has Instagram Pages for each property, which Hey, if you can handle that workload and you can be consistent and it’s actually translating into conversions and bookings, I think [00:03:00] that’s great.
All right, moving on to today’s episode and who we’re interviewing.
Interview with Kelly and Wendy
Sarah Karakaian: We’re interviewing, yes, Kelly, the creator of Lavender Haze Playce, but we’re also interviewing her Co-Host, Wendy Doris. Wendy has been on the episode before because she has been a coach inside of our private community for years, I can’t believe it’s been years at this point.
Wendy is, I. I don’t hand out these accolades very easily, but I would say she is hands down the best Co-host in Phoenix, Scottsdale, Arizona. Annette and I just had the pleasure of staying with her. And when I tell you her properties are on point, they are on point. And even Kelly gives her, I can’t wait for you to hear in the episode, something that her team noticed in the property.
And at that point, Kelly was like, all right, Wendy, you can have all my properties from here on out because you are, the way you train your team is impeccable. And I trust you. But today’s episode is that collaboration between a Co-host and the Co-host’s client, Kelly. And I can tell [00:04:00] you as a Co-host, it is, you tow that line of working with a property owner who wants to be too involved where you can’t do your job.
And I think Wendy does a nice job of having Kelly involved as much as she needs her to be to have the relationship benefit both of them in terms of bringing in as much revenue as possible because they both benefit from that.
Kelly’s Background and Real Estate Journey
Sarah Karakaian: A little bit about Kelly, she started out as a realtor. She turned into a stager and then she began Lux Living in 2010 and has since been designing luxury custom homes for professional athletes and celebrities.
She hosted a series called the Lux Life on the Design Network, which features some of her projects and high profile clients. And she now has a real estate portfolio that includes the viral sensation That we’re going to dive in today, her Taylor Swift house, Lavender Haze, and her next one, ERA Zona, as well as a wellness retreat that she has in a 1919 prohibition bed and breakfast on the East coast
one of the [00:05:00] cool takeaways from this episode is what happens when you really start focusing on your one superpower and letting other people focus on their superpowers and then partnering up with all these people. to create something absolutely incredible.
Wendy Kelly, welcome to the show. Wendy, I’m going to start with you because you have been on the show before, but a quick background into who you are, what you do and your relationship with Kelly a little bit.
Wendy Doris: I’m Wendy Doris and I’m with Mostess in Phoenix and we also have homes in Scottsdale and other parts of Arizona, we are hosts for other owners and we’ve been hosting for about seven years Kelly is one of my clients.
Annette Grant: And I’m just going to clarify, because there’s this wild world out there called Co-hosting.
So I think Wendy would Mostess Host , you would describe yourself as a Co-host with your clients, correct? For all of you out there that might hear us [00:06:00] use the word Co-host today or on the show. Some people call themselves property managers, some people call themselves hosts people call themselves Co-hosts.
So for all intents and purposes today, we’re going to call Wendy the Co-host of Kelly’s Properties.
The Collaboration Between Kelly and Wendy
Sarah Karakaian: All right, Kelly, a little bit about who you are, how you fit into this, today’s conversation and your relationship with Wendy.
Kelly Straka: Sure. I’m Kelly Straka. I’m the owner of Lux Living and Place Collective. Lux Living started as a staging and design company.
Place Collective is the brand of my collection of homes, in Arizona, New Jersey, and Philly. I also have been in Airbnb for about seven years or so. So, one year in Arizona, and the rest was all on the East Coast.
Sarah Karakaian: How did you find Wendy, and why did you want to find Wendy?
Kelly Straka: So, it’s actually kind of a strange story.
I felt like I was like a Wendy stalker. Maybe she knew that maybe she didn’t. I had been following Wendy on [00:07:00] Instagram for years because she was flipping houses and I was flipping houses. And I always said it was cute. Her name was flipping Wendy. I was also a gymnast in college. So we have this like very strange thing in common.
But anyway, so i’ve known of Wendy for a little while I was in San Diego and then I started looking into investing in Phoenix and Scottsdale I had two realtors who had given me two companies to check out Wendy and someone else and I was like, I did my research on her and the company and the thing that stood out to me was that she wanted these niche properties and that’s kind of like just spoke to me.
That’s my thing. That’s what I’ve always done, even in Jersey before I got out here. So, I felt like just our path of life and that being kind of what she was advertising, I felt like it was already a good fit because my other management companies don’t love my niche thing as much so I felt like it was like already match made in heaven.
But I joke and say that like I don’t think she liked me when she first met me.
Cause now looking back, we’re like [00:08:00] texting each other 50 million times a day, trying to stop a little bit on that, but , it’s grown we’ll say.
Sarah Karakaian: So Wendy was Kelly’s first property with you and we’re going to get into what the property is. Was it themed or was the first property just a well designed short term rental?
Designing the Taylor Swift Themed Property
Wendy Doris: The first one is the one we’re probably going to talk about most, which is lavender Haze. And to talk a little bit about meeting Kelly, first of all, I have one of those faces That just doesn’t I don’t know Sometimes I look at myself in a zoom call and i’m like i’m not that bored. Why do I look so bored?
but anyway, you know I went over to see the house met her And she was telling me what the vibe was going to be what the theme was going to be and I was like, okay Like Yes, this could be really cool if it’s done well. I meet so many people who want to have short term rentals, especially in Phoenix and Scottsdale, and they just don’t want to go that extra mile.
So I was [00:09:00] hesitant to really get too excited about it because what if she didn’t go where I, was hoping she would with it. So that’s probably what she was kind of gathering from my response was like, Okay, well, we’ll see where you go.
Sarah Karakaian: Let’s talk about that. How did she
because for some listeners, they heard Lavender Haze Playce and they’re like, Oh, that’s Taylor Swift. But there are other people who don’t know like all the intricacies of Ms. Swift. So Wendy, how did Kelly approach you? What was her idea? And what was that point when you knew that this was going to be worth it to add it to your Co-hosting collection?
Wendy Doris: Well, when I entered the property, I knew that the backyard was amazing. No matter what she did to it, the house already, had good bones.
Annette Grant: Well, was it a short term rental though? Previously, Kelly, did you buy someone had been running it as a short term rental?
Kelly Straka: I think that was like the scary part because when she first walked in, I would be scared too. it was a theme, [00:10:00] but it was like one room was like neon pink and green. The other room had donuts on the walls and it was like. You know, I think this market is like people are trying to do something so I give them credit for like You’re adding accent walls and you’re doing things like that And she didn’t know me and didn’t really know any of my design experience so I think that like just walking in and Seeing what it looked like then and me saying like hey, I think i’m gonna make this Taylor Swift house.
She’s like Good luck. I feel like in hindsight, that’s where, maybe the, like, I have it like pictured in my head of what I want to do and she’s seeing what’s there already. So the next time that she came back, she was like, Oh, you haven’t been busy at all.
And it looked completely different. So, Yes, it was an Airbnb, a four bedroom, two bath, and it had all the furniture there already. So I tried to like basically just work, off of as much of that as I could.
Annette Grant: Okay. Interesting. And that you did no more, like obviously design, but as far as amenities, the pool was there, the hot tub was [00:11:00] there, that type of stuff structurally.
Nope. That was all good to go. Perfect. Okay.
Sarah Karakaian: Did you ladies both already have the numbers from the previous Airbnb?
Kelly Straka: That was the reason I bought it because I didn’t know the market at all. But, the realtors that I worked with actually bought it sight unseen.
So the first time. I was there was during the home inspection period and they let me stay there for two days. They were like, here’s all the numbers. I had been in Airbnb for like three years and that made it an easy decision for me, just knowing that I could probably make it better.
Sarah Karakaian: Why were they selling? Did they tell you?
Kelly Straka: It was a family and they were self managing and I guess they just had different goals
Sarah Karakaian: ooh, that’s a good segway into this question, which is all right, Kelly. You’re an incredible designer. You see what makes a good product, like you see the good bones, but you had no interest in managing yourself?
Or why the need for Mostess Host for Wendy?
Kelly Straka: I had a management company myself [00:12:00] and you can’t pay me to go back to that, if I’m being honest. I had a company for like four years. I had a full time property manager, a part time property manager, full time maintenance, part time maintenance, and three cleaning companies for 15 properties.
And it’s non stop. I guess maybe like six months before I came to Arizona, I had a company takeover in Jersey, and that was like a game changer for me. I love the acquisition part. I love the numbers. I love finding the market, coming up with a concept, doing the design and then doing the marketing, but like the day to day stuff is just.
Not my thing. So when I met Wendy and she has all these checklists and her checklists have checklists and every single person on our team is like super organized. I’m like, yeah, you guys do your thing because. I do not want to go back to that. So yeah, and I just Realistically, I don’t live out here full time.
Like it’s just [00:13:00] not none of that makes sense for me so this is the first time that I can like Hand over the keys quite literally and say do your thing and and hopefully you’ll allow me to like get involved in the branding marketing stuff but I really try to like let them run with it and not step on their toes
Sarah Karakaian: Wendy, when you were interviewing Kelly or having those initial conversations, what was going through your mind in terms of, did you know she had previously managed her own properties?
Were there any red flags about Kelly being maybe one of those property owners who was going to be maybe too involved or not involved enough or had like crazy dreams about how amazing the property would be in terms of revenue, but you were hesitant.
Tell us all the details there.
Wendy Doris: I don’t feel like there was any hesitation once I saw where the design was going., There’s a lot more involved with them. So like, very detailed, like this goes here, this goes there, and I personally love that.
But then the operation side of me is like, okay, we have to figure this out [00:14:00] because this is the reputation room. This is the whatever room. And these things have to stay in these rooms. And if anyone’s ever managed an Airbnb you know stuff migrates.
Once we started working together and she was wrapping up the design and we were coming in , I just was really excited about it because it was an exciting property and learning that she was a college gymnast. Once you know somebody’s a college gymnast, you kind of know what you’re getting.
Like, they’re a little bit hardcore.
Sarah Karakaian: Yeah. Well, I think any athlete, especially the collegiate level, like the kind of discipline it takes to first of all, become a collegiate athlete and then to compete at that level, I would agree that you have to be a focused human being. Wendy, did Kelly have Mood boards, did she have anything visual on the computer, or were you not really seeing her vision until you walked back into the home and saw like the next room being done?
Wendy Doris: I was watching her do it on Instagram.
Sarah Karakaian: Oh, okay.
Wendy Doris: So she was sharing on Instagram, were you sending me stuff,
Kelly Straka: I don’t think I sent too
much on the [00:15:00] first one. I think on the second one, we needed them because we were trying to market the property before it went live.
I was doing things on Instagram. I made that TikTok video that was the one that went viral
Marketing and Viral Success
Annette Grant: let’s get into the numbers. Number one, the viral video. When, you say viral, what is viral? Can we talk about some stats there?
Kelly Straka: That video in particular was a Tik Tok that I made and was like, watch me make over my house into a Taylor Swift Airbnb.
And I think it has eight or 900, 000 views on it. But there have been quite a few videos that either I’ve made or other people that have come into the house have done. I think the highest views, like five point something million. But there’s like multiples of those. There’s like a 5 million on Instagram, 2 million here, 2 million there.
So yeah, there’s a lot.
Annette Grant: How did you, because this isn’t a normal, like go into air DNA, put in if I have this themed house, when you were sitting there and Kelly, [00:16:00] do you run, do you own all these independently yourself? Do you have any partners on them? I don’t. Awesome. So you’re the decision maker when you’re sitting there trying to figure out, and if you could share any numbers, we’d love it on the actual design, paying for all of, um, to build out Lavender Haze
how are you making that math math? Is there a spreadsheet? Are you like, if I do this design, I’m hoping I’m going to make X amount. Let’s talk about those numbers and you and your, and you walking through when you’re purchasing and designing.
Kelly Straka: Yeah, so I’ve done other themed airbnbs.
Financial Insights and Property Management
Kelly Straka: I think this one like kind of put me to the test a little bit Because i’m coming into a saturated market.
So Coming into Phoenix Scottsdale. I knew what I was getting myself into and like you know, who knows why the people that sold really actually sold but part of me wants to stay it is because the market is oversaturatednd if you’re not really You Going hard and doing something different [00:17:00] than you are probably going to get squashed. So, I did my research on just the market in general to see what’s out there.
And there’s a lot of like, they’re really well done. They’re, they’re really well decorated and they’re really well managed. So like you are coming into like the best of the best already. You know, super girly bachelorette, that’s where it started I came here the one time that I was under contract on the house And I wore a white dress and I was with a few girls that were wearing black and the amount of people that said Congratulations.
I’m like I didn’t even realize how big of a bachelorette market It was so that was kind of like the initial idea of Cater it to the bachelorettes, but also like do something that hasn’t already been done before
Wendy Doris: I also want to give a shout out to her agents who are Karissa and Nicole who have been on the show before with the pink cactus houses.
They have a lot of experience with this and , where you can take a home. And so I think that also, [00:18:00] I mean, you correct me if I’m wrong, Kelly, but I’m sure that their guidance helped to like, no, you got to push it further. No, you got to go further.
Kelly Straka: I had been following them for like four years.
Yeah, three or four years. They had done the presentation on the short term rental market out here. So that’s kind of like why I was keeping an eye on this market in particular. They had their pink cactus place go viral do really well. And they, like, I feel like they were at like the beginning of the like themes, you know,
take it up a notch. So when I mentioned that I was thinking about doing Taylor Swift, they’re like, we wanted to do that. So yeah, I feel like between having the two of them and then having Wendy, like I already had this little dream team of people that know what they’re doing in this space to help kind of guide me in that direction.
So the house that I bought was doing, I think their best year did a hundred thousand in revenue., But they also had sent me a report of all the numbers that went into it. The furnishings, [00:19:00] the upgrades on the backyard, I think the pool and the hot tub was like 68, 000
As an investor coming into it, I was like, Oh my gosh. Like I’ve done a lot of projects where I’m renovating the whole thing and it takes six months or a year or something. And I know , how long that can take and how much money goes into it.
buying something that like the big ticket items were already done and I can just put my spin on it. Like for me, that’s kind of like my newer way of doing it. Cause it makes it a lot easier. I don’t want to be in a project for a year before I start making money.
Annette Grant: Do you mind sharing the purchase price of the home?
Kelly Straka: , 6.
Annette Grant: And then after you Taylor-fied it, Swifti-fied it, how much money did you spend Swift ifying this home?
Kelly Straka: I think it’s, that’s like kind of a loaded question because my experience as a designer is where a lot of the value comes in. And if I was doing this for someone else, I tried to think about what i would charge .
One of the rooms had orange beds. Very bright orange twin beds. I’m like, oh, gosh, these things are ugly. [00:20:00] So then that’s kind of how I started choosing which era was going to go into what room. One of the beds Was pink The room was pink and black.
So I took that bed and reupholstered it and turned it into like I just used like a tablecloth. So I was very Thrifty on my projects. And a lot of it was diy stuff wallpaper painting hand painting murals so I don’t actually know the numbers.
Annette Grant: But that’s fair to say though, that you have your design experience.
It’s invaluable to a project like this, Just a homeowner. Let’s say me because I don’t have a design experience. I should anticipate putting The investment in to having someone that you can fast track sourcing fast track design And then repurposing like you said repurposing the stuff that did come with the home where I know I might be like, Hey, just somebody come pick all of it up
I love that you said this, cause this was a lesson for me of [00:21:00] what you’re saying now you’re kind of purchasing different of like, when can I start making money versus , maybe buy something at a lower purchase price, but you’re wasting time.
Yeah, everyone’s like looking for a deal and like trying to find the best price or the best deal that they can on a house. But if you think about it, if you’re looking at a house, that’s going to say it just to make a hundred thousand a year, you’re going to take six months to get it done.
Kelly Straka: That’s 50, 000 in revenue, I think buying something where you’re rolling all those things into the mortgage. If I started looking at other houses, I have, you know, four or five bedrooms, but they don’t have a pool. Well, now you’re going to put a 68, 000 pool.
You’re not able to roll that into the mortgage. That has been like what I’m looking for lately.
Annette Grant: That’s really smart. Cause you’re like, Hey, I can, this is over 30 years versus I’m going to have to probably get this pool either. Five year finance or just pay cash for it. So, and like you said, the time of actually having to, the headache of finding someone to put the pool in install a pool and who knows how long that’s going to take.
But I, I [00:22:00] love that switch of mentality, cause those are things also that like, we’re looking at the spreadsheets and looking at the numbers, but then when we like put that time multiplier and then like The heartache, the, the, the sourcing of the contractors, all of that that goes into it sometimes doesn’t fit directly in that spreadsheet.
Unexpected Success and Future Plans
Kelly Straka: In this situation with the Taylor, the first Taylor Swift house, timing was everything. We got super lucky with like I had a business insider article come out and it was like the week that they announced that she was a billionaire. And then going into the super bowl was right around when we did our launch party.
And it was just like the perfect storm of you cannot avoid Taylor Swift right now. You know, it’s like her and Travis are like, all of the things were happening. So it was like, we’re just keep building on it.
Sarah Karakaian: I want to point out two things that I’ve seen to zooming out real quick, which is I’ve shared with Wendy and actually Annette knows this too.
So in our business, Kelly, our motto for 2025 is less but better. And I [00:23:00] think you have done that beautifully with your decision to actually not operate your rentals because you’re doing less, but better. You’re able to focus solely on acquiring the perfect property for you. And then focus solely on going above and beyond on that design and having the time, the bandwidth to do it.
Because while you’re designing the 1989 room and the red room or whatever, you know, you’re not also messaging with your property manager, trying to put out fires. Across your portfolio. The decision to focus on the design and the acquisition, I think is great.
And then you have these team members like Wendy, who is solely focused on operations and managing niche properties, not just any properties. But these niche next level properties in your marketplace. And then you have your real estate agents who that’s all that they do is help people find and correct me if I’m wrong, but they really specialize in the short term rental space in the furnished rental space.
So they are not just focusing on the average buyer or investor. It’s these investors and buyers and sellers who have this one product in mind. So I really, Love that [00:24:00] conversation. I want to gift that to everyone listening on the magic that can happen when you actually do let go of all the other things that can be distracting you from doing that one thing and Kelly, you recognize your sweet, like you’re able to buy a home with a rock star pool and bathrooms and these great bones and not waste time in the renovation because You have this superpower of not just doing like a Taylor Swift themed home.
But I mean, listeners, when you go see this home, we have it obviously listed in the show notes, the detail, the props that you have that are strategically placed. The inside scoop on Taylor Swift. I know there are things in there that I don’t even know what they are, but I want to find out because they’re like secret Taylor Swift details, you know, like you were just able to take it to that next level.
So my question to you is Kelly. Was it worth it? Does she make more as a Taylor Swift themed home than she did as the Donut House?
Kelly Straka: [00:25:00] Yeah, it was worth it I think Well, that’s why we did a second one The first one was like, oh my gosh, like these dates, you know, it’s really fun when your calendar starts filling up, but you’re like, but wait, like now you have to say no to people so I think, it was definitely worth it. I think just the Swiftie crowd. And I know Wendy will agree with me, like the people that are renting are so cute. They’re so sweet. They are over the top excited when they walk in the door. They send us little videos and pictures it ended up turning into, we had the summer booked out with birthday parties and we were calling them Swiftovers.
And I think that’s where Wendy and I really worked very well together in like seeing how this kind of pivoted because like I said it kind of started as this bachelorette thing and then very early on within the first few weeks I’m like that’s so weird we’ve had like three three out of four guests were families we’re like okay And then a couple more, a couple more.
And they’re like, Oh, right. We want to have our daughter’s 10th birthday [00:26:00] party here. We live locally. And all of these things that like, absolutely were not what I was expecting going into it. Normally having locals renting is like a huge red flag and we just don’t allow it. But we’re like, wait a minute.
This is what the, this is what’s happening. Like, what are we going to do? And we had to have this like, come to Jesus moment of like us I was having a conversation of like, do we want to do one night, one night rentals? And like, I kind of left that on Wendy, you’re, you’re the one that’s talking to them.
You’re the one that’s coordinating the cleaners of like, you know, I, the summer was madness. Like June and July was insane. I think we had like 25 reservations or something like that in one month.
Sarah Karakaian: Wow.
Kelly Straka: Wow.
Attention to Detail: The Key to Success
Kelly Straka: So that is like a testament to her team being able to Do all those turnovers make sure there was no damages make sure there’s nothing missing I’ll tell this story because i’m sure you guys will appreciate this this is when I knew I had the right management company The one day her someone from her team sends me a message and they’re like, hey Kelly, [00:27:00] In the folklore room, there’s a music You page, a piece of paper and a fake little greenery eucalyptus stem that was like pretty much just there for photos and they’re like, where did you get this, the eucalyptus from?
It’s missing. And I was like, You have to be kidding me. This is like the most amazing thing I’ve ever heard in my whole life. I was so happy that like they noticed that one piece of greenery, Luckily. Yeah, but they’re like so on top of it. I was like, oh my gosh, I’m not asking anything like you guys do your thing.
The fact that you know that is like all I need to know about like I’m going to do what I do and you guys do what you do because you’re really good at it.
Sarah Karakaian: They’re so good at it.
Kelly Straka: That attention to detail is like, you know That’s what we see in the reviews when people are making videos and they leave like the nicest reviews And everything is all about the attention and detail.
I feel like a lot [00:28:00] of management companies are kind of like, oh, we want to keep it as simple as we can You know You don’t want to have too many knickknacks and things because no one’s ever going to put them back the same way They’re going to go missing somehow. I do not know how they do it, but they know You Where everything goes and it’s like, that’s what everyone notices though.
Sarah Karakaian: That’s what makes it different and next level and not like the other rentals. Wendy, I have a question for you.
Marketing Strategies and Viral Success
Sarah Karakaian: Let’s go back to the marketing aspect and working hand in hand with a client. How has that. Been for you, like with the viral TikTok videos, I mean, Kelly said that she would post a lot of them or I think you had influencers come, but Wendy, you obviously need to have some level of control when it comes to the influx of questions about reservations or any of things of that matter.
So Wendy, how is it working with a property owner who created this thing, this product? So therefore she kind of has to be involved, especially in the beginning so that it’s successful partnership on both [00:29:00] sides. Just speaking to other Co-hosts out there who might have, interesting relationships with their property owners, what worked with Kelly so that you could work in tandem, but still have control over your operations?
Wendy Doris: I think at the beginning, she was getting so much attention to the house. She already had the Airbnb listing going. She had a couple of bookings, but it wasn’t until we came in and signed a contract starting to build the direct booking site that , it was like, okay, we need to figure out when you’re going to announce something, we just had to get on the same page.
When you’re going to announce something on Instagram, she’s trying not to let , the hype. Die down and then but we have to harness all of this coming in So we created a subscription page where it literally like threw it up on my Squarespace site Super quick where we could just collect emails at first and then I don’t know eventually we got on the same track [00:30:00] where like she was like, okay, i’m gonna announce a giveaway or whatever.
So basically it’s just communicating and being on the same page with that and then being able to harness whatever’s coming at you because of it because We weren’t ready for that We usually have all the control in all, in all of those things with our owners. So to be in this situation where it’s kind of taking off without us was like, Oh, okay.
We got to catch up. And so we eventually did.
Annette Grant: When did you guys decide, or was there a point for both of you? You’re just on Airbnb when it launches, correct?
Kelly Straka: Yes.
Annette Grant: Okay.
Kelly Straka: Remember we shut it down. After that event because we were afraid we’re going to break the internet.
Annette Grant: Okay.
Wendy Doris: All this hype was coming in. I’m like, we should not be sending all these people to Airbnb.
Pricing and Booking Challenges
Annette Grant: When did you decide, if you decided, I don’t even know this, walk us through initially pricing it, because to me, you don’t have competition in the market.
And then when do you go, wait a second, it’s time to move it up , so how did you decide on pricing [00:31:00] and then changing it moving forward as a calendar booked up?
Wendy Doris: That was a moving target in the beginning. First of all our nightly rates are so drastic from March to July.
July could usually be a third of the price of March.
Annette Grant: Can
you talk numbers to us?
Wendy Doris: So on a
weekend in March during spring training for a normal house, it would be above a thousand, so 1, 200, 1, 300 to 1, 500 maybe for Friday and Saturday. And then, in July, maybe for a regular bachelor house might be 700 to 900.
Annette Grant: All right. Now let’s do T Swift numbers.
Wendy Doris: Well we officially launched like Galentine’s Day and we’re in the middle of high season Kelly was like, I think it needs to be higher. So I’m like, okay, well, I’ll push it. And then we launched and we got a few bookings, but it wasn’t gangbusters. Like we thought it was going to be with all the hype. I mean, it was on our morning radio show. It was, on all these publications. I was like, I don’t know, [00:32:00] you know, it’s high season.
Why aren’t people booking? And then we were getting all these questions, like, can I just, could we have one night and we were like, no way. We’re not doing one night for locals that there is no way because that’s like a hard and fast rule So once we realized what we had and we decided we were going to open up Swiftovers In the summer, which is our low season a daily rate for the weekday in Phoenix in july would be 200 maybe 175 I mean that that’s the bottom right and I won’t really go below that because we just won’t book We’re pushing 600 a night for like a random monday tuesday for the nightly rate so I remember I had a call with you sarah Like how do I deal with this viral property?
I don’t know how to price it.
Sarah Karakaian: You figured out who your avatar was like you and rightfully so both of you thought you were going to cater to bachelorettes who loved Taylor Swift music, but when it push comes to shove, you had this [00:33:00] other avatar who you weren’t speaking to at all, and you weren’t serving them the way they wanted to be served, i.
e. The Swiftovers. And once you can tap into who that person is, I mean, magic happens as you can see your low season, you were crushing it, which is only going to benefit Kelly for years to come. Kelly’s over here sitting pretty because you’ve got this really cool marketing.
Managing High Turnover and Guest Expectations
Sarah Karakaian: I don’t want to call it ploy, but like marketing aspect of the home that really works well with these swift overs and Wendy, with the one night stays with these younger individuals, I’m sure they’re respectful, but how has it been for your team to turn over a home that has so many details, so many decor pieces and props, things of that nature, turning it over each and every day?
Has it been worth it for your team? Has morale been up with that? What’s that like?
Wendy Doris: They love it. I think the fact that it would turn over in the summer, maybe five times a week. They obviously get really used to knowing what’s in there. So that’s probably how they noticed one piece of leaf was missing or [00:34:00] something.
They know exactly where everything goes and they notice every little ding. they just see it every day. And they also love to work. So
Sarah Karakaian: I was going to say in a season where they may not get as many turnovers here, you are turning it over.
Yeah.
Annette Grant: What about the neighbors? How are the neighbors feeling about being next to the Taylor Swift house and seeing maybe swift overs happening, you know, five nights a week in the summer?
Kelly Straka: Wendy is , really hardcore. Also why I thought she was like, kind of scary when I met her, but the rules are amazing.
And I think that it helped going into it with it already being an Airbnb before. That’s another thing that I look for. And I know Chris and Nicole kind of like, Hey, this one’s proven. It has good reviews. You can go in the reviews and see that no one’s been complaining. That was a big thing.
It’s a corner property. The parking was our biggest thing with the swift overs and think of like birthday parties, kids being dropped off. So Wendy put in this, no more than four cars, [00:35:00] like figured out carpool, however you need to get there.
Wendy Doris: Think it’s not an open house style. Being local and imagine you have 10 10 year olds coming Oh, and the moms want to come
Annette Grant:
Wendy Doris: and have a drink and hang out and so now we have 20 plus people and so We really had to reign that in and we’ve even had phone calls with guests as after they book Like we just feel like we’re not on the same page.
So we call them And I remember one conversation I had with a guest was like well, it’s just a kid’s birthday party Certainly the neighbors understand like if i’m gonna have a birthday party at my house It’s just they’re gonna have to deal with some cars this one day and i’m like But you don’t understand we have a birthday every day Every single day is a birthday.
Annette Grant: I love, I want to pause right there because this is something we talk about a lot in our membership. if you are not doing this hosts, if you see that you do have a special property and maybe people are not using it the way that.
it’s intended to be used, that phone call can go so far. , if it is a special occasion, they are paying that higher price, like [00:36:00] reaching out to them and setting the expectations. once you have a voice associated with the host of the property, I feel like that just brings everybody back to, Oh, this is a family owned business.
Like there are humans behind this. It isn’t an app. It isn’t a website. So that we want to encourage everyone, if you have that opportunity, or if you feel like a guest, maybe might bend the rules or twist the rules, that phone call can go a really long way with people booking the property for sure. So this one’s popping off, Kelly, you’re like, we’re going viral.
Your calendars booked.
Expanding the Business: New Properties and Themes
Annette Grant: When did you decide how far, how long was Lavender Haze open before you were like, let’s go again, round two, we’re getting a second house?
Kelly Straka: A week.
Sarah Karakaian: And are you, I’m gonna ask the question everyone’s wondering, are you worried you’re creating your own competition?
Kelly Straka: A little bit, yeah.
So I went back and forth on it for a while. When I say a week like it actually was a week. I bought my second house in february so that was like right around the [00:37:00] time that things were like in the madness period of everything it was already an airbnb that Wendy was managing and it had a different theme.
It was really cute. She designed it and even after I bought so it I bought it in february and it was booked until July was like weekends full which was amazing. Like everything was transferring to me Kind of made it a no brainer and i’m like, okay, what can I do? That’s gonna top this Taylor swift house like what other themes and we had this conversation a bunch of times and some ideas popped up i’m like, You know back and forth and then really I think it just comes down to Listening to the feedback that we’re getting from guests of like, oh, I was really hoping to see this era.
This one’s my favorite era. That’s kind of like why We decided to and I say we because I really feel like Wendy was like a big part of this I’m, like what else can we do? Like we’re both so excited about it Like what can we do that’s gonna have this type of buzz and then she came out with a new album so like all of those things Again, are [00:38:00] pointing in this direction that it makes sense to try to do another one.
are you seeing that happen, Wendy? Are people wanting who have stayed at.
Lavender Haze, do they want to stay at EraZona?
Wendy Doris: Yes. We’ve had a couple of guests that have stayed at the other one. But Lavender Haze is in Phoenix and EraZone is in Scottsdale. So you’re getting different experiences, different locations. Maybe to the locals, it doesn’t matter, But to like bachelorettes, they like to be in Scottsdale, so it’s going to be a different experience.
Kelly Straka: It’s like a bit more mature. It’s not, when you walk in, and that was like another thing that I don’t know if I would say struggled with but like definitely was on the fence like do you give them the same thing or like the kids are running in you see the pink and purple and blue and like You know all of that or do we go in a slightly different direction and this one is more mature I do think that we’re gonna get more of the bachelors because it’s in Scottsdale and because it’s just It feels like sexier.
But then the backyard, I’m like, well, they love the backyard. So that’s where we kind of did the lover thing again with the pink and the purple and the [00:39:00] blue.
Annette Grant: how are the numbers working out at the new property?
Are they pacing with Lavender Haze?
Wendy Doris: It’s just started. So it’s hard to say that. I think the way that these houses are going are not going to follow the rest of the bachelorette houses, so typically a bachelorette house doesn’t do as much revenue as some other houses like in december because bachelorettes aren’t doing that in december So I think that we’re going to see similar where there’s more.
occupancy and a higher ADR in the summer when there’s the kids available, schools out. we’re still in the middle of trying to figure out this thing because we haven’t even done a whole year yet.
Kelly Straka: Yeah. Cool.
Wendy Doris: Exciting.
Annette Grant: I remember, just distinctly, Kelly, I’ll share this with you. We were with Wendy recently in Arizona. I was like, okay, but like, what happens when like, Taylor’s not so hot anymore? Like, what happens to these houses? And Wendy’s like, Who cares we’ll figure it out like we’re making the money now During this time and she like basically just like laughed at me like we’ll [00:40:00] figure that out We’re gonna take this money now what they’re earning and this is a good problem To have because I think you’re you’re making what two three X what the house was originally and is that a fair?
Fair assessment, if not more.
Kelly Straka: Yeah, about two times, probably.
Annette Grant: Right, and so Wendy just kind of laughed in my face, like, that’s not going to be the problem. We’ll have a new design, a new something else, that’s an easy problem to figure out, if that ever happens.
Kelly Straka: that was a lot of like, what if she, you know, I’m like, she’s been around since she’s 16. Are you paying attention to like what she’s doing on these Eras tours? Like now it’s like generations of moms and daughters going. So I don’t really think she’s going anywhere anytime soon.
Wendy Doris: Piggybacking on that. We do have like seven year old birthday parties and 40 year old birthday parties. Like it. Ranges. I mean, it ranges from bachelorette to five year olds and 40 something year olds. It’s like the Swifties are, are fun.
Kelly Straka: We also get some [00:41:00] very strange requests. Like the one that came in the other day. That’s like,
Annette Grant: well, give it to us. You can’t just, you know, bait us and not tell us.
Wendy Doris: Well, which one was it?
Kelly Straka: A funeral.
Wendy Doris: Oh yeah, we did get a request for, go ahead Kelly, you
can say it.
Kelly Straka: Yeah, like a celebration of life, this is what our friend wants. So I don’t actually know what’s happening with that yet. And I’m like, oh my gosh, like there, there are things that like, there’s a lot of things that people want to invite a lot of people to, and they’re so sweet and you’re like, my gosh, like what an amazing, it’s honestly like an honor to have people that want to have these celebrations and different things, but it’s like, this is a business and we have neighbors and we have, like, tools and things.
Right. And it’s Arizona.
Annette Grant: You guys are strict when it comes to, parties and getting in trouble with, getting your licenses taken away and stuff. So I know, in Arizona, they are, locked down when it comes to that type of stuff, for sure.
Wendy Doris: We always try to find a way to say yes, [00:42:00] and in this case we couldn’t, it’s just too many people, and we’re not licensed for events, and it’s a whole different animal,
I have lots of different requests.
Annette Grant: I want to say one thing I’m just loving about this episode.
Female Empowerment and Future Plans
Annette Grant: Not only is it our show with two females, but it’s you two with this amazing property that two other women sold the home to you, Kelly, then you reached out to Wendy, and then it’s all about Taylor Swift.
I just love that this whole storyline today is Women crushing it, whether it’s music or real estate, gymnastics, it’s very rare that, the whole through line of everything is female focused. And I love that you guys are continuing to share that with everyone that stays with you.
When you look at the percentages, what are the percentages of, women booking the property? Like, is it a lot of females coming to the property also?
Kelly Straka: A hundred percent. I would guess.
Wendy Doris: It might be like somebody’s booked it because they want to surprise their fiancé.
Kelly Straka: Books, but a dad booked for his daughter’s [00:43:00] 21st birthday. I love it. But it’s pretty high
Annette Grant: well, as we wrap up the episode and you guys, we will make sure that we, link to all of the properties, but what is next? Is there a next property or can we talk about that?
Wendy Doris: Well, there’s another property. It’s already happening.
Annette Grant: That’s the spa property, right?
Kelly Straka: That’s the other era that actually has the word era in it because we’re not allowed to not do it. Apparently. So Lara is the other one that is basically set up as a wellness retreat. Four bedrooms, four bathrooms in a really cute neighborhood in Phoenix.
And, I think what’s next for us, for Wendy and I continually have these conversations about how to book off of the platform. Because we’ve been so successful with Lavender Haze and I don’t know what the numbers are, 80 percent or something of direct bookings of how to continue to market and do different events and do different things.
Like we, we’ve had some Swifties asking, like, I don’t have 10 friends. Can [00:44:00] you book a room or can you do something? So we’re looking into doing some retreats where someone locally is going to help us host so like both for Solera and the Taylor Swift houses doing retreats where people can book with just like One other person or something so that it doesn’t have to only cater to like groups of 12.
Sarah Karakaian: experiment era.
Kelly Straka: I love it.
Wendy Doris: We have a lot of creative, conversations. I want to stay on the operation side.
And not let my brain go to the creative so that she can have that realm And then I try to figure out how do we? Logistically make it make sense. So I think that’s what we’re trying to figure out now is we have the idea But how do we? implement
Kelly Straka: yeah, it’s really nice to work with Wendy because I actually can bounce ideas off of someone without them being like, oh my god Yeah, that’s amazing.
Like when she’s like, well, that’s like a logistical nightmare Or we’ll say something about like what if this person books and they’re [00:45:00] smoking in this room and they’re messaging us and like You’re right. So I think that that balance between us has worked out really well.
And kind of like keeps me in check a little bit. But it’s fun.
Sarah Karakaian: No, it’s a great yin and yang. Having an operator, having Wendy be able to speak open, honestly with you, Kelly, but then Kelly, as a creative, you can say, well, what if then we did this, like how can that creative moment that no one else is doing?
Can we make it work operationally and having these conversations that are meant to go to a solution and not just as hard, fast, no, like, no, we don’t do one night stays with locals, but once you say yes with the right product and the right operational team, it actually works out really, really wonderfully.
And there is a solution for it. So I think. It’s a testament to your partnership that, there’s a lot of Kellys out there who want to find a Wendy and a lot of Wendy’s out there who having clients like Kelly, owners like Kelly. I mean, you work off of, in most cases, as a Co-host commission.
So the better the property, the higher the commission, the better revenue brings in for your business. So it can be this [00:46:00] really wonderful win win scenario when you have open minds.
Wendy Doris: It also, for the Co-hosts out there, this means that Mostess can take on one property that would normally equal two,
Sarah Karakaian: right?
Wendy Doris: So we might not be doing the work of two, like managing two pools or in two hot tubs and all the things. It’s one property. Instead of spending energy with the two properties, we had the one and we can funnel our energy into marketing doing. stuff with influencers and collaborations with vendors.
Sarah Karakaian: That goes in that whole theory of when you go to a real estate meetup, everyone asking you how many doors you have when it really doesn’t matter. It’s how much revenue are you bringing in each year with all of your properties?
And that’s what really, moves the needle when it comes to building wealth and being able to do, just going back to my little thing at the beginning with less but better and how it can actually be better when you have less, but you can really focus in on it. So Wendy, Kelly, thank you so [00:47:00] much for sharing your story and your partnership here on the podcast so openly and honestly, is there anything you want to share before we sign off that we didn’t get to cover with our questions?
Wendy Doris: No, I don’t think so.
Annette Grant: Listeners, if you’re going to Arizona.
Book direct with Mostess Host just go to the website, , join their newsletter and just see how Wendy and Kelly are doing the marketing. Like they are putting on a masterclass every day online.
So take a look at their social media, take a look at their direct booking site, look at what they’re doing. And I’m sure they’re welcome people, paying attention to how they’re creating amazing spaces.
Sarah Karakaian: mostess.host/kelly and that’s where you can see all of Kelly’s properties that Wendy manages and with that I am Sarah Karakaian I’m Annette Grant and together we are Thanks for Visiting talk to you next time
Bootcamp Announcement and Final Thoughts
Sarah Karakaian: this whole episode and just talking about listings at our next level reminds me about the bootcamp we’re actually going to be kicking off 2025 with. And I wanted to share with everyone who’s a podcast listener here in case you haven’t [00:48:00] heard us share it in our email list yet or anywhere else, but we are hosting a live bootcamp and we are way over delivering on what you’ll get for your investment.
It’s January 8th through 16th, and we would love for you to attend live, but obviously if you join us, we’ll record all the calls, but here’s where this relates to today’s episode is, could you imagine that going so far in on all those props, all that design, all that thinking of how to use this existing furniture and make it work for a Taylor Swift house.
And then converting that live experience to an online listing and not knocking it out of the park.
Annette Grant: Well, I don’t care if you’re a Taylor Swift house or you’re our two bedroom small condo or one of our one bedroom apartments. You have got to make sure that your listing is dialed in and ready to be looked at and booked.
Yes. So that is why we are putting this on, because you all have spent [00:49:00] So much time, energy, money in your properties. And we want you to start 2025 outright, knowing that your listing is optimized and ready for each and every person that sees it online, that you are showing and you’re putting your best foot forward.
And that’s what we are bringing to you in this bootcamp. So it’s January 8th through the 16th, and we will be doing three live trainings that will dive deep into listing photos, titles and descriptions, and then how the heck to read Airbnb analytics so that you know whether or not your listing is working or not.
I feel like there are so many hosts that don’t look at your analytics on the OTAs and we’re going to focus specifically on Airbnb. But the cool thing is this investment for our bootcamp, which is called Booked and Profitable is 49 to hang out with Annette and me and our team for three live calls.
Plus we’re going to be having a private Facebook group where you can get feedback on your listings. And then you could [00:50:00] also upgrade to the VIP experience. The cool thing about the VIP experience is you get direct feedback to ensure your listing is fully optimized. So there’s no better way to kick off 2025 and for 49, you will make that back times.
I mean, a hundred by just once you learn these best practices for your listing, you can repeat it and repeat it and repeat it and get better and better and better. And last but not least, we are going to have some downloadable resources. If you’re anything like me, I love to print out things and put them in a binder.
So we’re going to give you a photo shot list. We’re going to give you a title and description planner and also a KPI tracker. So don’t delay. Sign up for the bootcamp today. thanksforvisiting.com/bootcamp. So thanksforvisiting.com/bootcamp.
We would love to work with all of you and see your faces on these live calls and your listing kickoff 2025. The way you should as going back to basics and make sure you truly understand what it takes to have a converting [00:51:00] listing. thanksforvisiting.com/bootcamp. With that, I am Sarah Karakaian.
I’m Annette Grant and together we are Thanks for visiting. Talk to you next time.
