Short Stays, Big Dreams: A Travel & Vacation Rental Podcast
"Short Stays, Big Dreams: A Travel & Rental Podcast" dives into the world of short-term rental management, the stay industry, and travel, offering insights, expert interviews, and actionable tips to help you maximize your rental business and explore the latest travel trends.
Short Stays, Big Dreams: A Travel & Vacation Rental Podcast
Revolutionize Your Rental Business: Maximizing Tech for Unmatched Success
Ever wondered how technology can transform the rental property business? Discover how Ian Carter, founder of Trillium Property Management and tech expert at Charge Automation, leverages cutting-edge technology to manage rental properties efficiently. Ian brings a wealth of experience to the table, sharing how Property Management Systems (PMS) and Charge Automation have been instrumental in scaling his business and ensuring smooth operations. Learn the secrets behind connecting with multiple Online Travel Agencies (OTAs) and managing daily tasks with ease.
We dive deep into the human side of the rental business, discussing the crucial role of strong relationships with clients and guests. Ian and I explore the impact of treating people with decency and fairness, even when delivering bad news, on long-term success. We also highlight how Charge Automation enhances the guest experience by seamlessly integrating information sharing and payment processing. This conversation reveals how strategic use of technology, combined with effective relationship management, can significantly elevate your business in the short-term rental market.
From passport verification to managing direct payment collections and optimizing upsells, Charge Automation offers multifaceted benefits for operators. Ian shares practical examples of how the upsell module can boost guest satisfaction and revenue, with services like fruit baskets and baby equipment. We also address common challenges clients face and the continuous improvements developers are making to the software. Mastering each component of your business and leveraging robust technology solutions can help you navigate the highs and lows of the hospitality industry, leading to long-term success and meaningful relationships.
Welcome back, my beautiful people. In this video, we're going to be talking about the importance of using technology in your short-term rental business, and today I have a very special guest. He's a product lead. I'll let him tell you what he actually does, but he does two things, and one of the reasons why I invited him is because of this Number one. He is an operator.
Speaker 1:Those that follow my channel know that I am a big fan and I only take advice from true operators, meaning people that are in the business. There's a lot of people on social media, on YouTube, that talk about the short-term rental business, but they're not really true operators because they're not really in the business, not currently managing short-term rentals, and this business has changed dramatically in the last six to seven years, which is why, when I talk to people, I want current operators, not someone that had success in the beginning and then started doing e-books and teaching short-term rentals right, I don't think they're true operators and their information is not current. Secondly, is the reason why I'm bringing this person on and introducing you to him is because of his knowledge in terms of technology. He works for a company called Charge Automation. He also uses PMS systems that are very good, but without further ado, let me introduce you to Ian Carter. Carter, can you tell our subscribers what you do? Tell us about your management company.
Speaker 2:Sure, fernando, first I know what you do. Tell us about your management company. Sure, Fernando, first I mean thanks for having me. It's always great to you know, have an opportunity to you know, share a bit of knowledge with existing operators and you know people thinking about getting into the industry. So, yeah, the company that I founded, trillium Property Management, we're a full-service property management company. We have about 53 client properties right now in the southern Georgian Bay area of Ontario, canada, so sort of Collingwood, blue Mountain, wasega Beach area. Been doing that for about seven years now. Honestly, kind of got into it by accident.
Speaker 2:Technology, you know, the sort of central focus of our conversation today is kind of what got me into it, and leveraging technology and having people come to me saying, hey, you seem to have a good handle on technology that makes this work, can you help me? Is sort of how Trillium got its start on the sort of you know, tech stack software side. Yeah, I work for charge automation. I am a client success and senior technology expert with charge automation. So my primary goal is, you know, helping users of charge automation make the most out of the software, not just for its revenue generating capabilities but because it it serves to make your day-to-day operations easier. You know. Streamline a bunch of really core functions that need to happen in a way that you know. Streamline a bunch of really core functions that need to happen in a way that you know hopefully for operators makes it easier for them on a day-to-day basis to do all of the things that they need to do to make their business run.
Speaker 1:Awesome, awesome, yeah In this channel. So we focus a lot on the operations side of the house and, like you mentioned, I firmly believe, especially if you want to grow and expand your business, you can't do it today, at the rate you could, without technology. So you briefly talked about or mentioned that you got into the business through technology. Can you expand on that Meaning? Did you start working with Charge Automation first and then started the company, or did you have your management company and then started working with Charge Automation?
Speaker 2:So, yeah, the management company started with, I mean, I guess, on the technology side. First, my wife and I had bought a couple of rental properties ourselves, realized that using a single OTA to get rentals wasn't going to work in the long term and started looking for solutions. So made the first logical step, you know, in looking for PMS to use. You know we have for a long time been using booking automation but looked at several products out there. There's lots of great PMSs out there for sure that people can use. But that was our first step into technology, followed fairly shortly after that by bringing charge automation, you know, sort of into our tech stack.
Speaker 2:That was sort of mid 2019, in the very early days of charge automation.
Speaker 2:We added them, you know, to our tech stack and that combination of a robust PMS along with, you know, charge automation, I think is what really helped catapult us in terms of being able to get new clients, because we were able to say to folks you know, we have a piece of software that can get your property connected to multiple OTAs so that you're not reliant on a single one, and the ebbs and flows that may come along with that, you know, specific ota, uh, as well as streamline. You know, the things that we all need to do every day. Right, we probably need to get some form of id from someone. There's probably a rental agreement and then, of course, along the way, there's probably payment for a damage deposit right that we need to collect from guests. And having that you having that, you know, combination, as you know, part of what is now a bit of a larger tech stack, you know, made it possible for us to begin to, you know, expand, take on more properties and grow to the point that we're at now.
Speaker 1:Awesome. I mean you gave a lot of great nuggets right there. But let me backtrack a little bit, because I forgot to ask when did you start your management company?
Speaker 2:So, yeah, we would have started sort of mid-2018. I mean, in its current form, its current corporation, we were incorporated mid 2019, but we sort of had our first client, you know, mid 2018, through some you know sort of word of mouth advertising through some friends who sort of said like, hey, you've got, you've got this, you know sort of. You know seem to have figured it out Right In terms of, you know, getting out on multiple platforms. It was some slow growth at the beginning. Know, getting out on multiple platforms. It was some slow growth at the beginning.
Speaker 2:You know, certainly, in more recent years we've seen, you know, some sort of better growth in terms of the size of our company. But you know, early on it was, you know, a property here, a property there, kind of thing. You know. And as we refined our process, you know we got some more word-of-mouth, you know advertising kind of thing, and you know started to see you know a of mouth, you know advertising kind of thing, and you know started to see, you know, a bit of a you know, sort of better acceleration in terms of the growth of our company.
Speaker 1:Awesome. I mean, that's the reason I asked that question, because that's key, right, you talked about the importance of using technology to grow your business, but, you know, I've been in business much longer and most of this stuff didn't exist, right. So you came in right at, in my opinion, probably the best time to start a management company, especially in the short-term rental side, because it's still in this infancy, right In 2017, 18,. We're still fairly new, but not new to the point that no one knew about it. So, for example, when I started my short-term rental management company, airbnb didn't exist, so it really wasn't known, known, and back then we really didn't call it. Uh, you know, um, short-term rentals we really called the vacation rentals, right, uh, and it was really more like my clientele was a lot more on during the winter months, with snowbirds from Canada, right, so that was my market. But as time went on, like you, I realized especially right at 2017 and 18, that in order for me to grow and be able to gain some freedom, I needed technology, and you were lucky that you were able to figure that out much quicker than I did, right, so that's, that's pretty cool.
Speaker 1:Now, a couple of things that you talked about that I want the audience to really resonate with is the following you mentioned about growth, or you talked about growth. You talk about streamlining processes right, and that's some of the stuff that technology actually does. But what was the biggest lesson that you learned prior to you know, when you were implementing this technology, like your PMS system, which I tell people all the time, your PMS system, which I tell people all the time, even if you're operating only one property, get a PMS system. It's going to save you so much time and effort. But what were the biggest lessons that you learned when you started implementing technology?
Speaker 2:Probably the biggest lesson is you know, don't just do everything automated right. Think about the process that you're going to build, and I mean over the years that we've been doing it, the messages that we send when we send them, the content that are in them has gone through so many iterations I can't even keep track of it anymore. But thinking about the process in advance, knowing or trying to identify where in the process technology and automation can be a benefit to you with, I would say, the ultimate goal of being freeing up time, ultimate goal of being freeing up time so that the times where interacting you know, you know with your client, you know with their guests you create the time to do that. It shouldn't be about moving away from interacting with people. It should be about shifting you know the meat and potato stuff, things like guests want a confirmation, they want to get some message that says yes, we've heard from you, we know that your bookings there. This is when it's happening.
Speaker 2:Most people nowadays, I would say, understand and expect that's going to be an automated message of some nature. But shifting that kind of stuff to automation so that when the phone rings and you know the example I use time and time again is somebody calls up and they say it's my 25th wedding anniversary. You know, my spouse really loves Italian food. Is there a restaurant in the area that you would recommend automation and technology is there to free up time to have that conversation, so that you can say, hey, this is a restaurant I've gone to and I love it and they've got a great wine list and the gnocchi is fantastic, or you know whatever. It is right and I think that's you know. Technology lets us create time for those important conversations and allow you know sort of you know, some of that core stuff to just kind of happen, so that, yeah, that would be the lesson right. Think about the process. Don't just throw everything into automation, because then you lose the personalization that I think still needs to be there.
Speaker 1:I mean that's awesome. And again, that's another big gold nugget that you're giving the viewers, because I talk about this all the time. We are in the hospitality industry, right, and we I personally, and it seems like you do the same is we're using technology to provide a better guest experience, and the way we provide that better guest experience is through unreasonable hospitality. So, for example, in the scenario you just gave, if you're not bogged down with the day-to-day operations of a normal business, it gives you the opportunity that when you hear that, not only do you can you provide that guest with the information they want, but you can go beyond that, like, for example, we've oftentimes, when we hear something like that, we'll go ahead and not only make the recommendation but ask if they want us to make the reservation. Then we'll make the reservation for them, let the restaurant know hey, these are special guests coming, so they can give them like a special gift, right, people? I can't express how big that is, especially for the people receiving that right, and it costs you nothing but a phone call, right? So very, very good.
Speaker 1:I'm glad you mentioned that, because a lot of people miss that and it's you know, when you're operating a small business, it's a little easier to do.
Speaker 1:But when you're and when you have a big business, it can be easy, because now you have the staffing, you have the money and hopefully you have the processes and procedures in place to do it. But when you're in the staffing, you have the money and hopefully you have the processes and procedures in place to do it. But when you're in the middle, when you have anywhere between 10 and like 30 properties, a lot of people get stuck because they don't you know, they're afraid to hire right, spend money to hire staff and they're afraid to spend money on extra software and technology that they need. And it's difficult to get over that hump. You know people, you can't be afraid, and we're going to talk about how to generate more money when you add this technology in a second. But I want to ask you one more question related to your current business. Your current business what were some of the most significant challenges that you faced, growing your business from zero to, you said, over 50 properties under management.
Speaker 2:Significant. Well, I mean I'd say figuring out what we wanted our business to look like. And I know that I mean it sounds like a bit of a vague. But what kind of impression do we want to leave, not only with our clients, right, so the property owners that come to us saying, hey, can you give me a hand getting my place rented out? Um, but what kind of impression do we want to leave with our guests? And, yeah, we're in the hospitality industry, you know.
Speaker 2:We know that the reality is, unfortunately, sometimes in this business, not everyone's going to be happy. So, making sure that we had a clear sense of what we thought was right and wrong and what the right approaches to things were, how do we react if there's a challenge with a client? How do we react if there's a challenge with a guest, so that we leave everyone feeling as though they were treated fairly. And it's something that we noticed as we were getting into it, something that we noticed as we were getting into it, that we sort of wondered if some of the people in the area surrounding us were looking at it that way or if they were really just focused on making a ton of money.
Speaker 2:And I learned years ago, from a guy who was actually replacing windows for me. Right, he said you don't become a millionaire one job at a time. You become a millionaire one relationship at a time. So we focused on relationships good relationships with our clients and good relationships with guests, and that doesn't always mean that we're giving them the answer that they want, but it means that we're. We're treating them with decency, we're treating them with dignity and fairness and respect, even if we're saying, no, I'm sorry, I can't do that for you. And that, I would say, was the biggest lesson making sure that we knew who we wanted to be as an organization and making sure that we sort of carried that philosophy forward in the way that we dealt with people.
Speaker 1:Awesome, awesome. I love that. I love that Cause I preach that all the time. You know, I tell, I tell a lot of people that I consult is you need to understand who you your avatar is right who's your customer. You know, and, like you said, you're not going to please everyone, so stop trying to please everyone. Just be true to yourself, be true to what your mission is within your company and you'll be fine, you'll be successful. And, just like you said, it's one relationship at a time, because a relationship can one. It only takes you know I'll bring this up because it's related to this I got very lucky when I first got into this business because I met one investor and that one investor really, really catapulted my business because not only was he buying properties, converting them to short-term rentals and we were managing them, but because we're in sales, we were earning the money through their transaction.
Speaker 1:But, more importantly, I personally was learning, and today I own over 46 properties as a result of that one relationship and I can't express that enough. It only takes one to really catapult your business, uh, to the next level. But thank you for showing, sharing. Now let's let's shift gears a little bit and let's now talk a little bit more in terms of technology right, um, explain or tell my audit and specifically about charge automation. We'll talk about pms systems and booking automation and other PMS systems in a second, but I want to really dive deep into charge automation Now, full disclaimer I use charge automation myself, ian being a leader in that specific platform.
Speaker 2:Please explain to us A what it is and what role does it play into the success of your short-term rental business? Yeah, so yeah, I use charge automation. Like I said at the outset, I was an early adopter of, you know, charge automation, right, and have joined the company now. So what charge automation does and the gap that it fills is that it brings together in a way that doesn't exist anywhere else in the market that we know of both the guest experience side. So you know guidebooks, the sharing of information whether it be you know sort of, you know core critical information like door codes and addresses, or you know secondary information like restaurant recommendations and local attractions the market and combines it with payment processing. And you know sort of guest verification, guest information collection, so that in a single platform you can gather any information that you need to about your guests.
Speaker 2:So some jurisdictions that we work with they're required to get a passport for anyone who's coming from outside the country. Right, right, new Zealand as an example. Right, any operators down there, they have to get a passport. That's a feature that exists in charge automation. You can get a passport or other forms of ID Most operators are going to have a rental agreement of some nature that's going to outline you know what the expectations are. You know if pets are allowed, where you need to smoke, when you're allowed to use the pool, those sorts of things. So charge automation has a rental agreement component in there, where not only can you present that rental agreement to people but, from an operator perspective, you can have a record that they've viewed that rental agreement and get a signature on it as well to know that they've looked it over and they've agreed to the terms. You know that are in there.
Speaker 2:And then and then payment collection. And you know, certainly there are, you know, platforms like Airbnb where they handle that for you. But there are lots of platforms where, as you grow in size, they shift the obligation to collect payment over to you as the operator. And that direct payment collection function exists for smaller operators and when you get like your size, fernando, or even my size, they sort of say, hey, you're big enough now that you should take care of this on your own, uh, and and charge automation sort of, you know, fills that role as well and builds into it the ability that you know if a credit card payment doesn't go through. Instead of you having to react to it, charge automation will react to it on your behalf and we give you the ability, almost regardless of where you are in the world, to be able to connect to a local payment processor, cause we have a huge number of integrations with payment processors all over the world, so we're kind of becoming the go-to hey.
Speaker 2:If you're having a hard time connecting to a payment processor, let's connect you with the folks at Charge Automation, because they probably know somebody you know to.
Speaker 2:Hey, if you're having a hard time connecting to a payment processor, let's connect you with the folks at Charge Automation, because they probably know somebody you know.
Speaker 2:They know which payment processor is going to work, you know in your country, kind of thing, so you can come to us, we can make that connection to you know a payment processor in your local jurisdiction and then facilitate, you know, the passing of all of that transaction related information in a secure way, you know, so that you don't have to worry about making sure that you store credit card information correctly, making sure that you know payment gets collected, because we automate all that for you, as well as making sure that you can, you know, share information with your guests so that when they do arrive, after you get all the paperwork out of the way, you can give them that good guest experience and say, hey, these are really fun things to do in the area and this is a great place to eat.
Speaker 2:And here's your door code in a nice, easy way that the smartphone that almost everyone has in their hand they can just. They can just pick up and go. Hey, I can look up a restaurant recommendation here on my phone, as well as find my door code and the Wi-Fi information all in one place.
Speaker 1:Awesome. So let's just recap on some of the overview of charge automation. Right, it's the ability to do direct charges. Right, to receive direct payments, the guide. Here's one thing that I'll add about the guidebook especially.
Speaker 1:As I mentioned, we use Charge Automation.
Speaker 1:We've been using it for a while and, in terms of the guidebook, prior to using Charge Automation, we were using another company, but that other company, in order to access the guidebook, the guest needed to download an app.
Speaker 1:Access the guidebook, the guest needed to download an app, and one of the things that we discovered during that time is that that is something that a lot of people are hesitant to do, and it eliminates those that don't have smartphones or older individuals that have a hard time with technology, right, so with charge automation, it's not a you don't have to download an app, it's just a link, and we found out that the conversion rate or meaning the people that actually use it uh, was much greater than the old company.
Speaker 1:So that's a big plus, a big benefit that we discovered. Um, and then, uh, and then the other thing that you talked about was in terms of chargebacks. Right, chargebacks are an issue for those of you that are receiving direct payments. So, and if you are receiving direct payments, you know that it is an issue with charge automation and receiving the documents and having a guest having to go through a certain process gives you the ability to fight chargebacks and for us, we saw a huge decline in losses as it relates to chargebacks. Anything I missed, dan, about that, about the benefits.
Speaker 2:No, I think that yeah, yeah, that pretty much covers it. I mean, yeah, the chargeback piece, which I didn't mention, is certainly something that we see a lot of people coming to us for, because at the payment process or a payment gateway level it can be sort of very technologically challenging. Sometimes, activating that you know, charge back protection feature or some of those added security features, requires, you know, writing very specific rules in a very specific format, with with charge automation, where those features are supported. In most cases it's quite literally just ticking a box. We've written the code for you on the back end. You just say, yes, I want to activate that additional protection. We add that information to the information we send to your payment processor and you don't have to worry about what worrying you know, is it a squiggly bracket or a square bracket or two colons or any of that crazy stuff we've got. You know, we've got developers on the back end who make sure that the code is correct and you just tick the box to say yes.
Speaker 1:Awesome. I want to touch on two things, and one is going to be the upsell feature of it. But before we get there, can you tell my audience who's the ideal user for uh for charge automation? Like, is there a specific type of rental, short-term rental operator or property manager that can benefit uh from charge automation?
Speaker 2:I think I mean, as cliche as it might sound, I think everyone can benefit from charge automation, um, and and I mean that genuinely, I'm not a sales guy I do client success, right, I'm not here to try to sell you on the product when you decide to use it. I'm the guy who's here to help you make sure you get the most out of it, and I do think that that everyone can benefit from it. I mean, even on the guidebook feature, right, we all want to share information with our guests to enhance their stay and we can't predict exactly what they're going to want to know. Through the guidebooks, you can put together a bunch of information and let people passively consume the information that they want. Maybe they don't care about restaurants because they're going to eat in, because there's a great kitchen in your short term rental. So you don't want to call them up and say, hey, let me tell you about all the restaurants and they go. I don't really care, but maybe they're really looking for attractions in the area. You can put together a guidebook on all those attractions and restaurants and hiking trails and let people just passively consume that kind of stuff hiking trails and let people just passively consume that kind of stuff, whether you're a small operator or a large operator, the ability to take direct reservations and process that payment.
Speaker 2:The good thing is with the way our fee structure works if you're not processing payments, there isn't a cost associated with it. So, even as a small operator, you're not committing yourself to a recurring monthly cost. The cost only comes when a transaction actually happens and the guidebook feature remains there and available for you to use, even on the reservations, like your Airbnbs, where you're not collecting payment. Uh, even on those reservations, those guests are still going to have access uh, you know to to the guidebook feature. And if you have a rental agreement, right, you just build it into the system, you get a signature, it's, it's done.
Speaker 2:So I think anyone can benefit, really, at the end of the day. Um, right, and then there's, you know, like you alluded to, there are additional revenue generating features that are built into the software, like upsells that I hear from a lot of people. Well, we just did that for free, um, and you know not saying that you should charge for everything, but there are add-on things that you can, you know, add through the upsell component. You know that may generate additional revenue for you and then through charge automation, we can streamline that process for you. So it's presented to your guests, they can decide whether they want it or not, and then you know, go through the whole payment flow and everything's taken care of for you. So I think everyone can you know can benefit in some way, for sure.
Speaker 1:Awesome, yeah, and you touched on what I wanted to talk about. Next was the upsell features within charge automation. And I can tell you and for those that follow my weekend review videos, I always talk about additional revenue sources those additional revenue sources come, they come in through charge automation in the form of our up sales and, like Dan said, you don't have to charge for everything. Like, for example, we provide cribs, pack and plays, high chairs for children. Now, we don't keep that in each and every or we don't keep it out in every property. So the way we work, that is, if it's needed, a guest could just click on it. There's no charge, although it's in the upsell section, but it's. It sends a request to us that they're going to want that. So then we can then forward that to our staff and then they can take those items out and set them up as needed.
Speaker 1:So it's not you don't necessarily need to use that particular feature within charge automation to actually make money. You can use it to help you operate your business more efficiently, especially if you don't want to. Let's say, for example, like us, where we manage a lot of properties, I'm not buying a high chair and a packet plate and a crib for every property. So in order to save a little bit of money, we bought an extended amount I think in inventory we have 20 of each and then, once it's requested, then we can send our staff to drop that off and we don't have to spend that extra money every time we get a new property to buy those extra items that are not always going to be used. Ok, anything else you want to add in terms of upsells?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think our upsell module I mean, you know, like you just said, right can be used simply for managing processes, right, you know, even if it's something that you're not specifically charging for, right, it can be used to, you know, streamline a process so that there's a way for people, in a concrete way, to make that request. That's then trackable and manageable. But we've seen people you know generate fairly substantial amounts of money in fairly short time periods because through the upsell module it's going to send the email to you. It's then going to, you know, send emails potentially to you know third-party providers. If it's a fruit basket and you've got you know a local company that's putting those fruit baskets together for you. Obviously there's a cost for that, Right, but you can send messages off to those folks and streamline that process to make it possible to do it. Because, of course, as you're growing, like you said, when you're in that in that middle space, sort of 10 to 30 properties where you're maybe not quite big enough to start bringing staff on board, but you know, adding additional processes might seem like it's just too much Using charge automation and other pieces of technology to streamline that may mean that you can add on that fruit basket or start offering.
Speaker 2:You know you get a couple of pack in place and you know a couple of high chairs and have a process to be able to manage people requesting that, so you don't have to put one in every property. And then it makes it manageable. You enhance your guest experience by them being able to ask for that pack and play or get that cold fruit basket when they show up. And then they tell their friends, hey, I stayed with so-and-so and it was really easy. When I needed a high chair I just clicked on a box and it didn't cost me anything and it was there when I showed up and that's the kind of stuff that's going to help you, you know, grow from 10 properties to 30 to 50, to however big you you want to go right by making the process easy for your guests and easy for you. And, you know, nice and manageable.
Speaker 1:Awesome. Yeah, that's gold people. It's extremely, extremely important and it's like I said it's going to give you that better guest experience, which, in turn, is going to give you better reviews, which, in turn, is going to make you more money. The last question with charge automation that I have for you, ian, is the following what challenges that you see with your clients that are signing up to get charge automation, what are the challenges that they're having with charge automation and how do you tackle that?
Speaker 2:What challenges are they having with huh? I don't know, I don't even know how to answer that question. Let me think about that.
Speaker 1:Let me give you some perspective. For example, when I first started with charge automation, one of the challenges that I have and this is why I guess your position came about is because I really didn't understand how to optimize the use of charge automation. I knew certain things about the platform through my onboarding process, but as new features came about and as new ways to use the platform me not being, you know, being as busy as I am, I'm not in the day-to-day operation and half the time my staff is not. You know they're doing their thing, but I discovered that I was missing out on some ways to really optimize the usage right, specifically when it came to upsells. To really optimize the usage right, specifically when it came to upsells, because we had a couple of things on there, but I really didn't understand the full scope of the capability of charge automation. So am I unique in that sense, or some of the people that you talk to to help maximize the platform? What are the challenges that they're bringing onto you when you start taking on a client?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I certainly see some of that. I know that, like our developers and engineers are, you know, always working hard behind the scenes. I mean, they're the ones and I'm going to give them a shout out. I mean they are, in a lot of ways, kind of the unsung heroes of charge automation. You know I get to sit here, you know, today talking to you and talking to your audience. You know about a software platform that they're the ones maintaining every day. You know they're, they're really the unsung heroes in the whole process, bringing out those new features, like, you know, reminders that we've, you know, added into various messages so that you can, you know, customize when you send a reminder out to someone about an upsell or you know the need for, you know, payment information and that kind of stuff, or payment information and that kind of stuff. So certainly, yeah, there are lots of times where I'm meeting with clients and I'm letting them know about the addition of features like that, the ability to customize when messages go out, and that sort of stuff.
Speaker 2:As I've sort of sat here thinking about it, I think probably one of the challenges and I mean it's sort of more a challenge we have is that clients will come to us wanting charge automation to do something that we haven't made it do yet. So, I mean, it's sort of a challenge in both directions. They love the product, which we're always happy to hear, and they want it to do more, which we're happy to hear, and they want it to do more, which we're happy to hear. But, you know, sometimes my engineers look at me and they go in like man, like, how quickly do you expect this? There's only so quickly we can write code, you know. So I think I don't want to say it's it's, you know, you know, unrealistic expectations, but it's it's wants and desires that are sort of beyond where we're at in terms of the development of charge automation, because it still is a relatively young platform and I've seen it come a long way since 2019, when I started using it.
Speaker 2:Right, I mean, you know, over the last six months, the number of enhancements and changes that we've made in the platform have been, you know, huge and ones that seem small, right in terms of, like, scheduling payments a request that we were getting, you know, from lots of people who are doing midterm rentals and the ability to break up a payment, as opposed to, you know, previously, where it was just two payments right up a payment, as opposed to previously where it was just two payments. Right, you could take 25 percent up front and the remainder three days before check in, giving the ability to schedule three and four and five payments over an extended time period for all of our midterm operators who are maybe doing a six month rental kind of thing. But yeah, I would say yeah, that's I mean sort of yeah.
Speaker 2:Probably the challenge is, you know people, they want more than we can offer at the moment, because you know I mean most big feature upgrades like that payment change, I mean that's anywhere from three to six months in the, you know, in the making, right, because you know you have to. You know, because our engineers have to write the code, they have to test the code in multiple ways to make sure it works and then get to the point where they're actually deploying it. That payment module upgrade, I mean that required a couple hours of downtime in the middle of the night when you're making large-scale changes like that kind of thing. So yeah, it's a challenge in both directions, I guess wanting to meet people's expectations in terms of what the software does while at the same time having people say, hey, I want to do this, and it's like not quite yet, but we're getting there, we're working on it.
Speaker 1:So Awesome, um. Okay, we only have like five minutes left and I got two topics I'm going to cover and one is going to be market trends. So what are you currently seeing in the short-term rental market? What trends are you currently seeing in the short-term rental market that weren't there back when you started early on?
Speaker 2:Right now, as we sit here today, the biggest trend that I'm seeing is a uh, is a shortening of booking lead times. Uh, people are booking much closer and it's very it's almost very covid-like and we saw it like. We saw it at the height of covid, right when people weren't sure, you know, am I going to get sick, am I going to be able to travel? Is there going to be a new rule that's going to restrict what I can do? And people were booking very close to their arrival time. I'm seeing that happen again across my entire market and, talking to other folks, they're seeing the same thing that booking lead times are shrinking, right, and we'll see, you know, for any given day's. You know checkouts. We can see 30 percent of those come in within 48 hours of you know their arrival time, you know kind of thing. So that's, that's the big trend that we're seeing right now is people booking just really close to when they're showing up, kind of like we saw, you know, at the height of COVID.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's, that's big, as we're seeing the same, you know, at the height of COVID. Yeah, that's big because we're seeing the same Everyone that I work with in South America and also in Europe. They're seeing their book booking lead time is really really short, like for us, I believe it's about seven days. Is our book lead time between seven and 14 days? We're? In the past it was months right, months right.
Speaker 1:And why that's important is because, with the shortening of the book lead time, it makes it harder for you as an operator to plan ahead, right? But it's also important that you express that and educate your owners on that, because they're going to start to panic when they're going into a month and the month is half empty, right, yeah, so that's, that's very important, uh, and I'm glad you brought that up because that that's a big one, that's a very big one. Well, the last, the last question I have for you is what advice would you give a someone entering the business today, like what's someone brand new or has only been in the business for several months? What advice would you give them?
Speaker 2:I would pass on two things. When you're building your tech stack so you know your PMS, you know if you're going to introduce, you know something like charge automation and those sorts of things don't go and get the cheapest one right. The cheapest one may seem like the great way to save money, but it may cost you time at the end of the day, which is probably going to be more expensive, and it may create a bad guest experience. So do some good research experience. So do some good research. Find technology that's going to work well for you. Right? I have a tech stack that works very well for me. It doesn't mean that it's going to be the perfect tech stack for everyone, but it works great for me. And there was a lot of trial and error and a lot of pain along the way, right? Pms's that didn't send messages when they said they would, and you know stuff like that. So investing money in good technology pays dividends.
Speaker 2:Uh, and the other piece of advice I would give and it's the same sort of investing money in the right place the things that touch guests are worth spending money on sheets, sheets, towels and toilet paper. Right, don't buy cheap towels. If it feels like sandpaper, they're going to remember that, and not in a good way. If your sheets are about as thick as a whisper, they're going to remember that, and not in a good way. And if your toilet paper is the uncomfortable kind, they're going to remember that.
Speaker 2:No one's going to remember you know exactly what the fork looked like. If it looks like a fork with four little pokey ends on it that you can poke into a vegetable or a piece of meat and it works like a fork, they'll remember that it worked. If a knife cuts and a spoon lifts liquid, it worked right. But towels, sheets, toilet paper the stuff that's going to come in contact with your guests spend a little bit of money, right, you don't have to break the bank on it, but it's worth investing in those areas because I think those are the kinds of things that you know people will remember. Think about the last hotel you went to that had really bad, really scratchy towels. You can probably remember which one it was. You probably have a harder time remembering the one with the really nice towels, but that's because you don't have a bad memory about it, which is a good thing.
Speaker 1:Awesome. Yeah, I just did a series on starting. I did a seven-part series on starting a short-term rental management company from scratch and I hit every topic you just mentioned I talked about, because that's hugely important. That's going to be all for us, or for me, today. Thank you, guys for tuning in. Don't forget to subscribe. If you haven't subscribed, definitely share this and save it, because there's a lot of valuable information that has been shared by Ian here.
Speaker 1:I am going to be putting all of Ian's information down in the description notes so if you want to get a hold of him, you'll be able to do that. And the last thing I'll touch on is what he mentioned about the tech stack and not to go cheap on it. It's one of the things that I mentioned in my seven part series. Cheap on it, it's one of the things that I mentioned in my seven part series. But, more importantly, whatever tool you decide to get and again, after you've done your research, whatever technology tool you decide to get, spend a lot of time learning it and mastering it. You know, take one, for example, your PMS system. Don't move on to something else until you really master that. And then, as you add on, make sure you master that before you take something else on. Do you have any final thoughts, darian?
Speaker 2:No, yeah, I would totally agree. Yeah, master each piece before you add. Make sure that you know. Master each piece before you add. Make sure that, yeah, you know, you know how it works and you know there's going to be ups and downs. This is a business that ebbs and flows and we've certainly seen it over the last few years. Right, don't get worried, because you know the next six weeks don't look great. Number one might change in in an absolute heartbeat. Uh, we saw it during covet. Right, we're locked down, nobody can travel and the next thing you know we're at 100 occupancy. Um, you know, things are going to change. This is this is a business with with ups and downs, and if you ride it out in in the long term, it can be a really rewarding business where you make a lot of great relationships with a lot of really cool people.
Speaker 1:Awesome, All right guys. Love you guys and I will see you on the next one.