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EPISODE 2: 2024 VACATION RENTAL TIPS AND TRICKS

Steve Turk: [00:00:00] Welcome to another episode of Tangy Talks here with Steve Turk and Victor Ferria. Victor, hey man, it’s 2024. We made it into the new year with a busy last end of the year, but I’m happy to be back with you, man. 

Victor Feria: Same here. Same here, Steve. It’s, uh, was, uh, was a great 2023. I think a lot of things learned a lot of, uh, new and, and, and great ideas that came from 2023.

Victor Feria: So I’m excited for what 2024 has ahead 

Steve Turk: for us. Yeah, guys, we, uh, it’s been basically a couple of weeks since we talked to you about two weeks, but we went through our Christmas and holiday crazy time here in South Florida and also our other homes in Georgia and South Carolina and we prepped up like we did meetings to prepare and we thought we had everything perfectly done and even when you are Prepared and you talk it and you know, it’s gonna be crazy things happen and Victor What do you think like what were some things that we look back and we’re like man?

Steve Turk: [00:01:00] We didn’t expect that to happen. How could we have prevented that? Was there anything in your head? Because there’s a couple I’ve got. Yeah, 

Victor Feria: I mean, 2023, the ending of 2023, these last two weeks, I mean, it’s hospitality for you, right? You think you prepared, um, and you’ve, you know, crossed your T’s, dotted your I’s, but not necessarily is it always that way.

Victor Feria: Um, as much as you prepare, but I think the one that comes out right away is, uh, it’s supplies for me. Um, you know, we, we set up our supplies for the last two weeks, but we had so much turnaround. And one thing that, um, that I saw that I previous years never really saw in that sense was last minute bookings.

Victor Feria: You know, we had a ton of last minute bookings and those supplies, what we thought, and we were pacing, um, with those reservations we already had on the books, we doubled those. Um, so quickly we noticed and realized, okay, let’s get those orders in, uh, because we were running, we were running low. Um, so that was one thing for sure.

Victor Feria: 2024 will not happen again. [00:02:00] 

Steve Turk: Yeah. And I, the other thing to listeners and viewers, depending on where you’re watching this is, man, the weather kind of snuck up on us too. Like we had these like rogue storms that would cause some issues with either some flooding or would knock down structures at these homes that.

Steve Turk: We had in perfect condition, uh, and guests showing up the day after the storm and we’re like trying to get these things all set up. So it just goes to show you guys, you can have the plan, you can execute that plan. But like Mike Tyson says, everyone’s got a plan until they get punched in the face. And so we were able to adjust, our team was on it, and so just, I’m proud of how we finished the year.

Steve Turk: So. For our team, proud of you guys. And for Victor who runs the day to day, I was, you know, guys, listeners, I’m, I’m more on the outside of this. He runs day to day. So I was looking, we use Slack to control all the messages. So it was just hundreds of messages in there of getting things done that guests needed.

Steve Turk: But. A lot of good reviews, kept our super host status and all the properties. So it was great 

Victor Feria: to see. That was great. And, uh, and definitely to the team, you know, [00:03:00] you really couldn’t do it without them. It was a hard, uh, two weeks and that’s really where, you know, all of that camaraderie and all of that, uh, that chemistry and everything that you’ve built throughout, um, really shows because, you know, you just gotta kind of.

Victor Feria: Put up your sleeves and get to work. It was a, it was a good fun 

Steve Turk: two weeks. Well, you went out of town, man. Like, where did you go? Do you have anything that kind of ties back to some experiences we can share? 

Victor Feria: Yeah, I went, uh, me and my wife, we wanted to close out the year, uh, went to Dominican Republic, Punta Cana.

Victor Feria: We’ve, uh, never been, and that was our first time having taken a trip, uh, since we had our baby, our eight month old baby. So we said, you know, let’s, uh, leave the baby with the grandparents and, and try to end the year on a, on a nice and positive note and. you know, de stress, but it was a great, great time.

Victor Feria: Um, I think my highlight for sure, uh, was a Jeep excursion that we took. So they, we rented basically a four by four. They picked us up and we toured several, uh, [00:04:00] several areas in Punta Cana. We started off in a, um, in a coffee and a chocolate farm where they took us through all of, uh, the areas and the farms.

Victor Feria: They let us try the coffees they let us make. Um, and ground the coffee, which was a pretty neat experience. Um, and then lastly, we, we ended up like in a cigar farm as well, uh, where we were able to, you know, roll our own cigars, um, see how they make it, the processes and everything that takes, um, and that goes into taking and making all of this.

Victor Feria: And it was a great, great experience. You know, I think, um, you know, if we would do it down here in South Florida, Miami, I think we would. Definitely partner with some airboat companies, you know, and do certain things like that. Maybe some, uh, take, uh, take our guests to several, you know, Latin inspired restaurants and show them kind of like what, you know, how are the multi cultures that we have down here and how and how it works.

Victor Feria: And I think that’s something that I took out of it that made me think a lot about our own guests and possible experiences for them. 

Steve Turk: Yeah, cause we use like a local concierge, but we don’t see many people booking it. Like we have the QR [00:05:00] code there for local experiences and for listeners, I would love to see what you think if you sent us a message, um, you know, how we can get our guests to use more experiences cause we think they would have a great time doing them.

Steve Turk: I know a lot of people like planning their own stuff or just hanging at our homes, but I agree with you, right? You are a millennial, correct? Correct. I’m on the oldest part of the millennial. So, but still millennials and Gen Z, the biggest reports are they want experiences. It’s not just stuff. And I saw it with my own kids during the holidays.

Steve Turk: Like Santa came and brought them all their toys. And then they were like done after a couple hours playing with them. And they’re like, Oh, let’s go do something. Right. And I talked to my daughter and she’s like, yeah, I’d rather just go travel. She’s in second grade. She’s like, I’d rather go travel and get as many toys from Santa next year.

Steve Turk: I’m going to ask him for a trip. There you go. I liked that. I agree. I think we should focus more and more on that this year. And for listeners out there, how are you doing that for your guests? Even if you have one property or you have hundreds of properties, this is going to be a big trend that. is [00:06:00] people want to experience new and unique things, especially if it has any cultural relevance or it’s uniquely local to that spot.

Steve Turk: Like you, you were in Dominican Republic and got to go see whether to make a chocolate and coffee and Jeep tours to the jungles. Like you’re in Jurassic Park, you know? 

Victor Feria: Yeah, that’s exactly how I felt. That’s, uh, I think that’s a great, great, uh, great way of putting it. Um, it’s definitely a lot about experiences, right?

Victor Feria: It’s what you take home. It’s. All those memories, you know, I like to, uh, when I get back on the plane, I like to scroll through all the pictures that, you know, me and my wife took and, and kind of reminisce on those photos and, and, and those moments and then share them, you know, get back and share them with a family, with friends.

Victor Feria: Um, so hopefully they can do it too. So, you know, that’s part of it. 

Steve Turk: That’s really part of it. And I stayed in a bunch of different places, but, uh, during the holiday that took a weekend, we stayed in Washington, D. C. at a hotel, but something I learned from them, which was great, they did the, they’re pre planning before we got there and asked us.

Steve Turk: Who’s coming, what are you coming [00:07:00] for? What are their ages? And, and they surprised us with some great amenities and just something we can always learn vacation rental is asking some of those questions beforehand. And they had some dolls that cost them maybe a dollar or two waiting for them and said, Hey, here’s the monkey and the turtle.

Steve Turk: And they’re waiting for you to have a great time here. And they’re still playing with them as soon as we got home. So that’s awesome. That’s a lot of good things that we can learn. I don’t know. I want to see if we can do that in some of our premier homes. And I 

Victor Feria: had asked you, you know, what was your favorite part about, uh, about Washington?

Victor Feria: And you mentioned Georgetown, 

Steve Turk: right? Yeah. Georgetown, the area of Georgetown was awesome. Just walking around there and seeing all the little places and all these boutique shops. I wish they had more of that here in Miami or Miami beach. We used to with Lincoln Road, but Right. That’s kind of changed.

Steve Turk: That’s, that’s very cool. Yeah. Anyway, sorry to bore you listeners with our vacations that we’ve had, but we learned some cool things. Let’s get into some vacation rental news. And this is a pretty big story of a, my, of course, it’s always here in Miami. Miami man was indicted [00:08:00] because he was stealing 8. 5 million in a short term rental scam.

Steve Turk: Um, tricking people into booking homes, taking their money and basically canceling without returning money. He says he’s not doing it, but I don’t know. The evidence looks pretty strong against him. And so Victor, maybe not to talk about him cause it’s still playing out in the news, but you know, it’s pretty easy to scam people.

Steve Turk: We’ve seen across Airbnb and VRBO and booking. Right. If you’re a guest, let’s talk about it as a guest first, right? You’re coming to book a beautiful home and you think it’s all good. How can you protect 

Victor Feria: yourself? Yeah. I think asking, you know, the right questions, asking the details, double checking, going through reviews, you know, maybe doing some online searches yourself.

Victor Feria: Um, you know, I shared a personal story, Steve, with within the company, the first two years of us starting the company. Um, we had a property that a guest, you know, sent us a message and said, Hey, we have, you know, [00:09:00] a family here that is outside the door. And they said that they made a reservation for the same exact property.

Victor Feria: You know, I ran over there, um, to see what was going on and they showed me their phone. It looked like they went off of a website. Um, and made a reservation and it seems like whoever it was figured out the address of our property, took the photos, took all the descriptions and made a duplicate property and that family, you know, we felt horrible.

Victor Feria: Um, you know, we, we offered them, you know, other alternatives, other properties, um, but, you know, basically rushed them and told them, hey, you know, call your bank, call your credit card company, try to. Um, you know, try to make a note and, and, and ensure you get that money back because that was definitely a scam.

Victor Feria: So I think asking the right questions, you know, doing your searches online, um, you know, maybe even calling, uh, and try to get somebody on the phone and asking those questions over the phone. I think you can get a lot by those questions. Um, and ensuring that that place that you’re going to be staying in is who they are.

Victor Feria: You know, [00:10:00] we don’t want those bad actors, uh, but these things happen. 

Steve Turk: No, that’s true. And so we, you know, there’s a hundred things you could say here. Like I would tell people a lot of times, like if it’s a new property, make sure you’re booking it directly through Airbnb or VRBO. So at least they can help you if something goes down, right.

Steve Turk: Cause on their platform, don’t book outside, uh, on like a Craigslist, right. Or any of these kinds of like shady channels. And if you’re booking direct, make sure it’s a real company. You can look them up and see if they have like a real business license and they’re a real company. And. They have a social media presence, like Tangy Talks, and you can know who they are.

Steve Turk: It’s sunny days and I’m excited. Yeah. Just make sure they actually have a real business because there’s so many companies out there that just sad. They’re trying to do some bad things and make our industry look bad. I wouldn’t say so many, but there are bad actors and they get the headlines and it scares everybody away.

Steve Turk: You know, if you’re a property owner, we see this too. We get, try to get scammed all the time. Right. And so there’s people trying to use all [00:11:00] different kinds of ways to sneak into our homes without paying. How do we protect owners? Or if you’re like a one single property owner, just getting started, how could they protect themselves?

Victor Feria: I mean, really, you, you just gotta make sure, you know, if you’re using. Um, websites outside of Airbnb and verbal, you know, Airbnb does a great job at ensuring, you know, the method of payments are, you know, actual and the person who is booking is the person who say they are. But if you’re booking outside of Airbnb and verbal or, um, you know, booking.

Victor Feria: com or these, all these other booking channels that you’re actually collecting, you know, these credit cards, uh, make sure you’re getting IDs. Make sure, you know, when you’re collecting these credit cards, that you’re matching the ID with the credit card. Um, you know, we go through several, basically, uh, processes and several steps to ensure, you know, that those credit cards and the people who are paying, uh, for these reservations are who they are.

Victor Feria: Um, and I think, uh, the best way is just, you know, Triple, double checking, um, and I would sometimes, and I think I highly recommend [00:12:00] going away from last minute bookings. Usually those are the ones, um, you know, our past experience, those are the ones that you really need to keep your eyes, uh, peeled for. 

Steve Turk: Yeah, especially if you’re going to take the last minute booking.

Steve Turk: Ask the questions if they’re locals and their own, you know, sometimes you have some properties are just like one nighters that you want to make sure you, they’re not going to like destroy your place for one night because they’re trying to party. Um, get that identification as best you can. Cause in a hotel, like where we used to work, there is a front desk.

Steve Turk: You have to check in, you get the ID, we get the credit card, we can do all that beforehand. So on vacation rentals, it’s a lot more challenging. And so you have to be vigilant because I remember when we first started, there was a couple of times we got whacked. It was like, and you’re out three grand. You got to make sure you’re tell the owner, like, Hey, we did everything we could, but now the tools are a little bit better.

Steve Turk: We are very strict on making sure we have everyone’s information. Um, and we’ve called the police a couple of times, especially when it’s, uh, those last minute ones. 

Victor Feria: Oh yeah. Yeah. I mean, save yourself from the hard, hard, [00:13:00] uh, times and you know, that those, those embarrassing moments of having to actually go and knock on the doors and trying to connect, collect payment from, from guests and do that work.

Victor Feria: Uh, you know, pre and because, yeah, there’s, there’s definitely a lot of people out there trying to get their free stays. Um, so all of these processes and if you have people in your team, you know, train them, sit down with them, show them, you know, how it works. Um, and learn, learn from past experiences. You know, I think the processes that we’ve created and we have in place right now is because we’ve gotten dinged, you know, once or twice.

Victor Feria: Um, and we say to ourselves, all right, you know, that happened once. What can we learn from it? Um, and that’s how you start creating, you know, I, I say a lot of rules and a lot of things that are put in place aren’t put in place, you know, just because of thin air, most likely these things happen in the past and it’s how you learn from it and how you recoup.

Steve Turk: Yeah, that’s true, man. So if you’re out there, look, don’t be scared. Just follow the checklist and make sure that you’re doing things the right way, especially if you’re inviting guests into your house and if you’re staying. And it’s your first couple of [00:14:00] times go to places that have a lot of reviews. You can actually see that people are staying there.

Steve Turk: Um, and if it’s a new place that really has a good deal, try to get some conversations going, make sure they’re a real company because look, we all, we were adding new homes all the time. They don’t have reviews, but we make sure that we have guests that can see that. We’re a real place, real company, and we’ll take good care of them.

Steve Turk: All right. Well, listen, guys, next, we want to make sure that we talk about some best practices because the year is just kicking off. And if you haven’t done these things yet, you have a chance to catch up. Um, and the first big part is making sure as you’re a management company or an owner, or just have your own little place where you’re renting out your room, you want to make sure you’re checking your rates.

Steve Turk: And so Victor, what are some best practices that we actually started doing last year to prepare for this year? 

Victor Feria: Right. So now this year, you know, I, I feel like we’re getting really good at predicting, you know, we, uh, we just finished our meeting, uh, last week where we closed out 2023. Um, and we took a lot of, [00:15:00] uh, you know, 2023, I think a lot of people, um, in 2023, you know, learned from, from the year itself.

Victor Feria: So right now, you know, we use a great tool on guesty. It’s a guest analytics where there’s a lot of, uh, history that you can go back on. And see where you are in a year or two years before and are better able to predict, you know, now in January, you know, our slower months are August, September, and October and now in January, right in South Florida.

Victor Feria: And now we’re actually in January looking out, you know, towards those months and looking out to those rates. Um, and making sure, uh, you know, that, that those rates are, are according to the, to the, uh, to the actual months itself. Um, and we are looking at pacing, you know, and ensuring that those, uh, these next three months, which is, which is our high season, you know, January, February, March here in South Florida.

Victor Feria: Uh, those are the adequate rates, you know, we use great tools. Um, one tool specific is beyond pricing, uh, that helps us immensely. And then having those meetings, you know, we have these one on ones weekly where [00:16:00] we’re going property by property. Um, and predicting and, and, and, you know, making, uh, you know, making rules and, and, uh, going into the settings and ensuring that all of those, um, you know, rates and the rules and, uh, the one night stays, the two nights stays, everything is in place.

Victor Feria: So I think right now it’s a great, great time 

Steve Turk: to do it. And for listeners who are just starting and you don’t know, guesty, that’s a property management software that we use to kind of connect to all of our tools and beyond pricing is what helps us change our rates. Uh, hour by hour, but we’re setting the strategy for that tool to make sure that we are maximizing the rates for our properties and for our client properties to make sure that everyone’s making their money.

Steve Turk: But if you haven’t started yet, right now, get one of these tools to help you because if you’re just keeping the rates, like there’s still people that drive me crazy. They just have a flat rate. For every single day for all this, their quarter or their month and are leaving a lot of money on the table, but they’re just happy doing it that way.

Steve Turk: So don’t be that person, put a little extra [00:17:00] effort in each week and you will get a return on that. So make sure you’re checking your rates and you’re not just looking at this month that you’re looking out three, six, nine, and 12 months to see where you’re at, especially as you grow and you get started getting into the hundreds of properties or into the 50 properties or even over 10 properties.

Steve Turk: You want to be able to know where are you going to be that way? You can check your expenses. You know how to schedule things for your team. So if they want to go on vacation or do something to have their own personal life, you can plan these things. So make sure you’re staying on top of that. So that was great advice, Victor.

Steve Turk: And for you all out there, listen to that. But the other thing too, is not just getting the revenue in, you got to watch your expenses. And we did a great job at this this year. Um, and our slow months here in South Florida, especially as August through November. In August, we sat down and looked at all of our contracts and what did we do, Victor?

Victor Feria: Yeah, we went right into the contracts and we renegotiated every [00:18:00] single one of them. You know, it was a great opportunity. We started doing that right in August. Um, to look at the contracts and seeing where, you know, there might be services that you might be overspending. Or there might be services that you’re not utilizing to its fullest.

Victor Feria: And that might be something that you don’t actually need. Um, so we saw, you know, we were able to shave off thousands of dollars, um, in overhead month by month, uh, by renegotiating with every single vendor. Um, you know, they’re open to, you know, obviously, uh, listening to your story and ensuring that you’re a happy customer.

Victor Feria: Um, and most, you know, more than anything that you are doing well as a business, um, is obviously, you know, the last thing they want is for you, um, to have a challenge, especially for, from what they charge, you know, in, in, in their, in your overhead. So renegotiate, have those conversations, um, and see if you can lower those, uh, that, that 

Steve Turk: overhead.

Steve Turk: Yeah. I would tell you, don’t be embarrassed at the first thing. Sometimes people feel like, oh, I signed the contract for a year. I don’t know if I should bring it [00:19:00] up right now. Get that out of your head. Your job is to make sure your company is healthy. You want to make sure that you are doing what’s best for you, your team, your family.

Steve Turk: And if you have to switch companies, maybe that’s a move you have to do. Um, but you want to make sure that you’re not getting also price gouged because a lot of the companies on the other side, their job is to make as much money as possible. So try to renegotiate, especially when you know you’re going into your slow season, if you could do it beforehand, because it will be all the difference of you.

Steve Turk: Having super challenging year or very successful year. We see it clear, like you mentioned, it’s many, many, many percentage points better for us, and it allows us to do more things and buy the tools our team needs and to hire the people that we need to hire and invest. So don’t be afraid to ask. I promise you the worst thing they could do is say, no, we haven’t got any of those.

Steve Turk: And we did it with many, many vendors, especially if you’re professional and do it the right [00:20:00] way. 

Victor Feria: Absolutely. Yeah. You’d be, you’d be very surprised. Um, you know, and, and it, and it, and like, like you said, you know, it really does, uh, does make a difference. Um, and, and you could ask around, you know, you could ask other, other management companies if, if you’re, you know, you have other friends in the industry and see what they’re doing and see what they’re paying.

Victor Feria: Uh, you know, I think a lot of the times we learned, uh, that some of the services we were overpaying, uh, by just speaking to other people. So that’s where, that’s where, you know, you can really get ahead, um, and have a great 

Steve Turk: year. Yes. And you said, look, I don’t know where to look. There’s plenty of places to look for those kind of things.

Steve Turk: I don’t know anybody else. You can get on X. So I’m going to start calling it X this year. You can get on threads because now they have tags based off of where you want to look into whether it’s hospitality or vacation rentals. There’s tools out there to ask people, but then conferences, the right ones.

Steve Turk: We’re testing out a new one next week. Actually, Victor, or this week, Victor’s going. And listen, I messed up my ankle, so I can’t walk around the conferences. I’m [00:21:00] waiting on my little scooter, my knee scooter. 

Victor Feria: You got a man down. But yeah, I’m gonna, I’m gonna miss you, Steve. But I’m excited to see, um, you know, what this conference is all about.

Victor Feria: We heard good stories and good things about it. It’s in, uh, Aventura and Turnberry. And I 

Steve Turk: think I am in short term rental forum. So it’s their second year, but there’s a lot of great people who will be there. So if you’re there. Let us know and, uh, we’ll see you there. So, but yes, connect with people. All right.

Steve Turk: We’ve talked about some best practices. Um, you know, I want to talk about a little bit of a, I don’t want to say it’s a rant, maybe it’s a review, but I think it could help people out there. So we talked about our travels, but you know, for listeners out there, we also do consulting for vacation rentals and hotels, um, especially boutique hotels.

Steve Turk: And this past, I’m not going to say when, cause I don’t want to give too much detail on it, but I stayed in a boutique hotel. And they have three penthouse suites. And those penthouse [00:22:00] suites are apartments, not like the regular hotel rooms there. And it’s a historic hotel. And when I stayed there, it’s basically, it’s a vacation rental.

Steve Turk: You have washer, dryer, full kitchen. Balcony, multiple bedrooms, living room, dining room. So it was pretty cool. I mean, upon first entry, you’re like, wow, this is a really nice place. You got ocean views, but then you start looking around once you sit down, you know, like once you sit down and you start to like be in a place you’re like, all right, all the walls are dirty.

Steve Turk: This furniture really doesn’t mix and match very well. It looks like it was kind of a storage. They have a beautiful terrace with furniture that was rusty and broken and they’re. Sold out. They were wondering why the reviews weren’t as good as it should be. They’re getting 5, 000 a night because of the location that it’s at.

Steve Turk: And man, it’s just little details that if they just fixed it, like frayed carpet and I get [00:23:00] it’s a vintage look, they want a historic vibe. And if you have that kind of look out there, you can do it. You can mix and match things, but you have to make sure that. Paint is not peeling off of stuff that there is some kind of theme in that place It can’t look like your grandmother just went to the storage unit and started throwing things out there So anyhow, that’s my rant here But for for Victor like when we walk into homes We walk into a lot of people’s homes that think they’re ready for to be a vacation rental or to be a short term rental What are some things you would tell people that is the difference between having?

Steve Turk: Your grandma’s home, you want to rent out versus a successful vacation rental. 

Victor Feria: Yeah, and I think, and I’ll start it off with that question that we always ask each other, which I think it’s, uh, it’s the perfect question because it really makes you think and ponder. Um, but would your mom stay here? Would your mom stay?

Victor Feria: Would you be proud or excited for your mom to stay at that property? Um, you ask yourself that question first and be honest with yourself, you know, if it’s if it’s a no, you wouldn’t have your [00:24:00] mom stay there, then really look into it. Uh, but like, you know, like what you said, uh, you know, see the layout, see what, what you have available in the property.

Victor Feria: Um, like Steve said, you know, you can, you can mix and match things. But ensuring that there’s a flow and that there’s a look and that things, you know, if they’re like a little, you know, wear and tear, you know, maybe there’s something else that you can do to repair it. Maybe you can replace it. There’s, you know, a lot of stores out there that you can get furniture and you can get things really, really.

Victor Feria: Um, inexpensive and make it really pop out, you know, with a lot of our properties. Um, I don’t know if you recall, Steve, like about a year, year and a half ago, we started going property by property and just starting to pick up like little knickknacks, um, and just completely changing the look of that property.

Victor Feria: You know, my wife and I, we would go to Hobby Lobby and we would just, you know, load our carts full of items. Um, and you know, little knickknacks can go such a long way and just making a room pop 

Steve Turk: the right ones, listeners, the right next, the right ones. So [00:25:00] not, not, not shells filled with creepy porcelain dolls, staring at you, not 

Victor Feria: that at all.

Victor Feria: Uh, but you’d be surprised on, on, you know, how you can make a property pop out with just such little things, um, and such little details and colors, um, and, and, and really you can make a lot out of, you know, very little. So, so I think that would be my best tip and advice. It’s 

Steve Turk: true. And we. We started asking ourselves this because look, we want it to grow and we were taking on properties that just became headaches and we weren’t asking that question of would our mom actually stay here?

Steve Turk: And when we went by them, we were like, absolutely not. We need to shed. We’re going to shed these and pick the right ones. And we’ve stuck to that. And we’ve been really strategizing. Uh, for the right property to bring in because we don’t own any of them at this point. There’s some talks potentially doing that, but we manage all the ones that we have and we tell our property owners because they think they’re just going to get in, flip a switch, make money.

Steve Turk: It’s like, well, it doesn’t work that way. It doesn’t work that way. You know, you’ve got to get [00:26:00] rid of the stuff that you think that’s your style. It scares some people sometimes. So. We want to make sure that we can maximize it the best we can 

Victor Feria: for you. Exactly. And I think we also have something, uh, with us and it’s our hospitality eyes.

Victor Feria: I mean, we do it all the time. We’ll go to a restaurant and have just, you know, lunch and we just started looking around and picking things out. It’s, I guess it’s the curse and a good thing. Uh, but if you have that, it’s even better. Um, cause you know, that’s, that’s right there where you can decipher it. Um, and, and, and critique, critique your own self and be honest, 

Steve Turk: right?

Steve Turk: I think so. And so I want to ask you this. We didn’t plan this beforehand behind, but if there was a design trend that you think is going to be happening this year, is there something that comes to mind, like right off the bat, like something that’s like, Hey, this is going to be what’s going forward versus what it is those last couple of years.

Victor Feria: That’s a good question. That’s a good question. You know, there’s a lot of. Um, there’s a lot of, you know, opportunities and possibilities you can go, I think going chic, you know, like a modern [00:27:00] chic, um, you know, where things are not, you know, items don’t have to be very expensive. Um, as a guest comes in and breaks them, they could be easily replaceable, uh, but going that modern chic style.

Victor Feria: Um, I think really pops a room really, you know, uh, marketing and the photos really makes it stand out. Um, and it’s not expensive. 

Steve Turk: What do you think? I think that people are tired of the ones that all kind of look the same. Right. They’re really a hotel, but they’re not a hotel and they don’t have the design of a hotel.

Steve Turk: I think things like those would benefit from having some warm touches. Like maybe it is some books that are in the property that are unique to that location. Or some decor and local artwork. Like we have a great property that we just picked up that has like local artwork. And has those knickknacks.

Steve Turk: They’re like local hand carved wood things. Follow a theme. Yeah. And it follows a theme and has a little library and a study. Like it makes you feel like, yeah, it’s [00:28:00] not just an empty house with nothing on the shelves. That’s become one of my pet peeves. So we have to look at our homes. Like we have some homes that the owners just have like these big bookshelves with nothing on them and they’re just empty.

Steve Turk: So like, what can we do to give it some life and some warmth? Because I think now people see, like, there’s so many of these companies that started up, raised a bunch of money, bought a bunch of Ikea furniture, Target furniture, and they all look the same now. We can see them, right? Like, when we look at listings, like, that’s a vacation rental from this company, that’s a vacation rental from this company.

Steve Turk: It’s very clear. 

Victor Feria: Uh, Good, good for Ikea, but not, not so great for vacation rental. 

Steve Turk: No, right? You get Ikea furniture, you get Ikea prices. We’re gonna keep saying that over and over again. Uh, So, you know, look, we’ve got a lot of things coming up here, uh, exciting in January. Um, but for listeners who are just starting out, this is their first year.

Steve Turk: They just decided I’m launching my vacation rental. What’s a tip that you’ve got for them to start 2024 off on the right 

Victor Feria: foot? [00:29:00] Yeah. So you’re starting your vacation rental. Definitely look at your, you know, your markets, um, go online and do your research. There’s so much stuff now online. Um, you could even use, you know, chat GPT to really give you great ideas, uh, but really know your market, know your competitors.

Victor Feria: You know, I say, start up, start out, start a mood board, you know, go on Airbnb in your location, pick out five, six properties that you love and that are super host. And then you see, have great reviews, print out those photos and say, you know what, this is my mood board. These are the five properties that I love the most have the, you know, super host status and look the best and guest love.

Victor Feria: And I want to make it look like that. You know, go, go there and know your market, um, know what you want and your design, your theme. Think about those experiences. Think about the guests, put yourself in their shoes, and then ask that question, would your mom stay here? 

Steve Turk: Ooh, I like it. Well, look, man, we’ve done 30 minutes of our show.

Steve Turk: We say, we always want to leave you with more. And I think that’s a great place to end [00:30:00] the show today. Listeners, thank you for taking the time to join us today. Make sure to subscribe, comment, and like, and we’ll see you again next week. So 

Victor Feria: next time.

ABOUT TANGY
At Tangy Management we know that the best Airbnb rental feels like a home and runs like a hotel. While your guests deserve the best services, you do not have to be the one to execute them. Our team of experienced hoteliers are available to transform your South Florida property into a successful rental using our in house team of luxury hospitality professionals.