Hello, welcome back to another great episode. My name is Sarah Karakaian.

I'm Annette Grant, and together we are. Thanks for Visiting.

And this is the hosting hotline. If you wanna get your hosting questions answered here on the hosting hotline, be like Jan today and go to hostinghotline.com. Ask your question and we'll answer it here on the podcast every single Tuesday. They are so fun to hear what's on your mind, the different creative endeavors you're thinking about, and Jan might be the most creative question we've gotten to date.

Hi, my name is Jan and I'm calling from Tucson. I just talked with another STR host for the first time. She contacted me because she bought a home on the same street as my listing, and we found out that my home has a hot tub and hers has a pool and a putting green. Together, we think it's the perfect combo for any season, and we thought it might be fun to suggest that both houses could be rented at the same time we list on Airbnb and VRBO. Any suggestions about how we might do that? We both listened to your show. Thanks so much for all the great advice.

Jan,

thanks for being a listener.

Jan and Jan's new neighbor, friend, host friend, host friend. We love that. Also, Jan, we went to your website.

Oh, cute.

So good. Um, well actually share it here madronastays.com. M-A-D-R-O-N-A-S-T-A-Y-S. I said that really weird, but we'll make sure it's in the show notes. We're gonna give you some, some love, so hopefully people can book with you.

Yes. Everyone go check out Jan. She's actually what? She's got property in both Tucson and the Pacific Northwest.

Yes.

And they are gorgeous. The, the, the gardening is next level.

They are beautiful. And Jan, I love that. You went on a little sabbatical and then you went on a permanent vacation. I'm here for that. You did so good. Let's dig into the creativity, the things to think about and how we can make this, as we like to call it end things for visiting a parent child listing, so to speak. So you've got your house and your neighbor's house.

Are they neighbors?

Are, yeah. It sounds like it's down the street. So the first thing that's kind of tipped Sarah and I off is we've got to make sure that number one, we love the creativity.

Yes. Congrats on, well, let's, let's, let's do some easy wins here. And Annette and I love simplicity. Congrats on building your hosting network, Jan. And also tell your friend, your new friend congrats on that too. And that's the thing, we don't have to be competition when there are other furnished rentals on our street. We can actually be, we can actually help each other. And let that network be our network worth, whether it is partnering up in terms of renting them out or sharing. Uh, sharing guests. Maybe you're, you're booked and whatever. I mean,

pricing data,

yes, all that stuff can be really helpful. So, getting together with your fellow hosts, especially in your direct market, is so smart. And it's also hosting can be, it can be lonely and Part, that's how Annette and I when we met at the city council meeting, and then we got a coffee and then we got a drink at a bar and,

and that was all in the same day, by the way, probably because we were like, I love you, you'd like to talk about sheets and towels. Oh, sheets and towels. And then our second day I was like, can you come organize my closet because I know guests are looking in them. And she did

and I was like, please let me organize your closets.

And like I, I turned around and I turned back and they were organized and I'd been fumbling in them for two and a half years.

And then I probably tackled all your kitchen cabinets and your drawers.

Hey, I had that stuff together. It was the, it was the closets that were my issue then my drawers are good.

Hi. I make my own issues.

Yeah, you create your own.

I'm like, the fork should be on their side and they should be. Spooning each other.

Yeah.

Okay. So anyway, Jan, I really hope your

spooning leads to forking. Sarah?

No, Annette. This is a G rated.

That's a dad joke podcast episode. Okay, Jan, we gotta help her.

Okay. So congrats on that and I hope you guys continue to connect. I think that's brilliant. 'cause your networking is very powerful and we love the creativity of seeing opportunity with you don't have the pool in the putting green. She doesn't have the coveted hot tub. So it is never stop dreaming, never stop thinking about different ways to leverage your properties, work with other people. Offer something to your guests that you don't have by partnering up. If we, if Annette and I didn't do that, we wouldn't be here today. Almost at 500 podcast episodes almost six years later. So you never know where partnerships can go. A bigger step though, is turning this idea into a professional setup, Jan, because what you need to consider are the financial sharing of that revenue, the any, if there are any tax implications, and making sure that you keep that clear. There's liability implications that you'll also have to figure out if someone's on your friend's property, but it's a booking that includes your home and they get hurt, you know, what does that mean for you? What does that mean for her, uh, when it comes to where the money flows? Is that a, are you guys opening up a separate business banking account? Is it just, you know, you invoice her for those days? How does, how does that work? You'll have to do some deep work too on having that listing. Hopefully this, this combined listing that calendar will, you'll have to be strategic on when to offer that. Over the individual properties. Right? So that, let's say, you know, she's having a harder time getting booked 'cause her pricing isn't, isn't as on point as yours is Jan. So then, but that this calendar is, is creating difficulty with you getting, I mean, you just have to make sure that all the, everything is dialed in. When, when you have control over all of that, it's much, much easier. But I'm assuming that she'll still do her own, she'll still do her own. Management of her, of her home and, and how you guys will sync up will have to be really thought out.

Mm-hmm. And that probably just sounded like difficult and a lot of things to consider. And it's because it is, I am someone that jumps full body in not thinking all the way down the line. And that's what we wanna help you with here is the, the, the idea of like thinking all the way through it. And what we wanna offer you right now is what is the result? That you and your friend are looking for 'cause there might be another way to achieve the result, which obviously is giving an amazing stay and amazing amenities to your guests. But I'm assuming it's, you wanna increase your bottom line. So is there a way that you two could work together on what your ADR is in your individual properties? What are those amenities bringing in? For each property because maybe you can show her the math that a hot tub makes sense for her. Maybe she can show you the math that a pool makes sense for you, and then you can add that equity to your homes also. So I just wanna really dig down into what is the end result that we're looking for, and if it is the revenue. I think we could achieve that by you guys still keeping your property separate, but using your brains together. And there might be an opportunity just with dynamic pricing and making sure your property is priced right, that you guys can go ahead and increase that revenue. And it's also one of those things are people I really think we need to listen to our guests. Are people asking you for a pool? Are they asking you like, I wish there were more rooms? You know, do you have, I would start with, hopefully you have an email list. Hopefully you have, you've been hosting Jan it looks like for a long time with a lot of different properties. This is where you would wanna book, you know, it'd be a lot easier to communicate this via direct booking, sending out an email. Opening the calendar like a year in advance, saying, Hey, do you wanna have your family reunion, your family trip, you know, and reserve like the both of those listings together. I think you really need to think bigger about it, of how can you guys, um, market this yourself instead of just letting people happen upon it on the OTAs because I think it's gonna be easier to explain to, to guests, especially if you aren't right next to each other. And, and what does that look like? And I also wanna warn you, we really wanna keep our neighbors in mind because that might be a, um, I'm interested if they were sharing amenities, what that, what does that activity look like in your neighborhood of someone with towels going back and forth? Who knows what they're doing in each of these, you know, water areas? So I just kind of thinking. Holistically about the impact on the neighborhood too.

Some ideas that I might be in the middle of what you're thinking, Jan, is if there's an event center or a, a big wedding air, uh, venue in your place and maybe sharing with them that both you and your friend,

Yes. That's the best thing.

Are, would be willing to, you know, if they've got a big wedding party that if year in advance. They wanna book your friends and yours at the same time. They would book your separately.

Separately, that's the winner.

But be really close on the street if it's close to a venue like that. Or maybe it's not even a wedding venue, maybe it's some sort of, you're in Tucson, so I don't know if there are outdoor activities, things of that nature where people kind of come in bigger groups and they wanna stay together.

Isn't that GEM G-E-M Fest?

I dunno.

Yeah. I love that idea Sarah, of wedding venues, uh, any sort of like convention center, things like that. Hey, is corporate coming in? Do they need multiple places? That is the way to go and offer the Tuesdays. And like Sarah said, you offer them both. You can make sure your pricing is in line. Mm-hmm. But you each get the reservations, but they view you as uh, a combo deal and then the, then the numbers stay, the numbers stay separated. And also maybe you guys do some local advertising together. Like that's a way to share too, of, you know, maybe, uh, if it's print or something like that, or even if it's digital, you could have it show both of your properties with your links. But you could share in the marketing fee there, the investment in the marketing.

And I definitely don't want to poo poo your idea, Jen. But ask Annette. So she's the, everything's always awesome and I'm like, everything's always gonna go wrong. And here's my question for you, Jan, and I'm sure if your friend is also a Thanks for Visiting listener. I'm sure this isn't true or likely, but you know, does she have the same ethos as you do when it comes to how guests are treated? Mm-hmm. Are the reviews going to be similar? Do you both have the same mission and, uh. Brand standards for your property 'cause if you were to do a joint parent child listing there, there, there should be some through line in terms of your, your ethos and how you both run your businesses and some similarities there. And make sure that you work well together. Mm-hmm. And so maybe. While you flush this out with your attorneys and in your, and your insurance broker and figuring out what that calendar tie is going to look like, you both see how you work. If you work well together by doing these joint marketing efforts, by going together to these event centers or the the wedding venues and seeing how you jive in terms of bouncing ideas off each other.

I have a really great place for them to start. Sarah. We have our bootcamp coming up.

Oh yeah.

Go to thanksforvisiting.com/bootcamp. This is for everybody, but Jan, have your friends sign up for it. You sign up for it. Both of you work on your listings together. You'll have a person that's on your same street.

We'll have workbooks that you can print out and work together on it.

And this would be a really great way for you guys to audit your listings together. Mm. Audit your calendars. Audit your pricing. I'm telling you, um, this actually, this is the place for you to start together. It really will be fun. And then again, we're gonna be upleveling your property. And so that way when we, if you do go to do the parent child. Your, your, your listings will be on par with, with each other and all of the tips, the tricks, the action items that we are gonna give you during the bootcamp. You and her can do those. So you're, when, when people go to your listings, they won't seem antiquated or different because we're gonna give you exactly what the top tier hosts are doing in markets across the US and the world.

That's such a great idea. It'll be so fun. Jan, thanksforvisiting.com/bootcamp. We'll put that in the show notes. What I'll also put in the show notes, Jan, is 'cause I don't want you to stop dreaming. I don't want you to stop just asking yourself really good questions. I'll put the links in the show notes that point to our parent child listing, uh, YouTube videos that we've got so you can learn more about how you could do this. Um, since you both have two different addresses, you'd have to pick again, pick, pick one of your accounts and have an address. But then. Work out how, how that, you know, the photos of the pho of the, of the other listing and making sure that's very clear. Just think about all the logistics as you explore this joint venture with your friend. But again, it doesn't have to be this joint venture. Mm-hmm. It could be a variation of it too, but I'll, I'll, I'll tag those resources in the show notes.

Okay. Another tip I'm gonna give you, maybe you and her do a little mail piece or some letters to your neighbors, and if they ever wanna sell their houses, you guys go on a joint venture that way. So you have a own a home on the same block. I say, let's take over the whole block.

Let's pile up the block.

Let's buy up the block. That's what you can do. They're obviously, both of the properties are in your buy box. You guys are already in the same lane. So seriously, please, please keep dreaming with her and we wanna know about it. And for those of you that don't have a friend down the street like Jan. Also in our bootcamp, you need to be there because you need to find somebody. You need to find your Sarah, you need to find your Jan. You need to find that person in your area so you can become stronger. And the most professional hosts that any guest could stay within that area and in our bootcamp, there is so much community we're gonna have, um, we're gonna show up live, you know, live with hosts from all over. We're gonna have a Facebook group where you're gonna see where people are from, please. It goes down in the dms. Make a friend there, get coffee with them. Look at your pricing together, we are off. That's, you know, the bootcamp. Of course we want you to audit your listing, but we want you to audit your network of professional hosts.

Ooh that was good.

So please, like, this is one, this is the, I would argue, one of the most valuable parts of coming to the, the bootcamp. Is the community. It's very hard for us to sell that because until you meet someone that you connect with, we can't put that value on it for you. You have to do that yourself. But we will create the space for you. We will create the community, and we are excited for you to join it.

With that. I am Sarah Karakaian

with that. Oh,

I love it.

I was so excited about that community.

You're, you're jazzed up. Should we try that one more time?

We should.

Okay. With that, I am Sarah Karakaian.

I'm Annette Grant.

Wait, can I just pause for a second you guys? Back when Annette and I first met, so we were, we were Jan and our new friend, and we were like, let's start an in-person meetup here in Columbus. And when I tell you we took it from zero to a thousand in very short period of time, we invited a city council guy to come speak and we were like invested it.

It was a packed house. Packed house.

It was packed, suite, invited standing room only. How did we even get people there? I think we ran ads.

We, we, we bought pizza.

We bought pizza and soda and we had an open bar and well, we didn't pay for the bar. You had to pay for the bar, so I guess that's not a open bar.

Cash bar. Cash bar. And we ran Facebook ads.

Okay. Packed house. Okay, everyone, we get, Annette and I get up to the front of the room again. Our friendship is fresh. It's not, it, it's like maybe 6, 7, 8 months in and we get up there and I'm like, hi, I'm Sarah Karakaian. And Annette goes, hi, I'm Sarah Karakaian.

Well wait, I think I might have introduced myself first.

I don't know, she was Sarah though.

I was Sarah and everybody knew. They were like, okay, that's weird. And what's so awesome is like whenever you think about public speaking, you're like, okay, my name like got that. Like when would you ever forget your name, let alone announce yourself as someone else?

It was so funny.

It was, but now it's a good story and,

it was always a good story.

Yeah. And now it's just getting better with time when I continue to make little errors here and there. You know what, while we're having so much fun. Oh, we need to tell everybody.

Feeling like these are like bloopers, don't you think?

During our bootcamp we have a welcome party.

We, and it is okay.

It is the highlight of my just,

well, we didn't know it would be the highlight of your ex- bootcamp experience, but we had some glitch. We had a glitch, tech glitch on our very first boot camp. It was, you know, not the, not fun for us. We were sweating bullets.

Like literally sweating.

And we were like, okay, well, we'll, we'll have their welcome party tonight. But the way you, the way that people at that bootcamp were like, that was the best, like, that was so much fun to hang out with other hosts. They, you guys just, a lot of you don't know how fun it is to hang out with people who love what you love.

Yeah. It's your people.

And so I can't believe we didn't, we obviously we threw the welcome party so we knew it would be fun, but. The feedback we got from having this kickoff to learning. We just know that we've created this community of people who are nerds just like us.

Plus, I really like to give away things during the parties.

You, yes. We've now, we now have like a, a team dedicated.

We have a gift, we have a gifting team.

Because we never know when Annette is gonna go rogue.

Mean you actually, you pretty much know now. It's just gonna happen every time. Right. So it's not rogue anymore. It's very predictable.

Oh my gosh. Okay. Should we go now?

Yes, we should.

With that, I am Sarah Karakaian.

I'm Annette Grant,

and together we are Thanks for Visiting.

Wait, what is happening?

I don't know. All right everyone, we'll talk to you next time.