Welcome back to another great episode. My name is Sarah Karakaian.

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

Let's start this episode like we do each and every week, and that is featuring one of you. If you wanna be featured, all you have to do is go to strshare.com, share your short-term rental, and we'll celebrate you here on the podcast. Annette, who are we sharing today?

Today we are sharing @theseventhrayhouse and this is a Desert Haven near Joshua Tree and they might also be our guest on the show. And I wanna call out a few things here and I'm gonna tell you here, but I'm not gonna give it all away because you're gonna hear about on the show, their photos. Our next level. They are telling story after story after story with the angles, the lighting, just everything in them on their Instagram. It is a vibe. They are sticking with a theme here that aesthetic is going through and through. I also wanna share that they have a link to, they have a link tree so you can go and you can book directly with them. And we talk about that on the show. And I love, you're gonna hear why they started their direct booking site originally. And then I just want you to also, when you're on their site, see how they've done, like what they're doing here, how they're trying to draw guests in. And I love above the fold is book now.

Call to action.

Again, book now. That's what they want you to do, and it's super mobile friendly. We haven't talked about that. I don't think really on the show. Please make sure that your direct booking site is both mobile and desktop friendly. But check out the seventh ray. They have just, they've got it going on. You're really gonna wanna check it out after the show though. So wait, listen to the show. Go. Go check them out after. Make sure to give them a follow, give them some love, and then use them as inspiration for the design of their home, the photos of their home, and the way that they've even set up their social media.

And the hosts behind The Seventh Ray House are Kristen and Michael, and they are the husband and wife duo behind this home in Joshua Tree, which I'm just gonna say it. People think that Joshua Tree is quote unquote oversaturated, and that's why I'm really excited for you to hear their story. How they slowed down so that they could speed up. And guess what? In 2025, they are still very much in the game and they are looking forward to 2026 and beyond. And they have over a decade in the entertainment industry. So they know a thing or two about telling a story and it is very present in their property and how they share it with their guests, who they get from the OTAs and from their very successful direct booking site. So I'm so excited to dig into Kristen and Michael's story and how they've been able to differentiate themselves in a very busy market. Kristen and Michael, welcome to the show. We are so excited to have you and dig into your story.

Thank you for having us.

Yeah, thank you.

Well, let's, let's just do it. We, we have, um, we love sharing partner stories, especially because we are business partners, so it's always fun to share life partners and their hosting stories. So let's just go back a little bit and give, give the listeners a snippet if they don't already know you from YouTube, um, about your story and how you got started in hosting together.

Yeah, well, I mean, we always wanted to get into the real estate market. We had families, uh, we had family members that owned short-term rental or long-term rentals. Uh, like my dad bought my house in college and then rented it to me and my other roommates. So essentially I got free college, like just seeing that stuff growing up and brother-in-laws doing it. And we wanted, really wanted to get into the real estate market. California is such a tough market, and we were like, how can we get started?

Yeah.

Everything's so expensive. So we're, we started during the pandemic, just like watching videos online and we're like, we actually might be able to get into short-term rentals.

Yeah. We were watching a lot of Rob built.

Yeah.

Okay.

Our OG.

He's like the gateway.

He was our gateway into thinking like, we can do this ourselves 'cause he was from LA and we lived in LA. Um, when we were first looking into getting into short-term rentals in a tiny duplex in North Hollywood, Michael and I and our dog Fin, and we were like, we need space. Yeah, and so that was also part of it.

And we need to, and we need to invest, like we need to just like. We're, we were hitting like late twenties and we were just like feeling that itch of like, okay, we need to be mature about our finances and everything.

Love that. And the was the, was your plunge into short-term rentals? Were you living in it in the beginning? Was that the like, kind of,

We lived in it and renovated it at the same time.

Yeah, at the same time. Luckily, Michael's family lives about an hour. Away from here. His parents retired out in La Quinta area. That's kind of near Joshua Tree where our short-term rental is. So we were able to, like if we were doing a big reno, we were over there like we didn't wanna live in like the dust and everything.

Yeah.

Even though we did, we had our bed on the ground in the bar room, which is back behind us.

Yeah.

And we were here for days at a time, but when we needed that reprieve of like, normalcy, we could drive down the hill to their house, which was so nice. So yeah, we were living in it.

What I wanna just share, because I think some people are scared to take a risk, uh, a risk on themselves. So share with us. How risky was this for you to put your eggs in the short term rental basket? Like what were those conversations that you two were having behind the scenes about the risk versus reward?

I, I mean, so my, I really looked up to my dad because he was the only person I knew that had kind of like done this and we were kind of sharing time with them and when we were working when, oh no, 'cause we moved in with them to save money, to save as much money as we could, and my dad was like freaking out. He was like.

We're gonna have to save you.

Yeah, no, I,

Scott, if you're listening, we love you and yeah, we know you had the best intentions.

But like, I felt his fear being projected onto me because he was like, I don't know if this is going to work. And we were like, no, this has to, no, this has to work. And I feel like that's the mentality that you have to go into anything that you do, regardless if it's short term, bus, uh, rental business, your own business, creating some sort of art like it has to work or else you're not going to put your energy and your efforts into it. And that's, we're seeing a lot of the Airbnbs in our area fail because the people just wanted to do it and got out and didn't want to put their heart and soul into it.

Yeah. And it, it really, hosting has become like a part of us, like yeah, our job.

And we love, we love the home, and obviously we want to expand our portfolio, but we feel like we're only going to do that with homes that we love and we don't want to do it with just like, uh, things that our hearts aren't into.

Yeah.

Oh, I, I, you're preaching the choir here. We feel you to like our core. I have to take it back. So was your dad nervous because he didn't understand short-term rentals? Was that why he was so nervous for you too?

I think so because I mean, it's your dad.

Yeah.

But we had done long-term renting and maybe like short-term rented his, he had a condo in PGA West.

Yeah.

That he kind of did on VRBO every once in a while, but it was really their like vacation home. So he had never done it really. And neither had our brother-in-law who's like super into long term renting. Or long term rentals. Um, and investing. So we were the first ones to really pave the way.

And I think he's planning for retirement and he was like, I don't want to have to bail you out. Like there it is. Yeah. He's like, so I think there were multiple factors, but yeah.

Oh my gosh. I love it. So what's the moral of the story? Did you guys succeed?

Yes. Yes. The moral of the story is that it is now been almost four years of us doing this. We have not had to pay out of our own pocket ever for any of the mortgage, the bills, any of that stuff. Um, we've been using all of the, we started with what we could. We renovated what we could with the money that we had, the little money that we had saved up, and we've been using the money and the profits to put back into the property to make it a performing listing and just keeping our amenities up.

And I think we paid the mortgage for four or five months before it was starting to self sustain.

Yes. Because we were like living in it.

Living in it and renovating it.

So, uh, what was your goal, or what is your goal with the property? Is it different from when you started to now share with it because I, and there's no right answer here because what we've learned talking to a lot of hosts is all of our goals are really different with the property. There isn't this one goal that you have to subscribe to to make it, okay. So we just love wondering like, what was, what did you guys want out of this? And is that the same as it was? Five years ago now.

That's a really good question.

Yeah. I mean, I think five years ago we wanted to be in real estate in general and just buy something and have some land.

Get started.

Get started, and like even if, gosh, gosh, like God forbid, all else fails, like we could move out to the desert and live here and we would financially be able to cover the mortgage no problem ourselves and like have a family out here and it would be fine.

Yeah. Yes, but also we were like, oh, um, I mean, we lived in LA It's the land of like, how many sources of income can I have? It's like we come from the entertainment world. Like I was a songwriter, a music producer, and like all of my friends in that world were like, they were writing during the day, working at night, selling stuff on Etsy, like doing all these different things and we're like, if we can make a couple extra thousand dollars a month. Back then we were like, you know, when she, we have a kid like maybe that can supplement some of the income coming in from her. So that was kind of our initial our goal.

Goal. Initially, yeah, it was like if I ever wanna go on maternity leave and have left, because I used to work in entertainment news and was W2 and in journalism and like I wanted out of that world, I think a lot of people changed up what they were doing during COVID and that was very much me and you. Um, and so it was like, okay, well if I'm gonna take this leap and like. Be out of that world, we do need to have some kind of supplemental income. Yeah. So yeah, that was kind of the, the situation there. And then it's evolved.

Yeah.

Obviously.

How would you say it's evolved now? Because I have my thoughts, but I'm curious.

I like this. This is good.

This is like live action.

That our, what our goals are now.

Well, yeah.

I think we are obviously in a phase, we're pregnant, we're about to have our first child. We're in a phase where we kind of wanna like slow down a little bit because we are so busy and dealing with real life and short term rental and YouTube and, um, so for me, I would say it's optimizing this property to its fullest potential. We're able to, instead of rolling into, which is maybe not the smartest, but rolling the revenue into a brand new property, new project, we want to make this house. The best it can be. Maybe put in a pool, an outdoor shower. Like there's ways we really wanna elevate the property now that we have so much income to be able to work with.

Yeah.

Um, that's kind of the goal is just optimizing the house and making it self-sustainable to the point where like we can kind of be hands off.

As well as maximize the profits from it.

Yeah.

Um, especially because the com, the market out here is getting so competitive.

What's yours?

Oh my.

Your goal.

My goal. Well, or originally my goal with it was I was in the creative world and I would come out to the Joshua Tree area with people from LA and we would write albums, we would take photo shoots, video shoots, and we were staying at Airbnbs in like 2016. And I was like, why didn't we do it then? Because they were so, they were like a hundred thousand dollars to like get into a home in this area.

Yeah.

Um, so I was like, man, if we could have a place that I can come and create, but now it's booked and so can't do that anyway. Like, I don't wanna take away, it's making money. Like I don't wanna touch it. Right. But now one, I mean, we have our whole YouTube channel about what it's, we're just documenting. We're not trying to sell people like this lifestyle. We just are kind of like documenting what it's like to own a short-term rental in California, what it's like to do all this stuff. And I think now I'm just like, one, how can we make this home as cool, as profitable as possible? Two. My goal is how can we just like come and relax and enjoy this space? Because I really feel like that's one reason that people historically have had vacation homes, and we don't talk about that enough. And I know it's a, it's a. Um, it hurts your bottom line, but like it's a Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, we work remotely. Like we can come out here and we can enjoy it and just get away. So I think the goal is to, one, enjoy, enjoy the asset. Two, keep investing into it so the asset can grow and continue to produce revenue. And also long term, if we go and when we go to sell it, it's worth way more than what we bought it for.

Love that. You had mentioned, um, earlier that you've did what you could in the beginning and now you're reinvesting in amenities. Can you take us through the reinvestment journey? Because I, we, so many hosts are there right now of like, do we put money back in? Do we go buy something else? Am I really gonna get my return on investment? Would you kind of share that wisdom with us of what you chose to do and then which ones like really hit it outta the park and, and just your thought processes together on when you're getting ready to, to reinvest.

We didn't have a hot tub at first. We like, we were like using furniture. We were using the plates we got from as like wedding present weddings.

Yeah. Our wedding registry plates. I was like, Ooh, they're Crate and Barrel. They're probably gonna get ruined, but this is all we can afford. So we put it in the house and, and.

We did it 'cause we wanted to have like a nice experience. And so one of the biggest things we did first was we, we added a hot tub and we also added a hot tub that was like not cheap. We opened a credit card and we put it on a credit card. Yeah. Because we knew it would pay for itself. Um, because we've heard horse stories. I've been to Airbnb's for bachelor parties where the hot tub doesn't work and then I've seen the owner have to shell out money and I'm like, over time, that'll add up to like what you should have paid for a nice hot tub.

Yeah. We went all out.

What, what is all out you guys, the brand? Share it with everybody.

Yeah. It's a, uh, Nordic Warrior XL. I think it was around 7,500. Um, we have had, I mean, knock on wood,

I know knock on wood,

have had zero issues. It is a tank.

It's a tank. Um,

I mean, it's a warrior. It better be, right. That's, it's the name.

We're buying three and I was really hoping you were gonna into the Nordic 'cause that's what we're getting.

Oh, okay. Good.

Yeah. Nordic.

Did you, did you put the hot tub in? How soon after you opened did you put the hot tub in? Did you see that that was like something you needed?

A year and two months.

Oh, so you waited a, a, a little bit of tie. Okay.

Yeah. Well, we couldn't afford it and I was just like, we need to compete. Like we're not,

we need to be able to pay the mortgage and the credit card payment. At first. So we're like, okay, we need to be smart about this. And Michael's so good with money, thank God I married him because. I would be like, just throw it on the credit card. And it's like, no, we need to be smart and wait. And our ROI since then has,

well, so the hot tub definitely added,

yeah, huge value,

because people booking in the winter, there's two on seasons here, it's like the fall in the spring and we are like, we need to be booking during the winter. Had to add a hot tub. So look, really looking at those dips. Another thing we noticed was the interior design of the space. Um, we ran, we redid our living room, we redid our bedroom. We redid. Our bar room and we've added to the outside space, the landscaping, like all of that stuff really matters because we had guests leaving reviews that the value, they didn't feel they were getting the value.

So we get like a four on value and like a five on everything else. Yeah, so we were like, this is good, but it could be great.

Yeah.

And obviously like we had said, we did what we could with what we had, and we were on Facebook marketplace. We like got the, the only things we really splurged on when we started were our beds and our bedding. So that was like really where we put our money, um, was into the cozy sleeping quarters at, at first. And then it was like Facebook Marketplace. Couch and chair and it was still cool. Like we had things from vintage stores and stuff. Yeah. But like after,

just looking at, looking at the photos, we were like, this is not translating to,

no, people weren't taking photos in the home and like comparing it to others around us we're like, okay, something needs to change.

Yeah. So we did work, we, we worked with an interior designer, but we worked with, at online. We, we went through 'cause we just couldn't afford an interior designer. Yeah. They were too expensive, like mm-hmm. Like we're truly like. Trying to do this without destroying ourselves because it's like, we also have a life outside of this. We have like a rent to pay, we have like bills to pay on our own, so we don't want to bankrupt ourselves just for this little business. Um, so we used Heavenly, it's an online interior design service, which we've used a couple times now, and it's been actually really great.

Yeah.

How did you, how did you though when you, the hot tub. How did you increase your average daily rate once you installed that?

It, we increased it by like 10%, but we just started getting bookings. Like we went from being booked to only on the weekends to like having longer bookings.

So it was more about occupancy booking, velocity increased. Okay. And then,

I already priced high. We priced high from the beginning because. We listened to Rob, and Rob was so right. It's like as soon as you lower the price, you start getting those lower price guests. They start complaining, they start wanting discounts, and so from the beginning we priced higher.

Nice. No, I love that. So with the room designs. Were those, were those one at a time or did you do a full home refresh at the same time?

One at a time.

Yeah, one at a time.

Yeah. We were a little nervous to splash out just because There is seasonality out here. Okay. So we're careful with how we're reinvesting and really planning when we're doing those projects, um, to make sure our revenue is at a decent amount. Before we do anything like that, we have a nest egg.

And then, then a couple of the other things that we did was we realized there was, I mean, it gets so hot out here, there was no shaded outdoor space. So we added a patio, a concrete patio with, and then we built like a, a patio cover area. And then, um, I don't know if that really increased anything, but we just noticed we had friends out here and we're like, we don't want to hang out outside. It's too hot. Um, and then the last thing that we did that we really invested in and made the biggest difference was last November. Was we paid for an really, really nice photographer. Like we didn't just hire a local real estate photographer. We found someone from LA who like shot interiors really well.

He, he didn't even just do interiors and we actually helped him like launch his Airbnb. Yeah, business portfolio business or like photography, because he's like, we.

We documented it on our channel and then we had people reaching out to him like, how can I hire you? And he was like, let me start a business, I guess.

Yeah.

That's great.

Just having that eye on and like a photo that you wouldn't even think to take. Like he took a photo from our bar out to the spa and or out to the, um, Nordic Warrior. Um, and, and it was just like such a shot. He opened the door and took this photo and I'm like, I wouldn't have even thought about that. I don't think a, a regular real estate photographer would've even thought about that.

Yeah.

It's just such a difference having that artfull. like look on the house and that.

Let's unpack that because we had a comment one time that. They were taken aback that Annette and I reccomend,

on, on our YouTube channel.

Yeah. Yes. That we recommend professional photography.

We don't recommend, we like it mandated. It's like, get outta here.

We were, we were more, we were more strong about it. So because they felt that professional photography might oversell a space. And obviously there are some people who use like the fishbowl Lenss and they like over, or they have stuff in it that isn't actually there, which isn't what something you guys did. But, so tell us now on the other side of that professional more artistic eye of your place has, have you gotten five star reviews on value still or do people feel it's oversold? Tell us your experience now.

They still say it's better than the photos.

Yeah, that was one thing I was worried that it was going.

That's amazing.

Yeah, but I, I think that the biggest thing is like, I'm like, well, we can't change anything now because then we have to pay for new photos. Like, we added a, a, a flagstone walkway out to the hot tub and cowboy tub area, and I'm like, we need to have Matt back out again. Yeah, I know he's up this,

you, you launched his business. I think he can give you though, a couple,

I mean, I mean, we can't take credit for that. That's why I shouldn't have said it.

Like, but I, I do, I do wanna say for your listeners, like the investment into the photo, the photos, it was $1,600 for him to come out for the entire day. So like I was, I was like. Oh, I was like, that's on the high end. I was hoping to spend like a thousand max, but like it was,

we made it back within the first like couple weeks. The bookings just started.

How long, how long are you guys gonna be open in business? Like is this, this is gonna be open for a while, right? This is your,

Yeah, we don't plan on, it's a one, it's a horrible time to sell a home in the Joshua Tree area. And two, I feel like. Looking at na. So like, are you guys in California?

No, we're in, we're in Ohio.

But we've been.

Okay. So Palm Springs is like an hour away. You guys know Palm Springs? It was like the Oasis from LA in the fifties. All the stars went out there. All of our friends, all of the celebrities we see, they come out to Joshua Tree. It's the cooler area because it's cooler and hipper and everything. And I really feel like it's a long-term play for us to be out here and investing in this area because over the next 10, 20 years, I think it'll only get cooler and it's growing every year.

Like Palm Springs is, like massive now and before it was so small. So yeah.

With the design upgrades with the new photos. I think this gets left out of like the, the, the spreadsheet all of the time. How does, how has that improved your swagger as hosts? Like aren't you so much more proud, like a pride in your property now of like what you're putting forth to potential guests and just the world? I think that's this, this investment that people don't understand that return. Um, will get from those improvements.

Yeah. I think a hundred percent because. It's the feeling that the guests will get when they come to when they land on your page. And if it's something that you're proud of and you're excited to put up these photos and like to, to display your home like it is, I really feel like that translates.

Yeah.

And in turn makes them want to book. And there's just this like energy out there that maybe. It's just in the ether and somebody that's looking is like, oh, I feel that. Yeah. Like it pulls you in, like yeah, the photos will pull you in. There's a pride, a sense of pride for sure. Putting them up.

And I noticed, I noticed myself after, so like, like I said, I used to be a songwriter and I had that feeling showing people a song that I knew wasn't good, like timidness, you know? And I remember when we first started, I wouldn't wanna show people. The listing because I knew it could be better. And like I remember after we got the photos done, I was hanging out with a friend who's a professional videographer and photographer, and there was another guy that I didn't know who was also a professional, and I was like the, he was hyping up that I had a short-term rental and I was like, oh, I'll show you the photos. And they were both like, oh my gosh, this looks amazing. And I was like, okay, yeah, this is like, proud, like proud dad, you know? Yeah.

Yes. Yeah, because you have, you have. Parented it, you know, from 2020 to now and, and let's talk about that too. 2020 is very different from 2025 short-term rental hosting. Are you guys only on the OTAs? Do you have your own direct booking website? Talk to us about that.

Yeah. We have our own direct booking website through Lodgify. Um, and that was kind of organic, how that happened. We just started looking. We were, we're on vrbo actually.

No, no, no, no. So we we're on vrbo, Airbnb,

Airbnb, Google, whatever.

I think we're on Google. I've never gotten, we've never gotten a book,

we've never gotten a booking through there.

And I'm scared to get a booking through there.

Apparently we are.

Don't be scared. It's okay. It's okay over there.

And, and then we built the direct booking website because we had friends and family reaching out and I was like, how can they book this without dealing with all that stuff? But I can still have payments.

Yeah.

So I started looking into it just 'cause I'm the like,

like the tech guy, he the analytics and I'm just like, let's throw a beautiful throw right here. And more of the aesthetics like making this place a home.

So just like I dove deep into it and I came out the other side, like really liking Lodgify because their website builder looked really good. And the backend looked really solid and the payment system and everything. And um, so that's why we went with them and we've been like super happy ever since. But the direct booking thing has definitely, really helped us. But it took, it definitely took some effort, like yeah, it's not just like you make a site and it's like set it and forget it.

It doesn't, no, it doesn't work like that.

It's your business. So we, we just posed this question to, uh, we have, we have a mastermind group and we were just sharing with them if you had to start all over again and direct booking was the first thing that you did, not going on to Airbnb. Would they do it? And everybody kind of like, because it's like you are not gonna start a restaurant thinking I'm only gonna survive on DoorDash or Uber Eats, right? Like you don't start a restaurant thinking that you don't start, um, some sort of widget or clothing brand and think, oh, I'm only gonna be on Amazon. Right? Like, that's not how other businesses start. You start with your direct to consumer, your direct to your client, where I think a lot of us have used the, we'll call it the Airbnb crutch of, they just like made it so easy for us. So if you guys were to do it all over again, would you start right outta the gate with your direct booking?

Yes. If I started like all of the technical stuff over again, I would've definitely added it. But I would have also looked into like meta ads and stuff, and on that a little more,

some more marketing tools.

Yeah. But the, but the, the Airbnb discovery algorithm is so good that like sometimes I find myself relying on it a little too much. Because, but yes, I would, I would definitely Do you, would you say that?

Yeah, because I've, short term rentals have been around for so long.

Yeah.

And like, I remember renting a, a beach house in, in high school or in elementary school, like doing a rental up in Big Bear with my family. And it's like how do we find those things?

How did we do it? We like mailed Yellow Pages. I don't,

Yellow pages. Like yeah, there were signs on houses when you drove by Bur White Realty, like rent here. Like there were ways they were doing it before. So yeah, I think there would've been a way we could have done it,

we might see a time, we might see a time when like you, we have to rely on that again. Because you never know what's gonna happen with Airbnb. They're trying to do all these things and be fancy.

In fact, time is right around the corner with this 0.5%. But I wanna talk about building the website 'cause a lot of hosts get really nervous about that. And you mentioned Lodgify's Website Builder, was it hard to make it look good? Was it hard to, to configure it the way you wanted to? And now on the other side, like uploading the new photos that you guys just got, like talk to us about the difficulty level of the built-in website.

Website builder was super easy to use. I did not wanna do a bunch of like hard coding 'cause I just don't know that. And this was pre-chat GBT. So like, um, so the website builder was super easy to use and you can go in way more in depth if you want to. I did like also that they have the widget feature that if, because I was thinking about building a Squarespace website 'cause I knew Squarespace and then just featuring the booking widget on there. So I like that. If I didn't like the website builder, I could jump over to Squarespace, but ended up just keeping the one in Lodgify. Um, but, the coolest part about the Lodgify website is it looked good enough. Like I branding is my thing. Like I love brands and building that identity, and so I really wanted it to look professional and so I was looking at a lot of other like direct booking websites that were built by people that spent a lot of money on the websites and I was like, how close can I get? And so I was just like, okay, they put this here, this, and I was able to do most of it with Lodgify, so.

Yeah. And I was able to get in there too. And I'm not like super, I'm tech savvy, but not like you.

But you've done some blogs in there.

But that's what I was gonna say. I was, I, I wrote a bunch. We have a few blogs, not a bunch, but a few blogs on our website too that has actually helped increase direct bookings. I'm able to get in there and write what I want and move the photos around and like, it's very minimal what I like to do, even on my Squarespace website. So using Lodgify was super easy for me to, and that was really nice.

Oh, I love that they have a built in blog component to help you build up your SEO and your discoverability. Yeah?

Not necessarily, but we kind of like just use the pages feature, like the drop back, make that so like, so like we were in contact, I messaged Lodgify customer service. I was like, can I do this? They're like, yeah, you actually can if you want to.

And that's I think what we love too is that. They were, they've been evolving.

Yeah.

With their hosts. And like listening to what we have to say. And I, that was really why we wanted to even work with them Was that they're like, oh, well maybe we should change that feature. And then a few months would go by and that feature would get implemented.

Yeah.

And we're like, oh my gosh. Like, this is so cool. This does not happen. With anybody else.

Yeah.

And, and it was really cool that they would listen and then implement those features.

And were you, as far as like just taking the reservation, the processing, we just see so many hosts. That they, the, they have some like giant fear around direct booking in general. What, how, what, what has your experience been with, with that, you being the, the pro, you know, you being the merchant on record, you being the person solely in charge of the reservation. How has that fear dissipated over over time?

Still there.

I was gonna say it's okay. I think there.

That's fair.

Just because the verification on Airbnb has gotten so in VRBO has gotten so good. Like we only allow people to upload their ID. We only allow people, you know what I mean? Like there's filters. But the one thing that we found that deters like bad bookings versus good bookings on direct bookings is one, we have a $500 damage deposit. So if somebody's not willing to put up their credit card. Then they might,

they opt out.

They, they don't respond.

Okay.

Um, and then we also uh, require them to answer a question. So like, uh, so excited to potentially host you. Uh, how many people are in your reservation and what brings you to the area? Just simple.

Even if you booked and they said there's two people, like, we want you to answer this question.

We don't allow direct bookings on our direct website. They have to request it.

Oh, yeah, you're right.

Gotcha. Okay. So they, that's a real, that's a good hot tip though for people, um, that have it. Because if someone A, I don't, I pay the deposit. It's coming back. Right. If I really wanna stay there and then,

because I know I'm not gonna mess anything up, right? Because if I do my bad, I'll pay for it.

Just like at the hotel, they're like, we need your credit card for incidental. You're like, okay. Like you, we never say no. Right? Which just like ingrained as a second, second reaction. And then the next part is if someone can't take the time to answer the one simple question where you're being extremely hospitable, then. Then A, yeah, it's a bot. It's someone trying to scam, it's someone trying to put out a ton of different reservations, see which one they actually get accepted first. So I think those, like those two right there have probably lights out. Been great for you. Just flushing through, like you said, potential maybe guess that you wouldn't want to have in your home.

Oh yeah. And the, we've literally only had one experience that was almost bad with the direct looking website. Do you wanna tell 'em about panty gate?

Did you say Panty gate?

Yes.

Yeah, we had a couple book over Valentine's Day. Oh, they came,

it was a direct booking

and they had asked for a discount and I don't remember if we ended up giving it, we may have given them like a 10% discount, which was our first red flag. And they came to the home and within the first 30 minutes they messaged us and said they found underwear under the bed or in the bed. I don't know.

It was under the bed.

Under the bed. And we were like, we were just there. We were just there. And our cleaners had sent us photos and we did we have her start sending photos after?

Well, no. So you,

yeah. Go for it.

I remember it very clearly 'cause it was traumatizing. No, we weren't there before, but it was the, they just messaged us and we were like going through the photos. Luckily the cleaner took a photo. From back in the room and you could see under the bed. And so we were like, after that we started having our cleaner send us photos under the bed too. Just in case. Um, but. We responded and we were like, hi there. Like, here's the photo of before you guys checked in. There's clearly nothing under the bed. So I don't know if they're yours. Like, we always want to assume the best, right?

Yes.

Put that on people. Um, and so we set it in a very nice way. No response. They just didn't respond. They finished their trip and they left.

Yeah. The picture, the proof got 'em.

Yeah. They wanted, they wanted more of a discount. Like,

Yeah, we're like, we're, what are we gonna do? This is on our own website, like we don't have anybody to back us up like we are the backup.

Right.

So that was like a little scary, but we made it through and,

and so if you have all these like little things in place, like asking the question, making sure your cleaner's keeping good records, like

And the damage deposit. I feel like we've, I, I have a little bit more ease when we get direct bookings now. Yeah.

Discounts. Let's go back to that really quick. How do you deal with guests wanting to, to ask for a discount?

It's very rare that we do it.

Okay.

If they, we've had instances where people are like, I can't, we can't make it the whole day, but we don't wanna pay the full day. Like, like they can't stay the night before they, but they want to get in at 7:00 AM.

Uhhuh.

They wanna a half day stay, essentially.

Yeah. Like obviously we'll give you like half the rate for that. Um, yeah, there's, I just, every time we've done it, it's. If you give an inch, they'll take a mile.

Right? Right.

We try and avoid it. We just say, I'm so sorry at this time, like, our prices are competitive. Like,

yeah, I was gonna say

we'd be happy to host you at the, at this rate.

Great. I, I, 'cause I, I know the hosts, they feel like, again, wanna be hospitality focused. And so they kind of just like freeze up when they get that, um, that ask for a discount. And I tell Sarah gets so, um, mortified, embarrassing me, but I ask for, I always negotiate prices like everywhere, but, I'm not mad if someone says no. Like, it's just, it's part of like what I have to do, like as a, like negotiator, salesperson every day. And if I, like, if someone says no, I still end up paying like full price. I'm not mad. It's more of me scratching my itch of like, okay, I tried and I still book full price. I don't run the other way. And if, if that was a, a red flag, you know, and I'm just hopping around asking for discounts, that's one thing. But I feel confident in like, no, I still go with them, but I, I ask. So I wanna let everybody know listening that there's a ton of me out there that just try. So you can say no. And a lot of times nine out 10, they're still gonna book anyways.

Agreed. Yes.

Right.

Yes. They're usually the people that are like you, that people, they're not trying to hurt your property. They're not gonna nickel and dime you on different things and all.

Seeing if you don't ask the answer's always no.

Yeah, exactly.

But also we found that like if you do accept that discount. And you like, okay, I'm still getting that $150. Or like, even though I gave 'em a discount or whatever it is, the lower nightly rate, like that person might cause damage. They might. Cause you know, that costs you more. Yeah. So like sometimes I'm like, this doesn't feel right and we have to trust our guts. Yeah. Like when, when you can tell, it's so weird how much information you can get just by the way somebody is speaking. Um, yeah.

Via a message.

Yeah, yeah.

Yeah. The message kind of says it all.

It comes through no matter where they're messaging, email, what have you.

You're like, you're coming to stay in my home. Like, how is this message? Like I, I think some, like there is a little communication breakdown. I know as hosts, like we get it a lot more, but it's very interesting. Yeah. How you can, like you said, go with your gut and I think that's what hosts don't every time we haven't went with our gut, we're like, oh my gosh, like it, it proved, proved us right, our gut, if we would've, if we would've went with it.

What are you guys most excited about in this new era of hosting? You know, COVIDs been over the gold rush of short-term rentals has kind of been over now for a year or so. I feel like 2025 is kind of a rough year. It, it's, it was in a, you know, election year and there's been some changes and so travel's been a little wonky, but

the fees are, the fees have changed.

The fees.

Airbnb's done a lot of changes, experiences, you know, just kind of a lot of whiplash.

But what are you excited about moving into the rest of the year and into next year?

I think I'm excited that I feel like the hype is gone. You know what I mean? Like, I feel like,

yeah.

Yes.

You know, the gold Rush, quote unquote, is over. I feel like the people that have stuck it out are going to be just fine.

Win, Yeah.

And win. Because like Michael said earlier, so many homes near us have been on the market for months.

We have, we have friends that,

and they're all Airbnbs

manage out here that we went to dinner with last night, and they were like, yeah, it's, it's like if you don't want to try and compete, like you're, you're out.

Yeah.

You will die. And so that's why we're like, okay. If we can at least cover our bases during the summer 'cause the summer's a slow month. We're like, if we can at least cover our bases during the summer, it's a big, it's this like, and we're like, we'll take it as long as, you know, we need to reinvest and get a pool. 'Cause that's what everybody's doing now. But, the local contractors know they can charge a premium now. So like I'm

wait it out a little bit.

I'm excited. I'm excited for the hype to die down, I think.

Yeah.

Well, and just since uh, you know, interest rates changed, people know this is more, it is not like passive income, it's very active. Um, we're excited about it too because it is just like the cream is gonna rise to the top and the, the guests know that the platforms are gonna know it, your repeat guests. So it's going to be, I think, a fun time to let the other things, like, we don't wish anybody ill will, but like, they just realize like, wait, this isn't my wealth building strategy, you know, this isn't the game that they want to be involved in. So we're excited. We're actually most excited for guests, you know, 'cause I think guests, guests fell victim to a lot of that gold rush. There were so many arbitrages out there, you know, just throwing furniture in places and trying to get, um, quick, quick cash. So I think it's such a great thing for the guests and the industry overall because you do have to take it to the next level and that's gonna help all of us plus, plus more guests coming to stay with us now that that gold rush era and people just getting in for the get rich quick have hopefully gone.

I think you're still right.

Yeah.

Like from the guest perspective 'cause we, we stay at Airbnb's all the time when we travel. In the spring we stayed at Treehouse Airbnbs and like, no, never in a million years would my parents be able to like go and just stay at like a random treehouse in the like by the coast that somebody just built. You know, like they would never know about that. And I think that we're entering this era, era where the best properties win. And they will continue to win. And for the guest, you're going to get the best experience because it has to be great reviews, amenities, clean, all that stuff. So yeah. You're, you're so right about that.

It's so baseline. So do you guys want more short term rentals?

We do, yeah.

We almost,

like the people. You, what'd you say? You almost bought one.

We, well,

Let the market. Let that market cool. Right? Everybody know. Have you been talking to everyone in your area?

We're watching it.

We're always watching.

We're always watching it. It's definitely, but with a baby coming in the next like month, we're like, Ooh, is this too much to handle all at the same time? So we're definitely keeping our eye on it. We wanna do it. It's a big undertaking. Um, and especially we work, we work like I work full time. Remotely, and she works part-time. So it's not like this is our like only thing, um, on top of the YouTube channel that we have.

Yeah.

You guys are busy. Oh my gosh. Wow. That's a lot. If you bought, would it be in Joshua Tree or would it be somewhere else? What's that conversation?

It would be in Joshua Tree.

Yeah.

At least for the second one, just because we'd need it to be close.

We know it so well. The permitting is still relatively open. Um, the prices are good. We could refinance if interest rates drop, and it would be, it would help the bottom line like.

We have a team.

All of the other places because we wanna be able to drive to it. And all of the other places surrounding LA is like, you can't, the, the permitting process is too hard.

Strict. Yeah. So probably buy out here again.

But it would have to be something super unique and do, we would have to do something super creative.

Yeah.

Would you want to buy one that's already a short-term rental, or would you want to add.

We were looking at some width that like is a failed short term rental, but we're like, if X, Y, and Z were done to it, it could have been great.

Right. But we love putting our touch on the house, like.

Yeah.

And finding those unique features, like you were saying. Um, and to be able to elevate them to our like standard or what we would want them to be, we definitely would want to be able to DIY something.

Yeah. So not, not a hundred percent done. But like. If the basics were there, if there was already a hot tub, if like the floors and bathrooms had already been redone, they just needed like better fixtures.

I'm sure you've been asked. If you haven't, you will, would you ever co-host?

We did, airbnb reached out to us and we were like, would you co-host? And just with our time and everything, I, I want everything that we do. I wanna be able to give like our whole,

I love that.

And so I never wanna promise something and never be able to deliver. Not deliver.

Yeah.

So that's the only reason we haven't, but it would be like, let's say tomorrow, like, I got fired or let go or whatever. Like it could be something fun to do.

Right.

Is it lucrative?

Yeah.

It's very lucrative. But it's a very hard job.

Yeah. But it's property, you know, it's, it's, it's your property times however many you wanna take on. So it's, we say it's part-time, but all the time. Right. Every hour. Right.

Things you have to deal with. Like our friends, like we were saying last night, they were telling us some stories. Oh man.

A photo they showed us that they found in a drawer. Yeah. A photo of something they found in a drawer.

Yeah, they could write a book.

They could write a book.

I'm sure we all can.

But we, this is what, this is the message I wanna share though. We could all write a book about the awesome guests that you were like, did they even stay? Like they're, they left no crumbs. They left nothing. You know, that's the thing,

I never heard from him.

Yeah. Like, oh, I guess they checked in. I guess they checked out. They had a great time.

And I could also write a horror story of, I used to be, I was on the east coast doing musical theater. I could write a story about that life. I could write a story about my life in restaurants. I could write a story about my life in hotels, like every industry has its unique human beings that we can tell stories about. So it's just like, choose your heart, choose the industry you are passionate about, and there are going to be crazy, crazy moments. You'll work through them. And then you'll write a system on how to work through them better next time.

Well, and you move on well, but the best part about short-term rentals is you still have an asset. At the end of the day, you do those other things. You just leave and it's like, poof. Gone,

Ew.

And you've got your dirt and you've got your, you've got your home, which is the next level that I think people, um, especially again, when we're talking numbers, when we're talking return on investment, there are so many other places to look at profit besides just that monthly cash flow. So, um, where we've talked about it a lot, but where can our listeners learn more? Like, see you more, hang out with you more and watch behind the scenes like you mentioned.

Yeah, we, um, have our YouTube channel. It's called Just Kristen and Michael. And then we have our Instagram, Kristen and Michael Underscores.

That's, that's about it. But,

We'll, we'll make sure to link to your direct booking site too. So if you are ever in the Joshua Tree area specifically, if you could try to stay in those, uh, shoulder seasons, they would appreciate and Monday through Wednesday. Oh, I'm just joking. But, or pay the higher, the higher nightly rate. But we'll put their direct booking, uh, site. In our show notes, their YouTube channel, and we just wanna thank you for documenting for other hosts, keeping it real, and honestly keeping it so real about the finances. I love sharing. Hey, you had to like, we, we say this like a lot of people don't wanna slow down to speed up. And you mentioned it like you had to move in with the parents, like save that cash to catapult you forward. And I think a lot of people want to let's talk about the highlight reels, and I like that you guys sharing the hot tub came later, a year and a half. You know, redoing those rooms came later and that honesty will help other people when they're at that, that, that moment where it's like, do I go in debt for this and like maybe not sleep at night or wait it out. We just really appreciate that.

And I think that's one thing that we try and do on our channel. And just because we're not experts at this, we've been learning with our audience and as we've been filming, like we've, Hey, we just experienced this. I had a, I had a friend ask me like, you know, you're putting that on YouTube, like if it failed, that would probably be good for your YouTube, right? And I was like, I was like, yeah, it actually would. But I found that sharing the process has actually helped me be accountable and show up.

Yeah.

And make sure that we take care. We have subscribers come and stay at our house and like up. I wanna make sure that the product keeps up with what we're presenting online. So it's really been a kick in the butt to make sure that we stay on it.

Yeah. Love it. I love that. Well, thank you both so much. With that, I am Sarah Karakaian.

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

Talk to you next time.