Andrea Bayer

Welcome to this episode of the Vacation Rental Success Podcast. This episode is brought to you by the Kind Sponsorship from OwnerRez, providing a powerful and flexible system for managing vacation rental properties. OwnerRez provides booking and maintenance management, payment scheduling and collection, as well as insightful reporting. OwnerRez will provide you with a long-term booking foundation that is scalable for your vacation rental business while fully managing your channel listings, but still focusing on your brand, your website, and your way of doing things. Listen into the mid-episode break where you will hear more about this internationally recognized leader in vacation rental software. For more information about OwnerRez, click the link in the description of this episode on your smart device. Let's get started. Here is your host, Heather Bayer.

Heather Bayer

Today I am talking to the one and only Tyann Marcink. She is the queen of guest experience for Touch Stay, the co-host of the Guest Cast Podcast, she's an industry leader and consultant. She's an author, a speaker, and also the owner and manager of two vacation rental brands, Branson Family Retreats and Missouri Haus. We've got a lot to talk about.

Heather Bayer

This is the Vacation Rental Success Podcast, keeping you up to date with news, views, information and resources in this rapidly changing short-term rental business. I'm your host, Heather Bayer, and with 25-years of experience in this industry, I'm making sure you know what's hot, what's not, what's new, and what will help make your business a success.

Heather Bayer

Well, hello and welcome to another episode of the Vacation Rental Success Podcast. This is your host, Heather Bayer, and this is another episode coming to you from the sunny shores of the Gulf Coast in Alabama. Hard to believe we've actually been down here for three and a half months now and I don't know where the time has gone. Only six-weeks or so before we start heading home to Ontario and we will leave here with a heavy heart.  But I will enjoy actually getting back to my audio studio and not having to haul everything out and set it up on the dining-table every time I want to do a recording. It really has worked well, but I think I'm going to quite enjoy being back in more of a permanent location for the summer.

Heather Bayer

So we've just been following the weather at home, which has been pretty ghastly. Very, very cold, very snowy, and just watched the news where it was showing people enjoying Winterlude, which is the winter festival that takes place in Ottawa in the first couple of weeks of February. And everybody's out there all bundled up, looking at ice carvings and going skating and enjoying the winter, which if you have to be there, then you have to get out and enjoy it. And then I just looked out of my window at the blue water behind me, thinking of the 2 hours I spent playing pickleball this morning and the hour I'm going to spend on the beach this afternoon and I thought, there is no contest. Anyway, enough of that. Today, I am so happy to have with me once again my good friend, Tyann Marcink.

Heather Bayer

Tyann's been on the show numerous times in the past and we've talked about all sorts of different things, because Tyann is a master of many things. She's a builder, she builds houses, or she project manages houses that she builds in Branson, Missouri.  She's done renovations and she is very, very active in the community. So I'm not going to go on any more about what she's done, because we're going to talk about this, but mainly today we're going to be talking about her start in the property management world, because beforehand Tyann's been managing all her own properties. And then, of course, it happened to her, what happens to many people, that somebody will come along and say, I see how well you're managing this property you own, can you manage mine as well? So her property management company is now growing and I want to discover how different that is for her, managing other people's properties alongside her own and get from her some of the things that are contributing to her success along the way. And I know we'll be talking a lot about guest experience and how she creates this wonderful end-to-end experience for everybody who comes to stay at her properties.  So let's move on over now to my interview with Tyann Marcink.

Heather Bayer

So I am delighted to have with me today the one and only Tyann Marcink, the Queen of Guest Experience from Touch Stay, photographer, website builder, house owner, property manager, absolutely everything.  The Queen of absolutely everything. Welcome. Thanks for joining me, Tyann. It's always lovely to speak with you.

Tyann Marcink

Thank you, Heather. I love coming on and chatting with you.

Heather Bayer

Well, I've always said that there's a few people in this world who have more than 24 hours in their day and you are definitely one of them. I don't know how you keep track of all the things that you do and still keep that wonderful smile on your face, because I've never seen you without it. And I and I'm sure Nat might say that there are occasions when the smile disappears, but I've never seen that.

Tyann Marcink

Yeah, yeah. I try not to let it disappear, but, you know, we're all human and it happens.

Heather Bayer

Well, we first met, for those who don't know you and don't know our history, we first met, I think it was 2012 or 2013?

Tyann Marcink

2013.  It's coming up ten years ago.

Heather Bayer

And it was a Home Away…. what did they call it at the time?  Was it Home Away Summit, they called it?

Tyann Marcink

I think so, yeah. I've got the book, the program.

Heather Bayer

You still have the program?

Tyann Marcink

Yes.

Heather Bayer

Well, that's where we first met and that's where, of course, we both met Matt Landau as well, and we were all there, I think, just about for the three of us, our first time really getting out there, getting on stage, and sharing what we knew with an audience. And I know for me, it was hugely daunting. I sometimes tease Matt about his presentation, but you just came across so polished.

Tyann Marcink

Thank you. Yes, I got to go to your presentation about the Moments of WOW. And I still remember that. And you talked about the gal in Costa Rica, and yeah, it was a very impactful presentation. You did it very well.

Heather Bayer

Well, there's been a lot going on in the ten years since we first met, so I'm going to put you on the spot here and ask you to give us the potted history of the last ten years of the queen of guest experience.

Tyann Marcink

Oh, gosh. Goodness. Okay.  So in the last ten years.  So up to 2013, I only had two properties, and it was a side business, it was a hobby, and I was raising three kids, and I was a stay-at-home mom. And I also had a line of children's room decor that I handmade and shipped out all over the world, and I had a line of sports fan artwork and all of that. Well, 2013, and then life changes. I go through a fire, and in the divorce, I received two properties that I did not want and also my vacation rentals. I was adamant, this is this is my part, and I did not want to let that go. So the two properties that I got, that were long-term rentals, I found out one had a drug dealer in it. So I had to move the drug dealer on to another place, turn that into the towns for short-term rental. Then I realized I had equity burning a hole in my pocket. So then I bought a bank, and this bank I rehabbed into the one and only place.

Heather Bayer

I've heard this story, and I love it when you say I bought a bank.

Tyann Marcink

I know, right?  Pause for effect. But I bought a bank where you can legally launder in the Ozarks. So the Ozark show came out afterwards, and I mean, the dad joke just fell into place, this is perfect. So I did that, and essentially because of my realtor. She started bringing me folks for that brand of properties, and I started a small property management company called Missouri Haus – the German spelling based off my German heritage. And then I decided to start what we call ‘trading new' in our family. So we would sell our older vacation rentals and build newer ones. And so my mom's done this, my brother's done this. Long story short, if you guys look back at my history, I'm in direct competition with my family. It's so much fun. Makes for great holiday dinners. And we've all got our own support group in this little bubble. So it's really awesome. So we started trading new and at that point I realized the money wasn't working that well for me, obviously in the long-term rentals and the small short-term rental I had and then my other properties. So I started selling them to build new.

Tyann Marcink

And when I sold one of my first ones to someone who wanted me to continue managing it for them, that started my property management company in Branson. Then I started growing that property management company also. So now I have two brands of vacation rentals, both of them in Missouri, hired our son-in-law….. Well, I guess in the meantime, I also  remarried, to Nat in Scotland; an ‘eloped picture' was in Conde Nast  Traveler, it was amazing. And then I asked Nat to quit his job of 25 years in the IT corporate world. And he then started to work for me…. with me. He was helping me with that. This past summer, we hired our son-in-law to be general manager of one of the brands so we could focus on Branson, and then I've hired Nat's daughter – I call my bonus daughter – as a personal assistant just a month or two ago to help me with that. And yeah, it's a lot.

Heather Bayer

I love the fact that there's a family aspect to all this, I see your pictures that you post on Facebook at festive times and your family is just massive and everybody gets together. But of course, you've got these massive properties with 14-15 bedrooms where you can all get together and have this great family time. But I love the fact that you're hiring within the family and keeping it all at home; it's lovely.

Tyann Marcink

Yes, it's a family business. It's a local business. It's limited edition, as Matt [Landau] taught…. started teaching years ago. And what we do is we call ourselves 'boutique' and we curate our properties. And I think that's what you want to talk about also is curating those properties.

Heather Bayer

Well, this is it. There's so much we could talk about in this episode, and in fact, I will put links to the other episodes we've done. We did one about building houses and that was a lot of fun. And I think way back, we did one on photography, and that's still as relevant today as it was as it was then. But today we're talking about the property management side of it, because to a degree, you're later coming into the property management world having spent all the time on your own properties, the building, the renovations. You've already mentioned how you got started with selling a property to somebody who wanted you to continue to manage it for them, which is fantastic. But how do you go about now finding new owners? How do you look for the best?

Tyann Marcink

Yes, so one different thing we do is we don't go looking for new owners. We decided very early on that we wanted to be referral based versus going out and trying to get anybody and everybody. And I think part of that thing is the fact that we are in the spot of our life where we don't have to have these new properties. We can walk away and we can say no, actually a ton more than we say yes. If you just look at our property count, it's like, “Oh, you don't have very many”, but that's because we say no to so many people. And one thing we did was we decided there were non-negotiables, that if we were going to take on a property, there were non-negotiables of what this property had to have or could not have, and processes that had to be followed no matter what. And a homeowner, if they decided we don't want to stay within that, that's cool. That's no problem. We don't have to have this property on our program. And what we've found is that by narrowing down who we want, and how we want to work, and having that decade of knowing what processes do work and where our niche is, and who our target guest is, has really, really helped us figure that out.

Tyann Marcink

And that way we know we can drive for the revenue for both us and our homeowner clients. So when someone comes and calls us up and says, hey, so and so referred us, we're looking at your property management. Can you tell us more about it? And then we start going through the non-negotiables and we tell them after they get past that, we say, if you're going to call us back because we don't call you back, the next step is an interview. And you're not just interviewing us, we're interviewing you, because we are working as partners. We're serving you, we're also serving our guests. And if you and I don't have the same line-up of how this business is going to be run and how we're going to work together, we're both going to be miserable. And there's not enough hours in the day to have miserable clients, whether that's us or them.

Heather Bayer

Yeah, it's interesting how you've entered this, because you've skipped right over the step that most property managers go through.  I went through through it – at the very outset you take on anything and everything because you want to grow your inventory.  You're coming at it with a very different approach and it is very refreshing. Can you share with us some of these non-negotiables?

Tyann Marcink

Yes, absolutely. So we decided what our service area would be, and if the property is outside that service area, then it's an immediate no. And the reason we decided on a very specific service area and miles out from it is because we do have a very small team. And if our team cannot handle outside that service area, the drive time especially, then it's going to put stress on the entire operation. We contract-out our cleaning, our maintenance. We do have boots on the ground, but we want to be able to have enough time to take care of all the properties, because we tell the homeowner clients, “I am taking on your property, and I will treat it as my own property”. Obviously, only the homeowner will have the most love for that property, period. But I want to be second to that and treat it just as if I own it as well. So that's the first non-negotiable, it has to be within our service area. Two, it has to be dog-friendly. Now, we have made one single exception, and that is a property we're onboarding in this next month. Everything else they fit, they were fine with.

Tyann Marcink

And the reason for not being able to have dogs is because their son is highly, highly allergic. And we felt, okay, we're big enough. We have enough properties now that I'm okay with having one property that is absolutely zero pets, zero dogs, to save it for those families who need that type of property. Because our mission is to serve families, no matter how your family is made up, and serve all the different things, like your wheelchair accessible – yes, let's make sure you can enter the property. You have dogs in your family, let's do the dogs. But we were totally missing being able to serve those families that could not have pets anywhere near the house. So it's like, okay, this house is for that. So that was non- negotiable number two. Third one is absolutely zero bunk beds. We will not do bunk beds. And people, they're like, what? Don't you want heads in beds? And don't all the little kids want to do bunk beds? And isn't that the whole dream of having a big family vacation is this room full of cousins in bunk beds? It's like, okay, yes, but no.

Tyann Marcink

So, one, I don't want to be tied to the family memory of someone…. so cousin George fell out of the bunk bed and had to go to the emergency room because he's got a broken arm. That's not the type of family memories we want our families to make. Also our cleaners, I want to keep them happy, and cleaners hate making bunk beds. So if I can take that one stress away and then they're happier working with us, I am totally all for that. The other thing with bunk beds, when you look at them, and Justin Ford, ‘Mr Safety', will tell you this – you have to pay attention to weight the limits of bunk beds. So your average bunk bed generally is a twin-size bed and can only handle, what, 125lbs or so? So you have now just narrowed down your bunk room to kids between the ages of what, six years and ten years-old, because some kids, once they get past ten, like my sons, they can't fit in a twin bed. They're too tall for that. They need a bigger bed. So if you're going to have a house that sleeps 30 and twelve of them are bunk beds, are you really going to have twelve kids between the ages of six and ten as part of that group?  Probably not. So instead we go for sofa sleepers or fold-down futons as those extra bedding. I know folks who do custom-made bunk beds that do fit better weight limits made for adults. They're bigger beds, lower on the top for the cleaners. So there are those outlying bunk beds that do work for situations, but your average bunk bed were, no, absolutely not. We had a homeowner client this last summer – really, really wants us, and I said, well, you've got to take out the bunk beds. So he had to completely redo two bedrooms and remove the bunk beds so that we could take them on.

Heather Bayer

You know my story of bunk beds?

Tyann Marcink

I do.

Heather Bayer

Separated out the bunk beds to please my cleaner, because she said, I can't do the bunk beds anymore, so separated it out and then failed to tell the guest who was coming with the kid who was desperate to stay in the top bunk. Never forgot that one. So those don't seem too onerous, those non-negotiables. Are there any more that might weed out more people?

Tyann Marcink

We make them use our linens, so they have to do our linens. But no, I mean, they're not onerous at all. It's just the fact that these are the things a lot of people don't think about. And when they go and set up a vacation rental, they they're trying to do what everybody else is doing and they think, oh, gosh, no dogs, they're going to tear up our place.  Or we need lots of beds for heads, so we're going to do bunk beds.  Or, oh gosh, there's a really good deal on that lake property, let's go snag it. Now we've got to find a property manager and, oh wait, they might not even service that area. So there's those different things. They're not onerous at all, it's just those are what we've decided. You have to get past these things first, and that has actually weeded out a lot of folks, more than I thought would happen, but yeah, well.

Heather Bayer

It's clearly working for you, but let's just talk about the relationships, because I know from my experience that we could have the most beautiful place that met all our criteria. But for me, if the relationship with the owner was off, or you get that gut-feeling and you think, this isn't going to work, that was always our non-negotiable. It's a very even relationship as far as we were concerned. How do you feel about the relationships you have with your owners?

Tyann Marcink

So our current homeowners are fabulous, so much so that we are doubling in size because they're all building a new property and they're the ones who send us the most referrals as well. And it goes back to the interview too. So when we do the interview, Nat and I decided it has to be both of us interviewing the homeowner, because if it's just one of us, we might miss out on a red warning flag. Like, this would not be a good relationship with the homeowner. So we've decided both of us have to be on that interview. And if one of us has a gut-feeling of ‘this is not going to be good', it's like, no, we don't think we're a great fit, but here are five other numbers of local property managers, why don't you go talk to them and see if they'd be a better fit for you? We have absolutely zero problem referring out to these folks, because there's so many good property managers. And to us, we're not really competing, it's like, okay, let's serve the industry, let's serve the guests, let's serve these investors and homeowners together in some way.

Tyann Marcink

Honestly, on that point, especially since this episode is coming out next week before VRMA – a little plug for VRMA – I'm doing a panel on VRMA. It's about retaining those homeowner relationships, and I'm moderating the panel, and the panelists I've chosen are two of my fellow property managers from Branson. So I'm so excited that everybody will get to see us three out there talking about that.

Heather Bayer

Yes, owner retention to me was, all the time I was in that business, probably the primary task, was once you've got that owner, you want to keep them and you want to keep them happy. You want that happy relationship. And I have to say, over 20 years, we lost very, very few, less than a handful of owners that went because we fell out with them. I will never forget having to say goodbye to owners who were our top performing owners. Their property was absolutely way above the rest, but the relationship was not working. The relationship just didn't work. The actual time spent talking with those owners and actually steering them away from knocking on the door of their home to check on their guests on a daily basis, that was taking up a lot of our time. So sometimes these things happen, and actually it didn't affect our bottom line really, once they'd gone, because others came along and the time that we'd spent on them was then freed up to nurture others. Taking this onto the next stage, you've taken on a new owner – what happens in your onboarding process?  What do you do to ensure that what you've started with at the interview stage carries on smoothly and everything falls into place?

Tyann Marcink

So we ask them a lot of questions, obviously, about the location of the property, the setup of the property. We'll do a walk-through of the property as well, and then figure out ideas if things need to be changed. We're onboarding three properties over this next month, and these are all new clients as well, which is fabulous. And in Branson, the great thing is you're usually getting them at the build stage. So I've been working very closely with their interior designer to figure out, okay, what is it that's going into the house?  What's the floor plan?  How are you setting it up? And then we work with the homeowner to make sure we get a name that fits, that they like, and that we feel will do really well with marketing. And then we start writing things up. And I always try to get the property up on the listing sites and start taking bookings so that by the time it's 100% open, that we've already got bookings in place for them and it's starting to cash flow for them.

Tyann Marcink

It used to be easier when there was less competition to be able to do that, but with the competition now, it's closer and closer to opening date before people put their money down, which I totally get that.  Totally understandable. But we do a little pre-construction discount of 2% to try to bump those bookings in early. But yeah, so then once we know when we can get into the house, that's when the whole linens start. And as you know, Heather, the linens are a logistical dream or nightmare, depending upon how organized you are. So last weekend, Nat and I spent the time to make sure all the linens are ready to go and to be moved over to the house once we can get in.  We tell our homeowners, “We get the supply closet. You don't touch the supply closet. We will set up the supply closet. This is our domain, you must not touch it.” And then we'll make sure all the linens get dispersed correctly. The closet is set up the way that we need it for our team, and then I start pictures. Now we don't wait until everything is 100% good. We do ‘progress pictures'. So, like I said, I want to get those bookings in place. So sometimes a room is not set up yet and I'll go ahead and do photos. So right now I've got a house – you see the outside; that's it, and it says, “Coming Soon”.  Furniture moves in this Thursday, and then I'll get some pictures and get them up there. If you go back and listen to the photography episode we did several years ago, I most likely told people the most important part of the camera is the twelve inches behind it. So I am fully there that if you have someone who knows how to use the camera and they can take good photos with their phone. So get those progress photos before you get your professional photographer in there for the final photos and then just try not to get overwhelmed, you know, because there's there's so much that goes on.

Heather Bayer

I think we should just let people know the size of these properties in Branson.

Tyann Marcink

Yes.

Heather Bayer

Okay. Yeah.

Tyann Marcink

So the one we're setting up is five bedrooms. It's one of our smaller ones, and my goal is to have it done in three days. I know a lot of people say, oh, my gosh, only three days. It's like, well, the organization and the teamwork is what helps with this. Our biggest one is ten bedrooms, and the smallest we'll go is four bedrooms. So that's another non-negotiable, Heather, is we don't go any smaller than four bedrooms. The only reason I would take a smaller one is if it's a current client and it is in the same property development neighborhood as our others, so that it could be an overflow of when somebody needs to add on a house. That would be the only reason I'd take something smaller. Also, we don't do condos; that is a non-negotiable, no condos. So if somebody says, hey, like for this current client we're setting up after this – the second one – he came to me and said, I've got a five bedroom, my friend's got a five bedroom, and my parents have a three bedroom condo. Will you take us all on? I said, well, one, the conversation's with you about your house, your friend – his house – is a conversation with him and your parents…. I'm sorry, but we don't do that. Even though it's in the same community, it's a condo; however, you can call my sister. And so I hand over my sister's phone number, and now it's on her to land the client.

Heather Bayer

This of course is Branson that we're talking about. Branson is a destination for groups, and that's why there are so many large homes. I mean, we've discussed this in a previous podcast, and I've actually been to Branson. I've seen these massive, massive homes, and it's been a few years now, but there was definitely a lot of building going on at that time, and I gather it's just still growing.

Tyann Marcink

It is, I want to say, like 200-ish homes being built in 2023 alone. It's an area that was always a hidden gem. And my family, we always said once the investors find it, it's going to explode. And during COVID the investors found it. There's Investor Groups coming in, all kinds of stuff going on, but it's also an area that does have some good regulations. So they had already put into place, you know, how things are zoned and what you need to do to get a permit and things like that. And then the other reason we stay within these purpose-built neighborhoods is because these developers, they have gone into the county and the city and gotten all those permits in place.  They actually sell the homes as ‘this is pre-permitted', ‘this is rental-ready'. This is a vacation rental neighborhood and then it's purpose built for that, for being a nightly rental.

Heather Bayer

Yes, this is pretty unique of course, the same perhaps in Orlando that there are communities that are dedicated to vacation rentals, which does make it easier for somebody to come in and buy and then start renting out. But let's talk a little bit about Branson itself and marketing. You said the investors have found it. How do you work at getting your guests to find it?

Tyann Marcink

So one of the things I love about the Branson market is their Chamber of Commerce, their DMO [Destination Marketing Organisation] has a multi-million dollar budget to get the people to come to the area. And it's a multi-million dollar budget just for large groups as well. They go out and say, hey, have your family reunion here. Hey, we have a state-of-the-art Little League Baseball facility for tournaments. Come have your baseball tournaments here, come have your volleyball tournaments here. They're building a pickleball tournament facility now, Heather. And the town is literally built for our target guests, which I love it. And then they tell us, when you're part of the DMO, the Chamber of Commerce, they tell you, this is who we're targeting this year. This is what we're doing. This is the number of folks coming in. And when you're able to align with your DMO, your Chamber of Commerce, it is incredible. So then you also have your database of past guests and then the word-of-mouth referrals. And they tell folks and it's just one of those things that you have a base and it keeps building and building and building and building.

Tyann Marcink

The other thing I tell folks to look at is your state Chamber of Commerce, CMO [Chief Marketing Officer], your tourism marketing there. Look at what data your state is doing. Look at where your state is going to be advertising for folks to come into the state, period. So there's all those different levels in the United States for tourism and marketing. And you can take a hold of that and then you know where you can then target your marketing to. So, for instance, if I felt like I wanted to target a specific area for Branson Family Retreats guests, for new guests, what I would look at for, like, Facebook advertising or Google pay per click, not just my normal keywords. But I know after talking to the Chamber of Commerce in the state, that we're targeting Dallas-Fort Worth folks in this next year, So if I wanted to add to the state and Branson's clout, then I would be target marketing them also to try to get them to me specifically. So there's just different things you can do with the information that you can find out that's publicly available and just ask a few questions.

Heather Bayer

Yes, and I think it's important to point out, when anybody is out there looking at starting up a business like this, is to communicate with your tourism office or DMO or whatever you've got, because these people are in the business of bringing traffic into that area. So use them. Get involved. And I know that you're involved with your Chamber of Commerce, very involved with the community, and I know how important that is to you. So just important to get out there and seek out the tourism authorities because you can all work for each other, right?

Tyann Marcink

Exactly. Yes. I mean, and that's what the tourism authorities are there for specifically, is to promote the area and their members. So join the Chamber/ DMO, give them your money, show up at the lunches and network and talk to people, and stay top of mind. When someone says, oh yeah, we do want to go [to Branson]….. Our chamber, they know we have the large houses, and I'll get an email saying, hey, we've just told this person who called us that you might have what they need. Here's their phone number, and here's their dates, and here's their info. And then we give them a call because people are calling the Chamber of Commerce, the DMOs, they're calling them specifically. They're not all out there looking at OTAs or doing random Google searches. They're going directly to the DMOs/Chambers of Commerce, who are the authority on tourism in the area.

Heather Bayer

Yes, that is great. Tyann, you've got all these businesses, we haven't really touched on the operations of them. You've mentioned you have your cleaning teams and your maintenance teams. You also talked about linens, but we haven't talked about how you deal with the linens. I have visions of Andy Meddick when he was running Sea Change Vacation Rentals and showing his pictures of his laundry store and his van on a Saturday, which was absolutely packed with bags of linens. So I want to talk about that a little bit. How do you manage all your businesses? What tools do you use? What makes it all hang together for you?

Tyann Marcink

So we have a very, I would say, a small tech-stack compared to what you can really do. We try to keep things simple. The KISS method. Keep it simple, stupid, silly, Sarah, Sue, I don't know, whatever you want to say, and look for ‘best of class' and things that are working in operations. I generally have tried to hand that to Nat; that's his domain.  Partly because we found that working as a couple, if we each have our domain, then it works better for life and relationships as well. We've got our property management software. We use OwnerRez. I started with them five years ago, so when I chose them, they fit all the criteria that I needed. I know in those five years there's tons of PMSs that have come out since then, or the ones that were there, they've increased their features dramatically. So whenever someone asks me what PMS do you use? I tell them I love OwnerRez, I absolutely adore them. But I also want to say look at what features you need to be the strongest for your business, because we all run our businesses a little bit differently.

Tyann Marcink

So you need to find a PMS that hits those strong features that you need, that are most important to you, and then also make sure that your brain can understand how it all works. Because if you can't understand how it works, you're going to be miserable. And then any features that aren't quite as important to you, then if you pick a PMS that your unimportant features are their strengths, that's not a good fit either. So make your rows of features of ‘This is what I really need the system to do. This is what it would be great if it did, and I can live with it if they can't do these. Exactly. So, for example, OwnerRez at this moment, because I know they're working on it, Vrbo messaging is not within their inbox. It's not a unified inbox truly, but they're working on that. I think it's a Vrbo issue, not an OwnerRez issue. But I can live with that. That's not a big deal because they are very strong in the communications department and what I need for my owner reporting, so that's one of the reasons that I still stick with them.

Tyann Marcink

My second piece of tech-stack that I just could not live without would be the Touch Stay Digital Guidebooks, and I am a consultant – I do work for them also.  But as a property manager, I would still choose them, and they are a core piece of my whole entire communication flow. And that is super important to me is the communication flow between the time of booking, through arrival and through departure. And anyone who says, I'm looking for a digital guidebook, it's like, yes you have, again, lots of choices to look at, so you have to find the one that's best for you. A lot of folks say, well, I'll just start with a Canva one. It's like, that's cool, and when you're ready to upgrade, give me a call and we'll talk about it. Because having a digital guidebook and communication flow that answers the questions before your guest even asks them, where you're anticipating, and that proactive communication, it gives that wow feeling, as Heather you've talked about, it gives that warmth and the caring. And my guests have said, we haven't even arrived at your house and we're ready to give you five stars before we set foot. They're like, this journey between booking and through today and we haven't arrived yet has been so tremendous that we know our stay with you is going to be fabulous.  And I just love that and I think that's definitely a big part of our success.

Heather Bayer

Well, I think if we were to do a poll amongst the entire audience listening to this, and over the course of two weeks it's going to be 2,000+ people and ask them how many communications they have with their guests between the time of booking and the time of arrival. I think there might be quite the silence in terms of, you know, what actually happens. And I know and for the last half-dozen places I've stayed at in the last six or eight months, I've had zero communication between booking and maybe a few days before when they deem it okay to send me the address. Nothing! And I've been to places that I really wanted to find out about. I went to the Black Forest in Germany and I went to Miami for the first time – that was a big one. I went to Miami for the Book Direct Show and I even dropped the breadcrumb in the initial inquiry and I said, hey, I'm coming to the Book Direct Show, I'm speaking and I've never been to Miami before and I'm really looking forward to it.

Heather Bayer

Absolutely zero communication between that booking, and I actually had to contact them three times before I left because they hadn't given me any information on checking-in. That apparently only comes 24-hours beforehand. So I arrived knowing absolutely nothing about where I was staying and where the nearest grocery store was and where I could go out to eat. It was such a missed opportunity, and I know you pride yourself on doing this and on having the people arrive wanting to give you five stars before they get there.

Heather Bayer

I just also wanted to touch on the actual, I know Nat does it, but the actual operations. Do you use any tools to help you when somebody has a problem or an issue? How is that handled? How is that recorded?

Tyann Marcink

So we have a….. well, it's called Grasshopper. That is how our communication tool is. So it's an app where phone calls and text messages route through it. So once the guests arrive yeah, they've gotten the auto text through Touch Stay, pushing information. But also after they arrive, Nat will call them or Nick on the Missouri Haus side, he'll text the guests through Grasshopper and it lands into the guest regular SMS inbox or regular phone so they're not having to do anything different. It's just the Grasshopper app; all the team can see everything when there's an issue.  So Nick and Nat, they'll message, hey, let us know if anything comes up, we're here for you, enjoy your stay. And if the guest says, like this weekend, we can't get the fireplace to work, what do we need to do? And it comes in, and then all of us can see it right away, so someone can grab it and take care of the guest, and maybe they go over there and help.  That's what happened this weekend, Nat ran over there to make sure it wasn't an issue when it ended up being ‘user error', which that happens a lot too.

Tyann Marcink

That's our main thing with that, because we are so small, we're able to do that. I know if you're a larger property manager and you do get a lot of issues or phone calls that come in, you've got to do something different. And one of the reasons I feel like we don't get a ton of issues is because we do so much proactive communication. We've got videos on how to use things in the guidebook, and we're always able to push folks back that way again, so again, it's being proactive versus being reactive. We're super heavy on the proactive.

Heather Bayer

Yes, and it shows doesn't it?  When you spend the time on the preparation for guests arriving and making sure everything is perfect for them. Yes, of course, you'll have the user error stuff, people who can't get in because they don't know how to use a lockbox, but of course, your Touch Stay app has…. we had a Schlage lock for our doors and in our guidebook, it had a video of how to work these locks, because even I got confused when we first got one and I thought, I'm not quite sure, it's not intuitive – so little [how-to] videos. So yes, and you know I fully endorse these guidebooks. We used them for CottageLink Rental Management. They're still using them. And so many other companies are climbing on this bandwagon now and appreciating the need for digital guidebooks of any nature.

Heather Bayer

So we're sort of coming up on our time now, Tyann, which always happens, it comes up far too quickly. But I wanted to talk to you about community involvement before we finish, because I know you are very involved with your community and it's important for you personally and for you, and to give back to the community because it means so much to you.  Can you share what it is that you support and why it's important that all property managers should be thinking about getting involved in their community and giving back?

Tyann Marcink

So our big thing that we support is the Franklin County CASA program, and CASA is the Court Appointed Special Advocates. These are the special volunteers who stay with foster kids for the entire time a foster kid is within the system, and it's so important. Franklin County is our county where we live. A lot of counties across the United States have this program, but not all of them. So we serve two counties, actually, Franklin and Gasconade counties. And there's an office, there's a staff, we know a director, I serve on the board, so the director is boss with a bunch of other folks. And with CASA, you truly, truly are able to change a child's story. And the CASA volunteer is the one person with the foster kid that doesn't change the entire time they're in their system. So a child could be with different foster families, could have different judges, different guardian ad litem, different social services that visit them. But their CASA is the one constant in their life. And a case could be a year, it could be ten years – ten years is the extreme, of course. And to us, the family is the core of life. The family bonds, the family memories. I mean, our vacation homes are there to get a safe place for families to come together, make those memories, create those bonds.  And to us, where we can support other families, it all fits beautifully.

Tyann Marcink

Both of us come from large families. We know how important it is. So one of the ways we do that is a dollar per night of every single stay goes to CASA. That is, just every six months, I run how many nights were booked and we write a check out. But also in that, during the booking phase, our guests can choose to add a donation as well. So they could match it with a dollar per night, or they can match it as a dollar per person and they can add their donation to it as well. And then we have a link back to the CASA website if they want to give an even larger donation. We put this information into our guidebook, we put it into our website. In doing this, we have then rounded up to even a bigger sponsor level. And yes, we make sure publicly it's out there that we've supported. It's not to toot our own horn, but it's to show vacation rentals do have a place in the community. We're not just trying to make money off folks, we're providing a service, we are providing value to the folks coming to visit. But we're also giving back to our community in an extremely important way to break that cycle of when someone has trouble as a kid and the trauma that goes on when they get older, and if that cycle is not broken….. the horribleness that happens in our society….. So we want to help break that cycle for families to be healed again. So that's a big thing. We just were at the, what we call the ‘Justice is Served Breakfast Fundraiser' this past weekend, and the court judges serve breakfast to the attendees, which is super fun. So justice is served in more ways than one. And what was awesome was seeing one of the cakes – we do a whole live auction – one cake went for over $500.

Heather Bayer

I saw that.

Tyann Marcink

It's one of those things that like, okay, so why would someone pay that much money for a cake? Well, they're not. They're paying to donate and support a cause. And just having a live auction and having a fancy cake at the end is just literally ‘icing on the cake', and being able to support your community. So I try to encourage, no not just encourage, I challenge, this is a challenge out to everybody. Every property manager that's listening to this, no wait, every host, it doesn't matter if you're a property manager, choose a cause close to your heart and commit to it. A dollar per night, $2 per night, whatever it is. But that's not a whole lot to you. But I can tell you that – I think it's $1,200 a year – will help one child in foster care with the cost of the program. And so then I know if I give $5,000 this year, I am helping five kids in my community. And then also as a board of directors, I get to find volunteers. So just talking about CASA and getting that onto people's wavelength and knowing that's going on, then they can look at, wait, I can help kids, too.  I don't have the money right now, but I've got time and let me put my time to help kiddos also. So, yeah, thank you for letting me share my little soapbox about giving back.

Heather Bayer

Well, I think it's important. And I know that Matt Landau, this is something that's very dear to his heart as well. And I have talked to Bob Garner from Casal dei Fichi in Italy – and I've probably pronounced that wrong again – but he's another one who is so proactive about giving back to the community. I will put a link to the last episode I did with Bob on the Show Notes as well, because these are really good episodes.

Heather Bayer

Tyann, I know you are going to be out and about over the next few months, speaking at numerous events in different countries. Just give us a quick rundown of where people can come and see you speak.

Tyann Marcink

Yeah. So coming up in February, the end of the month is The Association of Lodging Professionals Annual Conference in Phoenix, Arizona. Then I'll go over to VRMA in Kansas City. I do have a couple of spots left for my Murder Mystery Lunch, the little private fringe event that I'm going to be running there, if anybody is interested in that, let me know. And then end of March is Nashville for the STR Wealth Conference. April is over to London for the Short-Stay Summit. There's also one – it's not officially announced yet so don't tell anybody that I said I'm also going to be at the Vacation Rental Design Conference for interior designers in North Carolina. So that'll be a good one.  May, Kate and Alice from Touch Stay, we are doing a half-day workshop called Everybody Talks as part of Short-Stay Week in Barcelona in May, that is going to be fabulous. So all about communication, not with just your guest, but also your team and also those others in the industry and influencers. So Alice comes from a background of working with influencers, so I'm super excited for her to be sharing her knowledge of that.  And then there's some other ones that aren't confirmed yet and then come back to Fall. I know I'm doing VRMA in Orlando. And then also the Vacation Rental World Summit in Barcelona, which is now in November.

Heather Bayer

So, yeah, crazy-busy lady.

Tyann Marcink

It's fun.

Heather Bayer

I will see you in Barcelona in May for the Short-Stay Week. Looking forward to that.

Heather Bayer

Tyann, you have a beautiful soul and a beautiful heart and you are perfect for this business and I'm so glad to know you. So glad that you are here for everybody in this business. It's been such a pleasure speaking with you once again.

Tyann Marcink

Thank you, Heather, I really appreciate it.

Heather Bayer

Thank you so much, Tyann, for joining me, as ever. Just such a great conversation with so much really terrific information to share. For anybody who is out there that is looking at starting a property management business, that certainly is the way to do it. I would have loved to have skipped that bit of taking on any property and every property until we got to the point where we started getting a little more discriminatory about who we were going to bring onto our management program, which we ultimately did. And to get to that point where you can say, no, we are not a good fit. When you do get to that point, you know you're doing things right. There's going to be a lot going into these Show Notes because I'm going to put the information on some of these events that Tyann will be at, some of them I will be at. But regardless, all great events, and if you have time in your calendar this year to go and do some networking, go and get some education, go and talk to some vendors, then I really strongly recommend that you take a look and see what's out there.

Heather Bayer

Don't discount the smaller events. I personally, I love the smaller ones because they are more personal. You get to network with a lot more people. I just enjoy the smaller ones, get to talk to some friends and sit down and learn new stuff. Because even after 20 years in this business, I'm learning new stuff every day. I mean, now everybody's talking about AI, ChatGPT, and all the other artificial intelligence platforms. That is what I'm going to be learning this year because I don't want things to pass me by. I have to say I'm using ChatGPT a lot at the moment to generate ideas for content. I'm currently writing a course for Vacation Rental Formula, which is all about content marketing and how you can create the best content for your website to attract so much more traffic to it. And I cover absolutely everything in that, from the types of content that you should be creating, to how to attract that traffic to the website, how to get people to click on your links. And in the course of that, I'm using ChatGPT to just generate some ideas. It's not writing the content for me, but it is helping me out and certainly within that course, I'm going to be telling you exactly how to do that.

Heather Bayer

So if you want more information on the Vacation Rental Formula Business School, then go to the link in the Show Notes and check out what we have available. We are growing our content all the time and we would love to have you on board. We'd love to have you come join us in the VRF Business School community. Come and chat, come and speak to some of the other students. I'm sure you're going to enjoy it.

Heather Bayer

Anyhow, that's it for another week. I think it's time I went out walking along the beach, got my feet in the sand and enjoyed some afternoon time off. So I hope you enjoyed this episode and learned a lot from it. Again, go to the Show Notes, lots of links in there to the things that we've been talking about and I will look forward to being with you again next week.

Andrea Bayer

This episode was brought to you by OwnerRez. For more information about this internationally recognized leader in Vacation Rental software, click the link in the description of this episode on your smart device, or head over to www.vacationrentalformula.com/ownerrez to find out more.

Heather Bayer

It's been a pleasure as ever being with you. If there's anything you'd like to comment on, then join the conversation on the Show Notes for the episode at www.vacationrentalformula.com. We'd love to hear from you and I look forward to being with you again next week.