Heather Bayer

Today, we are talking about luxury and what that actually means in 2023. How to create a luxury brand, even if you don't have multimillion dollar properties, and how to make them stand out in a crowded market. I'm talking with Dr. Rachel Gainsbrugh from Short Term Gems. She's the owner and manager of 18 luxury short-term rentals, and she's going to be sharing the new definition of luxury and how we can incorporate it into our businesses.

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 as ever, super delighted to be back with you once again. And if you're listening to this on the day of publication, I'm probably airborne at the moment, I'll be flying back from the UK after a short two week trip.

Heather Bayer

Well, it's a two week trip, whether it was short or not, I'm not sure, but it was a two week trip visiting family in the UK in Germany and spending time networking and presenting at the Short Stay Week in Barcelona. So I'll be reporting back next week with my best takeaways from that event. And I'll also be sharing my experiences from the four short-term rentals I stayed in during the trip. So you do not want to miss out on next week's show.

Heather Bayer

None of those properties I stayed in claimed to be luxury, but this is a term we are hearing more and more. So I wanted to explore the definition of luxury, what it actually means now, and has it changed since we thought of it as something perhaps out of our reach. We use the term in so many different ways at very different price points. For example, a hot bath. When I get back, I'll have been in the air, well, I've been in airports and in the air for 10 hours. I want a hot bath, and that's going to feel luxurious with the simple addition of some bubbles. That was three or four dollars for the bottle of bubble bath.

Heather Bayer

It would have been a luxury if I'd flown first class in the seven flights I've taken over the past two weeks. However, I also consider it a luxury to use my Nexus or Global Entry card if we're in the US, or to beat the crowds when I arrive at Toronto Airport. So I Googled, What does luxury mean to people? And I got some surprising results. And I'm going to be talking to my guest about those results in this episode, because the original definition has taken on a new meaning. Traditionally, it was something that's an indulgence rather than a necessity. Some of the synonyms for luxury are words like lavish, expensive, sumptuous; not really that relevant, I don't think, in today's world.

Heather Bayer

So let's bring in Dr. Rachel Gainsbrugh to share her ideas on the concept of luxury in today's short-term rental world. Rachel describes herself as a health care professional by day and a short-term rental investor by night. She owns and manages 18 luxury properties and is a sort after consultant by those who want to follow her lead and invest in homes that they can then assign a luxury brand. So without further ado, let's go on over to my interview with Rachel, where we talk about all things luxury.

Heather Bayer

I am super excited to have with me today Dr. Rachel Gainsbrugh from Short Term Gems. And we're going to be talking about luxury, because I've been binging a little bit on Rachel's podcast and she's been on a ton of other podcasts. And I'm crazy surprised that I haven't had you on the show before now, because you've been on everybody else's. So thank you for saving me to last.

Dr. Rachel Gainsbrugh

Thank you for having me, Heather. I just so appreciate all of the content that you have put out there over the years. Just some very helpful, heartwarming content. You're a household name. So for me, it's such an honor. I'm sitting with a celebrity, so that's a thank you.

Heather Bayer

Absolutely not. I'm the one that just sits here and listens to people and I just get so much amazing quality of information from everybody I speak to. And I know, having done a little bit of binging on your podcast, that I'm going to get the same from you. So particularly in this area that we're going to be touching on, which is the luxury market. So I said a little bit about you in the introduction, but I'd like to give you the opportunity to tell us about how you started in your investment journey and where it's taken you, because you've come a long way in a few short years. I've been doing this since 1998 and I don't think I'm as far along as you are now.

Dr. Rachel Gainsbrugh

Oh, my goodness. Yeah. So it's been quite a journey, Heather, to be honest with you. So with health care having massive shifts over the past several years, me and many other medical providers in the US are looking for a way really to cut back a bit on the ‘W-2' and get into something that not only can generate us some revenue, so that we can cut back on our hours a little bit, but something that we can enjoy as well. I went all in on short-term rentals in particular, because I felt as though it checked at least two of those boxes that I had formulated in my life. I wanted a little bit of time freedom. I wanted an asset that I can potentially enjoy with my family from time to time. Location independence is something that we explore with as well.

Dr. Rachel Gainsbrugh

For me, real estate investing, specifically luxury short-term real estate investing, falls squarely in the middle of all of that.  Within a few years, three years or so, we went all in on our first property and we quickly scaled to our second and we purchased our third. The rest is history, really.  Just being in the right rooms, being connected to the right people. The opportunities continued to make their way. Where it made sense, we said yes.

Heather Bayer

How many properties do you have under ownership and management now?

Dr. Rachel Gainsbrugh

Right now, there's a total of 22 properties, nine of which are under ownership. We actually leveraged a lease to lease model, like let to let for a few of them, about four of them or so, and then the rest are under management.

Heather Bayer

Wow. Is this mostly on Airbnb in a co-hosting arrangement?

Dr. Rachel Gainsbrugh

Yes, it is mostly under Airbnb; however, we do leverage a strategy where we have medium-term rentals and quite a few of them have gone direct booking. So they're on Airbnb but not leveraged significantly on Airbnb.

Heather Bayer

You've mentioned a couple of times ‘luxury', and that's what we're talking about. I was mentioning in the introduction that luxury to me was a hot bath after a long walk with the dog. But it took me back to 25 years ago when I first started in this business and I first started, in fact, using vacation rentals. And what people considered luxury then, particularly in our Ontario market, was having a roof over their head. They'd spent previous vacations, camping. So they camped because there really wasn't much else. And then they took their first vacation in a short-term rental cottage and experienced having a vacation with a roof over their head, a little TV in the corner with the rabbit's ears. Now, I'm sure that there's so many people who've never envisaged that, the sort that you can't sit in an armchair and operate from. But that was luxury. Having linens on the bed was luxury. Having a frypan at all, let alone a decent one, that was luxury.

Heather Bayer

And I know that it's not quite what we're going to be talking about today, because the whole concept of short-term rentals has changed so radically in the past 25 years, obviously.  But it's changing even more now. And what was considered to be luxury five years ago is not the same today. So how would you say luxury has changed?

Dr. Rachel Gainsbrugh

Actually, it speaks to something that just popped into my head, Heather. And this is, I think, where I really got my start. I remember staying at a short-term rental in a remote town in Florida by a little fisherman's cabin area. And it was quaint. It was absolutely lovely. But I thought to myself, Huh, I think I can do this. That's where the seed was planted. I know this is not the direction we were going, but it just popped up in my head. I've never mentioned this before, but that's where the seed was planted. I said, Oh, there are dishes here. Okay, I know where I can get some dishes. There are sheets. I know where I can get some sheets. I feel like I think I can do this, and I think I can do it even a little bit better. That's where the seed was planted, for sure. But there has been a transition. When we think of luxury, I mentioned to you a little bit earlier, lifestyle of the rich and famous, we see the gold toilets, just the opulence, and it's gaudy and it's luxurious. I like to say this isn't your grandmother's luxury.

Dr. Rachel Gainsbrugh

I used to watch that show and just thoroughly enjoyed it as a little girl. But modern luxury is different from traditional luxury where you're accumulating all of these things and it's just dripping with opulence. It's almost a bit cluttered, so to speak. Ever since the Industrial Revolution, now that we have transport and transit, if you purchase something, Heather, on Amazon, I can purchase the same and have it within a couple of days of each other. That removes the scarcity and the feeling of, Oh, well, you have status, more status than I do. That is no longer a barometer, or metric by which luxury is really measured.

Dr. Rachel Gainsbrugh

The modern luxury traveler is looking to accumulate, not things, but rather experiences. They want to accumulate unique experiences. They're interested in living like a local. They're interested in reconnecting with the party that they're traveling with, whether it's a partner, loved ones, a team. They're looking to reconnect with their party and they want to reconnect with nature. What I have is my three Cs of luxury, which is Connection, Communication, and Convenience. Those are the things, if we can check those boxes, we're very well on our way to curating a luxury experience for our guests.

Heather Bayer

I love that. Loved your story in particular about Florida. Let's just step back to that because that absolutely mirrors my origin story. And I came out from UK to Canada in 1998 and stayed in this old cabin, which did have running water, but the septic system was backed up and there were 12 of us. And it was an interesting experience, but that's how it all started. I sat out on a rock at the end of the day with my sister at the end of the stay, and I said, This is fantastic. I didn't know it existed and we can do it a lot better. So that was my story 25 years ago. And I loved that you were telling exactly the same one. I love those three Cs. We're going to explore those a little bit more.

Heather Bayer

But I just want to interject with an article I read in Forbes just a couple of days ago. And it was about this exact thing. It was about how the old definitions of luxury don't apply and they're not relevant for consumers anymore. Just as you said, it's not our grandma's stuff anymore. He calls his the three Ts and calls it a new and expanded definition of luxury.  And his are, and I'm sure we can see there's huge similarities. His are Time, Truth, and Trust. He says when you give consumers an experience that saves them time, which sounds like your convenience, gives them what they want that's particular to them, and information that they trust from a source they want to associate with, which is, of course, you're living like a local in the connection, then you've created a luxury experience from them. So it's very interesting to hear your three Cs against Wiener's three Ts. They're not much different, but they are committing us to looking at luxury from a completely different angle.

Heather Bayer

You mentioned relationship as well. I heard it in a podcast. You're talking about relationship as being as a component of a luxury short-term rental. Can you expand on that a little?

Dr. Rachel Gainsbrugh

Well, it really is encompassed, I believe, with the communication piece of it. So understanding the purpose of that visit.  Some guests are visiting for a wedding celebration, some guests are visiting in order to get respite from, say, a death in the family, unfortunately. There are a variety of reasons that we host our guests in our properties. And understanding the purpose of that visit can change the tonality on the communication. Understanding who is going to be a part of that party could really help us to curate a more informed stay where we're serving those guests in the right way. So say it's a wedding, it's going to be more of a celebratory type of communication. The flowers may be different. And so continuing that communication with them along the way, not only as they're traveling to the property, because for this type of traveler, again, the luxury traveler is not just the destination, it's the whole journey and the life-cycle of the journey. As they're looking at the listing, whether they're looking on a direct booking platform or on an OTA, they're looking at that listing and what is being communicated to them.

Dr. Rachel Gainsbrugh

Along the way, as they're getting there, are we providing them information so that they're informed as to what's available in the area for them to leverage and take advantage of. Additionally, throughout the check-in, make sure they're settled in, check-out, and then afterwards, we want to continue on that communication to get them to visit us again, whether it's for a wedding anniversary after that one. Can we document somewhere that this was the purpose, and we can celebrate that with them in a future date? So all of that is a part of the relationship. I think that's a little bit of what I was referring to, Heather, but correct me if I'm wrong.

Heather Bayer

No, that's that's…

Dr. Rachel Gainsbrugh

Yeah.

Heather Bayer

That really makes so much sense. I'm just come back from a couple of weeks in Europe, four stays in four separate vacation rentals, and four times I heard nothing between booking and the stay. So getting there, there was no relationship. No relationship with any of these hosts or managers, no information. And I went to Barcelona for Short Stay Week, and I've been to Barcelona once before, but it was years ago, and it was for a conference and it was a fleeting visit. Now, I would have loved more information just fed to me over a period. I'm going to be on my own. I'm visiting a city on my own. I've got to arrive, got to go find the apartment, got to find places to eat. And I could have spent three days inside the apartment thinking, Where do I go to eat? Because I'm on my own and I don't know where to go. And nothing was given. Stayed in a small cottage in Cornwall in England. And this little village, called Port Isaac, is really well renowned because it was the basis for a TV show that went on for years and years on the BBC [Doc Martin].  And it was a fictional show, in fact, about a doctor. And I didn't choose it for this. I had no idea that this was the place where this TV show was filmed.

Heather Bayer

There was so much opportunity for this host to give me all this information and to say, if you want Sunday lunch at the local pub, which is featured in this show, you need to book well in advance. But yeah, everything you said I think is great. You've got to have that relationship and that there is a luxury element in there. So this comes on to my next question, because I'm very strong on avatars, on knowing who your guests are. So tell me how important you believe it is to define your guest avatar and then speak directly to them.

Dr. Rachel Gainsbrugh

Oh, I love this question, Heather. And I do want to touch on something really quick. Everything you mentioned a little bit earlier, and I hope the listeners are really taking note, none of this would break the bank. When people think of luxury, they're thinking, Oh, it's going to be this really expensive investment, but it takes time to put together some guidance for your guests, but it doesn't have to cost millions and millions of dollars.  What a missed opportunity indeed. These are opportunities that would pay back dividends, but they missed out. Again, it doesn't have to break the bank.

Dr. Rachel Gainsbrugh

To answer your questions about avatars, I am all in on avatars. My avatar, her name is Susan. She's married to Martin and they have four kids. They're in what's called that sandwich generation where they are caring for children, but they're caring for elderly parents as well. It sounds familiar. She loves to travel when she can. She works the nine to five. Both her and her husband, they both work the nine to five. When they travel, they're typically traveling with their siblings, adult siblings and their spouses, plus their children, plus parents, and a random one or two cousins that make their way in only during vacation planning time.

Dr. Rachel Gainsbrugh

My avatar typically is looking for a larger home that's a little bit off the beaten path somewhere. There's a yard, there's an area for gaming, for children. There are spaces in the property or on-site where they can connect and gather together and spaces where they can go and retreat and hide away from time to time. I am a firm believer in that avatar, and we have really leaned into that because I would call it really our specialization. Whenever we're looking for property, whether it's to onboard for ourselves or to manage for another investor, we like to stick to that same type of property that would fit the needs of that avatar because we know them so well. We have our operations dialed in for that avatar. We can speak to them in our copy, in our marketing. I'm a firm believer that is one of the very first things that I do, whether it's an avatar for a guest that's coming to see me or even an investor avatar. There's an investor I just won't work with, you know? So I create an avatar for the investor. I create so many avatars. I create a house Avatar.  Will this fit our needs and what we're looking for for our guests? I'm all about avatars.

Heather Bayer

I don't think we can stress this part of it more strongly, because if you don't have an avatar when you're marketing, what you're doing is… and I came across this the other day, it's called spray and pray. The spray and pray approach.

Dr. Rachel Gainsbrugh

I've heard of it. That's so funny.

Heather Bayer

I talked about it in a presentation recently, and I call it the SAAW strategy, the spaghetti against a wall strategy. It means when you don't have an avatar, you're just spraying everything out and hoping that some of it is going to stick and praying that somebody's going to find it. But with an avatar, of course, because you're talking directly to that person, you're laser focused on them. I love your avatar. That is because you've given her a name. She's got a family. You know this person.

Heather Bayer

Talk to me about doing this, because I know people will say, Well, you know, this is very specific. There's so many people out there who don't have four kids, who don't travel with their siblings and their parents. Aren't I missing out on all these other people? And it's a well known argument against targeting too tightly to a niche.  What do you say to that?

Dr. Rachel Gainsbrugh

Yeah. And Heather, I'm glad you're asking that question because I was that person as well. I had that mindset of I want to… everyone's welcome, everyone join me. So it didn't start off this way where I got it dialed in. I started off wanting to cater to everyone. What you learn in business, especially if you're looking out for the best interests of your business, what you learn is that when you're catering to everyone, really you're catering to no one. What happens is the message gets diluted. Now, if a group of men request to book my property for an executive retreat, am I going to decline them? Well, absolutely not. They would still find benefit in our particular property. For those who are just starting out, I would say yes, spring and praying or spaghetti on the wall. That's where I started. That's where a few of us have started. But once you start to identify, you know what? I've had some of the best experiences working with these one or two types of avatar, go in on that. Get laser focused on that avatar so that you can start to attract more and more of that guest.

Dr. Rachel Gainsbrugh

And so I think it's a sustainable model to create your avatar. It's sustainable. You get to really serve and work with those that you have enjoyed working with over and over again because you're catering to them. And so I would remove the scarcity mindset. It's more of a scarcity mindset of, I don't want to just focus on this one person. What about everyone else? Sometimes it's from that vantage point, but sometimes it's, I don't want to focus on just one, because I'm missing out on everyone else. That could be in the back of our minds, too, especially as we're trying to make sure that the business continues to generate revenue. But I encourage you, if you really go all in on your avatar, you will attract others, too, who may have the same values. Although they may be there for another purpose, they will keep you in mind if they fall into that specific avatar and they're visiting again. It has served us well, for sure, focusing on that avatar because, Heather, we continue to attract them. We're speaking to them specifically, and we get more and more and more of the type of guests that we want to visit our property.

Dr. Rachel Gainsbrugh

We don't necessarily want everyone to visit our property. It's not a good fit for everyone. We wouldn't enjoy having them, and they wouldn't enjoy us as well. It's not a good match. So if you want to make sure that your property is matched correctly with the right guest, just focus on that one avatar. If there's a season where, for instance we have a few markets where it's more of a slower season where we're catering to the moonlighters… not the moonlighters, the snowbirds that are coming in. Moonlighters. I'm thinking of the hospital. That's what we do when we're extra. It's called moon lighting. The snowbirds, you can switch up your listing to make sure that during the period where they're going to be booking, you can update it for that specific avatar.

Heather Bayer

I love the fact that you say you've got plenty of avatars because I think that's important to say you don't have to have just one. And you also mentioned, of course, as a property manager, you've got to have your own avatars too. And we had one called the RAM. The RAM Avatar because RAM stood for ‘run a mile'. You mentioned that one. You can see them coming. So we had this description of this one who says in their correspondence, Don't forget, you're just one of many. You're just one of many property managers that I'm looking at. So make sure you come armed with all the deals you're going to give me. It's like, Okay, we'll pass on this one. Immediately pass. Yes, that was our RAM owner. But yes, plenty of avatars to help you direct everything.

Heather Bayer

Coming back onto luxury accommodation. I believe that anyone with whatever property they have can create a luxury experience. And I'm sure you feel exactly the same. But let's be really practical. And what features or amenities can style a property as a luxury brand?

Dr. Rachel Gainsbrugh

I love that question. And I do agree with you that anyone could curate a luxury stay. My one caveat that I identified is, if you're in a dodgy side of town, or very dangerous, it's going to be difficult to market it as a luxury stay without putting out some full disclosures as well. Okay, this side of town is a little bit tough. If you're not used to seeing people on the streets all hours of the night, this might not be a good fit for you. So some people with more of a meek disposition. I'm from the inner city of Miami, where it's really dodgy, so I can handle myself. But some people are like, Oh, my goodness, my life is in danger. So you definitely want to caveat that if you're looking to host in that type of area. But as far as features, it really depends on the guest. So if it is a guest that is going to be staying in your space for, say, a number of days, a week or so, you want to make sure that the kitchen cooking tools and the kitchen amenities are very much higher quality than if it's just a one night overnight stay. So you want to make sure that it's really good quality. One of my favorite amenities to add to the kitchen is the Vitamix blender.

Heather Bayer

You're right on my wavelengths on this one.

Dr. Rachel Gainsbrugh

Oh, yeah. I love a Vitamix blender. Our guests, they rave about it. It's not something that's seen very often in our market. So it puts that little feather in your cap that you elevated their stay with such a high-end blender. And so you don't have to get the extreme top of the line, but to have something of that quality and that caliber in the kitchen, it's memorable to them. And again, high quality cooking tools.

Dr. Rachel Gainsbrugh

But within the bedrooms, if we can take a tour of the property, we go into the bedrooms. The king-size bed is the default luxury travel bed. Imagine your guests sprawling out like the king or the queen that they are. That king-size bed really is something that is sought after. It's something that we try to implement in multiple rooms in our properties if we can swing it. But sometimes you do have a square footage limitation where you cannot. But we absolutely love adding a king-size bed.

Dr. Rachel Gainsbrugh

Multiple options for coffee, whether it's adding a unit dose, like a Keurig, or you have a usual drip coffee with the canister and adding a French press. I mean, it's not difficult to add the French press as well. That has received some great comments as an extra special touch as well. Being a coffee person, I appreciate the options.

Dr. Rachel Gainsbrugh

But as you go through the property, I do love providing options of eco-friendly toiletries in the bathroom. I love that. Natural fiber linens is another practical thing that we add to our properties, whether it's a bamboo sheet or cotton. I know it takes a little bit longer to dry for cotton, whatever that may be. But natural fiber linens, I think whatever touches the guest's skin should be nice and soft because my goal is to address all five senses. What are they smelling? What are they feeling? What are they seeing? What are they tasting? So I want to address all five senses, and that's a part of the practical side of it for me.

Heather Bayer

I love that you addressed the senses. I've talked about that for years. When you arrive at a property, open the door, you've got to be hit. Those five senses, you've got to have the visual. And I've always had auditory and we always had music playing when our guests arrived. And the luxury is actually finding out what the guest's preferences are and having their preference playing. We found that that was a shock for many. And then they realized that why we'd asked them in that relationship building, which is all part of it, why we'd asked them, what music do you like? And then we had that music playing. So the visual, the auditory, the kinesthetic by those wonderful bed linens and the wonderful feel, the smell, the olfactory sense, that's my major sense. I can smell disinfectant from a mile off. And if I walk into a rental and all I smell is disinfectant, I am not too happy. You come from a health care environment, you know what that smell is like.

Dr. Rachel Gainsbrugh

Oh, I do, yes.

Heather Bayer

And then the fifth one, of course, gastatory, taste, having something nice for them to taste. Even if it's just a very cold bottle of water, that's something.  So we are really on the same wavelength here. And I love to hear that these things that perhaps a lot of people who've been in hospitality a long time, going back to the traditional times, maybe 10 or 15 years ago, and they were very focused on hospitality, for them, they're finding out now that what they've been doing for years is now considered luxury. And that's what they can sell, what they have been sharing with their guests for so many years, which is why they've got multi-hundred five star reviews over the years. But this is great. These are ideas that anybody can take on. And also, you said this earlier on, they don't have to cost much.

Dr. Rachel Gainsbrugh

And that's my favorite part about it because the misconception, right, Heather, is when we talk luxury, we're going to be opening our wallets. And it doesn't necessarily have to break the bank. And so investing in higher quality, yes, the linens are going to cost a little bit more, but thankfully, they're going to last a little bit longer as well as opposed to going the cheap Amazon route. You invest a little bit more and it will last longer as well. I love it.

Heather Bayer

I want to move on a little bit to your properties and what it is that you actually do in your properties that make people keep coming back. I want to talk about the one that appeared on a Netflix show.

Dr. Rachel Gainsbrugh

Yeah.

Heather Bayer

So tell me about that one.

Dr. Rachel Gainsbrugh

Yeah, absolutely. That was a property that was featured because it was generating quite a bit of revenue as a medium-term. And so although we weren't focused on medium-term rentals, we started that one-off that way because it was a bit larger than the others in the market. And we were onboarding a new cleaning team, and we were going through the process of training and making sure that they were up to par. And so we had set it up for a medium-term just for the first month, and it was booked at a very high rate. We were shocked and astonished it continued to do well that way. The data company, Air DNA, they reached out, as well as a casting company called Mystic Arts. They reached out. They said, We have a TV show based on the numbers on Air DNA. We want to feature you on a show. I was like, Oh, this is interesting. I'm a girl pharmacist. This is nothing that I ever imagined would be on the plan for my life. It was quite an interesting endeavor. We didn't think we would have been selected, my husband and I.

Dr. Rachel Gainsbrugh

Then we were selected. Then they did the filming on the property. They flew us to Albuquerque, New Mexico, to complete the filming of the show. That was an absolute blast. What was great about the property, the reason that I feel the guests kept coming back, and much like all of our properties, is that we add extra special touches to the property. For instance, we have local honey sticks in the coffee bar. Again, another extra touch that doesn't have to break the bank, yet it brings something local to the guest experience. We have a very popular recipe here, the dried goods portion of it and broth, you just stick it in the pot and all of a sudden you have a local meal that you can enjoy. But you get a taste of what it is really like to live like a local in that area. So it addresses your taste buds. Those are some of the things. But outside of that, it's everything we spoke about, Heather. We have two king-sized beds. It's a six bedroom property. We have some queen-size beds as well. Open spaces so that the group families could really enjoy and gather together.

Dr. Rachel Gainsbrugh

We have enough seating for everyone. We can host up to 12. Well, a little bit more than that, but we typically host around 12. We can host up to 16 potentially in this property. So two separate living rooms so that we can sequester the young ones together and they can have their gaming. And then you have another area where the older folks can gather and get some respite as well. So it's something for me, it's being mindful of who's going to be joining us and making sure that we curate a space that will be a good fit.

Heather Bayer

It goes back to Jared Wiener of the Future Hunters, that I was talking about earlier. One of his Ts is truth. But in fact, when you read into the article, I'll put a link to the article in the Show Notes, and it really is a good read. But what he terms truth is really about personalisation. It really is about knowing who's coming and creating this wonderful space for them. I'm sure you've come across Tyann Marcink.

Dr. Rachel Gainsbrugh

Yes.

Heather Bayer

Tyann, great friend of mine, has this wonderful portfolio of properties that she has built in Branson, Missouri. And I went to Branson once. It's this amazing place with this little town with so many theaters in it, music theaters. And live, which is interesting. And it's the biggest group destination, group vacation destination in the US. I never knew this. So Tyann especially creates these wonderful properties that sleep up to 30+  people. And she incorporates all of the things that you've been talking about. And she's just hugely successful at it because she knows her audience and she's speaking directly to them and creating this personalisation that they love.

Heather Bayer

It's so different from the, I'm buying a property and I'll just throw it on Airbnb and see what happens. There's a lot of thought and care and attention that goes into it, and I can see how you are so successful at it. Having talked about building things, buying places, because you do invest in properties, let's just start with whereabouts. We didn't touch on where your properties are.

Dr. Rachel Gainsbrugh

I started in my own backyard here in Georgia. I'm a little bit south of the Atlanta city area.  Florida is where I'm from originally, so my heart goes there. Tennessee, which is a border state to Georgia, so there are three together. Finally, the Poconos of Pennsylvania, which is in the Northeast. That's a little bit ways off the other properties. That's where we have our skiers and those who are looking for that type of experience in the Poconos.

Heather Bayer

You sound very much like Tyann, because I've always said about her that she has more hours in the day than anybody else. We mere mortals have 24 hours in the day. She has many more. If you're still running a full-time job and you're doing this with properties all over the place, what is your secret for managing all these properties in so many different locations?

Dr. Rachel Gainsbrugh

I have cut back on the full-time, but the secret, nevertheless, is a team. Having a team who is invested in the business and it took a lot of… Kissing a lot of frogs, Heather. I'm sure you can probably relate, before I can get a team that is all in, that's in alignment with everything that we spoke about, that has the same heart, has the same concern for the guest. It took a while to get there. And part of it is my fault because I was not a good manager in the beginning. I was not a good business owner in the beginning. I didn't take the time to really do the training that was necessary to get them to where they needed to be. As soon as I got my first person helping, I was like, Oh, great. You're here. Help. That did not work out. I didn't have clear instructions, expected them to read my mind, so to speak. And so it's like, Oh, my goodness, why are they not reading my mind? My husband's like, No one can read your mind. Get over that. I learned quickly that in order to create an environment where my team members can thrive, there has to be clarity of instruction.

Dr. Rachel Gainsbrugh

There has to be an interest in them as well. What I love is I know so much about my team members, so much about their families, and so much about their interests outside of work and outside of just monetary goals. And it's unbelievable what you learn when you take a moment to ask. And it's beyond anything I could have ever guessed. You can't guess this. I think I asked one team member, What is it that you really want? What do you want? And it was for, I think, so her spouse could go back to school and learn something about war anthropology. What? You don't know this stuff, because that was his dream all along. And her goal is to create a role for herself in revenue streams so that she can support him. And that was like, Whoa, I would have never thought of that in my wildest dreams. And so now that I know that, if I know historians, I'll say, Oh, did you see this? And did you see that? And how can I support you to make sure that you continue to plant seeds towards that goal? And he's getting there. He's close, a little closer there than ever before because of the interest that I had in making sure that she felt valued.

Dr. Rachel Gainsbrugh

You just have to ask. That's made a huge difference. It's just heartwarming to hear them talk about me to others. She really cares. Not BS cares, she really cares.

Heather Bayer

I love to hear that. It is a theme that seems to run through the most successful people in this industry and the successful property managers, that they take care of their team. Their team is just amazingly special to them. And that's a skill that not everybody has. And it's one that not everybody wants to have. But it appears to me that for real success, having that relationship with the team is so important.

Dr. Rachel Gainsbrugh

Yeah, it's one of the most highest leveraged things that we can do if we're looking to outsource some of the tasks so that we can work on our business and not just in it all day long.

Heather Bayer

Rachel, this has been such a fantastic conversation. I know we have so much in common, I would love to continue with it. But very mindful of your time, you are a mentor to new investors in this industry. You've got a huge following. You do training courses. Just to kick off with, I just want to ask you for some tips you can give to any investors or any listeners who are keen on taking on additional properties, and then just tell us how you help them out.

Dr. Rachel Gainsbrugh

What we've noticed lately is that there's a lot of, I would say, rumors or rhetoric out there in the news that this industry is going down, and that has caused a lot of alarm for investors who really maybe their heart wasn't all the way in it. And so what we have found is reaching out to those investors and partnering with them and letting them know, hey, I'm here if you need some help to continue to make sure that this business is profitable, or even if you want to sell the property or rent the property, just being a support, being someone who offers value to them, I think is going to really help those who are in the industry looking to increase their portfolio. So reach out to those owners who are tired, who are tired of it. They didn't know what they were getting into. The revenue is not quite where they want it to be because they may not have necessarily optimized and focused on their avatar. And so these are properties that you can potentially turn around just by making two or three tweaks. It can potentially make a vast improvement. I would really recommend that.

Dr. Rachel Gainsbrugh

And as far as working with me, I have a number of ways that you can get to work with me. We have a coaching program, we have a digital course, but I have a free resource. And if you tap into that, you'll get access to the different programming that we have. We have trainings every week. So if you go to 75gems.com, that's 75gems.com. Those are my top 75 cities in the US with the highest profitability for short-term rentals. You can have a look at that list, see if your city making it. If it didn't, that's okay, don't be afraid. We can still leverage in our own backyard. So yeah, tap in with me that way, and that's going to be the best way to keep in touch.

Heather Bayer

Well, I will put links to everything you do in the show notes. So if anybody wants to get in touch with Rachel and talk about investment or about turning a property around or anything else to do with being the best in this industry, I'm sure she's going to help you out.

Heather Bayer

Rachel, it's been an absolute pleasure to talk to you, and as I say, to come across all these points of common ground that we have. I've been in the industry for way too many years, and you've come along in the past three or four years and done everything that I did in 25 years much quicker. So I have huge admiration for you and thank you so much for joining me.

Dr. Rachel Gainsbrugh

I appreciate you so much. Thank you, Heather, for having me. It's such an honor being with you today.

Heather Bayer

Thank you so much, Rachel Gainsbrugh. That was such a great conversation. So much in common from the origin story through to so many of the things that she does within her company that I've been talking about for years. So it is great to see that these whole elements of hospitality are still running through the most modern of companies. So thank you so much, Rachel, for joining me, for sharing all that great information on the changing nature of the luxury brand.

Heather Bayer

We can all be there. I love the fact she said, You cannot classify your property as luxury if you're really in not a very good environment. Unfortunately, we used to have to say this to owners within our property management company in Ontario who might say that I've got a luxury property. And when you went there, it was a really run down old cabin on the outside. But they'd really gone to town inside to make it look wonderful. But you've got to do it from the outside in. So the curb appeal has to be pretty darn good in order for it to be classified as luxury. At least that's the way I see it.

Heather Bayer

So as I mentioned, if you're listening to this on the day of publication, I'm on my way back from the  Short Stay Week in Barcelona, plus visits to all my family in the UK and Germany. I've stayed at four separate short-term rental properties, two in the UK, one in Spain, one in Germany. I'm going to share my experiences from those as a traveler in the show next week, as well as sharing my top takeaways from the Short Stay Week in Barcelona. I hope you will tune into that because there's going to be a lot of learning in there.

Heather Bayer

Thank you for joining me. I'm always humbled by the amount of downloads we get every week. When the show goes out and I look at my stats and I'm thinking, Oh, my goodness. This many people have downloaded this episode. I just want to take a moment to just really thank you. Thank you for listening. I appreciate every single one of you. Let me know, please, what you enjoy about the show, if there's anything you'd like me to change, if there's people that you'd like me to have on, let me know. I love to get messages and emails from people.  Now I don't have a busy property management company to run. I'm actually got a little bit more time to spend getting back to you and making sure that I answer your questions and that we start communicating, get a relationship going.

Heather Bayer

Okay, thank you, thank you, thank you for listening and I'll be with you again next week. 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 vacationrentalformula.com. We'd love to hear from you and I look forward to being with you again next week.