Successful Marketing - Collaborating With Other Hosts To Boost Bookings

Welcome everybody to the new episode of the Boostly Podcast. This is the podcast that gives host the tools, the tactics, the training, and most importantly the confidence to go out there and get more direct bookends. Today we're talking about marketing strategies and this particular host who we've got on the behind the host podcast is based in Houston, Texas. We're going to be talking about his collective there. And as I've mentioned, we go behind the host on this episode and we pick out short-term rental hosts who have got interesting businesses and ask questions about their business, which you as a host can take into your hospitality business and there's tips, tricks, and tactics that you're going to learn from this very special guest. So my name's Liam Carolyn and today we've got Blake Duarte on. He's from Duarte destinations.com and they're speltduaert destinations.com and we're really excited to dive into his business today and if you do get a chance go on to his webpage, check out not only his cool properties but also particularly because he does co-hosting and management, check out those sections of his website because he's ever so clear with his offer and certainly something which I was impressed with before we jumped on this call. So welcome along Blake. Thank you for joining me. Thank you for having me. Jake, can you give yourself introduction where you're based, where your properties are based and the number of properties and anything else you'd like to share? Yeah, so I'm based in California and my Airbnb is actually going to be sorry short-term rentals actually going to be in Houston. That's the one short-term rental I have right now and then I have a couple of long-term rentals, one in Indiana, one in additional in California. So as I went on to the journey of marketing with the short-term rental in Houston, I recognized that it was a lot of effort and ended up forming the Houston hospitality collective to create more of a group effort as to marketing strategies. Nice, nice. What is that collective? Just talk us through what the collective is. It's not a term over here in the UK that we're ever familiar with. So I was looking at different types of words to use for this because I was looking at collaboration and the collectives just seems to sit better as to what we're doing but it's a group of hosts who together we put our properties together on one website and as we move to market ourselves, we're marketing ourselves as a group. So right now we have three other owners signed on to this collective. We just went live with the Boostle website about a month ago and as we grow, I have different plans on how to continue the marketing strategy. So as we've got the four owners now on to four different properties on the collective, I've also got two local businesses, one's a realtor to help us out as we continue to expand and then I recently was able to talk with Topgolf which is a golf event center one of which is close to my short-term rental and they agreed to allow advertising on our website as well so that way we can create an incentive or a event for guests to participate in while they're staying at our short-term rentals. So as we expand the different businesses that I get to join the collective it's not just hosts it's also going to be local businesses we can create a simultaneous referral process so that our guests go to their business and then when they host events and when they have different types of venues going on then they can refer to us that their guests can stay with us and I think it provides a little bit more of a premium experience for them because instead of sending your guests to maybe your hosting a wedding or an event they're going to be staying at very nicely decorated short-term rental that's a little bit higher than a hotel. I love that. That's what I call a win-win-win because that is a win for you as a host you've got guests and people who come stay with you. For your guests they've got great referral places to go and visit and of course for that place it's also getting income so works well for everybody. Where did the idea first come about for the collective and how did you put it into practice? So the idea came about just out of starting to try to market myself and it actually was very difficult and as the difficulties piled on I recognized the need to make this more I guess in a group sense so that way we can have a stronger effort and put the efforts out and get a stronger gain so as I'm speaking with different businesses for instance top golf on the questions they ask me well how many markets are you in and I had to explain a lot right now we're only in the Houston market but as we expand this model as we build it out then we can expand you know to different markets nationwide which top golf is nationwide so I can understand why they would want to see how far we can build this relationship so as we grow and gain more short fundamentals on the collective then we can market ourselves better and be a better option for the the local businesses that could refer to us that's cool and what is the incentive obviously you've got your your own short term rental but do you get any I guess cash from advertising these other people's properties or from the the business yes so instead of setting out bills or K. I've spent X amount on advertising let's figure out how to split this as a collective instead of running that model I kind of separated it off and instead I'm talking to each owner that's interested and seeing what their needs are you know what is it that you're looking to do what are your needs for me first the collective is the primary goal to create that group and so that way we can work together and if an owner has more needs then we can expand further so I based a pricing strategy on joining the collective based on the owner's needs some owners they say hey I like my website or I like my where I'm listed at and I just want to link that's great we can do that for you we'll just set up a link for you at least you're still on the on the collective site so we can feature your property and I charge them a very low fee but some owners asked hey I I'm gonna need a co-host can you co-host for me you're in this market can we can you do this and yeah we can do that so we went over different types of needs based pricing and as I built out that needs then we we negotiated on a price on how that worked best for us and each individual owner is going to have different needs so they're all going to have different pricing well I love about this is and I talk about this often is that there's there's a great book and a great yes bought leader from Daniel Priestley who is an author of a book called The Key Person of Influence and he talks about making yourself indispensable and giving value to those around you and in your local market and then all of a sudden the people that they will think of when they've got a particular problem or a particular need will be yourself and that sounds like what you've done there is by building this collective depending on what the needs are of the host as you mentioned you're positioning yourself as the expert obviously in the market but then also because you're satisfying as so many different people's needs when it comes down from you know the shop within the collective the top golf you know the hosts involved that ultimately you're going to get some really great opportunities come your way from creating this value quick break from the podcast to let you know that the two boosted books that we brought out the book direct playbook and the book direct blueprint are two of the top rated and the best selling in the hospitality category on Amazon for just two pounds you can grab both of those books right now the foundations and the structures that you need to put in place is in the blueprint and then for a 101 mark in tactics that is in the playbook so go and grab a copy on Amazon now just type in book direct playbook or the book direct blueprint and we'll see you on your side have you had any challenges in getting this all together so far and if so how have you overcome them so my biggest challenges are all about the integrations so as you know as I dove into the boosted website structure and dove into the different types of systems I have lots of questions and finding ways to get things integrated was my number one my number one issue and I reached out to a lot and started a lot of discussions on on our Facebook groups and whatnot to try to figure out what exactly is going to be the ideal tech set or ideal groupings but it's going to end up being subjective to each person so as I researched it trying to figure out all of these integrations have been the hardest hardest part of this and in order to overcome it has been a lot of trial and error and I've been thankful of of the hosts in my collective who you know they bear with me and and work with me on different transitions as we switched from different PMS is because one doesn't have features that the other might and as we grow and develop so it's very it's very nice to have owners that are interested in the group marketing strategy so that way we can work together as we grow and deal with some of these difficulties well it feels like a great way to segue on to the tech side of things so is there either a piece of tech software or app that you use in your business that you really rely on currently or one that you've found that really works well for you in your business so I have been quite I guess astonished with owner res and the the extreme abilities that it has that there's a lot of different ins and outs and so I'm on that frequently trying to make sure that everything's optimized so that way as much as is automated as possible and using that PMS the reason why I went with them was their widgets for the the website and as as I scroll through my website I like the way that you can transition from the website look through dates pick which property you like and then you can book without having to be taken to three different pages to get there and I think that's going to be that was one of the features that really brought me to them and there are a piece of of technology that I end up using every single day to manage the business fantastic really good property management system one of the ones that Bruce Lee is partnered with and you know for anybody listening to this who wants to go check him out just type in owner res in school and go and check him out I think they do demonstrations and things like that and although we don't recommend a particular PMS we've got lots of partners you know particularly for the feature that you've mentioned there it sounds like it's really working for you in your business bike so that's really good to hear what has been some of the biggest wins and wow moments during your journey so I think getting signing on there our first business to the collective was the biggest win because it gave validation that the the idea is good the collective idea that you know it gave proof that hey this is this is going to be able to expand and as we move on I can see how many other businesses we can get in to satisfy whatever needs that they're looking for because each business is going to be different right now we're marketing fork of both different bars and restaurants because I know that they hold events as well and so being able to take a large party and book at a VIP room at a restaurant or a bar that's going to be it's going to allow us to create additional revenue sources as far as if we could do like upselling we could do affiliate marketing that type of thing and that's really where I see you know expanding this collective and and moving forward that's cool that's cool that's what top tip would you have for a host who's getting started in the industry I think that you have to you have to try you have to you have to fail almost you have to put yourself out there and make the efforts I know when I first listened to the the Bruce Lee book on audio I was I didn't understand I got a little bit confused and I had to go back we listened to it again but then have it in front of me in in text version because it took a little while to process and so as as I went forward and continue to take these steps to grow my business I could remember oh I remember that part in the book or that chapter was in the book and then I could go back and refer to it and so even though I didn't get a firm grasp of what was going on in the beginning as I continued on I knew that I had a reference in the back that I had read once prior and so as long as you continue you'll be able to to develop and grow and succeed you know what I think that's an awesome bit of advice I just want to draw everyone's attention to it so first of all I'm going to plug the book which is the book direct playbook anybody listening to this you hasn't checked the out go to Amazon and search the book direct playbook by Mark Simpson and it's a really useful overview of what you can do to get more direct bookends but what you've mentioned there Blake rings so true because there's so much to grasp as a new host in this industry that sometimes it can feel overwhelming and actually what that book does is give you a idea of what tools are out there and what you should be considering a bit like if you were to undertake a DIY job you've got to have a rough idea of all the tools that you've got available in your toolkit and that's kind of what that book does it kind of gives you an overview and then because you know what tool does what at any stage you can dive in and find out a bit more or reread that chapter or go and find some of the useful video content around it as well so I think that's a really great piece of advice and thank you for that how did you get into this industry what did you take me back before what you do now what what did you do and how did you get started in hospitality so my dad actually has a lot of long term rentals if he developed his own portfolio you know long you know over the last 20 30 years and so as I started buying properties I followed his model of long term rentals and how to produce passive income just based on long term rentals so as I grew my portfolio I stumbled upon short term rentals and what happened was my dad called me one day he said hey somebody's wants to rents one of my long term rentals but they want to put it on as a short term rental what what is this and I said I've never heard of that I don't know let's look into it so I dove into what is air maybe arbitrage or you know a rental arbitrage is it's known and learned a whole system to figure out what it is that other people are using our long term rentals for and as I tried to learn that system my dad's question to me was well why aren't we just doing it why are you just someone going to rent it from us and then throw it on as a short term rental why can't we do the same thing and so I had to really dive in learn the ins and outs so that way I could confidently tell him whether or not a property that we had was capable of turning into a short term rental as opposed to renting a long term or allowing someone else to arbitrage it we've actually given up a couple properties to arbitrage because the way I ran the numbers it didn't make sense but they whoever it was that wanted to rent it thought it was a good idea they rented it and I can tell you that one of those properties didn't work out for them because I don't know how they did their numbers but it just didn't work but that's how I stumbled upon the short term rentals that ended up buying my own first short term rental in spring taxes which is just outside of Houston. Nice and yeah that is great I mean rental arbitrage is funny that you've come across it from the landlord's point of view because often when people are listening to this podcast but also searching information often they're coming across arbitrage as a way to cash flow so it's interesting that you've come across it from a landlord's point of view and as you say there's now a lot of landlords out there who are looking for people to do rental arbitrage in their properties it can be a good way to cash flow so very good thank you for that what is the future of your business or what do you what do you picture for the future of your business? I think this collective thing is going to be the future for me as I I'd like to start with the Houston market which is where where I'm at and I can get in on the weeds but I have quite a long-term plan as to how to develop the business I know there's lots of different integrations that have to be done I'm waiting on a couple of different updates from different vendors to see how we can build it out but as I build out the infrastructure and as I build out the plan what I'd like to do is model that plan in another market and preferably be a market that I'm in but if I'm not in that market I'd have to be heavily invested into it so that way I go out there I make the connections to the networking so that way I can create that collective I've got a couple of properties coming up on short to rental to be added in my site soon one in Big Bear California one in Havese, Arizona so as those markets or as my portfolio grows those markets come up I can see if we can mirror that collective system and apply it to another market. Nice I like it and I wish you all the best for the future it sounds exciting to be looking at that market and certainly something that I've not come across before so definitely drop it as an update once you know as things grow which should be cool. If you're struggling on how to get direct bookings and overwhelmed on where to start then I recommend you go and book in a call with Boosley and our team right now we can walk you through exactly what we're offering how we can help you and give you a portfolio of websites that we have worked with that are matching not only on niche but could be in your location as well. Boosley has helped over 2,000 hospitality businesses all over the world increase their direct bookings and if you are interested then all you need to do is go to boosleyboostli.co.uk or slash call and book in an appointment with one of our sales team. You mentioned there was a few resources and things that you went and watched some videos which you consumed. What would you recommend to the people listening? Where did you find your information? Who should they be following? What podcasts? What YouTube's videos and all of that kind of stuff? What would you recommend? So I started out with the raw belt YouTube's or I've actually found them on TikTok even though he says it doesn't prefer the TikTok platform and I started off there and I ended up joining his teachings or his lessons and that's where I started it out. That's where I got a lot of my foundation from. So raw belt is a good source to really learn the basics. Now as those basics come in it's a good foundation but then as I've developed my business and developed where I plan on taking everything I stumbled upon Boosley because I needed my own direct book and I needed my own control over how I manage my bookings and so I've moved on to the Boosley Academy and moved on to the Boosley Podcasts to try to expand that knowledge as well. When I'm looking for something a little bit more obscure, a little bit more maybe not generic. I'll probably I check YouTube to see who else is asking that question or who else is out there stretching for it. I know I think it's Airbnb automated comes up as a channel often. He's got a lot of information. That's Sean Ratavitch I think his name is. Yeah he's got some good info. I think that I've taken some of his ideas and on pricing strategies and applied it to my own and it's kind of worked out pretty well. So as you try and as you grow you have to reach out to different areas because different people know different things and you can't just stay in one area and I think that Mark Simpson definitely recommends that he talks about joining other Facebook groups and getting out there and I didn't even have a Facebook before I did any of it any of this so the Facebook is a resource where you can reach out you can ask questions and it can take you down different paths. 100% great advice and just a few shout outs. Rob Avastolo from Rob Bilt and I've actually used his videos to send to people myself and say hey check out some of these great explanations how to list Airbnb and stuff like that and of course he's is now on one of the biggest podcasts in the world as well now for retail for property for real estate. Cool so what do you like to do for fun Blake as we bring these to a close we just like to add a couple of just fun light heart questions so what do you like to do for fun? So I like to travel my I have two kids so we travel my wife my two kids we travel a lot and so we like to go out and have experiences I think that enjoying an experience is going to be memorable it's going to be something that stays with you lots of photographs you get lots of time together and you're not going to be able to get that time back so we like to travel a lot we go to our Houston property quarterly we go since we're in Southern California we go out to the beach we used to go camping often you usually try to go once a month to get those experiences out there but as we are now traveling more for our short-term rental business we had to cut down on that camping and now we're doing more market research for traveling out to I'll be out in Arizona next week looking to see you know where we're going to take our next step but we like to include our family when we're doing that keep our you know our kids with us and do all that traveling together so that way we can make it more of a family experience and not just business. It's cool that's cool and how old are you when she got two children my son is eight and my daughter is four oh amazing right age so yeah I traveling suddenly instead of camping like you say it's suddenly the need for some of these places which are you know entire properties and also the great thing is that they're tax deductible because it is recent you say it's fantastic one question I'd love to ask Blake is if you could have any superpower what superpower would it be oh I'd love to know I love to know what people were thinking I think that I feel like I I talk to people often I have lots of conversations with them and I'd love to know if what we're talking about is resonating correctly you know or if what we're saying is working because I'd like to continue down that conversation keep going and so if if you and I are talking and things are going well you know I'd like to keep that going and if you have any questions that you this happens often where people have a question they're afraid to ask it if you have a question that you want to bring up and and I can answer that for you I'd love to answer it you know having that knowledge or having that ability to to really understand what people are thinking I think that'd be great that's a really cool one although I think it could be dangerous as well at times I'd go crazy from you know sort of here and so there'd be times where I'd stop switch it off basically yeah as we reach the end of these Blake we'd love to ask is there a mantra or a saying that resonates with you I think I mentioned it a little bit earlier I'd like to go with you only fail when you stop trying and I think that that happens often where people they stop themselves or they feel like they you know they can't continue and then they stop and that's the only time when you fail if you're continuing to try if you're continuing to make efforts and and build your business or or improve yourself or anything you're not going to fail unless you stop and I think that sits well with me nice sentiment to bring it to a close on thank you so much Blake I'm going to throw the mic open now you to be able to promote your business your collective where should people come and find out more about yourself in your business so you've already brought up our website if you'd like more information on the Houston hospitality collective our website is houstonhc.com and you can find us also on Instagram it's a it's instagram.com forward slash wordy destinations and instagram.com forward slash houstonhc.com hospitality collective you can find us on the Facebook with the same social tags and as we expand and grow more hopefully you give us a follow and I can give updates as to more properties more businesses signing on and and how we move forward awesome thank you so much Blake and for anybody listening who wants to know how to spell that for the purpose of the podcast is d-u-a-r-t-e destinations and dordy destinations and if you enjoyed this podcast and you think somebody else you know will get some value from this please do share it with that person and get them to come and listen to Bruce Lee also thank you so much Blake was there anything we missed along the way or any last years before we bring it to a close no I believe we covered everything it's cool it's cool it's been fantastic to find out about your business thank you for spending your time with us and yeah I'm sure we'll we'll speak again in the future bye for now thank you for having me