Harnessing HostGPO to Simplify Purchasing for Vacation Rentals, with CEO Jeff Iloulian

Alex Husner 00:00

Welcome to Alex and Annie, the Real Women on Vacation Rentals. I'm Alex.

Annie Holcombe  00:03

And I'm Annie.

Alex Husner 00:05

And we are joined today with Jeff Iloulian, who is the founder and c e o of host, G P o. Hopefully I didn't mess up your name too bad, Jeff. 

Jeff Iloulian 00:13

No, you 

Alex Husner 00:13

Welcome to the show. 

Jeff Iloulian 00:14

It was perfect.

And yeah, thank you so much. I'm really excited to be here. 

Annie Holcombe  00:18

We're excited to learn more about it. And so I, my first question is, well, we wanna learn more about you, So tell us about you. But my very first question coming out of about You is the name of the company, how did it come to be? So yeah, tell us about you and then you can tell us about the company

Jeff Iloulian 00:32

For sure.So about me I am from Los Angeles originally. I got into the vacation rental industry about maybe eight, nine years ago. And before that I was practicing as an attorney. I was working and doing litigation and all that stuff. And I think like a lot of people that get into this industry, I kind of fell into it by accident.

Mm-hmm. The first property across the street from me came up for lease. I. I had a property management friend based outta New York that was starting to get into the vacation rental space and decided to do a least arbitrage deal as my first deal on the house, across the street from me. And really, really immediately liked it and loved this,and loved the, the idea and concept and hospitality and the, and thought falsification rentals are really fascinating and over time, kind of got five properties, 10 properties, quit my job, and then I ended up growing that vacation rental company to operate over 150 units out here in Los Angeles. So I was doing everything from apartment buildings to luxury homes. I was working with Airbnb, doing pilot programs. I was, you know, really, really involved in kind of the industry over the last eight or nine years, and host G P O came from that.

It was really the idea of it was how do I solve this problem that, you know, I think I and a lot of other property managers and a lot of other vacation rental operators have in terms of figuring out where to buy the right things from for your home and to be able to, to purchase them at, you know, a discounted rate.

I mean, I did. All of the worst things that I'm sure a lot of people have done, including 48 Ikea shopping cart checkouts and, you know, flea Lee Market, U-Haul truck, you know, runs and all of those things. And, you know, spent hours on Facebook marketplace and all that stuff. So, host G P O came from a need that I had to, to find better products to put into vacation rental homes and not have to pay kind of full price and the name.

Came from host like to host, and then G p O stands for group purchasing organization. Oh, okay. It's actually, it's, it's a type of, of association or business that exists in other industries. So you know, the pharmaceutical industry, hospitals, restaurants they all have GPOs, you know yeah. In some capacity.

So there just wasn't one for the vacation rental industry and there was no real streamlined way to. Find stuff to, to kind of buy and furnish and stock up your unit. And this kind of was the idea to make a G P O froze. 

Alex Husner 03:00

Yeah. No, that's so funny too. I love that. That was a good question. Annie and I wondered the same thing until probably a month or two ago.

I've learned more about host G P O because we use them at CASA Go, and I started hearing Ryan Dame saying in our conversations about these group pur group purchasing organizations, and like, okay, that's what host, what's the GPO stands for? No GPO. But and very, very common within hotels. And in a lot of cases when we're talking to other vacation rental companies, if they're familiar with franchise within like a hotel or restaurant, that's where, you know, most people are, know that term, but it it makes sense.

And I mean obviously this is, this is working quite well for you across the country, but how, how large is the company grown to, at this point? How many operators do you work with? 

Jeff Iloulian 03:43

Yeah, so collectively, between all of our operators, we have over 250,000. Properties wow. Which is, and we're, we're all over the US and Canada.

And because we've been able to grow so quickly over the last, I mean, we've been around for almost two and a half years now. And, and get to such a large number, that's how we're able to go and negotiate these deals with new brands. Mm-hmm. You know, I remember talking to companies like, like, We're reaching out to companies like Google, you know, for Google Nest discounts like two years ago and we couldn't even get on the phone.

And that's like a deal that we're able to offer now because as a group we buy so much that like, we're able to get in the door with a lot of these new companies and bigger companies and, and kind of really make these commanding and, and incredible deals. 

Annie Holcombe  04:25

Now do you work with predominantly like the smaller or more independent hosts versus the large enterprise property management groups?

Jeff Iloulian 04:33

We really work with both. And there's kind of two separate parts of our, our, our business that, that help both. So generally speaking, you, you have to have you know, three or more units to join host G p O. That being said, there are some exceptions. You know, for example, if you're operating a six unit ski shall you know, and, and you know, that that would qualify.

But, you know, we, we try to. Cater towards anyone who is really a professional in this space, right? Anybody that's educating themselves a part of an association or, or, you know, learning about and wanting to be you know, do this more than just as a extra room rental on the side, which is great too, and there's definitely a space for that in our, in our industry.

But this really goes to anybody that's, that's an operator from. A handful of units all the way up to, you know, the, the a Casa GOs of the world, you know, 4,000, 5,000 unit members as well. There are things in host G P O for each type of operator. Okay. 

Annie Holcombe  05:26

And so what does the process look like? So I'm, I'm an operator.I have one unit or the, the, the few units I need to get involved. Is it a, a web-based system? Do I talk to a person? What does that look like? 

Jeff Iloulian 05:37

So essentially the way that it works is you submit an application to join our group. You go through a, a vetting process phone call. We ask you about your business, we look at your listing, and we consult with you on.

You know, what is it that you're looking to buy and, and what problems have you been having in your, in your you know, in your business. And then once you get approved you are able to log in to the member portal. And the member portal is a description of all the brands that we partner with. So, you know, west Elms and articles and crate barrels, all the way to like standard textile for linens, which is like a wholesale company or.

You know, diversified hospitality or ace hardware, right? There's different types of companies we partner with, and then our portal describes how to place orders with each of them. And what's really unique about, you know, our, the way we've set everything up is you're ordering directly from these brands, but you can order on their websites or you can place items in a cart on, on our site and check out with them directly.

But we. Put you in touch and connect you with these brands at better than kind of what's available in terms of discounts. So those people who are, were interior designers before, or contractors or whatever, you might have been getting what they call to the trade or trade discounts with some of these companies host G P o discounts are significantly better than every trade discount that's out there.

We won't put anything on the site that's not above and beyond what you could get, you know? Fill out your email here and get your first order, you know, at 20% off. Like, we're not really interested in that. We're like 40, 50, 60% off. You know, most of the brands that we work with, because we're really buying a volume between all of our members.

Alex Husner 07:07

Wow. Wow. Interesting.So are you, are you mostly dealing with property management companies or are you d dealing directly with the homeowners as they want to make improvements to their properties? 

Jeff Iloulian 07:17

Yeah, both. So for property management companies they get the most benefit from us through things like ACE Hardware, because that's in store as well.

Yeah, I'm sure. And linens are a huge thing. Amenities, soaps and shampoos, I mean, You know, we partner with, you know, public goods and diversified hospitality and, you know, a lot of the brands that folks might have been buying way down in the supply chain, or even like diversified hospitality is if you look on, you know, Amazon and buy and look for soaps and shampoos, travel size, like it's the number one seller on Amazon.

But we just went to them directly and said, you know, hey, what if. We just brought everybody that wants to buy this stuff to you directly, you know, what kind of pricing could we get? And so you know, we did same thing with rugs, U s A for rugs. Like that's like the best seller on, on Wayfair and on Amazon.

And we just went directly to them and said, Hey, like what kind of discount can we get? And we got these really impressive, you know, better than all of that pricing all the time discounts with those types of brands. So PMs really benefit from like the linens and the amenities Yeah. The, you know, services and stuff.

And then homeowners who join. Even if they're managed by a pm, those folks are often buying all the furniture mattresses. Mm-hmm. That kind of stuff. And maybe smaller operators benefit from some of like the services partnerships that we have. So for example, you know, if you are just getting into the space and you know, you're thinking about, you know, what pricing software should I use, or you know, you don't know about a company like Stai.

Right. We have kind of the introductory. Deals that get you in the door at like discounted rates on an ongoing basis. So we really focus on one PMs and servicing, you know, what they are, what they're gonna need, but also the individual operators. There's really kind of space for both which is why we do the vetting polls and, and the, the kind of consultation calls because.

What's right for your business is probably on here. We are just gonna help guide you to that place. You might not need to buy a pallet of, you know, 3000 white plates, right? Yeah. But there is a company that wants to do that, and they can find that here too. Right. 

Alex Husner 09:11

Yeah, that, that makes a lot of sense. I mean, even from a homeowner acquisition standpoint, you know, this is a pretty powerful tool for, you know, their properties, not just their rental properties, but for a homeowner they can use this to buy stuff for their own house.

Right? I mean, that would be something that I would recommend for a property management company to say, you know, this is a great thing for you people to offer your homeowners. And, you know, they're gonna get discounts on anything that they buy for the home. 

Jeff Iloulian 09:34

For sure. And the other benefit of it is the educational component, because a lot of homeowners.

They're buying the wrong stuff, right? Yeah. They're buying things on Amazon or whatever furniture, heavy furniture pieces that come in. 400 piece sets that you're gonna have to set up as a pm and then it's gonna break in a year. You're gonna have to block off the calendar. You're gonna have to. You know, get it removed, buy another one, you know, buy multiple times, et cetera.

Set it up. The guests are gonna have bad experiences. The quality's not great. And when you look at the hotel industry and you look at, you know, restaurants, et cetera, they've always been focused on commercial grade, contract grade furniture that's, you know, built to last four or five years. And so as this becomes less of a passive thing for folks where it's like, I'm gonna rent out the extra room in my, you know, in my, in my home, and more of a, Hey, this home is meant for vacation, rental use, et cetera.

That type of professionalization is, is. Geared towards, you know, it's a better fit for this type of goods and furniture, so, mm-hmm. That's kind of one of the things that we educate homeowners on is, hey, it's better for you. You're gonna get, if it looks better, it's higher design and all those things, you're really gonna get longer use out of it.

It's gonna save you money in the long run. Like, there's all these benefits from purchasing you know, the better types of furniture and it helps PMs too. 

Annie Holcombe  10:52

So do, do you guys offer a service when you would talk to an owner or, and, and even the property manager, but I'm thinking cuz you're, you go granularly with the owner that you would say like, here's what we recommend and kind of talk through.

Again. I think kind of to your point, the way people buy furniture for a vacation rentals, a lot of times it's, it's the wife or, and could be the husband, but they're making a decision based on like their. Comfort and their aesthetics and what they like and not necessarily thinking about like, okay, is this gonna be comfortable six months from now?

Is it gonna last six months? Like, they're just thinking about what does it look like for the photo today? Right. 

Consulting and design service

So do you guys offer like a consulting service and like maybe a design service to the owners? 

Jeff Iloulian 11:31

Yeah. Yeah. We, we absolutely do. And you're a hundred percent right, and, and you know, folks are focused on maybe.

Part of the picture, or even just the picture, right? Like just the photograph and listing photo and not like the, you know, what's going on behind the scenes. So we do those onboarding calls and, and you know, kind of like order assistance calls for anybody, including homeowners and, you know, to, to your point of, you know, they might not buy the most comfortable thing.

They're buying things that look good in the photo. The other thing is they might. They might not know some of the little things that actually make a huge difference in terms of design and, and, and, and vacation rental design specifically. So there's all this data and research out there about, you know, local stays feel much book at much higher nightly rates than luxury stays, you know, unique local stays or what a lot of folks look for in certain markets.

And so, For us to be able to point you in the direction of a company like Society Six that has millions of skews of art that you can actually search, you know, you know, whatever the nearest mountain you are to, or the lake that you're on, or you know, the, the state that you're in and find some actual unique art or things that, that match the, the location that you are to make the state feel more local as opposed to just, you know, putting a picture of Marilyn Monroe on the wall or whatever.

You can find it. You know, the, that makes sense. You know, the. The Kmart, right. That's actually gonna affect the long term, you know, and you might, you know, you might like to have, you know, live, laugh, love in your home. And that's great. And I think a lot of people like that too. But there should be things that feel, you know, local and make the stay feel unique.And so we help folks in, in that direction with their general buying. Or for design purposes, if you're a homeowner that's doing a entire home from the ground up, we have a free interior design program with William Sonoma. Well, they will do your entire home for you, the entire interior design for free, and you can purchase from The host, g p o discount with the host G p o discount on whatever those skews are, whatever you're putting in that house. So oh wow. It's a amazing we've done hundreds of these over the last year and it's, it's a really, really great kind of ground up offering for, for folks that want interior design help.

Annie Holcombe  13:39

Yeah. That's that's great. And Williams Sonomas tends to be on the pricier end of stuff, so being able to tap into that service is a, is a really great thing for you guys to be able to tout for 

Jeff Iloulian 13:48

sure. And you know, they, they're the Williams Sonoma family. A lot of people don't know this, but like Pottery Barn, Williams, Sonoma, west Elm, rejuvenation, like those are all Williams Sonoma brands.

Yeah. And so they mix and match from those brands to give you like the aesthetic that you want. You know,a lot of people don't know also, How much goes into furniture buying? Like it's not just p picking the items and placing order. Like a lot of the work is, you know, understanding what lead times are and understanding, you know, what items are gonna get consolidated and installed and when and how. And you know, we're really experts in that.

Alex Husner 14:20

Yeah. A lot of operations to it

Jeff Iloulian 14:22

A lot of operations to it. Yeah. And so we're really experts in helping people like understand how to do that as well and working with them to get set up in the right way.

Alex Husner 14:30

Gotcha, gotcha. What are you seeing in the last year as far as property owners wanting to upgrade their unit?

I know in most markets that we work in, we're seeing homeowners, they are much more open now to putting money back into their unit, or they were at least last year. But are you, did you see that last year and has that changed at all with how the economy is this year?

Jeff Iloulian 14:49

Yeah, so I, it's a really good question. I think that we saw the most of it in the post, like, you know, early 2021, mm-hmm. Kind of boom, supply, boom. One of the big things we were seeing is, All of these Smoky Mountain Pocono, big Bear Tahoe, you know, cabins? Mm-hmm. That have those big wooden log bed frames moving away from the like quilted pattern, like cabin away feel.

Into like reclaimed wood, metals, you know, stainless, you know, kind of appliances and, and like upgrading that feel. So you still have the cabin, you know, vibe around it, but you're really creating a more luxury experience. That was a huge thing for maybe a year. We saw a lot of those coming in the door. So that was, that was really interesting.

There's definitely been like an A-frame boom, like all the, all these folks Yeah. Kidding out. These A-frames like very Scandinavian design, a lot of that. I would say the mo most common trends now that we're seeing are I think they, they align with what the industry is doing as well. So we're seeing a lot more major city and urban deliveries and like orders going into new construction.

So a lot of mm-hmm. Kind of like that. It, it seems to be where a lot of folks are focusing right now. As I think major city and metropolitan city vacation rentals and, and travel stays tend have started to increase. Definitely see that happening. A good amount. Mm-hmm. The, the other one we see is, as I'm sure you're familiar with, like a lot of.

Our property management members that are a part of our group that are going out and acquiring kind of Yeah. Other property management companies. Yeah. They're just going in and fully, you know, gutting and renting or, or fully replacing, mm-hmm. You know, the, the the like furniture in a lot of homes.

And the, I see it, I see it happen in stages a lot, where usually what'll happen is, If you were taking over another property manager company or even just refreshing your business, there's steps, right? The first step is, what people usually do is they'll go and redo the entire linen program, right? Mm-hmm.

And they'll say, you know what? There's off white and bright white and cream sheets, and this is like, looks like a hodgepodge and it doesn't make sense. And some of this stuff is cotton and some of it isn't. And it's like all confusing and it it like the easiest kind of quickest way to upgrade. Like a facelift on a, on a unit is to just refresh all the linens and towels with like white commercial grade hospitality stuff that's gonna be there forever.

So like that, that will happen first, and then they'll usually go to furniture and then, you know, focus on the decor and art stuff at kind of at the end. And then, you know, do photography again. You know, that, that's definitely the, the cycle we see. Think 

Annie Holcombe  17:21

one of the things I think that we, we've seen, and it's been a big topic of discussion and I think you play a really pivotal role in the whole discussion, is the standardization of units. Mm-hmm. Direction I was thinking of. You know, one of the things that we, we, we know we're not, is we're not hotels and we're not cookie cutter, and we don't wanna be.

And that's, that's the great thing about, you know, short-term rentals and vacation rentals as, as a, as a segment. But, but there is a, there is a level of service that, you know, what we all, I think we all agree we want to get everybody to but you still wanna have the uniqueness and con so to your point about, you know, having that local stay, having the local decor that speaks to the region or speaks to the market.

But still being able to provide a level of standardized linens, standardized towels, and so that, you know, from, again, speci specifically in one company, I'm thinking that every time you stay with casa, no matter where you stay, you're always gonna get the same quality linens. It's gonna look different based on the.

The region or the, the area you're at. And it should, because that's what customizes the stay and creates kind of that memory that you have, but that level of service and knowing that, you know, you, the appliances are similar or they're, everything's gonna function at a certain level.I think what you guys are doing, and there's a couple of others in this space, that you're, you're gonna be able to provide people access to doing things that they were just sort of, To your point, hodgepodging together in Ikea and Target and West Elm and all kinds of different quality of furniture. So more of a statement than a question, but I think you play a big role in that. 

Jeff Iloulian 18:49

Yeah, I mean, I think, I think you're a hundred percent right and, and one, we're really passionate about elevating the entire industry in terms of the quality of units that are out there. We believe, you know, in the fact that if somebody stays in a vacation rental, no matter what it is, and has a great and positive experience, that it increases the amount that people wanna be in vacation rentals in general, right?

The whole, the whole industry gets lifted up by, by better quality units. But like you're saying, in terms of standardization, there's one guest expectations, which are. They think they, when they wanna show up and they're comparing it to a hotel and they want that level of, like you're saying, not just service, but like, they want, you know, clean linens that are fresh and like, you know, that, that are quality, but it's also the operation side of things, right.

It's very, very challenging to do things on a last minute basis or on a hodgepodge basis of like you're talking about, you know, 10 different brands, et cetera. And to be able to order from like standard textile is like the perfect example of that, right? Mm-hmm. They are a company that is built to provide high quality, low cost sheets that, and towels that are optimized already for this industry.

Like things that I never knew about, like having a color coordinated thread system along the inside so that your cleaning teams can tell like, Kings, Queens twins folds apart like that saves a ton of time. Like there's no hem, there's no hemline on those, on those fitted sheets where there's like a tag in the corner.

Mm-hmm. And you like have to put it on one way. Like those sheets can go on either direction and so like that saves time. Or if you buy a box of towels, They'll come pre laundered, you know, if you buy like the certain lines that they have, they'll come pre laundered so that if you're buying, you know, for you know, your inventory to keep in a closet or to keep in your storage warehouse, you're setting up a new home.

Like that's dozens of loads of laundry you don't have to do out of the gate, which is also cost and time, et cetera. Like, these are optimized already to, you know, they're woven in a certain way to like, not, not, you know, fray. And like all of these things are quick dry. Like these are things that have been invented over hundreds of years of like hotel type stays.

I just haven't made it into this industry yet. And to be able to save time and not having to think about where you're gonna get it from or try out eight different lines from an Amazon or not, be sure if those Costco sheets are gonna be there next time you go, or if they're gonna move on to something else like this is the standardization it in doing it right kind of the first time is what sets you up for kind of long-term success. And I think the industry is pivoting in that direction, you know now. 

Alex Husner 21:09

Yeah. And I, you know, and a lot of older legacy companies, most properties they have, you know, their own bedspreads. All the bedspreads are unique to that unit. And I,Going to the all white model I remember during Covid that was one thing that we talked about was maybe this is the opportunity for vacation rentals to streamline bedding just completely that we go to that white, you know, hotel based look. But and I think some, some companies have gone to that one. It's definitely more sanitary from being able to take the entire bed off. But then the other argument it. It. Other argument is some guests like to have that flare, you know, I mean, it makes the unit, especially if it's a, a condo property, that there's a bunch of them in a building. You know, how you decorate and how you do bedding makes a difference and how it stands out. But have you, what have you seen with that in the last couple years? Are you seeing a lot that are now going to the all white model? 

Jeff Iloulian 21:57

For sure. It's like, I would say 90% of people are ordering white, you know, linens, even if you're having, even if you're having maybe even more than that, but if you're having like a colored, you know you know, bread bedspread

Alex Husner 22:07

or, or maybe, maybe not, like the cu well, do they order, would they order bedspreads through you?If they were doing custom? Not custom, but if they weren't doing the hotel based generic.

Jeff Iloulian 22:16

Yeah. I mean they, they can order, you know, any sort of, like I see, we see people put quilts and stuff like that on the ends of the beds. Yeah, yeah. To differentiate and you can get that stuff through, you know, a bunch of different partners, including, you know, including standard textile is like one of them, right.

So we see people do that, but, but I think that there are certain things where, It doesn't necessarily matter like where your thermostat is or what kind of, you know, as long as you're using like quality paper towels and, and you know, toilet paper in the unit, right? Mm-hmm. There's no like, there's no like market differentiating factor where it's like, you know, we use three ply and Southern company uses two ply.

Like, that's not, that's not the draw. And I think people look at it in the same way and they're like, where do I get a really quality mattress encasement that's going to, you know, be the right one? And it's like, there's a little, there's so much that I didn't even know. Even being an operator for, you know, seven, eight years before getting into this where it's like, oh, there are mattress encasements that are zipper tops.

Mm-hmm. So like you're cleaning tube have to like, lift the mattress up and like take the encasement, how to wrap it up. Like you just zip the top off and like then you can wash it. And then put us another top on, or rezip that top on. Like, that's a huge thing that like hotels do. And it's like, you know, the importance of putting on mattress encasements and, you know, from a sanitary and safety and, you know, avoiding, you know, bedbugs.

Like those are the types of things that ruin businesses like you Yeah. Unexpected bedbug breakout in a vacation rental, you know building is a, you know, they're, they're ill ill-equipped to handle. 

Alex Husner 23:42

And that, I feel like bedbugs seems like they kind of go in phases within destinations.

I mean, it, there's probably, I don't know, five, six years ago that I felt like everywhere you went in a beach destination, you just always hearing about people getting Or properties having bedbugs, but in the last few years, haven't heard about that as much. But it's also probably because of using products like what you're talking about with the covers, that makes a big difference 

Jeff Iloulian 24:04

For sure. And like, you know, having like regular, you know, pest control and stuff like that, like all those things help too. Yeah. So, so host gpo, we, we have, like se we have services as well. Like we, we partner with Terminex on a national level. So you're a big property manager, like, and you're paying for, you know, quarterly pest control services.

Like to be able to get it at like, you know, 40, 50% off or whatever. Mix adds up if you have 50 properties or a hundred properties, definitely. That's a, yeah, it's a major savings. So, you know, there, there are things like that, that we focus on as well, just because we're really focused on helping businesses out.

Annie Holcombe  24:34

It's interesting. We, we have been talking a lot about what Covid did to regulations. Mm-hmm. What it did to shine a spotlight on the industry. So it kind of like blew it up. Whereas was like, we all knew it existed, we were part of it, but all of a sudden the whole world knew, you know, we knew what it was.

And I always joke, it's like, we're the cool kids? Always? Were we just. You know, now they know where we are. But, but I think that it, you know, your, your, your portion of the conversation is another one that the light got shut on. It's like, again, about having, having things that can be cleaned easily that are, you know, that that can create an environment that's safe for the cleaners, safe for the guests.

Just stuff that we took for granted from vacation rentals is like we knew we needed some of the hotel side of the business cleaning. But 

Covid exposed the vacation rentals weaknesses

I think Covid just made it more apparent that we needed to have better systems and better operations in place. So like, sounds like what you're doing is kind of answering those, those areas that were sort of exposed as maybe some weaknesses.

Jeff Iloulian 25:27

I think that's right. And the think the way that they were the most exposed is weaknesses, is that, you know, the bottom third or quarter or you know, 30 something percent of those units that weren't going through those processes or. Weren't furnished well and, and didn't look like they were gonna be cleaner.

Great stays. Like those were the ones that got wiped out during Covid. Cuz when you stacked everything up and everybody dropped their rates because there was low occupancy, the ones that got booked were the nicer quality units that were actually being operated. Well and sh you know, the, the people who pivoted right away to showing, you know, pictures of Lysol enhanced sanitizer and you know, talking about their cleanliness procedures, which is what every other industry did.

A lot of those units. Made it through and did actually very, very well on through the pandemic. Yeah. But a lot of that was because the, you know, a huge part of the supply that wasn't, those units fell off and so Yeah. You know, the, the minimum standard for what's acceptable just got raised in a very quick way.

Alex Husner 26:21

It's so funny. Thinking back to 

that. I remember during Covid that summer, our marketing changed so much. I mean, we had to be focused on, you know, what your cleaning procedures were and all these different things that we have As a marketer, you would never, like, that wouldn't be why you would be filming this big, elaborate video about cleaning procedures.

Right. But it is just, you know, those were, that's how the times were. But I think to your point, you know, the one, the companies that did put themselves out there and really talk about those things, or the individual host that talked about them, that gave them that leg up. You know, I mean, people wanted any sense of reassurance that they could, you know, possibly have at that point.

So it's interesting reme, remembering those days of, yeah. Advertising, cleaning, supplies. 

Annie Holcombe  27:02

So I have a question as a mom. Sure. This popped into my head as you were talking about, you went to law school, you're a lawyer. Mom and dad are super proud. You're practicing law. What was that conversation like to say to them, not gonna do this anymore? I'm gonna go into the short term rental business.

Jeff Iloulian 27:17

Yeah. I mean, the, the first one, the first conversation of, of, of kind of going from being a lawyer to being in you know, a vacation rental operator was a really challenging one because Yeah, I think that, They didn't really understand. And I think, you know, especially in 2014, like people didn't really get that this was a, a business Right.

An industry, you know? Yeah. Yeah. This was, this was, you were out there. On your own, you know, renting out your, your, you know, your, your aunt's spare guest room with, you know, some furniture from wherever you could pull it together. And, you know, people just thought about Airbnb as an Airbnb as like, this is a thing that you do in your extra bedroom, passive income.

And Yeah. You know, it just really, it became more than that and, and managing and helping other folks do, it was like a, a, a business. And so I think it was, it was challenging for them to, to understand. And, you know, and you know, the other folks in my life too, just, it was, I remember, I remember the lawyers I was working with were like, What have you lost your mind?

Alex Husner 28:23

You put it all this time and now you're gonna do that.

Jeff Iloulian 28:25

I'll never forget this one. This, this one guy said something that stuck with me. Really? Like, he was like, oh, alright, so you're just gonna like leave all of this and go snake toilets. And I was like, that's like, that's what you're gonna say to me on the way out the door. like, 

Annie Holcombe  28:37

right. Thanks. Is he on the do not rent list? 

Jeff Iloulian 28:40

Yeah. You, we don't. But you don't talk. We don't talk to be. But, but you know, I think that the. That it was, it was really, really hard back then too. And I'm sure you guys, you know, experienced this in, in, in different ways. But I, especially back then, like there was no community, there was not a lot of education.

Right. You know, what's going on. Like I was doing, I was operating on a silo out there figuring this all out and like, you know, the stories that I have about furnishing units and, and especially it was much more the Wild West back then in terms of like, You know, damages or what, there a lot of the things that exist in the tools that exist now.

Like you had to just figure all that stuff out. I mean, property management software was nothing like what it is now. Yeah. I mean, the automation functionality wasn't really there and you know, it's been, it's been interesting to see the industry grow, but, but to go back to like what that moment was like in terms of. You know, stepping away and stepping into something else. One, it was challenging to explain, but two, it was challenging cuz it was pretty lonely and, and there weren't, there weren't a lot of people to learn from. And so I really feel so fulfilled that I'm able to, you know, through this business. Help other folks go through and learn from a lot of the mistakes that I made and what a lot of the mistakes that other folks that I've talked to have made and, and like really educate themselves and kind of do things right the first time. Which is, I think just how businesses and industries, I mean, not just businesses, how industries. Change and evolve. 

Alex Husner 30:09

I was in the airport last week coming back from Reno and I was wearing my Casa ghost shirt and somebody was asking what it was and I was explaining, and you know, you always, I'm sure we're all guilty of this even though Annie and I have our hashtag, we are not Airbnb.

When you s explain what you do and you can tell it's just not connecting you, we kind of like default to saying, You know, like an Airbnb and Oh, okay. Yeah, yeah. Makes perfect sense. But then when you start explaining that, you know, this actually isn't anything new. Vacation rentals, short-term rentals have been around for decades.

Some people, they still, they look at you like you're crazy. Like, that's, that can't be. And it's like, think about it. Think about these historically tourism driven markets where people have rented beach homes for four years, where they've rented condos. This isn't something that's new, but it's just, it's, it's.

Interesting to see how the industry looks at it that way, or people from outside the industry look at it that way. But at the same time, too, We've all been in this for a long time, or Jeff, since 2014 for you, Annie and I for much longer. But a lot of the things that we know that we feel are just kind of basic things that we think everybody would know.

A lot of people don't, you know, there's so much new, there's so many new people coming into things that you know, being able to share the knowledge and the experience of what you've learned and being able to do this. I mean, it's, it's fulfilling, you know? I, I know it is for us. Yeah. But I'm sure it's for you as well.

Jeff Iloulian 31:25

Yeah. Yeah, I mean, I, I think one of the best parts of, and, and what I, what I wish I could spend all, all of my time and host G p O doing is like just talking to our members and our community about what's going on in their businesses and, and what, you know, what the challenges that they have are. And, you know, it's, it's, you can tell.

Especially when you're in the industry as much as like we are. I mean, I'm, I went to four conferences this week. This week. Yeah, that's right. You know, and it's great and it's an amazing way to connect with people and learn. But you know, you, you can tell what's coming down the pipeline from what the needs that people have are.

I mean, the last year, I'm sure you guys are familiar, but. It's been, it's been accounting. Accounting is tough. Yeah. Accounting is challenging. How do we do owner accounting? What's, you know, trust accounting work and et cetera. And I think that there are a lot of solutions on the way. But you know, for, for me, the problem I had three years ago was I can't figure out where to buy anything and nothing that I want to buy is Right. And, and you know, the idea behind Host GPO was like, try to, how can I curate and help, like, Streamline ordering. And you talked about like owners and how, and like how this can help owners and, and, and there's the design solutions, but like the other version of that, which goes to the same point, is. We created boxes where we have like a bed box, a kitchen box you know a basics box, and you can just one click a box and like, it'll tell you everything that you need for your kitchen in a list.

And, and you could just check out that box or you can edit it. Or same thing with your beds. Like, you can say, I have three queen beds and two king beds, and, you know, press go. It's luxury, it's medium. It's, it's basic. And it'll like put together that box for you. So, you know, I, I think that. Going back to kind of like helping out and educating people like that, those boxes are a really great way to like, Start, it's a good starting point.

We give away a free checklist. It's like every item you could ever possibly need to put in your vacation rental. And it, it's broken up by what? By all the items. And then it shows you what to click. That's an amenity on Airbnb. what to click That's an amenity on VRBO so that you are getting all the search rankings and an engine optimization based on what's in your unit.

But, you know, it's, it's, it's really challenging to think about from a ground up. What do you need in a home? What do you need to operate a business? So, you know, that's the really discreet problem. That we try to help educate people on and, and really just kind of provide that expertise you know, as part of what we do.

Annie Holcombe  33:46

Yeah, I think that's really important. Cuz again, I go back to you have to, I try to tell people like when you're, when you're furnishing or you're setting up vacation or like remove, remove the emotion. Remove the attachment. Like look at it as something utilitarian, like, people are gonna use this.

People with strangers are gonna use this, who have to find like a commonality that is gonna repeal to the masses. And that becomes very difficult. 

Solving the decision fatigue

But if they can go to, to somebody that just says like, here's the basics you need and you can build around it like that, that, that just saves so much. I think frustration and thought process that probably just, they, they get As people say, like wrapped around the axle on something that doesn't need to be taking up that much time in their space. You know, their head space.

Jeff Iloulian 34:24

The decision fatigue, analysis paralysis. . A million. There's a million ways to talk about it. And when you have 8 million brands in the world to be able to go somewhere and say, okay, here's like the, you know, 50 brands that you should be ordering from for this use for this specific thing.

Yeah, yeah. You know, I think we, we, we try to streamline and help, help folks out as much as we can to, to guide them. And to your point about like thinking about. Not getting emotional about it or, or too invested or, or, or thinking about like, yeah. One thing I think is really common and, and starting to kind of trend in the last year or so is thinking about, I mean, I've heard it talked about in terms of like guest avatars, right?

Mm-hmm. Or however you wanna think about it. But, but thinking about. The expectations of your guests specifically and how you can cater to what they need rather than what you're talking about, the emotional aspect of what you want to put in the home. And the most stark example of that is I remember five years ago I went and met another vacation rental operator and went and looked at one of his luxury homes.

We walked in and it was this like beautiful you know, porch that like, had an amazing view looking out and there was like a, a, a rock, couple rocking chairs and then there was a swinging bench. And the swinging bench was, had a back and you would expect that the bed will be looking out. He said this beautiful view, but instead he had the bench hanging, facing the other direction.

Mm-hmm. And I was like, what? It just, I was immediately like, what, what is going on? But this was like a, an Instagramable home. And so he was like, yeah, people want to come here and take a picture with that in the background. That's what the guests that come and stay in this home are interested in. And like, look, that's a very unique guest.

That's a unique take on how to do it. But like that somebody who is thinking about. What is my guest that's renting this home? It was like a neon sign kind of type home with like Right. You know, like take pictures of every, every very hip. But he was like, yeah, people wanna come here and take an Instagram shot with that in the background.

And that's just, you know, something I had never thought about before. But thinking about it from your guest's perspective rather than, you know, your own perspective is something to consider.

Annie Holcombe  36:32

Yeah. It's probably hard to do too. I think, again, especially when you're trying to do it in mass. 

Jeff Iloulian 36:36

Yeah. I, I mean, I think, and, and every home is different. And, and every kind of, you know, if you're in a rural place and your guest is families that are coming to travel here on, on their vacation, I mean, that's something where you're really focused on probably You know keeping family friendly type things in the house and, you know, bunk beds and things like that.

Whereas if you're in a city and you're appealing to business travelers, I mean, there's certain needs that they would need to, and so understanding that even if you have multiple units, what, what guest is right for, who you're looking for, you're trying to appeal to. I mean, those are things that, that need to take shape before you start booking.

Alex Husner 37:14

Yeah. So Jeff, what's one thing in the industry that is not being talked about that you think should be talked about more? And this doesn't have to relate specifically to what you do within the industry, whether sure, it could be something completely different, but just curious, like for other things that, that keep you up at night.

Jeff Iloulian 37:29

Oh I think that I mean, Advocacy work. I mean, I'm, I'm like the, yeah. I'm like the number one culprit of Los Angeles got swoop, like swooped out from under my feet with regulations. Yeah. So bef before I even realized what was going on, and I woke up one day and I was like, wait, what? You know, I was like kind of tangentially following, but didn't think it was gonna happen.

So, you know, I think that regulations and not organizing in advance and like really trying to play an active role in regulations. There's, there's all the more and more I travel and, and, and learn about other cities that have gone through different types of regulations. The more I realize the worst possible thing is not being involved.

It's not even the regulation, it's not being involved and, and having regulations that are nonsensical past. Yeah. So, you know, like there's a regulation in a city that passed where it's a lottery. It's not even just they cap the number of permits. It's a lot annual lottery. Where the permits get randomly assigned to homes. And it's how, if you're a property manager, how are you gonna possibly manage these homes? Yeah. And if you're an owner, you're just never gonna do it. And so it's like nobody was really in the room when stuff like that was happening. So one is advocacy. I definitely encourage people to get as involved and possible with, with the state of the industry. The other one I think is, Safety. I think safety is a big thing that people are sleeping on. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah. And the more I learn about, you know, the catastrophic type things, that that can happen and the more I realize that like, you know, people aren't focused enough on, on the potential catastrophes, there's a lot of, a lot of gambling going on.

Yeah. And, and because you're looking at. Small sample sizes of people who can afford to gamble, because if everything goes wrong, they might lose their vacation rental business, but they don't think about the fact that they could lose a lot more. 

Alex Husner 39:18

Yeah. I think safety's kind of in that same boat that advocacy was in a few years ago that, you know, because of people like Justin Ford and, and Eric Yeah.Tido that are out there that are bringing some of these situations to. To light. Now we're starting to take notice that, okay, this, this is something that needs to be looked at. And you have to have worst case scenario thinking in a lot of this stuff. I mean, these are, are not our assets at the end of the day. We are responsible for the guests, we're responsible for the homeowner's property or, or if it's your own property. But there's, there's a lot of liability there and a lot of things that can be, that can go terribly wrong, that seemingly don't. Wouldn't be an issue, but you don't have to be the expert in everything too.

I think that's important to, for people to understand is that you don't have to be the expert in safety. You don't have to be the expert in advocacy. Just support it and be there and be part of the conversations, and then find the people that can help you in those areas.

Jeff Iloulian 40:08

A hundred percent. And I think that that's like a huge one for, for, you know, we play a very small role in that chain, but like, you know I saw Justin speak earlier this week and, and he was talking about He was also talking about commercial great furniture and contract.

Great furniture. And it's like, you know, you see pictures of listings with people with these like, you know, rickety bunk beds that I'm like, you're buying from like Yeah. Random manufacturers and you want like, small children to climb up onto like the top bunk of like this thing that is super unstable. Yeah. And like, what are you, you know, you're, you're really rolling the dice and, and so yeah. You know, it's just, you should buy quality stuff that you're putting in the home and, and buy things that are made to be like used. That way. I mean, that's my Right, exactly. That's my thing. You know, like, you know, just cuz you're, you know, you think about it emo the emotional thing you're talking about in terms of like, don't underst it emotionally like, you know, just cuz cuz you are a certain, you know, size or use case or whatever, doesn't mean that somebody else that's a different size or u use case isn't gonna come in and use and sit in a chair that is, you know, and should be able to support that person. And, you know, anyways, I, it's just, I think safety is a, these are the non-sexy ones, but like, they are very, they're really important.

Annie Holcombe  41:16

Mm-hmm. Yeah, they're the, they're the ones that'll break a business in a blink of an eye and people don't think about it. I know from, so my day job, I, I work for Marriott for the Homes and Villas division.

Mm-hmm. And that's one of the things that we, you know, we're very much about the quality of ex experience and expectations and those type of things. And one of the things that our team uncovers or not, I say uncovers, comes across a lot, is. The underinsured, like the, the people just don't have the right amount of insurance.

And it's not that they, it's not that, it's not that they're trying to do anything underhanded. They just don't know what they need. They don't, they don't know. They dunno the questions to ask. And in talking to people in the insurance industry, they'll say like, you know, to your point Alex, like just really, you have to think worst case because one lawsuit could, could destroy a, a family business that's been around for 50 years if you're not If you're not carrying the right insurance. 

Jeff Iloulian 42:02

Yeah. And like, you, like, like you guys are saying too, it's, it's, You don't have to be the expert, right? You don't have to be the expert. And there's so many things like I didn't know, I didn't know about pool depth markers and the nest. You put in pool depth.

Annie Holcombe  42:14

Justin will tell you all about that. 

Jeff Iloulian 42:16

Oh yeah, I learned, I learned, I learned that. You know, and it's like I did it in all of my homes and, and yeah. I mean it's It's important things you don't to get aligned. Yeah. I think that that, that the overall kind of theme i of what's been trending in, in the space, I don't know, maybe it just feels like this for me and maybe you guys have a different perspective because of, of your tenure in, in the space, but it feels like there is a, a professionalization going on.

But that doesn't mean that this is just. Only businesses that are operating in the space, it means that the entire, like quality of, of, of what is happening is, is increasing. And, and, and I think that it's this rising tide that is a great thing to be a part of and contribute to. And you know, I think that, People think about their competition as, as well, I need to get that booking instead of them and what they really should be thinking about right now.

Especially when demand is where it is and there's so much room for growth. When you look at projections for this industry, I mean, it's like a rocket ship in terms of the market share vacation rentals have versus hotels is just like, it, it, it's so insignificant in terms of its size and there's so much room for growth.

I think if people focus more on how can we elevate the industry mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. And make vacation rentals. Even more prevalent. And, and you know, I, I think that that will have an overall net effect to make the pie bigger and it'll be less about competition. 

Alex Husner 43:42

Yeah, absolutely. We, we had Stewart Butler on the, on our, well, actually no, this was a rent responsibly panel that we were on a couple weeks ago, and that episode's gonna be coming up here soon. But one of the things he talked about was cathedral thinking, and, you know, that long-term vision of what we're all trying to accomplish. And I think it's, it can be, especially for newer people getting into the industry that you're very just. Aware of your own, what your properties are doing, and you're maybe not as connected with other property managers or the destination. You can kind of get in your own head and your own silos there. But when you start thinking on the higher level there, that you're, you're, you're projecting the industry, you're promoting your destination. It's not just about your property. People didn't come to stay. In your property just to stay there.

In most cases, they're, they're on vacation or there's a reason that they're in that area. So, you know, just having that higher mindset, I think is, is important to keep everything in relation to what is truly important. Cuz there's, there's no end to things we can all be doing every day in this business.

I mean, you could chase your tail for hours on just so many different things, but for sure you gotta have that, that perspective is important 

Annie Holcombe  44:46

so thank you so Much for joining us and, and telling us, of course, a little bit about host G p o. And I think, you know, you've got the right mindset and, and we're excited to be you know, able to share your story and share your, your vision for, for the industry. But if people wanna get in touch with you, what's the best way to reach you? 

Jeff Iloulian 45:03

Yeah, I mean through, through our, our website, I mean you go to host gpo.com.

You can always chat in, you can always email me. I'm just chef at host gpo and this is a small industry and so if people ever wanna reach out, you can reach out to me directly or anybody on our team. It's o one thing we take a lot of pride in is that our team is Mostly hosts. Most of the folks on our team are, are, are hosts that have, are either in the industry or used to work at big vacation rental companies.

And so we're all kind of experts in that way. So reach out to me, reach out to our team sign up for the free trial. It's a three month free trial with no commitment. And the idea behind it is that we want people to get samples of products and give it a shot and log in and poke around the site and understand how great the deals are.

So we're hoping to hear from, from you guys if you're not members. For those of you that are listening, that our members thank you for being with us for the last couple years as we've pivoted and tested out a lot of stuff. And it's yeah, that's the best way to kind of reach us is On all of the socials and all of the things hosted gpl,

Alex Husner 45:58

Well, thank you so much, Jeff. If anybody wants to contact Annie and I, you can go to Alex and annie podcast.com. If you're enjoying the show, please leave us a review wherever you listen to podcasts, apple, Spotify, Amazon, anywhere. Reach out to us on our website. We'd love to hear from you. So until next time, thanks for tuning in, everybody.