The Queen of Guest Experience: Tyann Marcink Hammond, Touch Stay

Welcome to Alex and Annie the real women of vacation rentals. I'm Alex. And I'm Annie. And we are here today with Tyanne Marcink Hammong who is the queen of guest experience for touch day, and also the owner of Branson. Family retreats. tyin Welcome to the show.

Thanks so much. And then I also have Missouri House vacation rental. So two grands properties.

Yeah. How how do you find the time in the day to do all this? And children team?

Yeah, three, three, but one, one has flown the nest. He literally called me one minute before our meeting. And he's like, Mom, I'm gonna get my tattoo today. Like, dude, Oh, wow. I'm not I'm not you're in charge of you. You're adulting now, but just remember, you have bills and you owe your mom money and you're behind on your payments. I don't think a tattoo is a wise idea today.

Yeah. isn't really necessary need or wants here? Yes,

exactly. I'm a 21 year old. So I feel that pain.

Yeah, yeah. Well, I only have dogs. So they have not yet has to get away. But. But Tyann is such a pleasure to have you on the show. And it's just been wonderful to get to know you over the last few months just meeting you at the conferences. And I think myself included, it's sometimes it's it is hard to keep up with you because you do so many different things. And not only do you do so many things. But you travel a lot to these events and put on whirlwind events at the events for your participants. And I think it's just great what you guys are doing at touch today. But before we get started, can you give our audience a little bit of history about who you are and what your involvement has been within vacation rentals.

Thanks so much. It's a pleasure to be here with you guys. I've always downloads your podcast episodes from when I'm on the airplane too. So I have my friends with me. At those times.

We get to travel with her, Alex, we just don't Yeah.

So I started way back in 2007. So, you know, I'm 15 years in which a lot of people, you know, they like oh my gosh, she was so young. It's like, yeah, I was young, I, you know, just had my or I was pregnant with my third son. So, you know, my kids have literally grown it in this as well. And like most people, it was kind of a accidental type thing. It wasn't on purpose to actually have a business, it was more of an investment and a second home for us at that time. And it was also from the family type of thing. So my aunt and uncle started, they bought the largest place at Table Rock Lake and Branson available to be as a vacation rental, which at that time was four whole bedrooms with two bathrooms. I know so huge. And I know. And then the next year, my parents said, Oh, we're gonna do five bedrooms, we're gonna go bigger than you. And we're gonna do two of them. And then the uncle says, Well, we're gonna build an eight bedroom house. And so you know, oh, my goodness, we had to get in there as well. And then eventually, my siblings starting to get in. So, you know, fast forward 15 years I am now you know, I own to and Branson, we're building another two we manage for several clients. We're very limited edition boutique, we say no to a lot of owners and investors. We look at interviews as two way we're going to make sure it's a good business development, good business partnership. And then also, I have five siblings, and three of them are in the vacation rental industry as well as my parents too. So it's really fun holiday dinner swapping guest stories and, and asking each other questions. It's one of those things where a lot of people get into this, and they don't have that support group. But we've got a support group just built in. It's pretty awesome. And then also, in the meantime, I bought a bank. So over in Martha's Ville, Missouri wine country, and that bank is built in 1902 with two original vaults, so I turned that into a vacation rental, where my guests can legally launder in the Ozarks,

that is incorrect. You told me about that. It's a cool concept. I've never heard of anybody that has a bank as a short term rental, but that's awesome.

But it's also fun. And then that turned into a management company as well. So we got the two brands and management companies and then in the meantime, started a consulting and started with touch day four and a half years ago and absolutely love working with that team and what they do very much my type of thing where it's all about the guest experience, communications, making sure as Maya Angelou says, People remember how you make them feel.

Right. Yeah, not what not necessarily what you said. But how do you how you made them feel? Yeah, so great. Wow. So So with Touch Stay, I mean, it makes sense obviously, why you are the queen of guest experience. I think that's a wonderful title for you. But But how long Let's TouchStay they've been in business now you've been there for four years. But how long have they have they been around?

So they've been around since 2013? No 1413? Because I mean, eight years. Yeah, this is this December all the eight years. Andy and Joestarted it. And they're not vacation rental owners. They're not property managers. But it's totally started from the guest perspective. And I think that's really important, because they looked at it as what do we as travelers want to help us as we travel, and then they brought on myself to get that viewpoint of the host, property manager, owner and marrying those two viewpoints together is really great. And I think that's one of our biggest successes is we have those different viewpoints. And we keep everything as simple and as beautiful as possible. There's so many ways to make things so complicated, but we always come back to how simple can we make it so that everybody can use it? And like one of the things we're working on literally this month is accessibility also. So working with the screen readers to make sure it meets ADA. And then folks, you know, no matter your capabilities, you will be able to use TousStay.

Study. How did you actually come to know them? I'm curious about how that meeting happened.

I how everybody needs now, right? It's on social media. Yeah. Yeah. So that, and that happened soon after they started as well. Um, so Andy had we alienated connected lives, either online or through Heather's Vacation Rental Success Summit. I remember that was the first time I actually met him in person. And at that time, I had been actually consulting with glad to have you right before HomeAway bought them. And I ended up consulting with HomeAway on that after they bought them as well. So I was under contract there. And towards the end of my third year over there, I went through some, I called it a fire in my life, personally, family. So at that time, the contract ended. And Andy out of the blue, I mean, total godsend he emails me and says, what's going on? Like, I bought a bank? Well, when anything else like, no, that's it? Because we want you like, okay,

that's awesome. I love that timing is a unique thing, and is that it gets it can be hard in the moment to kind of separate yourself from what's going on, and just not be worried about what it is. But just knowing that things work out the way that they're supposed to. And I think in your case, they certainly have. So it's good to see, you're a good example of that.

So you became queen of guest experience. And Alex and I had the really good fortune of being part of one of your kind of experiences at a conference at DARM. And we had a blast, it was so much fun, and it was a small group, and everybody was very engaged. And you do a really amazing job of kind of removing the discomfort of people not knowing each other. And I wondered, just you did that, like, you definitely have a passion for kind of connecting people, and making sure that their experience is something memorable, and that they're, you know, even if they don't come back to you, it's something that they're always going to take with him. So what do you think was that spark, your aha moment that made you want to kind of focus on that aspect of the industry.

So is that aspect as in TouchStay, or with my guests, oh, just

Well just the guest experience. But I think, again, you're doing it both ways. You're doing it today, but you're also doing it through your property management. And then again, when you go to these events, I mean, I think it's something that's just innate in you, that just comes out that you, you really derive a lot of passion from whatever side of that you're doing it for. And I'm just curious, like, you know, was there something and experience that you had along the way that you were like, I want to be able to do things like that for other people, regardless of whether it's, they're staying with me, or they're at a conference with me or working with me.

So I think it all goes back to the point that or the place in my life as a kid I what I wanted to do was I wanted to change the world. And when you're a kid, you think, Oh, you have to be like super high leadership, you have to be President of the United States, you have to be Queen of England, you have to be in these giant leadership positions to do that. And as I grew in age, and wisdom, and I came to the realization that, you know, all it takes is a little drop to change something. So if you think about when a you throw a rock into a pond, and that ripple effect that happens and it can change things. So I started looking as what little things can I do to make a small change that leads to a bigger change, and I realized just in vacation rentals alone, each one of us has the power of changing the world, family, by family. by the fact that we provide a place for a family to come together to it's safe place for them. It's a place outside their normal homes where there might be a lot of stress and anxiety and bad feelings and things you know, that are going on you put a family into a new environment, an environment that's curated for them to gather and to focus on each other and grow bonds and memories and and just have fun together. That will seriously changes a family. And you know, growing up, we were so poor, so dirt poor, I mean, our vacations were timeshares. Yeah, we would my parents would go sit through timeshare presentations just so that our family could go on vacation. And in doing that, and realizing the memories of bonds that we created as a family and how it held us together. It to me, it's this is how I can change the world. And I want my guests, my I call them my families, my guests to have that opportunity. So curating that for them. And then when I look at all my friends in the vacation rental industry, and I get just so excited, because we're all in this together, we're all providing these places for families, we're all changing the world in our little way, one at a time. So how can we grow our bond stronger together. And it doesn't necessarily mean it's going to be in a giant happy hour with music blaring. And we have to literally be right into each other's ears trying to get to know each other, I would rather be able to curate a time where it's quiet, or quiet or, and you have that opportunity to have 10 minutes with someone else. And then given the instructions of hey, this is the time I've created for you. So take the advantage of that and just pick up random person that you don't know, go sit by them. And always ask them questions and get to know that person. And what's amazing is seen those 10 minutes that people have been able to do and then you see those people over and over again during the space that the span of a conference and you're you're building those and you're making those connections. I connections are so so important. And it just it energizes me. I know if you guys can see that as my image. Yes, definitely.

Definitely. Yeah. Yeah, no, I think the event that you hosted in Nashville was as Annie said that was the first of its kind that I've ever been to like that that a vendor has hosted. And we all love going to the happy hour parties and things like that. But you're exactly right, it just ends up that you can't really talk for too long with somebody because it's busy. And it's loud. And I love that we first got on the trolley, you said to everybody, at each stop that we went to we went to all these great places to take pictures in Nashville at the murals, you asked us to switch spots each time that we got back on the trolley to sit with somebody new. And somebody new for Annie and I which is so funny because I feel like we know but Tim from Sarah and T was on the trolley with us. And you know, as your podcaster are also you feel like kind of celebrity in awe when you when you actually meet people in person that you feel like you've listened to them for years. But it was really fun to get to talk to him in person and everybody else that was on there too. I mean, really made good connections and had time to talk to people. But then if I had another question for them later that I thought I'd actually have time to go back and continue the conversation. So really cool. I think it's great that you do that. Thank you. So you just got back from Portugal to tell us about about that event that you're just at

all of the Vacation Rental World Summit was in Portugal this year. And Antonio is one of those folks that is really good at connecting people. So the best thing about his events is these roundtables that he puts together and he actually seats people. So you have an assigned seat, you have an assigned facilitator. It's not something where, you know, I'm actually an introvert and it takes a lot for me to walk into a room and choose a seat who am going to sit down next to and think okay, did I pick the right seat? Am I sitting next to the right people? Am I going to ask the right questions. So something like this roundtable that Antonio has set up is he has chosen the this mix of folks, whether it's you know, property managers, or hosts or suppliers, and he mixes them all up and gives them the assigned seats, and I really enjoy being a facilitator as well. So being able to encourage folks to ask the questions, and to dig deeper into what they were talking about as well. And a big plug for Vacation Rental World Summit. This was number nine. So next year is number 10, which is amazing. And so it'll be in Barcelona, Spain and Antonio's already released tickets It's, it's gonna be pretty incredible. Yeah, that's our goal

next year is to make one of the international events for sure. So hopefully that'll be the one that we get to go to.

Yeah, we were just we were at well, it was several months ago that VRMA is Executive Summit. And they did something similar where they brought people up and assign them to table. And then it was kinda like, so they had like a vendor, I needed property manager, and you had somebody moving from, you know, a municipality. So it was a it mixed up table. And of course, for Alex and I were like, we really didn't know a lot, a lot of the people knew some of the people, but then they separated her and I, which is like, separate the two of us was yeah, you know, attached. But it was really neat, because we met these people in the conversations like you like later on, like seeing what the conversation happened at one table. While it was similar, there was always like different angles of it. But I think that that's a really a really good way, again, to get people to know each other and maybe remove the stigma of a, again, what is what you think a CEO at a company does versus what you know, President of this company over here doesn't like there's a lot of similarities and, and ways to collaborate that we're we might be missing out on if somebody didn't remove that and put us together. So I think that that's a that's a really great thing that it seems like conferences are trying to do more of that, instead of the happy hours and the social aspect of it, the more like, let's really get to know each other.

Yeah, I agree on that. I agree. So one thing that we've talked to several of our guests about lately, we had Matt Loney, on the show, and a couple others that have been, you know, talking about guest experience and products that they deliver within the space that are different than than yours. But you know, there are some similarities. But I'm curious what you see as the future of tech within guest experience, like, where is it? Where do you feel it is now? Do you feel like it's going to? Is it going to change? I mean, is the digital display? Is that going to be? Is that going to continue to be the thing of the future? Or are there other things that touched is looking into?

So tech today, a lot of folks have been focusing more on tech that automates things. So thinking, Okay, if I've done this task two times, three times, it is time to automate it. And a lot of tech, you know, applies to that. And that's what folks are going after. But to me, and in the guest experience, if that's all your tech is focused on, it's not going. It's not going to help with hospitality. I mean, this business is not just real estate transactions, it's hospitality. So unless the Tech has an element of human touch, then you're going to run into issues, it's not going to give you the five stars you're looking for, it's the human touch, that gets you those rave reviews, it builds those loyal fans. So you can use tech, you can automate it, but it's got to have that human touch. On our podcast, the guest cast we interviewed at Don Miguel got and he is a huge robotics type of person. He actually has a robot, he travels around the different countries taking his robot and demonstrating things, and then going into places and helping them build out the robotics as well. And the story he told us on the guest cast was about how when he went to Japan, he thought, Okay, I'm here, I'm going to try something different. I want an experience. I don't want everything to blur together. And so he chose the robot hotel, and thinking, Okay, this is gonna be cool, right? There's one person that runs the hotel, and everything else is robots. So you walk in and you are greeted by a velociraptor. You go into the elevator, and the Tyrannosaurus rex is doing the elevator. And they're all robots. And what John cautions as well as a traveler is that, yeah, the automation and the robots is cool. And they can take over some of your tasks. But as far as a guest experience goes, you also have to nail it with the human touch. If but if you do poor guest experience, in his mind, he's going to be thinking, Where is that Velociraptor I'd rather have the robot than poor customer service, poor guest experience. So when we talk about tech, and we're having tech, take care of things, I mean, the reason I can do so many things with my life and one my brain is really weird and wired that way. I use tech to help me, but I make sure we have that human touch the personalization. I think that's what's really going to set folks apart.

I think people at the end of the day they crave human interaction, even even the ones that might want technology to do everything for them. They still want to know that you add a smile is genuine, uh, hello is thoughtful. Those things that again, robots can't do now. My son on the other hand, I took them to the hotel with robotic dinosaurs, he would have been thrilled to death but that would have been when he was five. So interesting world. Yeah. And it's and saying all that like it's it's funny because I think even just with guest experience but we've been talking about with a lot of technology providers not just on the guest experience side is that we it all gets back to the technology is really great and we do need it. But every piece of the technology that we're using the property management system, the revenue management tools is pricing. Everything needs a human component. And I think we we've got really ahead of ourselves as an industry to be so tech advanced and so tech enabled, that we kind of forgot that we needed to take this human component along. And now we're like, I don't say resetting, but it does feel like we're acknowledging that we do have to have that as part of it.

And it all happened so fast, right? I think a lot of the tech advancements happened a little bit before COVID. And then certainly during COVID, and post COVID, that we've seen major, major advancements of new players coming into the space. So it's been interesting to see that but I think you're right Annie that, I think it's a little bit more of a reset that people are still remembering. It is really important. And this is debated heavily, whether we are technology companies or hospitality companies, and the correct answer should be hospitality companies. That is at the heart of everything that we do as as providers of accommodations. But I was listening to podcasts this morning with Doug Kennedy. And he had a great line that about how people book vacations and people saying that millennials, they only want to book online or Gen X, they only want a book online. He said it's really not that case, it is more situational than it is generational. And I think that's true. Because I'm a millennial, I do like to do things online. But if I'm doing a big looking for a big party of people or buying a big purchase, in most cases, you do want to talk to somebody. So I think, as an industry and just as a world, we're quick to judge that this type of people, these types of people like this, and others like this. And that's just how it is. But it's not, you can't really fit everything into one box. And definitely having that mix of cutting guest service and experience with the technology to balance it is really good. And dunk had one other point in his podcasts. That was the rival podcast actually, he said, When you go to VRMA this year, make sure you have a balance of tech sessions that you go to and a guest communications, guest service, guest experience sessions because you don't want to just go to all the tech sessions because that really doesn't solve problems. At the end of the day, you need to be able to be well versed on both sides and how they come together.

I think that's a really good warning to heed it for any conferences that yeah, is. Yes, because so many more are now focusing on the investing. The interior design, the marketing parts, yeah. But they're forgetting the whole human element, the hospitality, the communications, I mean, to me, that is just as important. I mean, your marketing and your investing and everything that that gets people to book. Yep. Then what happens? You're still got a whole long way to go before you get that review. And if you fail between booking and arrival with communications, which I will say most people do, and you most people send two messages, they said, hey, you've confirmed, and that could be what a year before arrival. And then they send arrival instructions. And that's it, and you're on your own. So it's a huge missed opportunity in that in that time. And then you got the then your guests arrive, and yet it may look right. But is it really comfortable? Has Has the house been set up for true stain, as in? Where are outlets and USB ports place? Is it so you're in the right spot? I mean, there's so many little intricacies to this for hospitality, that folks are forgetting about it. And with the influx of investors into our industry. That's one of my concerns, too. Because they just oh yeah, let's let's throw it in there. And not not thinking how this is not a flip. This is not just a house, you said you're gonna sell as a flip, right? This is a house where people are coming to specific activities, whether it's vacation or business travel, and you have to meet their needs. And that's where the hospitality comes in.

Yeah, and I think you're spot on. I think a lot of the investors that have come in and Doug actually said this on that same podcast today, that a lot of them came in thinking okay, this is a mom and pop industry, they don't really know what they're doing, we can get in there because we know how to run businesses that could be completely different other sectors are lawyers and doctors and everything else and now they're going to come in and streamline things and you know, to some extent, I mean, there's practices that probably could help some of us that have been this forever doing it mom, Mom & Pop if that's what we are, but in a lot of cases you this is not something that can be learned overnight. I mean, hospitality is something that is learned over time and through experience. I mean, like guest experience and a experience as a property manager, seeing what works, seeing what doesn't work, having the pitfalls and the fails. And then the great successes and seeing what really makes a difference for guests. But and now I know you've you've been to some of the other conferences that are lean a little bit more towards the more investment side that you're referring to. So like the short term wealth conference and ones like that, how do you tell us about how those are because we haven't been to those. And I think there's just a lot of talk right now about, you know, what the difference is, and what the approach is to short term rentals, vacation rentals, and the the content that's shared at those events.

The great thing about those is they've got this this energy and this pride and excitement that the I would say traditional conferences have been missing. So that has been so wonderful to be around that just that extra energy. And to see all the new, the new folks coming in. A lot of the folks that I've talked to, you know, it's they've been in it less than two years, or got into it during COVID. Or maybe they're just now getting into it. So not a lot of folks, have been around pre COVID, or maybe they got into right before COVID heads. So just the excitement around it is great. I look at them as a really good introduction to what the industry could be type thing like, Okay, now they're, they're gonna get a taste. But then if they don't continue on to the deeper conferences that have good, excellent education, they're going to, they're going to lose out, I mean, they're going to miss some stuff in their business. So I really see a place for both of them, I would love to see the energy merge, because you have folks who have been around for decades, and their wisdom will be so helpful to all this energy that's coming in all these new people, and all these new people with the energy, it will be so helpful to just infuse that into folks that have been around, they're tired. I mean, the summer, I got to the point myself, I'm just like, I'm going to sell, I'm done. Yeah. Just you get you get worn down. So there's, yeah, it's very different. And I love seeing the different viewpoints because we're, we're all made differently. All our brains work differently. So it's amazing to me to see some of these folks with how their brains work. And it's so different. And they're drawing in this crowd that never would have been drawn in with the other industry conferences, and nor did they even know about them. So yeah, I want to be that connector. So anybody listening, let me know, I'd love to connect, folks, because I talk to a lot of the organizers. Of course, I know most of the exhibitors too, as well. And I just I would love to see this energy and wisdom come together.

Yeah. Very well said, I know Annie, and I feel the same way as you do, we want to be that connector. And we see a lot of benefit of everybody working together, you know, we have more similarities than we do differences, ultimately. But at the end of the day, we do all get grouped into one category of accommodations. So it is important that, you know, everybody's kind of playing by the same standards and rules. And just because you have technology doesn't mean that you're providing good guest experience, which leads to a lot of problems. So we're interested to see that's another type of event next year that hopefully we'll be able to attend one of those also,

we've really been paying attention to a lot of that that's going on there. And we have heard that from several people that went to that event that the energy was just like, yeah, it was electric, like he just walked away from it being super, super excited. And I think whenever you go to a conference, you are excited because you feel like oh, there's all these great things you could do, but to have new energy infused in the industry, to your point, there are a lot of legacy companies that are out there. And again, they're full of wisdom, full of so much wisdom that they can impart on these new people. And I think it is incumbent upon the professionalized side of the business to kind of reach across the aisle, so to speak, and just say, look, welcome, come in, and let us educate you let us you know, it's like we talked about you take into the water, you can't necessarily make them drink, but at least show them the path to get there to get that information. Because if we don't educate you know, I always talk about the pie of vacation rentals and the vast majority sit on that smaller side there don't sit on our side of this professionalized the large scale operator that we deal with every day. And so, you know, in order for us to find balance and make sure that everybody's being a good steward, we have to be gracious and open and want to share our knowledge but at the same point, you know, like really be excited about that energy that they're bringing to it. I think there's so many great things that next year, if we can merge some of the things together it could could happen. So keep us in mind, Diane, we're all on board for being

I will Okay, so So what we're going to do right now is Alex, Annie and Tyann challenging. All event organizers next year, if you've mainly been in the whole energy vibe, you're only getting recent folks to come and speak, get some wisdom on stage. And those traditional conferences, you've only had the same speakers every single year. Yeah, this is your challenge for the new folks, let's let's get this together. Let's merge them together.

I love that, you know, I think podcasts over the last year or so or two have really made a difference in the communication between the two sides, yours being one of them, for sure. Also, that I think there's so much more sharing of information and perspectives on a lot of this stuff that that's where I think we're think we're going in the right direction. It's just we're a little bit early, but we're getting there. And I think that's just great advice. I think if we can bring the two groups together, that would be that would, that would be a more beneficial conference for everybody. And last year at vrma, that was the first year that they opened it up so that individual hosts if you had less than five units, I think could could attend. I think as I was there was a good first start. And that's got to be continued. Now going forward. So it's the professionalization. And I know when that first came out, we've talked about that on the show. But when that first came out, I was more leaning towards the side of the other legacy operators that thought oh my god, what are we doing? No, this is bad. And, Annie's like no, no, like, this is good. This is good. It's our listener a little bit and then we're thinking about it and talk to people about it. I do agree, I think we've we've got to, we've got to elevate together and not in separate silos.

So what's super interesting and into that point of professionalization, and we keep saying, oh, we need to bring the hosts the owners up to professionalization. However, at the vacation rental World Summit, Sara Dupree with air DNA brought in the keynote, the data showing that who has the better reviews, yeah, the property managers. It's an individual's Oh, for sure. Yeah. So looking at that it's like, okay, so what does professionalization mean? Are you in how are you writing that? Are you looking at as what are the reviews in the end of the stay? Is it how they operate, but it's not being reflected in the reviews? How are folks setting expectations? So looking at those two different things, it just blows my mind that they are so opposite one, another one, right? Those are saying, dude, we're getting the reviews, but you want us to be more like you and you're getting lower reviews what's right, right. So something's, someone's like,

well, and I, you know, it's interesting, because we've talked to people about the review situation and the scalability of it. And it's very, very hard to scale when you get to hundreds of units and be able to manage. But I think, you know, one of the things also is that the channels have put so much emphasis on your sort position and your status, you know, your superhost status, or you're super, not sure what verbose calling it now, but that status is so tied to those reviews. And while I'm not saying that's a bad thing, because reviews are important, there's no doubt, I think that we have to find a way to work with it. Because, again, the professionalization doesn't necessarily, it's not necessarily separate from a good review. But it's not necessarily indicative, either way. Like there's, there's so much of it that can be worked on together. And so that's something that both sides need to come together and agree on kind of a standard of service level operation.

Yeah, it's like a standard of excellence that we've talked to Simon Lehmann, about this now quite a few times on the show. And actually, we just had Matt Landau come on our episode that aired in mid September, September 21. And he talked about, you know, the whole theory of limited edition, that's a big thing that he pushes of, how do you offer that limited edition service that really differentiates your company from others? But then not only that, how do you do that at scale? And that that is really that is the crux of the issue that, at scale Limited Edition looks more like the standards, it looks more like the professionalization because, yes, the host that has one property or five properties, it's a lot easier for them to do things like go leave a wine basket in the in the rental or, you know, stop in with muffins and stuff to do those things. That's not scalable with 5000 or 500 condos or 1000, condos or even 100 condos. So how do you how do you take that? And moving forward? The way that I've always looked at as is and I think it sounds like what you do tyin is that it's about the communication it is about people remember not what you said, but how you how you said it, how you made them feel. So if you book a year in advance, what are you saying to people between the time of booking and the time that they arrive? I'm not going to be able to bring you a wine basket when you get here, but we are making sure that we're going to have a good communication and that you know, everything that you need to know before your arrival that you feel like We're excited to have you that you're going to have a great time, we're going to show you the easiest way to vote attractions or anything else you need. And while you're here, if you need anything, we are here for you. So, to me, that's always been the way that that I've looked at how you can do how you can make people still feel that way, even without being able to actually go and touch them in person. The way that a smaller house can do

completely agree. It's Alex, it's all about it, the communication. And people it kind of blows their mind when I tell them how many times I touched my guest, between that booking and arrival. And when I say 20, that's two zero, it's 20 times I touch them. And they're like, oh, my gosh, you communicate, how can you send so many emails and like, I don't I don't send them any emails. It's different ways of touching your guests different communications. It's the right message at the right time with the right method. And in all of that it sets the expectations. One of the my my thing at darme was is unmatched expectations is the death of businesses, marriages, friendships, movies, in five star reviews.

Wow. Yeah, that's. Yeah, that sounds like it sounds like a novel.

Write a book on it. Yeah.

There we go. Yeah, that's gonna be my title. Yeah,

I love that. I love that. That's very,

you know, it's interesting. My husband and I did a rental, we actually booked it through an OTA and turned out it was a large management company. And I was, when I found out who it was, when I booked it, I was like, Oh, God, you know, I was really kind of had a lot of trepidation about booking and actually thought about canceling it, because I just had the reputation in my mind and was not going to meet an expectation, but the number of number of touches that they did between the booking and we booked it, two weeks out. So you know, inside 14 days, the number of touches and the time of the touches and the way they touched and the questions or the statements, or whatever it was, it was so well thought out. I was very, very impressed. And so I again, very surprised that this company did it to this level, but I walked away. The unit we stayed in was adorable. It was in a very historic area and St. In St. Augustine and it was great. And we would go back there again. And I would actually book with them. Because they got me at every moment when I was about to ask a question. They anticipated what it was. And again, we got in the unit they knew we were in the unit, they sent a reminder like here is the AC direction they sent a reminder, here is your you know your if you have something wrong with the internet, like just a little a few little things like that. And then again, like that night, have you chosen a place for dinner? Let others suggest the I mean, it was so well was that all over like text messages or all over text messages? Yeah. So we got emails, and you had to sign up for a text to check in. Like that was how you got all your code. So I know everybody does it differently. But for that, that experience for myself and my husband, it worked out perfect. And I was very well impressed. Again, it was the anticipatory communication that was there before I had a need, they were there to meet it.

I love getting texts as as it as it relates to my travel my accommodations, when I'm somewhere like that's definitely my preferred way of of getting information. But related to anything else. I think text message or advertising is the most annoying thing in the world. And you know, like, yeah, get out of them once you get into it. But I think like you said the right time, the right place. So give us an example of what you don't do all 20. But give us an example of some of those touch points that you think are kind of the most impactful.

So they when they book, they get your regular booking confirmation email, but they also get a text message you're gonna cut the cough out, right, you're good. So they get the when I guess books, they get their booking confirmation email, that's the normal thing. Then they also get a text message through the touch de memo platform saying, Hey, we're so excited to see you soon. Here's the link to your digital guidebook. After that the day after, if they haven't purchased travel insurance along with their booking, they get an email reminding them Hey, travel insurance is important. This is what it covers. Here's a link to go get it two days after they get a link and information specifically about the show and attraction tickets in our area. Because I know that's people's biggest question. Where's the best place to buy them? How can I avoid the timeshare trap? What do we do? Then in the mail, they actually get a full color greeting card from us. And it's it talks about our favorite hiking trail it gives them a map and why we like it so much. And it's you know, we're not selling anything. We're just saying, Hey, we're so excited. Here's one of our insider tips. and guests have told us that then that physical card either sits on their fridge or their windowsill, and it gives them that visual reminder in the excitement of, hey, we're going somewhere, and this is where we're going. So then it's just exactly as Annie had said, with her experiences, I tried to drop information, right before they're going to ask the question. And when you've been in the business long enough, you know, when those questions are going to come, so you know, making sure I answer questions about the grocery stores, or traffic, you know, sending those right at the right time. And these are all automated, but they have the human touch putting in the guests name, the get the property name, being very personalized in that way. So folks that even actually respond to them as well thinking that this is a personal email directly to them. And they say thank you so much. And a lot of times before they've even arrived, they've already given us the communications that hey, we are so excited about our state, we're ready to leave you a five star review, before we've even arrived. And because the communication has been so thought out, and so well done, we know our stay is going to be phenomenal already. So when a guest books, their excitement and energy level is like the all time high, they've pushed the button they've purchased, it is our job to keep that excitement up there. Because if it dips down, we're it's not going to be good. So my my goal is keep that excitement going, going, going going, they come in with that excitement. And then they experience it. And then afterwards, we also send them an actual thank you card as well.

I love that I'm a big proponent of the handwritten, even if it's not completely a lot, you know, a long Note, but it just I'm a I love to get that I think people don't get mail anymore, or they get junk mail, but to get a handwritten That's a That's brilliant, and I love it. And now I want to come stay with you.

Yeah. Absolutely.

So I would, I would, I would love to know, we've been asking a lot of people these questions, and we kind of touched on technology and stuff. But what do you think right now is is a big topic that maybe people aren't talking about that they should be talking about as we move into the end of the year, and going into next year for vacation rentals, specifically.

Hell, gosh. I mean, we're talking more and more about advocacy, which I think is important. I would love to see more conversations. I would love to see more conversations of folks getting ahead of the efficacy. So talking to their city before the city starts talking about it, making sure that you're you're talking, you know who your newspaper editors are, you know, who Planning and Zoning is making sure they know who you are as well, telling them, Hey, if you guys ever start talking about this, call me. I'm happy to help. I'm happy to volunteer, I'm happy to give my insight. And that I mean, that's one of the things I personally have done as well. And I mean, the City Planning and Zoning over in Washington, Missouri, when someone calls you immediately they say, Oh yeah, go talk to Ty and see if she'll help you out. You know, investors come in, hey, go talk to Ty and she'll, she'll help you out. It's a good relationship to have. And it's also one of those things if if I see the newspaper, right, saying, we've had a new permit, you know, submitted for an Airbnb over on High Street, like, oh, no, no, no, no, no, no. By the way, it's not called Airbnb, that is a marketing platform, right holiday vacation or short term rental, there are appropriate terms to use. So making sure you get ahead of those types of things. I would love to encourage folks to do that. And on top of that, reach out to all the other different types of lodging operators, all the different types of accommodations. I mean, bed and breakfast, boutique hotels are all in this together, right. And we all accommodate guests in different ways for different reasons. And we need to work together, not apart from each other. And then

a lot of areas the lines blur so much. So I think what you just said, we've been doing that in the Myrtle Beach area that we've been meeting with trying to get ahead of things that we don't have issues right now. But just being mindful of seeing what's happened to these other destinations that they historically all thought that they were tourism based and this could never happen. I just I feel like we need to start having the conversations but between your chamber CVB city legislators you know, local vrma chapters rent responsibly, just kind of get that that group of influence your circle of influence together to get the communication started. But there's there's the lines really blurred between short term rentals what that is, I mean, we've gotten Myrtle Beach, there's a lot of properties that are run as hotels, but they are condos inside the hotel that are owned by individual owners. So any sort of short term rental restriction that would be put in place would also apply to them. So same thing like in Destin or Panama City, or Gulf Shores where condos are so prevalent, I don't think that people are looking that far into it to know there's a difference between Airbnb and traditional beach home vacation rentals and condos that they think they're just regular hotels, and they are abiding by hotel rules. So you're talking to all different sides to your competitors. I love that advice, too. I think the more that you can get your area to be strong, the stronger you're going to be together in the long run.

So there's so many, so many folks on the different accommodations. They're investing in the various accommodations, right? I mean, Mike Harrington has with Carolina retreats, you know, he's an innkeeper he's a better fit, right. Yeah, and I so I'm also involved with the Association of lodging professionals ALP and and that started out traditionally as a bed and breakfast Association. But a lot of their folks as they evolve, they're, they're buying vacation rentals and adding them to their bed and breakfast, or they're changing their bed and breakfast over to a vacation rental. There's so many different things that are moving around as well. So it's, it's amazing to get to know those types of people, too. So I highly encourage folks to also check out the Association of lodging professionals, especially if you are just one or two properties boutique, you want that high high touch, there's a lot of wisdom over in that group.

Yeah, absolutely. We we got asked to be part of an event. It's an inaugural event this year, called desta con. And it's going to be it's put on by Jennifer Barbee and her company called destination innovate. And they do a lot with smaller destinations. But she's worked with visit Las Vegas VISIT FLORIDA. She does some stuff overseas. But one of the things that she talked to us about was that after COVID, a lot of the smaller destinations started to see that there were vacation rentals in their market and they had been paying attention to it, they didn't realize that they were but because of COVID the the vacation rentals actually drew people to the destination that kept money coming into the destination that they wouldn't have had. You know, there's a market in the Panhandle here that saw over $2 million in bed tax revenue, they have never broken a million, and they probably never will break that again. But now they have this money to spend an entirely greater they're trying to decide what to do with it. But again, it's it's it's, it's recognizing that there's this huge pool of opportunity in a market that people kind of it's sort of presented itself but it's not if we get everybody to talk together, you know, getting the realtors to the table getting these Bed and Breakfast. There's so much wisdom and so much knowledge that everybody can be sharing. And I think it goes again to what we're trying to do with that. The STR versus VR we need to get everybody together as one unit to make sure that advocacy is is proactive and not reactive and that we can build a better you know, a better future for all of us.

Yeah. The CVB, the DMOS and CVBS are just such a great avenue for vacation rentals to get into as well. Because there's their support of the entire community and when you as a vacation rentals, short term rental, show your support to the community you're joining the CVB/ DMO, you that's a must. You absolutely have to do that. And one of the things that you don't realize a lot of people don't realize what they get in return to is direct referrals. You get a whole press kit, a media kit as well usually, I mean, there's so many benefits, you know, you're not just paying a couple 100 bucks to be a part of it organization. There's so many different benefits. That is incredible. In Touch today. We're also going into the DMO world. So next week we'll I'll actually be at the Missouri governor's Tourism Conference, and this will be my second year there talking to the DMOS and how our guidebook is actually a guide to anything. So you know DMO cdbs. They use Touch Stay as an area guide reaching out to the travelers. We have lots of regions in the UK that already use it and several in the US as well including {inaudible}. So it's pretty incredible to me. The DMO world the CVBS is a secret little thing for vacation rentals, short term rental folks, especially the new ones who don't know yet that's that little piece of yeah it or wisdom that those have been around a while we get them.

Yeah, Alex and I talk about that all the time. Yeah. Now that point home

very both of us very heavily, very heavily participated DMO CVB markets and actually our chamber of commerce CVB, we're going to Annie's market, I didn't set this up everybody, nobody believes that I didn't come up with this idea. But I went to that aisle, but we're going to Panama City Beach for our Board Retreat next month and going to be meeting with their chamber and with their CVB. And with 30a, and you know, I mean, there's a lot of collaboration between those organizations, that is really helpful too, as if you're an independent vacation rental manager within a market, you just, you know, the organization that you're part of, they're also reaching out and learning from other markets, which will help you learn more and turn to so from a marketing perspective advocacy, all the above, there's just a ton of benefit to being part of a bigger group than just just your own company. So well, Tyann, this has been such a pleasure to have you on and as we started the episode, it's just it's been so great to get to know you over the last few months, several months of 2022. And we can't wait to see you here soon in Vegas. Are there any other events that you've got coming up that we should know

about? Yeah, yeah, we have the Book Direct Show in my house. Right. Okay. And we'll do a pre event, touch date along with Mount, they're going to co sponsor with us. And then Vegas, we're also doing a pre event. So again, small group activities, they're going to be different each time as the I think the biggest one is going to be one of the most fun one so far. To say about that right now. But yeah, I definitely would love to have folks sign up for it. And we'll make sure we curate a really great group of people. And I still appreciate getting to know both of you, Alex and Annie. It has been wonderful. Thank you so much.

We appreciate you and also a member of Alex and Annie's list. And we're excited to have more opportunities to people to bring you to the table and Andy and the team to talk about guest experience and how we can just really elevate things together. So thank you again and if anybody wants to get in touch with you, what's the best way to reach you?

At Tyann@Touchstay.com And then also any your favorite socials, I'm @TyannMarcinc

Awesome. Great. If anybody wants to reach any night you can go to Alex and any podcast.com And until next time, thank everyone for tuning in. Thanks