The Property Unleashed Podcast

Crafting Winning Deals in Serviced Accommodation

• Mark Fitzgerald • Episode 298

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Looking to crack the code on crafting unbeatable serviced accommodation deals? Join me, Mark Fitzgerald, as I reveal the secrets that can transform your real estate ventures into profitable successes. We'll dissect how to assess demand in your chosen location by peeking into the strategies employed by major hotel chains, and understanding the type of clientele that frequent different areas. Whether you're in the rent-to-rent game or looking to purchase properties, knowing how to identify the right opportunities—like catering to niche markets such as pet owners—can make all the difference.

Explore how the condition of a property impacts your financial outcomes and why securing properties below market value can skyrocket your investment potential. I'll share actionable insights on how honing in on specific niches rather than marketing to the masses leads to higher engagement and profitability. This episode is a treasure trove of tips and tricks to ensure your serviced accommodation ventures not only attract the right guests but also maximize your returns in today's competitive market.

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Speaker 1:

What makes a great serviced accommodation deal? Hello, my name's Marfis Sherrod, great to have you joining me here. So what makes an amazing serviced accommodation deal? When doing and finding these types of deals in your business? Now, whether you're using strategies like rent to rent, whether you're buying properties, whether you're converting your own properties into serviced accommodation, these are all really, really going to help you. You know, these bullet points here are really going to make sure that you understand the niche, the area, the properties and all of those great things. So let's dive straight into it.

Speaker 1:

Well, firstly, location, location, location. Location with great demand is always going to be a great starting point. But how do you know if there's great demand in your area? Well, firstly, it's looking at your area. Is it full of tourist attractions? Is it business areas? Is it got stadiums in the facilities? Are you at seaside resorts? All of those great things. And, realistically, a great test to see what sort of people are staying in your area is to start going around the local hotels, the big chains, the brands that are already out there, because these companies have spent millions of pounds investing in research to know whether or not they should be building their hotels there. So go and have a look at them in the week Monday, Tuesday, wednesday, thursday, friday in the evenings, go at the weekends as well. Take a picture of the car park. Is it cars, is it vans? What sort of people are in the evenings? Go to the weekends as well. Take a picture of the car park. Is it cars, is it vans? What sort of people are staying in the properties? Is it contractors, is it families? Is it couples? You know what I mean. Those sorts of things Really get a good, decent understanding of your area and, of course, that will help you then to be able to attract the right people to your properties for maximum profits.

Speaker 1:

The next thing is your property type. You want to be really looking at your properties. Are you going to be dealing with apartments, flats? Are you going to be dealing with the terraced houses? Are you going to be dealing with massive estate houses and things? What sort of property will attract the clientele that are currently occupying and staying in these areas? You don't want to market to the masses. Too many people do that and that's a massive mistake. What you want to be is niching down, speaking to the relevant people that you want to be staying there For argument's sake.

Speaker 1:

We have a little dog, got a little cockapoo, archie. Now, sometimes Archie will come away with us. If we're staying in a serviced accommodation. My wife's looking for a property where Archie can come along. Now, if somebody actually caters for pets in the sense of almost has like a nice dog bowl, maybe a little doggy snacks section and things, all of a sudden that's caught her attention. All of a sudden she's got a reason. Now, mark, we need to stay here. Why? Because look at that, she's going to love that. It's like, okay, forget about us, make sure the dog's all right. But those people are very, very clever. Why? Because they're talking in our language, they're talking to us and all of a sudden my wife's now booking to stay in their property.

Speaker 1:

So you want to be looking at these different niches, these different ways and these different target audiences to really help you maximize your results. The condition of the property is the next one. Now, if you're doing rent to rent, you want to be looking for properties that are already in good condition. Why? Because you do not want to be spending lots of your own money on somebody else's property. It's not the best use of your money and, of course, it's not your property. You know, if you're actually looking after a property and you're not making any money why? Because you put so much in at the beginning that you've got to make that back before you make money. That is not a good business model. The flip side to that is, if you're going to buy the properties, then of course it's great. Try and get the property below market value, ie cheaper than it's great. Try and get the property below market value, ie cheaper than it's actually market rents there, put a bit of money into it to bring it up to spec and then, of course, you can rinse that money back out or refinance. Should I say that money back out? But looking at the condition can be very, very important. Now, on a rent to rent, I don't mind painting, adding a bit of color, sprucing it up, maybe change the old carpet here or there, but you don't want to be spending too much on there. So look for something that is good value, that is in the right area, it's the right property type and you know who you're going to be targeting.

Speaker 1:

The next thing is financials. Now, if you are getting started in serviced accommodation, chances are you're going to be putting a bit of money into the properties. Whether you own the properties or not, you will have to furnish it, you will have to put bedding, you will have to put everything in a property so that if I walked into your property, I could live there without bringing anything myself apart from, obviously, my own clothes, exactly like a hotel. That's what you have to do. So you will have some costs. Now those costs can range from a couple of grand. They can range to 6,000, 10,000 pounds, depending on your budget, depending on how you want to source furniture and materials. But you don't necessarily have to pay that out in one lump sum as well. There are companies out there that work with property investors even brand new to the marketplace property investors and will lease and finance the furniture for you. So you just pay a monthly fee, a small monthly fee, each and every month from your profits, and you can have it as a business expense and, of course, it's a tax deductible expense as well. So it's very, very good. Also, you can do that, of course, with your own properties. You've bought a property, you've done it up. You then need to furnish it, put everything in there so that somebody can just walk in and use the facilities. Then you need to make sure that you're doing that and again, you can, of course, lease it there as well.

Speaker 1:

Always have a look at the next one, which I see a lot of people coming unstuck over, and that is competition. Competition is not always a bad thing. If you've got a lot of competition in your area, the chances are it's a good area. Maybe people just aren't speaking to the right people. Maybe they're doing very, very well. If you've got a lot of hotels, that's another great sign that it really works in those areas.

Speaker 1:

So don't look at your competition always as competition. What I like to say is if you've got five or less serviced accommodation properties, you need to make friends with at least one competitor. Okay, why? Because chances are, at some point something will happen, something might go wrong. You will get overbooked. You want to be able to pass maybe that booking onto somebody else so that you don't get bad reviews or anything like that, and likewise you could say to them if we're overbooked or double booked, we'll pass it on to you with a little fee. If you could do the same for us, that would be great and you can work with people. So don't always look at your competitors as competition. Sometimes they can really really be assets in your business as well.

Speaker 1:

And, of course, looking at local attractions, as we said, you know location is massive, but is there anything in specific in your area that people will be wanting to come and visit to see, to experience? You know all of those sorts of things. You know Bath towns like Bath is great. Or city of Bath. You got York. You've got loads of little spots. I mean, we've got trans-Pennine trails and things. People will come and stay in little apartments or little two up, two down terraces so that they can go and walk the trails and things like that. Have a look at those things because again, you'll be able to niche into those markets. So really see what attractions you have in the area and don't discount any of those.

Speaker 1:

And finally, one thing that I don't really see people doing but I think is very important is looking at the growth potential of the areas that you want to operate in Now. Initially you might say to yourself well, what does that matter? Right here, right now, I want the bookings and I get that. But go on your local planning portals, just Google your area planning portals and you'll be able to see what the council's up to what other investors are up to, what developments are happening, and maybe maybe not, but maybe you'll be able to see that they're spending 50 million on the town center or they're building an attraction that's going to be coming very, very soon. It's a great opportunity then to potentially be buying properties in those areas because all of a sudden, you know in a few years time that plan has gone through, that is going to be built there and people are going to want to come there and that'll put the house prices up in the area or start working with landlords if you're doing rent to rent as well. So have a look at the growth potential of your area and, of course, the future of the population or popularity of that area as well, because that can really really help you in your business to get the results that you're looking for. So I hope that's helped you in understanding what makes a great deal.

Speaker 1:

Obviously, there are other things that you need to be aware of and you need to be looking at, but we can help you with all of that with our training that we have, which is the Ultimate Service Accommodation Business Builder, which doesn't just take you through rent to rent or anything like that this takes you from complete novice to being a serviced accommodation expert. It'll help you, it'll handhold you, it has group coaching, unlimited access to the training once you've joined it, and we have found that some of our students who've done the training have amazing, amazing results and continue to flourish as well. So check that out at thepropertyunleashedcom website. Go down, check out the ultimate service accommodation business builder and, of course, there's a training program there that can help you. Also, on thepropertyunleashedcom website, we have free tools and resources there. So go down to the free tools and resources and we have some masterclasses In-service accommodation, hmo, rent-to-rent deal, sourcing, all of those great things.

Speaker 1:

Go and help yourself to those, because I'm a massive believer in what goes around comes around. If I help you, in turn, it helps, and it all comes back to us as well. But we do love helping people, okay, so I hope you've enjoyed this episode, I hope it actually has helped you, and if you think that somebody else needs to hear it or see it, then feel free to share it, share the love, and if you do ever want to leave a five-star review, if you're listening to this on any podcast platform, I'll thank you in advance. It would be much appreciated, particularly if you could type a couple of words as well. Now, if you haven't listened to this and you haven't enjoyed it, hey, don't leave me a review. Great to have you on. Thank you for joining me here. I look forward to you joining me in the next episode. Why not now? Take care? Bye.