Behind the Sheets: Operational Considerations Behind Linen Choices in STRs

In this episode, we are joined by Deepak Mehrotra, founder and CEO of California Design Den, for a practical discussion on how linen decisions affect short-term rental operations over time.

Drawing from more than 20 years in textile manufacturing, Deepak shares how California Design Den evolved from supplying major retailers to working directly with short-term rental operators. The conversation focuses on how linen choices shift as portfolios grow, and why decisions that seem straightforward early on can become more complex at scale.

Rather than treating linens as a one-time purchase, this episode explores them as an operational system that touches guest experience, laundry workflows, replacement cycles, inventory planning, and cost control.

Episode Chapters:

01:07 – Deepak’s background in textile manufacturing and direct-to-consumer bedding

04:55 – How and why STR operators became a core customer segment

16:45 – Cotton performance and durability in high-turnover environments

17:45 – Common reasons linens need replacement in STR operations

13:33 – Renting versus owning linens and how operators assess the tradeoffs

14:43 – Laundry considerations for in-house and outsourced models

25:31 – Inventory availability, fulfillment speed, and consistency at scale

31:56 – How linen strategy evolves as portfolios grow

28:09 – Operational simplicity when managing linens across multiple properties

Connect with Deepak:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/deepak-mehrotra-9752682/

Connect with California Design Den:
Website: https://www.californiadesignden.com/


✨ Exclusive Offer to Alex & Annie Listeners:

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Get 10% off with code AlexAnnie10OFF.

Apply for California Design Den’s Linen VIP Club to access preferred pricing and dedicated hospitality support.

👉 Click here to get started: https://form.jotform.com/240328613238150

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#vacationrentals #shorttermrentals #linens

Transcript

Meet California Design Den

Alex Husner 0:01

Welcome to Alex Bananis, the real women of vacation revival. With more than 35 years combined industry experience, Alex Hooser and Eddie Help have teamed up to connect the dust between inspiration and opportunity. Teaching to find the one story, idea, strategy, or decision that led to their guests to take off the moment. Join them as they highlight the real stories behind the people and brands that have built vacation rentals into the $100 billion industry it is today. And now, it's time to get real and have some fun with your hosts, Alex and Annie. Welcome to Alex and Annie, the Rilloman of Vacation Runnels. I'm Alex and I'm Annie. And we are joined by Deepak Mahotra, who is the CEO and founder of California Design Den. Deepak, it's so good to see you.

Deepak Mehrotra 0:50

Same here. Thank you guys. I'm excited to be here. Appreciate it.

Annie Holcombe 0:53

Yeah, so we're excited to learn a little bit about what you have going on. But what we'd like to start out with for our listeners is to kind of get your background, maybe in business, and what ultimately was your aha moment that led you to create California Design Den.

E‑Commerce Leap And Amazon Growth

Owning The Supply Chain

Deepak Mehrotra 1:06

Sure. So I've been in the linen space, if I want to use that word, manufacturing linens for top retailers in the US and Canada, actually, for the last 20 years. So that has been my background. And, you know, being located in California, just off the Silicon Valley, where every other person works in technology, the e-commerce portion, you know, always was kind of just right there within our reach, but we never did anything about it. And sometime in 2016, we said, you know, a lot of consumers are buying stuff online, you know, things are improving, things are changing. And we should be, with all the learnings and understanding we have about the consumer preference, uh, about bed linens, good quality cotton sheets. Uh, why don't we sell online? Why don't we sell directly to consumers? And uh in 2017 is when we launched California Design Den. No one told us that, hey, online, if you're creating a brand, don't have a tongue twister, such a long name called California Design Den. We did that and um we started to you know sell some of our best sellers online. Yeah, we went on marketplaces such as Amazon. You can say the timing was right, the stars were aligned, or whatever reason it could be. But uh, you know, we grew very rapidly. And um, we are very proud that uh if you look at the cotton bedding as a subset, not just any bedding, but especially cotton, then California Design Den is uh the leader in that space. We have the largest market share on platforms like Amazon, you know, with products like a 400 ThreadCown having almost 90,000 reviews, 4.5 star, which is a very consistent uh uh ranking and uh quality indicator. And we have been able to consistently grow our business focused on cotton sheets, cotton duvet covers, you know, just cotton linens, right? Uh natural, sustainable, great price, great value. That's uh the the everyday aha moment we have. We are fortunate that many of the top editorials, whether it's the Good Housekeeping, you know, every year we some of our sheets win the Good Housekeeping Award or other, you know, marquee publications like Architecture's Digest and what have you, call out our sheets for the tremendous quality and let's just say insane value. What and how do we do it? Uh, because we own our own manufacturing. So my family, uh, which is my with my younger brother based out of India, we own a facility in India that makes these sheets. I mean, that's what we have been doing for 20 years. And uh now having a direct-to-consumer brand, we are able to connect the dots of owning the complete supply chain. Cotton owns own cotton is grown on small family farms, it's procured, top quality sheets are made, and we are selling direct, thereby passing the savings to the consumer. A couple of years back, we started to notice a trend in our reviews that some people are giving reviews that they are very excited about our sheets because they're buying 50 sets every three months. And we were like, wait a second, what's going on here? Um, why are people trading? You know, we are not crypto. Why are people trading in our sheets? We realized this beautiful niche of short-term rental. It's a great niche because short-term rentals need a luxury product. But a luxury product which can be washed in institutionally and priced institutionally. And somehow we were luckily in that space of having products that perfectly fit the bill. And over the last two years, when we have focused in the in the short-term rental space, we have seen tremendous growth for our customers, the product uptake, how some of our top sellers are now a staple for many of the uh many of the STR owners, whether they have 20, uh, you know, 20 properties, up to you know 800 property um uh you know customers. So that that's pretty much how we are seeing ourselves as a as a disruptor, if I want to use that word, um, for the linen space in the in the short-term rental industry.

Alex Husner 5:38

So when you say you sell direct to consumer, you mean that you're if I'm a vacation rental company here in Myrtle Beach and I've got you know 100 properties, I come directly to you to buy those linens.

Deepak Mehrotra 5:49

Absolutely. So when when we say direct to consumer, that's how our business is currently built. So we have served over eight million unique customers in the US.

Alex Husner 6:01

Wow.

Deepak Mehrotra 6:02

So that's that's that's a lot of you know, two and a half percent of US population should have our sheets, has our sheets. Wow.

Annie Holcombe 6:10

So how do we know if we have them? Does it have your name on the money closet?

Discovery Of STR Demand

VIP Program For Managers

Deepak Mehrotra 6:17

Exactly. In fact, in fact, I have had customers come to me, you know, right to our help desk, you know, saying, you know, we saw this in the short-term rental where we were sleeping and we loved it, right? So now to answer your question direct to consumers, so yes, you can buy our sheets if you go, you know, on Amazon, Target, Walmart, anywhere, right? We are available across the board. However, because of the STR focus now that we have for the last two years, we have developed a special VIP program that's just for this industry. So we are not talking about um, you know, any other industry in hospitality. We are talking about short-term rentals here. So, what we do is it's a free VIP signup. We just check that you are a short-term rental professional, you know, whether you have, you know, your your own properties or your uh manager or whatever, just because we don't want people to be buying and you know, reselling our product, because the VIPs then get a substantially low price every day 24-7, lower than our own Amazon prices. I have to say it softly before someone on a yacht listens to it. And um and you are getting everything you would to make life simple, which is a free shipping, two to four days deliveries across the lower 48. Uh, we also ship to Alaska and Hawaii, but you know, there's a little bit of charge for shipping. You get case packs, and these case packs are small configs, case packs of six or eight, you know, so they're very easy to buy because we we we heard from the owners that look, they don't have a lot of storage, they don't want to be buying case packs of 24. Those case packs are almost 65 off retail, 65% off retail. So that's an amazing value that is passed on. You have access to a phone call to a live person to help you through an order, answer questions, or anything you want. And to move to the digital world, apart from having a simple website where you just use your email to log in, you get a passcode in your email box within two seconds. So you don't have to remember any passwords. When you log in, you see your low prices. That's you don't have to put any codes or jump through the hoops or anything. You don't need any minimums. You can buy one set, you can buy 1,000 sets. So this way it makes your life simple. And now we recently launched our dedicated app for the industry. So this app is on your app store, or if you use Android on the Android store, it's called California Design Den. You'll download it, you sign up with your email, it has your account history, you can store all your shipping addresses. So if you have 20 properties and you want to, you know, ship to property A or property B or whatever, it has your history. So you now you know you're buying, for example, 400 third countries, you know, queen size, whatever. You just one click, two click, and literally in like 20 seconds, you're out of there. You're ordered.

Annie Holcombe 9:28

To clarify, so all you do is linens, right? So you're not do you're not competing with like a Minoan or a host GPO that's doing all the things, you're just strictly doing lens. So are you supplying are you supplying linens to any of these groups? Or this is only okay Sure.

Deepak Mehrotra 9:45

So we are partnered with uh with some of the um uh son of like Minoan, we are we have partnered um with them as well because you know uh many customers they are they want to buy a lot of things in one basket, and we get that. So we want to make sure that they have access to our product, so they can definitely buy us on you know Minoan as well, right? And uh, you know, should they choose to buy directly from us, VIP program, it's literally 30 seconds to sign up. You download, then you can download the app, or you can buy on the website, or you can call our biz dev person and you know uh get an order done. Whatever way, it's easy. What you will have access to is the lowest price you will get from us across all channels. Because we do have a lot of customers who come and say, we buy you on XYZ marketplace. I mean, we all know that big A, right? So it was also a challenge for us to ensure that we are giving you a price that is better than that. That's why the price is behind the firewall of a login. Right? So one thing you got to be uh, you know, to your listeners, as soon as you sign up for a VIP, I mean don't get confused when you go to the website and look at our retail price, right? Because then you can start comparing with, you know, the big A or other marketplaces and say, oh, they are $2 cheaper or $5 cheaper or $10 cheaper. Hold on, log into the VIP. The moment you log into the VIP, your prices change. And that's when you can compare whatever. And you know you're getting, you don't have to wait for a deal, right? On Amazon, other marketplaces, you have to wait for a deal. Oh, you know, I'm gonna buy when they are on a deal. You don't have to do that. You're getting 24-7 low prices.

Alex Husner 11:36

And I think you guys are giving us a special offer for our listeners too.

Deepak Mehrotra 11:40

Oh, absolutely, absolutely. I mean, to we we appreciate you know, you you giving us uh time and you know to present what we do. So we have uh an additional 10% off. There is a code which is, of course, on your website. And using that code, when the customers are using that course, they'll get that additional 10 off. But I must remind that please sign up for VIP because that's critical. It doesn't cost you anything.

Alex Husner 12:05

Yeah.

Deepak Mehrotra 12:06

Then you log in and then you then you you know choose whatever you want to choose. Then when you put the code, you get additional 10 off.

Annie Holcombe 12:13

So that sounds like a good deal. This is the best time of, I think the January, February is like when all the companies have their white sale, right? Like this is the best time to buy linens for fresh spring, spring cleaning when you redo all your units. So good timing.

App, Pricing, And Logistics

Deepak Mehrotra 12:27

Absolutely, absolutely. I mean, I I mean, many we are getting tons of calls and emails and orders, of course, because you know now is the time people are taking stock of what they have, what they don't have. You know, we also uh are very uh quick in sending samples. So if you don't know about California Design Den, I mean the chances are if you have bought cotton sheets and you are in the STR industry, if you have bought cotton sheets and never paid attention to them, chances are very high that few of them are already caught California design den. I mean, chances are very, very high. Because you know, when you go on, let's say, Amazon and you type cotton sheets, I mean, you'll see us. Last seven years, we have been the number one seller for cotton sheets. So the, and you know, it's a great price, right? You can buy a 400 thread count queen sheet set for you know less than 50 bucks, right? I'm sure when you are a VIP, you'll get it for 40 odd bucks.

Alex Husner 13:24

But yeah, gosh, you know, I need to do some shopping after this.

Annie Holcombe 13:29

Yeah, I know, right? I know. I need new sheets too.

Alex Husner 13:32

Yeah, no, that's that's great. And you know, one conversation that comes up has always come up in the industry a lot, is just I mean, companies that if they a lot of companies they uh rent their linens, um, and some they go into a transition where they start buying linens for a portion of the of the inventory, and then their their goal is to get enough for the entire inventory. It's a for sure a good investment to do that. I mean, it's gonna make the business more profitable and you have much more control over the quality when you actually do own the linens. But uh it is a it's a you know financial undertaking, and then not only getting the linens, but who's gonna wash the linens? And that also comes up quite a bit at conferences, too, of starting your own, you know, have getting the machines and having your own actual um linen room there where you're washing, and a lot of companies end up doing well with it, and then they decide, okay, I'm gonna actually sell this service to other rental companies in the area because I did invest in getting these big machines. But um, do you ever have to do operators ever come to you when they're they're at that point that they've decided, okay, I'm gonna make this investment and and buy my own linens, and now I'm gonna go with you? Like, do you guys ever get involved in those conversations?

Buying vs Renting Linens

Deepak Mehrotra 14:43

Yes. Yes, absolutely. In fact, some of our big customers are operators like these who are having uh, in fact, on the East Coast, on your coast, where they are, they started exactly as you said, they set up those machines to wash their, you know, their own linens in a centralized place, then they had the capacity. So then they started to, you know, do that service for other uh short-term rentals in their zip code or you know, nearby zip codes. And um and they came to us and they buy our sheets. Because one thing unique about our offering is also the following, okay? So if you step back to look at, you know, first we had hotels and motels, right? There was no STR, right? There were no short-term rentals, right? And then the short-term rentals started to come into existence, right? Now, when short-term rental came into existence, and if we just talk about getting linens, what do they do? A, they either go to you know, Macy's or Costhol, right? I mean, that's how we all started, right? And then they started to figure out, you know, when they got bigger, they went to the institutional suppliers, you know, other, you know, much larger players in the industry, right? They are institutional. However, there is a gap. The gap is the following The institutional product line was either suited for very high-end rich Carlton or Hilton's, right? Who were then buying directly, or was suited for Motel 7s, Motel 6, right? So, you know, this whole thing about blends and microfiber cheap because it can be industrial wash, you know, somewhere, because you know, when I attend the shows now, I get this question a lot, right? And I think it's very important for the listeners to understand that when you are buying quality cotton linens like our 400 thread count or our 600 thread count, which you know, which which people love, they can be beaten down, washed in hot water, whatever. They've gone through the test of time. So one should ensure that they are buying, whether California designed or others, good cotton sheets. Because, you know, if if you're spending a few hundred dollars a night on a house on a vacation rental, you expect to sleep well at night. And those eight hours, you need good sheets, good cotton sheets that are breathable. I mean, last couple of years I saw it on Amazon, the microfiber trend. I mean, microfiber, it's plastic. It's it's I mean, we use we all use microfiber to wipe our sunglasses, our eyeglasses, because guess why? Because it sticks to dust. That's the characteristic of that fabric. Just to save five bucks buying that product, I I don't think it's the right thing for for the guests. It's it's not it's a disservice, whether you buy California design then or not. So, therefore, you know, having cotton sheets that can take home laundry, of course, and take industrial laundry. That I think is is is is important. In fact, you know, one of the other things that at least I learned initially in the industry was there was insurance available for linens. But now, as I hear more often than not, insurance is not available for linens, right? I mean, what do you guys hear about this?

Annie Holcombe 18:10

Yeah, there is somebody that does it, and I'm trying to remember.

Alex Husner 18:13

We talked to somebody uh we talked to um safely when he was with Safely. Safely, yeah. They have a program, something, yeah. But I don't know.

Deepak Mehrotra 18:23

But more and more, you know, insurances are being withdrawn or taken away. Yeah, it's an interesting right, and we are trying to tackle that as well. Now we're not an insurance company, however, we do have a pilot program in place. Um, and people who are interested can contact our BizDev team, where we will have a program set out for replacements for our own sheets. So if you're buying a sheet, you know, just for a very, very meagerly amount, maybe they're giving anly amount, you get X number of replacements every year.

Alex Husner 19:00

Oh, wow. That's really cool.

Annie Holcombe 19:02

That's good.

Alex Husner 19:02

Yeah. So that pilot is on the.

Deepak Mehrotra 19:09

For any reason.

Alex Husner 19:10

For any reason. Wow. For any reason.

Deepak Mehrotra 19:12

I mean, look, number one problem, let's face it, number one problem is people's stain, right?

Alex Husner 19:16

Yeah, I was gonna say it's mostly it's not the manufacturer problem. No, it's not manufacturer. User error for any reason.

Deepak Mehrotra 19:24

For any reason, but you will get X number of replacements in a year, not like every month, right? Yeah, so you get you get let's say two X, two replacements in a year. Okay, and you're just paying for shipping and handling, right? And uh and there is a there is a a dollar or two fee for that every month, you know. We have figured the maths out, that's why it's in pilot right now. And when you total the math as an owner, it equals to what you would have paid us, anyways, through the VIP program.

Alex Husner 19:56

Right.

Deepak Mehrotra 19:57

So it's not that you are you are ending up paying your Wait a second, you're almost charging me double the price. What is the big deal?

Sponsor Spotlight: Hostfully

Alex Husner 20:03

No. Yeah. We'll be back in just a minute. But first, a word from our premier brand sponsor.

Speaker 3 20:08

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Replacement Pilot For Stains

Speaker 5 22:46

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Alex Husner 23:03

One of the things that hosts and property managers deal with the most is if you're trying to go back through Airbnb to recover damage, if there's, you know, the linens are damaged. It's, you know, it's it's a it's a pain to do that process. And because of that, a lot of companies have started offering um or selling damage waivers or including a damage waiver to protect that. But you know, depending on the damage waiver company, you still have to file claims. And to me, it seems like this is just the easy way of like, all right, they're ruined, let's get a replacement.

Deepak Mehrotra 23:30

You know, if it's a it's a just maybe that damage replacement or whatever the host has to do is way smaller. So it's it's non-burdersome, burdensome on the guest as well, right? If the guest is just paying 10, 20 bucks and you know, all right, okay, you know, the kid damaged it, it's all right, you know. Uh we just trying to be the disruptor in the industry because we feel that we have the whereabouts because we are not a fly-by-night operator. We are not a trading company, and nothing against it.

Alex Husner 24:04

Yeah, we are the manufacturer.

Deepak Mehrotra 24:06

We are the manufacturer. We have made sheets for you know large retail names. Some remain in business and some are gone. Um, linen and things, bedbath and beyond. And or Ross, CJMax, you name it. We have made sheets for all of them. Tons of sheets. So we know what it takes to make the sheet. We know what it takes to make the right sheet and the right price. And now, because you're buying directly from us, you know, we can pass on the savings. And uh, that's simple as that. I mean, if you if you just Google our name California Design Den and Wall Street Journal, uh, they had an article, I think, last year or last or last year, and they named us as the most value price sheet in a cotton sheet in America. In fact, the problem the editor had, or whoever reviewed it in that article, was uh it's too good to be true. Yeah. It is, right? It's too good to be true.

Annie Holcombe 25:00

Yeah. So um I wanted to ask you just kind of because it's top of mind, I think, for a lot of people, and managers are starting to see this impact to them, especially as they go into the new season, is tariffs. And so a lot of your, I would imagine you have you in you import everything, but you have warehouses, so you have a stock. At what point, at what point do you think, or have you already allotted for what the tariffs on imports will like increase the cost? Are you absorbing it? Like, how are you handling that?

Manufacturer Cred And Reviews

Tariffs, Inventory, And Pricing

Deepak Mehrotra 25:31

So, so fortunately, look, I mean, you're right. End of the day, uh, US companies have to pay the tariff. I mean, no, no other country pays for it. We uh we are the company here, we import the product, therefore we pay the tariff. Uh, fortunately for us, A, because our prices were anyways that low, being direct, right? Two, we have had this tariff issue for now what, totally seven, eight months. If you start, it started last spring, right? So slowly and steadily, there has been a slight increase in price and a slight absorption of tariffs. So we have been able to let's just say manage it well. I'm not gonna sit here and say, oh, we have not increased any set, it's not possible. How is it that possible, right? We are all in the business of making some money. So we have to just make sure that whatever we do doesn't hurt the customer. So in our case, the end consumer as well as the short-term dental owners and managers. So if you still look at our pricing, they are insanely insanely good. Um, that's why I said, you know, 40 odd dollars, you get a queen sheet set, 400 thread count. So um yeah, so I you know, I hope that answers the question. And yes, we do have, you know, we usually have like four to five months of inventory on hand because of our yeah, because because because our business on for consumers, you know, end consumer, the direct-to-consumer business on all these marketplaces, and our website is fairly large. As I said, we are the largest cotton sheet direct-to-consumer brand on Amazon and some of these marketplaces. So we just have to have tons of inventory on hand. So, you know, that's the other thing. Owning the factory, family owned and operated, uh, having a large direct-to-consumer business ensures that the the short-term rental customer that we have gets a quality that is consistent, availability of inventory, and the great prices. So you have that the the combination of three. And because we ship you know thousands and thousands of orders a day, that's why we are able to ship you, you know, whatever you buy as short-term rental owner in two to four days, right? In two to four days, you have delivered in your house at the doorstep. Free.

Annie Holcombe 28:08

Now, what do you do? Do you have a program for a property manager? And I would say, I'll just use, I'll use the Cossago as an example. So they just, you know, they're they've taken they're taking on Vicasa inventory and they're moving all over the place. And say they wanted to upgrade linens across the portfolio, um, but they don't know like you know, they can do like the large groups first, but it might be unit here, unit there. Do you have a program at which somebody can say, I just need to be able to order like ad hoc, like you know, a one house full of linens, and maybe next week it could be 20 houses full of linens. Do you have a program like that?

Deepak Mehrotra 28:45

Yeah, yeah. So the VIP covers both ways. So A, there is no minimums, right? So, you know, as you just said, they just want to probably order for a few homes, and that's fine. Just place the order, they'll have a delivery in that two to four days at the doorstep. Now, let's say you have 200 properties and you want to discuss, hey, you know, I really want to change everything. What can we do about it? You know, da-da-da. We have our BizDev available on a call. We discuss that, we put a program in place, we ensure that you get the supplies you need, right? And the support you need in terms of backup. So we have some customers where we have even done co-branded linens. So where where in your care label, you have your you know, short-term rental by California designed end. So we have done those as well. Now, of course, those would require a slightly longer leap times because the manufacturing needs to be done, right? And we need to bring in specially for you. And then uh, you know, the backup is also available. So both the programs, um, whether it is, you know, these one, two homes, five homes, or it is the uh the larger uh industry as well. We do have that.

Alex Husner 30:06

Okay. Well, and I'm I'm curious, Deepak, I mean, you know, getting into the short-term rental industry, what's something that's I'm sure there's been a lot of surprises, but like what's one of the things that surprised you most about this new arena that you do business in?

Scaling Orders And Co‑Branding

Deepak Mehrotra 30:19

I think what surprised me, what I didn't realize this um this frequency of purchase that is required due to just sheets getting destroyed, you know. It's not because they are not durable, right? It's because of these stains and all that. And that's why we worked hard to launch the pilot program I was just talking about, you know, on on in terms of you know getting replacements. So and the other thing was actually price sensitivity. You know, all said and done, um with the current environment. I mean, I was actually surprised how much margin pressure, you know, the short-term um owners and managers, how much how much pressure do they they have? You know, if you just look from an outside, you may say, oh, you know, they're charging $400 a night or $300 a night. Oh, that's a lot of money, right? They must be flushed in cash. But that's not the case.

Annie Holcombe 31:17

Exactly. Yeah.

Deepak Mehrotra 31:18

And now you put this one and two, two, one and one together, which is look, the margins are pressure, but you also need a good product that the guest enjoys, and you get good reviews. And it is also durable so that it can last, right? So you put all the three three of this, and now we need to come up with a solution for that, right? So that's so we were surprised how what seemed like a simple thing was not a simple thing. And we are glad that we have been able to, you know, find some solutions to it. Um yeah, and uh yeah.

Alex Husner 31:55

That's that's a basically could encapsulate our whole industry that what seems like a simple thing once you get into it. Never at all. I mean, if there's any any industry that knows how to make things complicated, it's the short-term rental space for sure. But uh, you know, we're we're excited to to have you on the show today and and to you know continue working with you guys this year. And I think we've got some cool opportunities to bring you together along with um maybe some operators that we again back to that conversation of should I buy my own linens? Should I wash them, like, or should I keep you know having this outsourced? Should I lease? I think it's it's a good conversation that people want to know more about best practices and how people have done it. Um, our good friends Lance and Elaine Stitcher, yeah, seaside vacations in um Maryland, right? Maryland area.

Annie Holcombe 32:44

Yeah, they're Maryland and the yeah, coast of Virginia.

Alex Husner 32:47

Yeah. Yeah, Maryland, Coast of Virginia. They they embarked on their own linens and and made service division a few years ago. And um, I know Lance talks to people all the time and said it was the best decision they could have ever made, but it's uh it's it's not the sexiest thing to talk about, but at the end of the day, when the when the revenue and your uh margins are much better, you know, that's that's the that's sexy.

Surprises In STR Economics

Deepak Mehrotra 33:10

So however you gotta give people we we work with them, right? We we work with them, and yes, you're right. I mean yeah, yeah. And it's not it's not the sexiest thing to talk between the sheets, but um but yeah, I mean, end of the day, the fact is, you know, uh we we need to be coming up with solutions, not just product, but complete solutions that works for all the parties, right? And that's why, you know, having a having good product, having free delivery and great prices, and no nonsense price, also, right? Because, you know, all the managers and owners, they're they're busy. I mean, the last thing we want them is to break their head to figure out is this the best price and what is the size they bought. And you know, so that's why the app, um, I mean, that app that we have designed just for this industry is is a is a great place, is a great try. You know, people should try it. Um, as I was saying earlier, they can quickly sign up for the VIP and get a sample, you know, test the product. It's all right. We'll quickly ship you a sample, you test it. And um, if you're interested in being part of the pilot that we currently have uh for the replacement, then you know please talk to us, email us vip at californadesignden.com. And um, you know, we'll we'll talk and we'll make you part of that. And you know, and the reason why it's actually uh uh uh more of a of a pilot uh currently is we want to make sure that we have a solution that works for everybody. We don't want to mass, you know, launch something that is half baked. And end of the day, we are going to learn from from the people who are part of this pilot and ensure that we fine-tune the program because we may think it's a great program, but end of the day, you know, customer is the king, right? So then when we launch it to everybody, we open it to everyone, it's a great program. It solves a huge problem uh because I don't think the stains are going anywhere. And I and I don't see a lot of insurance companies offering a solution to this either. So yeah.

Annie Holcombe 35:17

Well, very cool. I think um I think again, timing is perfect. A lot of people are getting ready to do their linen orders for the season to get started. So anybody out there listening, definitely reach out and get a sample. That's I think the fact that you offer that is really good because I think a lot of times people don't get to see the quality and they've had to just hope that it's good. So I think that it's good. And we'll obviously share the code for people to get the discount. Um, you know, to work.

Simple Solutions That Save Margins

Deepak Mehrotra 35:47

Alex and Annie, 10 off, you know. I think that's the additional, by the way. That's additional. Yeah, that's and just remember, yeah, sign into that VIP to see your prices. Don't just go to the website and you know, you you'll see consumer prices, you won't see your special prices.

Alex Husner 36:02

Awesome. Okay, great. Um well, this is enlightening, and it's interesting to to meet you know the makers behind the product. Yeah, uh, and you guys obviously have a have a great product, and it sounds like affordable and workable and and uh makes lives easier. So we're excited to support you this year. And again, um, yeah, make sure to go in the show notes uh to get the offer code and and link to get in touch with you guys. But in the meantime, if anybody wants to get in touch with Annie and I, you can go to alexandanipodcast.com. And until next time, thanks for tuning in, everybody.