The Vacation Rental Key with T and T
This is a podcast for professional vacation rental managers. Whether you manage 5 properties or 500 properties you can gain insight on how to run a successful vacation rental business by listening to T and T give their Keys to being the best.
The Vacation Rental Key with T and T
Episode 1. Here we go. Hello There, we are T and T!
Welcome to The Vacation Rental Key Podcast with T and T. Tim Cafferty and Tiffany Edwards are here to give you the key to running a successful vacation rental management business. Listen to their decades of experience in the short term rental business and get "Keys" to make your professional vacation rental management company the best it can be!
Bye.
SPEAKER_01:You're listening to the Vacation Rental Key with T&T, the podcast for vacation rental managers by vacation rental managers. I'm Tim Cafferty, and I manage two companies, one in Virginia and one in North Carolina. I'm one of the two Ts.
SPEAKER_00:And I'm the other T, Tiffany Edwards, born and raised in the vacation rental business. I help manage our family businesses from Key West all the way to Kauai.
SPEAKER_01:In the next 30 minutes, we're going to give you our keys to success in the vacation rental business. Well, to use a phrase I've said many times before, I'm back. And I think we're going to be better than ever. Tiffany, welcome to the podcast.
SPEAKER_00:Thanks, Tim. I'm so excited to join you.
SPEAKER_01:So we want this first episode to give you guys an idea about who we are. Those of you that don't know us, those of you that do know us, try to keep an open mind. And what we bring to the table that we think will help the key, if you will, to vacation and rental management.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, Tim, I'm so excited that we're going to be able to talk a little bit about what all we've learned over the past couple of years and really bring that to listeners who may be struggling with things or want to learn a little bit more about the industry. So I'm excited for this new venture.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, I think for this episode, we're going to just ask each other some questions to give you guys an idea of what we think we can do for you and what expertise we might have. So let me start. What do you hope to accomplish with this, Tiffany?
SPEAKER_00:I actually hope that we can bring in several different takeaways every episode. One of my favorite things is to attend conferences and to have one or two little nuggets of information that I can take back to our operations of things I haven't thought of. And usually they're so simple that it's easy to just bring it back, but I need someone else to help me guide that direction and learn about the things that worked and Hey, Sarah. Hey, Sarah. Hey, Sarah.
SPEAKER_01:Hope you're enjoying retirement out West. We always wanted to keep it to a point where you can listen to the podcast on an average commute to work. And that's what our goal here as well is. I think there's. Bite-sized nuggets sometimes are the best rather than the long form, although there's nothing wrong with those who have hour-and-a-half-long podcasts. I just can't pay attention that long.
SPEAKER_00:Same, Tim. We're equal there.
SPEAKER_01:Let me ask you this because you've been around a while. Let's talk about that. One of the fun stories that you told me was when you were in college, you actually got into the vacation rental business and the marketing end of things with your car.
SPEAKER_00:I love that we're going straight into that story, but I actually, I started even earlier than that in the laundry room. So everyone has their story of walking uphill both ways. I actually worked in the laundry at seven years old. We didn't have air conditioning then, and we used coin operators. So I got to use the coins to go in, but I was only allowed to use the towels. So I started there, moved my way up, but I went to school in Georgia, and there's a long commute since we're based in Florida, and that is our bread and butter of our feeder markets. So my mother paid me additional allowance each month, if you will, if I was willing to put a www.dustinvacation.com sticker on the back of my car and drive it throughout Florida and Georgia. So I did that for four years and was, I like to think, essential marketing piece for her company, which is successful now based on that initiative.
SPEAKER_01:The original guerrilla marketing. That's pretty cool.
SPEAKER_00:I won't tell you my age of why that URL was so important at that time frame, but it was vital.
SPEAKER_01:What do you consider yourself to be an expert in the vacation rental business?
SPEAKER_00:That's a great question. And for any of the listeners who don't know me, or some of them that may know me, a lot of people know the background that I have in advocacy and government relations, I have always worked in the vacation rental industry in some capacity, but also have worked on advocacy and consulting. What people don't realize is that I've been a ghost in many of our family businesses. We have several and I I have been in operations. I've been a rental manager. I have worked with owners. I've worked with maintenance. I've gone in and had to look at reservations and marketing. I used to check people in for hours that, you know, check in day, because back in the day, it was only one at a time. And so I've really evolved. My favorite aspect is projects and overseeing larger projects and working with team on those projects to success. within our different businesses.
SPEAKER_01:When you look at businesses out there, vacation rental businesses particularly, do you see a theme? Is there a common mistake you're seeing in what people are doing and running their vacation businesses today?
SPEAKER_00:There's lots of common themes. I think a lot of times, and I'll say first and foremost, is that we We spend too much time on fires and not enough time on evaluating what works and what doesn't work. So we purchase a lot of items that we think are going to be quick fixes, but we don't necessarily look back to see if they are benefiting the business or if our employees are trained well enough to use it or they're utilizing all of the capacities. I think we move away from the basics and a lot of components. I think we also are really bad at self-promotion. We don't necessarily tell our owners all of the things that we're doing good or bad how many times we're in a unit how many times we take money off or offset or go above and beyond for the guests and i think that's something that people need to take the time to sit and really evaluate but it's more so of everyone kind of leading by fire as opposed to measuring three times and then cutting so tim Starting back off with a new podcast, what are you most excited about to share with our new listeners and your former listeners in this new venture? I
SPEAKER_01:feel like there's unfinished business, Tiffany, which is why I'm back. And again, as I said previously, Sarah is like my sister and love her to death and still talk to her quite a lot. And there was that vibe that we have. I think you and I share a similar vibe. I want to have fun. Certainly, I have enough going on. I'm not going to do something that isn't fun, so I want to have fun. I want to also touch those people. One of the things that was most heartwarming to me is to go to a conference and have someone, frankly, that I didn't know. come up to me and say, I feel like I know you because I've listened to you so often, and I really appreciate what you're doing. And those moments came pretty often, and I really enjoyed those interactions I had with people. I think the latest one was when I was at the Darm Conference. I had two young ladies come up to me, and we took a selfie, and they were telling me about the episodes they liked and how they had changed their business because of some of the insights that Sarah and I had given them. That is really a great feeling. And I feel like I'm giving back. I also feel like I'm at a point in life where not only am I trying to run successful businesses, but I think I can help others. And that's what this industry was really built on going back to decades ago. When you go to the conferences, you would share. And if you're doing something really cool that's helping your company, you wouldn't mind telling people. four or five or 10 people about it. And in turn, they'd tell you what they were doing that you could take back home, back to your point about the little nuggets. And so that's what I'm really excited about.
SPEAKER_00:Well, and you've been in the business for so long and held so many roles. What is your absolute favorite role and part of the business?
SPEAKER_01:Boy, I really enjoy the employee side of things. I know I'm
SPEAKER_00:Oh, that's
SPEAKER_01:my least favorite. That is really energetic. I'm actually in the process of hiring a key employee right now. And it's exciting for me to talk to these applicants about the culture that we have here. We've won awards nationally about being best places to work. We've won awards from our productivity. But it's really all about the people that are here and the vibe we have. And so that's, as I say, when I walk out my door and my assistant asks me where I'm going, I'm going to do my rounds. I go and darken every door every day, whether they like it or not, to see how they're doing and what I can do to help them. And people who have listened to some of my podcasts in the past understand that I'm really big on goal setting. And I think that that's the thing that really gives me just great happiness.
SPEAKER_00:I love that. And that's exactly what I'm not good at. But it's so important to build that culture. And I think that that speaks to your point. Overall, what the industry is, is celebrating each other, building each other up. Years ago, there didn't seem to be much growth in this industry. You stayed in one position, but now there's so much personal growth. There's so much education around this industry. And you've really seen the evolution of that, but obviously curated a culture within your businesses to take hold of that.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. I've worked for other people and worked for other companies. And when I was in my last position before I started this company, which believe it or not, we are celebrating our 20th anniversary this year, which is hard for me to fathom.
SPEAKER_00:Have you planned a party?
SPEAKER_01:We're going to have a party. It's not quite all together, but yeah, we're going to have it. But one of the things I remember was My last position, putting away half my paycheck so I could start this new venture. And I remember saying to myself that I didn't have to do things the way others did it. And I'm going to want to do things the way I want to do it. And it needs to be fun. It's worked out really well. So do follow your passion. Success does come.
SPEAKER_00:That's a good point. That's one of the other things we definitely want to encourage is following what that passion is. And if you are someone who's listening to this right now and you're in that role, you know, Tim has successfully done it of working for someone else, starting something. And, you know, hopefully a lot of the information that he or I bring can help potentially make that transition for you.
SPEAKER_01:One of the things you mentioned earlier was your love of conferences as much as anything is the camaraderie, but that's going to be something we really focus on in this podcast as well. We're going to see if we can get some different angles and some maybe different conferences that maybe you haven't attended out there before and bring those tidbits back to you. Talk to me about your approach to that, Tiffany.
SPEAKER_00:I think it's the cheapest way that people can essentially attend a conference by maybe listening in. You know, again, my husband and I have always attended conferences. I always feel, and you've said this before on your previous podcast, but you should walk away with something that at least provides for the financial investment that you put in to attend. And I think looking at it differently and what Tim and I have talked about for this podcast is the vacation rental business is so much more a part of the tourism sector now. There's so much integration now. And I think looking at not just what is vacation rental specific, but overall holistically, what all is going on with the tourism industry and now how different stakeholders look at vacation rentals and how are they integrating and how are they marketing and how are they bringing considerations of our industry into what their branding and strategic planning and so that's i think really important for us to look at at a conference level to see how other players are talking about us
SPEAKER_01:Love that. I also find so many new people coming into the industry that it's not terrible to repeat some of the stuff that's tried and true. And also the other thing I think of when I meet the new people who are coming in, and maybe one of you listeners thinking right now, they're so smart. Golly, there are some really bright people in this industry now, and I just can't wait to go out there and talk to them.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. And Tim, that's a really good point because sometimes it's great to attend a conference or to listen to these things to just say, oh, yeah, I do that and build up a little bit of validity and confidence of what you're doing in your own business.
SPEAKER_01:Yes. Looking forward to the next opportunity coming up in a few weeks in Savannah. So I hope to see some of you folks out there and let us know what you think of the podcast. So a couple of housekeeping things. We will come to you every two weeks on Monday. is our plan, 30 minutes or so. Don't hold me to that exactly. And it will be content focused. We will have a guest every now and then, but Tiffany has challenged me. She says, well, I would like to have guests who are keynote worthy. Explain that to me.
SPEAKER_00:So, you know, again, going back into the conference is if you have someone who speaks English, And they, at the general session or a closing session, to me, they're a keynote speaker. It's who you line up to listen to. And so I think that when we've talked before, it's very strategic of who those keynote individuals would be. So you don't necessarily hear them quite often, but when you do, it's very targeted what they're bringing to the table. And so we are going to challenge ourselves to bring those individuals to this podcast.
SPEAKER_01:And it's not easy. I can tell you from experience, you got to jump through a lot of hoops to get these people sometimes to commit to 30 minutes on a Zoom call, but we're going to do it by God for you, the listener.
SPEAKER_00:Well, now it's out there, so we have to do it.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. And so one of the things that I would like to continue from our previous podcast that we'll rename is when we do have a guest on, I'd like to do quick draw. Quick questions to find out more about those people. So, Tiffany, I've got a few quick draw questions for you.
SPEAKER_00:Oh boy, I wasn't prepared for
SPEAKER_01:this. You don't have to be. That's the whole thing about quick draw. These are off-the-wall questions to let you know more about who we're talking to. So, What's your favorite movie?
SPEAKER_00:Sixteen Candles.
SPEAKER_01:Really?
SPEAKER_00:It's the first thing that came to mind. Okay.
SPEAKER_01:How about a skill or talent that you do not currently possess you would like to have? Oh,
SPEAKER_00:gosh. It's more of a superpower that first comes to mind, which would be stopping time. But I don't think that I'm capable of that. So I would say running faster.
UNKNOWN:Okay.
SPEAKER_01:Okay. So are you a runner?
SPEAKER_00:I used to be. My hips and my knees don't quite work like they used to.
SPEAKER_01:I'm with you.
SPEAKER_00:I do teach spin. That's
SPEAKER_01:better. Better on the knees,
SPEAKER_00:right? Better on the knees.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. Yeah, I'm with you. 21 marathons did me in. Yeah. My knees hurting just thinking about it. How about your favorite place to vacation?
SPEAKER_00:Oh, yeah. favorite place to vacation is difficult because i love all of our locations so i won't pick anything domestic i will say favorite trip moment last year we did a truffle hunt in italy with my children and i would say that that moment in that place at that time was my favorite that's
SPEAKER_01:cool all right and my last one this is a really important one make sure you think about
SPEAKER_00:it
SPEAKER_01:Apple phone or Android?
SPEAKER_00:Oh, Apple phone. Oh my God. Gosh, did we not, we didn't go through this? Have I not seen your color text block? We need to reevaluate.
SPEAKER_01:Oh
SPEAKER_00:gee. No, all, every computer, everything we've got is all Mac.
SPEAKER_01:Yes. I'm hanging on though.
SPEAKER_00:I appreciate your loyalty. and support and you have better pictures so
SPEAKER_01:well yeah okay so that's uh we're 10 of quick draw okay so what else you want to cover these people are getting tired of us i think they want us to go and get some content on i
SPEAKER_00:think the next one if we could tease what our next podcast would be about it's one that we've talked about that we think will be really helpful to explain kind of our backgrounds as well but tim if you want to share a little bit about what we've what our next podcast will be? No.
SPEAKER_01:Never. No. Actually, that's going to be the podcast. The no's and never's in the vacation rental industry. Never again's or things not to do. Does that sum it up?
SPEAKER_00:Is that teasing enough? It's our full humility of where we've ever gone wrong. And we're going to share it, and it'll be a bit of a therapy session, but we hope that it'll bring you the opportunity not to make the same mistakes.
SPEAKER_01:Right. Okay, so you've already found us on the podcast app that you're probably listening to at this moment. You can find us on Spotify. You can find us on Pandora, on iHeart, on Apple Podcasts, obviously. You can also visit us on our brand new website, thevacationpodcast. Rental key, all spelled out, with T and T. Not the ampersand. You have to spell out and. So the vacation rental key with T and T. That's pretty much what we got for you today. One episode down. How many more to go? Good job, Tiff.
SPEAKER_00:Thanks, Tim. We're excited. Thanks for listening.
SPEAKER_01:So long, everybody.