From Corporate Burnout to 70% Direct Booking Independence: Marketing Strategies with Kerri Gibson

By / August 13, 2025

“We are 70% direct bookings. My mentality is we own our business through our website, and I treat the OTAs simply as marketing platforms, as billboards.” – Kerri Gibson

When Kerri Gibson burned out from her corporate product management career in 2017, she never imagined she’d become the architect of a boutique hospitality brand generating 70% direct bookings across six properties and a newly acquired motel in Quebec. Her journey from reluctant sabbatical to hospitality entrepreneur reveals a masterclass in multi-channel marketing strategies that every serious host needs to understand.

In this episode, you’ll discover the exact framework Kerri used to build her direct booking dominance, from her early website experiments to sophisticated email nurture campaigns that create 40% return guests. Plus, she shares the serendipitous media placement that generated thousands of dollars in marketing reach and why her product management background became her secret weapon in hospitality.

🎯 Meet Kerri Gibson: The Strategic Host Who Treats OTAs Like Billboards

Kerri Gibson is a former corporate executive turned boutique hospitality entrepreneur, now leading a portfolio of design-forward chalets and a reimagined motel in Quebec under the Chalets Hygge brand. Passionate about creating guest-first experiences and building businesses with heart, she’s also a big believer in the power of direct bookings and smart tech integration.

After 22 years in corporate product management for tax and accounting software companies, Kerri took a year-long sabbatical that changed everything. What started as a house flip project evolved into a thriving hospitality business that now generates enough revenue to allow her husband to retire from corporate life alongside her.

Summary and Highlights

🏠 The Accidental Hospitality Empire: From Flip to Portfolio

Kerri’s entry into hospitality wasn’t planned. During her career transition, she and her partner Philip bought a house to flip—a project that sparked an unexpected passion for renovation and guest experiences. The property that was meant to be flipped became their first short-term rental, marking the beginning of their hospitality journey.

“We bought a house to flip. It seemed something that was always super interesting to us. And along the way I fell in love with the process of that, and it’s seven years later I have been able to retire my husband.”

The transition from individual properties to boutique hotel wasn’t immediate. When COVID hit and market prices exploded, regulations began tightening around short-term rentals. Rather than retreat, Kerri and Philip strategically pivoted, exploring everything from cabin collections to glamping grounds before settling on their true calling: boutique motels where they could create unique personalities for each room.

The breakthrough came when Kerri sent Philip to a conference focused on boutique motels and hotels. That exposure to industry best practices and the vision of what was possible transformed his perspective, aligning him with Kerri’s vision for their next chapter.

💡 The Product Manager’s Approach to Hospitality Investment

One of Kerri’s most valuable insights comes from her ability to switch between investor and host mindsets throughout different phases of her business. This dual-persona approach, refined through her corporate product management experience, allows her to optimize for both financial returns and guest satisfaction.

As Kerri explains: “When I’m buying as an investor, I’m looking at what’s my long-term return and how do I build equity? Once I turn it over to the property management side of our business, my hat has to shift into, now how do we be hosts? How do we create the right guest experience?”

This strategic separation prevents the common trap of over-optimizing for revenue at the expense of hospitality. When deciding how to reinvest profits, Kerri considers both personas: Will this investment improve the guest experience and encourage repeat bookings, or should these funds go toward the next property acquisition?

The product management mindset that Kerri developed over 22 years in corporate became her foundation for understanding everything from concept to realization to launch to financial optimization—skills that directly translated to building and scaling her hospitality business.

🚀 The 70% Direct Booking Strategy: A Multi-Channel Marketing Masterclass

Kerri’s approach to direct booking success centers on treating OTAs as marketing channels rather than revenue dependencies. Her 70% direct booking rate comes from a sophisticated multi-channel strategy that includes:

Website Foundation & Visual Content Strategy

Kerri started building her first website in late 2018, focusing immediately on high-quality visual content. She contracted photographers through Upwork and invested in professional property photography that could be used across multiple marketing channels.

“The visuals matter. And the visuals matter a lot for getting people engaged. I am not a visual content creator, so I started contracting with different photographers to take pictures, which actually worked quite well.”

Strategic Influencer Marketing

Rather than pursuing massive influencers, Kerri discovered that micro-influencers with 10,000-50,000 followers generated the best results for her outdoor-focused, dog-friendly properties. She looks for influencers who match her guest avatar: outdoor enthusiasts with dogs, typically from Ontario, Quebec, or the Northeast US.

The key differentiator? She requires potential influencer partners to present with PowerPoint presentations, ensuring they understand her brand and can articulate the collaboration value. This vetting process has led to consistently successful partnerships that drive both bookings and high-quality user-generated content.

Community Partnerships & Local Business Collaboration

Kerri’s community-based marketing approach includes partnerships with local businesses that align with her guest experience vision. From bike rental shops offering guest discounts to Nordic spas using her properties for photo shoots, these relationships create cross-marketing opportunities that expand her reach without paid advertising costs.

Tourism Board Engagement

One of Kerri’s highest-leverage strategies involves active participation in her regional tourism board (DMO in the US). By paying for membership and staying engaged, she gains access to tourism marketing plans she can piggyback, plus opportunities to house media and influencers brought in by the board.

The standout success story: Housing a Toronto Sun travel reporter for a week during high season. While she gave up $4,000 in potential revenue, the resulting article was syndicated across 12 Canadian newspapers, creating marketing reach that would have cost tens of thousands to achieve through paid advertising.

“Toronto Sun is still one of the biggest drivers to our direct booking website because the whole article is like, ‘and your base for exploring this region is Chalets Hygge with Kerri and Philip. You will never have a better experience.'”

📧 The Email Nurture System That Creates 40% Return Guests

Kerri’s email marketing strategy focuses on value delivery over direct sales. Her approach includes:

  • Monthly newsletters featuring property updates, local business spotlights, and seasonal activity guides
  • Themed itinerary emails for different guest types (dog-friendly activities, girls’ weekends, romantic getaways)
  • Pre-arrival drip campaigns starting eight weeks before arrival, covering everything from dinner recommendations to departure day coffee suggestions
  • Post-stay surveys gamified with quizzes that keep engagement fun while gathering feedback

The result? 40% return guests, plus an estimated additional 5-6% from referrals that guests frequently mention during their stays.

“We give them an experience where they’re like, I’m going there year after year. I don’t even wanna figure out what other kind of place I wanna have. We’ve given them the experience that they want and they just wanna repeat it.”

🛠️ Building the Team: From Solo Operation to Systematic Success

Recognizing the limitations of handling everything personally, Kerri recently began investing in team members to handle specialized functions:

  • Website maintenance specialist who handles monthly SEO optimization, Google Analytics review, and content updates
  • Email marketing specialist building out automated funnels and nurture sequences
  • Bookkeeper to handle expense classification and multi-employee payroll across the province

This transition, inspired by Dan Martell’s “Buyback Your Time,” allows Kerri to focus on strategy and guest experience rather than getting caught in operational details that don’t directly impact the guest journey.

📚 Kerri’s Direct Booking Recommendations

Favorite Book: Start with Why by Simon Sinek – “Every time I feel like I’m getting off track and something just doesn’t feel right, it always goes back to starting with your why and realigning yourself back.”

Mindset Advice: “Just start. When you look at the whole picture, it’s just way too overwhelming. Start with creating a business case, then take the next piece. Start with touring houses, start with building a homepage, then just get beautiful pictures. But it’s all just one step at a time.”

Tactical Advice: “Get a website and just take one hour a week and put something on it. One is not too few. One is the perfect time to start.”

🌟 Key Takeaways for Direct Booking Success

  1. Treat OTAs as billboards, not revenue dependencies – Use them for exposure while building your owned channels
  2. Invest in professional visual content early – High-quality photography serves multiple marketing channels
  3. Target micro-influencers over mega-influencers – 10K-50K followers often deliver better engagement for niche properties
  4. Build genuine community partnerships – Local business collaborations create authentic cross-marketing opportunities
  5. Focus email marketing on value, not sales – Provide useful content that positions you as the local expert
  6. Start simple and iterate – Begin with basic website functionality and improve systematically

Kerri’s journey proves that direct booking independence isn’t just possible—it’s profitable when approached strategically. Her 70% direct booking rate demonstrates what’s achievable when hosts think like business owners, invest in the right marketing channels, and never stop prioritizing the guest experience.

🔗 Connect with Kerri Gibson

🎧 Ready to Transform Your Direct Booking Strategy?

Listen to the full episode to hear Kerri’s complete framework for building a hospitality business that generates consistent direct bookings while maintaining exceptional guest experiences.

Start building your own direct booking independence at CraftedStays.co →

Transform your short-term rental into a direct booking powerhouse with CraftedStays’ purpose-built platform. No complex setup, no WordPress headaches—just conversion-optimized websites that help you own your guest journey from search to stay.

Transcription

Kerri: And we do have 40% return. Guess. And that’s because we give them an experience where they’re like, I’m going there year after year. I don’t even wanna figure out what other kind of ex place I wanna have. We’ve given them the experience that they want and they just wanna repeat it. And that 40% does not include the referrals that we get.

Kerri:’cause I don’t have a great way of tracking referrals. But. I think it’s fair to say we know have another five, 6% that are just referrals. ’cause guests are all the time saying, oh, oh, so and so stayed here and they told me I had to come here, da da da. And then they turn into return guests. So yeah. So at the heart of all of that marketing, your guests continue to be.

Kerri: A marketing channel before they come, while they’re there and after they leave, and you have to treat them as such.

Gil: Before we bring on my guest, I wanted to talk just a little bit about something that I’ve been hearing a lot from host. I keep on hearing the same thing. I know my website isn’t converting, but I can’t afford $8,000 on an agency to rebuild it. Here’s the thing, you’re letting all these marketing strategies, you’re driving traffic and you’re putting it all to work.

Gil: But if your site isn’t really built to convert, you’re basically lighting your energy and money on fire. And even if you could afford an agency build. Every time you want to test something or make a change, you’re having to pay them again. You can’t iterate, you can’t test, and you really can improve on things.

Gil: You don’t need a custom $10,000 website to get the conversion rates that really matter. You just need the right platform. That’s why I build Crafted Stays. It’s purpose built for short term rentals and design from the ground up to help you drive more direct bookings, you can finally turn that traffic into bookings.

Gil: And you can keep on testing and improving. As you learn, you can make changes all on the platform. You don’t need to learn something new. So if you need some help or you wanna get started, go ahead and go to craft stays.co and start your free trial. Now let’s bring on our guests and dive deep into hospitality and marketing.

Gil: Hey folks. Welcome back to the book Solid Show, the podcast we bring on top operators to discuss marketing, revenue management, and the guest experience to drive towards being booked solid. On today’s show, I have Kerri Gibson on the call. She is just a phenomenal person. I was truly impressed with her.

Gil: You’ll, you hear me say it over and over again at the very end of the show, but she went from. Being in corporate product management. She ended up getting into short-term rentals in Quebec, and she scaled to six properties and then ended up getting into boutique hotels. What’s really impressive on top of all that, is that she actually got to being 70% direct booked.

Gil: So I have her on the show to really walk through her entire journey with us. And then dive deep into all the different marketing tactics that she’s doing, and also some of the areas that she’s looking to reinvest into to even amplify that a bit more as well too. So she’s just super impressive. I’m, I can’t wait to have her onto the show and have her walk us through what she’s built.

Gil: So without further ado, let’s bring her in.

Gil: Hey Kerri, welcome to the show.

Kerri: Hi Gil. Thank you so much for having me.

Gil: Yeah. I’m super excited to, to have you on the show and talk about your journey. So maybe to kick us off, do you mind giving folks a brief introduction on who you are, Kerri?

Kerri: Certainly. So I am a former corporate executive who had a big burnout in 2017 and took a year long sabbatical, not knowing where I was going to land next. And as part of the project, um, of finding out what I was gonna do next, we bought a house to flip. It seemed something that was over always super interesting to us.

Kerri: And, um, along the way I fell in love with the process of that, and it’s seven years later I have been able to retire my husband. And we are the owners of a boutique hospitality brand in Quebec, Canada that consists of short-term rentals and a recently acquired motel. I.

Gil: Wow. So what was that journey like? Like you, you didn’t just get into the hotel side of things, but like how did it go from the flip now to a full blown hotel? Like what was that kind of the transition there or the, the growth there?

Kerri: Oh my. So, gosh. So like I said, we never fully intended to even end up in this industry, but when we started renting or buying and renovating properties, one led to another, led to another. And, um, through the process of renovating and hospitality, I feel like I really found my calling of being a host of creating these experiences for people.

Kerri: Um, but then when COVID hit and market prices exploded at the same time, um, regulations really started tightening. We started looking at where we were gonna pivot to next. ’cause at this point we had. Renovated completely six term, uh, six short term rentals. And because it’s our life, we needed it to cash flow.

Kerri: So we started looking at different scenarios for our next growth into the hospitality real estate. ’cause we knew we wanted the real estate investments to stay in hospitality. And we looked at everything from buying like a collection of existing cabins to a glamp ground, to a ground up build, um, to a boutique hotel or motel, which was really where my heart lied.

Kerri: And I love the idea for so many, uh, reasons, the idea of being able to like. Take so many different small rooms and give them like their own unique personality. Just really doubling down on the design, the community you can create with the motel. And the fact that our expertise was already in renovation.

Kerri: We could take something existing that already had heart and soul and renovate it, but uh, I had to convince my, uh, partner, my business and life partner, Philip, who was all in on a ground up build. Um, having built a house just that alone had overwhelmed me. Um, so I had done all of my business, uh, case work and he still just wasn’t quite there with me.

Kerri: And I actually ended up sending him to a conference that was, had a section focused on boutique motels and hotels and someone that was really able to lay out the groundwork for him. So he came back on fire and we decided to go after a, a motel.

Gil: That, that’s amazing. Um, I think like you can go into a conference and you walk away with just a lot of energy, but it’s a really big success story to walk away and actually like, almost re-pivot your life and kind of where your priorities are. So it’s amazing to hear that that conference made such a big impact on your, your trajectory.

Kerri: I mean, it did. We knew we were in a place where we wanted to turn direction, where we had to pivot and change directions. Um, if we wanted to continue to cash flow and we wanted to continue to grow, which we did, we weren’t ready to say, okay, we’re done with our six, we’re just gonna ride it out from here.

Kerri: We wanted a new challenge. Um, so I think our hearts and our heads were both already open to that change. Um, for me, I had already slotted myself into the motel hotel, um, direction, but Philip had not. And be, but because his heart and his head were open and he went looking for what is our next investment pivot from that, when he attended those classes, it really struck with him and knowing that I was already on board, it just all fell into place for him with that conference.

Kerri: Um, knowing we’re already thinking it, and then he could see all the pieces come together.

Gil: That’s, that’s very strategic of you.

Kerri: I know how.

Gil: I it, when I got into short-term rentals for the first time, my wife was not like, she didn’t wanna do it like she was like, what are you doing buying properties that are thousands and thousands of miles away for what was as much as our primary at that point? Um, and it took a lot of convincing to her.

Gil: And what ended up working for, for me was I ended up putting together, knowing who she is, I ended up putting together a presentation for her in PowerPoint and it basically broke down, this is the, this is the property, these are the numbers, this is what we are starting off with. This is what I want to get at it to, and these are the returns at the very end.

Gil: And I think it was just the thoroughness of me walking through that whole thing with her. She gave me like, okay, fine, you’ve done your homework. It looks like you know what you’re doing. Go ahead and try it out. And I think like that gave her that comfort because it took me a long time to get her to be comfortable with that.

Gil: And then the, the second and third one, she’s like, Gil, you know what you’re doing. I know you’re doing your homework. Like, I gained a lot of trust from her. So it’s actually very interesting to hear like, how could I approach it even differently? I remember when I was, we live in San Francisco and I thought of, I, I wanted to convince her to get in more into investing.

Gil: And one of the things that I tried to do was we had to drive down from San Francisco to la, which is like a five hour drive. I was like, I’m gonna put on BiggerPockets and I’m just gonna have it in the background just to get her to think about these things. And she listened for the first two hours and like it was actually very helpful because she started to understand like, oh, this is what I’m absorbing.

Gil: This is what I’m learning about. And like there’s actually a lot of substance about it. It’s not like Gil’s crazy and he’s gonna throw a couple hundred thousand dollars on on properties. It’s starting to like open up to her, into my world. And it sounds like it’s very similar to you where you had this like fire in you that you wanted to do and it was really about opening up your mind, like this thought into his world as well too.

Kerri: Absolutely. You know, people do ask me that all the time. It’s like, how did you get your partner on board with doing all of this with you? Um, because when I left my corporate job, he was still very happy in his corporate job. He loved what he was doing. He loved the challenge. It was me that was really looking for a shift and a change.

Kerri: Um, but I would honestly say Philip’s a very adventurous person, a risk taker. So it, I’m the one that more has to be convinced, like with the penciling in. So when I did approach him for the first time of like I wanted buy some kind of hospitality business that needs a renovation, and I already, he knew I had done my work as a business case.

Kerri: Um, and he was open to the idea of buying something to renovate and flip, which was the initial. Initial thought of what we were gonna do. It was my initial thought as well, because I wasn’t thinking about creating a short term rental. Um, I just hadn’t found like a bed and breakfast or anything like that, which honestly, bed and breakfast was the first thing in my mind that penciled in the correct number.

Kerri: So I’m like, okay, let’s, let’s purchase a house that came online and, um, that came on the market that was in our neighborhood and we jumped on it. ’cause we both, he did see the opportunity of investing. Renovating and then flipping it. What I worked along with him along the way was the idea of maybe this is the direction we go with hospitality as opposed to like a traditional bed and breakfast or a small motel or something like that.

Kerri: Because we had no experience in hospitality and short-term rental was legal, so I was seeing other people around us do it. And so during that year that I renovated the, the property, I was always talking about it, always doing research, you know? So it just kind of like you said, you had it going in the podcast, going in the background for your, for your wife.

Kerri: Um. I hadn’t yet discovered podcasts, uh, around this. This was 2017. Oh my, there actually were, but I was constantly talking about it, constantly showing it to him. We already used OTAs for travel, right. So he got the concept. He was just like, I don’t know how much of a market there is here. Um, ’cause we hadn’t done any work around it.

Kerri: So yeah, I just talked about it a lot. I did the whole groundwork and I kept showing him the numbers and the opportunity and in the end he was like, let’s give it a try. So.

Gil: Yeah, and it, it’s amazing how like, let’s give it a try. It’s like that first step and when, when, and if like, I know it’s already become successful, but like that next one is just so much easier and it just lays the groundwork to doing something together bigger the next time around with a lot of comfort.

Kerri: You know, the funny thing is we had such a roll shift because while we were, we had not long closed on our first one, and we’re starting the process of renovating it and another one came on the market and Philip was already like, he was ready to buy another one again. He was thinking it was gonna flip, but once we started investing, he was the one running at investing and I was the one run and he was, I think, thinking more long-term rentals that we were gonna have.

Kerri: Um, so he was all in on investing. I just had to kind of like redirect him towards the short-term rental space, the hospitality space.

Gil: Yeah, you mentioned a few things here. That was what? That was interesting. There seems to be a heavy emphasis on hospitality. There’s also, um. The investor mindset that you have of really creating that financial freedom for you to you and your husband to be able to retire and do what you wanna do. How do you figure out how to balance between really being a smart investor and making good choices, but at the same time, don’t lose out on the hospitality side of things.

Kerri: Oh my goodness. So. I think everyone that’s obligatory to say this to questions, but honestly that’s a really good question and it’s something that I never really thought about until not long ago, but it was like, ’cause when we are the investor, so we source and we negotiate and we get the, the funding for the deal, then we renovate ourselves, like we bring in electricians and plumbers.

Kerri: But as far as the design and the aesthetic and the finishing, that is all us. Um, and then we’re, we’re basically property managers for our own properties. Um, so we wear three different hats and we’re going throughout the process. So when we look to buy a property, we’re looking for something that we can grow equity into right away.

Kerri: So we’re looking for something that’s not turnkey. Something that we can get at a good price. Um, something that we have the opportunity to build an equity like within the first year, we could, we could cash out if we wanted to and already have, um, some return on it. Um, and then after that, we’re looking for something in the right location that allows us to turn it into something for hospitality accommodation.

Kerri: So they’re all three different mindsets. So when I’m buying as an investor, I’m looking at it, what’s my long-term return and how do I build an equity? Once I turn it over to the property management side of our business, my hat has to shift into, now how do we be hosts? Like how do we, we create the right guest experience?

Kerri: Um, how do we get the right, um, return on that guest experience because my. Decisions on what I invest in when I am a host are different from what I would invest in as an investor. Like I’m investing in the experience as a host, right? I’m looking for something that, um, creates that memorable moment or that magic that’s gonna make a guest wanna come back or refer us or say those words to me.

Kerri: Like, Kerri, we’ve had the best absolute time, right? So I, I align value better. So someone said to me at a conference I was at in Amsterdam a few weeks ago, they said, so investing is, um, financial capital hosting is emotional capital. I’m like, oh my god, that makes so much sense. And people buy based on emotions.

Kerri: So when you tap into that emotional side of them, that’s where you can also create not just something that’s hospitable for the host, but where you also create a cash flowing business because people purchase based off of emotions.

Gil: Yeah, so, so that’s, that’s interesting there, like, it’s almost as if you switch modes at some point, and in the acquisition side, you’re really making sure that you have a really strong foundation for. Your investment, but then when it comes to the actual hosting side of it, you almost switch into a different mode.

Gil: You’re not thinking about how do I juice out of juice? The most out of every single guest out there, you’re really thinking about like, how do I deliver the best possible experience that keeps people coming back to us over and over again?

Kerri: Absolutely. Yes. And those are two very different mindsets, but it’s also possible for them to coexist side by side. Um, you know, ’cause my, my, uh, hospitable side, my hospitality side is what pays the bills today, right? That’s what’s cash flowing. The investments that we’ve made where the investor side is looking at my long term, our retirement, um.

Kerri: Those types of things. So there are two very different outlooks, short term versus long term, but it’s possible for them to coincide side by side. Um, when we do have extra profits, we’re looking to reinvest. That’s where we have to take our two different. Persona side by side and say, okay, what’s the best thing to do with this extra $25,000 that we have?

Kerri: Do we put it in a fund that goes towards buying the next property or do we reinvest it into putting new amenities, new experiences into our existing properties? Um, and so yeah, so those discussions can actually be quite different because when it comes to reinvesting profits, um, you gotta be clear on what your goals are at that moment.

Kerri: You’re investing in one year. Our goal might be to, we need to cash flow more and another year our goal might be, Hey, we’re doing good on the cash flow. Anything else we don’t think we’re gonna get a good ROI out of, so let’s put it into another investment. Let’s use this for our investor persona and not our hospitality persona.

Gil: Yeah, I like that. I like that. And it’s, it’s like you have these different modes that you switch in. During the different phases of the lifecycle. But there’s also a moment in time where even your day to day, you’re constantly having to think about the ROI of your investments as well too. And what do you put it on, like you said, new acquisitions or do I put it on really reinvesting into our properties so that we elevate the experience and keep on people, getting people coming back.

Gil: And it’s almost like, the way I think about it is that you have a level of standard that you have a vision of what you want your guests to experience. And if you have that excess 20 5K for instance, have you met that standard yet? Are people walking away really enjoying their stay or do you feel like there’s something missing at the property, there’s something missing within the experience, or we’ve heard about these things like should we address those things or should we, should we bring it back and, and reinvest.

Gil: And to me, and we talked about this a little bit on, on before the show, both of us are product managers by trade, um, and in product management we think about the customer experience quite a bit, uh, almost. Ma.

Kerri: we think about. We’re obsessed with it.

Gil: Yeah. And, and with product management you do take like short term bets on, on certain things and you test and iterate on things, but you also have a strong vision of where you want the product to go and, and what do you have to do to invest into it.

Gil: And I think it feels like you’re bringing that back into this world as well too. And you’re thinking about not a product customer, but like your, your, your stays is the product and do you need to keep on maturing it or do you tack on another, do you move on and spin off another product altogether? It’s, it’s, there’s some, some similarities there.

Kerri: There is, and I, I wanna hit on something that you said there, there was a lot of similarities there actually. Um, but, um, I think one of the things, I spent 22 years in the corporate world, and I’m so thankful for those 22 years that I spent there, even though I had a burnout. I think it was just the end of that phase in my life.

Kerri: But honestly, um, I would not be today. I don’t think the, the have the investing capabilities, the ability to build a business, to foresee what at, to build that product exactly like you said, and to make it cash flow without having gone through that in the corporate world, right? You learn everything like as, as a product manager, you’re a mini CEO. Of your product line. And I think that that gave me wings when it came to being a small business owner. I understood everything from concept to realization to launch to the finances around it. And so I’m a, I’m extremely grateful for my days in corporate because one of the things that when I was making that transition, I was figuring out what was coming next and I was trying to figure out how to fill that white space of what I had never tapped into.

Kerri: Part of it is. Leaning on your skillset to help build that next phase of yourself. Like I was always afraid that I don’t know what I’m gonna do because I’m a product manager for tax and accounting company, software company. How does that translate into anything else? And being able to separate your skills that you’ve learned along the way, separate from whatever your job title is, can really give you wings as an entrepreneur to know that you have this core skillset that’s going to allow you to accelerate in in areas of being an entrepreneur.

Gil: Yeah, I, I, I say this a lot on, on this show, but I’m always impressed with just the different spaces that people come into this industry from. We have a very diverse industry where you get to have any career leading up to this, and when you get into this, you’ll bring in your unique skills, your unique experiences, and leverage that.

Gil: We have a lot of folks that. That will heavy emphasis on the operation side, and they’re really good at managing team and hiring teams and scaling. There’s folks that do really well on the marketing side and really know how to create a brand, and it’s just so amazing to see just how everybody’s able to kind of carve out their own success in this and then use that as levers to continue to grow as well too.

Gil: It’s not like short-term rentals. I, I find very unique where there’s not a really linear path of growth. Everybody goes through this in very different ways and it’s just amazing to see and, and coming out of it, a lot of folks end up do starting new businesses outside of it. That helps the community as well too.

Gil: Like myself being like, I started as a host and I came from technology and I found this like big gap in the market. I’m now taking all my learnings and technology and e-commerce and really applying it back into our space. But I see the same thing happening with a lot of coaches out there that are really good at marketing and they’re trying to help other folks.

Gil: And although they started out in corporate marketing, they bought their short-term rentals and they now pivot their careers really to help others as well too. And I see this over and over again. It’s been amazing to see the growth in the industry.

Kerri: It is. And that’s what I love so much about this industry is the ability to take and carve a path and a unique path. Like, you know, the, there is very rarely that our small businesses, our small hospitality businesses look alike because everybody’s leveraged. Their expertise, their network, their connections, their dreams to create something completely unique to them.

Kerri: I mean, at the core, we’re all hospitality businesses and we share a lot in common, but how we execute on that is really, really super cool. And ’cause the other thing I love about this industry so much is the level of collaboration between all of these small businesses. You know, the people that are out there with the marketing expertise that want to help other people become better marketers.

Kerri: People like you that have the ability of technology to build a piece of technology that makes, you know. Other small businesses better, like the level of collaboration from people throwing their expertise into the melting pot that is hospitality is, is I think is one of the things that’s really super unique to this industry.

Gil: Well, why? Why do you think that is? Why do you think that our industry is different than maybe others?

Kerri: I think it goes back to the word hospitality. Because to be in hospitality and to look as more than just an investor, but to be an operator in hospitality, there’s a piece of your heart that is um, that is a servant’s heart. That is, um, you know, one of my, of the five languages of love mine is acts of service, you know, and I think a lot of people in hospitality probably have that in their top two or three love languages, acts of service.

Kerri: It’s putting the people first, it’s doing for others, and that doesn’t just stop with your guests if you have that, that desire in your heart. It goes to humanity as a whole, whether it’s, you know, um, the, the restaurant down the street or um, being a part of the Chamber of Commerce. Like, you want to do something to uplift everybody.

Kerri: And that includes, you know, even within the hospitality space. ’cause I don’t think most of us really see each other as competitors, but something as we all rise together when we’re all better, we all rise together, is how this industry really feels.

Gil: Yeah, I’m very interested in any of our listeners here. They come from other industries. I would love for you to kinda reach out to me, but I’m interested in seeing like how this parallels with other industries, like the restaurant industry or e-commerce or SaaS. Like there’s these different industries and I found that there’s something unique here in short term rentals, but I haven’t found, at least from a culture per perspective, any parallels into other industries that, and the reason why I I like this path is because it helps me learn like what makes these two industries grow like they do, and where are they headed as well too.

Gil: So any listeners here, please reach out to me if you’re part of another industry that shares a lot of the same cultures there, I wanna decouple that a little bit.

Kerri: That’s, I, that would be super awesome to know because I spent my whole entire corporate career in the tech tax and accounting tech space. And I can tell you it’s very red ocean there. For anyone that’s read the, the Blue Oceans book, like, it, it’s a bloody battle, you know, with your competitors. Um, and it, it’s not, it’s not necessarily an uplifting space to be.

Kerri: So, like, when I, I found the hospitality industry and my first experience was, okay, we’re gonna try to turn this into our first property, into a short term rental. And I just started listening to podcasts, and then I would just like, email people that were the hosts of the podcast and ask them questions like the happiness and the willingness to not only respond, but say, Hey, I’ll jump on a FaceTime with you if you want.

Kerri: I was just like, what? What is this? It’s like I was, I was hooked after that.

Gil: Yeah, I think having the experience of being in e-commerce, I think that there might be some similarities there. And you have this like big break where you have a lot of like smaller. Uh, shops that are maybe a team of 10, 20 people building this e-commerce store and products out there. And I do, I do find that the exposure that I’ve had is that that is actually a very communicative and collaborative, uh, space.

Gil: But when you get to like the big retail brands, it becomes on the more competitive side. And we may see the same thing here where because we’re in this space, we have less than maybe 60 doors ourselves, and it’s in that space is still a very collaborative space. But then when you start to break away into the larger property management, the picasas of the world, that’s when you kind of see the more the, the competition between all the others because it is a lot more market share.

Gil: So I think there might be some similarities there that I wanna decouple.

Kerri: well, you can also get into the difference there between privately held and publicly held companies, right? Because your fiduciary responsibility changes the minute you become a publicly owned company, right? So, so that has a lot to do with it, I think, as well. So, um, yeah, that my aspirations are never to, um, is to only ever build a business where I can maintain this, this level of collaboration with, I never want to be looking at other people in this industry as someone that’s taking from me.

Kerri: But, you know, so if I ever get to that point, I hope I’ll realize it’s time for me to move on, but I don’t think I will.

Gil: Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Um, I had a question for you. What’s, what’s the thought that you’ve had or experienced that you feel like it’s very contrarian to kind of what people talk about?

Kerri: Oh my goodness. Okay, so, um, I actually did a Business Insider interview on this last year, um, because I was being quite vocal about, um, people who are on social media saying they had built this. Great property management or short-term rental, Airbnb business, but they were only working four hours a week.

Kerri: And the rest of the time they were on the beach, um, sipping at martinis. And I’m like, oh my goodness. Like if you’ve done this from the ground up, you know, you’re not running a successful business that has the guest at the heart of it. Um, unless you have spent years and years building technology, people, processes behind it, and you’ve gotten to the points where you’ve just turned it over.

Kerri: Um, so may that may be the case. And if so, then they’re not talking about the years and years of work and hard work they put in behind it. But to be a host and to serve your guests and to serve the industry the right way is a lot of work. Especially when you’re small. Exactly like you said, you know, we’re not Hiltons, we’re not Marriotts, we’re not be cusses, you know?

Kerri: Um. You, you have to put a lot into it. Um, and so the get rich quick mentality of being a, uh, a property manager or a property owner is something that just I think puts some of the negative light on this industry. Takes a lot of work to do it well, but not only to honor your guests, but to honor your community too.

Kerri: Right there, there’s the whole community aspect of it too, because often we’re in residential areas and we have to take that into concern as well, and that that’s just as important.

Gil: Yeah, it’s, it’s almost going back to what you were saying earlier about having your investor hat on and then having your hosting hat on, uh, or your hospitality hat on. You have to think about both sides. And I think there is this portrayal of just the investment side of you can get this cash on cash return.

Gil: And definitely was true during the gold rush of the early pandemics when a lot of folks were getting into the scene. But there’s almost this shift now where the hosts that have been in it long enough and wanna continue with, they actually think, oh, actually, it’s not just about the investment side.

Gil: There’s this big hospitality side. And I’ve actually seen the other side too, where. People got into this because they wanted to grow an investment in financial freedom, and then they found out this is a lot of work,

Kerri: It’s a lot of work.

Gil: and I think a lot of folks underestimate the amount of effort that you do. We’re pretty much creating businesses for ourselves when we get into this.

Gil: And no one really knows that they’re signing up for this when they’re buying their first rental out there. Like, it’s not like a long-term rental where you’re doing your analysis and then you’re putting it over to a property manager and you’re completely passive on this. That stuff like that is a lot easier.

Gil: But when you’re getting a short-term rental and you’re operating it yourself, you have to be hiring the right cleaning staff. You’re having to do guest messaging. Um, you’re, you’re trying to do marketing yourself so that you can be independent. Like they’re, you’re starting to wear a lot more hats than a lot of folks really portray in social media.

Gil: Um. Especially about like getting how to get into this and be successful in it.

Kerri: And I also, I think that’s 100% spot on. And I would add to that, that also the industry has matured and along with it, the guest expectations of what level of service they’re going to get and what level of amenities and accommodation has, is also starting to mature. Right? So gone are the days of people showing, just expecting to show up and oh, they gotta immediately run to the grocery store and pick up toilet paper and trash bags and paper towels.

Kerri: Or they don’t hear word one from their host and they just show up at the door hoping it’s gonna open. They, they have barely an idea of where to get the key, like the expectations of guests have also grown, and also the maturity of the people getting into it. So it’s become really, really hard to not come in and be a host, um, and be a, um, and not put a lot of work into it,

Gil: Yeah, I mean, and kinda going back to what we were saying earlier, the great thing about industry is that we do share quite a bit. So it’s easy to figure out what are the tools that you should be thinking about? What, like, I’ve never heard of SOPs as much as I do now. Then like three years back, like people are now talking about their processes.

Gil: How do you put a lot more rigor in that? So you have consistency in your process, especially as you scale the, the industry is maturing. But that hasn’t stopped us from sharing all that knowledge. It just means that when you’re getting into this industry, yes, you have the resources, but you still do have the pen and time and effort into it.

Kerri: Yeah, absolutely 100%. And I would say as our industry does mature, I just see more and more people entering to offer their expertise and their help into the industry. Like, I don’t see pulling back, like if you just look at the number of podcasts you can partake in, the number of events that you can go to, the number of small community groups that have popped up around this just continue to grow.

Kerri: So it’s like everybody coming into the industry, it still continues to double down on being collaborative. And there’s no, I don’t see any signs of like pulling away and to becoming a more, um, fractured, you know, each independent business on their own. I just see the collab level of collaboration and information sharing, just growing and growing.

Gil: Yeah. Yeah. Um, I wanted to kind of move into kind of the, the second leg of our show where we, I wanted to dive into some of the marketing that you have done. We chatted a little bit before the show, and I was super impressed with some of the stuff that you’ve been doing. On the direct booking side. So if you don’t mind just sharing a little bit about some of the successes that you’ve had, even when you’re operating your short-term rentals.

Gil: Um, and then also we can kind of transition to how you’re thinking about it when you’re running a boutique hotel. But help us kind of like get caught up on some of the successes you’ve gone and some of the foundations that you’ve put in place.

Kerri: Certainly. So I actually started our direct book journey pretty quickly after we figured out that. Having short term rentals was going to be a thing, like I was actually going to make money on it and I probably did not have to go back to a corporate job, which had already been in the back of, always been in the back of my mind thinking I would somehow end up back in corporate.

Kerri: But as soon as about 12 months in, and at this point I had three properties that I was short term renting, um, I realized that okay, this is gonna be a thing I need to get serious about it. And coming from corporate, one thing I’ve always understood is the old saying, don’t build your house on someone else’s land.

Kerri: Like, I appreciate very much the OTAs and the opportunity they give and continue to give to be used as a marketing platform to put, um, basically I see them as a billboard, but I knew if it was gonna go grow into a business, I wanted to control, I had to have some level of direct book strategy. Um. So I started my look pretty quickly for how I was going to build a direct book strategy and put around that a tech stack.

Kerri: Coming from technology, I, I always lean into tech to like, you know, automate as much as I can. Um, and uh, so I started my direct book. I started actually building my website, I think I, in 20 late 2018. Um, and I would say the most important thing I did, Gil, was honestly just getting started. Like at no matter what point you’re in, you know, you’re, if you’re five years into your journey, you’re just starting, like, just getting started because where my direct book strategy is today is not where it was on day one, right?

Kerri: And it, it’s not where it’ll be in a year from now. It continues to evolve. Um, but at the same time I was working on building out my very basic first iteration website is when I also really started doing, um, some social media alongside of it. And one thing I quickly figured out in building out both of the website and the social media’s Instagram and Facebook at the time, was that the visuals matter.

Kerri: And the visuals matter a lot for getting people engaged. Um, and I am not a visual content creator. Um, so I started contracting with different photographers to take pictures, which actually worked quite well. Like I was, I, I was getting more visits to my website as I uploaded, and I hired a few people to create content for the website.

Kerri: Um, I was finding them off of Upwork, like back then. And so it wasn’t a huge investment, um, just to help me create, giving them the basics and having them just create a well worded as, um, homepage, um, hiring someone to take. 20 pictures for me of all of the properties that I could use. Um, so I was building the website, I was building the social media and um, I was, where we’re located at, we are 40%, um, not where we’re located.

Kerri: We’re drive to market for Montreal, for Toronto, for New York City, for Boston, for Philly. And so we do have 40% people that return to the area year after year after year. Um, it’s just a destination. So my immediate low hanging fruit was to tap into those people that are returning to the area and by having my direct book site.

Kerri: So that’s what I went after first. once I had tapped that out, it was like, okay, how else can I leverage people? ’cause I didn’t have any marketing budget at this time for paid ads. Um, and that’s where I very, I had had influencers reach out to me before, but I had. Knew nothing about it, so I had really always put them off.

Kerri: But I started thinking about, when I was thinking about how do I grow, how do I grow, how do I grow, how do I get more audience? It was like, hmm, maybe these influencers do have something to offer. And so I started researching influencers that looked a lot like my guest avatar. And the ones that reached out to me that fit that and that, like I, I would talk to them on the phone.

Kerri: The very first ones I worked with actually came to me with the PowerPoint presentation. That’s how I selected them first. ’cause they were the most prepared, like of when I reached out. And so I started taking calculated risks and some worked out and some didn’t. But overall, influencer marketing has turned out to be one of the best things that I have done for our direct book strategy.

Kerri: Um, because not only do they give me beautiful content, but I’m also able to tap into their reach without having to spend a lot on paid advertising. And so when you find an influencer who’s looks like your avatar and their followers look like your avatar, you can actually find a really good secret for success there in getting followers.

Kerri: So, like, for example, we’re located in Quebec. I look for pe, I look for influencers, um, that are located in Ontario, Quebec, or the Northeast US who like outdoor activities, who like dogs, um, and have a family. So that, that’s kind of my avatar. They, the family is optional. Like we get couples, we get families, but I really, outdoor people with dogs is really our niched avatar.

Kerri: And so when I started collaborating with people like that and they started promoting us, those people started following me, me back. And then those are the people that start to come and then they reshare your profile. Um, so that’s been a big success for us. Um, and honestly, one little tip I have for my market.

Kerri: What works is between be what works best is people with influence followers between 10,000 and 50,000. Um, more than that. They tend to have, um, they’re. I find that under 50,000, the people that follow them are really engaged with them for multiple reasons. You know, they, they really share the same values with them.

Kerri: They, um, desire to purchase the same things they do, but they’re really influenced by them versus someone who’s just like a mass influencer who post a lot of the same things over and over and, and people just like, and move on. Um, but then the other way I found is one thing that was super important to us at the beginning was being part of the community.

Kerri: Um, because we, we were in an area where there were potential regulations, um, and we lived, but we also lived in the community. So we started getting very involved in the community and while being involved in the community, met other small businesses, and through all of this, we all started to talk about, you know, hey, different ways we could support each other.

Kerri: And like if we found businesses that align with us, like for us, we have rental Shellys, so someone that rents bikes. Oh, okay. Well, we’re gonna partner our guests, get 10% off. We refer them, you know, the cafe, the bakery. But then as part of this partnership, we also promote each other. And so each of us has our own list of followers and people that are coming in, and we use that to cross market to each other.

Kerri: So those two things I think have been kind of, um, the rocket fuel behind our direct book strategy. Um, some of the businesses we do partner marketing with are very, very small, and some of ’em are big, like, uh, Quebec and Ontario sized businesses. Like we partner with a nor Nordic spa. We partner with a local company that creates, um.

Kerri: Our, our bathroom amenities or shampoo conditioner, and they’re, they’re a bit bigger, but they’re still a, um, they’re still very local, something that we can tap into, but they also have a bigger reach that when they use our chalets and then we allow them to do photo shoots at our properties. So now when they’re photo shooting out, they’re saying, and they’re giving credit to us.

Kerri: Um, and then one I didn’t tell you about before, but third is being part of the tourism board. So, uh, it’s the DMO in the us. Um, we pay to be a member there. And I cannot emphasize the importance of that enough, um, because it’s their job to bring guests into. Into the region. And so if you are at the table with them and you know what their plans are, you can piggyback your marketing plans off of theirs.

Kerri: Um, they love it when people are engaged and give them idea ideas, like, and I also share my visual content with them that they can share out. But then when they’re bringing in influencers or media and stuff like that, and they need to get businesses to support them, bringing in these people like a place to say restaurants.

Kerri: My, my chalets are always top of mind for our, our tourism board of where to house these people. So it’s paid off many times. But one of, uh, the idea, one of the main ways this is the ever one for me is the Toronto Sun is the second most syndicated newspaper. In Canada and they brought in the uh, Toronto Sun, their travel reporter, their main travel reporter in August, our high season, and they needed a place to put him for a week and nobody wanted to do it.

Kerri: And I said, I’ll do it. I will take them. He came with his wife, his two kids, their dog. They stood in our chalet. I gave up about $4,000. But let me tell you what happened. This was three years ago. Not only were we in the Toronto Sun written online, it was then picked up and syndicated across 12 different newspapers in Canada.

Kerri: That is marketing reach. I could have never paid for three years later. Toronto Sun is still one of the biggest drivers to our direct booking website because he whole article and he is like, and your base for exploring this region is Shelly’s UGA with Kerri and Philip. You will never have a better experience.

Gil: That’s, that’s amazing. And

Kerri: so

Gil: you, you, I don’t know if you, you uncovered this, but, or you, you told about this, but you, you have significant direct booking rate, like you actually didn’t, you can cover your entire. Mortgage and everything. Just on your book direct, is that right? I don’t know if you want, I don’t know if you wanna share the exact percentage, but you have a significant amount that is now, now direct.

Kerri: I’m very happy to be an open book on this because I hope it inspires people, um, that it’s a lot of hard work. I’m not gonna lie. It’s a lot of hard work, but it’s also very rewarding that you own your business and your financials. Any OTA can switch strategy, go out of business, whatever tomorrow, and my business will continue to thrive.

Kerri: Um, but we are 70% direct book. Um, and my mentality is we own our business through our website and I treat the OTAs simply as marketing platforms, as billboards. That’s how I see them. I adhere to all their rules, but my first thought when I’m trying to figure out how to maximize my, um, my revenues, bring in more people, my first thought is what do I do with my direct book site?

Kerri: What do I do with my marketing? Um, ’cause we have grown now to where I do do Google ads. Um, I do do some paid local paid advertising, you know, within Quebec in the Northeast. Um, but yeah, I, I focus first on our storefront, which is our website first. All the others are marketing channels. And that comes from just having that multi-tiered marketing strategy, um, that includes social website.

Kerri: All the different marketing channels that you can tap into. But our, so our return guest numbers are online with the, the region. And we have do have 40% return guests. And that’s because we give them an experience where they’re like, I’m going there year after year. I don’t even wanna figure out what other kind of place I wanna have.

Kerri: This is, we’ve given them the experience that they want and they just wanna repeat it. And that 40% does not include the referrals that we get. ’cause they don’t have a great way of tracking referrals. But I think it’s fair to say we know have another five, 6% that are just referrals. ’cause guests are all the time saying, oh yeah, so and so stayed here and they told me I had to come here, da da da.

Kerri: And then they turn into return guests. Um, so, so yeah. So at the heart of all of that marketing, you, your guests continue to be a, a marketing channel before they come, while they’re there and after they leave. And you have to treat them as.

Gil: Yeah. Yeah. It sounds like you. First off, I’m super impressed with just all the different channels that you’ve been able to tap into and some of the ones that almost came outta serendipity that has fueled even phenomenal growth for you. And as you’re kind of walking through it, I’m thinking of the funnel for our listeners here.

Gil: Um, I’m thinking about your channels are really the top of funnel, how you bring people in. Um, but you’ve also focused a lot of attention on the middle and a bottle bottom of funnel, which is like the nurturing of the, the people that you’re bringing in. So one, what I heard is giving a phenomenal stay, a phenomenal experience that people want to come back to year after year.

Gil: You’ve talked about doing your e own email nurture campaigns for, for folks. Um, so I think that’s the combination of being in the right channels, knowing how to tap into to that. So you’re widening as many people, as much exposure as possible, but it sounds like you’ve also invested into lower down the funnel of really making sure that you’re turning these eyeballs into, into bookings, uh, or repeat bookings.

Gil: Is that right?

Kerri: I have, and actually, you know, we’re really this year. That’s where we’re really focusing is in that middle of funnel right now, because that wasn’t, uh, ’cause like I said at the beginning, we’re still continuing to grow and get better and better. Um, and so that middle of funnels where it’s been kind of weak and it still is kind of weak, where we’re gonna, where we’re focusing a lot of our efforts this year.

Kerri: Um, and that’s when you really need to provide value for them. So, because it takes on average six to seven times, um, before someone decides to actually book your property, that they, that they’ve touched you. Um, because we’re not a, we’re not a, um, in general, we’re not a, um, a spur of the moment purchase.

Kerri: Right. People are looking, they’re being thoughtful about it. Um, so one of the things I, I’ve hired someone who’s really focusing on a, once they fall into our funnel, what’s their path through email. Um, and email is where I, we continue to deliver value. I, at that point, I don’t see it as a sales channel. I see it as a nurture channel and the different kinds of value that we provide to them.

Kerri: So we have a monthly newsletter that just focuses on something cool going on at the Shelly’s. We added a new amenity. We bought a new property. You know what? We renovated a bathroom. We do a spotlight on a local seasonal activity, and we do a spotlight on a local business. And then in addition to that, then we also have emails that go out with like itineraries focused on different things like a dog itinerary, a girl’s weekend itinerary.

Kerri: Um. But something that’s always creating value. The book with us is always the second or third intent, which I know a lot of people don’t. They’re like, what? Why are you doing that? As opposed to, and I’m like, because I’m creating Val, I want them to know. For me, our Shelleys are where they start their day and it’s where they finish their day, but a whole lot that happens in between, that creates that whole entire experience.

Kerri: And so I wanna make them realize what an amazing stay they can have that’s in that 24 hours. Not just, okay, we have a great place to stay, but what are gonna happen in between? So that. Vacationing with us. Um, when they come to the Eastern townships, they just have to stay with us because we’ve already provided a way for them to vacation, easily know, um, what they’re gonna do.

Kerri: And the other thing is, and we have a, a drip kit, and then after they book, we have a whole drip campaign of like starting eight weeks out each week focuses on a different topic. I can’t tell you all of the great feedback we’ve gotten on that. Well, I don’t have to do anything. You have it all planned out for me.

Kerri: All the way from, you know, what to do when you arrive and you don’t wanna cook dinner, like pick up pizza here, or order a box to be in your fridge When you get there to, you know, on the last day, how is the best way for you to like go have your coffee and your last moments of peace. Um, and then the, I think.

Kerri: Another one of the mo, I don’t have a way to necessarily monetize this one, but answering questions like they have, whether people send you on dms through the social media platforms, they fill out your, um, questionnaire on your website, they grab your email address off of my WhatsApp is out there everywhere.

Kerri: You know, it’s like always respond and respond so timely because people know that when you respond and you respond timely before they’re even a guest, before they’ve even arrived, they have a sense of relief about knowing that you really care about their experience and you’re not just, okay, money’s in the bank.

Kerri: Peace out, good luck. Um, you know, so it’s that whole 180 experience of continuing to provide value and then even after they leave, making sure they stay in your drip campaign, sending follow up. Um, we have a post-day survey that people happily answer. Um, you know, ’cause it’s kind of fun and we integrate quizzes into some of it.

Kerri: Like, okay, you know, um, a little quiz for what type of chalet getaway for you and a little quiz for, okay. Um, what type of stay did you end up having where they answer a bunch of questions? Like, okay, you wanted a romantic getaway but you ended up with an adventure stay, or, you know, so stuff like that that just kind of gamifies it and keeps it fun.

Kerri: But, uh, yeah, and even like social media is a great place to provide value, not just pretty pictures. You know, every time we have a big weekend coming up, I post top 10 things going on in the region. I. This weekend, you know, that are out of the ordinary or extra, you know, so, so just constantly providing value there as well.

Kerri: Provide value. Provide value, provide value.

Gil: yeah. Are, are you doing this yourself or do you have people on your team that’s helping you with the content strategy stuff?

Kerri: I have recently started investing in hiring people to do it because Gil, I was trying to do it all of myself, and that’s why I was so weak in there is because I just have so many hours in the day. I recently just finished Dan Martel’s Buyback Your Time.

Gil: I had that.

Kerri: Oh my gosh. It like, it changed my perception on so many things, like things that, there’s nothing in that book that’s not like logical, but like reading it is, is very eye-opening and inspirational.

Kerri: So I have started investing and so I hired someone that is now, um, we did a custom. Uh, website for our, um, boutique motel, which was a big decision. Um, but I have hired, I hired someone to build it, but now she’s also going to be doing all of the, uh, maintenance on our websites once a month for the next six months, she’s gonna go in and just make sure the SEO and stuff is dialed in, the contents dialed in.

Kerri: Um, check out our Google console, our Google tags, all of that stuff, Google Analytics. And then after that we’ll go to quarterly. Um, she’ll do it quarterly, but it was stuff I always wanted to have aspirations to do. But every couple of six months I’d be like, oh crap, I need to do that and like, run in and do a half ass job at it.

Kerri: Um, so I have hired her and I have hired someone who is building out all of our email content and funnels and she is amazing. So they both are so amazing, like far exceeds my expectations. So

Gil: Yeah, that, that’s quite impressive. Like you, and even without that, it sounded like you got to that 70%, even with just the skill sets and the time and energy that you had, and now that you’ve added on the boutique hotel, you’re starting to figure out like, how do I not spread myself too thin? I be able to still accomplish my vision of what I wanted to do, but be able to leverage time more effectively and people more effectively.

Kerri: Oh my goodness, yes, because I don’t have kids, but my sister who does have kids, and all of my friends have always said. Going from one to do is more than twice the work. and watching my sister, I believe it, but um,

Gil: It’s true. It’s.

Kerri: I feel like it’s the same with two businesses. Going from one to two businesses is more than twice the work.

Kerri: Um, and all of a sudden I found myself like I was a gumby, like just arms and legs, everywhere trying to catch balls from falling. And I still feel a bit like that. And I was just like caught in the dr the cycle of doing all of the things I didn’t necessarily like doing. The accounting, the creating schedules, the communicating with the cleaners to make sure everything is on.

Kerri: And I’m like, okay, this is not how our business is going to thrive. It’s just going to survive. And this is not how I. Build the life I wanted because we do this because it’s lifestyle for us too. You know, we enjoy it. So it’s like I’m quickly heading down a bad tunnel, um, here. And so, so yeah. Um, I have started building out the team.

Kerri: The next thing I’m onboarding is a bookkeeper. ’cause I’m a CPA by trade, which is how I ended up in the tax and accounting technology world in the first place. And so, I love numbers, I love analytics, but classifying expenses and trending down receipts isn’t the best use of my time. You know? And now that I’ve got multiple employees spread across the province, you know, it was so, yeah.

Kerri: So, um, I knew people are intimidated at the thought of hiring a team and I think if that’s the case, um, not knowing where to start or the skillset like. Reading the Dan Martel or listening, I’m a huge audible person listening to Dan Martel’s. Buyback Your Time gives you such a good way of identifying what you need to start releasing that’s going to give you in your business wings and how to take it off in chunks.

Kerri: You know, it’s not like, oh, I’m gonna go hire five people and get all this out, but like, release one piece, then reevaluate. Release the next piece. Reevaluate and yeah.

Gil: I love that here. You gave us a, a lot to think about and I really, I’m inspired by your entire story on both really building into that financial freedom, but how you think about hospitality and also the impressive direct bookings that you’ve been able to, to build. And it sounds like it’s not over.

Gil: I’m sure 70% is not the, not the bar that you wanna stay at and you want to get to, to full independence.

Kerri: Um, you know, I wouldn’t mind for it to grow a bit, but I also think that OTAs are important because those are often guests, they’re last minute bookers. Um, ’cause I only allow OTAs to book three months out where our, our personal calendars open a year out, so they tend to be more last minute bookers and then they turn into repeat guests.

Kerri: I hope that no one from Airbnb is listening and goes and deactivate my account. But yeah, those are the people that turn into repeat guests. So I actually don’t mind, um, getting some business from there. I just don’t wanna be dependent on them. ’cause I have a 15% from Airbnb and 15% from VRBO and another local platform that we have here in Quebec, and I think that’s a good distribution.

Kerri: Um, I wouldn’t be sad to get to 75 or 80%, but I do like having, you know, different channels coming in. You

Gil: yeah. And, and what you’re saying is like, you’re, you’re thinking about Airbnb as a, a marketing channel, not necessarily strictly just for revenues.

Kerri: No,

Gil: like a lot of folks kinda have it the other way around where they’re thinking about Airbnb as their revenue channel and not even be able to tap into them from the marketing perspective.

Kerri: that’s, yeah. No, they’re a marketing platform and that’s how I see them. And, uh, and I’m happy to pay them their, their commission percentage I am. ’cause they work very, very hard for their brand recognition and to drive that traffic. Um, but after that it be, they become, it becomes my, uh, guest experience and everything that I own.

Gil: Yeah, I love that. All right, Kerri, we usually end the show with three questions. So the first question you probably may have said, you may have a different one, but what’s, what’s one of your favorite books that you love talking about ensuring

Kerri: Oh my goodness. No question for me, this is Simon sinc start Know your Y and start with y. Those changed my life. Changed my life.

Gil: I have that one right back there, that, that’s one of the books I’ve read almost a decade back, and it’s been amazing.

Kerri: Okay, so I listen to it regularly. I have it bookmarked and whatnot, but it is one that every time I re-listen to it, I figured I, I get another nugget. But also every time I feel like I’m getting off track and something just doesn’t feel right, it all always goes back to starting with your why and know your why and realigning yourself back.

Kerri: And I just wanna say, knowing your why and starting your why doesn’t make everything smooth. Sailing, it often means making a lot of really tough decisions if things you’re going to eliminate in your life,

Gil: Yeah.

Kerri: but it’s important.

Gil: yeah. It gives you that, that North star and it, it helps align you with what you want to get to.

Kerri: yes.

Gil: Yeah. Awesome. Second question, what’s one piece of mindset advice that you would give to someone that’s starting something completely new?

Kerri: Honestly just start, I mean, as, as basic as it sounds, just starting because there are so many questions. But once you start with one small thing, the next small thing, and then the next small thing, I mean, start with creating a business case. Like if you’re still trying to figure out if you should get into short-term rental, start with doing the research, then, you know, take the next piece.

Kerri: Start with touring houses, start with, you know, but when you just do one thing at a time, even with a direct book strategy, people feel so overwhelmed with it. But just pick a website, um, a, a website provider, then just build a homepage, then just get beautiful pictures. But it’s all just one step at a time.

Kerri: When you look at the whole picture, it’s just way too overwhelming.

Gil: And this is coming from someone that has 70% direct book.

Kerri: Yes, it was all one step at a time because my direct book strategy did not start at 70%.

Gil: Yeah, I love that. I love that. Last question, and this kind of relates to the last one that you mentioned. What’s one. Piece of tactical advice that you would give to someone that’s either trying to get started in direct bookings or amplify it.

Kerri: Get a website, is the one thing. Get a website and just take one hour a week and put something on it.

Gil: Yeah, I love it. I love it for, that’s a great promotion for us, but like that, I, for us, like that, that’s really inspiring because we built crafted stays to make it easier for folks because I, I felt like the barrier to entry, and you probably know this when you first build yours, that barrier to entry from a cost perspective, but also from a time and and skillset perspective was just so high.

Gil: And it’s just inspiring to see how many folks were able to get into direct bookings and really be successful at it off our platform because we made it easier for them. They didn’t have to wait until they had a bigger portfolio to really invest into that.

Kerri: And honestly, I don’t think you should wait until you have a bigger portfolio because you never know where this is gonna take you. One is not too few. One is the perfect time to start and I wish, I just wish I had like years, seven years ago. Honestly. It it, yes,

Gil: Yeah. And I, I’ve seen actually a lot of, a lot of our users, um, or a, a small portion of it actually do have just one or two properties and they’ve done phenomenally well.

Kerri: That’s perfect. I started when I had three ’cause it kind of went from one to three, like pretty quickly. Um, and yeah, it’s honestly, it allows your website to grow alongside your company instead of you having this big company and all of a sudden you have to build a strategy around it. It allows your strategy to grow with your business, which is so much easier than going back.

Gil: Yeah. Yeah. It’s almost like you’re laying the foundation a little bit at a time.

Kerri: foundation. I love that.

Gil: Awesome. Kerri, it was fabulous having you on the show. I love the deep discussion. Again, I was totally inspired by your journey and the strategy that you, you put in place. So I, I’m happy to have you on and having you share everything.

Kerri: Thank you for inviting me. It’s been such a fun time chatting with you. You’ve made me smile the whole time. I’m so excited.

Gil: That’s awesome. Okay. For folks that wanna stay in touch with you, where can they reach you? Where can they, where should they follow you?

Kerri: Um, LinkedIn is my faves for talking all things business. Um, my Instagrams of course, um, is Shelly’s, uh, C-H-A-L-E-T-S, underscore Uga, H-Y-G-G-E. And then from there you can also find our motel, uh, Instagram and my personal Instagram. My personal is kind of where I’m documenting our whole motel renovation journey.

Kerri: So, uh, so yeah, that’s kind of a fun one. Right now

Gil: Awesome. Yeah. You’re actually inside one of your un renovated, uh, units. Is that right?

Kerri: I am, I, I am escaping renovation right now. I don, well, I we’re talking, I had to send them a text. I’m like, be quiet because they’re down there running compressors and nail gun machines. And so I popped up to one of our un renovated rooms that, uh, yeah, it is, uh, going to hopefully look different next time

Gil: Yeah, follow, follow along the journey. Um, again, it’s fabulous having you on. I can’t wait to kind of follow you and see where you take things from here.

Kerri: Thank you. Me too. I don’t know. We’ll see.

Gil: Thank you, Kerri.

Kerri: Okay. Bye.

Gil: bye.

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