Building Brand Standards in Short-Term Rentals with Nikkei Cavany – Rosenberg

Summary and Highlights

🌟 Meet Nikkei Rosenberg

Nikkei Rosenberg brings nearly two decades of hospitality expertise to the short-term rental industry, starting her journey at just 17 years old in St. Augustine, Florida—long before Airbnb existed. This early foundation in direct bookings shaped her philosophy that property owners should control their guest relationships, not surrender them to platforms.

After building the Southeast market for a major national management company and completing over 500 property setups, Nikkei launched Staylah Rentals with her business partner. The Florida market alone grew from zero to 60 properties in just 18 months, driven by organic referrals and a reputation for operational excellence.

As both a real estate agent covering the Florida market and a property management company owner, Nikkei serves clients from initial property acquisition through daily operations. Her unique perspective spans the entire investment lifecycle, helping operators avoid common pitfalls while building sustainable rental businesses.

Recently approved as a Marriott Bonvoy Homes and Villas partner across all 100 properties, Staylah Rentals represents the new generation of professional vacation rental brands that compete on standards, not just price.

Connect with Nikkei: Follow her authentic journey on Instagram @investwithnikkei and learn more about Staylah Rentals at staylah.com

🎯 The Three Pillars of Brand Standards

Visibility: Making Your Brand Impossible to Ignore

Building brand standards in short-term rentals starts with visibility—ensuring guests encounter your brand at every touchpoint. Nikkei’s approach goes far beyond basic property signage:

Physical Presence: Every Staylah property features branded QR codes, house manuals, area guides, and welcome signage. Their maintenance van is wrapped, the operations manager drives a branded Tesla, and all employees wear Staylah gear when on-site.

Digital Consistency: Guest communication consistently references the “Staylah care team,” ensuring the brand name appears in every interaction while staying compliant with platform restrictions.

Retargeting Strategy: Year-round marketing keeps Staylah visible to past guests, building the kind of brand recall that drives repeat bookings and referrals.

This level of visibility creates professionalism that guests notice. When branded maintenance staff appear during a stay, it signals that this isn’t just another rental—it’s part of a larger operation that takes itself seriously.

Consistency: Creating Predictable Excellence

The second pillar focuses on consistency across every brand element. For direct bookings to work, guests need confidence that choosing your brand means choosing a predictable level of service.

Visual Identity: Staylah maintains strict standards for logo usage, colors, fonts, and tone across all properties and communications. This consistency helps guests immediately recognize the brand experience they’re entering.

Operational Standards: Every property meets identical criteria for amenities, cleanliness, and maintenance. Guests don’t have to research individual properties—they book the Staylah experience knowing what they’ll receive.

Communication Protocols: From initial inquiry through post-stay follow-up, every interaction follows established patterns that reinforce brand values and expectations.

This consistency particularly matters for direct booking conversions because it eliminates the uncertainty that often drives guests back to familiar platforms.

Quality: Delivering Hotel-Level Standards in Custom Homes

The final pillar combines the personalized experience of vacation rentals with the reliability standards guests expect from established hotel brands.

Property Selection: Staylah only manages properties that meet their strict criteria for location, condition, and owner commitment to maintenance excellence.

Amenity Standards: Every detail receives attention, from sheet thread counts and mattress quality to ensuring guests understand how to operate all property features.

Preventive Maintenance: Regular safety checks, deep cleaning protocols, and proactive maintenance prevent issues before they impact guest experiences.

Guest Experience Design: Each property is staged and stocked to create that “wow, this is incredible” moment when guests arrive.

This quality focus recently earned Staylah approval as a Marriott Bonvoy Homes and Villas partner—recognition that their standards align with international hospitality brands.

💡 Key Insights for Property Managers

Start with Property Standards, Not Marketing

Many operators focus on driving traffic before establishing consistent quality. Nikkei’s approach prioritizes operational excellence first: “We’ve been implementing EOS (Entrepreneurial Operating System) and really defining KPIs, creating accountability structures, and defining roles.”

This foundation work pays dividends when marketing efforts scale. Instead of managing individual property reputations, operators can promote a single brand promise across their entire portfolio.

Stop Driving Traffic to OTA Links

One of Nikkei’s strongest tactical recommendations: “Stop making Airbnb more money. Do not ever send someone another Airbnb link.” She even refused to share Airbnb listings with a potential client who requested them, explaining how clicks without conversions hurt algorithm performance.

For operators serious about building direct booking success, this mindset shift is crucial. Every social media post, email, or conversation should direct prospects to owned channels where you can capture contact information and build relationships.

Build Community Relationships for Organic Growth

Nikkei’s decade in BNI networking demonstrates the power of consistent community involvement. Her philosophy of “givers gain” created the referral network that fueled Staylah’s rapid growth: “I just love being able to add value to people without putting money in someone’s pocket.”

This authentic relationship-building approach works particularly well for maximizing value through networking, as it fosters trust and credibility that paid advertising cannot replicate. Building genuine community connections also supports growing direct bookings with consistency that doesn’t rely solely on platform algorithms.

📚 Nikkei’s Book Recommendations

Seven Strategies for Wealth and Happiness by Jim Rohn: A quick read focusing on fundamental personal development principles. Rohn was Tony Robbins’ mentor and offers practical wisdom for entrepreneurs.

Traction by Gino Wickman: Essential for operators scaling beyond personal management. The Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS) framework helps create accountability and systematic growth.

Good Energy by Dr. Casey Means: A transformational look at metabolic health and how physical wellness supports business performance. Nikkei emphasized that taking care of ourselves enables us to take care of our businesses and families.

🚀 Rapid Fire Insights

Mindset Advice: “You just gotta try things and see what works. I literally changed my trash management procedure three times in the last week. Don’t be afraid to just try something—you can always change it.”

Direct Booking Tactics: “Stop pointing people to your Airbnb link. You are the problem. Everything on my website is also on Airbnb, so there’s no reason to send traffic there instead of capturing it on your own platform.”

Business Philosophy: “Each property is its own business. It needs its own reputation. Owning your customer is the most important part of any successful business strategy.”

🌟 Connect with Nikkei

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Transcription

Nikkei: I want to be the standard for vacation rentals. I’ll be honest, when I travel, I usually stay in a hotel. 

Nikkei: Even though I’m in the short-term rental business. And the challenge, the reason why is I don’t know if I can trust other hosts. And that’s a shame. Like that is an absolute shame that someone who lives, breathes, sleeps, and eats short-term rentals.

Nikkei: Is nervous to go book a short-term terminal. I actually just booked one for my husband. He had a paintball tournament in Orlando. I was so nervous that he was gonna show up and something wasn’t gonna be right, like major, like it wasn’t clean or there was no AC or something like that. Everything went perfectly fine, and he liked it.

Nikkei: So we’ll definitely rebook that one. I feel I can bring standards to the short-term rental industry like they have in hotels. So I wanna create a hotel level. Experience in short term rentals with the beauty of it’s a custom home with custom features. I want to at least have the same. The levels of standards that everyone uses.

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.

Gil: All to work, 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’t 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 craft Estates. It’s purpose built for short-term rentals and designed from the ground up to help you drive more direct bookings. You can finally turn that traffic into bookings and you can keep on testing and improving.

Gil: 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 Books Solid show, the show where we bring on top operators to discuss marketing, revenue management, and direct bookings. I’m your host Gil Chan, i’m excited to bring on our guest, Nikkei Rosenberg. She’s the owner of Staylah Rentals with over a hundred properties under management. She’s also a savvy real estate agent covering the Florida market Today, she’s gonna walk us through her journey of being in hospitality since she was 17 years old, and how she’s partnered up in building her brand.

Gil: Stay the rentals and managing over a hundred properties. She walks us through how she’s building her brand standards that drives more repeat bookings. We also dive a little bit deeper into what that means. What does brand standards really mean? We talk about quality, consistency, and visibility, and how she’s focusing on these pillars as she’s building out her brand.

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

Gil: Hey, Nikkei, welcome to the show.

Nikkei: Hey Gil. Thank you so much for having me.

Gil: Yeah, it’s so good to see you again. We just saw each other a couple weeks back, uh, at Wealth Con. It was really good to finally meet you in person.

Nikkei: I know. It was so awesome. That was a great event too.

Gil: You guys, you guys had a, a really, a really badass booth there.

Nikkei: oh my gosh, the Savvy Booth was epic. Um, Ishita did the design and it was the coolest thing, honestly. I was impressed. Yeah, very impressed.

Gil: For, for our listeners that didn’t get a chance to go to, uh, the STR Wealth Con, the savvy team brought out Ishita to design the booth, and you guys built the booth in Nashville. So you’re, you’re, you’re not just like bringing your, your booth stuff there, but like you straight up bought lumber and paint and like did all of that in

Nikkei: Had electricians there and everything.

Gil: Oh my gosh. What’d you guys do with all the stuff afterwards?

Nikkei: Um, so Tyler was like, yeah, this isn’t good enough. We’re gonna build a bigger and better one next time and strap all this.

Gil: I should have take the, the, the wood paneling from you

Nikkei: I know, I know. And I was like, what? I was like, this thing is really cool. He’s like, Nope, we’re gonna go bigger and better. I’m like, okay. So

Gil: I think that’s, uh, if anything that’s, that’s Tyler’s, uh, way is to, to do it once, do it better the next time. That’s he, he’s, he’s a very step up kind of guy.

Nikkei: very much. He’s always leveling up and that’s one of the reasons why I chose to work with him for sure.

Gil: I think that, that’s a kind of good segue. Nikkei, do you mind giving folks an introduction on who you are?

Nikkei: Yeah, sure. So I am Nikkei Rosenberg. You may see my name out there as Cavani. I’ve been recently married, so you’ll see that Rosenberg now, but. Um, I am a, I live, sleep, eat, breathe, short term rentals. I started in the vacation rental industry in 2005. I was 17 years old. This was before Airbnb ever existed. We did have VRBO, um, but it was mostly direct booking.

Nikkei: So that’s, I love what Gil’s doing here, um, with his company crafted stays because I am so passionate about direct booking ’cause that’s really in my roots and how I started in this industry. And, um, I grew up in a tourist town in St. Augustine, Florida, and that’s really major business, was hospitality there.

Nikkei: So kind of fell into the industry. I knew college wasn’t for me, knew I was gonna be a business owner. Um, and yeah, it was incredible. So later went on to invest in my own properties and then got my real estate license because I saw a gap from where realtors were able to service short terminal investors.

Nikkei: They really didn’t understand the business fully. Um, and I saw a lot of clients buying properties that weren’t a good fit for short-term rental and then later being in a tough position. So I wanted to get my license because I wanted to serve people from the beginning, you know, from before they even bought a property.

Nikkei: I wanted them to understand what it took and how to get the right deal and how to set it up and make it successful. And then, of course, you know, the day-to-day operations. So, um, I also own a management company called Stila. Um, and we specialize in high end luxury vacation homes across the southeast United States.

Nikkei: We’re in the Smoky Mountains, Northeast Florida, southwest Florida, and we’re expanding to other markets. Um, you know, as we organically grow, right now, we manage about a hundred units. Um, I’m actually under contract to buy another short term rental right now, so that’s exciting. Always investing. I think it’s a great market to do that in.

Nikkei: It’s a, definitely a buyer’s market. Um, and yeah, I’m a mom. I have a daughter who just started in high school, so, um, you know, that’s exciting. Wanna have more kids too, so really trying to get ready for that and start over, you know, when I have a high school. Um, yeah, and here’s, here’s where I’m at. I’m a beach girl, grew up in Florida.

Nikkei: You know, I love the outdoor activities here. I love what Florida offers. Um, and I think it’s a great place to invest. But of course there’s other great areas too.

Gil: Yeah, well there’s that. There’s a lacking lot in there to unpack, I think like one, one small note you just mentioned that you’re a mom of a child that’s entering high school and you’re looking to start all over again and be, be a mom all over again. My, my brother’s the same way. He had, he had a kid that was in entering into high school.

Gil: And then he hit the reset button and started all over again. Um, it’s kind of nice because your older one can take care of the younger one at that point. Um, so

Nikkei: exactly. Exactly. That’s, and I, I had her young when I was 22, so you guys can figure out my age from that. But, um, you know, I don’t know. I feel great. I feel better now than I did when I was 22. I take a lot better care of myself after many hard lessons. Right. So I think that it’s gonna be good. I mean, it’ll have its challenges, that’s for sure.

Nikkei: But, um, you know, being able to run our own business and, you know, design our life and create financial freedom through. Investing in real estate. I, I’m excited about starting over with this freedom that I’ve found, you know?

Gil: yeah. Yeah. It’s almost like you had different phases of your life where having a child now is gonna be very different than you when you first had a child, and the experience that you had first there. So it’s, it’s

Nikkei: Yeah. We struggled. We struggled.

Gil: I bet.

Nikkei: I was a single mom and we struggled. So it’s definitely like, it’s so, so grateful for, you know, all the, all the things and the people that had to line up for me to be where I’m at now.

Gil: No. Um, you should be very happy with the successes that you’ve had so far.

Nikkei: Yeah,

Gil: Yeah. And sounds like it’s just beginning to, to, to ramp up you even more if anything.

Nikkei: Yeah. We’re, we’re just getting started. Gil. Let’s go.

Gil: And I’ll start, I’ll stop here for a second and then talk a little bit about like, some of the topics that we were talking about when we were at Wealth Con. We didn’t get a chance to, to sit in on that podcast show. Um, I think we’re both really, really busy. But one of the topics that I talked to you and I approach you on is just like how much.

Gil: You’ve been able to put yourself out there in front of, like, for folks that don’t follow Nikkei, follow her. Um, and I, the reason why is I feel like you’re very authentic with a lot of the, the content that you post. Um, it doesn’t feel like you’re chasing the next trend, trend reel or whatever it is. Um, but you talk just about your life, the grind, the things that you’re doing, and kind of how you’re taking care of yourself.

Gil: Um, recently. So I, huge kudos to you about that. That that takes a lot of guts.

Nikkei: thank you. It really does. It does. And you kind of go like, oh, do I post this? And then I’m just like, yeah, I’m gonna post it. Whatever. Like, and I, you know, I feel like we attract people to us, you know? That are like us. And I’m like, if I just put myself out there and I’m authentic, I’m gonna attract the right people and the people that don’t care for that.

Nikkei: Okay, well that’s fine. You know, like, I’m not for everybody. Right. So I think that has kept me, you know, working in alignment with myself and honestly, you know, people talk about like difficult clients and realtors talk about sometimes about how, you know, it’s, it’s, it’s hard working with clients. I really don’t ever have that experience.

Nikkei: And I think it’s because, I mean, yeah, do I have difficult moments? Of course the things fall apart sometimes, of course. But I really don’t have like, difficult people because I think I’m just being so authentic, you know? And it’s like that’s, that’s been a learned skill over a long period of time.

Gil: Yeah, I, I, and I, I think we connected a little bit about this during wealth com because I feel like I’m kind of going through the same transitions because as the founder of Craft of Days, I feel like I’ve done a lot of learning. I’ve done just building out the company and just testing myself in terms of do I have what it takes to build something from the ground up and provide value to our clients and, and the industry.

Gil: And I’ve learned a whole lot along the way. Like I didn’t come from a marketing background, I came from a pure product background. And I don’t put myself out there the same way that a lot of folks in the industry do. And I don’t have that boastful, like, charismatic, uh, person out there. Like, okay, is it worth me posting about things when I’m not like them?

Gil: But I think over time I found that. Similar to what, what you’re saying, that when you become authentic, when you really stay true to your values, the way that you live your life and you’re not showing all the bright and shiny parts of it, you’re showing your grind on it all and showing like the things that you’re, the challenges that you’re working through, you tend to find the people that are around you that you resonate with on that.

Gil: So like that’s kind of why, like I felt like there was that connection there.

Nikkei: Yeah, definitely. Yeah. And, and you, you don’t have to be somebody else, you know, like we all are just so unique and valuable and it’s, you know, I, I did that as well. Like when I, there’s been many points in my career over the different things I’ve done. You know, I have, I have like 12 or 13 years total with, I left the industry for a little bit short term rental, but you know, I’ve done other businesses and then other, I was also employees at different times.

Nikkei: And so I would try to be like other people, you know, I, I’ve gone through those phases where I’m like, okay, well let me just do what they’re doing ’cause they’re successful and I want so badly to be successful, you know, and I tried that and it, it would just, like, you would get, you would get so far, but it was like, it just burned you out.

Nikkei: You know, like, it just kind of, it just felt so difficult I guess. Like, oh, this is never gonna happen. It’s just not like, I’m just not getting there. And, um, I don’t know. It’s just so much more fun when you can just be yourself.

Gil: Yeah. You, you’re playing your own game. Yeah. You’re playing your own game and you get to chart your own path because like, I think following other people’s path is really hard because you’re trying to get to take the same steps that they’re taking. But when you follow your own paths, you can, you can dark left or right, however you want, and you’ll find a place that you, you’re happy with.

Gil: And it doesn’t have to be that same pedestal that everybody else is on.

Nikkei: Yeah, for sure. I agree.

Gil: No.

Nikkei: Yeah.

Gil: so talk to me, you have a hundred doors now, like over time period. Like how did you get to that a hundred dollars? Like, actually first off, talk to me about like your growth and then let’s talk about like some of the strategies and tactics you did to grow a portfolio to that size.

Nikkei: Yeah. So I think the first thing I did, if we go back to like what’s the foundation of where I I’m at, is I have always been a pillar in the community locally. Um, no matter what I’ve done. I have helped other people’s businesses grow. I’ve given, I’ve served, you know, I’ve, I’ve mentored people, I’ve shown up, I’ve, you know, like I’ve always just tried to be the light for people and what’s possible.

Nikkei: and also being that example of like, here is what’s possible, but I was always showing up for others. So what I mean by that is, for example, I’m in a, um, BNI networking group and it’s a group of professionals that their whole mission is to provide referrals that result in close business dollars in their pocket to other people in the group.

Nikkei: And I’ve been in it for like a decade. And that’s, I think where I got a lot of the mindset of givers gain. And it’s about if you, if I give to your business, Gil, and I am sending you clients and I’m sending you referrals and I’m helping your business grow, you’re gonna be like, wow. Like I, I really need to help Nikkei.

Nikkei: Like she’s helping me. And that’s how I’ve really built myself as a pillar in the community because I just had a conversation today with a general contractor. He was new to starting his business, new to town, but he was a great guy. Like just, you know, family man, like working hard, really trying to get there.

Nikkei: And he called me today while we were talking about a project, we’re doing an addition and an A DU and a pickleball court and all these things on a short term rental. And he was like, Nikkei, I gotta tell you, like I was just on vacation and I was reflecting and just one client you gave me just a year ago has resulted an $800,000.

Nikkei: Into my business.

Gil: Wow.

Nikkei: And I was like, wow. Like, that’s so cool. You know, like, and he was like, because you gave, you took the time to connect me with this person and to give me an endorsement and to, to, you know, like I, he had to obviously do the work of getting the client, closing that business. He’s like, because you put in a good word for me, essentially, you know, now my business is at the next level, you know, I’m gonna, he’s like, I’ll probably be at a million in the next couple months just from this one person that you’ve given me.

Nikkei: You know? And so that is the power of relationships and to me, like hearing that, that makes me just like, I get literally like emotional. I’m not gonna like get emotional right now, but I, ’cause I’m here and I have to, you know, show up here. But like, you know, when he told me, I’m just like, wow. Like to think about the impact that I’ve had just in his family, you know, in his personal life, in his business.

Nikkei: Like, and that for me, I think like, I just love that. Like, I just love being able to do that for someone. It’s very rewarding. And I know, guess what? He’s got my back. He’s got my back. Anytime I call him, he’s going to answer whatever I need. He’s gonna do his best. You know, if he’s not gonna ever rip me off, he’s gonna always take care of my clients.

Nikkei: And that’s how you do it brick by brick, one person at a time, making an impact. And maybe you don’t bring someone a million dollars, but you can add value to people without putting money in someone’s pocket. You know? Um, so that’s, that’s what I mean by being a pillar in the community, um, helping others without the expectation that they’re going to help me, you know, and not like, Hey, what have you done for me lately?

Nikkei: It’s no. Like, what, what can I do for you? You know? Like, how can I help your business grow? Because I know that they’re never gonna forget me. He is never gonna forget me, ever. Right. And I didn’t do it for that. I did it because I’m like, okay, well this client needs help. He has a solution. I can know this client, I’m gonna connect them.

Nikkei: I’m a I, I’m a connector. I would say I’m a big connector. So that’s kind of where it started. And then I went to work for a big company that actually just got sold that everybody knows was the biggest national management company. Um, and they were amazing when I started with them. This is pre COVID, like 20 17, 20 18.

Nikkei: I met the founder, spent time with them, like it was an incredible company at one point when they were not, when they were privately held private company. Um, and I started growing the southeast market for them. And in about five years I did about 500 deals. So that means most of, like about 80% of those were setups for short-term rentals.

Nikkei: So it was a, not a prior pre, previously a short-term rental. We would set it up as a short-term rental. So I would help them through the entire process. Um, this is actually before I got my real estate license and that’s where I learned realtors weren’t really getting the people there, but I would, they’d have the property and they’d say, Hey, I need to make this short term rental.

Nikkei: And I’m like, okay, well we already have the property, so like, we gotta figure this out. Let’s design, let’s set up, let’s furnish, let’s launch, let’s list, let’s manage. Right? So I would help with that entire process. And that was a lot of deals, a lot of deals, a lot of setups. So that’s where I really got the influence, I would say in the specific, the short-term rental world.

Nikkei: And then with my background of starting when I was 17 years old, I already had the operational knowledge because I was the one that hired the cleaners, fired the cleaners, managed the whole resort, did all the check-ins, the checkouts, handled all the direct bookings, you know, gave people their keys. ’cause back then you had keys, you know, like did all the quality checks behind the cleaners.

Nikkei: I’d actually have to clean the units like. I had the operational knowledge and I had the knowledge and the influence from building myself in the community. And then when I launched Stila, because that company had gone public and things really became about profits, not people, um, I was like, I can’t do this.

Nikkei: This isn’t setting with me. I can’t represent this anymore. So that’s when I launched STA and it’s been amazing. It’s been a few years. Um, and the Florida region, which is really what the part that I own with my business partner. Um, we scaled very quickly and a lot of it was because my clients were desperate for a solution because the big national company wasn’t serving their needs.

Nikkei: Um, and a lot of those properties, when I would take them over, there was a lot of deferred maintenance that hadn’t been done. You know, I’d have to restage, reimagine ’cause they’d been beaten up. You know, we’d have to deep clean and do all the things to get that property ready again. Um, and so we’ve grown very, very quickly and really Florida, the Florida market that we serve has been open about a year and a half, and we went to 60 properties in that time.

Nikkei: And it’s, it’s been awesome, but it’s because now a lot of those are also my real estate clients, you know, people that don’t wanna self manage. So also, you know, I’m able to serve people, you know, from that perspective when they buy a property, you know, we’ve already built that relationship and that trust and they’re like, Nikkei, we really want you to manage it.

Nikkei: And I’m like, okay, cool. So combination of my real estate business feeding my management company, but also the prior influence and network, um, of clients that I had when I was building that national company.

Gil: So it, it, it sounds like that this is, it’s a lot of organic growth to this point where you’re learning all the different stacks of operating a short term rental, being an investor yourself, being an agent yourself, and kind of building yourself. But it also sounds like you are slowly also building the network of people around you and also now your new clients that are coming on.

Gil: That’s kind of what led you to be able to grow so quickly. I didn’t realize you hit 60 properties, 60 doors in one, one and a half years. That’s a huge ramp. So you’re, you’re not talking, like, you mentioned that you’ve been doing this since you were 17. The six, the 60 property growth was on a new management company that you just started a few years back.

Gil: Did I get that right?

Nikkei: yeah. Yeah. The Florida market, we only launched a year and a half ago, exactly one year and a half, one year and six months ago. My business partner, he actually is really smart, really great. He already had the sailor brand. And he owns most of the properties that we manage in the Smokies. ’cause he’s a developer now as well.

Nikkei: So he develops stuff ground up. We have like whole neighborhoods that we’ve developed there. But so he already had the Sailor brand and he kind of, um, he, he and I have a very similar story, and the same thing happened to him in the insurance world. He grew a big company. It was privately held, they went public, it went to crap.

Nikkei: And like we’re, we’re very aligned in how we don’t want to be this huge company that doesn’t care about the people, you know. And when I say people, I mean our direct teammates, our vendors, our guests, and our homeowners. You know, there’s a lot of people in the short term rental business that you have to manage every day.

Nikkei: He already had that brand, but we didn’t have any footprint in Florida. So yes, zero to 60 and a year and a half. And most of those were in the first year. And the last six months, I’ve gotten really picky about what I take on. I, I’ve really been solidifying the operational side of the business. Um, hiring and training and really defining KPIs, creating accountability structures, um, and defining roles.

Nikkei: And like, you know, we’ve been working a lot on that. So, um, we’ve been implementing, um, EOS, which is entrepreneurial operating system. We write a book called Traction, um, and we implemented that. So we’ve really just been focused, not so much on like, oh, how many properties can we get? Which is great, and that’s a part of a business.

Nikkei: You wanna have growth, but we really wanted it to be positioned to continue to have that organic growth, you know, so that’s what we’ve been focusing on.

Gil: Yeah. How, how did you and your partner decide to, um, partner together? Like what was that like for, for you, and did you immediately know, this is someone that I wanna work with, or did it kind of naturally fall into to that place because that, that, that’s a pretty big commitment to like, say, okay, we’re gonna start a new business together and we’re gonna commit to each other on this.

Nikkei: Yeah. So it’s funny ’cause when I was with that previous company I mentioned, um, I started looking for roles outside of the company. Um, and I had already been a business owner before, so I was already like, I just probably wanna do this on my own. Like, I don’t know, but let me just start seeing what’s out there.

Nikkei: The challenge was I was making multiple six figures for 20 hours a week, you know, maybe 30 hours a week. So that was really hard to find. Um. And I know what I’m good at. So I found a position that was a COO position, and it was a salary level that I needed. But I, I’m not a, I’m not an operations person. I, I, I get through and I manage, but I have team that’s better than me at operations.

Nikkei: But I, I knew I wasn’t, but I was like, who is hiring for this position and paying this much money? Like this doesn’t make sense to me. Like, I need to find out who this is. Right. So I interviewed with him knowing I was not a fit for that role, but I wanted to understand their company and who was, who was hiring, you know?

Nikkei: So by the end of the call, he said, Nikkei, I think we both know that this role isn’t for you. And I was like, yeah, I know, but I just wanted, I

Gil: wanna shoot your shot?

Nikkei: I just wanted to figure out who you were. So, um. Anyways, he was like, I think we should go business together instead. I think we should talk about that.

Nikkei: And I’m like, I’ve never had a business partner. I have o owned other businesses and I never had a partner. It was always me. And I was nervous about that, to be honest. Um, ’cause there was all these things, like, not only for like my expectations on a business partner, but like their expectations on me of like, am I gonna be good enough?

Nikkei: Am I gonna like, you know, just all this stuff. I’m, I’m normal human, right? So we think these things at times, we have self-sabotaging thoughts, right? Um, and so yeah, we just, we, I didn’t do it right away. I really took time and thought about it and really got a little strategic about it. Um, and I think it was probably about six months after that that we decided, okay, we’re gonna do this.

Nikkei: But I spent time with them, you know, I went to, we have offices in Orlando area. So, um, went down to the office, we connected, got to be in person multiple times. Got to see their existing inventory, you know, really like, understand what the values were and where they, where they saw it going to make sure, like, if I’m coming into this as a business partner, is this really aligned with what I want?

Nikkei: Um, and it was, you know, there, it was great. I mean, it’s, it’s very much like a marriage, you know, so you really have to make sure that it’s the right step and it’s been amazing. I would say that, um, like a marriage, uh, my business partner really compliments me on the things that I am not good at. Like, whereas I would be someone who’s more a quick decision maker.

Nikkei: I’m a little bit more, spontaneous and a risk taker. He is, he basically did insurance and, you know, auditing risk, right? So like he helps me kind of slow down and ground. And ask the right questions and think about the right questions. And also he really brings a lot of value from a data perspective.

Nikkei: Whereas I’m good at the people, the connections, building team, building rapport, the clients securing new contracts, you know, like visioning of what a property could be and helping someone strategize and implement that. And like, you know, so we really compliment each other. Um, and it’s been amazing. I wish I would’ve done it sooner.

Nikkei: I wish I would’ve done it when I first talked to him, but everybody has their timing, you know, so it, it all worked out well. I do wish I would’ve done it sooner, though. That’s the only regret that I have.

Gil: Yeah. What do you, so it sounds like you guys, he was looking for someone to kinda help him grow the business. He was looking for an operator, but he looked to you as, okay, maybe an operator’s not the right fit. What was he looking for with you as a business partner to say like, I actually, I wanna do more with Nikkei.

Gil: What do you think? That like, that, that, that, I’m guessing like he found some sort of like, unlock there. Like, this person, not only do I don’t want her as an employee, there’s this 10 x person there that I want to tap into. What do you think that was?

Nikkei: I think my, my mindset, um, and my network, um, and the fact that I had already run other businesses,

Gil: Mm.

Nikkei: he knew that if he didn’t give me steak, I wasn’t gonna grow his company.

Gil: Ah, okay.

Nikkei: You know what I mean? Like, that’s, that’s the type, that’s how I operate. Like he knew I could go do it on my own.

Gil: Yeah.

Nikkei: Right? So he had to give me something to, to make me want that, you know, like, okay, a salary’s great, but I need more than that. You know, like I’m, I’m someone who knows how to build businesses. You know, I built the, I built the entire southeast market for the Na, a national company, you know, that. So it’s like, it’s, it’s, he knew that I needed that, that, that skin in the game to really make it make sense for me.

Gil: Yeah. It sounds like there’s a combination like. Drive. You have the drive of doing things on your own, but you also have the capability and the kind of combination of the two. He saw that, okay, if I give this person a piece of the business, they’re gonna own it. They’re gonna like run as fast as they can.

Gil: Whereas if I just brought them on board, they would be a renter. They wouldn’t be an owner.

Nikkei: Yeah, exactly. And, and we’ve actually, so it’s interesting ’cause now we’re starting to build out a sales team and the salespeople that I’ve hired, they’re not with us anymore, and they just don’t, I don’t know it, it’s, I have yet to kind of unlock how to motivate people to want to build like I do. I don’t, I don’t know.

Nikkei: I, I would love if you’re out there, contact me. Even with really great pay and incentives and all the things. So I, I think it’s just like, there are people better than me. They’re out there. Um, I just think that a lot of them are already owning their own business. Like they already know their value.

Nikkei: So it’s definitely been challenging for me to build a sales team because it’s just like, okay, like I could go produce what you’re producing in a month, you know, in a week. Like it, it’s, or six months in one month, you know?

Gil: Yeah, that, I mean, that’s always a challenge as being an entrepreneur. Like you end up becoming so good at your niche, then the things that you do, and you’re able to run so fast. But being able to translate that into something that you can duplicate without your own time is really hard. And it’s almost like.

Gil: Yes, there’s a system and process that you have to think about or framework to find the right people. But there’s also the serendipity of like, you taking the time for you to find that one person, like how your business found business partner found you. It happened through serendipity. Like it, like had, had he not found you, it’s not like he knew exactly the formula and the exact same way to find you.

Gil: You kind of going through that same process of you finding that sales lead that can help you do that unlock there. You might know like, I’m looking for this criteria, but there’s that serendipity that also has to happen for you to, to, to find that unique person.

Nikkei: Absolutely. It’s coming. I know. You know, when it’s the right time, it’s gonna happen, you know?

Gil: Yeah. I, I have the same thing at, at k Craft as days I’ve been, I’ve been wanting to find like this killer marketer that I just click with and I, I’ve met a lot of great people, especially since we do direct bookings and I meet so many marketers out there, but finding someone that, uh, I wanna bring into the company.

Gil: Is is something that has to be like natural and has to feel very authentic. And I still have yet to find that like one secret person that like, I can imagine just like talking to on a regular basis or a daily basis and thinking about ideas and how we can grow the company and having the same kinda like ownership thought.

Gil: Like that’s, that’s a challenge. And it’s, I haven’t found that person. I know that. And I just like you. I know that person exists out there.

Nikkei: Yeah, they do. And you’re gonna find them just like, I wanna find my sales team.

Gil: Yeah. Yeah. Maybe, maybe they’re listening on that podcast and uh, and they’re gonna hit you up.

Nikkei: Yes.

Gil: Yeah.

Nikkei: here for it. Hit me up.

Gil: Um, you mentioned something, uh, a little while ago when we were talking about kind of like how you’ve grown. Um, I wanna touch upon it because I, I think it’s, it’s, it’s rather important and I have kind of a similar mindset that you do where it’s, we often talk about in this industry, your net.

Gil: Work is your net worth and that’s not what you’re really saying there. You’re you, yes. There at the wider network you have, the more opportunities you get, but you’re approaching it a little bit different where there’s this bit of like karma in, in there where the more that you surround yourself with people and you serve other people, it doesn’t matter if they’re an influencer or someone really high, but as long as you serve the, the people immediately around you, you know that eventually when time comes, that person is gonna come back and give you something back in return, and you’re not expecting it, but you’re trying to spread all your good way out out there and you know that eventually it’ll find its way back to you in some sort of way.

Gil: Maybe not directly, but that’s the sense that I get when, when you’re telling about, like how you think about how you serve your community, is, is that right?

Nikkei: Yeah, no, totally right. As the kids say, these days I’m getting my aura points up or whatever.

Gil: Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah,

Nikkei: Oh,

Gil: yeah.

Nikkei: you know, I have a, a teenager. So, um, yeah, that’s, you’re right. I’m a. Big. I fully believe that what you put out is what you’re gonna get back. And you know, I remember when I was a different person, I was, I was not always this way.

Nikkei: These are skills and mindsets that I’ve had to learn over many years and I was a very different person before I started self-development. I would say before I was 25, 26, 27, like those ages is when I really started to like work on myself. Um, but before that, I mean, I would have, you know, just all kinds of, I would say, negative life experiences. Now I, it’s rare that I have a negative life experience. Not that bad. Things don’t happen to me sometimes, but it’s just like everywhere I go, everyone seems to be nice to me. I. People let me cut in line or people like, I don’t know. It is just you, you get back what you’re putting out into the world. Right.

Nikkei: And so that’s, that’s, that’s exactly what it is. You givers game. When you give to others, they’re gonna eventually give back to you with, you know, and, and you might not even be expecting it, but it’s, it’s definitely gonna happen.

Gil: Yeah, I, I also think that, not to hop on this for too long, but there’s a bit of internal equity or however you want to think about it, charisma, there’s something that you’re building upon yourself when, when you give. Um, I feel it my same, same way. I still. No matter how big of a customer are you, you can have one property or a hundred properties.

Gil: I’ll still sit down and do an onboarding call with you if I have the time to do it. Um, and in those calls I get to talk to a lot of smaller hosts that are just trying to figure things out. And I have no agenda. Like, like if you don’t sign up or if you, if you don’t proceed forward, I’m still happy to help you think about how you do your underwriting or what tools to use.

Gil: And like, people get to pick my brain. And I find that like even doing those small little things where I don’t expect anything in return, it gives me an energy boost. Um, it gives me a lot of life and where I get to get off the Zoom calls at the end of the day and I get to walk away knowing that I made impact on other people’s lives and it makes me feel better and it makes me perform better outside of just being a founder.

Gil: And I, I think that you are getting the same exact, like feeling there as well too, where you’re helping other people and it genuinely just brings up your energy level.

Nikkei: Yeah, it really does, for sure. Oh, you definitely feel like, wow, I’m, I’m doing the right things, you know? Um, giving and being detached from the outcome. You know what I mean? Like what you just said that was like, yes. Like you are doing this for others without like an attachment to what’s gonna happen next.

Nikkei: Right. And that’s, that’s really where people, what you said about being genuine, that’s where people know you’re being genuine is when you’re not attached to whatever outcome, you know? And, and yeah, we all have our own agendas. We all have our goals, we all have our things. Like I’m a very driven person and sometimes I can be like a horse with blinders on, but I really try to maintain that.

Nikkei: Like, okay, either, you know, working together with me is for you or it’s not. And that’s totally okay because the right people will come and it’s, it’s gonna work well. Right? Like that detachment, I think, you know, and like giving to someone, giving your time. And, uh, I think we burn ourselves out and we frustrate ourselves whenever we’re like.

Nikkei: Gosh, like I put all that time in and they didn’t sign up or they didn’t whatever. And it’s like, that is a useless waste of your energy. You know? It’s, it’s not making you feel better. They can feel that, they can subconsciously feel that. Right. And it doesn’t get you further. It, it only sets you further behind, you know, and of course we all have those frustrating moments, but like, really realizing like, how much energy am I putting into when someone doesn’t do what I want them to do or they don’t meet my agenda, you know, like that, that part.

Nikkei: And again, ’cause I’m a very driven person, I can get that way right. ’cause I’m like, I gotta do these things. Um, but yeah, that’s, that’s important I think to, to note about that detachment.

Gil: Yeah, I think a lot of it, you mentioned that you’ve been doing, like you life turned or you started to switch the way that you approached life when you were 25 and you really start doing self-development and I think that that’s the really the key, the really successful people that I’ve seen, that I surround myself with are the folks that really invest into themselves more than anything else.

Nikkei: Mm-hmm.

Gil: And it’s that growth mentality that allows you to think like, okay, I failed a bunch of times I learned from these things and they don’t see it as a negative thing. Like I’m reading the book Mindset right now and I read it because I was looking for things that I can really pass on to my kids of like, how do you become growth mind, like growth minded as an adolescent.

Gil: Uh, and in trying to like pass that down to my kids. But it’s actually teaching me that, like, actually that is the leader of a lot of my own success is like when you invest into yourself, you start to think about things very differently. You’ll think of things as failures, um, as cliche as we hear it out there, it it’s absolutely true.

Nikkei: Yeah. And I was, um, it’s funny, I told you I was under contract to buy a property and I am going into a new market. And I was like, okay. Like I don’t know anybody there. And I’m like, man, I need to really be like my clients right now. Like, I don’t know anybody there and I’m gonna rely on the people there to like, help me figure this out.

Nikkei: And it’s been a cool process, right? And I was talking to the home inspector he was just like helping me with so much, right? And I was like, gosh, like this is so cool. I’m, I’m, thank you for your time. Like I’m, I know I’ve taken a lot of your time. And he is like, it’s okay. Like I learned something from every single person I talk to.

Nikkei: So that’s how I look at these, these calls. And I was like, this is the dude I wanna work with. Like, you know, like that’s, that, that’s what it is though. You know, like if someone’s like, oh, how can I quickly, can I get this person off the phone? ’cause I’m busy and they’re not putting any money in my pocket right now.

Nikkei: Like, that’s not the people I wanna work with. Right? Like.

Gil: yeah, yeah. I hear you. And, and I think now with AI and a lot of automation, it’s so easy for you to like, think of things as like, how do I, how quickly can I go through this list? How quickly can I, can I do this? But I think it’s a lot of those authentic relationships that you build is. What will continue to thrive even in the next phase of like, how business is being run.

Nikkei: Yeah. That’s what people are gonna want. That’s, I mean, that’s what they want now, but it’s 10 years from now, that’s gonna be what they’re begging for.

Gil: be rare. It’s gonna be super rare.

Nikkei: it’s gonna be rare. You’re right. Like, how can I actually talk to a real person anymore? You know? Like everybody’s like setting up their AI assistance and everything.

Nikkei: I’m like, no, I’m just gonna keep my phone. And they can call me and either I can answer or I gotta call ’em back. Like,

Gil: Yeah. Yeah. Um, Nikkei, let’s, let’s squish gears just a, just a little bit and I wanna talk to you a bit about your direct bookings. Um, um, you mentioned very early, in the very early days when you got in hospitality, it was all direct bookings. And I think because the OTAs have come into the market, the market has shifted quite a bit into kind of a more of a balance.

Gil: But I think, it’s actually now switching back where. We had this point where a lot of hosts, especially the smaller independent ones, 30 99% Airbnb or VRBO, mainly Airbnb, I think that that’s a platform that people get hooked onto real easily. Um, but talk to me a little bit about kind of the structures and the things that you think about as you’re building out your direct booking engine.

Nikkei: The biggest thing is definitely tech, right? Because everything’s happening online, the tech has to be there to support it. But behind that, deeper than that For me, the brand standards, um, the, one of the big things that I went into when I started my company was I was so frustrated with how just property managers would just like, use homeowners as homeowners properties as like their product to just do whatever they wanted to, you know, and just abuse the properties.

Nikkei: You know, they would do like rent shifting where they would like drop their rental rate and increase all their fees and like make more on the fees and they would make on their management fees and like, they would just do all these like, weird things that were not in the best interest of the homeowner, right.

Nikkei: And to ultimately blind their pockets and build their business. Um, and so I was just so frustrated that people that I knew. Had spent like their retirement to try to break into real estate, to set themselves up to get more passive income. And I’m like, gosh, like they’re just not making what they need to.

Nikkei: Like some, some of them weren’t even breaking even, you know? Um, and that’s on them. Like that, that’s one of the reasons what drove me to get my real estate license, right? ’cause like I said, they didn’t really have the right people doing the due diligence to help them. But I went into my company knowing that brand standards and setting, there’s no standards in the short term rental industry at all.

Gil: Yeah. There’s, there’s a, there’s a huge lack of it, and I think we’re trying to, like, there are some parts of the industry that’s trying to uplevel that, but we still have a long ways to go.

Nikkei: And that’s what I want to do. I want to be the standard for vacation rentals. I’ll be honest, when I travel, I usually stay in a hotel.

Gil: Yeah.

Nikkei: Even though I’m in the short term rental business and the challenge, the reason why is I don’t know if I can trust other hosts. And that’s a shame. Like that is an absolute shame that someone who lives, breathes, sleeps, eats short-term rentals, is nervous to go book a short terminal, you know?

Nikkei: Um, actually just booked one for my husband. He had a paintball tournament. He in Orlando. I was so nervous that he was gonna show up and something wasn’t gonna be right. You know, like major, like it wasn’t clean or there was no AC or something like that. Everything went perfectly fine. He liked it. So we’ll definitely rebook that one.

Nikkei: But I want, I feel I can bring standards to the short-term rental industry like they have in hotels. So I wanna create a hotel level experience. In short term rentals, right. With, with the beauty of, it’s a custom home with custom features. You know, you don’t, I don’t want it to feel cold or just stock like some hotels feel, but I want to at least have the same levels of standards that everyone uses.

Nikkei: You know, like that for me is, I wanna go book a short term rental and feel great about it, and know that it’s gonna be top notch, you know? So I think that that’s, that’s one of the biggest downfalls I think of what Airbnb has brought to the industry is that anybody can just throw a tent. Literally. I’ve had seen people have tents, you know, on Airbnb and they rent ’em, you know, and so it’s, it’s. Yeah, that’s great. More power to them. They’re making revenue. I’m all about that. But also it’s, it’s challenging because it gives the short-term rental industry a, a bad name. And I don’t want that, you know, I want us to turn that ship and it’s a big ship to turn, but it’s possible, you know? Um, and I think it just starts with each host, just having personal accountability.

Nikkei: And look, if you don’t love hosting, then don’t do it. If you don’t love creating a guest experience or love trying to curate your property, then don’t do it. Get out of it. Do something else that you do love, you know. Um, so brand standards, you know, at Tela we’ve really been diving in on this heavily, like, what all do we provide an amenities, you know, what’s the check-in experience like, what’s the communication like, you know, what’s, what’s the quality of the sheets and the comfort level of the beds and the, the, the usability of the amenities and all the little details, you know, that, that go into a property down to like, okay, do we know how to use all the light switches?

Nikkei: Does the guests know how to do that? You know, does, like, do they have everything that they need to have a flawless, perfect, amazing vacation that they leave and they’re just like, wow, that was epic. I don’t wanna leave. This was amazing. I can’t wait for the next trip. You know, that’s really what I wanna create.

Nikkei: And I think that, I don’t think we’re quite there yet, right? Because sale is very young.

Gil: Yeah.

Nikkei: But that’s where we wanna go. And we haven’t, you know, we’re there. It’s not that we’re like far, but we’re definitely not all the way dialed in. Um, and when guests know that they can trust our brand, they’re gonna continue to come back over and over.

Nikkei: Uh, we actually just gotta prove to be a Marriott Bonvoy Homes and Villas partner. So I think that that is a big step to standards. ’cause they have standards that you have to meet and all of our properties get approved. Every single one of ’em got approved, all a hundred total that we have for the Marriott Bonvoy Homes of Villas program.

Nikkei: So that’s like a huge step. There was a lot of things we had to do to meet their standards. Um, so that’ll be live by the end of the year. We’re waiting on a tech integration with them. But, um, you know, that’s, that’s where our company’s going and I know that guests are going to really value that and they’re gonna be loyal sta people, you know, they’re gonna continue to come back.

Gil: Yeah, you mentioned KPIs earlier, and I think it, it reminds me of some of the people in the industry that have kind of similar like thoughts of like how we’re, there’s this huge disparity in terms of standards across the industry and how like some hosts are really trying to step it up and I think about like, okay, from a business perspective, like how do you measure and how do you know whether or not you’re like, you’re on the right track and you’re building the right experience.

Gil: And I think of like the KPI of like, repeat, repeat visits, repeats, like folks that stay repeat stays. Like if you can track that over time and you know that. Your repeat stay is at 20% next year. Like you’re on the right track. Like you actually, like people are staying with you once and the next time they’re looking to visit that area, they’re gonna pick you before going back to Airbnb, possibly to, to look for the next day.

Gil: They, they’re going to you first because they had such a great experience.

Nikkei: Exactly. Yeah, exactly.

Gil: Yeah, yeah. And I, I completely agree with you that there’s this huge lack of standards and I think about like every big industry that has been able to flourish there. You think about like the restaurant businesses in San Francisco.

Gil: There are certifications, there are things that you have to pass in order to build or, and run your restaurant. Um, there’s a story about how. Um, cars were first built and before it was all horse and carriages. And it wasn’t until there was the standards of roads and traffic and how do you actually navigate that?

Gil: Did this explosion of cars enter the scene to really overtake horse and carriage there? And it, it was because we started to put one the infrastructure and two, the standards in place that allows for that. And I, I feel like we’re somewhat at an inflection point, if not already soon, where our industry is ripe for that standardization.

Gil: Um, that really, and you see a lot of folks really like pouring their energy into this. And I don’t know, Nikkei, if you have any ambitions of beyond sta Like, are you thinking about really helping shape the industry? Like you probably know Justin Ford, like he’s a big person in the standards and thinking about safety, you have people like, uh, Dana and David from Rent Responsibly.

Gil: Thinking about like, how do we make sure that like we’re. Uh, the counties and cities support us in running these short term rentals. You have Jody, the founder of Hospitable Hosts. Like, she’s thinking about like, how do you uplevel the standards and make it more well known out there? So like, I think there’s like these many different folks that soon we’re gonna see them start to band together to really help us kind of point in the right direction.

Gil: Like you mentioned that you’re in, you’re in the Smoky Mountains and you know, this Gatlinburg was one of the few counties that had permitting in place and where we had to do our annual permits and they would look at your egress, they would look at your fire, safety, smoke detectors, sprinklers, all that stuff, and, and then Ceville, pigeon Ford, all the other counties.

Gil: Started to do this, and everybody’s like, oh shoot, like, we now have to do permitting, but like for everybody in Gatlinburg, we’ve been doing this forever and, and it’s just like that really, it, it’s there for a purpose. It’s not there to like scare or like weed people out, but it’s really to make sure that like we’re opening our homes to people to, to stay in.

Gil: We need to make sure it’s safe out there.

Nikkei: absolutely. Yeah. I’m, I’m all for regulation for the things that are necessary. For example, noise, trash, parking, safety, like the fire inspections, egresses, I’m all for regulation. In that, ’cause you know what, that weeds out the people that give us a bad name in the industry. Um, so I, I do some lobby lobbying locally for, um, for property owner rights and for the regulations.

Nikkei: But yeah, I really haven’t gone beyond that. But I do see that developing for me. You know, right now I’m in like high growth mode of a new company and I don’t have a lot of capacity for other projects, but it’s definitely something that I know is going to develop, especially because like I just spoke at the IMN Short-Term Rental Conference.

Nikkei: Um, we’re in Park City and it’s like I’m getting more opportunities like that and I’m meeting people that are really the partners that I would work with on those types of initiatives. So I definitely see it coming. Um, I just don’t know how it’s gonna unfold, but I’m excited for it. I’m here when it’s ready.

Nikkei: One more time,

Gil: I, I think that that’s what the, like the professional hosts that are in it for the long game, like they’re, yes, we’re all like chef for capacity, but like those are the folks that will like spare a couple moments to like, give inputs on like what standards should we be thinking about? Like how do we make this not a, like grassroots type of thing, but like how do we systematize it so that it’s out there in more counties out there?

Gil: So

Nikkei: right? Yeah,

Gil: definitely see that coming. What do you, what do you think in the long run is gonna take us to get to those brand standards across, not just say ela, but like other, other property managers?

Nikkei: Yeah,

Gil: What needs to change?

Nikkei: a lot of collaboration around, calling out the pitfalls, people sharing their failures. A lot of vulnerability I think, because, like you mentioned, Justin Ford. He is such a big name in safety because he had something crazy happen to him personally in his personal property, you know, and him sharing that, like, what happened, um, and being vulnerable is like, that’s, that is so, like you said, it’s relatable.

Nikkei: When people are real, people can relate to those experiences and then you can learn from them and develop, you know, processes to prevent that in the future. So I, I feel like a lot of things in short term rentals, you don’t know what you don’t know. And if you haven’t experienced something, you know, you don’t necessarily know that you need to put a standard in place for that.

Nikkei: So I think it’s going to be a collaboration of operators that are dedicated long term to the health of the industry, getting together and banding together, um, from all different markets and. Sharing those vulnerabilities, um, and really opening up their business to be like, here’s what we do. We should all be doing this.

Nikkei: And that takes like, you know, a really an abundance mindset that someone’s not gonna like rip off your business sauce, special sauce, you know? Um, so there’s gonna be trust that’s needed to move the industry forward. Um, and then I think we need to continue to support regulation in all areas where there’s short term rental. Obviously, I don’t agree with taking away property owner rights and banning short term rentals. Absolutely not. But the things I just mentioned, because that’s going to be what weeds out the people that are not willing to do the things that it takes to have a safe and successful property. Um, so supporting the right type of regulation. together as operators and opening up their business, opening their, their vulnerabilities, lessons learned. Right. Um, I think that’s a good start.

Gil: Yeah, yeah, yeah. I talked to some of the, um, like associations that kind of lead. Charters of folks in like particular markets. Then they think about like, they’re like three main things that like we as property managers within a specific market really have think about. Like one is like, what is our nuisance to the area there?

Gil: Um, so like, are we being mindful of like quiet hours and how traffic is and how people use our properties and the impacts it has on our neighbors. Two is like safety. Are we making a place safe enough for folks to be able to stay there and know that we’re not putting other people’s lives in danger when they’re staying at our property?

Gil: And three is like sustainability, which is like as we’re bringing on more and more short term rentals, how do we do it in a sustainable way that doesn’t impact negatively the folks around those neighborhoods? Because you can see like, and that’s the scare of a lot of. A lot of counties is that like, oh, we’re gonna pop up a bunch of short-term rentals and there’s not gonna be enough long-term rentals for folks to actually live there.

Gil: And like the housing prices are gonna go up like that is unsustainable. That’s not good for the entire industry there. So like, those are the kinda like the three things that I’ve picked up when talking to other, like leaders in the industry of like, how do we think about those standards in place? And there’s a lot of other stuff, and I totally agree with you.

Gil: Like collaboration is kinda like the, the strategy behind it. Like you have these pillars of things that you need to focus on, but like collaboration is like one of the more bigger umbrella things that we need to like band together as a team,

Nikkei: Yeah, definitely. Yep.

Gil: you know? Um, I think you mentioned one thing, you mentioned brand standards.

Gil: We talked a lot about the standards part of it. Talk to me a little bit more about the, the branding side of it. Like Yeah, like, so. Your guests have a great stay in your place. They know what your standards are. How do you translate that to the overall brand so that they’re thinking of Stila when they’re exiting the property?

Gil: They’re not thinking about like, oh, this is a great short-term rental experience I had, but no, this is actually how Stila actually operates across their entire portfolio. So if I’m looking for a great stay, I think of the higher level brand that’s giving me this, this experience.

Nikkei: Yeah, it’s in our, our, it’s in our communication with the guest. We have to be very careful when they’re coming from Airbnb and, you know, channels, of course, of how we communicate. But, um, you know, we’re, we’re doing things like branding visually and the properties, um, signage and unit. Um, end unit branding, like all of our QR codes are branded.

Nikkei: Um, house manual. We do an area guide, you know, all those things are branded. Um, and then we, in all of our communication and messaging, you know, we’re the STA care team, you know, we are like, the Stila really is always at the front, you know, the brand name and the brand visuals. And then we’re also retargeting guest marketing to them.

Nikkei: Um, you know, so they’re seeing our name throughout the year, right? We’re always staying in front of them. That’s just like a core principle of the marketing. Um, and we are trying to position ourselves, of course, on social media like any brand, um. You know, always making consistent content, you know, um, driving guests and driving homeowners to the brand.

Nikkei: Um, you know, what we present, you know, whenever we’re, you know, whenever someone’s looking at our brand online, I think is a huge aspect. Like the words that you use, the tone, um, the verbiage, you know, all of that is planting little seeds that are gonna grow, you know, um, throughout, you know, the life cycle with that client.

Nikkei: So, um, creating, you know, we, we have a standard of properties, like we’re not going to take a property that isn’t to what our standards are for. How it looks, how it smells, how it feels, you know, the amenities, the, the, the things it’s stocked with, you know, um, the owner’s mindset around the care for the home.

Nikkei: You know, things have to be taken care of. You know, the lawn’s gotta stay perfect. The, the AC needs to be cooled. The, you know, the pool’s gotta be hot and petit, you know, it’s gotta be clean. Like it, there’s also that level of like, you have to care for these homes, you know? Um, so that care for the home is, is huge.

Nikkei: Doing all your preventative maintenance and your safety checks and like all of that is brand, you know, there’s, that all ties back into what is the guest experience and is this a safe property and, you know, is this guest gonna want to come back? Um, so property care is very high on our list and just the standard of properties that we take.

Nikkei: You know, is, is, is important. Like that’s the starting point, right?

Gil: Yeah, yeah, yeah. I’m taking some notes as, as we’re talking just to kind of like figure out what are, like the, the big spheres or the pillars of it. But like, what I kind of got is like, one, you wanna make sure that your brand is in the forefront. You’re visible, you’re constantly talking about the Sta Love brand either.

Gil: In physical, when you’re at the property, seeing signage, QR codes, all the printed materials that you might have on there, but also in your guest messaging, like visibility, like one, one kind of pillar there. Two, which I, what, what I got is like the consistency, how you’re using your logo across everywhere.

Gil: So that thinking about you, the tone, the font, the words, the colors that you use, there’s that level of consistency there that like, oh, it’s actually the same thing that I just saw earlier. Um, so there’s that, that continuity there. And then the third thing I got was like, the quality, and this is like the quality of your amenities, like the, the quality of the beds, the linens and so on, but also the maintenance and the care of the properties.

Gil: Did I capture that right? Like visibility, consistency, quality. Would that be like how you would define your brand standards?

Nikkei: yep. Definitely.

Gil: I love it. I love it.

Nikkei: Yeah. We also, I forgot, we also, um, I actually dropped off today. Our, we have a full-time maintenance staff and he has a van. We got, we’re getting that wrapped today. We have a Tesla for the operations manager that’s wrapped, and then every, all the employees are branded. And I think all that stuff like makes a big difference.

Nikkei: You know, if you ha if the maintenance if has to stop by the property while guests are there and he’s branded. That’s, that’s

Gil: That’s cool.

Nikkei: that’s like a level of professionalism, you know, a level of Oh wow. They take their business seriously and I should too. Right. You know? Um, it, it’s that like. People wanna feel like they’re a part of something and when a guest gets to stay with us, even if it’s just for a couple days, you know, they’re now a part of this de la family, right?

Nikkei: Like we’re we, they’re a part of this. And when they see that it’s something to be a part of, you know, it’s great and maybe not everyone’s gonna wanna be a part of it, but they definitely, you know, I feel like if they now not, we’ve had bad reviews, we’ve had guests that haven’t had a great time. Like, we’re normal, you know, people that make mistakes sometimes.

Nikkei: Right. But for the most part, I think that our customers, our guests would be really excited to like, be a part of the STA family as a guest for however long they’re traveling to the markets that we’re in.

Gil: Yeah. Yeah. I love that. Awesome. Nikkei, we usually wrap the show with three questions. Um, so the first question for you, what’s, uh, what’s a good book of recommendation kind of going on that, that growth mindset? What’s a good book I should pick up?

Nikkei: Um, I really wanna say traction, but that’s, I feel like more for business owners. Um, traction for the EOS, but I would say for people, for like getting started in business mindset or self-development. I love Jim Rohn. Um, and he has just, um, so Jim Rohn was actually like Tony Robbins mentor. Um, he has one book, seven Strategies for Wealth and Happiness.

Nikkei: Um, that one’s just like a good, like you could read it probably in two hours. And it’s just like core things that, you know, any of his stuff is great, honestly. Just put him on YouTube and go to town. Um, but Jim Rowan is awesome. But yeah, if you’re really like an operator. Of a business. I really love the traction if you really wanna, you know, scale a company, um, successfully, that’s definitely been really powerful for me.

Gil: Yeah, I

Nikkei: then can I say one more? I know I just said two.

Gil: No, go ahead. Go ahead.

Nikkei: So that other one I just read that literally was transformational for me. It was called Good Energy. Um, it’s by Dr. Casey means, um, and it’s about the metabolic health crisis. And she was previously a surgeon and she broke off and, you know, wrote a book and has her own, you know, business now.

Nikkei: But it’s really about, you know, how the western society, you know, is just plagued with metabolic disease and how to reverse that. Um, and I’ve definitely been a challenged with those types of cha health challenges in my life. Um, and so I think everyone would benefit. Every single person needs to read that book to understand what’s actually happening and how to reverse it.

Nikkei: Um, you know, we’re inundated with just, it’s like literally warfare on our bodies every day with environmental toxins, with, you know, the stress of life, the food. Like, it’s, it’s just all, it’s like whole health and, and, and mindset around that. And so that was really transformational for me because if we don’t take care of ourselves, we can’t take care of our businesses, um, or our families.

Nikkei: So that’s really, really important. So that one was really great.

Gil: Yeah. It sounds like a good, uh, a good one to break into a se, a Nfic series as well too.

Nikkei: Yeah.

Gil: I can totally see happening.

Nikkei: Yep.

Gil: Um, question number two, what’s one piece of mindset advice that you would give to someone that’s starting something completely new?

Nikkei: you just gotta try things and you might not know what if they’re gonna work or not, but you really just gotta start trying them and seeing, I have literally changed my trash management procedure three times in the last week. So like, don’t be afraid to just try something. I’m gonna actually met with my like valet waste team today for lunch with my operations manager and we came up with a whole new plan.

Nikkei: So, you know, just gotta do, just try stuff and if it doesn’t work, change it. You know, it’s like not, it’s not like you can’t change, you know.

Gil: Nice. Last question. What’s one piece of tactical advice that you would give to someone that’s either trying to get started in direct bookings or trying to amplify it?

Nikkei: Well, they should definitely talk to you because they need to have a direct, a way to do direct bookings first. Right. Um, and like my last piece of advice, you really just have to start and try and figure out what’s going to work and what’s not, um, and stop pointing people to your Airbnb link.

Gil: Yes, please stop doing that.

Nikkei: like, stop making Airbnb more money.

Nikkei: You’re doing it like you are the problem, like.

Gil: That that’s how we got most of our, like our first like 10, 15 users using our platform. It was me going on Instagram and finding that like a bunch of folks were having like. Thousand, couple thousand followers and they’re leading people to their Airbnb pages. I was like, well, what are you doing

Nikkei: Yeah, stop doing it now. Like do not ever send someone another Airbnb link. Um, it’s interesting, I had a recent realistic client who he was also gonna work with me for management and or he was, we were discussing that, right? And he wanted to see my portfolio, so I sent him my stila.com website, S-T-A-Y-L-E h.com.

Nikkei: Here’s a website. And he was very adamant to see the Airbnb links and I would not provide them to him. And I explained to him, you know, look like if you’re going and looking at every single one of my Airbnb links and not click not booking those, that affects the algorithm negatively. And there’s no, like, everything that’s on my website is also on Airbnb.

Nikkei: You don’t need to see the Airbnb. All the reviews I have, they go on my site from Airbnb. So, um, he just thought that that was weird that I wouldn’t send him the Airbnb links. And I think the opposite is weird. Um, but that’s because I’m a dinosaur in the industry, you know? So, um, he was very frustrated. We actually ended up not working together.

Nikkei: I’m like, well, I actually sent him data supporting what I was saying about, you know, like not how the algorithm works and clicks versus conversion and all that. Um, and he just thought I was being dishonest, and I’m like, no, I just need to protect my owners and their bookings and our, you know, our listing strengths on the channel.

Nikkei: Um, so I just never, and I even tell my owners when I onboard them, I’m like. Do not ever go and click on your Airbnb links, just send everyone to the direct booking website. You make less money whenever you do that.

Gil: Yeah.

Nikkei: So, so, um, you know, Airbnb takes a big chunk, right? And VBO takes an even bigger chunk depending on which way you, you’re working with them.

Nikkei: But, um, that, that’s my biggest piece of advice. Don’t do that.

Gil: Yeah. Yeah. And I, I don’t know how many people actually do this, but like, if you are sending traffic from your Instagram, your social pages, all the way to your direct booking website, you then have the ability to capture emails, to add pixels onto people, and then to retarget them on

Nikkei: Mm-hmm.

Gil: Instagram or Facebook, where if you send them to your Airbnb link one, yes, it does impact negatively your rankings because you’re getting more views, less conversion, but you have no way of remarketing that person ever.

Gil: Like they’ll, they’ll just bounce and they’ll just go,

Nikkei: And ultimately you don’t ever own your customer. You know, like if you have done any type of business, you know that owning your customer is the most important part of the business. And like I always like, let’s compare it to realtors. Realtors share the Zillow links. I’m like, why would you share the Zillow links when you could direct them to your website?

Nikkei: You know, I don’t, and you could capture their information and market to them and you own that person. Versus if you’re a realtor that pays Zillows for leads, well now you’re giving Zillow more money and less money outta your pocket. And then you never own your customer. You know, it’s just, that’s, owning your customer is such a big part of any business, successful business strategy.

Nikkei: And I think that in the short term rental world, because Airbnb has exploded, people just don’t understand that. ’cause it’s allowed people this very low level of entry without having any business sense, you know?

Gil: I think, I think that’s what it is, is you get a lot of folks that get into this as investors. They think that they’re buying this home that’s gonna be passive, quote unquote passive income, and they find out that’s grossly not. And they didn’t realize that by buying this property, they’re starting a business of their own and they have to have a different mindset of operating it.

Nikkei: Yes, exactly. And that’s, I explain that to every client. I’m like, you are launching a business. Each property is its own business. It needs its own reputation. You know, all those things. So yeah.

Gil: Awesome. Nikkei, this has been really awesome. It’s been really fun to kind of hear kind of how you’ve progressed through the many stages of hospitality. Getting to talk a little bit about even your personal life and kind of like how you think about presenting yourself on social and really kind of your stance on standards or the lack of standards in the industry, and kind of diving a little bit deeper into kind of how folks really should be thinking about branding themselves more effectively.

Gil: Not just in one ways, but many different ways of thinking about the brand. So making, I really appreciate you sharing that with us.

Nikkei: Thank you. Thank you so much for having me, Gil. I really appreciate your time and thank you guys for listening.

Gil: Yeah. And hopefully if you are a killer salesperson sales leader, that’s what Nikkei’s looking for. So reach out to her if, uh, if, if you’re that person.

Nikkei: definitely. Thank you Gil.

Gil: you, Nikkei. Bye.

Nikkei: a great day. Bye.