The Guest Cast – Details, episodes & analysis

This week on the Guest Cast, you’re in for a treat! We’re bringing you another batch of Aha Moments - this time, from a selection of carefully selected industry voices, collected at last week's Vacation Rental World Summit in Porto. 

You'll hear from the likes of: 

• Antonio Bortolotti - The brain behind the VRWS event 
• Richard Vaughton from Rentivo
• Madison Rifkin from Mount 
• Manuel Lozano, Expo Renta Vacacional
• Greg Chuchra, from Tedee Smart Locks 
• David Jocoby from Hostfully 
• Dana Lubner from Rent Responsibly
• Roberto Bricio from Guesty 
• Raul Oliveira from Alep

Debbie begins her A-ha moment with an “Ahhhh!” moment, when clear communications from her accommodation would have come in really handy.

In her own communications with her guests, Debbie strives for consistency and humanity. She recounts how regular messages, from the moment guests book, have helped her to build strong, trusting relationships with visitors.

If you can remind guests that there’s an actual person at the end of every communication, you’ll welcome visitors who want to look after your property.

In this episode of the Guest Cast, Andy and Tyann talk to travel journalist and content creator, Jill Starley-Grainger.

In this "illuminating" episode (expect more puns like this...!), Jill talks about her wealth of travel experiences - and how there's a pet peeve she runs into time and time again... bad lighting. 

Join Andy, Tyann and Jill as they share several different "bad lighting" experiences, and discuss  how something so seemingly small can have such a profound effect on guest experience. 

 

In this Aha-moment episode, Vacation Rental leader and Co-Founder of Vacation Rental Formula, Heather Bayer shares a story on how she became the "Bunkbed Baddie!"

Listen first hand about the importance of making sure your guests know when you make a change to your property... because you never know what they're counting on having in their property!

This week, Andy and Tyann speak to Amber Hurdle, public speaker, author and vacation rental industry influencer.

Amber talks about how a journey to Europe to connect with her Italian heritage left her feeling completely at home - even though she'd never even been to Italy before! 

While Ambers' story starts with a deep longing to understand herself better through her ancestors, it unfolds into a conversation about ways vacation rental owners can tap into the history of their guests.

She suggests that by focusing on the heritage, background and history of a property or area, hosts can provide a unique stay that evokes a far more compelling guest experience - and make you stand out of the vacation rental crowd.

And - Tyann again challenges you to find the special, historical or cultural experience that is local to you - and make sure your guests know about it!  

 

This week, we're back to our A-ha moments, and the Queen of Guest Experience herself is sharing some of her thoughts. 

Tyann talks about the importance of giving yourself some grace when it comes to opening a new vacation rental - after all, not even the 5 star hotels get it right every time. 

 

In this episode, our very own Touch Stay CTO Drew Pearson talks about two of his life changing trips to Italy - one where he to proposed to his wife, and another when he returned with his family some years later.

He talks openly and lovingly about how his love of Travel writer, Rick Steves, influenced the way he travels. He explains how he chooses not to follow the tourist routes "just because" and instead, following his own interests, resulting in far more fulfilling, and memorable experiences

In this episode, Tyann, Andy and Drew talk about how hosts can help their guests achieve this kind of experience. Tyann even challenges hosts to create a list of ways that guests can avoid the tourist traps and feel more Spanish, Italian - or, in Tyann's case, Missourian ;). 

This week, we're bringing you a super short snippet - an "aha" moment from the Touch Stay team about something they've learnt about guest experience. 

This week we're hearing from Touch Stay's CMO, Kate Stinchcombe-Gillies.

Last year, Kate played vacation rental host for the first time, and learnt the hard way about why assuming her guests had understood how equipped her home was, wasn't good for her - or them!

And we'll be back next week with another guest story! 

In this episode of the Guest Case, hospitality expert and influencer Will Slicker talks to Tyann and Andy about his extensive experiences staying in hotels and short-term rentals.

Touching on how he feels that the hotel guest experience is dwindling, Will, Andy, and Tyann discuss what short-term rental operators can do to help keep the guest experience alive - not just during the more challenging times of covid, but on an ongoing basis.

Listen in as they discuss everything from the importance of branding and how well your photos represent your accommodation, to the importance of health and safety - and how the latter of that list often receives less focus than it should.

You can find out more about Will by following him on LinkedIn, heading to his directing booking website and you can even listen to his podcast The Slick Talk.

This week, we’re taking a look back on some of our favourite guest stories from 2021 - with snippets from guests such as:

• Co-founder of SparkToro and Moz, Rand Fishin
• HR influencer Gethin Nadin
• Editor of Behind the Shutter, Alissa Cincotta
• Speaker and Solutions Advocate for the travel industry, Johana Haugen
• and the adventurous travel bloggers, Dave and Deb from Planet D.

You can listen to all our podcast episodes at touchstay.com/podcast