Cold open

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Welcome to Live Let Thrive, a podcast about the Airbnb life, the share economy, and everything in between. Here are your hosts, Micah and Steve.

SPEAKER_03 0:11

Hello, hello, hello.

SPEAKER_05 0:13

And welcome back to another exciting episode of Live Let Thrive.

SPEAKER_03 0:21

And we are recording this time, correct?

SPEAKER_04 0:23

Yes, we are.

SPEAKER_03 0:24

Okay. Just want to make sure. Yep, there's a recording button. Uh we are back, man. How you doing, Micah? I'm good, man. Yourself? Oh, wonderful, wonderful. Got a lot accomplished. Got a trip to Mexico this weekend. So I had to get a get a lot of you know loose hands folded up before I left. So um we are doing a podcast. And this is episode 185 of your favorite Airbnb VRBO, Home Away, Uber Lyft, Turo, all that share economy stuff podcast in the world. This is Live Let Thrive coming at you from Fort Worth, Arlington in Texas. So we have a special guest today, Jamila Godwin.

Jamila's background: designer, mom, and template seller

SPEAKER_03 1:03

How are you doing, Jamila? Good, thanks. I'm gonna read what you wrote me. You wrote me to say, if that's cool. All right. First and foremost, uh, she is a mommy to a one-year-old little boy as a profession, a graphic designer and marketing professional by trade, and she works full-time doing this. Uh, to to add to see, I keep trying you put it in eyes and my, so I have to change it up in my brain. It's no big deal. I've just gotta think on the fly, and I'm not, you know, here we go. To add to her income, she operated an Airbnb turn short-term rental due to the pandemic. With the knowledge gained from operating her rental, she leveraged her design capabilities and created templates geared towards those operating vacation rentals. These templates include welcome book templates, welcome cards, and other various Airbnb signs. Welcome, Jamila.

SPEAKER_02 2:05

Thank you for having me.

Buying in 2016 and converting the garage into a studio

SPEAKER_03 2:08

Yeah, let's jump into it. How did you start your Airbnb journey or your short-term rental journey?

SPEAKER_02 2:13

Um, well, I um bought a property in 2016 and um I rented it out, the main property, for a bit, and it had a garage on it. So um after renting it out for two years, I decided to turn my garage into an apartment. But I said um I want to do it, do Airbnb. I was having some trouble with my tenants. I wanted to just have a break from being a landlord. So Airbnb for me was the best for you to go. So that's how I got into the market. Um, being from Bermuda, it's a travel pot tourist destination. So it was pretty easy to get into. And where my home is located, it's centrally located. You can walk to the city center, you can walk to the beach, it's a little convenience store next door that closed lake. I'm there, a few um bus stops. So it was perfectly located for an Airbnb. Um, started the Airbnb and it pretty much immediately took

The pandemic pivot: college kids quarantining two and three weeks

SPEAKER_02 3:15

off. And next thing I know, the pandemic hit. And as a new mommy, I was just like, I don't know what's gonna happen. Um, although I lost some bookings, I actually say pretty booked. Um, a lot of college students were coming back home and they needed a place to quarantine, to study. And then I was just fully booked for like two weeks, three weeks at a time. So once that died down, um, I went into the short-term rental business because I didn't want to be entering in and out of the apartment. So I had someone take the apartment for six months, and now someone's in there just over a year now. So that's how I got into the Airbnb market.

SPEAKER_03 3:59

Nice, nice. That's a cool way to start. Um real quickly, I I think of Bermuda, you know, beautiful islands, stuff like that. And I'm sure they have uh amazing five-star hotels and you know, things that cater to tourists. Is there any pressure from the hotel industry to not let people do Airbnbs on the island?

Bermuda's hotel market and local pushback on Airbnb

SPEAKER_02 4:20

No, there aren't any any pressure from the um hoteliers, but you have some residents like in other jurisdictions that say Airbnb is killing the local rental market. There's been some pushback in that area, but other than that, so good.

SPEAKER_05 4:39

Yeah, I'm uh funny you bring up Bermuda. As soon as you said you were from there, I've been up here looking at pictures of it. Like, I need to travel over there because this is I was looking at one of the resorts, and it's a very, very beautiful beach over there. So I definitely need to be heading there. So you do so you do welcome book templates. Are those digital?

SPEAKER_02 4:57

Um yes, like the download, you could download them as digital. Um, I also do like um some signs.

Welcome-book templates: Canva downloads and customization

SPEAKER_02 5:03

So let's say if you have a fireplace, some people need to remind the guests to make sure the flu is open so you don't burn down that person's property. So that one's been um been getting some sales as well. So I do those type of signs. Um and if someone wants something customized, I'm able to do that as well.

SPEAKER_05 5:25

Okay, so like you do like put people's logos out there, things of that nature.

SPEAKER_02 5:30

I can, but what I do is I use Canva. So I will create the template, and um once they download it, they'll get a link to access the Canva template, and then they can go in and change it to their branded colours. So let's say their colours pink or something. They could change the colors to their colour pink, they could add their logo, they would drop in their own house rules, um, places to eat that's in their area, things to do, emergency contacts. So it would have the structure of what the key items that you need for a welcome book, but they just go in and update it to reflect their Airbnb.

SPEAKER_03 6:08

Okay. So, like, do you also sell things like on Etsy or anything like that? I do.

SPEAKER_02 6:15

I do have an Etsy shop. Um the interesting part, being in Bermuda, we're an offshore jurisdiction. So it's a lot of hoops we have to jump through to sometimes get on those sites. So for me, um, because we're overseas territory, I can go to England and live, for instance. I had to open up a bank account in England to get one Etsy so to get payments because they no longer just accept PayPal payments. So it's yeah, it's it's it's it's it's it's difficult, but yes, I do now have an Etsy shop.

SPEAKER_03 6:52

What is your Etsy shop called?

SPEAKER_02 6:53

Dropping anchor BDA.

SPEAKER_03 6:56

Dropping anchor BDA. BDA. And what does the BDA stand for?

SPEAKER_02 7:02

Bermuda.

SPEAKER_03 7:02

Oh, it's just shore from Bermuda. Bermuda, yeah. So is that is that where uh Rihanna's from? She's from Bermuda.

SPEAKER_02 7:10

No, Bahamas, I believe. Oh, okay. That's fine. She's from uh I'll have or is it Barbados? Barbados Barbados, like some people think Bermuda's in the Caribbean. We're actually not, we're like maybe a two-hour trip from New York, we're just off the Carolinas, so we're just above the Caribbean.

SPEAKER_05 7:30

Yeah, they're really close. I was looking at I just after you I just started looking and I'm looking at them cruises going over there. I'm kind of scared to get on them cruise ships to go into Bermuda though. That Bermuda Triangle, I'm gonna I've been on cruises, but I hear Bermuda Triangle and get a little nervous. But oh come on.

SPEAKER_01 7:47

We are a tourist destination, so you will get back home just fine.

SPEAKER_05 7:52

Yeah, I got a little more comfortable seeing a cruise ship sitting there. I'm like, okay, it made it.

unknown 7:56

It made it.

SPEAKER_03 7:59

Yeah, it was something with the with the magnetic fields meeting right there and messing up the navigation system on the old on the old timey planes and the old timey stuff. They got better stuff now, you know. They got Wi-Fi.

SPEAKER_05 8:14

So, how is like the uh the tourist market as far as Airbnbs? Is it mainly local or do you guys get people from all over?

SPEAKER_02 8:21

Um, get people from all over. Um, even my COO who used to work at my firm. Um, when I was starting out my Airbnb, I would speak to him and he was a wealth of information. He's been consistently booked. So we get people from all over like Europe, predominantly though, from either Canada or the US because it's closer. Um, so I've had um a couple that came down from Colorado, they were pretty cool. Um, but yeah, you get people from all over, and you also get um businesses because Bermuda's a reinsurance hub. So you get people flying in to do business. Look like you want to Google. Yeah, we're one of the top insurance hubs um next to London. So I got a quite a few um business people that were coming

Bermuda as a reinsurance hub and business-traveler bookings

SPEAKER_02 9:16

down to stay in my Airbnb as well since it was close to the city because you could walk, it's like probably a 10-minute walk to the city.

SPEAKER_05 9:24

Okay, and then yeah, now in Bermuda, um, like let's say I wanted to come to Bermuda and set up a short-term rental. Is there restrictions on like finance and you know, place some places like Puerto Rico, Costa Rica, you have to come with all cash, or is there um there are some restrictions?

SPEAKER_02 9:41

Um, you would have to partner with a Bermudian. Um, so you might have to co-host or some or something like that. You might have to co-host, but to do business in Bermuda, you have to have um a Bermudian on board with you.

SPEAKER_03 9:57

Oh, we got one, Jamila. We got one already, right? Yes.

SPEAKER_04 10:05

Okay, so you already oh go ahead.

SPEAKER_03 10:08

Oh no, that was just I was just wondering, and what else do you need? You just you just have to partner with a uh you usually have to partner with a Bermudian.

SPEAKER_02 10:14

I'm not sure what other restrictions are in place for someone to um come from overseas to do um Airbnbs,

Foreign ownership rules: co-host with a Bermudian or be a millionaire

SPEAKER_02 10:21

but I'm pretty sure you would have to work with someone. Or if you are a millionaire, you know, cash money talks. Because when it comes to buying property, you have um if you're a foreigner, you have to have a um, you have to buy property that's over a certain ARV, that's annual rental value. So, and you have to be a millionaire, basically.

SPEAKER_06 10:47

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 10:48

Properties in Bermuda are really expensive. Once you tag on the um banking rates, they're really expensive. Um, your base is just like, wow. When you say banking rates, you mean like the interest rate? The interest rates. Like the interest rates on one bank is like 6.5%. Another one, I it's over seven percent.

SPEAKER_05 11:13

We could make that work. Well, depending on like how much how big it is and how much right because I'm I'm starting to really look at you know, overseas, you know, you it might be cheaper,

The $700k starter house and 20% down payment even for locals

SPEAKER_05 11:24

but if it sounds like Bermuda, like how much is a house there?

SPEAKER_02 11:28

I guess um uh an average house that probably doesn't need much work, maybe 700k.

SPEAKER_05 11:40

Oh, never mind. 700k seven percent. Okay, never mind.

SPEAKER_02 11:43

I didn't know it's it's it's the market is very, very expensive, and then just to buy a house, you already have to have a down payment of 20. Oh, even if you were gonna move into it, or you mean to live, but to live in it and it's your property, yeah. You still have to have 20 down payment.

SPEAKER_03 12:03

Wow, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 12:05

The market is really, really expensive.

SPEAKER_03 12:07

So, how do how do locals afford to buy houses there?

SPEAKER_02 12:11

Some can't. Um, they rent, um, they stay with family members, or you inherit a house, or you inherit enough money to um for the down payments, or um you save, like because it's an insurance hub, you get paid really well. Um, depending on the type of job, I should say. Like, say if you're an actuary or an underwriter, you get paid really, really well. Six figures.

SPEAKER_03 12:39

So dang. So why why is it why is Bermuda of all places an insurance hub?

SPEAKER_02 12:45

Um, probably because it's a proximity. Um that's a good question, actually. Why is it an insurance hub proximity? Um, the deals that uh tax rates, that's you should that's what it is. It's a tax rates. We have some good tax rates for those that are in um that industry.

SPEAKER_03 13:04

Oh wow, huh? Okay.

SPEAKER_02 13:07

So we have the brand like Bacardi International, they have their headquarters here um on the island.

SPEAKER_05 13:14

Oh, nice. I got a barrage of questions after this. So 700,000, how big of a house does that get?

SPEAKER_02 13:21

Let's just say your money goes a lot further in Texas.

SPEAKER_01 13:24

So I've seen some of the houses in Texas. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 13:28

So let's say your 3,000 square foot home in Texas is 500k. What your 3,000 square foot home here is maybe 2 million.

SPEAKER_03 13:45

It's got like on the lines of uh Hawaii or something like that.

SPEAKER_05 13:48

Yeah, that's a and that's what I was trying to see. Like, if it's like, yeah, and that's what it's sounding like. So, like in someone like like I know people in Hawaii who have like six properties and they're they make over seven figures a year just off those six properties on Airbnb. What were you pricing like while you were, you know, while you were doing your short-term rental?

SPEAKER_02 14:06

When I was doing my short-term rental, I entered into the market with a low pricing strategy just to build up those reviews on Airbnb because I know reviews are like cash. Um, but when I got to like the summer periods where it was peak times because we have a lot of big um holiday events, I was charging maybe um like 160 a night. And my I have a studio which is just under 400 square feet. So it wasn't big, but it was new and it was modern. Yeah, I'm just looking at your facial expressions.

SPEAKER_05 14:39

Because you guys are 160 a night on 400 square feet. That is wow.

SPEAKER_02 14:43

But Bermuda, like I mentioned, Bermuda is a really expensive place. It really is. Um, but I probably, if I didn't, if the pandemic didn't hit, I probably would have been up on price because the um my summer was pretty much booked. I was going up until I think for like the 175-ish. And then my cleaning rates were like $60 or something like that. But um, yeah, and people were paying it.

SPEAKER_03 15:14

And I was it close to the beach?

SPEAKER_02 15:16

Well, the the beach, if you rented like a moped or um a moped, it was like maybe a five-minute, a five-minute ride or a six-minute bus ride because the bus stops right outside my house as well. Um, walking, depending on how fast you walk, is about a 15 to 20 minute walk, but I wouldn't walk that in the summer heat in Bermuda. Some people would.

SPEAKER_05 15:43

How does it usually get out there?

SPEAKER_02 15:45

Pick at about 85, 85, 86, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 15:52

So so why would somebody uh choose an Airbnb over a hotel there? You know, but that's the hotel that's.

SPEAKER_02 15:59

I can speak to the locals. Um because um, like some beaches, they a lot of the tourists go. Like we have a beach called Horseshoe Bay. That's a um a place where a lot of tourists go. And then where I grew up, we have um places where you could jump off the rocks where a lot of the locals go. They actually use that as a um tourist um place to say go check out Admiralty House for cliff jumping or something like that. So that was a big pastime when I was growing up on the island. And at that time, a lot of um tourists didn't go to the beach. Well, to that beach, I should say. They would go to the touristy type beaches like Horseshoe Bay, which is one of our most famous beaches.

SPEAKER_03 16:42

Okay, live like a local.

SPEAKER_02 16:44

Yeah. And then also um we would tell them uh what restaurants to go to or like um what could I restaurants where the locals eat, basically. Like art mouse were big on fish sandwiches. So um art mouse is a um known for their big fish sandwiches. So that's actually like maybe a 15-minute walk from my house as well. So tourists, when they would stay at my place, they could go

Living like a local: cliff jumping and fish sandwiches

SPEAKER_02 17:11

there um if they wanted to eat like a local.

SPEAKER_05 17:15

So this is another question I have for you because you really got me because you're I think you're probably one of the first people from and especially from Bermuda that I've ever had on. And then like the the the whole island thing. So during COVID, did you shut down or were you able to recover?

SPEAKER_02 17:30

Um, I pretty much did not shut down. Um, I had some cancellations. So what I did was reduce my rates, but then I saw that a lot of college kids were coming back home and then they were booking my place. So my place was still pretty busy, but um, I did shut down um maybe towards like May 2020 and just took on someone that stayed there for six months. Because me being a new mom, I nobody knew what was happening with the pandemic. I said, let me just be on the safe side and um rent it out for a longer term.

SPEAKER_04 18:09

That's a fact. Okay, that makes sense.

SPEAKER_05 18:11

Because I was wondering, so you did have college students coming back, and then yeah, because I always wonder everybody like in the States when the pandemic hit, you know, everyone either lowered their prices, started finding other ways to get tenancy. I was wondering how that works on the island. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 18:25

Well, for me, um, because I was on maternity leave, um, I was watching CNN and it COVID didn't really hit Bermuda around that time just yet. So I'm like, okay, what the heck is going on? I need to do something because then people were canceling. So I'm seeing the cancellations come through, and I'm like, oh boy. But it was just good luck, basically. College students were coming, they needed a place to quarantine and they needed a place to study. And yeah, my place just ended up being booked for sometimes two weeks at a time, um, sometimes three weeks at a time. So I was really fortunate because some people didn't wasn't wasn't as fortunate as I was.

SPEAKER_03 19:06

So now that's that's interesting you mentioned that a place to quarantine, right? So the you know, their students they're gonna be there studying or whatever. Um, they're gonna need strong internet. You do you offer like really fast internet? Is that is that common on the islands?

SPEAKER_02 19:21

Um yeah, internet's pretty good, it's just expensive like everything else. But um, internet is one thing I never had a problem with. I never had a guest complain. But mind you, guests were not really staying there. They were out going swimming. Um, you know, it's summertime in Mermida, they were partying, so they wasn't really staying in the um in the I'm saying hotel, in the studio too long. Um, but yeah, I never had a problem um with the internet connection.

SPEAKER_03 19:52

So it's so that is cool. It also separates you from like a hotel because they're not gonna come there and stay like a month or a few months in a hotel, right? It's uh then they need somewhere to live, live like that's a like it's a house. And and so you and you keep saying studio.

SPEAKER_02 20:07

What does the studio include the the garage conversion you made, or is that yeah, it's uh the it was the garage, and then I just made it into an apartment.

SPEAKER_03 20:16

That is cool. How did how did how did you do that? Because I've seen some cool ones, like our friend uh Todd Baldwin, who was on the show, he made he lives in Seattle and and he, you know, he has these two beautiful duplexes, and he said, Oh, I'm gonna finish out the garages too, and put a big old beautiful mural on the wall, made it all nice and uh nice, class, nice bathroom. And it was cool how what he did, and I'm fascinated by that. And um, so how did how did you do that?

SPEAKER_02 20:40

Um, I just worked with the local architect. Um, I basically wanted an open floor plan. Um, I wanted a bathroom where it was just a shower where basically um actually I didn't even realize the type of bathroom I was designing. It was wheelchair accessible.

SPEAKER_03 20:57

Nice, nice.

SPEAKER_02 20:59

So, and I didn't realize that until someone um contacted me on Airbnb stating that, you know, we like your apartment, they started asking for measurements about to see if their wheelchair could fit in my shower. You know, the door to enter into my studio was um a French door. So it was just two big doors where the only thing I would need to build was like a little small rent. But luckily they said they had that. Um, so I wouldn't need to build it. So when I was designing it, I didn't even think of someone being in a wheelchair. And then once he contacted me, I was like, oh, I could add that on Airbnb to say that my unit was um wheelchair accessible. So once I did all the measurements, it was I was like, oh wow, okay.

SPEAKER_05 21:48

I want to touch on something to all the people listening. Uh, yeah, that is a very good market to get into. Being wheelchair or handicap or wheelchair accessible, that is a very good market to be into. You get a lot of People you know that want to travel with their families, they may have someone that's older. You can definitely get your money's worth the way. And you said this place is 400 square feet. So how many people do you allow to stay?

SPEAKER_02 22:15

Just two. Well, no, sorry. The maximum three. But um there I didn't really, I never had three people stay in the unit. It was always two. So I had the queen size bed and I just had a blow-up air mattress. Um, because it was open floor plan, the air mattress worked fine. I also had a pull-out couch, but um they preferred the air mattress.

SPEAKER_05 22:41

That's interesting. Totally.

SPEAKER_03 22:44

So so like how what do you have that's cool, that's unique to your island that you you know to welcome people there, like a little you know, gift or something, like a bottle of rum. I don't know.

SPEAKER_02 22:54

We actually do have rum. Wow. They're called dark and stormy. So it's um a local um company on the island, um, and they make they make um they make, oh my goodness, black seal rum. So what you do is mix it with ginger beer and they call it a dark and stormy. Other than that, we also have rum swizzle. That's pretty um popular on the island. It's just like a punch, but just filled with alcohol. And if you're not careful, it can roll up on you, and you can get a little tipsy.

SPEAKER_03 23:32

Oh, yeah, vacation. That's the plan, right?

SPEAKER_02 23:36

But just going back to the Airbnb um for a minute, the other thing I did with my business at one point I was selling um t-shirts, locally branded t-shirts, apparels like hats, tees. So that was also added as something to my Airbnb. So sometimes guests would get um a free t-shirt, but I would also sell those items through my Airbnb because I had it all mapped out before COVID hit. I'm like, I'm already selling locally branded apparel. I could add this as another, you know, moneymaker tag one to my um Airbnb. And so I was selling some items through that as well. So I I had it all mapped out that is cool.

SPEAKER_03 24:20

Yeah, yeah. You're making dollars in all kinds of different ways. What like one thing that you you mentioned earlier was mopeds. Is there did you ever think of like renting out a moped?

SPEAKER_02 24:29

Um, so my place, because it's centrally located, um, some people did rent mopeds where they could actually walk to the um place to uh pick up their moped. They could also rent um electric vehicles, they're like two seaters, they're really compact and small.

SPEAKER_06 24:45

Oh, cool.

SPEAKER_02 24:46

Um so and you could just charge them at the at the apartment and they could just drive around the island and they could walk to pick those up um from the um a hotel and then that um has them. And then it's another um place that also rents out mocks. And luckily, because of where my place is located, they could just walk to all these places.

SPEAKER_03 25:07

Okay, you never thought of having one at your place to rent out to people.

SPEAKER_02 25:11

Well, no, I would insurance. I don't want that liability insurance there, right? Yeah, we have insurance, but everything comes at a cost. Um, but because my place is where it's located, they could just walk and get their get their own. Okay.

SPEAKER_03 25:27

Maybe uh make a deal with the local uh place and say, hey, if I send people your way, you know, yeah, a little bit of change, you know what I'm saying?

SPEAKER_05 25:36

You said something about electric vehicle two seater electric vehicles. Is that is that common small car?

SPEAKER_02 25:43

Yeah, yeah, it's it's pretty common. Um, some people do buy them for their own personal use, but you could also rent them. So they're perfect for the person that doesn't want to get on a mope because it's it's a bike essentially. And some you you have we have had accidents where tourists get in accidents, so they feel comfortable more in a car sort of um electric vehicle. Um, and also when it's raining, it's perfect.

SPEAKER_05 26:10

You then you also said they can charge the vehicle at your place. Your place so, like, is that a common thing that all places are fitted with an electric vehicle charger?

SPEAKER_02 26:19

No, some depending on which electric

High ceilings and light colors in a tiny studio

SPEAKER_02 26:22

vehicle you get, you could just use a regular wall plug, or you actually have to have an electrician install um the the mechanisms so the person could charge um their vehicle.

SPEAKER_05 26:35

Oh, okay. Because I've been installing electric vehicle chargers in my places here in the States, and it honestly sounded like you guys just already had them. That's pretty cool, though. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 26:44

See, we had a friend on the show. I don't know if he did he go to Bermuda and get the idea, but he's he's gonna he's he's gonna offer these um little electric vehicles called Moks. You've heard of those? No, they're like the the little little blue or little color, you know, they're different colors, whatever, but that but uh what they're all electric. And our friend that uh of the show, he was gonna start offering them at his place and have a place where you could charge it and everything and rent them out there. I thought that was a pretty cool idea.

SPEAKER_02 27:12

The other thing that's big on the island is electric bikes, okay. So it's just a basically a bicycle that's battery operated, and you can go a lot faster than using a regular paddle bike.

SPEAKER_06 27:25

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 27:26

So um, I know someone who has bought two of them and lets his guest um use them when they're on an island, obviously for a fee, but some people um do that as well.

SPEAKER_03 27:37

Nice, yeah, yeah. I saw those the first time in San Francisco because you know San Francisco has a giant hills that go straight up, and so people can't pedal that. So they get on those electric ones and just um no, that's that's that's a great idea. Um, so so back to I know we're hopping all around, but like a 400 square foot place. What are some keys to like you know, decorate it, design it to where it doesn't feel so small?

SPEAKER_02 28:01

Um, high ceilings.

SPEAKER_03 28:02

Ah, I love high ceilings.

SPEAKER_02 28:05

Like my place has the ceiling is really, really high. Um, so what I've done is maximize that space um because it is fairly small in the bathroom. So I have these, I have an area where you can actually pull out shelves. So that way if someone is um, you know, needs to get a towel or something, they could just pull the shelf out and then it goes pretty high. So it just allows me to just store more items in the in the rental. Also for those that are staying in there long term, where they need to put stuff um, they have more storage, or even in the closet area. Um, put suitcases at the top since you're not gonna be accessing those um quite often. But yeah, high ceilings, and then essentially it was supposed to be a one bedroom. But I said take that wall out because it's gonna make the bedroom feel really cramped and really small. So it just made it an open floor plan and kept the colors light. Um, because as a graphic designer, when you use dark colors, sometimes it can feel really small. Um, so I just try to keep the colors light.

SPEAKER_03 29:12

Do you do you have like a link you could share with us? Uh I got I'm interested in seeing your place.

SPEAKER_02 29:17

I definitely can share. Yep. I can definitely share it. Even my um social media. Um, I'll send it to you guys right after.

SPEAKER_03 29:24

Oh, okay. Yeah, I wanted to check it out now, but we can do that. Oh, that's fine. Are you on a laptop?

SPEAKER_02 29:31

Um I actually I could send it from my phone. It's easy if I just send you the um air the Instagram page because I don't know.

SPEAKER_03 29:40

Um yeah, what's the Instagram page?

SPEAKER_02 29:44

Actually, at North Cottage Studio, I think it is.

SPEAKER_03 29:49

North Cottage Studio. Yeah, I want to look it up.

SPEAKER_02 29:56

Yeah, North Cottage Studio BDA.

SPEAKER_05 30:00

Oh, okay. So you found us on IG.

SPEAKER_02 30:04

Yeah, I just typed in Airbnb podcast.

SPEAKER_05 30:11

We came up. That's good. Yeah, uh, this is a really nice place. I like man, I love it out there. That is beautiful. Now I have a question. Is your place on the what is it? Because you guys have like a small little lake. It looks like a lake out there. Is there a place on that, like around that lake?

SPEAKER_02 30:30

Um, my place is not close to the water. Oh, okay. You I you actually have to um drive or walk to um get to the nearest beach.

SPEAKER_05 30:38

Because I think it's it that may be horseshoe bay.

SPEAKER_02 30:41

I want to that's probably horseshoe bay, and that's our most famous beach.

SPEAKER_05 30:45

That yeah, that that place is uh yeah, that looks beautiful. I was like, dang, I need to. I never even thought about going to Bermuda until now. Like I always thought Bermuda Triangle stay away. Now I'm like, okay, I might be able to do it.

SPEAKER_01 30:55

Well, you know someone here, so if you ever come.

SPEAKER_05 30:59

Definitely, I'm definitely gonna be booking your place. It'll just be me and my wife. Okay, yeah, this this looks really, really nice. Uh I definitely need to hit up Bermuda.

SPEAKER_02 31:11

Yeah, and that was in the beginning stages of when I first, first, first started.

SPEAKER_05 31:18

Wow, and it doesn't even look it doesn't look really small from the outside, like it looks like it's a really nice size place, and then you you really decorated. I love the decoration.

SPEAKER_03 31:28

I love that. Yeah, the small touches go a long way. I love the flooring too. That's beautiful.

SPEAKER_05 31:35

Okay, yeah. See, I I see like the thing I like about that place. Like when you have the smaller places and something happens, like the pandemic, whatever, you can always transition to put someone in there longer term, you know. Yeah, you know, here I have how I have some of mine are houses. I can transition, but it's not as easier as putting like two people here because you know you have that related rate on a house. So yeah, this place looks really nice.

SPEAKER_02 31:58

And luckily for the Bermuda market, we don't have restrictions like I hear states where some states you can have Airbnbs in certain areas, and we don't have that here. So you could just turn your house, whatever neighborhood you're in, you could just turn your house into an Airbnb if you

No zoning bans: turn any house into an Airbnb

SPEAKER_02 32:16

want to. And my place, um, because we do get hit with hurricanes. Um, I remember I had a girl staying there for a month. And where I live, my place was one of the few places that didn't lose electricity. Um, I haven't lost electricity since I bought the place, but my neighbor said, you know, because it's a very friendly place. And if you live in a neighborhood, everyone pretty much knows everyone. She said, you know, if your um the person staying in your Airbnb gets a little nervous, you know, because the hurricane's coming, tell her she can come stay at my place, um, which is like literally right next door, of course. Um, if she loses electricity or whatever, is just to make her feel comfortable. And she loved that um gesture. Um so I was shocked that my neighbor even offered that because I know um when people come to the island and it's a hurricane or something, you don't know what to expect sometimes, and it could be kind of scary. So that was really, really nice, and she really liked that.

SPEAKER_03 33:15

So what when is hurricane season over there?

SPEAKER_02 33:17

Um between say September and November. So it's just dying down right now. Okay.

SPEAKER_03 33:27

You don't get any bad ones?

SPEAKER_02 33:29

No, not this year, luckily.

SPEAKER_03 33:31

Cool.

SPEAKER_02 33:32

We missed them.

SPEAKER_05 33:33

Have you guys got hit with any bad ones since you've like since you've had your place?

SPEAKER_02 33:37

Um, we did. I want to say it was two years ago. I can't remember what it was, what the name of the hurricane was. I really can't remember. But yeah. And the worst one that we got hit with, I wasn't living on island. Um, I was overseas in university, and that one was really, really, really bad. That that one really hit the island hard. But because of how our houses are built, we usually come out pretty good. Um, but yeah, sometimes we get hit with some bad ones.

SPEAKER_06 34:13

Yeah, but yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 34:15

From looking at the outside of her house, it looks like they're built for hurricanes and just last.

SPEAKER_02 34:20

Yeah, and for me, when yeah, see my block. And when I bought my house, I didn't want to be one boarding up windows and all of that. So that was a big factor. So where I'm located, I don't really get hit with a lot of breeze and and and all of that. So I'm not around my house boarding up windows and yeah, so yeah, I was pretty strategic when I bought my house. And I always said if I I want to buy a house centrally located, so if I want to sell it, I can sell it right away. And how far are you from the airport? Um, well, Bermuda's not that big. Um, so to get to the airport from my place is about 15 to 20 minute drive, depending on the traffic.

SPEAKER_05 35:05

Okay, because you that led into my next question. Like, because I'm looking at the island, how far is it to get from one side to the other?

SPEAKER_02 35:12

Um 22 square miles, it probably takes about an hour, depending on traffic. And then it depends on what type of transportation you're in. So if I'm on my motorbike, like I have a mill pay at could probably take me 45 minutes, depending on traffic. If you're in a car, obviously longer. Longer in a car? Yeah, because if I'm on a mobile, if I'm on a motorbike, you tend to overtake traffic and weave in and out of traffic.

SPEAKER_05 35:42

Oh, yeah, that's how it was when I went to Casabell, Mexico. People on moped just weave in. I'm like, man, I can't. Yeah, we're the same. Yeah, yeah. I'm like, y'all live life dangerous, man.

SPEAKER_03 35:54

So, how's your um templates business been going?

SPEAKER_02 35:58

Um well, right now it's going really, really well. I've just seen like almost a 400% increase on my website. Yeah. Um, because at first I was struggling, and I have a mentor. Um, I started doing graphic design and graphic design

The 400% traffic spike after joining Facebook groups

SPEAKER_02 36:15

with her straight out of college. And I still check in with her every now and then. And I will, she gave me some advice, just like get into Facebook groups. They're like a girl mine. Best thing ever. And then I found out it's like a whole science into making sure you don't get kicked out of Facebook groups when it comes to promoting yourself. Um, but that has been going really, really, really well. So when I saw that that that percentage increase, I thought I was being hacked.

SPEAKER_03 36:50

So so you like um Facebook groups as opposed to Instagram groups?

SPEAKER_02 36:55

Instagram has groups.

SPEAKER_03 36:57

I don't know. I'm not really on it. So I mean, is promoting yourself on Instagram? Is it really doesn't really work very well?

SPEAKER_02 37:05

I still just promote myself on Instagram to get the following up and all of that. But right now, I've like Facebook's just been working for me, but I know that I still need to build out my email list. Um, because as you saw recently, Facebook and Instagram can go down. We still need to be able to connect with our audience. So one of the ways I'm also doing that is hopping on your show.

SPEAKER_03 37:30

There you go. Our audience loves, yeah. Well, love what you got. The templates and you got a great place in Bermuda. They'll be they'll be reaching out to you.

SPEAKER_02 37:38

Yeah, like I it's been going really, really well. Um, so right now I'm just trying to get the word out there to let people know, you know, use templates if you don't, if you never knew about them. I only found out about templates because doing my Airbnb, I didn't have time to do the welcome book myself. So I was just searching and I found out it's a huge market for templates. Um, and so I said, because I know Airbnb market, why not just create something for that market?

SPEAKER_03 38:09

Have you have you heard like heard any stories from your clients saying, wow, this template really helps, you know, helped my unit or the anything like that?

SPEAKER_02 38:18

Um no, I haven't, but I I did ask for feedback and they said the directions I gave was really, really easy. And with that, I also just created an email four-day course, which is free. And using my design experience and saying, here's how you can improve your design of um anything that you do, because you could be given a template, but next thing you know, it looks like a hot mess because you've done all this crap to it. And you're like, what happened to the structure? So with the email course, it helps keep that structure so you don't bear off from the template, like just changing the font or just changing the colors.

SPEAKER_03 39:01

I see. And it's funny with that because it is important to have something that looks, you know, pleasing to the eye that you know for the Wi-Fi or for whatever instructions you want to give them. But I saw we have a we have a client who we who we um you know co-host or manage the Airbnb for. And so we went after we got in there with you know, started putting our stuff there and uh to to make it you know more appealing for for guests to you know, give it a little upgrade. Um, they had they had this sign hanging there, if you steal, you will pay, just written in like Microsoft Word, and they just stuck it on the wall. I'm like, that's not a kind of ghetto, you know.

SPEAKER_01 39:44

Some people just don't care.

SPEAKER_03 39:46

Yeah, so we had to get the get rid of that, put some put some better stuff up. But yeah, it is it is important, you know. I mean, you could because I've heard because I've had guests, um long-term guests at one at one of my houses, you know. One of my houses, I went from an Airbnb, a very profitable Airbnb, but then uh the city band Airbnb to uh I went to corporate rental and it was doing great as a corporate rental. And these guys uh had come from a different Airbnb where this uh the lady that that was a host there, she had signs like everywhere, you know, of things for them to do. And it it was it was a bit overwhelming for them. It's like, man, you know, we they had so many directions. You can do this, you can't do that, put this here, put this that, you know, it was just over. It's uncomfortable. Yeah, so a few a few strategic signs that doesn't really offend people, and it goes a long way.

SPEAKER_02 40:32

It's it's one thing to communicate to your gear guests, it's another thing to just go overboard, you know. And luckily, with my templates, I designed them too so they can be deconstructed. So you have the Wi-Fi um poster, for instance. You could actually take that out and put it somewhere because usually that's the first thing guests ask for. What's the Wi-Fi password? Yes, you could send it to them, but yeah, you could also put it in their plain view. So when they they get there, there it is. Um, you could also put like places to eat, you know, something that's in the neighborhood or best um best restaurants to go. You could take that out of the welcome book template, you could frame it and place it somewhere because that's something they may want to know. But putting all those types of signs saying, Don't touch this, don't touch that, I would feel a bit overwhelmed and not feel

The all-white-towel debate: decor over hotel bleach

SPEAKER_02 41:24

comfortable. So I wouldn't put signs everywhere.

SPEAKER_04 41:29

Yeah, some hosts, yeah, they shouldn't probably be hosting stuff like that.

SPEAKER_03 41:33

Yeah, I saw something creative at a at a hotel I stayed at like uh a few years ago to a friend's wedding, and and so we stayed at a hotel up the way. And there was uh in the in the bathroom, they had some towels hanging, and then they had like uh a little flyer, and it said, you know, and it and it gave a little thing like you know, please help us conserve water for you know for the future, this and that, by only using one towel for a person or something, you know. It was it was nice and I and it made people think, and it wasn't overbearing, like only one towel, you know, but just you know, help help save the environment, help save, you know, save water, just please use one towel or something like that. So I was I thought that was like a little touch that uh right that was pretty neat.

SPEAKER_02 42:15

All in how you ask. I love that. Exactly, yeah. But mind you, I also wouldn't. I that was one of the mistakes I've made putting too many towels in the unit and having them out, thinking I'll make it easier for my my cleaner. No, they used every single one.

SPEAKER_04 42:36

That's a fact.

SPEAKER_05 42:38

So and I have a question about towels. I'm happy you brought that up because we actually just had a whole meeting about towels. Are y'all use are you using like all white or are you have you you so you've transitioned away from the white?

SPEAKER_02 42:50

What color I never used white, I never used whites, not for the bed sheets, not for the towels. I used what looked good in my apartment. Maybe this white thing's overrated, and even in the Facebook groups, people ask that, and a lot of people say they just don't use white. Um, they say they may use like a white and gray or whatever works for their Airbnb because it goes with the decor. But yeah, and I didn't even think twice about using all white. I think it's overrated. That's just my opinion. And funny enough, that's one thing I never had guests complain about. It's been a super host, you know, consistently, and guests never complained about the towels.

SPEAKER_04 43:41

Good.

SPEAKER_02 43:42

The only thing I probably had a complaint about is because Google has my place located where it's not.

SPEAKER_03 43:48

Oh, that sucks. You need to talk to Google.

SPEAKER_02 43:51

I tried, but luckily, the place where they had me listed is not too far away, so it's an easy two minute ride. my bike to get there. And I that only happened once. So I just made sure to put it in my welcome book tabs um template template. My welcome book as well as send them an email saying do not use Google. Use the directions that's in my welcome book because if you use Google, you're going to go to the wrong place.

SPEAKER_03 44:19

And back to towels that that is like an interesting topic because if you think about it, we've all been told since the beginning of this is oh you want to be like hotels you want to be like hotels and all white all white all white everything right it it it portrays cleanliness and this that this and that. Well they do it at the hotels they can throw everything in a big machine and wash it together and bleach it. You know it's it's practical for them. But at your own at most of our own houses we have all kinds of different colors towels right yeah I mean we don't have all white towels that's ridiculous especially kids um so so it doesn't so like a person renting a place that's they want more homey experience I don't think they're gonna be mad that hey why isn't this like a hotel well you didn't choose a hotel you chose a home and there's some beige nice beige towels gray towels black towels I mean whatever I mean it's just yeah it's it's more I don't know more homey yeah that's the one thing yeah nobody never complained about the towels and I had blue and brown we did blue and brown we did get a complaint about because at one spot we had some face towels that were white and it was uh a lady saying you know you know you should probably get darker towels because women you know clean their makeup off so they actually complained about the white towels that said it's gonna leave too much makeup behind you know and I was like ah that's a good a good tip so we installed some different you know darker colored towels too for for them to and even in those groups I found that that's one of the questions people ask you know how do you get off the stains or from the white towels from the makeup because next thing you know um hosts are spending all this money buying more towels oh yeah so and I looked at my expenses and my revenue and I'm like sometimes where could I cut expenses but I had to track everything to make to make it so I could see where my money's going.

SPEAKER_02 46:06

Yeah yeah tiles is a tiles is a huge one especially if you're trying to move away from white and I I've been debating it and I think I'm gonna go ahead and do it because yeah tiles you can leave a towel out there that says makeup on it they ain't gonna use it they about to use that white towel I'm like so yeah I'm definitely making that transition once you go black baby so so how do you how you you said you have a uh uh a baby a baby boy yes baby boy so how are you balancing uh running a business with with having a little baby um lunch times um and then he goes to his dad's for a few days so I use that time to just strategize create new designs um yeah and just just find new ways of getting the printables business out there um because I know when I was doing the apparel line and then COVID hit I was and it it's the shipping delays you know it it it's it's it was just crazy and then having to restock stores I just didn't feel like doing all that and I didn't want to be controlled by outside sources. So I just said getting out of the apparel line and I want to do printables because that way I can control it a lot better. And then if I want to go overseas for a month because I used to travel every year I could just take my laptop with me. I don't have to worry about you know how this store is going to get restocked with the items. Like um since I did the apparel line though it actually helped because people were asking me you know can I give them my contacts so they could start buying shirts and they could start doing the same thing. I said no I could be a distributor though smart more revenue. So yeah but I just find even with that it's the shipping delays and I have to keep letting the client know there are going to be some shipping delays so next time if you order you need to start thinking far further in advance. So if you want to order for the rent you got to probably start like August or something like that because it's just the the the company trying to get the product to them is just taking a lot longer and then of course everything is usually shipped to Bermuda so that's also um time you have to factor in but that was just an accidental business I fell into about a quick easy few hundred dollars off the research that I've done sure why not nice I like that so do you have any plans to hop back into the short term rental world like renting places yourself I do I do want to get back into it um but it's just COVID just a little iffy and the tenant I have right now she's amazing you know she's amazing pays on time doesn't have a lot of people over keeps the place clean um quiet she's the ideal rental client and it's consistent income and the

COVID's slow recovery and canceled major events

SPEAKER_02 49:14

other thing is when I was doing my doing the short term rental um with the time I was putting into the rental and the expenses I wasn't really making that much I like that so I was just like I'll probably just do the long term rental thing for a little bit and if I got a bay at um 10 and probably go back into the Airbnb because I never shut down my Airbnb account. I kept it for that reason I want to leave that option open. So if I want to pick the switch and get back into it I can.

SPEAKER_05 49:45

No you said you kind of iffy on COVID.

SPEAKER_02 49:48

Now how is COVID like right now at this time how is it affecting like travel in and out or is it open travel um travel is slow to Bermuda we are definitely not seeing the numbers that we usually see and sometimes we would host huge events um on the island like we had was supposed to have the triathlon series and that was canceled and that's a series that's that goes various places in the world and we had to cancel it. We also have um Marathon weekend and crazy enough I had a guest that wants to rebook my place because of my proximity to where the event happens and he was going to be a recurring guest but that was canceled. So it's affecting that market um with hosting big events and we don't get as much travelers as we normally do but I still get people asking can I stay at your place? Is your place still available? Like it's one gentleman who booked it for him and his family to stay in December and not this December 2019 sorry 20 yeah 2019 he would have been another recurring guest he asked can he stay at it again and I said no it's currently rented out um so I was still I'm still getting asked hey is your place available yet and yeah yeah you haven't talked to any of your friends and say hey I can help you convert your garage and make you some money that that's construction I I hate construction like the heck project management of a construction site I don't want to do it again. But it's a lot easier on the island right there's not that island time thing going uh no construction costs have gone up because of COVID because more people are being home so more people are doing projects so construction cost like if you're trying to get lumber that's going up significantly you don't want to buy lumber right now lord see exactly want to be in that space we go chop down some trees man that might be the only way man seriously I have a question for you guys though how often do you change your welcome book template about your welcome books like is it yearly seasonal or do you just keep the same layout and you just update the content I gotta go ahead and get one uh I need to go ahead and get one so I might need to get with you because I need a digital one uh right now see and I need to start focusing on stuff like that because this year my my my goal for the business was a little bit different more or less focused on branding so I definitely need to get back into the guest experience side okay oh go ahead no I was saying I I see there's this big thing with QR codes and welcome book tablets. So just being in their Facebook groups doing market research.

QR codes, magnets, and digital welcome books

SPEAKER_02 52:50

So that's something that um I'm also going to be looking to try to implement to see how they work and if it if it works with my model. So it it's you get you get a lot of information from those groups. Do you do magnets?

SPEAKER_05 53:04

No okay well if you were to ever hop into the magnet space one way to always get someone to either click your QR code or scan it is if you have a refrigerator magnet because like it's the number one place in the house they're going to go into and they're going to always see so yeah if you ever get into the magnets but yeah always I saw one um I think Facebook groups again they had a QR code and it was just stuck in the fridge. Yeah that's where I put all like I put QR codes if they want to book direct hey you get 20% off I just make sure it's on the fridge.

SPEAKER_06 53:42

That's pretty cool.

SPEAKER_05 53:43

Yeah fridge is always the number one spot I'm definitely gonna start looking into that stuff.

SPEAKER_03 53:49

I've I've only myself made a few on the uh on the Airbnb app you know how you can make a a welcome book there I've done that and they look pretty cool and all right and I don't know if they're they're helping anything or no one's ever really told me anything about them. You know I'm saying I've got any feedback but I yeah I've always wanted to do something nicer and maybe right and and I've flipped if there if I get to a place and there's a nice looking one on the coffee table I I'll I'll flip through it. You know I'll flip through it and see what's going on. Uh I've never scanned one of the QR QR codes I may be the I might be in the minority here but I've never really I even get mad and go to the restaurants they want us to scan the table now I'm like where's where's the damn menu you know I like to look at the menu you know I like to I'm more like that kind you know I don't want to I hate touching menus okay but even before covet it's just I just hated touching them because that's being that's like touching money exactly that's like touching money everybody touches them you know but yeah yes building salsa on them and stuff um well now most places here they give they either do the QR code thing at the table or they they give you a paper menu and then they throw it away after after you use it. Okay. Killing trees killing trees QR codes never hurt nobody um I guess I can get I guess I guess more people can get with that yeah you're right the QR code I I yeah I'm I'm scanning them more and more no more and more because they've trained me at restaurants to scan them and then I'll now I'll see them somewhere and I'll and I'll and I'll scan it even on a TV you know if you notice the the TV commercial will come on we'll watch a football or something and it's a hey you know your chance to scan this code right here and your chance to win whatever I'm not that quick. I'm not that quick I ain't been watching they doing that now on TV yeah like on yeah on Fox uh Fox Sports uh whatever that the you know they show the football games and say uh win Terry Bradshall's money here scan this QR code and it gives you your chance to win and you just everybody has their phones all the time anyway so I guess yeah that's a smart thing to do right think about that yeah yeah yeah so yeah different ways different ways to do it I'm I'm glad you're hopping back into the Airbnb game and have you ever thought of doing it remotely like not from your islands oh you you mean like um my welcome templates well that's the that's no no no the having a having an Airbnb somewhere else besides your island I'm a little control freak I'm a little control freak like I need to be close by okay

Firing the 15% property manager and going self-managed

SPEAKER_03 56:33

oh and it to me it just felt like I was able to keep up the quality because there were some times where my cleaner would miss certain things or you know and yeah like I had somebody managing the property and then I realized she's not really doing much it's something I could be doing you know paying her 15% it's just like oh whoa wait you were paying her 50 15 oh oh oh okay yeah I don't know if that's worth okay yeah yeah 15% like I don't know if that's worth it okay no especially when I was um um I'm getting the um long term bookings that were like two thousand dollars or something and I'm looking at money just going out the window and she didn't really do much you know and I've always wondered about that because I've catered a lot of my spots to be get long-term reservations even through Airbnb I'm like if I was paying a property management company even 10 and they're in their long term what the hell are they just sitting back here collecting a check you know exactly which if you have a property management company I'm all for you doing that you know but me on the other receiving end I'm like hey okay yeah yeah we like you know our just rentals are our our um a long term or short term rental company management company we we there are guests that we we'll find them long-term stayers and we'll ask them you know do you want this long-term stay or do you want to just keep doing Airbnb? This is how much you'll make we'll even reduce our you know 20 down to 10 in a long term stay because like I said we're not gonna be doing that much but we did find these people and put them in your place you didn't have to you know go out there and search and do it it's it's management I think a management company is essential if you're gonna try to scale your business. Right.

SPEAKER_02 58:19

If you want 200 200 properties you can't do them all yourself exactly so yeah but if you're just having the one like you had like you have and you just maybe get a couple of them yeah you don't really need yeah and because I was new to the market I just didn't know I was still getting my feet wet I thought it was going to be a lot harder than it actually was. So once I started calculating the numbers I was just like doesn't make sense I could do this everything's from my phone you know I had the um ring on my front door so if they had trouble getting in I could just talk to them through the ring and tell them how to get into the um get into the place the only thing I would probably want them to deal with is those guests that are delayed and coming at one o'clock in the morning so I don't have to deal with it but that was not that often it only happened like once now I have a question.

SPEAKER_03 59:10

So you don't have a smart lock or anything no I have a lockbox okay so they'll just access the key that way and enter the apartment gotcha okay I started looking at smart locks just before the um for the pandemic hit but the lockbox ended up working fine makes sense because I had a I had a lockbox a a lock not lock box but a uh smart lock issue happened a day all my smart locks went offline because all the uh the company that I used they had their portal went down and oh imagine 13 locks just going down boom all every last one oh yeah I'm uh reconsidering some things it was crazy so yeah I'm reconsidering sometimes digital isn't that isn't that great did you have lockboxes on your places five of them had lock boxes the other ones I had vivid systems so it was only like five of them that I was like oh shoot you know I'm saying the other ones I'm like dang yeah right so you I guess you're gonna install lockboxes on the other ones I'm gonna install lock boxes but really it just made me focus I need to shift I'm shifting towards houses so and all my houses have vivid systems on it so the backup system is if they can't get in I can just open the garage and they can have a key I can tell them where a key is inside but they can always get into the garage got you yeah cool this has been a great show this has been a fun show we we we love hearing from somebody that's from the islands yeah it's it's really cool you got a great accent too so thank you if you ever want to do voiceover work you know that you probably make a lot of money there too oh hey if you if you you can send some business my way if you know of anything you know yeah yeah say welcome can you say welcome to live let thrive welcome to live let thrive I may have to work on it a bit yeah yeah so thanks for hopping on uh again where can people find you um I'm on Instagram dropping anchor bda i'm also on Facebook under the same name um and my website's www.droppinganchorbda.com cool anything else to add mica no thank you for coming on it was a pleasure learned a lot i'm definitely gonna be hitting by bermuda you got me over my fears so i'll definitely be out that way up in awesome up in our um templates game and our uh uh guestbook game as well yes please visit the website who knows you might even see you know you might like the instagram follow us sign that you you know that you may want to put in your Airbnb because we're always trying to get our followers up I definitely need to be doing that definitely well thank thank you Jamila yeah thank you for coming on thank you you guys have a good one you too all right see ya bye and so that was Jamila Godwin another great episode of Live Let Thrive she killed it uh man I definitely got to check out the island life you know see what that's about uh I didn't know travel's still down over there it's crazy how it affects different parts of the world yeah it's I mean it's I always hear that that on those islands it's it's it's always more expensive everything more expensive because they have to ship everything in you know they don't got lumber they don't have you know basic basic goods that most people we take for granted here everything has to be shipped in and so it's already expensive enough i couldn't imagine after the pandemic how how expensive things had gotten over there you know so even a better reason for you to stay like live like a local go to that place where you get the giant fish sandwich and all you know jumping off the rocks i don't know it that sounds pretty cool it does man you know and it's that was that was really interesting like 700k for a house I'm like dang but yeah you're on an island you got to pay for the lifestyle right right you know buy some sticky icky from a local you know i'm saying yeah she says she has some uh she says she has some guests from colorado i was like how did they treat the place but oh you know how that they bet they loved it over in bermuda but yeah oh man that was a great show great guest and um yeah thanks for listening everybody yeah thank you for continuing to listen uh you remember follow us on IG Livelet Thrive send us the email livelet thrive at gmail.com and by the way you can go check out our latest video on i Instagram where we kind of talk about Airbnb's new updates so uh definitely check that out I don't know Steve you checked them out yeah I'll check it out now you know like I said I've a bit of hiatus from socials no no I'm not about social I'm talking about the new updates from Airbnb oh yeah yeah I've heard about them um Federico was filling me in on all that stuff it was pretty cool actually I I did no I did since I went to my units today our units and I I was getting all the cameras because I was just giving a good charge before I head to Mexico go to Mexico this weekend well for about you know good good stretch and I was um Federico said hey with the new then one of the new things the Airbnb is doing you could you can verify your Wi-Fi see how fast it is and then they'll add it as fast Wi-Fi whatever to your to your listing so you know you go to you go to amenities and you go to Wi-Fi and it says you know add details and and you have to be right there at your place and then you hit the you know you know check the Wi-Fi or whatever button the the button and then it and it goes and it measures the speed and then it adds that to your Airbnb so I did that in all of our Airbnbs while I was over there in Dallas today. So I was like pretty cool man got your fast wifi badge we get most of them yeah most of them the only one that the only one that wasn't the the like a fast wifi badge was it's it's one we're arbitraging from uh someone who owns the condo you know themselves they own the condo and then but they and they they're the ones providing the Wi-Fi for us so you know how you could always call up ATT or spectrum and say hey can I get the fast can I try out that faster one they usually give it to you for free. I guess he hadn't done that and that we impressed him but it it was it was strong it wasn't labeled as fat I don't know whatever. So that was the only one so all the other ones you know we had really fast Wi-Fi.

SPEAKER_05 1:05:25

I haven't done mine yet I need to do it connected I'll probably be at well yeah actually I'll be at one of my units this weekend that'll be yeah it's been a while since I've been into that one I'll check it out and see if I do that. But you ready for the uh influx of shitty ass guests?

SPEAKER_03 1:05:41

Well why do you say that the new updates that's what I'm talking about. Okay I didn't I don't know the rest okay what why are you saying more shitty guests are gonna oh man they uh they they extended their uh coverage Airbnb did their coverage for hey uh loss of income protection for the host uh the um pet damage all of that you know they're doing that because uh they still ain't making the guest pay a security deposit so hey they're basically saying hey we're gonna let some fucked up guests come in and fuck up your ship but we'll pay for it basically that that's basically what they said you know uh yeah we we filed a pet claim the other day someone snuck in a dog and we said you know we it you know the the fee plus the clean you know extra cleaning it was like we charge them 150 bucks and of course and and Airbnb called us up pretty quickly and said hey you know we can't get a hold of that guest they're not answering our calls of course um but we're gonna go ahead and just send us the receipts of the cleaning blah blah blah and we'll reimburse you i was like wow that was freaking easy yeah then that that person who snuck in the pets can go fuck up somebody else's shit bro that's how Airbnb is they can go fuck up somebody else's shit but we'll we'll pay you out you know as long as Airbnb's paying for it man but yeah that's uh but they severing that relationship in my opinion but uh yeah other than that uh the loss of income thing I think they're definitely trying to hop into that proper safely space is what it sounds like so definitely gonna be interested to see what how it what that brings nice nice well cool well thank y'all for listening and we will see y'all next week we are out peace later thank you for tuning in to this week's episode of Live Let Thrive be sure to tune in next week for all the latest in the world of Airbnb and all that entails.

SPEAKER_00 1:07:34

Bye bye