3 Points for Hospitality Marketing: Alex & Jonathan Ruggles of Flip.to

Alex Husner  0:02  
Hey everybody. Today's episode is a conversation that I had with Jonathan Ruggles, the Director of Partnerships from flip to, and we dove into the three points of hospitality marketing. And this was just a really fun conversation that we had that we thought would be worth sharing with our audience today. So, without further ado, here we go. 

Jonathan Ruggles  0:23  
Welcome to this week's enlightening session on three points for hospitality Marketing. My name is Jonathan Ruggles and it's my pleasure to host this interview as Director of Partnerships for flip.to or flip two as we like to say, today we're privileged to have with us miss Alex Husner are a luminary in the hospitality marketing, whose insights and strategies have been shaping the vacation rental industry. As your host and interviewer. I'm excited to delve into a conversation with Alex about three revolutionary strategies that are redefining the vacation rental landscape of hospitality marketing. That's a lot of words. All right.

Alex is going to take us through the idea of building your house on your own land. This approach focusing on the importance of owning your digital presence and assets. It's more relevant than ever in today's unpredictable digital world. Alex's insights will illuminate the benefits of the strategy for enduring success in our industry. Next, we'll discuss the importance of leveraging your guests content and audiences. Alex's expertise will highlight how guest generated content isn't just valuable. It's a powerful tool for authentic engagement and expanding your reach. We'll share practical ways to turn your guests into brand ambassadors leveraging their content and audiences to enrich your marketing efforts. We're almost done Alex. Lastly, we'll dive into the power of being the first mover Alex will explain why staying ahead of the curve, and adopting innovative strategies early can set you apart in the ever competitive hospitality market. She will share experiences and advice on how being a first mover can significantly elevate your brand's position and appeal. Okay, got through it. Let's do it.

It is a mouthful. Alex, I've been so excited for our conversation today. You might notice I am having one of my favorite cigars. It's absolutely fantastic. And I had to take a picture of it because it's a mouthful. This is a my father Flor de la and Tila Toro Gordo. And it's a maduro blend. It's absolutely delicious. I know we're virtual right. So I'm in Bend Oregon at mcmenamins which is if you guys don't know MC minimums, you gotta look it up. And Alex, where are you? I'm in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. So way on the other side of the country for me.

Alex Husner  2:53  
I wish I knew more about the cigar that you're smoking and everything that you just said, but I can't even pretend that I do. But I will say we have to have you on our podcast at some point because we've never had somebody smoke a cigar show. So that would be a first and it would be a good conversation. I know that. Perfect. Perfect. Well, like I said, I've been so excited for today. Thank you for joining us. And we've got our three points in the ticker below. But let's start out I'm curious building your house on your own land. Yeah, so I operate from the vacation rental sector primarily. But when you hear in the Myrtle Beach market, there's a lot of crossover between vacation rentals to resorts to condo resorts to hotels, beach homes. And you know, as a destination, we really we market, the entire destination, the CVB, the chamber, the DMO, and so familiar within all different parts. From the vacation rental side, I will tell you this story. So obviously during COVID, there was a lot of backlash towards Airbnb when closures started happening, Airbnb, and they've continued to do this, they really they take the side of the guest over the property manager, you know, 10 to one. And that obviously caused a lot of problems for people that had deposits held up and property managers weren't paid. And it really created a ruckus within the industry of talking about okay, if we don't want this to happen again. And it was more of a wake up call, I would say of wow. You know, I mean, obviously we had to close during COVID. But an OTA can change their rules, they can change the rules of the game at any point because they control the game. And so when you're looking at your own strategy, whether you are a hotel, vacation rental, no matter what type of property, you really want to be able to create your own rules. And in this case, as we said, build your house on your own land, so that you don't get the rug pulled out from under you. And I've seen that happen far too many times. So in doing that we really focus on building direct booking strategies and building audiences that you

own and that you have access to that data. Yeah, LinkedIn, Facebook, all those are great audiences to build. But at this at the end of the day, you also don't own those. So what are the ways that you can actually build, you know, build a reliable source of traffic that's, that's coming back in your email list, of course, is probably one of the biggest ways to do that. Granted, you know, there's different things that can happen with email providers and different rules and things like that. But the more contact information that you're able to get from the guest to stay continuously in conversations with them, obviously, the better and I know, that's something that the vacation rental industry, he has learned and seen from what the hotels have gone through to that a lot of the hotel based OTAs really some do, and some use to make it a lot harder for you to be able to get that contact information. But it's it's vital, you know, to build up your repeat business, have that house on the land that you bought, and that you control and you mow the grass, there's just inherent value to that. So you know, building up creative audiences, you know, podcasting, I mean, different sources that you you own are always to make sure that you're staying in front of guests and your business constituents, whether that's conference guests, or conference organizers, you've got to get creative with it. But you have to make sure that you are building your strategy with the long term in mind and not getting distracted by the quick wins of a quick Airbnb booking or an OTA booking or, you know, just relying on the outside world to be able to provide you your revenue at the end of the day. That is such good points. And you know, in my conversations with people, you know, listen, OTAs are part of the strategy. Yeah, there shouldn't be such a dependence on them. But it's kind of like the old adage, you know, Las Vegas wasn't built from winning, right?

Jonathan Ruggles  6:50  
Right. Yeah. Love Las Vegas, don't get me wrong, but ya know, Google and Facebook didn't get anywhere from renting their data, right? I mean, they own the data, you know, that land grab of data is, you know, right in front of us, right? The importance of owning that data, leveraging that data, and as you say, build your house, on your own land with your own data and your own insight. So absolutely fantastic. I hope people really kind of think about that, take a step, think about 

Alex Husner  7:20  
Yeah, and really, I mean, not only does it protect you to be able to control the rules of the game, but it also allows you to communicate from your true essence of your brand and in the way that you want to be able to communicate with those guests so that they do remember you. Or if you're a property that has locations and other cities, and you want to be able to cross market to them, you're going to be able to do that if you have control over how you're contacting the guests and the data that you're collecting from them. 

Jonathan Ruggles  7:46  
Absolutely. I'm going to pivot for just a second, we're gonna get to our second point. But I think we need to mention the fact that you've been a friend of flip to for for many, many years. And I wonder, could you just give us you know, a little bit of background on yourself, because I think you've made a big announcement. And I think you've been a leader in this space for a long time. I really, I want to put you on a platform, Alex tell us.

Alex Husner  8:15  
No, I appreciate that. Yeah, I've been in the Myrtle Beach market for 15 years and vacation rental and hospitality spaces here are actively involved with our CVB DMO chamber, which is actually how I first started working with flip to that we were very early adopters of the flip to platform which this is going back to 2017 I think we were the first destination. We were like the beta that it got rolled out with. And the company that I was with I was cmo with condo world here. We were the first property to roll out several of the features and a lot of the new developments that flipped to have and really just built a great relationship with AD and everybody on the team and there's literally all your all of you got guys and gals. It's a great company. 

Jonathan Ruggles  9:04  
And but for the record, everybody knows that. Right?

Alex Husner  9:10  
Yeah, that's right. It's very true. But yeah, and so cmo with condo world for 13 years there. That's how I met also got involved with you guys chamber I left last year and I was cmo for a company called Casa which is a national vacation rental franchise business was more on the business development side. And truly my talents and love for this business really is in marketing. And I actually I just resigned from that position a little bit less than a month ago and am going full time on my own thing. At this point. I'm going to be focusing on a couple different things but the podcast our podcast is Alex and Annie the real women of vacation rentals. That's us on this mug right here watching the video and then growing the parent company of the podcast which is aha moments. And that's going to beA lot of different things were I'm working through with it, but likely a advisory fractional cmo type business where I can work more directly with these vacation rental hospitality brands, on their book direct strategies on business growth on building their own houses on their own land. Yeah, there you go.

Jonathan Ruggles  10:18  
Perfect. Well, congratulations on all your success. And I'm just super excited everybody who flipped to is super excited. A they're excited about this conversation be. They're excited about where you're going and more impact that you're gonna have in the vacation rental space. So congrats. That's pretty awesome. I always have appreciated your support and the support of your team. They've been there for me along this journey, in many ways. So awesome. Yeah, it's a little exam. I'm sorry, folks, a little bit of a love fest here. But that's okay All right. We talked a little bit earlier about the importance of leveraging your guest content and audience, as you touched on a little bit, I wonder if you could dive a little deeper into that. 

Alex Husner  11:00  
Yeah, sure. And, you know, some of the three points that we have, they kind of all weave together to tell a bigger story. But one of the things that I've I've gotten to really see firsthand and in this past year, as I've been traveling to multiple markets with Costco and looking at different operators and seeing who would potentially fit into the franchise model, there is what we call the sea of sameness out there that everybody basically markets the same, they look the same. They're, they're the name of their company is like, this seaside coastline, this, whatever, just different versions of the same word, sometimes just spelled differently, all in one market, same colors. And it's like, for consumer, no wonder, you know, we've given vacation rentals as not on purpose, but by our actions has given our brand to Airbnb, I mean, Airbnb has become the Kleenex, because it is a brand that it stands for a lot, it's very well known, they've positioned themselves very well, I think a lot of the companies in our space, have just kind of gone with the status quo of, you know, the basics. And when it comes to user generated content, one thing that we always did really well at condo world, and I think, you know, through a lot of influence and learnings that we had at the Chamber CVB, and with your flip juice help was how important it was to put our guests at the front of our marketing. And, you know, let them be the stars of the show, let them tell the stories of their vacation and connect that with their friends and family that are obviously going to be the most likely people that would also be interested in coming to stay if they have similar interests. And I think having that approach really differentiated the Myrtle Beach area in a lot of the companies that that went that route, and certainly differentiated condo world. And I mean, we were all about our brand all day long. But we did it in such a way that it was it was told through their eyes, and it was communicating what our core values were and the audiences that we wanted to attract. But it may it made it fun to I mean, at the end of the day, this, this is a fun industry that we all work in, and getting to actually see people enjoy what it is that we're selling, we're not selling insurance, you know, we're selling something that's kind of fun, that makes a big difference. And there really are not enough companies that have figured out how to do that and leverage it effectively. And quite honestly, I think what a lot of that comes down to is there aren't a lot of tools that are easy to use. I mean, there's there's tools out there. But with flip to that was always you know, how we were able to generate this content. It was, you know, once it was set up, there wasn't a whole lot of work. I mean, we were generating the content, curating it, and then now having the rights to those images that we used on our, you know, emails and brochures and all of our advertising. And it's just it's very distinguishable and impactful within that sea of sameness that I first mentioned there. Yeah, that is such a great point and the common thread here is that control that you're talking about. Yes, yep, yep control and, and the differentiation.

Jonathan Ruggles  15:47  
I was talking to a friend of mine who you know, you can't open up LinkedIn without seeing something about AI. I mean, AI is everywhere. Right? But I'm taking credit for this. And I'm telling you for the first time I've been going with it. And you know, I'm really about AI as well. And I think hospitality is about AI, which is nothing more than authentic interactions. Yep, that's right people, authentic interactions. And that could be, you know, online that can be at the front desk that could be meeting the property owner. But I mean, we aren't we're human. Right. We want those authentic interactions. And, you know, I've always said, you know, memories and relationships are the most important thing you have in your life. Well, maybe health for sure. Yeah. Yeah. of memories and relationships. 

Alex Husner  16:30  
Yeah. And I mean, think about what an impact we all have in that for a lot of these guests that I mean, we are the stewards of these vacations and these memories that they have. And, you know, of course, we want to make that a memorable and a good experience for them. But I think you're spot on. I mean, that's that's what ultimately worries me, you know about AI and just technology in general that there's a lot of things that it certainly it helps and it makes more efficient, both for businesses and for the guests to be able to quickly get on their way to their vacation. But there's a lot of those you know, authentic true one to one personal touches that a I can't fix, and I can't help you with that. And I've we're definitely starting to see that more in the vacation rental industry of, you know, post COVID, almost everything went to keyless lock digital entry to get into the properties. And in previously, guests were coming to offices, they were meeting reservation staff. And, you know, obviously, this has made it easier for guests to start their vacation, vacation quicker. But now you've got to do a lot more creative things to get in front of that guests. So we're seeing that, you know, for big beach homes, there's a property manager that the day after they check in, they're stopping by the home, they're bringing key lime pie their bread, they're bringing a tree, it's like they're doing things that that is hard to do at scale. But it's you know, it's important. And that's what makes guests continue to come back to you. So however you you do that, depending on the size of your portfolio and what that accommodations mix. Looks like, it's still important to figure out a way to use AI use the technology, but remember, have something that still shows it's really you on the other side of that screen at the very least. Yeah, exactly. Key Lime Pie. I've not had that happen to me yet. But

I always said that we were down in 30 A and we did an on site interview where they actually the rental company 30 A beach girls, they were amazing. They had a professional gourmet chef come in and cook this meal for us. And it was unreal. But the best part of it was and I'm not a key lime pie fan. Generally, this was the best key lime pie I've ever had. And so then they're saying, Yep, we bring that to all of our guests on Saturdays and like, oh my gosh, I want to wait to win them over. That is not who does this. Do you mind if I ask him? Let's just give them a little shout out. It's yeah. 30 day beach girls. Girls. Yep, yep. Three Zero a 38. Beach. girls.com. I love it with the key lime pie on Saturday. Fantastic. You got to reward that kind of effort. I mean, that is right. Yeah. Yeah. You have to be you have to be. That's awesome. All right. Power of being the first mover, right. I mean, in business school. You know, you're always talking about the power of being the first mover the the first market entrant thoughts on that I was very blessed by a mentor at Kondo world that was was the owner and president. He was my boss for 12 years before he passed away in 2021. But he was 86 when he passed and I learned a lot about business from him over those years. And he had been in other industries before starting the accommodations business. And that was one of the things that he taught me early on of he was always he always wanted to be the first one in the market to try something. And in some cases, we would try things and it didn't work well or at all, but in the cases that it did to have that competitive advantage. Really can you know create some

great momentum for you that it's going to take longer for the competition to be able to catch up with you and follow suit. And you kind of get to steer the path that way. So there were there were several things that we had done early on. And throughout the years, whether it was things that we built ourselves that we were the first mover because we were the ones building it or things that were brought to us that we adopted flipped to obviously being one of them. And that was, we immediately said, Yes, let's do it, we were the first ones to roll out discovery and kind of rehashing how abandonment is done in the booking process, when guests are searching on your website, and that you're doing that in this case, with flip two, we were able to really give input along the whole way in building that process. And you know, that input was then reflected back into the product. So in a lot of cases, when you work closely with vendors or companies, or you are willing to say, Sure, I'll be the one to try it, they're going to help you too. I mean, like you're helping them and it goes both ways. So that was always was always very helpful. I see a lot of companies though, who they defer to waiting on the sidelines, and they would rather, you know, wait a couple years, or sometimes even for another company to try it. First, it's similar to them. And let's just see how they do it. But in our space, the vacation rental space, software, property management, PMS software has evolved significantly over the past really, you know, five years, I would say is when the technology has just really skyrocketed. And that's because obviously a lot of funding coming in post COVID People want to invest in the short term rental industry now. And with that we've gotten great new PMS is that are available to all of us. And you know, switching Property Management Systems is not something that you do without a very vetted process. And it's a long drawn out thing, and it can go really bad if you make the wrong decision. But there's some companies that, you know, I've been talking to recently that are big, they're making big changes to actually its guest he is the property management system, I'm referring to big companies that are switching to gesi right now that are, you know, not that it's a risk. It's a great software. But if you've been on the older, traditional vacation rental software has been around for the last, you know, 15 plus years, this is something new, and it's fun to see companies now say You know what, we need that we need to be the best in class, and we've got to be there. And we're going to lead the pack, and we're going to put ourselves out there, and we'll reap the benefits from it. So that's fantastic. 

Jonathan Ruggles  22:26  
It's so nice to hear about these new innovative companies, right? Because still trying to we want to leverage technology, but how do you just keep that human relationship kind of touch points. 

Alex Husner  22:38  
And I think one common thread that I've noticed, too, the companies that are able to be a first mover, it's not a company where it's a GM, that is maybe part owner or and he wears a million hats, it's companies that are set up with strategic roles in the business, that are going to drive those things forward and be able to execute on them. In our on our space and our side, I'm sorry, that is not as as common to have, you know, a chief marketing officer or, you know, multiple layers of VPS. I think in hotels, probably there's, there's more of that hierarchy. But you've got to have people that are going to be able to drive this for you. I mean, you could have a million great ideas as that could be first mover ideas come across your desk, but if you're the main person that's got to drive it, you can't do everything. So having the right team, I think is a big part of having that confidence and that courage to say, we're going to do this. And if it doesn't work out, we've got people that can undo it.

Jonathan Ruggles  23:39  
Yeah, that's interesting, you know, reminds me of kind of the Elon Musk and some other, you know, big business tycoons. And it's like, if you're gonna fail, fail fast, and then move to the next thing. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, that's perfect. I say it, because it's gonna be inevitable, right? Especially if you want to be a first mover and you're going to be creative and adopt new strategies and don't get too wound around the axle. If it doesn't work, right. I mean, it'd be prudent with budget. And of course, you've got a corporate politics. I'm not supposed to say that. But I mean, there are things right, that happen. Yeah. But, you know, the fact of the matter is, and we mentioned it in the intro, right? I mean, this digital world, I mean, yes, it's, it's mature in some ways, but in other ways, I mean, you got to go get it, and you got to create and control and execute. I think it's the other thing I heard you say is, you know, have these all these ideas, you got to execute one or two, 

Alex Husner  24:33  
exactly. And allow, you know, some room on your budget so that when these different things come to you, you're able to say, Okay, this looks like something that, you know, it's worth a shot, not that if you don't leave any room and you just budget for what, you know, the known expenses are going to be it's a lot harder want to take that risk, obviously. But I mean, we always left, you know, a minimum of 10% in our marketing budget for different things that will come up throughout the year that we wanted to try and that you know, I would say nine out of 10 time RMS, everything ends up working great. And it does give you Oh, that's wonderful. It's a great track record. Yeah. Well, that's why you have a reputation you do. So you have to be discerning. I mean, you don't want to take everything as a first mover. But yeah. And I think that comes down to not only the people that you have on your team, but the people on the team have, whatever it is that's being pitched to you to implement. So if what is your faith in them that they're going to support your business and the needs and make sure this is something that you are getting a little bit higher level of service, because you're putting yourself out there, and that it's going to be a win win for everybody? 

Jonathan Ruggles  25:35  
Yeah, that's interesting. That reminds me, we just for the sake of privacy and exclusivity, we landed a pretty big group. Last year, they're still onboarding. So when the time's right, we'll, we'll we'll talk about them. But their chief marketing person really liked our solution. And they liked another company that I in fact, it's a company that I worked for Naevus, which is now as you know, revinate, in the hotel space, but they also had a product. And this guy was very creative. And he's like, Well, wait a minute, I actually want both of those solutions. We're doing this Yeah, kind of just try out collaboration on both platforms. And the workflow makes sense, right, there's an abandonment tool. But then kind of in our discovery process, you know, it's getting that data. And we're at a point now where we can really show some, some really good prospect data that again, you can build on your own land with so anyway, that creativity is absolutely essential. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. Well, time has absolutely flown by I can't even believe we've already been talking for almost 30 minutes. Yeah, I feel like we just started.

How far are you on the cigar at this point? Yeah. Oh, we're doing pretty good. I got a little bit.

Alex Husner  27:35  
And anytime, awesome, awesome. 

Jonathan Ruggles  27:38  
Well, good luck to you. We're going to be watching. We're going to be watching your podcasts again. Andy and Alex. Alex. I think talking about Yeah, just a second. I think that's a good rule of thumb.

We're going for Folsom. So I think we're in that philosophy category. So Oh, no, no, no worries. No worries. No. Absolutely. Thank you for having me today. It's a fun conversation and great to see you as always. So thank you again. Thanks, Alex. All right, you take care. We'll see you soon.