Vrbo Vacation Rentals of the Year: A TRUE Fireside Chat with Tim Rosolio

Welcome To Alex And Annie

Alex Husner 0:01

Welcome to Alex and Annie, the real women of Vacation Reynolds. With more than 35 years combined industry experience, Alex User and Annie Holcomb have teamed up to connect the dots between inspiration and opportunity. Seeking to find the one story, idea, strategy, or decision that led to their guests' big aha moment. Join them as they highlight the real stories behind the people and brands that have built vacation rentals into the$100 billion industry it is today. And now it's time to get real and have some fun with your hosts, Alex and Annie. We'll start the show in just a minute, but first, a word from our premier brand sponsor.

SPEAKER_00 0:41

My name is Ashley Kerr. I'm the co-host of the BiggerPacket Real Estate Rookie podcast, and I'm also an investor entrepreneur. I invest in long-term rentals and short-term rentals. And I actually have just been using Hospitable for a little over six months now. Hospitable has changed the way that I handle guest communication. I'm using the AI feature to respond. And it has definitely been a noticeable impact that guests are getting a response right away instead of waiting for me to be available or just me in general having to stop what I'm doing to be able to respond to a guest. And a lot of the questions are the same questions over and over again. It really has made a big impact on my time of not having to spend that. But also, guests are really thankful and say, I appreciate you responding so quickly a lot. Some of the features that I love about Hospital that have been game changers for me, besides the messaging, is also the dynamic pricing, being able to maximize my price point. Also, when I create the listing, as to actually how it's guiding you through the listing and helping you optimize your listing too was a big thing for me. Now that I started using Hospitable, one thing I've definitely thought about is how much easier it is going to be to acquire another short-term rental. If I had to describe my experience with Hospitable, I would say it has been amazing. I cannot even begin to explain the life changing and not even being dramatic here. But once you make the switch and realize all of the roles and automations that this software can do for your business, you will be kicking yourself for not switching sooner and for doing all of these things manually. You will never get a better night's sleep as a host without using Hospitable. You can put your phone on Do Not Disturb. The AI will message for you. And there is no better feeling than getting the notification that somebody has booked and all of the messaging is taken care of, and all you have to do is watch for the payment to come into your bank account.

Why Vrbo Created The Award

SPEAKER_02 2:52

Run your short-term rental business on autopilot with Hospitable. Alex and Annie listeners get a 14-day free trial plus 25% off for the first six months. Click the link in the description to get started.

Alex Husner 3:05

Welcome to Alex and Annie, the real woman of Vacation Rentals. I'm Alex. And I'm Annie. We have Tim Rosolio, who is the vice president of Vacational Partnerships, here to tell us all about the award that we were here to celebrate.

SPEAKER_04 3:16

Here we are again. Good to see you guys. I think we were at least hanging out virtually this time last year, shooting Vacation Rental of Year from a beautiful house in Temecula. And here we are in beautiful New Hampshire.

Alex Husner 3:30

Who knows where we'll be next year?

SPEAKER_04 3:32

Yeah, who knows?

SPEAKER_05 3:33

We've already been scheming for that one. So what we wanted to do was learn a little bit about the process and kind of what this award means for Virbo, because it's a it's a great way to work with your partners, but it's a really great way to establish Virgo as like a leading vacation-rental site.

How Winners Get Selected

SPEAKER_04 3:51

Yeah, I think um, I mean, this is something that actually started years ago uh with Staze, which is our Australia business. And actually, when we bought Staze years ago, we said this is a really good idea that we expanded uh around the globe. Uh so now it's in eight different countries. There's 80 different winners, and it started really as a B2C play. So showcasing homes to travelers. And there's a pretty obvious reason why that would be good marketing for us. But over time, what's pretty cool is it's evolved also to a B2C play where we use it as an opportunity to talk about, you know, what our partner's doing to deliver terrific experiences because we know, and you know, that it's not just about the house, but it's about the hospitality provider.

Alex Husner 4:38

Yeah, that's great. And so how do you narrow it down though? I mean, how did you pick the 80?

SPEAKER_04 4:43

So there's a I mean out of two million, it starts with a very data-driven process because there's certain metrics we can look at to evaluate, you know, who's delivering the goods through that first cut. And those, of course, are going to be like, well, you never cancel, yeah, and you have a consistent track record of five-star reviews. And then we, of course, dig into some of those reviews and make sure that it's representative of the sort of things that we want and the sort of things that we want to represent. But then another really cool layer of it is we have about 250 people on my team. That's whole job is to understand their markets and to understand their partners. So they're doing the thing where they're looking at houses all day, every day. And then we ask them of this list, what are what are some of your favorites? And they're all like, oh, I got I got just the one. Um, and then that narrows it down further. And then we have a terrific marketing team that sort of makes sure that we have the right fit of the visual for the visual for the home, but then also gets to know some of the hosts a bit. And it's my understanding you guys just shot with David and somebody who's interesting who has a good story as a hospitality provider.

SPEAKER_05 5:52

Right. Right, right. So out of curiosity, how often, I guess looking back over all the times you've awarded this, how often is it an individual host versus an actual like a property management company?

SPEAKER_04 6:03

It's intentionally a mix. Yeah. It's intentionally a mix. Um, you know, I've you know been on record saying that like I don't care whether you're an individual host or a professional property manager as long as you deliver a professional quality experience. And we want to demonstrate that we have that quality experience across the entire set of supply. But obviously, as you can imagine, like the narrative is often quite different. David's an individual owner. You know, he talks about how he operates this amazing home just for this property, versus there are other property managers that then talked about how do they deliver that hospitality experience at scale. Uh, you know, we it just an example that came to mind was Ben and Tiffany Edwards, one of their properties with Weatherby will be one of the vacation rentals of the year. And what they do is like if you hear about what they do in their Monterey properties, is you know, there's uh amazing California wine and great cheese that come that's there when you arrive. And I think one of the homes that we actually chose for theirs was um in Savannah. And I'm sure there's something amazing that they put out in Savannah that represents the beautiful Southeast. Um, and there's a story about well, how as a property manager do you deliver these amazing, personalized um wow moments, aha moments, right? Yeah, exactly. As uh as property managers more at scale, well, you don't have the luxury of like one house, this is all I need to do.

Alex Husner 7:39

Yeah, exactly. Exactly. And I mean, really, it's about being intentional with the experience, right? Whether you're a large property manager or a smaller host. I think it is more complicated for the larger property managers if they're managing a lot of homes. But Tiffany and and Ben, obviously they know what they're doing, so they've been able to get to that level. But I'm curious, do you ever interview the guests as part of this process that have stayed in these homes?

Hospitality Matters More Than Data

SPEAKER_04 8:02

I don't think so. Look, look at looking at my look at look at my PR crew over here. I mean, I think uh we look at the reviews, obviously, but um I could see us putting that in a creative. It could be sort of a bounce back and forth between what does the host deliver, what does the traveler feel? Because, you know, one of the things that is consistent about this category is how do I make this feel special to the traveler? And in this world of AI, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera, we talk a lot about process and data, but I don't know, the best property managers and the best hosts are the ones that make the experience. Yeah. Experience make the experience special. Yeah.

Alex Husner 8:45

I bet you have a treasure trove of amazing memories that you could tap into if you did talk to the guests too. I mean, you know, it's like people you read reviews on sites and it it's great to see the five stars and everything. But when you can actually hear from somebody how it truly made a difference for their family and created that memory, that's really special.

SPEAKER_05 9:03

Yeah. And I think um, when we talk a lot about the technology, you know, you mentioned like the data and the technology in the house, and that's and people are thinking are craving more of that human interaction. And I think that, you know, as we get into like AI-driven um searches, people are gonna want to be able to see like what did a person actually feel, not what is the data telling me, what is the AI telling me. It's so I I think that that's like something that everybody can tap into. But I wanted to ask you a question, kind of from your perspective. And I feel like you've got like the best job on the planet. It's really pretty. I mean, I we see you all the time at shows. So I feel like we developed a good rapport and friendship, I would say friendship with you, and and we just enjoy being around you. But I feel like you're always excited wherever you are, you love the business, you you are like a great ambassador for what this industry is. But do you get to go to all 80 of these places? And if so, how do we get part of that?

SPEAKER_04 9:50

I don't think I get to go to all 80. Uh I think I I'm gonna go to a bunch of them where we get to uh where we are shooting, or other some other some other folks from the team are also gonna be getting out and doing that.

SPEAKER_05 10:04

Do you get to choose which ones you go to, or does the PR team tell you where you're gonna go?

SPEAKER_04 10:07

The PR kind of says this date list location, but I know they're all real good. I never, I never, I never say no. I'm I'm gonna while I'm here, I'm going skiing. So my my not only do I have the best job in the world, but my life's also not awful.

Alex Husner 10:19

So well, uh thank you so much for having us here. We were just having so much fun so far, and your team is uh amazing.

SPEAKER_04 10:26

It feels right. We do we're doing the fireside chat.

SPEAKER_05 10:30

I do want to thank you for that. It's one been one of my sore spots in this industry where people do fireside chats with no fire. So thank you, Tim, for making it happen.

SPEAKER_04 10:37

Come on, VR industry. We can do better.

SPEAKER_05 10:39

Step up.

Alex Husner 10:40

And sometimes it's so cold that we're literally just on a stage with like stools and nothing else. Like there's nothing warm about it. Yeah, you can put a fake fire, but this is perfect. So thank you again for hosting us. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 10:50

Well, thank thanks for joining us uh and uh you know being great ambassadors for the industry as well.

Alex Husner 10:56

Thank you. And so this episode, when it airs, is going to be the day that actually we're interviewing you live in London at the Short Stay Summit. So super exciting, a lot of cool things.

SPEAKER_04 11:05

But another benefit of a global industry.

Alex Husner 11:08

Right, exactly. Exactly. Thanks again so much for joining us, Tim.

SPEAKER_04 11:11

Thanks for having me.

Alex Husner 11:12

We'll be back in just a minute, but first, a word from our premier brand sponsor.

SPEAKER_06 11:15

My name is Sally Lockard. I'm the head of sales and marketing at Hoseva. We have been working with my BookingPow since about 2019. Hoseiva is a full service property manager and software company. We manage about 6,000 properties over 16 countries, over a myriad of services. At Hoseva, we have our own custom-built PMS where we build our own direct channel connections. The reason we decided to partner with BookingPow is because they were able to expand our reach. BookingPal really stays on top of making sure that all partners have easy API access to add on other channels, even for people like us who have our own channel connections. Implementing the integrations with MyBookingPal have allowed our teams, you know, more time and more trust and less worry on our sides, right? We know things are working. The reason BookingPal was a good strategic choice for our business was we specifically wanted to connect to some of the channels that they had access to that nobody else did. Having the exclusive ability to distribute to homes and hideaways by Hyatt has been a big plus for us. We are aggressively growing in the independent hotel and multifamily sector where being able to attract those travelers that are used to staying in a hotel like a Hyde and feeling safe with that kind of brand has been really increasing when it comes to conversion and numbers for our revenue side for these type of properties. I would say BookingPal as a partner is a really good loyal friendship, right? You know, we have a nice integration that's obviously put deep rooted in to tech, right? But the teams really speak well together and we have a direct contact if we need it. It really is important to us to have 24-7 customer support, and we really value that in our partners. I would definitely recommend my Booking Pills to others. It has just helped us to continue to grow and be in front of as many travelers as possible. And it's helped us to do that with ease and with partners that we feel like we could trust.

SPEAKER_02 13:09

Looking to expand your distribution and grow revenue without adding operational complexity? With BookingPal, you can streamline channel management, connect to global marketplaces, and bring greater visibility and control to your distribution strategy, backed by a reliable team you can trust. Alex and Annie listeners get onboarding fees waived, plus 20% off your first two months when you get started. Click the link in the description to learn more.

Alex Husner 13:35

We have David Rose, who is the owner of the Lakefront Escape on Lake Squam in New Hampshire. David, so good to see you. So fun to have you guys here.

SPEAKER_03 13:44

Well, David, this is beautiful. Thanks. Well, we just had some snow last night, and uh this place is just so special, like all seasons, uh, but especially if you get dumped on and you know, you can get to get outside and I do some some snowshoeing or some skiing and then get in the hot tub later. Like, I really love that this place encourages activities and you know, the whole family can have a blast, like kind of doing a bunch of different things in the woods, and there are hikes nearby, and there's some skiing nearby as well.

unknown 14:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 14:16

Well, before we get started, we'd like to introduce our guests to our audience. And so maybe tell us a little bit about your journey with this home specifically and then how you kind of got to work with the RBO.

SPEAKER_03 14:26

Sure. Yeah, so I'm a uh tech entrepreneur from Boston, and uh we bought the place. Um actually, we were coming up, we were looking for a place on a lake because that's how we vacationed as a family when I was growing up in Wisconsin. And so we knew that we wanted kind of a swimmable lake, that we could have a waterski boat and kind of do that kind of summer. We invited my parents to come and kind of shop with us because that was fun for them. And my parents actually honeymooned on this lake, you know, way back when they first got married around Chicago. And so it was a really kind of special place for them. And we found that something was available, and we ran out on the lake. Uh, it was about this time of year and could see the mountains up to the north. We thought, oh man, this would be just so spectacular. And my dad was like, get it.

SPEAKER_08 15:11

It's the one.

SPEAKER_03 15:12

And it was a and it was a pretty beaten-down place. It had, you know, like ants and chipmunks and uh and other things living in the walls. Yeah. So we planned a renovation and we uh worked with an architect and rebuilt the house in 2017, and we won some architectural awards, and it holds a many people, like you know, you can have kind of 10 people in the house, and there's a lot of outdoor, you know, the big, a big porch for grilling, uh places near the lake for sitting and for reading, reading books. And so we like the way it kind of absorbs a large, a large group.

Alex Husner 15:47

Yeah, absolutely. Well, and New Hampshire is one of those locations where you can come at every different season and have a different special experience here. I'm from New Hampshire, so this is actually a homecoming for me. It's been 11 years since I I've been in the Granite State. Um, but what would you say? What's like the busiest season for people renting the property?

SPEAKER_03 16:06

I think there are a lot of people that love the look of the fall here. Um, but the spring is nice because you get loon chicks and the eagles nesting. The lake is really swimmable for many months of the summer, and then having a hot tub kind of extends the swimming season because if it's a little bit cold and in October, you can always jump in the hot tub. So uh I we'd like to we'd like to promote more skiing, snowshoeing, um, you know, winter rentals. One of our favorite times of year to come up and use the house is the winter because it's just it's so peaceful and so quiet and so beautiful.

Alex Husner 16:40

Yeah, it's magical here for sure.

Building An Intuitive Anti Smart House

SPEAKER_05 16:42

We were we were outside earlier and we could hear moose out in the distance, couldn't see them, but it was really nice. It's just something coming from Florida, you don't hear moose out there. So it was definitely interesting. Um, one of the things I was fascinated about was I was reading a little bit about you, and you come from a tech background. And so when you were doing redoing this house or rebuilding this house, you were mindful about the technology that you actually put into it. And I thought that was interesting because you would expect somebody who was a adjunct professor at MIT to have like all the latest tech right in your face when you walked in. So why don't you tell us a little bit about that?

SPEAKER_03 17:13

Well, I think our experience of using Virgo for other vacations is you want the house to be as kind of intuitive as possible. If you work, as many of us do, kind of in a screen-based profession, you kind of want to get away from the interfaces when you come on vacation. You want like the anti-smart house in a way. In a way. Um so we've tried to be really careful about kind of choosing technology that's really easy to understand, like um the stereo system, the Apple TV, the microwave, you know, anything that has that has an interface should be super easy to use. And then we also learned that guests really like it when we add like little cute labels, labels on where things go in the kitchen, or labels on how to, you know, open lock doors and that kind of thing. So we really want it to be super easy for people to understand and not be frustrated.

Remote Operations And Guest Rapport

Alex Husner 18:03

Yeah, yeah, that's a really good point. We're actually just talking about that of like when you go to some places that you have to you get there and you're tired, you've been driving, you've been flying all day, and then you've got to learn how to use the house. And it's like there's nothing more frustrating. So tell us a little bit about the the operations, uh, the management of the home. So who takes care of it when you're down in Boston?

SPEAKER_03 18:22

Yeah, we have a caretaker that's here. Um, and so they like refill the hot tub between guests and they deal with trash and any kind of issues with the home and shoveling and and that kind of thing. My wife really uh takes care of like calling people the day of, and once they've arrived at the house, um I do that sometimes as well. And it really creates this kind of nice moment of rapport with somebody who's, you know, they may be coming from very far away and they're excited to be here, and we're excited to share kind of what hikes we'd recommend, and if they have, you know, if they have uh people in the party that enjoy certain things, kind of recommending where to go for eating or you know, a a special kind of interest that that they might have. We try to stay in tune in that way with people, and the ratings have been great. I think we've gotten only five-star reviews, and um, I really credit my wife for like being on top of establishing that that relationship with the with with people who come.

SPEAKER_05 19:22

Yeah, clearly you're doing something right because the reason we're here is that you won uh Verbo's property of the year. Um, so that's what a great feather in your cap. I mean, that's you have one property, and so you've got to do it right, you know, from the start. You've obviously done everything right. So, you know, what does that mean for you? And and like when you found out you won, like what did that say? Like, did it just you solidify everything, the choices that you did make in the property?

SPEAKER_03 19:44

Yeah, it's certainly a point of pride. Um, and we get a lot of feeling of uh kind of just generosity by having other people enjoy this place. And we know that you know, having a place where a multi-generational family can come together. There's a there's a bedroom on the first floor if somebody doesn't have the mobility. There are nice bunk rooms on the second floor that bring cousins together. Um, you know, we've shared that as a family over the last 25 years that we've owned the property. And we, you know, it it's great to share a place like this with other people and kind of deserves to be shared.

Alex Husner 20:17

Yeah, yeah, that's great. So when you travel, what do you look for in a vacation rental? Since you, I mean, you've you're the best host in the area. Like what what what makes an experience to you?

SPEAKER_03 20:29

Well, I I I look for places that you know are central to, you know, if you go to Paris or something, you want to be in the mech in the downtown, in the place where there are activities and museums, um, and then also activities. I I really appreciate uh when there are suggestions in the guest book or ahead of time for tours or things that the host really loves and savors, um, you know, kind of unknown spots that they would recommend. And we try to do the same kind of thing here.

SPEAKER_05 20:58

So I'm aging myself, but we were talking earlier. So Squam Lake is famous for uh the movie on Golden Pond. It is, it was shot, it was shot just right at this right at this point. So I mean, do you incorporate that at all? Like, do you tell guests? I didn't we drove in and happened to see it, and then the gentleman driving us in explained that, and I was like, oh, I remember that movie and I loved it. And I just remember thinking, oh my gosh, I could just go there and listen to those loons. And that's where I learned what a loon was for the first time from that movie. And ever since then, I hear it and I know exactly what it is. But is that something that you incorporate in terms of like there's historical that you know precedent here?

SPEAKER_03 21:28

Yeah, there's a wonderful science center that's on the north side of the lake that's about um 10 miles away. And we encourage any guests that have kids or want to do that. Um, the science center also runs the the on golden pond tour, so you can get on a pontoon boat and they'll take you around and they'll show you where the eagles are nesting, and they'll take you and show you loons. Um, and the uh, you know, so it's it's a nice way of seeing the area.

Alex Husner 21:52

Yeah. I've actually never seen that movie, and now I can't wait to go home and watch it. Yeah, I don't know how I missed a movie that was filmed in New Hampshire, but uh I just Know what about Bob? That's one of my all-time favorite movies, and that was filmed on Lake Winnipes. Yeah. Um, and how far is Lake Winnipesauke from here?

SPEAKER_03 22:07

Uh, it's about two miles. Okay, so very close. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, Lake Winnipesaki is um because of the rail, the railroads first came up from Boston to Lake Winnipes. So it was settled earlier. And so to get up here that many hundreds of years ago, um, you had to get a train to a uh to a steamboat and then to uh you know horse and carriage in order to get up here. So the the plots of land on Squam were developed later and are much larger. And so this really feels like it's um kind of much much more unsettled and you don't tend to see homes from the lake as much. And so it's it feels it has a reputation for also being kind of calmer and more secluded and not as much motorboat traffic. Uh so they're the lakes feel very different in terms of the the uh kind of the culture on the lake, even though they're very close. Yeah.

Designing Spaces For Togetherness And Retreat

SPEAKER_05 23:01

You were walking us around the house earlier and pointing out some of the architectural design features that you chose. And I think just in walking around, it was very intentional to be able to take care or take the the guest as they walked in to be able to see this incredible the vistas at a different times of year. So maybe tell us a little bit about that thought process with your architect and and why you did that. Because again, there's so much here to see in the area, but just right here on the property.

SPEAKER_03 23:28

Right. So I guess part of my theory of hospitality is, especially if you're gonna spend the weekend with friends, is you obviously want places to come together, like a kitchen island or a hearth, um, dining room tables or an activity area in the basement, but you also want ways to kind of strategically pull people or give them the option to pull pull away into like little perches. And so we intentionally thought through like how could we make as many getaway zones as possible, like a little moment of respite. And that's done. Uh, there's a there's a chair that usually sits kind of on the on the catwalk above this fi above the fireplace, and that's we call it the chimney corner, but it's a little kind of perch where you don't have to talk to everybody if you don't want to. Um there's a nice uh uh deck that's outside of the of the study area that's a great place to go read a book or take a call. Um there's a point right down by the water's edge, which is kind of separate from the other deck, which just holds two Adirondack chairs and is a good place to get away. There's steps down to the um down to the lake from that that are uh it's a nice, it's it's a beautiful lake to swim in. So, but having all of these, like a dock, a perch, a hot tub place, uh place on the sunny side in the morning. There's a sunny side of the house, which uh we have a uh porch swing. And so having all of these places that pull people apart, I think make it kind of easier to be with people for a couple of days because you don't need to be in the center of the conversation all the time. And those are like really intentional from a design point of view to help accommodate that that kind of um structure.

Alex Husner 25:05

There's a place for everybody here, it sounds like exactly that. So at one point you had an external company that was managing the property, I believe. And then you made the decision to be self-managed. Tell us about that experience. Like, what was it like when you were with the management company versus how things are now?

SPEAKER_03 25:22

Yeah, I think we we we value Verbo for its ability to kind of aggregate audience from all over the country and to promote the house properly. I think the dynamic pricing tools are also something that we believe can kind of help maximize um what we do with that with a house. There's some people that are skiers uh who uh will pay very different prices from people that are coming up for you know a two-week family gathering in the summer. Um it's not obvious to us we don't have a lot of, we don't have other vacation properties. So how we price that and how we promote that, we really like uh the interface that that gives us guidance on that.

Alex Husner 25:59

Yeah. And do you work directly with the team at Verbo? Do they come to you with recommendations and and whatnot?

SPEAKER_03 26:05

Yeah, there's an account manager who we talk to. Um, and I we're also excited to do kind of more in terms of promotion uh so that we can, you know, kind of get people who make decisions at the last moment like I do. Yeah. For some reasons, people who are really planful. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 26:20

I would say that winning this award would is gonna help you promote the property. I mean, definitely, definitely, because I think there's 80 globally that they give this designation to. And so it's you know, it's start it's definitely something that you worked hard for. And I would ask uh, you know, the question somebody who's new getting into the business, like what would you tell them there are things like foundationally that need they need to have in place before they start renting?

SPEAKER_03 26:43

Well, I really believe in when you go places, you kind of want guidance. Like you want you want someone to say, Oh, if you were if you were my best friend and you were coming here, and I know you're really interested in getting out on the water and doing stand-up paddleboarding or kayaking or something, like here's the time of day to do that. You know, definitely go like right after sunset. You're likely to see a loon. It's not too dark yet. Like that's the time for that. Um, or there's a walk through the woods that's just one mile, that's just it's a one mile loop and it's beautiful and it goes by a beaver pond. And so definitely like take your family on that, especially if it's windy out on the lake in the winter. Um, so I think uh, you know, a better vacation, you know, experience design offers that kind of guidance for people that really recommends things specifically for those people's interests, specifically for the season, specifically for the time of, you know, even the time of day or the weather that's happening outside. So we try to build in some of that uh into the book that we leave. We make videos of, you know, this is how to put together a sailboat um that's down by the lake, in case you wanna wanna rig that. Um but uh I do I believe that those kind of uh that kind of guidance and recommendation features is something that these that Verbo should do more, and we try can kind of try to promote that through how people use the house and how people anticipate using the house.

Alex Husner 28:09

Right. And so when your wife is handling the messages with inquiries and then inquiries that turn into guests, is she asking them those questions of like what they're coming here for to be able to provide those types of recommendations?

SPEAKER_03 28:21

Yeah, I think knowing ages of kids, you know, like we've had uh we have two kids and know kind of how to make it feel more like camp for the kids. Like we have a little archery uh thing that you can set up in the out in the the yard. Um, and that's like great fun for having for entertaining kids and getting them really tired out and um sleep well, sleep, sleeping well at night. So know it like knowing ages of guests and interests of guests and being able to recommend, you know, a place to place to eat or a chef to come in. Um, I think uh she does a good job of that.

unknown 28:53

That's great.

SPEAKER_05 28:54

I think that it's it also goes back to like the design of the house. One of the things you were showing us is there's like a little uh sliding window for the kids, the bunk room where they can kind of peek in on it. So I think you thought intentionally about different ages in the house. And and we were talking earlier about you know, what a what do managers need to be mindful about when they're creating an experience? And I always say, like, stay in your place and think about it from if you're staying there, what are the things that you want to have available to you? Or like if it's raining, do you have the games for the kids? And it seems like you've thought about every kind of situation that you could possibly do. Do you and you stay here a lot, right?

SPEAKER_03 29:29

We do we do use it a lot. It's kind of a challenge to how like how do you get people to use the house in the best way that it can be used? Because like I have a real sense of like what lighting I would choose for different times of day and or what games I would choose, or what you know, mountains I would recommend climbing for different people. But it's I think there's still a challenge on how you offer those recommendations, you know, in ways that's not just a big long book that very few people might read, but how do you kind of place those into the environment so that uh people can spot the game closet or they can, you know, something we do in the basement is we have kind of an activity zone wall. I didn't show you that uh downstairs, and it just kind of arrays like here's all the snowshoes and all the sizes, and here are all the cross-country skis, and we leave skates down there for people to do ice skating in the winter. And you kind of want people to see those and to feel like they can use them and that we recommend like those, those uh um kind of toys recommend different activities. Yeah.

Alex Husner 30:34

And are you messaging the guests through the through verbo to tell them about the different things they can do, or is there something in the house that's actually guiding people to those activities?

SPEAKER_03 30:44

Uh we have a book in the house, and then we just try to leave things out with with little notes all around.

Alex Husner 30:49

Like handwritten notes or what kind of notes?

SPEAKER_03 30:51

Uh we just we have a label maker and we just so we you know, we just but we we're very liberal with a label maker. So like the the doors behind me are lift and slide doors.

Alex Husner 31:01

Oh, I see a couple labels right now.

SPEAKER_03 31:03

So they pull the doors pull way out and then makes this feel like a screen porch in in the summer. But the lift and slide doors not are not a lot of people have used lift and slides, so you have to rotate the handle all the way in order to get the get them up on their tracks, and then you can slide them away. Um, and so you know, just adding like a little note like all the way down for sliding, uh, something you could just position in the space. Or the like with Apple TV in the basement, you know, I've I've tried to, you know, just anticipate, okay, you're in that moment where you're like, how the heck do I, you know, get this thing going? So I just have like the one, two, three um, you know, written on the remote or with a note next to the remote just to make sure it's like super easy for people.

unknown 31:45

Yeah.

Japanese Architecture And Progressive Reveal

SPEAKER_05 31:45

It's super helpful. I think there's the worst thing is when you go on vacation, and as the mom, you've got all these people running around wanting to do stuff and you don't know how to turn the TV on, you know. You know, your husband wants to watch a game or something and you can't get that on. But um you were talking about um going back to the architecture, you really like the Japanese influence, and you were mentioning to us, and obviously we can't see it because the snow covered up, like the pathway lighting, and you had certain rocks and and kind of the Japanese influence. And curious about, I mean, again, being in New England, I wouldn't expect Japanese influence to be an architecture, but you used it and you used it well. Um so tell us a little bit about that. I'm very fascinated.

SPEAKER_03 32:21

Yeah, there are a couple of ideas from Japanese architecture that I really love. One is um one is the idea of progressive disclosure, where if you lead people in through paths, then you have these tailored intentional views that you get, but it doesn't kind of give it all away at once, right? So for a property like this, we have a Japanese lamp that you park next to, and then there's this like little set of seven lights that you kind of follow, follow in, and it's not a straight path, it's like intentionally cur curvy. Um, and then there's a stepping up onto another um material. So you go from kind of pine pine needles onto mahogany, and then you're walking in through through, you know, on a mahogany deck, um, and then you come in through the cedar door and you kind of smell the difference in terms of the wood, and then this the floor is stone, and then you take you shed all of your stuff, and it's a heated floor, so all of your stuff gets dry if it's the wintertime like this. And then and then you take off your shoes, and then there's a step up to a different material of white oak on a white oak floor. So, like that intentionally gets you to kind of shed your stuff and like get ready to for that transition. Um, and then and then once you enter the main room, then you've had a like a low ceiling experience. This is a Frank Lloyd Wright design idea, the like a low experience, a compression experience, and then you get the the the height of a main room is kind of a becomes more impressive because you've been in a constrained space. The outside of the house is kind of intentionally the color of the bark of trees because you kind of want the house to hide, and because you're not trying to say, this is my house. Like you want, like you want it to be this um kind of humble outside, but then the inside should totally transform and feel like, oh, it's a warm, glowy, welcoming space that feels very different from the outside. So kind of a the surprise. Uh like in the bedroom on the first floor, the window is this long low window. And you're almost like, well, why is there a long low window? Why wouldn't you want to just make more glass there? But it's a sleeping space, so it feels more private, and it also just gives you kind of a tailored peek at the woods and the lake, but you don't get to like see the full thing until you come into other spaces. So Japanese architects are really good at kind of just giving you one view and one peak, and then kind of the landscape reveals itself kind of over time rather than cutting down all the trees and being like, this is the lake. Like we left up all the, you know, all of the giant uh fir trees that are pointing to the north. And you know, you kind of have to get down towards the lake before you can see the mountains, rather than clearing out all the trees and having you see that from everywhere.

SPEAKER_05 35:03

Yeah, sort of a surprise and delight.

SPEAKER_03 35:04

Yeah, but kind of gradually. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 35:06

I think it's it's funny because our the kind of theme of our show is aha moments. And so like you have these aha moments, and generally we're talking with people who like what was their aha moment to have them create something. So I think that you have your aha moment in creating a vacation experience.

SPEAKER_03 35:20

But it should be, I feel like it should be a sequence of aha moments.

Alex Husner 35:24

Like it's not just like one reveal, but it's true, that's true. So do you get guests that come back year after year? Do you have repeat guests here?

SPEAKER_03 35:32

We do, yes. We have some set of guests that have been coming for decades. Yeah. In fact, like before we bought the place, uh, there were they rented, they did summer rentals, and some of those same guests are are coming again. I mean, the lake is really special, and and people really come from all over the world.

Alex Husner 35:50

Well, they must have been completely surprised and delighted when they saw what you built if they were coming here before.

SPEAKER_03 35:56

Yeah. That's great. No, it's I mean, I we've tried to, I don't know about if everybody likes modern architecture, you know. Like I'm kind of surprised there isn't more modern architecture in America. But I think when you come to a place like this, it's different, probably, than than the house you come from. And we've tried to kind of moderate how um I think a lot of people find a lot of glass maybe cold or something. But we've tried by using materials like the white oak on the ceilings and the soffits, we've tried to kind of warm up what is uh what might be seen as kind of a boxy colder form with warm materials so you feel cozy.

SPEAKER_08 36:37

Yeah.

Alex Husner 36:37

Well, you've done an incredible job and congratulations on vacation rental of the year.

SPEAKER_03 36:42

Nice to have you guys come.

SPEAKER_05 36:44

Yeah, we we're appreciated and honored that you showed us around. It's a beautiful, beautiful property.

SPEAKER_03 36:48

Well, can we go snowshoeing later?

Alex Husner 36:50

Please.

SPEAKER_03 36:52

Snowshoeing and then hot chocolate.

How To Book And Final Thanks

Alex Husner 36:56

Getting it all in. Absolutely. Yeah. Well, it's so nice to meet you, David. Thank you so much for coming on the show. And thank you to Virbo and Expedia Group for having us uh for what an incredible special kind of episode. Um if anybody wants to get in touch with you and book this property, they're gonna go to Virbo, right? That's right. That's right. So we'll include the link in the show notes for that.

SPEAKER_03 37:16

Yeah, we have we maintain another website which is Squawm Lake House, squawmlakehouse.com. But it just has a it has uh photos of you know ice skating on the lake and the hot tub and the art the professionally shot photos that we did right after um right after we built. Um, but it also just has a big you know link here, um, you know, book here to to to Verbo.

Alex Husner 37:38

Oh great, excellent. Well, if anybody wants to get in touch with Annie and I, you can go to alexandanipodcast.com. And until next time, thanks for tuning in, everybody.