216: Finding Suite Success Through Short-Term Rental Hospitality with Katie Cline

Hospitality is an important element of the short-term rental business, but it’s too often forgotten in favor of saving money. But little touches, like a tissue box tucked under the bathroom sink, can make or break a guest review. On this episode of Zen and the Art of Real Estate Investing, Jonathan interviews Katie Cline, a senior global public relations and communications leader. Katie is also a storyteller and the host of the Suite Success podcast. In the last three years, she has become a short-term rental investor, using her hospitality background to create memorable stays for her guests. Jonathan and Katie explore her decision to get into short-term rentals after she built a successful career in hospitality. Katie explains hospitality's role in STR success, catering to guest needs and wants in a property, and ensuring you’ve set the right expectation within the first 10 minutes of their arrival. She shares why she believes AI is removing personalization from the STR world, the importance of responding quickly to a guest’s concerns, and the difficulties of scaling a business, maintaining high standards, and retaining a personal touch. As they wrap up, Katie explains why differentiating your brand from others can help your STRs stand out and her thoughts on Marriott’s acquisition of Postcard Cabins. Boutique hotel hospitality translates well to STRs, and Katie Cline shares how she does it. In this episode, you will hear: Katie Cline’s decision to get into short-term rentals after building a career in hospitality The role of hospitality in creating STR success Catering to yourself to understand what your guests want in a property Setting expectations within the first 10 minutes of a guest’s arrival Katie’s advice to address an issue if you hear it more than once How AI is removing some of the personalization from STR stays Using a quick response time to mitigate any issues with a stay and using open-ended questions to understand a guest’s needs Scaling the business while retaining a personal touch and maintaining high standards Differentiating your brand from the competition and knowing your market Responding to guests’ needs and wants when they let you know something is missing Taking a page from the hotel playbook to set yourself up for success Marriott’s acquisition of Postcard Cabins and what was behind that decision What you can expect to hear on Katie’s podcast, Suite Success Follow and Review: We’d love for you to follow us if you haven’t yet. Click that purple '+' in the top right corner of your Apple Podcasts app. We’d love it even more if you could drop a review or 5-star rating over on Apple Podcasts. Simply select “Ratings and Reviews” and “Write a Review” then a quick line with your favorite part of the episode. It only takes a second and it helps spread the word about the podcast. If you enjoyed this episode, we've created a PDF that has all of the key information for you from the episode. Just go to the episode page at https://zenandtheartofrealestateinvesting.com/podcast/216/ to download it. Supporting Resources: Suite Success podcast - www.suitesuccesspodcast.com Suite Success on YouTube - www.youtube.com/@suitesuccesspodcast Suite Success on Facebook - www.facebook.com/suitesuccesspodcast Find Suite Success on Instagram - www.instagram.com/suitesuccesspodcast Connect with Katie Cline on LinkedIn - www.linkedin.com/in/katiecline13 Trout Landing - www.trout-landing.com Katie Cline’s website - www.bykatiecline.com Website - www.streamlined.properties YouTube - www.youtube.com/c/JonathanGreeneRE/videos Instagram - www.instagram.com/trustgreene Instagram - www.instagram.com/streamlinedproperties TikTok - www.tiktok.com/@trustgreene Zillow - www.zillow.com/profile/StreamlinedReal Bigger Pockets - www.biggerpockets.com/users/TrustGreene Facebook - www.facebook.com/streamlinedproperties Email - info@streamlined.properties Episode Credits If you like this podcast and are thinking of creating your own, consider talking to my producer, Emerald City Productions. They helped me grow and produce the podcast you are listening to right now. Find out more at https://emeraldcitypro.com Let them know we sent you.