¶ Introduction to Keynotes Podcast
Welcome to Keynotes, a podcast just for Casago homeowners. This is where we explore how to get the most out of your relationship with Casago, learn tips and tricks on how to make more income with your property, and learn a little bit about the short term rental industry along the way. I've been a vacation rental nerd since my 20s, and the team has finally let me have this podcast so I can share everything I've learned with you. I'm your host, Steve Schwab, and this is Keynotes.
Hey, welcome to Keynotes. I'm your host, Steve Schwab.
¶ Meet Jennie Strait: Property Management Insights
Today, I'm with Jennie Strait from Santa Barbara talking a little bit about property management and her personal philosophies on homeowners. Uh, welcome to the show, Jennie.
Hi, Steve. Thanks for having me.
Oh, I'm glad to have you here. Jennie, you've been with Casago now for how many years?
Five years. Five years. Next month, yeah.
That's fantastic. Yeah. Next month you get your blue badge.
I do. So exciting. So exciting.
You've been such an integral part of the team. It seems like five years. It doesn't do it justice. It feels like you've been here for a lot longer than that.
Right, right.
¶ Jennie's Journey to Casago
It's great company.
Jenny, how'd you end up getting into Kosago and what was your background before?
My background, I grew up in the restaurant industry and it really gave me that, you know, connection with people that I always loved. That's part of my nature, to be with people. And then naturally I went into sales and did business in college and I did outside sales for probably, you know, 15, 20 years. various companies. And again, I loved being with people and I always loved property.
So I kind of changed gears and I moved back home to Santa Barbara from Orange County, got my real estate license and wanted to do property management specifically and not do sales in my city. And I found Casago when they came to town and it wasn't the right timing. So we have that funny story between us that I was in your phone and I was in Spencer's phone and we had forgotten that we had interviewed and then I found you guys again and you know, it was destiny, right?
So cool. It absolutely was. Yeah. You've been such an integral part of the team and the company as a whole and all the cities. Thank
you. I also did a couple of years of, Long term rentals before I came to short term rentals. So I didn't know that. Yeah, I did about two and a half years there Yeah, that's great. Yeah
¶ Passion for Santa Barbara
Tell us a little bit about your family your background. Did you grew up in Santa Barbara? Yeah, we
moved to my dad was in the army He's an orthopedic surgeon or was and my mom was a nurse So we traveled a lot when I was small and we came to Santa Barbara when I was six And my dad started his practice there and I grew up there and I'm still friends with all, I mean, friends from, you know, second grade, first, second grade on up. So we, we have that in Santa Barbara community,
you
know, great community.
You can tell that you really love Santa Barbara. I
do. I'm very passionate. And I can remember being a small child and absolutely being in awe just as I am today. I'm very passionate about it and excited about Santa Barbara because it has so much to offer, yeah.
You know, it really shows when you are just speaking about it, you light up every single time. So, you came to Casago because of the Actually, twice. First time, it just wasn't the right time. We were pretty small back then that we, you know, we were really weren't ready to hire anybody yet. And then, boy, we were lucky that when you came around, we were ready to, to, to bring on a new teammate.
¶ Delivering Exceptional Guest Experiences
Tell me a little bit about your personal approach when it comes to delivering, like, a great experience in the vacation rental industry.
You know, I believe in Casago's core values with the warm welcome and the fond farewell. And I love to communicate with my guests and just let them know that we're here for you. We want you to have a wonderful experience and please reach out if you need anything at all and that my team's always available for you.
When I create a welcome letter, I have their needs and wants in mind and I feel that I empower them with all the knowledge that I give them about the rental that they're in and that's really important to me. And to them because they, they do, they feel empowered and they feel comfortable in their surroundings. And I think that gives them that warmth and love and comfort of being in a home. Yeah. You know, cause they're not in a hotel, they're in another home.
And then they get that sense of home and warmth and love actually. And they feel good about it.
I love the fact that you said love and warmth because that really embodies a lot of the way I see you operate.
Yeah. It transcends,
¶ Prioritizing Homeowners: Jennie's Approach
yeah.
Could you share a few practical ways that you make homeowners feel like they're top priority?
Again, I use the same philosophy that I've used my whole life and that it's just the way that I treat the guests. I'm not afraid to tell homeowners the honest truth about what they're going to go through if they haven't already been in the short term rental industry. So I'm very honest and I like to educate them. So again, they feel comfortable. They know what the process is going to be as we go through it together. And just that I'm here to answer any questions.
And I want them to feel really good about their choice to go with Casago and to go with me and my team. I do, I have to say the hard things and, um, I want them to know that Exactly what's going to go on. And so there are no surprises. So I'm very, very upfront and forward.
I feel like when I always hear about your interactions with homeowners, especially in the beginning, I feel like I could almost sum up some of the things that you say by saying it's hard conversations now make for better relationships later.
That's right.
Yeah, absolutely. I believe
in that.
¶ Owner-Centric Model Explained
Jenny, we have something in Kosago called the owner centric model. What does that mean to you?
That means that we are about owners first and foremost. Honestly, we care and love our guests and everything else, but owners are the most important people. You know, I take into consideration there are wants and needs that I have to educate my team on so my team understands what's important to this owner.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You're sort of the conduit. Well, you're not sort of the conduit. You are the conduit often between the homeowners wants and needs. And then send that expectations into what it comes into operations, right?
Correct.
Yeah. Correct. Yeah.
¶ Maintaining Transparent Relationships with Homeowners
What are some of the tools and methods that you use to maintain the transparent relationship and support relationship with the homeowners?
You know, I love to educate. And so I educate the owners on all of the aspects and tools that they have at their fingertips from our back offices and the way that we set up their home, the way that we market and advertise and the descriptions that we write. And, and I always go back and forth with them on, do you like this?
What do you, Want to improve on, they know their homes better, uh, to a certain extent, you know, I, I get very intimate with the homes and so do my team, but initially, you know, nobody can tell me like they can't. So I write and what do I want the guests to know? Then I cross reference with the owners to make sure that I'm hitting all the fine
¶ A Memorable Homeowner Story
points.
Do you have a memorable story with a homeowner that kind of highlights why homeowners listening should choose Casago?
I do. And it's a recent one. I have many, but this one really just made me feel so good. We had a guest come in to one of our beautiful homes. This was about three months ago. And he came to stay at Santa Barbara Serenity. Beautiful property. He got his welcome letter. He got his check in instructions. He got a personal call from us saying hello and welcome and we're here for you.
Then a few weeks into the stay, Jeremy had a few questions we had to accommodate different things with the owner for him, like getting his car into the garage and taking their cars out. Things like that, little things that he really appreciated. He, he called me organically one day and said, Hey Jenny. I really, really enjoyed the check in process. The welcome letter was so detailed. All the information you put in about this home, that I felt really comfortable here.
I happen to have ten units that I am building in Summerland. And I'd really like to talk to you about onboarding those. Wow. Yeah. So from his own personal experience about how our company was run, how the action we took for him consistently answered all his questions timely through Airbnb, actually, and then having the onboarding sit down property management meetings with him.
consecutively over and over again about how it would look to have his properties in there and then going on site and so on and so forth and fast forwarding to me onboarding those this last month and a half.
That's such a great testament to your hospitality that somebody who's a guest Especially with investment of 10 properties and turning them all over to you. And
trusting us and literally going out of the country for a month. He left and said, here you go. Wow. Yeah. And he trusted us to do the right thing. And, you know, he came in and sat down with Spencer. In revenue management and got to see how he works at the, you know, different levels of revenue management and really, it was so exciting for him and brought his team in as well to get educated on Casago. So I'm honored, very honored to have him and his team and
yeah, his properties. It's beautiful.
¶ Final Thoughts and Contact Information
Do you have any final thoughts to a potential homeowner who may be listening? Why they should. Choose Casa Go.
Casa Go brings so much more to the table from boots on the ground to owner platforms. So you know exactly what to expect. The transparency is incredible. You know, we are always there to answer the phone. You know, we don't push things off and we're always here for you. Onocentric is a coined Casa Go phrase and for many, many reasons. And I just think that, The Google reviews, I think we have 35. They're all from owners. They're not from guests.
So, you know, that says a lot about us when our owners are available for testimonies, they're available to other owners for phone calls, and they really love the experience they've had with us, you know. Yeah, so great,
Jenny. Thanks for coming on.
Thank you, Steve.
If a homeowner wants to get ahold of you to find out more about property management, how do they do that?
They can contact me directly via email@jennyatcaco.com. That's J-E-N-N-I e@casco.com. Cs a g com, and then my direct phone number is (805) 701-8026. Again, that's. 805 701 8026 and we'd love to talk to you.
Thanks again, Jenny.