WEBVTT NOTE This file was generated by Descript 00:00:03.390 --> 00:00:04.410 Speaker: Hey, welcome to keynotes. 00:00:04.410 --> 00:00:08.850 I'm your host, Steve Schwab, the only podcast for Casago Homeowners. 00:00:09.360 --> 00:00:13.890 Today we're talking to my friend Andrew Mitchell, the founder of 00:00:13.890 --> 00:00:18.880 Wheelhouse, about his take of only on revenue management, but on how 00:00:18.880 --> 00:00:20.650 it applies to being owner centric. 00:00:21.459 --> 00:00:22.630 Andrew, welcome to the show. 00:00:23.049 --> 00:00:23.830 Great to be here. 00:00:23.830 --> 00:00:24.700 Excited to dive in. 00:00:25.095 --> 00:00:25.485 Yeah. 00:00:25.514 --> 00:00:26.264 Great to have you. 00:00:26.264 --> 00:00:30.705 So we've just spent a couple days, uh, where you flew in with 00:00:30.705 --> 00:00:31.964 one of your teammates, Amber. 00:00:32.174 --> 00:00:32.324 Mm-hmm. 00:00:32.415 --> 00:00:38.175 And really worked on making sure we were well aligned on our go forward with the 00:00:38.175 --> 00:00:40.614 partnership between Wheelhouse and Casago. 00:00:41.415 --> 00:00:41.985 Speaker 2: That's right. 00:00:42.045 --> 00:00:42.525 Yeah. 00:00:42.644 --> 00:00:47.745 Two excellent days of engaging with you and other teammates here and, 00:00:47.745 --> 00:00:51.495 and really looking at that future of when, when you apply the term 00:00:51.495 --> 00:00:54.375 owner centric to revenue management. 00:00:55.180 --> 00:00:59.260 What does that mean and how can we deliver something to, to your owners and 00:00:59.260 --> 00:01:03.580 to your teammates that is, uh, really exceptional and kind of best in class 00:01:03.580 --> 00:01:03.819 Speaker: here. 00:01:04.489 --> 00:01:09.509 , Andrew, before we get started going down the path of, , our partnership 00:01:09.509 --> 00:01:12.779 and how we're thinking about it and the alignments that we have, I'd like 00:01:12.779 --> 00:01:13.950 everybody to get to know you a little bit. 00:01:13.950 --> 00:01:18.759 , I've come to know you and always grateful when I see your attitude, uh, 00:01:18.759 --> 00:01:20.710 the way you work with everybody, just. 00:01:21.085 --> 00:01:23.125 The entire way that you just conduct yourself. 00:01:23.155 --> 00:01:25.134 And I'm really proud to be your friend. 00:01:25.735 --> 00:01:28.634 I'd like everybody to know a little bit about you and get , a clear 00:01:28.634 --> 00:01:30.554 understanding of who you are. 00:01:30.615 --> 00:01:33.835 Can you tell us a little about, , how you got here, how you got started in 00:01:33.835 --> 00:01:38.425 the business, and where Wheelhouse is going and maybe even what it is today? 00:01:38.844 --> 00:01:39.744 Speaker 2: Appreciate that Steve. 00:01:39.774 --> 00:01:42.654 Uh, obviously a friendship is two directions. 00:01:43.044 --> 00:01:46.044 Grateful to be here with you, grateful to be building with you and your team. 00:01:46.164 --> 00:01:48.955 Uh, super exciting opportunity that we have ahead of us. 00:01:49.914 --> 00:01:54.624 Wheelhouse, , today, um, we are a company of about 30 folks. 00:01:54.624 --> 00:01:59.574 We're spread across many markets and we serve a bunch of teams, about 6,000 00:01:59.574 --> 00:02:02.574 businesses in 140 countries worldwide. 00:02:03.324 --> 00:02:07.315 And our goal is to bring transparency and control to people around, in 00:02:07.315 --> 00:02:11.224 particular, um, the revenue or the performance , of their short term 00:02:11.224 --> 00:02:12.784 rental, vacation rental properties. 00:02:13.774 --> 00:02:16.614 Getting here has been a fun journey of entrepreneurship, right? 00:02:16.644 --> 00:02:19.195 How many fun ups and downs have we both had in building the 00:02:19.195 --> 00:02:20.394 businesses that we have today? 00:02:20.394 --> 00:02:23.935 But, uh, I first first started looking at this category and this technology 00:02:23.935 --> 00:02:28.554 about 12 years ago, um, founded another company called Beyond Pricing. 00:02:28.554 --> 00:02:33.445 That, which was really trying to answer this question of could we use data to look 00:02:33.445 --> 00:02:37.045 at all these unique properties out there and figure out how to price them better 00:02:37.825 --> 00:02:42.295 based on oral source of demand signals in wheelhouse, which is, uh, I started about 00:02:42.295 --> 00:02:43.549 two years after founding that business. 00:02:44.575 --> 00:02:47.935 Was a deeper dive into kind of maybe a different type of data science and 00:02:47.935 --> 00:02:51.715 how it could be applied to that same problem set, but ultimately looking at 00:02:51.894 --> 00:02:56.815 about how to take a unique asset and understand what it's worth on any day. 00:02:57.315 --> 00:02:57.675 . And when you 00:02:57.675 --> 00:03:02.715 Speaker: say a unique asset, you mean somebody's vacation home, right? 00:03:03.375 --> 00:03:05.295 Speaker 2: It is, that's the fun part about our space, right? 00:03:05.295 --> 00:03:08.535 When you look at all these individual properties, owners, 00:03:08.565 --> 00:03:09.704 owners have properties. 00:03:10.125 --> 00:03:14.955 We are often helping price both an asset, so something you wanna make 00:03:14.955 --> 00:03:19.275 some money off of, but also a, a important part of your family's story. 00:03:19.785 --> 00:03:23.465 And it turns out that when you look across the dimensions, there are a lot 00:03:23.465 --> 00:03:26.715 of different considerations that people have of how they want to price their 00:03:26.715 --> 00:03:30.335 home or dates they want to protect, or minimum prices they wanna put in place. 00:03:30.335 --> 00:03:34.385 There's a huge amount of dimension that people bring to the pricing strategy. 00:03:34.385 --> 00:03:35.765 So when you think about wheelhouse. 00:03:36.274 --> 00:03:40.065 Our job is to look at all the data near your home and help price that 00:03:40.065 --> 00:03:45.795 asset well, but also be able to adjust those prices around strategy 00:03:45.795 --> 00:03:47.565 or risk that you want to pursue. 00:03:47.715 --> 00:03:50.025 So it's a, it's a data science challenge. 00:03:50.655 --> 00:03:53.775 It's a design challenge and ultimately it's a service challenge. 00:03:53.985 --> 00:03:57.675 'cause we need to be able to help people make better decisions through. 00:03:58.020 --> 00:04:02.040 Great display of visual information controls that help 00:04:02.040 --> 00:04:03.890 them, achieve their goals. 00:04:04.340 --> 00:04:08.840 And ultimately, um, inability to, if you're in the, the shoes of 00:04:08.840 --> 00:04:11.420 a, a revenue manager, communicate with owners and make sure that 00:04:11.420 --> 00:04:13.350 the owner understands what Casago. 00:04:13.370 --> 00:04:17.600 doing to, to maximize the value of their asset while protecting that family home. 00:04:17.980 --> 00:04:22.510 Esteban: We're looking for a way to maximize the value of a given 00:04:22.510 --> 00:04:27.220 night for a homeowner to get the best price against their asset. 00:04:27.340 --> 00:04:28.360 Is that a good way to think about it? 00:04:28.600 --> 00:04:29.050 Speaker 2: It is. 00:04:29.050 --> 00:04:32.890 And the part that makes it fun and, and why I started with a unique asset is. 00:04:33.775 --> 00:04:37.135 Each of these homes has, they might have a porch, a pool, a 00:04:37.135 --> 00:04:39.255 patio, , parking, pet policy. 00:04:39.705 --> 00:04:42.075 All those have different values to different travelers. 00:04:42.105 --> 00:04:42.195 Mm-hmm. 00:04:42.615 --> 00:04:45.945 Your pool is worth more on the 4th of July than it is on January 4th. 00:04:46.545 --> 00:04:46.635 Right. 00:04:46.635 --> 00:04:47.925 At least in the northern hemisphere. 00:04:48.855 --> 00:04:51.075 , So that's, part of the unique nature of all this. 00:04:51.375 --> 00:04:54.885 And of course, who you're targeting if you have, uh, mostly families 00:04:54.885 --> 00:04:57.735 coming into your place, or mostly couples coming into your place. 00:04:58.125 --> 00:05:02.175 There's a lot of different aspects that make it so This is not like pricing 00:05:02.175 --> 00:05:04.035 a hotel room or an airline seat. 00:05:04.305 --> 00:05:09.155 This is pricing a really unique asset and , looking at the future, well what 00:05:09.425 --> 00:05:11.405 take it, take any day for the next 590? 00:05:11.405 --> 00:05:15.215 It's like, how should it be priced in order to maximize your expected revenue? 00:05:15.305 --> 00:05:17.735 It's a really interesting data science challenge. 00:05:17.915 --> 00:05:20.435 Speaker: As you and I have spent time together over the years, 00:05:20.465 --> 00:05:23.855 uh, we met at a conference, you know, hit it off immediately 00:05:23.915 --> 00:05:25.205 from the very first time we met. 00:05:25.655 --> 00:05:29.765 Started talking about, , finding the best way to serve homeowners, to make 00:05:29.765 --> 00:05:34.235 sure that they have the information they need to see that we're making good 00:05:34.235 --> 00:05:36.605 decisions or help us make good decisions. 00:05:36.875 --> 00:05:42.095 We started talking around these words, owner centric revenue management. 00:05:42.095 --> 00:05:42.155 Yeah. 00:05:43.290 --> 00:05:46.020 Our orange credo, for those who don't know that we talk about 00:05:46.020 --> 00:05:48.620 every single day at Casago. 00:05:48.990 --> 00:05:53.190 You know, the very first line of it is, I am the owner's advocate 00:05:53.760 --> 00:05:57.270 and I'll make all decisions based on the owner's best behalf. 00:05:57.300 --> 00:05:57.630 Right? 00:05:58.110 --> 00:06:03.090 And so when I think about those words and how we're applying, 00:06:03.150 --> 00:06:04.770 making great decisions. 00:06:05.805 --> 00:06:06.915 For the homeowner. 00:06:07.185 --> 00:06:11.775 What does that mean when it comes to being owner centric and 00:06:11.775 --> 00:06:13.305 revenue management put together? 00:06:13.725 --> 00:06:14.145 Speaker 2: Yeah. 00:06:14.205 --> 00:06:18.285 The way we think about it is how do you empower the owner to understand 00:06:18.285 --> 00:06:21.045 what you're doing around pricing strategy, or even to have an 00:06:21.045 --> 00:06:22.815 impact on that pricing strategy? 00:06:22.995 --> 00:06:25.575 We've talked a little bit about data science and pricing. 00:06:25.755 --> 00:06:28.005 Those can be pretty complex things, right? 00:06:28.425 --> 00:06:31.515 Wheelhouse has machine learning models that are running to try to 00:06:31.515 --> 00:06:32.775 understand the value of your house. 00:06:33.690 --> 00:06:35.610 That's not really what we're talking about here. 00:06:36.090 --> 00:06:40.110 To us, owner centric revenue management looks like an owner is informed about 00:06:40.410 --> 00:06:45.000 how their market's performing, how competitors are performing, adjustments 00:06:45.000 --> 00:06:46.800 they might want to make to their property. 00:06:47.520 --> 00:06:50.670 They can be as hands-on or hands off if they, if they want to, but 00:06:50.670 --> 00:06:53.400 if they want to come in, look at the how their homes performing. 00:06:53.490 --> 00:06:55.950 It needs to be really easy for the owner to understand what's being 00:06:55.950 --> 00:06:57.330 done to their, to their home. 00:06:57.390 --> 00:07:00.810 So we think o Owner centric Revenue Management looks like. 00:07:01.770 --> 00:07:03.840 Making all this complex stuff that we've been talking about. 00:07:04.200 --> 00:07:07.920 Very easy to understand, very visual. 00:07:08.520 --> 00:07:11.850 Again, if you wanna come in and see how your home is performing against how you 00:07:11.850 --> 00:07:16.470 did last year, similar assets, et cetera, that should be a very easy thing to do. 00:07:17.250 --> 00:07:20.250 And we also think that the people that homeowners interact with 00:07:20.790 --> 00:07:24.150 should be able to, if you wanna adjust some aspect of your strategy, 00:07:24.150 --> 00:07:26.130 minimum price, minimum stays. 00:07:26.640 --> 00:07:30.660 That shouldn't be a complicated thing that should be accomplished in a second. 00:07:31.080 --> 00:07:35.310 It should be something that, again, you can play a role in, you'll understand 00:07:35.310 --> 00:07:39.390 the impact of that decision, but ultimately it's a collaboration around 00:07:39.390 --> 00:07:42.990 how you want your home to be managed and how you want your home to be priced. 00:07:43.410 --> 00:07:48.630 Esteban: With all this in mind, Casago and Wheelhouse has decided 00:07:48.720 --> 00:07:55.003 to Partner . You're going to be the, uh, Revenue Management Platform 00:07:55.178 --> 00:07:59.108 for Casago, and within that Vacsa. 00:07:59.708 --> 00:08:06.878 And really try to help us bring forward a new era with the revenue management 00:08:06.878 --> 00:08:08.948 team that we have and empower them. 00:08:09.728 --> 00:08:14.268 And I often think a lot about, a price, say of $500, right? 00:08:14.268 --> 00:08:18.408 If a homeowner sees a price of $500 for the night, that price can 00:08:18.408 --> 00:08:24.158 be either a hero price or a zero price when it comes to, , what the 00:08:24.158 --> 00:08:25.928 homeowner's expectation is, right? 00:08:25.928 --> 00:08:26.288 So. 00:08:26.633 --> 00:08:31.433 Homeowner might say, Hey, you only rented me for $500 on this night. 00:08:32.273 --> 00:08:36.683 And to be able to tell a homeowner, you know, yes, that looks like a zero because 00:08:36.683 --> 00:08:41.813 you were expecting more, but it's actually a hero price because if I can show you 00:08:41.813 --> 00:08:46.823 the data within your competitors, only half of them booked and the half that did 00:08:46.823 --> 00:08:50.063 book actually booked for less than $500. 00:08:50.063 --> 00:08:52.783 Maybe they booked for $400, . So suddenly. 00:08:53.488 --> 00:08:54.418 $500. 00:08:54.418 --> 00:09:00.598 Same event, same price, same night, goes from us as , a company looking like 00:09:00.658 --> 00:09:04.908 we've failed, , the zero, so to say, to going to hero that we're actually 00:09:04.908 --> 00:09:07.968 performing well for that homeowner and within that market set is happening. 00:09:08.493 --> 00:09:12.513 I think that's really important when we think about making sense of what's 00:09:12.513 --> 00:09:17.283 going on within a market and our team be being able to have a conversation that 00:09:17.283 --> 00:09:20.253 actually has value to those homeowners. 00:09:20.493 --> 00:09:20.793 Speaker 2: Yeah. 00:09:20.973 --> 00:09:23.973 I mean, Casago's mantra for what 25 years has been owner centric. 00:09:24.033 --> 00:09:24.363 Speaker: Yep. 00:09:24.873 --> 00:09:25.053 Speaker 2: Right. 00:09:25.173 --> 00:09:27.483 All we're doing at this point is saying, cool, how do you apply? 00:09:27.543 --> 00:09:32.493 Apply an owner centric lens to revenue management, and I think what you 00:09:32.493 --> 00:09:34.983 all are, are gonna bring to this is. 00:09:35.328 --> 00:09:37.908 Revenue management systems historically have been built 00:09:37.908 --> 00:09:39.318 for revenue management teams. 00:09:39.318 --> 00:09:40.518 They're complicated systems. 00:09:40.518 --> 00:09:43.788 They're big and bulky, but what we really want to do with owner 00:09:43.788 --> 00:09:47.268 centric is to empower your owners in a way that no other system does. 00:09:47.658 --> 00:09:50.628 So, yes, whether the booking in, you need to add some context to that. 00:09:51.018 --> 00:09:51.348 Usually. 00:09:51.348 --> 00:09:54.378 More importantly, we're looking at future nights, so like, hey, 00:09:54.378 --> 00:09:56.508 we, we have you priced at $500. 00:09:56.508 --> 00:09:56.598 Mm-hmm. 00:09:57.048 --> 00:09:59.358 Let's understand whether that's the right decision for you. 00:09:59.748 --> 00:10:04.848 So we can easily show you that at that $500 price, you're at the highest end of 00:10:04.848 --> 00:10:07.098 the market and the market's not booking. 00:10:07.278 --> 00:10:10.608 Or we can show you, hey, we brought your price up to $600. 00:10:10.638 --> 00:10:12.588 'cause the market started booking a couple days ago. 00:10:12.693 --> 00:10:13.043 Speaker: Right, 00:10:13.338 --> 00:10:13.638 Speaker 2: right. 00:10:13.638 --> 00:10:15.638 So context is, power. 00:10:15.638 --> 00:10:19.658 And I think we are designing systems so that you all can have 00:10:19.658 --> 00:10:22.538 a better dialogue around how you want your asset to be priced. 00:10:22.808 --> 00:10:24.278 And that might sound really simple. 00:10:24.968 --> 00:10:25.808 But it is new. 00:10:25.808 --> 00:10:28.918 So that , starting with the premise of what would owner centric look like. 00:10:29.158 --> 00:10:32.488 It means that yes, we serve revenue managers, we serve property managers, 00:10:32.488 --> 00:10:37.128 but , the ask you have given to us is you want us to make sure that your owners 00:10:37.128 --> 00:10:38.508 are the most empowered owners out there. 00:10:38.638 --> 00:10:40.138 . Speaker: And that's exactly what we talked about. 00:10:40.448 --> 00:10:44.498 , Andrew, when I asked you to sit down with me and do a podcast so our homeowners 00:10:44.498 --> 00:10:47.888 can understand what we're doing here, you gave me four points you wanted to cover. 00:10:48.728 --> 00:10:53.708 I think we've covered number one already with context around making sure homeowners 00:10:53.708 --> 00:10:58.478 understand what we're doing, how we're doing it, how we're coming to these 00:10:58.478 --> 00:11:00.818 decisions, and being able to see that. 00:11:01.028 --> 00:11:06.428 And then for number two, you said increased speed to resolution? 00:11:06.788 --> 00:11:07.418 Speaker 2: Yes. 00:11:07.718 --> 00:11:08.618 Let's talk about that. 00:11:08.888 --> 00:11:09.308 Yeah. 00:11:09.848 --> 00:11:12.098 Every owner has a right to reach out to you at any point. 00:11:12.338 --> 00:11:12.668 Mm-hmm. 00:11:12.788 --> 00:11:16.088 And ask you about either ask for justification of how 00:11:16.088 --> 00:11:17.408 their home is being priced. 00:11:17.948 --> 00:11:21.668 Or to say, you know what I, I want, I'm not comfortable with X, Y, or Z. 00:11:21.788 --> 00:11:25.448 I want to increase my minimum price for the 4th of July, or whatever it may be. 00:11:26.378 --> 00:11:30.518 Historically, when owners have called into to many operators there, there 00:11:30.518 --> 00:11:33.098 haven't been very clear answers about why the price is a particular 00:11:33.098 --> 00:11:35.648 way or maybe they said, Hey, we'll take care of that down the road. 00:11:36.548 --> 00:11:41.918 What we're doing right now is we're taking the Vacsa and Casago teammates and we're 00:11:41.918 --> 00:11:44.168 training 500 people at the same time. 00:11:44.678 --> 00:11:47.468 Who are all gonna be able to answer your questions much more quickly. 00:11:48.128 --> 00:11:49.898 If you have a question about a price, they're gonna be able to 00:11:49.898 --> 00:11:51.548 show you some of this context. 00:11:51.548 --> 00:11:55.478 We're talking about how the market looks, how a comp set looks, how you 00:11:55.478 --> 00:11:58.878 price last year, , what is, what are the demand signals showing us today? 00:11:58.878 --> 00:12:02.688 So a many teammates will be able to help you immediately with that. 00:12:02.688 --> 00:12:04.698 And if you decide you wanna change something. 00:12:05.118 --> 00:12:06.408 They'll be able to do it on that call. 00:12:06.408 --> 00:12:06.498 Mm-hmm. 00:12:06.888 --> 00:12:08.148 So that's what we're moving toward. 00:12:08.148 --> 00:12:12.198 We're moving toward an instant re resolution platform that look at the 00:12:12.198 --> 00:12:15.918 end of the day, it's, it's your asset and you're working with Casago to 00:12:15.918 --> 00:12:19.308 maximize the value of it and to Yes. 00:12:19.308 --> 00:12:20.748 Resolve problems quickly. 00:12:21.108 --> 00:12:25.398 Uh, we are basically creating, uh, training your team, Steve, 00:12:25.398 --> 00:12:28.758 your team, in a much more visual way to communicate price signal. 00:12:29.433 --> 00:12:33.033 Pricing decisions and also for the homeowner to say, I can see 00:12:33.033 --> 00:12:36.333 that and I still wanna do X, Y, or Z, and solve that right there. 00:12:36.393 --> 00:12:37.533 So we think that's valuable. 00:12:38.073 --> 00:12:41.523 Speaker: You know, as we're going from a very centralized model with Vacsa to 00:12:41.523 --> 00:12:48.763 this decentralized model, , with Casago, uh, one thing that's a big change for the 00:12:48.763 --> 00:12:53.173 organization is making sure to empower the people at the local level, right? 00:12:53.683 --> 00:12:56.713 And so when a homeowner calls one of their local representatives. 00:12:57.118 --> 00:13:01.348 Being able to give that representative the knowledge and the tools and 00:13:01.348 --> 00:13:04.058 the empowerment to be able to have a conversation, , and talk 00:13:04.058 --> 00:13:06.788 about like, well, here's what I'm seeing in the pricing system. 00:13:07.238 --> 00:13:08.738 Yes, I can make that change for you. 00:13:09.038 --> 00:13:10.358 Yeah, here's some context to it. 00:13:10.358 --> 00:13:13.268 And if it gives me on their skillset, being able to give them the next 00:13:13.268 --> 00:13:18.128 level of support, but being able to have intelligent conversations 00:13:18.128 --> 00:13:21.968 about what they're doing, why we're doing it, what we're seeing. 00:13:22.748 --> 00:13:26.018 It's just a lot less frustrating for a homeowner to be able to have somebody 00:13:26.018 --> 00:13:31.088 on the ground who understands the fundamentals of what we're doing and is 00:13:31.088 --> 00:13:38.378 able to look into the system and make some adjustments, uh, as needed so that 00:13:38.438 --> 00:13:44.228 we can get back to the homeowner with real results without having to wait for. 00:13:44.813 --> 00:13:48.113 You know, days or trying to channel change them, channel changing 00:13:48.113 --> 00:13:50.363 meaning like we gotta switch them to another person to talk to. 00:13:50.483 --> 00:13:50.573 Mm-hmm. 00:13:50.813 --> 00:13:54.473 I just think it's a much better environment for that homeowner. 00:13:55.193 --> 00:13:55.793 Speaker 2: Yeah. 00:13:55.943 --> 00:13:57.353 It's a little bit about alignment. 00:13:57.353 --> 00:13:59.693 Like look, at the end of the day, the homeowner probably wants to 00:13:59.693 --> 00:14:01.283 make more money from their home. 00:14:01.973 --> 00:14:04.223 And guess what, at the end of the day, Casago go dose too. 00:14:04.343 --> 00:14:04.613 Speaker: Yeah. 00:14:04.673 --> 00:14:07.673 Speaker 2: But that still means making decisions and, and sometimes trade offs. 00:14:07.673 --> 00:14:10.823 So sometimes you might come in and disagree with a price. 00:14:11.603 --> 00:14:15.443 If you wanna change the price up by 20%, or you think you're not booking 00:14:15.443 --> 00:14:17.993 fast enough, so you wanna bring some prices down across your portfolio. 00:14:17.993 --> 00:14:20.483 Well, our job is to show you the impact of that decision. 00:14:21.233 --> 00:14:22.853 You still might accept that decision. 00:14:23.003 --> 00:14:26.153 Yeah, but we need to be able to communicate, Hey, if your minimum price 00:14:26.153 --> 00:14:30.623 is $300 a night, that that will probably impact your expected revenue in some ways. 00:14:30.623 --> 00:14:31.283 Or it could. 00:14:31.823 --> 00:14:35.153 Or if you're often hitting your minimum price during low season, you 00:14:35.153 --> 00:14:38.123 probably want to hear from Casago or someone like, Hey, we think if we 00:14:38.123 --> 00:14:40.373 drop that minimum price to two 50. 00:14:41.078 --> 00:14:43.748 We can bring in some more revenue for you during this low season. 00:14:43.778 --> 00:14:45.308 Is that the right decision for you? 00:14:45.308 --> 00:14:49.538 So the interplay here that's really interesting is we've been lucky to 00:14:49.538 --> 00:14:54.188 work with the, the revenue managers here at Casago for a long time. 00:14:54.218 --> 00:14:57.908 It is a really good dedicated team who wants to serve people fast. 00:14:57.908 --> 00:14:57.998 Mm-hmm. 00:14:58.538 --> 00:15:02.528 And we are training, obviously 500 ops teammates too, who are so excited 00:15:02.528 --> 00:15:05.438 'cause they're like, oh, finally we can go right to our owners with answers. 00:15:05.783 --> 00:15:07.313 With solutions, et cetera. 00:15:07.313 --> 00:15:11.693 So I think the fun part that on this design paradigm has brought to all 00:15:11.693 --> 00:15:16.073 of us here is we are feeling very optimistic that we can deliver on 00:15:16.073 --> 00:15:20.033 this premise of owner centric revenue management first quickly and then 00:15:20.033 --> 00:15:21.593 completely over the coming months. 00:15:21.803 --> 00:15:24.988 . Speaker: So speaking of design, , leads us right into number three. 00:15:25.798 --> 00:15:30.328 We're building a one of a kind dashboard with wheelhouse where 00:15:30.418 --> 00:15:31.918 homeowners are able to see. 00:15:33.058 --> 00:15:36.928 A lot of information that's gonna be able to answer questions in real time. 00:15:37.018 --> 00:15:38.418 Can you expand on that? 00:15:38.418 --> 00:15:39.408 What does that look like? 00:15:39.718 --> 00:15:41.338 , Speaker 2: We're looking at delivery mechanisms. 00:15:41.338 --> 00:15:44.518 So how can we get right into where your owners wanna see this information? 00:15:44.518 --> 00:15:44.638 Mm-hmm. 00:15:44.878 --> 00:15:47.008 Is it in their email or some other place? 00:15:47.548 --> 00:15:49.468 A portal or whatever it may be. 00:15:49.468 --> 00:15:52.448 But, , we're really thinking about those delivery mechanisms so we fit 00:15:52.448 --> 00:15:54.548 seamlessly into your owners' lives. 00:15:54.758 --> 00:15:59.108 So an effective dashboard helps you get quickly back to what you need to 00:15:59.108 --> 00:16:00.278 be doing with the rest of your day. 00:16:00.668 --> 00:16:02.798 So dashboard will tell you how are you performing? 00:16:02.798 --> 00:16:06.098 It will tell you how you're performing potentially year over year 00:16:06.098 --> 00:16:07.808 versus competitors versus market. 00:16:08.243 --> 00:16:10.688 But a good dashboard should capture that word, dash. 00:16:11.108 --> 00:16:14.018 It's simple, it's easy, you look at it and you know you're being taken care of. 00:16:14.948 --> 00:16:18.098 I think the second part behind it is if you do have a question about 00:16:18.098 --> 00:16:21.518 something you see in the dashboard, how easy is it for you to go get an 00:16:21.518 --> 00:16:23.708 answer to understand the why behind it? 00:16:24.158 --> 00:16:28.628 So we think of dashboard design as how quickly can we hopefully in a few seconds, 00:16:29.018 --> 00:16:32.198 ensure that you know your home's being taken care of and is doing well revenue 00:16:32.198 --> 00:16:36.098 wise, and if you want to learn more, make it easy for you to go get to those 00:16:36.098 --> 00:16:39.938 bits of information that might be able to add context to that performance. 00:16:40.438 --> 00:16:41.248 . You know, between 00:16:41.758 --> 00:16:42.388 Esteban: building this. 00:16:42.848 --> 00:16:49.818 Dashboard, giving our homeowners access to it in, and then for whatever information 00:16:49.818 --> 00:16:55.968 they need beyond that, training 500 people , , within the ecosystem to be 00:16:55.968 --> 00:16:58.428 able to answer even more questions. 00:16:58.788 --> 00:17:03.648 I just think that the experience our homeowners are going to have at the 00:17:03.648 --> 00:17:05.523 end of this project is going to be. 00:17:06.918 --> 00:17:12.278 , 180 degrees from where we've been and , we're gonna be able to fix 00:17:12.278 --> 00:17:14.678 the frustrations of people not being able to get back to 'em. 00:17:14.678 --> 00:17:18.258 Because the truth is, , you have to have enough people to have bandwidth, 00:17:18.258 --> 00:17:19.458 to be able to have conversations. 00:17:19.458 --> 00:17:19.788 Right? 00:17:19.818 --> 00:17:23.122 And you have to be able to give them information so they don't have to always 00:17:23.122 --> 00:17:24.702 go to people first if they don't want to 00:17:25.642 --> 00:17:30.281 . And I think that the convenience of the information at their 00:17:30.281 --> 00:17:32.831 fingertips digitally and then. 00:17:33.371 --> 00:17:36.611 A army of people who can answer questions for 'em. 00:17:37.331 --> 00:17:41.545 I think of it as a complete change step in what has been offered and what 00:17:41.545 --> 00:17:47.534 Casago goes go forward will be thinking about how the owner centric model 00:17:47.894 --> 00:17:51.614 plays into making sure we're taking care of our homeowners and giving them 00:17:51.614 --> 00:17:53.099 that transparency that they deserve. 00:17:53.449 --> 00:17:55.584 Speaker 2: Yeah, and to just name it. 00:17:56.244 --> 00:18:00.384 All the folks who worked with Casago for the last many years know how serious 00:18:00.384 --> 00:18:04.554 you are about being owner centric and taking care of folks and the Vacsa folks 00:18:04.554 --> 00:18:06.144 who are now coming into your portfolio. 00:18:06.144 --> 00:18:09.114 These homeowners, I think they, I think my message for them , would 00:18:09.114 --> 00:18:10.434 be actually relatively simple. 00:18:10.824 --> 00:18:14.154 I've been building pricing and revenue management systems for 12 years. 00:18:14.184 --> 00:18:16.854 I founded two of the three major companies in the category 00:18:16.854 --> 00:18:18.324 beyond pricing and wheelhouse. 00:18:18.804 --> 00:18:21.894 Our teams have won multiple design and product wars over the years. 00:18:22.869 --> 00:18:26.619 No team until you all came to me and said, we wanna deliver 00:18:26.649 --> 00:18:28.359 owner centric revenue management. 00:18:29.019 --> 00:18:31.719 That has never been the design challenge that someone has given to us. 00:18:32.109 --> 00:18:34.719 We've had people say they want our system to run faster. 00:18:35.049 --> 00:18:37.539 A revenue manager wanted this knob or dial, and we've done a 00:18:37.539 --> 00:18:38.889 great job of delivering on that. 00:18:39.309 --> 00:18:43.269 But again, over hundreds or thousands of conversations, you have brought 00:18:43.269 --> 00:18:47.829 this design principle of go to the owners and empower the owners. 00:18:47.829 --> 00:18:49.119 So when it's 180 degrees. 00:18:49.704 --> 00:18:51.714 I would argue it's just the new paradigm mm-hmm. 00:18:52.104 --> 00:18:53.214 That you're focused on. 00:18:53.214 --> 00:18:56.244 And since we're gonna deliver it with you to the owners, like if you've ever had a 00:18:56.244 --> 00:18:59.964 challenge around some of the pricing or revenue strategies in the past, like just 00:18:59.964 --> 00:19:04.884 know that you have a software team and a leadership team at Casago who is taking 00:19:04.884 --> 00:19:08.964 time to really invest in, in what will look like fundamentally new capabilities. 00:19:08.994 --> 00:19:09.624 , And we take that. 00:19:09.654 --> 00:19:11.694 We take this challenge seriously. 00:19:12.154 --> 00:19:14.614 Esteban: I think that our thought process and what we're gonna be 00:19:14.614 --> 00:19:16.084 able to bring to our homeowners. 00:19:16.654 --> 00:19:20.944 Is going to evolve 'cause like you and I were talking about earlier, okay. 00:19:21.034 --> 00:19:22.654 We understand what our goal is. 00:19:22.654 --> 00:19:26.934 We understand the paradigm that we're, , we're taking forward as we make 00:19:26.934 --> 00:19:29.124 decisions and uncover opportunities. 00:19:29.694 --> 00:19:34.864 I think that the dashboard we initially deliver, , will be, you know, on point. 00:19:35.194 --> 00:19:38.644 But I think that we'll find opportunities along the way to build something, 00:19:39.244 --> 00:19:42.064 uh, that's really meaningful. 00:19:42.859 --> 00:19:47.498 With new innovations as we, , as we find, , opportunities to , provide 00:19:47.498 --> 00:19:49.155 additional value to homeowners. 00:19:49.275 --> 00:19:49.515 Speaker 2: Yeah. 00:19:49.605 --> 00:19:51.465 The truth is no two owners are alike. 00:19:51.615 --> 00:19:52.485 Right, right. 00:19:52.785 --> 00:19:55.875 And even if they're more alike, well they, you know, owners change 00:19:55.875 --> 00:19:59.715 over time and goals change over time as, as people's lives evolve. 00:19:59.715 --> 00:20:03.015 So the challenge is how do you make a dashboard that speaks to each owner? 00:20:03.020 --> 00:20:03.300 Mm-hmm. 00:20:03.975 --> 00:20:06.345 At wheelhouse from a data science perspective, we like to say, well, 00:20:06.345 --> 00:20:08.115 there's the right way to price a home. 00:20:08.355 --> 00:20:10.935 You can look at demand signals and booking patterns and say there's 00:20:11.145 --> 00:20:12.525 a right way to price a home. 00:20:12.525 --> 00:20:15.735 But in truth, you kind of know after, unfortunately, the dates have passed. 00:20:16.185 --> 00:20:17.865 After all the market has has booked. 00:20:18.405 --> 00:20:22.785 But there are many rational ways to price a home, and one owner 00:20:22.785 --> 00:20:26.265 might wanna listen to prior booking history a little bit more. 00:20:26.535 --> 00:20:28.875 One might wanna listen to the future a little bit more. 00:20:29.280 --> 00:20:32.370 One might wanna look at just a few competitors near their property and 00:20:32.370 --> 00:20:33.870 really strategize against those. 00:20:33.870 --> 00:20:37.620 So there are many rational ways to price a home and a system like Wheelhouse 00:20:38.190 --> 00:20:42.360 isn't a blunt, Hey, here's your owner dashboard and here's how you price, 00:20:42.360 --> 00:20:45.750 it's how do you wanna price, how do you wanna handle this going forward? 00:20:45.990 --> 00:20:46.320 And great. 00:20:46.320 --> 00:20:47.400 Let's make that easy. 00:20:47.900 --> 00:20:53.849 Esteban: The entire company is built on a one relationship with one owner at a time. 00:20:54.794 --> 00:20:59.988 When we speak to our owners, they have wants and needs and goals that are 00:20:59.988 --> 00:21:05.306 individual and unique . and you can't treat them all with the same strategy 00:21:05.406 --> 00:21:09.396 you have to be able to customize what you're doing to meet that 00:21:09.936 --> 00:21:13.236 homeowners goals with that property. 00:21:13.236 --> 00:21:13.596 Right? 00:21:13.776 --> 00:21:14.046 Speaker 2: Yeah. 00:21:14.106 --> 00:21:16.536 Esteban: I think that we are bringing that forward. 00:21:17.106 --> 00:21:21.746 With some of , the settings and the ability to adjust how aggressive 00:21:21.746 --> 00:21:25.946 you're gonna be or how you want to maybe have a bias towards, , your 00:21:25.946 --> 00:21:28.046 nightly rate or towards occupancy. 00:21:28.586 --> 00:21:35.186 I think these are all parts and pieces of how we end up getting to our goal of being 00:21:35.186 --> 00:21:39.386 able to serve that individual relationship and their goals one at a time. 00:21:39.806 --> 00:21:39.986 Yes. 00:21:40.976 --> 00:21:43.226 Andrew, for number four, you put empowerment. 00:21:44.636 --> 00:21:45.866 Speaker 2: All of it is about empowerment. 00:21:46.256 --> 00:21:50.396 And empowerment in my mind comes from, in our minds, comes from transparency. 00:21:50.396 --> 00:21:53.216 So can you see information about how you're being priced? 00:21:53.876 --> 00:21:54.836 It's about control. 00:21:54.836 --> 00:21:57.986 Can you make a decision right there about a change you wanna make? 00:21:58.226 --> 00:21:59.846 And it's about a dialogue. 00:21:59.876 --> 00:22:01.466 It's about communicating, right? 00:22:01.466 --> 00:22:05.846 So I think the goal of our system is to make it easy to talk about these things. 00:22:05.936 --> 00:22:08.816 Easy to make a decision and easy to make sure that your homes 00:22:08.816 --> 00:22:10.041 manage exactly as you please. 00:22:10.736 --> 00:22:14.486 Esteban: Yeah, something I've been saying for a long time is that revenue 00:22:14.486 --> 00:22:19.316 measurement is a team sport, and just like on a football team, everybody has to be 00:22:19.316 --> 00:22:24.076 able to play their part and contribute, and without having each person within 00:22:24.076 --> 00:22:29.926 that ecosystem, the homeowner, the local representative, the gm, the analyst, the 00:22:30.016 --> 00:22:35.986 revenue manager, everybody has a different viewpoint and a different part to play. 00:22:36.526 --> 00:22:42.706 And I think making sure that we're empowering the team across each and 00:22:42.706 --> 00:22:45.946 every position really matters, right? 00:22:45.946 --> 00:22:49.456 The homeowner is part of the team when it comes to revenue management. 00:22:49.456 --> 00:22:50.356 What are your goals? 00:22:50.866 --> 00:22:54.436 How are you thinking about how you want your property to be priced and managed? 00:22:54.676 --> 00:22:57.106 The team on the front line needs to be able to speak to that homeowner and have 00:22:57.106 --> 00:22:58.456 a meaningful conversation with them. 00:22:59.146 --> 00:23:02.596 The general manager needs to be able to help along with more complex issues. 00:23:02.986 --> 00:23:08.506 The analyst needs to be able to have data and an understanding of each 00:23:08.506 --> 00:23:11.026 and every property one by one, right? 00:23:11.266 --> 00:23:11.476 Mm-hmm. 00:23:11.536 --> 00:23:15.886 You know, we get up to the senior revenue manager who's looking at macro 00:23:15.886 --> 00:23:17.896 issues like, how's this market doing? 00:23:18.376 --> 00:23:21.436 What's affecting pricing and pacing? 00:23:21.886 --> 00:23:22.216 Mm-hmm. 00:23:22.366 --> 00:23:24.076 So we all have a role to play. 00:23:24.406 --> 00:23:28.126 I think that the empowerment comes by being able to train our teams, be 00:23:28.126 --> 00:23:29.661 able to give homeowners more context. 00:23:31.051 --> 00:23:35.101 To provide this ecosystem to really drive better results for our 00:23:35.101 --> 00:23:36.151 homeowners at the end of the day. 00:23:37.261 --> 00:23:38.581 Speaker 2: You know what I appreciate about that too. 00:23:38.911 --> 00:23:40.891 You all are putting your money where your mouth is. 00:23:41.041 --> 00:23:45.001 I mentioned we're training 500 people across the Casago right now. 00:23:45.601 --> 00:23:49.051 It's not that you said, Hey, wheelhouse, we wanna work with you and train up 00:23:49.471 --> 00:23:51.421 10 or 20 of our revenue managers. 00:23:51.901 --> 00:23:54.661 You said we're gonna make sure that all of our teammates can speak to 00:23:54.661 --> 00:23:58.111 owners better and more concretely about their pricing strategy. 00:23:58.471 --> 00:24:02.521 Your team is a group that is eager to learn, eager to help, eager to serve. 00:24:03.271 --> 00:24:05.431 And it's really been interesting to watch them kind of as they've 00:24:05.521 --> 00:24:08.641 gotten to use the system, start to say, well, thank goodness, 'cause 00:24:08.641 --> 00:24:10.501 I can now serve my owners better. 00:24:10.741 --> 00:24:10.861 Mm-hmm. 00:24:11.371 --> 00:24:13.801 So I think it's not, uh, this isn't a long change coming. 00:24:13.801 --> 00:24:15.481 This training is happening now. 00:24:16.141 --> 00:24:19.321 We'll have every single teammate across Casago who's gonna 00:24:19.321 --> 00:24:20.401 be interacting with owners. 00:24:20.701 --> 00:24:22.771 Everyone will be trained by, at worst, September 15th. 00:24:24.661 --> 00:24:28.591 That's seven weeks from now and that, that training started a while ago. 00:24:28.591 --> 00:24:31.291 So we have just a deep commitment to training and education. 00:24:31.291 --> 00:24:33.631 It's about empowering you and and owners. 00:24:33.631 --> 00:24:36.301 You'll be able to talk to people who will be able to show you real 00:24:36.661 --> 00:24:39.601 wired decisions are being made, make changes with you, et cetera. 00:24:39.601 --> 00:24:43.921 So the most fun part about this conversation happening now is, this isn't 00:24:43.921 --> 00:24:47.521 a huge hypothetical, it's No, this is happening now and you're about to see it. 00:24:47.731 --> 00:24:48.001 Speaker: Yeah. 00:24:48.241 --> 00:24:48.391 Speaker 2: Yeah. 00:24:48.391 --> 00:24:48.721 You know, it, 00:24:49.231 --> 00:24:51.241 Speaker: it comes down to great people. 00:24:51.241 --> 00:24:52.111 And by the way. 00:24:52.891 --> 00:24:53.981 Teams at Vacsa. 00:24:54.001 --> 00:24:55.621 There are really great people there. 00:24:55.681 --> 00:24:56.221 Awesome people. 00:24:56.281 --> 00:24:57.601 Yeah, great training. 00:24:57.691 --> 00:25:00.811 'cause you have to give your great people the, the skill sets 00:25:00.811 --> 00:25:02.131 to be able to be successful. 00:25:02.941 --> 00:25:05.221 Uh, you have to give them great tools. 00:25:05.641 --> 00:25:10.351 That's where wheelhouse steps in with a system that gives us a lot 00:25:10.351 --> 00:25:12.271 more visibility than we've ever had. 00:25:13.231 --> 00:25:14.731 And then great values. 00:25:14.911 --> 00:25:17.761 How do we apply all that through leadership to make sure that 00:25:17.761 --> 00:25:18.961 we're heading in a direction. 00:25:19.336 --> 00:25:20.416 That we all can get behind, right? 00:25:20.416 --> 00:25:20.506 Mm-hmm. 00:25:20.746 --> 00:25:24.046 And I think that's where our partnership really aligns well. 00:25:24.256 --> 00:25:24.556 Yeah. 00:25:24.826 --> 00:25:28.846 So, Andrew, before we go, I'm gonna ask you one last question. 00:25:28.876 --> 00:25:33.616 Um, we've talked a little bit about it on the podcast, our orange credo. 00:25:34.066 --> 00:25:36.766 We have six different pillars within that orange credo. 00:25:37.126 --> 00:25:39.466 Which one's your favorite excellence? 00:25:39.966 --> 00:25:40.836 Why is it excellence? 00:25:41.526 --> 00:25:43.086 Speaker 2: Because it's such an interesting word 00:25:43.506 --> 00:25:45.366 and I think excellence is. 00:25:45.906 --> 00:25:48.936 Something that our organization strives for really deeply. 00:25:48.996 --> 00:25:53.766 I mean, one of our, one of our, one of our team's mottos, is Excellence Everywhere. 00:25:54.216 --> 00:25:56.046 We believe that everything you do is important. 00:25:56.046 --> 00:25:59.286 That phone call you have, that email you send all the way up to the 00:25:59.286 --> 00:26:03.996 strategy and the, the effort you put in to everything is really important. 00:26:03.996 --> 00:26:07.566 And, and our team, uh, strives collectively towards excellence. 00:26:07.776 --> 00:26:08.226 But. 00:26:08.871 --> 00:26:10.821 Excellence is a team sport. 00:26:11.001 --> 00:26:13.971 Uh, in this case, excellence means listening to owners, listening to 00:26:13.971 --> 00:26:18.051 Casago, listening to your teammates, and seeing how we can show up to 00:26:18.051 --> 00:26:19.701 serve that in a really bespoke manner. 00:26:20.001 --> 00:26:23.631 I think, uh, at Wheelhouse we're interested in doing things in that are 00:26:23.631 --> 00:26:25.881 unique, that are beneficial to others. 00:26:25.881 --> 00:26:30.621 That, and that set kind of a, a standard for the type of software that 00:26:30.621 --> 00:26:33.741 we think all of our customers, whether it's owners or property managers 00:26:33.741 --> 00:26:35.211 or revenue managers, deserve So. 00:26:35.676 --> 00:26:39.966 Excellence is the motto that, uh, I believe in, that our team believes in. 00:26:39.966 --> 00:26:44.436 And I was pumped to, I was excited to read about it in, in the Credo as well. 00:26:44.916 --> 00:26:46.656 Speaker: Yeah, it's, it's another one of our alignments. 00:26:46.656 --> 00:26:50.256 , When I think of excellence, somebody asks, why not perfection said, because 00:26:50.256 --> 00:26:51.756 you'll exhaust yourself in perfection. 00:26:51.756 --> 00:26:54.336 You'll never get their excellence is something you can actually achieve. 00:26:55.086 --> 00:27:00.186 And my definition of excellence personally is if I can look at what 00:27:00.186 --> 00:27:02.586 I've, I've done and be proud of it. 00:27:03.171 --> 00:27:07.761 You know, you know in your gut when something isn't right and that you're 00:27:07.761 --> 00:27:09.291 not proud of, and that's not excellence. 00:27:09.321 --> 00:27:12.111 I think that when I can look at something and say, I'm really proud 00:27:12.111 --> 00:27:16.041 of the work I did, it may not be perfect, but it was excellent and I 00:27:16.041 --> 00:27:18.861 think that's a achievable goal and I think we're well aligned on that. 00:27:19.281 --> 00:27:19.791 A hundred percent. 00:27:19.791 --> 00:27:21.141 Andrew, thanks so much for coming on. 00:27:21.671 --> 00:27:23.051 To all of our homeowners. 00:27:23.081 --> 00:27:23.891 Thanks for listening. 00:27:24.401 --> 00:27:28.461 We're really looking forward to providing, , new tools, better training 00:27:28.851 --> 00:27:33.261 empowered teams for you, and driving a lot more valuable of a service for you. 00:27:33.291 --> 00:27:34.461 Thanks again for listening. 00:27:34.461 --> 00:27:35.091 Have a great day.