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Casago’s private podcast helping our patners with educational information that can help everyone find success.
Speaker: Its CAA Cast we're Luxury Casa.
They be a CAA created by Casa.
It's time for the show.
Let's go.
Speaker 2: Hey, welcome to Kass Cast.
I'm your host, Steve Schwab
here today with David and Gotti.
If you've been around Cago for any
amount of time or to any of the Casa
Con conventions, you know David.
David is infamous in our industry
and we've been lucky enough to have
him come on as a senior advisor.
If you don't know David, he is a
pilot, a entrepreneur, a property
manager, and an ultra marathon runner,
which we can talk about all of those
things as we go through this podcast.
So excited to introduce 'em to
you all who haven't met him as
our senior advisor for our.com
initiatives.
David, welcome to the show.
Thanks for having me, Steve.
David, you're working as our
senior advisor for ssa.com
and casa.com
to really bring value to our
franchisees and to our homeowners.
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's correct.
This is definitely an exciting
time , , when you look at the
merger that that happened.
Part of that merger that may not
get as much publicity is there
was this website, vac casa.com
legitimately, if it were an OTAA top 10
OTA in the country that just happened to
slide in along with that deal and now is
here for the benefit of franchisees and
homeowners of Vac Casa Go and Vac Casa.
Esteban: You know, it's really exciting
to be able to bring this sort of demand
to our existing franchisees who have
been going along on this ride with us
. Then also to build the
value of vac casa.com
for . those new Franchisees who are
coming on now, and to be able to provide
them an opportunity that's really unique
in the industry because vac casa.com
drives literally hundreds of
millions of dollars worth of revenue.
That's pretty unique in
our industry, isn't it?
Speaker 3: Yeah.
So , when you think, , hundreds of
millions of dollars of revenue is a big
number, and that can start to overwhelm
people, like what does that even mean?
What does that mean For my Main Street
business, what it means is we are
seeing top properties on picasa.com
right now get 30 to 35% of their total
number of bookings from that website.
So a similar number of bookings
that, uh, as those properties
are receiving from Airbnb.
VRBO and now all of a sudden, if
you're a Casa Go franchisee who a
year ago would've had no way in the
world to distribute onto vac casa.com.
Mm-hmm.
You're gonna be there . I was just
meeting with, with our CTO about that it's
coming in the near future, you're going
to be able to get those extra bookings.
If you are buying one of the Vac
casa markets and turning it into
a Costco franchisee, yes, your
properties have already been on there.
That's already reflected in the
booking, so that's exciting.
But what's more exciting is we're
making much larger investments
today than we were a year ago.
I'll give an illustration
of that a year ago.
Vac Casas, a publicly traded company,
they're spending seven figures,
so a lot per month on Google Ads.
Fast forward to today , we
merged, we're private.
We're spending four
times that amount today.
It's not like we're looking
to just cut that expense.
We're looking to scale that expense
as high as we can where we're
still driving positive results
for each of , our franchisees.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
David, you're not only working on bringing
more people to the website through spend
and through search engine optimizations,
but you're also working really hard
on the conversion optimization.
And maybe a lot of our teammates
don't know what that is exactly.
Can you explain that and then
talk about how that's going to
benefit everybody in the ecosystem?
Speaker 3: Yeah.
I'm gonna back up just a little bit there.
So the way I'm thinking about this
project holistically is we're getting.
A, a incredible team put together
right now, that team , is partially
made up of best in class, literally
the best in the world vendors that
are helping us with certain things.
People like SEER Interactive, my friend
Will Reynolds, uh, just one of the best
paid marketing agencies in the world.
. We're putting together team members.
We're finding the team members that were
already in roles and empowering them.
Where they were feeling frustrated,
they weren't able to actually produce
results 'cause they weren't empowered.
We're making sure those people
that did excellent work have the
opportunity to see that work come
to fruition and drive results.
So all of that's happening right now.
We're going to continue
to empower those teams.
And what that does is begins
to fill the top of the funnel.
So if we want to think of this as
a funnel, the top of the funnel
is the traffic that's coming in.
That could be from a paid
source, like a Google ad.
It could be email marketing, it
could be our app, which actually
drives a lot of traffic and revenue.
All of these different things, even
generative engines like chat, GPT.
We're working on that right now.
So we're, we're bringing in
traffic to the top of the funnel.
That's not an easy thing to do.
It takes a lot of work, but thankfully
we have a great foundation that has been
built over years and years and years,
and so we bring this, this traffic
into the top of the funnel, and now we
need to think about how do we move it
down the funnel to an actual booking.
And so.
The first thing I think about is
what stops somebody from booking?
We have , this group of a hundred
people that came into the site.
Why did somebody not book?
And that's a friction point.
Once we start to identify those
friction points, which there's , a
couple people on my team, Dan and
Daniel that are working on this, it,
they then start to develop a test.
Well, if this thing is stopping
somebody from booking, what if
we did this other thing instead?
So we will, uh, start to create a test.
And I'm not gonna get into all
the statistics and math around
that, but we allocate a little
bit of traffic initially, and
more and more traffic eventually
as that test starts to prove out.
And so we have this test that
then ultimately says, Hey, that
friction point's now removed.
That's a one test we, we won.
And so we promote that test
and now we start again.
So it is an iterative process of
constantly testing and removing
friction points and making this this
funnel more efficient to move a higher
percentage from the top down to the
bottom, completing a booking, and
that's known as conversion optimization
or conversion rate optimization.
If you haven't heard of that before.
But that's an example of how, how
we're doing things as a team here.
How can we get more traffic in the top,
not to be irresponsible with, but to be
more responsible with, to create more
bookings, to hopefully drive a bigger
and bigger percentage to each of our
franchisees and each of our homeowners.
Speaker 2: That's,
Speaker 3: that's
Speaker 2: amazing.
And you know, often we talk a
lot about that this business
is a relationship business.
Dave, you've brought a lot of your
relationships to bear in this project,
and one of those is Will Reynolds,
and I'd like you to talk a little bit
about Will Reynolds and how he's been
important to this and his agency.
And then also one of his teammates,
a very important teammate, happens
to be a homeowner in Las Vegas , and
maybe you can talk a little bit about.
Will and that whole ecosystem and
what that brings to the table.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
So I'd say Will is in probably the
top five people of influence on
my career as an internet marketer.
, Back in a time , where most people
were trying to game systems, he,
he was a big champion of build
a brand that touches lives, that
impacts people, that helps people.
When you do that, you will win.
And starting at that time, his messaging
really started to resonate with me.
We became good friends over,
uh, over a long period of time.
Such good friends, in fact, that
he actually just, uh, ran with
me on one of my ultra marathons
overnight in, uh, Vermont 100.
He was my, my pacer they call it.
But he was there with me.
Doing that.
So that was a lot of fun.
But while we're out there, we're
talking work, we're talking
life, just a great human being.
Mm-hmm.
Who's built a company that, that
has just incredible talent and cares
about the people, where each person
has a , sense of ownership there.
So it's one of the top agencies in the
world when it comes to paid marketing.
As soon as we realized we were
going on this journey together,
will was one of my first calls.
And I'm like, how do I
talk you into joining?
How do I talk you into helping with this?
And we talked him into that.
He joined a call with us very early on,
started giving us time looking at the, the
website and what the opportunities were.
So that was absolutely amazing
to get him involved early on.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
You know, I think that it's, we'd
be remiss in, uh, not mentioning
the fact that it was your
relationship that helped bring him
on, because there's a waiting list.
To work with Will.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
You can't normally just call
him up and be like, Hey, I want
you to work with me in a week.
That's just, uh, not something
that, that typically happens.
And, , the good news is
it's not just the paid ads.
We're, we're brainstorming on
things that are going to drive value
for every one of our franchisees.
Hopefully we'll be announcing
some of those soon.
We're talking about things that
are really, really cutting edge
around generative engines and AI
right now that we're working on.
I, I was, I was going back and forth
on Slack with, with Will till like.
10, 10 at night, just a, a few
days ago as we were ideating things
that are, are for the sole purpose
of benefiting the franchisees.
And these are exciting things.
Esteban: Yeah.
I know you don't want to talk
about them specifically because
some of 'em are moonshots
but I'm really excited about many of
the, , initiatives that you're working
on, , that'll drive innovation in the
new Artificial Intelligence arena . And
speakng about your races . If you
don't know, David just finished the a
hundred Mile Leadville Race, which is
one of the hardest races in the world.
, He competes across multiple a hundred
mile races in different areas, and in
just, uh, a few weeks, he'll be finishing
up that series of races at the Atch.
I'm, I'm gonna say the
word wrong, wa Chat.
You're gonna have to help me with this.
Wasatch, you got it.
Wasatch race and, uh, you know, just
the amount of discipline and hard work.
David, , I wanna tell you how impressed
I am , , and, , just congratulations and
kudos to you for being so disciplined
in a goal that you set forward and,
uh, and have done well with, so.
Really cool stuff.
Speaker 3: Well, well, thank you for that.
Don't congratulate me till
I'm done with that last one.
Each one of these, uh, a hundred
mile races is a, uh, a feat.
We'll say so.
But yeah, the grand Slam of Ulta running
is four 100 mile races all through the
mountains that takes place over about an
11 week time period with roughly about
15 global athletes competing in that.
So it's been, it's been
a challenge for sure.
You know, I oftentimes.
Equate things out there on the
trail to things I'm doing in life.
It's part of why I like ultra running.
You can tie it to building a
business or building a website,
even relationships, different things
because there, there's these highs
and these lows that come with it.
And one of the things I think that really
ties back to to building picasa.com
is just the idea of always forward.
That there will be hiccups, there
will be frustrations, there will be
mountaintops and there will be lows,
but we always keep moving forward.
It's that idea of progress all the time.
And when you have that idea of, Hey,
I'm not going to stop moving, you're
making progress towards the finish line.
And where you see people start
to drop out of races is when they
sit in a chair and they sit there
too long, because guess what?
You aren't moving any
closer to the finish line.
Mm-hmm.
And, and building a website
like, like the casa.com
into the global brand that it has,
has just huge, huge potential.
It requires that same mindset.
How do we not get lazy and
sit in the chair figuratively.
Yeah.
How do we, even if it's slower
than we want on this section of
the trail, how do we keep pushing
towards the finish line rather than,
than stopping at the aid station?
'cause when we stop at the aid station.
Like sitting is quitting.
Sitting is quitting.
Yeah, I like that.
Speaker 2: You know, and
speaking of, , the big race, the
opportunity here with vac casa.com
is it's already the highest trafficked
website for vacation rentals in
the world that's privately owned.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Think about that.
That's where we are starting from.
That is our start line.
We have now been entrusted with
this website, the top privately
owned vacation rental website in
the world to drive results for our
franchisees, for our homeowners.
That is not something I take lightly.
We will build out the right team for this.
We will develop that funnel.
I was talking about that funnel where,
where we put as many people across the
site as possible, but not, so we don't
optimize it, but so we can optimize it
so it can provide more and more bookings
for everybody and more and more value
for everybody, whether it's a existing
Costco franchisee or a new new one.
We want that advantage to be so
overwhelmingly positive that any homeowner
on your program benefits from this.
That it helps you with churn, that
it helps you with revenue, and
that it gives you just an unfair
advantage almost over the competition.
Speaker 2: You know, David, my
job in this organization is to
find the very best people for each
role so that we can be successful.
And I have to tell you that I am
so grateful that you took this on.
, I went out and recruited you,
, worked on convincing you before
you knew I was convincing you.
. I wouldn't entrust this opportunity
with anybody else but you, and
I'm really grateful that you've
come onto the team, David.
Well, I'm
Speaker 3: grateful to be here, Steve.
I'm grateful for our long
friendship and just the, the
ability to, to work well together.
You know, when you brought the team
out, I think it was the day after
you closed and we, we sat down.
I didn't know that you were
already soft closing me on.
On, uh, working with you, you on this?
I thought you were just trying to
get my, my thoughts on the website.
Next thing I know, I'm wrangled into,
into helping you build this out into
something that's gonna conquer the
world, but it's gonna be a lot of fun.
. Speaker 2: David, , you know,
I always close this with
favorite letter from Orange.
What's your favorite
letter from Orange and why?
Speaker 3: You know, I have really.
Two, but I'm gonna, I'm gonna narrow it
down to one, but I wanna say both of 'em.
First.
I like owner centric
and I like excellence.
And I'm gonna, if, if I have to
pick one of those though, I'm
gonna go with owner centric.
And the reason I pick owner
centric, I believe if we take care
of our owners, you, you have to
fulfill all of the other letters.
You cannot do a good job
of any other letter without
taking care of your homeowners.
That's what everything hinges upon.
Is the homeowner.
When we treat our homeowners as if
our business depends on them, which
it does, then we will be successful.
Yeah.
Esteban: And there is no initiative
that is more owner centric than this
because truthfully, at the end of
the day, if we give our homeowners an
unfair advantage over the competition
is a game changer for them and for us.
. Speaker 3: Yeah.
You know, I know so many of the
franchisees already from Casa
Cons and different conferences.
What I would say is they do great
work and in a time where bookings
have fallen a little bit over
the last year, for every property
manager that I'm talking to almost.
It, it sucks because it doesn't mean
that my friends are doing worse work,
but they're the tip of the spear.
They're the ones that are out there
talking to the homeowners, and the
way I think of this is when you
have somebody that's doing great
work, if I can help take that,
those conversations that are tough.
And, and, and turn 'em around and, and
give them more bookings through this site.
If I can help them actually deliver
better results for their homeowners
and, and amplify the efforts of that,
that tough work that they're doing
out there in the trenches out there.
And I know it's hard work.
I've been a property manager
before, if I can help amplify those
efforts and my friends can then have
easier conversations with owners.
And, and it doesn't mean they're easy.
I said easier, easier conversations
with owners about what they're
doing to market properties and the
advantages they have in this ecosystem.
Then I've done my job.
Speaker: It's the classic
they don't call
Casa.
We got orange credo Casa cast our
caa.