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Casago’s private podcast helping our patners with educational information that can help everyone find success.
It's Casa Cast.
We got Orange Credo Casa Cast, our
company Casa Cast, created by Casa Go.
It's time for the show.
Let's go.
Hey, welcome to Casa Cast.
Today I'm with Jenny Davis from
VRBO, our account manager for Costco.
Jenny, welcome to the show.
Thanks so much, Steve.
I'm happy to be here.
I'm so glad you're here.
Jenny.
We've always felt like you've been one
of like the key reasons why we have
such a great relationship with VRBO.
And we're always grateful for
everything you contribute to
Costco and to our orange meetings.
Today, we're talking about the six ways
to better utilize your account manager.
.
Jenny, you are originally from
San Diego, California, right?
I am.
I'm from a little town about 25 miles
north of San Diego called Encinitas.
Oh, okay.
Well, I know Encinitas.
That's pretty cool.
After graduating high school, you
ended up moving to Texas for college.
I did.
It surprised everyone
except for my grandparents.
I used to spend my summers in Texas
because my grandparents lived here and
they would take me to go see colleges.
And so I ended up going to
TCU, home of the Horned Frogs.
Go Frogs!
Go Frogs!
Did you get your bachelor's
degree in education?
My bachelor's degree was not in education.
It was actually in radio,
television, and film studies
with an emphasis on production.
I did that for a couple of years
right after college, and I did not
like it, and I ended up volunteering
with some schools, fell in love with
teaching, so then I became a teacher.
I got my certificate and taught little
people, little children, for Many years.
I bet you loved that.
I bet you were great at that too.
I did.
It was a lot of fun.
It was super rewarding.
It was very challenging.
And then I came to the end of that career
path and moved from there into partner
success within education technology.
And so how did you end up at VRBO?
Was there a story behind it or
did you just happen to see an ad?
?
Yeah, that's a good question.
Traveling for me has always been a love.
I really tied into education.
I'm a lifelong learner.
I'm a super nerd.
I love learning all the things about
all the places that I go visit,
and so it was just a natural fit
for me and my background when I
was working in education technology
towards the end of the pandemic.
There was a bit of a backlash.
Against technology because the
children had been on it for so long.
I also decided that I wanted to just move
into a slightly different field within the
partner success or customer success realm.
And I had a friend here at
Expedia Group and applied and
thank goodness they took me on.
I've been here for a little over two
and a half years now and I love it.
That's fantastic.
So Jenny, we've been working with you
for about two and a half years now.
Is that right?
That's right.
I had several of the Costco accounts
within my portfolio when I started and
Pilar and I worked really hard to get
a whole list together and move everyone
into my portfolio so that you guys only
had to work with one account manager.
Yeah, and we've been thrilled
with that ever since.
One of our big asks of Tim all the time
is to make sure that we get to keep you.
So we're really lucky to have you.
So let's jump right into the six
ways in order to utilize your
account manager better at BRBO.
You said number one was
setting up quarterly meetings.
So I am the go to gal for Almost all
of the Costco accounts, we do have an
additional account manager now working
with some of our accounts in Mexico.
But for 90 percent of the
Costco accounts, it's me.
And one of the best ways to utilize
me is to make sure that we are
reviewing your data on a regular basis.
And doing that on a quarterly basis
gives us a nice Um, and then we have
a nice chunk of data to look at a nice
three to four months to look at what
kind of information or are you reviewing
on those quarterly meetings, we can
review whatever is most impactful to the
property manager that I'm speaking with.
So generally what we're doing is reviewing
general optimization information.
So I'm looking at reports
and data on listings.
Search impressions, their clicks
and conversion, doing quick market
comparisons, looking at the property
type and bedroom number versus that
like property within the market and kind
of seeing where the Costco account is.
And what maybe needs to be changed
or optimized to show up and search
more or get additional bookings.
We often will also look at amenities
because that is so important
to a listing's performance.
And then of course, year over
year, Quarter of a quarter, month
over month data, whatever's most
impactful to that property manager.
Yeah, that's so valuable.
Just optimizing your listings, making
sure that you're meeting the market.
I know that even in a couple locations
where I'm managing, we weren't getting
all of our amenities fully filled out.
And I think it was hurting our listings.
Having a second set of eyes from an expert
on your listings is just so valuable.
And I think those quarterly meetings
obviously pay off in spades.
For number two, you said relationship
Yeah, one of the most important things
for me is to build a relationship with the
property managers that I'm working with.
We really consider you
all partners in this.
I want to make sure that you are as
successful as possible, not just on
our platform, but generally speaking.
Taking time to build a relationship
with our Costco property managers is
just so important to moving forward
and knowing exactly what is going
to be most impactful for you all.
What can a Costco partner do to help
facilitate building those relationships?
Setting up those meetings.
Yeah.
I think, you know, having
those quarterly meetings.
Or more on a regular basis,
meeting with me on a regular basis.
It allows us to take even just
five minutes at the beginning of
the call to check in on things.
How are you?
How is your family?
You know, what's going on
in your life right now?
Is there anything that I need
to know about that's a pain
point for you or celebration?
You know, I love hearing the
good stuff, the stronger,
the partnership we can build.
The more impactful the information I
can provide will be because I get to
know you a little bit better and what
drives you and what your needs are.
Yeah, just like any relationship,
what you invest into it is
what you can get out of it.
Right.
100%.
So Jenny, for number three, you
said reports and data available.
So, and this kind of goes back into
what goes into those quarterly meetings.
I have so much data at my fingertips and
I can really nerd out about it with you.
I love looking at market comparisons,
looking at how listings are comparing
against Like properties within the markets
that you serve from search impressions to
clicks to gross bookings and conversion,
even 80 are we can look at daily rate
and do those comparisons to make sure
that you are competitive with your market
across the board, which, of course,
doesn't just help with visibility, but
helps with bookings and that's our goal
is to get you guys more booked nights.
In addition to that, I have
access to full amenities reports.
So, like you said, Steve, sometimes those
amenities may not be pulling through the
Streamline sync like they need to be, or
they're not checked off in Streamline.
Sometimes Streamline adds things, and
we don't know about it until later.
So, we want to be checking those
amenities on a regular basis to
make sure that everything's checked
off within the system, feeding over
properly, and that there are no gaps.
Um, and then general performance
data, looking at that year over
year piece, quarter over quarter,
especially when we make changes.
I love being able to track the up into
the right movement when we've made changes
to, to things within the portfolio.
And we can do all of that
on our meetings together.
So cool.
And you know, just taking the time out to
understand what's happening on VRBO and
in your market and with your properties.
So for number four, you said
photos and listing descriptions.
Yep.
Part of my job is to dig in and look
at how you're marketing your listings.
A big piece of that, of course, is photos.
We know that the more marketable
the hero image or that first image
is, the more clicks we tend to get.
And with those clicks
generally come conversion.
So we want to make sure that
we have That hero image is the
best, most marketable photo.
It's really showing off and
highlighting the most interesting
pieces of your listing.
And then really focusing on the top
five photos, because that's really
what the travelers look at first.
Making sure that it's
not all the same image.
is a big piece.
For a while, years ago, we were telling
our property managers to kind of set up
their photos like it was a property tour.
That is no longer the case.
When we talk about the first five photos
in a listing, we want to highlight the
most marketable pieces of your listing.
So it might be an exterior photo.
It might be a beautiful shot
of the pool or the hot tub.
Maybe a game room or a beautiful
bedroom or bathroom or kitchen setup.
Whatever those most marketable pieces
are, are what we want highlighted
within those top five photos.
When we look at listing descriptions,
I'm looking at, is it easily
accessible to travelers, or are they
having to search for information?
We know that travelers more and more
have shorter attention spans, and
so we really want to make sure that
that description highlights Those key
features, just like the photos do.
I always think that bullet pointing
or demarcating the top five features
within the listing is key before any
paragraph text within the description.
Within that, you want to focus on key
experiences, Or key amenities that your
travelers would have access to or things
that would make that listing stand
out from other listings within search.
It's really interesting.
I got a question for you that
I've been thinking about lately.
I was speaking to our
partners in Boulevard.
One of the younger gentlemen that's
partnering up with our franchise there,
he was talking about, you know, no
matter what you do from a search engine
optimization point of view or a listing
optimization point of view, revenue
management, all these things, it doesn't
really matter if you don't start off with.
a great property and what makes that great
property stand out from his competition.
He specifically talked about having
a hero wall at each property and
how that helps with conversion and
getting people into the property.
Do you think the hero wall is worth it?
When you say hero wall, do
you mean something that like
people could take photos of and
pop it up on Tok or something?
Yeah, I mean, actually,
that's a great question.
And let me let me clarify what
he was calling a hero wall was
like a wall that when you see it,
you're like, I need to get in front
of that wall and get a picture.
Of me and my pals or whoever it
might be and put it on Instagram.
Like it might have one of those lit
up like neon signs that has like
a local message or a hashtag or
something interesting, but there
needs to be a photo of a wall
somewhere where you're like, this is
where you take your Instagram photo.
Yep.
I think that social media is
a key driver of business and
that is not going to go away.
And so the more we can do
to make the properties.
Marketable online and that includes
social media, the better off
the listings going to be period.
Yeah, with society and everybody wanting
to share their experiences and travel, I
can see how framing it up so that people
have these great photo opportunities.
In front of specific places
could really help create a higher
conversion, especially for that
younger traveler that's going on that's
out there in the market right now.
Absolutely.
I think it also doesn't just
attend to the younger traveler.
It also attends to families.
Families also want those places
where they can take their
photos, whether you're targeting.
Younger folks or people like me who are
a little bit older and maybe traveling
with kiddos or their family members,
having a place that kind of lends itself
to being able to take pictures and
make those memories is key to success.
So you've heard the word
Instagrammable, right?
Yes.
So I've got a different word for you.
Okay.
And I'm coining this and
I bought the domain name.
I've got a whole idea behind this.
Rent a grammable.
Things that make your property more
rentable because it's Instagrammable.
I like that.
Just, just an interesting idea.
The more rentagrammable it is,
the more social media friendly
it is, the more possibility of
renting the property there may be.
I love it.
I love it.
Yeah, we'll team up with Expedia
and create a webpage of what
makes things rent aggrammable.
That sounds good.
I mean, that's my idea, not Expedia's
idea, that's just me talking.
So the next one you had for number
five was amenities optimization.
I know we've touched on this a little bit,
but maybe we can dig in a little deeper
about How to optimize the amenities that
you have at your property or whatever
you're trying to come up with this.
So I think we did touch on this and
I said that this is something that is
very important for me to go through
with you all because you were using
Streamline as a third party integration.
Just to make sure that all of
the amenities are checked off
appropriately and that they are
syncing over to us appropriately.
With amenities, we know that
travelers use an average.
Of seven filters every single time they
search and because our markets are a
bit more saturated than they were a few
years ago, this is really how travelers
are whittling down their needs and
what they want in a property, which
just makes it all the more important to
ensure that these amenities are checked
off and sinking over appropriately.
And I have the ability to pull a full
report that shows your integration,
how many amenities are syncing with
each listing, what exact amenities are
pulling through that sync, and then being
able to highlight any potential gaps
that I see or holes within the report.
And that has been a huge help for quite
a few of our property managers at Costco
because There are times when we don't
realize that we don't have amenities
checked off or they were dismissed
somehow and making sure that we're
snagging every single traveler that
we can with those is a key to success.
Yeah, , seven different filters and
if you're not paying attention to your
amenities and checking them off, you
could be the perfect property for a
guest who never gets to see you because
you just didn't check those boxes off
when you set up your listings, right?
Exactly, exactly.
It also helps us look at what is and is
not available through your integration
so that I can help advocate when we have
conversations with Streamline to see
if we can get things added for you all.
It's a big part of the conversation
and it's hugely important
to the success of a listing.
Yeah, you advocating for those amenities
and those features are so important and,
you know, Streamline has this complex
system where they're like, okay, they
have to integrate with these multiple
channels and they're trying to figure
out where the resources go and like,
you know, with different subsets of
amenities or filters, making sure that.
We're clear on what's effective
and what we truly need.
So they're not building things
that are irrelevant and that you
have the opportunity to advocate
for what is truly needed to get
more revenue for our homeowners
and in turn for us, it's important.
Yeah.
The squeaky wheel and all.
So you guys squeak on your end
and then we squeak on our end
and we can get things done.
It's a squeaking pack.
And so for number six and the final one,
it's technical support and escalation.
Right.
So I know a lot of our property
managers have been through
the technical support process.
I unfortunately am not tech support.
I am not someone that can step in
and tell you exactly what might
be going wrong, but I can help get
you to the right people if needed.
And then I can help
escalate again if needed.
So, we do have a team that is dedicated
just to our enterprise accounts.
And this is actually new, Steve.
And I'm going to give everybody that's
listening a new phone number to call.
And this is just for you to call.
And this is a 24 7 dedicated
support line for our enterprise
accounts, which is what you all are.
And that is 1 833 HELP.
905 4530, that phone number
will get you to that support.
They will be able to help you with
whatever your needs are, whether it's
just a general question, you know,
let's say it's 11 PM and of course I am
not answering my email at that time of
night, but you need to know now you can
call them and ask them those questions.
Or if there's some kind of a
technical glitch or a problem,
you can also connect with them.
They are also going to be your go
to for any cancellation waivers that
are needed, or traveler support.
If you're having issues with a
reservation, they are your go to team.
If you don't hear back from them within
48 hours, you can then let me know,
and I can help escalate that case.
Um, and all I need for that is the
case number that they provide you.
So we really work in tandem
and in partnership with that
team to try to provide you guys
with the best support possible.
And it's just a really good process.
I think it's constantly improving.
So we're always excited to be
able to pull in a different
team to help out where needed.
Yeah, that's really great.
And we're so grateful to be an
enterprise partner with you.
And, you know, even our partners who
don't have a lot of inventory, Right
now, the fact that they're part of
Costco and getting access to the
enterprise support is such a positive
thing for them and for the brand
and for our partnership with VRBO.
Absolutely.
Our enterprise team is here to help.
regardless of your size.
So again, this is just for
our partners like Costco and
there are very few of you all.
So it gets you to support a lot
faster than some of the other
numbers that folks have access to.
And then of course, if escalation is
needed, please feel free to loop me in.
We really appreciate that.
Can you give that number one more time?
Absolutely.
It's 1 833
.
9054530 That's fantastic and we'll put
that phone number in the show notes.
So if you're listening and you need that
number, . You can always look that up.
So Jenny, for the final question,
unscripted from the six you gave us,
what's your favorite thing about Costco?
Oh gosh, that's an easy one, Steve.
I love the people.
Ah, mine too.
Truly, like, I love working with you all.
You guys are the kindest people.
You are hardworking.
You are enterprising.
And just really a joy to work with.
Well, we're grateful for you and we're
grateful for the way you treat us and
I know our community and how they treat
people and I'm grateful that they treat
you the same way that you treat us.
Thank you so much for coming on Jenny.
Thanks so much for having me, Steve.
I love being here.
Us too.
Thanks again.
It's the caa.
We're so luxury.
caa they be Don't call in.
We got orange.