In this episode of The Vacation Rental Show: How We Grow, host Lynell Gordon is joined by JJ King, the co-founder of Beachside VR. 

JJ King is the co-Founder of Beachside VR, a locally owned and operated vacation rental management company headquartered in downtown Cocoa Beach, Florida. Beachside VR offers investors end-to-end service, from marketing properties and managing the rentals, to coordinating year-round preventative and responsive maintenance. JJ is also a Member of the Board of Directors at the Vacation Rental Management Association (VRMA), and on the Board of Advisors at NowBoarding. 

This episode is sponsored by Streamline.

Episode Highlights: 

[08:51] JJ says that the first step in Beachside VR’s reputation management process is a checkout survey done on the Suiteop app. Once a guest has finished their stay, they are asked to rate their experience between one and five stars. JJ outlines how if a guest rates five stars, they are directed to Google to leave a review, whereas for anything less than five, the entire customer service team receives an internal Slack notification that prompts them to contact the guest. JJ says that this proactive approach allows the team to “catch something before it goes public”. The key here is to make the guest feel heard. 

[15:33] Discussing the technologies that people start with to help save time and to manage reputation, JJ recommends Zapier (though notes that this depends on what their software can integrate with). Zapier’s "if-then" structure allows for easy automation. For instance, JJ highlights how Zapier can set a trigger where receiving an email automatically sends a Slack notification. This program’s capabilities mean it is possible to quickly improve efficiency across a range of processes. 

[24:59] JJ looks forward to the possibilities offered by AI messaging, with a particular focus on guest messaging. Although this tool currently lacks the authenticity required to be rolled out to Beachside VR’s customers, in the future JJ believes more and more rental businesses will communicate using AI. Indeed, he highlights a number of operators that already fully automate all their messages to customers. JJ stresses that in the hospitality business, the key is to blend efficiency with personal touch. He adds that he’s “worried about losing that personal touch in the hospitality space”, so anticipates some brands differentiating themselves by emphasizing human interaction, perhaps even branding themselves AI-free to attract guests who value personal engagement. 

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