If I Had To Build Live Oak Lake All Over Again… (Part 4)
By Isaac French
Welcome to Part 4 of the how I'd build Live Oak Lake if I had to do it all over series.
You can find steps 1-8 in the first three emails here if you missed them. Let me warn you again—this is a bit dense, but I'm packing so much in, and for anyone actively interested in creating or investing in experiential properties, this has some gold. We’re on the home stretch!!
So let’s jump straight in. Here are the final steps — 9 through 11…
Step 9: Launch Marketing
Since the very beginning, we've been documenting all the progress, and our social media skills (and muscles) have been honed (and toned) nicely!
We've also been cold-messaging all the local and regional media (newspapers, TV), as well as some local travel influencers. We've got some great press lined up, along with some giveaway collaborations with the influencers.
It's time for marketing to shift into high gear!
We need a website and OTA listings (again, notice the order...) to direct the attention we're going to get for our guests to book directly with us. We want professional photography of the whole property, mostly just beautiful architectural stuff, but also a few with some models so our guests can envision exactly how they'd experience the space.
We're going to have all our photographer friends (and other amateurs who may've reached out on socials already wanting something unique to shoot) come and shoot the property inside and out, morning and evening, cropped in and wide angle.
We want as many different perspectives and styles as possible.
Then we're going to comb through all those photos and pick out our favorites ones. We're going to subtly color-grade them together so they look cohesive, but rich with diversity.
And in a few months from now, we'll reshoot everything. We want fresh material (photo and video) in all seasons.
Speaking of video, we need some fantastic footage of the property. We're going to put together a 2-minute wide format brand video for the website, and which we can cut up for socials as well.
This video is so important: it's going to massively help convert our audience (who've already been curious enough to stop scrolling on our content on their feeds, and click our link to the website). In these 2 minutes, we need to convince them, without saying so, why they should drop whatever they're doing (and a hefty chunk of benjamins) and book a cabin right now!
The whole site needs to be optimized to accomplish this, from the copy to the imagery to the graphics and subtle animations. But the video is especially important.
Here’s the version we did for Live Oak Lake (I cringe plenty about it now, but it did the job:)
Step 10: Operations Ahoy!
We're going to choose and setup a property management software (I like Hostaway), and create compelling listings on Airbnb and other OTAs for each unit, and all together. We're going to tie all the calendars together in the PMS, and integrate a pricing tool (I like Wheelhouse) into this so that we can dynamically price.
We're going to customize and automate a ton of message sequences, dialing in the tone just right so that it sounds very much like we just typed it out personally, NOT like some big box hotel cooked it up in a corporate office halfway across the world. We can use a lot of personalization, triggers, and conditions to really create the magic.
Initially, we're going to handle all the guest messaging personally. Within a few months, we'll hire this out to the right person who's deeply responsible, flexible, and good with people.
We're going to tie our smart home tech (smart locks, wifi lighting, thermostats and noise monitors) into this PMS as well, allowing us the most possible automations and hands-off operating system.
Of course we can’t ever fully systematize or automate away hospitality.
If that's our goal then we're in the wrong business anyways (and we're in for an awful amount of surprise). We're in this business because we authentically want to surprise and delight our guests. We want to drop their jaws when they step onto the property.
We're in this business to deliver magic, much like Disney.
With the right mix of software, systems, and people, we can deliver an exceptional hospitality experience at a fraction of the price of a property manager, and in a much better way for our guests, too.
Step 11: Run baby run!
The machine is built!! And now it's time to start cranking the shaft and fixing bugs. This is no time to relax. Not just yet, at least.
We're going to soft open: our friends, family, and investors will come out and stay a night or two for free. Their only obligation is to each give us a list of all the things we could do better.
We must listen intently, and we're committing to keep listening intently—for the rest of the time we own this property and are hosting guests! The feedback loop of our guests must always remain crystal clear and immediate. In this business, we live or die off every single review.
And if we're doing this thing right, we're going to be getting a whole lot of stellar reviews! There's nothing like word-of-mouth marketing: it's the best thing since sliced bread. And the experience we're going to give our guests is going to blow their socks off. They're going to start family traditions here, evangelize our property to all their friends, and post about their experience all over social media.
Of course, we're going to keep going to town creating our own content and posting it to social media. Every day (or every other day at a minimum).
And why is this so incredibly important?
Direct bookings are a massive advantage because we essentially "own" the guest and can bring them back over and over again with email retargeting. Plus, we never have to worry about being suspended (like one micro-resort in Texas once was). And finally, we make 15% more profit by cutting out the OTA fees, AND attract more aspirational guests who are less price-sensitive.
Direct bookings really are the best.
And we'll be pinching ourselves, because we'll have done the hard (but fun) work of designing the experience—of setting the stage—for our guests' dreams to unfold upon.
There will be instagramable moments everywhere throughout the property. But that's just a cheap way of saying that every detail will have been thought through intentionally; every view framed, every "stone turned" (and arranged exactly as we want it).
The way we do one thing is the way we do everything.
Let that sink in slowly, because we must constantly remind ourselves of this. Until it becomes second nature.
And this, my friends, is how we will build an insanely valuable property and brand. One worth many millions of dollars. One that could sell to private equity at a record-breaking price, OR be a legacy asset we steward and hand down to our kids. Either way, we're sitting on a gold mine, in the middle of the gold-rush of experiential hospitality.
Ok, we can breathe...finally.
Yes, this is all a ton of work. I set out to write this thinking I could fit everything into one email. Impossible (I learned).
And I'm only scratching the surface on all the nitty gritty details and lessons I learned in my own journey, let alone those of others I've been privileged to get to know in the meantime.
But I hope I've inspired you, and given you at least one thing you didn't know that will save you time and money and point you in the right direction.
Maybe you already have your first (or fifth) property, but you want to enhance your portfolio and adjust your marketing or whatever it may be to appeal more to the modern, experience-hungry traveller. Where you are along your journey, I couldn't be more excited to help you along your journey.
The revolution in experiential hospitality is just getting started!!