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. Together they discuss how innovative technology, such as AI and automation tools, can enhance guest experiences and streamline operations in vacation rental management.
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 offer 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.
LISTEN TO THE FULL EPISODE HERE
Mastering Reputation Management
Reputation is everything in the hospitality industry. This is why implementing a solid system for review management is crucial. For instance, JJ explains how the processes Beachside VR has put in place are able to deliver responses to the team within 24-36 hours of a guest leaving a Google review.
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”.
“And most of the time, the guest just wants to be heard, you know? Or sometimes it’s a miscommunication as well where they were upset about something, but it turns out they realized it wasn’t actually the property manager’s fault… so catching those negative pieces of feedback before they become actual reviews have been instrumental for us as well.”
Exploring the Role of AI in Hospitality Messaging: Balancing Efficiency and Authenticity
AI technology offers exciting new possibilities for improving the efficiency of guess communication. JJ points to the number of his peers who are in the early stages of implementing AI-driven messaging, or have gone the whole nine yards and fully automated this approach.
While JJ believes that this use of AI has incredible potential, he also notes that, in its current state, the technology does not produce the authenticity needed in order to reassure customers that they are receiving a genuine, personalized experience. 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 advertising how they are AI-free.
“I think we might even see brands go the complete opposite direction and say, ‘we have real humans, we talk to all of our guests, we don’t use AI.’ So it is an interesting kind of future that we’re heading into with this.”