The Clock is ticking and there's work to be done
Every Saturday morning, a convoy of professional housekeepers pile into Jessica Larsen’s driveway. Their task is enormous – they need to get 150 vacation rental checkouts cleaned and the bedding and towels switched out for guests arriving later that day. Information comes at Jessica from all angles – guests unexpectedly checkout late, a housekeeper is sick, and another guest has shown up at their rental eight hours early. With the clock counting down, Jessica needs to parse every bit of information and position her team of housekeepers for success.
It’s hard to believe that back in 2008, Jessica was one of those housekeepers, standing in someone else’s driveway and waiting for her assignment. Today, thanks to Jetstream’s technology, she runs her own property management company, Five Star Vacation Rentals.
How to Grow From a Housekeeper to a Property Manager?
Cape Cod is one of the east coast’s most famous holiday destinations. Jessica, like many locals, worked as a housekeeper. As she became more experienced, she started to see ways things could be improved. Rather than waiting for someone else to make those improvements, she took a chance and partnered with her friend Melissa Wheeler to add vacation rentals to their services as they launched Cape Cod Cleaning Collaborative.
And that’s where the frustrations began.
Property managers, owners, agents, and realty companies would all work on the same booking, but they all had different information. During the peak season, every weekend was a game of telephone tag as Jessica had to figure out not only who knew what, but who was actually correct, so she could give her team a plan. Jessica and Melissa were still trying to grow their business, but it was becoming increasingly difficult. They found themselves forced to be reactive to all of these elements out of their control. They dreamed about how much easier their lives might be if they could look after the entire process from reservation to check-in, to guest communications. They wanted to be proactive in their business.
The dream was put on the back burner until the travel industry experienced the biggest disruption in its history: Covid-19.
As the pair faced the challenges of the pandemic, their desire to become full-service short-term rental managers crystalized. But how were they supposed to get started? And how could they bring all parts of the management operation together in a way that they could scale?
Or, as Jessica put it –
We needed to solve the challenge of how to evolve from a ‘blue-collar’ housekeeping company to a ‘white-collar’ management company.
Jessica Enters the Jetstream
In order to scale her business, Jessica realized she needed a full-service channel distribution solution and guest service, partner. During her search, she found Emmanuel Lavoie, CEO of Jetstream Hospitality Solutions, and asked to learn more about how Jetstream works. Jessica already had the most important pieces of the puzzle in place – a rock-solid housekeeping operation and great relationships with the homeowners. But she needed more.
OTA, ADR, Channel manager, Revenue management, Asset protection.
While Jessica was familiar with some of the industry terms, others were brand new. As a mom with a growing family, Jessica was looking for experts she could trust to take on the aspects of being a property manager that she didn’t have time to deal with, specifically those outside of the actual on-site management
In particular, Jetstream’s 24/7 guest service was a huge influence in her decision to sign with Jetstream. She didn’t want a single product or a piece of software, she wanted a solution that would leverage her strengths and let her grow her business while still enjoying quality time with her family. Jetstream’s full-service solution allowed her to do just that.
Jetstream launched Jessica’s own branded website (www.fivestarcapecod.com), complete with a mobile-friendly booking engine and guest blog posts written by Jessica. In terms of revenue, the homes were nearly sold out across peak season, and thanks to Jetstream’s revenue management strategies, each home was repriced on a daily basis to ensure the optimal nightly rate was achieved.
One of the most satisfying things for Jessica was that she was able to grow her business while reducing her workload, thanks to Jetstream’s all-in-one solution. She no longer had to chase owners, property managers, and realty companies to figure out what bookings were arriving when – everything was in one central hub.
For the first year ever, our housekeeping teams got home on time for dinner, and guests got the experience they were expecting, which bodes well for both repeat bookings and helping to recruit new owners.
Growing the Business and Recruiting New Owners
After partnering with Jetstream, Jessica focused on signing up owners who were tired of getting the run-around. Her second owner was new to Cape Cod, and her third owner consulted with Jessica before purchasing a property. Now that the existing business model is proven, Jessica plans to reach out to her current contacts and continue to expand her business.
Beyond simply growing her own business, Jessica plans to do advocacy work to promote opportunities for advancement within the housekeeping and home-care industries. She hopes by sharing her story, she can prove that hard work and great partnerships can help marginalized small businesses grow into something larger.
Are there more Jessica’s out there?
She thinks so.
Across the country, and probably the world, there are many small operators that provide outstanding local service, giving boots on the ground housekeeping, home care, and maintenance services that are absolutely essential to our guests enjoying a great stay. In some cases, language or education can be a barrier, and it would be totally amazing to see these people empowered to develop and grow full-service businesses of their own.
Jessica’s Five Favorite Parts of Jetstream
1. Asset Protection
The ability to screen guests pre-arrival ensures that the owner’s asset is protected and that every guest is going to be a great fit. Owners like to know that only great guests are going to occupy their property – they want to know that someone is looking after their investment.
2. Optimized Nightly Rates on a Daily Basis
Jetstream’s integration with Wheelhouse has provided owners with a huge boost on the revenue side. Thanks to distribution through multiple sales channels, Jetstream ensures that these properties are booked at some of the highest rates in the market. In the offseason, it’s been great to see how many long-stay bookings Jetstream generates by leveraging special offers and promotions to attract remote workers and digital nomads.
3. Operational Efficiency
Jetstream’s 24/7 operations made last summer the smoothest one so far. Everything is connected via a cell phone or an app, which makes it easy to work with a small team.
4. The Shared Success Model
Jetstream’s software as a service (SAAS) model has allowed Five Star Vacations to offer a comprehensive, full-service experience to our guests. Because it scales so easily, it also means that we can add new owners without the burden of increasing our headcount and fixed costs.
5. The Account Manager
Having a dedicated account manager who’s very responsive has been amazing anytime there have been questions.
