Quirin from MadeComfy, official partner of Airbnb, shares how his team helps folks manage their property to give them the highest returns.
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Here’s the transcript of the video:
Quirin from MadeComfy, thanks so much for joining the carpool series with Soho. No, thank you. Thank you so much for inviting me. Yeah, I heard you were just mentioning you were killer on the karaoke as well. Is that true? Is that what you guys do? Yeah, so we have our quarterly anniversary nights where we sort of reward the staff and it’s all about them, and a big part of it is karaoke. And I am the worst, so they were making fun of me being in the carpool today and singing. Well, it’s lovely to have you. I won’t push you for singing but I did want to know a little bit more about MadeComfy, I guess. Yeah, tell me more. Let’s say I'm new, I don't really know what you guys do, so give me the spiel. Well at MadeComfy, to keep it very simple we manage properties under the MadeComfy brand and we put them on the short-term rental market. The idea is to generate higher returns. We sort of achieve anywhere between 20-80% higher net returns for our owners by doing that. And yeah, the owners also have the flexibility to use the properties which is a really nice thing. Yeah. Guests are staying between two nights and six months, it all depends. And yeah, that is, in a nutshell, what we do at MadeComfy. So let’s say I’m a property investor. I have a property, I want to rent it out. I guess, what are the benefits of me using you guys rather than going to your typical real estate agent? Yeah, so, it really depends on what you would like. We have some customers, they simply have a portfolio of properties, and it's about having a certain cash flow, having higher returns. They're struggling to find a long-term tenant, and they come to us, and we sort of help them to have higher returns. That's one side. And then others are simply saying ‘Look I'm in Sydney one month a year’ or ‘I'm travelling between Sydney and Melbourne and I'm sick of hotels. So why not stay in my own property?’ ‘I love that property I bought and I want to use it’ And yeah. Those are the two benefits; cash flow, higher returns and the flexibility to use it. I guess, are there any myths at all that you’ve come across in the 3-4 years that you guys have been going? In terms of like short-term rentals or Airbnb stuff? Any of those funny things? Yeah, I think there are a lot of myths. I always smile about this because a lot of people talk about that without really being an expert. So one thing is it is not magic money. So it is a bit like eBay. When eBay launched, it was very easy to sell anything, right? Like it was exciting. So it was like eBay when Airbnb launched. Now on eBay, you have to be professional, like, really, a seller to be able to sell at a profit. And similar with Airbnb, it is really, more challenging to make money as an individual. So that's the big one. It's not just magic money. You need to really understand what you do. The second myth is, it is hassle-free and easy there’s just checkouts and cleaning. You have to compete, at this stage, with hotels and serviced apartments and provide a guest-first service. And that is a lot, it starts with making sure that your pricing is right. We have a whole pricing team that’s ex-Hilton, that is managing our prices. Then make sure that the whole communication flow with guests, that not all of them speak English. You know, a lot of Asian travellers that come, Germans that come. And make sure they have ease of checking-in. The whole check-in needs to be smooth. You don't have a reservation desk down there for people to get let in so make sure you are also helping people check-in and managing that. So that is more work than people do and we have a lot of hosts that come to us after doing this for a couple of months and saying ‘I need help’. Yeah, right. And the last myth is that it is really easy. It is at the end, people managing one of your biggest assets that you have so really make sure it's not just a website that you work with but people are licensed, they have a trust account, they have a dedicated team and stuff like that, so it is not as easy as people think to be an Airbnb manager. Just a nice website with a one-man-band behind it. It will not work. And contact details. Let’s say I’m a host. I'm interested, I want to know a little bit more about you guys. How do I start? What do I do? How do I get in contact with you or your team? Easiest way is just go on www.madecomfy.com.au There you’ll find a calculator where you can get a first understanding of you type in your address and stuff giving you an indication of how much you can make. And from there it’s simply a button click to get in touch with us via chat or by booking a call and we then have our team really taking you through the experience. Perfect. Quirin from MadeComfy, thanks so much for joining the Carpool series with Soho. No, thank you so much. Fantastic.
