Tracy Northcott’s Guide to Elevating Your Guest Experience for Rental Success

00:00:32 - Jenn Boyles

Hello and welcome to another episode of Direct Direct Booking Success podcast. I'm Jenn Boyles, your host, and today I have Tracey Northcott with me. Welcome, Tracey.

00:00:43 - Tracey Northcott

Thanks so much. I'm really pleased to be here.

00:00:46 - Jenn Boyles

Great. I'm so glad you are here as well. So let's get started.

00:00:50 - Tracey Northcott

Maybe you can tell us a bit.

00:00:51 - Jenn Boyles

About who you are and what you do.

00:00:54 - Tracey Northcott

Sure. Thank you. So. My name is Tracey. I have been in Japan for 23 years. Obviously, by my accent you can tell I'm not Japanese, so I'm Australian. And I found myself here in the year 2000, working with my brother. I'm a software engineer, so we have a small software company and so I was planning to be here for two years and sort of ten years later I was still here. And, you know, my, my brother has basically said, look, this is a family business. If there is some side hustle that you want to do, or if there's something that you want to explore, I mean, use the company, set up it's there as a framework. Taxes are all paid and it's in good standing, so have fun, have assets.

00:01:43 - Jenn Boyles

That's what drew you out of Australia in the first place, was family business?

00:01:48 - Tracey Northcott

Well, yes. Yeah, no, definitely. The family business drew me out of Australia in the first place. Yes. I'd already learnt, I had already spoken Japanese before I came. I did it at High University. Yeah. So I did have a connection here already and I traveled here a number of times to visit my brother. He's been here 35 years, family business. And I said, my parents have lived here. We've just got a real connection to Japan.

00:02:15 - Jenn Boyles

Yeah. Oh, I didn't realize that. It's a whole family, a family thing going from Australia to Japan. And are your parents back in Australia now?

00:02:24 - Tracey Northcott

Yes, they've retired now, but they still come up at least once a year. Well, pandemic notwithstanding, of course, but they come up at least once a year because my brother is here with his son and I'm here with my son, so, of course the grandkids are here, so that's a massive draw for them.

00:02:42 - Jenn Boyles

Definitely. And it's hard, I think, being away from my grandparents. It's tough, for sure.

00:02:51 - Tracey Northcott

My son was born about twelve years ago, or he's twelve now, so when that happened, we started to get a lot more visitors. So grandparents would come up a lot more often, friends and family would come up a lot more often. And then it was like, well, I can't fit them all in my little tiny Tokyo apartment anymore. So this whole airbnb thing started so well, you know what, I can do that. So I rented a second apartment and set it up for visiting family and friends and set it up with everything that I thought that they would need to be comfortable with a home away from home, which is interesting considering where my journey has led me. Yeah. And I just thought, well yeah, if I reach it half the time I've covered my costs, it's all good. It was just a little studio apartment, you know, two minutes walk from my own apartment. And I thought, well, let's give this a go. So it just went bonkers.

00:03:48 - Jenn Boyles

I have to ask, did the family friends ever get to stay there or.

00:03:52 - Tracey Northcott

Was it rented? Yes. Well that first came to say and I would have to block out times, but they would have to let me know at least six months in advance when they were coming.

00:04:03 - Jenn Boyles

Wow.

00:04:03 - Tracey Northcott

Because it was just so busy. And then I thought, well, this is only a studio apartment, it's only good for a couple. I'm getting a lot of requests from families, from people that are looking for something that is self catering. You could have children stay. And given that I understood the challenges of traveling with small children, I thought they could be my ideal guest avatar.

00:04:32 - Jenn Boyles

What was the accommodation like in Japan at that time? Were there hotels, were there other self catering options?

00:04:40 - Tracey Northcott

So the hotels come in a couple of different ways. There's like business hotels which are traveling salesman size and they're tiny and they're smelly and they're not family friendly and they usually just have a small king size single bed and then you can touch the walls on either side and they're the ones that are sort of in that affordable range. And then of course, you've got massive suites, five star luxury, very high end. And is there a time when we were getting a lot more guests? It was also the start of the tourist boom here in Japan. It was on everyone's radar. Everyone was wanting to come to Japan, they wanted to go skiing, they wanted to do asia was just a thing and there was just nowhere for them to stay. So it was a perfect storm of the sharing economy really taking off and people like me who were renting second apartments to put them in places. So it was a really heady, interesting time.

00:05:44 - Jenn Boyles

Right place, right time. Okay, so you've got this one studio and then you're getting an influx of inquiries about bigger places. So what do you do next?

00:05:55 - Tracey Northcott

Well, I did the sample on the back of an envelope and I spoke to my family and just my brother and just went, have you seen that cash flow on this? So we then started investing in renting, so full rental arbitrage. So we would rent properties and fit them out with furniture and then they just got bigger and bigger and bigger. So from the studio, we ended up with a number of two bedrooms, then three bedrooms, then five bedrooms, then six bedroom houses. And they just kept getting filled. So there was just nothing in that range for people traveling together.

00:06:34 - Jenn Boyles

And that was, what, 2010? You said that you started.

00:06:41 - Tracey Northcott

And then we started doing the ramp up. So by 2015, we were at 25 units all up. And then I had a lot of cleaning stuff and admin stuff. And my husband at that time had actually decided that he didn't want to work in hospitality anymore. He didn't want to work in the restaurant industry anymore, so he came to start work for me. So that was great. And he was able to retire from his hospitality job and yeah. So by 2015, it was announced that the Olympics were coming to Tokyo in 2020.

00:07:19 - Jenn Boyles

Wow. Yeah.

00:07:21 - Tracey Northcott

So we went, okay, five year business plan. Here we go, entrepreneurs, let's do it. So we really focus on getting everything together for the 2020 Olympics. So that was going to be our year. That was going to be the year that everything came to the perfect storm in the right place.

00:07:40 - Jenn Boyles

And we all know what happened in 2020 didn't quite work out, did it?

00:07:46 - Tracey Northcott

No, that was an interesting time. So when you're a small business owner and you lose a million dollars in sales in three weeks, it's very hard on the nervous system, I bet.

00:08:02 - Jenn Boyles

And all of these apartments. So how many units were you up to in 2020?

00:08:06 - Tracey Northcott

Still 25, but what we've done is so at the beginning, I was just getting anything I could, studios and little places. I was just getting anything that I could. And then regulations came in. So we went through a licensing program for 2017. And so I looked at the profitability, looked at who was coming, who we served, what our product was. And so we then decided, okay, which ones we were going to keep during the licensing program. It's like, well, it's not just enough to have something that's breaking even. We need something that is scalable, that we're having a really good profit margin with. It's the same amount of effort to run a studio apartment the way we run it anyway, in our hospitality style, to run a studio apartment is to run a five bedroom. But the difference in margin is just huge. So of course we're going to focus on something that we want to serve for a slightly smaller portfolio, but higher profits.

00:09:12 - Jenn Boyles

Right. Got you. And then come 2020, when the whole world shut down, did you still have apartments that you were renting from landlords?

00:09:22 - Tracey Northcott

Yes.

00:09:23 - Jenn Boyles

Okay.

00:09:24 - Tracey Northcott

We had a number. So by that time, we'd actually bought some. We built our own house. At this point, we built our own house with an apartment inside the building that was a hotel. So we got that licensed as a hotel and so, yeah, we were able to build this beautiful house for ourselves and then have the apartment where our family and friends could come and stay when they were in town. And then a number of apartments, which are houses that we were only planning to keep until after the Olympics anyway. So we had contracts to say, okay, well, we're going to finish in November or we're going to finish in October of 2020. So, yeah, we had to really decide very quickly what we were going to do.

00:10:12 - Jenn Boyles

Yeah, I can feel the tension, the stress there, because not only did the world shut down and lots of us lost a lot of money in revenue, but to be beholden to landlords adds another level of stress on top. So what actually did happen?

00:10:30 - Tracey Northcott

I spoke to the landlords, very transparent. They all knew what we were doing anyway because we were licensed, so they knew what our business model was. And obviously they knew that the borders had closed. So there were some landlords that were really great and they just said, let's figure it out together. There are other landlords that started sending demand letters around immediately.

00:10:55 - Jenn Boyles

Oh, no.

00:10:57 - Tracey Northcott

Awful. So all the stress of the business and also all the stress on us as humans, is this disease going to kill us all right?

00:11:07 - Jenn Boyles

Because we didn't know.

00:11:08 - Tracey Northcott

We didn't know at that time. So hindsight obviously a different thing, but during the time, it was a really intense period. And they actually sent a lawyer around my office door and I just looked and said, seriously, this is what you're doing? And I had some choice words in English for him.

00:11:31 - Jenn Boyles

Well, I'm glad you came out the other side. And it sounds like the business is even stronger. It's thriving. So tell us what you have done to make this business such a success. What are the components that you're putting together?

00:11:50 - Tracey Northcott

I think very early on, we decided what our product was, that we were not in the business of cheap accommodation, that we weren't a substitute for a hotel. Our product was more than just a bed to sleep in. And so our value that we were bringing to the market was the local experience. So we live in a strange place, so we live in Tokyo. We're foreigners. And so we wanted to show other people coming in what life was like here to live, not just to go and sightsee. What is it like to live? What are the community responsibilities? What is it like to get up every day and learn how to sort your trash and go to the supermarket and just life. Because all the people that we service, like our inbound tourists, they see that as a valuable experience, especially for their children. It's like, well, let's understand how people in another country live on a day to day basis. And so that's really the message that we're providing. It's like, well, don't just go and see the sites or don't just go and see, understand the DNA of the city, understand what it's like to live here as a local and you'll see things that you won't see as a tourist. So that's what we really have focused on. Knowing what we were delivering made it very easy then to do the marketing for it and also to be able to attract the guests who that's what they wanted, and also be able to help people who didn't want that experience to self select away. We then were able to really funnel in the guests that love us, that really want our type of hospitality and to come back again and again each year. So we're just so fortunate that we've had so many guests come back. And I see their kids growing up from year to year and some of them have become clients actually.

00:14:01 - Jenn Boyles

What, they've actually rented out their own places?

00:14:04 - Tracey Northcott

Well, no, they've bought and so model that I've moved to. So I'm not locked in, I'm not married to any particular business model. I'm locked into a product model. So if this particular house or unit can deliver my product to my ideal guest, then however that deal goes ahead, then I'm flexible on that because I'm really just focused on the guest and the guest experience. And if a property comes along and someone owns it and they've furnished it and they want me to manage it for them while they're out of like when they're back overseas. So I have a few clients.

00:14:45 - Jenn Boyles

They were coming so regularly they bought their place and have asked you to manage it when they're not there.

00:14:54 - Tracey Northcott

That's really good. They did the sums on the back of the envelope as well and just went, oh, okay. Because when you factor in what's the cost of real estate, what is the cost of setting up and then what's the return on investment? So there are some savvy people that were able to do that and say, you know what, I can buy a house and we can do profit share. And it was like, you know what, I'm going to let you.

00:15:20 - Jenn Boyles

But that's a testament to you and the relationships you've cultivated with your guests and the hospitality that you provide, isn't it?

00:15:30 - Tracey Northcott

100%. I just really like people as well, so I'm always curious about how people live and what people do and what they're interested in. And just being in that environment has allowed me to understand my guests really well. And I just think taking care of people where they sleep is actually a real privilege. So I take that really seriously and make sure that I've taken care of the safety, I've taken care of the comfort, and really understood not just the pain points, but the desires of the people that are coming as well. I know that gets a little cheesy, but really the mental side of it.

00:16:17 - Jenn Boyles

Yeah, no, I don't think cheesy, I think it's the foundation of your business. It's not yes, the profit is great and at the end of the day, we need to house ourselves and pay for food and that but it's those fundamentals that you've built your business on. It's the hospitality industry. That's right.

00:16:42 - Tracey Northcott

And my husband and I, we sat down and actually we wrote a vision statement, a mission statement, like, who are we? Why are we doing business yet? Sure, we're doing it to pay out our own bills and put our kids through school, for sure. But why are we doing it? What value are we bringing to the world and to our customers? And it's good, like once a year or every few months just to sit down and go, okay, what are we doing here? What are we creating? Who are we serving? And knowing that allows you to really build a business with integrity and sleep really well at night. Because I know that I've been a part of people's memories. I've helped them really enjoy their time here. Some of them are on once in a lifetime trips, or they've been planning it with their kids for forever. And just being able to be a part of that has been really nice.

00:17:35 - Jenn Boyles

Yeah. No, it sounds lovely. And it sounds like this is how you've been able to bounce back from the pandemic as well, because you already had those fundamentals in place.

00:17:47 - Tracey Northcott

Well, we were able to say, well, okay, we've got these houses now who is needing our products? So because it wasn't inbound tourism at the time, it was actually people returning Japanese that needed them. So these were expats who are living in different parts of Asia, but their companies went, right, we're bringing you home.

00:18:08 - Jenn Boyles

Right.

00:18:08 - Tracey Northcott

And their own homes, if they had them, were already rented out long term, so they had nowhere to go. So I was able to offer that product to those expats returning for while they were there. So that was the first year and then the first people that started coming back were relocations. So they were people coming in on work visas. And there was a big pent up demand on the work visas because even if you had a work visa, you weren't allowed to enter Japan for at least twelve months. So there was a big backlog of students and professors and university people that were trying to get back in. So we were able to adapt our product and adapt our hospitality for the needs of that demographic.

00:19:00 - Jenn Boyles

Wow. Yes. Because yeah, the borders were closed, weren't they? They were just closed. Yeah. And when you open them back up, a bit of a tidal wave comes at you.

00:19:09 - Tracey Northcott

And that happened in October of 2022. So if we knew it would have gone on that long, I don't know, I may have made different choices because I thank my past self for doing some wise investments, and I was able to draw on some of that to keep our business going along. It's like, okay, well, I love this house. It does a great service. The profitability is really good and I guess I really like it. I would want to keep it, but it's been hard. Yeah. But now we're working with the landlords, who were very accommodating and have worked out a repayment plan, basically, so of their lost rent. We've gone back and they've given us reductions, but showing that we really care about their houses goes a long way as well.

00:20:03 - Jenn Boyles

Yeah. And I just wanted to ask you about your bookings and how people find you. I know you have your own website.

00:20:12 - Tracey Northcott

It's Tokyo family stays.

00:20:16 - Jenn Boyles

Tokyo family stays. I didn't want to say the wrong thing. Tokyo family stays. And of course, we'll put links in the show notes. But how are people booking with you?

00:20:26 - Tracey Northcott

Well, so my ideal demographic is built right into everything I do with my branding. Where we are, who we serve, is built into everything. So when people start to search for family stays in Tokyo, this and that, there's a lot of Google juice that is finally coming out. It's taken a while. Why am I having a DirectBook booking website? Having a URL. You're competing with the big OTAs on those short tail keywords. But it's taken four or five years. But we're actually now getting organic searching people, which, like, the first time I had a direct booking from someone that I hadn't directed into the site or someone that hadn't been referred or that way, it was like, oh, where's this person? Christmas is so exciting. But who are you? How did we find you? Oh, we Google jokes. Yes, I know. I got WhatsApp?

00:21:32 - Jenn Boyles

Last night someone said, Can I come and stay? And I'm thinking, who are you? How did you get my number? Where are you from? It's still exciting, isn't it, when people want to stay with you?

00:21:46 - Tracey Northcott

So, yeah, they find me that way. But I've built a lot of relationships with travel agencies, so people who are already dealing with my ideal guest. So I've built relationships, referral relationships with a couple of tour companies, some blogging sites that are popular, like, there's a family blogging site. She has a massive following. So really picking influencers who are in your space, who are already dealing with your ideal client and making relationships, so just so that they know who you are and you're on their radar. And I've had a number of referrals. Some of them I've had formal relationships with. So if they use a code and they book with the code, they either get a discount or the person who's referred me does get a commission. And that sort of sweetens the deal a little bit, because what I do find is that if you're very open and honest about your business, people like referring to you. People like to help other people out. Hey, I'm going to Tokyo. What have you done? I know Tracey. She's out of business. Here you go. So that word of mouth, that social proof is priceless. Absolutely priceless. And that's just building relationships and just being authentic in the market. So we do all the things. We've got the Facebook page and we've got the Instagram and we've got the mailing list, we've got the whole lot. So there is probably no one thing that does all the driving. It's just a combination of everything. It's just a big soup.

00:23:23 - Jenn Boyles

Yeah, I can see that. So if somebody was coming to you and saying, Tracey, this is something that we've started to do, or we're wanting to start out, what would be the tips that you would give them?

00:23:37 - Tracey Northcott

From day one, no matter where your guests have come from, have a way to contact them, be a phone number, an email address. So I know as they've come in through an Ota, the OTAs don't like it very much, but there are some sneaky dicky ways and there are some tricky ways that you can collect email addresses. And for being a service is the most important thing, you come for it, rather than, I'm going to grab your email address and I'm going to direct the market to you. No, it's like, I want to be giving you value. I want to be giving you content that you're going to find interesting. And so that's why you get the email addresses. So however you can get them by hook, by crook, get those email addresses and start nurturing those guests who are going to love you for who you are.

00:24:23 - Jenn Boyles

Yeah. Any other tips that you can think of if someone's just starting out, as.

00:24:29 - Tracey Northcott

I said, being very clear about your product and your vision? My husband and I, like I said, we sat down and we worked out, why is it we're doing this? What are our values? What is it that makes us unique? Why are people going to choose us? What is the value that we're bringing to the market and what service are we bringing? Having that mapped out helps you on a day to day basis because you can sort of always go back. And if you're making a decision, is this in line with my vision? Yes or no? That helps you with the decision making process. And also, when you're hiring staff, you can explain to your staff, this is the vision. If this resonates with you as you are in line with our vision, then this is something you need to consider and these are our values. Every company is different because every person is different. So being very clear about what it means to you and so that you can project that into the marketplace.

00:25:27 - Jenn Boyles

And I think something you said earlier about solving a problem that people have when they're coming to you, and it's not necessarily a place to stay.

00:25:38 - Tracey Northcott

Correct. That's right. We obviously offer beds, certain sheets and everything, but primarily what we're offering you is, you'll know how it feels to live in Tokyo and we'll help you solve problems. Like, we'll help you with the transfer, we'll help you learn how to get from A to B and we'll help you find the great restaurants in the neighborhood and the mum and dad shops that you won't find anywhere else in the world. So we see that as part of our service and even educating people. I'm like, well, in Japan, this is how the air conditioner runs, so you get to know that there are different ways of things. And the toilets are different, but they're the little things that people take away. But as well as solving problems, we've been able to when we're solving problems, we can also monetize at each level as well, because we know what people are going to spend their money on anyway, and so we just help them spend it with us. So either with someone that we recommend, like a restaurant or a company, or a taxi company, or a translation, whatever you need. Or babysitting. Babysitting is our biggest addition. Yes, absolutely. People are really grateful that they've got someone to look after their kids in their house, in their own house, while the parents can go out and have an adult beverage.

00:27:07 - Jenn Boyles

Yeah, no. Nice. It's that full experience, isn't it?

00:27:12 - Tracey Northcott

Correct. Yes.

00:27:14 - Jenn Boyles

It's not just heads on beds. It's that full experience.

00:27:19 - Tracey Northcott

Not just heads on beds, because I'm very clear that we help families. We have kids books and we have kids toys. I don't have crayons because I like my window. We have high chairs. And if you need a stroller, I've got a stroller.

00:27:39 - Jenn Boyles

Great. I've loved speaking to you, Tracey. It's interesting to find out the differences, too, because you're in Japan, it's a different culture, it's a different country, and I think that's great that you're very mindful of the people coming to stay with you. A lot of them are not going to know how things work, so it's providing that experience.

00:28:03 - Tracey Northcott

Exactly. Well, see, as a non Japanese person, I know what it's like to land and just go, oh, my goodness, where have I landed? So I understand that. So I can anticipate that. I've already given them the information on how to get from A to B. I don't just let people hang out to drive. This is how you get here. This is the bulletproof way of how to get to where you need to go. And that just gives people so much comfort, so much like because it's a little daunting if you've gone to a country that doesn't necessarily speak your language, add that little layer of stress. But if I can bring that edge level down, that's what I'm all about.

00:28:44 - Jenn Boyles

Yeah, great. No, it's been a real eye opener. Thank you for sharing your story. Your story and your tips too, because you're doing it. Your businesses are flourishing, so you're doing a really good job, but I can't let you go without asking you. What does Direct Direct Booking Success mean to you?

00:29:03 - Tracey Northcott

It mainly means having a real pride, a sense of accomplishment of what we've built for not just my family, but for the community. We have very close ties with our community. I've got restaurants that when I walk in there, I'm the superstar. Because they know that I've brought them customers. They know that I've brought them people who are spending money and having a great not just spending money, but enjoying and then taking those away as memories, knowing that we've got pride and we've actually delivered a product that is really going to live in people's memories for a long time. That, to me, is success. I know it's like I said, it's a little chimney, but being able to help someone create, like, a lasting memory is beautiful.

00:29:49 - Jenn Boyles

No, but that's why we're here. It's not all about the profit, it is about helping other people. And another great thing about being in hospitality is that the people who work in hospitality are hospitable. They're hospitable people. And people like us, we want to help. So when you come across somebody who maybe is in it for different reasons, it can be a bit of a startling discovery, because they're not in there being hospitable. And I think being the cornerstone of your business, you've shown how you can do it. And I could see how being one of your guests, and you've already helped me so much, and then you say, Here, go to this restaurant or do this. I'll be like, yes, I'll go anywhere you say, because you've already provided pre-vetted.

00:30:46 - Tracey Northcott

Yeah, well, that's it. That's it.

00:30:48 - Jenn Boyles

You're the local and you're giving me those insider tips, so sign me up, I'm coming.

00:31:00 - Tracey Northcott

There was one thing about the Pandemic I'm actually quite grateful for, is that it did not force me. It allowed me to reach out outside of Japan and meet like minded people like myself, because I was quite isolated in my little world. I mean, I had no idea if the sort of hospitality I delivered had any sort of global appeal. And I have learnt that because I was just focused on my business and my customers, of course. And then since the Pandemic, I started writing a blog and I reached out to the other leaders in the community and it's just like, wow, there are kindred spirits around the world. This is great.

00:31:43 - Jenn Boyles

Yeah. And I agree with you wholeheartedly the same. We're very much focused on our own businesses, our own lives, so much of the time. It's so wonderful to be able to look up and see everyone around us. And it's a worldwide community.

00:31:59 - Tracey Northcott

Absolutely. And it's a lovely community, too.

00:32:02 - Jenn Boyles

Yeah, it is, really. So you've got a bit of a.

00:32:07 - Tracey Northcott

Try to think of this.

00:32:07 - Jenn Boyles

Word, he's got a gift for the audience.

00:32:12 - Tracey Northcott

So, like I said, during the Pandemic, I started a blog. I started consulting, mentoring, just seeing how I could help other people with raising the level of their hospitality. And it was you know, it was a bit therapeutic for me as well. Going through the stress of the Pandemic, I was able to get out all of my most hospitality philosophy onto the computer and resonate with other people. So then people asked me to start teaching them how to do it, and I went, okay, yeah, I can do that. So I created an audit program. So I'm able to work with you one on one to look at your brand, look at your philosophy, look at your listing to make sure that it is authentic, reflecting who you are and what you're delivering. And as well, I've got a special offer for you, because all my guest communications, I have them motivated. So I made templates for everything because I'm lazy. I don't like typing things out more than one time. So I created templates for myself, and I thought, well, people might need this. So I created a series of templates for guest communications, and I put them out for sale as well. But I'm able to offer that if you book in for an audit, you can get all of the templates for free. Yeah, that's great.

00:33:33 - Jenn Boyles

I'll put the link in the Show Notes. If you're interested in signing up for one of Tracey's listing and branding audits, mention the podcast or my name, Direct Direct Booking Success, Jenn Boyles, whatever you want to say, and she will give you those swipe files for free as an added bonus. That's wonderful. Thank you so much, Tracey. Again, I'll put all of your links in the Show Notes. Thanks for coming on.

00:33:57 - Tracey Northcott

An absolute pleasure. So thank you very much for having me.