Building an efficient business with Touch Stay

We spoke to Brittany Blackman from Breathe Easy Rentals about her experience launching a vacation rental property business and selecting a tech stack to support productivity and growth.

Finding tools to help with efficiency

Having been in the industry and attended lots of conferences she'd used a lot of technology but wanted to see what else was out there.

She came across Touch Stay via conversations with other property managers.

I knew that communication with guests and not having to answer 5 million of their questions repeatedly was going to be what saved my time.

And she sought tools that would assist her everyday operations.

I probably use Touch Stay every day with guests. It’s been that other leg for me – that employee answering all those questions for me and saving time.

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Using Touch Stay as a training guide

Experiencing rapid growth, Brittany recognised the need for a book with staff training information too: what amenities are in each property, how to do the laundry, etc.

She now uses Touch Stay as a digital training manual too!

For me it’s amazing to have all my property training information is one place. Each property has its own section and so my staff can go in and see how things need to be, and can see any special notes. The best bit is, I set it up one time, then outlined the “whys” and the processes and then my staff just refer to the guidebook – not me!

Meeting rising guest expectations

While you will have some guests that ask every possible question, for the most part, guests don’t want to be a bother. They want to have their vacation, while knowing how to check in, what to do, and enjoy some personal recommendations. They don’t want to be nagging and bothersome.

For me, something like Touch Stay is exactly what guests need. It has all the right information they need. Guests can plan a stress free vacation that they can really experience because you’ve given them all the things they need to plan it well.

The ability to work flexibly helps with managing guest expectations too.

I go in and make changes as and when guests ask me new questions. I even take screenshots of the guidebook and send it to guests in a text message when they ask – to say “look in this section and you’ll find more details.”

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Managing multiple properties

Touch Stay is brilliant for managing multiple properties. Just having the tags to organise the properties is amazing – I couldn’t imagine having to start over and recreate a guide from scratch for every property.

Brittany used to use handbooks in the condos that they would print out.

I’ll just say it bluntly, those things are gross! With Touch Stay, I don’t have that problem. My guests don’t have to download an app, everyone in the family can put it on their phone, it’s kid friendly. It's something the whole family can share and I think just it adds to the guest experience.

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Feeling like part of a family

I just want to say a huge thank you! Your whole team should be so proud of the community you’ve built. The Facebook group is amazing – anyone can ask questions and get advice with good interaction and no drama.

I’m a firm believer that your business needs to create efficiency for other people – and if you make things easier and efficient for other people, you will prosper. For example, if I make booking a vacation and having a vacation easy, people are going to come to me. And how am I going to do that? It’s through vendors like Touch Stay! When you make my life easier and you can make me more efficient – I can do my job better.

And you all listen! There’s a lot of software that say they listen – and they don’t. And to me, that’s where their breaking point is going to be. You’re only as good as the feedback and the people you’re doing business with, so again, I just think kudos to Touch Stay! You feel like a tight knit community who want to provide an experience for owners and property managers – and that’s what I see from you guys and that’s why I love sharing your name with everyone because I think you’re amazing in every aspect.

I feel like I’m part of this teeny family, and that’s so cool – there’s not a lot of vendors like that. There are few who I love, and you guys are at the top of my list because you really do create that community.