Jacob and Elissa, the dynamic duo behind Rent Live Play, embarked on their short-term rental hosting journey in May 2023, but their real estate ventures began much earlier. In August 2020, they purchased their first property and took on the renovations themselves, sparking a passion for creating beautiful and functional spaces. Their love for travel and hands-on renovation inspired them to dive into the short-term rental market, setting the stage for a growing portfolio that reflects both their design expertise and their love for adventure.
Currently hosting in Bend, Oregon, and Tucson, Arizona, Jacob and Elissa have big plans to expand into other areas they love to visit, including destinations in Arizona, Oregon, New Mexico, and beyond. With a hands-on approach, they prioritize being within close proximity to their properties, ensuring that they can personally oversee the quality of each space. Their focus on creating exceptional guest experiences is paired with their dedication to helping other aspiring hosts, offering free training resources on their website, www.jacobandelissa.com.
What sets Rent Live Play apart is their strategic approach to property management. They’ve implemented key systems such as Hostaway for property management, Enso Connect for guest communication, StayFi for data collection, and of course, Minoan for furnishing, enabling them to effectively manage their properties remotely. By focusing on design, amenities, and clear communication, Jacob and Elissa have built a brand that prioritizes guest satisfaction and ensures every stay is memorable. With Minoan's help, they’re now excited to integrate Minoan Showrooms into their properties, further enhancing the guest experience.
Q: How long have you been a short-term rental host?
A: We started hosting in May 2023. However, our ventures into real estate began in August 2020 when we purchased our first property and started renovating it ourselves.
Q: What inspired you to get into hosting?
A: We really enjoyed renovating our house and love to travel. We decided that it would be really fun to start hosting properties in all the places we love to travel to. Plus, we have started creating free training resources for other hosts who are learning how to host on our website, www.jacobandelissa.com.
Q: What markets are you in currently?
A: We are currently in Bend, Oregon, and Tucson, Arizona but are working on expanding to other areas.
Q: What markets, if any, are you interested in expanding into?
A: Our current plan is to host anywhere that we like to visit. We’re interested in expanding into other areas of Arizona, Oregon, New Mexico, Montana, Wyoming, and Idaho. We like to be hands-on, so we want to be a short flight or a reasonable drive to the properties.
Q: How many properties are in your portfolio?
A: We have two properties in our portfolio currently:
- Casa Saguaro
- Bellflower House
Q: Do you self-manage the properties, or do you have a co-host?
A: We self-manage all the properties remotely. We don’t have a co-host since we have software and systems in place that allow us to manage everything and scale. However, we do have a team of people at each location, like our cleaners, pool people, handyman, etc.
Q: What tools or systems are most important for managing your day-to-day hosting business?
A: Our most important systems are Hostaway for our PMS, Enso Connect for our guest communication, StayFi for data collection, HubSpot for our CRM and marketing, and Turno for our cleaners. We use various other software that integrates into these to handle everything else, but these are our core systems.
Q: What are your biggest challenges as an STR owner?
A: Our biggest challenge is staying the top-ranked properties in very competitive markets. We work really hard to continuously improve our properties based on guest feedback and guest personas to ensure we’re catering to our audiences appropriately.
Q: What are you doing to differentiate your properties from others in your same market to create a memorable guest experience?
A: We compete on design, amenities, experience, and communication.
Q: How has integrating Minoan Showroom into your property enhanced the guest experience and influenced guest feedback?
A: We are currently working with Minoan to get it set up. However, we had previous shoppable pages on our websites that we built since guests were asking about it. We are very excited to get the new Minoan shoppable site up and integrated into our websites.
Q: What's your favorite thing about being an STR host?
A: We love hearing about our guests' experiences in our homes. We love when we can help create lasting memories for our guests.
Q: If you could shout one thing from the rooftops to other STR hosts getting started, what would it be?
A: DIRECT BOOKING!!! - You have to collect data into a CRM to drive direct and repeat bookings.
Q: What are your favorite Minoan brands?
A: We find ourselves shopping most from Joss & Main, Wayfair, and Anthropologie.
Q: What item in your Minoan Showroom do you think will be the most popular or purchased by guests?
A: We’re guessing people will really like the Mirsade 27.09'' Leather Upholstered Armchair (they’re so comfortable!) or the Tucker Murphy Pet™ Cambridgeshire Wicker General Basket (adorable!)
Q: Do you think it’s important to include local products in your property?
A: Yes, depending on your market. In Bend, Oregon we feature a lot more local products like coffee, granola, jam, etc, since there are so many products made locally. It is important to provide a welcome basket of goodies.
Q: How has Minoan helped you with your short-term rentals?
A: Working with Minoan and our interior designer Brianna Michelle from Brianna Michelle Interiors has been a game changer. On top of saving money with Minoan we also were able to save the headache of having to deal with each vendor when items didn’t show up or arrived broken. We just reached out to Minoan and they handled it all for us.
Q: What’s your favorite thing about Minoan?
A: We love that Minoan offers so many brands and has a super fast response time when we need to reach out to support.
Q: What's one thing you know now that you wished you knew when you first started setting up your STRs?
A: I wish we knew about Minoan when we did our first property. We had found Minoan when we set up our second and the experience and savings were so much better!
Q: What is your most rewarding experience or memory as a host?
A: The first moment we had a repeat guest book through our direct website! They decided to return again with their grandchildren to the property since they loved it so much. Their plan is to come back every year as their yearly family get-together.
Would you like to be featured in our host spotlight series?
Email us at host-spotlight@minoanexperience.com
