Keynotes by Casago

Speaker: Welcome to Keynotes, a
podcast just for Casago homeowners.

This is where we explore how to get
the most out of your relationship with

Casago, learn tips and tricks on how
to make more income with your property,

and learn a little bit about the short
term rental industry along the way.

I've been a vacation rental nerd since
my twenties, and the team has finally

let me have this podcast so I can
share everything I've learned with you.

I'm your host, Steve Schwab,
and this is Keynotes.

Thanks for watching.

Hey, welcome to Keynotes.

My name is Steve Schwab.

I'm here with Brendan and
Wendy today from Frio River.

Guys, welcome to the show.

So glad to have you here.

I've had so much fun with you guys
this past year as you have come

onto the network and become part
of Casago , and all the fantastic

ideas and talents you bring

.
And I'm really going to have fun
today getting to be able to have

a good conversation with you about
being owner centric and all the

different things different than
other property management companies.

I'm going to start off by just asking
you guys a little bit about you.

I know you have a young son and
you're generational in this business.

Can you just give me a little bit
of background about how you got

started and what you did beforehand?

Speaker 2: Sure.

I'll start.

Um, As Steve said, my name is Wendy.

We have owned Frio River Resorts
in Concan, Texas since 2018.

But it's been in Brandon's
family for much longer than that.

We came into the business from
complementary kind of spaces.

I've been in property management
for as long as I've had a career.

Across all facets of it,
multi family housing.

Standardized and subsidized, subsidized
housing, worked for the Austin

Housing Authority at a high level
and had the opportunity to buy this

business and made the jump in 2018.

Speaker 3: And I'm Brandon.

I started my career in
software development.

That's been 25 plus years ago.

I retired from software development
in 2018 to Purchase this business

with Windy and really had to just
dedicate most of my time to property

management So how did you guys end up
deciding to become part of the saga?

Speaker 2: So ours, I think, probably
is not a terribly unique story.

We are in a very small market
geographically and physically.

There are 209 and counting
actual residents of our hometown.

And then of course, during
the summer months, there's

multiple thousands of people.

Being part of a small market lends
itself to not having a ton of peers.

You can't make a phone call to the
other property management company

down the road and say, Here's
what I'm dealing with right now.

the guest or here's an owner encounter
that I've had . So we were looking

for a way to build a community around
us that's doing the same work that

we're doing, has the same kind of
struggles and opportunities that we do,

having a community around
us, having true peers.

Was something that we just needed to have
and we're so excited to be able to have.

Speaker: Can you guys tell me a little
bit about your personal approach when it

comes to delivering a great experience
for both guests and homeowners?

Speaker 2: I think one of the things
that our business has been known for

from both the owner side and the guest
side, even before joining Casago was

that we have relationships with people.

From our guest perspective, we've
got a huge percentage of our

guests that are legacy guests.

They've come year over year over year.

It's part of their annual family plan.

They come, they visit Con Can for,
you know, four or five or six nights.

Um, we've built relationships with them.

They know our family.

They know.

Who we are.

They expect us to come and knock on
the door and say, Hello, how are you?

And that type of thing.

Our owners have that expectation as well.

And it's something that
we we work very hard at.

We want to make sure that they
know that we're available to them.

They have our direct
personal cell phone numbers.

They're not going through a call
tree or something like that.

We make sure that we visit
when they come and visit.

in as much as possible.

And we make sure that we let
them into our personal lives.

They know, you know, we've had some recent
health struggles with Brandon's dad, who

is kind of the patriarch of our family, of
course, and our company and our business.

And they were excited about that.

But at the At the same time, we
had a kiddo graduate from college

and they're excited about that.

We get to do that with them as well.

So it's really more about the
relationship, which creates a partnership.

And we always say with our guests and
with our owners, we are in this for the

relationship and everything else will
fall into place the way it's supposed to

for the success of our property owners
and for the enjoyment of our guests.

It's just having that personalized
approach where we are open book.

They know who we are, if we see them
at a restaurant in town, if they happen

to be at the dance we're at that night.

We have that relationship with them where
there is kind of a friendship there.

Speaker 3: Right.

We try to treat them like family.

We incorporate all assets of our
family and their family together.

And just, we are, this is a partnership.

This isn't a, we don't work
for you, you don't work for us.

We want them to understand that
this is a partnership and a

family that we're trying to build.

Foster,

Speaker: I love that by the way.

And a big part of the credo is building
relationships that transcend business.

I think when you guys just spoke about
that, you were incredibly genuine and

authentic and it really came out and I
think it honors that part of our credo.

What do you guys do operationally?

That's different than other people in
your market that makes you stand out.

Speaker 2: We, Our boots on the ground.

We are local.

We aren't outsourcing.

We're not splitting our time between a
different city in in Texas or a different

country, which our competitors are doing.

Our, again, owners and our guests know
that when they're there, we're there,

and when we're hosting a festival
in our market, they know that we're

going to be there supporting it.

So the thing that sets us apart is
we are and always have been and will

continue to be boots on the ground.

We are going to be a five minute drive
from you at all times, and if not,

we're going to deploy somebody who is,
and we'll be 15 minutes behind them.

Yeah.

Speaker: Within the Casago ecosystem,
we have something that we call a credo.

It's a set of principles we've
all agreed to, and we talk

about it often with each other.

And I think it's really unique when
it comes to companies making sure

to always continually talk about
the principles and how, We interpret

them and finding, you know, ways to
showcase when we've both done a good

job and sometimes when we failed at it.

Do you guys have any good stories
about how you've worked with homeowners

that really stand out to you?

Speaker 2: As far as standout
homeowners, we, we probably have

a couple of different examples.

I think one that comes to mind
immediately is a new owner of a

property that we had from, uh, build up.

So we had that owner, then that
owner sold the property to someone

who was familiar with our market,
but already had a relationship with

another very small kind of management
group that they felt beholden to.

They had a very emotional
connection with this group.

And we've certainly asked for the
interview and the opportunity to kind

of show them what our program was
and what we had done with the house.

Again, we took it from the
slab to through the first 2.

5 years of operation.

So we certainly had the experience,
the numbers, all of that to back it up.

Uh, we didn't win the situation and
we didn't think that we were going

to, but we certainly didn't create
a contentious situation out of it.

We made sure that we let them know
we understood what their intentions

were and That we would still be here
in the market when not to sound rude,

but when the company that they were
working with was no longer an operating

company and that we would be happy
to kind of pick back up with the same

program, reach out to our same group
of guests who really had enjoyed

that home and welcome them back in.

And that's something that we
got to do at the beginning of

this last operating season.

And we've been able to build some
really neat relationships out of it.

It's, it's kind of a couple of different
groups of families who all come from

very different like walks of life
and has exposed us to a different

ownership type than what we're typically
used to dealing with and certainly

what we've built our company on.

Um, and just be able to turn that
around and they'll have them kind

of be a champion for us and go.

First of all, you guys
stay true to your word.

You said that you would welcome us
back and you would still be here.

And you were second of all, never
was there any ill intent or malice

towards them or the other company.

We still have relationships
with both of them, and now

they're part of our operation.

And It's one of my favorite
houses in our portfolio.

If I need a break from the day, , I
will definitely pop over to that

house if it's vacant in the off season
and go sit on the porch and stare

at the hills for ten minutes and
remind myself why I love what I do.

Speaker: So, along those lines What
does owner centric mean to you guys

and how do you go about implementing
that in your business every day?

Speaker 2: My, my best example is
owner centric is the lens that I look

at every decision we make through.

Because our guests are why we
are in ComCAN, why we're there.

Our owners are why we're there.

Cause us to be able to do that and our
owners are our partners like Brandon

said when we Even have a very quick first
discussion with an owner whether it's at

a restaurant or someone who's reached out
to us intentionally We let them know that

our practice is building a relationship
And before we have any discussion about

what our program is what our fees are
what any of those kind of you know hard

And fast rules and topics are we want to
make sure that we're going to be in a good

relationship relationship Do you like us?

Do we like you?

Can we compliment each other?

And so everything that we view is
through the lens of owner centric.

So if it's a tough guest call at two
o'clock in the morning, I want the guest

to have the experience that we have sold
them and that they expected to have.

But I also want to make sure that The
decision that I'm making, my response

to that, our response to that, is later
on tomorrow morning after we've all

gone to sleep and cleaned up the flood
or whatever it is, that I can have a

conversation with the owner, that they
go, Absolutely, that's exactly how we

would have wanted you to handle it and
thanks a lot for doing that for us.

So it's just, it's the lens that we use.

I think it's a great opportunity
for us to view everything to

Speaker: through.

I love that those homeowners.

We have a few dishes to them, right?

And something you said that I
really love is about taking care of

those guests when we do a fantastic
job of taking care of guests.

We are serving our homeowners because
we're serving the guests of that property.

So they'll leave good reviews.

They'll take good care of it, they'll
come back, and giving outstanding guest

service is owner centric, I think.

So guys, if a homeowner is interested
in signing up their property with

you and discovering more about Casago
Infrio River, how can they find you

and how can they get a hold of you?

Speaker 2: Yeah, so to reach us via
telephone or text, you can do one.

830 232 5544.

That's our telephone number.

You can text us at that number as well.

There's going to be a response
anytime, day or night.

Our primary email address is info,
i n f o, at FrioRiverResorts.

com.

Speaker: Fantastic, guys.

Thanks so much for coming on.

I really enjoyed my
conversation with you all.

I'm looking forward to another
successful year coming up.

Speaker 2: Thank you so much.

We're excited.

Speaker: Yes, we're super

Speaker 3: excited.