From Hospitable Host to Hospitable Employee with Ethan Brown

The special guest of our new Hospitable Hosts podcast is Ethan Brown, General Manager APAC at Hospitable and a successful Sunshine Coast host. Ethan started his journey with Hospitable as a user, and he loved the software so much that he joined the team as a Customer Support Advocate.

Chatting with Miles, Ethan shares his journey from a clueless newbie to an automation-savvy host, reveals how Hospitable transformed his business, and offers valuable tips for new hosts.

Press play now to discover how Ethan's first-hand experience as a host has driven his progression through various roles as a Hospitable team member and learn about Ethan's favorite Hospitable features.

If you prefer to read the highlights, we've got a summary of the key takeaways below.

How Ethan Started His Hosting Journey

Ethan says he started hosting in 2018 and had no idea about Hospitable then. He and his wife just bought their first home, and they also traveled a lot because Ethen used to work for a surf and dive travel company. So, they decided to put their home on Airbnb while away.

"It was a Christmas period, I think, 2018, when we listed our first-ever property. And within the first hour or two, it was fully booked at excellent rates for that period. So that was when my eyes were first opened to hosting," Ethan explains.

Ethan admits that it was challenging to find enough time to focus on hosting since his wife and he had full-time jobs. So, they started looking for options to reduce their workload and save time. And when they started their second short-term rental, "it became a necessity because there was just too much work to do."

Using Hospitable to Automate Hosting Routine

Ethan spent a lot of time listening to different podcasts to learn more about the hospitality industry and Airbnb property management, and this is how he heard about Hospitable for the first time. The hosts of one of the podcasts were Hospitable users, and "they spoke very highly of it."

Ethan admits he considers users' reviews when he's looking to use new software. "To hear these guys on this podcast talking about how much they loved it and how much time it saved them. That led me to check Hospitable out online and jump into a free trial from that point," he explains.

Ethan was impressed with how much he could automate with Hospitable and how user-friendly the software is. At that time, he was trying to host on multiple channels, so he added Hospitable to all their OTA accounts and went away with his wife for a long weekend. They were out of cell signal for a couple of days, and when they came back, Ethan turned on his phone to see what happened when they had been away.

They had three reservation requests over that weekend, and Hospitable replied to the inquiries and booking requests and confirmed the reservations based on their messaging rules. "That was the real moment where I was like, okay, I'm a Hospitable user for life. And I fell in love with the software," Ethan reveals.

Ethan shares that now they are using the full set of Hospitable features and integrations, like automating cleanings with Turno and self-check-ins with smart locks. That allows him to manage his properties remotely while traveling around Australia in a caravan with his wife and dogs.

Joining Hospitable Team

Ethan admits he applied for a job at Hospitable out of curiosity. It was a customer support role in Asia Pacific; he had previously done customer support and team management. With his first-hand experience as a host and Hospitable user, Ethan was excited to have an opportunity to help Hospitable's customers.

Ethan points out that when he started, there were 2 team members in customer support in Asia Pacific, but since then, the support team has grown to 12 people. "I was lucky to be there at the start and help drive and shape the team growth within the region. It's been a journey to the point where I oversaw and led support within Asia Pacific."

Now, Ethan's role is the General Manager of Asia Pacific, which encompasses everything within the region—conferences, local marketing, sales, and support. "Anything happening in the region, I've usually got something to do with it. And I'm fortunate to do what I do daily," he underlines.

Ethan's Favorite Hospitable Features

Regarding the Hospitable's features, Ethan reveals that his favorite is "everything to do with our guest communication and automation." He likes team collaboration and task management functionality, which allows users to automate sending notifications to cleaners. "In terms of what's coming, I think the AI functionality is super exciting for me regarding the time saved."

Ethan recommends that new Hospitable users focus on taking advantage of the channel manager, which allows you to manage all bookings from a unified calendar, add a dynamic pricing software integration to optimize your revenue, and have a direct booking website.

Ethan is excited that the Hospitable team is working on the channel integration with Agoda. "That's a huge channel, especially in the Asia Pacific region. A lot of inbound guests from around Asia will be booking in Australia via Agoda," he points out.

Tune in to the full episode of the latest Hospitable Hosts podcast to listen to the inspiring story of a passionate host who became a valued Hospitable employee!