Chad Rowe on Why Luxury Vacation Rentals Still Need Human Touch

0:16Brandreth Canaley: All right. Hello, everyone. This is Brandi from Good Morning Hospitality. I'm here with a very special guest, Chad, COO of Moving Mountains, and we actually work together in my day job at Stay Terra. Hold that against me. I don't hold that against you. It's a mark in your favor. And we actually, it's a special Skift Global Forum. And why don't you tell us why? Why are you here? Well, amongst other things, we won an award. We won one of the Skift Idea Awards in the best home category for one of our properties called Over the Edge and Steamboat Springs. It's a pretty crazy house. Everybody should go look it up.

0:52Oh my gosh. It's definitely the premier property in Steamboat, Slope Side. Oddly enough, It's actually the third owner of that home who has trusted us with managing it. So we've had it for 20 years through three iterations of upgrades and the highest price point ever sold in that Steamboat market. Wow. Phenomenal home.

1:13Brandreth Canaley: That's an awesome metric to have because that is not a budget market. No. Yeah, I think it's always, I mean, I have been singing Moving Mountains praises on the podcast for a long time now. but even like seeing this house and getting like the recognition, I think for the team is so great because Skift is, you know, this is the broader travel industry and it's not just, you know, you guys are kind of famous in the vacation rental side, but to get that recognition from the broader travel community, I think is really special. And hopefully that kind of bolsters the team a little bit as well. Well, you said the correct word.

1:48It's thanks to the team. They deserve all the credit. they're the ones that built this relationship and the predecessors to that team and to me taking this business over um did such a great job with these different owners to to coordinate that relationship and get us to this point um and that that is how our our company has been set up it's ingrained in our culture and that's why we're able to earn the right to manage these fine properties

2:13Brandreth Canaley: yeah i mean could you imagine if the owner was like we're going to self-manage this massive house. One thanks to the owners, right? Yeah, yeah. The owner really deserves the credit. He's the one that made, they are the ones that made this investment to make this home so special. Yeah, and it's so funny. I mean, also to like build a house like that is it just seems like a little kid kind of going and be like, what are all the cool things that I want to have in a house? Oh, yeah. Do you have, I mean, the ski in ski out feature is obviously, that's not unique to this house, but that's obviously very important.

2:45Brandreth Canaley: What are some of the other fun things about the house. Yeah, I mean, well, maybe not surprisingly to you, but less than 30 % of the home inventory in Steamboat, like most ski resorts, isn't sloped side. So the fact that this is true sloped side, ski in, ski out, with a heated pool on the sloped side, making it one of a kind in a private residence. Yeah. Golf simulator, you name it. I've been seeing those. Those are in so many of your homes. Oh, yeah. Yeah, like that's like a thing now that is like, that's the next cool amenity to have. Yeah, climbing walls. You know, don't tell the insurance company.

3:19Brandreth Canaley: When we did it, we had a training a couple months ago and we went in, in the back of this house, there's just like a full size, like not just like a baby climbing wall, like a full climbing wall. And I was like, what is the insurance like for this? Does the insurance company know? We try to keep that low key on the pictures. Yeah, yeah, as we broadcast it, right? No, but that's so, I mean, and I think it's so great because your team provides this like really luxury level of hospitality. that's been you know one of the sub themes of this conference is kind of these higher levels of hospitality and how we provide that and this home i mean it commands that level i think of hospitality yeah you can't just be like yeah self-check-in you know well it's funny i mean with as much discussion over ai and technology at this conference oh my god we made it like four minutes see that's a record um this is truly this this truly kind of grinds in the the reality that at some level of luxury, you need both.

4:17And you're never going to lose that requirement for hands-on human touch.

4:22Brandreth Canaley: Yeah, exactly. And there's a rationale why people would pay$15 ,000 a night to stay in this home. Staggering. And it's not that the booking process was seamless online. Yeah. It's because the team behind the home and the family behind the ownership of the home worked together in partnership to prepare it perfectly for that guest experience. Not just before, but during and then even after that stay. Yeah, because also, I mean, 20 years with Moving Mountains, like there's a lot of maintenance and upkeep. Yeah, I'm sure that I don't even want to know what the maintenance costs are. But it shows like because, I mean, you know, in hospitality ops, it's a beat down, not only on the team, like it's a physically and mentally challenging business.

5:04But then also on the homes, even if you have, you know, higher end clients coming in.

5:08Brandreth Canaley: I mean, I remember some of your team telling us about some rather rumbunctious people that come in, you know. And so for 20 years, maintaining this high level of excellence that even 20 years later, you're winning this award, I think really speaks a lot to that kind of flywheel and interconnected relationship that everyone in the business has. Completely. And one of the things I find I'm proud about for winning this award is the current owners of this home were actually long-term return guests of Moving Mounds. Wow. I love that. Who were introduced to the property, met the owners of the previous owner, and became the most recent owner.

5:46Brandreth Canaley: I would like to buy this house. Right. Well, and that's the natural life cycle of real estate and resort travel. Yeah. Multiple stays equate to qualified buyers, equate to sales of luxury real estate and the sales of luxury real estate initiate a new management opportunity for companies who are willing to spend that much time and care and provide that level of service that is expected. Yeah. And that's really the differentiator. I think right now in our space, there is a little bit of this race across all the property management markets of you'll lose owners because someone offers a 5 % management commission.

6:24Brandreth Canaley: That's a reality. It's a tactic. But I think it's like, no, look at the service that we provide and don't just like, you can look at all our reviews and the happy owners that we have. And then also we're winning these awards for very specifically the the service that we are providing. So that's incredible. Now there's been a lot of talk about different trends happening here. What are some of the interesting things you've learned or questions that you have now that you've been here? Like what has this made, this conference made you think about? Uh, well, I've learned that we're not all going to die or may I, at least that's the common opinion.

6:56Brandreth Canaley: I was like, I think that definitely means we're going to die. Yeah, I know. What is he really saying? Yeah. Um, I learned from a chief economist at Visa that, the job growth rate is actually outpacing the rate of decline. So we're actually in a decent spot there. Although I also learned negatively that their aspect or guesstimation is that we'll never drop below a 5 % interest rate on mortgages again. Yeah. I feel like I really lost the opportunity to buy the house I want to buy. Because, yeah, it's kind of looking tough. Yeah. I've fallen into the category of stuck. I'm stuck. 2.85 % mortgage.

7:36You can never.

7:37Brandreth Canaley: That's yours forever. Good, because I like it. Yeah. Keep that home. Yeah. No, and I think that's, it's really interesting, these little nuggets. And actually something Brett Taylor, the chairman of the board at OpenAI, said yesterday, along with saying, we're not going to die, maybe. But saying how, you know, there's a lot of people that say AI is just going to rapidly transform everything. And in some ways, that's true. But then he gave this example of the flower shop. And I thought this was a nice parallel to like a moving mountains where AI could maybe help the back end of the business. It helps your accounting software or booking or whatever, but it's not going to have a direct impact on your interaction with the product.

8:17Brandreth Canaley: Like AI cannot, you know, maintain this house. And, you know, I mean, robots are many years away at this point. So we can, like, we still are in this very high touch business where AI can enable us to do a better job. But like, it's not, it's not driving the shuttle buses that take you around Steve-O, you know, at least right now, right now. No, and probably that one aspect of it may change. Although anybody in our company will tell you, I love our shuttle drivers. I think that position in our company is the number one position. Plus those roads. Listen, I've seen a Waymo drive around Miami when I was living there.

8:57Brandreth Canaley: And I don't know if I trust that car. Put them in the snow with no guardrails and a four-wheel drive shuttle vehicle. Yeah, full of people and skis and like there's ice everywhere. Let's see if they can navigate like New York first. Well, I mean, you're absolutely right that our competitive set gets stronger and stronger. Yeah. Lining up against us each year in all of our markets. We're also in the Breckenridge market actively. We're in the Beaver Creek and Vail markets as well. And have plans for growth beyond that under the Moving Mounds brand in the future. Fingers crossed. But the one thing that stays true to our methodology is experience.

9:37We live and die on that culture. And we know that enables us to differentiate not only in our local markets, but nationally. Yeah. And that's that we don't just focus on travel. We don't just focus on hospitality in the sense of that most people at this conference consider it.

9:57Brandreth Canaley: Yeah. We're not just getting you from point A to point B. We're communicating with you in a traditional sense of service with a servant's heart. Right. We want to ensure that when you arrive here, you're going to be greeted in the best possible way and meet or exceed all expectations. We're going to make sure that you're well equipped with enough humans to help guide you and all your family members or generational visitors you may have with you on multiple different activities during your stay. Because we know that that experience while there and once they leave is the one that's going to continue to prompt them to come back.

10:34That's more powerful than anything else.

10:36Brandreth Canaley: Yeah. And, you know, I've spent a lot of time with your team, especially in the last couple of months. And I have to say, like, the passion that they have for providing that service is really commendable, especially a lot of those people have been at the company for a long time. And I'm just, like, impressed by that because I know it can be hard and it can be frustrating and that they still have that same commitment and passion is really commendable. Well, it's, you know, again, I credit my predecessors all day long in this, but our culture is our most important asset. The people on my team are our most important assets.

11:14And that's real. You know, we employ hyper-local individuals who care about the towns that they live in. They're ingrained in society. They're school teachers and they're part-time. Some own restaurants and they're part-time. Some have a second job bartending or teaching ski lessons, whatever it may be, fly fishing. Some are adventure racers, you know, and they're -

11:37Brandreth Canaley: I'm sure you guys are in like the capital of extreme sports. But when they're on, they're on. And they love this job. You know, when you can keep, when you can hold on to an employee for over a decade or longer. It really says something. And they get beat up by the normalcies of the travel industry and the hospitality industry on a day-to-day basis. it speaks volumes to their character and to the culture within this business. And that's what I'm truly most proud of. Yeah, absolutely. Okay, so I've been ending these conversations with a very important personal question. Oh, no. And that is, where do you want to go on vacation next?

12:18Oh, it depends on who I go with.

12:23Brandreth Canaley: Okay, you're going just with your wife. If I'm just going with my wife, we're going to Greece. Excellent choice. Maybe Amanzo. I'll just speak that into existence for her. We want to spend two weeks in Greece and not go to crazy touristy destinations. Yeah, you're not going to Santorini or Mykonos or any of that. Yeah, I love that. I really want to go. Greece is like high on my bucket list too. Turks and Caicos is our sweet spot. We used to live there, but Greece is our aspirational. Yeah, I love that. Well, I'm definitely planning some trips out in ski season, and I'm just trying to manifest a stay at Over the Edge.

13:00Brandreth Canaley: I know it's very unlikely because it is very popular and very expensive, but I can cross my fingers. We might be able to squeeze you in. We might be able to squeeze you in. All right, well, thank you so much for joining us. Yeah, pleasure. And enjoy the rest of the conference. Yeah, you too.

13:26Mmm, mmm, mmm, mmm, mmm, mmm, mmm, mmm.