Thinking about pivoting to vacation rental industry.
I started a business a while back that allowed potential home buyers to ask a smart speaker questions about the home during a showing (https://www.realtyvoice.app). It appears that real estate agents aren't interested in a service like this right now.
I'm considering taking the same tech and using it in the vacation rental market (vrbo, airbnb, etc). Then guests could just ask what's the wifi password, how do I work the stereo, or even checkout just by saying I'm leaving.
There are already a couple of other companies doing this type of thing which means there is probably a market, but I'll need to figure out a way to differentiate.
Would you use this type of service either as a guest or owner?
Hey Brent,
Doing this for Airbnbs seems like a fantastic idea. I always want to know the answer to those sorts of questions, and often it's hard to find the answer. What are your goals now? Are you actively doing outreach to find potential users / customers / people to interview about this?
At the moment we're still thinking through product and coming up with ways to differentiate from existing companies. Talking to some vacation rental owners is also on the list of next things to do.
Sounds good. Two things that may be helpful to you:
First, when you're ready to reach out to vacation rental owners, check out https://getsplashpad.com. It's a website that my team created to help entrepreneurs get better responses from user outreach.
And second, one of our active beta users is also making real estate tech. We helped him with outreach emails to real estate agents, which are his customer base. When the time is right, I would be happy to see if he would like to connect with you.
Hi Brent,
I cannot imagine for one second as a real estate agent I'd want to put in any time in coming up with answers to potential questions that customers may never ask, and paying for the service. This is not the market you're looking for.
Vacation rental market, possibly. My wife and I enjoy vacation rentals as guests. But every pillow we've come across functions similarly. A pillow in Jakarta is the same as a pillow in Aruba. The same with the stove, or the fridge, or the key to the door. What would people ask about? Wifi password is usually posted on a chalkboard. Turning on the stereo usually is as simple as pressing the "on" button. Checking out? Maybe, but is there any advantage to using your product over doing it the way it works now, and has worked for generations across the world?
What about asking about the local sights and businesses such as restaurants? Yes, but I'd rather be checking Yelp or Urbanspoon etc. Or even google maps, so I can see how far it is and check the menu at the same time. Even if your service read the menu, I'd never remember after the first 3 items. Not sure if this is the market either.
If I have to pay for a service, I want to pay because it saves me time or money. Real estate agents don't have the time to think of then answer questions that a very few potential clients might ask. The vacation market would have a slightly better possibility, because if they invest in researching questions and answers, it will be for all future guests, and the likelihood of needing those is greater over time. But just how complex is a rental suite? It isn't.
The optimal market you want requires:
What this sounds like to me is a voice-based FAQ service. Thus, if you can find a niche that you can check off those 3 items, I think you'll have your business model.
All the best!
Here's an idea. In big box stores, I always want to know where something is and I can't find it. They never have enough staff to ask, and when they do, they're busy and I have to wait. They already have those barcode readers that check prices for an item, what about a database of all the stock in the store, with the aisle that it's in? Then customers can go and ask, "where can I find garden hoses" and your unit will tell them, "aisle 3 at the back of the store". Imagine selling this to a large chain like best buy or home depot... btw if you use my idea and make millions, I want a nice quiet vacation rental for a week as a thank you! ;)