Vrbo’s Vacation Rental of the Year: A winning guest experience

[00:02:20] Alex Lluch Well, that's a very interesting story, Tim. I have a very diverse background. Let me just give you an idea of where I came from and how I got here. But I grew up in Puerto Rico. In college, I took a, got a B.S. in electronics engineering and a master's in computer science. My first 10 years were designing guidance computers for cruise missiles, mine detection systems, communication radio for army tanks, nothing related to vacation rentals.

[00:02:47] Tim Rosolio Cruise missiles?

[00:02:48] Alex Lluch Cruise missiles, yeah.

[00:02:48] Tim Rosolio Cruise missiles and vacation rentals, the full spectrum.

[00:02:51] Alex Lluch So, I did that for a while, and then during the Cold War, when the Cold War was over, I had to find something else to do. I got laid off, and I came up with an idea to put candy inside a toy. We sold over 70 million toys, which was an unbelievable great company. But then in the early ’90s, all of a sudden giving sugar to kids became taboo. So, I had to reinvent myself and come up with something else to do. So, because I have a master's in computer science, I decided to create this very elaborate computer wedding planning system to help brides plan their wedding. So, one day I got a call from someone that says, hey, I'm looking for an expert wedding consultant that can help us plan a really exclusive wedding in Mexico. I'm like, I am your guy. I speak Spanish. I'm an expert wedding consultant. She hired me. So, she told me, well, you know, I'm not supposed to tell you who my fiancé is because it's sort of famous, but I'm going to tell you. So she says, my fiancé is Brandon Lee. I am like, who is Brandon Lee?

[00:03:59] Tim Rosolio He's in The Crow?

[00:04:00] Alex Lluch Very good. Okay, so excellent. So, I'm like, who is Brandon Lee? You know, there's 20 million Brandon Lee's out there, right? So, she said, oh, he's the son of Bruce Lee. I'm like, holy crap. Are you kidding? I was in martial arts all my life. Bruce Lee was my idol. I had posters of Bruce Lee in my bathroom. My fighting style was like Bruce Lee. People used to call me Bruce Lee, and all of a sudden I'm freaking talking to Brandon Lee, which was unbelievable. So, I tell my wife, this is our break in life. This is, we're going to start doing celebrity weddings and no more budget brides for us. So, then we had gathered all this wedding planning information, so I decided to publish a wedding book. So, I published a wedding book from the distributor. Goes to a store. It becomes a best-selling wedding-planning book overnight. I grew up in Puerto Rico. When I came to this country, I could hardly speak English. So, I go from a kid that can hardly speak English to writing these books and becoming best-selling books, which is, and this is before AI, so you cannot give AI any credit. I wish I had had AI back then because it would have really made it a lot easier, but no. So, we did a third book, a fourth book, and a fifth book. We ended up writing like over 30 wedding planning books. At one time, 45 percent of all the wedding books sold in this country were ours. And then all of a sudden, the publishing business sort of died, so I had to find something else to do. So, I started flipping houses, buying homes, renovating the houses and selling them. So, one day, one Valentine's Day, I bring my wife to Temecula, which is a foreign country.

[00:05:40] Tim Rosolio Nicely done.

[00:05:41] Alex Lluch Yeah. It's just, well, you have to, you know, just Valentine's Day. So, I bring her here. We were going to have lunch with some friends, and they were late. So, we're driving around. We see an open house and I tell my wife, hey, why don't we come and look at the house? And we went inside. The house was really disheveled, was really ugly, green tiles, the backyard was like just pure dirt and I'm like, I like this house. And my wife said, what are you talking about? This house is hideous. You're crazy. And I'm like, look, there's some potential in this house, so I buy the house with intention of flipping it. So, in the course of thinking what I'm going to do, a friend of mine said, hey, this house has a huge backyard. Why don't you put it on Vrbo? I'm like, what the heck is Vrbo? Ihad never heard of Vrbo before. And he says, you know, Vrbo is a site where you can put your house and rent it for the weekend. You can make a lot of money. And I'm like, come on, I don't know how that works. So, I went to the Vrbo website, saw all these beautiful homes and I saw how much these people are charging per night. And I am like, holy crap, you can make lot of money renting this house on the weekend. So, what I did is everybody told me “heads in the beds.” So, the more people you have in your house, the more you can make. So, this house then was a four-bedroom, two-bath house. I turned that house into a seven-bed, five-and-a-half bath without having to change the outside walls, just by changing the walls inside. So, I did that. I put a pool. I put a pickleball court, a great sports area and a great outdoor kitchen. And we put it on Vrbo overnight; the house started getting booked. I think for the first five years, I had that house booked every single weekend. There was not a single weekend that was available. So, because of the success of that house, I'm like, you know what, I want to do this again. This is just easy money, so I want to do this again. So, I started looking for another property that I could buy and renovate, and I couldn't find any house that would fit the bill. I was looking for a very specific house that would give me a big backyard, very private, away from neighbors, so I didn't have to bother neighbors and I could find anything. So, I said, well, you know, if I cannot find a house that is already built, I'm going to have to build it myself. So, I, you know, with my engineering background and all the other stuff that I've done, I'm pretty good at designing and stuff like that. So, I used to travel to Spain, to Southern Spain with my wife. We've gone to the islands of Spain, Mallorca, Ibiza, and we really fell in love with the Ibiza-style homes, which are homes that are like, you know, white walls, flat walls, flood-proof, very large window, and stuff like that. So, with that inspiration, I designed Villa Fabulosa. So, if you look at the architecture of Villa Fabulosa, say a house that sort of reminiscing the houses in Southern Spain and Mallorca and Ibiza.

[00:08:40] Tim Rosolio I kind of feel like I'm in Ibiza.

[00:08:42] Alex Lluch Yeah, yeah. We should go there after this.

[00:08:44] Tim Rosolio Now we're talking.

[00:08:46] Alex Lluch So I designed the house, and then I found this lot. When I bought this lot here, this was a little path on top of the hill and just pure dirt. So, I basically took this mountain and flattened it because it was like a small path. We flattened and we spread the dirt out to end up with a very large path and designed the house and we started building it. So, I was my own contractor, had never built a house from scratch. I had to learn all about permits and all this stuff. So, I built the house, and it took me, like, 14 months to build the house. Put on Vrbo very quickly because the house is so unique. There's no other house even similar that comes close to the elegance and the luxury of Villa Fabulosa. So very, very quickly became the most popular vacation rental in Temecula. We have pretty much all sold out. And it's just been fantastic. It's just a great journey. So, it's amazing that within a year, here I am talking to Vrbo as recognized as one of the Vrbo's Vacation Rentals of the Year. It's just an honor.

[00:09:54] Tim Rosolio Yeah, I mean, it's an incredible place. And by the way, I think you're maybe the most interesting person in the world, you know, the most interesting man in the world, I think. So, it's funny how you mentioned that, you know you've found places that aren't necessarily like, when you found them, wouldn't be places that would be amazing vacation rentals. You created the space. It's interesting. My lake house was the oldest house in the lake town. And when I saw it, there was so much work that needed to be put into it. But you see these unique places, and people want to go to unique places when they go to vacation rentals. Like I had to totally redo the septic system and stuff like that. But once I did sort of the hard work to fix it up, you have this really unique spot. So, you know, you talked a lot about the house. Let's talk a little bit about the hospitality you provide, because we know that the house is only part of the equation. It's like, how do you deliver the experience the traveler wants?

[00:10:50] Alex Lluch You know, I think what I do that I think few people do is I have, I make a connection with the guest, and it blows my mind how important that is and how simple it is to build a relationship with the guests. You know, one thing is to have a beautiful house with beautiful amenities, but to make that connection. So, what I do is I make it very easy for people to enjoy the house as much as possible. So, one of the things that I do is have a great website that has a lot of videos that show everything that we have in the house. Not only that, but our videos show our guests how to use everything at the house, how to use the stereo, how to use the pizza oven, how to use the TV, how to play music outside, all that stuff. So, when they get to my house, they're already fully familiarized with the house, and they don't have to be like sending a text to the host, hey, how do I turn the pizza over or how to do this and wait for the host. Two hours for the host to answer, so I make it very easy. Those videos, I have them with QR code throughout the house. So, when people get to the house, if they don't know how to use the TV, they just read the QR code, and then there is a video that shows them how to use the TV. Then the other thing that I do is one of the videos that I have, which I think is fantastic, is that we have a video that shows everything that we have in our kitchen. So, we go drawer by drawer, door by door, and we show all the You know, the place that we have, the silverware, the fact that we have a waffle maker, a steamer, you know, anything that you can think of. We have to go even one step further. I tell people, look, watch the video so you can see everything we have in our kitchen. If you don't see something that you want to use for cooking, whatever meals you're trying to prepare, let me know, I'll go to online and order the products so they can use it while they're here and then future guests can use it, too. So, if you look at my kitchen, it's fully stocked with pretty much every single gadget that we have. So, that's one thing. The other thing that I do is when people book, I call them up, introduce myself, and start forming a relationship. Then when they come here, I give them a call. We ask them if there are any questions. Do you need any recommendation about restaurants or wineries and whatever. And then halfway through their reservation, I send them a text to say, hey, how's everything going? Are you guys enjoying Villa Fabulosa? Do you have any questions? I'm here for you. Feel free to call me if you need anything. And then when they leave, I give them a call. And by then I have become a best friend with these people. I have built a relationship with this guy. And I basically call them to say two things. Was everything to your satisfaction? Is there anything that is not working to perfection that I should take care of before our next guests arrive? I don't let my cleaning crew just tell me, hey, Alex, this broke or whatever, because I cannot rely on them. Often, they come, they clean, they leave, and they don't realize that, say, a door is squeaking or whatever. So, I ask my guests, is there anything, is there a ping-pong paddle that needs to be replaced? So, that's sort of a way that I can just really maintain the standard of quality that I expect for my guests. And then building that relationship with the guests sort of assures a good review, because once you build this relationship with the guest and you have shown to your guest that you really care, then they go and they write a good review, which is, you know, the most important thing. The key of the next book is right.

[00:14:23] Tim Rosolio Yeah, and the communication part is so important before, during, and after the stay. Because actually one thing I've found is with that communication in the middle of the stay, it actually gives you an opportunity to course correct if there is something wrong. Hey, if there's something, like, if there is a major thing wrong, like, I don't know, something wrong with the toilet or something like that, then that's pretty hard to recover from. But if it's something basic like, hey, I'm trying to figure out how this TV works, if you can actually just demonstrate quickly that you're there to help them, that they really appreciate that you were there to do that. Because not every host is like that. You'd be surprised. So, it sounds like you're really hands on, which is fantastic.

[00:14:59] Alex Lluch And I think not just sending a text and communicating with text. Let me tell you a funny story. So, my son is 23 years old. He went to UCLA, got a degree in economics, and he's the new generation. He really likes texting, right? The new generation. So, now he's helping me manage the houses. And now I'm sort of telling him, hey, call the guests, form a relationship with guests and start managing the guests. And now he and I have a competition of who gets the best review. So, he takes care of some of the guests, I take care of some of the guests, and we can see whenever we get a good review, either it was mine or him. So, it's really fun, but he has learned very quickly how important it is to have that conversation. They're just carrying the conversation, getting to know the guests is super important.

[00:15:50] Tim Rosolio Yeah, it's basic hospitality, the relationship building. I mean, it is like, I never went through it myself, but, like, I work with all these people that grew up working at hotels and they understand the training that goes through hospitality. Someone went through, like, the Oberoi program or the Ritz-Carlton program. And it's these little basics like this that actually go a really long way. That's really cool. Hey, so you mentioned, you mentioned waffle maker, you mentioned pizza oven. When guests are at this house, what are their favorite amenities?

[00:16:23] Alex Lluch One of the things that I would say that is more unique, you know, a lot of people can have waffle makers and stuff like that. Two things, our pizza oven is a hit. It's funny because when I decided to put a pizza oven on my other house, Villa Magnifica, my wife said, why would you want to put a pizza oven? No one is going to like it. It's a hit. People love coming here, preparing their own pizza, making their own pizzas. So, when I built Villa Fabulosa, I decided to put not one but two pizza ovens. Because if there's 24 people here, you don't want to have to be waiting for an hour for people to be making two or three pizzas at a time.

[00:17:01] Tim Rosolio Mom, is the pepperoni ready yet?

[00:17:02] Alex Lluch Yeah. Right. So, the pizza oven is a hit. We have a teppanyaki. My son makes a killer fried rice on the teppanyaki. So cool. But I would say the most unique thing that we have at Villa Fabulosa is our 18-hole miniature golf. We had this big pad, and I was actually going to build a second house, but the county wouldn't allow me to build the second house on the pad. So, I'm like, what do I do with this big, large pad? So, then I came up with creating an 18- hole miniature golf course. Every hole has obstacles, like, you have to throw the ball, like that, exactly. So, I designed the stuff myself; people cannot believe that this was designed myself. They, it's like, you know, come on.

[00:17:47] Tim Rosolio That's pretty unique. I know vacation rentals that have one miniature golf hole. I don't know any that have 18 holes. That's pretty cool. And the pizza oven actually makes it so consistent with the things that we're trying to do as a category. Typically, if you're staying in a vacation rental, the whole idea is being together. And if you were being together, one of the main things you're going to do is you're gonna eat and cook together. And having that unique amenity, that's pretty special. A lot of places have a grill; not everyone has a pizza oven.

[00:18:15] Alex Lluch Right, the other thing that we have is, if you notice on my dining room, we have a very large dining room table that sits anywhere between 14, 16 people. Likewise, in our outdoor kitchen, we have a very big table that seats about 16 people, so it's about getting big families to sit together in one table and enjoy and create memories that last forever.

[00:18:35] Tim Rosolio Yeah, it's a pretty spectacular spot. Yeah. So, just based on all of your background, too, like you have this mind for design. Talk a little bit about the design principles that you put into this place. I mean, it's pretty special. Or were you just inspired when you were in Ibiza? You will get inspired in Ibiza.

[00:18:53] Alex Lluch I think I was inspired with those homes in Ibiza. I just wanted to design the house to be very elegant, just modern luxury. And that's the name of my company, Modern Luxury Builders. So, I love the blue color. I see you have a nice shirt.

[00:19:12] Tim Rosolio Look like we're twins.

[00:19:14] Alex Lluch Yeah. So I like blue. I like dark blue color, so I think it's just very bright, vibrant, elegant. That's sort of what I like.

[00:19:24] Tim Rosolio Fantastic. So, I mean, you have the whole package. You have the location, you have the unique house, you have the amenities, you have the hospitality. What's, like, some of the memorable experiences that you've had by being one of our hosts and really delivering great experiences for our travelers?

[00:19:41] Alex Lluch I think I would say meeting some of the guests. It has been really amazing meeting some of the people that have stayed here. Again, I talk to these people, I get to know the people and it's just super cool. One of the coolest guests that I've had was Mario Lopez. He was here, you know, the guy by Saved by the Bell.

[00:20:02] Tim Rosolio And whenever you turn on a TV like when he's going through like these are the videos you can watch in your hotel room, you know.

[00:20:11] Alex Lluch Right, right. No, the guy is great. So, he was coming to Temecula and this is Temecula told me, hey, Mario Lopez is looking for a nice house. He saw your house. He would like to stay at your house, and I'm like, heck yeah. So, he came over and you know, not only he wanted to stay here, but the guy was super nice. He said, hey, tell Alex if he wants to meet me, just have him come over, I'd love to meet him. The fact that the guy is so famous and for him to tell the host, hey if you want to come meet me, come meet me, that was super down to earth, super friendly. He was dancing here when we have, it was just fantastic.

[00:20:49] Tim Rosolio Amazing. All right. But then let's talk about, all right, that's a fun guest. What are some of the challenges you've had in being a host? Like what's some of this stuff that's tough about doing this business? Cause you know, it's not all fun and games.

[00:21:01] Alex Lluch You know, I would say the challenge is what I've learned, like, if you ask me what lessons I've learned, is to be very upfront with your guests. Don't leave anything for interpretation. Don't assume that your guests have read your rules on Vrbo. So, when the guests first inquire about my house, I send all my rules to them and make it very clear that what you can or cannot do. And because of that, I don't get a lot of, you know, some people decide not to rent the house because my rules are very strict, but because my homes are always booked, I have the luxury to be very, very strict with my guests. I send the rules and that's the lesson that I've learned is don't leave anything for interpretation, because a lot of guests, I can tell you, they book a house and they tell you we will have 15 people sleeping at the house, okay? If you don't ask, are you planning to invite other people, they may not tell you they're planning to buy 20 people. Here in Temecula, a lot of our guests come to Temecula to attend a wedding. So, often they book this house because they want to stay here. But because they came here for a wedding and a lot of other people came from all over the U.S. to attend the wedding, they think they can invite all the people that were invited to the wedding to come and hang out at my house.

[00:22:21] Tim Rosolio It's probably been quite a few after parties that were unauthorized here after the wedding.

[00:22:25] Alex Lluch Well, not that many, because again, my rules are very strict. So, I always ask the question, okay, so you're telling me 16 people are going to sleep. Are you planning to invite anybody else? And then when they tell me, yeah, we're planning to have 50 people at your house. I'm like, no, thank you. Find some, find another house. So, that's the lesson is just make sure that you know what these guests are planning to do. Don't assume anything and don't leave anything for interpretation.

[00:22:51] Tim Rosolio Yeah. So, you're a Premier Host. Sounds like you're a Premier Host by far and wide. Like, what does that mean to you?

[00:22:58] Alex Lluch Well, you know, it's such an honor to be a Premier Host. You know, the fact that I just built this house about a year ago and just have become the Vrbo Vacation of the Year is a huge host. To me, what that means is that I have to go well above and beyond what the guests expect, and that's not just having a clean house and having amenities but doing just like minor details. Like, for example, if you look at one of my drawers in the kitchen, and I have a basket filled with incidentals, and that includes cough drops, Advils, nail polish, and sunscreen. You know we have a mini-CVS in my kitchen, so I don't want my guests to have to run to the drugstore at 10 o'clock because someone is having an allergy reaction to something or having a cough or a headache or whatever, so we have all the kind of stuff that you see at CVS. The stuff that most people may want, may need during their vacation. I do like minor details, like for example, we have cordless chargers in a room. So, I don't want the host or the guests to go and look for a power cord and then look for an outlet behind the bed to power their phone. So, we have the cordless chargers that you just put your phone on top of the charger. So, make it very simple. The other thing is I think one of the reasons why I'm where I am is because I believe in a team. I believe in my cleaning crew is part of the team. I empower the team to really do a good job. I sort of tell them, hey, the success of this house is really based on you. You guys are just as important as what we offer here. So, they really like to hear that. And as a matter of fact, when they were here just a few days ago cleaning the house, and I told my team, my cleaning crew, that we were selected as Vrbo Vacation Rental of the Year, I actually gave them the credit. I said because of you we get such good reviews, and because of our reviews then we just got the award. So, they were so happy that they were part of the deal. The other thing that allows me to give an excellent service to my guests is my handyman and my landscaper and stuff like that. So, unfortunately, I own the mobile home down at the bottom of the hill. So, when I was looking for a tenant, I decided that I wanted to rent that house to a contractor or to a handyman, and the condition to rent the house was you have to be the guy that whenever I need you at 10 o'clock at night or whatever, you have to go up there and fix the stuff. So, I blow my guests’ mind when they call me and say, hey, this light doesn't work or we don't know how to do this or we need this. And within 10 minutes, there is a guy here fixing the stuff. So, it's really, you know, that's what you need. You need a good team that is really empowered to do excellent service for your guests and people that are close by that you can call on a moment's notice to come and take care of your guests.

[00:26:02] Tim Rosolio Yeah, I mean, it's so important that the house is clean every single time and all the right maintenance stuff is taken care of. Like, it doesn't matter if you have a pizza oven if the house isn't clean. It doesn't matter if you have pizza oven if the pool's not working, like, there's some very basics that we're trying to deliver in terms of consistency on our platform. And to a certain extent, the Premier Host badge is a badge that indicates that you're going to deliver that sort of experience. And hopefully, what you've seen is by having that Premier Host badge, you get the next booking, you get next booking, and you get the next book.

[00:26:33] Alex Lluch Absolutely. Absolutely.

[00:26:33] Tim Rosolio We're trying to give you more visibility because of the great things that you've done for us. So, you've been honored as one of the best of the best vacation rental a year. What is some advice that you'd give to other hosts that would aspire to be, you know, in the top section of our partners?

[00:26:49] Alex Lluch I think the best advice I can give to these people is to hire me as their consultant. So, you know, I can just help them to improve their house. No, just kidding. Just basically what I've said, you know, come up with a website that will show videos on how to use everything at the house at the QR code. It blows my mind that people don't do this because it saved me so many calls. People calling me asking how to operate the TV or whatever. So, just put the QR code — makes it easy for the guests to figure out how to use everything at your house. Be very upfront with your guests. Just make sure that they know what your rules are. Be sort of very clear. Don't leave anything for interpretation. Just have little incidentals, you know, little details like the charger that I mentioned, all that stuff. And the main thing is form a relationship with your guest. Call the guest as soon as they book. Just build that relationship, become best friends, because that's how you're going to get great reviews. And once you get great reviews, then your business will be very successful.

[00:27:56] Tim Rosolio Yeah, I'm definitely stealing the QR code idea.

[00:27:59] Alex Lluch Well, good. I need to charge for that though. I patented that idea.

[00:28:05] Tim Rosolio One of your fees.

[00:28:06] Alex Lluch Exactly, yeah.

[00:28:07] Tim Rosolio All right, so building cruise missiles, toys, vacation rentals, real estate, marriage, what's next for you?

[00:28:16] Alex Lluch Oh, retirement, man. That's it.

[00:28:19] Tim Rosolio You've already had six careers.

[00:28:20] Alex Lluch You know, I was next to me is I started a Modern Luxury Builders, which is a company I sort of created for my son, mainly. So, my son learns to build a house and, you know, just basically give it to him as in a platter. Here is what your future is. So, just teach my son how to build houses and something that he can do on his own. But, yeah, eventually, I just want to start traveling more with my wife and taking life easier.

[00:28:51] Tim Rosolio Yeah, you've done enough work.

[00:28:52] Alex Lluch I think I've done enough.

[00:28:54] Tim Rosolio You have a few places actually, maybe just to hang out. I mean, you only need to go on vacation. Just come here, right?

[00:28:57] Alex Lluch That's right.

[00:28:58] Tim Rosolio All right, Alex. So, thanks for hosting us here. Thanks for being one of our top partners. Thanks for everything that you do for our travelers. And thanks for being on the podcast today.

[00:29:07] Alex Lluch Well, thank you for selecting my home as one of Vrbo's Vacation Rentals of the Year. And it's such an honor, so I couldn't be happier that we're here doing this.

[00:29:18] Elisabeth Goodridge Major thanks to Tim for sitting in the host chair for that one. And of course to Alex for sharing his background and giving us all of his hosting tips. To see a full listing of all of Vrbo's Vacation Rentals of the Year, including Villa Fabulosa, visit the link in the description. And stay tuned for all of season five of Powering Travel. To get updated when new episodes are live, be sure to follow us on Spotify, YouTube, Apple Podcasts, and anywhere where you listen and watch your favorite podcast. Thanks again for listening to Powering Travel, brought to you by Expedia Group. I'm the new host, Elisabeth Goodridge, and I can't wait to see where you're going to next.