Women entrepreneurs in their 50s are much less celebrated in the world of business than men or their younger counterparts. Likely because women reaching middle age and starting a business not only have to fight against sexism but also ageism.
Those who underestimate the capabilities, experience and wisdom of women in their 50s, particularly when it comes to management, relationship-building and leadership and anyone who has the misperception that they aren’t tech savvy, inspired and extremely hard working, obviously have not met Simone.
Simone is the founder of a new holiday rental platform, Search and Stay.
Simone and her team, half of whom are women in their 50s or young mums, are working on a business created to support and reward Australian holiday home owners and offer fairer options for holidaying guests.
Simone as a holiday home owner herself was driven to build Search and Stay by three motivators.
Firstly, she saw that managing, maintaining, preparing and renting holiday houses, or their own home while away, was more often being done by women. Generally, as an additional task on a long list of other things to manage including their career, family, household and general ‘administrivia’. This is apparent in women magazine articles like “How To Get Your Home Holiday-Rental Ready” and “10 Tips To Create The Ultimate Holiday Rental”.
Secondly, if her property was handed over to a holiday rental management company to reduce the enormous amount of work involved in self-managing a holiday home, not only do you forgo rental income, it requires you to relinquish control over management, maintenance and, importantly to Simone, the choice of guest staying in her home - a home which she has put an enormous amount of effort and pride into. Holiday management companies and online booking platforms tend to have an instant book system and little scrutiny of guests, so you don’t know or have any choice who is staying in your property, who with or what they intend to do while there.
Finally, the online holiday rental platforms currently available tend to be expensive, with commissions and pay-per-booking fees as high as 15% - 20% of the booking. This cost comes straight off the bottom line for owners or is added to the booking and included in the rates, inflating the rental cost for guests. These profits (annually billions of dollars) then head overseas to three or four multinationals who enjoy the lion's share of the holiday rental market.
So while raising her six children, and with a clarity and purpose that only comes from more than 30 years of managing family and businesses, Simone decided to embark on this venture.
Simone knew that she knew what she wanted as a holiday home owner, understood her own market, her peers and wanted to serve the needs of those in the same situation.
While working under the shadows of huge multinationals that dominate the holiday platform space, Simone was determined not to compare Search and Stay to other similar holiday listing platforms but to focus on offering a product and service that not only solved a problem but also served a larger purpose.
All the tools and benefits to the owner offered by the well-known sites are included on Search and Stay holiday listing site. Easy property listing and bookings, calendar management, rate setting, seasonal rate and conditional changes, amenities, accounting, owner and guest communication and the extra care of features like a choice between ‘instant book' and 'booking request' and allowing guests and owners to communicate pre-booking are complimentary for the owners. There is simply a negligible charge added to each booking.
Having an owner-centric model with a guest focus, Search and Stay holiday rental site is an online platform built by a woman with experience who is determined to fill a need for other women and Australian families.
Made by a holiday rental owner for holiday rental owners, while not a new concept, Search and Stay holiday rental platform is an Australian version that makes holiday rental fairer for owners, better value for their guests and keeps profits in Australia.