I bartered with a motel for a free place to live in exchange for services. Need more ideas...

by marc.v
13 replies
I'm pretty excited about this one. I just got done talking to the owner of a little hotel/hostel right smack dab in the middle of downtown L.a. It's not glamorous at all, but it's exactly the kind of place I want to live in. DTLA is experiencing an awesome revival and there's a ton of fun stuff going on in the area. I love it.

Don't get me wrong, this wasn't a desperation move. I could afford to pay rent on a loft on the same street for a lot more money, but I really like the fact that new people from all over the world come in everyday to places like this.

Anyway, I spoke to this woman and asked her what the occupancy rate was. She said it was slow right now but usually gets pretty busy around the holidays and summer. I told her "I'm really good with a lot of online stuff. Off the top of my head, I could get you on the first page of google for keywords like _________ and ________. I think putting up a video of your place and getting it on the first page of google would drive a lot of business your way, too. Google places is also extremely important and I can help with that. Also, I have a few ideas to consistently get you more good reviews on the review sites."

She loved it.

I then asked "so, you said your slow right now. I really like the idea of bartering for my services. I wont charge you anything for all of this, but I get to stay in one of your private rooms. it's kinda like this: Would you let me stay there for free if I brought 5 friends with me that paid?".

She was all for it. I can move in whenever.

You guys are absolute geniuses when it comes to creative ways to get people through the doors of businesses. Aside from what I've mentioned (SEO on main site, google places optimization, ranking a video review on Google, and driving positive reviews), what do you think some good ideas are for getting more people to stay there? It's in Downtown l.a., close to LAX, staples center, convention center, and a bunch of other fun stuff. It's basically a hostel with private rooms and It's a lot cheaper to stay in than the surrounding properties.

Can't wait to hear what you guys have to say.
Thanks.
#bartered #exchange #free #ideas #live #motel #place #services
  • Profile picture of the author juice
    Pretty sweet deal! Congrats! Back in "the day" I lived in a hostel on Miami Beach before it was South Beach. Good stuff They were filming Miami Vice right below my room...

    I also love barter as I have lived in 5 star hotels with trade.

    We have the perfect service to trade with as most of our services that we provide have a very low hard cost. It is basically your time to do the services - right?

    I think a good strategy for the Hostel would be to do a Facebook app, if you don't build them yourself, wildfire has a nice solution. Maybe a contest for a FREE room for the person that brings the most customers to the Hostel through their FB page. Social Media is perfect!

    Maybe do a series of off the wall videos from different people staying at the Hostel - talking about their daily adventures around the city..... then post to their Youtube channel, optimize it and share it on Facebook.
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  • Profile picture of the author Dan Allard
    I don't have experience with motels, but here's some ideas you could look into:

    Not sure how these listings work, but you could run special promotions and promote them on discount travel sites. (like priceline, travelocity, etc.)

    Also see how LivingSocial works, I like to check their deals out before I travel.

    Then promotion with a Facebook fan page- every now and then if it gets slow open up the pool for your fans or something like that. Or one new fan gets a free tanning/exercise room pass each month.

    Put up sign advertisements near airports, downtown, and high-traffic tourist areas.

    Just a few things you can look into. Hope that helps.
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  • Profile picture of the author malia
    I used to fly down to LA a lot, as a buyer. I always used priceline for hotels because the hotels downtown are so expensive. I would target trade show and convention travelers also. If you go this route, you'll have to stress safety, proximity and comfort because out of town trade show travelers don't want to be out of the way or in a sketchy area. Also, a lot of trade show travelers don't have the budget for the downtown hotels.

    I would even go to the California Market Center, the Gift Center (or whatever it's called) and the other trade markets and see if there's opportunity to promote the location there.
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    • Profile picture of the author RickDuris
      Good for you! Sounds like a sweet deal.

      About the most IMPORTANT hing you could do is implement an offline/online reputation management program.

      Focus on TripAdvisor.com, Hotels.com and Expedia.com. Those are the key sites.

      - Rick Duris
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  • Profile picture of the author sonix
    NIce! I had a chiropractor that wanted to barter with me...i decided it wasn't worth the work.
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    • Profile picture of the author bryson
      Originally Posted by sonix View Post

      NIce! I had a chiropractor that wanted to barter with me...i decided it wasn't worth the work.
      Maybe if you are doing all the work yourself but if you outsource you can get the service for a fraction of what your paying to get your bones cracked.
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  • Profile picture of the author wilder1047
    Ideas...

    -Do video walk-throughs of the rooms, post them to youtube and rank them.

    -Reputation management, put guest cards in all the rooms, tell guests those that fill them out will get put in a draw for a free night. On the comment card ask if it is alright if you post their comment online. If so, do it with a safe-submit service.

    -E-Mail marketing, have an area on that comment card they can put their e-mail address and ask if they'd be interested in being sent e-mails for cheap stays and promotions. Just have an aweber form that the staff can punch their e-mail into. Send them e-mails about local events in town, and be sure to sign off on everyone with a link to a reservation system or a phone number to make a reservation.

    -If they have a business centre load up an aweber form as a pop-up on their website. Whenever a guest sits down to use it make sure that the form is up in front of them.

    -Facebook Fan Page bribing for likes with a 10% discount ie "Like us on Facebook and get 10% off your next stay" - you can link this offer from the website. Use twitter to update on local events and random cool facts about the area. Get them a branded Google Plus page because Google is likely to weigh a lot of SEO importance on it in the future... and they're already starting to pop-up along organic results.

    -Set up a SMS marketing campaign for them, as well as QR codes, maybe even an app that you'd encourage guests to download upon check-in. This could possibly be rigged up to make reservations.. perhaps a way to set them up with a loyalty card (stay 9 nights, get 10th free) everytime they come in it is somehow tracked in this app so they don't have to worry about carrying around an actual card or anything...

    Haha sorry about my vagueness in the mobile area, that area is still new to me.

    Next idea, the credit goes to midasman09.. putting offers in the hotel rooms from local businesses, in which they pay you on a CPA model.. you could split this with the hotel. See midasmans thread here... http://www.warriorforum.com/mobile-m...call-cash.html

    Hope this helps get the cranks goin'!

    Thanks,

    James
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    • Profile picture of the author rhinocl
      Does anyone know where to find these safe submit services? I'm not familiar with them.
      Originally Posted by wilder1047 View Post

      Ideas...

      -{snip}
      -Reputation management, put guest cards in all the rooms, tell guests those that fill them out will get put in a draw for a free night. On the comment card ask if it is alright if you post their comment online. If so, do it with a safe-submit service.

      {/snip}James
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  • Profile picture of the author Jason Kanigan
    This is awesome! Barter with a hotel and you'll have a place to live...a mechanic and you won't have to worry about your car...a restaurant or two and you'll have all you can eat (my accountant does this)...a travel agent and you'll be able to go wherever you want...

    What's funny is people undervalue what they do. What they offer is commonplace to them, and so they think it's not as valuable is cash.
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  • Profile picture of the author RentItNow
    I have bartered with Mechanics, DJ, Wedding Reception Hall, Restaurants, B&Bs, Woodworking stores, T Shirt companies, Bowling, Printers, Lawyers, CPAs, you name it. Even if you partially barter, at least it gets you in front of them for the future where you can collect more than their service/product. Opens a door because they are likely more willing to barter now and once they see your value, pay later.
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    I have no agenda but to help those in the same situation. This I feel will pay the bills.
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  • Profile picture of the author TyBrown
    It seems to me the trend is, and the way I've been purchasing the last couple years, is that restaurants, hotels, etc. is driven heavily by user reviews. I use Trip Advisor a lot. I use Yelp some. I read reviews on Google. Anytime we are in a new town those are the tools I use.

    Now, I wish I could follow that up with pragmatic advice on how to use these properly. Unfortunately I don't have any advice there but I think if you could harness the power of positive reviews you could be in great shape.
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  • Profile picture of the author Tessa Holmes
    Pretty good idea, Marc. This is another example of thinking 'outside the box'. I know that when I am travelling, I am researching local restaurants, hotels, reading reviews online a lot! Internet is great tool that can be great power and business source. If you know how to use this tool - you can do many interesting things.
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  • Profile picture of the author Cartellian
    Start with keyword research... Find what phrases people are searching for lodging in the area of the momo.

    Then move on to building backlinks for those phrases by creating web 2.0 properties and some article marketing.
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