The Property Unleashed Podcast

Throwback Thursday: How To Build A Six-Figure Serviced Accommodation Business

• Mark Fitzgerald • Episode 310

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Throwback Thursday: How To Build A Six-Figure Serviced Accommodation Business with Graham Lindley

This popular throwback episode of The Property Unleashed Podcast features Graham Lindley, who has built one of the most successful serviced accommodation businesses in his area—scaling to over 145 units and dominating his local market.

Graham joins Mark Fitzgerald to share the full story of how he did it, what it really takes to build a high-performing SA business, and how you can do the same. Whether you’re just starting out or looking to scale your current operation, this episode offers practical guidance you can apply straight away.


Key takeaways include:

• How Graham scaled his SA business to over 145 units

• Strategies for dominating your local area and spotting key opportunities

• The mindset, systems, and team structure behind long-term success

• Mistakes to avoid when setting up or growing your SA portfolio

• Why coaching and guidance can fast-track your results


This is a must-listen episode for anyone serious about growing a sustainable and profitable serviced accommodation business.


FREE RESOURCES MENTIONED:

Download Marks & Graham’s Ultimate Serviced Accommodation Guide:

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Explore Marks & Graham’s full SA Training & Coaching Program:

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Speaker 1:

Welcome to the Property Unleashed podcast, a show about property, entrepreneurship and personal development. This show is designed to give you the foundations and building blocks to move forward on your journey and live a more inspired life. Hello and welcome to the Property Unleashed podcast with me, mark Fitzgerald, and today I am joined once again by Graham Lindley, our service accommodation expert. Welcome to the show, graham. Great to have you back.

Speaker 2:

Hi, Mark. Thank you very much. It's a pleasure to be back.

Speaker 1:

Well, we had such a great response from the first episode that I wanted to get Graham back and really just ask him some questions about service accommodation, because it is a great strategy. And, of course, we are now releasing the ultimate service accommodation business builder program that Graham is heading up and we're getting great responses from the first students that have been on that as well. So a lot of people out there are looking at service accommodation or potentially in serviced accommodation and maybe finding it hard, and by getting an expert like Graham back on the show, it's our opportunity and our chance to pick its brains and to see what it's all about. So I mean, realistically, graham, if you can just tell us a quick recap about yourself, that would be great.

Speaker 2:

Sure, yeah, thank you, mark. So yeah, my name is Graham Lindley. I operate Prim Short Stays in Nottingham. We are now the leading short stay agent in Nottingham, if not the East Midlands. I've got a number of companies around the service accommodation space. We've got software coming out that's very exciting, called Guest Flow, which plugs into channel managers and just helps streamline operations. So we've really got that side of the business nailed with a fantastic team. I'm out of the day-to-day noise, let's say, of the business, which is great. Plus, of course, we've got lots of rent-to-rents through other SPVs and some units that I now own as well.

Speaker 1:

So yeah, it's very exciting. And just for the listeners that maybe are new to serviced accommodation SA as it's called you know Airbnbs, short stay, let we can name it all day long. Can you just tell us what is serviced accommodation?

Speaker 2:

Sure, yeah, so you're right, it's got so many names. I mean, in America it's vacation rentals, I think you know historically it, america it's vacation rentals. I think you know. Historically it was always self catering. It's not a new thing. It's been going since the 60s. But thanks to Airbnb, now a lot more people are aware of it and you know millennials, they'll only look at Airbnb and to stay in service accommodation.

Speaker 2:

So, it's overnight accommodation Ultimately, we're selling bed spaces per person per night but lots of different property types. It's not just your vanilla city centre apartments that a lot of people think of when they think Airbnb and serviced accommodation. It can work in lots of property types, whether it's tree houses, garden pods, houses, potentially HMOs that no longer have a HMO license, so know. So there is a lot of ways of making this work.

Speaker 1:

And why did you choose serviced accommodation?

Speaker 2:

Good question. I used to ask myself that there's a bit of magic, I think, in naivety. Sometimes you don't know what you're going to be taking on, and I'd encourage that. Rather than trying to work out everything you're going to do to solve every single problem you're ever going to have in a business, I think actually, if it's something that interests you, just get going and then you will solve the problems as you take them on.

Speaker 2:

But yeah, service accommodation, I just felt it was crest of the wave. You know, I was at a property networking event few people were talking about it, but it seemed pretty early days back then and yet I just got fired up by it. My trade was an engineer and I just felt like I was ready for more and to take on more. And I could see that service accommodation was what we call noisy or logistically challenging. There's lots going on compared to even just a letting agent. What they do every six months with potentially doing every two days, and so there's a lot of work. But I felt that my skillset as an engineer meant I could build better systems, better automation and just provide a really good service.

Speaker 1:

So what do you need, in your opinion, to start a serviced accommodation business? What do you?

Speaker 2:

need. You just need the right mindset mark. Honestly like to get out of your own way, I think is one of the number one things, and that's what's stopping a lot of people. Uh, they just don't realize, uh, their own potential and so that's that's it I. I think otherwise you will find deals, you will find everything that you need along the way. It's just making a commitment to do it, to get going.

Speaker 1:

So to find properties for serviced accommodation, do you speak to landlords, do you speak to agents and, basically, why would they want to work with us?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, all of the above. Yeah, we work more so with agents now that we've got a bit of a presence and we're known. But actually my very first units came via an agent. They do say build relationships with agents early on and that will pay you dividends. And, of course, direct to landlord, whether that's through networking, organic, just word of mouth and referral, of course, advertising. So we do a little bit of advertising to speak to landlords and generally landlords want to get into service accommodation for different reasons.

Speaker 2:

There's sometimes resistance, and the same with agents. They just think, oh, parties, subletting, it's not allowed, and they've heard of the nightmare stories in the daily mail. So sometimes there's a bit of resistance overcome initially. But a lot of landlords now are actually much more open to it than they were six, seven years ago when I was getting going, and so they understand that it is a viable alternative strategy for their properties, for their assets and of course most landlords own properties because it's an investment and they just want the strongest possible return with, of course, the security as well. So service accommodation now being that viable alternative that does generate more income, that's the number one reason why landlords might want to work with you.

Speaker 2:

But the benefit of SA is it brings a lot more flexibility as well. Of course, we have guests, so there's no tenants. We've got landlords that have really had bad experiences with tenants that potentially stopped paying and it took many months, if not years, to get them out, and then and then, of course, they were left with trashed properties with us. Even if we have a guest staying for three months, we'll make sure cleaners are popping in and we've got eyes on that property all the time, so properties are kept in a really high condition, much, much better show home conditions, you know. So there's quite a few reasons, a good, good number of reasons, why landlords would want to look at SA. And that's not even to really talk about the tax benefits as well, which we go really into detail in on the course. But yeah, there's quite a few tax perks. You've got commercial income, not residential income, from your residential property, so there's no flying under the radar. Everything we're doing is perfectly legit, but but of course it does open up some really creative strategies.

Speaker 1:

Brilliant, brilliant. And of course, a lot of people think property is an expensive game at the end of the day, that you need mountains of money to start any sort of thing in property. Of course, is that the same with serviced accommodation? Do you need a lot of money to start, or how much money do you think you roughly need?

Speaker 2:

no, honestly you don't. I mean, I got going with a block of four rent to rents and on that one my only real cost initially was, uh, the, the furniture, and even that if you don't have the capital to purchase the furniture for a rent to rent that comes unfurnished you know, because of course a lot of rents and rents may come furn there's options, you know. You can lease it, you can have potentially put it on credit card, potentially get investors in. So actually no money is required to really get going.

Speaker 1:

A lot of people think that when you get started of course you can there's lots of pitfalls out there if you don't know what you're doing. So do you think having that level of knowledge is is something that you really, really need to start with, and then you've got the basis foundations to go out there not to make you know silly mistakes that can cost you money yeah, absolutely you need.

Speaker 2:

you need a grounding in knowledge and I think ultimately you you want someone that's going to show you the way and just point out some of the more obvious things. But I wouldn't say to try and you know it's not a good policy to try and solve all of the potential problems before you even get going. You know, I think that's that's waiting for the planets to align somewhat and ultimately you can solve the challenges as you get to them. So I hope that answers your question.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, yeah, yeah, and a big one is. A lot of people will say, well, I can't see serviced accommodation working in my area. Is there specific areas where it works and specific areas it won't work?

Speaker 2:

Honestly, it works everywhere wherever there is overnight accommodation requirements. So that's the easiest thing to do have a look to see what options there are, as if you were a guest looking to stay in your area and look at the kind of markets they're going after the kind of clientele, if you like. But honestly it works everywhere. It's just about making the numbers work and identifying the right type of property for that target clientele in your area. Just making sure the numbers stack well.

Speaker 1:

Cool. Do you need to have a degree in interior design to actually be successful in serviced accommodation?

Speaker 2:

Absolutely not. So sorry, any interior designers out there. I've never used an interior designer and, that said, I've got a bit of a natural interest in it. Anyway, I know what works, what doesn't. I think one pro tip is the magic number is three. Don't go for more colors than three colors. That's that's your theme, um, but honestly, you know, a trip down to the range, find some stuff that's pretty modern. They're always changing their stock so you're not going to look like everyone else's airbnbs out there. It's pretty cheap and cost effective and it's quite easy to get a theme going on within your service accommodation and I always hear a lot of worries.

Speaker 1:

People are worried about people having parties and damaging the properties and stuff like that. Are there ways and methods that you train to make sure that we limit anything like that ever happening in our units?

Speaker 2:

Yeah. So it is probably the number one risk, and not only do you risk having the property trashed and, of course, the costs that go with that, you risk upsetting the neighbours, you risk potentially the police get involved, the council. You know so, actually rightly so. If you're identifying it as a big risk, you should be. However, though, all of those risks they can be mitigated with, you know, really thorough checking processes. We've got some of the industry leading checking processes.

Speaker 2:

Of course, that's not so great for the guest experience. There's a balance to be struck, but really your job as an agent or as a rent to rent operator is to look after the property and to just make sure it can keep generating income for you. Make sure it can keep generating income for you. So, yeah, we go through all of our checking processes, the ways that we look out for the various red flags that may be involved.

Speaker 2:

Plus, of course, we use noise monitors in our properties. These are they don't record voices or anything like that, they just record or monitor the ambient noise volume and then they'll just send us an alert if it gets a bit high, and I think actually there's a device out there that's constantly looking for the number of Bluetooth devices that's in range and if that number goes up, you're going to get an alert. So even if people are being quiet and on the hush whilst they're bringing in the sound system, it's going to see that there's suddenly 30 Bluetooth devices within range and send you an alert. So there's there's quite a few ways of getting around that problem.

Speaker 1:

No, that's great, I didn't know that one. That's fantastic and I know you've got. You know there's modules and modules of this stuff and one of them here is a question that we've been asked as well, as like how do you find deals? And I know you've got you know good couple of modules where you know you talk about finding deals in negotiations and things like that. But you know, in your opinion, are there deals everywhere to be had?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, absolutely. Like there are tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of landlords, investors and properties and agents. And you know, good business is about solving problems. So don't try and solve. Solve the wrong problem for someone. It's about.

Speaker 2:

Good selling is about listening first and getting in front of landlords and don't think that you necessarily need to be massive and already operational to get deals. It's about word of mouth. It's about acting as a professional, as a business person, being committed and even, you know, doing. Doing the course that we've put together puts you in a much better position than a lot of the people that's out there looking for units. So, yeah, absolutely, finding units is not that hard and then negotiating them it's an art that you'll get better at as you practice. So even if you find a unit and you fail to get it over the line, that's not a waste of time. If you get it 90% of the way this time, that next deal is just around the corner and you've already done the first 90%. So then you just need to work out how to close it and get it over the line. So, genuinely, that is the best way of going about it.

Speaker 2:

In fact, when I'd only just recently got going and I had an opportunity to take on a block of 11 units at the time was, you know, quite big, quite significant. And um, yeah, the the owners just said to me right, if you can find buyers for it, we'll give you exclusivity. I had a, a three month exclusive period before savels at selling it, who was their usual agent. So, um, if you don't ask, you don't get. I I was not operational, I was not a big business person, I didn't have a big business person, I didn't have a big team or employees or anything at that point.

Speaker 1:

But again, it's about solving a problem for other people. Yeah, yeah, definitely, definitely, and a lot of people are concerned. Obviously, they can set up their units, they can do their due diligence and everything like that, but is it easy to find guests? Is it easy to find people to stay in your units?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, the guests. Certainly that is the easier thing. There is always demand. It's just getting the right type of guests and of course you want, as long as possible, you want guests that are going to stay for a few weeks, not one or two nights. So it's about encouraging that type of booking and so it's not just a matter of just listing it on Airbnb and having every weekend taken for the next four months and suddenly you can't. Then you may get a multi-week inquiry and you can't put them in because all of your weekends are taken and you're just trying to flog midweek then a bit cheaper. That's where it doesn't work so easily. So there needs to be a bit of strategy above just listing it on your the obvious online travel agencies um, but yeah, it is.

Speaker 1:

It is very easy, whether you're relying on those, the big boys airbnb, bookingcom, expedia or going after your own guests and finding your own leads, and there's quite a few ways of doing that and I mean realistically, obviously, the questions I've pinged at you here, you've had great answers for, which is really, really appreciative, and you know people are going to take massive, massive value away from this. But why did you actually want to build the training in the first place?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, good question, I think. I think there's a lack of knowledge from a lot of people that are getting going and they may have done a weekend course and they're learning from people that haven't actually operated at the scale we've operated at. So this has been everything. This has been my life for the last seven years. You know it's like, lived and breathed it, so I understand it uh, very, uh intricately, and so I really wanted to put everything out there, um, and have not just what you need to get off the ground, but even if you're off, even if you've got a few units, how to really level up. And maybe it's about scaling, maybe it's about streamlining, maybe it's about stepping away from your business. I wanted it all in there. So, and yeah, I just I genuinely get fired up by helping people, by seeing other people succeed, and there is no limit to that. There is no limit to the amount of growth and contribution and the amount that I can help other people become successful. So that's a big driver for me.

Speaker 1:

I mean a lot of people will look at trainings and will think, well, this one does this one, but this one's got this one. I can tell you for a fact, this has got everything in it. And I mean it even comes down to a lot of people ask the questions about, you know, contracts and resources and things like that. And of course you know, has the training got all of these things in?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, we put the whole lot in everything you need, whether it's the spreadsheets on how to stack a deal, our proposal templates and how we communicate with landlords, whether it's pre-sale or or once, once they're going live, and everything we do for that all of our legals. I think I spent five thousand pounds on having our legal packs done. That's all included.

Speaker 1:

So, yeah, we I didn't want any anything kind of held behind, uh, any, but any bars you know no, and there's actually sections as well where, uh, the screen shares, step by step, shows you how to set your units up as well, isn't that?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, absolutely yeah. Sometimes me just doing a piece to camera isn't enough, so we go onto my laptop and I take you through exactly how to work your way through some of the spreadsheets, for example.

Speaker 1:

And where I think it differs from a lot of the trainings and things that I've seen is also it's not just showing you how to find the odd unit, set them up and then leaving you to it. It's actually more than that. It's like building in systems, getting staff involved, if that's where you want to go and really building a sustainable company, a sustainable business for the future, isn't it?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, absolutely yeah. Good business is sustainable business Sustainable as in you're going to be able to continue. This is not about making a quick buck or quick flash in the pan thing. This is about real, sustainable, life-changing income. And yeah, that's the beauty with business, that's what this can do. You know, I was a wage slave, as you might call it, for almost 20 years, so I understand what that's like and how. No matter how hard and how many hours I was doing, I was always hitting limits. And so now to be able to be on the other side of that and help people out of their situation um, by creating a really good business, that's. That's what it's all about and it is.

Speaker 1:

And it's not just that I mean I'm massive on communities. I'm massive on supporting people because, at the end of the day, we genuinely do want to see people succeed. This isn't just about trying to sell something. This is about making sure that people get value from it and can actually take that value, implement it and start doing stuff. So what is the? What else do you get, so to speak? The level of support that you get with this training as well? Graham.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, absolutely so. We've got a Facebook group. Anyone can ask any questions anytime and, of course, then everyone gets to benefit from the answers. Plus, there's coaching calls. We don't want to just say, right, here's the course and here's everything you need. I think when it comes, when the, when the rubber hits the road you've got actual deals, you've got actual issues you want someone that has got the experience and the knowledge how to navigate your way through these or maximize the opportunities you've got in front of you or just get removed blockages for you. So that's why group coaching is really important. So, yeah, it comes with all of that.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, and it comes with that. That lasts over three months. So at the end of the day, there's plenty of coaching, cool support. We know property can take a bit of time. So you can get your head into the training, you can start to learn things, start to answer the questions, get yourself set up.

Speaker 1:

I always like to stay set up for success, set up in the right manner, set up in the right way, moving yourself forward, of course, with Graham, whole support there, and it's like the Facebook group you never leave. So it's not like you've got to pay extra or anything like that to stay in the Facebook group. So if you do have a problem eight months, nine months, 12 months down the line, you've still got the support from this training and from Graham himself. So I mean, that's all the questions at the moment that we pinged at me that I just wanted to ask you and to be able to put into a podcast, because it's always great to give the listeners something back.

Speaker 1:

There'll be a lot of people who are interested in serviced accommodation and there'll be some landlords that probably, potentially, are listening to this as well. They're thinking do you know what? I've got some flats or I've got some units. Maybe I could convert those into serviced accommodation. And if they were thinking about that and then thinking about potentially well, if I got trained I could just take what I've already owned and I could just convert it into serviced accommodation units, would you be able to help them with that?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, absolutely yeah. We've been asked that a couple of times already. So, landlords that want to do it themselves, how to do it, how to set it up for success, how to step away from that, whether you want to then replicate that for other people's properties and turn it into a bigger business or even potentially hand over to a management company. How are you going to know that they're going to be doing a good job without having the knowledge and the understanding what what's really involved? It'll be very hard to first identify the best companies to hand over to, but also, like, monitor, manage, make sure they are continuing to do a good job. So yeah, we cover all of that.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, and of course, there's three fundamental, really good strategies that you can use with serviced accommodation. Of course, in property there's loads of different strategies that you can use. All of those are covered. So we cover rent to rent, we cover management, we cover doing joint ventures as well. Well, graham does very in-depthly as well, exactly step by steps, what to say, what to do, how to get these deals, because at the end of the day, as we say, it's all about quality over quantity at the end of the day.

Speaker 1:

But it is 10 modules, it is over 70 videos that you can follow along with that you have access to. This is a brand new training going out onto the market now. We've already got people on there who are working their way through it and we're getting some fantastic feedback from these guys already. So if you are thinking about getting into serviced accommodation, you want to find out more. Visit thepropertyunleashedcom, click on the ultimate serviced accommodation business builder thumbnail and you will be taken through to find out more. And if you have any major problems or questions, then do feel free to reach out to me on social media platforms or via hello at thepropertyunleashedcom, and I'd be more than happy to answer any of your questions there. I think the last question I have for you, graham, is why should you join this training?

Speaker 2:

Why should you join this training? Why should you join this training? Because I've put everything into it, everything you're going to need, and if there is anything missing, we're going to add that as well. Honestly, it really is the one-stop shop. If you want to succeed in SA, this is what you need. That's why we call it the ultimate SA course.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, and I think also just emphasising on what Graham says there it is a work in progress, so it's not the be all and end all, because obviously when you start something, it's all new to you. You get seven years down the line, like Graham has, and it can be quite difficult to remember everything that you did at the start, so to speak. So if you have got the questions that's why the coaching calls are so important you can ask them to Graham, and if we feel that something there needs to be added, then we'll film it, we'll get it added and we'll make sure that this is the best essay training on the market currently. I would like to thank you for your time today, graham. It's always a pleasure to see you.

Speaker 2:

And, as when we get more questions, it would be great to have you back on the show as well, mate. Yeah, absolutely, I'd look forward to that. Thank you, mark Been a pleasure.

Speaker 1:

Brilliant, great stuff, great stuff. Well, feel free to visit thepropertyunleashedcom for all your free tools and resources. We have a 10-step rent-to-rent guide. We have a 10-step service accommodation guide that was made by Graham himself. We have a deal analyzing spreadsheet that I supply for you, as well as a whole host of other masterclass trainings that are coming through.

Speaker 1:

If you've enjoyed this episode, please feel free to share, subscribe, like it, comment on it, reach out to me on social media. I will never message you first, but feel free to message me and then we can chat, because there are a lot of people out there that like to pretend they are people, but I'm not selling cryptocurrencies or anything like that, so feel free to message me and I'm always happy to have a chat. It's great to have you joining me here. I hope you join me for the next episode. I look forward to it. Keep focusing on your vision, pushing forward on your goals and. Bye for now. Thank you for listening, guys. I hope you've enjoyed this episode. Please subscribe and share the podcast with others, and if you could take a minute to leave the show a review, that would really mean a lot to me as well. Lastly, why not head over to the Property Unleashed Facebook group and if you do, I'll see you there. Take care and make sure you keep focusing on your vision. Bye for now.