Charlotte Brett started BNB Butler from scratch in 2016 and has now expanded it into a highly profitable and successful business.
BNB Butler specialises in short-stay rental management and helps customers maximise their earnings while delivering the best possible service, focused on Melbourne the Mornington Peninsula.
Brett says she started the business after seeing a gap in the market between the services companies delivered and the quality of service people deserved.
“I realised that there must be a better way to do it, where we could continue to maintain profitability, but deliver a quality of service that was what clients deserved,” she explains.
After starting with zero properties, Brett says BNB Butler now has 55 properties and has increased revenue to upwards of A$1 million a year.
“We started from scratch, so we put a lot of investment in,” she says.
“Now the turnover has been successful and it's helped us reinvest in systems to continue to grow while continuing to grow.”
While BNB Butler has now reached significant success, it was not without hiccups along the way, but has since found creative strategies to stand out from the crowd.
Bumps on the road
When COVID was in full swing, Brett says BNB Butler was forced to pivot.
However, the company found luck in the construction of the East-West Link in Melbourne, causing the government to re-home people due to the noise and allowing bnb rentals to accommodate long-term stays.
“We were able to work with the company the government had outsourced to, and were able to have about 12 of our properties filled with those relocations for extended periods of time,” Brett tells Azzet.
Throughout COVID, they also built longstanding relationships with insurance companies which Brett says continues to be “amazing for the business”.
Brett says that while BNB Butler has bounced back from COVID, the short-term rental industry is still feeling the aftereffects due to high interest rates and low disposable income.
“We have seen reduced spending across the board in short-term rentals,” she says.
“But I believe that will change this coming year, as the interest rates drop, people will have more disposable income, and things will continue to pick up and go back to kind of pre-COVID levels.”
Brett also points out that while there are laws to prevent unruly parties in short-stay accommodations, the space is still quite unregulated in terms of who can provide property management services.
“There are quite a few people out there who just kind of think I can go into this and make money quickly,” she says.
“I think that can be a problem because managers can get a bad name if others aren’t doing their jobs properly.”
This creates the issue of how BNB Butler can explain how they’re different after a customer has been “burnt” by another company. Brett says they have overcome this by allowing existing clients to speak to prospective customers about their experiences.
“I think that it works really well for them to have a chat so they can talk about their experience before us, as well as since they came over to us because they're in a very similar position,” Brett says.
Standing out from the crowd
With Melbourne being the 13th largest Airbnb market in the world in August 2024, BNB Butler needs to find ways to stand out from the crowd of all other providers.
According to Airbitics, from July 2023 to May 2024, active Airbnb listings for more than 90 days rose 24.03% to 21,000 active listings in Melbourne.
Brett says the main ways they differentiate from the others is through being a boutique company that operates in Melbourne and the Mornington Peninsula. This has allowed them to directly work with clients and solve issues quickly.
“We're very local and very specialised in those markets, so we really understand the areas we service, and we're always within 30 minutes of every property to make sure that we can address any issues that come up,” she says.
“Nothing is outsourced, so it gives us quality control to help ensure that presentation and cleaning is always immaculate.”
BNB Butler also pride themselves on having an all-female leadership team. Brett says this was not done on purpose, but that she is passionate about empowering women and giving them a chance to grow.
“I have worked with males before, but I love working with women,” she says.
“I love being able to work with this beautiful team of women who are incredibly smart and hard working, and have earned these positions by working their way up.”
Melbourne's tourism industry
From 1 January of this year the Victorian Government announced the 7.5% short-stay levy, and Brett says this is a great opportunity for savvy investors to maximise their short-stay rentals.
She explains that with the introduction of the levy, many are opting to move to traditional rentals, but that the majority of BNB Butler's clients haven’t left. She says others moving from short-stay rentals could help her business grow as they have the connections needed to thrive.
“I do think across the board, that we will see that shift with particularly with people who self manage their properties because they don't have those relationships with insurance companies and other large corporates,” she says.
Brett says despite the levy, Melbourne is a great place to invest in a short-stay rental due to the range of events occurring year round.
“We've just been through the Australian Open, which is always huge, and then sort of from December through till Easter, is a really busy time for our industry,” she says.
Other major events that she says boost tourism include the Grand Prix, the spring racing carnival in November and the AFL.
