Brandon Bachner, Head of Growth at Locale joins us to talk about how they're reimagining the way people stay and live in the neighborhoods they love.
Heather: Hi Brandon! Tell me about your role and company.
Brandon: My company is Locale Hospitality. We are a boutique hospitality firm focused on the intersection between hotels and apartments, creating a home away from home. Essentially what we do is we operate a portion of Class-A apartment buildings in desirable locations as institutionally managed short-term rentals within high growth markets. Right now we have properties in Austin, Houston and Nashville with plans to expand and grow that platform throughout the Sun Belt and select markets in the Northeast and Mountain West. I lead our real estate team which means that I'm focused on market identification, partner development and growth across the country. Our team right now is really focused on identifying new markets and opportunities for us to grow into targeting: markets with a large supply of new apartments, strong hospitality demand and a good regulatory environment. We are in the process of evaluating new opportunities, new buildings and reaching out to the ownership groups to profile our value proposition and the reason why there's benefits of working with our team to drive value in their buildings.
Heather: How did you get into management?
Brandon: I spent 15 years in a traditional real estate role, really building skills and relationships over those years and growing through that time. Specifically, having joined one company, Mesa West Capital, when they were an earlier stage investment fund. We continued to grow significantly during my time there, taking on more and more responsibility. Following that, I left and joined a startup that was focused in the IoT space with a specific focus on real estate PropTech as a domain expert. I was one of three people in the company that had real estate experience and was able to leverage off of the experience that I gained over 15 years. They had no individuals at the company who had experience in the real estate space with connections or relationships. I was able to come in at a more senior role and leverage off of my history, experience and knowledge. That experience in the startup space provided me the opportunity to join Locale with the goal of further developing and building out a platform with an earlier stage team, but leveraging the same relationships and experiences that have been developed over the years.
Heather: What’s your greatest product achievement?
Brandon: I would say for almost 20 years in the real estate business, it's the relationships. One of the most important things is building and maintaining strong relationships. You can make a connection or create a relationship, but if you don't maintain it over time and stay in front of people, then that sort of withers away. That's one of the things that I focus on is to make sure that those relationships stay strong. Additionally when people have a need, whether they're hiring someone or they want an introduction, my name comes up often and I am always more than happy to connect the dots introducing good people.
Heather: What advice do you have for aspiring leaders?
Brandon: Don't take shortcuts. The other one, especially for people in sales, which honestly is much broader than what people typically think, is don't profile something that doesn't really exist, whether that be features or deal terms. Be transparent and honest with people. If it's not going to work, then just accept that reality. Don't try to force an issue, be truthful. If you lie, or stretch the truth about things, you'll get burned badly and it'll catch up with you in the long run. This goes back to preserving and maintaining relationships.
Heather: If you’re successful in your mission, how will the world look different?
Brandon: Our role at Locale is to provide that home away from home flexible accommodation structure for individuals, either traveling for work or taking advantage of the new flexible working world as well leisure travelers and families that need a little bit more space. Instead of staying in a traditional hotel room, you can stay at one of our properties, which people may equate it to and “Airbnb”, but the difference is you know what you're going to get. We’re trying to bridge the gap between staying at a Hilton or Hyatt and staying in an Airbnb. The difference Locale is going to deliver a one or two bedroom apartment in a luxury building in a great location with washer and dryer, dishwasher, full kitchen, all the amenities that makes it feel like you're at home coupled with high quality furnishings and the institutional consistency consumers expect and appreciate from the major hotel brands.
