A few months ago, I received a random sales email from a woman named Hollie Roberts. Normally, I through these sorts of emails away. However, there was something intensely personal and familiar about this email and it seemed like Hollie was someone I had surely met on the backpacker trail at some point in the past. It was clear this was not just another sales pitch and Hollie truly understood the challenge hostels face in producing high-quality photos for their marketing. At my hostel, the staff take great photos for their social feeds, but (from the perspective of the owner) there's always some random ugliness in the background that I really wish wasn't there. You know, like backpacks with underwear exploding out of them!
Hollie offered me some free photo editing and, because I was working to sell our student residence in San Francisco, I decided to give it a try. Thanks, Hollie! That made me feel special. Well, I was so impressed with this service, I thought you might want to know about it. So, I invited Hollie to meet for a Hostel Management interview. During our pre-interview conversation, she said she wanted to offer a similar credit to all HostelManagement.com members. Okay, so maybe I'm not so special but this is good news for all of you!
In retrospect, I'm not sure if I have ever met her Hollie prior to our recorded Zoom meeting. However, I did learn she indeed was a tried and true backpacker and we both traveled Europe in essentially the same way I did (except with about 30 years between us). We also made a cool connection. Turns out Hollie and my manager at Pacific Tradewinds Hostel, Bailey Penrod, worked together at Stoke Travel!
So here are the "official" things you might want to know about BoxBrownie.com. They are an online hub providing visual marketing solutions for hostels, vacation rentals, and other property listings. I found them to be a quite affordable way to get high-quality photo editing. They also do virtual staging and object removal. Best of all, edits are paid for "À la carte" so there are no subscriptions. They say satisfaction is guaranteed but I didn't have an opportunity to test this (they did a great job on the first try).
I was impressed by how quickly they were able to turnaround my edits. Apparently, BoxBrownie.com has a large team of experts around the world, meaning they can offer edit turnaround in as little as 24 hours, and service in several languages. Editors specialize in "image enhancement, day to dusk twilight conversion, item removal, floor plan redraws, 360° virtual tours, virtual staging, virtual renovations, and development renders". I was blown away by the fact that services start as low as US$1.80 for image enhancement. This means that even without professional photographers, any hostel can have the best possible images on their website, socials, and OTAs. Even photos with smartphones can be made to look irresistible. For hostels that are under construction, they offer Virtual Staging and Virtual Renovations so you can start getting bookings well before the paint dries.
Here's the offer, Hollie made to Hostel Management members: To trial BoxBrownie.com for yourself and enjoy 3 free Image Enhancements, and 1 free Day to Dusk twilight conversion edit, sign-up here.
Also, don’t forget to comment on this video for your chance to win US$50 Free Credit with BoxBrownie.com!
