Hosting With Heart

Amanda Cochran is a Mum of three and lives in scenic Dunkeld, in Victoria's Grampians region, approx 3 hours west of Melbourne.

In 2016, she established The Grampians Goods Co., with a simple mission – to elevate everyday moments into opportunities for nurturing & connection through consciously made and thoughtfully curated products & gifts, including body products, aromatherapy candles and wool blankets.

After a few years running what has become an enormously successful business, in part through servicing the accommodation sector, Amanda set up her own short-term rental, Salt Creek Cottage, also in Dunkeld.

Impeccably styled by Lynda Gardener and Belle Hemming-Bright of Inside Story, the cottage has been an almost overnight success, enjoying an array of publicity and huge guest demand.

Peter Noble is an experienced entrepreneur, innovator, consultant, business and sales leader.

Until about four years ago, Peter ran his own highly successful marketing agency, Citrus, which was established in the late 1990's.

In 2016 however, like many who have been in business for themselves for some time, Peter felt the time had come for a permanent change in direction and, with great success, started managing his small portfolio of investment properties in Melbourne's inner southern suburbs on the short-term rental market.

What followed was the search for and subsequent purchase of what is now known as Fingal House, a meticulously designed 7 bedroom luxury property located in the heart of Victoria's scenic Mornington Peninsula.

Since opening to guests a few years ago, Fingal House was crowned the Best Family Friendly Holiday Home in Australia in the 2019 Stayz Awards.

Tim Clark is the owner and core practitioner at Time & Space Therapies, a counselling, psychotherapy and remedial massage business based in Melbourne's south-eastern suburbs. Full disclosure: he's also Jen's brother.

Tim is passionate about helping others maintain optimal mental and physical health through the spectrum of services he offers.

It is his wish that both massage therapy and psychotherapy will someday be viewed as commonplace treatments for depression and anxiety, and equally worthy of respect from the general public, the medical establishment and insurers, especially as the efficacy of both modalities is supported by empirical research.

Since Covid-19 became rife in Australia earlier this year, Tim has been proactively supporting his local community from afar by publishing relaxation and meditation exercises to his social media channels, and sharing a range of insights into how we can push through this challenging time with gentle acceptance, kindness and self-care.

Zoe Martyn is a community artist based in Western Australia and holds a Bachelor of Arts and Visual Arts from Monash University and a Graduate Certificate in Community Development from Murdoch University.

In 2017, Zoe made the move to the regional West Australian town of Nannup with her then partner to embark on the renovation of two dilapidated but richly historic properties, one of which housed the former local bootmaker's shopfront.

Sadly, just before the renovations were complete, the relationship ended and Zoe subsequently took up a career opportunity some distance away at Martumili, an indigenous art collective based in the Pilbara.

She then decided to open what is now known as The Bootmakers House as accommodation, managing it with huge success from afar by utilising a skilled group of Nannup locals to support her with day to day operations.

Mother of four Michelle Bishop has achieved more than most could dream of before the age of 40.

Along with qualifications in interior design and business administration, she not long ago qualified as a licensed estate agent in preparation for the long-awaited opening of her and her builder husband Tom's most ambitious property development project to date, the stunning Bangalay Luxury Villas and Restaurant in New South Wales' Shoalhaven Heads.

Now almost two years into overseeing the day to day management of Bangalay, she's widely viewed as one of the most successful short-term accommodation operators in the country, having attracted a spectrum of print and digital PR since opening Bangalay from the likes of Gourmet Traveller, Vogue Magazine and Urban List.

But it hasn't all been smooth sailing for Michelle. The devastating loss of her Mum 5 years ago necessitated the shelving of her life and career plans for a year, where she took some much-needed time out to travel around Australia with her family and reaffirm her priorities. A journey that ultimately cemented in her mind the importance of staying true to yourself.

Tony Blanch has over 30 years' international experience in innovation, marketing and a vast range of sophisticated and high-tech textiles and design.

His passion for developing a benchmark range of healthy, comfortable and unique bedding, using his vast knowledge, has ensured the success of his business microCloud bedding, a collaboration with Robert Weil in Melbourne in 2004.

By maintaining a focus on delighting and spoiling guests and closely involving the all-important hotel and short-term accommodation market, the pursuit of excellence in this field remains Tony's number one passion and priority.

His and Robert’s dedication has made microCloud – both the brand and product range – highly respected and sought after by clients all over Australasia.

Nicole Haddow is a Melbourne-based freelance writer, blogger and the author of 'Smashed Avocado, the story of how she cracked the Aussie property market (and how you can too)', published in 2019 by Black Inc Books. Following a stark wake-up call not long after she turned 30, the process of buying her first home led Nicole to become passionate about helping people enter the property market. In this episode, Jen talks in detail with Nicole about the various strategies anyone looking to get on top of debt and get their foot in the door of the Aussie property market could potentially employ, and what converting that property into a short-term rental might involve.

Jen has been off the airwaves for a few weeks due to a bit of burnout following a super busy autumn, but is back with an update on all things - personal and professional - that have been happening with her, including the surprise purchase of two properties and the re-launch of the website for her accommodation business, Ranges Escapes.

Christina Koullas is the Managing Director of Melbourne-based PR consultancy CK PR. She has worked extensively across lifestyle, travel, tourism and event brands in both communications and marketing roles.

Before setting up CK PR in 2011, Christina's career included roles with the Spirit of Tasmania, the City of Melbourne, OM DMC in Cyprus and Croatia and the Melbourne Convention Bureau.

She is passionate about working with individuals and small businesses in the Australian accommodation and travel sector and enjoys nothing more than being able to share their stories far and wide via carefully crafted, results-driven PR strategies.

Gabrielle Witter is a highly experienced, independent digital marketing consultant based in Newcastle, New South Wales.

Through her consulting business Digital Hunter, she works with small to medium-sized local service businesses to drive more qualified leads to their websites through search engine optimisation (SEO) and using several other digital marketing strategies.

Gab is also a newly minted short-term accommodation host, having opened her first property, Warialda, in Bungwahl, New South Wales, in early 2020.

As you'll glean, Gab is an absolutely bottomless well of knowledge when it comes to search engine optimisation and digital marketing. In this episode, she very generously shares some of her biggest tips for success.