Steve and Linda Blamer Of Blame Her Ranch: 5 Things You Need To Become A Highly Successful Airbnb Host
An Interview With Fotis Georgiadis
Extremely private and exclusive.
Unique surroundings with 70-mile views.
Special and Unique activities, both on-site and nearby.
Multiple venues for different activities at different locations.
Star accommodations, but also on-site glamping.
Many people dream of becoming an Airbnb host but don’t know where to start. In this series called “5 Things You Need To Become A Highly Successful Airbnb Host” we are interviewing successful Airbnb hosts who share lessons from their experience about how to run a very successful Airbnb property.
As part of this series, I had the pleasure of interviewing Steve and Linda Blamer.
Steve and Linda Blamer are the owners of Blame Her Ranch — a 2,000 + acre luxury ranch located just outside of Santa Fe, N.M. They have turned their exclusive property into a coveted Airbnb and wedding destination.
Steve worked in advertising for more than 25 years with some of the world’s largest and most respected client organizations such as Procter & Gamble, Mars, Panasonic, and Olive Garden.
He ran Grey Worldwide North America, a results-driven full-service agency with eight offices across the US and Canada and the largest agency in New York City at the time. Before that he was the CEO to Grey’s second largest international office — Grey London and Managing Director of Grey LA.
Linda Foster Blamer’s background includes operations, sales, and marketing for some of the most prestigious companies in the United States. For over 25 years, she has worked for a wide range of companies including Lord & Taylor, Toy R Us, Motherhood Maternity, Polo-Ralph Lauren, Nutrisystem and Great Expectations.
Linda has always been a highly motivated team leader with unique entrepreneurial skills managing teams and departments of up to 900 employees. She is not afraid to get her hands dirty while always being a problem solver. Linda is currently a guest columnist for Weddings and Honeymoons Magazine.
Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series. Before we dig in, our readers would like to get to know you a bit more. Can you tell us a bit about your “backstory”?
After 42 years of marriage, we are still going strong. We know a lot about working together and staying married.
What led you to first start becoming an Airbnb host?
We became Airbnb hosts by accident. Our daughter got married at Blame Her Ranch 2017 and we discovered that a lot of people enjoyed the location and staying with us and that led us to market the property on Airbnb to groups and as a wedding destination. We also recognized that many venues were not very customer-oriented with too many restrictions and limitations; we thought we would offer a better product.
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you started this?
Without question it is the different family dynamics that come into both the planning and execution of the wedding itself. We have seen both arranged weddings from India as well as couples who have known each other for years, but always the relationship between the couple and parents (who are typically paying) can be filled family drama. You try to help but are limited in your response.
Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?
I am not sure it is funny, but we did have a good learning experience when of the main water lines that lead up to the house, burst. You can never plan for that kind of disaster, but we quickly responded and had a crew out to solve the problem within a couple of hours. But it also made us realize in an exclusive and private location like Blame Her Ranch, you must be prepared for anything, and we are now installing a completely separate back-up water system so this never happens again! Problem Solved!
What are some of the common mistakes you have seen people make when they first start hosting with Airbnb?
Two things come to mind. One, is not enough supplies on hand to solve any problem. We make sure the ranch is fully stocked, but we also help the couple know the things they need to bring and plan for. But given our size and location, we have an on-site manager (which most Airbnb’s don’t) to deal with those things that unexpectedly arise!
What are some of the things that can be done to avoid these errors?
Noted above.
Can you share with our readers about the innovations that you are bringing to the Airbnb experience? In your opinion, what makes you different from the rest?
Location, Location, Location. When you come to Blame Her Ranch, you have got to want something that is private and exclusive. If you are looking for the supermarket around the corner, you won’t get it at our location. But you will get your “own” ranch for the duration of your stay with few limitations or rules that can stifle your event.
Wonderful. Here is the main question of our discussion. Can you share “5 Things You Need To Become A Highly Successful Airbnb Host”? Please share a story or example for each.
- Extremely private and exclusive.
- Unique surroundings with 70-mile views.
- Special and Unique activities, both on-site and nearby.
- Multiple venues for different activities at different locations.
- Star accommodations, but also on-site glamping.
You are a “travel insider”. How would you describe your “perfect vacation experience”?
Total turnkey with great pre-planning for the guests to take advantage of the ranch manager expertise!
Can you share with our readers how you’ve used your success to bring goodness to the world?
We are very committed to conservation at the ranch. Both for water conservation and wildlife. Anything to protect our environment and the animals.
You are a person of great influence. If you could start a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂
We have written many stories for wedding publications about “green weddings” and love to help couples make wise decisions about how they can help our planet during their wedding activities.
How can our readers further follow you on social media?
We have an active Facebook and Instagram accounts, not to mention our monthly articles in Weddings & Honeymoons (that are also on our website) to help couples with all aspects of their wedding planning.
This was very inspiring. Thank you so much for joining us!
Steve and Linda Blamer Of Blame Her Ranch: 5 Things You Need To Become A Highly Successful Airbnb… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.
