DESCRIPTION
Tom Fisher runs Bloqq, which takes the voids in PBSA and build-to-rent buildings
and turns them into managed short stays, and he can have a site live and taking
guests in about 13 days.
In this episode of Minute by MÎNUT, Nils Mattisson, CEO of Minut, sits down with Tom Fisher, co-founder of Bloqq, the short-stay operator working across purpose built student accommodation and build-to-rent in the UK and Ireland. Before Bloqq he ran operations at Lavanda across 600 London properties. They get into why maturing asset classes are suddenly interested in nightly bookings, what genuinely has to change inside a building designed for 12-month tenants, why he congratulates clients when they take floors back off him, and the argument he makes that no amount of software will save a team that is set up wrong.
▶ Listen on Apple, Spotify, or visit https://minut.com
★ WHAT YOU'LL LEARN ★
▸ Why build-to-rent and PBSA owners are turning to short stays, and what the
oversupply of buildings has to do with it
▸ How shrinking student contracts (49 weeks down to 44) leave a gap somebody has
to fill
▸ What has to change in a building designed for long-term tenants, and
what does not
▸ Why a guest staying two nights with a business meeting in the morning is a completely
different operation from a tenant staying a year
▸ How Bloqq gets a site live in around 13 days, and why the gap between contract
and first guest is the one to protect
▸ The case for a "niche within a niche" when everyone else is chasing scale
▸ What managing 600 properties at Lavanda taught him about people over process
▸ Why "we're only as good as our last clean" is an operating principle, not a
slogan
▸ The break-in that showed him what a well-run operations team is actually for
▸ Why the right people and processes beat the best software stack, every time
▸ Where AI genuinely helps in guest communications, and where it should stay out
▸ Why booking lead times are collapsing, and how that turns into an advantage
▸ The September window in student accommodation that most operators leave on the
table
▸ What he would do differently if he started Bloqq again today
★ CHAPTERS ★
00:00 Cold open
00:52 Welcome to Minute by MÎNUT
02:01 The villa in Greece that started it
03:22 Where the idea for Bloqq came from
05:01 Why build-to-rent and PBSA owners want short stays
06:48 What has to change in the buildings
08:04 A two-night business guest vs a 12-month tenant
11:45 Live in 13 days: why time to first guest matters
14:03 Lessons from managing 600 properties at Lavanda
15:44 The break-in, and what a good ops team does
17:24 Software can't fix the wrong people or processes
19:13 AI, and why hospitality is still a people business
23:47 Booking lead times are shortening
26:51 Five years out: from plan B to another arrow in the quiver
28:57 What he'd do differently starting Bloqq again
31:07 Final question: the Ireland scramble
