Evelyn Badia is a New York City based, five-star, Airbnb superhost.  Through her online community and podcast she helps people become better hosts and use those hosting skills to build better financial futures.   Evelyn and Matt have a history of banter when it comes to professionalism and the vacation rental industry and in this final episode of season 7, they dive into a less dependent future and explore the motivations and realities of becoming a property manager.   The Hosting Journey Podcast The Hosting Journey Newsletter and Courses Eveyln's Airbnb Courses Airbnb VRMB Communities This episode is brought you by Point Central, the leaders in smart home automation, and Breezeway, the best in class property care and automations platform. Additional show notes can be found at www.vrmb.com/124/

Unlocked by Matt Landau

EP124: How Airbnb Changed My Life: And Then The World

Travelnet Solutions Co-founder and CEO Ryan Bailey has been working since the early days of the internet to provide technology solutions for the hospitality industry.  Their property management software Track has twice been named the software of the future by the VRMB Keystone awards.   In this episode, Matt sits down with Ryan to talk about building enterprise platforms, the rollups shaking the industry, and how technology powered hospitality can be harnessed for a better human experience.     Travelnet Solutions Track Hospitality Software Jim Collins Good to Great 2021 Keystone Software Awards VRMB Communities This episode is brought you by Point Central, the leaders in smart home automation, and Breezeway, the best in class property care and automations platform. Additional show notes can be found at www.vrmb.com/123/

EP123: The Long Game with Ryan Bailey, CEO of Track Hospitality Software

Theo Kracke is a true vacation rental advocacy avenger.  Fed up with unfair regulations in his home town of Santa Barbara, he sued the city and spent a great deal of his time and money to create precedent setting law that benefits owners and managers up and down the California coast.  In Phoenix at the recent Streamline conference, Matt sat down with Theo to get his story. VRMB Communities STRSantaBarbara.org May the 4th be with Theo Cracke How to Save your Vacation Rental Business Podcast Paradise Retreats This episode is brought you by Point Central, the leaders in smart home automation, and Breezeway, the best in class property care and automations platform. Additional show notes can be found at www.vrmb.com/122

EP122: I Sued the City and Won

Sallie Mitchell, formerly of Casa Mar Azul vacation rental in San Pancho, Mexico knows what it's like to plan for a dream, live with the realities of that dream, and ultimately exit the dream in a positive fashion. Onwards to the next chapter.   In this episode Sallie and Matt explore the idea of finding your guest type and catering to them, action items to build an exit strategy and dip into Sallie's fears of an arms race in guest expectations. We have come to think of Sallie's business savvy as the quintessential rent by owner. With the scope of responsibilities and demands of the job greater today than it’s ever been, listen carefully for both the compass that Sallie used to make hard decisions and the framing or presentation of her choice that landed clearly and comfortably in the hands of her guests, employees, and even friends. More than anything, Sallie champions the idea that if vacation rentals FEELS like something you want to do, would be good at, would mean something…that you should take that leap even though it may seem terrifying. At least in Sallie’s case, hospitality has made her world larger, her life richer, and her stories hilarious to boot!  VRMB Communities Are We Starting An Arms Race To Create Impossibly Spoiled Guests? Casa Mar Azul  Sayulita Episode of the Vacation Rental Show This episode is brought you by Point Central, the leaders in smart home automation, and Breezeway, the best in class property care and automations platform. Additional show notes can be found at www.vrmb.com/121

EP121: How Vacation Rental Hospitality Made My World Larger

Matt Roberts is the CEO of Vacasa, one of the largest vacation rental companies in the world. Matt was previously the CEO at Open Table -- the app that allows you to reserve tables at your favorite restaurants -- but he’s not entirely new to vacation rentals as he was previously on Vacasa’s board: granted a very different vantage point than being CEO.  But as a disclaimer and a testament to the theme of this season “unglamorous” we’ve chosen to include Matt because Vacasa, whether you like them or not, is a huge player in the vacation rental eco-system and knowing what their CEO is thinking can be simultaneously awkward and useful. You won’t hear a Bob Woodward style inquisition because Matt (Landau) is not an investigative journalist. What you will hear are questions that other managers are wondering and call-outs that we believe can strengthen our positioning. Plus references to new terms like "share shift," "Domain expertise," and black silk sheets.  Theory of Limited Edition Homerunners Docuseries Turnkey Vacation Rentals OpenTable This episode is brought you by Point Central, the leaders in smart home automation, and Breezeway, the best in class property care and automations platform. Both companies' leadership are featured in the middle of the episode talking about the other fondly.  Additional show notes can be found at www.vrmb.com/120

EP120: Matt Roberts, CEO of Vacasa

Ashley Kubiszyn is CEO of River Ridge Rentals in Breckenridge, Copper Mountain, and Keystone Colorado. The company has been around for 20 years but Ashley took it over form her mother: conducting a full re-haul on systems and technology, while buttressing the aspects that make them market leaders like specialization, localization, and community involvement. Most of the questions in this interview are framed -- “Knowing what you now know, how would you do it when starting from scratch?” -- giving newcomers a powerful roadmap to follow and veterans that nudge to address weaknesses that need an update. And pay extra attention to Ashley’s emphasis on communication: both the techniques and the technologies that close the understanding gap, producing happier, more calibrated, guests, homeowners, and teammates.  This episode is brought you by Point Central, the leaders in smart home automation, and Breezeway, the best in class property care and automations platform.  Links Mentioned in Show:  River Ridge Rentals Matterport Virtual Tours  VRMA Advocacy Contact Ashley Additional show notes can be found at www.vrmb.com/119

EP119: How Closing Communication Gaps Produce Happier Guests & Homeowners

In this episode, Matt sits down with Jessica Sheedy Black -- a neighborhood advocate and regional leader of the Texas Neighborhood Coalition -- for a sobering look at the other side of the vacation rental advocacy debate. As a warning Jessica is not a short term rental advocate. So you may be wondering what’s she doing on this podcast? Our big mission of Unlocked is to challenge vacation rental pros to think differently. And you can only learn so much when hearing the same kinds of profiles all the time, right? At this pivotal point in our industry’s growth, we NEED people like Jessica with level heads in order to avoid crazies and reach fair conclusions for us all.  This episode is brought you by Point Central, the leaders in smart home automation, and Breezeway, the best in class property care and automations platform.  Links Mentioned in Show:  Jessica on Twitter How to Save Your Vacation Rental Business Podcast Sarah Bradford of Sarah and T VRMB Communities Join Link 

EP118: Counter-Viewpoint: I Don’t Want Short Term Rentals in My Neighborhood

In this episode, Matt shares his big takeaways from Amy Hinote's Data and Revenue Management Conference in Charleston, South Carolina.  The first, data and revenue management is THE JUICIEST way for vacation rental owners and managers to make more money doing exactly the same job they have always loved. When you make more money, everyone has more fun.  Second, asking whether to use manual OR automation is wrong. It should actually be an AND.  And third, consolidation in the vacation rental sector is REAL, but it shouldn't worry the Limited Edition vacation rental managers. In fact, their positioning is stronger than ever before.  You can join VRMB Communities here: https://www.vrmb.com/join/

EP117: Data and Revenue Management Conference (DARM) Summary

Bruce Ikelheimer, a recovering rocket scientist, is currently at THE inflection point of vacation rental growth: profitable with his own 2 properties and now beginning to manage other homes, Bruce is now scaling his business Banjoe Vacations without scaling his workload. The lessons he is learning as he approaches liftoff are valuable for listeners from all over the industry. This episode is brought you by Point Central, the leaders in smart home automation, and Breezeway, the best in class property care and automations platform.  Links Mentioned in Show:  OwnerRez Quickbooks Zapier Additional show notes can be found at www.vrmb.com/116

EP116: What Happens When A Rocket Scientist Becomes A Vacation Rental Professional?

This week Matt talks to Stacy Wesson of Cascara Vacation Rentals about the challenges of modernizing and running a family vacation rental business in an era of acquisitions and tech driven hospitality.  This episode is brought you by Point Central, the leaders in smart home automation, and Breezeway, the best in class property care and automations platform.  Additional show notes can be found at www.vrmb.com/115

EP115: Making the Family Vacation Rental Business more Profitable After 30 Years

In this special edition, we're airing a favorite episode from the Sarah & T podcast.  Sarah and Tim are good friends and their show is a must listen for anyone in the industry.  This week, they take a hilarious look at 6 key components to a successful welcome of your guests.

EP114: You Never Get a Second Chance to Make a 1st Impression (Sarah & T Swap)

Eric Broughton is the Chief Strategy officer of Inhabit IQ, which owns a number of vacation rental service providers and has frankly not always had the most forthcoming reputation in the vacation rental industry. In his defense, Eric wasn’t in his position in those early days, he’s relatively new, so this conversation was originally designed to clear up some of the air. But as you’ll hear, Eric has a very strong understanding about how fragmented industries evolve, the role of private equity on software & consolidation, and what techniques make vacation rentals managers powerful in the next phases of our industry’s growth.  This episode is brought you by Point Central, the leaders in smart home automation, and Breezeway, the best in class property care and automations platform.  Additional show notes can be found at www.vrmb.com/113

EP113: How to Spot Big Opportunities in Vacation Rental Consolidation with Eric Broughton of Inhabit IQ

In this episode, Matt sits down with Alex Cruz of Welcome Home Club to talk about long term business health in a time of tempting short term moves. This episode is brought you by Point Central, the leaders in smart home automation, and Breezeway, the best in class property care and automations platform.  Additional show notes can be found at www.vrmb.com/112

EP112: Thinking Beyond The Next Fiscal Quarter

In this episode, Matt sits down with Linda Sylvester, formerly of Great Vacation Retreats, to talk about the complex realities of being acquired and the often unglamorous, difficult-to-scale practices she uses to make vacation rental businesses profitable. This episode is brought you by Point Central, the leaders in smart home automation, and Breezeway, the best in class property care and automations platform.  Additional show notes can be found at www.vrmb.com/111

EP111: We Got Acquired by a Large Company. These Things Do Not Scale

In this episode, Matt sits down with Michelle Hodges of Meyer Vacation Rentals to discuss building on the legacy of a family enterprise and finding creative solutions to the massive staffing problems of a seasonal business. This episode is brought you by Point Central, the leaders in smart home automation, and Breezeway, the best in class property care and automations platform.  Additional show notes can be found at www.vrmb.com/110

EP110: How To Create Your Vacation Rental Legacy

Unlocked is a podcast series that invites you to be a fly-on-the-wall as VRMB founder Matt Landau interviews some of the world’s most innovative vacation rental professionals. The goal of this podcast series is to share best practices and to remind vacation rental professionals that we have everything we need inside of us to succeed.