Latest / Host Planet: Airbnb, Holiday Let, and Vacation Rental Insights / Vacation Rental Marketing in 2025: Trends & Tips from Alex Husner

Transcript

Vacation Rental Marketing in 2025: Trends & Tips from Alex Husner · Host Planet: Airbnb, Holiday Let, and Vacation Rental Insights

0:00
Turning the channels on is a lot quicker and easier than putting
0:03
together a true advertising strategy here.
0:06
I think some property managers will end up pulling back from
0:08
Airbnb. Putting together a very
0:10
thoughtful, well executed professional brand is super
0:13
important. How do you encourage guests to
0:16
trust your website and book direct?
0:19
What are the key marketing strategies that every short term
0:22
rental manager should be utilizing?
0:24
And what role does brand identity play when you're
0:27
growing a vacation rental business?
0:30
Today's guest on the Host Planet podcast is Alex Usner, an
0:33
experienced Chief Marketing Officer and the Co host of the
0:37
Alex and Annie Real Women of Vacation Rentals podcast for
0:41
marketing tips and direct booking strategies.
0:45
This is an episode not to be missed.
0:52
Alex, thank you so much for joining us on the House Planet
0:55
podcast. Why do you think so many
0:58
property management companies fail to prioritize marketing?
1:02
I think it comes down to when they were started.
1:05
So if you're a company that's been around for a long time, you
1:09
know, got started back in, in the 80s and there's quite a few
1:12
of those that are over here in the States and these more, you
1:15
know, destination tourism type markets.
1:18
They grew up with marketing. We, we didn't have OTAs back in
1:21
the day and marketing used to literally be putting ads in
1:23
newspapers for your vacation rental company.
1:26
So over the years, the companies that really had that mindset of
1:30
understanding advertising and just driving demand, I think
1:34
that, you know, they've continued and they've built big
1:36
book direct brands because they just had that longer play in
1:39
mind. But for companies that started
1:41
within the last, you know, less than 7-8 years, it's a different
1:46
ball game because I mean, you could just put listings up and,
1:49
and let the channels drive all the tourists to you and the
1:53
demand. And then, you know, in exchange
1:54
for that you pay a Commission on a, on a booking.
1:56
But you know, obviously things have started to shift and people
2:00
are understanding that the value of having a direct booking is,
2:04
is pretty inherent. But the problem is, you know,
2:07
the, the cost of that is not necessarily something that a lot
2:10
of companies are willing to pay. And you don't feel like you're
2:13
paying as much when it's a Commission on a booking that
2:15
you're already marking up versus when you're paying your credit
2:18
card bill to Google at the end of the month.
2:21
So I think it's, it's, it's, it comes down to in this in this
2:25
era, I feel like it's more of just companies when they got
2:27
started, but then also the ones that are not marketing getting
2:31
them over that hump of like, do we really want to invest in this
2:33
because it is an investment. Has it kind of become too easy
2:37
with the OTAs? I think so and I think the OTAs
2:43
are, I think they listen to all of our podcasts.
2:46
I really feel and I think that they are realizing we talk
2:49
about, OK, you get the booking on the OTA and then it's your
2:52
job to bring them back to a direct booking.
2:55
You know, shame on you if you don't.
2:56
If the book could get on the OTA, the Airbnb is making it
2:59
extremely sticky. I mean with their new off
3:02
platform rules and I mean they're, they do not want you to
3:05
rebook that guest direct that is not part of their playbook.
3:08
So I, I think they've made it easy, but now they're making it
3:11
very hard for anybody who wants to get into direct bookings, if
3:15
you hadn't already started that a long time ago.
3:18
OK, real talk now for all you hosts out there, you know that
3:21
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3:25
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3:27
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3:57
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4:36
What do you make of those Airbnb policy changes?
4:40
Oh man, I would love to talk to somebody that like really is on
4:44
the inside of it and and just like just know, OK, how are they
4:48
going to enforce all this stuff? I guess that's one question I
4:51
have, but I'm sure they've got ways.
4:54
I think it, it makes complete sense for Airbnb, right?
4:57
Like, I mean, if you look at it, I try and look at everything as
5:01
you know, without or just like from that perspective, I mean,
5:04
for them, it makes complete sense.
5:05
They've invested a ton in their brand and they want people to
5:08
always have that experience and they know if they can control
5:11
it, it's going to be a better experience for their company.
5:14
Same as how we feel about it, right?
5:15
We feel if we could control the communication, it's a better
5:18
experience for for our company and for the guests.
5:21
But I think it's going to, it's, it's just going to make things
5:26
very complicated for companies that if they're using third
5:29
party tools, even through their own software, having to have
5:32
different. SO PS for Airbnb guests versus
5:36
direct guests or VRBO guests, you know, it just, it makes it
5:39
really complicated to do business.
5:40
I, I think some property managers will end up pulling
5:43
back from Airbnb if they already are doing well on other
5:47
channels. And in some markets, I mean,
5:49
Airbnb is, is not the leading OTA.
5:51
So I think those markets, they'll, if they really have to
5:55
have that business, they'll stick with it.
5:57
But if they could allocate it somewhere else, they're going to
6:00
do it. It's something that I think
6:02
illustrates the power of Airbnb. I was speaking to a friend of
6:05
mine who's not involved in STR at all, but he's a software
6:09
engineer, and he was looking at their model and saying looking
6:12
at the integrations and the APIs and all that kind of thing.
6:15
And he said, well, if Airbnb just stopped integrating with
6:18
companies, it would ruin a lot of them overnight.
6:23
Yeah, yeah. And I mean, they, it's very
6:26
clear Airbnb caters to the small, the individual hosts.
6:30
But when you look at the percentages and I don't know,
6:32
I'm off the top of my head, but the, the wide majority of
6:35
inventory is from professional managers that are on Airbnb.
6:38
So they, they don't seem to want to work with us quite as much,
6:43
you know, as it would make sense to.
6:45
But we'll we'll see. It's going to be another
6:48
interesting saga, I feel like in the Airbnb chronicles.
6:53
Another saga indeed. Back to kind of marketing then
6:56
and and direct bookings. What are some common mistakes
7:00
that you think property managers are making when they're trying
7:03
to build a direct booking channel?
7:07
I, you know, I think you kind of have to take a step back and the
7:10
main thing is it's like I get people come to me all the time
7:12
that they say, you know, we want to increase direct bookings.
7:14
Or if they don't really have any at all, they want it, they want
7:17
to focus on it, they want to start it.
7:18
And you really have to, you have to think about first like, okay,
7:23
what is, what's the reason why we're doing this?
7:24
Where we trying to accomplish what is the strategy going to
7:27
be? And you know, the, the tactics,
7:29
whether you're using e-mail marketing, PPC, SEO, you know,
7:34
social media, any of the, any of the places that you're trying to
7:36
drive these direct bookings to or from, what's the strategy
7:40
behind that? And I, I think most companies,
7:42
the biggest mistake they make is they're just, they're not
7:44
thinking about that higher level connected strategy at the
7:47
beginning. I have a client of mine who came
7:51
to me and she said exactly that she wanted to get into, you
7:55
know, pushing direct bookings now and, and we're looking at
7:57
her website. And I said, I would be doing you
8:00
a disservice if I tried to tell you why you need to be doing all
8:03
these different tactics right now, because your website is not
8:06
going to convert when somebody gets there.
8:08
I mean, it's functionality wise had a lot of problems, but also
8:11
there was no story, there's no differentiator between her
8:14
company versus the company down the road in a very competitive
8:16
market. So we took a step back and now
8:19
rebuilding the website 1st and then we'll start, you know,
8:23
adding the tactics in at that point.
8:25
But it's, it's a much bigger undertaking than a lot of
8:28
companies think when they first start thinking, OK, we'll just
8:31
turn this on, turn that on. It's not that easy.
8:34
I've been turning the channels on is a lot quicker and easier
8:36
than putting together a true advertising strategy here.
8:40
I mean, yeah, the foundations need to be there with the, you
8:43
know, a website that people can trust.
8:45
And direct bookings are not free, right?
8:48
They take a lot of money and effort to get to that stage.
8:52
Sure, yeah. And whether you have an internal
8:54
team that's managing it or you use external teams or agencies,
8:59
I mean there's there's the people that there's the cost of
9:01
the services and then there's the people that are managing it.
9:04
So it definitely, it definitely can be a costly thing.
9:08
What do you think of the most effective direct booking
9:11
marketing tips? If there are property managers
9:13
out there and maybe they've they've been trying to get
9:17
direct bookings but maybe not having much success, where
9:19
should they really focus? I honestly, I would say to go
9:25
back to the strategy and I know that some people listening
9:27
probably say, well, what, how do I figure out what my strategy
9:30
is? And I think you have to look at
9:31
it from the perspective of, you know, if you're, if you're
9:34
trying to, especially if trying to get these guests off of the
9:36
OTAs in the book with you direct, if you're getting them
9:39
from there in the 1st place, you have to really look at the
9:41
customer buying cycle, which is going to be replicated in any
9:45
industry. It's not just vacation rentals,
9:46
but you know how they come to know about you.
9:48
How do they move through the cycles of no, like try trust by
9:53
repeat refer, right that that whole cycle.
9:56
And when you look at it from that perspective and you make
9:59
sure that you've got that direct booking flywheel, as we like to
10:02
call it, that you've got those different touch points outlined
10:05
of how you're going to move somebody through that process.
10:08
That's when you really start to build some good volume from it,
10:12
right? But it's, it's not something
10:13
that happens overnight. And I think people will jump in
10:16
real quick and say, I'm going to focus on doing this one thing,
10:20
but I'm not getting this other side of it.
10:22
That's going to make the one thing I started with more
10:24
effective. So, you know, I really think
10:27
the, the repeat, the refer part is 2 of the main steps that
10:31
people really don't get enough. I mean, they're, they're not,
10:35
they're not harnessing the reach that our, all of our guests
10:38
have. I mean, how do you reach the
10:39
friends and family of those guests?
10:41
You know, I mean, like, how do you reach people that they
10:43
already know you and they already like you, they trusted
10:46
you, they bought from you. How do you reach their people?
10:48
And I mean, that's that's where the marketing magic can really
10:51
happen when you crack that code. And that can be fairly low
10:55
hanging fruit in in in some cases, if it's just a just a
10:59
simple follow up message. If we move them, pivot a little
11:03
bit towards brand. You've helped companies scale to
11:07
to hundreds of properties. What role does brand identity
11:12
play when you're growing a vacation rental business?
11:17
I was, I mean, it's a huge role. I think it's massively important
11:21
and I see this a lot in many markets that you've got
11:25
companies that have different versions of the same name,
11:29
right? So it's like sea, seaside, sea
11:32
stay, see the, you know, it's like there's a few different
11:35
words around these beach markets, beach vacations, beach,
11:38
this beach getaway that I think, you know, a brand is not just
11:41
your name, but I think in one respect, the name that you
11:44
choose is very important as a differentiator.
11:47
But I think the brand is important because it's you're
11:52
building the complex part of this business is you're building
11:55
your company and the brand to be perceived and accepted and loved
12:00
by different stakeholders. So you've got your homeowners,
12:02
you've got your guests, you've got your employees, and you've
12:04
got, you know, ownership of the company, whatever that looks
12:07
like as far as what the general public is going to see out
12:11
there, what the homeowners are going to see, why they're going
12:13
to look at you and feel like you're the trusted source in
12:15
that market. Like you, you have to be out
12:18
there with your brand. You have to be consistent.
12:21
You have to be professional and you it's, it's about building
12:24
trust. And the same thing with the
12:25
guests that if somebody's going to find you on Airbnb and then
12:29
they somehow find your property elsewhere and they go to your
12:32
direct booking website and your site and the brand just look
12:36
inconsistent. And there's, there's not those
12:38
trust signals that make them feel comfortable with the
12:40
booking. You know, they're, they're going
12:42
to go back to Airbnb. So really putting together a
12:45
very thoughtful, well executed, professional brand is super
12:48
important. You've spoken there a few times
12:51
about trust and you know, getting to the website, trusting
12:55
that brand, you know, to the point that you're willing to
12:57
book with them. What are the most effective ways
13:00
to to gain people's trust when when they land on your website?
13:06
You know, I think one that sounds pretty simple, but it's
13:11
true. The website needs to work well.
13:13
Like it needs to be easy. It needs to be very clear path
13:16
of when you come on, what you're supposed to do, how you get
13:19
people through the process. That's one very often overlooked
13:22
thing, even though it's simple. Another thing is, I mean, how,
13:26
how, how you're explaining your your differentiation.
13:29
I mean, what's different about you versus the other companies
13:33
showing pictures of your staff? I mean, like what's the history?
13:36
What's your about us? What's your origin story?
13:39
I think that's super important for guests to see on the site.
13:43
You know, reviews, obviously super important, user generated
13:47
content reviews, even better. And if people can see people
13:50
that look like them, that they were having a good time and a
13:52
property, that's very compelling.
13:55
Jen, just making sure those touch points are all in the
13:59
right places as somebody's going through that booking process.
14:02
So we know people when they land on the property page and then on
14:05
the checkout page, that's typically when the most
14:07
questions are coming up. So are you outlining a lot of
14:11
those questions that your reservation team or that your
14:14
guest services team are fielding?
14:16
Or are you just not putting that information there and the guest
14:19
is having to constantly reach out and now you're having to
14:21
respond to all these inquiries? I think there's so much that can
14:24
be learned just from looking at what people are asking you and
14:29
just kind of backwards engineering.
14:31
How do we get that information in front of them ahead of time
14:33
or when they're in that process so that it's a no brainer,
14:36
they're not sitting there wondering and then maybe
14:38
calling, maybe not calling, maybe emailing, maybe not
14:40
emailing and potentially leaving the site.
14:43
Because I mean, it's what probably 1% of traffic for
14:47
vacation rental or any kind of, you know, travel tourism type of
14:50
website converts to a booking. So pretty high likelihood that
14:55
the guest is not going to borrow going to book.
14:57
What can you do in that journey to make sure they have all the
14:59
information and they feel comfortable that the site looks
15:02
consistent, that the booking engine doesn't look totally
15:05
different from the rest of the website that they just went
15:08
through in that journey? I mean, that's a huge thing that
15:10
drives me absolutely nuts when I'm buying anything online.
15:14
But yeah, just, you have to look at it from the guest
15:16
perspective, like go through your own website.
15:18
And I, I, that's one thing that people don't do enough.
15:22
I was on a panel in Orlando last year and I asked, I was
15:27
moderating it. I asked the people on the panel.
15:28
I said, how how often do you test your website?
15:31
Do you do a test booking? And all three of them, none of
15:34
them had ever done that on their own website.
15:37
And I said, OK, well, that's your homework.
15:39
You probably should go back and do it because I bet you're going
15:41
to find something that you didn't realize what's happening
15:44
there that just have to look at it from the guest perspective.
15:48
Yeah, definitely. Like we've spoken a few times on
15:50
this podcast about staying at your own rental to fully
15:53
understand the guest experience. It's a similar thing with with
15:56
your website. And you mentioned there, you
15:58
know, putting photographs of yourself, you know, the house on
16:01
there. And I saw somebody in a Facebook
16:03
group, he said he put a photo of him and his wife on their direct
16:07
booking website, but also on their OTA photos.
16:10
And he said that it had helped him to get more booking.
16:13
So showing that human face can be can be really effective.
16:18
What advice would you give to the smaller operators out there
16:22
who want to look bigger and a bit more credible?
16:27
That's a good question. I, you know, sometimes I don't
16:31
think that you have to look big. And that's, that's probably been
16:34
the biggest change in the industry as far as my experience
16:38
over the last 10 plus years is that, that was a thing.
16:42
I mean, I've, I've been in the Myrtle Beach market here for 16
16:45
years in the vacation rental industry.
16:46
And it, the company that I worked for, Condo World for 13
16:50
of those years. When I started, they had about
16:52
250 properties. And when I left, we were a
16:54
little bit over 500, but booked reservations for another 5000
16:58
throughout Myrtle Beach region. And we looked huge and we were
17:04
big. But I remember when we had 500
17:06
properties thinking we're really not that big.
17:09
There's companies out there that have like 1000 or 2000, like
17:12
we're really not that big. We were big.
17:14
And I think now looking at things of a lot of homeowners
17:18
and a lot of guests, they don't necessarily want that.
17:21
I mean, I think at one point that and not the same that it's
17:24
just categorically bad to be a large company.
17:27
It's not. But a lot of people want a
17:30
smaller company. That's why that things have just
17:33
changed their industry. I feel like that they want to
17:35
feel like they're renting from one person that they know.
17:38
So I don't know that you have to come across that you're big if
17:41
you're, if you're small and you want to be like that.
17:43
I think you just, you have to come across as very professional
17:47
and you know, you've got your you've got the whole business in
17:51
order. And you really understand the
17:52
steps of the guests as they are pre booking before this day,
17:57
after this day, while they're there.
17:58
I mean that you you really are anticipating the needs of these
18:01
guests at the right times. And that's just it makes you
18:03
look professional and that should lead to you being able to
18:06
grow. But you don't have to say you're
18:08
the biggest these days, I feel like.
18:11
I think that's a really good point.
18:12
Yeah. Offering that boutique level of
18:15
service and style is often what people want.
18:17
So yeah, really, really good point to 2025.
18:21
Then we've mentioned Airbnb a little bit.
18:24
What do you see as the biggest trends in the STR space this
18:28
year? Well, I, I mean, I think
18:32
everybody is very much focused on inventory growth this year.
18:35
And that's, you know, I, I work mostly with larger operators,
18:39
but inventory growth, I think everything that has gone on this
18:44
well many years leading up to this.
18:46
But with Picasa, it has a lot of people just kind of sitting
18:50
waiting, thinking, OK, this is our opportunity to jump in and
18:54
potentially pick up a lot of properties if we're aggressive
18:57
with our marketing and how we how we figure out how to do
18:59
that. So I think that's something that
19:01
is definitely top of mind, just inventory growth, really
19:05
focusing on on that side of the marketing and understanding that
19:09
it's, it has to be a separate budget than your guest marketing
19:12
because it's, it's a different function of the company.
19:15
The return can be huge, but I mean, you're spending more to
19:19
get less versus, you know, you can figure out your conversion
19:23
rate and your return on ad spend pretty easily on, you know,
19:26
Google or some of the other met or tactics that you're using to
19:29
drive direct bookings. But with homeowner marketing, it
19:32
is much more of a a long game that you're making this
19:35
investment, but you know, to spend X amount of money to know
19:38
that the average homeowner is going to stay on your program
19:41
for I think it's like 7 to 8 years or something like that.
19:44
I mean, the lifetime value of that customer is it could be
19:48
massive. So, but having that right
19:51
mentality of we know this is the long game, right?
19:54
So I think a lot of people are focused on inventory growth this
19:56
year. Beyond that, I think a lot of
20:00
companies are trying to diversify.
20:02
I mean, they're, they're worried about what's going on with
20:05
Airbnb. I think people want more
20:07
channels and more options. The hard part is a lot of the
20:11
more niche channels, they just don't produce the volume.
20:14
So I think there's an opportunity for.
20:18
Channels to kind of up the game because there's a lot of
20:21
companies that are willing to say, I'll take my eggs out of
20:24
the Airbnb basket and I'm going to try some other options here.
20:27
But on the other side, Mr. OTA, you have to be sending me
20:31
bookings and, you know, we've seen Marriott homes and villas.
20:34
They've really come on strong I think in the last year or so.
20:38
It took them a while to build up to that point, but it's you
20:42
know, it's it's not easy for these OTAs to also compete.
20:45
I mean they're competing directly with Airbnb too.
20:48
So it's that's not that's not easy, but I think the OTAs that
20:52
are more community and network focused like Marriott, because
20:57
of their rewards program, there's, there's a lot of merit
20:59
to that. So it'd be nice to see some more
21:02
OTAs that come into the game kind of with their own audience
21:05
that we know we're going to get some volume from.
21:07
Yeah, it's interesting, isn't it?
21:08
You know what, what this industry can learn from the
21:11
hotels and kind of mesh the two together a little bit.
21:14
What are the What are the key lessons from your CMO career
21:19
that vacation rental managers should really be taking to
21:22
heart? Oh boy.
21:26
Well, I mean, I think you should be building your brand everyday.
21:29
I think that's a very important thing for companies to be
21:32
mindful of. I think that at the end of the
21:36
day, you can have the best marketing in the world, but if
21:39
your operations are not well run and you it's not, it's not going
21:44
to work, right. I mean, like you, you can't, you
21:46
also can't have great operations, but no marketing.
21:48
So they really have to go hand in hand.
21:50
And if you're going to build a business that it's more than
21:52
just managing one or two properties that you want this to
21:56
be something that you know is, is legacy making for you and the
21:59
people that are part of it. You, you really have to map out
22:02
the entire business and your success plan.
22:04
So I think that's, that's an important part.
22:08
I think one thing that I've loved about the experiences that
22:11
I've had in this industry is that, I mean, technically
22:14
marketing is the field that I'm in, but I am working with
22:17
companies on so many different parts that it's, I mean it's the
22:20
entire business strategy, It's the growth strategy, it's the
22:24
brand strategy and getting to see a lot there understanding,
22:28
you know, the decisions that you make on tech are hugely
22:32
important and that right there can ruin your marketing and your
22:36
operations if you don't choose wisely.
22:39
So I, I think you know, for from ACMO perspective, it's more than
22:44
just marketing. It's really understanding the
22:46
business and making sure that all the parts are running on the
22:51
right cylinders because it's, it's, it's vital to marketing
22:54
success that the company is also doing the right things in each
22:57
of the different verticals. It's not easy.
22:59
I mean, running these businesses is definitely not, this is not a
23:03
just get rich quick kind of thing like we always talk about.
23:07
It's not an easy business. Definitely not.
23:10
Don't necessarily listen to the guys on Instagram and TikTok
23:12
because it is not get rich quick not.
23:16
So passive. So, so your your career then
23:20
you've, you've recently kind of launched your own consultancy
23:24
after various CMO roles. So what inspired the move?
23:27
And tell us about the clients that you're working with and the
23:31
exciting projects that you're working on.
23:33
Yeah, I so again, I was with Condo World here in the North
23:37
Myrtle Beach, Myrtle Beach market for 13 years and just got
23:41
to a point where I, I love the business.
23:43
I played such a important role in my life and and my life in in
23:48
the business for those years, but kind of felt like I needed
23:52
to try something new. And, and the opportunity came up
23:55
for me to join Costco as their CMO and really was more not
24:01
marketing focused, it was more franchise development focused
24:04
and then it was going to at some point transition to more
24:08
traditional CMO type role. But in that year of going out
24:12
and meeting existing managers and Costco's, the franchise
24:16
model where we were out when I came on this was new that they
24:20
were trying to get companies that were existing property
24:23
management businesses to convert to become a Costco franchise to
24:26
run under their umbrella and benefit from the economies of
24:30
scale. And I was tasked basically with
24:33
the entire East Coast and got to travel all over the place
24:37
actually, and travel a lot to the West Coast as well.
24:39
But got to meet managers big and small and all different stages
24:44
of their journey and just seeing the struggles that they were
24:46
having and, and the successes too.
24:48
But it was really eye opening to me because I again, had been
24:52
here in this market for so long and really just knew the
24:55
companies here in the company that I work for.
24:57
But to see that perspective across the country and just
25:01
realize there's a huge need for better marketing within the
25:04
industry. I knew that for sure.
25:06
A lot of the things that we did at Condo World, I assumed
25:09
everybody did. And I found out that was not
25:11
true. I mean, we were doing things in
25:13
a very, very different way and with a very different strategy
25:17
than most traditional companies were.
25:20
And so just kind of understanding, how can I dispel
25:23
the information that I've learned in those years to, you
25:27
know, strategies are going to help managers depending on what
25:30
size they are and when, where they are in their journey and
25:33
decided, OK, this is the time I've got the connections, I've
25:37
got the knowledge, I've got the experience, I really should just
25:39
do this on my own. And so I decided to start my own
25:42
business last year as a fractional CMO.
25:46
In some cases it's me, it's just me that I come on and I'm
25:49
leading their team internally or their vendors.
25:52
In some cases I'm bringing my team or I help them bring
25:56
vendors to the table that are going to get the work done.
25:59
So I work, every situation I work with is a little bit
26:02
different, but I also work with technology providers in the
26:05
space too. I'm a fractional CMO for Boom,
26:08
the world's first AI property management system, which has
26:11
been a really great journey there too.
26:13
So it's, it's been a really fun year.
26:16
I've got companies all up and down the East Coast that I work
26:19
with, and it's just been really fulfilling to get to work with
26:23
really great people and just help them grow.
26:27
Fantastic. And you've got your Alex and
26:29
Annie sign there just behind you on the wall.
26:33
Got to ask you about the podcast, of course, because
26:35
you're one of the top hospitality shows in the States.
26:38
Very inspiring for our little podcast.
26:40
So just tell us like what inspired you to start it and
26:44
what have been your favorite takeaways from your hosting
26:47
journey? Yeah.
26:49
So it was during COVID that Annie Holcomb and I, we, we had
26:52
been friends and she was at, I think booking pal at the time
26:58
and we used booking pal at Condo World.
27:00
That's how we met. She was my account manager, I
27:02
believe. And we just, we hit it off and
27:05
during COVID we decided to start going on Clubhouse.
27:09
And she was really great at those and she invited me to come
27:12
on to a couple of them. And if anybody, it's so funny
27:15
that that was like a thing and it was huge.
27:18
And then it was just gone. Like, I don't know anybody that
27:20
goes on clubhouse anymore, but it was live in the moment.
27:23
You couldn't go back and replay these discussions.
27:25
And so we thought, gosh, I mean, like there are people that would
27:28
like to hear these conversations.
27:30
We've had like, maybe we do a podcast and you know, we like
27:33
having these, these talks with these industry leaders.
27:36
And so just kind of kick the idea around and, you know, more
27:39
or less we're kind of casual about it.
27:41
But then it started taking shape when we were talking to people
27:45
and, and when we came up with the name, which the name is just
27:47
our names. Alex Nanny and the real women of
27:51
vacation rentals. It just the brand started kind
27:53
of formulating in front of us and we thought, OK, this is kind
27:55
of fun. Let's just give it a try.
27:57
And we announced it at VRMA in San Antonio.
28:01
This was the first conference everybody back from COVID and
28:05
just the support we got from the industry was overwhelming that
28:07
everybody couldn't couldn't wait like wanted to hear the first
28:10
episode, couldn't wait to listen.
28:12
And so we put it out there and it just, it, it took off a lot
28:16
faster than we thought it would. And it just opened up so many
28:19
doors for us, You know, personally, professionally, I
28:22
think that's kind of the main thing.
28:23
It's just it's, it's helped both of us grow in our already very
28:27
experienced careers, But it's to a different level of just
28:30
meeting people all over the world.
28:32
I mean, yourself included, you know, we've, we've met so many,
28:34
we just had you on our show recently.
28:36
We, we've met so many people literally all over the world
28:39
through doing this. And it's just been incredible
28:42
experience for both of us. But we are now almost four years
28:45
in, which is crazy and still going strong.
28:49
And, and just, we love having people come on and tell their
28:51
story about how they got started, what their struggles
28:54
were, what, you know, the successes they've had.
28:57
And, and just really, we, we want people to be authentic on
29:00
our show. We don't like people to come on
29:02
and do sales pitches. We really want to know the story
29:05
of, of what, what makes these people tick and how they got to
29:07
where they are. And I think that's that's been
29:10
what's just been a lot of fun for both of us.
29:13
Yeah, they really do. Podcasts open up a lot of doors
29:15
and get you those conversations that would never really happen
29:18
or might take years to happen. But with a podcast, they can
29:21
they materialise. OK, then Alex, we've got a few
29:25
questions to finish. We ask these to everybody who
29:28
comes on our Main Friday podcast.
29:31
Your favorite brand in the STR industry and why.
29:36
I think there are so many amazing brands in our industry
29:39
and I, you know, I think partial to condo world when I was there
29:43
for sure in those years that that it was my favorite brand
29:47
for sure. These days it's hard to say, you
29:50
know, I've, I've all the brands I work with are amazing.
29:53
I think I'm going to go with boom for today.
29:55
I think what we're doing with the boom brand is just been
29:59
spectacular and the the level of intelligence behind the
30:04
technology that they're building is is next level and what we're
30:08
building of that brand. And we've got some big
30:10
announcements. I'm not sure in this episode
30:12
it's going to air, but we're trying to take kind of the same
30:15
mentality that I talked about earlier with big vacation rental
30:18
companies, but in the technology space of bringing, you know, the
30:22
the owners and the people that have built this groundbreaking
30:25
technology to the forefront to really share their stories and
30:29
why they built it and how they built it.
30:31
And I think that's going to be really interesting to see
30:33
because you don't get a lot of the tech companies in the space
30:36
that are, are telling that story.
30:37
I mean, it's, it's the tech is the tech, but the end of the
30:40
day, people buy brands because of the people behind it.
30:44
You know, that's, that's a big part of it.
30:45
So we're telling a good story there.
30:48
So that's, that's my my brand of the the year for sure.
30:53
Great shout out for Boom. Looking forward to those new
30:56
announcements. We'll have to get Shahar back on
30:58
the podcast to to tell us all about those.
31:01
Next question, then, an individual in the STR space
31:04
you'd like to give a shout out to and why.
31:07
I'm going to go with Simon Lehman.
31:08
We've, you know, Simon's been a good friend of Annie and I's for
31:12
many years and was somebody that I just before I knew him, I was,
31:15
I looked up to him because I saw him on stage and I would see him
31:18
speak and he was just so brilliant and he always had his
31:21
red shoes on. I love he's real smart with his
31:23
own personal brand. I respected that.
31:25
But he's always just been somebody that has been very kind
31:28
to Annie and I and we've had him on the show many times.
31:31
We used to do Simon Says that he was our first of the month
31:35
episode. Pretty often he'd come on and
31:38
talk about different things going on.
31:40
And it's actually, it's really fun to go back and listen to
31:42
those episodes over the last couple years and just see what
31:45
he was predicting. And, and the things that have
31:48
been accurate, which I would say is probably 99% of them, but
31:52
some of the things that are just kind of come out of left field.
31:54
But hey, Simon. Yes, Mr. Red Shoes himself, he's
31:59
been on our podcast a couple of times and always fantastic
32:02
value. OK, then final question, Alex,
32:06
you're #1 lesson learned from your time in the STR space.
32:11
This business is all about people and it's all about
32:13
relationships and more than any other industry that I know, we
32:18
are really a very connected group.
32:21
And it's that's one thing that makes it really fulfilling, I
32:25
think is that we we kind of are one big crazy discompopulated
32:31
family across the world here. But it's the relationships that
32:34
you build with people. And that's what what makes the
32:37
business. I mean, the, the people build
32:38
the business and that's that's where the heart of it is.
32:42
And just really, you know, leaning into those relationships
32:45
and understanding that the somebody you meet today, you
32:49
could down the line end up being able to help them or they could
32:53
help you. And you, you never know.
32:54
I mean, it's just, it's so interconnected that just
32:59
understanding that you really need to nurture those
33:01
relationships because they're, they're going to help you and
33:03
you're going to you're going to help other people and it's going
33:06
to make your journey in this crazy business a lot more fun
33:09
and fulfilling. I couldn't agree more, Alex.
33:13
It's been a real pleasure. Thanks for joining us on the
33:16
House Planet podcast. Yeah.
33:18
Thank you so much for having me, James.
33:19
Appreciate it. Great to chat to Alex Kuzner
33:22
there about Airbnb marketing and direct booking.
33:25
That's just about it for today's episode.
33:27
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