Shows / STR Unpacked
STR Unpacked
STR Unpacked is a short-term rental industry podcast that reviews the key news stories of the week alongside an invited sector expert, providing commentary, insight and practical interpretation of how current developments are shaping the market.
Episodes
- STR Unpacked
Your Neighbours Are Now A Regulator
Your licence is in order. Your registration number is displayed. Your tax is filed. You can still lose the unit. Three European jurisdictions have quietly…
- STR Unpacked
Airbnb Is Now Matching Data For The Government
The UK government has a new data matching partner. It's Airbnb. 🇬🇧 Most coverage read the Cabinet Office announcement as a crackdown on social housing…
- STR Unpacked
Glasgow's 10-Day Advert
The King opened the Commonwealth Games from a Tardis last night. Glasgow's operators opened their calendars months ago. 🏴 The next ten days: ➡️ 74…
- STR Unpacked
The First Domino Falls in Edinburgh
Tomorrow, the UK gets its first statutory tourist tax. 🏴 Edinburgh's visitor levy goes live Friday 24 July: ➡️ 5% on the accommodation cost, charged…
- STR Unpacked
Shut Down by the Flat Downstairs
An Athens court just shut down an Airbnb. The complaint didn't come from the city. It came from downstairs. ⚖️ Decision 2937/2026, Athens Court of First…
- STR Unpacked
10 Days to Prove It
Greece has started knocking. Well, emailing. 🇬🇷 The first inspections of short term rentals under Greece's new operating standards are underway. Here's how it…
- STR Unpacked
73% up
The World Cup ended last night. The event operators should be watching opens Thursday. Glasgow's Commonwealth Games start 23 July, and the booking data is a…
- STR Unpacked
Britain Is Booking Britain
Britain is booking Britain. 🇬🇧📈 The staycation numbers this summer are hard to ignore: ☀️ 61% of Brits say they're MORE likely to holiday at home this year —…
- STR Unpacked
5% From Next Friday
The UK gets its first statutory tourist tax next Friday. 🏴 From 24 July, Edinburgh charges a 5% visitor levy on every paid overnight stay: → Applies to…
- STR Unpacked
Spain Pulled the Trigger. Rents Didn't Flinch.
Spain just published the numbers on its tourist flat crackdown. They tell a strange story. 📉 ➡️ 341,001 tourist flats advertised in May, down 10.7% in a year…
- STR Unpacked
Vienna Just Raised Its Tourist Tax 56% Overnight
Vienna just raised its tourist tax 56% overnight. 💶 From 1 July: 3.2% → 5%. Next July: 8% — making it Europe's second-highest after Amsterdam. And the city is…
- STR Unpacked
Papel Mojado: The Week Spain's Rental Registry Collapsed
Spain just lost its national short-term rental registry. The fallout landed this week. Since July 2025, every STR in Spain needed a state registration number…
- STR Unpacked
London's 21 Million Guest Nights And Why the Growth Isn't Where You Think
Friday good news for UK operators 📈 London's short lets hosted 21 MILLION guest nights in 2025 — up 6% in a year. But here's the number that matters: outer…
- STR Unpacked
Airbnb's New Revenue Stream Is Built on Your Calendar The 15.5% Was Only Half the Story
Airbnb promised investors it will earn more from every booking in 2026. Your host fee stays at 15.5%. Both statements are true. The growth is happening on the…
- STR Unpacked
The Licence That Dies With the Deed: Greece's Quiet Phase-Out
What if your STR licence died the day you sold the property? That's now the reality in central Greece's two biggest cities. From 1 July, Thessaloniki's city…
- STR Unpacked
No Stadium, No Tickets, 430%
The most valuable address in European short-term rentals this month is a ski station most people couldn't place on a map. PriceLabs has published booking data…
- STR Unpacked
Tax, Planning, Enforcement
I took three weeks off. Europe did not. Three countries moved on short-term rentals while I was away, and each one reached for a different lever. Spain went…
- STR Unpacked
The €6,000 Buffer
One mid-term booking is worth about seven short stays. Same platform. Same kind of property. Seven times the value per booking. The numbers behind that, from…
- STR Unpacked
Still Booking
Every city in Europe is cracking down on short-term rentals. So the sector must be shrinking, right? Eurostat's own data says the opposite. → Short-stay nights…
- STR Unpacked
Voluntary to Vital: Where UK Short-Term Let Licensing Goes Next
For years, the standards in this sector were voluntary. The good operators chose to meet a higher bar. That's changing. Those basics are becoming the framework…
- STR Unpacked
Why SCALE Gave AI Its Own Day
The UK's main short-term rental conference gave AI its own full day this year. First time it has happened. I'm at SCALE With AI in Brighton today, the day…
- STR Unpacked
Ten Blue Links Are Dead: What AI Really Means for How Guests Find You with Milena Nikolić Heywa Labs
Most of us in short-term rentals know AI exists. Far fewer of us are using it well. This episode is about closing that gap. My guest is Milena Nikolić, former…
- STR Unpacked
+14%
Europe's most expensive short-term rental markets in 2026 are mostly outside the EU. The regulatory squeeze gets the headlines. The rate data tells a quieter…
- STR Unpacked
The One to Be In the Room For
Next week in Brighton, the short-term rental industry holds its first conference dedicated entirely to AI. Two days, two events — SCALE With AI on the Tuesday…
- STR Unpacked
The Events Capital With No Beds
Next week the Pope arrives in Barcelona. But forget the Pope for a second. Look at the calendar behind him. Mobile World Congress: 109,000 people. Smart City…
- STR Unpacked
Porto Just Killed 1,413 Listings With a Missing PDF
Everyone said 20 May was the day Europe's "wild west" of short-term rentals ended. Less than two weeks in, the first city to actually pull listings didn't…
- STR Unpacked
Up 13.6 percent!
+13.6%. That's UK short-term rental demand for this summer, versus last. Italy: +11.6% France: +8.7% Across Europe's top 20 markets: 6.4 million additional…
- STR Unpacked
Built From the Front Lines: The STR Software Forged in Switzerland and Bali
I sat down with Reto from Elevate Software, and the origin story is what makes this one worth a listen. Reto and his team weren't software people who guessed…
- STR Unpacked
They Sold Us Plumbing. The Weapon Comes Next.
Eight days ago the EU's short-term rental data regulation went live. Most of the industry filed it under "compliance admin" and moved on. That was the wrong…
- STR Unpacked
Don't Brace. Organise.
The mainstream take is that regulation is coming for short-term lets and operators should brace. I think that misses it. Regulation being undecided is not a…
- STR Unpacked
Spain Built It First. Its Own Court Just Killed It.
pain built it first. Its own court just killed it. Spain's Supreme Court has struck down the national short-term rental registry, the one Madrid built to be…
- STR Unpacked
Airbnb Took Your Edge. The Balkans Gave It Back.
It's been a rough week in our space. EU Regulation 2024/1028 went live. Portugal's licences are vanishing. Italy's tax regime just got heavier. And Airbnb's…
- STR Unpacked
The Summer Release Isn't For You
Airbnb's Summer Release dropped this week. The travel press is losing its mind over car rentals and grocery delivery. They're missing the actual story. Every…
- STR Unpacked
One Law, 27 Systems
Tomorrow the EU's biggest STR regulation in history goes live. One law. 27 countries. One system. Except not really. Airbnb came out yesterday and said it…
- STR Unpacked
Who's the host? The €60,000 question.
The EU regulation goes live in two days. Everyone's checking their registration numbers. Almost no one is checking the question that actually decides who…
- STR Unpacked
Why DIY AI Is Failing Property Managers with Georgina Kennerknecht Biosca
I sat down with Georgina Kennerknecht Biosca, founder of Liliho, and honestly she's one of the most captivating founders I've had on the podcast. Georgina is…
- STR Unpacked
Eurostat just published a stat that nobody's talking about.
951 million guest nights. That was the EU short-term rental market in 2025. But the headlines all go to the same five countries. Spain. France. Italy. Germany…
- STR Unpacked
The UK just made it official.
Yesterday's King's Speech introduced the Overnight Visitor Levy Bill as standalone legislation. Mayors in England will get the power to charge a tourist tax on…
- STR Unpacked
Every time a European city cracks down on short-term rentals, hotel revenues go up.
Every time a European city cracks down on short-term rentals, hotel revenues go up. That's not opinion. That's the data. Amsterdam: Airbnb listings down 54%…
- STR Unpacked
Paris just issued nearly €1M in illegal Airbnb fines.
Paris just issued nearly €1M in illegal Airbnb fines. In three months. For context: 2024 total: €1.3M 2025 total: €2.4M Q1 2026 alone: ~€1M And that's before a…
- STR Unpacked
A $250 million deal just closed in short-term rentals.
TowneBank has sold Towne Vacations to Belcrest Vacations Acquisitions. Cash. No earn-out. 4.3x revenue. Belcrest didn't exist a year ago. It's a newly-formed…
- STR Unpacked
A bailiff walked into Booking.com's Amsterdam HQ this week.
A bailiff walked into Booking.com's Amsterdam HQ this week. With IT specialists. And started seizing records. Court-ordered. On behalf of 15,000+ European…
- STR Unpacked
Marcus Räder: The Road to Building a Unicorn
Marcus Räder is the founder of Hostaway one of the only true unicorns in the short-term rental industry. But the path there wasn't a straight line. I sat down…
- STR Unpacked
Live from Scale España: The Conversations That Matter in Spanish STR
Last week I was invited out to Scale España by the team at Scale to run live podcasts onsite and what an event to be part of. The team built something special…
- STR Unpacked
The STR Story Nobody's Telling
Two weeks today, EU Regulation 2024/1028 goes live. Every headline will be about Barcelona, Amsterdam, fines, crackdowns. Here's what nobody's saying. While…
- STR Unpacked
Airbnb just told the European Commission to do its job.
Fifteen days before EU Regulation 2024/1028 takes effect, George Mavros, their Head of EU Government Affairs, went public with three demands. Clear…
- STR Unpacked
Airbnb, Booking.com and Expedia at all concerned.
19 days until EU Regulation 2024/1028 goes live. And the platforms are worried it won't work. MLex reported yesterday that Booking, Airbnb and Expedia are…
- STR Unpacked
Greece's 2026 booking pace is in. And the headline isn't what you'd expect.
Cyclades — Mykonos, Santorini, Paros: → RevPAR +41% → Revenue per property +41% → Occupancy +33% → Average nightly rate +3.95% Ionian Islands: → RevPAR +36% →…
- STR Unpacked
Valencia just rewrote the playbook on holiday rentals.
Valencia just rewrote the playbook on holiday rentals. No night cap. No licence freeze. A hard density ceiling written into planning law. The numbers: → 2% max…
- STR Unpacked
22 days.
That's how long Poland has to build a national short-term rental registration system before EU Regulation 2024/1028 takes effect on 20 May. The draft act was…
- STR Unpacked
"I Never Meant to Be in This Industry" Scale Co-Founder Gianpaolo on Building a Movement by Accident
The conversation covers the accidental entry into the short-term rental industry, the transition from property management to technology, and the growth and…
- STR Unpacked
Why SCALE España is the most important conference of the year if you're operating in the EU.
In 23 days, EU Regulation 2024/1028 takes effect. Every short-term rental in the European Union needs a registration number. Platforms have to verify them…
- STR Unpacked
Paris just fined one Airbnb operator €585,000. For a single building.
On April 15th, a Paris court handed down the largest illegal short-term rental penalty in the city's history. A property company had bought a building in…
- STR Unpacked
Andy Fenner is stepping down as CEO of the STAA.
Andy Fenner is stepping down as CEO of the STAA. And his parting message to the sector is sharper than you'd expect. Yesterday at the Short Stay Summit, he…
- STR Unpacked
Section 4.2
1,300 people just walked into Old Billingsgate. The entire STR industry is at the Short Stay Summit today. Airbnb. Booking. Expedia. Every major PMS. Every…
- STR Unpacked
Airbnb just launched its most important PR campaign in history.
Six weeks before EU data-sharing goes live, Airbnb just launched its most important PR campaign in history. Almost nobody's talking about it. In March, Airbnb…
- STR Unpacked
What is happening? The data never lies!
This Wednesday, the one and only Sarah Nan DuPre (Along with Leo Walton) are MC'ing the main stage at the Short Stay Summit. Last month she sat down with me to…
- STR Unpacked
Valencia just did something no other European city has done. It didn't cap STR's by nights.
It capped them by population. Here's the new rule, approved this month: → Holiday homes can't exceed 2% of housing stock in any neighbourhood → Total tourist…
- STR Unpacked
Airbnb just announced $93 billion in US economic impact. Strategic timing.
In 33 days, Europe flips the switch. On 20 May, EU Regulation 2024/1028 goes live. Every STR platform must share monthly data. With all 27 member states…
- STR Unpacked
Portugal just cancelled 40% of Lisbon's short-term rental permits.
26,000 registered STRs across the country. By spring 2026 under 90,000. And buried in the detail is a rule that should terrify every STR investor in Southern…