We are so excited today to have Andrew Kitchell, the CEO and founder of Wheelhouse, a revenue management platform that serves leading professional operators in short-term rental, vacation rental, corporate rental & boutique hotel spaces on the podcast today. Andrew has 10 years of experience in the accommodations space, having built multiple technology and operating companies. Prior to Wheelhouse, Andrew was the founder & CEO at Beyond Pricing, the first data-driven pricing engine for the STR/VR space. Additionally, Andrew founded Lyric, a network of tech-enabled rentals designed for the modern business traveler that developed properties in 14 US markets. Collectively, Andrew has raised $100mm from investors such as Airbnb, NEA, FifthWall, Highgate, Certares, Tishman Speier, Barry Sternlicht, and other property/technology investors.
In this episode we talk about Andrew’s first job in hospitality, what he loves about the industry, how he came to host his first guest on Airbnb in San Francisco, and the celebrity guest he hosted. He shares how he started and scaled his first businesses in the short term rental industry through arbitrage, why he decided to shut down his business during COVID and shares the pain points and learnings from that experience.
Andrew gives his advice for how homeowners and hosts can look at revenue management data to come up with the correct pricing strategy and when this comes into play. He shares what to look for in a property management software, the benefits of implementing a dynamic pricing software and some ideas for how you can A/B test your property listings to increase revenue. Remember that as business owners, it’s important to try new strategies to see what will really move the needle in your business, and rely on data to help you make your decisions. We found this conversation to be so helpful, and hope you can take something from this episode and apply it to your property!
Resources:
Thanks for Visiting is produced by Crate Media.
Mentioned in this episode:
Hosting Business Mastery Method | Join us for our live, free, host masterclass and learn how to OWN your digital real estate!
HBMM | Sign up today at hostmasterclass.com.
Minoan | Minoan helps short-term rentals and boutique hotels enhance their appeal with their customizable, curated retail platform.
Minoan | Visit MinoanExperience.com and tell them TFV sent you!
Breezeway | Go to breezeway.io/tfv to claim your free implementation when you start a Breezeway account.
