Behind the Stays

Meet Chris Stephenson, Vice President of Global Development at Marriott Homes & Villas. Chris has spent his career building new, innovative products and services across travel and hospitality.  In February of 2019, Chris was a part of the founding team of Marriott Homes & Villas and in charge of thinking through how best to bring Marriott’s vacation rental home product to life.  In this episode, Chris and I discuss: What it’s like incubating a new product offering within a legacy business Why Marriott Homes & Villas has had a different business model from Airbnb since Day 1 How Homes & Villas has grown from a couple of thousand listings to a couple hundred thousand listings in just the last couple of years How Bonvoy, Marriott’s loyalty program, has played a roll in accelerating usage of Homes & Villas And what the product roadmap for Homes & Villas looks like in 2024 and beyond This episode is brought to you by our friends at Turno.  Turno is the smartest way to schedule, pay, and find vacation rental cleaners — think of Turno as an Uber or Task Rabbit for STR hosts.  Simply create an account, describe your listing’s cleaning needs, and Turno will match you with cleaners near you.  Turno offers simple, affordable pricing for STR hosts of any size. Single property accounts and Marketplace users get access to all the platform’s tools and features for FREE. And they make working with your existing teams easy too, with plans as low as just $6/month per property. Learn more and earn a $150 Amazon Gift Card after you complete your first cleaning.  Have you signed up for Ping yet? Ping makes it easy for guests to be notified when their favorite Airbnbs become available — and it's the secret tool the best Airbnb hosts use to maximize bookings. Sign up today at bnbping.com About the Show Behind the Stays is brought to you twice a week by Sponstayneous — a free, biweekly newsletter that brings subscribers the best last-minute deals and upcoming steals on Airbnb.   You can subscribe, for free, at www.sponstayneous.com.  Behind the Stays is hosted by Zach Busekrus, co-founder of Sponstayneous, you can connect with him on Twitter at @zboozee.

Meet Taylor Bates, the creator of The Afton House — a stunning, luxury home made for gathering and nestled in the heart of Virginia wine country. Growing up, Taylor wanted to be an architect or a Fortune 500 CEO — she’s always loved the intersection of marketing, design, and business. After working in a few marketing management and nonprofit leadership roles, Taylor wound up starting her own boutique interior design firm focusing on residential and commercial projects. And it was around this time when the idea of building a luxury short-term rental that was conducive to multi-family stays, first began to percolate. Tune in to here the story behind: How Taylor designed a truly unforgettable stay in Afton, Virginia  Her process for approaching a design project — the room she loves designing most and the room she loves designing least Getting approached by Wander about joining the Wander network, Wander’s new managed service option And so much more… Book The Afton House Follow The Afton House on Instagram  Connect with Taylor on Instagram  This episode is brought to you by Summer.  Summer takes the headache out of owning a vacation rental by taking care of sourcing, designing, furnishing and managing your home. What makes Summer especially unique is the pathway to ownership that they offer — think of this as an option to “try before you actually buy an Airbnb”  Here’s how Summer’s Gradual Ownership model works: You work with Summer to find the perfect vacation rental — one that’s in a market that you want to vacation to and also in a market that makes sense for a vacation rental. Summer guides you through the whole discernment process of where, when and what kind of home to buy. When you find the right home, put down a downpayment of 15+% but Summer buys the home for you and holds it for up to two years — during this time you can buy back the home from them any time you are ready or, after the two year period you can decide you DON’T want the home and get a full refund of your down payment. Also, Summer covers all of the closing costs and fees for the upfront purchase on the home, as well as furnishing and design. This means you pay far less out of pocket than you would if you bought the home yourself from day one. So if you’ve been looking for a way to beta test the whole Airbnb game, this is your sign. Go and chat with my new friends at Summer and tell them that Zach from Behind the Stays sent you there way. Have you signed up for Ping yet? Ping makes it easy for guests to be notified when their favorite Airbnbs become available — and it's the secret tool the best Airbnb hosts use to maximize bookings. Sign up today at bnbping.com About the Show Behind the Stays is brought to you twice a week by Sponstayneous — a free, biweekly newsletter that brings subscribers the best last-minute deals and upcoming steals on Airbnb.   You can subscribe, for free, at www.sponstayneous.com.  Behind the Stays is hosted by Zach Busekrus, co-founder of Sponstayneous, you can connect with him on Twitter at @zboozee.

Meet Scott McIntosh, Co-Founder of Back Forty Glamping, a luxurious glamping oasis on 26 acres of land in Meaford, Ontario.  Growing up, Scott wanted to be a farmer — he loved being outdoors and the notion that you could make a life from tilling fields and harvesting crops was incredibly attractive to him. And while Scott wound up pursuing a career as an educator instead, a few years ago he and his brother Ben had an idea which would enable Scott to trade the classroom for the great outdoors… And that idea?  Well, it was to build a glamping resort featuring luxury domes just 2 hours outside of Toronto, Canada.  Tune in to hear the story of how: Scott and the team worked through loads of red tape to get Back Forty Glamping approved by their local municipality  Why they decided on domes as their unique stay structure of choice What it actually cost to bring the first 5 domes to life Why investing in the right infrastructure and building the right product from the beginning is crucial for success. How they’re thinking about franchising the Back Forty Glamping brand And so much more Book a Stay at Back Forty Glamping Follow Back Forty Glamping on Instagram Connect with the Back Forty Team This episode is brought to you by our friends at Valcove Hospitality.  Valcove Hospitality enables you to have a dedicated assistant available 24/7 who can help with everything from email comms to responding to Karen — and they make this all possible at a fraction of the cost of a full-time employee.  Whether you’re managing 10 properties or scaling up to 150, Valcove's experienced team is ready to help you streamline your operations. Say goodbye to the endless cycle of hiring and training staff, and say hello to seamless efficiency. With flexible partnership options tailored to your needs, Valcove offers 24/7 support, or a custom schedule that fits your business. And with a straightforward hourly rate of just $9.95/hour for your entire portfolio, you always know what to expect on your bill - no surprises, just dependable, transparent service. The team at Valcove is offering 'Behind the Stays' listeners, like you, an exclusive offer. Use the code BEHINDTHESTAYS50 to get 50% off your first month with Valcove Hospitality.  Have you signed up for Ping yet? Ping makes it easy for guests to be notified when their favorite Airbnbs become available — and it's the secret tool the best Airbnb hosts use to maximize bookings. Sign up today at bnbping.com About the Show Behind the Stays is brought to you twice a week by Sponstayneous — a free, biweekly newsletter that brings subscribers the best last-minute deals and upcoming steals on Airbnb.   You can subscribe, for free, at www.sponstayneous.com.  Behind the Stays is hosted by Zach Busekrus, co-founder of Sponstayneous, you can connect with him on Twitter at @zboozee.

Meet Dylan Barahona, General Manager at Canyon of the Eagles, a nature resort and preserve on 940 acres of land, located just 1.5 Hours from Austin, Texas. If you were to have asked Dylan at ten-years-old what he wanted to be when he grew up, he’d tell you either a professional baseball player or a chef.  And while neither of those dreams quite panned out, the latter, dream set him on path to pursue a career in hospitality, and, over the last decade, Dylan has become a highly-regarded and respect voice in outdoor hospitality.  In this episode, Dylan and I discuss: How he’s reimagining outdoor hospitality through the restoration of 970 acres of Texas Hill Country The importance of building an event strategy at your glamping resort  The future of fine dining in the glamping space The opportunities he sees for hospitality entrepreneurs in the space And so much more Learn more about Canyon of the Eagles Follow Canyon one the Eagles on Instagram Connect with Dylan on LinkedIn  This episode is brought to you by our friends at Turno.  Turno is the smartest way to schedule, pay, and find vacation rental cleaners — think of Turno as an Uber or Task Rabbit for STR hosts.  Simply create an account, describe your listing’s cleaning needs, and Turno will match you with cleaners near you.  Turno offers simple, affordable pricing for STR hosts of any size. Single property accounts and Marketplace users get access to all the platform’s tools and features for FREE. And they make working with your existing teams easy too, with plans as low as just $6/month per property. Learn more and earn a $150 Amazon Gift Card after you complete your first cleaning.  Have you signed up for Ping yet? Ping makes it easy for guests to be notified when their favorite Airbnbs become available — and it's the secret tool the best Airbnb hosts use to maximize bookings. Sign up today at bnbping.com About the Show Behind the Stays is brought to you twice a week by Sponstayneous — a free, biweekly newsletter that brings subscribers the best last-minute deals and upcoming steals on Airbnb.   You can subscribe, for free, at www.sponstayneous.com.  Behind the Stays is hosted by Zach Busekrus, co-founder of Sponstayneous, you can connect with him on Twitter at @zboozee.  

Meet Antonio Gonzalez, President of ÖÖD House — the company behind the instagram famous mirror houses. Antonio is an engineer by trade, but always had a heart for entrepreneurship… So, when the opportunity to co-found Jupe along with past-podcast guest Jeff Wilson and take it through Y Combinator, the world’s most prestigious of startup accelerators, came about, he took it. Antonio learned SO much from the accelerator where the Airbnb founders also graduated from and had an incredible couple of years at Jupe before realizing that his heart was really in hospitality. Tune in to hear the story of how ÖÖD House, founded in Estonia, came to be, what their game plan for expanding in the US in 2024 and 2025 looks like, and the kind of hospitality entrepreneurs they are looking to partner with to make this happen. Learn more about ÖÖD House here. Follow ÖÖD on Instagram Connect with Antonio on LinkedIn here. This episode is brought to you by our friends at StayFi. StayFi is enables you to create a custom branded WiFi splash page for your short-term rental’s WiFi — similar to what you might experience when logging onto the WiFi network at your favorite coffee shop.  StayFi enables you to collect the contact info of every guest staying with you, not just the one who booked…because who doesn’t need the wifi?  So if you want a frictionless way to capture guest contact info and empower your direct booking strategy with more data, sign up for StayFi at StayFi.com and use the discount code “BTS” for 20% off of your first year… If you chat with the team there, be sure to tell them that Zach from Behind the Stays sent you their way!  Have you signed up for Ping yet? Ping makes it easy for guests to be notified when their favorite Airbnbs become available — and it's the secret tool the best Airbnb hosts use to maximize bookings. Sign up today at bnbping.com About the Show Behind the Stays is brought to you twice a week by Sponstayneous — a free, biweekly newsletter that brings subscribers the best last-minute deals and upcoming steals on Airbnb.   You can subscribe, for free, at www.sponstayneous.com.  Behind the Stays is hosted by Zach Busekrus, co-founder of Sponstayneous, you can connect with him on Twitter at @zboozee.  

Meet Garett Brown, the visionary and creator behind Cameron Ranch Glamping, a collection of luxury glamping units on 11 acres just an hour outside of Houston, Texas.  Garrett is a professional music producer and traveling DJ who has always loved dabbling in real estate investing. When he wasn’t performing on stage or out on a tour, he’d find himself scrolling through listings dreaming of what it’d be like to build his own portfolio of homes.   He wanted to learn more about real estate so he decided to get his real estate license so he could get an inside look at how the industry actually works.  Tune in to hear the story behind how Garrett quickly swapped showing homes to others for building his own and the series of events that led him to fall in love with hospitality.  In this episode, Garett shares: The importance of considering both novelty and variety of structures when building a unique stay to increase virality and attract repeat guests. Why he believes you should determine the unit type you want to build and THEN go find the land (rather than the other way around) Why you shouldn’t overlook smaller content creators and influencers when marketing your stay And how the tragic loss of his brother inspires the work he does today Book a Stay at Cameron Ranch Follow Cameron Ranch on Instagram This episode is brought to you by our friends at Turno.  Turno is the smartest way to schedule, pay, and find vacation rental cleaners — think of Turno as an Uber or Task Rabbit for STR hosts.  Simply create an account, describe your listing’s cleaning needs, and Turno will match you with cleaners near you.  Turno offers simple, affordable pricing for STR hosts of any size. Single property accounts and Marketplace users get access to all the platform’s tools and features for FREE. And they make working with your existing teams easy too, with plans as low as just $6/month per property. Learn more and earn a $150 Amazon Gift Card after you complete your first cleaning.  Have you signed up for Ping yet? Ping makes it easy for guests to be notified when their favorite Airbnbs become available — and it's the secret tool the best Airbnb hosts use to maximize bookings. Sign up today at bnbping.com About the Show Behind the Stays is brought to you twice a week by Sponstayneous — a free, biweekly newsletter that brings subscribers the best last-minute deals and upcoming steals on Airbnb.   You can subscribe, for free, at www.sponstayneous.com.  Behind the Stays is hosted by Zach Busekrus, co-founder of Sponstayneous, you can connect with him on Twitter at @zboozee.

Meet Brett Deas, a 19-year-old entrepreneur who owns and operates unique stay vacation rentals across the U.S. While his high school buddies were scrolling through TikTok before school and playing video games afterwards, Brett was binging Bigger Pockets podcasts to understand the world of real estate investing. After graduating from high school, Brett decided to try his hand at real estate investing and entrepreneurship before pursuing a college degree. And so far?  That  decision is paying off dividends.  In this episode, you’ll hear the story behind how Brett raised capital to both build new unique stays and buy existing ones. Brett shares tips on: What he’s learned about assessing the value of a unique stay  Why hospitality entrepreneurs might be better off buying a unique stay rather than building one from the ground up The importance of building a consumer-facing brand to help consolidate a portfolio of differentiated stays  How he thinks about investing in 2024 and 2025 And so much more Follow Brett on Twitter Connect with Brett on LinkedIn Book a Stay at The Hideaways This episode is brought to you by Summer.  Summer takes the headache out of owning a vacation rental by taking care of sourcing, designing, furnishing and managing your home. What makes Summer especially unique is the pathway to ownership that they offer — think of this as an option to “try before you actually buy an Airbnb”  Here’s how Summer’s Gradual Ownership model works: You work with Summer to find the perfect vacation rental — one that’s in a market that you want to vacation to and also in a market that makes sense for a vacation rental. Summer guides you through the whole discernment process of where, when and what kind of home to buy. When you find the right home, put down a downpayment of 15+% but Summer buys the home for you and holds it for up to two years — during this time you can buy back the home from them any time you are ready or, after the two year period you can decide you DON’T want the home and get a full refund of your down payment. Also, Summer covers all of the closing costs and fees for the upfront purchase on the home, as well as furnishing and design. This means you pay far less out of pocket than you would if you bought the home yourself from day one. So if you’ve been looking for a way to beta test the whole Airbnb game, this is your sign. Go and chat with my new friends at Summer and tell them that Zach from Behind the Stays sent you their way. Have you signed up for Ping yet? Ping makes it easy for guests to be notified when their favorite Airbnbs become available — and it's the secret tool the best Airbnb hosts use to maximize bookings. Sign up today at bnbping.com About the Show Behind the Stays is brought to you twice a week by Sponstayneous — a free, biweekly newsletter that brings subscribers the best last-minute deals and upcoming steals on Airbnb.   You can subscribe, for free, at www.sponstayneous.com.  Behind the Stays is hosted by Zach Busekrus, co-founder of Sponstayneous, you can connect with him on Twitter at @zboozee.

Meet Mollie Reese, the host of the popular Stay in Good Company podcast and an experienced community builder who has spent her career working with leading brands across the the food & beverage and events & hospitality industries. Having recently left the world of corporate burnout and the hustle and bustle of city-living behind for a slower way of life, Mollie set out to pursue personal passions in travel.  Throughout her journey, she is in search for authentic stories to share, curious about different cultural experiences, and inspired to curate a community who, like her, seeks to be in good company.  In this episode, Mollie and I discuss:  Lessons she learned while working for brands like Anheuser-Busch, True Food Kitchen, and a couple of startups in hospitality Mollie’s thoughts on how the next generation of travelers will discern where to go and where to stay Her hot takes on how the next generation of travelers thinks about loyalty programs The biggest opportunities she sees for folks to build successful brands and businesses in this space Stream Stay in Good Company Visit Mollie's Website This episode is brought to you by our friends at StayFi. StayFi is enables you to create a custom branded WiFi splash page for your short-term rental’s WiFi — similar to what you might experience when logging onto the WiFi network at your favorite coffee shop.  StayFi enables you to collect the contact info of every guest staying with you, not just the one who booked…because who doesn’t need the wifi?  So if you want a frictionless way to capture guest contact info and empower your direct booking strategy with more data, sign up for StayFi at StayFi.com and use the discount code “BTS” for 20% off of your first year… If you chat with the team there, be sure to tell them that Zach from Behind the Stays sent you their way!  Have you signed up for Ping yet? Ping makes it easy for guests to be notified when their favorite Airbnbs become available — and it's the secret tool the best Airbnb hosts use to maximize bookings. Sign up today at bnbping.com About the Show Behind the Stays is brought to you twice a week by Sponstayneous — a free, biweekly newsletter that brings subscribers the best last-minute deals and upcoming steals on Airbnb.   You can subscribe, for free, at www.sponstayneous.com.  Behind the Stays is hosted by Zach Busekrus, co-founder of Sponstayneous, you can connect with him on Twitter at @zboozee.  

Meet Assaf Karmon, Co-founder & CEO of Turno — a marketplace that helps vacation rental hosts and property management companies simplify and automate cleaning. Assaf was born and raised in Israel and as a kid his dream was to be a professional soccer player. And while that dream never came to fruition, in part because Assaf spent most of his early sports career sitting on the bench, the determination, boldness, and focus he garnered as a child trying to level up his game, has enable him to become the entrepreneur he is today. In this episode, Assaf and I discuss:  The founding story of Turno The recipe for a successful working relationship with your cleaning team What separates the best cleaning teams from the rest of the pack His thoughts on working with one team in a market vs a multiple teams in the same market to reduce risk And the biggest opportunities he sees for entrepreneurs building new companies in the hospitality space Oh, and one last thing — Turno has graciously offered Behind the Stays listeners a $150 Amazon Gift Card after you complete your first turnover with them!  Simply go to turno.com/behindthestays to claim this offer before March 31st, 2024.  This episode is brought to yo buy our friends at Booklee. Booklee like a Linktree designed exclusively for Airbnb hosts and STR property managers.  If you’re listening to this podcast, chances are you’re a hospitality entrepreneur that cares about building a brand for your Airbnb/STR business and that’s why many of you invest so much time into building your presence on Instagram. Knowing where to direct your Instagram followers to is always a challenge: Should you send them to your Airbnb listing directly to show off your incredible reviews?  Or to your direct booking site which is a little clunky to navigate on mobile but will save you 10-15% if your follower books direct?   Or maybe you’re testing out VRBO and Booking.com  Well, what’s amazing about Booklee is that you don’t have to decide.  Booklee allows you to create a stunning link-in-bio page that showcases everything about your property across all platforms. Booklee pulls in and aggregates your reviews across Airbnb, VRBO, and other OTAs, and invites guests to book via your direct booking site or their preferred OTA. Get 20% off your first year of Booklee when you reference Behind the Stays at checkout.  Have you signed up for Ping yet? Ping makes it easy for guests to be notified when their favorite Airbnbs become available — and it's the secret tool the best Airbnb hosts use to maximize bookings. Sign up today at bnbping.com About the Show Behind the Stays is brought to you twice a week by Sponstayneous — a free, biweekly newsletter that brings subscribers the best last-minute deals and upcoming steals on Airbnb.   You can subscribe, for free, at www.sponstayneous.com.  Behind the Stays is hosted by Zach Busekrus, co-founder of Sponstayneous, you can connect with him on Twitter at @zboozee.

Meet Jake and Leslie, the creators of the Lighthouse Cottage, an oceanfront escape in Cape May, New Jersey.  Jake and Leslie had always dreamed of owning a beach house, but acquiring a property in the competitive Cape May market seemed out of reach. That is until one day Leslie was scrolling on Zillow and noticed a new listing for a 100 year old property located right on the beach. The home clearly needed a lot of work but something about its character spoke to Leslie…and within hours she had called the realtor, packed the car, and paid the place a visit. And that visit?  Well, it’d end with Leslie calling Jake to convince him that this was the place they’d been searching for. Tune in to hear the story behind: How the couple renovated the home to dramatically improve its aestetic without losing the heart and soul of the property The pros and cons of DIY How they used design, photography, and Instagram to book the home out for the entire season in just 11 days What the future holds for the couple  And so much more Alright friends, without further ado, get ready to meet Jake and Leslie.  Follow The Lighthouse Cottage on Instagram Book your stay at The Lighthouse Cottage This episode is brought to you by Summer.  Summer takes the headache out of owning a vacation rental by taking care of sourcing, designing, furnishing and managing your home. What makes Summer especially unique is the pathway to ownership that they offer — think of this as an option to “try before you actually buy an Airbnb”  Here’s how Summer’s Gradual Ownership model works: You work with Summer to find the perfect vacation rental — one that’s in a market that you want to vacation to and also in a market that makes sense for a vacation rental. Summer guides you through the whole discernment process of where, when and what kind of home to buy. When you find the right home, put down a downpayment of 15+% but Summer buys the home for you and holds it for up to two years — during this time you can buy back the home from them any time you are ready or, after the two year period you can decide you DON’T want the home and get a full refund of your down payment. Also, Summer covers all of the closing costs and fees for the upfront purchase on the home, as well as furnishing and design. This means you pay far less out of pocket than you would if you bought the home yourself from day one. So if you’ve been looking for a way to beta test the whole Airbnb game, this is your sign. Go and chat with my new friends at Summer and tell them that Zach from Behind the Stays sent you their way. Have you signed up for Ping yet? Ping makes it easy for guests to be notified when their favorite Airbnbs become available — and it's the secret tool the best Airbnb hosts use to maximize bookings. Sign up today at bnbping.com About the Show Behind the Stays is brought to you twice a week by Sponstayneous — a free, biweekly newsletter that brings subscribers the best last-minute deals and upcoming steals on Airbnb.   You can subscribe, for free, at www.sponstayneous.com.  Behind the Stays is hosted by Zach Busekrus, co-founder of Sponstayneous, you can connect with him on Twitter at @zboozee.