He Led Corporate Communications for the FIFA World Cup in Qatar — Now He’s Building a Platform for the STR Community

Meet James Varley — Founder of the Holiday Cottage Handbook and Varley Media. 

James has had an impressive career in media — taking jobs around the world to work in print, TV, radio, digital advertising and social media organizations large and small.

For the last ten years, James was living in Qatar leading corporate communications for last year’s FIFA World Cup organizing committee — how cool is that?

James first got into short-term rentals as he’d rent out his flat in London when traveling abroad for lengthy work assignments.  He was amazed by how much he loved the experience of hosting and by how lucrative this asset class could be.

After the World Cup finished in Qatar, he saw a gap in the STR media space for practical, helpful content that would help property managers grow their businesses. 

And, while he couldn’t have known it at the time, this observation would lead to the founding of a new platform for STR owners, operators, and media partners to connect, learn and grow.

This episode is brought to you by our friends at OptimizeMyBnB

I’ve been trying to find someone who I think understands the platform and marketing strategy better than me that I can refer you all to…

And I’m happy to say that I think I’ve found him.

Meet Daniel Rusteen — he’s a former Airbnb employee, full-time digital nomad, and author of “Optimize Your BnB” which has sold over 50,000 copies by word-of-mouth alone.

Daniel has lived on Airbnb for more than 2,500 nights and has helped hundreds of hosts via his consulting, his program, and his thought leadership, increase their listing’s rank on Airbnb.

If you’re newer to the STR space, or if your listings are starting to drop in rank, I want to encourage you all to do one of two things — if not BOTH — of the following:

1. Buy Daniel’s new book, “Profitable Properties: Airbnb Insider Secrets” — you can get it on Amazon for just $10
   
   
2. Join Daniel’s 9-week program and he’ll teach you everything you need to know about optimizing your STR for Airbnb, VRBO, Google Search, and beyond.  You can use the discount code BTS for 40% off the program between now and the end of the 2023 calendar year.

Daniel will teach you what the top 1% of short-term rental owners and managers already know about how to fully optimize their STRs across OTAs and beyond. 

Recent episodes you might enjoy:

• How British Airways and an Airbnb in Istanbul Inspired Him to Build a Glamping Destination in the Catskills
• Forget Vacation Destinations — He Builds Collections of Branded Airbnbs Near College Campuses
• He Was Airbnb’s 13th Employee — And Here’s What He Thinks the Future of the Hospitality Industry Will Look Like

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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.