Welcome to Behind the Stays — a podcast that shares the stories behind your favorite boutique hotels, short-term rentals, and hospitality brands and the hosts, operators, and entrepreneurs who’ve brought them to life. Every Tuesday and Friday you’ll meet the military veterans, retired flight attendants, tech entrepreneurs, school teachers, single moms, hoteliers, and real estate investors who are all, in their unique ways, shaping the future of travel and hospitality. Discover how these visionaries — from all over the world — have built stunning landscape hotels in the mountains, designed bohemian bungalows on the beach, erected eclectic off-grid and nature-immersed escapes, and so much more. Behind the Stays is brought to you by Journey — a first-of-its-kind loyalty program that brings together an alliance of the world’s top independently owned and operated stays and allows travelers to earn points and perks on boutique hotels, vacation rentals, treehouses, ski chalets, glamping experiences and so much more. Behind the States is hosted by Zach Busekrus, Head of the Journey Alliance.
Episodes
Tuesday Jan 02, 2024
Tuesday Jan 02, 2024
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.
Tuesday Dec 19, 2023
Tuesday Dec 19, 2023
Meet Rob Patterson, an incredible hospitality leader whose most recent post was as the CEO of Best Western in the United Kingdom.
Rob grew up in a very remote town in the country of Australia. Growing up, Rob dreamed of becoming a professional footballer — so much so that when an opportunity to move to Sydney to pursue his dream came to fruition, he left home without thinking twice.
And while he never wound up playing football professionally, Rob did stumble into another profession while living in the big city — and that profession, well, you guessed it folks, was working in hospitality.
In this episode you’ll discover:
- What Rob learned during his first hospitality job working in housekeeping at a Hilton
- How dynamic pricing and the internet revolutionized the hospitality industry
- How Rob led Best Western through the pandemic and gained brand equity at a time when so many other hotel companies were struggling
- Why he believes branding in the industry has lost its way and been driven more by investor needs than consumer needs and the opportunity for independent brands to stand out with clear, distinctive identities in light of this reality
- And so much more
Alright friends, without further ado, get ready to meet Rob.
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.
Friday Dec 15, 2023
Friday Dec 15, 2023
Meet Amber and Charlie Pledge — the founders of Kabn Company, a new hospitality brand focused on creating luxurious, and sustainable nature-immersed escapes.
Amber and Charlie have always loved to travel. The couple has been fortunate enough to live and work in major hubs of innovation like London, San Francisco, and Dubai.
And while Amber and Charlie both love working hard, climbing the corporate ladder just started to feel, well, a bit unfulfilling.
Tune in to hear the story behind how this couple left their day jobs to go and build their first two escapes on the west coast of Scotland.
In this conversation we discuss:
- How their travels to Japan, India, and Africa all helped inspire the design of their first cabins
- The benefits of long-term leases when building your first site
- What Amber and Charlie learned about how to balance sustainability and luxury when building their cabins
- How they secured a MICHELIN-Star chef to offer incredible personalized dining experiences for their guests
- And so much more
Book your stay at The Kabn Company
Follow The Kabn Company 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 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.
Tuesday Dec 12, 2023
Tuesday Dec 12, 2023
Meet Steve Turk — a decorated professional who has spent over two decades working in luxury hospitality.
Steve’s father was a susccessful attorney. From time to time, his dad would bring him along on work travel and Steve remembers being in total awe at the hotels he and his dad would stay in.
There was something so magical about walking into an ordnately decorated hotel lobby and being greeted as if you were some kind of royalty that left a significant impression on Steve.
As Steve began thinking about what he wanted to do with his life during his later high school years, he assumed he’d just become a lawyer like his dad was.
But there was an idea that Steve just couldn’t shake…this nagging that pulled at his heart. And that nagging was a desire to work in hospitality.
Tune in to hear the remarkable story of:
- How Steve worked his way up to executive roles at Loews, Nobu, Mandarin Oriental and other luxury hotel brands
- Why he wound up leaving these coveted roles to become a hospitality entrepreneur
- And why he’s now building a luxury micro resort focused on sustainability and agritourism in South Florida.
Listen to his podcast The Hospitality Mentor
Friday Dec 08, 2023
Friday Dec 08, 2023
Meet Ashley and Andy — the creators of The Glass Treehouse, a stunning couple’s stay in Banner Elk, North Carolina close to downtown Boone.
Andy is a mechanic by trade. After spending years working in the airline industry, he decided to open up his own auto body shop in Charlotte, North Carolina. While Ashely and Andy loved the benefits that came with owning a small business, the couple dreamed of one day leaving Charlotte to move to the mountains.
One day while scrolling through Zillow, Andy stumbled upon a house that had been on the market for 3 years…and, while he couldn’t have known it at the time, this dilapidated home that had been passed over hundreds of times would one day become one of Airbnb’s most wish-listed stays in the entire United States.
Follow The Glass Treehouse on Instagram
Book a Stay at The Glass Treehouse
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.
Tuesday Dec 05, 2023
Tuesday Dec 05, 2023
You've been asking what we've got planed for 2024 — so here's a sneak peak!
I'm calling this episode our "Winter Housekeeping" pod so if you’re just here for the guests I bring onto the show and don’t care too much about what we’re building at Sponstayneous or the community we’re cultivating through Behind the Stays, I am not offended, just ignore these episodes when they pop-up into your feed.
But, if you ARE cheering us on and curious about what’s been happening behind the scenes of Behind the Stays, then lend me your ears for the next few minutes.
We'll chat about:
- Hitting 1,000 subscribers to our YouTube Channel — if you haven't watched our videos, you can do so here.
- A big update to Sponstayneous
- StayWatch — Google Flight Alerts but for Airbnbs
- How hosts are using our Ping product to increase their nightly rates
- The expansion of our host partner program
I want to hear from YOU! Send me an email at Zach@sponstayneous.com with your ideas on how we can take the show up a couple of notches in 2024!
Friday Dec 01, 2023
Friday Dec 01, 2023
Meet Jake Pontius — Co-Founder of Nook, a collection of North America’s most remarkable landscape hotels and outdoor accommodations.
After working as a business analyst at a timeshare company, Jake left the corporate world to pursue his passion of brewing craft beer and it was during this season of his life where he first fell in love with hospitality.
Now while Jake fell in love with the industry while working in food and beverage, his family is no stranger to hospitality. Jake’s father, David, actually spent his career working in executive capacities at RCI, Hilton, and Bluegreen Vacations.
In this episode, Jake and I discuss:
- Why he and Michael Goldin from Storied Collection and building Nook
- The value of building soft brands in hospitality
- What his predictions on the future of experiential travel are
- Why he’s bullish on landscape hotels and outdoor accommodations
- And so much more
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.
Tuesday Nov 28, 2023
Tuesday Nov 28, 2023
Meet Margot Schmorak, Co-Founder and CEO of Hostfully — one of the hospitality industry’s leading technology companies.
Margot started her career working in marketing at Apple during one of the company's most pivotal eras. She remembers the launch of the very first iPhone quite vividly since she was the only person on the marketing team to NOT receive a phone since she was just an intern at the time.
In this conversation, Margot and I discuss:
- The lessons she learned about marketing, startups, and company culture during her time at Apple
- Where the idea for Hostfully first came from
- How Hostfully grew from a digital guidebook to a full-fledged property management platform
- How much money Hosttfully has raised so far
- Why she started a community for venture-backed founders who are also moms
- The gaps she seems in the hospitality tech space
- And so much more…
Learn more about Hostfully here
Listen to Margot's Episodes of The Pitch Podcast
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.
Wednesday Nov 22, 2023
Wednesday Nov 22, 2023
Welcome to Episode 3 of Mastering Vacation Rental Marketing — a special Behind the Stays podcast series brought to you in collaboration with my friend, Conrad O’Connell, Founder and CEO of BuildUp Bookings, one of the most respected marketing agencies for vacation rental managers and hospitality entrepreneurs.
Conrad just published an incredible book “Mastering Vacation Rental Marketing” which serves as a strategic guide designed for vacation rental managers, hosts, and STR professionals eager to scale their business without becoming overly reliant on Online Travel Agencies (OTAs) like Airbnb, Vrbo, or Booking.com.
Over the next three weeks, you’ll get a sneak peek into the frameworks, case studies, strategies and data that Conrad shares in his book. If you’d like to purchase the book, you can do so via the Amazon link below OR if you’d like a digital copy of the book Conrad is offering a free digital version to Behind the Stays listeners (you can find a link to download the book in the show notes below).
Stream Episode 1 of Mastering Vacation Rental Marketing
Stream Episode 2 of Mastering Vacation Rental Marketing
Buy Mastering Vacation Rental Marketing on Amazon
Download a free copy of Mastering Vacation Rental Marketing
Connect with Conrad on LinkedIn
Learn more about how BuildUp Bookings can help you scale your business
Recent episodes you might enjoy:
- The Future of Vacation Rental Management Companies — Stories and Ideas from a Former VRMA President
- A Panel Discussion on the Future of Short-Term Rental Investing with Wander, Techvestor, and Arrived
- How They’re Building a New Hotel Brand from Scratch
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.
Friday Nov 17, 2023
Friday Nov 17, 2023
Meet Paul Kromidas, an industry trailblazer who transitioned from a strategic role at Airbnb to founding Summer, a company revolutionizing the vacation rental space.
This episode delves into Paul's insights on the shifting dynamics of property management and his innovative approach to vacation home ownership.
Tune in as we explore:
- Paul's key learnings from his tenure at Airbnb and their influence on Summer's vision.
- The concept behind Summer: Empowering aspiring vacation home owners with a risk-free trial of property ownership.
- The unique 'gradual ownership' model: A gateway for hesitant investors to step into the vacation rental market.
- How Summer addresses the quality versus quantity debate in property management.
- The challenge of balancing brand consistency with local uniqueness in vacation rentals.
- The future of vacation rental management: Predictions and strategies from a seasoned insider.
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.