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 Aug 22, 2023
Tuesday Aug 22, 2023
Meet Sébastien Long, founder of Lodgeur — a furnished living, on-demand product that gives traveling professionals and digital nomads the service and consistency of a hotel with the spaciousness and function of a stylish home.
While Sébastien has spent the better part of his professional career working big corporate jobs he actually grew up immersed in hospitality entrepreneurship — his parents owned and operated a vacation resort on the island of Corsica, just off the coast of France.
After traveling around the world working in banking for HSBC, in 2017 Sébastien was recruited to help launch Sonder in the UK. He got a front row seat to the big opportunities and big challenges of launching and scaling a consumer-facing property-management brand.
Tune in to hear the exciting story of the series of events that led him to write his master’s thesis on hospitality interior design at Cambridge, leave the UK and move to Houston, Texas, and how he built and scaled Lodgeur.
This episode is brought to you by OwnerRez — the property management software most-loved by professional vacation rental mangers.
If you’re in the market for a better platform to help you manage your STR portfolio, OwnerRez is offering Behind the Stays listeners 30% off the first 3 months…all you gotta to is mention Behind the Stays when talking to a team member at OwnerRez!
Also, in about 15 minutes from now, you’ll get to hear an exclusive chat I had with Tyann Marcink, an industry leader who LOVES OwnerRez. So head on over to ownerreservations.com and give OwnerRez a good lookover!
I want to meet you all in person!
Annette and Sarah from Thanks for Visiting were kind enough to invite me to come speak at TFVCON on SEO Strategy for STR Hosts and I can’t wait to participate in this dynamic event.
I’d love to meet all you listeners in PERSON…so please consider coming to the event. You can use the discount code “BTS” as in “Behind the Stays” at checkout for $150 off any ticket level.
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 Aug 16, 2023
Wednesday Aug 16, 2023
Meet Taylor Jones, Head of Acquisition at Techvestor, one of my favorite STR thought leaders to follow on social media, and a good friend of the Behind the Stays podcast.
After losing his sales job during COVID, Taylor spent hundreds of hours watching YouTube videos to learn all that he could about short-term rental real estate investing and the growing trend of experiential hospitality.
Today, he leads acquisitions at Techvestor, and in our chat, Taylor talks about everything he and his team have learned while building a portfolio of over 100 Airbnbs over the last 17 months.
Techvestor focuses on transforming run-of-the-mill single-family homes into unique, curated short-term rentals and Taylor shares the success they’ve found in sticking to and being bullish about this model.
Learn more about Techvestor here.
This episode is brought to you by OwnerRez — the property management software most-loved by professional vacation rental mangers.
If you’re in the market for a better platform to help you manage your STR portfolio, OwnerRez is offering Behind the Stays listeners 30% off the first 3 months…all you gotta to is mention Behind the Stays when talking to a team member at OwnerRez!
Also, in about 15 minutes from now, you’ll get to hear an exclusive chat I had with Tyann Marcink, an industry leader who LOVES OwnerRez. So head on over to ownerreservations.com and give OwnerRez a good lookover!
I want to meet you all in person!
Annette and Sarah from Thanks for Visiting were kind enough to invite me to come speak at TFVCON on SEO Strategy for STR Hosts and I can’t wait to participate in this dynamic event.
I’d love to meet all you listeners in PERSON…so please consider coming to the event. You can use the discount code “BTS” as in “Behind the Stays” at checkout for $150 off any ticket level.
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 Aug 11, 2023
Friday Aug 11, 2023
Meet Michael Goldin, Co-Founder of the Storied Collection — an exclusive collection of historic estates, castles and other unique residences-turned-accommodations, situated across the United Kingdom and Ireland.
Michael and his wife were searching for a much needed vacation as covid rules across the world began to subside.
They dreamed of staying in a beautiful castle, but the search was rather difficult and the historic properties were particularly hard to find.
After hours and hours of research, Michael finally found the perfect property… a property his family lineage could actually be traced to! The decision to book that property was a no brainer.
Tune into how this experiential feeling at the intersection of exploration and history led him to find co-founders to start Storied, a collection of the most richly historic and enjoyable places to stay in the world.
Michael is also one of the hosts of Good Morning Hospitality — stream the weekly morning show here or wherever you get your podcasts.
I want to meet you all in person!
Annette and Sarah from Thanks for Visiting were kind enough to invite me to come speak at TFVCON on SEO Strategy for STR Hosts and I can’t wait to participate in this dynamic event.
I’d love to meet all you listeners in PERSON…so please consider coming to the event. You can use the discount code “BTS” as in “Behind the Stays” at checkout for $150 off any ticket level.
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 Aug 08, 2023
Tuesday Aug 08, 2023
Meet Annette Grant and Sarah Karakain from Thanks for Visiting — one of the most popular, if not THE most popular short-term rental podcasts out there.
Sarah is an actress by trade and was hustling on Broadway when Airbnb first became available in NYC. She somehow convinced her husband to let her list their basement on Airbnb and, well, it wasn’t long before Sarah traded securing auditions for home acquisitions that she’d transform into short-term rentals.
Annette is an entrepreneur by trade who has helped launch and scale multi-million dollar businesses in and around Columbus, Ohio. Today, she partners with real estate investors to help them launch and scale their short-term rental portfolios.
In the episode you’ll hear the story of how Sarah and Annette met, the founding story of Thanks for Visiting, their thoughts on building a brand, and everything you can expect from their event TFVCON happening in Columbus, Ohio Sept 24th - 26th.
Annette and Sarah were kind enough to invite me to come speak at TFVCON on SEO Strategy for STR Hosts and I can’t wait to participate in this dynamic event.
I’d love to meet all you listeners in PERSON…so please consider coming to the event. You can use the discount code “BTS” as in “Behind the Stays” at checkout for $150 off any ticket level.
Friday Aug 04, 2023
Friday Aug 04, 2023
Today you'll re-meet Emily Padan, Ben Wolff, and Isaac French, founders of Hinter, Onera, and Live Oak Lake respectively — all three of these fine people were gracious enough to come BACK onto Behind the Stays.
In this first-of-its-kind panel podcast, this dynamic trio shares their experiences of working with hundreds of influencers and creators to promote their hospitality brands.
You’ll learn what they think does and doesn’t work when collaborating with influencers, how they structure their agreements and partnerships with folks, what they think about free night stays and giveaways, the gaps they see in the Airbnb creator space, and so much more…
Connect with Emily Padan on Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn
Connect with Isaac French on Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn
Connect with Ben Wolff on Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn
This episode is brought to you by our friends at Minoan.
Minoan provides hosts with a one-stop-shop to get hundreds of discounts on the world’s leading brands, and a system where you can manage all of the ordering, tracking, returns, etc. in one place. Saving you time and money!
Create your free account here and be sure to tell the team that Zach from Behind the Stays sent you their way!
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 Aug 01, 2023
Tuesday Aug 01, 2023
This episode is brought to you by our friends at Minoan.
Minoan provides hosts with a one-stop-shop to get hundreds of discounts on the world’s leading brands, and a system where you can manage all of the ordering, tracking, returns, etc. in one place. Saving you time and money!
Create your free account here and be sure to tell the team that Zach from Behind the Stays sent you there way!
Meet Julia Rossi — a Shark Tank alum turned hospitality entrepreneur.
Julia has spent the better part of her career working in corporate sales and marketing for a myriad of SaaS companies.
Back in 2015, Julia had an idea for a fairly niche product…that product was NeatCheeks — flavored face wipes for children. As a mom of young children, Julia knew how difficult it was to get kids to sit still while wiping their faces after a gooey snack, and that’s when the idea of NeatCheeks was born.
After securing an investment for Barbara Corcoran and building the brand over the next couple of years, Julia wound up exiting from the business so she could pursue her other passions of design and hospitality.
In this episode, Julia shares the founding story of her design consultancy Grey Domain, how she brought McKenzie Corner, an intelligently designed and fully-shoppable Airbnb, to life, and how Julia thinks STR hosts can leverage their spaces as more than just places to stay.
Connect with Julia on Instagram
Book a Stay at McKenzie Corner
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 Jul 28, 2023
Friday Jul 28, 2023
Please give a quick thank you to our sponsor for today’s episode, OwnerRez — the most loved and trusted property management software by professional vacation rental managers on the market.
Some of my best friends in the industry swear by OwnerRez so I’d highly encourage you to check them out and be sure to tell them that Zach from Behind the Stays sent you their way and they’ll give you an exclusive discount when you decide to purchase their software.
Meet Kevin Reardon, founder of The Shore House Hotel — a beachside lifestyle retreat built from a mid-century motel in North Wildwood, NJ.
Kevin grew up in a blue collar family. His idea of “success” looked like working on Wall Street, become a doctor, or becoming a lawyer, so after graduating from undergrad, he decided to pursue law and wound up getting his JD from the University of Pennsylvania.
After a couple of years working at a very prestigious firm, Kevin decided that what he really wanted to do was get into hospitality…becoming a hotelier was what he’d dream about on nights and weekends in-between very late nights at his firm’s office.
And then an opportunity to buy a fairly rundown motel on the Jersey shore presented itself. And there was something about this particular motel that seemed to speak to Kevin…so, he raised a little bit of money from friends and family and decided to take the plunge.
Tune in to hear the story of how Kevin build The Shore House Hotel, why he thinks STR owners and operators can make great hoteliers, and what his hot takes on the future of travel and hospitality look like.
Follow The Shore House Hotel on Instagram
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 Jul 25, 2023
Tuesday Jul 25, 2023
Meet Adam Norko, a former marine turned hospitality marketer extraordinaire.
Adam has spent the last two decades working in sales and marketing for a number of hospitality brands — everything from the PropTech side of the house to leading growth at vacation rental and STR management companies.
In this conversation, Adam and I talk about how marketing has evolved in the vacation rental industry, what shifts the smartest hosts are making right now to prepare for the next generation of guests, the opportunities that exist for entrepreneurs to build new brands and companies in the space, whether or not the future of hospitality is boutique, and so much more.
Adam is a wicked smart, wonderfully dynamic, and humbly passionate guy — y’all are going to love this episode.
Oh, and before we dive in, I want to give a quick thank you to our sponsor for today’s episode, OwnerRez — the most loved and trusted property management software by professional vacation rental managers on the market.
Some of my best friends in the industry swear by OwnerRez so I’d highly encourage you to check them out and be sure to tell them that Zach from Behind the Stays sent you their way and they’ll give you an exclusive discount when you decide to purchase their software.
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 Jul 21, 2023
Friday Jul 21, 2023
This episode is brought to you by our friends at Minoan.
Minoan provides hosts with a one-stop-shop to get hundreds of discounts on the world’s leading brands, and a system where you can manage all of the ordering, tracking, returns, etc. in one place. Saving you time and money!
Create your free account here and be sure to tell the team that Zach from Behind the Stays sent you there way!
Meet Samantha Pike, founder of The Hosting Societe — a private club for hosts who have mastered the art of experiential accommodations.
Back in 2018, Samantha launched her first vacation rental in Ontario — she had poured so much love and intention into the space that when she opened her calendar it booked out for 6 months almost immediately.
Samantha was stunned by the response and began wondering whether she had scratched an itch that the next generations of guests had for highly-curated short-term stays.
Sam started posting about her approach to hosting on Instagram and, before she knew it, folks with a similar heart for elevated hospitality began asking her to swap ideas and connect to share stories.
And it really was these requests that got Sam thinking about what it might look like to design a space where these exceptional creators of some of the world’s most beloved stays could come together.
Tune in to hear the inspiring story of how Sam built The Hosting Societe and what she thinks the future of travel and hospitality just might look like…
Learn more about The Hosting Societe
Connect with Samantha on Instagram
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 Jul 18, 2023
Tuesday Jul 18, 2023
Meet Matt Landau, the founder of VRMB — a vacation rental marketing blog and community for the world’s most innovative vacation rental professionals.
When Matt was a senior at the University of Richmond, he stumbled upon an alumni magazine that wound up changing his life.
On the cover of this magazine was an alum sitting in a hammock while on a beach in Costa Rica. While Matt had no idea what this guy did that enabled him to chillax in such a pristine aesthetic, he made up his mind then and there that he wanted to do whatever it was that this guy did.
And as it turned out, this guy had started the top luxury travel agency in Costa Rica. So Matt decided to shoot his shot and ask this guy to get together for a coffee next time he was in town…and, to Matt’s pleasant surprise, he did.
This opportunity was Matt’s foray into travel and hospitality and, while he didn’t know it at the time, this job would enable him to buy his own vacation rental management agency and, eventually, build a prolific online platform and membership community that thousands of professional operators all around the world would one day come to learn from and be inspired by.
This episode is brought to you by OwnerRez — the smartest property management software for vacation rental hosts. You can get a 30% discount on your first 3 months by mentioning Behind the Stays after booking a call or requesting more information from their team.
Learn more about OwnerRez here.
Learn more about the VRMB Community
Behind the Stays is brought to you by Sponstayneous — a carefully-curated newsletter that sends subscribers 150 of the best last-minute deals and upcoming steals on Airbnb twice a week. You can subscribe for free at www.sponstayneous.com.
Behind the Stays is hosted by Zach Busekrus (@zboozee) — Co-Founder of Sponstayneous. If you know of an Airbnb host you think we should have on the show, please reach out directly to Zach at zach@sponstayneous.com and he'd be happy to talk with them.