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 Jun 06, 2023
Tuesday Jun 06, 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 Hans Lorei — Head of Design at Investmet.com and one of the most beloved designers in the short-term rental and boutique hospitality corners of the internet.
Hans was working at a bar in Nashville when he overheard a couple of real estate developers discussing a new luxury build they were working on nearby, and something about their conversation sparked inspiration in Hans.
He asked if he could come and check out their project and the duo said yes. And while Hans couldn’t have known it at the time, this would prove to be a pivotal moment in his life and the first step in his journey to becoming a realtor, learning the ropes of development, and applying his creative talents to the hospitality space.
In this conversation, Hans and I discuss:
- Why STR hosts should invest way more in design
- Why hosts should think about their yards as an extension of their homes
- How to ensure that every item you buy for your STR is aligned with your brand
- And loads more.
Get excited for a riveting and inspirational conversation with one of my favorite follows on Twitter.
Create your free Minoan account
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 Jun 02, 2023
Friday Jun 02, 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 Jason and Monique — the founders of The Vermont A-Frame…one of the OG instagram famous A-Frames in New England.
Jason grew up vacationing in Vermont, but it wasn’t until he took Monique up from Jersey for a weekend that the couple realized how special this part of the country really was.
Soon after that trip, Jason and Monique began dreaming about how they might own a vacation home in the area that they could escape to on long weekends and perhaps rent out to others on occasion.
Tune in to hear the story of how the couple found the perfect A-Frame (after visiting more than 20 others!) and transformed it into one of the most desirable vacation homes in the Green Mountain State.
In this episode, I chat with Jason and Monique about:
- What it was like owning a unique stay back in 2017 and how their business has been impacted since the covid boom
- The best and worst experiences they’ve had with creators and influencers
- Why they often ignore their dynamic pricing tools in favor of attracting the core guest avatar
- And so much more.
Book Your Stay at The Vermont A-Frame
Follow The Vermont A-Frame 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 May 30, 2023
Tuesday May 30, 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 Nate Vietz, founder of Content House — one of the most exciting media agencies serving the short-term rental community.
After graduating from high school, Nate began working as a line cook. He loved the creative outlet that cooking offered so much so that he wound up starting his own meal prepping business.
And then covid hit…and, overnight, Nate’s entire business model had to shift. It was stressful to say the least, but it was this world-changing moment that inspired him to pause and think about what he really wanted to do in the next chapter of his life.
Tune in to hear the story behind the opportunity Nate saw to help hospitality entrepreneurs build their brands on social media through a unique approach to content creation, social media strategy, and audience development.
In this episode, Nate and I discuss:
- How he convinced internet-famous Airbnb personalities like Levi Kelly and Isaac French to work with him
- How he’s helped dozens of clients go viral on Instagram and TikTok
- The key to creating great content that doesn’t break the bank
- How to measure the value of your Airbnb’s following on social media
- and much more
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.
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 May 26, 2023
Friday May 26, 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!
About the Episode:
Meet Sani Djaya, the creator of Moonbase — a next generation luxury campground designed to help make stargazing accessible to all.
Sani is a product manager by trade. After graduating from University of Maryland College Park, he traded the east coast for the west coast and has spent the last few years working for tech startups.
Sani has always loved the outdoors, so when he learned that his girlfriend had never been stargazing, he knew he had to change this reality as quickly as possible. But there was one BIG problem…his girlfriend wasn’t thrilled about sleeping in a sleeping bag in a tent on top of a mountain.
And that’s when Sani had an idea…what if he could design a luxe camping experience that would enable you to stargaze to your heart's content AND get the best night of sleep you ever had…and, that’s when the idea for Moonbase was born.
In this episode, Sani and I chat about:
- How he ran a Google Ads campaign to validate his idea
- Why he launched an IndieGoGo campaign to raise some initial cash for Moonbase
- The story behind how he discovered Jupe and his thoughts on the benefits of pre-fab structures
- And how he plans to scale Moonbase over the next 12-24 months.
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.
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 May 24, 2023
Wednesday May 24, 2023
Download the full free report . Oh, and be sure to start your 14-day free trial of Uplisting at at https://www.uplisting.io/bts-podcast and, once you’ve fallen in love with all that this platform has to offer, get 20% off of your first year of Uplisting when you use the code BTS20 at checkout.
Welcome to Episode 3 of a special 3-part podcast series on The State of the Short-Term Rental Industry brought to you by my friends at Uplisting — one of the most powerful property management systems on the market.
In this episode, Zach and Vinny (founder and CEO of Uplisting) chat about how to market your short-term rental portfolio in 2023 — and the approach different property managers take to promoting their listings.
About the series
Airbnb hosts and short-term rental operators often work independently without much intel as to how their peers are marketing their properties, increasing their booking rates, and how much money folks are actually making from their portfolios.
In order to address this issue, the Uplisting team took it upon themselves to collect and analyze data from their own customers as well as hundreds of other STR owners and operators in the industry.
This special podcast series will unveil some of the more interesting findings from this report and equip you with insight into how your business compares to others.
This episode and 3-part series is brought you to by Uplisting.
Whether you have a single property or hundreds of properties, Uplisting is designed to help you accelerate growth with incredible reliability, critical marketing automation and the most powerful direct booking engine on the market.
Start your 14-day free trial at uplisting.io/bts-podcast and, once you’ve fallen in love with all that this platform has to offer, get 20% off of your first year of Uplisting when you use the code BTS20 at checkout — but act fast, because this offer expires on June 30th, 2023 at midnight!
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 May 19, 2023
Friday May 19, 2023
Meet Hayden Laverty, Founder of CHJ Development, a real-estate developer in Portland, Oregon focused on acquiring, designing, and constructing the city’s most significant short-term-rental residences.
Hayden learned pretty early on in life that he wasn’t cut out for the traditional 9 - 5.
After working at two internships during his junior and senior years of college at Intel and Price Water Cooper, Hayden realized that he loved working hard, pushing the envelope of convention, and didn’t have much patience for bureaucratic friction.
So, after graduating from Arizona State University, Hayden decided to shoot his shot by starting his own business.
Connect with Hayden on LinkedIn
In this episode of Behind the Stays, Hayden shares:
1. The story behind the opportunity he saw in the short-term rental real estate development and management game
2. How he’s scaled his business to over 200 units under management
3. Why he thinks OTAs like Airbnb should charge hots more
4. What he’s learned as a young entrepreneur about the importance of focus, grit, and differentiation.
This episode is brought to you by DEN Outdoors.
You’ve seen them all over Instagram…
You may have also seen them in Dwell Magazine….
And if you love design, travel, and hospitality, chances are you’ve even dreamed about what it would be like to build your very own A-Frames, Cabins, or Barnhouse with their designs.
DEN Outdoors began because its founders knew that building a cabin changes who you are, having a cabin changes how you live, and sharing a cabin changes how you engage with others.
I’ve met so many incredible hosts in the short-term-rental community who have used DEN designs to build their bespoke escapes, many of whom have been guests on this podcast.
And now, it brings me SO much joy to announce that we’ve partnered with DEN to bring you an exclusive discount on their digital design plans.
By using the discount code SPONSTAY50 at checkout, you can get ANY of DEN’s digital plans for 50% off…that’s right…5-0.
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.
Thursday May 18, 2023
Thursday May 18, 2023
Download the full free report . Oh, and be sure to start your 14-day free trial of Uplisting at at https://www.uplisting.io/bts-podcast and, once you’ve fallen in love with all that this platform has to offer, get 20% off of your first year of Uplisting when you use the code BTS20 at checkout.
Welcome to Episode 2 of a special 3-part podcast series on The State of the Short-Term Rental Industry brought to you by my friends at Uplisting — one of the most powerful property management systems on the market.
In this episode, Zach and Vinny chat about how much money you can actually make from short-term rentals based on new data uncovered by the aforementioned report.
About the series
Airbnb hosts and short-term rental operators often work independently without much intel as to how their peers are marketing their properties, increasing their booking rates, and how much money folks are actually making from their portfolios.
In order to address this issue, the Uplisting team took it upon themselves to collect and analyze data from their own customers as well as hundreds of other STR owners and operators in the industry.
This special podcast series will unveil some of the more interesting findings from this report and equip you with insight into how your business compares to others.
This episode and 3-part series is brought you to by Uplisting.
Whether you have a single property or hundreds of properties, Uplisting is designed to help you accelerate growth with incredible reliability, critical marketing automation and the most powerful direct booking engine on the market.
Start your 14-day free trial at uplisting.io/bts-podcast and, once you’ve fallen in love with all that this platform has to offer, get 20% off of your first year of Uplisting when you use the code BTS20 at checkout — but act fast, because this offer expires on June 30th, 2023 at midnight!
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 May 16, 2023
Tuesday May 16, 2023
Meet Robin Craigen, Co-Founder and CEO of Moving Mountains —a luxury collection of lodging properties in Steamboat Springs, Beaver Creek, Vail, and Breckenridge, Colorado.
Robin began his hospitality entrepreneurship journey alongside his wife Heather at sea. Yes, you heard that right, the Craigens ran a luxury yacht charter business around the British Virgin Islands.
And while sailing the stunning waters of the BVI was nothing short of a dream, Robin and Heather had higher aspirations. The couple moved to Steamboat Springs, Colorado, and decided to open up a ski chalet business.
And that business? Well they called it Moving Mountains and today, they manage more than 200 properties across in Colorado’s most desirable ski towns.
In this conversation, Robin shares:
- His musings on the current state of the vacation rental industry
- His thoughts on how to best leverage OTAs
- How he’s scaled a team to manage 200+ properties with the kind of service and attention to detail of a 5-start resort
- Why he thinks Moving Mountains generates so many returning guests
- How he’s thinking about growing in other vacation destinations with his soon-to-be-launched sub-brands Moving Beaches and Moving Oceans.
Book your stay at a Moving Mountains property.
Connect with Robin on LinkedIn.
This episode is brought to you by our friends at Minoan.
If you have more than one short-term-rental, chances are you use a system for your property management — something like Guesty or Uplisting.
Well, Minoan is a TOTALLY FREE system that hosts use for furnishing and refreshing their homes.
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!
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.
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 May 10, 2023
Wednesday May 10, 2023
Download the full free report . Oh, and be sure to start your 14-day free trial of Uplisting at at https://www.uplisting.io/bts-podcast and, once you’ve fallen in love with all that this platform has to offer, get 20% off of your first year of Uplisting when you use the code BTS20 at checkout.
Welcome to a special 3-part podcast series on The State of the Short-Term Rental Industry brought to you by my friends at Uplisting — one of the most powerful property management systems on the market.
Over the next three weeks, join Vinny Breslin, Co-Founder and CEO of Uplisitng, and yours truly, Zach Busekrus from Behind the Stays, as we unpack Uplisting’s latest trends report .
Airbnb hosts and short-term rental operators often work independently without much intel as to how their peers are marketing their properties, increasing their booking rates, and how much money folks are actually making from their portfolios.
In order to address this issue, the Uplisting team took it upon themselves to collect and analyze data from their own customers as well as hundreds of other STR owners and operators in the industry.
This special podcast series will unveil some of the more interesting findings from this report and equip you with insight into how your business compares to others.
Uplisting invites you to download the full, free report via the link in the show notes below.
Alright folks, without further ado, grab a cup of coffee or your favorite evening cocktail and settle in for an informative and timely 3-part conversation.
This episode and 3-part series is brought you to by Uplisting.
Whether you have a single property or hundreds of properties, Uplisting is designed to help you accelerate growth with incredible reliability, critical marketing automation and the most powerful direct booking engine on the market.
Start your 14-day free trial at uplisting.io/bts-podcast and, once you’ve fallen in love with all that this platform has to offer, get 20% off of your first year of Uplisting when you use the code BTS20 at checkout — but act fast, because this offer expires on June 30th, 2023 at midnight!
Tuesday May 09, 2023
Tuesday May 09, 2023
Meer Eric Moeller, Founder + CEO of Freewyld — a curated collection of properties designed to inspire awe and bring people together launching this summer in Idyllwild, California.
Eric is no stranger to hospitality entrepreneurship. He is the co-founder of Overnight Success which is the engine behind short-term rental educational brands like Legends X 90-Day STR Accelerator, STR Legends Mastermind, Get Paid For Your Pad, and the Airbnb Profit Club.
Eric was also the co-founder and CEO of Koda Homes — a real estate investment, management and professional tenant company in San Diego.
In this lively conversation, Eric and I chat about the major opportunities that exist in the boutique hospitality space right now, why impeccable design is table stakes when it comes to short-term rentals today, the challenges of building membership programs as a highly-curated collection of stays, and much more.
This episode is brought to you by DEN Outdoors.
You’ve seen them all over Instagram…
You may have also seen them in Dwell Magazine….
And if you love design, travel, and hospitality, chances are you’ve even dreamed about what it would be like to build your very own A-Frames, Cabins, or Barnhouse with their designs.
DEN Outdoors began because its founders knew that building a cabin changes who you are, having a cabin changes how you live, and sharing a cabin changes how you engage with others.
I’ve met so many incredible hosts in the short-term-rental community who have used DEN designs to build their bespoke escapes, many of whom have been guests on this podcast.
And now, it brings me SO much joy to announce that we’ve partnered with DEN to bring you an exclusive discount on their digital design plans.
By using the discount code SPONSTAY50 at checkout, you can get ANY of DEN’s digital plans for 50% off…that’s right…5-0.
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.