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
Friday May 05, 2023
Friday May 05, 2023
Meet Amy Dourson from Red River Gorgeous, a collection of unique cabins, treehouses, and instagram-famous cliff houses in Kentucky’s Red River Gorge.
Growing up, Amy wanted to be a doctor. So, she spent a lot of her time studying as she was determined to go to medical school.
But, after a series of adventurous and serendipitous events, Amy fell in love with carpentry and decided to exchange her dreams of becoming a doctor with a new dream to become a builder.
When Amy met her husband Aaron, his family owned a few cabins in the Nada Tunnel Road in the heart of the gorge. The business — if you could call it that — was hanging on by little more than a wing and a prayer.
As Amy saw it, the couple had two options — let the family business run its course or adopt a new vision of building a collection of unique stays that would introduce the world to the geological wonders of the Gorge that she had fallen in love with.
The couple chose the latter.
Tune in to hear how Amy transformed a side-hustle family business into a thriving hospitality brand, how she’s strategically partnered with folks like Canopy Crew to build one-of-a-kind treehouses, how she’s built the right team to support the company’s growth, and her vision for the future of travel and hospitality.
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.
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 02, 2023
Tuesday May 02, 2023
Meet Ben Wolff — Founder and Creator of Onera — a truly one-of-a-kind collection of unique escapes in the Texas Hill Country.
Ben is no stranger to hospitality entrepreneurship. Prior to starting Onera, Ben founded and grew ProTripper, a property management services platform, and Blink Hospitality, a data-driven, vacation rental company with hundreds of properties across the US.
But then something happened in early March 2020 that changed everything. Ben was overseas celebrating the prior year’s successes with a team he had built in the Philippines when his phone began vibrating uncontrollably. Guests were canceling their stays as news broke that the WHO had announced that COVID-19 was now a pandemic.
And while COVID crushed Ben’s core business, which primarily focused on STRs in urban locations, it inspired him to think bigger, bolder, and more creatively than ever before.
Tune in to hear the story behind how this set of seemingly-doomsday day events led to the creation of an innovative hospitality company offering luxury, eco-focused, unique stays in beautiful, natural landscapes.
Follow Ben on Twitter
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.
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 Apr 28, 2023
Friday Apr 28, 2023
Meet Chelsea Dunckley — the Founder of Digs Co, a hospitality company that specializes in creating elevated vacation rentals in Central Washington and the Greater Phoenix area.
Chelsea and her husband Luke have always loved real estate. After getting married, you’d often find the couple working on nights and weekends flipping homes while discussing the latest trends in design, real estate, and hospitality.
But it wasn’t until Chelsea received some unexpected news from the tech company she worked at that she and her entire unit were to be let go that she decided to try her hand at transforming Digs Co from a fun side hustle into her full time gig.
In this conversation, Chelsea and I discuss the power and importance of brand building, why Chelsea is so discerning about the properties she chooses to manage for clients within the context of the Digs Co. brand, how and why she’s structured her portfolio into thematic collections, and much more.
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.
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 Apr 27, 2023
Thursday Apr 27, 2023
In this special episode, Zach sits down with Amy from Allbelongco to discuss the viral story behind her missing painting. One of Amy's recent Airbnb guests stole a painting and then REPLACED it with one of his own.
Amy posted about this on Instagram and TikTok...and it went viral! Tune into the riveting, somewhat unbelievable story behind this mystery unfolding (in real time) in Lynchburg, Virginia.
Follow Allbelongco on Instagram.
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.
You can subscribe, for free, at www.sponstayneous.com.
Tuesday Apr 25, 2023
Tuesday Apr 25, 2023
Meet Jacob Halverson, the General Manager of Mendocino Grove — a luxury glamping resort on 32 wooded acres in Mendocino County, California.
After studying hospitality management at Lakeland University, Jacob started his career as a front desk manager at Custer State Park Resort in South Dakota. Since then, he’s helped launch luxury boutique hotels, started his own hospitality consultancy, and, currently, serves as the General Manager at Mendocino Grove.
In this lively conversation, Jacob and I discuss the massive opportunity that exists in the luxe camping space, how to increase revenue and profitability when you’ve reached the ceiling for your nightly rate, and the future of experiential travel.
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.
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 Apr 18, 2023
Tuesday Apr 18, 2023
Meet Jenny Power, the creator of The Cornerstone Cottage, a carefully restored historic home near Acadia National Park in Lamoine, Maine.
Jenny wasn’t looking for a vacation rental — and while she enjoys hosting at her home in Houston, Texas the idea of becoming a short-term-rental host wasn’t remotely on her mind.
Jenny’s family are long-time Mainers and she grew up spending lots of time in The Pine Tree State. And so when Jenny and her husband Allan visited Maine in the latter half of the pandemic, they were reminded just how magical this part of the world really is…and mere moments after this realization while on a walk down the street, they stumbled upon a For Sale sign on an impeccable waterfront property.
Tune in to hear the vibrant story of how Jenny and Allan acquired The Cornerstone Cottage, which had once been a part of a hotel that families like the Vanderbilts and the Rockefellers used to stay in on their way to Bar Harbor and Acadia National Park, and carefully brought it into its next chapter of life.
Follow The Cornerstone Cottage on Instagram
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.
Friday Apr 14, 2023
Friday Apr 14, 2023
Meet John Stokinger — Co-Host of the No BS Short-Term Rental Podcast and the Director of Sales at Direct, a SaaS platform for short-term rental property and reservation management.
In this wide-ranging conversation, John and I talk about his time at the popular start-up, Hopper, how to build better technology platforms for short-term rental hosts, the pros and cons of industry events, and the powerful network effects of podcasting.
Connect with John on LinkedIn
Check out The No BS Short-Term Rental Podcast
Learn more about Direct.
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.
Tuesday Apr 11, 2023
Tuesday Apr 11, 2023
Meet Travis Wilburn and Rebecca Lombardo — the founders of The 100 Collection, a curation of the best properties from trusted vacation rental brands on a mission to set the gold standard for hospitality.
Travis has built and run companies in travel and hospitality for well over a decade. His working knowledge spans every level of his organizations, from operations to business development, to maintenance.
And Rebecca is seasoned marketing executive with 15 years of experience developing brands and content for travel publications like Yahoo Travel and Orlando Magazine as well as several Fortune 100 companies.
In this episode, this dynamic duo unpack their vision for a new era and standard of hospitality for the short-term and vacation rental markets and discuss crucial topics like:
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How to build a loyalty program in the vacation rental market
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How to fight back against the market-share owned by OTAs like Airbnb
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How to grow a meaningful, consumer-facing hospitality brand
-
And much more
Connect with Travis and Rebecca on LinkedIn.
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.
Friday Apr 07, 2023
Friday Apr 07, 2023
In just a moment you’ll meet Doug Heestand, the owner of the Desert of Maine, a unique and intriguing roadside attraction located in Freeport, Maine.
In this podcast interview, Doug shares his journey of transforming the Desert of Maine from a simple tourist attraction to a thriving hospitality company.
We explore the origins of the Desert of Maine, its unique geological features, and the challenges Doug faced when taking over the business. He shares how he implemented innovative strategies and creative ideas to rebrand the attraction and turn it into a destination that offers a range of exciting activities and experiences for visitors.
Throughout the conversation, Doug emphasizes the importance of taking risks, embracing change, and following your passion when pursuing your entrepreneurial dreams.
Doug's inspiring story and valuable insights will leave you feeling motivated and inspired to pursue your own entrepreneurial dreams and make a positive impact on the world.
Book a Stay at the Desert of Maine
Follow the Desert of Maine on Instagram
This episode is brought to you by our friends at Guesty for Hosts...
Will you send them a quick message thanking them for being a sponsor? You can email them here or DM them on social media here!
While there are many property management softwares on the market, I always encourage our listeners to check out Guesty For Hosts.
Guesty's channel manager centralizes reservations across Airbnb, Vrbo and Booking.com to stay on top of your listings without having to hop back and forth between channels.
Guesty’s automation tools enable you to connect with guests in a meaningful, creative, and instant fashion.
Guesty’s new and improved Website Builder allows you to create your own branded booking website in just minutes…allowing you to grow your brand and increase your direct bookings.
And finally, Guesty is positioned well to grow with you. As your business grows, you can grow with Guesty For Pros, unlocking new features and offerings designed for larger portfolios.
So here’s the deal. If you’re an. STR host without a PMS system or a host looking at exploring a new one, I’ve got a treat for you.
The team at Guesty is giving Behind the Stays listeners and Sponstayneous subscribers $20 off an annual or monthly plan of Guesty For Hosts when they use the discount code “SPONSTAYNEOUS” when signing up for a free 14 day trial - no credit card, set up fee, or commitment required — and cancel anytime if you don't love it.
Guesty For Hosts — they’re the bestie of top-rated STR super hosts!
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 Apr 04, 2023
Tuesday Apr 04, 2023
Meet Janice Stitzer, the creator of The Back Country A-Frame in Kremmling, Colorado.
One afternoon Janice was flipping through a Dwell magazine when she stumbled upon a piece about a new start-up called DEN, which was selling plans for some of the most beautiful cabins she had ever seen.
Janice was so impressed by the gorgeous DEN designs, particularly their designs for A-Frames, that right then and there she decided it was time to put her dream of building a short-term-rental from the ground up to life.
In this podcast, Janice shares her journey of how she was first inspired to build an A-Frame Airbnb, the challenges she faced during the process and we delve deep into the topic of budgeting for a new A-Frame build and discuss the actual cost of building an A-Frame near Rocky Mountain National Park.
Follow the Back Country A-Frame on Instagram
Stay at the Back Country A-Frame
This episode is brought to you by our friends at Guesty for Hosts...
Will you send them a quick message thanking them for being a sponsor? You can email them here or DM them on social media here!
While there are many property management softwares on the market, I always encourage our listeners to check out Guesty For Hosts.
Guesty's channel manager centralizes reservations across Airbnb, Vrbo and Booking.com to stay on top of your listings without having to hop back and forth between channels.
Guesty’s automation tools enable you to connect with guests in a meaningful, creative, and instant fashion.
Guesty’s new and improved Website Builder allows you to create your own branded booking website in just minutes…allowing you to grow your brand and increase your direct bookings.
And finally, Guesty is positioned well to grow with you. As your business grows, you can grow with Guesty For Pros, unlocking new features and offerings designed for larger portfolios.
So here’s the deal. If you’re an. STR host without a PMS system or a host looking at exploring a new one, I’ve got a treat for you.
The team at Guesty is giving Behind the Stays listeners and Sponstayneous subscribers $20 off an annual or monthly plan of Guesty For Hosts when they use the discount code “SPONSTAYNEOUS” when signing up for a free 14 day trial - no credit card, set up fee, or commitment required — and cancel anytime if you don't love it.
Guesty For Hosts — they’re the bestie of top-rated STR super hosts!
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.