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 Sep 06, 2022
Tuesday Sep 06, 2022
In just a moment, you’ll meet Vinny Breslin, founder of Uplisting — one of the industry’s leading short-term rental software & channel manager platforms.
Vinny was born and raised in Ireland. If you were to stumble into his room as a young kid, you might find Vinny taking apart a computer or a radio.
When he was 14 years old, he started building websites and was pleasantly surprised when he learned that people would pay him to do such.
He went to school for civil engineering and after graduation started working for a SaaS startup building products and services for the travel industry.
And it was during this season in his life where he started thinking about starting his own company in the hospitality management space.
Tune in to hear the entertaining story of how Vinny Breslin brought Uplisting to life.
This week's episode is brought to you by Mount.
Tuesday Aug 30, 2022
Tuesday Aug 30, 2022
Meet Arthur Colker, Founder and CEO of StayFi.
Growing up, Arthur thought he wanted to be a politician. He was intrigued by how power and influence could move society forward.
After going to school in DC and interning on The Hill, Arthur realized that while he loved following politics, working in it wasn’t quite for him.
And while he couldn’t have known it at the time, this realization was the first major stepping stone in his journey to becoming an entrepreneur and in founding StayFi — a wifi portal for short term rentals that allows hosts to capture crucial data from their guests.
Now you’re going to meet Arthur in JUST a second here, but, before you do so, I have a gift for you.
Arthur has offered listeners of Behind the Stays 50% off their first 3 months of StayFi.
So, if you’re inspired by what Arthur and his team are building and want to leverage their tools to grow your STR business, head on over to StayFi.com and use the discount code BTS50 at check out for 50% off the first 3 months of your subscription.
You can connect with Arthur on Twitter or learn more about StayFi here.
This week's episode is brought to you by Mount.
Tuesday Aug 23, 2022
Tuesday Aug 23, 2022
In just a moment you’ll meet Jason Neil — the creator of Golden Tiny Homes – a collection of minimalist short term rentals in Golden, British Columbia.
Growing up, Jason liked working with his hands. He always had an eye for making things better and this perspective ultimately led him to become a builder — like his father before him.
Jason has also always loved the outdoors — in fact he spends half the year surfing in Mexico and the other half snowboarding in British Columbia.
One summer while surfing in Baja, Jason’s buddies started talking about the emerging Cannabis industry and the business opportunities that surrounded it.
Tune in to hear the incredible story of how Jason built up a Cannabis business only to sell it and use the profits of his exit to start building Golden Tiny Homes.
Alright, without further adieu, get ready to meet Jason.
This week's episode is brought to you by Wander.
Tuesday Aug 16, 2022
Tuesday Aug 16, 2022
Meet Chad Ludeman, Co-Founder of Post Green Homes and Lokal Hotel.
Chad moved around a lot as a kid, but spent high school in upstate New York. He’s an engineer by trade, but an entrepreneur at heart.
Courtney, Chad’s wife and business partner, was Chad’s most critical sounding board — she shot down most of his business ideas until he started talking about real estate.
There was one idea, in particular, that Chad and Courtney both agreed was worth pursuing and that was to build a 1,000 square foot house for $100k. This project was the birth of the couple’s first business, Post Green Homes.
And while they learned a lot through this venture, they realized that their hearts were really in the hospitality space. And it was this realization that ultimately led them to found Lokal Hotel — a collection of design driven boutique luxury hotels.
Tune in to hear the exciting story of how Chad and Courtney built their brand and their first three hotels.
Book your stay at a Lokal Hotel
Follow Lokal Hotel on Instagram
This week's episode is brought to you by Wander.
Tuesday Aug 09, 2022
Tuesday Aug 09, 2022
Meet Dylan Petrich — Co-Founder of Wilder Ways, a Texas-based hotel brand and management company.
Dylan was born in Paris but grew up in London. After graduating from university he went to work in finance and split his time between London and New York.
While finance was fascinating, Dylan grew tired of just looking at numbers — he wanted to get into the game of business and be an operator.
So, when an opportunity presented itself to move into the hospitality space by joining a new startup, The Guild, Dylan took it.
After a couple of years of learning a lot about hospitality, real estate, and startups the entrepreneurship bug bit Dylan…and he wondered what it would look like to start his OWN hospitality brand and business.
Tune in to hear the exciting story of how Dylan built Wilder Ways.
This week's episode is brought to you by Wander.
Wednesday Aug 03, 2022
Wednesday Aug 03, 2022
Meet Conrad O'Connell (@conradoconnell), Founder and CEO at BuildUp Bookings, a digital marketing agency that helps STR hosts increase direct bookings & build their brands.
Conrad was working at a marketing agency after college. This agency onboarded a new client in the boutique hotel space and Conrad was assigned to the account.
Pretty instantly, Conrad fell in love with the hospitality space — so much so that he wound up leaving the agency to start a firm of his own.
Tune in to hear Conrad share new ideas for how to market STRs, an overview of the most common marketing mistakes that STR hosts make, and how to know if/when it might be time to move off of Airbnb.
This week's episode is brought to you by Wander.
Tuesday Jul 26, 2022
Tuesday Jul 26, 2022
Meet Debbie Todd, creator of The Woodlands at Hocking Hill.
Debbie is a physical therapist and mother of three by day, and an STR host by night.
Debbie and her husband Jeff were looking for a vacation home that they could get away to a couple of weekends a month. The idea of renting it out wasn’t totally off the table, but certainly wasn’t a priority.
Then one weekend, in the spring of 2020, the family decided to list the property on Airbnb. And, well, it instantly took off…so much so, in fact, that the Todd family was rarely able to stay there!
This traction inspired Debbie and Jeff to start searching for another home in Hocking Hills.
Tune in to hear the inspiring story of how Debbie and Jeff found the property which they’d transform into the Woodlands Lodge and how they’ve designed their budding STR business to give back to the community.
Alright, without further ado, get ready to meet Debbie.
Book The Woodlands at Hocking Hills.
This week's episode is brought to you by Wander.
Tuesday Jul 19, 2022
Tuesday Jul 19, 2022
Meet Madison Rifikin — Founder and CEO of Mount, a platform designed to help short term rental hosts upsell their guests.
Madison has always been a tinkerer. In 5th grade, she had the opportunity to enroll in an innovation program…and she was pretty much hooked on building things after that.
One of the first products she built was a smart bike lock, which she’d go on to sell to some of the most well-known scooter brands in the industry.
Tune in to hear the fantastic story of how selling locks to the Bird’s and Lime’s of the world led to Madison building a platform for STR hosts to turn just about anything into a rentable amenity.
Learn more about Mount by visiting their website.
Connect with Madison on LinkedIn
This week's episode of Behind the Stays is brought to you by Ping — the secret tool the best Airbnb hosts use to maximize bookings.
Ping makes it easy for guests to be notified when their favorite Airbnbs become available.
Ping is a simple widget that lives on your website (or direct booking site) and allows your fans and followers to sign up to be notified if their preferred dates become available.
Here’s how it works.
Jimmy sees that you’re booked the whole month of October, but he wants to be notified if any 3-night window in the month becomes available.
Jen is a returning guest and wants to be notified if any week in June, July, or August becomes available.
In a matter of seconds, Jimmy and Jen fill out the simple form and will be Pinged if their requested dates become available.
And as a host, you will immediately get pinged via email with Jimmy and Jen’s contact information and requested dates enabling you to build up your own database of guest email addresses.
Ping — it's what the best Airbnb hosts use to maximize bookings.
Sign up for free at www.bnbping.com
Tuesday Jul 12, 2022
Tuesday Jul 12, 2022
Meet Jack Buck — a hospitality entrepreneur working on his first luxe vacation rental concepts in Sedona, New Orleans, and The Boulders in Arizona.
Buck fell in love with travel after taking a motorcycle trip across Vietnam a few years ago. The beauty and adventure the country offered, coupled with the community he found while traveling, inspired him to work on projects in and the travel industry.
Discover his thoughts on the democratizing of hospitality brand building, why he thinks the future of travel will be communal, and how he’s designing highly-experiential stays for the next generation of travelers.
Follow Buck on Twitter here: https://twitter.com/buckshotio
This week's episode of Behind the Stays is brought to you by Ping — the secret tool the best Airbnb hosts use to maximize bookings.
Ping makes it easy for guests to be notified when their favorite Airbnbs become available.
Ping is a simple widget that lives on your website (or direct booking site) and allows your fans and followers to sign up to be notified if their preferred dates become available.
Here’s how it works.
Jimmy sees that you’re booked the whole month of October, but he wants to be notified if any 3-night window in the month becomes available.
Jen is a returning guest and wants to be notified if any week in June, July, or August becomes available.
In a matter of seconds, Jimmy and Jen fill out the simple form and will be Pinged if their requested dates become available.
And as a host, you will immediately get pinged via email with Jimmy and Jen’s contact information and requested dates enabling you to build up your own database of guest email addresses.
Ping — it's what the best Airbnb hosts use to maximize bookings.
Sign up for free at www.bnbping.com
Tuesday Jul 05, 2022
Tuesday Jul 05, 2022
In just a moment, you’ll meet Justine Palefsky, co-founder of Kindred — a members-only community for home swapping.
Growing up, Justine loved to read, ideate, and create. Her parents originally moved to San Francisco to follow the Grateful Dead and encouraged Justine to dream big and take bold risks even if others didn’t quite get it.
Justine has always loved to travel. When COVID hit, Justine, like many folks, started dreaming about what it would look like to live in different cities throughout the year.
She started looking into buying short term rentals in markets like Tahoe, but soon realized that, for her, it was less about owning real estate, and more about having the ability to live and work in different locations throughout the year.
And it was this revelation that sparked the initial idea which would become Kindred.
Follow Justine on Twitter here.
Learn more about Kindred by visiting their website.
This week's episode of Behind the Stays is brought to you by Ping — the secret tool the best Airbnb hosts use to maximize bookings.
Ping makes it easy for guests to be notified when their favorite Airbnbs become available.
Ping is a simple widget that lives on your website (or direct booking site) and allows your fans and followers to sign up to be notified if their preferred dates become available.
Here’s how it works.
Jimmy sees that you’re booked the whole month of October, but he wants to be notified if any 3-night window in the month becomes available.
Jen is a returning guest and wants to be notified if any week in June, July, or August becomes available.
In a matter of seconds, Jimmy and Jen fill out the simple form and will be Pinged if their requested dates become available.
And as a host, you will immediately get pinged via email with Jimmy and Jen’s contact information and requested dates enabling you to build up your own database of guest email addresses.
Ping — it's what the best Airbnb hosts use to maximize bookings.
Sign up for free at www.bnbping.com