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
Wednesday Apr 06, 2022
Wednesday Apr 06, 2022
In just a moment you’ll meet Ryan Killeen — General Manager of The Annex Hotel.
You might call Ryan a child of the hospitality industry. He grew up traveling the world with his mom who worked in the luxury hotel space, and had the privilege of encountering a diverse set of cultures and experiences all around the world.
Ryan studied hotel management in college, and while in school, he started cleaning bathrooms and making beds with the housekeeping team at the Fairmont Pacific Rim, which was considered Vancouver’s definitive luxury hotel.
His hard work paid off, and when an opportunity to join the opening team in Dubai at Fairmont the Palm arose, Ryan took it!
After a couple of years, Ryan became interested in the budding space of short-term rentals, so he took jobs at both Sonder and Airbnb.
But Ryan has always been entrepreneurial so when a new opportunity to join a hospitality start up came his way, he took it.
Tune in to hear the story behind The Annex — a new hospitality concept marrying the best of boutique hotels, Airbnb and cutting edge technology that Ryan and his team are developing.
Book Your Stay at The Annex Hotel Here.
Connect with Ryan on LinkedIn Here.
This week's episode is brought to you Guesty for Hosts — the bestie of top-rated Airbnb hosts.
Wednesday Mar 30, 2022
Wednesday Mar 30, 2022
Meet Margaret Shutze — the creator and owner of Flat Mountain Farm, a luxury escape and events venue in the Appalachian Mountains of Highlands, North Carolina.
Margaret has helped design some of the world’s most incredible luxury hotels working on projects for The Ritz Carlton, Belmond, Waldorf Astoria, and the Four Seasons.
And it was her love for design and hospitality that inspired her and her husband Chris to take a risk and build a couple of Airbnb’s and a micro-events venue on the 3 acre lot they lived on in Colorado.
To their surprise, it was a hit! So much so that they began to dream of something even bigger…
Tune in to hear the story behind how Margaret and Chris bought a magical, rustic, 28-acre plot of land and transformed it into a haven that they call Flat Mountain Farm.
Book your stay at Flat Mountain Farm
Follow Flat Mountain Farm on Instagram
This week's episode is brought to you Guesty for Hosts — the bestie of top-rated Airbnb hosts.
Friday Mar 18, 2022
Friday Mar 18, 2022
Meet Alex Breen, founder of BnB Buyer — a biweekly newsletter that brings subscribers a list of new Airbnb and other short term rentals that are for sale.
Alex grew up vacationing in short term rentals — in fact his family was an early adopter of VRBO.
One afternoon, while Alex was in Dublin, his parents were scouting out second homes around Lake Norman in North Carolina.
They stumbled upon an incredible home for sale and, after speaking with the realtor, discovered that the home was being used as a short term rental.
Knowing that there was a reputable history of bookings gave Alex’s family the confidence they needed to purchase the home. And it was this experience that sparked the idea for what would become BnB Buyer.
You can subscribe to BnB Buyer for free here.
This week's episode is brought to you Guesty for Hosts — the bestie of top-rated Airbnb hosts.
Saturday Mar 12, 2022
Saturday Mar 12, 2022
Meet Mike Belleme — the creator of The Nook, an obsessively handcrafted Airbnb just outside Asheville, NC.
Growing up, Mike loved to skateboard — at one point he even thought he might go pro.
But as he grew up, another craft he had dabbled in began to pique his interest even more.
And that craft was photography.
Mike’s incredible focus and unrelenting pursuit of perfection has landed him gigs with media companies like National Geographic, Time Magazine, Rolling Stone, and The New York Times.
And while his passion has been, and continues to be, storytelling through the medium of still images, Mike recognizes that photography has its limits when it comes to evoking emotion and changing perspectives.
And it was this recognition, in part, that inspired him to build a story in the form of a house, which became The Nook.
Tune in to hear how Mike and his wife Kristen created a tiny home where Japanese aesthetic intersects with Anthropologie-esque accents and where everything from your coffee mug to the tile in the bathroom is handmade by a local artist.
This week's episode is brought to you Guesty for Hosts — the bestie of top-rated Airbnb hosts.
Monday Feb 28, 2022
Monday Feb 28, 2022
In just a moment you’ll meet Joshua Nunnally, the creator of The Shelltown Sanctuary in San Diego, California.
Joshua is an artist. Originally from Fresno, Joshua moved to San Diego to go to architectural school. A few years afterwards, in late January of 2020, he stumbled upon a home in southeast San Diego that seemed almost too good to be true.
When Joshua and his now husband bought the place, they had no intention of listing it on Airbnb. But after COVID hit, Joshua found himself with more time on his hands.
And with it, he decided to transform his home into an artistic oasis complete with original art pieces, pottery, and more than 25 live plants.
Once the rainforest master bathroom, speakeasy guest bathroom, and insta-worthy backyard space were all finished, Joshua knew this space was just too cool to not share with others.
Tune in to hear the story behind how Joshua brought The Shelltown Sanctuary to life.
Book you stay at The Shelltown Sanctuary
This week's episode is brought to you Guesty for Hosts — the bestie of top-rated Airbnb hosts.
Wednesday Feb 23, 2022
Wednesday Feb 23, 2022
In just a moment you’ll meet Steven and Kylee Niederhauser, the founders of Arrivls, a boutique vacation rentals management company based in San Diego, California.
Steven and Kylee have always loved to travel. They are the kind of people that would rather book a last-minute weekend getaway than wine and dine at California’s latest Michelin star restaurant.
After traveling in Europe for four years, they decided to move to San Diego. They really wanted to live near Mission Beach but weren’t sure how to make it work financially…and that’s when the idea came to them.
What if they bought a duplex and rented half of the house out as an Airbnb?
And while they didn’t know it at the time, this idea would ultimately enable the couple to leave their jobs and build one of Southern California’s top-rated collections of short term rentals.
You can:
Check out the entire Arrivls collection on their website
Follow the Rockaway House on Instagram
Follow Arrivls on Instagram
This week's episode is brought to you Guesty for Hosts — the bestie of top-rated Airbnb hosts.
Wednesday Feb 09, 2022
Wednesday Feb 09, 2022
Get ready to meet Amy Corbett Co-Founder of All Belong Co — a collective of short term rentals based in Lynchburg, Virginia.
Amy and her husband Marc have a rich story. The couple has been married for over twenty years and have two amazing children through the gift of adoption.
After working in campus ministry for 17 years, they left salaries and financial stability and even their community behind in order to go “all in” on their life-long side hobby of renovating houses until they could figure out what was next.
They started their first Airbnb in 2018 and the couple was instantly hooked. It became clear that creating these welcoming spaces where anyone could belong was not just a mission, but a calling for their family. They were made for this.
Tune in to hear the inspiring story of how Amy and her family, who often feel as though there aren’t enough places where they truly “fit”, built a budding short-term-rental empire that focuses on crafting welcoming spaces not just where people can stay, but where they can truly belong.
Learn more about Amy and the All Belong Co story by visiting their website or following her on Instagram.
Behind the Stays is brought to you by Sponstayneous — a newsletter that brings you the best last-minute deals and upcoming steals on Airbnb twice a week. You can subscribe, for free, here.
Wednesday Feb 02, 2022
Wednesday Feb 02, 2022
In just a moment you’ll meet Navid Safabakhsh, the creator of Safa Farms — a boutique eco-hotel featuring a collection of cabins outside of Guadalajara, Mexico.
Navid is a serial entrepreneur.
He founded an agency that helped build products for companies like eBay, Comcast, and LinkedIn before founding a company called Placeit which was a design and mockup tool for creatives that he’d eventually sell to Envato — the leading marketplace for creative assets.
After spending several years building his various businesses, Navid wanted to work on a different kind of project — a project that felt more like play and less like work and somehow conjoined hospitality with sustainability.
Tune in to hear the impressive story of how Navid designed an adventurous farm escape in harmony with the environment and ecosystem around it.
You can book your stay at Safa Farms here and follow them on Instagram here.
Behind the Stays is brought to you by Sponstayneous — a weekly newsletter that brings you the best last-minute deals and upcoming steals on Airbnb. You can subscribe, for free, here.
Thursday Jan 27, 2022
Thursday Jan 27, 2022
In just a moment you’ll meet Kayla Stormont — the creator of The Apex Cabin in Big Bear, California.
When Kayla would go to a toy store or jewelry shop as a kid, and ask her mom for a trinket or a pair of earrings, her mom wouldn’t often say, “No, I’m not buying you that, you could make that yourself.”
And while she didn’t know it at the time, this encouragement would serve her well as an adult.
As a native of the Island of Hawaii, Kayla has always loved the mountains. So when she visited Big Bear for the first time after moving to LA, she knew she needed to find a way to acquire a mountain home.
Tune in to hear the story of how Kayla went from cutting drywall in a Lowe's parking lot on a Friday night to transforming a historic, 1960s A-Frame into a contemporary modern escape.
Book your stay at The Apex Cabin here and follow The Apex on Instagram here.
Behind the Stays is brought to you by Sponstayneous — a weekly newsletter that brings you the best last-minute deals and upcoming steals on Airbnb. You can subscribe, for free, here.
Wednesday Jan 19, 2022
Wednesday Jan 19, 2022
In just a moment you’ll meet Kelly Cronin — the creator of Cronin's Castles, which is a new collection of unique short-term rentals.
Kelly has always loved to travel and refers to herself as a professional travel hacker — she once scored an $11 Southwest flight from Wisconsin to Puerto Rico!
By the time she visited all 50 states, Kelly had fallen in love with too many places…and she began to brainstorm ideas for how she might ensure that she return to some of her favorites.
And that’s when she started seriously looking into acquiring unique tiny homes that she could transform into short-term rentals.
And before long, she bought a home in Vieques, Puerto Rico…and then one in Alaska…and then another in Utah…oh, and this was all over the course of one year…while she was still living thousands of miles away from all locations in Wisconsin.
Tune in to hear the delightful story of how Kelly transformed her dream of owning a little part of the places she loves most into a reality — a reality which guests from around the world can also enjoy.
Learn more about Kelly's vision — and book one of her stays — by visiting the links below: