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- Founder, VRMB
Tom Goodwin of Mountain Laurel Chalets in Gatlinburg, Tennessee is celebrating 50 years of making limited edition memories for guests. In this episode we dive into his direct marketing techniques, which are among the most holistic and comprehensive we have ever encountered.
Mountain Laurel Chalets: www.mtnlaurelchalets.com
Rue Bar Rue: https://www.ruebarue.com
Track: https://trackhs.com
Bomb Bomb...
- Founder, VRMB
Rick Oster’s career has had many twists and turns. He spent most of his professional life climbing the corporate ladder as an overworked executive in the television & cable industry, and then took a detour to building his own aquatic installation company. Eventually, a curious insight led him to build his first vacation rental, a business he had zero experience in. Now, as the owner of Oster Golf Houses, Rick...
- Koloa Kai
The vacation rental (VR) industry is undergoing a renaissance as the COVID-19 pandemic transitions out of its position of global dominance. Our industry has received an enormous amount of press in the past few years—some good and some bad—all of it culminating in increased awareness of what our industry offers.
The term “renaissance” is used deliberately here. Some refer to our industry as “new” or “young,” but...
- Founder, VRMB
In this episode we dive into a case study on Santa Barbara and Theo Kracke, the man who sued his hometown and won. We dedicate a lot of time on this podcast to finding compromise and working with local government, but in the face of outright bans it doesn't always work. Theo's solution took a great deal of time, energy and resources, but his victory has ripple effects for vacation rental regulation across...
- Founder, VRMB
In this episode, two of the industry's top thought leaders reminisce on their friendly rivarly and come together with insights meant to push the whole industry forward.
This episode is brought you by PointCentral: https://www.pointcentral.com/vrmb/ the leaders in smart home automation, and Breezeway, https://www.breezeway.io/vrmbthe best in class property care and automations platform.
Join VRMB Communities...
- Founder, VRMB
Cliff Johnson was the first icon interview I ever recorded: it's fair to say that Cliff was the reason behind the whole icon series...I was talking to him at lunch, fascinated by his background and his attitude about life, and basically just really curious to learn more about him.
Cliff is one of the more recognizable names in the vacation rental industry. He can be seen at most of the top conferences on panels...
- Founder, VRMB
Graham Donoghue is CEO of Sykes Cottages, arguably the largest profitable vacation rental management company in the world. He brings a unique perspective to our industry, having presided over some of the largest digital-led businesses across the UK. In this mega-episode Matt and Graham tackle how to build a team, how to wield data, how to buy and sell vacation rental companies and...nudgies.
Sykes Cottages...
- Founder, VRMB
In this episode we unpack Dana's final takeaway of the season, that professional operators have a huge chance to differentiate themselves from the casual Airbnbers that often come to the table with us. And that strict and complicated laws may end up stifling the path to professionalism.
Ryan Dame of Casago joins to give us the perspective of a large manager dealing with regulatory issues across the country...
- Founder, VRMB
In this experimental podcast format, I aim to address one subject matter that has the industry buzzing and break it down for our listeners.
[Note: Our normal interview podcast schedule sponsored by our friends at PointCentral will not be interrupted.]
This episode addresses an article on Amy Hinote's VRM Intel site titled, titled "GSV Initiates Technology Rollup in the Vacation Rental Industry including...
- Founder, VRMB
Today's episode features Maria Schuh, owner of Mistiso's Place in Nelson, British Columbia, Canada. In this episode, Maria talks about ways that effectively allow her to navigate the threats that seem to hold a lot of VR owners back and how dancing influences the way she goes about life.
This episode is brought to you in partnership with OwnerRez, a property management software that covers small homeowners and...
- Founder, VRMB
Mike Copps is the Executive Director of the VRMA which aims to be the singular voice of vacation rental owners and managers throughout the world.
Any industry needs a trade association, but for a young and emerging industry like vacation rentals it is especially critical.
Take a chance to meet Mike and learn about his background and the experiences he uses to make his leadership decisions today.
If you want...
Report of Survey results - includes questions. Can be used by VR managers to better understand guest behaviour in order to tailor property amenities / services to them.
- Founder, VRMB
Prior to launching Season 9: Homerunners this week, Matt sat down with Breezeway founder and perennial Unlocked sponsor Jeremiah Gall to discuss highlights from last season and the state of the industry moving forward.
Episode One of Homerunners featuring Lukas Krause of Skyrun Vacation Rentals drops with the VRMB newsletter Thursday September 8th.
This episode is brought you by PointCentral...
- Founder, VRMB
In this episode we dig into the issues and possibilities involved with zoning laws as they pertain to short term rentals. We're joined again by Jarret Skorup of the Mackinac Center for Public Policy and by Alex Haler, a host that stopped renting in Denver due to harsh regulations and has since joined his local planning commission in Leadville, CO.
By engaging with policy at the planning commission level...
- Founder, VRMB
@Sherry Woodhouse and Darrel Looney are two of my all-time favorite vacation rental marketing heroes. They curate their stunning Villa Mais Oui in Jamaica from their home in Central Illinois. A true remote Limited Edition business. It has not been easy for them: but when you hear WHY they do this, a clear and inspirational picture of our industry starts to emerge.
Here are some of the powerful lessons that...
- Founder, VRMB
Sean Miller is the President of PointCentral, the sponsor of this podcast. And I just want to say up front that including him in the series was not required or part of the sponsorship contract or anything: Sean's just a really interesting and smart guy...someone I was really curious to learn more about.
I had the chance to sit down with Sean in Barcelona Spain at the Kigoworld conference. And he possesses this...
- Founder, VRMB
Jodi Refosco has built her Taylor-Made Deep Creek Vacations into a veritable empire in Deep Creek Maryland, but it wasn’t an easy start. She grew up with vacation rentals as the family business, but restarted in the depths of the financial crisis with a single property.
From paying cleaning staff by taking on late night snow-plow work to dealing with competitors, owners, and guests - Jodi has invaluable...
- Founder, VRMB
Viktoria Ujj spent 16 years in leadership roles at luxury hotels around the world before settling in Maui and developing Sunny Maui Vacations. In this virtual sit-down with Matt, she talks about the tough realities facing the Hawaiian vacation rental market and how she is using all of her hospitality knowledge to keep her business and her 'Ohana' strong for a brighter future.
Please visit our sponsors, which...
- Founder, VRMB
Shelby Fletcher is the president of the The Dallas Short Term Rental Alliance...a very well organized advocacy group with more than 800 members focused on achieving fair, lasting regualtions in the Dallas area. They've faced years of delay, tough anti groups and backroom politics but they're making headway and the next step may be to bring in professional political help. At the same time, efforts are underway...
- Founder, VRMB
In this special episode, Terry and Matt announce the winners of the 2021 VRMB Keystone Awards! The theme of this year's awards is agility and they cover property management software for any size vacation rental business as well as several categories of third party software.
Thank you to Vintory for bringing us this year's Keystone Awards. Vintory is the only sales and marketing agency in the vacation rental...
- Founder, VRMB
Brad Stewart of Stewart Mountain Lodging in Sundance, Utah is one of my best buddies in the industry. I think it’s fair to say that I admire his work as much as he appreciates mine.
More specifically, I really admire how Brad thinks in systems and processes. And as a property manager, one of Brad’s big turning points was with regards to his owners: like we’d strengthen any good relationship, he and Vicky created...
- Founder, VRMB
In this episode Matt sits down with Andrew McConnell of Rented.com for some must-listen industry analysis and...a few 'twerks'.
This episode is brought to you by Point Central, the leaders in smart home automation, and Breezeway, the best in class property care and automations platform.
I asked @AMcConnell to share his most startling discoveries from nearly 10 years of vacation rental startup grinding. This...
- Founder, VRMB
This is a Quick Tips episode of Unlocked, where Matt shares actionable wisdom from VRMB Communities.
"Moments of engagement” is one way of thinking about those special interactions in which you win over guests, turning them from stranger to friend (and reviewer/repeat/referral booker). Moments of engagement are interactions that connect us: the openings for lines of communication and meaningful relationships...
- Founder, VRMB
In this episode Pam Knudsen, Senior Director of Compliance Services at Avalara, gives us perspective on advocacy efforts across the country through the lens of lodging tax data.
We've been hearing a lot this season about outright bans and a curious reluctance by cities to take the economic impact of vacation rentals into account when creating regulation.
Pam shares a more nuanced, hopeful outlook as well as...
- Founder, VRMB
Welcome to How to Save Your Vacation Rental, a 10-part educational podcast series hosted by vacation rental advocate Dana Lubner that will teach you how to solve your business’ greatest looming threat -- unfair regulation -- from the ground up.
In this episode, we take a look back at the season and provide our 'super-takeaways' from this journey through community-based advocacy. Our voices from around the...
Welcome to VRMB!
I’m Matt Landau, the founder of this forum. It was created in 2016 when a group of us wanted a safe space to discuss our growing STR businesses.
Today, you can join our community of 1,000+ creative, thoughtful, and generous members who believe in a better future.
Spotlight
Discover "Unlocked: The Intermission" - a captivating 6-part podcast series featuring the individuals who have shaped Matt Landau's horseradish in the past 6 months.