Behind the Stays

Meet Jake and Leslie, the creators of the Lighthouse Cottage, an oceanfront escape in Cape May, New Jersey.  Jake and Leslie had always dreamed of owning a beach house, but acquiring a property in the competitive Cape May market seemed out of reach. That is until one day Leslie was scrolling on Zillow and noticed a new listing for a 100 year old property located right on the beach. The home clearl...

Meet Rob Patterson, an incredible hospitality leader whose most recent post was as the CEO of Best Western in the United Kingdom. Rob grew up in a very remote town in the country of Australia. Growing up, Rob dreamed of becoming a professional footballer — so much so that when an opportunity to move to Sydney to pursue his dream came to fruition, he left home without thinking twice. And while he n...

Meet Amber and Charlie Pledge — the founders of Kabn Company, a new hospitality brand focused on creating luxurious, and sustainable nature-immersed escapes. Amber and Charlie have always loved to travel. The couple has been fortunate enough to live and work in major hubs of innovation like London, San Francisco, and Dubai.   And while Amber and Charlie both love working hard, climbing the corpora...

Meet Steve Turk — a decorated professional who has spent over two decades working in luxury hospitality. Steve’s father was a susccessful attorney. From time to time, his dad would bring him along on work travel and Steve remembers being in total awe at the hotels he and his dad would stay in. There was something so magical about walking into an ordnately decorated hotel lobby and being greeted as...

Meet Ashley and Andy — the creators of The Glass Treehouse , a stunning couple’s stay in Banner Elk, North Carolina close to downtown Boone.  Andy is a mechanic by trade.  After spending years working in the airline industry, he decided to open up his own auto body shop in Charlotte, North Carolina. While Ashely and Andy loved the benefits that came with owning a small business, the couple dreamed...

You've been asking what we've got planed for 2024 —  so here's a sneak peak! I'm calling this episode our "Winter Housekeeping" pod so if you’re just here for the guests I bring onto the show and don’t care too much about what we’re building at Sponstayneous or the community we’re cultivating through Behind the Stays, I am not offended, just ignore these episodes when they pop-up into your feed. B...

Meet Jake Pontius — Co-Founder of Nook , a collection of North America’s most remarkable landscape hotels and outdoor accommodations.  After working as a business analyst at a timeshare company, Jake left the corporate world to pursue his passion of brewing craft beer and it was during this season of his life where he first fell in love with hospitality. Now while Jake fell in love with the indust...

Meet Margot Schmorak, Co-Founder and CEO of Hostfully — one of the hospitality industry’s leading technology companies.  Margot started her career working in marketing at Apple during one of the company's most pivotal eras.  She remembers the launch of the very first iPhone quite vividly since she was the only person on the marketing team to NOT receive a phone since she was just an intern at the...

Welcome to Episode 3 of Mastering Vacation Rental Marketing — a special Behind the Stays podcast series brought to you in collaboration with my friend, Conrad O’Connell, Founder and CEO of BuildUp Bookings, one of the most respected marketing agencies for vacation rental managers and hospitality entrepreneurs. Conrad just published an incredible book “Mastering Vacation Rental Marketing” which ser...

Meet Paul Kromidas , an industry trailblazer who transitioned from a strategic role at Airbnb to founding Summer, a company revolutionizing the vacation rental space.  This episode delves into Paul's insights on the shifting dynamics of property management and his innovative approach to vacation home ownership. Tune in as we explore: Paul's key learnings from his tenure at Airbnb and their influen...

Welcome to Episode 2 of Mastering Vacation Rental Marketing — a special Behind the Stays podcast series brought to you in collaboration with my friend, Conrad O’Connell, Founder and CEO of BuildUp Bookings, one of the most respected marketing agencies for vacation rental managers and hospitality entrepreneurs. Conrad just published an incredible book "Mastering Vacation Rental Marketing" which ser...

Meet Tim Harper, an innovator who left the digital marketing world to create Bubble Retreats , a unique hospitality experience in Victoria, Australia.  This episode takes you through Tim's inspiring journey from a memorable stargazing night in France to becoming a winner in Airbnb's OMG campaign. In this conversation, Tim and I explore: Tim's transition from online marketing to hands-on entreprene...

Meet Jeremy Hill, Co-Founder and CEO of Arcana — a next generation nature resort complete with seasonally immersive science-based experiences that help guests feel nature’s true restorative powers. Jeremy was working in banking and had climbed the proverbial and prestigious corporate ladder for years.  But one day, as he was staring out the window of his beautiful corner office, the question “what...

Welcome to Mastering Vacation Rental Marketing — a special Behind the Stays podcast series brought to you in collaboration with my friend, Conrad O’Connell, Founder and CEO of BuildUp Bookings, one of the most respected marketing agencies for vacation rental managers and hospitality entrepreneurs. Conrad just published an incredible book "Mastering Vacation Rental Marketing" which serves as a stra...

Meet Bill Faeth — one of the most popular and well-respected voices in the short-term rental industry. Bill Faeth has been involved in real estate for almost 25 years with both commercial and residential investing. In 2015, he switched the majority of his residential portfolio to short term rentals from long term after seeing an opportunity to increase profit and reduce risk. Bill currently has a...

Meet Max Gagliardi — founder of Mountain Fork Resort, a 140-acre waterfront development in Broken Bow, Oklahoma.  Max is an entrepreneur who builds businesses across energy, real estate, & technology — he has a knack for finding opportunities in places others are convinced no opportunity exists. After stumbling upon an incredible piece of land in Broken Bow, one of the hottest up and coming va...

Meet Brooke Pfautz, founder and CEO of Vintory, the only sales and marketing platform on the planet exclusively dedicated to helping professional vacation rental managers grow their inventory.   Brooke is one of the industry's most respected experts, so it was an honor to get him back on the podcast to discuss his new book, Vacation Rental Secrets, which is a collection of the short-term rental in...

Meet David and Andy Heyman — the two brothers who brought one of the newest and most unique glamping sites in the Blue Ridge Mountains to life, which they call Glamp Blue Ridge. David has a background in finance and Andy is a graphic designer by trade. The guys had long dreamed of being able to work on a business venture of some kind together but the timing and the idea never seemed right… That is...

Meet Mike Harrington , a true legend among vacation rental managers.   Mike’s career in hospitality started by accident.  After graduating from business school, Mike received a call from a recruiter to join a vacation rental management company on Hatteras Island. He learned the ropes of the industry at this first gig, grew to love the art of the business, and eventually decided that what he really...

Meet Josiah Mackenzie , Founder of Hospitality Daily — a community, podcast, and email newsletter that helps hospitality professionals stay informed and inspired in this ever-changing and dynamic industry.  Josiah has spent his entire career creating, innovating and building in Hospitality. He founded a company called Hospitality Marketing Strategies which went on to become the #1 hotel marketing...

Meet Tanner Cummings — Co-founder and Owner of Thin Spaces , a new hotel brand that’s building its first micro-resort called Cypress at the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains in Jasper, Georgia.  Tanner has always loved finding issues and solving problems, which is why he spent most of his professional career working in quality assurance engineering for software companies like Calendly.  But i...

Meet James Varley — Founder of the Holiday Cottage Handbook and Varley Media .  James has had an impressive career in media — taking jobs around the world to work in print, TV, radio, digital advertising and social media organizations large and small. For the last ten years, James was living in Qatar leading corporate communications for last year’s FIFA World Cup organizing committee — how cool is...

Meet John Andrew Entwistle , Founder and CEO of Wander, Sief Khafagi , Co-Founder and CEO of Techvestor, and Cameron Wu , VP of Investments at Arrived. I invited these incredible gentlemen onto the podcast for a panel discussion on the future of fundraising, portfolio building, and passive investing in short-term rentals. I’ve been curious, as I’m sure many of you all have been, how these short-te...

Meet John Sutton — Co-Founder and CEO of Mansion , a new fractional ownership offering for those looking to get into short-term rental investing without needing to own or operate an Airbnb. Before starting Mansion*, John was the Chief Digital Officer at Red Ventures — the parent company for brands like Lonely Planet, The Points Guy, Reviews.com, and many others, so it’s safe to say John knows his...

Meet Jake Tucker, founder of Roav — a collection of urban and luxury retreat STRs located in the Pacific Northwest Jake began co-hosting Airbnbs while in college as a side-hustle.  He had no experience in real estate or hospitality whatsoever, but after Googling "how to make a lot of money as a college kid", he stumbled upon the plethora of rental arbitrage content on YouTube and began to binge. W...