Behind the Stays

Meet Andrew Kitchell, a hospitality and proptech entrepreneur currently leading the team at Wheelhouse — a technology platform that helps you manage your short-term rentals as professionally and efficiently as major hotels—from understanding performance to better nightly pricing. Andrew is no stranger to tech or hospitality…in fact, he was building companies in Silicon Valley while a then-small st...

Meet Jen and Michael Penchansky, the creators of Casa Nevana, the first short-term rental in the couple’s newly founded portfolio, Nevana Properties.  Michael and Jen met while working in the fashion industry in New York City. Michael founded a software company in fashion tech and Jen was employee number one, so the couple know a thing or ten about how to work together.    Michael grew up going to...

Meet Wil Slickers — founder of Hospitality FM, the largest network of hospitality podcasts, and the co-founder of Recreation Rentals, a boutique collection of vacation rentals with luxury hotel-like operations. While working as a hotel manager in the pacific northwest, Wil stared a podcast called Slick Talk — a show that explores the dynamic nature of the hospitality industry — from short-term ren...

Meet Michael Albaum — a professional remote real estate investor, Airbnb superhost, and fellow podcaster. After getting an engineering degree and moving to the Bay Area, Michael stumbled upon a book that would forever shift his perspective on work and wealth…and that book was Robert Kiyosaki’s Rich Dad, Poor Dad. In this episode of Behind the Stays, Michael shares candidly about how he’s been able...

Meet Jonah Hanig, Founder and CEO of Rove — a premium portfolio of luxury Airbnbs designed for discerning travelers. Jonah grew up in the Chicago suburbs and always had a knack for tinkering with business ideas. After going to school in New York, Jonah decided to pursue his dream of becoming an entrepreneur and was fortunate enough to get accepted to Y Combinator — the most prestigious of start-up...

Welcome to Marketing Mondays — a new, weekly segment on the Behind the Stays podcast that covers specific marketing strategies and tactics that Airbnb hosts and hospitality entrepreneurs can immediately use to promote their stays. On this third episode Zach covers all things Email A/B testing!  Email A/B tests are incredibly important...yet many Airbnb hosts and hospitality entrepreneurs fail to c...

Meet Jeff Iloulian — Founder and CEO of HostGPO , a buying group for the short term rental industry. After graduating with a degree in Economics from Columbia, Jeff thought he wanted to be an attorney, so went to Law School. But after practicing law for a few years, Jeff was bitten by the entrepreneurial bug so he founded a real estate and technology investment company called Winthorpe Valentine w...

Meet Devon Loerop , the creator of The Pacific Bin — a luxurious escape made of 5 shipping containers, just an hour outside of Seattle. Devon grew up in the midwest but was born with a New York City mindset — from the time he was young, he hustled hard, and enjoyed proving people wrong when they said “he couldn’t, shouldn’t, or wouldn’t” do something. Devon is a mechanical engineer by trade, but a...

Meet Michael Romanowicz, the founder and CEO of DEN Outdoors .  Mike is a software designer by trade, but has always had a love for the natural world. So, when he wasn’t busy leading the product team at Conductor, which was a content marketing platform owned by WeWork, Mike was tinkering with some designs for a minimalist, beautiful cabin he could build in the woods one day. After sharing his desi...

Meet Chase Charifa, the creator of the Lightfoot Cabin — a cozy, unique escape nestled in the foothills of Big Bear Mountain in Southern California.  A few years ago, Chase and his wife April started a production studio as a side hustle.  The couple regretted not having a videographer at their wedding and this inspired them to start their own studio to shoot weddings and events. In doing research...

Welcome to another Marketing Mondays on the Behind the Stays podcast feed! In this episode we chat ALL about SEO and how Airbnb hosts can leverage the power of great keyword research to increase their organic rankings on Google.  In today's lesson we share a lot of screenshots and data...so...you MAY wish to WATCH this episode on YouTube, which you can do here: Stream Marketing Mondays on YouTube...

Meet Brooke Pfautz , founder and CEO of Vintory — a sales and marketing platform exclusively dedicated to helping professional vacation rental managers and short-term rental entrepreneurs grow their inventory.  Brooke built one of the largest mortgage banking firms in the DC Metro Area, but when the financial crisis of 2008 hit, Brooke began to reconsider what it was he wanted to do with his life....

Welcome to Marketing Mondays — a new, weekly segment on the Behind the Stays podcast that covers specific marketing strategies and tactics that Airbnb hosts and hospitality entrepreneurs can immediately use to promote their stays.    On this second episode of this new Behind the Stays segment, Zach covers: Why you should build a website for your Airbnb even if you don't have a direct booking site...

Meet Levi Kelly — a creator whose cabin tour videos have garnered nearly 80 millions views on YouTube. Growing up, Levi used to goof around and shoot funny videos with his buddies and then edit them on the iMovie app on his phone. In high school he realized that shooting and editing video was more than just a hobby of his…it felt like something he was destined to do. After successfully landing a f...

Meet Whitney and Andrew Bradberry, the creators of the Front Range A-Frame in Bailey, Colorado, just an hour outside of Denver.  Whitney is a freelancer marketer by trade, and her husband Andrew is a firefighter paramedic.  Given their non-traditional jobs, the couple has always enjoyed tinkering on creative projects together. Whitney’s father loved Colorado and it’s because of him that she fell i...

Welcome to Marketing Mondays — a new, weekly segment on the Behind the Stays podcast that covers specific marketing strategies and tactics that Airbnb hosts and hospitality entrepreneurs can immediately use to promote their stays.  On the first episode of this new Behind the Stays segment, Zach covers: Why you should work with creators A framework for how to discern who to work with and how to wor...

Meet Emily South — the creator of The Appalachian A-Frame in Sugar Grove, North Carolina just 20 minutes outside of downtown Boone. Emily and her husband John are entrepreneurs.  Emily is a yoga instructor and John owns and runs a production studio. Given their non-traditional career paths, Emily and John don’t have some of the benefits one might expect from a 9-5 such as a 401k match or stock opt...

Meet Jamie Kraus, the creator of Chestnut Hill — a beautiful appointed home located 5 minutes from Main Street in Breckenridge, Colorado.  Jamie and her husband have three young adult sons and live in the great state of Texas.  Growing up, Jamie would vacation in the Colorado mountains with her family and dreamed of one day owning a home in Breckenridge. A few years ago, Jamie was diagnosed with b...

Meet Chris Broomfield, the creator of Evergreen Cabins — one of Instagram’s favorite collections of luxurious cabin rentals in the Adirondacks. Growing up, Chris loved to tinker. At the age of 14 he started building picnic tables and bar stools with his next door neighbor that he’d sell to local patrons. It was at this young age that Chris realized he wanted to work for himself…that he wanted to b...

Meet Tiffany Lund — the creator of The Havarti Haus , an accessible, Scandinavian-style retreat in the White Mountains of New Hampshire, opening in late 2023. Tiffany and her family love to go on adventures — the outdoors has always been a place of restoration and reinvigoration for them. Tiffany and her husband Jim have an incredible son named Morty.  Morty, like his parents, loves the outdoors. ...

Meet Mike Iannetta, better known as Mike Will Travel, a YouTube creator and hospitality marketing specialist. Mike started his first business at the age of 17.  He raised $5,000 on Kickstarter to start what he thought would be the next big board shorts brand. Now, the clothing line didn’t quite pan out, but it solidified for Mike that he wanted to spend his career starting and running his own busi...

Meet John Andrew Entwistle, Founder and CEO of Wander, one of the most exciting startups in the travel and hospitality space today.  John Andrew had a non-traditional schooling experience.  He started and ran a game server company when he was just 13 years old, so focusing on homework wasn’t a high priority.  In high school, John Andrew and his father agreed that an online option would be best for...

Meet Ty and Mary, the creators of The Northwoods A-Frame and Tiny Cabins near Itasca State Park in northern Minnesota.  Ty and Mary both have demanding jobs – Ty is an architect and Mary a nurse. So, in October 2020, after months of lockdown, the couple was in dire need of a getaway. Mary had been following an A-Frame on Instagram for a few months and decided to plan their getaway around when the...

Meet Addie Wales, the creator of The Ely Cabin Collective — a boutique collection of Airbnbs near The Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness in Minnesota.  Growing up, Addie always wanted to be an entrepreneur. She remembers pitching her first business to her dad as a 10 year old which was for an ice cream shop where the roof of the shop was shaped like an ice cream cone!  In the fall of 2020, Addi...

Meet Justin and Shaun — the creators of The Chal-A Frame , a beautifully curated escape nestled between the Stratton and Mt. Snow ski areas in Vermont. Justin and Shaun are both architects.  They were roommates in college and have been close friends ever since. One day while hanging out with the rest of their crew, Justin and Shaun got really excited about the possibility of having a place in the...