Behind the Stays

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, l...

Meet Jami Jenkins — the creator of The Carpenter’s Cabin — a top-rated, luxe cabin stay in Southeastern Ohio's Scenic Wonderland - Hocking Hills.   Jami has always had a knack for the creative. She remembers drawing up floor plans of beach cottages in elementary school and building furniture for her Barbies.    A graphic designer and event planner by trade, Jami loves using design as a way to comm...

Meet Jeff Wilson, the founder and CEO of Jupe.    Jeff is a serial entrepreneur in the real estate technology industry.  If you were to have asked Jeff as a child what he wanted to be when he grew up, he would have either said a “garbage man”, “a doctor”, or “a builder of solar-powered cars” — so, yes, his interests have always been quite varied.   Before founding Jupe, Jeff founded the award-winn...

In just a moment, you’ll meet Billy Chu — owner of The Blue Bungalow, a chic escape in Palm Springs, California.    Billy and his wife Becky are both doctors who live in Los Angeles and parents to young twin girls.    A couple of years ago, Billy and Becky joined an online community of medical professionals who invest in real estate in order to learn more from their peers about the industry.   In...

Meet Stephanie Hays and Peter Woolcock — winners of Airbnb’s Live Anywhere contest.   Last summer, Airbnb announced that they were looking for 12 individuals who’d be willing to live full-time via stays booked on their platform for a year — and over 314,000 applicants from all around the world applied for this once in a lifetime opportunity.   One of the 12 selected was Stephanie Hays.  Stephanie...

Meet Isaac French, the creator of Live Oak Lake , a collection of seven stunning cabins nestled around a small lake in Waco, Texas.  Isaac is what you might call a curious creator.  He was homeschooled growing up and his parents enabled him the freedom to pursue a plethora of interests — from art, to architecture, and accounting to entrepreneurship. Isaac comes from a family of entrepreneurs and l...

In just a moment you’ll meet Taylor Jones, Head of Acquisition at Superhost Labs .    Taylor was working in sales when COVID hit.  A few weeks after the world shut down, Taylor’s job was put on a two-month pause and he knew he had to start looking for a new frontier.   Taylor had always dreamed of getting into real estate but had never quite known where to start. With newfound time on his hands, a...

 In just a moment, you will meet Katrina Kuhn and Kathy and Sayres Dudley — the dynamic trio who brought to life The Dwelling Place , a special, peaceful escape in Radford, Virginia. Kathy was the 12th child in her family and was born on the land that would become Iron Heart Vineyard in Southwestern Virginia.  Kathy and Sayres met in college, married young, and have two sons.  Today, Kathy and Say...

In just a moment you’ll meet Hillary and Jason DeMeo — the creators of the IROX ONE , a Scandinavian modern retreat in Asheville, North Carolina. Hillary and Jason are serial entrepreneurs. A few years ago, the couple left their respective day jobs to go all in on an idea they had dreamed about for years.  And that idea was to start We Are Curio —  a creative studio built for explorers and innovat...

In just a moment, you’ll meet Megan and Darrin — the creators of the Lakeview Hilltop , a coastal-chic cottage on Claytor Lake in Radford, Virginia.  Originally from the California Bay Area, and a graphic designer by trade, Megan has always had an awareness of the role space plays in inspiring new ideas and perspectives. Darrin, who grew up in the Southwestern Virginia area, had always dreamed of...

In just a moment you’ll meet Andrew Hunter — the creator of Airstream Island , a mid-century, tropical hideaway in Atlanta, Georgia. Andrew is an actor.  He will never forget the first time his mother took him to see Fiddler on the Roof.  He was transfixed by the characters in the show, but more bewildered by the fact that you could make money pretending to be someone you weren’t! Fast forward a c...

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 cl...

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 he...

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...

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...

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...

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 yea...

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 behi...

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...

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. A...

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 br...

In just a moment, you’ll meet Annie Sloane — Co-Founder and CEO of The Host Co. Have you ever been in an Airbnb and wished you could buy one of the coffee mugs, rugs, or pieces of artwork from the home?   Or perhaps wished you could order some groceries ahead of time so that you arrive to a fully-stocked fridge upon check-in?   Well, thanks to The Host Co., you now can!  Annie was an early adopter...

In just a moment, you’ll meet Emily Padan — co-creator and co-owner of Hinter Company.  A few years ago, Emily left her career as a school teacher in Montreal to pursue entrepreneurship full time with her now husband, Mauricio.  The creative couple had a vision for building a luxurious, eco-friendly escape in the Canadian forest.  Over the next couple of years, Emily and Mauricio wrestled tireless...

In just a moment, you’ll meet Tim and Cindi Spaulding — the builders, designers, and hosts of Salamander Ridge — a charming tiny cabin in Virginia’s Blue Ridge Mountains.  Tim and Cindi, along with their three children, love the outdoors — the Spaulding family are avid campers, hikers, creek walkers, and trail runners.  One afternoon, after Cindi had contracted a bad case of poison ivy, the family...

In just a moment, you’ll meet Daniel and Fawn Shear, the founders of Seasons' Yield Farm . Daniel, like his father before him, served in the military after graduating from college. During his first deployment to Afghanistan, his wife Fawn mailed him a book by Chad Robertson titled Tartine — a book of sourdough bread baking and recipes, but also a compelling story of one couple’s journey building a...