Booked Solid Show - Short Term Rental Podcast

"Real fraud that's aware of your loopholes will not come in looking sketchy." That's the moment this episode shifts from guest screening 101 into something a lot more unsettling — and a lot more useful. On this episode of the Booked Solid Show, Gil sits down with Ela Mezhiborsky, Co-Founder and President of Autohost, to talk about guest fraud prevention in an age where AI can fab...

"Resourcefulness is the ultimate resource." — Tim Bratz What happens when a commercial real estate operator with 2,800+ apartment units starts converting a slice of that portfolio into short-term rentals — and generating two to three times the revenue on those units? In this episode of the Booked Solid Show, Gil sits down with Tim Bratz, founder of Legacy Wealth Holdings and Smart Manage...

🎙️ Why Your Marketing Is Working — But Guests Are Still Booking on Airbnb "You have to build trust on that website. Just being cheaper is not enough." — Amber Knight You're driving traffic. You're running ads. Guests are clicking. And then... they book on Airbnb anyway. If that sounds familiar, this episode is exactly what you need to hear. In this conversation, Gil sits down wit...

"The only differentiator between my property doing $254K and my neighbor doing $185K? Design — and the strategy behind it." What if the gap between a good STR and a great one wasn't the location, the square footage, or even the amenities — but the intention behind every design decision? In this episode of Booked Solid, Gil sits down with Courtney Petrovich, founder and principal desi...

"You can have a perfect property, listed perfectly, with perfect reviews — but if it's not priced right, people just won't book it." — Tim Hubbard What does it actually look like to run a short-term rental business from thousands of miles away, across 40+ cities, in multiple countries, and still deliver a five-star guest experience consistently? That's not a hypothetical. Tha...

What would it look like if your property management software started working for you — not the other way around? In this episode of the Booked Solid Show, Gil sits down with Pierre-Camille Hamana, the founder and CEO of Hospitable, to unpack one of the most ambitious product months in short-term rental software history. Pierre breaks down a $0 subscription PMS plan, an MCP server that lets you tal...

What does it actually take to scale to 93 properties in a single market — without losing the five-star experience that got you there in the first place? In this episode of the Booked Solid Show, Steve Resnick, Cofounder and CEO of HeavenlyRez Vacation Rentals, opens up about the journey that took him from a single beach house in Ocean City, New Jersey, to running the #1-ranked property management...

" Don't give up. People give up too early — and it usually doesn't make sense to. " — Suzanne Hacker Robinson 🌴 What if the quiet, unsexy part of hosting — the checklists, the naming, the tiny intentional touches — is actually what separates a one-and-done guest from one who books direct every year? In this episode of the Booked Solid Show, Gil sits down with Suzanne Hacker Robi...

"You have to really get under the cover of knowing who it is you're trying to attract. If you don't know that, you are not going to succeed." — Suzy Turnbull How does a single-property host in Panama grow from 10% to 80% direct bookings in just over two years? In this episode of Booked Solid, Gil sits down with Suzy Turnbull, author of 5-Star Hosting Made Simple and a former mark...

Most hosts launch a direct booking site and then wait. They post occasionally. They hope something goes viral. And when bookings don't come, they quietly go back to Airbnb. Emily Lethgo built something different — and she did it in the Smoky Mountains, one of the most competitive short-term rental markets in the country. Starting with a single cabin and a marketing background, she spotted a ga...

"Take the cheat code — go find someone who's done it, who's done it well, and learn from them." — Dan Rivers If you've been thinking about revenue management as a single lever you pull once in a while, this episode is going to shift your perspective. Dan Rivers has been in real estate since 2005, navigating everything from high-rise condo management on the beach to flipping h...

"Guests want and deserve answers instantly — and when you learn the art of great communication, they'll keep talking to Zoe even after they find out she's AI." What happens when a guest asks mid-conversation, "Are you AI or human?" — and then just keeps chatting anyway? That's not a glitch. That's the goal. In this episode of the Booked Solid Show, Gil sits down...

What if the key to more direct bookings had nothing to do with algorithms, dynamic pricing, or paid ads — and everything to do with who you are and who you want to serve? That's exactly what Yvonne Halling discovered when she transformed her four-room bed and breakfast in the Champagne region of France from a €10,000-a-year hobby into a €100,000-a-year business — without a single listing on Bo...

"If you can two x your conversions and you're already making $50,000 on direct — you could be making $100,000." — Patryk Swietek There's a version of building a short-term rental business where you grind market by market, property by property, hoping something sticks. And then there's the version Patryk Swietek built — one that compounds. Patryk is the co-owner of The Cohost...

"A tree without roots is a dead tree." Your branding looks polished. The colors match. The logo is on point. But does any of it connect to who you actually are as a host? In this episode of Booked Solid, Anastasia Tara — founder of The Unique Stay community — shares how she and her husband transformed ordinary residential homes into culture-inspired vacation rentals themed around Japan,...

"You gotta make it or make it. These are your two options." What happens when a 20-year corporate banker with a vision meets a solo operator managing 30 properties by herself — cleaning, messaging guests, and fixing maintenance issues with no team? In this episode of Booked Solid, Fouad Bazzi and Jacinda Neustel share how they combined their very different strengths to build a property m...

"The first 10 minutes of a guest's stay set the tone for everything that follows." That single insight from luxury hotel research changed how Katie Cline operates her short-term rentals, and it might change how you think about yours, too. In this episode of Booked Solid, Katie sits down with Gil to share what years inside the boardrooms of Ritz-Carlton, W Hotels, and St. Regis taught...

"Be so good they can't ignore you. That's where you are." What if there was an entire organization in your county — funded partly by your own lodging taxes — dedicated to driving visitors to your destination, and you've never once reached out to them? In this episode of the Booked Solid Show, Gil sits down with Jennifer Barbee, tourism strategist and creator of the Host Gap™,...

"Hospitality is the North Star. If it doesn't drive back to that, it's probably not gonna work." James Varley went from managing communications for the FIFA World Cup to building one of the fastest-growing educational platforms in the short-term rental space. In this episode of Booked Solid, James opens up about his unconventional path into hosting, the painful lessons he learned...

"I'd rather be small and personal and well known for that than just be a generalist." What happens when a marketing agency owner sees a gap in the vacation rental market that nobody else is filling? She builds an empire from scratch—175 properties across Cyprus, managed remotely from the UK for 18 years—and then successfully exits during a pandemic. Lisa Roads joins the Booked Solid...

"Your personal brand is what people are saying about you when you're not in the room." In this episode of the Booked Solid Show, Gil sits down with Amber Hurdle—brand strategist, keynote speaker, author, and former Gaylord Hotels executive—to explore why personal branding isn't just for influencers. It's the foundation of trust that converts lookers into bookers. Amber breaks...

"Brand is where trust is built. Brand is the reason people say yes." In this episode of the Booked Solid Show, we welcome back our very first podcast guest—Steph Weber, CEO of The Weber Co. and co-owner of Cabins on the Cumberland, a 12-cabin micro resort in Kentucky. From building brands that emotionally connect with guests to navigating Airbnb's 2025 fee changes, Steph shares raw i...

Hotels have spent decades perfecting the art of hospitality, systems, and guest experience. Short-term rentals? We're still figuring it out—and that's actually our most significant advantage. In this episode of the Booked Solid Show, Susan Barry joins Gil to bridge two worlds that are rapidly converging. With over a decade of experience opening hotels for Starwood, nearly 17 years running...

Make it till you make it—not fake it. That mindset carried Terri-Leigh Huleis from designing her first multimillion-dollar mountain property to building Found Home Co. into a powerhouse STR design studio, completing 64 projects annually. Her journey proves that scrappiness, customer obsession, and understanding your ideal guest can transform not just properties—but entire businesses. In this episo...

🎙️ From Wall Street to Private Chefs: How Siddhi Mittal Built the #1 Chef Marketplace and What It Means for Your STR "The universe has your back. No matter what you're doing, it'll just work out for the better." That's the philosophy that guided Siddhi Mittal through the rollercoaster of building Yhangry from scratch—and it's serving her well as she expands into the U.S....