Host Planet: Expert Insights for Short-Term Rentals

Is agentic AI about to take real work off your plate – not just give you more information? In this episode of AI-Powered Hosting, from Host Planet and BOOM, Moran Goldboim unpacks where the short-term rental industry really is with AI, why trust and lack of experience are the biggest blockers, and the next leap: from information to action. Learn what day-to-day tasks AI can already handle, how to...

Planning to attend a major short-term rental conference this year – but not sure how to actually get value out of it? In this episode of the Host Planet Podcast – powered by Lodgify – Anne Gardner, Executive Director of the VRMA, breaks down everything you need to know about VRMA International 2026, heading to Nashville from 4-6 October. Host Planet is proud to be a Media Partner for this year&#39...

New Airbnb host? Katie Bessant from The Holiday Hive shares the most common mistakes new hosts make – and exactly how to fix them before they cost you bookings, reviews, and ranking. In this episode of The Independent Host, powered by Lodgify, Katie breaks down where most new hosts go wrong across pricing, photos, house rules, and cleaning – plus the quiet mistake that could be hurting your Airbnb...

Direct bookings are the highest-margin channel most hosts still ignore – no OTA commission, full control of the guest relationship, and a booking engine you actually own. In this episode of Build for Growth, we sit down with Roger Gould, Director of Business Development at Hostfully, to break down exactly how to start, scale, and win with direct bookings. IN THIS EPISODE: ▶ Why direct bookings mat...

Revenue managers don't lose the room because their data is wrong – they lose it because they can't explain it. Dr Zak Ali (President, ISTRM) joins STR Pricing Pulse to walk through Beyond's Revenue Meeting Guide: lead with the answer, back it up with the numbers, and end with a decision senior management can act on. Download Beyond's Revenue Meeting Guide: https://go.beyondpricing....

Registration schemes on hold. A tourism levy fight nobody's sure we can win. Business rates squeezing operators. Janet Uttley, Chief Executive of the Short Term Accommodation Association, joins Host Planet – powered by Lodgify – to break down exactly where STR regulation stands right now, and what a good registration scheme would actually look like. We also get into the STAA's first 12 mon...

Christin Schmidt spent 20 years working inside Booking.com – and in this episode of Built to Book, she reveals exactly what most hosts get wrong about their OTA ranking, why reviews matter differently on Airbnb vs Booking.com, and how to build an OTA vs direct booking strategy that doesn't leave money on the table. Built to Book is a six-part series from Host Planet and Smoobu, built to help h...

Turnover management is one of the toughest parts of running a short-term rental – and it only gets harder as you scale. In this episode of Turnover Tactics, brought to you by Host Planet and Turno, we sit down with Isa Bortolossi from Turno to unpack what's really going wrong behind the scenes of most cleaning operations – and how to fix it before it costs you a booking. Isa shares the crazies...

Direct bookings are more valuable than ever in 2026 – and Becky Ward, CEO of Simply Owners, breaks down exactly how hosts and property managers can win more of them without relying on the OTAs. In this episode of the Host Planet Podcast – powered by Lodgify – Becky shares the Simply Owners story, why accessible properties are converting more direct guests, how SEO and GEO strategy plays into visib...

What's the best property management system... for YOU? 🏠 In this episode of Build for Growth, James Varley sits down with Frank Bosi from Hostfully to break down how short-term rental hosts should actually evaluate a PMS – and the biggest mistake operators make when choosing one. We cover researching PMS options on YouTube, where ChatGPT/Claude recommendations can lead you astray, the must-ha...

Shorter breaks. Last-minute bookings. Solo travellers. Group getaways. And a 1,389% spike in traffic from AI tools. The UK holiday let market is shifting – and if you're still managing your property the same way you were two years ago, you're probably leaving bookings on the table. In this episode of Holiday Let Insider, James Varley is joined by Owen Burt, SEO Manager at Sykes Holiday Cot...

Dynamic pricing used to be a tool. Now it's a full revenue management system – and (in some cases) AI is running it. Julie Brinkman, CEO of Beyond, joins James Varley on the Host Planet Podcast – powered by Lodgify – to break down how the platform has evolved far beyond pricing, why so few hosts actually use dynamic pricing (and what's stopping them), and what the revenue manager's job...

Is your property management software already holding you back? Shahar Goldboim, CEO and Co-Founder of BOOM, makes the case for agentic AI – and why property managers who don't adapt risk being left behind. In Episode 1 of AI-Powered Hosting – the new series from Host Planet and BOOM – Shahar breaks down exactly why the traditional PMS can no longer support a modern portfolio, and what the shif...

Starting an Airbnb? Lydia Patel shares the practical lessons she wishes she knew before welcoming her first guests – from pricing and photography to direct bookings, Instant Book, and getting your first reservation. This is Episode 1 of The Independent Host, a new monthly series from Host Planet and Lodgify for short-term rental hosts and property managers running their first 1–5 properties. Lydia...

Why is your Airbnb not booking – even when the property looks great? In this episode of Build for Growth, a new Host Planet and Hostfully series, Ikram Mohamed explains the most common reasons Airbnb listings underperform and the practical fixes that can turn bookings around. We cover how Airbnb search ranking works, which host behaviours can push a listing down the results, and what smart dynamic...

Most revenue managers don't lose owners over bad rates – they lose them over bad communication. In this episode of STR Pricing Pulse, powered by Beyond, Zak Ali, President of the International Society of Short-Term Rental Management (ISTRM), unpacks why the same owner questions keep catching revenue managers off guard – and how to stop it for good. We break down Beyond's Owner Confidence Checklist...

What does it take to build, value, and sell a successful holiday let business in a location with a highly defined peak season? In this episode of the Host Planet Podcast, powered by Lodgify, John Keggin from Island Escapes shares the story of building a holiday rental business in the Isle of Man, managing demand during the TT Races, and hosting Brad Pitt and Channing Tatum while a Hollywood movie...

What does professional hosting really look like when you’re trying to build a short-term rental business that lasts? In episode one of Built to Book, Host Planet sits down with Jannik Abraham, Managing Director of Smoobu, to explore the difference between simply operating a holiday let and building a professional, sustainable business. Jannik explains why professionalism starts with the guest expe...

Host Planet Founder James Varley sits down with Armand de Juniac, General Manager for Europe at Turno, to unpack what it really takes to build and scale a cleaning marketplace across borders — and why so many US short-term rental companies are making avoidable mistakes when they expand into Europe. From marketplace discipline and building supply first, to why your cleaner is your single most impor...

Most hosts never stay at their own property – and that blind spot is costing them guests they don't even know they're losing. In this episode, James Varley sits down with Ari Eryorulmaz, Founder at Extenteam, to unpack the quiet gaps in the short-term rental guest experience: where tech creates more friction than it solves, why hand-offs between tools are silently hurting your reviews, and...

AI is changing short-term rentals – but is it actually solving problems for hosts, or just adding more noise? In this episode of Build for Growth, Margot Schmorak, CEO and Co-Founder of Hostfully, cuts through the hype and breaks down what AI is genuinely automating right now, what is still more promise than reality, and what hosts risk losing if they don't build the right tech stack. Key question...

61% of Sykes' holiday let owners are already using AI — but how, and what does it actually mean for your listing, your guests, and your future? In this episode of Holiday Let Insider, James Varley sits down with Laura McKellar, Head of Digital Transformation & Optimisation at Sykes Holiday Cottages, to unpack the findings from their latest AI survey and what it means for hosts in 2026. The...

Is UK short-term rental regulation finally working in hosts' favour? In this episode of the Host Planet Podcast, Merilee Karr – CEO of UnderTheDoormat Group and former Chair of the Short Term Accommodation Association – breaks down exactly what's coming and what it means for your STR business. We cover UnderTheDoormat's acquisition of One Fine Stay's London and Paris portfolios, Lo...

ChatGPT is changing how guests search for properties – and most short-term rental hosts are completely unprepared for what's coming. Here's how to get ahead of it. In this episode of the Host Planet Podcast – powered by Lodgify – Amirali Mohajer, Founder of hostAI (gethostai.com), breaks down how LLM search is reshaping vacation rental discovery and what it means for your direct booking st...

Most Airbnb hosts are leaving money on the table on event nights — not because they don't want to raise their prices, but because they never knew the event was happening. HostAlert is the tool that fixes that. Co-Founder Andy Crosby joins the Host Planet Podcast – powered by Lodgify – to explain how it works, why it's different from dynamic pricing tools like PriceLabs and Beyond, and whic...