The Hospitality Breakroom: Certainty Served Weekly with Inhaven

Travel advisors book billions of dollars in travel every year, yet vacation rentals have historically been difficult for advisors to book with confidence. Between commission structures, inconsistent inventory, lack of communication, price disparities, and questions around property quality, the process can become frustrating for both sides. In this episode of The Hospitality Breakroom , Rachel Alda...

Travel advisors are becoming an increasingly important source of business for the vacation rental industry—but many property managers still struggle to understand how to effectively work with them. In this episode of Hospitality Break Room, Rachel Alday sits down with Nir Maimon of Maimon Group and LPMs to unpack the opportunity, the challenges, and what vacation rental operators can do to build s...

Vacation rental companies have spent years optimizing direct bookings, OTAs, and digital marketing—but there’s another powerful distribution channel many are still overlooking: travel advisors. In this episode of Hospitality Breakroom, Rachel sits down with Anthony Barrera, a 12-year veteran of the vacation rental and travel industries, to unpack why the relationship between vacation rental compan...

Travel advisors have long been a major source of business for luxury hotels—but vacation rentals have struggled to tap into the same channel. In this episode of Hospitality Breakroom , Rachel Alday sits down with Joe Bartolomé, a longtime luxury hotelier and founder of The Joes, to explore why travel advisors could represent one of the biggest untapped opportunities for professionally managed vaca...

Travel advisors have long been an important part of the hotel and luxury travel ecosystem—but vacation rentals have historically struggled to build the same relationships. That may be changing. As travelers increasingly look for personalized experiences, more space, privacy, and high-touch service, professionally managed vacation rentals have an opportunity to become a much bigger part of the trav...

In this episode of The Hospitality Breakroom , host Rachel Alday sits down with Julie Byrd of Cabo Villas to unpack the evolving relationship between vacation rental operators and travel advisors. While traditional hotel brands have long-established systems for working with travel planners, the vacation rental and short-term rental (STR) space is rapidly catching up. Julie shares her decades-long...

In this episode Rachel argues that luxury travel planners and professionally managed vacation rental companies are missing a major partnership opportunity despite serving the same affluent guest. Citing multiple reports, it notes that 84% of affluent travelers value trusted advisors over online research, Virtuoso saw a 76% increase in consumers seeking advisors, and protection/security is a key dr...

Rachel Alday introduces the Hospitality Breakroom season “Booked Differently,” focused on improving partnerships between vacation rental operators and travel planners, and interviews Rich Sippos, Abode Luxury Rentals’ director of sales overseeing reservations and concierge for a $25 million revenue business. Rich shares insights from 21 years in vacation rentals and attending the Mountain Travel S...

On todays episode, Rachel interviews Vanessa Cella, a top-100 travel planner at Fora Travel (out of about 22,000 advisors), about what travel planners need from vacation rental partners and why the relationship between rentals and advisors is still harder than with hotels. Vanessa shares her background, focus on luxury travel, and why she books only vetted, professionally managed rentals rather th...

On The Hospitality Breakroom, host Rachel Alday of Abode Luxury Rentals and longtime reservations lead Rachel “Tilly” Tilton discuss why vacation rental growth may depend more on relationships with travel planners than OTAs, and why booking vacation rentals through the travel-planner ecosystem remains difficult. They contrast hotel workflows (GDS-based distribution, preset commissions, price parit...

Rachel Alday launches a new season of The Hospitality Breakroom focused on the growing relationship between vacation rentals and travel planners, noting that while hotels have long partnered with advisors, vacation rental operators have struggled, partly due to GDS systems being designed for hotel room types. She explains how more travelers—especially mid to high-end—are using planners, increasing...

In this episode of the Hospitality Breakroom, Rachel and Ashley discuss the final episode of their third season, focusing on the recap of standardization in hotels and property management success. The episode dives into learnings from the VRMA Executive Summit in Miami, where Ashley presented a fireside chat discussing the rise and fall of large property managers Vacasa and Abridge Hospitality. Th...

In this episode of the Hospitality Breakroom, the episode covers the rise and fall of two major hospitality management companies: Vacasa in the vacation rental market and Abridge in the hotel management industry. Ashley provides a historical overview of both companies, outlining five distinct phases of growth, mergers, acquisitions, and eventual financial distress. The discussion delves into Vacas...

The episode opens with the hosts welcoming the audience back to the 'Hospitality Breakroom,' highlighting this as the ninth out of the tenth episode of the series. The focus of the discussion centers around 'certainty within' the vacation rental industry, featuring Ashley and Meaghan from Inhaven, along with Rachel, the co-owner of Abode Luxury Rentals in Park City. They share their childhood drea...

In this episode, Rachel, Ashley and Meaghan engage in a comprehensive discussion about the importance of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) in the hospitality industry. They then dive into the main topic, exploring how KPIs can influence various aspects of a hospitality business, particularly focusing on housekeeping and overall operational efficiency. Rachel mentions the challenges her company fac...

In this episode of the Hospitality Breakroom, the discussion revolves around the history of hotels and how it informs the future of vacation rentals. Rachel Alday is joined by Ashley Ching and Meaghan Meyers from Inhaven join to discuss the evolution of hotel standards and their relevance to the vacation rental industry. They cover how hotels in the 1970s faced similar challenges to today’s vacati...

In this episode of the Hospitality Breakroom, hosts Rachel Alday, Ashley Ching, and Meaghan Myers discuss inventory management in the vacation rental industry. They share stories about unusual housekeeping finds, including guns and drugs, and discuss the complexities of dealing with such situations. The conversation transitions into the challenges of managing inventory, particularly linens and cof...

Rachel introduces the fourth installment of 'Certainty Served Weekly with Inhaven,' with guests Ashley Ching and Meaghan Myers, along with Julie from Abode Luxury Rentals. They discuss the importance of setting standards in vacation rental kitchens, aiming to enhance consistency and guest satisfaction. Julie shares her journey to spearheading the kitchen standards program at Abode, explaining her...

In this episode of the Hospitality Breakroom, hosts Rachel Alday, Ashley Ching and Meaghan Meyers join to discuss how to standardize and optimize linen programs for vacation rentals. They emphasize the importance of turning linen programs into profit centers and provide a detailed overview of what should be included in the program, including bedding, towels, and kitchen linens. They provide advice...

In this episode of the Hospitality Breakroom, hosts Rachel, Ashley Ching, and Meaghan Myers discuss the importance of standardizing bathrooms in vacation rentals as part of their new season theme: Certainty Served Weekly with Inhaven. They explore the challenges faced by property management companies like Abode in maintaining consistency in bathroom products such as towels, amenities, and toilet p...

In this episode of 'The Hospitality Break Room', Rachel from Abode Luxury Rentals welcomes Ashley Ching and Meaghan Myers from Inhaven to kick off a new season themed 'Certainty Served Weekly Within Inhaven'. They discuss the importance of standardization in vacation rental properties, beginning with the bedroom. They aim to elevate the vacation rental industry by matching the operational standard...

In this episode of the Hospitality Breakroom, host Rachel welcomes special guests Ashley Ching, founder and CEO of Inhaven, and Julie from the Abode team to discuss the innovative partnership between Abode and Inhaven. Julie, who has been with Abode for three and a half years, shares her journey from starting at Black Bear Lodge to becoming the impact manager focused on green initiatives. Her effo...

In this episode of the Hospitality Breakroom, Rachel introduces Ryan Midiri from Ski Butlers, a company specializing in ski gear delivery and rental services. The discussion covers the benefits of working with Ski Butlers for those in the vacation rental and property management industries, highlighting the convenience and high level of service Ski Butlers provides. Ski Butlers, recently acquired b...

In this episode of the Hospitality Breakroom, Rachel sits down with Laura, who has been with Abode Luxury Rentals for nearly a decade, working in homeowner relations. The discussion kicks off by focusing on the importance of being a good listener, a skill Laura excels at. Rachel highlights how Laura's ability to listen has improved communication within the team and with vendors, leading to better...

In this episode of the Hospitality Breakroom, Rachel and Jesse from the guest services and concierge team discuss the complexities behind offering excellent concierge services. They delve into the unseen efforts required to ensure a seamless guest experience. Jesse recounts her work history and the challenges faced, including guests' frequent requests for early check-ins and late check-outs, which...