Unlocked by Matt Landau

Kelly Hill of DoneRight Vacation Rentals/Casago Mcall has forged deep ties with her community and enjoys a sterling reputation but regulations have still come knocking.   Her relationships give her a unique voice in the process and there is hope these decisions will be beneficial for the community and her business but the specter of unfair regulation always looms.   We spoke with Kelly before and...

Paul Waldschmidt of OwnerRez has spent the last ten years quietly building one of the best property management softwares in the industry.   OwneRez barely advertises and yet they have a fiercely loyal customer base and are raved about in our private forum, VRMB Communities.   In this episode we dive into innovation, pricing and loyalty with Paul and come away with some lessons we can all benefit f...

Miles Chew of Compass Resorts is a marketing manager in the high stakes destination of Destin, Florida.   In this interview Miles and Matt talk about being a marketing manager inside a hospitality company and nerd out on the specifics that drive leads and bookings.   Compass Resorts: https://www.compassresorts.com Fall Family Facebook Campaign: https://www.facebook.com/CompassResorts/photos/a.1015...

This episode features Madeline List, a senior research analyst at Phocuswright, the leading travel industry research platform.  Our nacesent vacation rental movement isn't always well understood by the broader travel industry and this is in part due to a lack of good data to explain the story of our rise.   Madeline is almost single-handedly changing that from a research perspective. Today's conve...

After working in the industry for nearly a decade, Brittany Blackman started Breathe Easy Rentals in the crowded Destin, Florida market.   She quickly gained a foothold by providing a no stress hospitality experience to guests and owners alike.   In this episode Brittany also talks about heartfelt videos she has been sharing that have gained her a viral following and perspective on the business. B...

Jeff Brown of Loma Homes is innvotating in a unique space within the vacation rental industry.  In this episode we explore his themed home business, the tech used to power it, the bumps along the way and the money he uses to grow the business.   Loma Homes TaskRabbit Pricelab Stayfi  Annversary Inn  This episode is brought you by PointCentral , the leaders in smart home automation, and Breezeway ,...

Virginia Ivy is a hospitality pioneer.   From opening a music venue in a dead part of Memphis to starting her current vacation rental business in the Arkansas Ozarks, she has earned 'first mover status' many times over.   She is now an integral part of a tourism oriented community and expanding into related businesses, but through it all she understands the best way to superb guest experience is t...

Megan Carda of Lifestyle Properties used her passion for her local community to build a network of connected businesses that opened the doors to Oregon's Wine Country. Not only does this create a rich guest experience, it drives business to the community and puts Megan lightyears ahead of the competition.     Lifestyle Properties of Oregon Motivation for Conferences in 2022 RueBaRue RueBaRue Guide...

Our next episode with Megan Carda of Lifestyle Properties drops this coming Thursday, March 10th.      Learn more about the host, visit https://mattlandau.com/ Get marketing strategies for vacation rentals, visit https://www.vrmb.com/ Collaborate with other professionals in https://community.vrmb.com/

Graham Donoghue is CEO of Sykes Cottages, arguably the largest profitable vacation rental management company in the world. He brings a unique perspective to our industry, having presided over some of the largest digital-led businesses across the UK.  In this mega-episode Matt and Graham tackle how to build a team, how to wield data, how to buy and sell vacation rental companies and...nudgies.   Sy...

Michelle Ruber of Shift Vacation Rentals has not only built a thriving vacation rental business with her own properties, she has turned passion for her community into a way to give back  and  enhance guest experience. The result is a kind of first-mover status that carves a deep moat around her business and earns social capital in the eyes of neighbors & employees.  GoFundMe for Rihab's family Shi...

In this episode you'll get a taste of what's to come in the next season of Unlocked themed "First Mover Status" in which we'll interview owners and managers who are gaining HUGE advantages by being first to market with new innovations.  But until then, enjoy this brief audio essay from Matt's visit to Steamboat Springs, Colorado. Where he visited Robin Craigen of www.movingmountains.com Link's Men...

Evelyn Badia is a New York City based, five-star, Airbnb superhost.  Through her online community and podcast she helps people become better hosts and use those hosting skills to build better financial futures.   Evelyn and Matt have a history of banter when it comes to professionalism and the vacation rental industry and in this final episode of season 7, they dive into a less dependent future an...

Travelnet Solutions Co-founder and CEO Ryan Bailey has been working since the early days of the internet to provide technology solutions for the hospitality industry.  Their property management software Track has twice been named the software of the future by the VRMB Keystone awards.   In this episode, Matt sits down with Ryan to talk about building enterprise platforms, the rollups shaking the i...

Theo Kracke is a true vacation rental advocacy avenger.  Fed up with unfair regulations in his home town of Santa Barbara, he sued the city and spent a great deal of his time and money to create precedent setting law that benefits owners and managers up and down the California coast.  In Phoenix at the recent Streamline conference, Matt sat down with Theo to get his story. VRMB Communities STRSant...

Sallie Mitchell, formerly of Casa Mar Azul vacation rental in San Pancho, Mexico knows what it's like to plan for a dream, live with the realities of that dream, and ultimately exit the dream in a positive fashion. Onwards to the next chapter.   In this episode Sallie and Matt explore the idea of finding your guest type and catering to them, action items to build an exit strategy and dip into Sall...

Matt Roberts is the CEO of Vacasa, one of the largest vacation rental companies in the world. Matt was previously the CEO at Open Table --   the app that allows you to reserve tables at your favorite restaurants --   but he's not entirely new to vacation rentals as he was previously on Vacasa's board: granted a very different vantage point than being CEO.   But as a disclaimer and a testament to t...

Ashley Kubiszyn is CEO of River Ridge Rentals in Breckenridge, Copper Mountain, and Keystone Colorado. The company has been around for 20 years but Ashley took it over form her mother: conducting a full re-haul on systems and technology, while buttressing the aspects that make them market leaders like specialization, localization, and community involvement. Most of the questions in this interview...

In this episode, Matt sits down with Jessica Sheedy Black -- a neighborhood advocate and regional leader of the Texas Neighborhood Coalition -- for a sobering look at the other side of the vacation rental advocacy debate. As a warning Jessica is not a short term rental advocate. So you may be wondering what's she doing on this podcast? Our big mission of Unlocked is to challenge vacation rental pr...

In this episode, Matt shares his big takeaways from Amy Hinote's Data and Revenue Management Conference in Charleston, South Carolina.  The first, data and revenue management is THE JUICIEST way for vacation rental owners and managers to make more money doing exactly the same job they have always loved. When you make more money, everyone has more fun.  Second, asking whether to use manual OR autom...

Bruce Ikelheimer, a recovering rocket scientist, is currently at THE inflection point of vacation rental growth: profitable with his own 2 properties and now beginning to manage other homes, Bruce is now scaling his business Banjoe Vacations without scaling his workload. The lessons he is learning as he approaches liftoff are valuable for listeners from all over the industry. This episode is broug...

This week Matt talks to Stacy Wesson of Cascara Vacation Rentals  about the challenges of modernizing and running a family vacation rental business in an era of acquisitions and tech driven hospitality.  This episode is brought you by Point Central , the leaders in smart home automation, and Breezeway , the best in class property care and automations platform.  Additional show notes can be found a...

In this special edition, we're airing a favorite episode from the Sarah & T podcast.  Sarah and Tim are good friends and their show is a must listen for anyone in the industry.  This week, they take a hilarious look at 6 key components to a successful welcome of your guests.

Eric Broughton is the Chief Strategy officer of Inhabit IQ, which owns a number of vacation rental service providers and has frankly not always had the most forthcoming reputation in the vacation rental industry. In his defense, Eric wasn't in his position in those early days, he's relatively new, so this conversation was originally designed to clear up some of the air. But as you'll hear, Eric ha...

In this episode, Matt sits down with Alex Cruz of Welcome Home Club  to talk about long term business health in a time of tempting short term moves. This episode is brought you by Point Central , the leaders in smart home automation, and Breezeway , the best in class property care and automations platform.  Additional show notes can be found at www.vrmb.com/112