Unlocked by Matt Landau

  I've known Matt Hoffman for what feels like an eternity. I remember talking to him back when I was running my vacation rental business in Panama in 2008 and his passion and enthusiasm for vacation rentals has not faded since...if anything they've sharpened.   Matt is the Senior Vice President and Product Leader at Kigo, which is a vacation rental management software company.   Our conversation a...

There are certain people in our industry who, when you meet them, you just kinda get excited about everything. Christine Saba is one of those people. Christine is technically the Head of Growth at Noiseaware, which is the fire alarm for noise. But her roles and responsibilities tend to spill over into all kinds of areas. I had the chance to visit NoiseAware's headquarters in Dallas, Texas and the...

In this experimental podcast format, I am to address one subject matter that has the industry buzzing and break it down for our listeners. [ Note : Our normal interview podcast schedule sponsored by our friends at PointCentral will not be interrupted.] This episode addresses Vacasa's recent acquisition of Wyndham Vacation Rentals, effectively doubling their inventory to more than 20,000 homes. Her...

Dana Young is one of those people who is just unyieldingly passionate about technology. But so are a lot of people. What makes Dana unique is the way he is applying that obsession -- specifically with voice activated devices -- to the vacation rental space. He got started in our industry managing a property with his mom. But the ramifications of his singular and relatively straightforward "Unlocke...

Cliff Johnson was the first icon interview I ever recorded: it's fair to say that Cliff was the reason behind the whole icon series...I was talking to him at lunch, fascinated by his background and his attitude about life, and basically just really curious to learn more about him. Cliff is one of the more recognizable names in the vacation rental industry. He can be seen at most of the top confere...

Lee Zeller is one of my besties in the vacation rental space. Her company Vacation Telluride is a mainstay in Colorado and her position on how to utilize each property for good is equally forward-thinking. This concept could be applied to pretty much any vacation rental business -- in fact, if you're not doing it, you're missing out on lots of goodwill.    If you want to innovate like Lee, conside...

Megan McCrea is one of the most impressive leaders in the vacation rental industry. I get the chance to meet a lot of experts and ambassadors and people who are really good at what they do -- but Megan has one of the most unique blends of vision, standards, discipline, and hard work that I have ever come across in vacation rentals. Really, in any industry: she is just a veritable rockstar. I flew...

Guglielmo Scarpa is a young Italian businessman who embodies the vacation rental pioneer spirit for me. He fell into the business somewhat accidentally, has successfully build a brand around his company Canguro properties in two countries, and he looks at everything through a realistic yet optimistic lens: if something works, he does more of it. If something doesn't work, he considers carefully wh...

A keystone is the architectural term for a wedge-shaped piece at the crown of an arch or bridge that locks the other pieces in place. We believe this is the perfect metaphor for the right property management software in a vacation rental business. Using data from 100+ hours of demos, 750+ completions of our Property Management Software Selector Tool and qualitative feedback that has come in by the...

Mike Copps is the Executive Director of the VRMA which aims to be the singular voice of vacation rental owners and managers throughout the world. Any industry needs a trade association, but for a young and emerging industry like vacation rentals it is especially critical. Take a chance to meet Mike and learn about his background and the experiences he uses to make his leadership decisions today. ...

In this experimental podcast format, I aim to address one subject matter that has the industry buzzing and break it down for our listeners. [Note: Our normal interview podcast schedule sponsored by our friends at PointCentral will not be interrupted.] This episode addresses an article on Amy Hinote's VRM Intel site titled, titled "GSV Initiates Technology Rollup in the Vacation Rental Industry inc...

Heather   Bayer  of the Vacation Rental Formula Podcast is like my BFF in the industry. We were both in Las Vegas for the VRMA International event and she would be presenting on the 5 Love Languages, a famous book that classifies the various interpretations of love.    Heather  applies this thinking to the vacation rental industry — where you may be making extraordinary efforts in one department,...

Sarah Nie is based in Asheville, North Carolina. And after she began her property management business, she began to be approached by owners all over Asheville. But this kind of growth came with a caveat: the city's short term rental rules which were fluctuating and restricting business left and right.   What Sarah shares with us, now years after this journey begun, is the big lesson she learned: t...

Phil Minardi is the Head of Public Affairs at the Expedia Group which owns HomeAway and VRBO. His job entails a lot of travel so he has a great perspective on the vacation rental regulatory landscape throughout the USA. But what I like most about Phil is that he always speaks on behalf of the industry. Not about any one owner or manager or company, but on the movement as a whole. I think a lot of...

Kristi Kautz used to work in the digital entertainment space, so she was familiar with the world of influencers before her property manager Brad Klopman of The CoHost Company suggested offering a few free nights to some instagram influencers in exchange for a fresh set of photos. The tactic ended up becoming a way to unlock their vacation rental, Starship Landing Retreat, to the right kinds of tra...

Bradie Beagley-Reiner went through an incredibly stressful process in the crackdown of vacation rentals in San Diego, California. And in hindsight, she realized that a whole new kind of sharing economy sits within just beneath the surface: something we can all begin doing before it's too late.    The instinct of independent vacation rental professionals is not always to get together with their com...

I only met Steve a few years ago but he's been leading the PM charge for eons with his company VTrips and he can also be spotted on the speaking circuit at conferences around the world: shooting straight and saying some of the things that others may not like...but need to hear. I had the chance to sit down with Steve in Barcelona, Spain this month after we bumped into each other at the airport en...

Danna Kittell is the founder of Starfish Luxury Rentals on the coast of Oregon.  Her enthusiasm and positivity for the industry is eclipsed only by her hard work. After doing some rehab to her family's vacation home, she and her husband Jeff realized the potential of having a renovation aspect to their management services: upgrading a diamond in the rough has now become Starfish's secret weapon.  ...

Zaira Guzman is the Director of Sales and Revenue Management at Bluewater Vacation Homes in San Diego. Since San Diego is such a competitive vacation environment, Bluewater's recent occupancy growth (month upon month) isn't attributable to much other than Zaira's dynamic pricing skills, which means changing the nightly rates of properties to generate a fair return for the owner and a great value f...

Jean-Philippe Ramé of 2 Be Apart in Lyon France is something of a vacation rental icon: he's one of those entrepreneurs that sort of transcends industry and his management fleet is about as personality-driven as anything I've ever seen (check out the website if you don't believe me).   It was in Barcelona, Spain at the KigoWorld event that Jean Philippe was sharing with me his strategy for baking...

Jeff Jensen and his team of concierges at Utopian Luxury Vacation Homes believe that personalization is luxury: that placing your favorite newspaper or a hat from your alma mater in your vacation rental can convey thoughtfulness and win repeat business.    But in order to personalize you need to know something about those guests — something personal. So from the moment of receiving the inquiry, Je...

Mike Harrington was the de-facto head of VRMA up until a few hours after our conversation. He's also the President of Topsail Realty in North Carolina which was hit by a nasty hurricane in September.   Almost 75% of Mike's properties had damage so this was a pivotal learning experience for him and his team. Mike's big saving grace was trip insurance.  If you're the kind of person who thinks a natu...

Eric Bay is a connector. He's the kind of guy that every neighborhood would be lucky to have: he shoots straight, he respects opposing viewpoints, and he's willing to work hard for the community. Pretty much a model small business advocate.   He's also the President of the Alliance for Neighborhood Prosperity, which, based in New Orleans, is one of the most influential short-term rental advocacy g...

Jeremiah Gall is a vacation rental pioneer: he was one of the founders of the listing site FlipKey, which was eventually sold to TripAdvisor. And not willing to leave the industry, Jeremiah's latest brainchild is Breezway which is an app that allows hosts to optimize the operations of their vacation rental businesses.   After the Streamline conference in Phoenix, Arizona I got the chance to challe...

Durk Johnson is a housekeeping guru. He's the director of the Vacation Rental Housekeeping Professionals (VRHP) but he's also the consummate systems thinker: Durk is always looking for a way to systematize or temptatify or create a framework that can be followed and scaled: it could be argued that Durk's ability to do this has the potential to unlock the vacation rental industry as a whole. This i...