Unlocked by Matt Landau

It's not often I meet a mastermind like Jeanne Dailey, she's the Founder and CEO of Newman-Dailey Resort Properties in Destin, Florida. Like many vacation rental professionals, Jeanne is keen on the idea of diversification. But unlike many vacation rental professionals, Jeanne views this concept through an industry lens: having built several pillars in her business to avoid having all her eggs in...

John Dean of Only Provence is what I like to refer to as one of the most limited edition property managers in the world. His fleet of properties are widely recognized as the best properties in the Provence region of France.   But this distinction does not happen by accident. I was in Barcelona, Spain at KigoWorld when John told me about this tactic. I asked him to step into the side room and we ar...

Brad Stewart of Stewart Mountain Lodging in Sundance, Utah is one of my best buddies in the industry. I think it's fair to say that I admire his work as much as he appreciates mine. More specifically, I really admire how Brad thinks in systems and processes. And as a property manager, one of Brad's big turning points was with regards to his owners: like we'd strengthen any good relationship, he an...

Alex Barba was the General Manager at BCN Apartments when we recorded this conversation -- it's a boutique vacation rental fleet in Barcelona, Spain. And while he's not there anymore, the way he helped change my perspective on start-ups, acquisitions, and problem solving in our young vacation rental industry still whispers at me regularly. It's a creative solution for any property manager not sati...

Mailie Green manages three vacation rental villas in Bali from her home in South Africa. And like any manager, she is constantly on the lookout for ways to boost occupancy in the low season: she is always open to ideas that result in a win for everyone involved. This particular technique started with a skeptical email...but it has turned into one of her regular booking channels, while simultaneous...

Lawrie Lawrence is a real estate guy. He loves real estate. he's really good at real estate. And only recently has he become infatuated with a new kind of real estate, and that's vacation rentals. But in his typical renegade style, Lawrie doesn't do anything textbook. What I like most about Lawrie's boat model is that it is based highly on statistics and evidence. He wouldn't invest in something t...

Bernardo Retana of Otium Residences in Marbella, Spain has a great pedigree of hospitality and finance. But what I like most about his topic here is its unconventionality — it's innovative in that no one taught him or instructed him to do this. But simple enough that pretty much all of us could do it too. I was drinking beers with Bernardo in Barcelona, Spain at the KigoWorld event, when he shared...

The vacation rental industry has exploded in the last few years with big players. Big players like AirBnB, HomeAway & Booking.com have been rapidly consolidating the industry, creating an industry with more familiarity that's palatable to the average consumer. But what does this mean for the "mom-and-pop" style businesses who don't want to grow? Those who would rather create a small limited editio...

Ralph and his wife Karen, like many people, fell in love with Paris. However, instead of doing what most people would of done, they began buying property in Paris & Nice. Since then, they have been successfully operating a vacation rental business remotely. In this episode we learn how Ralph and Karen have created a remotely operated business process, and how they've overcome the tragedies brought...

Jan Stevens's journey in the vacation rental industry began when she inherited an old family fishing shack that they bought for $1,200 in the 50's. Realizing she could leverage her talents as a professional interior designer, she turned the home into a vacation rental. As peers began to take notice of her business, they began asking her if she can manage their properties too. Jan shares her experi...

Rick Oster's career has had many twists and turns. He spent most of his professional life climbing the corporate ladder as an overworked executive in the television & cable industry, and then took a detour to building his own aquatic installation company. Eventually, a curious insight led him to build his first vacation rental, a business he had zero experience in. Now, as the owner of Oster Golf...

  Teena Kulakowski is a former chemist who now runs the successful Four Seasons Lodge in New Hampshire. Her experiments have taken her from newspaper advertising to chainsaw artists to building her own website. Along the way we'll find out that the "secret ingredient" to her vacation rental's success is a high dose of good ol' fashioned personality. You'll leave here learning the value of knowing...

Darik Eaton is the founder of Seattle Oasis Vacation Rentals. After the 2008 financial crash Darik closed down his business in commercial finance, and transformed his vacation rental from a simple side business, to a full-time vacation rental property management company with over 45 properties. Darik shares his experiences growing his vacation rental business, exporting his business model to Hawai...

Lot's of people dream of unplugging from "the grind" and escaping to some far off exotic island paradise. Karla Gustafson, owner of Tropical Blessings, did just that. Frustrated with life as an English teacher in Dallas, Karla escaped to the Caribbean island of St. John where she became a "Moko Jumbie", and then eventually found herself owning a vacation rental property with zero experience. In th...

Stan Horst is one of the world's few vacation rental veterans. He's been hosting guests before the days of AirBnB, HomeAway, and even before the internet itself. With his unique perspective, Stan shares how his business modeled has evolved in the digital age, and how he still uses old-school marketing tactics to drive extraordinary results. We hope this episode will stir up some latent creativity,...