Welcome to a special episode where we have the privilege of sitting down with Amy Hinote, the founder and editor-in-chief of VRM Intel Magazine, an industry leading trusted source of news, information, and resources for those in the professionally managed vacation rental industry. Drawing from her extensive background in finance and over 15 years of experience in the field, Hinote offers insights on the evolving landscape of the vacation rental industry and the upcoming fifth annual Data and Revenue Management Conference and the 2023 Vacation Rental Women&apos;s Summit in December.Join us as we explore the pivotal role of technology in driving industry growth and gain valuable insights from Amy on the importance of self-care in a demanding industry. You’ll want to tune in with an industry expert who is shaping the future of vacation rentals and helping our community unlock the secrets to success in our dynamic industry!Highlights of the Episode:00:44 - Guest Intro: Amy Hinote02:47 – The fifth Annual Data and Revenue Management Conference and the 2023 Vacation Rental Women&apos;s Summit08:03 – Less vendors and booths, more vendors in the sessions13:15 – Growth of technology in the industry25:34 – Format of the women&apos;s summit29:36 – Is VRM Intel still gonna be part of our space?33:48 – The industry needs a voice35:35 – If you don&apos;t take care of you, life will come in and make that decision for you39:17 – Everybody has something that they&apos;re fightingThis episode is brought to you by Casago, Guest Ranger, and Good Neighbor Tech.Visit AlexAndAnniesList.com to view our top picks for the best suppliers in vacation rental technology and services. Special thanks to Rev & Research for being the presenting sponsor of Alex & Annie’s List.Connect with Amy:Website | LinkedIn | Facebook | Vacation Rental Women&apos;s Summit  | 4th Annual Vacation Rental Data and Revenue Management ConferenceConnect with Alex and Annie:Alex Husner | Annie HolcombeAlexAndAnniePodcast.comIf you enjoyed this episode of  ALEX & ANNIE: The Real Women Of Vacation Rentals, make sure to visit our socials, leave us a like, a comment, or share our content with the crowd! Don’t forget to subscribe!LinkedIn | YouTube | Facebook | Instagram 

Alex & Annie: The Real Women of Vacation Rentals

Breaking News: Amy Hinote is BACK! 2023 DARM & Women's Conference Coming in December

In our latest episode, we sit down with Kristin Brown CEO of Concishare, a prominent lifestyle concierge management company to explore high-end concierge service for vacation rentals.  What does it take to provide a seamless experience and create an atmosphere of total relaxation for your guests? And what is the right mindset and strategies needed to excel in this space?Join us for an insightful conversation with Kristin as we explore the world of hotel-level concierge service tailored for vacation rentals. Discover her guests&apos; most frequently utilized service, the intricacies of logistics, forging partnerships, and uncovering the realm of vacation rentals in various destinations. Don&apos;t miss out on this engaging episode - tune in now to gain valuable insights and enhance your understanding of exceptional concierge service in the vacation rental industry.Highlights of the Episode00:44 - Guest Intro: Kristin Brown01:12 – Kristin&apos;s background02:56 – Replicating hotel level concierge for multiple destinations06:13 – Seamless transition from hotels to vacation rentals09:32 – Most used service13:42 – Coordinating logistics19:15 – Dealing with big events and sellout situations22:04 – Repeat guests26:04 – Markets and finding partners for on off markets28:43 – Partners big and small31:11 – Vacation rentals in other destinations34:14 – Oddest request from a guestThis episode is brought to you by Casago, Guest Ranger, and Good Neighbor Tech. Visit AlexAndAnniesList.com to view our top picks for the best suppliers in vacation rental technology and services. Special thanks to Rev & Research for being the presenting sponsor of Alex & Annie’s List.Connect with Kristin:Website | LinkedIn | InstagramConnect with Alex and Annie:Alex Husner | Annie HolcombeAlexAndAnniePodcast.comIf you enjoyed this episode of ALEX & ANNIE: The Real Women Of Vacation Rentals, make sure to visit our socials, leave us a like, a comment, or share our content with the crowd! Don’t forget to subscribe!LinkedIn | YouTube | Facebook | Instagram 

Unveiling the Secrets of High-End Concierge Service for Vacation Rentals with Kristin Brown

Craig is a financial expert, author, and speaker who founded Shore Term Rentals, a short-term rental and property management company in New Jersey. With over 25 years of experience, he started acquiring multifamily apartment buildings in 2014, grew to 9 complexes worth $6M+, and developed a property management company to manage several of his personal properties.In this episode, Craig shares how he’s leveraging his background in finance to effectively run his property management business. Craig delves deep into the unique landscape of managing properties at the Jersey Shore, the ways in which short and long term rental management are different, and discusses regulatory issues that property managers face in the area. Don&apos;t miss out on this insightful discussion about the ins and outs of property management!Highlights of the Episode00:43 – Guest Intro: Craig Stevens01:32 – Steven&apos;s background03:18 – The Jersey Shore landscape for property managers04:22 – Experience carried over from long term rentals07:02 – Making decisions on software09:05 – Where most bookings come from15:18 – Growth plans18:37 – Hiring and workforce20:38 – Referral system and networking21:31 – The Multifamily side of business24:52 – Overbuilding of long-term housing in Florida26:35 – Forecasts of growth for a community28:25 – Regulatory issues in Jersey ShoreThis episode is brought to you by Casago, Guest Ranger, and Good Neighbor Tech.Visit AlexAndAnniesList.com to view our top picks for the best suppliers in vacation rental technology and services. Special thanks to Rev & Research for being the presenting sponsor of Alex & Annie’s List.Connect with CraigWebsite | LinkedIn | Facebook | Instagram Connect with Alex and Annie:Alex Husner | Annie HolcombeAlexAndAnniePodcast.comIf you enjoyed this episode of ALEX & ANNIE: The Real Women Of Vacation Rentals, make sure to visit our socials, leave us a like, a comment, or share our content with the crowd! Don’t forget to subscribe!LinkedIn | YouTube | Facebook | Instagram 

Property Management for Long and Short Term Rentals: Challenges and Strategies With Craig Stevens

Today&apos;s episode is a very special one, as we bring you a recent panel discussion we hosted at Rent Responsibly&apos;s 2023 Sustainability Summit. What does sustainability have to do with branding and company culture, and why is it more important than ever to focus on this way of thinking? Tune in to find out! Tune in as we dive into this topic with two of the smartest minds in hospitality marketing, Stuart Butler and Pete DiMaio. You do NOT want to miss this one!About the Guests: Stuart Butler After 20 years in the hotel industry, Stuart recently became the Chief Marketing Officer at the Myrtle Beach Area Chamber of Commerce & CVB, the official destination marketing organization for the Grand Strand. A native of England, Stuart moved to the United States in 2001 and has spent the past two decades implementing marketing strategies for hundreds of hotels and destinations worldwide. With a degree in Rocket Science from the University of Kent at Canterbury, he leverages cutting-edge technology and takes a scientific and innovative approach to everyday marketing challenges. Pete DiMaioPete is the Chief Operating Officer at TravelBoom. With TravelBoom, Pete takes an analytics approach to hotel marketing and works tirelessly to ensure his clients are able to drive occupancy, increase RevPAR, and improve direct bookings; all while providing a granular level of reporting that proves the return on investment. Pete has over two decades of experience in hospitality marketing from both the traditional and digital sides of the business. Highlights of the Episode02:16 - Episode Intro by Dana Lubner, Head of Leadership Development at Rent Responsibly05:17 – Guest Intro: Stuart Butler CMO for Visit Myrtle Beach and Pete Dimaio COO for TravelBoom05:45 – What to consider when starting the brand08:11 – What happened to companies that did not start thinking about building the brand09:48 – Fundamentals for starters14:23 – How not to get bogged down in making the right decisions20:19 – Will the ability to customize by guest detract or build trust?24:02 – The importance of company culture32:29 – Assets that need to be protected41:12 – Testing and why it&apos;s so importantConnect with STUART:LinkedIn | LinkedIn Page |  Website | FacebookConnect with PETE:LinkedIn | LinkedIn Page | Website | Instagram | TwitterThis episode is brought to you by Casago, Guest Ranger, and Good Neighbor Tech. Special thanks to Rev & Research for being the presenting sponsor of Alex & Annie’s List.

Special Episode: How to Build a Sustainable Brand, Live from RR Summit 2023 with Stuart Butler and Pete DiMaio

This is a must-see episode: Today, we are joined by Dana Lubner, Director of Community Development at Rent Responsibly and host of the podcast "How to Save Your Vacation Rental Business." With a background in marketing and advertising, Dana fell in love with the short-term rental industry while working with her brother&apos;s company, Effortless Rental Group. However, her real passion emerged when she witnessed the industry&apos;s need for advocacy and education. As a founding member of Mile High Hosts, Denver&apos;s short-term rental community, Dana has organized events such as the Good Neighbor Summit and educates hosts on responsible practices. Now, at Rent Responsibly, she helps short-term rental owners and managers across the country mobilize to advocate for fair and balanced regulations while building strong alliances and educating the community. With her podcast, Dana continues to share her knowledge and passion for the industry, empowering listeners to take action and create a healthy and sustainable vacation rental community.Don&apos;t miss out on this informative discussion with Dana. Discover how Rent Responsibly is advocating for short term rentals and promoting successful alliances for hosts. Tune in now to gain valuable insights and be part of the community-building efforts in the short-term rental industry!Highlights of the Episode:02:57 - Guest Background: Dana Lubner, Head of Leadership Development at Rent Responsibly06:25 – Rent Responsibly the last couple of years08:38 – The Good Neighbor Summit14:02 – A portal for opportunity16:52 – The year of reckoning or more regulations?21:00 – Bring everybody that has a stake to the discussion table25:23 – Partnership with the VRMA28:38 – Interactions with other channels around vacation rentals32:18 – What&apos;s next for Dana?This episode is brought to you by Casago, Guest Ranger, and Good Neighbor Tech.Visit AlexAndAnniesList.com to view our top picks for the best suppliers in vacation rental technology and services.Special thanks to Rev & Research for being the presenting sponsor of Alex & Annie’s List.Connect with Dana:Email: dana@rentresponsibly.orgLinkedIn | Website | Instagram | LinktreeConnect with Alex and Annie:Alex Husner | Annie HolcombeAlexAndAnniePodcast.comIf you enjoyed this episode of ALEX & ANNIE: The Real Women Of Vacation Rentals, make sure to visit our socials, leave us a like, a comment, or share our content with the crowd! Don’t forget to subscribe!LinkedIn | YouTube | Facebook | Instagram |

Advocating for Short Term Rentals with Dana Lubner

Simon Lehmann is back for our May 1st of the Month Bonus Episode! As one of the world’s foremost experts on short-term rentals and vacation rentals, Simon is always first to spot emerging trends in our industry.  In this episode, we delve into the current state of acquisitions within vacation rentals and how the economy is influencing these deals, along with what companies should be thinking about if they’re considering selling. Join us to gain valuable insights into the world of vacation rentals and learn how to navigate its changing landscape. Tune in now!Highlights of the Episode:00:43 - Guest Intro: Simon Lehmann01:18 – The state of the union as it is for vacation rentals09:54 – Sell now or wait?16:42 – Foreclosures as an opportunity for buying inventory21:24 – It&apos;s a good time to sell when markets are slowing down28:01 – Current valuations of deals 32:56 – What should we look forward to?39:19 – ClosingThis episode is brought to you by Casago, Guest Ranger, and Good Neighbor Tech.Visit AlexAndAnniesList.com to view our top picks for the best suppliers in vacation rental technology and services.Special thanks to Rev & Research for being the presenting sponsor of Alex & Annie’s List.Connect with Simon:Website |  LinkedIn | Instagram | TwitterConnect with Alex and Annie:Alex Husner | Annie HolcombeAlexAndAnniePodcast.comIf you enjoyed this episode of ALEX & ANNIE: The Real Women Of Vacation Rentals, make sure to visit our socials, leave us a like, a comment, or share our content with the crowd! Don’t forget to subscribe!LinkedIn | YouTube | Facebook | Instagram |

1st of the Month Bonus Episode: Mergers, Acquisitions & Consolidations…Oh My! With Simon Lehmann

Here’s an episode you won’t want to miss: We talk to Matt Durrette, Founder and CEO of Cozi Vacation Rentals, about their journey to success.Nestled in the beautiful Texas Hill Country in Fredericksburg, Cozi is a premier 24/7 provider of property management and marketing services for its owners and a provider of unforgettable experiences for its guests. Originally founding the business out of Baltimore, MD, in 2014, Matt was able to grow his managed portfolio in this downtown market to 100 homes from 2014 to 2019 while working full-time for Northrop Grumman as a Global Business Development Representative and attending grad school at Saint Joseph’s University, in Philadelphia, where he obtained his MBA in Marketing and Data Analytics in 2018.Matt was fortunate to meet his beautiful wife, Jenna, who is originally from Austin, Texas. In Summer 2019, Jenna easily convinced Matt to move back to be near her family. Upon moving, Matt left his full-time job at Northrop and pursued Cozi Vacation Rental full-time. In March 2020, COVID ultimately shut down Cozi’s Baltimore City Market, and from this point, Matt chose to solely focus Cozi&apos;s growth on the drive-to tourism markets of the Texas Hill Country just south of Austin. Since April 2020, Matt has organically grown and scaled the Cozi Vacation Rentals unit portfolio in Texas from 0 to 250 units within two years.Tune in to our latest episode to find out how Cozi continues to thrive and learn a few secrets on how they do it as a team!Highlights of the Episode:02:25 - Guest Background: Matt Durrette, Founder and CEO of Cozi Vacation Rentals04:02 – Hill Country vs. Big Urban Area07:03 – High quality partners for high quality service10:37 – Bringing the EOS (Entrepreneurial Operating System) to Cozi14:20 – What the EOS does for company culture24:30 – The impact of EOS on company meetings33:14 – Predictive Index and Culture Index40:10 – Keystone Retreat45:58 – What’s next for Cozi?This episode is brought to you by Casago, Guest Ranger, and Good Neighbor Tech.Visit AlexAndAnniesList.com to view our top picks for the best suppliers in vacation rental technology and services.Special thanks to Rev & Research for being the presenting sponsor of Alex & Annie’s List.Connect with Matt:matt@cozivr.com | LinkedIn | WebsiteConnect with Alex and Annie:Alex Husner | Annie HolcombeAlexAndAnniePodcast.comIf you enjoyed this episode of ALEX & ANNIE: The Real Women Of Vacation Rentals, make sure to visit our socials, leave us a like, a comment, or share our content with the crowd! Don’t forget to subscribe!LinkedIn | YouTube | Facebook | Instagram |

Implementing EOS to Enhance Efficiencies, with Matt Durrette

For today’s episode, we talk to Melanie Brown. Melanie is the Director of Data and Analytics at Key Data, the leading analytics and benchmarking company for the vacation rental industry. Melanie has a strong background in data-driven decision-making. She is excited to help property managers and destinations around the world better understand their data. Key Data is the leading provider of trusted, real-time short-term rental market data around the world. Key Data Dashboard was created BY property managers FOR property managers. They offer an ensemble of business intelligence (BI) tools that tell the story of your company’s key metrics with easy-to-grasp dashboards of the 30-plus KPIs that are most important to you. Seamless PMS integrations provide trusted and anonymous data exchange with competitors in your local and regional markets.Tune in to our latest episode to learn how Key Data tools can help you better understand your vacation rental data and stay ahead of the competition!Highlights of the Episode:01:45 - Guest Introduction: Melanie Brown04:10 - Ahead of the hotel sector on the availability of data11:41 - Key Data in relation to pricing tools15:25 - Trends shown by the data17:50 - Status of available units19:30 - Comparing markets22:45 - Why some destinations are not doing well29:30 - Markets that are not on dynamic pricing31:39 - One key tip for property managers35:38 - Big things on the horizon (What’s next?)37:18 - Companies that have properties in multiple markets39:37 - How hotels are using Key DataConnect with Melanie:Website | LinkedIn (Key Data) | LinkedIn (Melanie Brown) | Youtube | TwitterThis episode is brought to you by Casago, Guest Ranger, and Good Neighbor Tech. Visit AlexAndAnniesList.com to view our top picks for the best suppliers in vacation rental technology and services. Special thanks to Rev & Research for being the presenting sponsor of Alex & Annie’s List.Connect with Alex and Annie and get more real vacation rental goodness:Alex Husner | Annie HolcombeAlexAndAnniePodcast.comIf you enjoyed this episode of ALEX & ANNIE: The Real Women Of Vacation Rentals, make sure to visit our socials, leave us a like, a comment, or share our content with the crowd! Don’t forget to subscribe!LinkedIn | YouTube | Facebook | Instagram | TikTok

2023 Update: Markets, Revenue, Bookings & More with Melanie Brown of Key Data

In today’s episode, Alex and Annie feature two special guests, Jason Sprenkle, CEO of Key Data Dashboard, and Ben Coleman, President of Rev & Research. They unveil a new partnership between their two organizations to better service their co-customers. Key Data is great at helping customers visualize data, especially with the increasing use of purely automated pricing platforms, while Rev & Research excels at walking customers through the process. Ben shares how genuine care to help customers make more money and give them back their time became the driving force behind their partnership.  Learn more about how the integration between Key Data and Rev & Research will deliver data that empowers property managers in this episode of Alex & Annie: The Real Women of Vacation Rentals.“REAL” TALKJason: Identifying a need to provide assistance to customers"You&apos;ve got a lot of customers increasingly using purely automated pricing platforms like Bluehouse, PriceHub, etc, and you got a lot of customers who are doing it the old-fashioned way on their own. But what we&apos;re increasingly finding is there&apos;s a lot of customers in the middle who they want to do it on their own, they want to use some pro tools, but what they really want is some help."Ben: The partnership will provide accurate price forecasting "You can&apos;t be messing up rates these days. Owners are looking at them a lot more, guests are finding deals a lot easier, and the next thing you know, you&apos;ve undersold a high season month real quick and you didn&apos;t really quite see what was coming." "And I think that we are going to be able to take all that data that they&apos;re going to give us and give it to us in a format that we can really start tracking and benchmarking markets and really start driving into true forecasting and into true budgeting for our clients.Connect with our guests:Jason: LinkedIn | Email | WebsiteBen: LinkedIn | Email | WebsiteYou can also email Rebecca and Key Data Sales.This episode is brought to you by Casago, Guest Ranger, and Good Neighbor Tech. Visit AlexAndAnniesList.com to view our top picks for the best suppliers in vacation rental technology and services. Special thanks to Rev & Research for being the presenting sponsor of Alex & Annie’s List.Connect with Alex and Annie and get more real vacation rental goodness:Alex Husner | Annie HolcombeAlexAndAnniePodcast.comIf you enjoyed this episode of ALEX & ANNIE: The Real Women Of Vacation Rentals, make sure to visit our socials, leave us a like, a comment, or share our content with the crowd! Don’t forget to subscribe!

Breaking News: Key Data Dashboard and Rev & Research Form New Partnership

In today’s episode, Alex and Annie feature Salar Tanzif, the VP of Sales at Guest Ranger. Security has become a primary concern for both property managers and homeowners. As a result, screening guests is essential to ensure that bad actors are detected and prevented from causing harm or damage.Guest Ranger, a risk management company, offers screening services that help to detect shady backgrounds, fraudulent activities, and other red flags that could indicate a problematic guest. Salar discusses patterns of fraudulent activity, as well as the measures in place to detect and defeat them.Salar breaks down the different security levels property managers can employ and how Guest Ranger&apos;s "frictionless checks" operate behind the scenes. Learn about the cat-and-mouse game behind vacation rental security in this episode of Alex & Annie: The Real Women of Vacation Rentals.“REAL” TALKSalar: The most common red flags for fraudulent bookings"One of the common patterns is local guests, another common pattern are last minute reservations of someone booking a day, two days before reservation. That&apos;s a common pattern. Or even the amounts of the units, so the dollar value of that reservation, if it&apos;s over $10,000, $20,000 these are things that are not red flags but things that you should look into more."Salar: Verification of multiple security checks takes only 12 seconds"The process of the guests going through it should take no more than 10, 12 seconds because all they&apos;re doing is they&apos;re taking a picture of their ID and a selfie and a credit card if needed. And then right after, immediately after the guest does that, we notify the PM and say, hey, here are the results. Either it failed or passed."Connect with Salar:Linkedin | Website | Email This episode is brought to you by Casago, Guest Ranger, and Good Neighbor Tech. Visit AlexAndAnniesList.com to view our top picks for the best suppliers in vacation rental technology and services. Special thanks to Rev & Research for being the presenting sponsor of Alex & Annie’s List.Connect with Alex and Annie and get more real vacation rental goodness:Alex Husner | Annie HolcombeAlexAndAnniePodcast.comIf you enjoyed this episode of ALEX & ANNIE: The Real Women Of Vacation Rentals, make sure to visit our socials, leave us a like, a comment, or share our content with the crowd! Don’t forget to subscribe!LinkedIn | YouTube | Facebook | Instagram | TikTok

Making Vacation Rental Security Fun Again, with Guest Ranger’s Salar Tanzif

In today’s episode, Alex and Annie feature Suneel Goud, the CEO and Co-Founder of GuestView Guide, a SHARP NEC company. Suneel discusses their in-unit digital concierge designed for property managers and operators to enhance the guest&apos;s experience. GuestView Guide provides guests with everything they need to know about the property and the local area while saving time through the automation of tasks and facilitating communication. The device is customizable and comes with a management console that controls the devices centrally through cloud-based software. Aside from GuestView Guide&apos;s connection with numerous property management systems and its easy integration with other systems through an API, Suneel shares their 90% engagement rate and his observations on current trends: using tech to fill in the gaps of the labor shortage and an increased focus around cybersecurity. Learn about the changing reality of tech in the hospitality industry in this episode of Alex & Annie: The Real Women of Vacation Rentals.“REAL” TALKSuneel: Tech fills in the gaps of the labor shortage"Maybe someone calls you about how to operate the AV equipment, and that&apos;s a regular thing that people call you about within your units. Just create a video and put that in the device and that will allow you to kind of head off those calls. So I think there are ways to take technology and help fill some of the gaps that you&apos;d have because of the labor shortage."Suneel: Use a guest&apos;s own preferences to customize their experience"As a hospitality operator, whether you&apos;re in vacation rentals or in a hotel, the goal is to really customize and provide a very personalized experience to the guests. And the more information you know and have about them, the better you can tailor that experience to the guest."Connect with Suneel:Linkedin | Website | EmailThis episode is brought to you by Casago, Guest Ranger, and Good Neighbor Tech. Visit AlexAndAnniesList.com to view our top picks for the best suppliers in vacation rental technology and services. Special thanks to Rev & Research for being the presenting sponsor of Alex & Annie’s List.Connect with Alex and Annie and get more real vacation rental goodness:Alex Husner | Annie HolcombeAlexAndAnniePodcast.comIf you enjoyed this episode of ALEX & ANNIE: The Real Women Of Vacation Rentals, make sure to visit our socials, leave us a like, a comment, or share our content with the crowd! Don’t forget to subscribe!LinkedIn | YouTube | Facebook | Instagram | TikTok

Enhancing Guest Experiences Using In-Unit Technology, with Suneel Goud

In today’s episode, Alex and Annie are joined by Michelle Marquis and Vanessa Moore, the Chief Innovation Officer and Director of Distribution respectively at TravelNet Solutions. Michelle talks about their Hospitality Hub which aims to consolidate the efforts of property managers and streamline operations.Vanessa&apos;s expertise is in strategic distribution and she highlights that while they maintain direct connections with channels, they focus on the 20% that serves the 80%. The idea is to be where customers are searching and to have access to the right channels that fit a property manager&apos;s current customer base.There is a proliferation of channels so property managers need to think about their channel mix and how this affects their revenue. Learn about distribution and channel business in this episode of Alex & Annie: The Real Women of Vacation Rentals.“REAL” TALKMichelle: Hospitality Hub consolidates tech that works better together"Our vision is as a hospitality hub you can have a choice. The property manager could still say I want to do business with all of these different vendors. Still, our thought is that anywhere we don&apos;t partner, we can buy or build and put these technologies and these features into the product so that when it&apos;s either natively built or it is complementary to what we do, you put them into one product and that&apos;s the hospitality hub."Vanessa: Be where your customers are searching"The approach we&apos;re taking is that we are direct connecting to the channels that our customers want to be on and where is the biggest ROI, so we might not have the biggest reach, but our connections to those channels are going to be impeccable."Michelle: Turning the nozzles of channel business for direct business"I would say that, yes, everybody wants more direct business. Right now, you need to be looking at, and I&apos;m going to call it channel business, but I look at channel businesses online, offline, and distribution. All of those three things, and then making a plan to turn up the nozzles of each one of those things."Connect with Michelle:LinkedIn | EmailConnect with Vanessa:LinkedIn | EmailThis episode is brought to you by Casago, Guest Ranger, and Good Neighbor Tech. Visit AlexAndAnniesList.com to view our top picks for the best suppliers in vacation rental technology and services. Special thanks to Rev & Research for being the presenting sponsor of Alex & Annie’s List.Connect with Alex and Annie and get more real vacation rental goodness:Alex Husner | Annie HolcombeAlexAndAnniePodcast.comIf you enjoyed this episode of ALEX & ANNIE: The Real Women Of Vacation Rentals, make sure to visit our socials, leave us a like, a comment, or share our content with the crowd! Don’t forget to subscribe!LinkedIn |

1st of the Month Bonus: The Real Women of Distribution, with Michelle Marquis and Vanessa Moore

In today’s episode, Alex and Annie are joined by Christina Thoreson, who with her husband Thor, built Chattanooga Vacation Rentals into a sizable and well-run outfit in Tennessee prior to selling in 2022. Christina recalls their early struggles including not knowing how to run housekeeping and maintenance, and struggling to figure out the legal and operational aspects of the business. Christina and Thor were early adopters of technology, and although they went through a series of software changes, they had finally found the perfect tech and operational recipe in 2021 - and that’s exactly when the doors started knocking with offers to acquire the business.Christina shares her and Thor’s plans for the future, which she says may include getting back into the industry…perhaps through a franchise. :) Learn more about building and selling a successful vacation rental company and shifting careers as a sommelier in this episode of Alex & Annie: The Real Women of Vacation Rentals.“REAL” TALKChristina: Seizing a golden opportunity at the best terms  "In a three week, first in a 24-hour period, and then about a three-week period, we had four interested parties. And I said, Thor, what? We weren&apos;t gonna sell. What do we do? And he said, I think it&apos;s a sign You know, to get two offers in this period of time, this just doesn&apos;t happen. We just need to move forward.""We probably spent six weeks negotiating that. Well, the first offer we spent about three, two, or three weeks on and just couldn&apos;t figure out a way to do it. That second offer, we spent about six weeks really hammering out terms, wanting a lot of assurances about how things were gonna move forward."Christina: Getting guarantees for their people was a top priority"One of the things we negotiated, we spent about three weeks negotiating, is a clause in the contract that said you have to keep our people for at least six months. You absolutely cannot change their pay, you can only increase it, and you have to give them these benefits you&apos;re promising them. If you don&apos;t do that, we have a contract, we&apos;ll sue you."Connect with Christina:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christinahthoreson/Email: christinahthoreson@gmail.comPhone: 423-4630770This episode is brought to you by Casago, Guest Ranger, and Good Neighbor Tech. Visit AlexAndAnniesList.com to view our top picks for the best suppliers in vacation rental technology and services. Special thanks to Rev & Research for being the presenting sponsor of Alex & Annie’s List.Connect with Alex and Annie and get more real vacation rental goodness:Alex Husner | Annie HolcombeAlexAndAnniePodcast.comIf you enjoyed this episode of ALEX & ANNIE: The Real Women Of Vacation Rentals, make sure to visit our socials, leave us a like, a comment, or share our content with the crowd! Don’t forget to subscribe!LinkedIn |

Hello from the Other Side: Christina Thoreson Reflects on Selling Her Vacation Rental Business

In today’s episode, Alex and Annie sit down with Graham Donoghue, the CEO of Sykes Holidays Cottages Group. When Graham was brought on Sykes, the brand was lacking a narrative and a story. They were large and profitable but departments were siloed with no real rallying cry to drive the company forward.Today, Sykes has 25 brands in its portfolio and 24,000 properties under management in the UK and New Zealand, making the brand a major player in the vacation rental industry. One interesting thing about Sykes is its approach to acquiring businesses. They intentionally retain the brand of the businesses they acquire to maintain continuity and protect the legacy of the local brand. This strategy helped Sykes grow while maintaining the values that made the local brands successful in the first place.Graham shares the technologies they developed during the pandemic, from their switchboard that optimizes cost per acquisition and push notifications on their app, to pulling insights from the data to provide value to end users. Learn more about accelerating growth and leveraging technology in this episode of Alex & Annie: The Real Women of Vacation Rentals.“REAL” TALKGraham: COVID presented a unique challenge and opportunity "During that 18-month period, we offered a hundred and 54 million sterling of refunds back to consumers. But when the government said that people could travel in the UK, and every week it was a different message, but as soon as they did say they could travel, then there were 10,000 people calling for their money back, but there were also 10,000 people calling or going onto the website trying to book a holiday. So it was like famine to feast in a heartbeat."Graham: Technology frees up your best people to deliver excellent service"The reason why we have 2000 people is we&apos;re a technology-driven company but we use people, we use our human capital to hopefully deliver exceptional service. What I&apos;m always looking at is I don&apos;t want the really clever, smart people I have a doing tasks that could be done by technology, that don&apos;t have a lot of value to the end stakeholder. But actually being there, you know, 10 o&apos;clock at night on the phone when there&apos;s a problem with your boiler and be able to service that and deal with it, that has value."Connect with Graham:LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/grahamdonoghue/Website: https://www.sykescottages.co.uk/ This episode is brought to you by Casago, Guest Ranger, and Good Neighbor Tech. Visit AlexAndAnniesList.com to view our top picks for the best suppliers in vacation rental technology and services. Special thanks to Rev & Research for being the presenting sponsor of Alex & Annie’s List.Connect with Alex and Annie and get more real vacation rental goodness:Alex Husner | Annie HolcombeAlexAndAnniePodcast.comIf you enjoyed this episode of ALEX & ANNIE: The Real Women Of Vacation Rentals, make sure to visit our socials, leave us a like, a comment, or

Lessons Learned from a Global Brand: How Sykes Cottages Scaled to 24,000 Rentals, with CEO Graham Donoghue

In today’s episode, Alex and Annie chat with David Weiss, the CEO of Whimstay. He shares his background in vacation rentals and the global payments space and his journey to becoming Whimstay&apos;s CEO.David discusses how last-minute bookings are their niche and that their goal is to increase incremental bookings while offering the best deals to travelers. He talks about the initiatives they have for this year like partnering with a technology company, intelligent pricing, and expanding into Europe.Whimstay believes in flexibility and offers broad payment options, including their patented Split Pay option, to create superior experiences. Find out more about how David and Whimstay serve the needs of property owners and travelers in this episode of Alex & Annie: The Real Women of Vacation Rentals.“REAL” TALKDavid: Superior experiences for both property owners and travelers "Our mission really is to offer exclusive and unique discounts to travelers with a superior experience, but really just the property owners and managers attract incremental guests and generate incremental bookings. The core of that mission is the last-minute window."David: Offer travelers the flexibility to pay how they want"The aspect of flexibility, which for us which would also be inclusive of making it easier to cancel and book and change and extend even with the type of value proposition that we have, in addition to saying let&apos;s give the traveler however they want to pay for their vacation. Let&apos;s give them the flexibility to pay how they want."Connect with David:LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-weiss-aa39ba22/Website: https://www.whimstay.com/Email: david.weiss@whimstay.comThis episode is brought to you by Casago, Guest Ranger, and Good Neighbor Tech. Visit AlexAndAnniesList.com to view our top picks for the best suppliers in vacation rental technology and services. Special thanks to Rev & Research for being the presenting sponsor of Alex & Annie’s List.Connect with Alex and Annie and get more real vacation rental goodness:Alex Husner | Annie HolcombeAlexAndAnniePodcast.comIf you enjoyed this episode of ALEX & ANNIE: The Real Women Of Vacation Rentals, make sure to visit our socials, leave us a like, a comment, or share our content with the crowd! Don’t forget to subscribe!LinkedIn | YouTube | Facebook | Instagram | TikTok

Increasing Last Minute Bookings through Flexible Availability, with Whimstay CEO David Weiss

With more than 35 years of combined experience in vacation rentals, Alex Husner and Annie Holcombe have teamed up to connect the dots between inspiration and opportunity, seeking to find the one story, idea, strategy or decision that led to their guests big A-HA moment. Join them, as they highlight the REAL stories behind the people and brands that have built vacation rentals into the 100 BILLION dollar industry it is today.

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Alex & Annie: The Real Women of Vacation Rentals

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