Creating Space for Women to Connect, Grow & Lead with Cristiana Carpini & Neely Khan

Tears, Trust, And Real Connection

Annie Holcombe 0:00

I didn't go in with any mindset that I needed tissues, and I think I cried on stage. I cried for several of the speakers. I was not anticipating that, but I walked away with new friendships, new respect, new love for myself as much as the other people in the room.

Cristiana Carpini 0:15

I didn't want to be another conference. How the women are going to scale their business or how the women are thinking about revenue. But the different things is how we connect. And once that we trust, really trust each other, we really open the door for other women.

Jinnie Randolph 0:30

The safe space for vulnerability. That's a different type of education that I think, regardless of industry, any professional really needs that kind of counterpart to the tactical knowledge about how you actually run your business day to day.

Neely Khan 0:44

Why do we need women's events? The very fact that we have to almost justify it proves why we need them.

Speaker 3 0:52

Vacation

Sponsor Spotlight: VacationFinder Explained

Speaker 3 0:53

Finder is hybrid OTA. We were created to empower professional property managers and give them the ability to own the guest relationship. Once again, we position ourselves as more cause-related than we do about focusing on profit at the end of the day.com. VacationFinder is exclusively for professional property managers. We require that they be local boots on the ground. Actual individuals are there in the destination that's able to provide customer service and solutions when problems arise. That helps us as Vacation Finder to really build and establish that trust, not only with property managers, but with the guests that we're trying to really look at Vacation Finder as their trusted booking source. For anyone that's a property manager that's out there looking to really focus more on a even a direct booking model, I think Vacation Finder is really an opportunity that they need to consider. We are positioned to be the ally to professional property managers in our industry. We want you to own that guest relationship so that you have communication directly with that guest the moment that the booking occurs. So you're the merchant of records on your own vacation finder. And that's been the vision since day one is how can we create this marketplace that's going to put professional property managers in the driver's seat? How are we going to create a marketplace that communicates to guests the value that comes with selecting a property that's managed by a professional property manager? What does that provide to them? And that is what we're trying to do is provide the best possible solution for both guests and property managers. If you love our industry, if you love your homeowners and the properties you represent and the guests that come to stay in your properties, and you want to create an experience for them and you want to do right by all the stakeholders, then you absolutely should consider Vacation Finder.

Annie Holcombe 3:04

If you notice

Guests Join And Barcelona Preview

Annie Holcombe 3:05

Alex isn't with us today, unfortunately she was tied up, but we did not want to let this recording go by and not have it. We've got two wonderful friends of the show and personal friends of both mine and Alex, Christiana Carpini and Neely Kahn. So, Christiana, why don't you introduce yourself and then Neely, you as well, and then we'll get into the meat of it to talk about the Women's Vacation Rental Summit or excuse me, conference that's going to be happening in Barcelona. European conference. Oh my gosh. Women's Vacation Rental European Conference. It's happening in Barcelona this fall.

Cristiana Carpini 3:36

Hi, hi all one. I'm Christiana. Uh I'm as well the CEO of Tara Home Consulting, um, a consulting company in vacation rental, hospitality hotels, and as well, I'm the founder of Women in Vacation Rental European Conference. We all call Vrec, just so it's much more easier for everyone, right?

Neely Khan 3:56

Great. Neely? Hello, so thank you so much for having us here. I really appreciate it. I am, as you mentioned, I'm Nili. I am the founder of Gahani, which is the only framework in the hospitality industry that combines GEO strategy with deep storytelling. So we help brands get found on A9, get chosen by human beings. And I'm a very, very proud speaker at the Rec conference as well, and a huge, huge fan of everything Christiana and her team does.

Cristiana Carpini 4:28

It's too kind as always.

Annie Holcombe 4:30

So it's easy, it's easy to be a fan of Christiana. She's she's absolutely a delight and such a like just a bright star in our industry. And so we are very thankful to be associated and we were able to attend the conference last year. Unfortunately, we're not going to be able to go this year. But Christiana, I wanted to start with you. And why don't you tell us a little bit about like the backstory? You had

Christiana’s Turning Point And Why She Built VREC

Annie Holcombe 4:50

a personal kind of event in your life that kind of led you to start this conference. And why don't you reshare that? I know we talked about it previously, but kind of refresh everybody.

Cristiana Carpini 4:58

Well, actually, I was organizing these events, you know, it was like uh out before COVID, so it was like 2019. That someone asked me why you don't do that in Europe. I was like, no, I'm not the person that's going to do conference. You know, it's women's conference. It's it's it sounded like a bit of like the book club, so I didn't want that, you know. Uh and then I well, then I saw the consulting company. Um, consulting company basically, you have to deal a lot with men. Uh, I was dealing, you know, with a lot of company. There was no women at the board, still no women at the board, I must say, especially when we're talking about M ⁇ A. I think I'm, well, I'm not I'm thinking, I'm only the only woman just, you know, entering that room. Started to work, especially with companies, well, I must say, as well, in the US, you you're not really very well positioned. Um, but especially in South Europe, like Spain, Italy. Um, it's like Portugal. There is not too many women at the board or all in business or wishing to sell the business, or they don't even know about funding, about nothing. So I was like, okay, let's start. Then funny things happened, well, you know, my story last year was quite rough. So basically, uh had a fraud from my business partner and had a divorce. And funny things that in my what is supposed to be my 20th anniversary was actually the Women in Vacation Rental first edition. So it happened. It was just not, you know, just no thought, but that's how it happened. And in that year, so last year, the people that really helped me out from that were all women. A reflection that came up on my mind was like, uh, okay, it's not why women, it's just that women they connect in a different way. When I I didn't plan anything, so women in vacation rental, I didn't want to be another conference, you know, just how the women are going to scale their business or how the women are thinking about revenue, because I mean we're human, so there is we all think the same way. It's not that we need a special educational revenue, for instance. But the different things is how we connect. And once that we trust, really trust each other, we really open the door for other women, for other people as well, I must say. So most of my clients today are men, but something that they always say to me is that you know, they they just need to figure out, oh, I want to do this, and like, oh, I know the person. So I just introduced them. It's it's easy for me, it's easy for every woman. We always see, you know, wonderful LinkedIn profile, wonderful Instagram profile, and we are always thinking about oh, wow, she has an easy life, you know, because she's already on the top, so she has an easy life. And between women, we start a little bit of competition because this is actually what the society has taught us for ages. When we start to understand that to be on the top, it really took us a lot of hard road, hard decision. Um, then we start to trust each other, estimate each other, and say, okay, she did it, so I can do it as well. You know, it's it's something that's inspiring. That's my opinion. So when I came to the Women in Vacation Rent at the first edition, was like I didn't say to any woman, to any speaker what they had to talk about. When they came up, like, oh, I want to talk about you know AI, about PMS, I was like, okay, things as well that the days after or the day before there are some scale conference where I normally combine the two conferences together. So there will be people talking about the same topic. We don't need to talk about the same topic between women. It sounds quite stupid. So they came up without telling me anything. I was just showing, you know, the presentation. Um, without telling me anything, they just came up saying uh basically sharing their personal life, the personal story. And that I think really move a lot of women. So I I saw this here many women between you, you are in contact, helping each other, why not? So if someone says, Oh, do you know he's good on uh writing? Oh, Neely, so that because I know her, I really know her, and I can trust her. Same things happen to you, uh Alex. So it's it's time to be like a sort of club. I don't want to be a main club, but it's time to be like a club.

Storytelling Creates A Safe Room

Annie Holcombe 9:45

What about you, Neely? Like, so I mean, speaking of what she was just saying, like, you know, people shared stories, and and I think, you know, not to get into personal, I mean, I think that was what was so moving about last year, was it just became over the course of the day, it just became like a safer and safer space. And I felt like we were all sort of cocooned in that beautiful castle and felt open to share like raw, very deep stories about personal experiences. And I had never been part of anything like that. So, you know, it was incredibly moving. And I think that all of us walked away with new um respect for people that we already had respect for, um, but respect for new people that we hadn't met before, new friends. And, you know, I think that why you don't want to start a club, it'd be it kind of made it like a sisterhood. You know, we we all walked away from knowing you had each other's backs. But Neely, I think from your perspective, you're a storyteller. So it was very, I think we were all anticipating a beautiful story. And it was a beautifully told story. It was not fortunately a story that a lot of people, you know, um would want to hear because it is it was raw. Um, but what do you think was so important about that opportunity to share and then and like the the environment that Christiana created with that?

Neely Khan 11:03

You know, it's it's one of those things where it's really difficult to acutely put into words because I feel like that event, and I have to stop myself sometimes from even calling it a conference because for me personally, it felt like anything but I think a lot of us, um, especially you know, us in this conversation right now, we kind of define things by energy. And I think the moment we stepped into that beautiful castle last year, there seemed to be something unspoken that just connected all of us. It was really truly magical. And every time somebody asks me about this event, it's really difficult for me to kind of just precisely put it into words. I think the best way I can explain it is that Christiana unbeknownst to her and her team because it was absolutely a team effort, you know, the entire team at our consulting that, you know, collectively put this event together. They did such a fantastic job, and I think this is key when it comes to hosting an event, even though I have really little experience with hosting them myself as a speaker I can say this. I think what's key is that they trusted their speakers, they trusted their contributors, they they actually made an effort. Christiana herself made an effort to nurture the relationships that she had with every single woman who was scheduled to go on stage, so that even though she didn't need to know precisely what it is that they were going to speak about in terms of content, she knew that she could trust each speaker to share value from a place of honesty, from a place that didn't seem transactional, from a place that was genuinely intended to share value and to share some kind of I don't know, a lesson without it seeming too preaching. And I think for myself, when it came to sharing my own story, which I was incredibly I don't want to say I was nervous about it because by the time we got to the end of the that particular event, I wasn't actually that nervous. I think I was actually ready. And anybody who was there at the event will know what a huge story that was for me to share. And if I can just say that it was the first time that I've said it out loud, then I think that says a lot to the environment that Christiana and her team. I'm not even just that, like everybody in the audience actually, all of the speakers who were on stage before me, it just felt safe. Somebody asked me this lots of things like what made you want to share your story last year on that stage and know the stage, and the last response I could think of was I felt safe, I felt trusted. I felt that I wasn't there to sell anything, I wasn't there with an agenda which was really, really refreshing because you know, sugarcoat it would be like, but let's be honest, we can go to conferences there is this kind of idea in the back of their minds that they want to create some kind of a transactional religion or something. I personally didn't find that was the case at all. Um, and that's beautiful because that's where the people you know the most beautiful sort of business relationships are created and virtually. So it really just was the energy and the trust and just everything around it was just the perfect environment to share stories.

Jinnie Randolph 14:20

Well, I have to interject to say that um I was not fortunate enough to be able to attend the first event. Um, and I will not be able to attend the second one. But oh my goodness, do I have FOMO from everything that you guys just described? And you know, I think hearing about the safe space for vulnerability, you know, that's a different type of education that I think, regardless of industry, any professional really needs that that kind of counterpart to the tactical knowledge about how you actually run your business day to day. But there's a lot of emotional labor, whether you're a man or a woman, to be honest, there's a lot of emotional labor. And I've definitely been in rooms where when you there's something about having a room of women who are open to being vulnerable, who are open to sharing their stories, um, because the education that comes through like empathetic, authentic, raw, uncomfortable storytelling really gives a broader space for people to find what they need and where they need to grow or educate themselves. And I love a good like educational, tactical conference. There's absolutely a time and a place. But being able to really just focus on the personal growth, I think is such an incredible thing that we, those of us who attend some of the more traditional industry conferences, know that those things do happen. But the events oftentimes aren't really very well organized around that component. So I'm I'm like need to know after the end of this episode what the plans for 2027 are because my toddler's gonna be a little bit older, um, and I might I might have to make a trip to the next one.

Cristiana Carpini 16:16

We're not going to say anything about 2027, only for the audience that we'll be there. But we're cooking something quite interesting for 2027. Well, for the next edition. I must say for the next edition.

Annie Holcombe 16:29

So you're not gonna tease and tease where we might be going next year, huh? Absolutely not. I wanted to like get my map out and put my little pin in it for next year.

Speaker 16:39

My name

Sponsor Break: Monarch Collective Partnership

Speaker 16:40

is Miller Hawkins. I'm the president and broker in charge of Boo Realty, as well as the Atlantic Resort Group. Both are under the Monarch Collective umbrella. I was asked several years ago while I was on the VRMA board of what my exit strategy is. Kind of hit me of, you know, I'm approaching 60 years old at the time and I'm not ready to retire now, but at some point I've got to have an exit strategy. I was introduced to the Monarch Collective a little over three years ago. I did not want to sell and give them the keys and leave. I wanted to stay on board for three, four, five years. And that's what their MO is. They don't want to buy a company from somebody and automatically go in and assume operations. They basically said from the get-go that when we do partner with a company, we work with you and support you in your current role as president to uh make life easier for you. We will support you and work alongside of you until the day comes when you do decide to leave. Before acquisition to after acquisition, as far as the brand, nothing has changed at all. The only thing they've done is support it. They brought in the resources, what they brought in, the support team, everything on the back end marketing, revenue management, financial accounting, everything. They want to free up our time so we can grow our company, run our company like we've done without the burden of all the back office things. We have grown a number of owners. We've grown financially. The loyalty and the attitude with our owners, the attitude with our guests, the attitudes with our employees has done nothing but go up. The advice I would give to a vacation rental owner who is remotely thinking about selling their business in the next five years. Don't wait until that time to start the conversation with the Monarch Collective. Reach out to them now. They have an acquisitions team that will fly to your location, they will meet with you, they will get to know your business. I strongly suggest you reach out to the Monarch Collective now. The best business decision I ever made was to buy Bu Realty back in 95. The second best decision I have ever made was to partner with the Monarch Collective the way we did.

Speaker 2 18:45

If you're curious about what the next chapter for your vacation rental business could look like, Monarch Collective offers a free, no pressure conversation to help you explore your options. No strings attached, just a straight conversation with people who deeply understand this industry. Visit gomonarch.com slash partnerships to learn more.

Why Women-Only Still Matters

Annie Holcombe 19:05

Christiana, you and I had a sidebar conversation at last year's event. And I feel as a woman in business in current environments, there's a lot of conversation about men feeling alienated and men feeling that, you know, we shouldn't be doing this. But I think we talked about some pushback that you had kind of received from people about having a woman-only event. But I feel like I, you know, three years ago, I would have been like, eh, you know, maybe I'm not, I had not been in a position where I felt like it was needed, like 100% needed. I would attend. I mean, not to say that, but the last two years, I really feel like there's just a air that's happening globally. It's not just any one country where this is just absolutely needed. And I I wanted, like, from your perspective, because you did get some pushback, why do you feel this is more needed? Do you think it's about giving women empowerment? Do you think it's about um going back to the safe space? Like, what do you what do you think the the actual need for this is at this point? Could be all of the above.

Cristiana Carpini 20:11

It's really, I thought actually to to open the women in vacation rental for men. We thought about we we talked about that last year. Honestly, it won't be anymore a safe space. So I really want, you know, last year there were women that were the first time on stage, and this year there will be women first time on stage. Amazing professional, but they never find the courage to, you know, to subscribe for any conference, um, they're scared to be judged. So it's okay. They were but they will be there for the first time, they were there for the first time, and then they took courage to go on the huge stage, like Veremy or Scale, you know, so it's something that really it's important to me. If you start to do a mixed conference, women won't be so safe, I must say. Uh, something else that's happening in the world that's actually in the last two years saw a lot of men's clubs, but they've always been, but in short-term rentals, uh, I start to see in that, you know, in WhatsApp group or platform. And if I'm just checking, they're just main name. Easy. So I was like, okay, if they have the if they have the safe space, which is okay for to me. I mean, it's completely fine. We probably need to have another one, you know, to be a little bit more stronger. Because when we get united, when we stop to to compete, okay, we start really to be unite and work together and trust each other, uh, we are really stronger to face any uh trouble on business, but even on personal life, because we must stop as well to say that there is a business, there is a um a work life, and there is a personal life. It all melt together. It's normal. You just have one life. That's it. That's something that I I will still keep it as a safe space where women can come, trust each other, know each other better. And you know, it it's not just to be empowered because the people that they went all out that room they start to do business together, they start to be business related, which is fantastic. It's something that amazed me that during the network, you know, the coffee break network, no one was talking about business. It was just, you know, small introduction. I'm working here, working there. And then at the end, they start to work in business. They're like, oh, uh, I saw that you want to open the United States, so have someone to introduce you. Oh, I saw that you're looking for luxury villa, I have someone to introduce you. So that's how it works, really. That's how it works between women. And I don't want to mix up, you know, with just the conference because this is will be the cool business, I think. The cool value.

Jinnie Randolph 22:58

I love what you were saying about us all being stronger when we work together and stop being in constant competition. And um, you know, I've definitely heard rumbling sentiments around some of the men's groups that you've mentioned that have popped up in the industry and certainly heard some of the pushback about um women's women's conferences or women's only events. And I obviously, like I said, I haven't had the opportunity to experience your event. Um, but from other, you know, those micro moments, maybe at some of these other events where I've had those experiences, you know, as a woman, I might have those small conversations at, you know, a cocktail hour with a few of my lady friends. But after I've had a chance to grow from that, I'm actually able to go and take the things that I've learned back to my male colleagues, my male friends. It makes me a better leader, a stronger communicator. I can like communicate more confidently with my male counterparts and my male colleagues. And so I push back really hard that men don't also massively benefit from women attending exactly these types of events because they absolutely do. And as per usual, women don't get the credit for it, but we're gonna make everybody better. It's not just about, I don't think, just about female empowerment. It's about everything that kind of comes the domino effect from having having women like that. So I'm well said, Ginny. Well said.

Annie Holcombe 24:40

Yeah.

This Year’s Format, Sponsors, And Venue

Annie Holcombe 24:41

So um, Christiana, for this year, is there a theme for this year? So last year you said you, you know, you just kind of just wanted people to be present and be there. And um, have you worked on uh what the speakers are going to be talking about this year? Is it gonna be a similar scenario? Or I mean there are some same speakers. So um I imagine some similar stuff content, but what what's the theme for this year that people can look forward to?

Cristiana Carpini 25:03

This conference when someone is asking, oh, why we need to participate to networking, to real deep connection. That's it. If you want to learn about revenue, scaling, AI, you know, there is Scale Fest on Saturday and Sunday, go there, easy. They're great on that. If you want to really know and connect with amazing people, that they're not coming just from Europe, so they're coming from everywhere actually right now. So it's something that it's an opportunity, and why not come? There is a lot of speaker this year. We had quite a lot of success on speaking opportunity, I must say. So we changed a little bit the format, the speaking, workshops, opening. Uh, that's something that only the people that will be there will see. Um we have a sponsor this year, that's something that's you know, last year we didn't have any Spain sponsor, so everything was paid by my company. This year we started to get a few sponsors, and I'm really glad and surprised for that because I know it's really tough for a company to understand why they have to be sponsored, why they have to be a sponsor in a women in vacation rental conference. So we have guestie, uh hostaway, pricelab, breeze away. Really, really super happy for uh the effort that they're doing, you know, everything. It's okay. Apart from that, well, we are a little bit uh bigger this year. Last year we were more than 35, 36. This year we're nearly reaching the 55. We are squeezing a little bit. It's it's a nice room. Well, it's a beautiful room, actually. If you saw the picture, Casa de la Sede, it's uh it's an ancient museum and the historical center of Barcelona in the Gothic Barcelona we call it. And there was some scene from uh what's called House of Paper, Casa de Papel, where just turned there as well. So it's it's really beautiful place. Uh

A Book That Carries Women’s Stories

Cristiana Carpini 27:01

um, well, we are writing as well a book. Well, we're writing Neely's writing as well a book. I just it's quite nice because I always have a lot of ideas, and then I call Neely, and Neely's like, wonderful! Okay, let's do it.

Annie Holcombe 27:15

Yeah, I actually wanted to bring that up because Neely, you've been working on that since last year's conference. Is there any updates you can share about the book? And will it be ready by the conference, or is it it will not be ready by the conference?

Neely Khan 27:28

It is definitely a labor of love, you know. I I'm very much, and I feel Christiana is the same as well. I'm very much about the long game. And the reason why this book project in particular is so special and so beautiful and so different and so wonderful is because a lot of love, creativity, originality, and heart is going into it. So, what we can say is that we have collected the stories of all the women who are going to be featured within this book, it is going to be written in a way that is the complete opposite of any other business books I think that have come out in our day. So it's not going to be a standard, you know, one chapter about Christina and so and so they're alive, and let's move on to the next one. We really have taken the concept of storytelling and wrapped a beautiful fiction story around all of these women's worlds, and it is very much going to be written for an audience outside of our sector as well. And again, this is something that I really appreciate about Christiana that she's always had this vision of you know, let's serve our circle, our community, but then also let's think about how we can serve women outside of this circle and this community too. How do we bring more people into this space that we are creating? And I do think that's important. Uh, just going back to the point about I know I'm um digressing a little bit, but just going back to that point about why do we need women's events? The very fact that we have to almost justify it, I think proves why we need them. You know, the fact that we have to kind of say, Well, you know, we need them, you know, women experience business differently to men because we experience life differently to men. That's a given. So, of course, we we do have to have certain opportunities and resources that help us navigate through through life that is more complicated, that that has that is definitely not linear, and you know, running a business and owning a business and employing people, and you know, having children and having pets and having elderly parents, a lot of that responsibility statistically holds on a woman, but you know, the gender data still exists. Women are far more likely to be socialized in the business space than men. Women are still shockingly less likely to be taken seriously as CEOs. So these are things that we don't just say because it's preachy or because we're like these radical feminists, not that there's anything wrong with being a feminist. I'm a very proud feminist, but it's because we need it, you know, we need it. And I think the book that we're working on it's written for men too, it's going to be written for men to enjoy as well. It's going to be written to celebrate men because you know, we love men, we see them as equals while realizing that we're not the same. And I think that's really I think hopefully Christiana agrees that's really the vision of what we're trying to build with this creative piece.

Jinnie Randolph 30:27

So I have a little bit of a follow-up question for you, Neely.

Convincing Your Company To Fund It

Jinnie Randolph 30:31

I've ha been in this situation myself, and I certainly have um a number of female colleagues um who've been in this position as well, where we might hear about awesome events like these happening in our industry. But if we're not the budget decision maker at our company, if we're not sitting on a C-suite, and honestly, I think probably some people who are, but have to get budget approval from a committee to spend their time elsewhere, it can be really challenging to even figure out how to advocate to have your company that you work with support, you know, travel expenses or cost to attend or time off of work to go to an event like this. And so I'm curious if either one of you have any advice for listeners who are like, oh my gosh, I need to make this happen. I don't have the money myself to make this happen. How do I advocate uh to the company that I work for that this is an expenditure that they should absolutely invest in me?

Cristiana Carpini 31:31

I understand that. Um I normally say that women in vacation rental, it's uh it's it's a space for you. So if you want to, you know, to improve yourself beside the company, you need to invest. So if you want, you know, to be a uh a better business woman, you normally uh invest in a coaching. Well, women in vacation rental is sort of coaching. If you have a company, anyway, let's say that it's not the case and you need the company to sponsorize this. I must say as well that you're going to approach women that normally you can't approach. So if you go in a, let's say that if you go in a huge conference, it always happens. I mean, all the other conferences are huge, you know. There are women talking, and you know that you want to approach some, let's say Amber Ardo, you know, everyone knows Amber, she's wonderful. Uh, the first sign that I met, that's that's just one case. The first sign that we met, we were in Escale International in Barcelona. And I remember that was like, no, Christiana, you cannot talk to Amber, you know, she's she was like a goddess. Well, she is a goddess, because she is a goddess. So it was like, oh my god, you know, she was always surrounded by uh staff of people, so it was like, okay, okay, she's a very, you know, very important person. I just but then you meet her and you find that she's incredible, she's really helpful, great person. In the women in vacation rent out because it's never meant to be huge, because really connecting is the passport. So you can meet her, no one is going to meet her. I mean, you can go scale fest, she will talk in as well there, but she will be surrounded by hundreds of people. And everyone will say, Oh no, you cannot talk to her, you know. And that and that's actually that's actually what happens, you know. It's not an exclusive club, so everyone is really welcome to to come there, but you can really sit at the table with people that normally you just see on the internet, you just see on social media. So the first time that we had in Italy, Alexei Anni, it was incredible. Everyone was like, How did you make it? Well, actually, I still don't know how I did it. But you know, they were so incredible to get there because the person, the companies, they they think that they are VAP because just you are very good on social media, you are a very important person and impossible to get. So when you bring them inside a room, you find out that they are incredible human beings. And you can really connect with them. And if you ask Annie for an advice, or Alex for an advice, or Ember or Neely, they're there or me, we are there to help you out. You will find actually, I must say that the audience is always like a decision maker. So you will sit at the table, not just with anyone, that all decision makers come in there, which is incredible.

Annie Holcombe 34:34

I have

What Attendees Take Home And Giving Back

Annie Holcombe 34:35

to say, like, I I did not go into that with any, I was exhausted by the time I got there. I do remember that. But I didn't go in with any mindset that I needed tissues. And I think I cried on stage. I cried for several of the speakers. I was not anticipating that, but I walked away again, as I said earlier, walked away with new friendships, new respect, new love for myself as much as the other people in the room. I think it was it was good to hear. I think sometimes we get lost in the try to compete in like the business sense. Like, you know, do you have enough information? Do you understand AI? Like everybody's trying to like juggle with that right now. But I think just to understand that like the things that you've been dealing with as a woman, as a as a human, other people are facing that too, and that it's not isolated to any like one country or one type of business. I mean, I think that that, you know, you had such a broad spectrum of that. And I I hope that I mean, it feels like things are going well because you've got a lot of sponsors this year. So that is just, I I I find so much joy in that that people are stepping up and wanting to sponsor the event and making it all the things that you envision.

Sponsor Break: Crafted Stays For Direct Booking

Alex Husner 35:45

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Annie Holcombe 37:16

But

Team Debrief And What Surprised Them

Annie Holcombe 37:17

I was curious when you did kind of your recap with your team last year, because they were they were incredible. They were right there doing everything. Several, there was gentlemen from your team were there. We did a lot of little uh little snippet videos for social media and had a lot of little interviews, and it was it was just so much fun to get to meet all of them. But when you guys sat back and kind of looked looked back over the few days, what was your biggest takeaway from the actual event?

Cristiana Carpini 37:44

Uh well, that event was really a surprise. We had a lot of discussion before the event because you know it was hard to get attendees was the first event, no sponsor, everything was on our shoulder. And the two days before we had Scale Italia, so it was quite tough. Um, well, there was flight stroke, well, you know, you know, and there was a lot of things going on. My gods, rail strikes, riots, all the whole everything. And I just remember that day that it took me one hour to reach the event, even if I was really close, because there was, you know, with all the stride, there was cue everywhere. Traffic, jam, everything. So just reaching the event, I remember it was the team was like, okay, how it goes, it goes. Here we go. You know, it could probably be, it will probably be a meeting between friends, that's it, and let's see how it goes. At the end, all the team was like, especially because as the format was new, I didn't actually know how you were going to take this kind of format. So my uh my worry, I didn't sleep for a week about the women's vacation rent because my worries was like people were just, you know, they were just okay, I'm going, stand up, I'm going. You know, I don't want to hear that anymore. We're not talking about AI, we're not talking about uh revenue, we're not talking. At the end, to see the people that I saw the reaction, you know, the emotional reaction that the audience had. All the team was so really satisfied about that. I must say they were really, really happy to be there. And I asked my female team to be part of the audience because they didn't know as well what I was organizing. So they just knew this women's conference, but they really didn't know, they didn't get inside because I was always talking to the speaker. So they just sat there and they came out and say amazing. So they felt more empowered, you know, they they felt like authorized to talk to you, to to talk to the other women. So they were like, okay, we're just human beings. And I remember the first time Arlena was like, I was at the table with Annie, you know, she's she's so amazing, she's so incredible. Uh, she's a big, huge fan of you. Um, no one was expecting this. They felt more, how can I say, more confident about themselves, about what they're doing. Uh, I know it's my company, so they I leave them, you know, very free to create and doing. Uh, they have tasks, of course, but they can do in their own time. Yeah, they felt they felt empowered, they felt much more confident, you know. It was like uh for them, it was quite an honor to to meet all these incredible women that normally just talk to me, and they were absolutely allowed to talk to them, you know, to send WhatsApp or whatever. So I I really we really have a good thing. Now we had a few projects going on. So about women in vacation rental. One was the book, the other one is to, you know, women in vacation rental, as every women's conference that I normally, or every conference that organized for women, I normally give all the uh earnings, once that we pay there for, that going to be paid for uh women international help. That's sort of anti-violence, first head, really first head. So we really we aren't a volunteer, so we normally give the uh, you know, with our money, we pay flight tickets or train tickets and clothes for the kids, and you know, the the really, really basic first head, of course, with authorities, you're not giving this alone. So it's not done for earning any money, basically. It's done really for giving something back to the community that we belong, to the people that we belong. That's something as well that's quite uh that people love. I mean, my team actually love to do that.

Annie Holcombe 41:53

Yeah, it's it's a wonderful thing. And I think that's somebody asked me this morning, what do you what do you love about working in vacation rental? And I was like, the people. I mean, it's it's the people, it's the relationships. And so when I get these people that are on LinkedIn, they'll just immediately I call it pitch slap. They're gonna send you a pitch and immediately not even get to know you and just like, you know, get pitched, try to pitch you something and not know your business, not know who you are. And I think that that's that just is kind of a turn off. But I think overall, we are we're hospitable creatures. That's why we're in this business and we want to be connected with people. And and I'm I'm flattered that Marlena would think anything of me. I was so impressed by her and just all the people that were at my table. And I remember her crying. And I thought, oh my gosh, I've got to go over and just hug this poor soul. I she was just, she was just so emotional. But I think that that's just speaks volumes of the leader that you are, that you allowed your team to participate at that level and have that open space to connect and ask and and um and just be. And it was so wonderful. So I'm I'm thrilled for it. I really, really just devastated. I'm not gonna be able to go this year because one just wanted to go to Barcelona for sure. But to be able to spend a day with you guys again would be amazing. Um, but

Tickets, Long-Day Tips, And Final Surprise

Annie Holcombe 43:10

uh before we close, I wanted to give you like, is there are there still tickets available? Do you still have space or what what are we looking at right now?

Cristiana Carpini 43:18

Yeah, we still have uh uh actually we're seven, but we had two cancellation for family reasons. So we have nine. Nine tickets, still available, and of course, we're waiting for you in Barcelona.

Annie Holcombe 43:31

So if anybody wants tickets, I just need to go to w vrec.eu. Is that correct? Yes. Okay, so go to w vrec.eu to get your tickets. Um, are there any other things that you think people need to know before we close today?

Cristiana Carpini 43:46

No, I suggest them, you know, to sleep very well the night before, uh, because it will be a long, really, really long day. So we start early uh with a welcome from Nili, actually. That's we can spoil. Uh we start 9 a.m. It was really, it's quite early for Barcelona. So when I said that to the venue, they were like, Are you sure? Yeah, of course. Of course. And we're going to keep on until 6:30. Um, so it will be quite a long day. Uh, we have a final surprise uh as well. So yeah, it will be it will be a good day.

Jinnie Randolph 44:29

And it sounds like uh people should also maybe bring a box of tissues with them in their bag.

Annie Holcombe 44:37

Well, well, it's not only crying, I must say it was happy tears too. Let's be honest. There was there was some happy tears too.

Cristiana Carpini 44:45

We have this year, we have a send-up comedian, so as well.

Annie Holcombe 44:49

She will uh she would as well couldn't be there to be the comedian, that's why you know.

Cristiana Carpini 44:58

We will love as well, I must say.

Jinnie Randolph 45:01

I have a little bit of um uh an inkling of uh a past in amateur stand-up comedy. So I feel like we might need to uh collaborate on um whatever uh the next next event might be. An improv. Yes. And we're definitely looking forward um to hearing all of what I'm sure will be absolutely wonderful buzz coming out from the second event this year, and can't wait to to hear what what new conversations and discoveries the women who are able to attend are able to pick up.

Cristiana Carpini 45:39

Thank you very much. Yeah, yeah.

How To Reach The Hosts

Annie Holcombe 45:41

So if anybody wants to get in touch with either one of you, what's the best way? Uh Christiana? Reach me out. I mean, my email is everywhere.

Cristiana Carpini 45:48

You can uh you can write straight direct to me uh Christiana hat tarahoneconsulting.com. Or um straight direct, a lot of people they just reach me out on LinkedIn messages as well if they don't I normally answer quite quick.

Neely Khan 46:05

Yeah. Neely? Uh LinkedIn all day, every day, easiest way. All day every day. Yeah, normally meaning ones on LinkedIn quite easy. Great.

Cristiana Carpini 46:15

It's our form and LinkedIn.

Annie Holcombe 46:17

Yeah, I feel I feel like it is. It I always joke it's the water cooler of the industry. That's where we all go together and talk about things. But if anybody wants to get in touch with Alex and I, you can go to alexandani.com. And we are so looking forward to this event. We can't wait to hear from you guys after the fact, and then really can't wait to hear where 2027 is going to be. But we really appreciate you coming by today, and we'll be back soon.