Podcast Episodes

In this episode, Alex and Annie are joined by David Angotti, the Chief Evangelist at Guesty, an end-to-end property management software designed for short-term property managers who seek to save time, increase revenue, and grow their businesses. David's journey in the vacation rental industry began after he exited his first company, SpeedyPrep, in 2009. Retirement at the age of 29 quickly lost its allure, so he purchased a few rental properties. This quickly evolved into a property management bu...

Welcome to a special flashback episode of Alex & Annie! Today marks the 2nd anniversary of the podcast, and we couldn't be more grateful for the road so far, and excited for what's to come! To celebrate, we decided to back the episode where it all started. Fun fact - the first time we tried to record it we needed 3 takes to get it right, as technology was getting the best of us. Here are the original show notes - In this inaugural episode of Alex & Annie: The Real Women of Vacation Rentals, w...

For this November 1st of the Month Bonus Episode, Alex & Annie welcome Lance and Elaine Stitcher - Owners of Seaside Vacations & Sales - a full-service, boutique Vacation Rental company that operates in Chincoteague Island, VA, Ocean City, MD, and Captains Cove, VA. During the VRMA 2023 International Conference in Orlando they became the recipients of the Vacation Rental Management Company of the Year Award and are joining us today to talk about their road to winning this prestigious award. Lan...

On this episode of Alex & Annie : The Real Women of Vacation Rentals, Alex is joined by Veronica Romney, Founder of Rainmaker Residency™ and VeronicaRomney.com. Veronica is a coach of all things marketing and leadership with over 15 years of experience. She puts her marketing skills on display with the two long term rental properties and one short term rental property she owns, and her marketing efforts as a solo contributor have outperformed both agencies and management companies with her holis...

In this episode, Alex & Annie are joined by Syed Lateef of SyedBnb. Syed is a philanthropist, a family man, an exotic car collector, an 8 figure Airbnb Coach, and the CEO of his short term rental company. He currently operates almost 300 units and is looking to add more. Last year his Airbnb business did more than $10,000,000 in revenue - but it was NOT an easy ride. Syed’s journey into short term rentals began when he was in the midst of looking for ways to achieve financial freedom, which led...

For this October 1st of the Month Bonus Episode, we have our next edition in the “Spotlight on Exceptional Property Managers'' series, presented by Casago, welcoming Ginger & Hunter Harrelson - Owners of Beachball Properties - a family-owned vacation rental and property management company servicing the Alabama Gulf Coast that won the prestigious 2022 VRMA Property Manager of the Year award. As we head towards the 2023 VRMA International Conference, Hunter and Ginger are here to share their secre...

Hey listeners, it’s throwback time! Today we’re looking back at a very special episode from 2022 with Jennifer Hsieh, VP of Homes & Villas by Marriott. Here’s a fun fact: Annie had just completed her final interview for the position of Director of Business Development with Jenny just moments before we recorded this episode. A lot has changed since we first started this podcast, and it’s fun to reflect on past episodes to see how far we’ve come; individually, collectively, personally and profe...

On this episode of Alex & Annie : The Real Women of Vacation Rentals, Alex is joined by D. Brooke Pfautz, Founder of Vintory - a company that is laser-focused on helping vacation rental managers grow their inventory. Brooke stumbled into the vacation rental space right before the global economic crisis of 2008 when he founded Vantage Resort Realty which quickly grew to 500+ properties under management and became one of the country’s largest vacation rental managers. After exiting from Vantage in...

Today joining Alex & Annie is Calvin Tilokee, CEO & Creative Director of Revpar Media - a social media management company that works with hotels and takes a strategic approach to growing your audience and turning them into customers. Calvin has always shined with his sense of humor and ability to create funny, interesting and relatable content. He started with a company Facebook group that was used for sharing memes, and there he was able to put his creativity on display. He moved on to Instagra...

Today joining Alex & Annie is Tony Stancato, Owner-Operator of Book ‘n Gather - a vacation rental management company that helps you get the most out of your vacation rental by helping with optimization and maintenance. He’s also the co-host of Michigan Short Term Rentals Podcast, their show is about to hit their 50th episode milestone - so if you’re in Michigan, queue their show on your podcast list! Tony’s background is in manufacturing - he was in that industry for 14 years prior to pursuing ...

On the September 1st of the Month Bonus Episode, Alex & Annie are joined by Sarah Franzen - the ex-Director of Revenue Management & Analytics at Natural Retreats - a luxury vacation rental management company operating in some of America’s most iconic destinations. Sarah is here to announce a huge career change - as of today, September 1st, 2023, she’s going out on her own and is now the founder of Revzen. Prior to working in the vacation rental space, Sarah was in education - which perfectly al...

Today, joining Alex & Annie is Justin Ford, the Director of Short-Term Rental Safety & Certification Programs at Breezeway, the leading property operations and services platform for short-term rentals. In October of last year, Breezeway received their Series B Investment of $15 million USD and since then they’ve successfully scaled to over 150 team members, serving clients such as Lake Tahoe Accommodations, Huswell, Seaside Vacations, and more. Justin’s journey to Breezeway began in the United ...

In this episode, Alex & Annie are joined by two recurring guests: Steve Schwab, CEO of Casago, and Matt Landau, Founder of VRMB. Together, they have started a new joint venture called Keystone Retreats. These recurring cohorts aim to help those in the vacation rental industry break through to the next level through creative and educational workshops and events. Last year, Matt was feeling that burnout was creeping up on him. Not being his first rodeo, he knew exactly what the signs are, and d...

Today joining Alex & Annie is Kimberly Miles, Executive Director of the Vacation Rental Management Association (VRMA) - an international, professional trade association of the vacation and holiday rental property management and hospitality industries. Kimberly has been with the VRMA for 2 years, and previously had an impressive 19 year tenure at American Hotel & Lodging Association, where she advanced up to becoming their SVP of Operations. Our very own Alex Husner is also a board member of the...

Today joining Alex & Annie is Andy Newman, Founder & CEO of Newman Hospitality - a company that connects Real Estate Investors with high income short-term rental opportunities. Newman Hospitality operates in South Florida, Northern Virginia and Indiana, which at first glance might seem like an inefficient mix of locations, but as it turns out this very approach has given Newman Hospitality the chance to avoid the huge risk factor and seasonal woes of having all of your eggs in one geographical b...

In this episode, Alex and Annie are joined by Dora Du, CMO of WYND - venture-backed startup that has built proprietary sensor technology that helps homeowners take control of the air in their properties. Their first use case is a product line that monitors and improves in-door air quality, and more recently they’ve released a new product that detects noise and smoke. WYND was founded by MIT engineers and scientists, with their first focus being to create products for the residential market. Dur...

On the August 1st of the Month Bonus Episode, Alex & Annie welcome the return of Simon Lehmann - CEO and Co-Founder of AJL Atelier, a boutique consultancy that specializes in the international private accommodation and vacation rental industry. The topic of today is the shifting landscape of the short term rental industry, and what the current situation is in different STR hotspots around the world. Simon has a 360 view of the global vacation rental market, as both his consultancy and the clien...

In this episode, Alex and Annie are joined by Mike Reinman, Owner of Casago Kona & Owner/GM of Casago Redwood Coast. Mike sold Redwood Coast Vacation Rentals to Vacasa at the end of 2019. After speaking with Casago CEO Steve Schwab, Mike decided to return to the industry and purchase a STR business in Kona. This is where his partnership with Casago began, and what laid the foundation for his next venture with Casago Redwood Coast. Mike started in the short-term rental industry by converting his...