Mid-Year Recap: Big Changes, New Chapters and What’s Next for Alex & Annie (and Jinnie!)

Alex Husner 0:00

Growth at all costs has become a very costly thing for the industry. We've seen a lot of companies that have just grown way too fast thinking they can build this company, get to Bentley by Friday, sell company the following Friday, and then be off in the Bahamas.

Annie Holcombe 0:14

There are people that want education and what they have access to right now might not be the best information. There's always going to be people out there that are selling some get rich quick, you can do this for themselves to get rich and not necessarily caring about the mess that they leave in their wake. Several of these operators have paid for masterminds thousands and thousands of dollars and they walked away no smarter than they did before they started and they're out a lot of money.

Alex Husner 0:37

Just like short-term rents, podcasting is not just an easy business or a hobby. I mean, it still takes a lot of time and a lot of planning and a lot of thought from all of us. And we've changed jobs, we've changed careers, we've had major things happen in each of our lives, and we've still always shown up. You know, sometimes it's slow and steady that wins the race.

Speaker 1 0:57

My name is Miller Hawkins.

Sponsor Spotlight: Monarch Collective

Speaker 1 0:59

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 attitude 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 3:03

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.

Alex Husner 3:26

Welcome to Alex and Annie, the Ruleman of Vacation Rentals. I'm Alex. And I'm Annie. And we are here today for a very special episode. It is July 2026. It's the midpoint of the year. And we got about seven months into the year, and we realized that although we've posted on LinkedIn about this, we haven't brought a very important person to the forefront of the show who is helping us run the show this year. So we have today Ginny Randolph joining us. There she is.

Jinnie Randolph 4:01

Hi ladies. Hello.

Alex Husner 4:03

And we're just gonna kind of talk about how this year has been so far, what we've all seen from many, many interviews that we've done, what types of themes have been emerging, and what we're excited about as we close out the second half of the year. But Jenny, welcome to the

– How Jinnie became part of the Alex & Annie Podcast team

Alex Husner 4:19

show.

Jinnie Randolph 4:19

Thanks for having me on. Longtime uh listener, first time guest, I have to say. Um, I know I've been listening to the podcast since you guys started it, what, five and a half, almost six years ago. Um, and even had an opportunity to to sponsor the podcast before I had an opportunity to join up with you guys in this way. Um, so thanks for thanks for having me on to chat about some of the awesome stuff that we've been working on this year.

Annie Holcombe 4:47

It feels so surreal because I remember I vividly remember walking in Orlando with you and you were working with another podcast and like talking with you and trying to get ideas. And it's just like I vividly remember that conversation and just kind of full circle moment and just I've always adored you and you did some work for me when I was at Next Pax, and that was a lot of fun. And just we, I know when you left to have your baby, so you're doing the mom thing too. It was like, well, how do we find an opportunity to to like get to get work together again? And so it just kind of was like kismet, really, truly, to get you into this. You have all the knowledge of the industry. It's not like we have to bring you up to speed on anything. You've got amazing ideas, which we've been so excited to bring to the front for our sponsors. I can't even speak today for the forefront. Um, but yeah, so we're happy to have you.

Jinnie Randolph 5:34

You know, Annie, it's funny you mentioned that. I was um looking back through emails for something uh over the weekend. And it was actually almost, I think two years ago, almost to the day, uh, that you and Alex reached out right before um I had my my son um and said you had ideas that you wanted to chat about the podcast. And when I was like, ooh, I'm about to have a baby, I don't I don't know that that's the the right time to take on this project. Um, I figured that probably that door had shut. So I am uh very excited that it's it's two years later. Um, and not only are we like actually doing a lot of the ideas that that we were talking about wanting to steerhead a couple of years ago, but that I get to to join you um on the podcast to share with everybody else um kind of what some of those plans are and um maybe share a little bit of behind the scenes that not everybody uh gets to see about what happens with the show.

Alex Husner 6:38

Yeah. And actually, okay, guys, I just had an aha moment. Annie, when you were talking about walking in Orlando, I remember that was that party that was out over the water. And Ginny, you and I had a conversation at that party too. And I told you that's when I were I was starting to think, you know, I think I'm going to uh leave my position at Cossigo and that I really wanted to focus on the podcast and you know, and growing a my consulting business that I haven't started at that point, but I totally forgot about that until now. So there's been stars aligning of like pushing us of like let's you know let's let's keep focusing here and let's do things that we love. And uh the show is is definitely one of those all three of us I know. So it's been a it's been a wild journey, but we're very grateful to have you on it and and Angelo too. We adore Angelo with him earlier and we'll get him on on maybe one of these days too, if he will.

Jinnie Randolph 7:27

But uh the real, real behind, behind, behind the scenes. Yeah, that's really how the sausage gets made.

Speaker 6 7:36

Yeah.

Alex Husner 7:38

For anybody who doesn't know you, Jenny, maybe like just give a little bit of history of your experience within short-term rules, because obviously that was a big part of of why you know we knew you were gonna be great for this role to come on and work with us.

Jinnie Randolph 7:52

Yeah, so um, I've been in the industry almost a decade now. Um, I got my start in uh 2017, I had a background in uh marketing, digital marketing, and was living outside of Aspen, Colorado. Um, and so when I went to go get a job that was not waiting tables so I could afford to live there, um I quickly learned that in a resort area, um, if you're not gonna work in a restaurant or for a property manager, that working for a marketing agency and the agency I landed at was Blue Tent. And so got my start in the industry at Blue Tent. And over the last nine and a half years, um, I've worked with a whole variety of suppliers in the industry. So started with Blue Tent, website and marketing services, Sharp NEC had um a wall-mounted digital concierge product for a while that I helped work with their team on marketing. I worked at TRAC in a demand generation role. Um, I think that was another uh opportunity in addition to sponsoring the podcast. We got to collaborate on some interesting conference events and parties. Um and then kind of thought that I a couple times thought I was gonna take a dip out of the industry and ended up like most people, kind of getting sucked right back in. So I've also um in times that I thought that I was gonna take a break from the industry, has met local property managers um wherever I'm located and have had an opportunity to also work on the operator side in a lot of different capacities, a lot of different business models. Um, so worked with kind of a co-hosting business model, kind of an Airbnb super host model, and had an experience to be able to see from a totally different perspective the things that as a supplier and a marketer of different software and services in the industry, you know, we know that there are certain things that property managers really struggle with when it comes to technology adoption or selecting service options that are the right fit for their company. Um, and so have been able to work with operators to kind of empathize with that in a whole new way. So super excited to be able to come on with the podcast and be able to help kind of amplify some of those things. I know that, you know, the three of us have talked a lot behind the scenes about different sectors of the industry and, you know, the professionalization and growth, which we've talked a lot about on the podcast, you know, this year, and also what it means to have, you know, a huge sector of the industry that that hasn't professionalized or hasn't fully adopted a property management software or a tech stack, um, and that are only listing through, you know, Airbnb or Verbo at the moment, um, maybe only have a few properties, but we've all seen how quickly that can escalate. Um, and so I love being able to kind of um listen to the podcast and hear kind of those different stories of how people are approaching that type of growth and adoption. And I think we've had a lot of guests on the show just in the last seven months who have talked about a lot of different angles of that.

– The industry themes shaping the first seven months of 2026

Annie Holcombe 11:24

Yeah, it's been a crazy, crazy first half of the year. I mean, I think that we went into it thinking, like, okay, what what is the year gonna look like? And we knew that AI was gonna be a big topic. We knew that um diversification and distribution, like other we had the themes kind of sussed out, I think, but I don't, I don't think any of us anticipated how rapidly things would be changing. I mean, I think that that's one one theme that has has come out and and uh come out of everything. And and going back to the AI. It's like, you know, it's helped us to be better, it's helped us to be more thoughtful about how we're approaching stuff, it's helped us to take ideas and amplify them within our own conversations. And so bringing you on for me was like just the next natural step to get us to where we've always talked about wanting to go. And Alex, Alex is a much bigger dreamer than I am. Uh, you know, so I always kind of like sit with her and go and and and watch her like her ideas just sort of blow up and go, okay, I'm in on that, you know. And so I think you've you've helped me, you've helped me to understand like what we the potential, because I think I'm I tend to be, oddly enough, I tend to be conservative with my thoughts and in where things can go. But I think you're also a big dreamer like Alex is in terms of like we can do anything. Um, coming along to that route, you know, I'm I'm definitely buying into it a little more. But you've helped. And so I think just in the first six months that you've been here, it's just been a tremendous asset, not only for us as podcasters and for the podcast itself, but also for our relationships with the sponsors. And I think that's what we wanted to kind of like recap, you know, what we've been doing, um, touch on that a little bit, and like the programs that we've got in place. And and Alex, you had a brainchild that you had a couple of years ago, and we just batted it back and forth. And you just finally said, you know what? I'm tired of like this being an idea. I want to make it happen. So I want you to introduce your baby

– How the show is expanding into Aha Moments Media

Annie Holcombe 13:11

here.

Alex Husner 13:12

Yeah. So this year kind of marked the beginning of us really looking at the podcast as a media company. And so AHA Moments Media is the parent company of the podcast that we established that five years ago without really knowing that we were going to need that someday. But now we've realized that that we do because we've got a lot of different offerings and ideas of things that we can do to help um, you know, grow the education within the industry and help the suppliers and the property managers come together in a meaningful way. Um, that that again is going to be best for the industry. So the AHA Moments Media has become more of a reality, you know, throughout this this year and the things that we're doing, which is is very exciting. As we looked at 2026, I think the vision that we have been talking about for the last couple of years, you know, finally started to become a reality. And what that is, is that the podcast is the parent company is called AHA Moments Media. And we have always thought there's more that we could do than just the podcast. And through just the podcast this year, we've grown a lot of different opportunities for these different uh series that we have and some thought leadership content and um you know private podcasts done in internally for companies, and there's so much more that we can do with it. And so this year was really leaning into the media company where we can grow in the future with it. So with Jenny coming on board, you know, we've really mapped out what that growth looks like for us as a show, wrapping it around what we know is important for the industry. So from the educational standpoint, from connecting companies and property managers, and that that's one thing that Annie and I have always loved to do is we love to connect the dots. We love to connect people. I think we're naturally born connectors at art. And that's that's something that's very fulfilling for us. So as we built out these different opportunities this year, that's that's where that's where our head was at. And we came up with uh a program that we called the growth infant, which was basically how we mapped out our content for this year and how we've aligned the people that we've had on the show and the companies we've had on the show to talk about those things. And the the main thesis behind the growth infant was you know, growth at all costs has become a very costly thing for the industry um at large. And we've seen a lot of companies that have just grown way too fast and they're they're grown and motivated because of thinking they can build this company, get the Bentley by Friday, sell the company the following Friday, and then be you know off in the the Bahamas. Well, we we know that Robin and Heather Cragan have have fulfilled that, but they didn't do it within two-week

– The Growth Blueprint behind this year’s podcast content

Alex Husner 15:56

windows that over many, many years and with incredible forethought into the decisions they were making. So that kind of became the content backbone of this year, and we'll continue to repeat the rest of the year. But uh Jenny, anything you want to add to that because you've kind of been by our side as this and putting this together.

– How AI and human connection are evolving together

Jinnie Randolph 16:14

It's interesting, even though we I've it's been really cool to watch kind of the the puzzle pieces of when, you know, Alex, I can remember you pitching this idea um and trying to explain how you're imagining it and watching, you know, the guest schedule um come to life. And, you know, further than that, the conversations um and not just the impact that those kind of initial topics and kind of like umbrella topics that you had in mind, um, but really some of the themes that have been like super consistent across every single guest and you know, even people who, you know, maybe have a different perspective on, you know, something like AI, I think we've heard probably the most diversity of opinions, but also it's changing so quickly that, you know, over the last seven months, you know, to Annie's point, like the AI and LLM space has totally changed and the conversations are rapidly evolving. But even given that, hearing that a lot of the guests that we've had on the show have had those kind of common themes and been able to talk about completely organically some of these, like the humanity um and how AI and humanity go hand in hand and trying to kind of figure out how they're tangled up right now. Um, and I know that's something that we've we've also talked about, you know, internally quite a bit, um, is how do we use AI? How do we keep it authentic and human? Where do we use AI and where do we make sure that there's, you know, human involvement? And I think that that um has been a really powerful theme. Um, AI is a buzzword at this point. I know a lot of people hear AI and they just kind of shut off because we're all talking about it all the time. And I get that it's it's kind of annoying. Um, but I love that we've been able to have conversations and guests on the show who've been able to talk about it and really balance it out with how we bring the human connection into whatever AI has in store for us next. And listening to those conversations pretty thematically across all of our guests has been reassuring for the future that we're all on the same struggle bus trying to figure it out.

Alex Husner 18:47

And I think two other I guess it's kind of one theme, but it's from two different perspectives that we've heard all year long is is that you know, the conferences are great, but from the property manager standpoint, they can't take their teams to every conference that there is. I mean, most property managers they're maybe going to one conference a year. If that I mean, the majority of vacational operators actually do not even go to these conferences. So we're trying the podcast has always been about how do you get more information to more people that that don't go, but they want to be part of the the narrative and they want to understand what's going on. Um, and I think in the AI era of you know, people are yearning for that connection more than ever. Um, but at the same time, the reality is that not everybody can travel around to conferences all the time. And on the supplier side, we're hearing all all the time that it is one, it's very expensive for them to go to these shows to sponsor the shows, to send their teams. I mean, say same thing, but it's a lot more expensive for a supplier. And they're really having challenges connecting with property managers. So this the gross blueprint and where we want to go with this in the future, the goal is to be able to really open up the ability to you know connect with property managers, suppliers, educators within the space in a way that's gonna help everybody. You know, that's that's the goal.

Speaker 20:09

My

Sponsor Spotlight: Hospitable

Speaker 20:10

name is Eli Stoughton. I am the owner-operator of Lahaina Studio. I have three vacation rentals in Lahaina, Maui, Hawaii, and I've been using Hospitable for over seven years now. I would say I realized pretty early on in my hosting career that managing everything manually wasn't going to be sustainable over the long term. When I started using Hospitable, the primary tests that I was able to automate were the automated messaging and the AI messaging, where Hospitable will draft a response using my previous messages and my knowledge hub and everything that I've set up there. Oftentimes I find myself just getting a message from a guest, opening up Hospitable, seeing that they've already drafted a perfect reply for me, and just hitting send. And it also saves me a lot of time when it comes to dynamic pricing. If I had to manage all of my pricing manually for multiple properties, that would take a long time to get that in sync. Hospitable has had a massive impact in how I run my business because I don't know if I would have scaled my business up over time had it not been for the fact that I had software that could help me do it. Having Hospitable save me a bunch of time per week, opens up a lot of possibilities, and it also opens up more time for me to spend with my family, and you can go on a trip and not have to worry about that your business is going to run into so many pitfalls because if everything is automated as much as possible, all you have to do is sort of oversee everything. My experience working with the hospital team is great. They're very involved in the community forum that they've set up, and you can get direct responses from the founder and CEO or from the other team members, and I found that you don't often have that kind of level of communication from most companies. I highly recommend Hospitable to other hosts out there who are looking to grow their business, take their time. Back. I recommend that you drop in on one of the hospitable town halls, that you join the hospitable community and see what this team and this company is all about. It would really help your short-term rental business.

Speaker 2 22:12

Run your short-term rental business on autopilot with Hospitable. Alex and Annie listeners get a 14-day free trial plus 25% off for the first six months. Click the link in the description to get started.

– Why smaller operators need better access to credible education

Annie Holcombe 22:25

The other piece of all this is, and Jenny, you touched on it, you've been talking to smaller, you know, like the different uh segments of the industry. And Alex and I have worked very much in the traditional vacation rental, although it's morphed into short-term rental, but short-term rental just became like whether your location versus like the size. And so we know that for suppliers, there's not a lot of ways to get to these smaller operators. And if they're not going to shows and they're not participating in the associations, like how do you get out to them? Well, I mean, the podcast is a perfect medium. And so, you know, we're trying to think long-term with intentionality, like how do we open up, as you know, people say, open up the tent to let more people in? And we think that by bringing more diversity of thought on the podcast, by mixing up the way we approach the podcast, so not everything is always an interview with a sponsor. It's more telling stories about the industry and really digging into those, those stories at the market level that we can invite and attract more people that are looking for education. I think we've all seen that there are people that want education and what they're what they have access to right now might not be the best information and goes back to the, you know, get a Bentley by Saturday folks. I mean, there's a lot of that that's out there. And there's always going to be, regardless of what business you're in, there's always going to be people out there that are selling something, you know, get rich quick, you can do this for themselves to get rich, and and not necessarily caring about the mess that they leave in their wake, so to speak. And I think that that's something that Alex and I from the very beginning wanted to make sure that we were providing education, thoughtful conversation, and a place for people to go and not necessarily feel safe, but feel feel that they're the safety wasn't a factor. I think it's like more about trusting the word that they're listening to. And so I think that all of that come together with this growth blueprint. That's like the direction that we're heading to make this a bigger, bigger, broader arena to cover the entire industry where right now there's not anybody doing that. Totally.

Jinnie Randolph 24:25

And I think, you know, it's interesting. A lot of our guests have talked about, you know, discoverability for property managers and of properties, but I think it applies here too. In some ways, the maybe enterprise or professional side of the industry has a little bit of a discoverability problem with some of those smaller operators because there's so much out there that if you're new and you you want to learn and you're hungry, there's gonna be 800 Facebook reels or Instagram reels or LinkedIn ads for who knows what the algorithm's gonna put in here. Who knows who's advertising on what platform today and what what ads you're gonna start to see. Um, and so it can just get really noisy. As much as we talk about property managers needing to make themselves and their properties discoverable through SEO and GEO and AEIO or whatever alphabetic. And we've decided today that we as uh suppliers and partners and a media company in the industry also have an obligation to help make the resources that we all know because we've seen them and we've had the conversations and we can go to the conferences and know what happens and how valuable it is, and that we can start to make that easier to discover for people who are distracted by how much noise there is. So I think I also see that as part of, you know, our blueprint for the podcast is, you know, how do we continue to make whatever we're doing, whether it's the podcast or some kind of other spin-off initiative under AHA Media accessible and discoverable and valuable to the people who really, really are hungry for the resources and are overwhelmed by the amount of noise that there is.

Alex Husner 26:20

Yeah. Yeah, exactly. Well, Jenny, we are going to hand the the mic over to you now to ask us some questions. What's in your head?

Jinnie Randolph 26:32

What's in your head? Spit it up. I mean, while that's a very dangerous, there's way too many things in my head that I probably shouldn't share name about a podcast. I'm really curious, um, and I know that we've had some really interesting uh behind the scenes conversations about some of the ways that the episode formats have evolved. And I think that, you know, the gross blueprint kind of framework was one piece of what has kind of helped some of those interesting formats come to life. Um, but I'm curious to hear from the two of you. We've done uh some new like every other month series, we've had some different kind of segments that we've tried to do with different guests. What formats or like styles of interview or segments pop out as kind of your favorites from the last few months?

Alex Husner 27:29

I

– New series, roundtables, partnerships, and storytelling formats

Alex Husner 27:30

mean, every interview I think is different, you know. I mean, just based on the guests that we have on. So literally every time we hit record, we never know what we're really getting into, but it always ends up being a good time. We have the kind of creative freedom this year to think of a couple different things that we've done. And the first one that comes to mind is our series with Safe League that it's called Poor Decisions, and it comes out uh every other month as the 15th on the month. Um, but it's poor P-O-U-R. So we made it a little bit fun. We have a cocktail with Amanda on the Safely team, and we just talk about some of the crazy stories that they see from their side as a damage insurance provider for vacation rental companies. And my God, she's got a lot of crazy stories. But as we were coming up with some of the ideas uh for that, what we realized was, you know, and this applies for suppliers and property management companies, everyone is thirsty for a way to creatively tell their story. And I think that wraps into what we were just talking about, Jenny, of you know, it's the discoverability, it's how do you stand out in a crowded marketplace, whether that is as a local property management company or as a supplier in a very saturated supplier world. And really what that comes down to is thought leadership content and you know, content that's going to be educational and entertaining. And I remember, Annie, when we first started the show years ago, uh Stuart Butler said to us, the show needs to be two things. And he actually said it in the opposite orders it needs to be entertaining first and then it needs to be educational. And through these different series that we've done, we've got four decisions, we've got the first of the month Wrangle with Orley from Lasso, we've got the first of the month revenue reality check with Julie and the beyond pricing team. That some of these things have just been really fun and and given us the ability to go outside of the regular just interview kind of format. Yeah, that's that's that's been really cool. I've I've really enjoyed those series, and we've got more that we're gonna be producing for next year.

Annie Holcombe 29:34

Yeah, I I I think it's it's been fun to mix it up and just have some thematic things. And of course, it doesn't hurt to record an episode on a Friday afternoon with a cocktail and and have a you know a cocktail, um, a cocktail artist join us. So that's always cool. I think I know we've only we've only done a couple, but the uh Real Talk Roundtable, I think that's been kind of cool because we're sourcing these round tables from sponsors that like our existing sponsors with us. So we're not like having to go think, think like who who do we who do we get? We already have like a great source of knowledge within the sponsor groups that we work with. And so just being able to have an open dialogue discussion about a topic is really neat. And I've learned a lot because we're bringing in how, you know, bringing in different sponsors that touch each other, but they don't necessarily work with each other every single day, but they touch each other. And so I think that's that's been super cool. Um, but we've just had some really, I mean, I feel like sometimes I think like, gosh, we're how are we gonna top last year's guests? How are we gonna like because we this the industry has we always joke about it's just it's small, but there's just so many great people. And I think that now that we're tapping into talking to, you know, the managers themselves, we're in, you know, interviewing their um homeowners or interviewing, you know, with some of these MA groups, the managers that maybe we've never even met them before, but understanding like how these companies run um through the process, I think that that's just it's given us a way to stand out that you know, we're not doing just red ads, we're actually digging in and creating content for the partners that we work with. And so, like all of this all together, I mean, I think the everything that we do to me is is exciting and it's different. And I, you know, I listen to a lot of podcasts that are more like on the celebrity side of things and entertaining, and I think about like the things that they're doing and some of the ways that they do their ads, and I'm like, they're so boring. They just read their ads, you know. But it's like I get it, they're they're celebrities, their voice means a lot, but um, we'll get there someday, you know.

– What nearly 300 episodes have taught Alex and Annie about consistency

Jinnie Randolph 31:32

Well, you know, that that brings me to an interesting question. So you guys are now approaching your 300th episode of the podcast, which is absolutely wild. How, you know, you Annie, you just talked about how the podcast has managed to remain interesting for almost 300 episodes now. Does the 300th episode milestone feel different than 100 or 200? What's what's that journey? Uh, did you guys think at 100 that you'd be sitting here talking about your 300th episode in a month?

Annie Holcombe 32:15

No, there's zero, there's zero reality where that was even on the radar for sure.

Alex Husner 32:21

The real reality of it is, I mean, that this is just like short-term rentals, podcasting is not just a lazy business or hobby. I mean, it still takes a lot of time and a lot of planning and a lot of thought from all of us. So the fact we've been able to commit to it and stay with it for five years, we've changed jobs, we've changed careers, we've had major things happen in each of our lives. And we've still always shown up. And I think, you know, one of the things that the show has taught me is just that, you know, that consistency and you know, showing up every week. And I think that theme can be applied to anything, that it's like if you're building a vacation rental company, you know, sometimes it's it's slow and steady that wins the race, that it's not let's go knock down and get 200 more doors, or we didn't say we're gonna go record 200 episodes in the next three months, you know. I mean, we just we did what we've done over the course of time and it and it's been an impactful there.

Jinnie Randolph 33:17

Alex, you had had a couple of episodes, I think, so far this year, where you hit on something that really resonated with me and you talked about intentionality. And I think one of the quotes that stuck out to me that really made me think was maybe around things that are luxury, that it's not necessarily just like how it's designed, that there's an intentionality behind it. And I feel like that's also like with consistency, that there's an intentionality behind, you know, the podcast and the guests and the topics of conversation and the approach to growth of the podcast, as well as, you know, for operators. Um, and that really consistency and intentionality have also been really key themes with all of our guests this year. So it's it's nice to hear a resounding validation that one of the hard things about consistency is staying consistent, right? Like it's really easy to be in the trenches of something and to not see the light at the end of the tunnel and to know that if you can be intentional and be consistent and persevere, that that's really where the good stuff is. It's worth it's worth the journey.

Annie Holcombe 34:31

I just for I wanted to like see what Claude would tell me. So I talked to my Claudity, that's his name, and I asked him three hundred episodes like, what is that in the podcasting world? And this was these are some numbers that that I'm like looking at and thinking, holy cow, out of 4.5 million podcasts worldwide, most don't get that close. And then it breaks it down to a widely cited stat is that 90% of podcasters quit after episode three.

Alex Husner 34:55

Yeah, I remember we heard that when we first started.

Annie Holcombe 34:58

Yeah, so it says that the drop-off point typically is at 10 episodes, that 92% of the shows drop off after 10. So it's like us getting to 300 is pretty, pretty monumental.

Alex Husner 35:10

I posted this on LinkedIn, but I don't think I've actually talked about it on our show at all. But I started a podcast earlier this year documenting my return to riding horses. And believe me, I have that feeling of like, what am I even doing here? Like, is anybody listening? Like, what what is the, you know, it's really easy to second guess yourself when you take on a creative endeavor like this. But, you know, in similar fashion to when we started Alice Nini on on days when I'm like, who am I gonna have on? You know, what what am I gonna talk about? Then I'll get a message from somebody and they'll say, you know, I just I just found your show, I love it, it's been so helpful. And it's like in that the it's those reminders that I'm like, okay, there is a reason I'm doing this, and I gotta just keep showing up. And that's completely a passion project for me. But yeah, you you you have to be intentional and and you have to be intentional with your time, you know, in anything. And a lot of these, you know, themes and lessons apply to all types of business, not just podcasts. But one thing I know from my experience is that it's it is easy to get distracted by you know shiny new things and opportunities. It'll I mean, Jenny, I told you that at that conference that I was gonna leave and I wanted to focus on the podcast. And I've I've gone in different iterations of that and focused a little more on the podcast, but each time I still keep getting pulled down into different opportunities because they're they're interesting and I want to be able to work with a lot of people. But I've just recently made the decision that I'm doing that and don't let me not do it, guys.

Jinnie Randolph 36:39

Don't let me not. Well, we're depending on you. You're not you're not allowed to back out.

– Alex’s decision to dedicate more time to the podcast

Alex Husner 36:46

But yeah, I I just recently made the decision that I'm stepping um not away, but just that backing down my engagement with Zoom so that I have more time to focus on the podcast and that I'll still be a brand ambassador for them and support them and very proud of everything that we've done with the brand and how it's grown and what they're building is just incredible. But at the end of the day, the intentionality and the use of your time and your focus, like you can only focus on so many things at a time. And you know, at some point you realize you can either keep building somebody else's dreams or you can build your own dreams. And for me, right now, I I've come to that conclusion that I need to give this a go. And we can we can grow the three of us with, you know, a little bit more focus here. And that's that's we'll at the end of the year episode, we'll tell you how hopefully it won't be run by AI.

Annie Holcombe 37:38

Five months. Yeah.

Alex Husner 37:42

Before we get back to today's episode, I want to share something that we believe matters for the

Sponsor Spotlight: Savvy

Alex Husner 37:47

future of this industry. Every property manager wants more direct bookings. You invest in your website, your brand, your guest experience, because owning that relationship matters. But travelers still need a trusted place to discover vacation rentals before they decide where to book. That's why Savvy exists. It's a direct booking marketplace built exclusively for professionally managed vacation rentals, and it's not just another OTA. When a traveler books through Savvy, you remain at the center of the relationship, so there's no platform standing between you and your guest. You communicate directly with the traveler, receive payment, set your terms and conditions, and nurture the ongoing relationship. Here's what really got our attention. Since launching in early 2025, Savvy's monthly booking growth has averaged nearly 40%. Travelers are finding this option and fast. We love what the team at Savvy is building for property managers and the direct booking movement. If you're looking for a distribution partner that's actually built for you, not around you, check out savvy at savvy.com slash Alex and Annie.

– Annie’s work with Booking.com and smaller vacation rental operators

Jinnie Randolph 38:49

You know, Alex, you just kind of hit on a little bit of a personal, like kind of mid-year, what you've been up to. Annie, how's you how's your year been so far? Any kind of personal update you want to give um the audience from from the the first uh episode of the year?

Annie Holcombe 39:09

I mean, you know, I'm still I I feel like I'm still I'm always a little bit behind Alex in terms of like adoption of things. And so, like, you know, if I'd gone out and started my business two years ago, I'd probably be exactly where she is right now, ready to be like, okay. So I'm still sort of feeling out what it'd be what it is to like have your own business. Um, and it's been great. And and I've I've accomplished some things that I think are, I feel like they're worth noting. One area that I I'm really proud of is I've been doing what we're calling like a brand ambassadorship with Booking.com in the US. And and part of the engagement there is to help them understand the business better. Like so they, you know, they they do a lot of their stuff from Amsterdam. So a lot of their lens that they place on things is very European focused. And so just having somebody kind of outside their US team to help them get into these smaller operators, so the hosts and and and have the conversations and and really help them understand the data that's out there, understand what this business is really about. That's been great because they've been open ears. They have they want to hear everything. And this year, for the first time ever, they um let me bring some people that are not actually using the platform that are that sit in this host category. And so they came to their partner event, which is typically reserved for top-end partners. Well, we know that no small host is ever going to be a top generator, you know, revenue generator. So it's likely that they just were leaving these people kind of on the side, but expecting that for their name was gonna get them the recognition. And they were slowly seeing that that wasn't it. So we were able to have some roundtable conversations and talking with some of their product people. And I did a post a couple of weeks ago about you know, that people like to bash channels and they like to say they never listen, they don't care, they, they, they, they, they. And I was like, booking.com is not they. I mean, they are listening. Now, can they make the decision and fix it overnight? Absolutely not. It's a big, ginormous organization. It's a public company. They have to like keep all of their stakeholders in the conversation. So I think for me, I'm just most proud of being able to work to make sure that an OTA, which I've been passionate about making sure distribution is part of people's operations, but that that OTA understands what people go through. I mean, they now have sat down with hosts and said, show me your breakdown so I understand the mathematics that go into your pricing structure. They never, I don't think they've ever thought about doing that before. And so it's a it's an education. And so I feel like that for me is a really big leap. Um, and that's hopefully going to continue into next year. And then I've been talking with these smaller operators that they just don't know what they don't know. And I'm part of my thought and part of the conversation I said earlier was like, you know, giving education access to some of these smaller operators is really important. And what I have found is several of these operators have paid for masterminds thousands and thousands of dollars to join these groups and do these, you know, one-day deep dives on things and they walked away no smarter than they did before, you know, they started, and they're out a lot of money. Um, so yeah, I I come across as a little expensive for them, but at the end of the day, they're getting a lot more substance. And so I I feel very much more committed to what we're doing with the podcast to be able to open that 10 and bring these people in because they are so hungry. They want the information, they want to know, they want to be part of a bigger, a bigger community. They just don't know how to do it. And so I think that through the podcast, through Annie and Co. through Directly Alex, through Ginny being on board, through the different associations that we have, we're just gonna be able to get the kumbaya and get everybody together.

Alex Husner 42:36

Yeah. And it's really it's it's awesome. One, it was super exciting when you made the decision that you were gonna start A Co. last year. And I know once you I think you were really excited at first, and then all of a sudden you're like, oh my god.

Speaker 6 42:50

What did I do?

Alex Husner 42:52

And and ever and you everybody goes through that. I mean, Jenny, you've started young. I mean, insulting as well. And it's it sounds like a great idea, but then it gets scary sometimes. But it uh you just you have to have that faith that you will figure it out. And sometimes you can't figure everything out just immediately, but you have to keep following the signs and you know, connecting with people and asking for advice when you can't figure something out, but then you end up finding great clients or opportunities where you're really able to make an impact. And I know you you've done that for booking, so that's been really cool to see. Yeah.

Annie Holcombe 43:24

It's been a lot of fun, and and to your point, I think that I'm still nervous every day um because I'm trying to like get a salary and pay my bills and do all the things, all the things you can do. But I think the nice thing about all of it is that I'm experiencing what you experienced is like it's scary, but it's also like it it like unleashes like your creative mindset on things and like really looking at it from multiple different lenses. I don't have to look at it from the supplier that I'm working for. You know, I'm I don't have to look at it just through that lens. I can look at it from all directions or, you know, all angles and utilize my experience, which has been in so many different Different pieces of the industry. And I think it's that's been really great. So I can put on different hats and have those conversations. But I I feel like now it's like I, you know, what with what you we want to do with the podcast and and kind of where we both are in our own personal lives and careers. I mean, it's just all like everything's the roads are intersecting for for everything to just keep keep going, you know, up. So I'm excited.

Jinnie Randolph 44:24

Yeah. I was gonna say, I don't, I feel like there's probably most of the listeners of the podcast are at least, you know, vaguely aware, um, or even if they just listened to the first of the year episode, that there's a little bit of uh astrological discussion that happened sometimes. Um at least uh amongst amongst the two of you, and now um I've I've started interjecting my own my own commentary in there. And I'm curious, like it's the year of the fire horse. And obviously, we heard a lot about how that is very, very, very relevant to to everything that that Alex is, you know, doing personally with getting back into to horseback riding and with chapstick. Um, but I'm curious, you know, now that we're halfway through, like, what does the second half of the year of the fire horse look like?

Alex Husner 45:18

Yeah, it's a good, it's a good question. I think that the intention was in our understanding of what the year of the of the horse and the fire horse meant. We went into it being like, okay, this is gonna be a year of growth for for all of us personally, professionally. But for me, I still felt like I had some restraints on of like, okay, I want to do this. I'm making a huge lifestyle commitment to get back into horseback riding. I drive just about every week, three and a half hours, up to see Chapstick. There are some weeks where I drive another two hours to take lessons at a different barn that that's two hours is closer than three and a half, but I'm trying to put in the reps to make it happen and you know, achieve the goals that I have set for that. Uh ultimately, though, it leads back to, you know, you need the flexibility to be able to do that from a time perspective. And when you look at what you're really trying to achieve and think about like what is what is the perfect, not the perfect life, but what is like the ideal situation look like of that balance between work and personal. And that kept led me back to thinking, okay, I need to focus more on the show so that I can do some of these other things that I really enjoy doing. So for for me, actually right now, if anybody can tell, my background is definitely this does not look like my office. I actually have a that you guys pointed out is a bunch of bugs. Uh I'm at an Airbnb in Asheville and we're here. A what? An Airbnb. Well, here's the thing. This is actually a funny story. This is a good learning lesson. So I tried, there's one company that I I knew of Greybeard Reynolds, that I tried to find a property through them. Coming up here, there wasn't anything available. I did some just Google organic searching to find some other local companies, couldn't find anything that met our needs. So went on Virbo and Airbnb to found something on Airbnb that that would work. But of course, I did at least try and see if I could find the property to book it direct. This is an individually managed property by a host that they do not have a direct booking site. And you know, whenever we talk about direct bookings, I always say for an individual host, no, you're not gonna go spend a ton of money on marketing campaigns, but a way for somebody to rebook your place. It's not just rebooking, it's booking it in the first place, too. Because I would have just with her if I could, but that's not an option. But going, if we're gonna come back to Asheville, there's always more shows in this area. We would for sure rebook this place. And you know, it's like when we think about are we here on vacation? Kind of. I mean, like it, I guess it is kind of a vacation, but I'm working during the day. We're going to see chapstick and stuff. So it's kind of like a it's a combo trip of doing a lot of things. But you really have to be thinking about people who will come back to your property for other things besides a vacation. And those might be the people that are actually better to lean into. And we talk about like the the guest personas and the archetypes, and you know, for this property, because it's so close to this arena where there's horseshoes that go around all year long, leaning into equestrian theme would not be a bad idea, or or you know, having something in there that really points to how close it is to the arena, it's two minutes away. So little things like that that you also learn in this journey that you don't think about. But yeah, so I can't remember where I was going with all of it. But staying in an Airbnb and learning things that I've already known, but like when you actually put yourself in the shoes of the person booking is kind of interesting. But rest of the year, I think that was kind of your original question. Oh yeah, yes, yeah. Rest of the year, it's gonna be more horseback riding, more podcasting for me.

Annie Holcombe 48:59

So

– What the team is building for the rest of 2026 and beyond

Annie Holcombe 49:00

yeah. Well, we've got a lot of exciting. I mean, we've got our first on-site interviews where we're actually going to a partner's facility in actually in Jamaica, so there's there's worse places that we should could have to go. Rough love. Yeah, I know, right? Um first world problems, but going to Jamaica to do some stuff there. And then we've solutions, let's make sure we've we mentioned them too. Yeah, she's just hosting us, so we're excited about that. Um, but that's so that's something that we've always we've talked about doing for a long time, and and we've talked about going to property managers and and doing doing the same. Um, so this is kind of things that were on the radar that we wanted to do. And then obviously show season comes up in the fall and and you know, we're exploring some opportunities there. But I think for me, I feel like we have good momentum. So the horse is scalloping, might use a scalloping. Um, and so we're gonna we're gonna be ready for show season. And so Alex will start showing on the horse and we'll go to shows and show off new things that Alex and Annie are doing, and we get to show off Jenny. And um, so the the the next the last half of the year looks to be just um more foundational work for what 2027 can be. And I know going back to the horoscope, we've been um digging into our horoscopes. And so um Gemini and Leo and then our friends, the Libras, are having a stellar year and are supposed to have for the next few years really great, really great momentum for success and creation and um all the things. So I'm gonna stick with that horoscope belief and gallop.

Alex Husner 50:33

Riding the second half of the year is riding the momentum. Riding the moment, I like it. Well, this was super fun, ladies. And I I think we'll have many more opportunities where Jenny, you can you'll be coming on to join us in conversations and certainly will be out with us repping Aha Moments Media this year at the shows and and having a lot of conversations with with the industry. So we're very excited about that. Before I close, one thing I do want to mention, uh, we really would love, we used to do this a lot that we would um encourage people to go and leave us a review. We just haven't brought it up in a long time, but we would love if you enjoy listening to the show or who learned something from from the show, if you would help us out and go leave a review, we would we would totally appreciate that. You can either go directly to Spotify or Apple and leave it there, or to make it easier, you can go to Alex Nanny Podcast.com slash review, and from there you can easily click over to one of the two podcast platforms. So would totally appreciate your support if you have a just a couple minutes to do that. But help us with discoverability. There you go. But in the meantime, if anybody wants to get in touch with us, if you're interested to hear more about what we've got coming for 2027, please reach out. We would love to share a little bit more in depth of what we've got coming. You can go to Alex NyPodcast.com and just fill out the contact form. Of course, we're all three of us are on LinkedIn, um, or you can message the Alex Nandy uh social media channels on any of the social media platforms that are out there. Anywhere you can find us. But thanks for tuning in, everybody. Jenny, thank you for joining us and for you know yeah, interviewing us a little bit today. This was a lot of fun.

Jinnie Randolph 52:19

Thanks for having me, ladies, and I uh look forward to more conversations in the future. Awesome.

Alex Husner 52:25

Thanks, everybody.