1st of the Month Bonus Episode: Celebrating 100 Episodes of Alex & Annie

Speaker 1: 0:00

We'll start the show in just a minute, but first a word from our premier brand sponsor, casago, and co-sponsors, guest Ranger and Good Neighbor Tech.

Speaker 2: 0:09

Casago's founder, steve Schwab, has been quoted as saying you can only be a local in one place. This simple yet profound statement is the basis of Casago's franchise model, which allows locally-owned vacation rental management companies the ability to compete at a national level by leveraging the system's software and support buying power of a much larger organization.

Speaker 1: 0:28

As a Casago franchisee, you have the freedom to run your business with the support of a community of like-minded professionals, while leveraging the economies of scale and buying power to increase profitability and reduce operating costs.

Speaker 2: 0:41

Guest Ranger is the premier guest screening and charge back protection solution. Leveraging AI, their tool effectively detects fraudulent activity, fake IDs and underage guests, while also performing comprehensive, dynamic background checks. With Guest Ranger, businesses can rest assured that their customers are safe and secure.

Speaker 1: 1:00

Good Neighbor Tech allows you to manage your properties remotely and intelligently, protecting your owners and your guests. Their smart Wi-Fi locks allow you to provide temporary access to home and garage from anywhere and keep track of when guests and service providers are in the property. Good Neighbor Tech provides the ability for you to collect email addresses from all guests staying in a property, not just the one who booked the reservation. Every guest who connects to the internet will see your branded welcome page and be prompted to provide their email address in order to connect to the Wi-Fi.

Speaker 2: 1:29

Visit casagocom forge slash franchise guest rangercom and goodneighbertechcom for more information.

Speaker 3: 1:37

Welcome to Alex and Annie, the real women of vacation rentals. With more than 35 years combined industry experience, alex Hussner and Annie Holcomb have teamed up to connect the dots between inspiration and opportunity, seeking to find the one's story, idea, strategy or decision that led to their guest's big aha moment. Join them as they highlight the real stories behind the people and brands that have built vacation rentals into the $100 billion industry. it is today And now it's time to get real and have some fun with your hosts, alex and Annie.

Speaker 1: 2:14

Welcome to Alex and Annie, the real women of vacation rentals. I'm Alex And I'm Annie, and we're here today for episode 101, not Dalmatians 101 podcast episodes And our July 1st of the month bonus episode. Annie, it's good to see you.

Speaker 2: 2:33

Good to see you, as always, and I cannot believe that we're at 101. That is just an insane number that I would never have thought we would get to.

Speaker 1: 2:42

Yeah, especially after episode one that we almost didn't hit record And then episode two that we had to record, i think, at least four times for Amber Hurdle. That's been such a just a bright star for both of us. But yeah, it was a little rocky in the very early days But, my gosh, so much has come and gone and changed in the past 100 episodes that we've been doing this. But we're very excited And we just wanted to say thank you today to everybody who's been a fan of the show and who has supported us and has just really given us that courage and drive to keep going. So we're really excited for, hopefully, another 100 and many more.

Speaker 2: 3:21

Yeah, yeah. So I think it falls perfect timing into my 30 days of thankful. I'm definitely thankful for you and thankful for the people that have supported us, and thankful for this podcast, just as it's taught me a lot about myself and a lot about the people in the industry and a lot about how much work we have to do, which is exciting.

Speaker 1: 3:41

Yeah, absolutely So. we also have a guest host with us today. This episode is a little bit different than normal. We have Edward joining us, who, edward, has worked alongside the podcast for the last few months and has been a great source of guidance in some of our decisions that we've made with the show. So, without further ado, edward, the ghost host, it's good to see you as well.

Speaker 4: 4:11

Hi, very nice to be here, very honored to be here on such a special milestone episode And as somebody who's worked with the show for a little bit, i'm really not surprised that you fit this milestone now and you had tens of thousands of downloads, became a top 5% podcast And, having heard in over six continents across many tens of countries, it is apparent why that is the case, because from the many podcasts that I've seen and worked with, there are really not many that have this level of branding and this level of attention to detail. So this has really been a big labor of love and I've seen that in every no-concranning of the podcast itself. It's so exciting. Thank you, thank you.

Speaker 2: 4:56

It's so funny how Alex is organized.

Speaker 1: 4:58

Oh gosh, It's funny how things just fall in line and people ask us this all the time Did you plan all this out before you got started? The answer is no. We really just put one foot in front of the next and just kept going as we went through this process. But obviously Inny and I have been within the marketing world for many years. I think having that experience helped us make some of those early on decisions that we were thinking about, where we would hypothetically want to be down the line and not just throwing things out there. It was thoughtful but not really planned, if that makes sense. But we're excited to have you here today And thank you for all your help on the show.

Speaker 4: 5:41

Awesome, awesome, super honor to be here. All right, so a great milestone has been hit, and that comes questions about what's next. What's coming, what can people expect? What are some of the? Because I know there's a bunch of stuff in the pipeline. I know there's a bunch of stuff that you're working on and a lot of great things to come. What would you like to reveal first, or would you like to chat about first, on the different new initiatives that are being taken on now?

Speaker 1: 6:10

Inny, I'll let you take it.

Speaker 2: 6:13

So I think, we have a whole lot of things. I'm not even sure which one is the best one to do. I think that one of the things that we were mindful of with the podcast is that we wanted to highlight stories of people that were really intruable to the growth of the industry, and what that led us to was that there's a lot of focus on the property managers, which there should be. There's property managers That's what the business is all about But we have this entire ecosystem of suppliers and people that sponsor the events and people that are the catalyst for having the large events and being able to get us all together and funding some of the big, crazy things that we get to do in this business, and so one of the things that we want to be able to do is we want to highlight those suppliers, and those are our technology providers, the various people within the industry that support all the vacation rental managers, and we want to make sure that we're highlighting those and continue to be mindful as we move on. And so, with that, we've thought about what is something that we can do to continue to tell their stories and share their stories, and so something that we've come up with is that we would like to take our best 52 episodes over the last year and highlight it in a book And we want to share that book with everybody within the industry And we want to open it up to the segment of the industry that I always call that big piece of the pie the short-term rentals, because the short-term rental industry is using a lot of these vendors, a lot of these suppliers, and I think this is an opportunity, through this book, through our stories, to bring these two pieces of the industry together and to have larger conversations and just make our industry stronger and more enriching to everybody that participates in it.

Speaker 1: 7:47

Yeah, and I think if we look back on our episodes and we've been really trying to break them down by categories and find the ones that speak the most to some of the points that we believe in and that we've tried to drive home with the podcast And really what that has shown is we have these great episodes with amazing minds that come and share with us. But really we're talking about a topic within Vacation Rentals but in a lot of cases it's wrapped around a bigger story of a leadership journey or professional development and just some really incredible learnings that are standout and really just show the depth of the people that work within the vacation short-term rental industry. So I think in this book what we're going to be able to do is to go back and look at some of these episodes but also really bring out the story of the why behind these guests and what their companies have done and maybe what that learning was that could help someone else on their journey to not be able to make mistakes or to be able to just do things better. As we always say, you can't connect the dots when you're in the situation. You can only connect the dots when you're further ahead, looking back, and for us that's just truly been the mantra of the show And I think to not be able to tie in a more truly a thoughtful way within this book of these leadership journeys is going to be really exciting, so we're very excited about it. There's going to be a lot more details to come. We are just in the infancy stages of this, but the plan is to have this released by the Women's Conference in December.

Speaker 4: 9:18

Amazing, amazing Sounds like a very exciting project to take on Any hesitations or any fears before taking on such a big project.

Speaker 1: 9:33

Well, i will say we are not doing the entire process. We have Rebecca Lombardo, who is a dear friend of ours and has been a great supporter of the podcast. that's going to be helping us, says. we've got Edward as a ghost host and Rebecca as a ghost writer that she's going to help us with this project. We're not putting our day jobs to do this. I think it's something that we can do and, with her help is going to be really exceptional. But yeah, is it scary? All of it's scary? We're beginning to doing something like this and right now we're putting it out there to the world that we're doing it, so we can't go back on it.

Speaker 2: 10:04

But we did that with the podcast We put it out there and we did it. So we just got to continue to go down that road.

Speaker 4: 10:10

Yeah, it's definitely going to be super rewarding to have something tangible. You can listen to a podcast and it's on the web and it's everywhere. Just having something you can hold in your hand I'm old school like that That just brings a whole new level of joy to creating something. All right, so we have the book coming out soon sometime. I don't want to set any expectations. What's on your mind for the future of the show and especially with how your industry is evolving, with short-term rentals in general just becoming disrupted by this whole Airbnb motion and Airbnb becoming one of the top 10 trendiest businesses that people want to do on TikTok and stuff like that? with all of these disruptions coming in, how do you see the show evolving? Are there any new narratives that you plan to take on or any guests that you might not have previously had on that are potentially disruptors and this type of industry as well?

Speaker 2: 11:06

I think we really want to be mindful of again I joke about the pie but the intersection of vacation rentals and short-term rentals and there's a divide between the two and there doesn't need to be. We know, and there's a lot of other people within our industry that also have podcasts and also have other content creators within the space that recognize that we need to have a unified voice if we're going to save off regulations. The regulations is a very big hot button within both short-term and vacation rentals. But until we can come together and pool our breadth of work and knowledge and obviously the funding that is sitting there, we're just going to be fighting fires on multiple fronts. So I think for Alex and I and again other people, we want to merge the two together and make sure that vacation rentals and short-term rentals is one entity and that when people from the consumer standpoint or even people when they're in communities and thinking about regulations, they're not looking at a professional company versus someone who has a rental versus somebody who's on Airbnb as any different, that we're all together but we're not being spoiled by the bad actions of, say, one person spoiling the whole bunch. So I think that kind of advocacy within our industry to come together is really important, just as much as advocacy within communities is important.

Speaker 1: 12:22

Yeah, i would agree with that. I think it's really about finding what that uniting voice is, what that rallying cry is for the industry, and I think on both sides I think there's more in common than there is difference. And we talk about the bad apples on this show and of course, somebody wants to have bad apple guests or bad apple hosts that you rent from, but that's a very small majority or small minority of people within the space. I think most people, whether they just use Airbnb, they're running good businesses. So I think the more that we can bring these two sides together and potentially have some different type of roundtable discussions about it and just really let's be curious and let them there. that might be a good bridge to bring people together. We've got an episode coming I believe it's next week that is going to be a revenue management roundtable, so a similar format where we've got have a few different people that come in and sit on that. It would be great to do that with some of the leaders in STR and just let's figure out what are things that we can help you with and vice versa. So hopefully that will be coming here soon. I think we've got interest to participate from the STR side, so it should be exciting.

Speaker 4: 13:35

Awesome, very nice. And so for me, as somebody who is not a part of the industry, immediately the question that comes to my head is what are some things that you already see that you as an industry, or maybe as an industry standard, could learn from the other side of the Airbnb and the short-term rentals, and vice versa? what are some things that you feel like you could teach towards the practices that you see there in your experience?

Speaker 1: 14:01

I think that the way that people are looking at short-term rentals now is much more from an investment standpoint and really looking at managing those assets from that lens. And I say that because most of us who have been in the industry for five, 10, 15, 20-plus years, most of us actually don't own any short-term rentals of our own. And it's only now in the last couple of years that I had a friend ask me. She was like how many do you own? Just assuming that I had a bunch of them, i said none. My husband and I. Now we're finally realizing like we definitely should be investing in real estate also and trying to go down that path, and that will also be something that we can touch on and the learnings that I figure out in this process. That's going to be a whole new world for us. But I think that the way that the newer age manager is looking at this from not only how they're getting the loans for the properties, what the investment value is, how they're really running their numbers I think that's interesting for our side to look at a little bit more closely. We've all as professional companies, we've all done rental projections and we work with realtors. But I think there's more of an intersection there that is a little bit more, just more transparent on what the numbers actually look like for somebody that's trying to make this into a portfolio for them, not just one property that they're going to buy and list with a rental company or on their own, but really grow it into a business. Just learning more on the business practices of this group When you go to their conferences, the topics they talk about are very different. They are talking about how to get funding for these properties And it's just a different mentality than what we've all had. But I think just being aware and open to hearing is going to be a big guy opener for all of us.

Speaker 2: 15:47

Yeah, i would 100% agree with that. I think it's just a matter of you said it before, alex that we have more similarities than we do differences, and it's very easy to put up walls and just go about our day, but not realizing that we all impact each other on either side, and so being in communication with each other and sharing best practices and sharing things that work and don't work, and when, maybe again, the people that have been in the business for 25, 30 years, maybe we're not as adaptable as these ones that have just come in through COVID, where they really had to be scrappy And we've been scrappy through our career, for sure, but I think COVID created a whole different skill set that we didn't have to learn. We weren't trying to start a business, we were trying to save a business, so it was a little different. But again, there's just there's so much more that we can do together than we can do separate.

Speaker 1: 16:33

Yeah.

Speaker 4: 16:36

All right. Well, an alignment initiative is always great And there's definitely growth to be had on both ends of the equation. So I'm a big believer in saying very loudly And letting the universe bring what you wanted to bring. So who are some individuals, or maybe some companies, or some some industries, or just anybody who you think you want to have on the show that you haven't had the opportunity to interview?

Speaker 1: 17:04

Oh wow, We have a list.

Speaker 2: 17:06

Yeah, i know I was going to say.

Speaker 1: 17:08

I don't know if it's on my whiteboard but I had to race it last week because I was working on a project. Gosh. That's a good question, And I think there's a lot of people that we want to have on the show. It's going to be hard to come up with just a couple of the name. That's probably one of the biggest surprises that people say to us when they ask how do you think of topics And have you run out of people to interview? Absolutely not. There are still so many people that we would like to have on the show that have expressed interest to come on the show And really, just as the world turns, as news happens, there's just going to be more and more to talk about. I heard Marcus Radar from HostAway was on a little news clip on Serenity's podcast this morning about how they raised $170 million, the largest funding round of any short-term rental technology to date, And that just happens. I think that's super interesting, And Marcus was actually one of our early episodes and talked a lot about leadership and the journey that you're on and how you're planting seeds all the time. But you don't know until you've gotten your big break. And it's not that it's a big lucky break, It's something you've been working on for a long time. So I think, to have him on and really dive into more of what he's learned in this process, because I think his words are definitely ringing true at this point. He would be one for me, But I don't know, Annie. Do you have anybody else at the top of your list?

Speaker 2: 18:32

Yeah, there's a couple that we've talked about. We looked at Edmila having him on. We've talked about having Heather Monahan talking about personal branding She's not within our business, but I'm someone who's really spectacular at personal branding And then I would say having people from Bacasset. We want to have Rob Graber on. And obviously his start with Bacasset and where he is and it's been pretty tumultuous, but would love to get his thoughts on where they're at and where they're going. And there's just so many amazing people in the industry that we haven't had a chance to talk to And I think just revisiting some people that maybe we talked to in the beginning that had where they are now, like we've watched some people who were just starting out and the trajectory of their company talking about Margot from Hostelite what she's done with her organization. Again, like Marcus at Hostelite, There's just some really great stories to be revisited. So not just having new guests but I think having some oldies but goodies on.

Speaker 1: 19:26

Yeah, i agree on that And we do. we often say that in our episodes that we will have you back for an update to whoever we're speaking with And we want to. I think that's a really good point. I think we can have some great refreshes from some of our best episodes. But yeah, i agree on that too, that bringing in other industries more from a business or leadership or mindset perspective. Ed, my lad, if you're listening, we would love to have you.

Speaker 2: 19:49

We're putting it out there And those are two great ones.

Speaker 1: 19:51

But yeah, there's a lot in that space that I think we can pursue And that those episodes seem to be quite popular when we are talking more on that realm. But yeah, otherwise, I think maybe even somebody from high up within Airbnb would be interesting Certainly Rob Graver with LaCosta would like to have him on And just more into the hotel space. We've done some episodes where we talk to people that are more within hotels or destination marketing and really doing that from the lens of we all represent something different, But you can learn so much from having these different perspectives that they're similarly aligned, but the outcome might be a little bit different And I think there's so much to learn there. So we'll be much smarter in a year from now, as we are now, than we were a year ago, because we just we learn so much from these guests And that's the highlight of being able to do the shows, have those conversations.

Speaker 4: 20:46

You heard it here. folks, If you have a direct line to any of the aforementioned individuals, then time to reward the show that you've been listening to.

Speaker 1: 20:54

I will say, too, that I think we want to have Bill Faith on the show. We both just listened to his episode. He was on the No BS podcast and talked a lot about what we've been talking about today of how the industry should come together, and I'm sure we won't agree on everything with him, but that's okay. I think there's also some things we certainly will agree on, and he's a leader on the STR side for sure. He has a very large following, so I think that would be a good one for us to have come on.

Speaker 4: 21:25

Awesome. So what has been? and then I know this is going to be a difficult question to answer because there's probably so many things, but if you had to pinpoint what's been the most rewarding part of this hundred episode journey, I think just the friendships that we've built along the way.

Speaker 2: 21:43

I know without question my personal brand building, but also the confidence building that has come along with it, but some of the just really deep friendships that I mean. Alex and I've been friends but we're just like sisters now and I can't imagine doing I'm gonna cry.

Speaker 3: 21:59

I can't imagine.

Speaker 2: 22:00

Doing anything without her, Like it's just. Everything that I do in this business is just. I always think of her and how she can participate in it. But I think that you go through various periods in your life and just knowing that you have this kind of tribe of people that are there to uplift you and protect you and cajole you and help you build that confidence and be there like when you need a bandaid for your knee when you fall, I have just been so pleasantly surprised and uplifted by the people that we've met and the friendships that we've made that I can call any number of 20 some people that have directly resulted from this show that I could call and they would be here in a heartbeat to help me out. So it's just, it's really just solidified my faith in humanity.

Speaker 1: 22:39

Yeah, i agree with that completely And I think it really. We didn't start a podcast to make more or more new friends, but I think, if that has definitely been a great result of it, that we've made a lot of amazing friends in this process, and I think part of that is when people hear you talk every week, they feel like they know you better than you know them, of course, but at the same time, that also opens up many different conversations outside of the podcast of people reaching out to us and things that we just have a lot to talk about, because they've already heard so much about what we've got going on in our lives or just curious about guests we have on the show or a topic. So I think it's been a great conversation starter for sure And truly within the last couple of years. I think we've just made incredible friends from doing this. I think we've also been completely humbled that the several people that have reached out that are maybe not people we see all the time that would be our best friends but just people that have reached out and said thank you for doing the show and for motivating them and just that. That means everything And, again, we're not trying to do anything specifically, but I think if we're able to shed some sort of light and positive influence for people, whether they're coming up within the space or are new into the industry, i think that's a great legacy for us to leave with this And just very proud of that.

Speaker 4: 24:09

Amazing So new friends, great feedback, people educated, entertained and everything else that comes with running a great show. Any closing statements as you ascend into the hundreds Just thank you to everybody Honestly.

Speaker 1: 24:25

That's great. We wanted to have Edward Kamana as a ghost host today, just to flip the mic a little bit and have someone ask us the questions, just as we reflect back. But we appreciate everybody who's listened and we are excited to bring you many more episodes and, of course, the book that we'll be coming out later this year.

Speaker 2: 24:45

Yeah, I just want to reiterate thank you to everybody for your support, for your questions, for listening, for sharing, for everything that you've done to help motivate us to continue to do the show, And we look forward to another 100 plus episodes coming up. Yeah absolutely.

Speaker 1: 25:02

Thank you again, edward, for joining us today, and if anybody wants to get in touch with us, as always, you can go to our website, alexandannipodcastcom. Be sure to subscribe to the show. Follow us on social media, send us a message if you want to connect. We love to chat. So thank you again and we will see you on the next first of the month bonus episode. Thanks everybody.