1st of the Year Bonus Episode: Alex & Annie Reflect on 2024 and Set Intentions for 2025

Alex Husner
Welcome to Alex & Annie: The real women of vacation rentals. I'm Alex 

Annie Holcombe
and I'm Annie, 

Alex Husner
and we are here today, just Annie and I for our annual first of the month, but also first of the year episode. It is 2025, another year in the books. Wow. What a year, Annie.

Annie Holcombe
Oh my gosh. So many first so many, so much to go over. I don't even know where to start. Been a great year, and we got to go to Italy, so like, that was really cool, too. Yeah,

Alex Husner
whenever we record this episode, I always go back and I listen to previous first of the month, first of the year episodes to remember where we were. And you know, really, the podcast, in so many ways, has become an inflection point for both of us to really just be able to track our journeys over time in a way that's, you know, most people don't typically have a way to listen to your whole life saga, which has been really special for us, but it is interesting going back and listening to where we were this time last year. I was actually in person with you that was like one of our very few that we got to do together. But I was in Panama City Beach, and we got to interview Michael James on the balcony and the wind, and then we had to go inside and record on the couch because it was too windy and cold. But a lot's changed. At this time last year, I had just made the decision that I was going to be leaving Casago, and hadn't formally announced that yet, but was starting to formulate in my mind where, you know, this next phase of life and starting my own business was going to be, and you have not yet started with Nextpax so very quickly into 2024 we both had pretty major, you know, changes again in our lives.

Annie Holcombe
Never a dull moment

Alex Husner
Yeah. Never done a moment. Well, today, what we want to do, in typical fashion, we're going to go, we're going to go through our top five episodes of the year, just make sure to we want to highlight the amazing people that came on and just really made an impact for our listeners. And then we're going to announce our words of the year, which, that's always something that we look forward to, and it's something that Amber hurdle inspired us to do a few years ago, and now it's kind of a tradition, and then just some predictions and things that we're excited about in the New Year.

Annie Holcombe
Yeah, so a lot to go over and, I mean, oh my gosh, it's such we had some really different guests this year, and one that was, I think that was really cool for me looking back, is like we purposely didn't want to have our show just be vacation rentals and just be the topic of rentals. We wanted it to be all the little touch points, so like marketing and branding and and all the things. And we were able to bring in some people that aren't necessarily in our day to day world, but do touch on it and are inspirational. And so I think the episodes that we had this year, our top five like, just great stuff, and some oldie, you know, oldie guests that we've known for years, and some new guests. But our number five episode, we did an executive Spotlight series where we had some executives from different companies. Katie Briscoe with MMG y global, and so she is just a dynamo in kind of the marketing and branding world. And you brought her, you would actually met her, I believe, and she was a fascinating guest. And so I really enjoyed getting to know her and just kind of seeing marketing and branding and the DMO world through her eyes. And that was really fascinating. Yeah,

Alex Husner
yeah, no, she's certainly a powerhouse. And when we had her on the show, she had actually just risen in to be CEO of MMG y global, which it is a global company. They're massive, and they work in so many different verticals within tourism. So it was exciting to talk to her from, you know, a little bit of a higher view lens of travel, but also just to see, you know, an amazing woman that is CEO of this huge company. And, gosh, just really, really cool. So that was, that was a great one. Our number four episode. This was a special one for me in particular. It was the first of the month bonus episode. It was Alex's next big leap featuring David Meltzer live from the blue wire studio. So last year, or in early January, I went out to Vegas, was invited for this mastermind with David Meltzer, and got to record podcast with him in his absolutely amazing studio in the Wynn hotel, and just got to network with some really incredible people from all different types of businesses. And when I look back on it, when I was invited, you know, that was one of those situations where I just as I said, Yes, immediately I was like, I don't I'm not sure exactly this is going to be expensive getting out there. And I've got so much going on with, you know, about to start my own business, but I think this is a good idea, and it was because it really just set the tone of the rest of the year for me, and just put me in a really great mind space, you know, headset there. And one thing that I learned from that trip, and have noticed on other trips too, but sometimes it's really just therapeutic and great to go on a trip by yourself and just have that time, just to think and just go and sit at a restaurant by yourself, right? Yeah, I was doing a lot of networking too, but there's a lot of time I was just kind of by myself, just exploring Vegas. And I think that was very much needed time for me. So that was a great. Great episode, and we got to share the recording of me with him in the studio as part of that announcement in my new business. That was a great one. Yeah, that.

Annie Holcombe
I think that was great. And for me, I walked away from that. And then we ultimately got to have him on and interview him the focus on being in an abundance mindset versus the scarcity mindset. I think he really drove that point home for both of us to really just kind of open yourself up to the world and say yes to opportunity. And that was, that was a really great find. So thank you. And and I did, and I did forget like so the Katie Briscoe episode was 138 the one with David was 139 interestingly enough, like all of our top episodes kind of appeared over a six week period, yeah, and it's interesting, kind of interesting when I was looking at that. But the next one we had was a guest that we've had on before, and someone who you and I both just absolutely adore, and she's just an amazing woman for red Schwartz. So it was episode 141 we talked about growth and women in the industry, and just a really great candid conversation with Fred. And she's always delightful to talk to. She's got, like, lots of wicked wickets, I cannot speak lots of nuggets of wisdom that she always shares with us and and again, number three episode. And I think every time she comes in, she's someone people really want to hear about. Yeah,

Alex Husner
absolutely, absolutely, she's always got just amazing nuggets of wisdom that aren't just specific to, you know, the the tech that they build at guesty, and what she does on a day to day basis, but just learning from her and her leadership has been incredible over the years that we've gotten to know her. Let's see our number two episode. I think this is my favorite episode of the year. This was, yeah, me too. It was so much fun. It was the OGS of the Panhandle. So the OGS the original gangsters, Leno, Maldonado, Jim Olin, Paul Wolford and Steve Caren, and when we came up with the idea for that, we sent an email out to all of them, and within five minutes, they all ran back, and they're like, yes, let's do this. But it was such a great just reflection on where the industry has been. I mean, all of those gentlemen have been in the industry for many, many years, and they saw it back in the days of the what's the computer that Steve Caren always talks about, the, I can't remember the day. Oh, whatever computer. It

Annie Holcombe
was really old. It was a DAWs basis, the green screen and the

Alex Husner
green screens and everything, just on paper. And you know how that transformed? And you know the we talked about this often that the Panhandle is such just a breeding ground for really, really the advancement of vacation rentals and just some incredible knowledge and leadership in that market that really has transformed the whole industry. So that was a fun one. They were a little hard to wrangle at times, but they were cracking jokes, and it was just a great, light hearted conversation that was episode 145,

Annie Holcombe
yeah, never a dull moment with the with those guys. But the nice thing is, you can let them riff, and they they talk to each other and kind of interviewed each other. We got to sit back and watch it happen, so we'll have to have them back and get another update from them, because obviously there's a lot has changed since we talked to them. And then our number one episode, which this is just so wonderful. We just had him on recently, again, is building a legacy of hospitality. Story of mountain laurel Shelleys with Tom Goodwin. He's their CEO. Episode 137, Tom is just one of those salt of the earth guys that everybody should know, just just an amazing human being and so passionate but focused on the mission for his company and very family. Family focused just a great guy, and so it's wonderful to see, like so many people want to listen to him, and his story resonated with with our listeners. Yeah,

Alex Husner
and now so that that was his first time on the show, that episode 137 but we when we just had him back on, he announced that he's launching, or has already launched, actually, a podcast for the love of Gatlinburg, and that was just really cool to see you know him now moving into the podcast space because he's just, he's got that such a likable quality about him that people want to listen, though. We're excited to continue to see how that goes and just a great conversation. What a year. What a year. Well, moving into our words of the year, and we've done some, a lot of soul searching, I would say, this year, and I've this isn't just a new thing for me this year, but I've always been very much into numerology. And if you're not familiar with numerology, essentially what it is is everybody is in a nine year life cycle that continuously, you go from year one to nine, and then you start again at year one, and the different phases of what's going on in your life in each of those personal years that you have. And when I track back the last nine years, it is so spot on accurate for my last nine years. It's almost crazy, but, and we'll include in the show notes some some references to numerology and how you figure out what you're you're in. But for me, this was my year one, which is the basically starting over. I mean, it's the beginning of the next nine years of your life. And there's a new going into this year. There were. Going to be a lot of change and a lot of courage that was going to be needed for me to be able to make these changes. And that's why I chose courage for 2024, as my word of the year. And I think it was, I'm really glad that I chose that word, and I think it did guide me through a lot of decisions and things that I had to figure out on my own. So that was my, my word. But what was, what was yours for 2024 and

Annie Holcombe
mine was Grace. And I had come off of a couple of years I had authenticity, then I had inspire, and last year was Grace. And I really have to say that grace played a really big part of my professional world as much as it does in my personal world. But there was just a lot of things that were kind of thrown at me from all direction that I had to face with the intent to show grace to others and also show grace to myself. And I think that was just really important and kind of touching on the numerology that you were mentioning. I got head into Enneagram, and once I really got to understand the Enneagram and my number, it really helped me understand so much more about me and how I react and how I see the world, and the things that maybe are affecting me at levels I didn't realize. And then it all came back to like if I would just show myself some grace, as much as I was trying to show it to other people. It just it made things not seem so overwhelming and unmanageable, I guess would be the right word. So, yeah, I think that that was great with that. Why don't you share your word for 2025 Yeah.

Alex Husner
So I'm now heading into year two of my numerology year, and the word that I chose was was also based on, on the year that I'm in, and it is going to be connection. And you know, when I think back on, on my career, and just, you know, my life, personally and professionally, as I've developed, and a lot of that since the podcast has been what I really love to do is connecting people like I love being a connector. I love connecting companies and people and ideas and just kind of being that bridge between where you are to where you want to go. And for me, that just is very fulfilling. And I think this year is going to be a year of enhanced connection. I've built up an incredible roster of companies that I'm working for now in my fractional cmo business, and this is going to be the year of Now, taking it to that next level. And you know what that looks like in one use case example. So boom, that I work with, we're going to be building an internal community for all of their partners. And how do we connect these people in a way that they're able to, you know, connect with each other and share ideas. And I'm just, I'm really excited about building that community with them, but connections, it's a theme of my life, and I think this is the year that I'm going to really be able to see that come to fruition in some different ways. I love

Annie Holcombe
that. I love that. So my word, and actually, it's funny, because I kind of chose my word. And then you brought up this whole numerology things, you know, it kind of like the numerology, like saying that this is my first year, and I'm, it's like a starting over point. It kind of freaked me out, because I was like, what does that mean? What? What kind of starting over? So, like, I'm, I was started out to be very hesitant that I wanted to embrace that. But then then, then I was something came up and like, wonder just was, like it was in my face. And so wonder is going to be my word for the year. And so I think that aligns with your first year, is that there's, there's this great big world out there, and I can just wonder what's out there for me. You know, I joined next packs in April of this year, and it's been a really great reset for me, because I've been able to get back into doing all the things that I really, really like to do, not just the selling part, not just the marketing part, but kind of to your point about relationships and connecting people, and so I've got a lot of things that I'm going to be doing with next packs in the coming year that will hopefully expand my relationships and my ability to engage with more of the industry, not just in the US, but Latin America and the Caribbean, and really growing our footprint. But it's like, for me, I think Wonder just sort of encompassed everything that I need to be able to do all these things is just know that there's unlimited possibilities, and just wonder what they are and how, you know how I'm going to get there, and I can imagine. So I'm excited about that. And it was cool to choose a word that's both a noun and a verb, you know, depending how you use it. So it's verse. It's versatile. So, yeah, so I think that the maybe year one with wonder is the way to start out. Yeah,

Alex Husner
I mean, I think it's a spectacular word for you, especially now that I've just finished my year one, and maybe I can hopefully guide you some things that I experience, which really you got to experience them right by my side, because we're in communication just about every day. Yeah, but no, I think that really encapsulates the importance of a year one and just having that curious mindset and open to possibilities. And you know, who knows where we'll both be a year from now? I mean, we never know as we start the year, but things as always, they fall into place, and the. Start to start to connect. And

Annie Holcombe
I do have to give a give credit to out of that the Wonder mindset for me is our friend Val Genghis. She is somebody who just sees wonder in every opportunity. And so when I was thinking about a word, I was thinking about, you know, what it would mean to me. But then I started thinking about, when I honed in on that for word, I looked at the people around me, and I was like, who is somebody that kind of embodies that? And she does, I mean, everything she does is look through a lens of wonder and and I saw that as something that was, like inspiring, and something that I could use as a guide post. And so, yeah, I mean, I think that who knows where we're going to be this time next year, but I'm excited to see where we go. Yeah,

Alex Husner
yeah. And again, it's like, you know, being open to different relationships and people and opportunities that are going to come your way in year one, this year has just been spectacular and very rewarding and fulfilling. When I finally started to realize it's like, you know, you've built up these skills over several years and a career, but it's really, it's the relationships at the end of the day that and you never know when that next relationship, that next person you meet, is going to end up leading you to something else. And I met so many people this year that a year ago, right now, I did not even know. I mean, I, you know, coming in as a founder and happy guest. And you know, these different opportunities that came my way that it's crazy to think, you know, a year ago, I had no idea what was coming, so I'm super excited to see for you all that is in store in your year. One a little scared. Buckle up buttercup. That

Annie Holcombe
was my theme. My statement for the year was Bucha, yeah,

Alex Husner
I love it. Okay. Well, so Okay, those are words of the year. A couple of other things that we just wanted to talk about. So travel was a big theme of our year. This year, we did get to go to Italy. That was absolutely amazing, and that that was a goal that we had had for 2024, but didn't know how it was going to necessarily happen that we wanted to go international. We wanted to take the podcast on an international stage, and we were out of nowhere. That opportunity just kind of fell into our laps, and we're already in talks now to continue to do more events with the scale group and the different countries that they go to. I'm really excited through boom, that I'm going to get to go to a lot more international events next year. And it's like, you know, you just, you learn so much by seeing, seeing how the industry is in these different countries, and, you know, the similarities, the differences, but just, you know, being able to meet so many more people through it. So we're excited. I think we're probably going back to italy this fall, but it'll be interesting to see where else we end up. Yeah,

Annie Holcombe
I'm excited. I'm excited. I think it definitely opened my eyes to some of the differences just in how vacation rentals, short term rentals, are run in Europe, and how they are in the US, and kind of just the dynamics of managing, you know, you know, they're managing in multiple countries, and we're looking at people who manage in different states. So there's not as much stuff that we deal with here, although it seems like a lot. You just, you look at the breadth of some of these management companies in Europe, and how they're dealing with multi language and multi currency, and things that we, you know, overlook. So it was, it was very fascinating, and just to be welcomed the way we were so warm and hospitable, and just shows you, hospitality doesn't know any boundaries. It's everywhere. Yeah,

Alex Husner
that's great. I've got a question. So what was your favorite conference of this year?

Annie Holcombe
I was gonna say Darn, because that's usually always like, my favorite in terms of like content, but I think just going to Italy was just it was just different. I didn't know what to expect. I'll say scale, just because it was, it was just a completely different experience. The way the show was set up, the flow of it, it was different. But I will say I did get a chance to go to the skiff short term rental forum, and that was really incredible. So I would say, like for the US, this gift, one was my favorite. Just the flow and the cadence of the speakers was just, it just, was great. So much content in such a short amount of time. But overall, I think Italy wins the day here. Yeah,

Alex Husner
yeah. It's really hard to pick, to be honest. I mean, I think DARM that we just got back from was exceptional this year. I think the the setting and the size of the event, and the, you know, ease of being able to be in sessions, to be networking within one place, was great. And especially, you know, coming off of fall VMA and Phoenix, that was, it was a good event, but it was also a challenging event, that it was hard to see everybody, because it was so so spread out, you know, but I think DARM, DARM was excellent. And one thing that we wanted to make sure to call out was that, you know, last year for the women's conference, we had come up with an idea that we wanted to sponsor somebody to go to the conference, that maybe their company didn't support it or couldn't afford to pay for them to go and. We ended up, we gave that to Natasha Kapoor Lina, who was our first fan of the podcast. I'm pretty sure she wrote the first review. We didn't even know who she was back then, but she reached out, and I kind of started, you know, mentoring her a little bit, and then we became friends with her. And then, you know, full circle. Now she works with me for many of the clients that I have in my new business. So to be able to see her journey, and you know, just how she's connected within our group in the industry, was was great, but even more so, she came up with the idea that this year she wanted to pay it forward, and there was no women's conference, but she wanted to offer the same opportunity to somebody to go to DARM that could be have been in that situation. And so she was able to pass that on to a very dear friend of ours who was, you know, super appreciative to have that opportunity to attend that she wasn't going to be able to without this. So we absolutely love that. And hopefully this is, like the Dunkin Donuts line that we keep that going, and you know that that person can can pay it forward for the next year for the Women's Conference.

Annie Holcombe
Yeah, it was when she reached out to us and said that she wanted to do that. I was just like, it's one of those like moments of like, you just felt like we've done good, like we planted a good seed, and it's, it's reaping, it's reaping the flowers of it now. And so, and Natasha had an incredible year. I mean, not only did she, you know, kind of go out on her own, she's doing her own consulting. She's doing amazing things. She became a US citizen, yeah, like, I mean, she, you know, she is, she's taken her husband's last name, like, everything's just changed for her. And of course, now she just recuperating from some knee surgery to kick the ear off, but she's gonna have a bionic knee and ready to go, I guess. Yeah, yeah. I'm just thankful we met her. She's a, she's been an inspiration to us both, yeah,

Alex Husner
and I think, you know, it just goes to show, like, the power of trusting your gut when you meet somebody, that when you just, you have that feeling that they've got something special inside of them, and just, you know, giving them opportunities to to grow with you, alongside you, and you know what that can what that can lead to, you know, I'm very loyal to the people that I work with, and the people that I've brought along that, you know, are helped me in my business now, and they've helped me in my previous roles. And just to be able to work with her now on more of a consistent basis, I think has just been, for me, very fulfilling. And she's doing an amazing job. She does all of Ota optimizations, but really is just a jack of all trades that can help in just about every part of a business. So always give opportunity to people when you have a good feeling about them. Is the moral of the story there? But looking at 2025 my conference schedule is kind of crazy. There's a lot of conferences, and going to a lot of different ones now than I, than I used to, than just the traditional VR May and DARM, a lot of the scale events and some of the smaller ones internationally. But we're very excited. This is going to be our, both of our well, actually, no, you might have been to it one time, but my first time going to track travel, Net Solutions, User Conference in February, in our favorite place, Nashville,

Unknown Speaker
yeah, yeah. Actually, I

Annie Holcombe
have been and they do an incredible job. I mean, they they pack it full, a lot of stuff. I think the detractor had been it was in in in Minneapolis, where their company is based, and the weather is not always optimal there. It's going to be cold in Nashville, but probably not as cool as it would be in Minneapolis in February. But that's like, yeah, we're really excited to be able to do that and to do some on site interviews with some of their customers and some of their connectivity partners as well. Yeah,

Alex Husner
it's gonna be super exciting to have the podcast set up there. And we're very grateful that they see the benefit of of that and how they can reach more people, you know, by having spreading the word about the event, I've actually, I've never been to any of the PMS or Software User conferences of any of them, and I've always heard, you know, amazing things about, you know, streamlines conference and live res and barefoot. So excited just to see a different type of conference. And also we're, you know, we're very excited to announce and very appreciative that track is coming on as our premier brand sponsor this month, and we've got some really cool ideas for how we're going to showcase their system and their company and what they offer, and some more kind of educational style, type, you know, ways of bringing that to the forefront. I think they've got some great ideas there. So we're excited to start revealing those as we get into the

Annie Holcombe
new year. Yeah. So I think beyond that, show wise, I know I'm really excited because I got asked to be on the prma International Planning Committee. We'll kick that off in January, and I've already been excited, and I think looking forward to what the RMA is going to do this year. I think I know I've said it a lot this, you know, last year like this, is a pivotal time for the association, and there's a lot of new board members, and there's been, you know, some challenges, and there's been some people. People that are have been naysayers and detractors, and I've been one that has been critical, because I it's been frustrating, I think, for people to be a part of it, but I've seen some big changes already just going into the spring conference, and how they're going to be handling that, and really dive into more education for the property managers, so excited to see how international goes. And I think that just being able to be part of the event, and I know it's in Vegas this year, so everybody needs to plan ahead and get your walking shoes on. I think it's going to be I think it's

Alex Husner
great. Of course, we love Vegas, too. And the last time we were there was 2022 I believe, and that's when we hosted a home runners premiere, which that was pretty spectacular. So yeah, excited to see how, how that conference evolves. And, of course, you know, we we support VR. May we know that we need to have an industry organization that it really is the collective voice of all of us. And I think that's, you know, that's been VR May, historically and and just hope that they can continue that, but also excited to go to VR nation for the first time. That's going to be in Austin this year. They had their first conference ever last year, and or no second, I guess that was the second one, and that's when they rebranded it as VR nation. But they're doing some cool things. And there, it used to be NW, VRP, and was just a West Coast Conference, but now this is going to be in Austin, so kind of this is VR nation is for managers all over the country. So excited to see what they bring with that. Yeah, and gosh, you know, it was a wild year for me, as far as the conference organizations and boards. And I was on VR may board. And one thing that changed, of course, when I started my own business, I went from being a property manager to being a supplier. And you know, ultimately, that's why I had to resign from the board, because you do have to, they have to maintain the correct number of people within those designations. But I'm glad that you're kind of working on the inside there now, and you know how to put on a good show, so I'm sure it's going to be amazing.

Annie Holcombe
Yeah, excited to see where we go. But there's, I think there's a lot of good shows, there's a lot of good conferences, there's a lot of new conferences, there's a lot of chatter about different ways to get into markets, to have smaller events, to be more more intimate. I think that we found that the events that were smaller and intimate like reaped more partnership, more strategy, more cooperation, more collaboration. It just overall was you'd walk away from those field, those those events, feeling good about where the industry was, where some of the larger ones, you get lost in the numbers, and you don't get a chance to connect with people on a on a good level, to have any substantive conversations. It's fun. We love it, but sometimes you just really want those more one on one interactions. So I think that we're going to start to see some, some more of those smaller ones pop up. So lot of good stuff in the works. Yeah,

Alex Husner
a lot of good stuff. A lot of good stuff. We hit some incredible milestones this year too. We have over 20,000 subscribers on our YouTube channel. So if you're not watching on YouTube, head over there. We've got some exciting things that we're going to be doing, from a video perspective this year, to continue to engage our audience. On that side, we're up to an episode. This is our last episode was 188 so yeah, so this should be 189 so we're almost at the 200 mark, which is also pretty wild. But if any of our listeners have anybody that you would like us to have on the show, or just ideas for episode, themes that you know we haven't talked about, that you've been thinking would be interesting, you can always reach out to us, and we'd love to hear it one, one episode I've been thinking of. We did the OGS of the Panhandle with the guys, but would like to do the OG women of vacation rentals and maybe get some, some of the, you know, the leading women that have been in the industry for, you know, similar amounts of time as those gentlemen have, and just get their perspective on things. So we'll be thinking of who, who we want to invite on for that one. But I've got a few in mind.

Annie Holcombe
Yeah, I think we've talked about some fun episodes and some different things, and some flipping the script and having us being interviewed along with some other people and and really just mixing it up this year. So I'm looking forward to just, I guess, wonder of whatever, yeah, exactly, yeah. With the podcast, it's

Alex Husner
gonna be great, yeah? Well, we wanna wish everybody just, you know, the most fantastic new year, and hope that everybody's holidays were all so wonderful, and just thank you for both of us for your continued support of the show and just listening and not making us feel bad when we say real silly things on here. We probably shouldn't say but wishing everybody the Best New Year. And if you want to reach out to us, of course, you can always go to Alex and Annie podcast.com and until next first of the month and the next first of the year, 2026 We will see you soon. Happy New year. 

Annie Holcombe
Happy New Year.