Building a Global Vacation Rental Brand Through Franchising with Casiola CEO, Dennis Goedheid

Alex Husner  0:02  
Welcome to Alex and Annie, the real women of vacation rentals. I'm Alex and I'm Annie, and we are joined today with Dennis Goedheid CEO and founder of Casiola vacation homes, and a second time returning guest on the show. So good to see you today, Dennis,

Dennis Goedheid  0:29  
I'm a returning veteran now. Yes, thank you for having me.

Annie Holcombe  0:34  
Well, we certainly like having you, because you're always on. You're on point with your colors. You match right in with Alex and Annie. So we appreciate that. So before we get started, why don't you just give us a refresher of who you are and how you got into vacation rentals, and maybe a little backstory about casiola.

Dennis Goedheid  0:50  
Sure. So as you mentioned, my name is Dennis goodheid. I'm the founder and CEO of casiola vacation homes. We are a property management company. We manage around 450 homes right now in four destinations in Orlando, Miami, Aruba and Houston. And we recently launched a franchise system, so we're expanding into more destinations through franchise. Very excited about that? Yeah,

Alex Husner  1:21  
super, super exciting. I remember the last time you came on the show. It was probably about two years ago. I think it was right before we went to vrma in 2022, and at that point, I don't think you had launched the franchise yet. It was, it was the following year. Yeah, absolutely.

Dennis Goedheid  1:38  
We just launched it last year, actually, we throw through a big party here to celebrate the launch of the franchise system. So the Casio beach party. So that's exactly a year ago now.

Alex Husner  1:52  
Yeah, oh, that's so exciting. I definitely know from my experience being at Costa go for a bit there, that you know it's, it's an undertaking to open a franchise, and I mean, to build an actual franchise. I think there's a lot of people within our space that they throw throw around the term franchise, but they actually mean they just want to be multi market, and they want to own different companies, but getting into becoming a you know, approved franchise model with you know, depart, I'm not sure what the department is that you have to register with, but it's, it's a massive project. So because a

Dennis Goedheid  2:27  
little bit over a year, I think you have to create what they call an FTD franchise document, and it needs to be registered and refiled every year. And, yeah, it's 150 pages of attorneys talking to attorneys, and then you need your operation manual too, which is another few 100 pages at least. So it took a little while together. Yeah,

Alex Husner  2:52  
yeah. So, and I know you've got one that's open in Aruba, but what are your What are your takeaways in this? In the first year doing this. How has it been? Yeah,

Dennis Goedheid  3:02  
no. Aruba has been an amazing success. So when we started there, we converted an existing company with around 12 to 15 properties, and in less than two years, we got them to over 125 properties. Right now, if you go to Aruba and you look around, you're going to love it. You're going to see those big pink casiola circles. Oh, I love that. Our office is like, right on the way from the airport to the tourist area, so you can't miss it. So No, things are amazing there. The growth has been impressive. So

Annie Holcombe  3:42  
how many? How many markets are you in, or looking to be in, I guess, by the end of this year?

Dennis Goedheid  3:47  
So we want to add only two more this year. So we want to take it slow to get started. We want to add five next year, and then after that, up to how fast we can scale it up, but no, no limit there. Yeah,

Alex Husner  4:05  
it's really smart. I think you This is definitely a business model that slow and steady wins the race, because you have to be able to execute for these companies or individual owners that are, you know, business owners that are going to become part of this, and that's a tough thing, right? There's a lot to learn as you're doing it. You guys know the business inside and out, but it becomes different when you're running somebody else's business or helping them run it. But do you also, do you? Are you looking to get individual people that want to start a business, or is it just going into existing businesses and converting them. Yeah,

Dennis Goedheid  4:41  
we're open to both. So I think it could be a great additional business for existing, existing real estate professionals like realtors, for example, that sell a lot of vacation homes and are now giving those contracts away to other managers just to retain that business. Is, and they may not have the time to figure it all out from from zero, but if we can train one or two people in their office, and they use our technology in our website and our marketing, I think it's a great additional business for those kind of people. So we're open to converting existing companies as well as people starting from from scratch.

Annie Holcombe  5:24  
It's so that's interesting. And as Alex alluded to, there's, you know, there's a couple of different companies that are in the franchise space, and I'm curious as to just not to go all in on this topic. But what do you what do you see your differentiator for Casio against the other companies that are in the franchise model space,

Dennis Goedheid  5:43  
yeah, our end goal is really to create, like a global brand in vacation rentals. So I know it's not going to be for next year or the year after, but that's the ultimate goal, a little bit like what Marriott does for hotels. We we want to create something like that in the in the vacation rental space. So we want each and every home to be unique. Wherever you go, can have the local touches, but we want the bases in each and every home to be the same. The experience itself needs to be similar wherever you go. So that goes from the products you find in the home to cleanliness standards to guest support to how you enter the home. So really big on that. So they will have to follow certain brand standards if they want to join the casiola brand. And of course, I think we can do a great job in the marketing. And an example there is, again, Aruba. We get so many questions now from people like, Oh, are you also on other islands in the Caribbean? Local business owners, there's a lot of business being done within those islands that come to Aruba, that see us everywhere and say, hey, I want to bring that to my destination, and also beyond that brand, because it's so recognizable and everything looks so great that we want to replicate that in our destinations. So I think we can make there a difference, especially on the marketing side. I

Alex Husner  7:16  
love that you started with Aruba, and I think that's a really interesting path that you could take if you continue to expand within the Caribbean destinations, because down there, there's not, in most areas. I mean, there's not like a true market leader. I mean, it's people that do it, and maybe small companies, but not exactly to the extent of professionalism that some of the US operators have had. So definitely a lot of opportunity there. And I mean, for you to grow them to over 100 properties in less than a year, that's that's massive growth. So is homeowner obviously, homeowner acquisition marketing. That's a big part of what you offer is, have you taken essentially what you've done in Orlando and applied it? And I asked that, because I know Orlando is such a unique market that you're a lot of your homeowners. They're not traditional homeowners. I mean, they're investors from overseas. And you know, maybe that applies in these, some, some of these Caribbean markets. But just interested for your thoughts on that,

Dennis Goedheid  8:13  
yeah, that's what everybody says, right? But for me, Orlando is the benchmark. That's the normal. I don't so everybody always know Orlando is so tough, but that's, that's where we grown our business. So, yeah, it went actually a lot faster in Aruba than we did grow in the beginning in Orlando. And we're it is not an easy market. There's so much competition out there. And like you mentioned, owners are from all around the world, so you cannot really get them on the phone in your language and what you do. But we figured it out somehow when we were applying this now to other destinations, and it's working really well. And you mentioned, like in those Caribbean destinations, there's also a lot of foreign investors that just love to have place there, but don't use it that often. So we hope that we can apply our know how and the processes that we've come up with over the years into those other destinations.

Annie Holcombe  9:19  
Very cool. And one of the things that I that we know about you is that you're super active, not only in Orlando, but just all over the state, and kind of dovetailing over into something that you know is pressing for everybody is regulatory. And I think you've been very active with some other leaders in the state to make sure that we have smart regulations that the people at the legislature in Tallahassee are listening, and I think that you're doing some events, probably not Verma, maybe Verma, but coming up at DARM later this year, and thought maybe an opportunity to talk about what you guys are doing at the state level to help regulations for managers. Yeah,

Dennis Goedheid  9:57  
absolutely. And just for those who don't. Know yet, but I think regulation is is the biggest single threat for our industry out there. I mean, there may be a lot of others, but regulations right now is definitely one of the bigger ones. So I would recommend or ask or beg everyone to get involved. Don't think, oh, it's not my problem, because I'm in Orlando, or I'm in an area where there's a lot of vacation rentals, so they probably leave it alone. It's also one of the first things we did in Aruba when we got active there is a local association and get as many local managers involved as we could find there. And it's really necessary. We've seen it this year, even in Florida. I think that the number one vacation destination in the US, maybe the world. Yeah, there was, all of a sudden, a bill that came kind of out of nowhere. We were all called by a surprise on the second to last day of session. All sudden, there was a bill there, and it got through the Senate. It got through the house, and yeah, all sudden, it was ready to be signed by Governor. So we started a huge campaign as well, internally with our lobbyists as grassroots campaigns on LinkedIn. You may have seen one of my many posts. Sorry for spamming everyone, but it was really important. And yeah, we got a huge success, a huge win there, because we were able to get the Governor to veto that bill. It was not just us. We had great partners, like the realtor association here and a bunch of others. But it's really, really important to support those associations, not just by if we ask you to do something, it's really because it's necessary, sending an email to or calling the governor's office. It may sound like, Hey, how is that going to make a difference? But it really, really does. We've done the past year shows that, but also we need money. It's as simple as that. We need to pay the lobbyists. We need to sponsor candidates that are short term rental rent friendly, and that's why we're also organizing a big fundraiser at dorm in beginning of December. So anyone that is going to dorm, please visit us. We we're going to do it on opening night on Monday. It's only $50 to to access the event. It's not a lot, but it will, it will really, really help. And we're also still looking for donors and sponsors, companies or or individuals that want to help us getting a new bill passed, the bill that is balanced, that is fair for everyone. That's what we're going to work on next year. So anyone that wants to support us, please donate through the website. It's fpvrc.org and there's a donation button on there, and anything is welcome. So doesn't matter. It doesn't have to be $10,000 we're happy with 50, with 100 anything you can miss to to support our calls.

Alex Husner  13:12  
Excellent, excellent. I just saw on the news here in Myrtle Beach last night that this, and actually it's aired multiple times and today that the city here is, you know, in a deficit on their budget and just really hurting for money that properties that had converted to long term rentals, which there's no bill in Myrtle Beach that's preventing short term rentals right now, knock on wood. But the housing crisis is an issue, right? And that's the purpose of some of these properties that they converted to long term but in my mind, I was like, it's good to at least see, like, now, okay, things were done, and now the city is realizing, wow, these short term rentals, like, they're very important to our economy and to our budget and what we're able to do. And I think it's just it's so overlooked by a lot of these areas, especially, you know, when you think about like, there's so many, like Colorado markets that have these crazy restrictions put in, it's like, at some point, like, who's going to look back and be like, okay, yeah, this was still a good idea. We think this was a good idea. I can't imagine that a lot of those markets aren't seeing the same thing. But unfortunately, I only saw that because I'm here locally and in that market, but that's the message that needs to happen. And I feel like there needs to be some case studies and interviews with these local officials, you know, a year, two years into these regulations being put in place of like, okay, is it what you thought it was? Is it really improved the quality of life for residents? I don't know. I mean, if you don't have the resources as as a city and a municipality to provide what you want to provide, and then to what end, you know, it's just

Dennis Goedheid  14:50  
no Exactly. And we've done economic impact studies. We've done it in Aruba and in Florida, and it shows over and over again, it has a huge trickle effect. It's not just that the people move from vacation homes to hotels. If you're a group with 20 people, you're not gonna rent out 10 hotels. You just go somewhere else. So you lose that business. And we see it now also in New York, it doesn't really affect affordable housing. There's, there's so many other factors that go into building affordable housing and vacation rentals in general are not affordable. No one wants to be in a suburb. They all want to be on the beach or or having an ocean view. Those those homes by default or are not affordable. So yeah, there's we can talk about this probably for for the rest of the hour, but there's so many studies that have shown, over and over again, not saying that we don't have an impact at all, but it has a huge trickle effect. And I agree with you. Are they better off in the end? I don't know. I don't believe so we just have to come up with a fair and balanced regulation. Because I totally agree, if you're living there and you have guests coming in and out every day, and they're partying until late at night because they're on vacation and they leave their trash and they park in front of your driveway, those are the things that we need to tackle, and I think all professional managers are on board with that. We just have to make sure that it doesn't take the scale too much to the other end, that you can do anything anymore, and that it's restricted, and that people just move, yes, take the vacation money somewhere else. That's not good for the local economy, for sure. Yeah,

Annie Holcombe  16:39  
out of curiosity, just in the case that you mentioned about the bill that popped up, because I remember it kind of popped up out of nowhere. I think people thought there was something going on, but nobody knew for sure. How were you able? Because again, I remember you being out there, and everybody was sending emails and calling and doing everything that they could, but when, ultimately, when you were able to stop it, like, were you able to sit in front of any of these legislators and even the governor and say, like, you know, what is the misunderstanding here? Like, what are you thinking is going on versus what's really going on? And are they, where are they getting their information from? Do you think it's a lot of it is just that, like, they got someone else has their ear and is giving them bad information? Or are they just making a lot of assumptions with nothing to back it up?

Dennis Goedheid  17:23  
Yeah, for sure, and that's the biggest part of our work, and especially Tiffany and our lobbyists in Tallahassee, they do an amazing job. And what people see is only when there's a session or when there's a bill already in place, but it's a year round effort, going to those people and talking to them, fundraising for them, educating them. It's something that never stops. We're working on that we have meetings every, every two weeks, year round, not just when, when they're in session. So it's a lot of a lot of work, and that's also why we need those donations. It's not just two or three weeks a year, it's a year round effort in showing them how important we are, how much jobs we create, how much we we bring to the local economy. So yeah, a lot of effort, and then once, the reason why this bill got passed now is because a lot of local local policy makers want more power over what's going on in their jurisdiction, right in their local community. And that's how the bill started. And then other things got added to it, including, you know, vacation rentals, up to a point that, yeah, we didn't really see it coming, because it started out with a slightly something else, and then we were all set and added added to that bill. And yeah, was too late before we could do anything, because they wanted to rush it through. But in the end, it turned out like nobody was happy with the bill, not even the ones that initially came up with it and wanted to get more power. They didn't think it went far enough, and we thought it went way too far. So that was our luck. I think it wasn't a good bill. No one liked it, and that was also the reason that we got it vetoed, but it's an ongoing effort, and until there's a good building place, we still have a lot of work to do.

Annie Holcombe  19:28  
Yeah, I think that we have a really great group. And you talked about Tiffany Edwards, but there's yourself. Paul Hayes, is involved. Jeannie Daly, obviously Tiffany leading the charge because she knows how to handle the lobbying. Steve Milo, I mean, B trips, he's been involved for a very long time, very passionate about what goes on, regulatory wise. So it's great to have you guys paying attention, because I do think that through everybody's daily grind, they aren't able to dig in and really pay attention to some of these things that happen. And. And let's the one thing that we know about kind of legislation and governing is they're not always the most transparent with what they're doing up there. So it's good that you guys are on it. So thank you very much for everything you've done for our state. We appreciate it

Dennis Goedheid  20:12  
pleasure.

Alex Husner  20:14  
All right, so switching gears a little bit. We've gone through all the serious stuff. Now it's time for the fun. So there's two stories here, but the first one we're going to ask, because we waited to ask you the full story on this. We saw the post on LinkedIn, and several people commented, oh, it's amazing what AI can do, that you had posted these pictures in your bathing suits with Richard Branson hanging out at his house, doing all these different excursions, enjoying fine dining and drinks and everything. And I'm just extremely curious to hear how that all came about, and my gosh, like, what your takeaways were, what an incredible thing.

Dennis Goedheid  20:55  
It was really amazing. And I would call it a life changing experience. I did absolutely not know what to expect, and I actually got, like, invited by someone, and in the beginning I didn't even believe it. I thought it was some kind of scam, so I didn't think to hear back about it ever again. But then all sudden, I was starting to get, like, official emails from from Necker Island, because it's not just his house. He has a whole entire private island in the British Virgin Islands. And yeah, I had to book my own tickets to get there. So I double checked, and it turned out to be legit. So okay, I thought, let's just go. It's a week, worst case ever, an amazing vacation in the British Virgin Islands. I wasn't really expecting to meet Richard Branson. I was maybe hoping to see him one night dinner, giving a short speech or welcoming us. But what I did not expect is that he would be there every day, from morning till evening. From 6am he was on the tennis courts, then he went on bike rides or hiking trails around the island. He was having breakfast with us, lunch, dinner. We actually also celebrated our anniversary, 22 years together, 12 years married. Congratulations, and yeah, we got a cake from him. And personally, amazing. Yeah, thing to happen, but no, it was absolutely not what I envisioned before I went there. It was so much better. So, yeah, it was just incredible.

Annie Holcombe  22:54  
How do you top that for your next anniversary, like

Dennis Goedheid  22:59  
next next year, it's on you. I did this year

Alex Husner  23:04  
responsibility. Were there other people there with you? Or, like, was it was the, how it was positioned for you? Was it like a business retreat, or like a personal development retreat, or, like, what was it like? Yeah, so

Dennis Goedheid  23:19  
there's three ways that you can visit the Necker Island, right? And I got a lot of questions about that too after my post. So the easiest, or the most straightforward way is you can rent out the island, so it's $150,000 per night, and then you can bring up to 40 friends. So there's, 20 rooms on the island that's linked to people, so you can bring up to 40 friends, and then the whole island is is at your disposal. You can have fun there with your friends. Now it's probably not within everyone's budgets, so a few times a year they also offer individual stays. So you can book an individual stay, book a room and bring a friend or a partner or a spouse, and the third option is to be invited. So Richard Branson also wanted to create a place to bring great minds together, because it really believes in if you put a couple or a group of great people together, they can accomplish so much more than each on their own. So that's really the philosophy of the Ireland and everything that it does building, like great teams or making great connections. So those are, like the three options, and, yeah, before I went there, I was expecting some kind of high end luxury resort. Like, there's so many around the world. You get there, there's a butler in a nice suit following you around everywhere. Kate. Bring to all your needs, and it was the complete like opposite. It is the I am to this luxury, but it's so relaxed, and at least you really feel like you're on your own private island, or you're visiting your billionaire friends, and whatever you want, you can walk around everywhere. There's nothing of limits, except for his own personal home. But if you walk around the island and you see a sailboat or or a paddleboard or whatever you see, you just take it and use it if you need help, someone is there within five minutes, like, like, we couldn't really sail, or I have, I've done it a long time ago, but I didn't feel confident to sail around the island on my own, and someone is just pops out there, out of nowhere, and they're there to help you. There's bars all around the island, but there's no one behind that bar. You just go in, open the fridge, into the kitchen. I mean, it's all nicely presented and prepared, but you really it's an amazing feeling. They do have bartenders like during dinner and lunch, so you don't have to make your cocktails while you're eating, but you just do whatever you want. No one bothers you. You don't, do not need your wallet or money. That's another interesting thing that that was weird in the beginning. So they brought us to a room, we got settled, and now we wanted to leave. And I was like, did you get the keys?

Alex Husner  26:38  
Yeah, the

Dennis Goedheid  26:41  
lock. And there was no way that you could lock the door. And in the beginning, it really felt weird, like, do we just leave all our stuff?

Annie Holcombe  26:53  
Where are they going to run to right the other side of the island? It's

Dennis Goedheid  26:57  
things get stolen. But after a few days, it's so, so great to not having to worry about, oh, did I bring the key?

Alex Husner  27:07  
And then really is like, it's your own house that way, exactly.

Dennis Goedheid  27:11  
And most stuff that we spoke with, they all have worked there, even in housekeeping and Frontline. They all work there for 5678, years, so there's not a lot of turnover there. They're all probably been vetted and have been there for a while. But yeah, it really feels like you're at home or visiting a friend. You don't have keys, you don't have to wait for stuff. If you need something, they're there for you. But, yeah, another thing is like the meals, so everything is served final family style, on long communal tables. So it's not like the normal restaurant setup where you have tables of two or four, so everybody sits together on a long table. There's, I think, at least 15 or 20 of those tables all around the island. So some are on the beach, some are in the great house at the top of the mountain. And you just all get together when it's dinner time, they put like, big pots on the table, and you grab whatever you want, and Richard joins you and sit right next to you, or his wife or his daughter, they're all just mingling. You meet so many great people. You get to speak to someone new every single time it's they created an amazing, laid back experience there where you can make really meaningful connections with the other guests on the island, and I think there were like around 30 other people, because some of them had the room on their own, so they were not sharing. So I think around 30 people were there at any given time.

Annie Holcombe  28:53  
Did you know any of these other people? Or was this all like, just all different people from all different walks of life? Yeah, all different

Dennis Goedheid  29:01  
people from all around the world there. So, yeah,

Annie Holcombe  29:06  
very was there, like, any agenda to it, or is it just come relax and just completely check out?

Dennis Goedheid  29:12  
Yeah, no agenda whatsoever. So no presentations. No. You didn't have to do anything if you wanted to work or stay in your room or whatever you could do. So some people, because most people there were running businesses, right? I think everyone there, there was also one retired couple couple of professors. But besides that, everybody there had businesses, and some just had to take phone calls and video calls. But yeah, didn't know anyone up front and yeah, got to know a lot of people there.

Alex Husner  29:49  
It's so interesting that Richard, like would open his home and his island to these people. But you know, you think about some of the greatest influencers, not in our. Space, but just in the, you know, larger world of professional personal development. And Richard certainly is somebody that, like, cares about that stuff, so it was probably very fulfilling to him to have these experiences. But I'm curious, like, you got to speak with him a lot. It looks like, I mean, what were, what were your takeaways? Like, did you learn anything, or did he give you a different perspective on things maybe you hadn't thought about absolutely

Dennis Goedheid  30:24  
just like the island, he wasn't at all what I expected him to be. Wow, he was actually very introvert, like, like, quiet he I was expecting him to be the guy when the door opens, like, sucking up all the energy out of the room was the complete opposite. If you wouldn't recognize him, and you wouldn't know that he's a billionaire, you would have never guessed he walked around there without shoes, without the shirts, just in his swim shorts. All day, very quiet. Couple of things that really stood out. He listens a lot more than he talks. I think 70% of the time is just listening. He really loves to connect with other people, but he's not the one dominating the conversation. He's really listening. And then he throws in one of his crazy stories from from his life, a guy has been through so much, it's insane, but he listens most of the time, and when he speaks, you really need to come close and listen carefully, because yell is Very quiet. Another thing that really stood out is when he's talking to you, you could really see that if mine was thinking like, what, how can I help this person? Or who do I know that would benefit from knowing this person or the other way around? So everyone that he spoke to, he tried to make, like, good connections. He was talking with someone in healthcare. It was like, right away bringing that person into contact with his manager from Virgin care. He has so many companies, so, you know, it's a lot of people that like right away bring them into contact when I was explaining what we do and talking about Acacia rentals and how it works, and marketing them, and I'm taking care of how it was keeping maintenance and so on, it was like, right away, like, oh, that's that's interesting. Yeah, actually, my son has a home here on Virgin Gorda, the the island next door. But he actually doesn't really use it. Usually, when he's here, he stays with us. I'm going to bring you to into contact

Unknown Speaker  32:50  
so it's right away.

Dennis Goedheid  32:54  
That's the first thing he thinks. Not like, What can I get out of it? But how can I help those, those people I'm talking with, and and, yeah, if something can come out a bit great if not, so be it. But I really want to help the P, the person, get better or evolve in life. So that was really, really great to see, especially for a person like him, he probably gets a lot of requests and yeah, for money or contacts or whatever. But the other was amazing. Another thing that I thought was great the whole entire week, I think I saw him on the phone three times so he has but he never takes it out. I think I was on the phone more than, than, than he was. And just for people that don't know, Richard Branson. So he's a billionaire, words no one really knows, but probably around seven and a half to $8 million and he owns the Virgin Group, which is a holding company that owns more than 400 businesses anywhere from record labels to airline companies to phone companies, you name it and and he probably has it in his portfolio of companies. It's not publicly traded, so it's still completely owned by him and his family. So he runs that

Alex Husner  34:23  
huge, yeah, Empire,

Dennis Goedheid  34:26  
Imperium of companies. And I saw him on the phone during that week three times. And I don't know maybe it was his wife just asking. Like, it's insane. He really fully gives

Annie Holcombe  34:40  
you present, yeah,

Dennis Goedheid  34:43  
presence. He's living in the moment, not like doing three, four other things. He's really there and giving you his full attention, which I thought was, was great, too.

Alex Husner  34:56  
Yeah, that's such an amazing experience. Yeah? It reminds. Countries, yeah, oh, go ahead.

Dennis Goedheid  35:02  
Good for me. A big takeaway was also, I know, in in the startup world and in business in general, a lot of people start a business with the intention to grow it fast, blow it up as much as they can, and sell it again for as much money as they can get for it, and then move on to the next thing. And I've done that once in my with my previous company. Not that we sold quickly. I sold after 12 years, and now I start over again. And a lot of people ask me, like, what is your plan? What is your exit plan? Are you going to sell it or you? And I'm always like, No, I just want to keep it as long as I'm having fun and I enjoy doing what I'm doing, why would I sell Why do I need outside investments? Why do I need a VC? And there's not many people that think like that. If I talk to, to all the people, they're like, looking at me like, What you don't want ten million for your business? No, because what am I gonna do? You're

Alex Husner  36:08  
enjoying it, then what are you gonna do? Exactly? You

Annie Holcombe  36:10  
have to start another business Exactly.

Dennis Goedheid  36:13  
For me, he was really proved that you don't have to do that. You if you run it well and you have the right people in the right team in place. He's like 74 years old. He runs 400 companies. He he's just enjoying life. There is guests. He doesn't have 20 meetings. He just enjoys what he's doing, and he's making a lot of money in while he's doing it, he's doing also a lot of good with the money that he makes, and there's no need to sell. I'm not saying that's bad thing. If that's what you want to do, that's fine. But why is everybody like, Hey, I'm going to start the business growing and selling do it. Well, you can keep on doing it until you die and give it to the next generation. Yeah,

Alex Husner  37:06  
and I think that's how, I mean, relating it back into our industry. I mean, that's how companies that were built kind of at the influx or the starting point of vacation rentals, you know, 3040, years ago, that was always their intent. And now it's more tech, whether it's a technology company or a vacational company or whatever they're, everybody's thinking about the end game when they start it. And I think you know it, it makes sense to a certain point. But I definitely believe in what you said, that it's like, why would you want to if you're enjoying it, you're making a nice living, you're helping a lot of people, you're having a lot of fun. Like, why? Why even go that way? Yeah. And then other thing that I wanted to say too, I had definitely not Richard Branson, but I would say, oh, few steps below. But I had a similar opportunity earlier this year that I was invited that was kind of the same thing that I'm, like, I don't know. Do they really mean to invite me to this? I'm not sure why they're directly, to go out to Vegas for a two day event, like private event with David Meltzer. Who David Meltzer, he's like, I mean, Bill, I don't know if he's billionaire, but I mean, he's multi, multi millionaire. He He was the movie Jerry Maguire about this, the sports agency was made about the agency that he ran back in the day. And, I mean, he's done all sorts of different businesses over the years, but very much a business influencer, somebody that really just wants to help other people. And the event that he had, it sounds similar. We weren't on an island, but he brings people together from, like, different businesses, and kind of walks of life, and like the purposes is like he just, he wants to help people, meet other people that can help each other. And it's like the whole community that I got introduced to in doing that was, it's like everybody, their first thing was they wanted to know about me. They wanted to see how they could help. Like the everybody there was under that same mentality, and it was electrifying. And that's that was within the first week or two of this year, which for me, was a transitional period of leaving a job, about to start my own business. And it was just, it was unbelievable. But like, the way that he looks at things is very similar, I think, to Richard Branson and his intent for what you got to go to but we, we had, we had David on our show, and then he re aired our episode on his podcast too, which is like, you know, top 00, 5% podcast in the world that we weren't even expecting. It's like he comes from that place of, like, wanting to give and connect, and it's building a community, you know. And I think for you with with the franchise, that's such a big thing, and like, how you can take some of those things away from it. That's like, the community is so important really, you know, in any in a lot of different business models, but that's, that's a big part of how you get people together. And he obviously did it very well, yeah, agree

Dennis Goedheid  39:59  
with you. Yeah. And once you're at 7 billion, I think that 8 billion is not going to make the difference anymore in life. Well, you want to help people build a legacy, make the planet better. He has all those breeding programs. He brought flamingos back to British Virgin Islands. It's a native species, and they were completely wiped out, and now there's 1000s and flamingos flying around and going to other islands. It's those kind of things now that are important for him, not making even more money than he already has, but really doing something good, something that will have lost him when he's not there anymore. And, yeah, it's great to see that with people and that they want to share and want to improve lives for other people.

Annie Holcombe  40:50  
It's good to know that there's people out there that they're not in it solely for their own purpose, like they're in it for the greater good. And that kind of like, renews your faith in humanity, I'm sure at times. Yeah. So

Alex Husner  41:02  
money's the money is the money, you know? And it's great to have, like, the fulfillment that you get from also being able to take what you've learned and Osmose that to other people, you know, that's, that's where life's purpose starts to come into play.

Dennis Goedheid  41:16  
Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. So, we've

Alex Husner  41:19  
got one other story, and this is the other side of the other story, which I will definitely go as so far as to say, was not so fun as the time. But the three of us and many others were in Orlando for the favor conference a few weeks ago, which was an excellent event. We had a great time, but you came up to me and mentioned that you had this idea. And so you knew that I had just launched and announced my association as a founder and happy guest. And you said, I want to, I want to do an interview with you where I'm going to take you to one of the theme parks, and I'm going to interview you on a roller coaster, and you can do your pitch of happy guests. And I think when you asked me, I had a couple glasses of wine at this point. So I said, Sure, sounds good. And Annie said, yeah. Why not? I forgot I have not well. I didn't forget how long, it depends, since I've been on a roller coaster, but I forgot how much I absolutely despise them spend. I don't know, 20 years, but it was an interesting day. It was definitely, I feel like a, you know, broke through some boundaries, but that was probably the most interesting conference experience I have ever had in my life. So I just wanted to make sure we touched on that,

Dennis Goedheid  42:31  
yeah. So, you know, by by now, I always try to think, to do things a little bit different, right? And I've been asked on several podcasts, and a lot of people ask me, Oh, do you want to start the podcast? And I'm like, there's really so many out there. It's such rated markets. If I ever do something or commit to something, we need to make it different and make it special or fun. And that's actually how the idea came up. Last year, when VIERA May was in Orlando, I made an announcement that we would offer like, discounts on stays and theme park tickets for all attendees in Orlando. And I did that from a roller coaster, and we got amazing feedback on that, I think even at a couple of other property managers also recording a video in their roller coaster at their destination. So I thought, yeah, we're in the theme park capital of the world. Let's just add a section there, because it's impossible to do whole conversation and episodes from a roller coaster, but and let them pitch their their newest product or software or event or service, but do it in a roller coaster so they have the time that the roller coaster takes to go around. They can scream, like some people do, they can vomit, but they only have the time to pitch their products as long as we're in the roller coaster. And yeah, we did it with you, with a few others, and it's fun. It's not easy from a technical standpoint to do it, but yeah, it's definitely different.

Annie Holcombe  44:16  
So So has anybody to this point cried or thrown up?

Alex Husner  44:27  
Not either exactly, but pretty darn close.

Dennis Goedheid  44:32  
Yeah, not yet, not yet. So we're still waiting for that one. But yeah, it's definitely interesting to see. A lot of people just forget to talk. I think had to remind you to Alex, that like, now is your time start talking.

Alex Husner  44:49  
Oh, my God. I mean, I think when I said yes to this, my in my mind, I was thinking, you meant like, we're gonna film this video as the roller coaster went up to the top so I'd be able to. To talk, and we did that for part of it. But that actually went by very quickly, and then all of a sudden, I'm at the top of, I don't even know how many feet in the air, literally just petrified, and I had my sunglasses on. So bad idea, that's for dear life. But it was, I didn't scream. I like, I, I immediately went into just like complete mute, like, I couldn't even I was just, I could not believe what was happening. But I am cautiously optimistic, very nervous. I actually don't watch that footage whenever it comes out, because I have no idea how I explained what happy guest is. Probably was not anything worthwhile. But the best part of it was you guys were a little tricky in this that we had Shahar from boom with us, and he was definitely a much better sport about all this than I was. But he did the first roller coaster, but then the next one, as we're walking out, you guys said, Oh, this is nothing. It's smooth. It's very relaxing. And so I'm thinking, this is more like a gondola ride or something like that. I get it.

Dennis Goedheid  46:01  
Can you pause, walk past the roller coaster with zero minutes wait time and not go in it? So yeah, and it was a smooth one

Alex Husner  46:13  
roller coaster, Upside down, upside down, not expecting that, and

Dennis Goedheid  46:18  
face down. You go face down first when it starts and, yeah, that didn't go over that well. It wasn't as wild as the one where you did your pitch, but yeah, you didn't look too great when you came out.

Alex Husner  46:37  
I was, honestly, I was very, very happy that I did not have a hair tie, because on that one, at least my hair, because I was upside down, was covering my facial expression the entire time. I thought, thank God, that's better. I just need to not even look and see what's going on right now. But ultimately, it was a fun experience. I'll never forget it. I'm glad that I did it. One of those things terrible in the moment, but no surprise, you always come up with great ideas like that, and I do. I'm proud that I, at least I said yes, I pushed my boundaries. Grew a little bit that day, but showed back up to Annie about an hour later, and looked like a troll. My hair was

Annie Holcombe  47:14  
either side. She was as pale as I've ever seen. Her. Mission accomplished, Dennis, you did a great job. So when will, when will, are you going to put this all together in, like a compilation, or how? When do we get

Dennis Goedheid  47:27  
no so, so we're building a few episodes so we can start releasing them with with a little bit of a backlog, so they will be coming out later this year. And yeah, that will probably be the best. Was watched section of it. The

Alex Husner  47:46  
best is the picture that you got from the GoPro of like your face, you're just you have the biggest smile on your face, and I look like I'm about to die. Difference in our expressions was so perfect. But, oh man, well, good times. If we go, I know we're going to see you in Phoenix, and if there's any strange thing that you asked me to do, I'll probably say yes, but might have to think twice about it. Now I need

Dennis Goedheid  48:13  
to do some research most crazy attractions in in Phoenix, Annie, because, yeah, you haven't been a guest yet, so I don't

Annie Holcombe  48:22  
have anything to really pitch. But you know, what you should do is skydiving.

Dennis Goedheid  48:29  
Are you making a proposal?

Annie Holcombe  48:30  
I mean, you know, I have to say I've it's on a list of things I would like to do, but I don't know if I would actually be able to do it, because I feel like I would pass out. But it does look cool, but they do a lot of skydiving out that area. So

Dennis Goedheid  48:46  
do your pitch for skydiving? I love it.

Annie Holcombe  48:51  
I'm sure. I just feel like I would say, here's the pitch,

Dennis Goedheid  48:58  
but we will include a link to your website. So, oh, well, that's

Annie Holcombe  49:01  
good cause, yes, yo,

Alex Husner  49:04  
remember that as you're falling, dear. No, I agree I would do skydiving way sooner than I would do bungee jumping. I don't think I would do bungee jumping, but I think skydiving could be fun. Maybe we'll do that. That could be a live podcast that we do. Dennis can be literally the pusher getting the

Annie Holcombe  49:22  
play. We need to make sure we bring we bring Chad Blankenship too, because he has to be part of this. If we do, he is our security

Alex Husner  49:30  
guard. So awesome. Well, great to chat with you today, Dennis. We're excited to see you in Phoenix in just a couple weeks now. But if anybody wants to get in touch in the meantime, or maybe isn't going to VR going to VR May, what's the best way for them to reach out to you?

Dennis Goedheid  49:47  
You can find me on LinkedIn, and I guess you will add my name somewhere in the comments because it's hard to pronounce or remember. Or you can go to casiola.com and find more information about what we do that. Different destinations that were in the amazing homes that we manage. Or if you're interested in franchise, go to casiola.com/franchise and you will find all the information right there, perfect.

Alex Husner  50:12  
Well, if anybody wants to get in touch with Annie and I, you can go to Alex and annie.com and until next time, thanks for tuning in everybody i.