Alex and Annie: The Real Women of Vacation Rentals

In today’s episode, Alex and Annie welcome Steve Milo and Miriam Ramsey, the Founder/CEO and Regional Business Development Director of Vtrips respectively. They discuss the latest trends observed from the IMN Conference, the latest headlines from Vacasa, the new purpose-built cabins of Vtrips, fighting for smarter legislation, and organizing people in the collaborative committee of the Vacation Rental Management Association (VRMA).

Inside Current Headlines

Steve shares his experience as a panelist at the IMN Conference which was very different from the traditional vacation rentals conferences, with a much more investor-heavy crowd. He also points out how they’re proactively lowering their ADRs to get occupancy, while Miriam highlights how important it is to communicate with homeowners this year in an unpredictable travel economy.

Inside Advocacy

Steve discusses how he helped set up the Texas Professional Vacation Rental Coalition. This organization is now lobbying for a bill that preempts local governments from regulating vacation rentals so we can be treated more like hotels, bed and breakfasts, and timeshares. Steve also brings to light how the VRMA collaborative committee helps the vacation rental industry lobby for smart regulation.

Find out more about Steve and Miriam's industry insights and Steve’s health tips in this episode of Alex & Annie: The Real Women of Vacation Rentals.

“REAL” TALK

Steve: The IMN Conference pulled in a lot of investors 

"In the course of two days, I met so many people representing funds, in some cases small funds, large funds, in some cases multi-billion dollar funds, who were all looking to get into the short-term rental on the asset side. So they were looking to like, how do we buy large pieces of vacation rentals?"

Steve: Join the VRMA to lobby support for the vacation rental industry

"The VRMA, because they raised so much money last year, is even giving grants to state coalitions and to local communities that are forming alliances like Tybee Island to try to fight some of these bad regulations. But the VRMA exists and so I hope more people join the VRMA."

Connect with Steve:

• LinkedIn (Steve) - https://www.linkedin.com/in/stevemilo/
• Email: [email protected]

Connect with Miriam:

• LinkedIn (Miram) - https://www.linkedin.com/in/miriam-ramsey-252213139/
• Email: [email protected]

Find out more about Vtrips

Check out our previous episode with Steve, our most downloaded episode of 2022 here. 

This episode is brought to you by Casago, Guest Ranger and Good Neighbor Tech. 

Visit AlexAndAnniesList.com to view our top picks for the best suppliers in vacation rental technology and services. 

Special thanks to Rev & Research for being the presenting sponsor of Alex & Annie’s List.

Connect with Alex and Annie and get more real vacation rental goodness:

• Alex Husner |

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Elevate a Vacation Guest’s Experience
In today’s episode, Alex and Annie welcome Mike Flaskey, Former CEO of Diamond Resorts International and Founder of Mike Flaskey Entertainment, as he gives his second public interview since leading the sale of Diamond Resorts to Hilton Grand Vacations in June 2021.

COVID profoundly affected Diamond but innovation allowed them to rebound quickly. Mike shares how they did this and how they pioneered a new way to be evaluated on multiples of EBITDA.

He talks about the cutting-edge innovations that timeshare sales and marketing teams did alongside rental managers, as well as the success of Diamond's Events of a Lifetime. Mike also discusses why timeshare companies are not able to represent vacation rentals on the sales table even though the industries appear to coexist within the same ecosystem.

Find out more about Mike and how he grew Diamond Resorts through strategic acquisitions, partnerships, and organic growth in this latest episode of Alex & Annie: The Real Women of Vacation Rentals.

“REAL” TALK

Mike: Drive EBITDA to increase market cap 

"If you bring Cole in and Cole Swindell does a concert, it's going to cost a thousand dollars per family to sit down and talk to me. But by the time you factor in that triple close, and you look at the EBITDA dollars that they drive to the bottom line, even though if you may have some slight margin compression, you're driving so many more dollars to the bottom line, that's how these companies are evaluated."

"They basically get a valuation on a multiple of their EBITDA. So if you can drive more of these EBITDA dollars and you put that multiple to it, you're increasing the market capitalization of your company. And so we were a first mover and we saw that."

Connect with Mike:

• LinkedIn | Website | Email

This episode is brought to you by Casago, Guest Ranger and Good Neighbor Tech. 

Visit AlexAndAnniesList.com to view our top picks for the best suppliers in vacation rental technology and services. 

Special thanks to Rev & Research for being the presenting sponsor of Alex & Annie’s List.

Connect with Alex and Annie and get more real vacation rental goodness:

• Alex Husner | Annie Holcombe
• AlexAndAnniePodcast.com

If you enjoyed this episode of ALEX & ANNIE: The Real Women Of Vacation Rentals, make sure to visit our socials, leave us a like, a comment, or share our content with the crowd! Don’t forget to subscribe!

• LinkedIn | Youtube | Facebook | Instagram | TikTok

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Build Strong Relationships In The Vacation Rental Community

In this special edition of Alex & Annie, Got2Go announces the “Mystery Guest” that has been hired to lead the company as Chief Commercial Officer. Jim Barsch needs little introduction; this experienced vacation rental technology veteran brings years of experience and a wealth of knowledge to the Got2Go team.

Got2Go CEO Craig Musumeci shares their big plans for a membership model and event concerts, while Jim shares the path to get there by building strong connections. Tune in to hear more on this news and more updates on where the company is headed next!

“REAL” TALK

Jim: Communicating the value of a channel to property managers

"It's really building those relationships, partnerships, bringing in the additional inventory, building the awareness about who and what we are. It's going to be fun, it's going to be a number of different approaches to it."

Craig: Watch out for free Got2Go trips coming soon

"We're going to be giving away trips every month to people that book. They're going to get an entry every time they book anything. We're going to give away tickets like packages. We're going to be really unique in giving a lot away."

Connect with the Got2Go team:

• Call (844) 446-8246 (844 I-GOT-2-GO) 
• Jim Barsch | Craig Musumeci | Russ Johnson | Stephanie Baker | Website

This episode is brought to you by Casago, Guest Ranger and Good Neighbor Tech. 

Visit AlexAndAnniesList.com to view our top picks for the best suppliers in vacation rental technology and services. 

Special thanks to Rev & Research for being the presenting sponsor of Alex & Annie’s List.

Connect with Alex and Annie and get more real vacation rental goodness:

Alex Husner | Annie Holcombe

If you enjoyed this episode of ALEX & ANNIE: The Real Women Of Vacation Rentals, make sure to visit our socials, leave us a like, a comment, or share our content with the crowd! Don’t forget to subscribe!

LinkedIn | Youtube | Facebook | Instagram | TikTok

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In today’s episode, Alex and Annie welcome Ben Coleman and Rebecca Ballart, Revenue Management Consultants for Rev & Research. They share the trends they observe in today's market, with the most notable being shrinking lead times.

They discuss how to communicate with homeowners, manage CEO-level expectations, and organize the portfolio according to lead time. With more competition and softening demand, Ben and Rebecca suggest being proactive and using a data-driven approach to achieve growth.

Find out more about Ben and Rebecca's top tips and trends for vacation rentals in this latest episode of Alex & Annie: The Real Women of Vacation Rentals.

“REAL” TALK

Ben: Buying vacation homes today has a focus on ROI
"I think the mindset from a rental perspective is changing in that of it's not just a place that I can take my grandkids or a place I'm gonna take my kids, or a place I'm gonna pass down to my grandkids. It's more of a, Hey, we want a good ROI on our asset. We want a good ROI on our investment."

Ben: Manage expectations from the top due to softening demand
"When I say expectations, I think it starts at the property management level, at the owner, the CEO level of creating true sales budgets, of creating true expectations on what is by the unit portfolio, What are those ADRs? As we see demand softening, like we were talking about, I think there is a good potential for RevPAR growth."

Rebecca: Take a surgical approach to see where you are bleeding
"We pulled a key data leaderboard report just for those spring rates and we organized it by the units, what their year-over-year revenue was, and we were able to pull out 10 units that were behind ADR, they were behind occupancy real quickly. And so we look at it and go, okay, occupancy's down. We go over, oh, their ADRs 30% over the year, over year. Well, there's a problem right there."

This episode is brought to you by Casago, Guest Ranger and Good Neighbor Tech. 

Visit AlexAndAnniesList.com to view our top picks for the best suppliers in vacation rental technology and services. 

Special thanks to Rev & Research for being the presenting sponsor of Alex & Annie’s List. 

Check out our previous episode with Ben:

Bee Boppin' with Ben Coleman: Revenue Management vs. Revenue Performance

Find out more about Ben: 

• LinkedIn 

Get to know Rebecca:

• LinkedIn | Email 

Connect with Alex and Annie and get more real vacation rental goodness:

• Alex Husner | Annie Holcombe
• AlexAndAnniePodcast.com

If you enjoyed this episode of ALEX & ANNIE: The Real Women Of Vacation Rentals, make sure to visit our socials, leave us a like, a comment, or share our content with the crowd! Don’t forget to subscribe!

Send us a message!

VALUES AND ETHICS ARE THE FOUNDATIONS OF SUCCESS

In today’s episode, Alex and Annie welcome Steve Schwab, CEO of Casago. He shares his unintentional entry into the vacation rental industry and how working with the local community is at the core of his success. Steve also talks about Casago University, the company’s in-house training institution, and how this empowers local heroes because their success is the franchise's success too. 

Find out more about Steve and the owner-centric systems he created in this latest episode of Alex & Annie: The Real Women of Vacation Rentals.

“REAL” TALK

Steve: The Immutable Principles Of Vacation Rentals

"There are only a few things that are always immutable: transparency, trust, ethics, being centered on your homeowners, making sure they're well-taken care of, loving on your guests so they have an amazing experience to come back. These are sort of the immutable principles but everything else starts over each time, and be humble when you hear what a community wants and needs and don't try to tell them what's best for them."

Steve: Casago University Sets People Up For Success

"I think you do people a disservice when you sit them down and hand them a job and don't set them up for success. In no elite unit was I ever part of in which there wasn't an indoctrination, training, and build out to what was expected from me and how to do my job with it."

Steve: Franchising Builds Up Local Realtors With A Brand Name

"If you look at the top 10 residential real estate companies in the world, they're all franchises, and there's a reason why; it's still a local business like we keep going back to those local realtors know their area, know their city, love their city. They're beholden and accountable to their areas but they needed tech and they needed distribution and they wanted a recognizable name."

Connect with Steve:

• Steve Schwab | Casago | Email

Connect with Alex and Annie and get more real vacation rental goodness:

• Alex Husner | Annie Holcombe
• AlexAndAnniePodcast.com

If you enjoyed this episode of ALEX & ANNIE: The Real Women Of Vacation Rentals, make sure to visit our socials, leave us a like, a comment, or share our content with the crowd! Don’t forget to subscribe!

• LinkedIn | Youtube | Facebook | Instagram | TikTok

Send us a message!

On today’s episode, we’re featuring our recent panel at DESTICON, a virtual conference that brought together tourism and hospitality professionals from the DMO (Destination marketing organization) space. 

In our session, we discussed how professional managers can work with their DMOs and CVBs to promote responsible tourism. (DMO = designated marketing organization and CVB = convention visitor’s bureau. These organizations are typically funded by local and state tourism dollars, and exist to promote tourism to the destination.) 

There’s plenty of confusion as to what the difference is between our product and what Airbnb is as a company. Lauren Madewell, David Krauss, and John Flanagan represent different sides of our industry – and collectively, we attack the biggest questions and misconceptions.

Don’t miss this episode of Alex & Annie: The Real Women of Vacation Rentals – it’s an important one!

“REAL” TALK

Lauren Madewell: The lack of ways to verify guests on Airbnb is concerning
"Frankly, every bit of it is concerning. So you're getting their name and you're getting their cell phone number. Thank God you're getting their cell phone but you're getting a masked email. You're not getting their address. You have no way to verify their identity. You are trusting that this listing company, this tech company, Airbnb, has fully verified their identity and said, it's cool. It's cool. Everything's good."

David Krauss: Create a voice for vacation rental on the boards                   
 "I think that's fundamentally the area of opportunity is to be proactive, not let this conversation kind of happen without engagement, but in terms of the CVBs and the boards and the DMOs, generally speaking, I think that the more that accommodation option is valued and seen as a valuable contributor and a complimentary activity, I think that's where the conversations are productive."

John Flanagan: Regulations are actually good, restrictive bans are not
"One thing that I think that I would impress upon anyone listening is that regulations are not a bad thing. We actually want regulations from both the supplier side and the operator side in our industry. The threat to what we're trying to do for travel and short-term rentals is restrictive bans and restrictions on short-term rentals. The reasons that those things come into fruition and happen is because of a lack of education on what a real professional operator does and a lack of regulation is standardization."

This episode is brought to you by our Premiere Brand Sponsor, Casago, along with Co-Sponsors, Guest Ranger and Good Neighbor Tech.

Special thanks to Rev & Research, Presenting Sponsor of Alex & Annie’s List 

Connect with our guests below:

David Krauss | Lauren Madewell | John Flanagan

Connect with Alex and Annie and get more real vacation rental goodness:

• Alex Husner | Annie Holcombe
• AlexAndAnniePodcast.com

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Send us a message!

THE KEY TO A GREAT TEAM IS AUTHENTICITY

In today’s episode, Alex and Annie welcome  Alex Zemianek, the Founder and CEO of JZ Vacation Rentals. He shares how trial after trial left him broke and almost broken. However, when he allowed himself to be vulnerable with his team, they rallied behind him during their darkest days. Alex says that it was through an authentic relationship with the people who make up his team that this was even possible.

Find out more about Alex and JZ Vacation Rentals in this latest episode of Alex & Annie: The Real Women of Vacation Rentals.

“REAL” TALK

ALEX ZEMIANEK: AUTHENTICITY CREATES A TEAM THAT STAYS

"The biggest thing is making sure that you have some kind of authentic relationship. And when people feel that you're genuine, then they're probably going to perform a little bit differently." 

ALEX ZEMIANEK: GIFT KNOWLEDGE THROUGH EDUCATION

"I genuinely feel that education is the best gift you can give and receive as well because people can steal your money, they can tap into your bank account, but they can't take your knowledge."

This episode is brought to you by Wheelhouse: The Ultimate Revenue Driving Machine. 

Wheelhouse is a proud member of Alex & Annie's List, presented by Rev & Research

Connect with Alex Zemianek and learn more about him:

LINKEDIN | JZ VACATION RENTALS | EMAIL

Connect with Alex and Annie and get more real vacation rental goodness:

• Alex Husner | Annie Holcombe
• AlexAndAnniePodcast.com

If you enjoyed this episode of ALEX & ANNIE: The Real Women Of Vacation Rentals, make sure to visit our socials, leave us a like, a comment, or share our content with the crowd! Don’t forget to subscribe!

LinkedIn | Youtube | Facebook | Instagram | TikTok

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IMPROVE YOUR GUEST EXPERIENCE WITH SEAMLESS TECHNOLOGY

In today’s episode, Alex and Annie welcome Thomas Schaper, the Head of Product at DACK Inc. Thomas shares his experience in creating DACK as an app that improves the guest experience and makes vacations easier. He also discusses details about DACK’s model from how it was named to how it works. Find out more about Thomas and DACK in this latest episode of Alex & Annie: The Real Women of Vacation Rentals.

“REAL” TALK

THOMAS: FREE UP YOUR STAFF WITH AUTOMATION

“If you free up your staff with automation and tech, then you can focus on the truly cool parts about hospitality. You can come up with more engaging conversations to  have with them, when every call doesn't have to be about what the Wi-Fi code is or how to how to turn on the hot tub, stuff like that. I think it kind of frees up your team to do more memorable, engaging, you know, personal things.”

This episode is brought to you by Wheelhouse: The Ultimate Revenue Driving Machine. 

Wheelhouse is a proud member of Alex & Annie's List, presented by Rev & Research

Connect with Thomas and learn more about him and DACK:

• Thomas  Schaper | DACK | DACKInc.com

Connect with Alex and Annie and get more real vacation rental goodness:

• Alex Husner | Annie Holcombe
• AlexAndAnniePodcast.com

If you enjoyed this episode of ALEX & ANNIE: The Real Women Of Vacation Rentals, make sure to visit our socials, leave us a like, a comment, or share our content with the crowd! Don’t forget to subscribe!

LinkedIn | Youtube | Facebook | Instagram | TikTok

Send us a message!