Minute by Minut: Stories From People In Property with Nils Mattisson

Scaling short-term rentals in Europe without funding is an operational grind that forces you to learn fast, fix mistakes in real time, and build resilience the hard way.

In this episode of Minute by MÎNUT, host Nils Mattisson sits down with Ben Painter (award-winning CEO) to unpack how he grew Dromor from his dining room table in 2017 into a 1,500-unit operation without raising external capital. Along the way, Ben navigated regulation and Covid, built a remote-first team, and learned what it really takes to scale an operationally heavy business in this industry.  

They dive into the early “fail upwards” years, why selling is often easier than operations, the brutal reality of retaining properties, and what the next wave of regulation and industry professionalisation means for operators across Europe.  

Chapters
01:07 Show intro
01:37 Meet Ben Painter
02:08 Drummer’s story: from 1 listing to 1,500 units
06:49 What founders underestimate about scaling
07:38 Selling vs building: which is harder for founders
09:13 The early mistake: sales first, operations later
12:35 Why Ben hired sales and focused on ops
15:32 Bootstrapping vs raising money: what it changed
17:14 The hardest phase: Covid and the brutal drop
18:55 The pivot: isolation accommodation and rapid recovery
22:17 Resilience, leadership, and getting “beaten up” as a founder
26:03 Where founders get stuck when scaling to 100+ units
27:30 Regulation and barriers to entry in Europe
29:23 Professionalisation: corporates buying up smaller operators
31:28 Why bigger isn’t always better for guest ratings
34:16 What operators still aren’t preparing for
38:17 If Ben started again: what he’d do differently
40:29 The craziest thing that happened while scaling
42:47 Final thoughts and wrap

Some hospitality “innovation” is just shiny tech. The true shift occurs when buildings themselves start to behave like software.

In this episode of Minute by MÎNUT, host Nils Mattisson sits down with Jack Bowcott (Founder of Portal and CEO of Goki) to explore what it takes to modernise access and check-in across legacy buildings, without losing the human side of hospitality. 

Jack shares the journey from building a dating site for travellers and early mobile check-in tools to tackling a much bigger challenge: making existing “dumb” building infrastructure work in a digital-first world.  

They dig into the trade-offs between automation and human connection, why integrations still break most rollouts, what “boring but bulletproof” design really means in hardware, and where keyless, identity, and privacy are heading next.  

Chapters
00:00 A hotel chain took a sledgehammer to every reception
00:55 Show intro
01:25 Meet Jack
02:36 The origin story: a dating app for travellers
03:55 The real problem was behind the reception desk
04:56 Goki vs Portal: what changed and why
07:37 AI bookings vs physical access: the missing link
09:53 The real blockers: sunk costs, CapEx, and integrations
12:21 The “Square reader” analogy for legacy locks
13:21 Invisible access, guest psychology, and optionality
16:21 When automation goes too far
18:07 Tech should free staff, not remove hospitality
22:25 Designing locks: security, reliability, then aesthetics
24:42 The Iron Man battery idea that failed in the real world
27:04 Manufacturing, pandemics, and anti-microbial coatings
31:57 Three shifts ahead: keyless default, portable credentials, privacy
34:19 Who owns identity: PMS, platforms, and government
40:25 If Jack started again: hardware vs software separation
42:46 The wildest story: the sledgehammer rollout
45:17 Final thoughts and wrap

OTAs make it easy to start in short-term rentals. That’s also
the problem.

In this episode of Minute by MÎNUT, host Nils Mattisson
sits down with Mark Simpson (Founder of Boostly and one
of the most vocal advocates for direct bookings) to break
down why so many operators become dangerously
dependent on Airbnb and Booking.com, and what it actually
takes to build a direct booking engine that lasts.

Mark shares the real story behind Boostly, the “plate
spinning” trap that keeps hosts stuck, how guests are getting
smarter about rates, and where AI genuinely helps (and
where it creates AI slop). They also dig into regulation,
professionalism, and why the next couple of years will
separate the serious operators from the rest.

Chapters

00:00 OTAs, dependency, and why direct matters
01:04 Show intro
01:35 Meet Mark Simpson
02:52 Mark’s path from family hospitality to Boostly
07:02 The moment he realised hosts were too reliant on
OTAs
11:04 Why hospitality is unique, and why OTAs feel like a
“magic wand”
13:31 When the OTA plate stops spinning: suspensions, bad
claims, and no common sense
16:09 What separates direct booking winners from everyone
else
19:53 Why the industry is more receptive to direct bookings
now
21:08 Guests are getting savvy, and tools are surfacing
better prices
22:31 When booked direct is not the right move
24:15 The easiest place to start: repeat guests
25:25 Regulation, professionalism, and “if you’re not at the
table, you’re lunch”
32:45 AI in marketing: what works, what doesn’t
35:35 Guest messaging and automations as the real AI win
36:53 What’s next: robots, self-driving, and operations
38:13 Building a personal brand that actually converts
41:02 The exit trap: when the company becomes you
42:24 What Mark would do differently starting again
45:48 Unexpected growth: writing a book and new
opportunities
47:12 Final thoughts and wrap

It’s easy to get a booking. The hard part is everything that comes after, especially when you’re scaling across countries, teams, and thousands of units.

In this episode of Minute by MÎNUT, host Nils Mattisson sits down with Alexander Limpert (Co-Founder and CEO of GuestReady and RentalReady) to unpack what it really takes to run hospitality at scale. Alex shares how GuestReady evolved from a light marketplace into a full-stack hospitality operator, why they built their own operational PMS, and what they’ve learned about using data and AI to improve both efficiency and guest experience.  

They also dig into the realities of scaling operations, the difference between lagging and leading indicators, why clean property data is the foundation for automation, and where the industry is heading as AI and regulation reshape the rules.  

Chapters

00:00 It’s easy to get bookings, the hard part is after

02:23 Meet Alexander Lippert

04:12 How Alex got into short-term rentals

07:31 From marketplace to end-to-end hospitality company

09:09 Why GuestReady built its own PMS

11:00 What traditional PMS tools missed operationally

16:50 Why RentalReady became a product for others

18:12 Why this industry is unusually collaborative

19:31 Consulting lessons: data, project breakdown, and “so what?”

24:06 Leading vs lagging indicators in property management

27:22 How challenges change at 10, 50, and 500 properties

29:00 Why structured property data matters so much

36:20 AI in guest messaging and what good performance looks like

40:00 Where AI helps hospitality, and where it can hurt

46:10 The patchwork of regulation and operating locally

49:40 Multifamily, aparthotels, and mid-term stays

55:30 Are operators prepared for AI and regulation?

58:18 The most unexpected lesson from 10 years in the industry

01:03:40 Final thoughts and wrap

Regulation is tightening for short-term rentals, and operators who stay quiet risk not knowing how to stay compliant.

In this episode of Minute by Minut, host Nils Mattisson sits down with Sebastian Long (Founder and CEO of Lodgeur, and Founding President of the Texas Short Term Rental Association) to unpack what happens when cities write rules without understanding how professional operators actually work. Sebastian shares a real story from Houston where early regulation drafts could have been an existential threat, plus what it took to mobilize, show up, and change the outcome.  

They also dive into the rise of multifamily hospitality, why design directly impacts revenue, how to structure owner partnerships, and where tech and AI can genuinely help without replacing the fundamentals of hospitality.  

Chapters

00:00 The Houston regulation that nearly killed the business

01:04 Show intro

01:34 Meet Sebastian Long

02:41 Sebastian’s journey from hospitality to banking to Lodgeur

06:29 Why he started Lodgeur

07:17 Can design really increase revenue? The data behind it

10:56 B2B2C tension: designing for owners and guests

11:47 The COVID pivot that changed the model

15:05 Aligning incentives with revenue share and smarter leases

16:33 Using Minut data to win a $25k rebate

20:16 Where operators and regulators clash most

23:59 Managing long-term regulatory risk

26:41 Tech, AI, and the reality of integrations

34:32 What operators are not preparing for

39:02 If he started again: what he’d do differently

41:07 The wildest surprise running Lodgeur

42:27 Final thoughts and wrap

The vacation rental industry is entering a tougher era, and the winners will not be the ones with the most listings. They’ll be the ones who nail profitability, direct booking fundamentals, and consistently great guest experience.

In this episode of Minute by Minut, host Nils Mattisson sits down with Adam Norko (Founder of AR Growth, and former leader at PointCentral, Breezeway, and Inhabit) to unpack what’s changed since the post-COVID boom, why so much money has been burned across the industry, and what operators should simplify right now to stay competitive.  

Tune in for a practical conversation on marketing, tech stack bloat, OTAs, and the mindset shifts that separate the top end of the market from everyone else.  

Chapters

00:00 The money disappearing, and the “K-shaped” industry

00:54 Show intro

01:24 Meet Adam Norko

02:26 From Marine Corps to vacation rentals: Adam’s path in

06:11 The biggest industry shifts: print to online, OTAs, smart tech

10:35 Why marketing and direct bookings matter again

11:19 The “K-shaped” vacation rental market: top vs bottom

12:55 Quality over quantity: what actually wins now

16:09 Stop chasing revenue: focus on profit

20:18 Tech stack reality check: what’s essential vs bloat

23:48 The core stack for direct bookings: website, PMS, ops, smart access

25:10 Integration hell and why it’s holding the industry back

28:00 Long tail vs enterprise: building for hosts and managers

33:45 Adam’s wild story: reviews, reality, and the Airbnb problem

36:18 Final thoughts and wrap

What happens when property management shifts from “best effort” to truly safety-led?

In this episode of Minute by Minut, host Nils Mattisson sits down with Polly Dyer (Property Director at Principal Estate Management) to unpack how UK residential property management is changing under modern building safety regulation, and what operators can do to stay ahead. Drawing on over two decades in the industry, Polly shares what’s actually happening on the ground: the operational reality of compliance, the tension between cost and safety, and why accountability (not just paperwork) is the next big unlock for better buildings.

Tune in for a practical, candid conversation on turning compliance into a competitive advantage, without losing sight of residents, leaseholders, and the built environment you’re responsible for.

Chapters
00:00 Introduction
01:19 Meeting Polly Dyer
02:04 Polly’s journey into property management
06:49 From unregulated to heavily legislated: what changed
09:45 Turning new safety laws into day-to-day operations
15:33 Unintended consequences, consolidation, and capability gaps
18:16 The leaseholder counterargument: cost and trust
19:51 What Building Safety Act work looks like in practice
21:05 The hardest buildings: missing records and Victorian blocks
26:11 Uncomfortable truths: construction failures and accountability
31:57 3 to 5 years ahead: how safety reshapes the industry
34:07 How property managers can stay ahead now
34:16 Polly’s wildest story from working in the industry
35:35 Final thoughts and wrap