The STR Growth Show

I sat down with Kory Rankine, founder of Escape Lux in Miami, to break down how he built a selective portfolio of upscale and ultra-luxury STRs through high-touch, experience-driven hospitality.Kory shares how he entered the industry through concierge services, landed early luxury bookings by pairing homes with yachts, chefs, cars, and chauffeurs, and built a business around matching the right guests with the right properties.We discuss Miami’s evolving STR regulations, why compliance is critical, how B2B referrals drive growth, and why Kory moved beyond the overused “luxury” label to focus on creating memorable escape experiences.We also dive into AI, underwriting, due diligence, and Kory’s plans to scale strategically and eventually acquire assets.If you’re building a luxury STR management company or looking to create a differentiated hospitality brand, this episode is for you.Connect with me....Podcast: YouTube Channel: ⁠https://www.youtube.com/@patrykswietekInstagram: ⁠https://www.instagram.com/patryk_swietek/Facebook Group: ⁠https://www.facebook.com/groups/strnation/Connect with Kory Rankine at https://escapelux.com/

I sat down with Kyle Miklasz to break down how he built highly profitable “super properties” in overlooked, drive-to Midwest markets by turning barns and warehouses into destination short-term rentals.Kyle shares how he went from corporate sales to STRs, found his first barn for $775K, invested roughly $250K into the property, and turned an AirDNA projection of $35K into nearly 10x that revenue. We also discuss how a $2.1M refinance helped him scale to 15 locations.We dive into the strategy behind his amenity-heavy properties, how social media now drives 40–50% of revenue, growing direct bookings to 35%, and why Kyle designs properties to be the reason guests travel in the first place.We also break down his approach to underwriting without traditional comps, scaling with capital, building the Wild Warehouse brand, managing insurance and risk, and continuously refreshing properties to keep them relevant and shareable.If you’re looking to build unique, high-revenue STRs outside traditional vacation markets, this episode is packed with strategies you can apply.Connect with me....YouTube Channel: ⁠https://www.youtube.com/@patrykswietekInstagram: ⁠https://www.instagram.com/patryk_swietek/Facebook Group: ⁠https://www.facebook.com/groups/strnation/Connect with Kyle Miklasz on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/kylemiklasz/

Lucas Piper went from earning $30,000 a year as a social worker to building Five Star VHR, a luxury short-term rental management company with roughly 70 properties in Austin generating about $9M in booked revenue.In this episode, Lucas shares how he started by renting out his own home, scaled through rental arbitrage, survived COVID and partnership mistakes, and eventually went all-in on property management.We break down how he used Facebook groups, meetups, networking, and free education to build a reputation that helped him win luxury management contracts and grow through referrals. Lucas also shares his approach to owner retention, competing on value instead of fees, building strong local teams, and fixing financial and bookkeeping challenges.Finally, we discuss what’s next for Five Star VHR, including mergers and partnerships, growing to 85–100 high-quality properties, and using AI to improve the guest experience.Connect with me....YouTube Channel: ⁠https://www.youtube.com/@patrykswietekInstagram: ⁠https://www.instagram.com/patryk_swietek/Facebook Group: ⁠https://www.facebook.com/groups/strnation/Connect with Lucas Piper on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/fivestarvhr/

I sit down with Cameron and Jeremy to break down how they acquired a 46-year-old Lake Tahoe property management company, growing from 10–15 homes to nearly 140 in a single deal.We discuss how they built their partnership, navigated messy financials and non-assignable contracts, used a Quality of Earnings professional, and valued the business based on its management contracts rather than traditional EBITDA.We also dive into what happened after closing from improving revenue management and listings to automating guest communication, rebuilding maintenance workflows, hiring key team members, and implementing EOS.Cameron and Jeremy share the realities of acquiring a legacy STR management company and their plan to strengthen operations, regain Superhost status, and scale toward $30 million in annual gross bookings.Connect with me....YouTube Channel: ⁠https://www.youtube.com/@patrykswietekInstagram: ⁠https://www.instagram.com/patryk_swietek/Facebook Group: ⁠https://www.facebook.com/groups/strnation/Connect with Jeremy & Cameron:Cameron on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cameron.masters_/Cameron on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cameronemasters/Jeremy's email: [email protected]

How do you scale a short-term rental management company without becoming another bloated, generic property manager?In this episode of The STR Growth Show, Alex Bykov shares how he and his wife, Natalie, grew their Lake Arrowhead short-term rental management business from just 5 properties to 37 units, with 50 in their sights.Alex breaks down how they’ve carved out a middle ground between self-management and the large national property management companies by going deep on what matters locally: operations, reliable vendors, guest experience, regulations, and technology.But where things get especially interesting is how Alex is using AI and custom-built software to run the business more efficiently.With a background in web development, Alex started using Claude AI, APIs, MCP integrations, and automation to build internal tools specifically around the problems his property management company faces.If you run a short-term rental management company, this episode is a practical look at where the industry is heading: smaller teams using AI, automation, and custom technology to operate like much larger companies.Connect with me....YouTube Channel: ⁠https://www.youtube.com/@patrykswietekInstagram: ⁠https://www.instagram.com/patryk_swietek/Facebook Group: ⁠https://www.facebook.com/groups/strnation/Connect with Alex Bykov on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/bykovalex/