Tiffany Falzon has worn her fair share of hats in her almost 37 years. With a professional background in accounting, Tiff was in Sydney when she first donned her hosting crown, opening a glamping tent on a block of land owned by her Dad in her home town of Marion Bay on South Australia's Yorke Peninsula and opting to manage it from afar. After the incredible initial success of the tent, Tiff eventually decided to move home and manage the tent herself and - once again with her industrious and resourceful Dad in tow - build from scratch property number 2, a tiny home. In the years following, Tiff went on to meet her now partner Luke and welcome a son, Tasman, with Luke stepping in to help with the business through the challenging initial years of Covid and beyond. Most recently, Tiff, Luke and their extended team have opened property number 3, a sprawling retreat of warm timbers, enticing outdoor nooks and calming indoor zones they very appropriately named 'The Sanctuary'. Now known as Bayside Glamping & Co, Tiff has over the past 8 years created something very special that draws on the richness of her local community with a great deal of pride. Please enjoy this terrific conversation about her journey today. For more information about Hosting With Heart and to access our archive of over 100 episodes, visit the HWH website at www.hostingwithheart.net.au or follow us on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/hostingwithheart Join our private Facebook group of 1300+ hosts from around Australia at https://www.facebook.com/groups/hostingwithheart/ Sign up and list your property on Heartful now at https://heartful.travel/host
Louise Warren is a great believer in common sense, thoughtfulness and empathy. It's these driving forces that have closely informed the way she and her partner Anthony have for the past 10 years managed their multi-award winning accommodation business, Mt Hay Retreat in Berry, New South Wales. Comprising only a handful of individual private suites built on a family-owned property purchased in the mid 1980's, Louise and Anthony opened the doors to Mt Hay Retreat in 2015, and have since been on a mission to ensure each and every guest departs their stay feeling both restored and inspired. In recent years, Louise and Anthony have won an impressive array of awards for their ongoing commitment to true hospitality, sustainability and inclusion, including taking out gold at the 2024 New South Wales Tourism Awards and Silver at the Qantas Australian Tourism Awards. Louise has been someone I've long admired and wanted to chat with for a few years now and this conversation certainly didn't disappoint. Please enjoy. For more information about Hosting With Heart and to access our archive of over 100 episodes, visit the HWH website at www.hostingwithheart.net.au or follow us on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/hostingwithheart Join our private Facebook group of 1300+ hosts from around Australia at https://www.facebook.com/groups/hostingwithheart/ Sign up and list your property on Heartful now at https://heartful.travel/host
As a former marketer for the likes of Kip&Co, Milligram, Flexicar and wishlist.com.au, Kimberly Palmer has a toolbox of skills that most hosts could only dream of. Having set up Harper's Cottage in 2019, her first short-term rental in the small yet charming hamlet of Malmsbury, about an hours' drive north-west of Melbourne, Kimberly completed an apprenticeship of sorts in hosting, learning the in's and out's of what it took to host a property that not only attracted incredible guest reviews but was also financially sustainable. More recently, Kimberly, her dog Harper and her now partner Darren closed the doors on Harper's Cottage, and have focused their attention on their exciting, newer joint project, The Botanist's Retreat in Castlemaine. A little larger than Harper's Cottage, The Botanist's Retreat has enabled Kimberly to build on her previous experience as a host and a marketer to create a truly unique offering underpinned by creativity, empathy and a desire to leave her guests feeling truly inspired and restored. And with the added bonus of being located in a town with a growing guest demand thanks to its vibrant arts, cultural and food landscape. I had an absolute blast chatting with Kimberly a short while ago and I'm sure you, too, will love this chat today. For more information about Hosting With Heart and to access our archive of over 100 episodes, visit the HWH website at www.hostingwithheart.net.au or follow us on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/hostingwithheart Join our private Facebook group of 1300+ hosts from around Australia at https://www.facebook.com/groups/hostingwithheart/ Sign up and list your property on Heartful now at https://heartful.travel/host
Behind every great host, there's often an even greater back-room support team and Monica Orrego and her team at Thriving Tasmania are just that. Following her bold, brave move from Colombia to Australia in 2012, Monica has worn many hats in the hospitality sector including housekeeper, host and, building on her original career in accounting and finance, administration and strategy extraordinaire. In recent times, she's been lapping up life in Tasmania, including setting up her own 'back-room' operations business supporting hospitality and tourism professionals, Thriving Tasmania, and recently joining the Short Term Accommodation Association of Australia as one of their two Tasmanian committee members. Please enjoy what turned out to be a very warm and refreshing chat. For more information about Hosting With Heart and to access our archive of over 100 episodes, visit the HWH website at www.hostingwithheart.net.au or follow us on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/hostingwithheart Join our private Facebook group of 1300+ hosts from around Australia at https://www.facebook.com/groups/hostingwithheart/ Sign up and list your property on Heartful now at https://heartful.travel/host
With her background as a travel writer and having consulted in PR, Sheriden Rhodes, my first return guest on Hosting With Heart, was more than well-equipped to embark on her hosting journey three and half years ago during the height of Covid. More recently, however, with an array of achievements under her belt as a result of the incredible success she's had hosting her own property, The River Haus in Morpeth, New South Wales, she's somewhat unexpectedly taken on the role of co-host for another property, Mister Brooks on Brown in neighbouring Newcastle. Only a month into this newfound foray, Sheriden has discovered first-hand how enjoyable and rewarding the role of being a co-host is, especially given the immense professional knowledge and practical experience she's been able to bring to the table. And not only has it been rewarding for her, but having such a personal touch is thus far leading to a happier, more confident and more financially successful property owner and, most importantly, delivering a more consistent, high quality experience for guests. Please enjoy this value-packed episode today. For more information about Hosting With Heart and to access our archive of over 100 episodes, visit the HWH website at www.hostingwithheart.net.au or follow us on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/hostingwithheart Join our private Facebook group of 1300+ hosts from around Australia at https://www.facebook.com/groups/hostingwithheart/ Sign up and list your property on Heartful now at https://heartful.travel/host
As someone who has spent a great deal of time travelling across Australia in recent years, Charlie Douty knows first-hand what it's like to experience discrimination as a member of the LGBTIQ+ community. In response, he's made it his mission to do something positive to address this and in February of this year launched Welcome With Pride, an inclusion, training and accreditation program for tourism and hospitality businesses of all shapes and sizes in Australia. Developed through community research in conjunction with over 1000 LGBTIQ+ travellers, Welcome With Pride's programs directly reflect the voices and real-world needs of this diverse community. To date, Charlie has delivered inclusivity training to thousands of businesses in partnership with industry leaders such as ATEC, Hilton, Destination New South Wales and Tourism Western Australia. He firmly believes LGBTIQ+ people should have the freedom to express themselves authentically and feel that powerful feeling of belonging when they're on holiday. It was my great pleasure to chat with Charlie recently about all he's achieved to date and his many exciting plans for the future and I've no doubt you'll get as much value out of listening to this conversation as I did having it. For more information about Hosting With Heart and to access our archive of over 100 episodes, visit the HWH website at www.hostingwithheart.net.au or follow us on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/hostingwithheart Join our private Facebook group of 1300+ hosts from around Australia at https://www.facebook.com/groups/hostingwithheart/ Sign up and list your property on Heartful now at https://heartful.travel/host
In this short mid-season episode, Jen Clark talks all things Heartful, the new short-term accommodation booking platform she founded and launched in October, 2024. Some of the incredibly exciting happenings at Heartful include welcoming our new dedicated team in June, 2025, which will enable us to ship new and refined features on the platform much faster, a host (pardon the pun) of new site features for single and multi-property hosts and a potential partnership with Coastrek, a major walking event occurring across Australia to raise funds for Beyond Blue. If you've not yet listed your property with Heartful, now is the time. Visit https://heartful.travel/host to sign-up and list your property today. ............. For more information about Hosting With Heart and to access our archive of over 100 episodes, visit the HWH website at www.hostingwithheart.net.au or follow us on Instagram at Instagram (@hostingwithheart) Join our private Facebook group of 1300+ hosts from around Australia at Hosting with Heart Community Group | Facebook Sign up and list your property on Heartful now at Host with Us | Heartful Travel
Kirstie-Lee Smith always knew she wanted to be a photographer, she just had to unearth what kind. Starting off, as many photographers do, shooting weddings, she soon moved into real estate photography, which despite her initial misgivings, she ended up absolutely loving. This subsequently morphed into a passion for photographing short-term accommodation, ultimately leading her to formally establishing her own practice based on Victoria's Bellarine Peninsula, about 3 years ago in the midst of Covid. Since then and in part spurred on by listening to this very podcast, Kirstie-Lee made her foray into photographing accessible accommodation, voraciously learning about what sort of photos prove most meaningful to guests with diverse access needs in the process. This chat was a really enjoyable one which I know you'll get some terrific value from. ............. For more information about Hosting With Heart and to access our archive of over 100 episodes, visit the HWH website at www.hostingwithheart.net.au or follow us on Instagram at Instagram (@hostingwithheart) Join our private Facebook group of 1300+ hosts from around Australia at Hosting with Heart Community Group | Facebook Sign up and list your property on Heartful now at Host with Us | Heartful Travel
While many hosts focus on the material details of the stays they manage, Sal Bellanger's approach to running her accommodation business, Sanctuary South Stays, is refreshingly unpretentious. Having taken ownership of the former family home of her husband Justin, now known as Nornalup Homestead, in 2018, Sal has since turned this into a haven for lovers of both nature and history. This is a property with a rich familial backstory, encouraging guests to reconnect with one another and with the surrounding landscape in a meaningful way. More recently, Sal and Justin have on the same property opened Sanctuary Train, a considerately equipped tiny home that aims to provide a similar experience for singles and couples, also extending the capacity of Nornalup Homestead if larger families and groups wish to getaway together. Sal is a formidable human with a big heart who exemplifies what it means to live and work in accordance with your values. It was such a pleasure chatting with her and I'm sure you'll get a lot out of this episode today.
Like many of us, Benj Bailey-Webb has had his fair share of trials and tribulations over the past 5 or so years. The owner-builder of the now widely lauded permanent tiny house in Victoria's majestic Grampians region, Nook On The Hill, started off wanting to design and build a small footprint, sustainable home for himself and his then-partner, Holly. As the process played out, however, and also through a global pandemic, significant bushfires in the local region and his father being seriously ill, Benj's objectives evolved and changed and ultimately, the decision was reached to open the property up to guests. Benj's story is one that is resoundingly human and one that many of us in the short-term accommodation sector will fiercely identify with. It was such a pleasure chatting with him a few weeks ago and I'm sure you'll get a lot out of this episode today. A quick content warning too that this episode does include discussion of terminal cancer. ............. For more information about Hosting With Heart and to access our archive of over 100 episodes, visit the HWH website at www.hostingwithheart.net.au or follow us on Instagram at Instagram (@hostingwithheart) Join our private Facebook group of 1300+ hosts from around Australia at Hosting with Heart Community Group | Facebook Sign up and list your property on Heartful now at Host with Us | Heartful Travel
Seeking to indulge their mutual love of renovating and holidaying on Tasmania's beautiful east coast, couple Joel Challis and Nick Graham in 2022 were routinely scrolling realestate.com.au when they stumbled across an intriguing piece of land available for sale not far from the small hamlet of St Mary's. And the rest, as they say, is history. Since then, this environmentally conscious, super industrious duo have spearheaded the design, build and opening of a highly sustainable tiny home named Candlebark Ridge, considerately crafted with myriad sustainable features, underpinned by the goal of creating a warm and inviting cocoon in which guests can completely disconnect and recharge. Just as I did, I'm sure you'll find my chat with Joel and Nick a real treat. Please enjoy. ............. For more information about Hosting With Heart and to access our archive of over 100 episodes, visit the HWH website at www.hostingwithheart.net.au or follow us on Instagram at Instagram (@hostingwithheart) Join our private Facebook group of 1300+ hosts from around Australia at Hosting with Heart Community Group | Facebook Sign up and list your property on Heartful now at Host with Us | Heartful Travel
With a background in graphic design and a childhood penchant for garage sales, Alison Kenna, now the parent to three young boys, is one busy woman. When not working part-time in the marketing department at her local TAFE or assisting her husband James in the day to day running of his air conditioning business, Alison is busily managing Warrnambool Retreat, a property with three separate titled residences in the heart of the regional Victorian town of the same name that the couple bought and commenced renovating in 2019. This was a fantastic chat about how grit and determination can pay off when bringing an historic property back to life, let alone throughout the early days of a global pandemic. I thoroughly enjoyed this chat with Alison and I know you'll enjoy it too. ............. For more information about Hosting With Heart and to access our archive of over 100 episodes, visit the HWH website at www.hostingwithheart.net.au or follow us on Instagram at Instagram (@hostingwithheart) Join our private Facebook group of 1300+ hosts from around Australia at Hosting with Heart Community Group | Facebook Sign up and list your property on Heartful now at Host with Us | Heartful Travel
My guest on today's episode of Hosting With Heart, architect Shae Parker McCashen, has long been what she refers to as an 'architectural green sheep'. With an upbringing that instilled in her a respect for people and a passion for the environment, Shae went on to qualify as an architect in the early 2000's and has today amassed over 24 years of extensive industry experience, including 14 years at the helm of her own Melbourne-based practice, Green Sheep Collective. As a sustainable design advocate with a number of awards and commendations under her belt, Shae relishes the opportunity to share her considerable knowledge with other experts and members of the community, including those in the short-term accommodation space. The valuable insights that Shae shares in this episode are aplenty and I hope you get as much out of listening to this conversation today as I did having it. ............. For more information about Hosting With Heart and to access our archive of over 100 episodes, visit the HWH website at www.hostingwithheart.net.au or follow us on Instagram at Instagram (@hostingwithheart) Join our private Facebook group of 1300+ hosts from around Australia at Hosting with Heart Community Group | Facebook Sign up and list your property on Heartful now at Host with Us | Heartful Travel
When she's not busy managing Milton Beef, her family's successful ethical beef farm, or helping support the local refugee community, you'll find my guest on today's episode of Hosting With Heart, Janelle Wallace, busily welcoming guests to her newly opened, fully accessible hempcrete retreat, Figtree Cottage of Milton. Janelle's journey to becoming a host was lined with many twists and turns, but she's ultimately created a property with such an abundance of accessible and sustainable features that upon listing it on the Heartful platform in late 2024, it immediately assumed the No.1 spot. I hope you enjoy this truly inspiring chat. ............. For more information about Hosting With Heart and to access our archive of over 100 episodes, visit the HWH website at www.hostingwithheart.net.au or follow us on Instagram at Instagram (@hostingwithheart) Join our private Facebook group of 1300+ hosts from around Australia at Hosting with Heart Community Group | Facebook Sign up and list your property on Heartful now at Host with Us | Heartful Travel
With a background in psychology and outdoor education, my guest on today's episode of Hosting With Heart, Clare Reilly, now works as a disability advocate, blogger, podcaster, social media influencer and writer. Diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis in 2017, Clare is currently planning to become the first person to traverse the Munda Biddi Trail—the world's longest off-road cycling route in Western Australia—using a wheelchair. Her journey, planned to take place in the first half of 2026, aims to raise both awareness and funds for multiple sclerosis. Please enjoy my chat with Clare today. ……… For more information about Hosting With Heart and to access our archive of over 100 episodes, visit the HWH website at www.hostingwithheart.net.au or follow us on Instagram at Instagram (@hostingwithheart) Join our private Facebook group of 1300+ hosts from around Australia at Hosting with Heart Community Group | Facebook Sign up and list your property on Heartful now at Host with Us | Heartful Travel
In today's episode of Hosting With Heart, I chat with Phil Janson who, along with wife Lyndel, are the owners and hosts of Willow's Retreat, a sustainable property located on 50 acres of pristine bush and pasture land in Fernances Crossing, approximately 100km directly north of Sydney. During our chat, Phil talks about what led he and Lyndel to hosting and explores the joys and challenges they've experienced since opening the doors to the property - which comprises an off-grid, self-contained eco-lodge, multiple campsites and even the option to bring your horse - a couple of years ago. Enjoy the episode today. ……… For more information about Hosting With Heart and to access our archive of over 100 episodes, visit the HWH website at www.hostingwithheart.net.au or follow us on Instagram at Instagram (@hostingwithheart) Join our private Facebook group of 1300+ hosts from around Australia at Hosting with Heart Community Group | Facebook Sign up and list your property on Heartful now at Host with Us | Heartful Travel
In this short launch episode for Season 9 of Hosting With Heart, Jen Clark covers off on what she's been up to for the last 9 months (namely, building new accommodation marketplace, Heartful) and what's in store for this brand new, exciting season of the podcast. ……… For more information about Hosting With Heart and to access our archive of over 100 episodes, visit the HWH website at www.hostingwithheart.net.au or follow us on Instagram at Instagram (@hostingwithheart) Join our private Facebook group of 1300+ hosts from around Australia at Hosting with Heart Community Group | Facebook Sign up and list your property on Heartful now at Host with Us | Heartful Travel
My guest today on Hosting With Heart is Jodie McQueen, owner and operator of Paradise Road Farm, a two-cabin farm stay in Sheffield, the gateway to Tasmania's Cradle Mountain world heritage area. With a diverse professional background including time spent working in Japan and Australia in a variety of communications, tourism and sustainability-focused roles, in 2016 Jodie and her then-partner determined it was time for a tree change and went on to purchase a 100 acre property in Tasmania. By 2019 and then newly single, she embarked on a permanent move to the property and soon after got the wheels in motion on the build of two modest, sustainably-constructed cabins, supporting the small-scale, regenerative farm she had already established. Having opened the doors to Paradise Road Farm to the public in October of 2020, she has since built a highly successful, adults-only accommodation business, all the while maintaining an operational ethos that prioritises the planet and encourages guests to leave their stay with an enhanced level of respect for the natural environment.
Vince Hunt and partner Angela Brickwell truly do personify what it means to be a heartful host. After purchasing a 120 acre block of land in the idyllic town of Billinudgel on the northern New South Wales coast some years ago, they went on to construct two cabins - one of which is fully accessible - on the land, all the while indulging their passion for permaculture, regenerative farming and a philosophy that places the therapeutic value of getaways at the centre. With a personal background in landscape design and art, complimented by Ange's skills as a kinesiologist, this hardworking and empathetic couple have experienced great success as short-term accommodation hosts in the four years they've been managing their property, now known as Rosalita's Rest. It was an absolute pleasure speaking with Vince about their journey to date a few days ago and I think you'll really enjoy this episode today.
In this first episode of Hosting With Heart for 2024, host Jen Clark provides an update on the recent equity crowdfunding campaign for Heartful, a new short-term accommodation booking platform focusing on sustainability and inclusion, helmed by Jen, that will launch mid-year. She also discusses her plans for season 8 of the podcast, which will move to a more flexible fortnightly format and have a focus on featuring guests who exemplify the 'heartful hosting' ethos, based both here in the Australia / NZ region and overseas. It's set to be another incredibly big and exciting year!
Michele Bellafiore
Great podcast episode! Really interesting.