Unlocked by Matt Landau

Friend, colleague, and producer of all Matt’s media “concerns,”  Stuart Hooper has a production company based in Panama and works all over the world producing non-fiction broadcast and online content.  Along with his partner Tammy, he has been producing The Vacation Rental Show and the Unlocked Podcast, as well as almost anything else Matt dreams […]

What is the coronavirus doing to vacation rentals? This update episode of the Unlocked Podcast features Matt giving a heads up on the upcoming season, which will feature industry luminaries who have managed crises before. What to do, how to stay positive. After speaking with owners and managers daily, Matt also shares some of the […]

We’re in-between podcast seasons right now. So I thought it might be nice to use this platform to share something very important: The Vacation Rental Advocacy Playbook: http://www.vacationrentaladvocacy.com It’s a compilation of videos from advocacy specialists that can help you and your colleagues in your destination prepare for the worst. You can also see the […]

In this very special season finale episode of Unlocked with Matt Landau, our sponsor, Sean Miller of PointCentral turns the microphone around on Matt and and asks the questions we’ve been waiting nearly sixty episodes to answer.   Everything from Matt’s management past to his Vacation Rental Show future is revealed, along with a great […]

Brooke Pfautz is the Founder of Vintory, one of the only companies that I am aware of that helps property managers grow their inventory. I traveled to meet Brooke in Maryland, where he lives with his family and where he built a property management business from 0-500 properties in 5 years. Since he sold that […]

Jesse and Emily Cole epitomize a lot of vacation rental hosts using Airbnb to build a real estate portfolio. But that's where the Cole's stop being normal.

Carole Lynn Sharoff of Atlantic Vacation Homes in Massachusetts is one of the wisest vacation rental professionals we've met.

Tim Cafferty of Outer Banks Blue Realty in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina is one of the most admired and respected professional managers in the world.

Tammi Sims is the VP of Customer at Properly, an industry-leading cleaning app with a host of deeper applications. Perhaps more importantly, Tammi (along with her partner Alex Nigg) are visionary vacation rental leaders.

David Krauthamer never thought he’d be running a world-class hospitality business. But when his mother challenged him -- that he wasn't truly an entrepreneur until his side gig was his sole form of income -- he quit his job at AutoParts Headquarters and became a vacation rental pro.

If there is one person that has been a steady constant throughout the last decade of vacation rental mayhem, it’s Koryn Okey. She started out with a company called FlipKey and now works as the VP of Sales at Breezeway.

Scott Shatford is the founder of AirDNA, which is (by my estimates) the most cited resource in the short term rental industry. I have been virtual friends with Scott since about 5 years back when he and I were sort of dueling vacation rental experts.

Elizabeth Maora Sickels is one of those vacation rental people with infectious energy: she’s one of those people who you can’t help but want to listen to and hang out with and get excited about who knows what.

Corey Jones is the creator of Lucky Savannah, which in my humble opinion is one of the most impressive boutique vacation rental companies in the world. Corey got started in short term rentals, like many people, by complete accident

Jodi Refosco has built her Taylor-Made Deep Creek Vacations into a veritable empire in Deep Creek Maryland, but it wasn’t an easy start.  She grew up with vacation rentals as the family business, but restarted in the depths of the financial crisis with a single property.   Jodi and I just after our podcast From paying cleaning staff by taking on late night snow-plow work to dealing with competitors, owners, and guests – Jodi has invaluable knowledge to share about every facet of the vacation rental business.  More recently, she has begun to do this through her work with VRMA, and now at the 2019 VRMA event, I got a chance to sit down with her and capture her story for this podcast. Jodi Refosco of Taylor Made Deep Creek Vacation Rentals If you want to innovate like Jodi, consider a demo with our friends at PointCentral (free HVAC Analytics included from this landing page): https://www.pointcentral.com/vrmb/ Here are some links and p

OK heads up, this episode is not for everyone. First of all, it’s almost 90 minutes long — so consider listening to it in chunks. Second, it is more educational than entertaining — so have a notepad nearby. Third, it applies to enterpriser-level property managers (ie. those who have found a sweetspot in property count and are looking to grow with systems, processes, staffing, and real estate development) — if you are not at this stage (or looking to get to this stage) the information will be less relevant. That said, I firmly believe this is the richest vacation rental podcast ever created. CJ Stam is a vacation rental legend to many who know him.  He has built Southern Comfort Cabin Rentals into one of the best cabins getaway fleets in the American South, and now he is focusing on new purpose-built cabins for his vacation rental fleet.   Me interviewing CJ in his laundry facility I was road tripping recently and decided to st

Amy Hinote is an industry legend and I finally managed to get her on a podcast prior to VRMA international in New Orleans, the first city she got drunk in as a teenager.   Amy rolled in with an entourage of vacation rental luminaries including Steve Milo, Simon Lehmann, and Heather Bayer, so the peanut gallery was intimidating (you can hear it all in the episode)…but that would not stop us. In this interview, we learn the history of VRMIntel through Amy’s personal growth from finance and political science to vacation rentals. We then dovetail into a discussion about the venture capital pouring into the industry and what it means for independent owners and managers. Me and Amy with the bar to ourselves We also play out the worst case scenario for the vacation rental industry with players like Vacasa wielding so much clout. This interview is as fun and delightful as it is informative. And leave it to Amy to only do podcast interviews under the condit

Jennifer Frankenstein-Harris built her Great Ocean Condos business in New Smyrna Beach Florida into a 300+ property empire after being unable to find a technology-forward management company for a single property.  Now the largest manager in her area, Jennifer has played an important role in raising the standards and holding colleagues accountable in her region. Jennifer and I during our podcast interview in my apartment I had a chance to sit down with Jennifer during the recent 2019 VRMA International Conference in New Orleans and talk about the industry, why we shouldn’t call it an industry, advocacy and property rights, and growing up in New Jersey (for a whopping12 minutes!) Jennifer’s attitude about the industry and business in general is upbeat and laser focused. She’s fun to be around — you can’t help but want to join in.  If you want to innovate like Jennifer, consider a demo with our friends at PointCentral (free HVAC Analytics included

Sarah Bradford of Winter Park Lodging Company Co & Steamboat Lodging Company not only grew to 160 highly-respected properties from just a handful, she also hosts her own vacation rental podcast (Sarah and T) and holds some strong opinions about Norwegian-inspired design. Our interview set-up in Scottsdale, Arizona I had a chance to sit down with Sarah at the Streamline Summit in Scottsdale, Arizona. Sarah is a regular on the conference circuit and has developed a 360-degree understanding of the industry. Sara Bradford and Matt Landau on a Spaceship Above all else, Sarah has the attitude of a winner: her positivity is infectious and nothing — not even a huge hotel room wall — can bring her down. If you want to innovate like Sarah, consider a demo with our friends at PointCentral (free HVAC Analytics included from this landing page): https://www.pointcentral.com/vrmb/ Here are some links and people mentioned in the episode: Sarah and T Podcast:&nb