What I Wish I Knew: Lessons from Vacation Rental Leaders
Update: 2025-07-01
Description
In this compilation episode of The Vacation Rental Show, host Lynell Gordon examines the critical lessons that industry veterans wish they had learned earlier in their careers, featuring insights from leaders who built successful businesses through both triumphs and costly mistakes.
What you'll learn:
- Jonathan Fonvielle's homeowner selection matrix: why the right homeowner with the wrong house beats the wrong homeowner with the right house every time
- How to identify green flags versus red flags in potential homeowner partnerships before operational problems emerge
- Scott Leggat's advocacy imperative: why regulatory protection must be built into business strategy before threats appear in your market
- The timeline reality of regulatory battles and why reactive advocacy almost always fails to prevent damaging restrictions
- Adam Knight's scaling wisdom: how rapid growth without focus and systems creates operational chaos that undermines long-term success
- The importance of targeted market positioning versus trying to serve everyone and connecting with no one
- Why saying no to revenue-generating opportunities often protects profitability and operational sanity better than growth-at-all-costs strategies
- How community collaboration beats competition thinking for sustainable business development
The episode features Jonathan Fonvielle, a veteran vacation rental operator who built a powerhouse family business; Scott Leggat, Director of Government Advocacy at Inhabit and industry advocate; and Adam Knight, a seasoned hospitality professional who transitioned from hotels to short-term rentals. Together, they provide a candid examination of the missteps, oversights, and expensive lessons that ultimately shaped their successful approaches to property management, advocacy, and business scaling.
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Episode Resources:
👉 Apple - https://apple.co/3lYc2gU
👉 Spotify - https://spoti.fi/3InYanV
👉 Fame Host - https://bit.ly/hwg-podcast
👉 iheartradio - https://ihr.fm/3Z8qqlg
👉 RSS - https://bit.ly/how-we-grow-rss
The Vacation Rental Show is handcrafted by our friends over at: fame.so
Previous guests include: Jim DeVos of Best Beach Getaways, Stacy Wesson of Cascara Vacation Rentals, Michael Friedman of The Simple Life Hospitality, Steve Caron of Inhabit, John An of TechTape, Jessica Gillingham of Abode Worldwide, Justin Ford of Breezeway, Mahwussh Alam of One Perfect Stay, Lisa Stinnett of Inhabit, and many more.
Check out the three most downloaded episodes:
- Vacation Rental Stories: Episode 63 - Driving Innovation and Partnership
- Homeowners Become Family with Michael Godfrey, Owner of Michael’s Vacation Rentals
- Life in Maui as a Property Manager with Scott Jordan, Owner of Maui Life Realty
Are you a vacation rental industry leader looking to share your expertise? We're seeking innovative voices to join our conversation about growing and scaling vacation rental businesses.
The Vacation Rental Show reaches thousands of property managers worldwide. We're particularly interested in perspectives on:
- Scaling your vacation rental portfolio
- Optimizing guest experiences
- Revenue management strategies
- Industry trends and market insights
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