Behind the Stays

Latest Episodes:

How to Build a Portfolio of 100 Single-Family Airbnbs and Transform Them into Unique Experiences Sep 26, 2023

Show notes

Want to save 30-40% off West Elm purchase for your Airbnb? Or hundreds off of instagram famous mattresses from Bear or Purple? Then you'll want to create your free account with our partner Minoan.

Minoan provides hosts with a one-stop-shop to get hundreds of discounts on the world’s leading brands, and a system where you can manage all of the ordering, tracking, returns, etc. in one place. Saving you time and money! Sign up and tell them that Zach from Behind the Stays sent you there way.

Meet Sief Khafagi, Co-Founder of Techvestor — one of the hottest new services that allows folks to passively invest in short-term rentals.

Sief has spent his entire career working in tech, and helped scale one of Facebook’s largest engineering organizations from a couple hundred to thousands across the world.

It was during his time at Facebook where he met his now Co-Founder Sabrina who owned a couple of Airbnbs. Sief was shocked by how successful her short-term rentals were that he asked Sabrina if he could just give her money to go buy and operate his own STRs.

And, while he couldn’t have known it at the time, this ask would be the seed of the idea which would ultimately blossom into Techvestor. Today, Techvestor owns and operates nearly 100 short-term rentals in some of the country’s most desirable vacation markets.

Tune in to hear:

- the story of how Sief helped build Techvestor

- why Techvestor is bullish on single-family homes

- what their secret sauce to sourcing, designing, and launching STRs looks like

- the opportunities he sees to build new tech and new businesses in the space, and his hot takes on the future of travel and hospitality.

Learn more about Techvestor here

Have you signed up for Minoan yet?

In this episode we feature a Minoan customer review from Alyson, the founder of SmartStays — discover what she loves most about Minoan and how Minoan has helped her save thousands of dollars setting up her short term rentals.

Create your totally free Minoan account here.

Have you signed up for Ping yet?

Ping makes it easy for guests to be notified when their favorite Airbnbs become available — and it's the secret tool the best Airbnb hosts use to maximize bookings.

About the Show

Behind the Stays is brought to you twice a week by Sponstayneous — a free, biweekly newsletter that brings subscribers the best last-minute deals and upcoming steals on Airbnb.

You can subscribe, for free, at www.sponstayneous.com.

Behind the Stays is hosted by Zach Busekrus, co-founder of Sponstayneous, you can connect with him on Twitter at @zboozee.

Why She Left Her Successful Career in Accounting to Build a Hospitality Brand in the North Carolina Mountains Sep 22, 2023

Show notes

Want to save 30-40% off West Elm purchase for your Airbnb? Or hundreds off of instagram famous mattresses from Bear or Purple? Then you'll want to create your free account with our partner Minoan.

Meet Catherine Morris, the creator of Edenwod — a 6-acre oasis in the North Carolina mountains just 45 minutes outside of Asheville.

Catherine is an accountant by trade and spent nearly two decades climbing the corporate ladder taking on big roles in both finance and human resources. And she loved the work she did.

But, when COVID hit, and her 9-year-old son was stuck at home doing school virtually, Catherine realized that it might be time for her family to make a change.

She and her husband had always loved hosting people for dinner, and the two of them had recently discussed extending their love of hospitality into other arenas when the pandemic hit.

Once it became clear that life wasn’t going to return to normal anytime soon, Catherine decided to take an idea she had been noodling on, of creating a unique getaway for folks looking to reconnect with a loved one and nature, into reality.

Tune in to hear the story of how Catherine found the perfect plot of land through cold calling, how she worked with a local architect to build a one-of-a-kind barn and treehouse, and how she hopes to fully replace her former salary with revenue from Edenwood over the next year.

Book Your Stay at Edenwood

Follow the Edenwood Treehouse on Sponstayneous

Follow the Edenwood Barn on Sponstayneous

Follow Edenwood on Instagram

Have you signed up for Minoan yet?

Create your totally free Minoan account here.

Have you signed up for Ping yet?

Ping makes it easy for guests to be notified when their favorite Airbnbs become available — and it's the secret tool the best Airbnb hosts use to maximize bookings.

About the Show

Behind the Stays is brought to you twice a week by Sponstayneous — a free, biweekly newsletter that brings subscribers the best last-minute deals and upcoming steals on Airbnb.

You can subscribe, for free, at www.sponstayneous.com.

Behind the Stays is hosted by Zach Busekrus, co-founder of Sponstayneous, you can connect with him on Twitter at @zboozee.

How to Build the Next Generation of STR Management Companies Sep 19, 2023

Show notes

Meet Jacob Mueller, Co-Founder and CEO of Renjoy — a next generation short-term rental management firm based in Colorado Springs.

Growing up, Jacob never would’ve guessed he’d be an entrepreneur, he studied economics in college and thought he’d go into policy.

But during his senior year, Jacob had the opportunity to work on a school project as a part of his thesis that revolved around launching a business in rural Michigan — and while he couldn’t have known it at the time, this project would inspire him to leave his dreams of working in Washington DC to own and operate businesses.

After graduating, Jacob wound up getting really into coffee and bought a local chain of coffee shops in the Colorado Mountains. But after a couple of years of working in the restaurant businesses, Jacob desired a pivot — and so he began binging episodes of Bigger Pockets and learned as much as he could about real estate.

Tune in to hear the exciting story of how Jacob wound up going all in on real estate as he believes it’s one of the best ways to help people achieve financial freedom, and how this mission of his led him and two of his friends to start Renjoy and scale it to over 150 properties under management in just a couple of years.

Discover Renjoy
Follow Jacob on Twitter

Have you signed up for Ping yet?

Ping makes it easy for guests to be notified when their favorite Airbnbs become available — and it's the secret tool the best Airbnb hosts use to maximize bookings.

Meet Zach in Person!

Annette and Sarah from Thanks for Visiting were kind enough to invite Zach to come speak at TFVCONon SEO Strategy for STR Hosts and he can’t wait to participate in this dynamic event.

Zach would love to meet all you listeners in PERSON…so please consider coming to the event. You can use the discount code “BTS” as in “Behind the Stays” at checkout for $150 off any ticket level.

About the Show

Behind the Stays is brought to you twice a week by Sponstayneous — a free, biweekly newsletter that brings subscribers the best last-minute deals and upcoming steals on Airbnb.

You can subscribe, for free, at www.sponstayneous.com.

Behind the Stays is hosted by Zach Busekrus, co-founder of Sponstayneous, you can connect with him on Twitter at @zboozee.

How British Airways and an Airbnb in Istanbul Inspired Him to Build a Glamping Destination in the Catskills Sep 15, 2023

Show notes

Meet Stephen Pellicano — a hospitality entrepreneur in the Catskills focused on building simple glamping structures with everything you need and nothing that you don’t!

Stephen is a graphic designer by trade and fell in love with travel and hospitality after winning not one, but two free, round-trip tickets to Europe on British Airways as a part of a giveaway they were running back in the late 90s to promote the Concorde.

This trip abroad would inspire Stephen to spend the next decade living, working, and traveling across Europe. It was during this time abroad where Stephen had his first encounter with Airbnb and while he couldn’t have known it at the time, this experience would ultimately inspire him to start a glamping hospitality business a decade later in the Catskill Mountains in New York.

Follow Stephen on YouTube Follow Stephen on Instagram Elena's Cosmetics & Essential Oils Store

Have you signed up for Ping yet?

Ping makes it easy for guests to be notified when their favorite Airbnbs become available — and it's the secret tool the best Airbnb hosts use to maximize bookings.

Meet Zach in Person!

Annette and Sarah from Thanks for Visiting were kind enough to invite Zach to come speak at TFVCONon SEO Strategy for STR Hosts and he can’t wait to participate in this dynamic event.

About the Show

Behind the Stays is brought to you twice a week by Sponstayneous — a free, biweekly newsletter that brings subscribers the best last-minute deals and upcoming steals on Airbnb.

You can subscribe, for free, at www.sponstayneous.com.

Behind the Stays is hosted by Zach Busekrus, co-founder of Sponstayneous, you can connect with him on Twitter at @zboozee.

How He Launched a Boutique Hotel for Bourbon Lovers — And Why He’s Bullish on Building for Niche Audiences. Sep 12, 2023

Show notes

Meet Eric Carrico — founder of the The Woodford Hotel, a boutique invisible service hotel in Versailles, Kentucky.

Eric is a civil and environmental engineer by trade and has spent his career solving complex civil engineering problems for some of the largest heavy industrial earthwork construction projects in the country.

After the housing crisis in 2008, Eric had the opportunity to buy a couple of properties and start his real estate investing journey. Eric’s investment journey was quite traditional until this little known start-up at the time, which we now all know as Airbnb, began expanding into the south east and the midwest.

Eric being the early adopter that he is, decided to test it out…and, well, that would ultimately lead him to grow a meaningful portfolio of STRs in the great Louisville area which he’d then wind up parlaying into an experiential boutique hotel for Bourbon aficionados.

Tune in to hear the dynamic story of the unique approach Eric took to launching this boutique hotel and why he believes other hospitality entrepreneurs should get bullish on hospitality offerings catered to niche audiences.

Follow Eric on Twitter
Follow Eric on Instagram
Follow The Woodford Hotel on Instagram

Have you signed up for Ping yet?

Ping makes it easy for guests to be notified when their favorite Airbnbs become available — and it's the secret tool the best Airbnb hosts use to maximize bookings.

Meet Zach in Person!

Annette and Sarah from Thanks for Visiting were kind enough to invite Zach to come speak at TFVCONon SEO Strategy for STR Hosts and he can’t wait to participate in this dynamic event.

About the Show

Behind the Stays is brought to you twice a week by Sponstayneous — a free, biweekly newsletter that brings subscribers the best last-minute deals and upcoming steals on Airbnb.

You can subscribe, for free, at www.sponstayneous.com.

Behind the Stays is hosted by Zach Busekrus, co-founder of Sponstayneous, you can connect with him on Twitter at @zboozee.

How to Build a Franchise-Worthy Hospitality Brand — The Story of Casiola Sep 05, 2023

Show notes

Meet Dennis Goedheid, founder and CEO of Casiola — one of the hottest vacation rental management companies in the short-term rental space.

Dennis is no stranger to entrepreneurship — he started and sold two companies in his native Belgium before moving to Silicon Valley to find inspiration for his next big thing.

And while he couldn’t have known it at the time, that next big thing would be a vacation rental management company based in Orlando, Florida that is helping to write the book, in real time, on how to build such an exceptional hospitality brand that short-term rental managers from around the world want to franchise.

In this episode, Dennis and I discuss:

Why Casiola builds their own software in-house
Why Casiola is quick to grow regionally, but slow to grow nationally
Why he’s bullish on franchising in the STR and vacation rental spaces
The entrepreneurial opportunities he sees for founders in the hospitality industry

Learn more about Casiola

Connect with Dennis on LinkedIn

This episode is brought to you by our friends at Minoan.

Create your free account here and be sure to tell the team that Zach from Behind the Stays sent you there way!

Have you signed up for Ping yet?

Ping makes it easy for guests to be notified when their favorite Airbnbs become available — and it's the secret tool the best Airbnb hosts use to maximize bookings.

Meet Zach in Person!

Annette and Sarah from Thanks for Visiting were kind enough to invite Zach to come speak at TFVCONon SEO Strategy for STR Hosts and he can’t wait to participate in this dynamic event.

About the Show

Behind the Stays is brought to you twice a week by Sponstayneous — a free, biweekly newsletter that brings subscribers the best last-minute deals and upcoming steals on Airbnb.

You can subscribe, for free, at www.sponstayneous.com.

Behind the Stays is hosted by Zach Busekrus, co-founder of Sponstayneous, you can connect with him on Twitter at @zboozee.

He Was Airbnb’s 13th Employee — And Here’s What He Thinks the Future of the Hospitality Industry Will Look Like Sep 01, 2023

Show notes

Meet Justin Hauge, Co-Founder and CEO of Storied Collection — a collection of castles and historical stays across the UK and Ireland.

While Storied Collection is Justin’s first rodeo as a founder, it’s not his first rodeo working in startups.

Back in 2009, Justin was hired as the 13th team employee at a little start up that had just graduated from the most prestigious of startup accelerators, Y Combinator.

And, yes, you guessed it — that startup was Airbnb.

In this riveting and insightful conversation, Justin talks about the 10+ years he spent working at Airbnb and how he helped build the company into the memorable brand that it is today.

Justin also shares:

- The story behind the founding of his new company Storied Collection, from a slightly different perspective than what his co-founder, Michael Goldin shared a few weeks ago on this very podcast

- His ideas for the opportunities he sees to build great companies in the hospitality tech space

- His thoughts on memberships and loyalty programs in STRs

- Some spicy takes on the future of travel and hospitality as a whole.

Have you signed up for Ping yet?

Ping makes it easy for guests to be notified when their favorite Airbnbs become available — and it's the secret tool the best Airbnb hosts use to maximize bookings.

Meet Zach in Person!

Annette and Sarah from Thanks for Visiting were kind enough to invite Zach to come speak at TFVCONon SEO Strategy for STR Hosts and he can’t wait to participate in this dynamic event.

About the Show

Behind the Stays is brought to you twice a week by Sponstayneous — a free, biweekly newsletter that brings subscribers the best last-minute deals and upcoming steals on Airbnb.

You can subscribe, for free, at www.sponstayneous.com.

Behind the Stays is hosted by Zach Busekrus, co-founder of Sponstayneous, you can connect with him on Twitter at @zboozee.

The Story Behind Sponstayneous and the Behind the Stays Podcast Aug 29, 2023

Show notes

In this special podcast episode, Zach Busekrus, host of the Behind the Stays podcast and co-founder of Sponstayneous shares the stories behind the inception of both brands.

- Uncover the story of how Zach and his wife broke their lease in Washington D.C. in the fall of 2020 to live full-time on Airbnb

- Discover how Sam Parr, Founder of The Hustle and host of the My First Million podcast, played a role in Sponstayneous' early growth

- Hear how Guy Raz from NPR's How I Built This inspired Zach to start Behind the Stays

- And get a behind-the-scenes look at what Zach and the team at Sponstayneous are building (and why they're building it!)

Reach out to Zach with questions, comments, and ideas at zach@sponstayneous.com

Subscribe to Sponstayneous

Join the Sponstayneous Host Partner Program

Meet Zach in Person!

Annette and Sarah from Thanks for Visiting were kind enough to invite Zach to come speak at TFVCON on SEO Strategy for STR Hosts and he can’t wait to participate in this dynamic event.

About the Show

Behind the Stays is brought to you twice a week by Sponstayneous — a free, biweekly newsletter that brings subscribers the best last-minute deals and upcoming steals on Airbnb.

You can subscribe, for free, at www.sponstayneous.com.

Behind the Stays is hosted by Zach Busekrus, co-founder of Sponstayneous, you can connect with him on Twitter at @zboozee.

Forget Vacation Destinations — He Builds Collections of Branded Airbnbs Near College Campuses Aug 25, 2023

Show notes

Meet Daniel Johnson, founder of Deacon Stays — a collection of curated stays near Wake Forest University.

Daniel has always been interested in real estate and investing and started his hosting as many do in the Airbnb arbitrage arena back in 2018.

He thoroughly enjoyed the experience of hosting and was impressed by the returns STRs could generate compared to other real estate investments (Daniel is also a financial advisor that specializes in working with real estate investors).

In this episode, Daniel and I discuss:

The surprising pros about building a collection of STRs near a college campus
How to build a brand for your STR business ON the Airbnb platform
His thoughts on REITs and other more passive investment opportunities in STR funs
And how he’d approach buying right now amidst a more challenging market

Connect with Daniel on LinkedIn

Book a Stay at Deacon Stays

This episode is brought to you by OwnerRez — the property management software most-loved by professional vacation rental mangers.

If you’re in the market for a better platform to help you manage your STR portfolio, OwnerRez is offering Behind the Stays listeners 30% off the first 3 months…all you gotta to is mention Behind the Stays when talking to a team member at OwnerRez!

Also, in about 15 minutes from now, you’ll get to hear an exclusive chat I had with Tyann Marcink, an industry leader who LOVES OwnerRez. So head on over to ownerreservations.com and give OwnerRez a good lookover!

I want to meet you all in person!

Annette and Sarah from Thanks for Visiting were kind enough to invite me to come speak at TFVCON on SEO Strategy for STR Hosts and I can’t wait to participate in this dynamic event.

I’d love to meet all you listeners in PERSON…so please consider coming to the event. You can use the discount code “BTS” as in “Behind the Stays” at checkout for $150 off any ticket level.

About the Show

Behind the Stays is brought to you twice a week by Sponstayneous — a free, biweekly newsletter that brings subscribers the best last-minute deals and upcoming steals on Airbnb.

You can subscribe, for free, at www.sponstayneous.com.

Behind the Stays is hosted by Zach Busekrus, co-founder of Sponstayneous, you can connect with him on Twitter at @zboozee.

He Launched Sonder in the UK — Now He’s Building Lodgeur, a Flexible Living Product in Texas Aug 22, 2023

Show notes

Meet Sébastien Long, founder of Lodgeur — a furnished living, on-demand product that gives traveling professionals and digital nomads the service and consistency of a hotel with the spaciousness and function of a stylish home.

While Sébastien has spent the better part of his professional career working big corporate jobs he actually grew up immersed in hospitality entrepreneurship — his parents owned and operated a vacation resort on the island of Corsica, just off the coast of France.

After traveling around the world working in banking for HSBC, in 2017 Sébastien was recruited to help launch Sonder in the UK. He got a front row seat to the big opportunities and big challenges of launching and scaling a consumer-facing property-management brand.

Tune in to hear the exciting story of the series of events that led him to write his master’s thesis on hospitality interior design at Cambridge, leave the UK and move to Houston, Texas, and how he built and scaled Lodgeur.

Connect with Seb on LinkedIn

Book a Stay with Lodgeur

This episode is brought to you by OwnerRez — the property management software most-loved by professional vacation rental mangers.

I want to meet you all in person!

Annette and Sarah from Thanks for Visiting were kind enough to invite me to come speak at TFVCON on SEO Strategy for STR Hosts and I can’t wait to participate in this dynamic event.

About the Show

Behind the Stays is brought to you twice a week by Sponstayneous — a free, biweekly newsletter that brings subscribers the best last-minute deals and upcoming steals on Airbnb.

You can subscribe, for free, at www.sponstayneous.com.

Behind the Stays is hosted by Zach Busekrus, co-founder of Sponstayneous, you can connect with him on Twitter at @zboozee.

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