Unlocked by Matt Landau

Scott Shatford is the founder of Airdna, which is (by my estimates) the most cited resource in the short term rental industry. Scott took the relatively simple idea of compiling all the data on Airbnb properties, and built it atop a fascinating business model. Lately, Airdna is getting more and more into the general vacation rental space, so the conversation with Scott is about much more than just Airbnb.

Elizabeth Maora Sickels is one of those people with infectious energy: you can’t help but want to listen to and hang out with her. I first discovered Elizabeth on LinkedIn where she was posting a regular stream of videos titled “Dirty Laundry” in which she’d address one less-than-savory aspect of the short term rental business. When I learned that Elizabeth was going to be attending the Streamline Summit in Scottsdale, Arizona, I took the chance to get her into the roving podcast studio for an inter

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. A visiting French student was secretly renting out historic Savannah property, and when she disappeared, she left him a note: you should continue renting this property on VRBO.

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.   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. 

On a recent road-trip, I decided to stop and do a podcast with CJ Stam, and industry legend to those that know him. What emerged from all this isn’t just a portrait of one of the world’s leading vacation rental professionals -- its a veritable masterclass in a concept we’re calling The Forcefield.  CJ lays out practical, in-depth tips for fortifying your business against against anything that may come.  The protection this forcefield provides is also crucial for supercharging the growth of your bus

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.   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. 

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.

Sarah Bradford of Winter Park Lodging & Steamboat Lodging Company not only grew to 160 highly-respected properties from just a handful, she also has her own vacation rental-themed podcast and strong opinions about Norwegian-inspired design. 

After an action packed VRMA week, I got the chance to sit down with Terry Whyte and talk about the conference as well as software and I wanted to share our conversation while VRMA is fresh in everyone’s minds. Please note that the 4th Season of Point Central sponsored Unlocked launches next Wednesday the 23rd of October!

EP 42: Big Learnings and Takeaways [Season 3]

EP41: Technology's Point Person with Sean Miller

EP40: Short Term Rent, Long Term Win with Matt Hoffman

Christine Saba is technically the Head of Growth at Noiseaware, which is the fire alarm for noise, but her roles and responsibilities tend to spill over into all kinds of areas. I had the chance to visit NoiseAware's headquarters in Dallas, Texas and the irony that we had noise challenges in the recording was only surpassed by the fact that we solved them.  NoiseAware’s Booking.com Partnership:

This episode features Matt Landau addressing Vacasa's recent acquisition of Wyndham Vacation Rentals, effectively doubling their inventory to more than 20,000 homes.

Dana Young is one of those people who is just unyieldingly passionate about technology. But so are a lot of people. What makes Dana unique is the way he is applying that obsession -- specifically with voice activated devices -- to the vacation rental space. He got started in our industry managing a property with his mom. But the ramifications of his singular and relatively straightforward "Unlocked" tactic reach far beyond any set of walls.