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Today's episode features Maria Schuh, owner of Mistiso's Place in Nelson, British Columbia, Canada. In this episode, Maria talks about ways that effectively allow her to navigate the threats that seem to hold a lot of VR owners back and how dancing influences the way she goes about life.

This episode is brought to you in partnership with OwnerRez, www.ownerrez.com, a property...

Today's Unlocked podcast episode featuring Steve Hafner (co-founder and CEO of KAYAK) is perhaps my proudest interview of all time.

As you'll hear in the introduction, I was quite nervous beforehand for a confluence of reasons...

From the recording studio I rented for the occasion, to the personal nature of the topics I wanted to discuss, to Steve's famed pointed status in tech and travel...

Today's episode features Barry Shimelfarb, who is a short-term rental operator, an executive coach to tech leaders in Silicon Valley, and a father of two.

In this episode, Barry opens up about one of the most difficult times in his life and how this has shaped his guest philosophy, the way he manages his businesses, and the way he tries to make the best use of every single day.

In addition...

Challenge: Creativity is like a muscle. The more you exercise it, the more it strengthens your story and your vision for the future. I'd like to challenge members to share one short story that moved them emotionally (reference the feelings wheel for inspiration) in the last few weeks. It can be short. Or long. Great or lame. The mere act of sharing your quick story is the creative act in and of...

Back in 2009, with the listing sites (and our category in general) starting to gain momentum, the members of this community and myself predicted that "listing site independence" (ie. marketing diversification for vacation rental pros) would be the north star to follow. In the years that followed, plenty of direct booking movements spawned and a legitimate trend was formed.

The theory of "Limited...

I am at it again - after moving from Nashville where I ran the local Advocacy group for over 5 years, I am started efforts in my new hometown (Cocoa Beach, Florida). This is a MUCH smaller area than Nashville so I am working with a lot less resources (ie Airbnb and Vrbo...

This thread is for the general discussion of the Article Contrarian Perspective: Is there a VR Industry Bubble?.

If you're a vacation rental nerd like me, you probably follow every media site, blog (like VRMB!), Facebook group, etc. just to glean what you can about...

One of the big shifts I've made over the last year is in recognizing creativity is THE muscle all homerunners need to start exercising more consistently and pronto -- said another way, it is the LACK of outside-the-box thinking that gets even the most innovative companies stuck in their old/comfortable ways and in some cases sunk.

Side Note: I've become so enamored with creative pursuits that I have begun to...

My mother is a brain scientist who has earned an incredible array of accolades over the last few decades. Becoming a scientist wasn't common for women in her generation so (with the help of great mentors) she chose to blaze her own trail.

My father was a shopkeeper whose family business served as a keystone to the community of Princeton, New Jersey his entire adult life (he has since retired and the shop...

How do you consider whether you want lots of little improvements or one much bigger change? Is it possible to both simultaneously? Does it depend on the particular phase of growth?

Years ago ROster introduced his formula for continual improvement and many members have shared examples of this thinking in all aspects of the business (and life). The gist? Continual improvement always.

If you are on...

Not sure if this thread has been suggested, but how do you screen your guests? We live on-site and our villas/apartment are not suitable to guests under the age of 8. We also are wary of inappropriate guests or large groups turning up, or guests inviting families to join...

In my exploration of AI, I asked Pi about Matt Landau and VRMB. Pi's response was insightful and nuanced (screen-recording below).



Pi's voice is about a 1-second delayed. That's why you see the lag time from when I text and Pi's voice starts.

What's your...