STR Global Unlocked with Simon Lehmann: Unfiltered knowledge for the short term rental industry

Bölümler

• 038: Short-Term Rentals Are Entering Their Most Dangerous Era | Shaun Shirazian 30.06.2026 58dk

  In this episode of STR Global Unlocked, I speak with Shaun Shirazian, CEO of Lodgify, about one of the biggest shifts happening in short-term rentals and hospitality: the rise of AI search, direct bookings, and the future of guest experience. Shaun shares what Lodgify is seeing across more than 30,000 hosts and 100,000 listings, why the short-term rental market has become more competitive, and why the old price advantage over hotels is disappearing. He explains why direct bookings are becomin...
• 037: Will AI Replace Hospitality Teams? | Stone Fish, Vancauwenberghe, Ullrich, Rubin 23.06.2026 1sa 3dk

  Book a strategic consultation with me now: https://bit.ly/simon-consultation AI is transforming guest communication in short-term rentals and hospitality. In this episode of STR Global Unlocked, I speak with industry leaders Aarlo Stone Fish, Anthony Vancauwenberghe, Jay Ullrich and Cole Rubin about AI agents, automation, guest experience, operations, reviews, upsells, and the future of hospitality. We discuss what operators often get wrong about automation, why guest communication is no lon...
• The Margin Mistake Killing Most STR Companies! 16.06.2026 14dk

  Book a strategic consultation with me now: https://bit.ly/simon-consultation Profit margins can make or break a short-term rental business - but most operators are looking at the wrong numbers. In this video, I break down the real profit benchmarks for STR operators across different business models, including property management companies, aparthotels, hybrid models, urban portfolios, and resort/vacation rentals. You’ll learn what healthy gross and net margins look like, why revenue alone ...
• 036: How to Build a Business That AI Can’t Replace | Siddhi Mittal 09.06.2026 53dk

  Book a strategic consultation with me now: https://bit.ly/simon-consultation In this episode of STR Global Unlocked, I sit down with Siddhi Mittal, co-founder of yhangry, a Y Combinator–backed hospitality marketplace scaling across the UK and US. Together, they explore what AI-first hospitality really means beyond faster guest messages, automation tools, and surface-level efficiency. Siddhi shares how yhangry is rebuilding parts of the company around AI-native workflows, including an intern...
• 035: The Best Way to Make Money in Property Management | Julie Brinkmann 02.06.2026 53dk

  In this episode of STR Global Unlocked, I sit down with Julie Brinkmann from Beyond to discuss how short-term rental operators can move from simple dynamic pricing to true profit-first property management. We explore why revenue management is no longer just about changing nightly rates, why occupancy can become a vanity metric, and how property managers can use better data, smarter pricing strategies, and AI to make more profitable business decisions. Julie shares her perspective on the evolu...
• 034: The AI Shift Most Property Managers Are Missing | Sab Mulligan, Arnon Cavaeiro, Chris Sorensen 26.05.2026 57dk

  In this episode of STR Global Unlocked, we explore what an AI-native property management company really looks like and how AI is already changing operations, guest communication, distribution, PMS systems, scaling, and hospitality brands. Together with Sab Mulligan, Arnon Cavaeiro and Chris Sorensen, we break down why AI is not just another tool or chatbot, but a deeper shift in how short-term rental and hospitality companies operate. The conversation covers where AI is already reducing cos...
• 033: Why Booking Trips Is About to Change FOREVER (CEO Explains) | Amirali Mohajer 19.05.2026 55dk

  AI is changing how people search, plan and book travel and this shift could reshape the future of direct bookings, guest relationships and platform dependency in the short-term rental industry. In this episode of STR Global Unlocked, Simon Lehmann speaks with Amirali Mohajer, Co-Founder & CEO of Host.AI, about the future of travel search, the rise of AI assistants, and why operators may finally have a real opportunity to reduce their reliance on OTAs like Booking.com, Airbnb and Expedia. ...
• 032: How HomeToGo Shifted Beyond Its Marketplace | Dr. Patrick Andrae 12.05.2026 52dk

  Marketplaces were built to aggregate supply. Not to own it. That assumption is breaking faster than most operators expected. Dr. Patrick Andrae is the Co-Founder and CEO of HomeToGo, one of the world’s leading vacation rental marketplaces, aggregating millions of listings across platforms and property managers. Since founding the company, he has expanded it into software, services, and property management, including the acquisition of Interhome, one of Europe’s largest rental operators. The c...
• 031: Beyond STR and Hotels: How Numa's Third Model Uses 100+ Automations to Rewrite Urban Hospitality | Christian Gaiser 05.05.2026 48dk

  Short-term rentals and hotels are converging into a single operating model. The real shift is not about category. It is about who can deliver better economics, better experience, and better scalability in urban markets. In this episode, Simon Lehmann sits down with Christian Gaiser to break down how Numa built a hybrid model between short-term rentals and hotels, and why that model is gaining traction as the industry matures. Christian Gaiser is the CEO and Co-Founder of Numa, one of Europe’s...
• 030: No Phone, No OTAs, No VC Time Horizons: Can Unplugged's Digital Detox Cabins Actually Scale? | Hector Hughes 28.04.2026 47dk

  In this episode, Simon Lehmann sits down with Hector Hughes, Co-Founder & CEO of Unplugged, a UK-based cabin brand built entirely around one conviction: that spending three days offline in nature changes people. Founded in 2020, Unplugged operates a portfolio of off-grid cabins across the UK, runs a direct-only booking model with a mandatory three-night minimum, and has never listed a single property on an OTA. The company is on track to reach profitability and generates a 40 to 45% retur...
• 029: What Marriott Really Thinks About Short-Term Rentals: Chris Stephenson on Loyalty, Quality Standards, and the Future of Alternative Accommodations 21.04.2026 43dk

  How did short-term rentals become a strategic priority for one of the world’s largest hotel companies? Short-term rentals now represent more than 14% of global lodging supply. When one of the world's largest hotel companies builds a platform inside that category, it is not a trend play. It is a structural decision about where hospitality is going. In this episode of STR Global Unlocked, Simon Lehmann sits down with Chris Stephenson, Vice President of Homes and Villas by Marriott Bonvoy, the h...
• 028: $200M Raised, 50x Growth: Johannes Siebers of Holidu on Local Trust, Agentic Workflows and the Supply Nobody Else Was Counting 14.04.2026 49dk

  European vacation rental is not short on platforms. It is short on platforms that have survived every cycle and kept building anyway. Johannes Siebers is the Co-Founder and CEO of Holidu, a vacation rental technology company he co-founded with his brother Michael in 2014. Over the past decade, Holidu has raised approximately $200 million in equity funding, grown its host-side business 50 times between 2020 and 2025, and built a portfolio of 60k properties across seven European countries. What...
• 027: What Institutional Capital Really Thinks About STR Right Now | Chris Hemmeter, Thayer Ventures 07.04.2026 46dk

  Venture capital is not ignoring travel tech. It is underwriting to a different standard. And most founders building in hospitality right now do not fully understand what that standard is. In this episode of STR Global Unlocked, Simon Lehmann sits down with Chris Hemmeter, Managing Director at Thayer Ventures, one of the most active institutional investors across travel and hospitality technology, backed by limited partners including Hyatt, Marriott, Hilton, Capital One, and Host Hotels. Chris...
• 026: What AI-Native Actually Means: Arbio's Bet on the AI Operating System for Short-Term Rentals 31.03.2026 51dk

  Nobody calls a property manager "a software company." Arbio is replacing the traditional tech stack with a single AI system designed to run operations end to end. Constantin Schröder is the Co-Founder and CEO of Arbio, one of Europe's fastest-growing short-term rental operators, managing over 1,500 units across Germany and Austria. Under his leadership, Arbio has positioned itself not as a tech-enabled property manager, but as an AI-native one, building a single AI reasoning engine that repla...
• 025: Guests Aren't Googling Anymore: AI, OTAs & the Future of STR Distribution | Shaun Stewart 24.03.2026 50dk

  The biggest disruption coming to short-term rentals is not regulation, supply growth, or capital compression. It is distribution itself. In this episode of STR Global Unlocked, Simon Lehmann sits down with Shaun Stewart, VP of Open Distribution at StubHub and one of the most consequential behind-the-scenes figures in the history of modern travel infrastructure. Shaun spent 8 years at Expedia building the early supply networks that made online hotel booking possible, 2 years as Global He...
• 024: Curation Over Volume: How Landfolk Is Redefining Growth in Short-Term Rentals with Christian Schwarz Lausten 17.03.2026 52dk

  Is short-term rental growth a volume game, or is quality becoming the real competitive advantage? In a market flooded with inventory, inconsistent standards, and increasing AI-driven discovery, Christian Schwarz Lausten argues that the future of STR belongs to curated supply, disciplined execution, and brand-led trust. After selling his previous company to Airbnb, Christian returned with a deliberate strategy: say no to scale for scale’s sake and build something designed to last. In this epis...
• 023: Dependability vs Consistency: How Airbnb Redefined Hospitality Standards with Chip Conley 10.03.2026 44dk

  Short-term rentals disrupted hospitality by challenging one of its core assumptions: that consistency is the ultimate brand promise. But as Airbnb scaled globally, the real shift was not about standardization. It was about redefining what quality means at scale. In this episode, Simon Lehmann sits down with Chip Conley to explore how the platform matured from scrappy disruptor to mainstream hospitality player. Chip Conley is a globally recognized thought leader, known for transforming boutiq...
• 022: Why STR Leaders Crack Under Pressure | CEO Coach Gary Cohen 03.03.2026 47dk

  As short-term rental moves from rapid expansion into a more disciplined phase, leadership quality becomes the differentiator. In fast-scaling STR businesses, execution rarely breaks because of strategy. It breaks under pressure, idea overload, unclear decision rights, and human blind spots. In this episode of STR Global Unlocked, Simon Lehmann speaks with Gary Cohen, CEO coach and leadership advisor, about what actually changes in founders when complexity increases. They examine why scaling w...
• 021: Is Luxury Short-Term Rental Really Resilient? - Luxury STR Roundtable with Emerald Stay, Le Collectionist, The Luxe Nomad and Nocturne Luxury Villas 24.02.2026 1sa 4dk

  Luxury short-term rental has long been viewed as the most resilient segment of the STR industry. But resilience does not mean immunity. Rising interest rates, tighter capital, geopolitical instability, regulatory scrutiny, and growing operational costs are reshaping the landscape. Demand remains strong, yet it is more selective, more price-sensitive, and less forgiving than in previous cycles. In this special roundtable episode of STR Global Unlocked, Simon Lehmann convenes four global founde...
• 020: Trust, Reviews, and AI: How Experience Intelligence Is Shaping Hospitality and STR with Ben Jost of TrustYou 17.02.2026 51dk

  Reviews are everywhere in hospitality, yet most operators still misunderstand what they actually represent. In this episode of STR Global Unlocked, Simon Lehmann sits down with Ben Jost, CEO of TrustYou, to unpack why guest feedback analytics, reputation management, trust, and experience intelligence are emerging as critical drivers of decision-making and long-term performance in hospitality and short-term rentals. Ben brings more than 15 years of experience working at the intersection ...