Behind the Stays – Details, episodes & analysis

In this special crossover episode of Behind the Stays and The Unique Hospitality Podcast, hosted by my friend Nick Purslow, we bring together two of the most innovative names in experiential hospitality—Ben Wolff of Onera and Isaac French of Live Oak Lake. Known for creating standout micro-resorts and unique stays, Ben and Isaac are veterans of the podcast scene, but this time, they’re answering some questions they’ve never been asked before.

Tune in for unfiltered insights on what it takes to create deeply personal, experiential stays that go beyond just beautiful design. Our conversation dives into Ben’s big-vision approach with projects like Onera Wimberley, where scale meets seamless guest experience, and contrasts it with Isaac’s preference for smaller, more intimate stays—designed to immerse guests fully in nature and unparalleled design.

We also explore how shifts in consumer spending and a growing preference for authenticity and personalization are reshaping the hospitality landscape and why consumers are looking beyond the traditional, finding luxury in boutique, nature-centric stays that prioritize immersive moments over cookie-cutter amenities.

You’ll get Ben and Isaac’s takes on: 

• How Instagram and tech-centric tools are transforming hospitality, enabling small brands to capture attention, build loyalty, and reach consumers at scale, just like industry giants.
• Why scaling across multiple properties, brand differentiation, and why personal brand-building can be a game-changer in boutique hospitality.
• Why “build fewer, spend more” is becoming the motto for unique stays, and how these one-of-a-kind locations are meeting consumer demand for high-quality, memorable escapes.
• Predictions for the future of boutique hotels, from decentralized hospitality chains to collaborative, local-first models.
• And so much more

Listen to The Unique Hospitality Podcast

Follow Behind the Stays on Instagram 

Follow Isaac on Twitter/X or Instagram

Follow Ben on Twitter/X or Instagram

Learn more about Posh Outdoors 

Behind the Stays is brought to you by Journey — a first-of-its-kind loyalty program that brings together an alliance of the world’s top independently owned and operated stays and allows travelers to earn points and perks on boutique hotels, vacation rentals, treehouses, ski chalets, glamping experiences and so much more.  Your host is Zach Busekrus, Head of the Journey Alliance. If you are a hospitality entrepreneur who has a stay, or a collection of stays with soul, we’d love for you to apply to join our Alliance at joinjourney.com/alliance.

Meet Adam Dailey – an adventurous soul and hospitality innovator who owns a collection of short-term rentals and boutique hotels in San Diego.

From an Olympic sports tour operator to a global family traveler, Adam’s journey into hospitality began with a family sabbatical, taking him, his wife, and their four young children around the world. 

Today, Adam channels that passion for exploration and authentic experiences into managing boutique hotels and vacation rentals that blend charm, service, and design to create truly memorable stays.

In this episode, we dive into:

• Adam’s journey from corporate burnout to launching a hospitality portfolio inspired by his global travels
• His pivot from owning and managing vacation rentals to owning and managing boutique hotels
• Why he believes smaller, well-designed properties (20-30 rooms) allow for an exceptional level of personal service
• Lessons learned from his partnership with Sonder, and the difference between low-touch, tech-driven stays and high-touch, luxury-focused hospitality
• Why the right touchpoints—like an on-site concierge or thoughtful lobby design—create a feeling of true luxury, even in boutique settings
• Adam’s insights on navigating the evolution of guest expectations in a saturated market where unique stays are in high demand
• The role of AI and technology in optimizing operations, without sacrificing the human element that guests crave

Alright friends, without further ado, get ready to meet Adam. 

Follow Behind the Stays on Instagram

Connect with Adam on LinkedIn

Behind the Stays is brought to you by Journey — a first-of-its-kind loyalty program that brings together an alliance of the world’s top independently owned and operated stays and allows travelers to earn points and perks on boutique hotels, vacation rentals, treehouses, ski chalets, glamping experiences and so much more. 

Your host is Zach Busekrus, Head of the Journey Alliance. 

If you are a hospitality entrepreneur who has a stay, or a collection of stays with soul, we’d love for you to apply to join our Alliance at joinjourney.com/alliance. 

Meet Travis Chambers, the genius behind Outpost X, a mind-bending desert hotel that’s redefining experiential stays.

Travis didn’t just wake up one day and decide to build a viral hotel—he first built an ad agency where he worked with brands like Vitamin Water, Turkish Airlines, and Old Navy to create viral social content.

After selling the agency for $17 million in 201, he used that capital to create something completely new in the world of hospitality.

In this conversation, we dive deep into Travis’s unique approach to hospitality, where he blends art, adventure, and immersive storytelling to create an experience like no other. His goal? To push guests beyond their comfort zones in a place designed to make you feel slightly

uncomfortable—in the best way possible.

And here’s the kicker: Outpost X is just the beginning. Travis has developed an elaborate storyline that will eventually connect all of his future properties across the world, building a universe where each stay is part of a larger narrative.

Tune in to hear:

• How Travis generated nearly $1 million on Indiegogo to fund the Outpost X build
• The genius behind designing a hotel that’s more art project than resort, and why some guests call it better than Disneyland while others simply don’t get it
• Why he believes creating immersive experiences will save humanity in an AI-driven world
• His ambitious plans to tie every future property into a sci-fi-inspired world
• And so much more

This was one of the most amazing, inspiring, and crazy interviews I’ve ever conducted.  You’re going to love it.

Check out Outpost X

Follow Travis on Instagram

Follow Outpost X on Instagram 

This episode is brought to you by The Content House

If you listen to this podcast, you likely care a lot about your brand. You care about building it thoughtfully and purposefully.

What I love about Nate and the team at The Content House is that they truly understand this. They care about getting to know your style, your approach, and the unique quirks and features that make your collection of stays special.

Their service is full end-to-end social media management and content creation. From shooting stunning videos and photos to editing, posting, and even sourcing influencers to partner with…

The Content House specializes in working with hospitality entrepreneurs building well-branded, boutique collections, often in exotic or extra-special locations…

Follow The Content House on Instagram

Dunlap Hollow Reel

Live Oak Lake Reel

FLOHOM Reel

Villa Stay Texas Reel

About the Show

Behind the Stays is brought to you by StayWatch — the internet's best resource for deals on Airbnb, Vrbo, and Booking.com. You can subscribe, for free, at www.staywatch.ai

Behind the Stays is hosted by Zach Busekrus, Co-founder of StayWatch, you can connect with him on Twitter at @zboozee or on LinkedIn.

Welcome to Mastering Vacation Rental Marketing — a special Behind the Stays podcast series brought to you in collaboration with my friend, Conrad O’Connell, Founder and CEO of BuildUp Bookings, one of the most respected marketing agencies for vacation rental managers and hospitality entrepreneurs.

Conrad just published an incredible book "Mastering Vacation Rental Marketing" which serves as a strategic guide designed for vacation rental managers, hosts, and STR professionals eager to scale their business without becoming overly reliant on Online Travel Agencies (OTAs) like Airbnb, Vrbo, or Booking.com.

Over the next three weeks, you’ll get a sneak peek into the frameworks, case studies, strategies and data that Conrad shares in his book. If you’d like to purchase the book, you can do so via the Amazon link below OR if you’d like a digital copy of the book Conrad is offering a free digital version to Behind the Stays listeners (you can find a link to download the book in the show notes below).

Buy Mastering Vacation Rental Marketing on Amazon

Download a free copy of Mastering Vacation Rental Marketing

Connect with Conrad on LinkedIn

Learn more about how BuildUp Bookings can help you scale your business

Recent episodes you might enjoy:

• The Future of Vacation Rental Management Companies — Stories and Ideas from a Former VRMA President
• A Panel Discussion on the Future of Short-Term Rental Investing with Wander, Techvestor, and Arrived
• How They’re Building a New Hotel Brand from Scratch

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.

Sign up today at bnbping.com

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.

Meet Bill Faeth — one of the most popular and well-respected voices in the short-term rental industry.

Bill Faeth has been involved in real estate for almost 25 years with both commercial and residential investing. In 2015, he switched the majority of his residential portfolio to short term rentals from long term after seeing an opportunity to increase profit and reduce risk.

Bill currently has a multi-million dollar portfolio of short term rental properties primarily located in vacation rental markets with a focus on beach, lake, and mountain properties.  In addition to his own portfolio, he hosts the popular STR Unfiltered podcast and he’s the co-producer of STR WealthCon, one of the hottest industry events for vacation rental entrepreneurs.

In this episode Bill and I discuss:

• The story behind how he traveled to golf tournaments with Tiger Woods
• How he built, scaled, and sold his first businesses
• How much money he makes off of his content vs. his portfolio
• How much money the STR Wealthcon makes and what the long term vision for the event is
• What he’s recently changed his mind about
• And so much more

This episode is brought to you by Hostlabs — Say goodbye to the daily hassle of running your short-term rental business. Free up your time and watch your business thrive with Hostlabs. Learn more and qualify for an exclusive discount here. 

Recent episodes you might enjoy:

• The Future of Vacation Rental Management Companies — Stories and Ideas from a Former VRMA President
• A Panel Discussion on the Future of Short-Term Rental Investing with Wander, Techvestor, and Arrived
• How They’re Building a New Hotel Brand from Scratch

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.

Sign up today at bnbping.com

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.

Meet Max Gagliardi — founder of Mountain Fork Resort, a 140-acre waterfront development in Broken Bow, Oklahoma. 

Max is an entrepreneur who builds businesses across energy, real estate, & technology — he has a knack for finding opportunities in places others are convinced no opportunity exists.

After stumbling upon an incredible piece of land in Broken Bow, one of the hottest up and coming vacation destinations in the southeast, Max began dreaming about how he could build a next generation resort that would become a destination in and of itself.

In this episode, Max and I discuss:

• What inspired him to start a hospitality brand 
• Some unpopular opinions he has about the current state of the short-term rental industry
• The biggest opportunities you see to build thriving businesses in the space
• And what’s he learned by hosting a popular entrepreneurship podcast called “Always Be Building” 

Connect with Max on LinkedIn

Follow Max on X/Twitter

This episode is brought to you by Hostlabs — Say goodbye to the daily hassle of running your short-term rental business. Free up your time and watch your business thrive with Hostlabs. Learn more and qualify for an exclusive discount here. 

Recent episodes you might enjoy:

• The Future of Vacation Rental Management Companies — Stories and Ideas from a Former VRMA President
• A Panel Discussion on the Future of Short-Term Rental Investing with Wander, Techvestor, and Arrived
• How They’re Building a New Hotel Brand from Scratch

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.

Sign up today at bnbping.com

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.

Meet Brooke Pfautz, founder and CEO of Vintory, the only sales and marketing platform on the planet exclusively dedicated to helping professional vacation rental managers grow their inventory.  

Brooke is one of the industry's most respected experts, so it was an honor to get him back on the podcast to discuss his new book, Vacation Rental Secrets, which is a collection of the short-term rental industry’s top experts disclosing their biggest mistakes and sharing their hard-earned wisdom.

Brooke and I discuss some of the most meaningful lessons garnered from these interviews, some unpopular opinions he has about the current state of the industry, the opportunity he sees for entrepreneurs to build new businesses in and around hospitality, and some hot takes he has on the future of the industry.

Connect with Brooke on LinkedIn

Buy Brooke's book on Amazon

Learn more about Vintory

This episode is brought to you by Hostlabs — Say goodbye to the daily hassle of running your short-term rental business. Free up your time and watch your business thrive with Hostlabs. Learn more and qualify for an exclusive discount here. 

Recent episodes you might enjoy:

• The Future of Vacation Rental Management Companies — Stories and Ideas from a Former VRMA President
• A Panel Discussion on the Future of Short-Term Rental Investing with Wander, Techvestor, and Arrived
• How They’re Building a New Hotel Brand from Scratch

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.

Sign up today at bnbping.com

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.

Meet David and Andy Heyman — the two brothers who brought one of the newest and most unique glamping sites in the Blue Ridge Mountains to life, which they call Glamp Blue Ridge.

David has a background in finance and Andy is a graphic designer by trade. The guys had long dreamed of being able to work on a business venture of some kind together but the timing and the idea never seemed right…

That is, of course, until the idea of building a collection of unique Airbnbs on an actual waterfall in Cherry Log, Georgia began to percolate.  David is the idea guy and Andy is the creative who brings the ideas to life.  

The brothers purchased dozens of acres of land that will eventually be home to a number of unique units like treehouses, a-frames, and maybe even airplanes, but the first iteration of Glamp Blue Ridge is a collection of 7 massive domes that all have their own brand, character, and unique furnishings. 

In this conversation we discuss:

• Lessons learned trying to build unique Airbnbs on-top-of a waterfall
• How they  generated over 100k followers on Instagram in their first few months
• Why they’re bullish on direct bookings 
• Why their occupancy rate is over 90% even as travel slows down a bit
• And so much more

Visit Glamp Blue Ridge

Follow Glamp Blue Ridge on Social Media

This episode is brought to you by Hostlabs — Say goodbye to the daily hassle of running your short-term rental business. Free up your time and watch your business thrive with Hostlabs. Learn more and qualify for an exclusive discount here. 

Recent episodes you might enjoy:

• How British Airways and an Airbnb in Istanbul Inspired Him to Build a Glamping Destination in the Catskills
• Forget Vacation Destinations — He Builds Collections of Branded Airbnbs Near College Campuses
• He Was Airbnb’s 13th Employee — And Here’s What He Thinks the Future of the Hospitality Industry Will Look Like

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.

Sign up today at bnbping.com

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.

Meet Mike Harrington, a true legend among vacation rental managers.  

Mike’s career in hospitality started by accident.  After graduating from business school, Mike received a call from a recruiter to join a vacation rental management company on Hatteras Island.

He learned the ropes of the industry at this first gig, grew to love the art of the business, and eventually decided that what he really wanted was to own and operate his own vacation rental management company. 

After working at one of the largest vacation rental managers in the Outer Banks, Mike decided to take the leap and founded Carolina Retreats, a vacation rental management firm that would grow to serve nearly 400 properties across the state of North Carolina. 

Along the way he’d answer the call to serve his colleagues in the industry by becoming the president of VRMA, the largest professional trade association for vacation rental managers, and serving in that role for over 6 years. 

While Mike had no intention of selling his business, in 2021 he got an offer from V Trips, one of the world’s most respected vacation rental management brands, that he just couldn’t refuse. 

Tune in to hear the stories, lessons and insights Mike has garnered throughout his career and get an inside look at the company he’s building next.

Connect with Mike on LinkedIn

This episode is brought to you by Hostlabs — Say goodbye to the daily hassle of running your short-term rental business. Free up your time and watch your business thrive with Hostlabs. Learn more and qualify for an exclusive discount here. 

Recent episodes you might enjoy:

• How British Airways and an Airbnb in Istanbul Inspired Him to Build a Glamping Destination in the Catskills
• Forget Vacation Destinations — He Builds Collections of Branded Airbnbs Near College Campuses
• He Was Airbnb’s 13th Employee — And Here’s What He Thinks the Future of the Hospitality Industry Will Look Like

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.

Sign up today at bnbping.com

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.

Meet Josiah Mackenzie, Founder of Hospitality Daily — a community, podcast, and email newsletter that helps hospitality professionals stay informed and inspired in this ever-changing and dynamic industry. 

Josiah has spent his entire career creating, innovating and building in Hospitality. He founded a company called Hospitality Marketing Strategies which went on to become the #1 hotel marketing website in the world.

Josiah then spent several years working for hospitality tech companies leading go-to-market strategies and helping these start ups get off the ground, scale, and in some cases even get acquired. 

In this conversation, Josiah and I discuss:

• What STR owners and operates can learn from some of the leading boutique hoteliers about brand building and marketing
• The most interesting insights he’s garnered from hosting a daily podcast 
• Why he’s bullish on building his brand and the Hospitality Daily community on LinkedIn
• The biggest opportunities he sees for hospitality entrepreneurs today
• And so much more

This episode is brought to you by our friends at OptimizeMyBnB

I’ve been trying to find someone who I think understands the platform and marketing strategy better than me that I can refer you all to…

And I’m happy to say that I think I’ve found him.

Meet Daniel Rusteen — he’s a former Airbnb employee, full-time digital nomad, and author of “Optimize Your BnB” which has sold over 50,000 copies by word-of-mouth alone.

Daniel has lived on Airbnb for more than 2,500 nights and has helped hundreds of hosts via his consulting, his program, and his thought leadership, increase their listing’s rank on Airbnb.

If you’re newer to the STR space, or if your listings are starting to drop in rank, I want to encourage you all to do one of two things — if not BOTH — of the following:

1. Buy Daniel’s new book, “Profitable Properties: Airbnb Insider Secrets” — you can get it on Amazon for just $10
2. Join Daniel’s 9-week program and he’ll teach you everything you need to know about optimizing your STR for Airbnb, VRBO, Google Search, and beyond.  You can use the discount code BTS for 40% off the program between now and the end of the 2023 calendar year.

Daniel will teach you what the top 1% of short-term rental owners and managers already know about how to fully optimize their STRs across OTAs and beyond. 

Recent episodes you might enjoy:

• How British Airways and an Airbnb in Istanbul Inspired Him to Build a Glamping Destination in the Catskills
• Forget Vacation Destinations — He Builds Collections of Branded Airbnbs Near College Campuses
• He Was Airbnb’s 13th Employee — And Here’s What He Thinks the Future of the Hospitality Industry Will Look Like

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.

Sign up today at bnbping.com

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.