VRS629 - From Digital Guides to Donut Walls: Inside a Next-Gen Guest Experience
Release Date: 09/17/2025
VRS647 - The Missing Piece in STR Training: Why Soft Skills Matter More Than Ever - with Ali Cammelletti
Vacation Rental Success
In this episode, Heather sits down with returning guest Ali Cammelletti, a hospitality consultant, speaker, and the founder of Spark Your Mindset. With more than 30 years of experience in hospitality, Ali brings powerful insights into how soft skills - like empathy, emotional intelligence, and communication - can make or break a vacation rental business. While software training and hard skills often dominate onboarding and development, Ali makes the case for why soft skills are just as essential across every role in a short-term rental company - from the cleaners to the C-suite. Whether...
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VRS646 - NotebookLM & the New Age of STR Team Training
Vacation Rental Success
In this solo episode Heather Bayer continues the series on training and development in the short-term rental space. Drawing on her past as a training consultant and her years of managing hundreds of properties, Heather shares a clear, practical path to building team training that works - even if youâre not a âtrainer.â She also introduces an incredible AI tool - NotebookLM - that can help you design and deliver onboarding, checklists, and micro-trainings using content you already have. If youâre short on time, resources, or tech confidence, this episode will give you the roadmap...
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VRS645 - Duct Tape Doesnât Scale: Onboarding, Training, and Thriving in 2026
Vacation Rental Success
In this episode, Heather Bayer welcomes back her son and business partner, Mike Bayer, for a timely New Yearâs discussion on a topic that affects nearly every property manager: onboarding and training. After a holiday season filled with family chaos (a trip to the emergency room, and a broken hot tub!), Heather and Mike shift gears to reflect on the challenges of integrating new team members into short-term rental businesses. Drawing from Mikeâs personal experience onboarding at a new job in the pickleball industry, they reveal how even fast-growing companies can feel âheld together by...
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VRS644 - Forecasting 2026: Tech, Trust, and Transformation in Vacation Rentals with David Angotti
Vacation Rental Success
Itâs the first episode of 2026 - and that means itâs time for our annual deep dive into whatâs happened across the vacation rental industry over the past year, and whatâs coming next. Back by popular demand, David Angotti joins Heather to break down the big shifts of 2025 and share what smart property managers should focus on heading into the New Year. From PMS shakeups and AI integration to a renewed focus on local hospitality, David brings a candid and insightful perspective from inside some of the industryâs most talked-about brands, including his transition from Guesty to Casago....
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VRS643 â How Voice AI Can Elevate Hospitality Without Losing the Human Touch â with Eliseo Palous
Vacation Rental Success
What if artificial intelligence could actually enhance the human touch instead of replacing it? In this episode, Heather speaks with Eliseo Palous, co-founder of Short Stay Media, to explore how AI - especially voice AI - is revolutionizing guest communications in the short-term rental industry without sacrificing what matters most: hospitality, responsibility, and trust. Eliseo shares the fascinating journey from starting as an intern in a small property management company to co-founding a business at the forefront of AI-powered communication. His insights into the human challenges behind...
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VRS642 - How Stacey St. John Built a High-Performing STR Portfolio From Scratch
Vacation Rental Success
What happens when a corporate professional takes a chance on short-term rentals in the middle of a global pandemic? In this inspiring episode, Heather sits down with Stacey St. John - real estate investor, property manager, and community builder - to unpack her incredible journey from cautious investor to powerhouse property manager with a portfolio of beachfront properties in Myrtle Beach. Stacey didnât just enter the industry - she transformed her life through it. Tune in to hear how she went from buying two âuglyâ condos during COVID, to building a thriving business, managing...
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VRS641 - The Insurance Housing Opportunity: What Every STR Operator Should Know with Jake Mast
Vacation Rental Success
When disaster strikes - whether itâs a fire, flood, or even a bat infestation - families are often left scrambling for safe, comfortable housing. Thatâs where Jake Mast steps in. In this episode, Heather Bayer sits down with Jake, founder of Rapid Response AI Housing, to explore how his company is disrupting the traditional insurance housing model by combining speed, accuracy, and human-centered AI solutions. Jake shares his unconventional journey - from CPA to Hollywood actor to vacation rental host - and how that ultimately led him to carve out a niche in insurance relocation housing....
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VRS640 - Why the FIFA World Cup 2026 Starts NOW for Your Vacation Rental with Mark Simpson
Vacation Rental Success
đIn this power-packed episode, Heather Bayer is joined once again by vacation rental marketing guru Mark Simpson of Boostly. Mark returns for his fifth appearance on the podcast - and this time, he's bringing an urgent message for vacation rental professionals across North America: The FIFA World Cup 2026 doesnât start in June... it starts on December 5, 2025. Thatâs the date the match draws are announced, and itâs also when the first wave of global bookings will begin. If you're located in or near any of the 16 host cities across the U.S., Canada, and Mexico, this episode is your...
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VRS639 - Optimizing for AI: What Short-Term Rental Brands Need to Know About GEO and the Future of Search with Neely Khan
Vacation Rental Success
This week Iâm welcoming back one of my favourite guests, Neely Khan, founder of the storytelling agency Artwork Creative. This is her second time joining me in less than six months - and thereâs a good reason for that. Neely is at the forefront of one of the most important shifts weâre seeing in vacation rental marketing: the rise of AI-powered search. If youâre still trying to wrap your head around terms like SEO, GEO, and AEO, youâre not alone. But understanding these isnât optional anymore - itâs essential if you want your business to remain visible and relevant in todayâs...
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VRS638 - Democratizing Genius: How Dr. Rachel Gainsbrugh Uses AI to Supercharge Short-Term Rental Success
Vacation Rental Success
In this episode, Heather sits down with Dr. Rachel Gainsbrugh from Short Term Gems to explore how artificial intelligence is changing the way short-term rental businesses operate. Rachel shares how she moved from being a pharmacist to building a real estate education company focused on medical professionals, and how AI is now a core part of that mission. They discuss how AI is helping hosts get more done with less effort, speed up onboarding, reduce mistakes, and support team members in delivering better guest experiences. Rachel gives examples from her work building hundreds of GPTs, creating...
info_outlineI first met James Rubino at a VRMA conference in Orlando two years ago. He was there at the start of his journey in short term rentals, to learn and network and I mentioned to him then I would have him as a guest on the podcast down the road. So two years later here we are and what a story it is .
At just 26, James launched Rubino Home Ventures and later co-founded Lake George Vacay, two short-term rental management companies that already stand out for their professionalism, creativity, and community connection. In our conversation, James shares how he went from working in marketing and real estate to building a growing business rooted in service, innovation, and unforgettable guest experiences (wait until you hear about the S'mores with Sasquatch and The Donut Wall!
đŁ Midroll Sponsor: STRAIT Chat & the AI Ambassador Program
This episode is brought to you in part by the STRAIT Chat Community - an exclusive space for short-term rental pros who want deeper conversations, smarter systems, and more collaborative learning.
And if you're curious about using AI in your business - whether it's for guest communication, operations, or even marketing - check out our AI Ambassador Program. It's designed to help you learn, lead, and get hands-on with the tools shaping the future of hospitality.
đ Learn more and join us at VacationRentalFormula.com/AI
Are you listening to this podcast on the move? Get to the show notes here:
https://www.vacationrentalformula.com/podcast/VRS629