Conference Recap & More!

Hello Again!

I know they say that when you start doing something (like a LinkedIn Newsletter for example) that you should make sure you can do it consistently. I definitely agree with that statement but as a founder of a fully bootstrapped company, sometimes things just get busy and you have to drop some stuff in order to take care of business. In this case, the business I needed to take care of was Conference Season!

Flying from Denver to Miami, staying in Miami for a week with my team for the The Book Direct Show , packing up again and landing in Vegas for Vacation Rental Management Association (VRMA) , and back to Denver to try and recover a bit before settling into my routine and the next phase of our business and overall operations. It's a lot to do in a short period of time but all I can say is how thankful I am to be in this position. To have the team I have (shout out to you Claire & Michael) and to the community around us from podcasters/creators and all of our partners along the way. Such a great group of people to surround yourself with!

With all of that being said, I hope you enjoy watching, listening, and reading this update since my last Slick Talk Weekly!

First Up... The Book Direct Show!

If you were at the Book Direct Show in Miami this year then you know how fun and exciting it was to be in the venue together for this event! Operators and experts from all over the world were there, the speakers were amazing and brought so much value, and our sponsors had some exciting booths that captivated you!

This recap video was filmed and edited by the one and only Tyler Cornelison ! Thank you my friend for all your great work!

For me personally, I am still on cloud 9 from our Destinationaire Awards on the first evening and this is something I know we're going to continue to grow and build on for the years to come with some exciting collaborations to be announced in the future. Event pictures were shot by Michael Chemaly on my team with Hospitality.FM

A special thank you to Damian Sheridan & Deborah L. for allowing me to team up on this years conference and also a big thank you to our speakers, attendees, and sponsors for believing in us which allowed us to pull off this event! In no particular order (and sorry if I forget a few people) we want to thank speakers and sponsors!

Thank you, Amber Hurdle , Matt Landau , Tyann Marcink Hammond , Heather Bayer , Ryan D. , David Krauss , Steve Milo , Jodi Bourne , Nicolette Borlaug Masiya , Wolf Worster , Andrew Bate , Jeff Iloulian , Francois Gouelo , ?????????? Robert Geller , Arthur Colker , Pedro Leal , Hostfully , Ally Goltz Lenihan , Sage Nathan , and soooo many more for always being so supportive! Couldn't have done it without all of you!

Broadcasted Live at Book Direct!

During the conference, the Good Morning Hospitality crew and I got together for a live episode and discussed the importance of a conference such as the Book Direct Show but also things like Uber Travel and that experience and much more! You can listen to this episode right here!

VRMA & Vegas!

Once I touched down in Vegas, I was still trying to recover and feel a little better as my last two days in Miami were spent with a head cold. Thankfully, with enough DayQuil and water, I was ready to rock this Tech Panel as the moderator for Andrew Kitchell , Ela Mezhiborsky , Brandreth Canaley , and Luca Zambello as we discussed the hard (and no right answer) question on "How To Pick Your Tech Stack: All in One or Specialized Solutions"

With a really good turnout for our session (right before all the parties started to kick off) we focused on engaging with everyone in the room rather than talking about our companies or ourselves. We received a lot of positive feedback and again, I am thankful for the opportunity to do something like this with such a collaborative group!

Outside of the panel discussion, my biggest focus was my existing and newly formed relationships and giving them all the attention I could! Special shoutout to my new friends at Minut ( Marcus Ljungblad , Viktoria Skara , Richard Coleman and Nathan Smith ) for our great conversations and being great Podcast Partners to work with! I truly value our quick connection!

Also, a new role that I have really been enjoying is connecting our podcasters and creators with companies and leaders within our industry and watching them form powerful relationships and collaborations together! More to share on this later!

Broadcasted at VRMA!

Hospitality.FM Updates!

The podcast network has grown a lot in the last month and I am not saying that because we've added new shows but because we have grown over 54% in audience growth from our Short Term Rental podcasts alone! With over 250,000 downloads in the month of October (from 15 of our podcasts) we're seeing this as the perfect time to continue to bunker down on our content, partnerships, and quality of production when it comes to the audio and video experience!

For example, one of our podcasts announced their trailer for a fictional mystery podcast that is in the vacation rental setting! The team with the no BS podcast announces Derailed: a fictional mystery podcast with the No BS Production team of Mateo Bradford-Vazquez , Neely Khan , Michael Chemaly, and John Stokinger

This podcast is Stereophonic which means using two or more channels of transmission and reproduction so that the reproduced sound seems to surround the listener and to come from more than one source. We will announce an official launch date soon but just be ready for this amazing show to hit your ears this winter!

For the best listening experience, we recommend headphones to fully immerse yourself in the scene showcased in this trailer! Enjoy

Recently Added to HFM!

To help close out this newsletter, we're also excited to share that AirDNA has joined Hospitality.FM with their new podcast called STR Data Lab hosted by Mariah Kamei and Jamie Lane !

These data gangsters really know their numbers and we're all the way here for it! You can hear their recent episodes on all of your favorite podcast platforms like Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts and more!

To Close It All Out

I feel like I covered a lot but also not enough. If that's even possible! The team and I have been hard at work to bring all of this to life and we're really excited to share some more stuff we've been working on in the near future but until then, please enjoy the content above and keep your eyes and ears open for more to come in the next few weeks and months as we gear up for 2023!