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

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The short-term rental industry is evolving fast, and Simon Lehmann isn’t afraid to say what others won’t.STR Global Unlocked is where property managers, STR tech founders, vacation rental investors, and hospitality leaders get real about the business. Each episode breaks down what’s working, what’s broken, and what’s coming next: property management operations, direct bookings, vacation rental software, pricing strategies, mergers and acquisitions in real estate, professional host challenges, and the future of automation, AI, and tech stacks. Hosted by Simon Lehmann, CEO of AJL Atelier and one of the most trusted voices in the global STR space, the show delivers unfiltered conversations with the people shaping the industry. Simon has decades of experience in vacation rentals, travel tech, and hospitality, including leadership roles at Vacasa Europe, PhocusWright and HomeAway. If you’re scaling a property management company, building short-term rental technology, investing in vacation rentals, or entering this fast-moving market, this podcast is your seat at the table. 

  1. 034: The AI Shift Most Property Managers Are Missing

    2d ago

    034: The AI Shift Most Property Managers Are Missing

    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 costs, where it still fails, why human expertise remains essential, and how property managers can prepare for a future where AI, automation, brand, and guest experience become increasingly connected. Questions answered in the episode: What does AI-native property management actually mean?How are leading property management companies already using AI in daily operations?Where can AI reduce costs without damaging the guest experience?Why is the PMS no longer the brain of the business?What happens when broken processes are automated with AI?Where does AI still fail in hospitality and short-term rentals?Should property managers build their own AI tools or work with tech partners?How could AI change travel discovery, direct bookings, and OTA dependency?Why will human connection still matter in an AI-driven hospitality business?What will property management companies look like in the next five years?Resources AJL Atelier – Global STR Consulting [https://www.ajlatelier.com]. Led by our host Simon Lehmann, AJL Atelier is a boutique advisory firm helping professional hosts, property managers, and investors succeed in the short-term rental industry.Connect with Simon Lehmann on LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/simon-lehmann-8375753b/] Stay connected: Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/str-global-unlocked-with-simon-lehmann-unfiltered/id1842946960 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3kke4wOx0tNv0duq9MMWtO Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLWVkmUOkmhSHcFjzi28AhaQNR98vaG65O Website: https://www.ajlatelier.com/podcasts Newsletter: https://str-global-unlocked.beehiiv.com/

    57 min
  2. 033: Why Booking Trips Is About to Change FOREVER (CEO Explains) | Amirali Mohajer

    May 19

    033: Why Booking Trips Is About to Change FOREVER (CEO Explains) | Amirali Mohajer

    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. They discuss why direct bookings have been so difficult to scale, how AI could change guest acquisition, why owning guest data matters more than ever, and what short-term rental operators need to understand as travel discovery moves beyond traditional Google search. If you want to understand how AI could transform travel distribution, direct bookings and the future of hospitality, this conversation is a must-watch. Questions answered in the episode: How is AI changing the way people search, plan and book travel?Why could AI become a major turning point for the travel industry?Why are short-term rental operators so dependent on OTAs like Airbnb, Booking.com and Expedia?Why have direct bookings been so difficult to scale until now?Why is having a direct booking website alone not enough?How can operators build more trust and stronger guest relationships outside of OTAs?How does guest data influence future bookings and platform independence?What should operators do now to prepare for AI-powered travel discovery?Resources AJL Atelier – Global STR Consulting [https://www.ajlatelier.com]. Led by our host Simon Lehmann, AJL Atelier is a boutique advisory firm helping professional hosts, property managers, and investors succeed in the short-term rental industry.Connect with Simon Lehmann on LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/simon-lehmann-8375753b/] Stay connected: Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/str-global-unlocked-with-simon-lehmann-unfiltered/id1842946960 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3kke4wOx0tNv0duq9MMWtO Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLWVkmUOkmhSHcFjzi28AhaQNR98vaG65O Website: https://www.ajlatelier.com/podcasts Newsletter: https://str-global-unlocked.beehiiv.com/

    55 min
  3. 032: How HomeToGo Shifted Beyond Its Marketplace | Dr. Patrick Andrae

    May 12

    032: How HomeToGo Shifted Beyond Its Marketplace | Dr. Patrick Andrae

    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 combined group generates nearly $400 million in revenue, with more than 60% coming from its B2B segment, and over 200,000 properties connected through software and services. This is not a conversation about marketplace growth. It is a breakdown of what changes when platforms move closer to supply, and how that reshapes control, margins, and competitive advantage. In this conversation, we discuss: Why owning supply is no longer seen as a margin tradeoff, and what changes when platforms move closer to operations and the last mileHow HomeToGo’s shift from marketplace to B2B changes where value is captured, and why that redefines the role of distribution platformsWhat most operators underestimate about direct bookings, and why having traffic does not translate into control without conversion infrastructureHow AI is changing travel discovery behavior, and why vacation rentals present a fundamentally harder decision layer than flights or hotelsWhy Europe’s fragmented supply remains largely unconsolidated, and what that reveals about the limits of traditional marketplace-driven growthWhat changes when a company operates across marketplace, software, and services, and how that creates optionality in uncertain distribution environmentsResources and links: Connect with Dr. Patrick Andrae on LinkedIn and learn more about HomeToGo. - Podcast supported by Pikl Pikl brings insurance-enabled flexible cancellation and new revenue models together for short-term rental operators. 👉 Get started with Pikl here   Resources AJL Atelier – Global STR Consulting [https://www.ajlatelier.com]. Led by our host Simon Lehmann, AJL Atelier is a boutique advisory firm helping professional hosts, property managers, and investors succeed in the short-term rental industry.Connect with Simon Lehmann on LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/simon-lehmann-8375753b/] Stay connected: Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/str-global-unlocked-with-simon-lehmann-unfiltered/id1842946960 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3kke4wOx0tNv0duq9MMWtO Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLWVkmUOkmhSHcFjzi28AhaQNR98vaG65O Website: https://www.ajlatelier.com/podcasts Newsletter: https://str-global-unlocked.beehiiv.com/

    52 min
  4. 031: Beyond STR and Hotels: How Numa's Third Model Uses 100+ Automations to Rewrite Urban Hospitality | Christian Gaiser

    May 5

    031: Beyond STR and Hotels: How Numa's Third Model Uses 100+ Automations to Rewrite Urban Hospitality | Christian Gaiser

    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 fastest-growing urban hospitality platforms. With a background in building digital platforms and scaling operations, he brings a product and technology mindset into a traditionally fragmented industry. At Numa, he has led the development of a tech-driven, asset-light model designed to operate across cities with high efficiency and consistency. This conversation moves beyond the STR vs hotel debate and focuses on operating models, automation, distribution strategy, regulation, and how technology is reshaping both supply and demand in hospitality. In this conversation, we discuss: Why Numa was built around three structural gaps in hospitality, demand outpacing supply, fragmented assets, and a lack of technology across operations.How the “third model” combines short-term rentals, hotels, and serviced apartments into a single system driven by guest use cases rather than categories.Why capital efficiency and financial discipline became a competitive advantage after the  collapse of overfunded STR models.How Numa captures both short and long stay demand while maintaining lower costs through density, standardized units, and lean operations.Why building more than 100 internal tools became central to improving reviews, reducing costs, and scaling operations.How labor shortages, including a projected 8 million workforce gap in Germany, are forcing operators to rethink staffing and automation.Why AI will reshape both operations and demand, increasing travel activity and changing how supply is discovered and consumed.Explore more: Connect with Christian Gaiser [https://www.linkedin.com/in/christiangaiser/] to learn more about Numa [https://numastays.com/]  - Podcast supported by Pricelabs PriceLabs brings automated pricing and market intelligence together in one platform trusted by property managers at scale. 👉 Get started with Pricelabs here: https://shorturl.at/wvKTa  Resources AJL Atelier – Global STR Consulting [https://www.ajlatelier.com]. Led by our host Simon Lehmann, AJL Atelier is a boutique advisory firm helping professional hosts, property managers, and investors succeed in the short-term rental industry.Connect with Simon Lehmann on LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/simon-lehmann-8375753b/] Stay connected: Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/str-global-unlocked-with-simon-lehmann-unfiltered/id1842946960 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3kke4wOx0tNv0duq9MMWtO Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLWVkmUOkmhSHcFjzi28AhaQNR98vaG65O Website: https://www.ajlatelier.com/podcasts Newsletter: https://str-global-unlocked.beehiiv.com/

    48 min
  5. 030: No Phone, No OTAs, No VC Time Horizons: Can Unplugged's Digital Detox Cabins Actually Scale? | Hector Hughes

    Apr 28

    030: No Phone, No OTAs, No VC Time Horizons: Can Unplugged's Digital Detox Cabins Actually Scale? | Hector Hughes

    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% return on capital per cabin. This conversation examines what happens when brand conviction becomes the only distribution strategy and whether that is a ceiling or a compounding advantage. In this conversation, we discuss: Why going direct-only was never a revenue decision, and how removing OTAs as an option forced Unplugged to build brand and community muscles most STR operators never have to developHow the three-night minimum, a deliberate friction point in a market averaging 1.8 nights, became one of Unplugged's most defensible product choices.Why direct bookings only work at scale if you are remarkable enough to stay front of mind and how Unplugged engineers word-of-mouth as a core growth mechanism.How Unplugged's movable cabin model redefines the unit economics and risk profile of STR supply expansion.What the tension between venture time horizons and brand compounding reveals about the type of capital Unplugged needs, and why most funds are structurally the wrong fit.What the rise of AI-driven distribution means for experiential hospitality brands that don't live on OTAs, and why being genuinely remarkable is no longer optional.Explore more: Connect with Hector Hughes on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/hector-hughes-10082195/ to learn more about Unplugged https://unplugged.rest/ - Podcast supported by Breezeway Built around the work that happens behind the scenes, Breezeway coordinates the operational service touchpoints that define guest experience. Their focus on execution and standards aligns with a core insight from this conversation: growth only works when operations can keep up. 👉 Get started with Breezeway here: https://shorturl.at/moW7U  Resources AJL Atelier – Global STR Consulting [https://www.ajlatelier.com]. Led by our host Simon Lehmann, AJL Atelier is a boutique advisory firm helping professional hosts, property managers, and investors succeed in the short-term rental industry.Connect with Simon Lehmann on LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/simon-lehmann-8375753b/] Stay connected: Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/str-global-unlocked-with-simon-lehmann-unfiltered/id1842946960 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3kke4wOx0tNv0duq9MMWtO Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLWVkmUOkmhSHcFjzi28AhaQNR98vaG65O Website: https://www.ajlatelier.com/podcasts Newsletter: https://str-global-unlocked.beehiiv.com/

    47 min
  6. 029: What Marriott Really Thinks About Short-Term Rentals: Chris Stephenson on Loyalty, Quality Standards, and the Future of Alternative Accommodations

    Apr 21

    029: What Marriott Really Thinks About Short-Term Rentals: Chris Stephenson on Loyalty, Quality Standards, and the Future of Alternative Accommodations

    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 home rental platform embedded inside one of the world's most powerful loyalty programs, with over 270 million members and over 200,000 homes across global markets.  Chris joined Marriott 11 years ago through its global operations innovation team and has led Homes and Villas from its pilot launch in 2019 to its current scale across EMEA, the Americas, and Asia Pacific. This is not a story about a hotel company taking on Airbnb. It is a ground-level account of what it actually takes to build a quality-first vacation rental business inside an institutional framework, and why that constraint turned out to be a competitive advantage. In this conversation, we discuss: Why Marriott entered the home rental category not to compete with Airbnb but to close a loyalty gap.How Homes and Villas by Marriott Bonvoy selects inventory.What 96% of guests being Bonvoy members signals about behavioral fluidity, and how Marriott captures share of wallet across an entire trip rather than a single stay.Why Marriott built a completely independent tech stack, and now uses it as a learning lab for AI-powered natural language search across the wider enterprise.How the onboarding process went from three to four months to an average of four weeks, and why it will never be a one-click upload by design.Where Marriott sees the next wave of STR demand emerging.Explore more: Connect with Chris Stephenson on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrisstephenson/ to learn more about Homes and Villas by Marriott Bonvoy: https://homes-and-villas.marriott.com  Podcast supported by eviivo eviivo Suite brings booking management, payments, automation, and OTA connectivity together in one platform used by 28,000 accommodation providers. 👉 Exclusive 50% off the first 6 months for STR Global Unlocked listeners who book a free demo: https://tinyurl.com/eviivo-strgu  Resources AJL Atelier – Global STR Consulting [https://www.ajlatelier.com]. Led by our host Simon Lehmann, AJL Atelier is a boutique advisory firm helping professional hosts, property managers, and investors succeed in the short-term rental industry.Connect with Simon Lehmann on LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/simon-lehmann-8375753b/] Stay connected: Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/str-global-unlocked-with-simon-lehmann-unfiltered/id1842946960 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3kke4wOx0tNv0duq9MMWtO Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLWVkmUOkmhSHcFjzi28AhaQNR98vaG65O Website: https://www.ajlatelier.com/podcasts Newsletter: https://str-global-unlocked.beehiiv.com/

    43 min
  7. 028: $200M Raised, 50x Growth: Johannes Siebers of Holidu on Local Trust, Agentic Workflows and the Supply Nobody Else Was Counting

    Apr 14

    028: $200M Raised, 50x Growth: Johannes Siebers of Holidu on Local Trust, Agentic Workflows and the Supply Nobody Else Was Counting

    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 distinguishes Holidu from classical OTAs is its software-plus-service model: a property management system paired with on-the-ground onboarding, professional photography, dynamic pricing, and 28 local teams that build trust with homeowners face to face.  This is a real approach to what it takes to build a resilient marketplace business when the market punishes everyone who optimized for speed over substance. In this conversation, we discuss: Why Johannes believes every company must become an AI company, and what the real differentiators are today.How Holidu's pivot from marketplace to software-plus-service model unlocked a segment of the European RBO market that larger software players consistently ignored.What COVID forced Holidu to do differently, and why the extra eighteen months of product discipline before scaling was, in Johannes' words, a gift.Why 20 to 25% of Holidu's current properties had never been rented before, and what removing friction, rather than adding distribution, actually unlocks in the supply equation.How Johannes and his brother Michael divided responsibility, built complementary roles, and sustained a co-founder relationship across more than a decade of hypergrowth and volatility.What investors looked for in 2016 versus 2026, and why robust unit economics and capital discipline were always part of Holidu's DNA, not a response to market pressure.Why brand will matter more, not less, as AI reshapes search and discovery, and why delivering on the promise is the only way to earn it.Explore more: Connect with Johannes Siebers on LinkedIn and learn more about Holidu. - Podcast supported by Pikl Pikl brings insurance-enabled flexible cancellation and new revenue models together for short-term rental operators. 👉 Get started with Pikl here  Resources AJL Atelier – Global STR Consulting [https://www.ajlatelier.com]. Led by our host Simon Lehmann, AJL Atelier is a boutique advisory firm helping professional hosts, property managers, and investors succeed in the short-term rental industry.Connect with Simon Lehmann on LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/simon-lehmann-8375753b/] Stay connected: Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/str-global-unlocked-with-simon-lehmann-unfiltered/id1842946960 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3kke4wOx0tNv0duq9MMWtO Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLWVkmUOkmhSHcFjzi28AhaQNR98vaG65O Website: https://www.ajlatelier.com/podcasts Newsletter: https://str-global-unlocked.beehiiv.com/

    49 min
  8. 027: What Institutional Capital Really Thinks About STR Right Now  | Chris Hemmeter, Thayer Ventures

    Apr 7

    027: What Institutional Capital Really Thinks About STR Right Now | Chris Hemmeter, Thayer Ventures

    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 and his team have guided capital through the rise, expansion, and reset of the category. Across multiple market cycles, he has seen what it takes to build a venture-scalable business when the rules change. This is not a conversation about whether the STR category has a future. It is a field-level assessment of why institutional capital moved away from it, what would need to change for it to return, and what every founder building in this space is getting wrong about the capital markets around them. In this conversation, we discuss: What the massive compression in public SaaS valuations actually signals for travel tech, and why AI is powering up incumbentsHow the pandemic and AI together delivered a one-two punch that is pushing travel tech (analogy to the post-dot-com era)What the STR industry fundamentally missed that turned the category into a pariah for generalist venture investorsWhy product is no longer the defensible moat, and what Hemmeter identifies as the only true competitive advantage leftWhy a $35 million exit is a life-changing outcome for a founder but a failure for a venture capitalistExplore more: Connect with Chris Hemmeter on LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/christopherhemmeter]. Learn more about Thayer Ventures: https://www.thayerinvestmentpartners.com Podcast supported by Breezeway Built around the work that happens behind the scenes, Breezeway coordinates the operational service touchpoints that define guest experience. Their focus on execution and standards aligns with a core insight from this conversation: growth only works when operations can keep up. 👉 Get started with Breezeway here: https://shorturl.at/moW7U  Resources AJL Atelier – Global STR Consulting [https://www.ajlatelier.com]. Led by our host Simon Lehmann, AJL Atelier is a boutique advisory firm helping professional hosts, property managers, and investors succeed in the short-term rental industry.Connect with Simon Lehmann on LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/simon-lehmann-8375753b/] Stay connected: Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/str-global-unlocked-with-simon-lehmann-unfiltered/id1842946960 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3kke4wOx0tNv0duq9MMWtO Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLWVkmUOkmhSHcFjzi28AhaQNR98vaG65O Website: https://www.ajlatelier.com/podcasts Newsletter: https://str-global-unlocked.beehiiv.com/

    46 min

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5
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About

The short-term rental industry is evolving fast, and Simon Lehmann isn’t afraid to say what others won’t.STR Global Unlocked is where property managers, STR tech founders, vacation rental investors, and hospitality leaders get real about the business. Each episode breaks down what’s working, what’s broken, and what’s coming next: property management operations, direct bookings, vacation rental software, pricing strategies, mergers and acquisitions in real estate, professional host challenges, and the future of automation, AI, and tech stacks. Hosted by Simon Lehmann, CEO of AJL Atelier and one of the most trusted voices in the global STR space, the show delivers unfiltered conversations with the people shaping the industry. Simon has decades of experience in vacation rentals, travel tech, and hospitality, including leadership roles at Vacasa Europe, PhocusWright and HomeAway. If you’re scaling a property management company, building short-term rental technology, investing in vacation rentals, or entering this fast-moving market, this podcast is your seat at the table. 

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