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STR Global Unlocked with Simon Lehmann: Unfiltered knowledge for the short term rental industry
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.
STR Global Unlocked with Simon Lehmann: Unfiltered knowledge for the short term rental industry
016: Flexible Living Is Reshaping STR: An Institutional Capital Perspective with Jaja Jackson of ICONIQ Capital
Short-term rentals, flexible living, and multifamily are no longer separate conversations. For institutional capital, they are converging into a single question around risk, yield, and long-term durability.
In this episode, Simon Lehmann sits down with Jaja Jackson, Senior Vice President of Real Assets at ICONIQ Capital and Corporate Development Officer at Sentral, to unpack how large-scale investors evaluate short-term rentals, midterm stays, and flexible living models.
This conversation cuts through platform narratives and focuses on underwriting logic, operational discipline, and why integration matters more than experimentation.
In this conversation, we discuss:
- Why Jaja Jackson sees STR as both an asset class and an operating strategy, depending on how risk and operations are structured.
- How institutional investors assess STR, mid-term stays, and unfurnished rentals through one core lens: predictable income, controlled risk, and lasting upside.
- Why flexible living works only when it is fully integrated into Class A multifamily operations, not treated as an add-on.
- What billions in deployed capital reveal about returns, and why mixed-length stay models outperform unfurnished-only strategies.
- How lessons from Airbnb shaped institutional thinking, and why early lease-arbitrage models broke down without deep operational integration.
- Why brand, transparent reporting, and operational discipline matter more to institutional capital than short-term yield spikes, drawing on perspectives from ICONIQ Capital and Sentral.
Disclaimer:
The opinions expressed in this podcast solely represent the views of the respective speaker. Nothing expressed in this podcast should be viewed as investment advice or a recommendation to buy or sell any security, nor creates an advisory relationship with ICONIQ Capital. Nothing in this podcast constitutes accounting, legal, regulatory, tax, or other advice.
Explore more:
- Connect with Jaja Jackson on LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/jaja-jackson-36832a57] to learn more about ICONIQ [https://www.iconiqcapital.com/real-assets] and Sentral [https://sentral.com/]
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/