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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.
Episodes
39 episodes
037: Will AI Replace Hospitality Teams? | Stone Fish, Vancauwenberghe, Ullrich, Rubin
Book a strategic consultation with me now: https://bit.ly/simon-consultationAI is transforming guest communication in short-term rentals and hospitality. In this episode of STR Global Unlocked, I speak with industry leaders Aarlo ...
The Margin Mistake Killing Most STR Companies!
Book a strategic consultation with me now: https://bit.ly/simon-consultationProfit margins can make or break a short-term rental business - but most operators are looking at the wrong numbers.In this video, I break down the real...
036: How to Build a Business That AI Can’t Replace | Siddhi Mittal
Book a strategic consultation with me now: https://bit.ly/simon-consultationIn this episode of STR Global Unlocked, I sit down with Siddhi Mittal, co-founder of yhangry, a Y Combinator–backed hospitality marketplace scaling acros...
035: The Best Way to Make Money in Property Management | Julie Brinkmann
In this episode of STR Global Unlocked, I sit down with Julie Brinkmann from Beyond to discuss how short-term rental operators can move from simple dynamic pricing to true profit-first property management.We explore why revenue managemen...
034: The AI Shift Most Property Managers Are Missing | Sab Mulligan, Arnon Cavaeiro, Chris Sorensen
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...
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, Simo...
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...
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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 epis...
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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, Unplu...
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 platf...
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...
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 Lehm...
026: What AI-Native Actually Means: Arbio's Bet on the AI Operating System for Short-Term Rentals
Nobody calls a property manager "a software company." Arbio is replacing the traditional tech stack with a single AI system designed to run operations end to end.Constantin Schröder is the Co-Founder and CEO of Arbio, one of Europe's fas...
025: Guests Aren't Googling Anymore: AI, OTAs & the Future of STR Distribution | Shaun Stewart
The biggest disruption coming to short-term rentals is not regulation, supply growth, or capital compression. It is distribution itself.In this episode of STR Global Unlocked, Simon Lehmann sits down with Shaun Stewart, VP of Op...
024: Curation Over Volume: How Landfolk Is Redefining Growth in Short-Term Rentals with Christian Schwarz Lausten
Is short-term rental growth a volume game, or is quality becoming the real competitive advantage?In a market flooded with inventory, inconsistent standards, and increasing AI-driven discovery, Christian Schwarz Lausten argues that the fu...
023: Dependability vs Consistency: How Airbnb Redefined Hospitality Standards with Chip Conley
Short-term rentals disrupted hospitality by challenging one of its core assumptions: that consistency is the ultimate brand promise.But as Airbnb scaled globally, the real shift was not about standardization. It was about redefining what...
022: Why STR Leaders Crack Under Pressure | CEO Coach Gary Cohen
As short-term rental moves from rapid expansion into a more disciplined phase, leadership quality becomes the differentiator.In fast-scaling STR businesses, execution rarely breaks because of strategy. It breaks under pressure, idea over...
021: Is Luxury Short-Term Rental Really Resilient? - Luxury STR Roundtable with Emerald Stay, Le Collectionist, The Luxe Nomad and Nocturne Luxury Villas
Luxury short-term rental has long been viewed as the most resilient segment of the STR industry.But resilience does not mean immunity.Rising interest rates, tighter capital, geopolitical instability, regulatory scrutiny, and growi...
020: Trust, Reviews, and AI: How Experience Intelligence Is Shaping Hospitality and STR with Ben Jost of TrustYou
Reviews are everywhere in hospitality, yet most operators still misunderstand what they actually represent. In this episode of STR Global Unlocked, Simon Lehmann sits down with Ben Jost, CEO of TrustYou, to unpack why guest feedback...
019: Travel Marketplaces That Endure: Lessons from HomeAway to RVshare with Jon Gray
Some platforms optimize for growth. Others optimize for survival. Very few manage both.In this episode of STR Global Unlocked, Simon Lehmann sits down with Jon Gray, CEO of RVshare and former executive at HomeAway (now VRBO), for a groun...
018: Where Real Estate Models Are Converging: Lavanda CEO Fred Lerche-Lerchenborg on Flexible Living, STR, and Multifamily
In this episode of STR Global Unlocked, Simon Lehmann speaks with Fred Lerche-Lerchenborg, CEO of Lavanda, about how short-term rentals, mid-term stays, and multifamily are converging inside the same assets.This is not a tech pitch. It i...
017: Decisions, Not Forecasts: How Professional STR Operators Win in 2026 with Simon Lehmann
The short-term rental industry is entering a more demanding phase. In 2026, performance will be defined by execution, discipline, and decision-making under pressure.In this solo episode, Simon Lehmann outlines what professional operators...
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 ...
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015: Is Raising Capital Like Ecommerce the Answer to Real Estate’s Funding Problem? Insights From DealMaker Co-Founder and CEO Rebecca Kacaba
In this episode of STR Global Unlocked, Rebecca Kacaba, Co-Founder and CEO of DealMaker, joins Simon Lehmann for a candid conversation on why traditional capital raising no longer works for most founders and what a modern alternative looks like...
014: From Road to Air: How Drone Delivery Is Reshaping Last-Mile Economics and Guest Experience
In this episode of STR Global Unlocked, Bobby Healy, Founder and CEO of Manna Drone Delivery, joins Simon Lehmann for a grounded discussion on why last-mile delivery is structurally broken and how autonomous aerial delivery could reshape logist...
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