042: Why Your Rental Business Is Easy to Replace | Rachel Alday
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Why are short-term rental businesses 'easy to replace' and what problem does replaceability create?
Everyone in short-term rentals is trying to stand out. Better photos, better listings, better pricing, more automation. But what if the real problem is not visibility, but replaceability? Because if a guest remembers the house, but not the company they booked with, you don't have a brand. You have inventory. In this episode, I'm joined by Rachel Allday, co-founder of Abode Luxury Rentals, a boutique operator with more than 200 luxury homes across Park City, Jackson Hole, and the Sun Valley. We talked about why so many operators get trapped competing on price, why luxury is not just a price point, how service, standards, culture and direct relationships create real differentiation and why profitability matters more than pure growth.
And if this conversation makes you think about how to become less dependent on platforms and build a business, guests actually remember you can book a consultation with me through the link in the description. This episode is brought to you by Avivo. I have always believed that strong operations and the right technology foundations are critical if we want to professionalize and elevate the short-term rental industry globally. Aviva supports independent hosts and professional property managers with an all-in-one platform that simplifies complexity and drives growth through automation and innovation. Welcome back to STR Global Unlocked. I'm Simon Leeman. Today, I'm talking to Rachel Olday, co-founder of Abode Luxury Rentals.
And I'll say it blankly, most operators are stuck competing on price because nothing about them is hard to replace. A guest booked a house, not a company, and never remembers who they booked with. And I know what I'm talking about. That's not a luxury problem. That's a brand problem. And it's why so many operators stay trapped under the ODAs. Rachel built the opposite. Guests come back to her by name. So this one's about the pain of being interchangeable. What it's quietly consisting you and the first move to owning your demand instead of renting it. If that's you running a thin brand, leaning on the platforms, stay to the end of this conversation. A bit on Rachel. 16 years ago, she and her husband, Rob, became second homeowners, handed their place to a management company and were underwhelmed by the service and the fees.
So they built the company they wished they hired to manage their castle. Today, Abode is a boutique, highly curated portfolio of more than 200 luxury homes across three mountain markets. Park City, Jackson Hall, and Sun Valley. She runs it on one principle. See everything from the owner's side and the guests'. Rachel runs 200 plus. You might run 20. Doesn't matter. The principle she built on works at any size. And that's what we are here to pull out. Rachel, it's a great pleasure to have you on the show. Thank you. I'm glad to be here. Rachel, before we kick this off, we want to do a rapid fire with you.
Are you ready for this? I mean, I think so. Absolutely.
What is the one number you wish you had watched earlier? Ooh, profitability. What should an operator at 50 units stop doing immediately? Outsourced housekeeping.
The last tool you killed and why? Oh, what's the last tool we killed? We were using someone to do, like, calling for homeowner acquisition. So it's not a tool, I guess, but we had someone doing... Service, yeah. Yeah, calling. But wait, a software that we killed. Oh, yeah. Well, this is maybe a service too. We had a certain kind of phone service that was doing like answering. It was with overseas people, but would that count? That's the other one I just tell. I'm trying to think. Yeah, I'm kind of like, well, I'm kind of like sticky on software. Like I don't, you know, we don't add a ton of software quickly. So maybe that's, I have less times that I kill software quickly because I'm stingy with. Great answer.
Yeah. One decision that felt small and turned out to be everything.
Oh, okay. It felt small when I decided I wanted to hire a personal assistant, like an executive assistant. I thought that this was like, oh, I just want this.
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Chapters
4 chapters
1
Why are short-term rental businesses 'easy to replace' and what problem does replaceability create?
0:00–14:25
2
How did Rachel Alday start Abode Luxury Rentals and why focus on a curated luxury portfolio?
14:25–47:56
3
How does choosing luxury properties affect revenue per property and scaling strategy?
47:56–52:16
4
When does growth conflict with delivering a 'small-in-feel' guest experience?
52:16–57:51
Speakers
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