Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

One Christmas Eve, Ela Mezhiborsky got a call no STR operator ever wants to receive. Toronto Deputy Police had confirmed a known gang member posting Instagram photos with automatic weapons in one of her properties. They were asking permission to raid the place.

What started as a gut-wrenching $20,000 loss became the catalyst for Autohost, a screening platform now protecting operators from an even scarier threat: AI-powered fraud. The same tools making marketing easier are making crime easier too. Voice bots that sound more human than humans. Fake IDs generated in seconds. Deepfakes that pass visual inspection. And amateur criminals can now access what used to require expert-level sophistication.

The worst part? The hospitality instincts that make this industry special (benefit of the doubt, going above and beyond, trusting your guests) have become dangerous vulnerabilities. Your gut feeling that used to be merely inadequate is now actively dangerous.

You will hear:

• How a 4-month fraud pattern across 100+ units went undetected until police called on Christmas Eve
• Why the very things that make hospitality magical create a playground for fraudsters exploiting our instincts
• What happens when criminals deploy voice bots programmed with psychological manipulation to pass your screening calls
• Why AI-generated messages, IDs, and voices eliminate the traditional "tells" that guest support teams relied on
• How objective data points (IP location, form submission speed, credit card patterns) catch AI fraud when gut feelings fail

We also talk about:

• The shift from screening as a privilege to screening as table stakes (similar to payment processing)
• Parenting in the age of AI: teaching kids to use ChatGPT as assistant, not authority
• Why physical conferences are becoming MORE valuable as bots take over digital communication
• How Autohost's internal AI system (AutoChat) uses department-specific agents for everything from sales prep to customer success

Mentioned in the Episode:

• Autohost: https://autohost.ai
• Autohost Blog: https://autohost.ai/blog
• Scale AI Conference (June 2026)
• Zack Kass (former OpenAI go-to-market lead)

Want us to audit your pricing strategy? Get your free, personalized revenue report at FreewyldFoundry.com/report

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Why do airlines charge $500 for a 40-minute flight while short-term rental hosts slash prices 70% at the last minute?

In this episode, Jasper breaks down the three most-asked questions about pacing strategy. He reveals why STR pricing follows the exact opposite model of hotels and airlines, how fragmented ownership forces operators into a race-to-the-bottom, and the surprising scenarios where pacing BEHIND the market actually maximizes revenue.

You will hear:

- Why STR operators cannot take the same pricing risks as hotels with 200 rooms

- How to calculate Market Penetration Index in under a minute

- When pacing behind the market makes you more money (the last man standing strategy)

- Why empty January rooms kill your July bookings

- What pickup rate reveals that MPI alone does not show

- The pricing tool blind spot during demand spikes

- How to set different pacing targets for high season vs low season

Mentioned in the Episode:

- PriceLabs MPI Feature: Available in reports section and multi-calendar view

Want us to audit your pricing strategy?

Get your free, personalized revenue report at FreewyldFoundry.com/get-started

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

You're paying for Price Labs. But chances are, you're not actually using it.

After reviewing hundreds of Price Labs accounts through our revenue management service, we discovered something shocking: 90% of operators are leaving money on the table by ignoring features they already have access to. Not premium add-ons. Not expensive upgrades. Just functionality sitting right there in their account, untouched.

In this walkthrough, Jasper Ribbers reveals the seven most powerful Price Labs features that separate high-performers from everyone else. From the free market dashboard that shows exactly how your market is pacing, to the booking pickup metrics that tell you if your current pricing is actually working, to the comp set strategy that turns spiky randomness into smooth decision-making data.

You will hear:

- Why every Price Labs user gets a free market dashboard credit but 90% never activate it (and what competitive intelligence you're missing)

- How inactive listings contaminate your KPI reports and create false performance data (plus the one-button fix)

- What 7-day and 15-day booking pickup metrics reveal about your pricing effectiveness that occupancy percentages can't show

- When expanding your comp set to include different bedroom counts produces better data than rigid matching

- Which calendar color mode instantly shows if you're pricing higher or lower than your proven last-year performance

- Why the neighborhood data graph matters more than the market dashboard for daily pricing decisions

- How to tell if your comp set is too small (hint: if one group booking can occupy 50% of your market's inventory, you have a problem)

We also talk about:

- The combined listings feature that fixes revenue allocation for multi-unit properties

- Multi-calendar metrics most operators never add but should check daily

- Future occupancy graphs vs. booking curves and when to use each

- Market penetration index setup for different booking windows

Mentioned in the Episode:

- Price Labs: https://www.pricelabs.co

- Freewyld Foundry Free Revenue Report: https://freewyldfoundry.com/report

Want us to audit your pricing strategy?

Get your free, personalized revenue report at FreewyldFoundry.com/report → We'll show you exactly where you're leaving money on the table

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Eric was at an industry event talking to a seasoned operator: someone with a huge portfolio, a brand everyone knows, and years of experience. He asked a simple question: "What are you doing for revenue management?" The answer? "Oh, I use PriceLabs."

Eric asked again: "Yeah, but what are you doing for revenue management?"

That disconnect between having a pricing tool and having a revenue strategy is costing operators with $1M+ portfolios anywhere from $200K to $2M annually. And most don't even know it's happening.

In this episode, Jasper walks through the fundamental concepts that actually drive revenue performance, why 99% of portfolios audited leave 10-40% on the table, and how one skeptical client went from $20K to $68K in weekly booked revenue in just 4 weeks.

[ This is a replay of one of our most popular 2025 episodes while Jasper steps away from recording this week! ]

You will hear:

- Why comparing yourself to market averages creates false confidence while masking massive underperformance

- What pacing actually means and why it's the most overlooked fundamental in revenue management

- How restrictive minimum stay policies block 80% of your potential demand without you realizing it

- Why strict cancellation policies show you visible benefits while hiding invisible losses

- The real difference between booked revenue and stay revenue (and why it matters for measuring performance)

We also talk about:

- Why pricing tool algorithms can't correct bad baseline settings

- The Tesla self-driving analogy that explains pricing automation perfectly

- How to audit your portfolio in 15 minutes daily (the non-negotiable routine)

- When operators should hire in-house revenue staff vs. outsourcing to specialists

- Case study numbers: $117K to $206K in monthly booked revenue in 30 days

Mentioned in the Episode:

- PriceLabs: https://www.pricelabs.co

- Free Revenue Report: https://freewyldfoundry.com/show

- Freewyld Foundry RPM Service: https://freewyldfoundry.com

Favorite Takeaway:

(From an RPM client) "While running cash flow tonight, I was shocked with what I'm seeing. The volume of revenue is ridiculous. Makes me a little nervous actually, like it's a fluke. Pretty clear that what you're doing is working here. I was carefully skeptical and there's no denying the correlation of your start time and our most recent results." - Client testimonial

Want us to audit your pricing strategy?

→ Get your free, personalized revenue report at https://www.FreewyldFoundry.com/show

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Most STR operators want more direct bookings, but they're stuck in the OTA ranking battle, competing on price against every other listing in their market. The problem isn't demand. It's that everyone is fighting over the same search traffic.

Dustin Baker, founder of Hidden Gem Media, has built a systematic approach to breaking that cycle. His team helps property managers and unique stay operators drive discovery traffic through social media, capture leads via email, and convert them into direct bookings with trackable ROI. And his results are hard to argue with: one client with traditional homes in the Poconos went from $20,000 to $137,000 in direct bookings within a single month.

In this episode, Eric and Dustin break down exactly how the social media funnel works, why influencers aren't the answer, and how new paid ad strategies are compressing timelines from months to weeks.

You will hear:

- How to drive "discovery traffic" through social media instead of competing for finite search demand

- Why sending social traffic directly to your booking page kills conversions

- The email capture strategy that lets you attribute direct booking ROI to specific campaigns

- How Meta's ad platform outperforms influencer collaborations for reach and targeting

- Why niching down is the first step to making social media marketing work for your STR brand

We also talk about:

- Which property types perform best on social media (and which ones struggle)

- How giveaways work better behind a paid ad strategy than through influencer partnerships

- Crowdfunding strategies for funding new STR developments using Indiegogo

- The content creator vs. influencer distinction and where to invest your budget

🎯 Mentioned in the Episode:

- Hidden Gem Media — hiddengemmedia.com

- LaunchBoom — crowdfunding platform for lodging and hospitality

- Indiegogo — crowdfunding campaigns

🔥 Favorite Takeaway:

"Views and likes are great, but they don't pay the bills. Having a systematic way to really drive the traffic from social media to your email list and your website and retarget with Facebook ads — that's been the game changer."

📝 Ready to maximize your property's revenue?

Get your free, personalized revenue report at FreewyldFoundry.com/report

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.