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

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 ...

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 ...

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.

Christia...

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...

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 Stephen...

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 port...

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...

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 fastest-growing short-term rental operators, managing over 1,500 units across Germany and Austria. Under his leadership, Arbio has positioned itself not as a tech-enabled property manage...

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 Open Distribution at StubHub and one of the most consequential behind-the-scenes figures in the history of modern travel infrastructure. 

Shaun spent 8 years at Expedia building the early supply networks that m...

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 future of STR belongs to curated supply, disciplined execution, and brand-led trust. After selling his previous company to Airbnb, Christian returned with a deliberate strategy: say no to scale for sc...

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 quality means at scale.

In this episode, Simon Lehmann sits down with Chip Conley to explore how the platform matured from scrappy disruptor to mainstream hospitality player.

Chip Conley is...

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 overload, unclear decision rights, and human blind spots.

In this episode of STR Global Unlocked, Simon Lehmann speaks with Gary Cohen, CEO coach and leadership advisor, about what actually changes in fo...

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 growing operational costs are reshaping the landscape. Demand remains strong, yet it is more selective, more price-sensitive, and less forgiving than in previous cycles.

In this special roundtable episode of STR...

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 analytics, reputation management, trust, and experience intelligence are emerging as critical drivers of decision-making and long-term performance in hospitality and short-term rentals.

Ben brings more t...

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 grounded conversation on what actually makes marketplaces last.

Jon has seen multiple cycles from the early days of short-term rentals, through the $3.9B sale of HomeAway to Expedia, to scaling the larges...

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 is a practical discussion on institutional real estate, operating risk, and why flexible living is becoming a core strategy for owners and investors.

Fred breaks down why legacy long-term rental syste...

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 must change, what they must stop doing, and where time and capital should be focused to protect margin and build durable businesses.

The 6 Decisions Shaping STR Performance in 2026

• Quality of ear...

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, mid...

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.

Rebecca is a former capital markets attorney who left Big Law to build one of North America’s leading online capital raising platforms. DealMaker has helped companies raise more than $2 bill...