26 Vacation Rental Podcasts That Will Turn You Into a Pro

As a vacation rental owner or property manager, you’re probably often on the lookout for tips and tricks which will help improve or optimize many aspects of your business. That’s why you subscribe to the right industry blogs, you belong to all the relevant LinkedIn groups and you follow the leading influencers to constantly build on your knowledge.

But, there is something else you could be doing at any time to further your understanding of vacation rental best practices. It’s something you can do at home, on the go, on your commute or even in the bathtub (if you want to).

That is – listen to podcasts.

In fact, according to statistics by Insider Intelligence, in 2021, the number of monthly US podcast listeners will increase by 10.1% year-over-year (YoY) to 117.8 million. For the first time, more than half of all digital audio listeners will tune in to podcasts each month.

What are vacation rental podcasts?

Podcasts are to your ears what blogs are to your eyes. When it comes to vacation rentals, they are the best audio format for learning about the industry that you can find. They often take the form of a series, centered around specific topics and themes – such as short-term rentals. Best of all, they’re downloadable, meaning you can listen to them offline and from just about anywhere. In short, it’s like having a radio station that you’ve personally curated at your fingertips.

Top short-term rental podcasts to subscribe to

Now that you know what they are, want to find the best ones related to the short-term rental industry? As the industry is growing and changing, there is an increasing number of vacation rental resources readily available for up-and-coming professionals, such as podcasts.

Let’s take a look at some of the most popular podcasts for budding industry experts of the moment!

1. Vacation Rental Success

One of the most well-known podcasts in the industry, Heather Bayer’s Vacation Rental Success podcast never fails to deliver. In the weekly podcast, you’ll find interviews with industry influencers and booming business owners alongside interior design tips, marketing ideas and event roundups. This podcast is bursting with useful tricks that can be put into action right away. Read the useful summaries of each podcast before listening/downloading the ones that interest you most!

What you’ll learn from this podcast:

  • How to get more direct bookings
  • Managing your vacation rental properties
  • Marketing your business to the right guests

2. Get Paid for Your Pad

It’s with good reason this podcast has such a heavy focus specifically on Airbnb – its creator, Jasper Ribbers, is a long-time Airbnb Superhost and his whole website is dedicated to helping other hosts achieve the same success. The Get Paid for Your Pad podcast teaches hosts how to make the most income from their Airbnb listings, all the while providing listeners with actionable tips, Airbnb news stories and personal anecdotes.

What you’ll learn from this podcast:

  • Promoting your short-term rental
  • Steps to take to grow your Airbnb business
  • Boosting your SEO

3. Unlocked by Matt Landau

Matt Landau took a year-long hiatus from his Unlocked podcast and came back with a bang. In this series, he interviews and chats with professionals from different areas of the industry. There is a lot to learn from the wide-ranging experience of his podcast guests, with recent interviews featuring  Megan McCrea, Terry Whyte and Steve Milo.

What you’ll learn from this podcast:

  • Automating your vacation rental business
  • Challenges of property management
  • Growth hacks and secrets to success

4. BiggerPockets Real Estate Podcast

As the website itself describes, the BiggerPockets podcast is just like “grabbing a beer with hundreds of real estate investors and entrepreneurs”. While not necessarily vacation rental-focused, these “casual chats” about the ups and downs of the real estate industry, personal learning curves and talks about how to achieve big results are a great source of information for any ambitious owner.

What you’ll learn from this podcast:

  • Turning your business into a passive income stream
  • How to increase your rental portfolio
  • Long-distance investments

5. Shampoo and Booze

This funnily-named podcast takes its inspiration from the two most frequently left-behind items in this couple’s Airbnb – Shampoo and Booze. The hosts of this podcast are Ryanne and Jay who own a popular rural vacation rental. Through their recordings, listeners can track the couple’s renovation progress, as well as hear their thoughts on long and short-term renting, how to improve rentals and running Airbnb businesses on the road.

What you’ll learn from this podcast:

6. Hosting Your Home

Debi and Rob Hertert are the married team behind the Hosting Your Home podcast. As owners of four vacation rentals themselves, they’re experienced in everything that comes along with opening up your properties for business. While many of the stories are Portland or Oregon-based, owners from all over can relate to the topics discussed.

What you’ll learn from this podcast:

7. The Property Podcast

Though it started from humble beginnings with a single half-an-hour long recording, the Property Podcast now has over 100,000 listeners each month for its twice-weekly sessions. Its contents boast news stories and resources, wedged between advice and discussions regarding all things property investment – including vacation rentals.

What you’ll learn from this podcast:

  • Investment tips in the UK
  • How to finance your property
  • Real estate challenges

8. The Hosting Journey

Evelyn Badia of The Hosting Journey is an Airbnb Superhost who has a lot of experience with the platform. From difficult guests to Airbnb updates, and even general hosting recommendations like “which WiFi door lock is right for me?” – Evelyn can help. Besides this, in the podcast episodes, she aims to answer all the questions that come in on her Facebook group of the same name!

What you’ll learn from this podcast:

  • How to market to your target audience
  • Optimizing your Airbnb listings
  • Tools to scale your Airbnb businesses

9. Sarah and T

Hosts of the Sarah and T podcast, Sarah Bradford and Tim Cafferty, have many years of vacation rental experience between them – Tim even grew up in the industry – and respective portfolios of 150 and 400 rentals. Their podcast is unique in that the topics they cover are specifically for the professional vacation manager. They provide property managers with all the tips, tricks and insights they need to improve their business operations and make it a success.

What you’ll learn from this podcast:

  • How to measure your short-term rental success
  • Industry data and predictions
  • Optimize for increased revenue

10. Slick Talk: The Hospitality Podcast

This podcast takes a broader look at the hospitality industry in general, giving you important insights on how to be a dream host and accomodate your guests in such a way that they’ll be coming back year after your year.

What you’ll learn from this podcast:

  • How to manage a multi-property business
  • Short-term rental technology
  • Property management

11. Vacation Rental Machine

The Vacation Rental Machine podcast, hosted by Jon Bell and Julian Sage, focuses on which technologies you should use if you want to automate your vacation rental business. Episodes aren just 4-14 minutes long and new episodes are released every Tuesday.

What you’ll learn from this podcast:

  • Use of technology in vacation rentals
  • Co-hosting
  • Cleaning and housekeeping

12. Airbnb Investment Properties Podcast

If you don’t have a lot of time to listen to podcasts, David Leroux’s technique is ideal. He’s the author of the book How to invest in Airbnb Properties and a successful real estate investor.

While hosts will benefit from his tips, his podcast is geared toward real estate investors and entrepreneurs who want to learn more about purchasing, renting, or subleasing a short-term rental property.

What you’ll learn from this podcast:

  • How to deal with difficult guests
  • Furnishing your short-term rentals
  • Airbnb investment property tips

13. Thanks for Visiting

You can listen to the advice of this successful duo and their guest speakers once a week. Sarah has a background in interior design and hospitality management, while Annette has a background in business operations. Whether you want to manage your short-term rental business as a side hustle or as a full-time business, the tales, thoughts, and ideas shared by the ladies will help you make the most of your listing(s).

What you’ll learn from this podcast:

  • Marketing and promotions
  • Interior design
  • Secrets of the accommodation industry

14. Short Term Rental Secrets Podcast

Short-Term Rental Secrets is a mentorship and training program for new and seasoned real estate investors. They wanted to help a lot more people so they decided to launch this podcast in May 2020. The podcast, which is hosted by Mike Sjogren, has included a number of guests, including well-known author Julie George and the co-founder of PriceLabs.

Their goal is to provide actionable content to help new and seasoned real-estate investors scale their short-term rental businesses.

What you’ll learn from this podcast:

  • How to start a vacation rental business
  • Investing in vacation rentals
  • Optimizing guest experiences

15. The STRU Podcast

Richard Fertig, one of the most influential figures in the vacation rental industry, hosts STRU. He is, in fact, a sought-after motivational speaker. So, if you’re looking for a dose of positivity and wisdom, listen to his podcast.

The ex-Wall Street Hedgefunder is no stranger to the real estate market. He used long-term rentals to supplement his rental revenue before launching his short-term rental company a few years ago.

We’ve also recommended his Youtube channel in our top list here.

What you’ll learn from this podcast:

  • Tax secrets for short-term rentals
  • How to optimize your Airbnb listing
  • Managing your business during a pandemic

16. The Holiday Let Success Podcast with Elaine Watt

Covering everything from vacation rental events to copywriting, the best apps and tools to building your rental portfolio, the Holiday Let Success podcast is another must-listen for any aspiring owner or manager. Elaine Watt’s UK-based podcast is committed to educating owners to build successful businesses while focusing on sharing industry knowledge and creating lasting guest relationships.

What you’ll learn from this podcast:

  • How to use technology to optimize your business
  • Marketing tips
  • Direct bookings 101

17. The Skift Podcast

Subscribe to Skift’s podcast for insights into the behaviors of travelers. They interview creatives, professionals, and entrepreneurs from all over the world about a variety of topics every week. While the episodes do not necessarily focus on the short-term rental sector, they do provide significant insights about the travel industry that can assist hosts and property managers in making better decisions.

What you’ll learn from this podcast:

  • Trends and predictions about the travel industry
  • Pandemic-related updates
  • Tech updates

18. Vacation Rental Ninjas: A Marketing Podcast

Hosts Paul Hanak, Director of Marketing, and David Thompson, Director of Social Media share their top insights on their Vacation Rental Ninjas podcast. They’ll guide you through social media, PPC, SEO, and so much more. If you want to really get your vacation rental website at the top of google search results then this is the short term rental podcast for you.

What you’ll learn from this podcast:

  • Managing vacation rental social media
  • Marketing FAQs
  • Paid and organic media

19. Bnb Boss

Michelle Russell is a B&B expert, with decades of experience in both the vacation rental and long-term rental industry that she happily brings to the Bnb Boss podcast. She shares her knowledge, expertise and latest updates on all things B&B. Listeners consider it a great tool for short-term rental education without any of the fluff. 

What you’ll learn from this podcast:

  • Post-Covid industry changes
  • Long-term and short-term rental advice
  • B&B industry news

20. Rental Property Owner & Real Estate Investor Podcast

Two powerhouses come together to put on this expert podcast. Brian Hamrick of Hamrick Investment Group in conjunction with Rental Property Owner Association brings us this fantastic podcast to discuss topics, tips, and techniques of becoming a successful vacation rental property owner. 

What you’ll learn from this podcast:

  • Insider tips with guest interviews
  • Vacation rental real estate
  • Techniques for investment

21. Short Term Rental Riches

Host, Tim Hubbard is a successful investor and CEO of a seven-figure short term rental management company who shares all his tips and tricks for operating and growing a vacation rental business. His podcast draws from his own personal experiences as an owner and entrepreneur.

What you’ll learn from this podcast:

  • How to scale your vacation rental business
  • Making smart vacation rental investments
  • Vacation rental operations

22. The no BS short-term rental podcast

This podcast takes short-term rental to the international level. By looking at the vacation rental industry at the global scale, you’ll have a holistic view of all the news and updates affecting the industry.

What you’ll learn from this podcast:

  • International vacation rental industry
  • Short-term rental news
  • Best policies and practices

23. Vacation Rental Revolution Podcast

This podcast gives you a little taste of an array of topics related to the vacation rental industry. Real estate professional, Shawn Moore, covers acquisition, legal, finance, management & much more to give you the most well-rounded knowledge on the market

What you’ll learn from this podcast:

  • Legal advice for vacation rentals
  • Finance news
  • Property management tips

24. The Short Term Rental Profits Show

The show’s host, Jason Hartman, talks about all things money and what will give you real results and profit. He brings years of experience to the industry and shares all the best kept secrets to the podcast. This is knowledge-packed podcasts, mixed with interviews from other experts in the industry.

What you’ll learn from this podcast:

  • Managing vacation rental finances
  • How to maximize your profits
  • Investment tips and tricks

25. Airbnb Entrepreneur Successes Revealed

This is the Airbnb podcast you’ve been waiting for. A lot of people ask if Airbnb has a podcast, while the answer is no, Rachel Prince gives you everything you need to know about hosting and running an Airbnb business. The successes of an Airbnb are not necessarily the same as the vacation rental industry at large, and Prince is here to help you understand the specifics of being a profitable host.

What you’ll learn from this podcast:

  • Successful Airbnb hosting
  • Listing on OTAs
  • Pricing and rates

 

26. Alex and Annie – The Real Women of Vacation Rentals

With more than 35 years of combined experience in vacation rentals, Alex Husner and Annie Holcombe have teamed up to create the podcast Alex & Annie: The Real Women of Vacation Rentals. Together, they tell the stories behind the people and brands that have built vacation rentals into the 100 billion dollar industry it is today.

 

What you’ll learn from this podcast:

  • Real stories about people behind brands
  • Vacation rental advice and lessons learned
  • Industry trends

 


Which vacation rental podcasts do you listen to? If we’ve missed any of your favorites that deserve a mention here, let us know in the comments!


What do you think about this article?

5/5 - (4 votes)
Show Comments (2)
  1. Thank you so much for including me in this list. When I started, the Vacation Rental Success Podcast was the only one in this space and I am delighted the list has grown so much. This industry definitely needs these independent resources as it grows and goes through some challenging phases. I’d like to see more travel related podcasts developed by VR enthusiasts that focus on the experience the traveler can have in different locations.

  2. Recommend adding the Vacation Home Help Podcast. They help owners who want to ‘DIY’ and self-manage without a manager.

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Ready to take more direct bookings?

No set up fees, no credit card details, no obligation. Try Lodgify free for 7 days.