{"podcast":{"title":"Behind the Stays","slug":"behind-the-stays-3506810","podcast_index_feed_id":3506810,"rss_url":"https://feed.podbean.com/behindthestays/feed.xml","website_url":"https://www.behindthestays.com/","image_url":"https://pbcdn1.podbean.com/imglogo/image-logo/10635360/BTS-Artwork-1400x1400.jpg","author":"Zach Busekrus","episode_count":383,"summary":"Welcome to Behind the Stays — a podcast that shares the stories behind your favorite boutique hotels, short-term rentals, and hospitality brands and the hosts, operators, and entrepreneurs who’ve brought them to life. Every Tuesday and Friday you’ll meet the military veterans, retired flight attendants, tech entrepreneurs, school teachers, single moms, hoteliers, and real estate investors who are all, in their unique ways, shaping the future of travel and hospitality. Discover how these visionaries — from all over the world — have built stunning landscape hotels in the mountains, designed bohemian bungalows on the beach, erected eclectic off-grid and nature-immersed escapes, and so much more. Behind the Stays is brought to you by Journey — a first-of-its-kind loyalty program that brings together an alliance of the world’s top independently owned and operated stays and allows travelers to earn points and perks on boutique hotels, vacation rentals, treehouses, ski chalets, glamping experiences and so much more. And I’m your host, Zach Busekrus, Head of the Journey Alliance. Alright friends, enjoy the show!","last_synced_at":"2026-09-12T02:22:44.365150+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/behind-the-stays-3506810"},"episode":{"title":"Sponsored Listings Are Coming to Vrbo — Plus What 2,000 Guests Actually Want from Vacation Rentals (and It's Not a Hot Tub)","slug":"sponsored-listings-are-coming-to-vrbo-plus-what-2-000-guests-actually-want-from-vacation-rentals-and-it-s-not-a-hot-tub","published_at":"2026-08-04T11:52:31+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/behind-the-stays-3506810/sponsored-listings-are-coming-to-vrbo-plus-what-2-000-guests-actually-want-from-vacation-rentals-and-it-s-not-a-hot-tub","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/behind-the-stays-3506810","url":"https://behindthestays.podbean.com/e/sponsored-listings-are-coming-to-vrbo-%e2%80%94-plus-what-2000-guests-actually-want-from-vacation-rentals-and-its-not-a-hot-tub/","audio_url":"https://mcdn.podbean.com/mf/web/amrae72wjtkmfand/BTS_3458yjt4.mp3","summary":"Connect with Tim: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tim-rosolio-434b2a98/ Connect with Zach: https://www.linkedin.com/in/zacharybusekrus/ Apply to join the Journey Alliance: http://journey.com/alliance/ — Vrbo just did three things most operators haven't connected yet: it purged 100,000 homes, surveyed 2,000 guests across seven countries, and started rolling out sponsored listings. Put them together and you get the clearest signal yet on where vacation rentals are headed. Tim Rosolio is VP of Vacation Rental Partnerships at Expedia Group, where he leads the supply and host side of Vrbo. He's also a Vrbo host himself. In his return to Behind the Stays, Tim and Zach get into what that survey actually revealed — and it wasn't what the industry has been selling.Quality isn't luxury. It isn't the private chef or the infinity pool. It's accurate photos, verified reviews, a fully stocked shelf, and linens and silverware worth touching. 81% of guests said they'd pay more for a stay they can trust to be consistent. Then there are the sponsored listings landing this summer — a pay-only-if-you-book model that lets hosts buy visibility without gaming the algorithm. Tim explains how it works, why bad operators won't be allowed in, and where it goes across Expedia next. The conversation also covers the \"coach up or coach out\" program behind the purge, why the future of discovery is personalization instead of a star-rating system nobody trusts, expanded distribution across Expedia's 70,000-business B2B network, and the one fear keeping every VRM up at night: owner retention in a market where 2022 numbers aren't coming back.Reach out to Tim on LinkedIn — he's an open book. — Behind the Stays is brought to you by Journey — a first-of-its-kind loyalty program that brings together an alliance…","meta_description":"Connect with Tim: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tim-rosolio-434b2a98/ Connect with Zach: https://www.linkedin.com/in/zacharybusekrus/ Apply to join the Jour…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":2721,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/behind-the-stays-3506810/episodes/sponsored-listings-are-coming-to-vrbo-plus-what-2-000-guests-actually-want-from-vacation-rentals-and-it-s-not-a-hot-tub/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/behind-the-stays-3506810/sponsored-listings-are-coming-to-vrbo-plus-what-2-000-guests-actually-want-from-vacation-rentals-and-it-s-not-a-hot-tub.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}