August 25, 2026

#199 ​​​​Short-Term Rental Hospitality: What Actually Makes a Great Host, with Jodie Odlin

Jodie Odlin manages quintessential little cottages in the Cotswolds — the same English village where King Charles lives — from her home in Australia, and we recorded this episode. She’s the creator of the Hospitable Hosts book series, and when I asked her what separates someone who simply owns a property from someone who understands short-term rental hospitality, she didn’t name a single amenity.

She named the guest.

“It’s not all about the property. It’s how you make the guest feel.”

Jodie’s hospitality-trained. Hotel management school in Australia, five-star properties around the world. So when she says the property isn’t the thing, she’s telling you where the leverage is.

Owning a property and understanding short-term rental hospitality aren’t the same skill

Jodie noticed something while interviewing hosts for her books. Very few came from hospitality.

They came from teaching, nursing, medicine, banking, and property investing. Capable people, just not trained in the craft of making a stranger feel taken care of.

Here’s the part I want you to sit with. Most hosts answer a soft review by fixing the property. Better linens. A coffee bar. A waffle station.

That’s an amenity answer to a short-term rental hospitality problem.

In my own business, genuinely caring about the guest’s experience and staying deeply communicative wins hands down over any coffee bar. Jodie said the same from the other side of the planet, as someone trained to know the difference.

So the question isn’t what should I add. It’s this: where in my guest’s stay am I absent?

Why more information hasn’t produced better short-term rental hospitality

There’s more free information available now than at any point in this industry’s history. Podcasts. YouTube. Facebook groups. AI. Plenty of hosts are still stuck, so I asked Jodie why.

Her answer was overwhelm.

She described getting pulled into what she called the vortex. She’d been running her business perfectly fine without dynamic pricing and without a direct booking site. She rang her guests. She kept it personal. Then came the pressure to have a PMS, automated messaging, every add-on.

“Just go back to basics.”

The short-term rental hospitality basics that still do the heaviest lifting

Set expectations before the guest arrives. Nurture them through the stay. Invite them back afterward. That’s the spine of it.

If you’re on the sidelines convinced you need 20 things in place before you launch, hear this: a well-furnished property plus excellent communication is most of the job.

I’m a believer in dynamic pricing so you’re not leaving money on the table. But a tool is only as good as the person driving it. Buying it isn’t running the strategy — and that’s true of every tool you feel behind on right now.

You don’t have to do it alone, either. Who, not how. Hire a revenue manager, bring on a VA, or lean on AI, which Jodie uses to bridge a time zone roughly 10,000 miles wide.

The five years of guest emails Jodie didn’t collect

I asked what she learned the hard way. She didn’t hesitate.

She didn’t collect guest emails and didn’t have a direct booking site. For about five years she hosted hundreds and hundreds of guests, and let every one of those relationships live inside the OTA.

It worked until competition thickened and bookings slowed. Then she was dependent on someone else’s algorithm.

She named the trade-off honestly, too: leaning hard into direct bookings can pull you outside the criteria for Airbnb’s Superhost program. That’s a real tension, not a slogan. You still want the relationship.

Now she captures details through her PMS. She started with a JotForm she built herself. Returning guests get 15% off and a packet of English wildflower seeds, because she’s a beekeeper.

Which brings us to the detour.

What a beehive taught her about learning anything new

A woman named Joan in Jodie’s area had lost her husband unexpectedly. He’d been the beekeeper, and she needed someone to take over the hive.

Jodie put her hand up. She didn’t know how to keep bees. She learned from Joan, who was terrified of them — and the bees knew it. Half of Jodie’s job was steady coaching: breathe, Joan, breathe.

Eventually Joan handed over the hive. They moved it in the back of a car, hit a bump, and it split open.

Jodie learned beekeeping exactly the way she learned hosting. Books. Videos. Asking people further ahead. Then doing it.

That’s short-term rental hospitality too. You don’t have to know everything before you begin.

Information isn’t education

This was my favorite reframe of the conversation.

“There’s no point listening to this stuff or just reading the information and then not taking action with it.”

Jodie’s filter is practical: understand your learning style, pick one person you resonate with, and follow her instead of collecting fragments from 40 sources. Then implement.

She also dismantled the idea that you need a big portfolio before you’re allowed to teach. Some contributors apologized for having one property and 12 months in. Another had 350. Everybody had a nugget worth passing on.

I call that knowledge-hacking. Tapping someone else’s experience so you skip the expensive version of the lesson, then handing yours forward to whoever’s one step behind you.

Why being in the room raises your hospitality standards

Every guest we’ve had on The STR Sisterhood podcast says a version of this, and Jodie’s been in rooms with hosts in Australia, the UK, and the US. Same struggles everywhere, because we’re all dealing with the public. But the magic usually isn’t the stage. It’s the cup of tea afterward, when someone explains how they handle something and you realize there’s a better way to do what you’ve done for two years.

That’s the design behind the STR Hospitality Summit she’s hosting this fall at Helen’s property in upstate New York — a former girls’ summer camp. Helen found her way into the book series after showing up with the first book in hand and my chapter highlighted.

No sponsor pitches. Real workshops where you open your laptop and work on your own business. Yoga and breath work are built into the days, because burnout is real in an industry where you give and give and give.

I’m emceeing it. It’s the same reason The STR Sisterhood exists — you make better decisions when you’re not deciding alone.

One day at a time

I asked Jodie for the best advice she’s ever been given. She told me about her dad, who passed away recently, and what he said while she was going through a divorce.

Just go for it. One day at a time.

She’s added her own line since: this time will pass.

That applies to a bad review, a difficult guest, a slow season, and the weekend from hell she’d just survived before we recorded.

Your next step isn’t 20 things. It’s one thing, done well, for the guest arriving Friday.

If you want to be in the room for the rest of this conversation, grab your seat at the STR Hospitality Summit and use the code STACEY for 15% off. I’d love to see you there.

Click here now to listen to the full podcast.

HIGHLIGHTS AND KEY POINTS:

Golden Nuggets:

• “Not everyone understands hospitality, and I think you don’t have to. It’s not all about the property. It’s how you make the guest feel.”
• “If you set it up for success by letting the guests know, set the expectations before the guests arrive in the correct way, then you’re going to have a very successful stay with your guests.”
• “By truly caring for the guests, caring about their experience inside of our property, and also being super communicative with them and treating them like they’re a friend that wins hands down over any coffee bar or waffle bar.”
• “There’s no point listening to this stuff or just reading the information and then not taking action with it.”
• “Sharing one nugget of information can be dramatically helpful for someone who is just starting out.”
• “Being in the same room with other people is a way to really enhance all the magic that can happen just by again empowering someone with education or encouragement.”
• “Just go for it, and just take one day at a time.”
• “Everything happens for a reason. Good or bad, there is an opportunity for us to learn from an experience.”

Connect With Our Guest:

Website : theglobalhospitalitycollective.com

 

Full Episode Transcript:

 

So today we are joined by Jodie Odlin, and it is always such a pleasure to have you on the podcast. Thanks so much for being here. Thank you, Stacey. Thank you for having me. And it’s so fun for all of us Americans to listen to your cool accent. I just have to say, we are recording this at Oh Dark Thirty on your end of the world, which is in Australia. For folks who may not know you, let’s have you start off and share with our audience a little bit about who you are and what you do.

What do I do? So like many of your listeners, I’m a host. I do live in Australia most of the time, but my properties are in the UK where I used to live. And I have little, tiny, cute and quintessential cottages in the Cotswolds. So when you think of movies, think of the holiday, rolling fields and little cottages. And it’s actually the village where King Charles lives. So it’s very, very cute and quaint. So I started off as a host and I still am doing that as my business. But I’m also the creator of the Hospitable Hosts book series, which Stacey participated.

She was in the OG, the first book. And then after that, we’ve just launched the women’s book this year in March on International Women’s Day, which became a number one bestselling book around the world, which was fantastic. Yes, we raised some arms there. And it was a really great opportunity for Stacey and I to collaborate on that book and bring in some wonderful women in our industry. And because… The statistic says that there’s more women in our industry than there are men. And it was really wonderful to celebrate those women.

And so we did that together. So lots and lots of things in the industry. And there’s more to come, which we’ll talk about later. So, you know, I’m curious, obviously, you know, being a host, both of us being hosts, we… have a lot to do as hosts, right? There are so many things that day in, day out, hosts are responsible for. And yet, you had this wonderful idea to start sharing stories from other hosts around the world and really drive education to future potential hosts, right, through the books. So talk to me a little bit about where that idea stemmed from and why you were so passionate about bringing that education to folks who may not have known anything about short-term rentals.

Yeah, sure. So like many people listening, I became the accidental host. We had a property in the UK and which had a little cottage next to it. And we wondered, what are we going to do with it? And we thought, let’s try this Airbnb thing. Now, I didn’t know this whole industry of short-term rentals as it is today existed. I do have a hospitality trained background. I went to hotel management school in Australia and I worked in five-star hotels around the world. And so I just used those skills that I had to pull off a short-term rental.

Now, lockdown happened and things got quiet. I was booked out by the right people that got locked into the UK. So that was good for me. But it did allow me to have time to poke around on the internet and find people just like me and uh actually stacy and i connected and um as it did a lot of people in the industry we got to be able to connect with people far and all around the world and When I started listening to how other people got into this industry, I was really interested that not many people came from a hospitality background, yet we were hospitality professionals.

And a lot of people come in through property. You know, there might be property investors or they have a property, a holiday home or vacation home, as you call it. and they’ve just become accidental hosts as well or they’ve had some life change in their situation and they’ve been able to pivot in some way maybe they’ve lost a partner they need more income whatever it may be and um When I started to connect with people and listen to their stories, I was really amazed at how few people were professionally educated in hospitality.

Now, there’s one thing of having a property and there’s another thing of… being able to host a guest in the right way. So yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That’s actually a beautiful segue because my next question for you is what has that exposure taught you that your background in hospitality, what has that exposure taught you about the difference between someone who simply owns a short-term rental and someone who really understands hospitality? Well, there’s a big difference. Some people are born, you know, hospitable, you know, and a lot of people from our industry have come from those other vocations.

They might be ex-teachers, nurses, doctors, and they are generally caring people. You don’t go into those fields if you’re not. Yet we have other people who are property investors, bankers, and realtors, and they’re a whole different ballgame of people. And Not everyone understands hospitality. And I think you don’t have to. It’s not all about the property. It’s how you make the guest feel, which we hear about that all the time. But it definitely is. You can have a mediocre property. It doesn’t have to be luxury. It doesn’t have to be the best.

But if you set it up for success with letting the guests know, like you set the expectations before the guests arrive in the correct way, then you’re going to have a very successful stay with your guests. The other thing that I’ve noticed that I feel like makes a huge difference in my business is Just communication. You know, so many folks I think get into this industry and they are thinking, oh my gosh, I have to have this luxury property in order to get five-star reviews, or I have to have a coffee bar or a waffle bar or provide a pickleball, you know, in order to get five-star reviews, right?

Yeah. And it’s just not the case. I mean, if you want to do that, awesome. But what I have experienced is by truly caring for the guests, caring about their experience inside of our property, and also being super communicative with them and treating them like they’re a friend, that wins hands down over any coffee bar or waffle bar. In my experience. Yeah, they’re the amenities. But again, you know, it’s how you make them feel like you. And I’m all about setting the expectation before they come and nurturing them through that process.

It takes a lot for the guests to find your property, you know, whether it’s direct bookings, whether it’s on Airbnb or one of the other OTAs. You’ve got to stand out in some way. But it’s, you know, and that could just be with the photos. As you’re saying, it doesn’t have to be with all those extra added amenities. But as long as you set the expectation up for the guests of what they’re going to receive, then they make the booking, then you make them feel welcome from there. And you’re right, Stacey, it’s all about the communication.

Nurture them through their stays, anything that you need while you’re here. Then once they go, you know, again, nurture them again, like we’d love to have you back, you know, here’s my invitation, come back, stay with us again. So, yeah, it is all about the communication for sure. And now we’re so lucky as hosts, there’s so many tools out there that we can do that. But I do think there’s nothing like just picking up the phone. Now, not everybody wants to talk to you. Not every host wants to hear your voice, and that’s fine, but you get to gauge that.

But I do think, you know, we have AI, and, yes, I use AI in my business for guest communication. I couldn’t do it without it, actually, being on the other side of the world. Yeah, yeah, it really does help with the time difference. But picking up the phone and actually having those conversations, especially when something goes wrong, and believe me, Things go wrong. And I just had the weekend from hell where everything went wrong. So it’s at the top of my mind when I’m talking about this. So, you know, you really do have to just pick up the phone and have a chat to them and, you know, you can smooth things over.

And there’s an art to that as well, right? Amen to that. Amen to that. Yeah. And you mentioned AI. I use AI in my business as well. And I found there is more free information available today than there ever has been between just looking information up on AI or podcasts or YouTubes or Facebook groups. And the thing that I find interesting is plenty of hosts… are still struggling though. So from your perspective, why do you think more information hasn’t necessarily created better hosts? It’s like anything, isn’t it? It’s overwhelm. You see all these things.

They’re all the shiny things in front of us and we’re like, we’ve got to get that and we’ve got to do that and we’ve got to have a PMS and we’ve got to have automated messaging and we’ve got to have… all of the amenities and we’ve got to have you know whatever it is but you have to kind of step back sometimes and i know like i’ve been there too like i was running a business perfectly fine i didn’t have dynamic pricing i didn’t have a direct booking website all of that um i rang the guests made it very personal and then i got sucked into the the vortex of I have to have a PMS and I have to do this and I have to do that and, oh, then I can get my rubbish bins collected and, oh, I can, you know, have a private chef and all of those things.

And I think it’s overwhelming for hosts, especially hosts that are starting out. Just go back to basics. Life is hard. Life is good with basics. Right. And I mean, I think that’s a really powerful thing because so many folks are actually waiting on the sidelines, waiting to get in because they feel like they’re not ready because there are all of these twenty things that you have to do in order to, quote, be successful. in short-term rentals. And let’s face it, if you’ve got a property, if you furnish it nicely and you communicate well with your guests, that’s really what you need, right?

That’s really what you need. You don’t have to have a PMS to get started. I’m a huge believer in dynamic pricing to help you not leave money on the table. But I will tell you, the whole… Driving of revenue management, having a dynamic pricing tool is one thing, but you still have to drive that tool. And so if you’re not ready to drive that tool, whoa, it may not be working for you, right? Yeah, yeah, absolutely. And, you know, well, I probably will be shocked for saying this. I learned dynamic pricing or room revenue management from big hotel chains, right?

And what did they do back then? Like we’re talking years ago, but, you know, we used to look at our competition. We used to be able to go into, like you can go into Airbnb and see what your competition is charging and just set your pricing like as starting from that point. But there are great tools out there now that you can use. And, again, you just have to educate yourself properly on how to use them. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. And the other piece of it is I’m all about who, not how.

So if you are listening or watching and you’re like, hey, I am new and I know I need this. proper revenue management, but I don’t have time to learn PriceLabs, you can hire a revenue manager. So the other beautiful thing is you don’t have to do any specific part of this business on your own. You can absolutely outsource and delegate that work to other industry vendors. You can hire a virtual assistant. You can build a team. Or a lot of it, you can also use AI these days, right? Yeah. Yeah, these days you can, you can use AI for a lot of things.

obviously you have to ask the right questions to get the right answers, but you can definitely use it. Yeah. Yeah. And you’re right, Stacey, you don’t have to do everything yourself. Like I know when I started, I did. You know, I was the cleaning team. I was the marketer. I was, you know, learned all about Airbnb. But I’ve been hosting now for 10 years. So even in those 10 years, it has changed dramatically. Mm-hmm. there’s a lot more competition out there it’s how do you get up on the algorithm it’s a lot difficult more difficult so yeah so yeah there’s definitely a lot to learn there there is a learning curve i’m curious was there something that you learned the hard way that fundamentally changed the way that you host or think about hosting today Yes, definitely.

So the biggest one for me was I didn’t have a direct booking website and I didn’t collect emails when people came to stay. So I did rely on the OTAs and it did work for me. But once things started to get more difficult, as in the booking slowed down because there was more competition, I wasn’t doing the right things to keep up with the to keep the algorithm up on Airbnb because really when you have a lot of direct bookings, you wouldn’t be getting, you know, Superhost on Airbnb or because you don’t fit that criteria anymore because you’ve gone off and you’re getting bookings from elsewhere.

So the biggest thing for me was collecting emails on arrival because we want to convert them from the OTA. I hope no one’s listening from an OTA. They must know we all do it. Yeah. Yeah, I’d be banned from Airbnb. But we want to get the email so we can start marketing directly to the get. So we can invite them back as a direct booking. And there’s so many ways you can do that. You can have Stayfi, which connects to your Wi-Fi. You can have a simple QR code which goes off to a JotForm or a Google Doc.

There’s so many different ways you can do it. You can ring them once they’re here and ask them, would you like any information for in the future? So, yeah, there’s so many ways you can do that. But I do really regret that. I probably went for five years without and I hosted hundreds and hundreds of guests. And I didn’t do that. So now I do do it. And I did start off with a simple JotForm, which I created myself and had guests fill out. But now I use my wonderful PMS Guesty.

And, you know, I’m able to get those details through their guest check-in form. And are you, I think you just answered the question, but are you giving them something in return for their email or are you, yeah, talk to me about that. Yes. Yeah, so I invite them back again and they get 15% off the next day. And the rate is already cheaper if they book direct. So and they can pass that code on to their friends and family. I’m I’m actually a beekeeper as well. So I give my yeah.

How did I not know this? I don’t, well, I don’t have any bees at the moment, but in the UK I had bees. And so I love bees and, you know, I champion for the bees. So I would give. We need to talk about this. Okay. Talk to me about the honey, but then we’re going to come back to the bees. Okay. Yeah. So for anyone who booked direct, I would give a packet of English, like, wildflower seeds and they could take them home and plant them for the bees okay all right so I have known you for so many years and I’ve never known that you are a champion for bees or a beekeeper so I am basically like a child who’s afraid of any insects.

Okay. Like I cannot stand… You couldn’t come to Australia then. So what on earth, first of all, makes you like bees, number one. And then secondly, what made you decide to become a beekeeper and actually keep bees? yeah, well, again, on this property that we had, we had some land. And I always fancied, like, I find them fascinating. They really do have a job. Every little one of them has a job in that hive. And they’re fascinating to watch. And I wanted to get a beehive. There was a lady on Facebook in my area who wanted to teach somebody to take over her hive and So her husband was a beekeeper and he recently passed away unexpectedly.

And so I put my hand up and I would go out to help her and she would teach me how to do it. But she was really afraid of these bees. Yeah. bees are like everything like they pick up on that so as we we had all we were all kitted up we had all our kits on but they can still get you through the through the cotton you know so you have a beanie on and then you have your your suit on and as we’re lifting up the lid And you just hear them.

There’s hundreds of them in there. She would just lose control and, like, freak out. So they must be able to. Yeah, they must be able to sense that. So they would just be like on her and start trying to sting her. And then she had an allergic reaction one day where her hand, she got stung here and her hand would blow up. um wow but i would just you know and i used to say now breathe joan breathe her name was joan as we lifted off the thing and they would just they would just buzz around and and then it got to a point when well she then gave me the hive because she just said no more i can’t do it so we moved the hive and that’s another story altogether Wrapping up a beehive, putting it in the back of the car.

We went over a bump. It split. The bees were coming out. Luckily, I had my bee suit on. It was crazy. Oh, my gosh. I would be like, the bees, I’m sure, would be like, girl, this lady over here, let’s go sting her because she looks ridiculous running away from us. Yeah, that’s exactly what it was. And they do, so they will go after you. But if you just stand there and you’re calm, they just don’t. And they’re really, really fascinating to watch and see how they, you know, they’ve got ones who are looking after the queen and her eggs.

You’ve got the ones going out of the hive collecting pollen. You’ve got the ones that stand guard at the front of the doorway so no wasps get in. Like they all have a job and they all have a purpose and they’re a little tiny community. So, yeah. Yeah. You’ve got children. Have you seen that movie, The Bee Movie? The Bee Movie? It’s exactly like that. It’s exactly like that. I really tried to like bees after that movie, but I’ve not been successful. I’ve not been successful. Oh, my God. And they’re like any animal.

You know, you have to look after them. They get here. hot in the summer you have to feed them through the winter because they’re they’re producing the honey to see themselves through the winter right and then we go and take it all so you have to feed them you know sugar syrup and all type of things yeah I’ve actually fed them honey in the winter, like gone to the store and put honey all in their hive. Yeah. That is hilarious. That is hilarious. Who knew? I’m so sorry. We were here to talk about short-term rentals, but we diverted.

We have. Well, it’s interesting. Yeah. But it’s all learning, right? That’s what we’re talking about, education. That’s right. And even with that, like, you know, I’ve read books, I’ve watched YouTube videos, I spoke to people, and it’s exactly the same as short-term rentals, and that’s what you’ve got to do. So if you are listening and you are sitting on the fence thinking, oh, I don’t know if I could do this, just pick up a book or Hospitable Hosts. or um or listen to a podcast and get that information for you and just yeah springboard yourself in there like what can go wrong really yeah just do your best i’m curious from your vantage point how would you describe the difference between information and education, because there are a multitude of ways that we can get information these days, right?

However, education is really what helps us learn and helps us take action. At least from my vantage point, how would you describe the difference between information and education? that’s a really good question Stacey because you’re right there’s so much information out there and I I know like when I started on YouTube watching YouTube clips and you know there was somebody talking about this and there was another person talking about that element and it wasn’t until I was like okay stop let’s just focus on I found somebody that I resonated with And I just listened to that person.

And I used to take notes. But then you have to put it into action as well. There’s no point listening to this stuff or just reading the information and then not taking action with it. So I think that’s the difference between information and education is that you have to understand your learning style as well. Some people like to read. take information in that way some people like to watch videos they’re more creative so it’s finding out your learning style and then going down that path it’s just like school you know we all had subjects at school that we liked and we had ones that we didn’t like and normally the ones that we liked we excelled in and so business is the same really and this you know hospitality and short-term rentals you’ve got that arm of it but then you’ve got the business side of it as well yeah so you know setting up you’re setting up your business setting up bank accounts the marketing the everything so I think you know really um learning well understanding your learning style first and then finding someone that you resonate with like you support thousands of women in short-term rental industry so you must be very likable for one and and you you know you have great information and you’re you’ve done it yourself or you’re doing it yourself.

And I think that’s important too, right? You go to the gym, you want that gym instructor or the person up there to be fit and, you know, because you want to be inspiring. It’s the same as when you’re being educated. You want to look up to somebody who’s inspiring and then you take it on a lot easier. I know that that’s what works for me anyway. And let me tell you, you would not want me being your gym instructor. I can tell you that. Nor me. I think you raised a really good point too, because a lot of people, I think, believe that they can’t share education.

They’re thinking, oh, I only have one property, or I only have two properties, or I’ve only been doing this a year. And one of the things that I always encourage people to do is pay it forward. There is there will always be someone around you who is one step ahead and one step actually behind you. And so look for opportunities to support those folks who are coming up behind you. You, Just sharing one nugget of information can be dramatically helpful for someone who is just starting out. So that’s the other thing, too, is I totally agree in the power of education.

I call it knowledge hacking, hacking into someone else’s experiences, what they’ve learned, the mistakes they’ve made, tapping into those so that I can avoid making mistakes. but then also at the same time being a conduit of information for other people to help them on their journeys. So you can be just starting out and still be helpful in driving education to someone else. Would you agree? Oh, one hundred percent. Like look at the Hospitable Hosts book series to start with. There are five books in the series. When I was interviewing people to enter in and write their chapter, you know, some people did come to me and say, but I’ve only been doing this for 12 months.

I do only have one property. Yet there was people in there which have 350 properties and and then be doing it for 10 years. Now I can tell you everybody had those nuggets to share and they were something different, you know, what they had learnt along the way that they could then, as you say, pay forward to the reader. And that’s part of the book series. The hosts tell their story of how they got into the industry. Then they share tips and ideas of how you as the reader could help could implement into your own business or encourage you.

It’s lots of inspiring stories to encourage you to jump in. And in fact, let me tell you a really good story. So Stacey St. John’s an OG in the first book. And when I was interviewing hosts for the second book, I had this lady who was just about to settle on a property and she has an ex-girl guide summer camp in upstate New York. And she said to me and she came to me with the book in her hand and she had Stacey’s chapter all highlighted and I said, she said, I want to be like this lady.

This lady resonates with me. Wow. She jumped into the second book and was able to tell her story. And now, fast forward a year or so, she is now hosting the next short-term rental hospitality summit. in upstate New York at her property. Now, who would have thought? Right, yeah. And that gives me goosebumps because I think it’s just so special. I remember when I wrote my first chapter, It was, I discovered that writing is very cathartic for me. I really enjoy writing, but I don’t consider myself a writer or an author or, you know, I don’t think about myself in that light.

And you have two books behind you. I know. Isn’t that crazy? Isn’t that funny? It’s how I identify with myself. But I think, again, it’s just you never know the impact that you can have on someone else. So I just want to encourage folks always, again, look for opportunities to help people. Look for opportunities to… encourage someone. I think also the power of being in the same room with other hosts is incredibly helpful. And I know, obviously, you know, I had the pleasure of speaking at your hospitality summit last year.

This year, I’m having the opportunity to emcee it, which is going to be so fun. So fun. So fun. At Helen’s property. At Helen’s property. We were talking about. Yeah. And I think being in the same room with other people is a way to really enhance all the magic that can happen just by, again, empowering someone with education or encouragement. But for you, what does being in the same room with other hosts bring? Oh, I learn so much. And, you know, I have been in rooms with hosts all around the world, whether it’s Australia, the UK, America, and we all have the same struggles because we’re dealing with the public.

We’re dealing with guests. And there’s so many little things that you pick up that people do and that you can implement into your own business to elevate your hospitality, to make your life easier. You know, there’s always something that you can do. And I find like there’s loads of great conferences out there, but not everybody wants to go to a big conference and be in a big hall and listen on a big grand scale. And I know a lot of us in the book series have got together at various events and sometimes it’s, after those events that the magic happens.

It’s the stories, you know, sitting down, you know, just having a cup of tea in the morning with people and hearing about how they do something and then it’s like, oh, I do it like this and I do it like that. And I think that’s where our industry really benefits from, you know, these smaller events that are more intimate and that’s what the STR Hospitality Summit is all about. It’s not a… how can I describe it? It’s not a huge, massive production. We’ve put in a lot of effort into what we are going to be putting on, but we’re not looking at the show pieces and it’s not speakers that are just speaking to you.

We’ve got real education, real workshops that have been planned. We’re so fortunate to have you as the emcee who’s going to be pulling it all together. And we’re really excited about this one because we’re going back to camp. So we’re going around the theme of camp as Helen’s property is the ex-summer camp. I think that’s going to be a lot of fun for us as individuals. We’ve got all the hospitality workshops and education program going on, but we’ve got a lot of fun activities also going on where we’ve… added in some health and wellness into the program so we always as busy hosts or entrepreneurs are thinking about others and we want to you to start thinking about yourself because burnout is very big in our industry because we i think when you give and give and give to people um sometimes it just becomes a bit too much.

So we have yoga in the morning and we have breath work and stretching through the day and just some things like that as well, which I’m really looking forward to for people to participate in. Yeah. I love that it is well-rounded because, you know, as you probably know, I’m very passionate about protecting people the person behind the business, right? And our state of mind, our beliefs about ourselves, our ability to decompress and de-stress, I think is so incredibly important. So I’m excited for summer camp. I’m excited about the whole event.

I have to tell you, if any bees come chasing me outside and I just come grab you, I don’t know if she’s got any bees there. She might have some bears in the woods. I don’t know. Are there bears in upstate New York? I have no idea. I feel like, hey, if there’s bear, all we have to do is run faster than our neighbor. That’s it. That’s all it takes. No, you just make noise. You just make noise and they should go away. We hope. I know she has deer there.

And yeah, I know she has deer, but I’m not sure about bears. I must ask her. So Jodie, if someone is thinking, oh my gosh, that actually sounds super fun. And I would enjoy that. How do they go about getting tickets to the event? So Jodie, if someone is thinking, wow, that event sounds super fun and I want to go to summer camp, where is the best place for them to buy tickets? All right. So just jump onto the website. It’s called the theglobalhospitalitycollective. com/summit. And we’ll put that in the show notes, Stacey, so it makes it easier for people.

Just jump in. There’s questions there that… Oh God, I come late, Stacey, sorry. There’s frequently asked questions. There’s all the information about the summit, all the great people that will be the educators, what the agenda will be. We’re going to have s’mores and real fireside chats. Like this isn’t your big, noisy, drunken events. Like we’re coming to really connect with people and, and educate yourselves to level up your standards in hospitality. So we’d love to see you there. Wouldn’t we, Stacey? We would love to see you there. And to your point, to be able to, hey, sit around the fire and have a chat or do an activity together outside, those are all incredibly impactful things.

To us as hosts, even though it may feel like downtime, it’s really not. It’s really about making sure we get back to our business afterwards in the best way possible, right? So all of those experiences make an impact. Yeah, absolutely. You know, if we look after ourselves, we learn better and then we feel happier when we go back and we can implement those things. But even at the three-day event, we want you to implement some of the learnings there and then. So, you know, you’ll be opening your laptop, we’ll be all in a workshop, all working together on certain things.

part of your business so yeah it’s going to be fantastic it’s not a sponsor-led event as well there’ll be no pitching so i don’t know about you but when you go to an event and you listen to someone and they’ve got something really interesting to say and then it’s like oh and you can buy this you know it’s like oh come on i was enjoying that you know this isn’t there’s no sales pitches here it’s all education You know, my first real estate investing conference, I didn’t know that that was a thing that everybody is pitching something.

And I left there and I was like, I watched people spend thousands and thousands and thousands of dollars in a matter of hours because they went to all these classes and then somebody had a $2,000 course to sell, you know, at the end of the class. And I was like, wow, that who knew that was a thing. That was a huge learning for me. Yeah. And they pay to do that too. Right, right. So we’ve tried to keep it at a very reasonable rate. It’s $300 for three days. It’s $100 a day.

You can bring a partner, one of your work colleagues at a discounted rate. All the information is on the website. So and Stacey’s here and hosting this. So if you put Stacey in the coupon code, you’ll also get 15% off. So you. Yeah. Yes. But we hope to see you there. Like it’s going to be a really fabulous event. And if you’ve never been to upstate New York. It’s absolutely stunning at that time of year. It’s fall. So they have leaf peeping. I don’t know if you’ve ever heard of that before.

I hadn’t. But it sounds a bit odd. It sounds a little interesting. I’m thinking of leaves on our boobs or leaves on our privates. Yeah, it’s where we run around with leaves stuck to us. No, not at all. It’s when you go out and, you know, look at all the different colours. It’s fantastic up there. And the event actually is in the woods. So it’s an outdoor event. Wear your jeans, wear your comfy clothes, you know, a hat, keep yourself warm. It’s going to be fantastic. Nothing has been like it so far.

Yeah. I love it. I love it. It’s going to be a blast. So get your tickets at theglobalhospitalitycollective. com/summit. And again, we will drop the link in the show notes below. All right, Jodie, we’re going to move to the lightning round, girlfriend. Okay. So I’m going to ask you to answer with the very first thing that comes to mind. Yes. First question is, where is your favorite place to vacation? Iceland. know what somebody else told me that recently and i was thinking that is a really random answer why iceland it’s just so different it’s so different and if you’re adventurous and you like a little different either there or japan actually is also very good Yeah.

Yeah. Sorry. Those are two very different answers, but I’ll take either one of them. I love it. Okay. What’s one place you’ve never been that you want to visit? Good question. I’ve been to a lot of places in the world. I did pull my kids out of school for two years and we homeschooled before homeschooling was a thing and we traveled the world. So I would actually like to see more of Australia. Believe it or not, I have seen so much of the world, but not a lot of my own country.

So I’d like to see more of Australia. Wow. That’s a really cool answer. And again, surprising. So I love that. You got to go on a road trip around Australia. Yes. All right. Or through, I’d like to go through the middle. Okay. Okay. Do it. Was that Priscilla queen of the desert? I’ll do that. All right. One thing you know now that you wished you knew when you were starting out in the world of short-term rentals. Just try. Just do marketing. I didn’t know about marketing and how important marketing is and getting that right.

Yeah, that would be, and I’m still struggling with it, to be honest. No, I just can’t. It’s not easy. No, it’s not easy and you need to find the right partner to do it. Well, because I’m not that person. I can do a lot of things in terms of my short-term rental business. I can create great posts and things like that on Instagram, but it’s really the marketing I think that’s where I need to bring somebody in. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Next question. What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever been given?

Ever? Ever. Just go for it. And just take one day at a time. Okay. My dad recently passed away and that was one thing that he said to me. I was going through divorce and all sorts of things going on and I was really stressed and, yeah, my life changed. And he would say to me, Jodie, just one day at a time, And now I added a little bit onto that. I say it’s just one day at a time and this time will pass. So when you’re having a really bad day or you’re with a guest or with your family, whatever it may be that is stressing you out, you just think one day at a time.

And this time will pass. So it’s true. Yeah, it’s true. It’s so true. And I think I am, well, I know I am a huge believer in everything happens for a reason. Good, bad, good. There is an opportunity for us to learn from an experience, even though that learning may not actually be clear in our minds for sometimes weeks, months, or years down the road. Right. with all challenging situations and you’ve had your fair share, I’ve had my fair share. You know, I can look back at previous times in my life where I think that was a horrible time in my life.

yet I can see something I learned from it. I can see, okay, I did go through that horrible experience and here’s how I’m better because of it today, right? Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, one hundred percent. Like I’m not a worrier. So I do have that on my side. I am a person. I think I’m naturally positive. I have a good vibe. I don’t let things get to me. I can compartmentalize things. things very easily. And people ask me, how can you do that? And I don’t know, it’s just, it’s just who I am.

And I know not everybody is like that. But and if you’re listening, and you’re not like that, just think, like, what if it does turn out? You know, what if it does? Not, oh, you know, what if it doesn’t? What if it does turn out? Try and be that glass half full, not half empty. Try and see the positive side because you spend more time worrying about things and that’s not going to help you. No. You know, use your brain power to wonder what is going to be good in my life.

I believe that worrying is one of the biggest wastes of energy. No demand. Because when we worry, we’re actually spending time focusing on what we don’t want to have happen. And there is power in our thoughts, right? There is tremendous power in our thoughts. And so when we focus on the things we don’t want to have happen, We’re taking energy away from focusing on the things we do want to have happen and making those come to life, right? So if you, and there are people that are naturally wired to be worriers.

And so I think untangling that is, you know, a much deeper conversation than just a quick tip during a podcast episode. But I have seen so many people waste their life away worrying. Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. They say, they actually say, neuroscience says that your brain does not distinguish what’s real and what’s not. So when you’re worrying, it thinks that’s the state that you’re in, you know. But if you’re forward thinking and being positive and accepting of some situation, then it believes that reality as well. I don’t know if you know, but I am a kinesiologist as well.

So I know a lot about energy. I know a lot about how brains work. That’s why I was talking about finding about your learning style when you are going to conferences and reading or whatever it may be. And it is so true. Like just… It’s hard. I know it doesn’t come easy for some people. And I’m very, very fortunate like you, Stacey, we’re on the other side of it where it does. But just really try and expand your life and your thoughts to the good stuff. You’re just thinking about the good stuff.

And the good stuff will happen. Amen. Amen to that. I love that. Amen. Okay, last question. What’s one thing and or person that you’re grateful for today? One thing. My dog. Your dog? What kind of dog? Dog. His name’s Buddy. Where is he? Buddy. He’s asleep actually. But he’s always there. He’s always there. He looks at me with his I love you eyes and he’s just, he’s my buddy. So he’s 12 now. We had him since he’s a tiny puppy. He’s travelled the world with us. He actually flew over last Christmas from the UK to Australia and he made it in one piece after 10 years in quarantine.

And, yeah, I’m grateful for Buddy. He’s always there. And what kind of dog is Buddy? He’s a poodle. He’s a ginger poodle. Where is he? Okay, you’re going to get him. We need to see Buddy. Oh, my gosh. He’s just woken up. Oh, my gosh. Yes, he’s lost some teeth. I’ve just woken him up. Okay, let me get my Chi-Chi. Hold on. That’s the Chi-Chi. We got Chi-Chi. We should take a photo of that, Stacey. That’s so cute. That is awesome. Yeah. There you go. There you go. They’re just your, they’re just there for you and they show you the love and the kindness and they teach you to be better people.

So I think having pets is a great, a great part of life. Yeah. I saw a quote one time and this may not be the actual quote, but it’s something along the lines of be the person that your dog thinks you are every morning. I mean, think about when you wake up, I don’t know about you, but Chi-Chi is just like, oh my gosh, I’m so excited to see you. Like you’re the best thing ever. Can you just, you know, come snuggle with me? You know, she is so darn excited to see me either when I wake up or when I walk in the door.

And so be that person for everyone in your life, you know? Anyway, I thought that was great. Yeah. So true, Stacey. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. this is always so fun thank you so much and I’m curious if anybody just wants to learn more about you what is the best place for them to find you online Again, theglobalhospitalitycollective. com. There’s information there about me and what my mission is. And that is to really level up the standards of hospitality in the industry, because I think it’s going to benefit everybody, not just the guests, but it’s going to benefit us hosts.

We’re going to be more of a mature industry. It’ll help us with regulations that we look like and act like a professional body of people. So that’s my mission. I love it. Thank you so much for all you do to improve the level of hospitality. It’s absolutely wonderful. And I know I am super grateful to have the opportunity to support you in that mission. So thank you. Thank you. And you. Yay.

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