Planting Seeds: Marcus Räder Reflects on a Year of Massive Growth for Hostaway

In this episode, Alex & Annie are joined by Marcus Räder - Founder & CEO of Hostaway. Hostaway is one of the fastest growing vacation rental management software companies, perfect for those with 5 to 1,000+ listings. They make it easy for you to get more out of your business while spending less time with tedious manual tasks by offering a variety of pre-made software-based solutions. Last time Marcus was on the show, we spoke about what companies really learn as they attempt to grow with investment capital, and this time he’s joining us to discuss where our industry is heading in 2024 and beyond.

Aside from the fact that Hostaway just raised the biggest venture capital round in vacation rental history at $175 Million USD, the reason why we decided to have Marcus on the show again is because his last year's appearance on here ended up being one of our favorite episodes ever. Between the entrepreneurial and career wisdom, plus the technical topics we discussed - the episode was so good we released it twice. And today’s sequel does it justice.

When speaking on the prioritization on what to develop for the Hostaway platform, Marcus reveals that their core philosophy stems from the fact that they need to be an all-in-one solution. There’s too many moving parts in the day-to-day operations of a property management company to allow decentralization, which is what Marcus realized 7 years ago during the inception of Hostaway. The money trail that goes from renter to property owner is a complex route with many stops, which creates quite a few inefficiencies. Marcus draws a comparison to Amazon - the reason why they’re so price efficient is because they remove a variety of steps from the money trail including logistics and wholesalers, allowing for true efficiency to be achieved. This same Amazon-esque philosophy is what he applies to how Hostaway serves their clients.

Marcus speaks on the success of Hostaway being in large part driven by their company culture and hiring methodology. The reason why they’ve been able to achieve more with a team of 150 then their competitors with teams of 5-600 is due to them being zoned in on hiring the right talent and building a culture of winners. To help facilitate this type of environment, Marcus makes sure to meet with every single new hire, even though at times it might take 3 months to get it set up with his ultra busy schedule.

Now that American Express is moving into the vacation rental space with their loyalty program, many speculate on the impact this will have on the market share between hotels and rentals. Marcus brings up a great point that these new programs won’t fundamentally change the thinking of a buyer when choosing between a hotel or a rental property, so no impactful uptick is to be expected from this new program.

Tune in to the full episode to learn more on how Hostaway has become a true staple in the vacation rental management software space!

HIGHLIGHTS:
00:00 Recalling Marcus’s Previous Alex & Annie Appearance
06:17 Hostaway’s Development Prioritisation Strategy
12:42 Approaching Customer Support The Right Way
17:12 Building an International Company Culture Based On Success
23:31 Marcus’s Global Viewpoint On The 2023 Market
29:42 The Impact of AmEx’s Arrival To Vacation Rentals
36:32 Marcus’s Expectations For This Years Conference Season

This episode is brought to you by Casago and Rev & Research!

Connect with Marcus:

Website | Linkedin

Connect with Alex and Annie:

Alex Husner | Annie Holcombe