FIND THE HELPERS
When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, “Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.”
– MR. ROGERS
The short-term and vacation rental community is made of helpers. Now more than ever, we celebrate them.
Rentals to Rescue seeks support for vacation rentals sheltering Ukrainian refugees
Nearly 1 million people have fled Ukraine since the beginning of the Russian invasion on Feb. 24, according to the United Nations refugee agency. As the Ukrainian vacation rental community opens its homes to those fleeing the war, a group of hospitality podcasters has...
Short-term rental CEO who survived 9/11 hosts Surfside condo collapse families
Andreas King-Geovanis remembers what it’s like to be displaced by a tragic event. When terrorists attacked the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001, the 31-year-old CEO of Miami-based short-term rental company Sextant Stays was a child living with his family in a high...
Top 10 Short-Term Rental Stories of 2020
The short-term rental industry is not about properties. It’s about people, and celebrating their success stories is at the heart of all we do. We started 2020 with the launch of our Humans of STRs series, stories and interviews of those who have changed their lives...
A New Spin: How Stay Local Nashville Saved Short-Term Rental Jobs During Covid-19
In early March of 2020, Stay Local Nashville was thriving. The short-term rental property management company had been on track to manage 200 properties by summer. Then the Covid-19 pandemic struck and the company lost millions of dollars in bookings overnight. “In 48...
Paying it Forward: How Every Dancing Bearfoot Stay Makes a Difference
In November of 2016, Chuck and Cindy Schmidt had owned their Sevierville, Tenn. log cabin for just a month when the Chimney Tops 2 Fire swept through 11,000 acres in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The fire took several lives and destroyed hundreds of...
Local as it Gets, Part II: Stock the House, Stock the Community
Three years ago, Domenica Mastroianni found herself needing a vacation from vacation planning. She realized there was a gap between travelers increasingly turning to short-term rentals and the lack of concierge-type services available to them, so she started Stock the...
Amy and Scott Grant: Giving back to Kauai through their vacation rental business
If you had asked Amy and Scott Grant 20 years ago if they thought they would be running a vacation rental business on Kauai, they might have thought you were joking. At the time, the couple was running a catering business in Lake Tahoe after having met in culinary...
Park City Lodging: A Safe Haven for Utah’s Most Vulnerable
On March 13, Utah’s Park City Lodging temporarily ceased operations as Covid-19 spurred a wave of shutdowns across the country. The vacation rental company quickly saw an exodus of guests and found themselves with none of their usual late ski season business. ...
Angie Leone: Always Something to Give
Like many, Angie Leone found her way into the vacation rental community by happenstance. She and her husband first moved to Maui in 2006 for her job as a speech pathologist. She stepped away from the role when she had her first son, but wanting to stay busy, she...
True North Points the Way in Traverse City
True North Property Management in Traverse City, Michigan is one of the brightest stars pointing the way towards opportunity in the vacation rental industry amidst the global pandemic; offering not only an alternative perspective, but also kindness and compassion....
Manatee County vacation rental owners house first responders for free
When they couldn't get bookings at their vacation rental due to the Covid 19 pandemic, Mike Wilcox and hist wife, Jennifer, hosted first responders instead. Mike and Jennifer had a longtime dream of leaving Ohio’s winters and retiring in sunny Florida. A big part of...
The short-term rental Housekeeper Relief Fund becomes a lasting nonprofit
When the panic of Covid-19 upended the U.S. tourism industry in March, Cliff Johnson’s first thought went to his short-term rental housekeeper and the thousands like her around the country. His care and concern stems from his work as the co-founder of Vacasa. In its...
NOLA’s Stay Redamo Houses First Responders for Free
Chris and Ashley Genard, owners of New Orleans short-term rental company Stay Redamo, were all set to have a record spring. NOLA's festival season was approaching, and their properties had around 85% occupancy scheduled from March through May. That quickly fell to 0%...
Colorado vacation rental managers unite to provide free stays during Covid
Colorado is known for its blue skies, but in recent weeks, the Covid pandemic put a cloud over the Centennial state's tourism. In its midst, a group of vacation rentals managers decided to create their own silver lining. From impacted to impactful With a population...
Chattanooga property managers support laid-off workers amid Covid crisis
When Covid-19 forced Christina and Christian Thoreson, owners of Chattanooga Vacation Rentals, to lay off 15 of their 17 employees, they wanted to help more than with unemployment alone. Two years ago, Christina Thoreson gave her husband, Christian, an unusual...
Bloomington’s Zennia Hospitality and Homeowners Provide Free Short-Term Rentals to Frontline Responders
Both Loren Wood and Margie Schrader invest in their Bloomington, Indiana community whenever they can. So when COVID-19 arrived in their state, the close friends jumped at the chance to help medical workers faced with putting themselves in harm's way. Loren, of Loren...
Missouri Short-Term Rental Host Provides Medical Staff a Home Away From Home
When one of her guests mentioned that medical professionals were sleeping in tents in their garages to protect their families, short-term rental host Tyann Marcink stepped in to help. Tyann runs Missouri Haus Vacation Rentals, a small collection of short-term rentals...
Cancer patients, first responders hosted at short-term rentals in Philadelphia
Patients who undergo medical treatment often need a place to stay where they can be isolated. Short-term rentals in Philadelphia and other cities play a role in filling those needs. Daniele Parker of Richmond, Va., and her husband, Linnie, recently found themselves in...
BRIGHTEN YOUR INBOX
Your inbox is plenty full of stressful coronavirus-related emails. Take a break with a weekly(ish) dose of these feel-good stories.
While we may not be able to see the light at the end of the COVID-19 tunnel yet, there are countless STR hosts and managers who will be bright spots along the way, stepping up to help others like never before.
Every effort to help and every act of kindness matters, from delivering groceries to elderly neighbors, to donating cancellation fees to cleaning staff, to housing medical staff for a local hospital.
Are you or someone you know finding ways to support your team, your neighbors, local medical staff, or others? Tell us about it! For many of these stories, we’ll help get the word out with a feature story here or work with media partners for coverage.
We’re here to celebrate the people of this community and show the world what we’re all about: our passion for caring for others.