Get Paid For Your Pad | Airbnb Hosting | Vacation Rentals | STR Revenue Management

With: Jasper Ribbers

Jasper covers the September 2026 portfolio performance update for Freewyld Foundry clients. September was the best month in the company's history: comparable units finished up 37% year over year while the average market was up 7.3%, putting Freewyld Foundry's measurable impact at 27%, the highest they have ever recorded. Jasper walks through the market breakdown, shares which markets were up and which were down, and explains why September showed such strong numbers year over year. He also shares observations going into October and Q4. In addition to the numbers, Jasper shares takeaways from GuestyVal in Madrid, including what the industry is learning about AI in revenue management, what Airbnb presented about visibility and discounts on their platform, and the news that Vrbo is moving to a simplified commission structure similar to Airbnb's. He closes with a personal story: the first time in over 100 Airbnb stays that he left a listing before his checkout date, and what going through the guest-side resolution process taught him. You will learn: September performance breakdown - Freewyld Foundry portfolios up 37% YoY, market up 7.3%, impact at 27%, the highest in company history Why September was strong - Labor Day weekend shifted from August to September this year, and what that means for reading year-over-year data Which markets stood out - Gainesville and San Antonio were the biggest movers; beach markets in the Carolinas and a few Canada markets were down; Kansas City dealing with post-World Cup inventory hangover What Jasper learned at GuestyVal - AI needs human oversight for judgment calls; the consensus is human plus AI, not AI alone; the human relationship will become more valuable as AI becomes more common Airbnb on visibility - flexibility, availability, and discounts are the levers; Airbnb wants operators using their new promotions, and stacking discounts requires a channel markup to protect rates Vrbo commission change - Vrbo is moving to a single percentage model, dropping their fixed-fee plan tier, following Airbnb's commission structure The direct booking share decline - OTAs are gaining market share versus direct bookings this year, counter to the trend of prior years The Airbnb resolution process from the guest side - what it looks like to submit a claim, how the host responded, and what Jasper wishes he had done differently We also talk about: Portfolio count now at approximately 80 clients and growing, with several new clients signing up in September AirDNA data showing US RevPAR up only 3% for the year, coming primarily from ADR Why AI performs well on deterministic logic and data processing but struggles with judgment calls that cannot be expressed as numbers How Freewyld Foundry uses AI to flag price points that have the highest likelihood of needing human review, rather than letting AI set prices autonomously The mold situation: why a quick clean was not an acceptable fix, and what Jasper offered the host before escalating to Airbnb support Mentioned in the Episode: Free Revenue Report: freewyldfoundry.com/report VRMA Nashville October 4-6: Booth 1143, Tuesday workshop at 11:30 AM GuestyVal Madrid, September 2026 Email Jasper: [email protected] Get Paid for Your Pad is the number one podcast for short-term rental operators who want to maximize revenue and run a professional business. New episodes every Monday. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and all major platforms. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

With: Javier Vasquez

With: Jasper Ribbers

With: Frank Bosie, Hostfully