118 - From $120K to $254K in Year One: The Design Strategy Behind the Numbers | Courtney Petrovich

What if the biggest revenue lever in your STR business was not your pricing tool, your channel manager, or your listing photos, but your design? Courtney Petrovich has the receipts to prove it. Matt and Austin sit down with Courtney, founder and principal of Denori Designs, a hospitality design firm specializing in short-term rentals, boutique hotels, and resorts, for one of the most ROI-focused design conversations the show has ever had. Courtney came into the STR world as an investor, not a designer. She sold off long-term rentals in 2023 to fund her first short-term rental in North Myrtle Beach, an eight-bedroom duplex in a complex where no comparable property had ever broken $185,000 in revenue. Through intentional market research, guest avatar targeting, and a design strategy built around golfers in shoulder season and multi-generational families in peak season, she generated $254,000 in her very first year. That result launched Denori Designs, and she has been helping STR operators, co-hosts, and property managers replicate that formula ever since. Here is what you will learn: Why design strategy always comes before furniture and why starting with market research and your guest avatar is the difference between a pretty property and a profitable one, how Courtney doubled the revenue of an eight-bedroom property in a market where every comp said the ceiling was $185,000, what amenitizing actually means in practice and how to decide which amenities have the highest ROI versus which ones are money pits, why she never recommends restaining floors on an investment property and how she thinks about spend decisions as an investor-designer hybrid, how Denori Designs works with property managers as a trusted full-service partner so the manager gets the keys and a beautiful listing without ever managing a contractor, why getting design-ready renderings before construction is finished lets property managers launch listings and capture holiday bookings early, and how Courtney is currently completing Cornell’s Hotel Planning and Design certification to bring hotel-level design thinking to short-term rental properties. If you have been thinking about redesigning an underperforming property or setting up a new one for maximum revenue, this episode gives you the framework to think about it the right way. Slide into Courtney’s DMs on Instagram at @denoridesigns or visit denoridesigns.com to learn more and book a consultation. 👥 Follow The Show The Co-Host Bros Podcast Instagram: @cohostbros Facebook: @cohostbros YouTube: @cohostbros TikTok: @cohost.bros ⸻ Follow the Hosts Matt Codd Instagram: @creativecodds TikTok: @creativecodds Facebook: @matt.codd.3 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthew-codd-9a3761375/ Austin Spitzenberger Instagram: @austin_spitzz TikTok: @austin_spitzz Facebook: @austin.spitzenberger LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/austin-spitzenberger-70481111b/