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.

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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/

What does it look like to build a luxury STR management company from scratch, keep your W2, win a Home Innovation Award before your second birthday as a business, and position yourself for acquisition all at the same time? Carey Antoon is doing exactly that, and this conversation is one of the most grounded and relatable episodes the show has had.

Matt and Austin sit down with Carey Antoon, founder of Overnight Digs, the premier luxury vacation rental and property management company serving Hot Springs and Lake Hamilton in Arkansas. Hot Springs is a unique and thriving STR market, home to the nation's first national park, healing thermal waters, a legendary historic downtown, and the only horse racetrack in Arkansas, all of which draw millions of visitors a year looking for an experience that goes beyond a standard hotel room. Carey saw the opportunity and built a boutique, concierge-level brand to serve it.

Founded in 2022 by three families and fellow investors, Overnight Digs grew from a single investment property to nearly 50 doors in under three years and was recognized with a Home Innovation Award before most companies even find their footing. The brand has become synonymous with luxury in the Hot Springs market and Carey is already thinking several moves ahead.

Here is what you will learn:

How Carey got into STRs after selling out of a franchise business and why he chose short-term rentals over other asset classes for the tax benefits and cash flow, how he structured his management company partnership from day one with a licensed broker on record and why that decision paid off, what it is like to build and grow an STR business while still working a W2 and managing time between two worlds, why Carey calls STRs lifestyle assets and how that framing shapes the way he thinks about his portfolio and his future, how Overnight Digs built a reputation as the luxury operator in Hot Springs and what concierge-level service actually looks like in practice, how he thinks about acquisitions and the possibility of acquiring other boutique STR brands to expand his portfolio, and why he is seriously considering attending VRMA for the first time and what he hopes to get out of it.

Carey also shares his honest take on what it means to set up a business the right way from the start, even when you do not know yet how big it will become.

Find Carey and Overnight Digs on all social media channels at @overnightdigs or visit overnightdigs.com to learn more and book direct. You can also email at Care@overnightdigs

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The Co-Host Bros Podcast Instagram: @cohostbros Facebook: @cohostbros YouTube: @cohostbros TikTok: @cohost.bros

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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/

If you have ever wondered why direct bookings feel so hard to crack, Matt Sharp has the answer and it starts with a lesson from the newspaper industry. Matt and Austin sit down with Matt Sharp, co-founder of Bookings Cloud, a performance marketing platform built specifically for short-term rental and vacation rental managers who are tired of paying Airbnb and VRBO to rent access to their own guests.

Matt spent nearly 20 years as a senior executive at Advance, one of the largest media companies in the country, overseeing the Alabama Media Group and Michigan markets while also co-founding automotive tech businesses Zero Sum and Cloud Theory. He watched first-hand what happens when a platform like Google or Facebook gets between a business and its customers and strips away the direct relationship. He saw the same pattern forming in the STR industry and built Bookings Cloud to help operators fight back.

Here is what you will learn:

Why the OTA model is identical to what destroyed local media and why history is about to repeat itself for STR operators who are not building a direct business right now, how Facebook and Instagram retargeting works in the STR space and why it is one of the most underutilized and cost-effective tools available to property managers today, what the average vacation rental traveler journey actually looks like (71 days of research before booking) and how to use that window to capture demand before Airbnb does, why most STR operators are wasting their Facebook ad budget because they are targeting the wrong audiences in the wrong way, how Bookings Cloud uses behavioral data, pixel tracking, and paid media to drive direct bookings for property managers at a fraction of what OTA fees cost, what AI search and LLMs mean for the future of vacation rental discovery and why building your direct presence NOW is the smartest thing you can do before AI agents start booking travel on behalf of consumers, and why Matt believes operators who own their guest relationships will have a massive competitive advantage over those who remain 100% OTA-dependent.

This is one of the most forward-thinking marketing conversations the show has ever had. If you manage more than 10 properties and you are not thinking about direct bookings yet, this episode is your wake-up call.

Schedule a demo and learn more at bookingscloud.com and find Matt Sharp on LinkedIn.

👥 Follow The Show

The Co-Host Bros Podcast Instagram: @cohostbros Facebook: @cohostbros YouTube: @cohostbros TikTok: @cohost.bros

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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-50481111b/