348. From 1 Property to 100+: Inside the PMS Powering 62,000 Rentals

**Tim Hubbard** (0:00)
Welcome back to the Short Term Rental Riches podcast. I'm happy you're here again. And I'm happy again to be seated virtually with another leader in the industry.
Today we're with Frank Bosi. He's with Hostfully. He is their Senior Director of Partner Development. He's been with them for years. He's been with their journey as Hostfully has grown to now help us hosts out in the industry, manage tens of thousands of properties. So excited to dive into the details today. Frank, welcome to the show.
Welcome to Short Term Rental Riches. We'll discuss investing in real estate, but with a specific focus on short term rentals. Quick, actionable items to acquire, manage, and scale your portfolio. I'm your host, Tim Hubbard.

**Frank Bosi** (1:00)
Yeah, thanks for having me, Tim. I'm really excited about this. It's a long time coming.

**Tim Hubbard** (1:04)
This industry is just changing so quickly, you know. One of the things that is changing quicker than most things is the technology piece.
And I know Hostfully's been right there. I remember actually years ago, Frank, like long time ago, like over a decade, I was in Canada at a conference, and I was in this breakout room, and I was listening to this incredible idea to have a digital guidebook for our guests. I mean, this was way back in the days, right? And that person giving that breakout session was the founder of your guys' company today, and you guys have just come leaps and bounds from that day. And so would you mind just sharing with the audience a little about yourself and a little bit of background about Hostfully?

**Frank Bosi** (1:51)
Yeah, I mean, a little bit about myself so we can get that out of the way. Prior to Hostfully, I was in the luxury hospitality world. So when you were at that conference, I was working the front desk, working the sales team, and I spent years working in hotels, really just focused on sales, business development, and just building relationships, specifically with our guests because they were high level, high touch luxury hospitality folks.
And what I've really always loved about the hospitality industry is that it's ultimately a people business. Whether you're creating guest experience or growing partnerships, which is full circle. But I remember watching the short term rental industry for years, even at conferences, Airbnb would be at the hotel conferences that I would attend. And it was just so innovative on how Airbnb was, they were changing how people traveled. They changed how operators were becoming more sophisticated. And technology, like a guidebook 10 years ago, it was transforming the space and I was fascinated by it. But I never made the jump because I was doing so well in my hotel career. But then COVID happened, right? So like many people in the hospitality industry, I was laid off when travel just literally came to an abrupt standstill. And that time, it felt like a step back. But looking back now, it ended up being one of the best things that could have happened to my career because that's when I found Hostfully. And I entered the short term rental industry full time, six years ago. And again, I've been with Hostfully for six years. So kind of do the math, it was the first company I came in to in the short term rental industry and I've been here since. And the best thing and what surprised me the most, specifically in this industry, and you touched on it earlier with your presence at the conference and talking about guidebooks and how new it was, it's how innovative and entrepreneurial that this industry is. Like operators are just, they're constantly testing new ideas, they're adopting new technology, and they're just finding out of the box ways to grow. They're much more strategic. And the deeper that I've gotten into this industry, obviously the more I learned, but it's also the more excited that I've become.
And AI revenue, direct booking, smart home technology, and it's so much more than just vacation rentals, which is what I thought about when I initially started. And what drew me to Hostfully in this opportunity, and what keeps me here six years later, is that this industry is just full of incredible people, entrepreneurial mindsets, and it just feels like we're still in the early stages of what's possible for this industry. So, it's that excitement of the con- like, just the consistent innovation that's happening.

**Tim Hubbard** (4:46)
Yeah, I totally agree.
It's exciting that now technology is just leaps and bounds ahead of where it was. For maybe the few people in our audience that haven't heard of Hostfully, most people I'm sure have, can you give us just the high-level view of what Hostfully helps hosts achieve?