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As a way to offset some of the unprecedented hype our vacation rental sector is experiencing, Season 7 of the Unlocked Podcast is going against the grain...pulling back the curtain...taking off the rose-colored glasses...and revealing HOW the vacation rental SAUSAGE is made.

The theme of the season: Unglamorous!

Running a vacation rental company is not sexy. It's unpredictable, messy, and incredibly hard, which makes the people who do so profitably REMARKABLE entrepreneurs! Across 15 interviews this season, we want to address the unglamorous: steep challenges with labor, operations, finance, personal health, and burnout. \xa0The unsexy side of the hottest sector in travel!

Our goal this season is to build more realistic expectations about what it takes to get the vacation rental job done.

Candid Backstory: The idea for this season was rooted in\xa0guilt.
As vacation rental advocates \u2014 champions even \u2014 VRMB's tendency is to root for the best in everything. And our proudest feedback is when listeners say they felt encouraged or emboldened to continue pursuing their craft. We are your cheerleaders!

But is there such a thing as too much positivity?

Yes!\xa0It\u2019s called\xa0hype.

And over the last 6 months as our industry has recovered perhaps better than any sector in travel, we\u2019ve noticed unprecedented levels of attention and headlines: from journalists, producers, travelers, and new potential owners and managers looking to learn more.

There is danger \u2014 when entering some place new for the first time with the wrong expectations.

If you expect one thing, and the reality is another, you open yourself up to major letdowns. This is true about destination branding too by the way: if guests coming to your destination aren't calibrated, they write negative reviews. We've all learned that experience the hard way.

So inside\xa0VRMB Communities, we started to talk a little more bluntly about how to best champion the industry but to do so accurately.

The best conclusion?

Be real. Tell both sides of the story. Show the truth, when it\u2019s beautiful and when it\u2019s....well...unglamorous.

We've spent the past 6 seasons showing you the most rosy side of our industry (and we\u2019re not about to go completely negative on you or anything) but this season, we want to bring things down to earth and get real. We want to balance out the rose with the dirt it grows in.