
He Was Airbnb‚Äôs 13th Employee — And Here‚Äôs What He Thinks the Future of the Hospitality Industry Will Look Like
Meet Justin Hauge, Co-Founder and CEO of Storied Collection — a collection of castles and historical stays across the UK and Ireland.
While Storied Collection is Justin’s first rodeo as a founder, it’s not his first rodeo working in startups.
Back in 2009, Justin was hired as the 13th team employee at a little start up that had just graduated from the most prestigious of startup accelerators, Y Combinator.
And, yes, you guessed it — that startup was Airbnb.
In this riveting and insightful conversation, Justin talks about the 10+ years he spent working at Airbnb and how he helped build the company into the memorable brand that it is today.
Justin also shares:
- The story behind the founding of his new company Storied Collection, from a slightly different perspective than what his co-founder, Michael Goldin shared a few weeks ago on this very podcast
- His ideas for the opportunities he sees to build great companies in the hospitality tech space
- His thoughts on memberships and loyalty programs in STRs
- Some spicy takes on the future of travel and hospitality as a whole.
Have you signed up for Ping yet?
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Meet Zach in Person!
Annette and Sarah from Thanks for Visiting were kind enough to invite Zach to come speak at TFVCONon SEO Strategy for STR Hosts and he can’t wait to participate in this dynamic event.
Zach would love to meet all you listeners in PERSON…so please consider coming to the event. You can use the discount code “BTS” as in “Behind the Stays” at checkout for $150 off any ticket level.
About the Show
Behind the Stays is brought to you twice a week by Sponstayneous — a free, biweekly newsletter that brings subscribers the best last-minute deals and upcoming steals on Airbnb.
You can subscribe, for free, at www.sponstayneous.com.
Behind the Stays is hosted by Zach Busekrus, co-founder of Sponstayneous, you can connect with him on Twitter at @zboozee.
Welcome to the
Behind the Stays Podcast
The stories behind your favorite stays — and the hospitality entrepreneurs who’ve made them memorable.

Episode 341
How an Engineer-Turned-Michelin-Chef Built Epicurate, the Experience Platform for Luxury Stays

Episode 340
This Week in Hospitality: The World Cup Bust, Spirit's Collapse, Priceline is Back, and Aman's Move in the Texas Hill Country

Episode 339
This Week in Hospitality: Uber Becomes a Hotel Platform, TikTok Outperforms OTAs, and Hotels Still Don’t Own the Customer

Episode 338
He DJ'd for Jay-Z and Kanye — Now He's Rewiring Sound for Aman, Hyatt, and Jose Andrés
Recent Episodes
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Episode 341ListenHow an Engineer-Turned-Michelin-Chef Built Epicurate, the Experience Platform for Luxury Stays
Episode 340ListenThis Week in Hospitality: The World Cup Bust, Spirit's Collapse, Priceline is Back, and Aman's Move in the Texas Hill Country
Episode 339ListenThis Week in Hospitality: Uber Becomes a Hotel Platform, TikTok Outperforms OTAs, and Hotels Still Don’t Own the Customer
Episode 338ListenHe DJ'd for Jay-Z and Kanye — Now He's Rewiring Sound for Aman, Hyatt, and Jose Andrés