After rekindling her love for vacation rentals, Stacy transformed The Utmost Host from a small passion project into a thriving cohosting business managing 40 cabins. With a background in education, business coaching, and a deep understanding of hospitality, she empowers short-term rental owners to streamline operations and maximize success.
Can you tell us a little bit about your history?
Stacy’s love for vacation rentals began in 2007 when she owned a cabin in Winter Park, CO. She enjoyed summers there with her kids and rented it out during ski season. After selling the cabin, she ran a tutoring franchise for 10 years but always missed having a getaway.
In 2020, just before the Covid shutdown, she sold her business and used the profits to buy a cabin closer to home in Broken Bow, OK. As she reentered the short-term rental world, she discovered OwnerRez and realized many local owners were still relying on traditional property managers. Drawing from her own experience managing rentals remotely, she created a program to teach others how to self-manage using technology to streamline operations.
What started as an educational initiative quickly evolved into The Utmost Host, a cohosting business offering owners a hybrid management model. Owners handled cleaning and maintenance instead of full-service property management, while Stacy’s team took care of everything else—listings, bookings, and guest communication. Originally planning to keep it small, Stacy’s business has since grown to cohost 40 cabins and has helped over 250 owners nationwide take control of their rentals!
What is your background?
Stacy has always been passionate about teaching, coaching, and business. She spent a decade as an elementary school teacher before diving into entrepreneurship, successfully running a tutoring franchise for 10 years. She then transitioned into coaching, helping franchise owners grow their businesses and later advancing to Director of Coaching Performance & Growth, overseeing 130 franchise coaches. Today, she serves as a VP of Operations for a franchise brand while leading The Utmost Host, the vacation rental company she founded in 2020. What began as a small passion project has become a thriving business, helping rental owners nationwide succeed.
As for me—Stacy’s husband—I’ve been in hospitality my entire career. Born and raised in Slovenia, I started in upscale restaurants before working as an assistant maître d' on cruise ships, where I met Stacy in 2012. After moving to Dallas to be with her, I continued in fine dining before transitioning to car sales, where I spent five years at VW, loving the challenge of delivering great customer experiences.
When The Utmost Host took off, we decided to go all in. I left car sales to become COO, managing day-to-day operations while Stacy drives growth and strategy. Together, we combine her expertise in business and coaching with my hospitality background to help short-term rental owners thrive!
Are you from that geographical area, or did you move there later?
We live about 2 ½ -3 hours from Broken Bow. I go up there quite often, usually just for a day to get work done on our cabins. It's a nice drive through the country!
If later, is there something that drew you to that area?
Texas is primarily flat and has little natural scenery— even the lakes tend to be brown! So when we discovered Broken Bow, we were blown away. The rolling hills, crystal-clear lakes, rivers, and forests were just a short drive from home. We loved the idea that whenever we needed a break from it all, we could just hop in the car and escape to our cabin in the woods.
What do you love the most about the VR business?
What I love most about this business is hospitality—connecting with people and creating exceptional experiences. There’s something incredibly rewarding about knowing a guest had a fantastic stay because of our care and attention to every detail. Even when challenges arise, I genuinely enjoy stepping in to resolve issues and find solutions. Turning a tough situation around and ensuring everyone walks away happy is one of the most fulfilling parts of what I do.
What do you dislike the most about it?
What I dislike most about the business is dealing with OTAs. When issues arise, they rarely consider the owner's perspective, and trying to get real support from them can be frustrating. Thank goodness for direct booking websites! Another challenge is hiring—this business runs on unpredictable hours, and finding the right people to handle that flexibility is tough. It makes scaling and stepping out of the day-to-day operations harder than in a traditional business.
How do you use OwnerRez to manage your business?
We use OwnerRez to its full capacity! We have all 40 of our properties in OwnerRez. We use everything from the email templates and communications to the OTA connections, individual websites for each cabin, and a multi-unit website for The Utmost Host. We also love the custom fields to keep track of individual cabin information such as passwords, master door lock codes, cleaner phone numbers, etc. We also use the PM for client statements and reports to keep track of our KPIs. We really use it all!
What is the most useful feature OwnerRez offers?
It's hard to pick just one. For me, one of the best features of OwnerRez is the customizable communications and dynamic fields that can be used in almost everything. As we grew, we explored other PMS systems and realized this is unique to OwnerRez. A great example is the rental agreement—guest behavior evolves, and we constantly need to update our terms to prevent issues in future stays. With OwnerRez, it’s as simple as going into the system and tweaking the agreement on the spot. Other PMS platforms require you to upload a new PDF and remap all the fields every time you make a change, which is a hassle. OwnerRez just makes it so much easier.
It's always exciting to see how OwnerRez empowers vacation rental businesses to reach new heights! Wishing The Utmost Host continued success as they elevate their operations and deliver exceptional guest experiences.