In this episode, Heather sits down with returning guest Ali Cammelletti, a hospitality consultant, speaker, and the founder of Spark Your Mindset. With more than 30 years of experience in hospitality, Ali brings powerful insights into how soft skills - like empathy, emotional intelligence, and communication - can make or break a vacation rental business.

While software training and hard skills often dominate onboarding and development, Ali makes the case for why soft skills are just as essential across every role in a short-term rental company - from the cleaners to the C-suite.

Whether you’re leading a remote team, onboarding new hires, or managing a growing portfolio, you’ll walk away from this episode with a deeper understanding of where emotional intelligence fits in, how to recognize soft skill gaps, and practical ways to start coaching your team - even if you’ve never thought of yourself as a coach.

🧠 What You'll Learn

• The difference between soft and hard skills, and why soft skills are often harder to teach
• Why empathy and emotional awareness are the foundation of great guest experiences
• How to spot the signs of poor communication before it becomes a guest complaint
• How to respond to frustrated guests with connection instead of correction
• Tools and strategies to begin developing a coaching mindset within your team
• The power of self-scoring and reflection in frontline training

🛠️ Tools & Resources Mentioned

• Emotional Intelligence frameworks and training
• Empathy statements and self-assessment tools
• Soft skills call scoring for frontline staff
• Brené Brown on emotional intelligence and vulnerability
• John DiJulius’ Customer Service Revolution

👤 About Our Guest

Ali Cammelletti is a coach, speaker, and founder of Spark Your Mindset. With three decades in the hospitality industry, she now focuses on empowering leaders, managers, and frontline teams with the emotional intelligence and communication tools they need to create exceptional service and strong team culture.

Connect with Ali:

• Website: https://www.sparkyourmindset.com
• LinkedIn: Ali Cammelletti on LinkedIn

🔗 Links & More

• Explore more episodes: Vacation Rental Success Podcast
• Want help building better teams? Check out our THRIVE Training System inside the Vacation Rental Formula Business School
• Follow us on Instagram: @VacationRentalFormula

📣 Like What You Heard?

Subscribe, leave us a review, and share this episode with your team or industry peers. Every share helps us continue to bring valuable, actionable conversations to the short-term rental community.

📣 Midroll Sponsor: STRAIT Chat & the AI Ambassador Program

This episode is brought to you in part by the STRAIT Chat Community - an exclusive space for short-term rental pros who want deeper conversations, smarter systems, and more collaborative learning.

And if you're curious about using AI in your business - whether it's for guest communication, operations, or even marketing - check out our AI Ambassador Program. It's designed to help you learn, lead, and get hands-on with the tools shaping the future of hospitality.

🌐 Learn more and join us at VacationRentalFormula.com/AI‍

‍