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VRS657 - When the Calendar Looks Full But the Business Is Bleeding with Sarah Stahl

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High occupancy is not the same as a healthy business. That’s the thread running through this conversation with Sarah Stahl, VP of Marketing at Lake.com and founder of short-term rental marketing consultancy Market Movers. Sarah has spent the last seven years watching operators fill their calendars while quietly losing ground on margins, guest relationships, and long-term resilience - and she’s done being polite about it.

In this episode, Heather and Sarah cover the real cost of OTA dependency, the origins of Sarah’s marketing philosophy through her unusual route into the industry via the US Army and rural tourism management, and the thinking behind Lake.com’s newly launched subscription model. They also get into a question that’s easy to avoid but important to ask: when platforms step back from the booking relationship, who holds hosts accountable? Sarah’s answer is more considered than you might expect.

The conversation closes with a candid exchange on AI - Sarah’s evolving relationship with Claude and ChatGPT, what she’s using each for in practice, and how Lake.com’s early edge in AI search results might be one of its most significant (and time-sensitive) advantages.

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About Sarah Stahl

Sarah Stahl is a marketing strategist who spent 15 years in marketing before landing in the short-term rental industry via tourism management and the US Army. As Head of Marketing at ReTreet Resort, she helped scale the property from six treehouses with total OTA dependency to 21 units generating 93% direct bookings - without spending a dollar on PPC advertising. She now runs Market Movers, a marketing consultancy focused on direct booking systems for STR operators, and has recently joined Lake.com as VP of Marketing, where she is leading the rollout of its new subscription model.

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Key Takeaways

  • More bookings through OTAs does not equal a more profitable business. When you factor in commissions of 10–25%, coupon incentives, and the inability to upsell through a third-party platform, many operators are generating revenue without generating real margin.
  • The accountability concern with direct booking models is real, but Lake.com addresses it by monitoring all communication between hosts and guests and intervening when needed - it is not simply stepping back and hoping for the best.
  • Lake.com’s subscription model offers 0% commission, a direct booking pathway on each property profile, and tiered marketing amplification for subscribers - with portfolio-level subscribers receiving priority promotion and a custom feature story on the site.
  • Lake.com is showing up in AI search results 47% of the time, compared to Airbnb at 42% - a reflection of the technical SEO and generative engine optimisation work its founders have prioritized from the start.
  • Hosts moving from OTA-first to direct booking need to understand that adding a new channel is a different proposition to building a direct booking system. The first step for most property managers is simply to check whether Lake.com is already inside their existing channel manager.
  • AI tools are genuinely useful for marketing operations, but the key is choosing them based on what they actually do well. Sarah uses Claude for data analysis, dashboards, and presentation structure - and notes its visual output as a genuine advantage over ChatGPT.

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‍Resources and Links Mentioned

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Connect With Sarah Stahl

Sarah is active on LinkedIn and welcomes connection from operators interested in direct booking strategy or the Lake.com subscription model.

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Who's featured in this episode?

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