How you handle a mistake, a tense moment with staff, or an unhappy guest at 8pm says more about your company than any mission statement ever will. In this episode, Heather welcomes back Rachel Alday, co-founder of Abode Luxury Rentals, to talk about the leadership framework at the heart of her new book, Please Do Disturb: How True Leaders Show Up When It Matters Most, written with her longtime company culture consultants at Tandemly.

Rachel walks through the three commitments: show up, make room, and build belonging. It is a deceptively simple framework, illustrated with real stories from running a luxury rental company, including the anniversary couple whose hot tub let them down on arrival night and what her team did instead of scrambling for a technician.

Along the way, the conversation covers the service recovery paradox, why every guest and homeowner complaint has a thing behind the thing, and how to train a team so this kind of hospitality shows up consistently, not just when the founders are in the room.

About the Guest

Rachel Alday is the co-founder of Abode Luxury Rentals, the luxury vacation rental company she built with her husband Rob. A returning guest (she joined Heather on VRS564 to talk about company culture), Rachel has spent years turning hospitality instinct into teachable systems, working with company culture consultants on retainer and taking her whole team on an annual retreat. Her first book, Please Do Disturb: How True Leaders Show Up When It Matters Most, co-authored with her consultants at Tandemly, publishes November 10 and distills that work into a practical framework for anyone who leads a team.

Key Takeaways

• The three commitments give hospitality a trainable shape: show up (be fully present, not typing while you listen), make room (hear the whole issue before your brain starts drafting its rebuttal), and build belonging (make deeper connection the goal of every interaction).
• The service recovery paradox: a guest who hits friction and watches you handle it well often ends up more loyal than one whose stay was flawless, because the problem created a chance to connect that a perfect stay never would.
• Ask for the thing behind the thing. The anniversary couple with the lukewarm hot tub did not want a repair at 9pm, they wanted quiet time together, so the team set up a private fire pit next door with blankets and spiced cider.
• Homeowner frustration usually has a root cause too. A flood of small complaints may trace back to one stressful moment, like re-entering banking details after a software switch. Find that, solve that, and the rest often dissolves.
• Train leaders first. Teach managers to use the three commitments with their own team, let staff experience it from the inside, and front-line people will carry it to guests and owners naturally.
• A company retreat compresses months of connection into a few days. Even with 5 or 10 employees, Rachel considers it one of the highest-value investments a hospitality business can make.

‍Resources and Links Mentioned

• Please Do Disturb: How True Leaders Show Up When It Matters Most, publishing November 10, available for pre-order now: pleasedodisturbbook.com (bulk orders available on the site)
• Abode Luxury Rentals
• Rachel’s LinkedIn
• Tandemly, Rachel’s company culture consultants and co-authors
• A Complaint Is a Gift by Janelle Barlow and Claus Moller
• The Customer Service Revolution by John DiJulius
• Chip Conley’s Modern Elder Academy
• Rachel’s previous appearance: VRS564, The Role of Company Culture in Delivering Exceptional Guest Experiences
• Episode sponsor: StayFi - code VRSUCCESS for 50% off three months

Connect with Rachel Alday

If Rachel’s approach to leadership resonates, she would love to hear from you. Pre-order Please Do Disturb at pleasedodisturbbook.com, connect with her on LinkedIn, or look out for early copies of the book at Scale Barcelona and VRMA Nashville this fall.

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