Airbnb Is NOT Dead, You’re Just Doing It Wrong
Wealthy Way
Ryan Pineda
4.9 • 2.2K Ratings
🗓️ 29 April 2026
⏱️ 74 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Ryan Pineda, Brian Davila, and Michael Elefante discuss why Airbnb isn’t dead but evolving into an experience-driven, luxury-focused business, while breaking down winning strategies, market trends, and costly mistakes investors make in the short-term rental space.
Connect with Michael -
https://www.instagram.com/melefante6/
https://www.youtube.com/c/MichaelElefante
https://linktr.ee/melefante6
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Join our private mastermind for elite business leaders who golf. https://www.mastermind19.com
Join free Bible studies and workshops for Christian business leaders. https://www.tentmakers.us
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CHAPTERS:
0:00 - Airbnb “Is It Dead?” Debate
4:24 - Funding Deals & Tax Strategy
10:04 - Airbnb Regulations & Market Risks
15:27 - Best Markets & Growth Trends
17:13 - Biggest Airbnb Investment Mistakes
24:33 - AI, Experience Economy & Hospitality
31:06 - Scaling 600+ Properties System
37:00 - Social Media Driving Direct Bookings
40:05 - Transitioning Into Hotels & Resorts
44:00 - Billion-Dollar Resort Economics
50:00 - Brian’s $150K Airbnb Loss Story
1:03:00 - Niche Strategies That Print Money
1:10:00 - Destination Airbnb Concept
1:12:00 - Final Advice & Investor Mindset
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | All right. I know I've been on the Airbnb is dead train, and today I've got a guy who's here to prove me wrong. He has got 14 luxury properties of his own. They manage over 600 units. They do design, consulting, a whole bunch of other stuff. And today I'm actually going to have him look into Brian's loser Airbnb and figure out how we can fix this thing. I've got Michael Elefonte on. What's up, man? What's going on, Ryan? Thanks for having me. |
| 0:23.7 | Yeah, good to see you thing. I've got Michael Alifonte on. What's up, man? |
| 0:22.5 | What's going on, Ryan? Thanks for having me. Yeah, good to see you. Then we've got the bald guy. What's up, bald guy? Let's go. I'm excited. Yeah, what you think. We're going to see what your Airbnb can do because it is a piece of crap and you've lost hundreds of thousands on Airbnb. So let's see if we can fix it. |
| 0:35.6 | It's going to be fun. When are you going to get a new shirt that says bald guy. |
| 0:38.3 | I need one. |
| 0:39.4 | I need one quick. |
| 0:40.4 | Yeah. |
| 0:40.9 | Bald is bald guy. |
| 0:38.3 | I need one. |
| 0:39.3 | I need one quick. Yeah. Bald is the way. Bald is the way. A good way. Dude, that's good market. This guy's a good marketer. That's a good marketer. So, dude, everyone thinks Airbnb is dead. And I had Robill on here too, and he was talking about how, well, you know, it is dead for a lot of people because they |
| 0:55.5 | didn't level up. It's definitely changed. dead. And I had Robill on here too, and he was talking about how, well, you know, it is dead for a |
| 0:54.7 | lot of people because they didn't level up. It's definitely changed. Is that kind of what you're |
| 0:59.7 | seeing? Yeah. Yeah. I mean, you have to sell the experience all the way, right? So, great design, |
| 1:06.8 | great amenities. And honestly, the bigger properties. Actually, you you know some smaller like couples or big |
| 1:12.9 | there's no in between you can do all right in between it's just that's where the bulk of people play |
| 1:18.4 | um and that's where the bulk of like strong competition is there's a lot less people doing |
| 1:24.0 | six seven eight bedroom properties with over the top of amenities it's cost prohibitiveitive too. Yeah. Right? To be able to do that. Yeah, you were just showing me a property you guys have in Austin, Texas that's like 10 acres that literally has a par three golf course on it. Yeah. Tell me about that one. Yeah. It's a Jack Nicholas design, turf golf course. Three holes, full-size greens too. And I think nine T-boxes. So we're about to |
| 1:46.6 | launch that this month. It also has golf simulator, movie theater, turf, soccer field, pickleball court, |
| 1:54.1 | pool. So when you say it's a Jack Nicholas design, like you hired his company. So I hired a company |
| 1:59.8 | that had did another course for me at Airbnb and there said, we're going to bring a Nicholas design on this one. And so they knocked it out of the park. It wasn't cheap, but it's sweet. Yeah, like, can you say how much it was? I get up to design it. I don't know about the design, but the all in cost construction and everything was like between that and the soccer field |
| 2:18.9 | was 400 grand. Wow. So like when I say cost prohibitive to yeah, nobody's doing that level. |
| 2:25.2 | You can you can outspend people to some extent. I mean, you still have to have an ROI assigned to |
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