Rapid Fire with Steve Schwab of Casago

As we look forward to The Phocuswright Conference, PhocusWire is highlighting a number of conference speakers in a series of Q&As.

On November 20, Steve Schwab, CEO of Casago, will take part in an executive panel focused on the growing hospitality arena.

Below, Schwab shares the challenges Casago currently faces, areas of opportunity for the short-term rental (STR) space and how he uses artificial intelligence (AI) in his work. 

What are the greatest challenges you currently face?

Our biggest challenge is bringing two very different operating models together while staying true to our owner-centric DNA; however, it's a challenge that we're certain we will meet.

We completed the acquisition of Vacasa earlier this year and are now methodically migrating homes, teams and systems into Casago's locally owned franchise structure. Any deal of this size takes grit and determination: aligning tech stacks, service standards and—most importantly—culture, without losing the “boots-on-the-ground” responsiveness and care that owners and guests expect.

At the local level, we’re focused on operational excellence at scale, standardizing property care and revenue practices across dozens of markets as former Vacasa territories convert to franchise-led operations.

Do you believe the travel industry is innovative? Why or why not?

Yes, 100%. What really excites me is practical innovation that measurably improves owner outcomes and guest experience, not just innovation for the sake of it.

A good example is our adoption of Wheelhouse as Casago's enterprise revenue management platform. Dynamic pricing and forecasting are powerful, but we chose a model that still lets local teams apply market-specific inputs—combining data with local know-how. That's innovation that serves the operator on Main Street and the owner down the road.

Operations tech is advancing just as quickly. Our partnership with Breezeway equips franchise partners with purpose-built tools for housekeeping, maintenance and quality assurance—raising the bar on consistency at scale. Pairing best-in-class software with a locally owned service model is how you keep hospitality human while getting better every day.

What is the greatest area of opportunity for the STR space?

Achieving professionalization of the industry while keeping operations where they need to be-local. Homeowners want trusted, accountable operators who live in the community, guests want reliable standards and cities want responsible partners.

We see the biggest upside in converting large, centralized portfolios into locally owned and operated businesses united under a national brand. It aligns incentives, promotes a positive culture, strengthens community relationships and, in our experience, drives better owner returns over time.

How are you personally using Al in your day-to-day work and how do you wish you could use Al in the future?

Al informs decisions, it doesn't make them.

On the revenue side, Wheelhouse's machine-learning forecasts help my team sanity-check pacing and price strategy across the portfolio. Locally, operators can then tune those recommendations to on-the-ground realities. On the operations side, we're leveraging smarter tasking and QA through partners like Breezeway to spot patterns—recurring maintenance issues, SLA risks—earlier.

Looking ahead, I'm excited about Al that surfaces owner-impacting insights faster—predicting when a home is at risk of underperforming, flagging guest-experience friction before it shows up in reviews and summarizing multi-channel owner communications so our local teams can stay proactive without drowning in dashboards.

Who are you most looking forward to meeting at the conference?

I'm looking forward to connecting with Linda Fox, executive editor for PhocusWire, and learning more about her insights on the industry.