European vacation rental is not short on platforms. It is short on platforms that have survived every cycle and kept building anyway.

Johannes Siebers is the Co-Founder and CEO of Holidu, a vacation rental technology company he co-founded with his brother Michael in 2014. Over the past decade, Holidu has raised approximately $200 million in equity funding, grown its host-side business 50 times between 2020 and 2025, and built a portfolio of 60k properties across seven European countries.

What distinguishes Holidu from classical OTAs is its software-plus-service model: a property management system paired with on-the-ground onboarding, professional photography, dynamic pricing, and 28 local teams that build trust with homeowners face to face.

This is a real approach to what it takes to build a resilient marketplace business when the market punishes everyone who optimized for speed over substance.

In this conversation, we discuss:

Why Johannes believes every company must become an AI company, and what the real differentiators are today.
How Holidu's pivot from marketplace to software-plus-service model unlocked a segment of the European RBO market that larger software players consistently ignored.
What COVID forced Holidu to do differently, and why the extra eighteen months of product discipline before scaling was, in Johannes' words, a gift.
Why 20 to 25% of Holidu's current properties had never been rented before, and what removing friction, rather than adding distribution, actually unlocks in the supply equation.
How Johannes and his brother Michael divided responsibility, built complementary roles, and sustained a co-founder relationship across more than a decade of hypergrowth and volatility.
What investors looked for in 2016 versus 2026, and why robust unit economics and capital discipline were always part of Holidu's DNA, not a response to market pressure.
Why brand will matter more, not less, as AI reshapes search and discovery, and why delivering on the promise is the only way to earn it.

Explore more:

Connect with Johannes Siebers on LinkedIn and learn more about Holidu.

Podcast supported by Pikl
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Resources

AJL Atelier – Global STR Consulting [https://www.ajlatelier.com]. Led by our host Simon Lehmann, AJL Atelier is a boutique advisory firm helping professional hosts, property managers, and investors succeed in the short-term rental industry.
Connect with Simon Lehmann on LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/simon-lehmann-8375753b/]

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