We believe all hosts, regardless of size, should be able to run like an enterprise operation without losing the heart of hospitality
Happy Guest empowers Airbnb hosts and short‑term rental managers to deliver memorable, professional guest experiences for every stay, every time. Through thoughtful automation, every interaction feels warm, human, and completely seamless—all leading to a happy guest.
Happy Guest’s Leadership Team
Every founder at Happy Guest brings deep, real‑world experience from the short‑term rental and hospitality space. We’ve lived the day‑to‑day challenges our hosts face.
Together, this team combines enterprise‑level technology, big‑portfolio property management, revenue strategy, and guest experience design into a platform that’s built by people who understand this world from the inside.
Michael O’Connell
Founder, Operations & ExperienceMike came from Turno, the #1 housekeeping platform in short-term rentals, where he learned exactly which operational problems break most hosts. Then he founded Happy Guest with his friends.
At Happy Guest, Mike is creating an operational backbone — a system that takes the chaos out of hosting and turns it into something hosts can actually run.
He's also a host himself, hosts Happy Guest Live!, Revenue Rehab, runs the Happy Guest community, and shows up wherever hosts gather.
Mike's passion is making the work of hosting feel easy.
Rebecca Ballart
Founder, Property Management & RevenueRebecca scaled a property management company to 450 homes before exiting. Then she co-founded Rev & Research with Ben — the most in-demand STR revenue management firm in the world. Then she founded Happy Guest with her friends.
At Happy Guest, Rebecca is creating the platform that operators actually want. Disciplined. Guest-centric. Always revenue-focused.
Rebecca's passion is the operator's view — the discipline that turns a portfolio into a real business.
Ben Coleman
Founder, Property Management & RevenueBen founded, scaled, and exited an international property management company before co-founding Rev & Research with Rebecca — the top revenue management firm in the world. Then he founded Happy Guest with his friends.
At Happy Guest, Ben is creating the engine underneath — the pricing logic, the automation, the systems hosts never see but always feel. His experience spans operations, pricing, and revenue across hundreds of listings, and he knows what every operator eventually learns: the systems make the business.
Ben's passion is building things that scale without breaking.
Tim Parker
FOUNDING DIRECTOR of customer successTim came from AirDNA, the leading data and insights platform in short-term rentals, where he created and ran the customer success department from scratch. Then became the Founding Director of Customer Success with his friends.
At Happy Guest, Tim is creating the support experience hosts deserve. Fast. Personal. Obsessed with their success. He leads the customer success team of chat support and listing experts.
Tim's passion is making sure every host knows exactly how to create the most value from their business — from a single listing to a full portfolio.
Kanan F. Whited IV
Founder, Technology & ExperienceKanan spent years building creative systems for companies like Virgin’s Virgin Voyages, Airbnb’s Niido and Natiivo, and Amazon’s Whole Foods. For the past 10 years he’s been creating guest portals for enterprise property management companies. Then he founded Happy Guest with his friends.
At Happy Guest, Kanan is creating a guest experience platform unlike anything in the industry — built to reduce work, drive revenue, and feel beautiful, intuitive, and human.
Kanan's passion: design is equally important as functionality — and he always has an opinion on both.
🔮 Our Story:
Enterprise Tools for Everyday Hosts
Why should only the biggest property managers have access to the best guest technology?
That question is what Happy Guest is built on.
For years, Kanan was designing enterprise-grade guest portals for the country's largest property managers — including Niido and Natiivo powered by Airbnb, the world's first Airbnb-Friendly company. The platforms were powerful. They were also custom-built, expensive, and completely out of reach for the regular host.
Mike was at Turno, the #1 housekeeping platform in short-term rentals, and hosting his own boutique property in South Florida. He'd known Kanan for years, seen the enterprise tools up close, and kept pushing the same idea: bring it to everyone.
So they did. Mike and Kanan founded Happy Guest with their friends.
Ben had founded, scaled, and exited his own international property management company. Rebecca had scaled and exited a property management company to 450 homes. Together they'd built Rev & Research, the most in-demand revenue management firm in the world. Tim had spent a decade with hosts, running customer success at AirDNA, the leading data and insights platform in short-term rentals.
Everyone came together with one obsession: enterprise-grade hosting tools, built for every host — from solo Super Hosts and co-hosts to property managers with hundreds of homes.
Happy Guest is what happens when the people who built the enterprise systems decide everyone should have them.
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The #1 guest management system for independent hosts and operators
✔ Full platform, every feature
✔ No per-property fees
✔ No credit card required
✔ We help you set up
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🛎️ What We Stand For
✔ Enterprise for everyone
The systems the biggest property managers paid millions for shouldn't be a privilege. Security, protection, automation, revenue generation — built at enterprise grade for every host: From solo owner operators to property managers with hundreds of homes.
✔ By hosts, for hosts
We host our own properties. Every product decision gets stress-tested in real life — by operators who run Happy Guest themselves. The community around it — Office Hours, Revenue Rehab, Happy Guest Live! — is part of the product.
✔ Design is equally important as functionality
Most STR software treats design as an afterthought. Happy Guest doesn't. It's beautiful, intuitive, and human — because hosting should make you feel good, not feel like a database.
✔ Always focused
Rental agreements. Protection. Direct bookings. Guest verification. Upsells. Every feature exists to to protect hosts and create a better experience for guests. Protection and creating revenue isn't a side benefit. It's the point.