Escapia names Joel Schoen general manager, with a modernization brief

Escapia has a new general manager. Joel Schoen, most recently chief executive of the vacation rental software company CiiRUS, now runs strategy, operations and product direction at the Expedia Group-owned property management system. Expedia Group published the appointment on 30 September.

Escapia has been selling to vacation rental managers since 2000. For the ones still running their business on it, the question is what he does with it.

Who he is

Schoen brings around 20 years in vacation rentals and hospitality. He started in mergers and acquisitions after business school, then led real estate operations at Abercrombie and Kent while building a global vacation property portfolio, visiting more than 5,000 properties along the way.

From there he launched property management companies, started an online travel agency, built homeowner tools, and created vacation rental brands for Choice Hotels and Marriott. He has also held leadership roles at BookingPal and Luxury Retreats, and was a principal at STR Ventures Group. At CiiRUS he ran the hospitality technology platform and the Love Rentals business.

That is an unusually operator-heavy resume for a PMS general manager. He has run the properties, the management company and the software.

Tim Rosolio, Expedia Group's vice president of vacation rental partnerships, said Schoen's operational experience "will help shape the platform's next phase of growth".

What he says he will do

The stated priorities, in his own order:

Listen to customers and improve the existing tools so they do what customers need. "Our first priority is to listen closely to customers and improve the tools we already have so they fully meet their needs," Schoen said.

Strengthen partnerships so Escapia becomes "a seamless part of their broader tech stack".

Then, further out, explore AI and modernize the user interface. "We want to make the platform even more intuitive and approachable for customers," he said.

"Escapia has earned its reputation by listening to operators and building technology they can rely on," he said.

Reading between the lines

Fix what exists before shipping anything new is a telling first priority, and modernizing the interface is on the list at all. Escapia launched in 2000 and its age shows in the product. Both statements are, politely, an acknowledgement that the platform has fallen behind newer competitors on usability.

Neither Expedia Group nor Schoen named a timeline, a roadmap item, or who he replaces. There is no commitment here, only a direction.

The partnership point is the one with near-term substance. Escapia connects to more than 75 technology and distribution partners, and it has been part of Expedia Group since the HomeAway acquisition in 2015. Deeper integration work is the kind of thing a new general manager can actually deliver inside a year.

What it means for Escapia customers

If you run on Escapia, this is a reason to put your requests in front of the new leadership now rather than later. A general manager who opens by saying the first job is listening is at his most receptive in the first quarter.

If you are evaluating Escapia against Track, Streamline or Hostaway, note that a modernization brief is a promise of future work, not a shipped product. Ask what lands in the next two quarters and ask for dates.