Images from SCALE South Africa 2025
Event Agenda
Day 1
July 29, 2025
Day 2
July 30, 2025
Foyet
08:30 - 09:45
Registration, Coffee & Networking
Main Stage
10:00 - 10:30
Welcome
SCALE South Africa visionary Nick Taylor, SCALE Founder Damian Sheridan and SASTRA Director Miguel Martins open up with a short welcome to all attendees and introduction to proceedings for the next 2 days.
Speakers
Main Stage
10:30 - 11:00
Unlocking Local Prosperity – The Economic Power of Short-Term Rentals (Airbnb)
Airbnb discusses how short-term rentals drive inclusive economic growth by dispersing tourism beyond traditional hotspots and unlocking income opportunities for everyday South Africans. The session will highlight real-world examples of economic empowerment through hosting, support for local businesses, and community upliftment. It will also explore how thoughtful policy partnerships can help maximise the benefits of STRs while ensuring sustainable, balanced tourism development.
Speakers
Main Stage
11:00 - 11:30
The State of Play in SA
Insights from the 2025 Host Survey: An in-depth view into who hosts are, what there listings look like and how they benefit communities around them.
Speakers
11:30 - 12:00
Coffee Break
Main Stage
12:00 - 12:45
How to Build a Short-Term Rental Business You Fully Control
Speakers
12:45 - 13:15
The Mechanisms You Need to Handle Guest Screening, Breakages and Damages
Jan Wink from Incompass Insurance and Dean McLuckie from LekkerGuest will discuss insurance and cover for guest breakages and damages. We know that AirBnB covers most damages, but what about bookings from other platforms? How do I cover myself, or my Owner for these issues? What is the worst situation that could possibly happen if I’m not screening guests?
Speakers
Moderator
13:15 - 14:30
Lunch Break
Main Stage
14:30 - 15:00
Profit with Purpose: Building a Sustainable STR Management Business
In an increasingly competitive short-term rental market, profitability is the prize too many operators lose sight of. Rebecca Cribbin shares hard-won insights on building a resilient, scalable STR management business by pricing with confidence, streamlining operations, and aligning your service with long-term financial goals. Learn how to cut through the noise, protect your margins, and grow with intention.
Speakers
Main Stage
15:00 - 15:30
Amplify Your Reach: Referral Program Mastery for STR Hosts
Creating awesome host that work together and not against each other; has guests returning to the area, satisfies their needs and makes the referring host front-of-mind. Identifying your network and incentivising hosts to share referrals, is a win win for everyone.
Speakers
Main Stage
15:30 - 16:00
Future-Proofing Your Business: Succession Planning for Uncertain Times
Shaun will take us through the uncertain times of business succession planning and work through methods to safeguard businesses when faced with trigger events that will require succession. He will deal with elements of succession that are usually overlooked that if they are catered for will provide for a robust business in a dynamic environment.
Speakers
SCALE Stage
16:00 - 16:10
Wrap-Up
Speakers
Breakout Area
16:10 - 17:30
Post-Show Networking and Drinks
Lagoon Beach Hotel
18:00 - 21:00
Fringe Event - Informal Evening Networking Event
At PriceLabs and Guesty, we understand the dynamic world of property management. We’re excited to invite you to an informal, engaging, and insightful event designed exclusively to connect with YOU – the heart of South Africa’s short-term rental and property industry.
What’s in it for you?
🤝 Build Valuable Connections: Network with fellow property managers, share experiences, and expand your professional circle in a relaxed setting.
💡 Engage with Industry Leaders: Meet the teams behind PriceLabs and Guesty. This is your chance to have direct conversations and hobnob with the experts.
🗣️ Share Your Story: We want to hear from you! Express your challenges and triumphs? We’re here to listen and understand the incredible work you do every day.
🎉 Informal & Engaging Atmosphere: Expect a relaxed environment perfect for open discussions and genuine interactions.
🥂 Complimentary Refreshments: Enjoy delicious local bites and drinks while you network and learn.
Limited Spots Available!
Register for your SCALE South Africa ticket to receive your invite.
Foyet
08:30 - 09:45
Registration, Coffee & Networking
Main Stage
09:50 - 10:00
Welcome
SCALE Founder Damian Sheridan and SASTRA founder/Propr Founder Chregan O’Flynn welcome to all attendees to day 2.
Speakers
Main Stage
10:00 - 10:30
The Role That STR’s Can Play in Supporting Growth in Tourism in South Africa
Lee-Anne is a Director in Advisory Services at BDO, where she leads the Management Advisory team. Lee-Anne specialises in providing strategic advisory services to clients in the private and public sector. She has specialist knowledge of, and skills in, the tourism, hospitality, leisure, property and related industry sectors. Lee-Anne’s team at BDO provide ongoing advisory service to the Minister of Tourism and SA Tourism. Her team is currently working on the development of the Johannesburg Tourism Strategy
Speakers
Main Stage
10:30 - 11:00
Agentic AI in Hospitality: From Copilots to Conversational PMS
See how generative-AI copilots already slash manual work in guest messaging, pricing, reviews analysis, and on-site ops—boosting NOI, direct bookings, and upsells—and glimpse the coming year, where an agentic AI-PMS lets you run everything in plain language while autonomous agents fine-tune sentiment and revenue in real time. Walk away with a tight roadmap to cut costs by up to 60 % and deliver the seamless experiences tomorrow’s travelers expect.
Speakers
11:00 - 11:30
The Silent CEO: How I Scaled a Short-Term Rental Business Without Being on Site
Ridhwaan reveals how he transitioned from hands-on hosting to running a high-performing Airbnb business as a remote operator. This keynote explores the mindset, systems, and team infrastructure needed to step back from the day-to-day while still scaling across multiple cities.
Speakers
11:30 - 12:00
Coffee Break
Main Stage
12:00 - 12:30
What Do We Know About Regulatory Changes in South Africa
South African STR Regulation : international trends influencing South African regulators, and what we can expect in South Africa in 2026.
Speakers
Moderator
Main Stage
12:30 - 13:00
How much influence do Body Corporates have on governing Short Term Rentals, and what role does CSOS play?
Discussing legal matters, including Sectional Title rules, Long Term Rental laws and evictions, this panel will discuss what rights exist between the different parties and how us as Operators can handle what can be a very punitive governance structure.
Speakers
Moderator
Main Stage
13:00 - 13:30
Pricing Pitfalls to avoid in the 2025 South Africa Market
Rigid pricing strategies don’t work in a constantly changing market. By aligning your pricing with your market’s seasonality, booking patterns, and length of stay, you can maximize both occupancy and revenue while staying competitive.
Speakers
13:30 - 14:30
Lunch Break
Main Stage
14:30 - 15:00
Beyond the Boom - Europe's Changing Short-Term Rental Landscape
Since the post-Covid boom, the European STR market has seen significant changes – both good and bad. Robin Clifford (Guesty) and Mark Simpson (Boostly) share their expertise on the impact of AI and technological advancements, regulatory changes, local community impacts, professionalisation, data sharing and shifting booking trends in Europe over the last 5 years.
Speakers
Main Stage
15:00 - 15:30
Growing with Vacation Rentals (Booking.com)
This session will focus on how the vacation rental segment can leverage current customer trends.
Speakers
Main Stage
15:30 - 16:00
What Role Can SASTRA Play For South African STR Operators
Using examples of not only STR Associations globally, but also contextualising with other industries, Richard, Nick and Miguel will discuss why industry needs independent bodies and what SASTRA has achieved to date.
Speakers
Moderator
SCALE Stage
16:00 - 16:10
Wrap-Up
Speakers
Breakout Area
16:10 - 17:30
Post-Show Networking & Drinks
Leading STR Tech & Services providers
In Collaboration with
Headline Sponsors
Show Sponsors
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