Kaye Putnam is the Head of Marketing and Brand Strategy at Freewyld and Freewyld Foundry, where she leads initiatives to increase brand awareness and help STR operators build direct booking engines that reduce dependence on OTAs.
Kaye brings a unique perspective to marketing in the short-term rental industry. Her approach combines psychology-driven brand strategy with practical marketing tactics that deliver measurable results. She understands that successful STR marketing isn’t just about visibility, it’s about creating emotional connections with potential guests that turn browsers into bookers.
One of Kaye’s core focuses is helping STR operators build sustainable direct booking channels. Her strategies include:
At Freewyld (the luxury STR brand), Kaye has implemented marketing strategies that have helped make it a top-performing property. Her hands-on experience operating and marketing actual STR properties gives her practical insight into what works in the real world.
Kaye regularly shares her expertise on the Get Paid for Your Pad podcast, covering topics including:
Kaye believes that the most successful STR operators treat their properties as brands, not just listings. Her approach emphasizes:
“Direct bookings aren’t just about saving on OTA fees, they’re about building a relationship with your guests that turns one-time visitors into lifelong fans.”
Before joining Freewyld Foundry, Kaye built her reputation as a psychology-driven brand strategist, working with entrepreneurs and businesses to clarify their brand positioning and messaging. She brings this expertise to the STR industry, helping operators stand out in an increasingly competitive market.
Her work combines creative marketing thinking with data-driven decision making, ensuring that marketing investments deliver measurable returns.
When not developing marketing strategies, Kaye enjoys exploring unique hospitality experiences and staying current with the latest trends in digital marketing and consumer psychology.
In this episode of Get Paid For Your Pad, Kaye Putnam (Head of Marketing at Freewyld and Freewyld Foundry) sits down with Eric Moeller, CEO of Freewyld and Freewyld Foundry, to break down what separates 4.9-star portfolios from the rest of the market. After Brian Chesky announced at the Airbnb Host Summit that the platform is moving toward incentivizing high-rated professional hosts and devaluing operators below 4.9, the stakes have never been higher. If you are an STR operator who wants to scale without sacrificing guest experience, earn higher ratings across a large portfolio, and understand exactly what drives five-star reviews at scale, this episode is essential. Kaye analyzed hundreds of 4.9-rated Airbnb listings to identify the four core attributes guests consistently call out after their stay. Eric shares real examples from Freewyld, their RPM clients managing hundreds of properties at 4.97, and the systems that make unreasonable hospitality scalable.
In this episode of Get Paid For Your Pad, Kaye Putnam (Head of Marketing at Freewyld and Freewyld Foundry) sits down with Joe Prillaman, co-founder of Host Help, to unpack how a sudden hurricane wiped out nearly one-third of his STR portfolio in just two weeks, and why that crisis became the catalyst for scaling a professional short-term rental management company to nearly 70 properties. Joe shares the real story behind losing properties, facing fixed mortgages and team overhead, and making the hard decision to pivot from self-managing his own portfolio to managing homes for other owners. This conversation dives into the operational, emotional, and strategic realities of scaling an STR management business under pressure, without sacrificing quality, reviews, or long-term vision. If you are an STR operator or property manager navigating growth, team expansion, operational complexity, or unexpected disruptions, this episode offers practical insight into what actually breaks as portfolios scale, and what systems matter most to rebuild stronger.
In this episode of Get Paid For Your Pad, Kaye Putnam (Head of Marketing at Freewyld and Freewyld Foundry) sits down with Troy Daily, CEO of Elevated Stays, to unpack what it actually takes to scale a short-term rental portfolio past 100 units without losing quality, control, or brand integrity. Operating in a highly seasonal market like Traverse City, Troy shares the operational decisions, leadership shifts, and system investments behind his growth from a small portfolio to managing more than 100 STR units. If you are an STR operator scaling quickly or planning to grow beyond 20, 50, or even 100 units, this episode is essential. Troy walks through the real challenges of growth: hiring the right people, building operational structure, maintaining quality standards, aligning with the right owners, and knowing when to say no to properties that don’t fit the brand. This conversation goes far beyond surface-level growth tactics and into what sustainable scale actually looks like. Get your free, personalized revenue report at FreewyldFoundry.com/report.
In this episode of Get Paid For Your Pad, Kaye Putnam (Head of Marketing at Freewyld and Freewyld Foundry) sits down with Eric Moeller, CEO of Freewyld and Freewyld Foundry, to unpack one of the most overlooked challenges in scaling a short-term rental business: where the CEO should actually spend their time as the company grows. According to Harvard Business Review, CEOs waste 30 to 50 percent of their time on low-value activities. Eric explains why this problem becomes more severe as STR businesses scale, how decision fatigue quietly pushes leaders toward reactive work, and why being busy is often a signal that focus is broken. This conversation breaks down the mindset shift required to move from task-driven action to strategic momentum. If you’re an STR operator who feels pulled into emails, customer service, small fires, or constant decisions that don’t seem to move the business forward, this episode will help you rethink priorities, recognize patterns inside your operation, and identify the highest-leverage problems only a CEO can solve.
In this episode of Get Paid For Your Pad, Kaye Putnam (Head of Marketing at Freewyld and Freewyld Foundry) sits down with Eric Moeller to break down one of the most common and costly phases STR operators get stuck in: the hectic host stage. This is the mode where everything feels urgent, every day is firefighting, and growth never seems to unlock the freedom operators expect. If you’re an STR operator who feels overwhelmed by constant operational tasks, unclear priorities, stalled growth, or systems that never seem to catch up with your business, this episode is essential. Kaye and Eric share the behind-the-scenes of a recent Freewyld offsite, the operational shifts they implemented, and the mental models that finally stop operators from trying to “catch squirrels” instead of closing the hole in the roof.
In this episode of Get Paid For Your Pad, Kaye Putnam (Head of Marketing at Freewyld and Freewyld Foundry) sits down with Beth Palmer, co-owner of Northridge Escapes, a portfolio that holds a 4.99 average rating across three different markets and more than 1,000 five-star reviews. If you are an STR operator who wants to raise guest satisfaction, improve review scores, and understand the mindset that creates exceptional experiences, this episode is a must listen. Beth shares the three-part formula behind her results: communication, quality, and amenities. She explains how small decisions executed consistently create a five-star engine that guests remember long after checkout. They review based on how they feel. Get your free personalized revenue report at FreewyldFoundry.com/report.
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