WITH STEVE FREY CEO , OASIS
GSAIR 2024 : AMERICAS 14
Q & A
WITH STEVE FREY CEO , OASIS
Oasis is a highly tenured provider of global accommodation solutions , headquartered in the U . S . For over 20 years , CEO Steve Frey and his expert team have been servicing a diverse customer base which puts the traveler at the heart of all they do , whilst delivering best in class service .
Here , Steve shares a snippet of his Oasis story , whilst also sharing his views on the industry .
Why did you start Oasis , and what is the brand ’ s DNA ?
First , I must address what motivated me to want to start a business , in general . When I was 25 years old , I was dating my wife , Lauren . She was in school getting her M . B . A . and they had a guest lecturer who was a successful entrepreneur . After that lecture , she told me how impressed she was with this person . So , my motivation to start a business was solely to impress a girl , who is now my wife ( I guess it worked ).
Why corporate housing ?
Zig Ziglar said it best , “ Success occurs when opportunity meets preparation ”. I was always extremely focused on being prepared for when opportunities passed in front of me . My exposure to corporate housing first occurred because of geography - being in Tampa , Florida , which is also the home to MacDill Air Force Base and the U . S . Central Command ( Centcom ), helped . In 2007 , there were thousands of U . S . and international military coming to Centcom and they needed temporary places to live for 4-6 months at a time . After meeting some people that were involved with the housing department at MacDill , I learned that we could start a corporate housing company with minimal capital by opening 5 apartments that our contacts at MacDill utilized , then opened more and more .
Who are Oasis ’ typical clients ?
Oasis typically works with large multi-national clients that have team members traveling to many different locations . In addition to these clients , we work with governments , military , sports teams , and entertainment companies . We are working to grow the direct-toconsumer business as well .
How is Oasis helping them to maximize their ROI ?
Like many others , we have been focused on building technology that assists with the collation , utilization , and analysis of data to drive better decision making . Each customer tends to have their own specific key objectives . Sometimes those objectives are financial , but in other scenarios they are about reaching the highest guest satisfaction levels , or about driving sustainability . What we ’ ve learned is that each customer ’ s objectives need to be considered , and technology can help us embed processes into our business systems to ensure we achieve those objectives .
How are current U . S . political , economic , and geo-political factors influencing the investor market relative to corporate housing ?
This question can be answered many ways . Obviously fiscal policy and social agendas must be considered separately . As it relates to overall fiscal policy ; low taxes , low interest rates , and low regulation help the overall corporate housing industry . Without getting too political , I think the political stances that help lower these aspects will help our industry . However , this also comes at a time when many governments are looking to more protectionist and nationalist views on industry . This doesn ’ t help the corporate housing industry as we all benefit from increases in the growth of our clients across borders . We also have the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East , and tensions with China over Taiwan . These wars and tensions create uncertainty , and I think we would all agree that high levels of confidence and certainty help clients feel more comfortable pursuing expansion plans . 2025 should be revealing as to how we should be viewing the next economic phase .