The Faces of Kigo: Meet Jason Gann

We created the Faces of Kigo series to showcase our talented employees, tell their stories, and share why they love being a part of the Kigo team. 

Meet Jason Gann, Kigo Account Executive based in Dallas, Texas. As a  dedicated musician and magician, Jason is the life of any party. Those around him will tell you that Jason is dynamic, driven, and exemplifies what Kigo is all about. He loves his job because working for Kigo allows him to help vacation rental professionals every day.

Learn more about Jason:

Tell us about yourself!

I was born in California and raised in Alabama. In 2009, I moved to Nashville, Tennessee to pursue music. For years, I had the opportunity to travel the world playing music professionally. Now, I have a beautiful wife named Elise and three kids…yes, THREE insane-ly amazing kids: Oliver 4, Emma 2, and Anderson 1. I play bass guitar each week at my church here in North Dallas. I also have a nerdy obsession with magic and a need to have a deck of cards on me most of the time. So, not only am I a musician, but sort of a magician – a mu-gician. I’m still working on the title…

What is your role at Kigo? How do you help customers succeed?

Over the past three years here at Kigo, I’ve held a few different roles from qualifying prospects, to account management.  My current role is Account Executive for the U.S. sales team. I help vacation rental property managers every day by demonstrating there is an easier way to run their business. I love that each demonstration is different—one focusing on how to increase bookings with channel syndication and the next on how to save payroll hours with our housekeeping and maintenance app. No matter if you have one property or one thousand, there is always something you can automate and improve.

What do you love about your job?

Even though the vacation rental industry has been around for a long time, it still feels very much in its infancy. It’s like I have an “in” on a new secretly booming industry. It’s constantly changing and never boring. It’s not only cool to be a part of an industry that people are flocking toward daily, but I also get to be on a team of people that I truly enjoy being with every day (plus, they put up with me asking them to “pick a card” multiple times a day).

What makes Kigo stand out from the competition?

I’m very proud to be a part of the Kigo team! We’ve always been the best at channel management, providing the best connections for syndicating property listings across the most popular marketing channels in the world. Also, I feel we’ve always been one step ahead of the competition. No one else comes close to offering the amount of services that we do, at our standard of quality and at the most competitive price in the market.

What is your favorite feature of Kigo?

Hands down, Kigo Operations Manager. This is our housekeeping and maintenance tool, and it enhances communication between the property manager and the operations staff. You no longer have to spend hours manually managing your daily turnovers on a white board or spreadsheets. Kigo Operations Manager will give you real-time updates on your staff’s progress throughout the day, communicate detailed standards and expectations for each unit and even assist in automatically scheduling your staff each week.

How does your hobby/passion translate into your role at Kigo?

I mentioned my two passions – music and magic. These two things are all about improvisation. I don’t always know how a song will flow once it starts or what card will be chosen out of the deck, but if I listen and I’m prepared for any direction it may go, it’s a beautiful feeling when it works.  There are so many directions that a conversation can go when speaking to a vacation rental manager, and everyone runs their business differently. I’ve learned if I truly listen to their needs from the beginning and I’m ready to provide an answer for any possible pain point, I will give my client everything needed to make an educated decision for finding their new vacation rental software partner.

How do you approach finding places to stay when you travel?

Even though it’s very easy to book online through HomeAway or Airbnb, I’m fortunate to have great clients located all over who have offered their homes to me whenever I’m ready to take the family on a getaway. So, I’ve never been skiing before and my wife and I plan on trying it this winter. Any of my Colorado clients reading this, you have my number ;)

What do you look for in a vacation rental? What do you avoid?

I really enjoy homes that have all of the amenities we need. The less we have to bring, the better! I avoid any home with no reviews, to me it’s the same as having bad reviews. Too risky.

How can property owners make their vacation rentals more appealing to travelers like yourself?

Making it easy for me decide whether your home is right for me without having to do any back and forth. Click > Book > Done.

As we continue to explore the Faces of Kigo, you will meet more members of our global team working every day to create the best products in travel. Stay tuned!