In this episode of The Future of Consumer Marketing, host Roman Kirsch interviews Julian Trautwein, CEO and Co-Founder of Raus, a venture-backed outdoor hospitality brand that’s raised over €11 million. Raus is redefining the hospitality experience by bringing stressed city dwellers into nature through their tech-enabled, off-grid cabins. As a former early Airbnb employee in Europe, Julian brings unique insights on building a category-defining hospitality brand that owns its supply, maintains brand authenticity, and creates experiences that guests are eager to share. Through a sophisticated blend of tech-enabled operations and an offline-first guest experience, Raus has grown from two cabins around Berlin to over 80 locations across Germany and Austria while maintaining a waitlist of 6,500+ potential customers.
Topics Discussed:
- Creating a new hospitality category that combines boutique hotel amenities with immersive nature experiences
- Building a distributed network of tech-enabled, off-grid cabins in partnership with local landowners
- Leveraging scarcity and exclusivity to drive organic growth in early stages
- Transitioning from viral demand to sustainable marketing across multiple geographic regions
- Developing a vertically integrated business model that includes merchandise and local experiences
- Balancing technology and operations to deliver high-quality, consistent guest experiences at scale
- Designing hospitality stays as vehicles for promoting health, mindfulness, and digital disconnection
Lessons For Consumer Marketers:
Own Your Supply to Control the Experience
Unlike traditional OTAs or marketplace models, Raus owns all their cabins while partnering with landowners who provide the property and on-site services. This vertical integration gives them complete control over the guest experience, enabling consistently high-quality stays without the quality variations common to platforms like Airbnb.
Make Authenticity Your Differentiator in a Standardized World
Raus hand-selects each item in their cabins, from locally made ceramics to carefully curated amenities. This attention to detail differentiates them from standardized hotel experiences and drives significant guest feedback. When products received exceptional praise, they integrated them into their e-commerce shop, creating additional revenue streams.
Use Strategic Scarcity to Drive Organic Growth
In the early stages, Raus leveraged limited supply to create exclusivity and urgency. With just two cabins, they were consistently booked six weeks in advance, creating a waitlist that now exceeds 6,500 people. This scarcity marketing approach helped fuel word-of-mouth growth and built anticipation for new locations.
Transform Unexpected Constraints into Business Opportunities
When their website received significant traffic but had no availability, Julian quickly set up a merchandise shop to monetize visitor interest. What began as a simple voucher offering evolved into a platform generating over €500,000 in annual sales through merchandise, ceramics, and other products that extend the brand beyond the cabin stay.
Automate the Matching Process Between Supply and Demand
Raus built sophisticated automation tools that crawl their waitlist whenever a cancellation occurs, instantly matching available cabins with waiting customers based on preferred dates and locations. This system converts cancellations into new bookings and drives over 20% of transactions through email marketing.
Design Physical Products as Vehicles for Behavioral Change
Raus views their cabins not just as accommodations but as vehicles to facilitate nature connection and digital disconnection. Their design philosophy removes screens and technological distractions while using smart technology behind the scenes to create seamless experiences. This approach addresses the modern consumer’s desire for mindfulness and wellness.
Scale Marketing Region by Region Rather Than Nationally
Rather than attempting blanket national coverage, Raus expands with clusters of cabins 1-2 hours from major urban centers, allowing them to duplicate their initial marketing playbook for each new region. This targeted geographic expansion enables more focused marketing efforts and better supply-demand matching.
Build Technology That Enables Offline Experiences
Raus describes their model as having an “offline front end with a tech back end.” Their cabins feature sophisticated technology (energy production, water filtration, environmental monitoring) that remains invisible to guests, enabling truly off-grid experiences while maintaining operational efficiency through remote monitoring.
