Today we’d like to introduce you to Christian Childs.
Hi Christian, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
We started our furnished housing and temporary relocation company almost by accident. I’d just wrapped up a marketing and digital consulting business and was looking for what was next when I found this niche — fully furnished housing for medical workers, relocating families, military personnel, and workforce housing.
We started small: a two-bedroom single-family home in Northwest Austin. We furnished it, and our first guest — a traveling doctor — stayed four months, starting in January 2020. From there, we were asked to repeat the process in cities across Texas and eventually in other states — Florida, South Carolina, even Vermont.
We quickly realized vacation rental management wasn’t for us, so we leaned into corporate housing and relocation: people displaced by natural disasters or house fires, workers relocating for a job, families moving to be closer to relatives. It’s not flashy — a lot of it is finding good contractors and providing safe, clean, comfortable housing for people going through a transition. But it’s given us the opportunity to grow into real estate ownership and open other doors for the business, and the core reason we do it is simple: people need it, and it’s sustainable.
I say that plainly because we’ve had three other businesses fail — not from lack of effort, but because there wasn’t real demand or enough margin to sustain the work. We live in a results-driven economy, and the businesses that last are the ones solving a real problem: a family selling one house and buying another, a crew coming in to build a car wash or restore a church, a department training firefighters — all of them need somewhere safe and comfortable to stay in the meantime.
At this point we’ve housed thousands of people and hundreds of families, and what they all have in common is wanting a quality standard they couldn’t find elsewhere. Hotels are expensive and cramped, often with nowhere to cook a meal or do laundry. The average Airbnb isn’t professionally run — sometimes you get what’s in the pictures, sometimes you get something completely different. A lot of hosts have gotten burned by guests who trashed their place and never came back, so they’ve pulled back or moved to platforms like Furnished Finder, only to find the experience there isn’t much better either.
That gap is actually what led us to the idea of building a platform where families, individuals, and groups can book travel accommodations and get the same consistent, quality experience every time — across the entire state of Texas.
In year two, we expanded aggressively, growing to properties across seven different cities. But we made the decision to pull back and concentrate entirely on Texas. We see the growth happening here — the number of people relocating, the economy expanding — and we wanted to be part of that instead of spreading ourselves thin chasing scale everywhere at once. We started with one home and have grown to 30+ properties across Central Texas, plus hundreds of partner properties, with the goal of eventually serving thousands of families and groups traveling through the state. We’re not there yet, and it hasn’t happened quickly, but Rome wasn’t built in a day.
That decision reflects how we think about the business as a whole: we’re not trying to be the fastest-growing company out there. We’d rather focus on quality — real, well-run experiences for our guests and clients — than chase growth for its own sake.
Where we see this business in the next five years is providing housing for 10,000’s of individuals, groups, and families across dozens of cities in Texas. With all the data centers being built right now, there’s a huge demand for furnished temporary housing — anywhere from one month up to two years. We’ve seen that demand firsthand just in Central Texas, and it’s given us a lot of confidence that this is a business that’s here to stay. We see tons of opportunity to expand and partner with apartment complexes, individual property owners, and other businesses across Texas that are providing safe, clean, quality housing for medical staff, military personnel and their families, contractors, and the broader workforce — and we see Stay Albatross at the center of it all.
At the end of the day, this business is also the vehicle that lets my wife and I do what matters most to us — being present with family and giving back, including supporting stray dog rescue and spay/neuter efforts in Mexico. That’s really where our hearts are; the business is how we get to do it.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
No, it hasn’t been smooth. Early on, I had some bad business partners, and it took several months of issues before we made the decision to separate.
At one point we had properties in seven different cities across three time zones, and that was brutal to manage — each city requires its own team, its own contractors, its own systems.
We eventually made the call to give up those properties and concentrate our efforts somewhere we could actually maintain control and quality.
Now we run our portfolio across three distinct regions in Texas: Dallas-Fort Worth, Central Texas, and San Antonio, with plans to expand into Houston and other parts of the state.
We also work with partner properties — owners with available units who rely on our expertise to place qualified applicants, furnish the space, and put a maintenance plan in place for a long-term, sustainable relationship.
It’s taken us about seven years to get here, and we’ve had to rebuild twice. It hasn’t been easy.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about Stay Albatross | Furnished Rentals ?
Stay Albatross provides fully furnished, temporary housing for people in transition — medical professionals on assignment, military personnel, families relocating or displaced by disaster, contractors and workforce crews on a project, and anyone who needs a safe, comfortable place to stay for a month up to two years. We currently operate across three regions in Texas — Dallas-Fort Worth, Central Texas, and San Antonio — with plans to expand into Houston and beyond, plus a growing network of partner properties whose owners rely on us to place qualified guests, furnish the space, and manage it for the long term.
What sets us apart is that we’re not chasing the typical short-term-rental model. We’ve deliberately stayed out of the vacation-rental space and focused instead on quality, professionally managed corporate and relocation housing — the kind of consistent, dependable experience you can’t count on with a typical Airbnb, where you sometimes get what’s in the photos and sometimes don’t. Our guests get real kitchens, laundry, and a space that’s actually managed, not just listed.
What I’m most proud of, brand-wise, is that we’ve built this the hard way — through two rebuilds and seven years of figuring out what actually works — rather than chasing fast growth for its own sake. We’re not the biggest or fastest-growing company in this space, and that’s intentional. We’d rather have thousands of families remember us for a good experience than tens of thousands who got something inconsistent.
What I want readers to know is that behind the properties and the numbers, this is a business built to solve a real problem — safe, comfortable housing for people going through a transition — and that focus on quality over quantity is what we believe will make Stay Albatross a lasting name in Texas, not just a fast-growing one.
What was your favorite childhood memory?
I had a photo I used to carry in my backpack — me and my mom at Round Rock, Texas, the actual rock the town is named for.
My mom was a flight attendant, so she’d be gone for days at a time on long trips to Europe. I remember how exciting it always was when she came home.
She and I had a lot of the same interests as I was growing up. Sports, hiking, fishing, math and sciences.
I just remember how big of a smile I had on my face that day when we were spending time together.
I love both of my parents, but my mom and I always had a special connection growing up, and I think the fact that she was away often made the time we spent together that much more special.
Pricing:
- Furnished rentals Starting at $97 a day for 30+ days. Other prices vary by property, location, ammenities.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://stayalbatross.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/stay_albatross/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/StayAlbatross/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/albatrossceo/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@StayAlbatross
- Other: https://share.google/rvHyKbLypId7O8S0M
