BLOOMINGTON, Ill. – A team of Illinois Wesleyan University students had the chance to renovate, list and manage a home near campus as an Airbnb and VRBO rental property last summer through an internship led by Marc Talluto '94.
Talluto, an IWU Board of Trustees member and supporter of the entrepreneurship program, purchased the historic brick house, located at 1206 N. Evans St. behind the Myers Welcome Center and adjacent to the IWU Peace Garden, with the intent to create a vacation rental property.
Coming from a family of teachers, Talluto was inspired to turn the project into an internship experience for Titans based on a program his mother organized for student interns through their family pharmacy.
“The intern experiential program she helped facilitate is where I first saw how entrepreneurship can not only provide an income but also a tremendous learning opportunity,” he said. This is the second vacation rental property near campus that Talluto has managed in collaboration with IWU students.
At the Evans Street rental, a team of students gave the house a facelift — tearing up carpet, painting walls and trim, remodeling a bathroom, updating light fixtures, purchasing furniture and styling the house. A second team determined pricing and logistics based on the surrounding market, managed the listing, communicated with guests, completed turnovers between rentals and maintained housework for the property.
In just six months of operation, the listing has been ranked as a guest favorite, highlighted as a superhost and is among the top 10% of homes on AirBnb based on ratings, reviews and reliability.
Students are managing the property year round, with business major Abbie Graue '25 currently serving as the student project manager. Graue said she is interested in owning rental properties in the future and was hopeful to learn strategies for managing, pricing and positioning listings, “as well as how to deal with customer issues, offering desired amenities and being an accommodating host for guests.”
Now, Graue said she has learned more about those topics and more. The senior said she believes all of the students involved in the internship will be benefited in a variety of ways moving forward into their professional careers.
“This opportunity gives the team of students exposure to several areas of business, including management, financials and budgeting, home improvement and renovation, teamwork and coordination of bookings,” Graue said.
The hands-on experience of remodeling a property and communicating with guests created a unique and fulfilling internship experience, according to Graue. She added that working under Talluto’s guidance helped students hone troubleshooting and problem-solving skills.
“Marc has allowed us to take the reins on every aspect of managing this property, from renovating it, budgeting and allocating funds, and having full control of the listing, bookings, and contact with the guests,” she said. “This allowed us to dive in head first as a team, trust ourselves, and learn by doing, which is an opportunity that reflects the experiential education offered at Illinois Wesleyan.”
Without the generosity and mentorship of Talluto, Graue said the team would not have been able to experience such a “distinctive” and “engaging” internship.
“Much like starting a business, there are only guidelines and suggestions but many ways to accomplish a goal,” said Talluto. “I let the students understand the mission, but the methods and teamwork are theirs to develop together. The students are always an impressive group that self-manage and deliver results.”
Talluto, founder of Fruition Partners — a startup that evolved into a leading system integrator for the cloud software company ServiceNow — continues to stay deeply connected to Illinois Wesleyan University. Now serving as Chairman of Thirdera, a ServiceNow partner, Talluto contributes to the University in multiple ways, from funding scholarships to inspiring student entrepreneurs through his classroom visits and discussions.