The Check-In
The real scoop on the deals, the data and the drama in short-term rentals.
The Check-In
The Long Game — What 54 Years in STR Teaches You About Airbnb's Big Moves
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Airbnb just announced hotels, car rentals, grocery delivery, airport pickups and a clear signal that flights are coming. But what does all of that look like through the eyes of someone who's been running a family STR business since that's been operating since 1972?
Tom Goodwin, CEO of Mountain Laurel Chalets in Gatlinburg, Tennessee, joins Leo and Sarah to react to Airbnb's 2026 summer release — and to offer a perspective most operators can't. MLC is in its 54th year, runs 75-80% direct bookings, and only joined Airbnb two and a half years ago.
Tom talks about why repeat guests are the real business model, why Airbnb's expansion into ancillary services should worry operators who've built their revenue around add-ons, and why the operators who came in hot in 2021 are now calling him every week with a problem. He also makes a case that the pendulum is swinging back — that travellers are tired of the plastic fantastic and craving something real.
A grounded, honest conversation about what the long game actually looks like in short-term rentals.
Airbnb just announced that you can now book a boutique hotel, rent a car, get groceries delivered, and get an airport pickup all in the same map. Our guest today has been running one of Gatlinburg's most established short-term rental businesses for 52 years. So we want to ask him: is Airbnb becoming everything? And if so, where does that leave the operator? This week, Airbnb dropped their biggest product announcement in years: hotels, car rentals, grocery delivery, airport pickups, FIFA World Cup experiences, and a clear signal that flights are coming. Welcome back to the check-in.
SPEAKER_00Hello, Sarah Nanda Pri. How are you?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, good. Good to see you, buddy. Welcome back.
SPEAKER_00Great to see you. And Tom, Tom Goodwin, how nice of you to pop in and see us, my friend. How are you? I'm doing great, Leo and Sarah. Nice to see you this morning.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, same here.
SPEAKER_00Thank you. Thank you for joining us early for you, I know, just so that Sarah and I can have a lie-in over here in Europe and just do that lazy European morning thing that we like to do. So appreciate you getting up at the crack of dawn. Guys, as you'll see, today we are delighted to be joined by Tom Goodwin. He's the CEO of Mountain Laurel Chalets. We're here to discuss everything in Airbnb's summer release and generally a look at the industry and where we are right now. Tom, for anyone who doesn't know you, can you tell us a little bit about yourself, how you got into the industry, and a bit more about mountain laurel chalets? Sure.
SPEAKER_01Um I am married to my wife, Susan, who grew up in Gatlinburg, and her parents started Mountain Laurel Chalets in 1972. So uh this is the 54th year. Sarah, I might I have to update my LinkedIn post to reflect 54 years. And uh her parents began the business um because hotels would have overflow, and the owners of those hotels would call Dot and Ralph and say, Do you have room in your house? This couple just showed up and we don't have a room for them. So my sister, my wife and her sister would move out of their double queen in suite room with an outdoor access, and it became uh the beginning of Mountain Laurel Chalets. That was in the 60s. In 1972, they went official and they were the third vacation rental company in uh Gatlinburg. They are now the only remaining, longest running um family vacation um uh rental business. But um, so I took over the business in 2012. I married into it in 1992. I live, eat, sleep, and breathe hospitality and uh love the legacy of her parents. They've since passed on, and my wife and I now own the business. We have five children, all girls. That usually is a bit of a jaw-dropper. And we just graduated our last one from college. So uh we put 23 years in of college with the five daughters, and they're all gainfully employed, and we've launched them. So now we get to start having even more fun.
SPEAKER_00Wow, five daughters. You're truly blessed, my friend. And you seem to have got away with it. You've got more hair than I have, even though you've gone through five daughters. What a great effort.
SPEAKER_01The preceding hairline is may be there, but I'll I'll hold on to it as long as I can.
SPEAKER_00Well, I've only got two. Mine's disappearing at the rate of not. So if you've you've got five girls through, I'm really impressed. Well done. And tell us um, for anyone who's not from the US and has never visited the Gatlinburg area, tell us a bit more about um, tell us about it as a market. What's its unique character?
SPEAKER_01Absolutely. Gatlinburg is the gateway to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in Tennessee, borders now North Carolina as well. 12 million guests visit this national park, making it the number one most visited national park in America. It has uh free admission and so thousands of hiking trails, rivers, streams, fishing, horseback riding, endless views. And Gatlinburg is the host town to the entrance of the um Smoky Mountains. And so it's a very small, small, quaint village, about 4,000 residents, and has been ever since my wife grew up there. Though it's burgeoning, and the whole Severe County area is probably one of the most visited vacation markets in the U.S.
SPEAKER_00Fantastic. What a great history. I'm gonna ask my friend Sarah. Is that did you ever go there as a kid, Sarah? Is that Market you've done?
SPEAKER_02I no, never. Well, we need to change that. I know, yeah. I'm just in Carolina.
SPEAKER_01For Verma, we can change that. You can have a little jaunt over to Gatlinburg in October, the most beautiful time of year with the changing of the leaves in the national park.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I'm gutted. I'm not gonna make it this year. My family um summers in Edistow or has like my whole life uh in South Carolina. And I chose that week before the dates were announced to go back home and do a trip uh at the beach with my parents. So I won't be in attendance this year. And I was gutted when I found the dates. I was like, come on. Uh, because I've always wanted to go to Nashville as well.
SPEAKER_01Well, it's it's interesting you say Edistow because that's where our property manager, Kay, uh, who's worked for us for 37 years, she vacations there every year with her girlfriends. We all go to the beach because we work in the mountains. So we all find our favorite beach towns, and Edistow is hers. That's amazing.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I get why. It's it's like unspoiled beauty, Leo. Just there's turtles hatching, and at night you can't have any porch lights on. Like it's the clearest skies you've ever seen. It's super, I don't know how you would describe it, but yeah, just very undeveloped, which is rare to find in this day and age. So it's nice.
SPEAKER_00Well, look, Tom, you you run a business in uh you and your wife run a business in a very traditional short-term rental town with a long heritage. You talked to me off air, and I found this fascinating, and I'd I'd love to bring this to the audience. So given how long the business has been going, I think I'm right in what you just said. So it's you've only been on Airbnb itself for three years? Uh two and a half years, yeah, right going on three years. So yeah, and your direct distribution is around 80%? 75 to 80 percent. That's amazing. That's so interesting. And and so you've got a really unique perspective because I think whenever Airbnb do a release, there's people who've built their business on Airbnb, right? And there's people who use Airbnb as a channel. So, yeah, any initials like sort of reactions two and uh two and a half years in to being on Airbnb, what how do you feel about it as an OCA, you know, given that you're not reliant on it for your business? It it's an additional revenue stream.
SPEAKER_01We were very reluctant to join in with Airbnb, but it became a little overwhelming for our market to attract the new first-time visitor. That's primarily who we find uses Airbnb to come to our market. They've never been to Gallenburg. And so they're going to look at the all the inventory for the whole region, which is great. So we use it as a billboard effect where we clearly state who we are as much as we're allowed to, and use that as an opportunity to have an in inbound guest for the first time and then to earn their business as repeat guests going forward. So, you know, we predate all the OTAs. We we used to just put in two advertisements in a regional magazine called Southern Living in the U.S., which is very much a the cultural family southern magazine. And we would have two ads a year, and we got all of our business from those two ads. And um, then then you know, we we we we started a website, we started online bookings, and we were late to the game with all of that because everyone was just used to calling our our phone number. They had memorized our phone number, they kept calling back, and um, they just used us as their preferred manager um when they managed homes. So when our business started in 1972, there were three vacation rental management companies. 350 cabins were being rented in the county, and now there's up to 25,000 cabins and homes and condos being rented, in addition to all of the amazing hotels that we compete with as well.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, it's quickly become one of the premier destinations for sure across the US. And I'm I've been curious to see as well like the supply pre-Airbnb, which obviously unfortunately I don't have data for. Otherwise, I would I would share. But and post-Airbnb, because I think the OTAs for sure have given a lot to the visibility of the beauty of of the entire area. And so yeah, it's uh it's I I'm I I love your perspective because you've seen it from sort of its budding infancy all the way up to what it is today, which is a premier destination for for vacation rentals in general.
SPEAKER_01And and I I come from a a vantage point that many of your listeners won't be coming. Some are legacy operators that have been that predate all the OTAs. In my market, we are becoming a rare breed of, you know, there's so many new um portfolio operators that have accumulated 200, 300 properties over the last three years, four years that are 100% dependent upon the OTAs, at least for the first year. And I think that's a that's Airbnb and VRBO have afforded people an opportunity to launch a business. But if you remain in that 100% booking on OTAs, you have then acquired a majority partner that controls your business. And you don't have the ability to steer the direction that you need to go. You be you become a servant to that entity. And they're really a for me, I I'm so glad we don't have that majority owner partner and that we have a lot of autonomy and the ability to move into marketing and using Airbnb as a leverage, but not as a linchpin. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00This is very well timed then because I feel like these latest set of set of releases that have come out almost the word I would say is like Airbnb is encroaching, I think, more on the day-to-day of being a manager. Let's just have a quickly just sort of go through the headlines from it, right? So boutique hotels in 20 cities. We know they're leaning into hotels massively, car rentals, grocery delivery, airport pickups, luggage storage, more of a look at experiences again, especially around the FIFA World Cup at the moment, but you know, just digging further into the in-state experiences stuff. And then AI-powered review summaries, a shared trip itinerary builder, an AI customer support assistant that's now handling 40% of queries in 11 languages. So Chesky's stated vision is an app that tracks your flight, meets you at the airport, stocks your fridge, and guides you through the whole trip. Sarah, you'll also have a gut reaction here, but but Tom, let's start with you. Well, what do you think of this?
SPEAKER_01Well, I think it's smarter of them to do. They're building a more efficient engine. They're having cost savings through the AI responses and the different languages. There's a lot more efficiency. And honestly, I do enjoy having expediency when I'm on a customer service call. You know, if you go into a large warehouse box hardware store and you ask where something is and the person doesn't know where it is, and you wander all over the store, you begin to think, why did I even ask them? But when you have the app on your phone and you write in the specific thing you're looking for, it tells you the aisle and the bay that it's in. I love that because I want efficiency when I'm going to the hardware store. I want to get in and out, or even any other big box store. But when I'm going on vacation, I also want to leverage that efficiency. But I think what we do in our market and with our brand and our company is that we build deeper relationships that last long beyond consuming the product and just uh having an allegiance to the best price, the best deal that we can have. And our market, it is unusually strange that people come back multiple times a year. We have some guests that visit us six times a year, rent a house. They want to see all the differences and all the different, it's not the majority of our guests, but several do that. And so many of our guests come back every single year. They want the efficiencies, but they want the deep relationship, the connectedness, and the assuredness that they're going to be taken care of. So I think when we look at uh vacation rentals, as we look at them as just for expediency and efficiency, use all the AI tools, use all those things that Airbnb is doing. I don't fault them whatsoever, but we cannot miss the fact that we need to have the human connection and that's what plays off in the long run. And that's what I believe allows for the repeat guest, which is gold. The direct repeat business positions you for the long term to weather the storms of the future. And Airbnb is not able to produce that. Now, they will produce it through their point system or their rewards or different elements like that, but we want to capture them on that first visit and then win them over with the um hospitality and the warmth and the deeper relationships.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I think this is something that for me is really unique to traditional vacation rental destinations as well. I know, like for my parents, they go two two weekets, two weeks a year to the mountains and two weeks a year to the beach. And they always book through the same agency and then usually it's the same house, even. And they go ahead and have their dates already pre-booked. And so this is something that is much more sort of the traditional holiday maker that goes sort of the same place every year. They like the familiarity, they know they love the area. Um, and this is very different from maybe new age travelers, I think, that that are more into novelty. It's like, okay, well, I've been there once, I'll go somewhere else. Um, so I'm curious, just from your perspective, how you have seen the evolution of the guests. I know you mentioned, especially kind of getting those new guests in. A lot of times those are coming from the OTAs. But have you seen a generational shift as well in the visitors coming to Gatlinburg and or to the majority of your rentals? How is that kind of changing over time?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I I love that you you explained our our legacy or our our persona, our guests, your parents, probably about my age. And, you know, if I am building my entire business on your parents or people my age, then we are going to age out in 30 years. They're not gonna be taking two week vacations in 30 years from now to both locations. So, how do we capture the next generation? And Gatlinburg has seen um an incredible influx of international travel, young travel, millennial travel because they love the outdoor experience. So we have thousands and thousands of acres with the national park. It's accessibility. This, especially COVID, really heightened the need to be outdoors and have the outdoor experiences. And there's so many attractions in our market. You know, Dollywood is a huge theme park in the area. Um, everyone loves Dolly Parton. So there's and there's a resurgence among millennials and younger people that love Dolly because she represents inclusivity, love, connection, uh Southern hospitality that really has boosted. We we love Dolly because of what she brings to our market. So I also serve on the Gatlinburg Chamber of Commerce as a a board member. So right now, this morning, we have a marketing every month, we have marketing committee meetings, and we're always looking at what are the trends, what who are the people that are visiting. And I would say our the target audience is a 45 to 60-year-old woman who's making the decisions for her family. But we're all of our advertising and marketing trends below that age point because we want to capture that younger uh age. And I agree that Airbnb hands down does a great job with urban markets, with the travel, with the experiences and the unique, you know, elements of a different home or uh um what makes this home incredibly unique. And that has changed some of the homes in our market, those that are really boring, that look like every other cabin, don't do that. Well, you've got to have some sort of unique amenities and features within your home. But I think there's going to be a swing for travelers that are wanting a little more nostalgia. My daughter just graduated from college and asked for a film camera because she wants to take photos that last and that means something. So she's going to print them. I had to load the film for her. She had no idea how to do that. And our our other daughters who gifted her this camera had to find it on eBay just to reel the foam in. So an old canon that the actual film, you have to purchase it, do it offline, online, and all that stuff. I think there's going to be a return towards that local operator who provides a unique, personal, human experience. Our travelers are wanting to slow down some more. They're not wanting the hype. They're not, and they're seeing through all of the AI, all of the plastic fantastic, the Instagram moments, and they're wanting, they've done all that. They've consumed it. And I think they're weary. And I think that's a place where the local operator has an opportunity to really gain by telling stories and capturing the hearts of those travelers. It doesn't happen overnight. It happens over step-by-step, long-term reviews, stories, word of mouth, all those different elements. But I am very hopeful that there's a continued place for operators like myself in a very fast-paced, aggressive, AI, technology-focused industry to slow things down and bring it home. One guest recently, Rob Stone, just I wrote an article about his son creating memories, posted on LinkedIn. Rob has an eight-year-old son. I think he's might be 40, so a little bit under the demographic of what we naturally attract. He is from Kentucky, travels, you know, about four hours to visit us three or four times a year. And he is one of those that is beginning to slow down and reflecting on what really matters when he sees his son, his eight-year-old son, Mason, running through Kate's Cove, capturing those moments. And he wants to be settled into an environment and a culture and with a vacation rental management company that is going to come alongside him and be a part of creating those deep, rich, lasting memories.
SPEAKER_00Couldn't agree more. I think that's so true that people are desperate for these breaks from their cell phone, breaks from their laptop, and get out in nature, be in the fresh air. It's interesting because I think people are going to use AI to find that trip and then try and unplug when they get there, right? Which is where your brand that you've built gives you an advantage, right? Because then you can play the AI search game because people will find it because it's authentic. So I think there's I think there's exciting times in that respect. It takes me back to the operator that is more dependent on Airbnb and hasn't been able to get out of Airbnb shadow in an environment where Airbnb is taking over the whole trip from start to finish. It does really diminish their opportunity to build out the brand that you guys have been able to build over the years. Like, do you think it'd be possible to build what you've built now if you were starting in 2021 or 2050? What what's your take?
SPEAKER_01It would be so much work. I look at every everyone that's beginning and launching and and God bless them in 2021. That was a really fantastic time to come into the market. And I think they had unrealistic expectations, and a lot of investors came alongside them as well. And now I am getting the phone calls, multiple phone calls every week from those owners who are saying this isn't what I expected it to be. And they're they're disappointed by the heavy volume that their operator is trying to manage and maintain, and they can't sustain it. There's other elements that go into this that it seems great. Have 250 rental homes, no problem. List them all on Airbnb and burn, you know, burn the heads on beds and make it happen. But the reality is, is these are individual homes that have to be maintained and managed. And there's a sense of it's more than just marketing Instagram worthy photos and getting guests to book your house and having those algorithms. You have a product that is un can't unwielding, unresponsive. Plumbing goes out, lawns need to be mowed, poles end up in the drywall. All of those elements of really what it takes to keep a home up to speed is important. Always say to people when they rent a car, who who cleans a rental car? No one cleans a rental car. They just hand it back and they don't care about cleaning out the crumbs or anything like that. And that's how all of our guests are consuming their homes. So every turn, we have to be refreshing and renewing this home. But the rental cars keep their cars on the market for 18, 15 months and then they sell them. They they consume them. And that's what's happening, what I'm seeing is happening in the vacation rental market with people that have been with operators and managers that are consuming the homes, they're now their homes are depleted. They're they haven't invested back into them. They're being dismissed by the rent management company. They can't get to them. There are too many homes for them to possibly inspect and to keep the product. So, sure, the photos look great when you start, but how is the house doing and being maintained three or four years from now? And I think we really underplay how big of an operation it is just to maintain and manage a home. And that's where I think the local vacation rental manager has to be operating in light of protecting the product and the inventory as well as the guest experience and the hospitality. But I think that a lot of the opportunists that have come into the market have undervalued the importance of home maintenance because that is the product in and of itself. And it's not a hotel with identical rooms, easy to clean, 15 minutes out, 15 minutes, you know, clean and done, and you can flip it. But this is a very unique market. Where's the fuse box for this house? What are they on Roku or are they on Spectrum App? And you have to know all those different elements. And you can use technology to coordinate that. But bottom line, septics go out, wells run dry, ACs break on new homes, even, and you have to have the ability to respond to those guests. And I I think it's it looks really sexy to be in this business, but it is hard work. And Steve Schwab always says, you know, are you willing to clean the toilets? Yes, you've got to be willing to do the very unsexy things.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. It goes beyond just the cleaning, doesn't it? As you say, it's it's the actually just managing the property, managing the lifespan of a property. I think it's really good that you've highlighted that. Again, this maybe goes back to as well the fact that you're in a traditional vacation rental market and you've been doing this as a business for 54 years and you've been involved since the 90s. You've been through these peaks and troughs in like, you know, demand, and and these you've probably got lots of owners that have come and gone, come back on, gone again, you know, as as their tastes change. And and you're right, there needs to be that focus on the fact that it's a product that has to be maintained. And I think that's maybe where all of these Airbnb announcements miss the mark, right? Because they're trying to own more of the experience. But really, they're not going to be down there on the ground checking whether the photos match the quality of the sofa or whether it's it's crusty and it actually needs to be replaced. And that I think there's a certain That's where I think we need to get real as an industry and and actually think where where does their influence end? Because they cannot replace being a property, they cannot be a property manager unless they physically are going to be one, right?
SPEAKER_01Well, they're they're consumers. They're consuming the product, the property managers and those that are on the boots on the ground. They have no ownership within that. And we are providing all of the value and the benefit to them. And we're beholden to them because they've created an incredible marketing platform. Bar none, brilliant, excellent, clean, streamlined, beautiful presentation, efficiency, and so forth. But the reality is that when push comes to shove, if um, let's let's use an example. I use Uber or Lyft often. It's it's a crapshoot as to what kind of experience I'm going to have. And then you rate it on the you rate each other. So I mean, I had to take an Uber once to have a medical procedure. Five in the morning, had to get an Uber. I don't want to drive. They said I couldn't drive myself, so I got an Uber. The guy was playing the loudest music. It was freezing in the car and it smelled like air freshener, like on steroids, like I was in a laundromat inside, you know, the Fabrizio. And it was horrible. But I was trapped. I had no other choice. So do I leave him a three-star, one star, two-star review? Well, how's he going to rank me? And so it's a bit of this crazy maker. And I think people are beginning to see through that and wanting to have a local operator take care of them. My daughters-in-laws come to Atlanta from Texas and they have a driver. They coordinate a driver because they don't want to get into the Freeze car playing rap music. So they just they want to, you know, know what they're going to get. And I think, you know, they have the privilege to be able to do that. But I think in light of this industry, we need to carve a niche where we're creating more of that hospitable, human, reliable experience. So uh Airbnb cannot protect. The way they do protect is by scale, by reviews, by cutting you off the platform. You're expendable. We are, we have consumed you, and now we move on because there's someone here to replace you again. And that's that's a great business model for them. It's a horrible business model to be beholden to as an operator.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. This is you bring up an interesting point. And here I'm Barcelona where I'm based. We have, we used to have Uber, then they left. Now we have Cabify. Cabify's great. Like every single one of the cars is nice. They're always super friendly. There's always water in the car. I get in an Uber in America and it's a completely different experience. You don't know who's picking you up. It's like it could be just your neighbor down the street who's trying to make some extra cash. Whereas here, there's different standards, I think. Like you have to have a certain type of license and things like that. So I've seen Airbnb go down this route. They're for sure. The original plan for them was let's get as much on the platform as we can. I think now they're starting to realize that even though they're not boots on the ground and creating the experience, their brand is associated with the experience. So if somebody has a bad experience at a property that they have booked through Airbnb, that becomes an Airbnb image issue, whether they like it or not. And so they did recently remove a bunch of underperforming listings or listings that had bad ratings and bad reviews. And so I'm curious as well how you think that's going to play out for some of these new operators. Are their reviews impacted by the fact that, as you mentioned, they're managing maybe 200 properties, but they haven't scaled that in a sustainable way. And so there's obviously processes that are falling by the wayside. I'm curious how how vulnerable they are to these whims of Airbnb that are changing, they could remove you at any point, or they can launch their own sort of a two-part question. But I know a lot of our managers as well make a lot of their money on additional services. So on a concierge or on transfers or on a lot of these things that are coming out in the new announcement that Airbnb's made for their summer release. How does that impact the bottom line of the boots on the ground operators like yourselves, even if a majority of your bookings obviously direct? But if you were reliant on Airbnb and for the ancillary services to provide that revenue, what would the impact be?
SPEAKER_01Well, I do think what we are seeing is a bit of a um the myth of reviews or the the validity of the reviews. You scratch my back, I'll scratch yours. You give me five star, I'll give you five star. We can't see their review until we review them. So I think that the consumer is beginning to see through that. And they're like, this is not what I experienced. And how the local operator that is dependent upon the OTAs in my market, I have seen this as I've gone into some of these homes where an owner says, Would you come consider our home? I've seen at the back at the front door a listing of how to leave a review on Airbnb. You know, this is a five-star review, is it was good enough. That's what we need you to write. Literally, I've I took a photo of this PDF they had laminated at the door. This is how you leave a review. And if everything was all right, it's a five-star. This is not like other reviews that you had. This is really important. And we will then leave you a five-star review so you have a good experience. This was a home, five-bedroom home that had about three coffee cups, 10 plates, and two spoons in the kitchen. And it had been consumed over five years, damages all over the home, yet they were able to accommodate that or make some accommodations in order for them to guarantee that they would have five-star bookings. Well, I think you can play that game for the short run, but it's not going to work. It's going to catch up with you. It's not going to work over the long haul. I think with AI, with AI, you can analyze all of your messages from your guests to determine how likely is this guest to leave a five-star review and only push reviews to those people so that it elevates your review system on Google or other markets. So you're really incentivizing the pleased guests that came into your 200 properties and you're de-incentivizing those that had complaints. Or you're accommodating them with refunds, with bribes, with a free stay next. And if they're costing you money because you realize how much a one-star review on your Airbnb platform can kill the property. So you're willing to, you know, refund that guest. I think that's a short game. That's that's not the long game that you need to have. And I can't remember the second part of the question.
SPEAKER_02Oh, the second part was about add-ons. So I know a lot of our property managers make money from add-ons, whether that's transfers or something like that. Tell us a little bit more about how, if you were a property manager that was heavily reliant on Airbnb for your bookings, how you would be taking the summer release that they're getting into all of these ancillary services that currently are offered by a lot of property managers.
SPEAKER_01Well, I would I would say you've lost your opportunity then to upsell on different opportunities. It's very cumbersome on Airbnb to even add another night, a discounted rate on another night, or add a second pet. I mean, when we have a guest that requests that, they have to then go to Airbnb and make that request. It becomes such a painful process. But I think a lot of operators are finding that, let's say cleaning fees as one example. If they have created a cleaning partnership with another cleaning company and they get a cut of the fees of all the cleaning, and that's a base rate, they will charge $250 for the cleaning, but we know it only costs us $175. So we're making $75 every other cleaning. We know we cannot capture all those extra bookings, but we've already earned the $75 per booking on profit on cleaning. So let's lower the price on the house, get this rented as many times as possible because our profit margin is the $75 of booking. It might seem really small, but when you multiply that by 20,000 bookings a year, that is a business model that's very relevant and that works. So some savvy people are working on ways to create other auxiliary expenses that Airbnb wouldn't have control of. That is an automatic pass-through. But I think for us, we love working and partnering with local operators, restaurants, people that would provide those types of experiences that the guests are looking for. And we add those on as a free referral. And because we're doing business with these long-term companies, it comes back to us. So we're not looking at this as a percentage markup for every one of them. You know, when you hike in the national park, it's free. But the guests want to know what are the best hikes, what are the best parking places, when when do I go? We're able to provide that for them. And I'm not going to charge them $25 for a hiking chart or a path or a recommended, but that's just a value add-on. Um, and I think if you are 100% dependent on uh the OTAs and Airbnb and they are now adding these things, you've got to begin thinking, how do I create more of a direct booking engine and create those experiences that I can uh provide for the guests? Honestly, the more that Airbnb splinters and div and divides, the more bland of experience it's going to be. I don't think it's going to be as robust as possible. I think what we have the opportunity is to stay in our wheelhouse, to create the experience for the guest, provide a clean, well-maintained home, a trusted operator, and then also provide those auxiliary services that are connected to real relationships as opposed to just a consumer, consuming.
SPEAKER_00I think that's um fantastic insights, Tom. And that idea of being a local champion as well, right? There will be people in your neighborhood who do different things, maybe restaurateurs, shopkeepers, hoteliers, you mentioned how there's a wonderful selection of hotels in your market. You're all trying to work together to raise the area, right? And I think that it's another reason why Airbnb should be careful because if you kill off that way of doing business or you attempt to kill it off, what comes in its place? Who is going to be that local hero connecting people and making sure that these properties are professionally managed and well run? Um, and it has to be, it has to be a professional game to ensure the quality and the repeat guest time and time again. So yeah, I think they they'd do well to look at markets like yours and see what they can learn in terms of working in partnership with providers.
SPEAKER_01I wish they would work more in partnership with us as opposed to seeing us as competitors. I have a very strong bias towards abundance as opposed to scarcity. And scarcity leads towards fear and comparison and looking at others as the enemy. And having an abundance mentality means that there's more than enough to go around. And how can I partner with others? And isn't it, wouldn't it be great if we all won? If it was a win-win for everyone, as opposed to we want to conquer and win and beat everyone else. But I I'm a local family-owned lifestyle business. I have the privilege to say that. I don't have investors, I have no debt. That's a very privileged place to come from, but I think it's a very powerful place to come from. And that's where people really need to move into that opportunity of the long game and to be the majority owner of their business and not have an unwelcome majority partner.
SPEAKER_00Tom, thank you so much. It's been it's been wonderful. Sarah, what what a great chat.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, this was fabulous. I I love that to leave our audience on that it's all about abundance and not about scarcity. Abundance creates joy for all people involved, whereas the scarcity does, it creates fear and negativity. And that's not what we want more of in the world.
SPEAKER_01But when people are going on vacation, you want to create a deep, rich, meaningful experience that lasts across multiple generations. And our guest Rob Stone, who I wrote the article on LinkedIn, he said, I had one vacation I remember as a child, and I will never forget it. And what I am committed to is creating those memories for my son that will last throughout his life. More than just one, but let's make sure that all of these are meaningful and not, and that's where I think let's move away from the consumer mentality, which leads towards scarcity, and let's move towards the hospitable giving mentality, which leads towards abundance.
SPEAKER_00Tom, I love it. Thank you so much for joining us. If our audience want to find you, where can they find you?
SPEAKER_01LinkedIn is that's the best place to find me, Tom Goodwin on LinkedIn with Mountain Laurel Chalets.
SPEAKER_00Amazing. And now I've got you on air, I can ask you to the point where you probably can't say no. We should we should definitely record something in Nashville when I'm over there for the RMA, shouldn't we? We should definitely get together.
SPEAKER_01No, we should record it in Gatlinburg.
SPEAKER_00Hey, there you go. There you go. You have a deal. You have a deal, my friend. And we'll make Sarah super jealous that she's not coming. She'll be having a great time in Edesto, creating memories that last a lifetime. I'm gonna be having a great time. Turtles and stars. All right, guys. Um, thank you. And to you at home, if you've enjoyed today's show, please hit like, share, subscribe in all the usual social places. And we'll see you again next week without Sarah Nandapree, because she's gonna be enjoying herself in the USA, and I'm gonna have a guest. Where are you going, Sarah? Tell us what you're up to.
SPEAKER_02I'm actually going to Tom's hometown. I'm going to Chicago to visit one of my best friends. She lived out in Barcelona for the last like eight years, and she just moved back last year. And I haven't been to visit her yet in her new home. She's originally from Chicago as well. So yeah, I fly out tomorrow. I'm so excited. It's gonna be crazy.
SPEAKER_01A beautiful time of year to go. It's gorgeous.
SPEAKER_02I told her winter, it's not happening again. I went once in January and it was the coldest place I've ever been in my life. I feel like Siberia isn't even that cold. May is perfect.
SPEAKER_00Amazing. Well, Sarah, enjoy yourself and Tom. Thanks again. Cheers. Thank you.