The Counter-Intuitive Strategy: Why Fewer Properties Meant More Revenue with Tom Goodwin
episode
The Accommodation Show - Hospitality Success Series!
37 min
1 speaker
8 chapters
transcribed 27 days ago
Transcript
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Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.
Who is Tom Goodwin and how did he become involved in the family vacation‑rental legacy?
Good morning everybody and welcome back to another episode of the accommodation show. This week I'm joined by one of the friendliest people in the STR world. His name is Tom Goodwin. Welcome to the show.
Thank you, Bart. Really glad to be here.
One of the friendliest, smiliest guys that I've ever met uh on my travels. We met in Phoenix, Arizona a year ago. We shared some time at STR Nodes. Nerds put on by Steve Schwab and Brooke Baus and their team. And I just remember just uh giggling with you for the whole afternoon. It was it was a real treat to meet you. And since then I've been tracking your journey and seeing how much you uh willing to give to short term rentals, the community and those people around you. But not only that, you built an awesome business, which is what we're gonna talk about today. Um, Mountain Laurel Chalet. Um cool business that you've got going and we're gonna talk about that, how you built it and why you are The nicest guy in short term rentals.
No um
That's a lot to live up to, Bart. I'll I'll do my best.
Oh, come on. Come on. Uh Tom, tell me a little or tell everybody a bit about yourself, what what you get up to in the STR space.
Great. I I got engaged with uh in the S T R space in nineteen ninety two by marrying into a family that was managing cabins in Gatlinburg, Tennessee, which is where the Great Smoky Mountains are. It's a great uh vacation destination, maybe one of the more premier uh density locations within the US and they started their business in nineteen seventy two. I married into the family in ninety two. And the um we then began to acquire some homes as a part of the management program. And then in twenty twelve, the family asked me to step in as the general manager and oversee the operations and help turn the business around. It had was stumbling after the uh recession in two oh eight and two hundred nine. And uh so I I came in for what I thought was an eighteen month, twelve month stint.
And thirteen some years later, I've now owned the company with my wife and we're running the business and falling in love with hospitality and short term rentals.
And what we're doing before that, sort of what kind of obviously they said, Hey, come in and give us a hand, what kind of qualified you to be the person To jump in and start to talk, you know?
I will clarify that. They said, Tom, we think you are the most qualified in our family. So There were six uh six uh three children and three spouses, so they felt like I could offer something. I was working for a global religious nonprofit and I was a uh national director of operations, brand, and uh conferences and events. So with that I did a lot of hospitality, a lot of marketing, branding, and leadership development. Yeah, gotcha.
Okay. So um uh look, let's get let's get into it, I guess.
What was the state of Mountain Laurel Chalets in 2012 and why did Tom decide to cut 40 under‑performing properties?
Um uh because uh uh a short episode is a good episode. Um when when you said that the business was Struggling and you were going to turn it around, what did the business look like at that particular point? Um, and obviously it's kind of interesting because um in 72, like the the vacation rental, short-term rentals, it's not what it is today, right? And also when you were asked to turn things around. The industry as we know it today was just kind of scratching at what it is today, right? So you would have been kind of almost on the cusp of like massive change and the massive revolution, be it with Airbnb and the OTAs and the consumer perception of the the segment itself. But it sounds like you were managing properties or the business was back in seventy two.
Yes, we were. Uh my in laws uh moved to Gatlinburg in the fifties and uh my father was my father in law was an engineer and then a general contractor and my mother in law was the first kindergarten teacher in the county. And so they were basically homesteaders in Gatlinburg and um They just stumbled into hospitality because they lived in a uh resort area where there were just vacation homes. No one rented out their homes. They used them as their own private vacation homes.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
Who is Tom Goodwin and how did he become involved in the family vacation‑rental legacy?
0:09–3:18
2
What was the state of Mountain Laurel Chalets in 2012 and why did Tom decide to cut 40 under‑performing properties?
3:18–6:58
3
How did Tom use data analysis to identify the profitability sweet spot and raise property standards?
6:58–11:28
4
What cultural changes did Tom implement when letting go of staff and owners?
11:28–14:40
5
How did the 2016 Gatlinburg wildfires impact the business and what lessons were learned?
14:40–18:42
6
Why did Tom reduce the direct‑booking percentage from 85% and how did he rebalance the channel mix?
18:42–22:20
7
What is the growth plan for reaching 120 homes and why does quality trump quantity?
22:20–25:40
8
Why is the guest experience the #1 focus for the next decade and how is it tied to margins?
25:40–37:06
Speakers
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