Smoky Mountain Vacation Rental Forum: E11 — The 5 Love Languages of Homeowners with Jodi Cleer

For Episode 11, Tom Goodwin brings in another voice from outside the Smoky Mountains: Jodi Cleer, whom Tom met while serving on the VRMA's Leadership Development Committee, where he interviewed her as a candidate for the association's board. Jodi's path into vacation rentals runs remarkably wide — her parents managed multifamily properties when she was growing up, she later managed her own long-term rentals, worked in hotels, and in 2014 joined Real Voice, a Memphis-based reservation call center whose very first client was David Angotti's original property management company in the Smokies. In 2018 she partnered with Park City Rental Properties in Utah, helping grow it from 235 properties to 800 by 2024 across new markets including Sedona, Scottsdale, Whitefish, and her hometown of Dripping Springs, Texas, before the company consolidated under one brand and ultimately partnered with Away Day, a private-equity-backed collective of locally branded property management companies now overseeing more than 19,000 properties nationally.

The conversation centers on a framework Jodi first learned from Steve Schwab and adapted during her time at I Love Vacations: the "five love languages" of vacation rental homeowners. Revenue owners are analytical, direct, and singularly focused on nightly rates and fee structures. Property care owners want their home meticulously maintained and never delay a suggested repair, since they see the home as both income and a future liquidity event. Trust owners are typically those who've already had a bad experience with a previous manager and have deep questions about process and procedure. Communication owners want full transparency into repairs, receipts, and decision-making thresholds. And pride of ownership owners treat the home as an extension of their family identity, chasing five-star reviews and referring friends constantly. Jodi describes documenting each owner's love language directly in the property management system so that whoever on staff is speaking with them — revenue manager, owner relations, maintenance — already knows what matters most.

Tom and Jodi dig into the danger of "projections" versus honest "comps" — comparable performance data from similar properties, rather than promises about the future — and the damage done when real estate agents inflate expected income to close a sale, leaving new owners disillusioned within their first year. The conversation turns to a broader shift Jodi has observed nationally: a pullback from purely investment-driven ownership (fueled by the COVID-era buying surge) back toward "lifestyle" ownership, where breaking even is an acceptable outcome given tax advantages, depreciation benefits, and long-term equity growth — a trend Tom connects directly to Mountain Laurel Chalets' own origin story, when Gatlinburg's very first vacation rentals were simply overflow rooms offered up by lifestyle homeowners when the Gatlinburg Inn or Mountain View Inn ran out of space. The episode closes with reflections on a recent STR investor event, Rock the Smokies, and Jodi's case for VRMA membership — not just for education, but for genuine "coopetition" among managers who, despite technically competing for the same owners, routinely help each other through emergencies like snowstorms and burst pipes.Lorem Ipsum is simply dummy text of the printing and typesetting industry.

• Five "love languages" describe how homeowners relate to their properties. Revenue (analytical, fee-focused), property care (meticulous, maintenance-forward), trust (often owners burned by a previous manager), communication (wants full transparency into repairs and decisions), and pride of ownership (treats the home as an extension of family identity) — a framework Jodi credits to Steve Schwab and refined at I Love Vacations.
• Documenting an owner's love language changes how a whole company serves them. Jodi describes recording each owner's primary motivation directly in the property management system, so revenue managers, owner relations staff, and maintenance teams all know what matters most to that specific person.
• "Comps," not projections. Jodi advises framing expected income around comparable properties' actual historical performance rather than future promises, since projections create liability and expectations no one can guarantee.
• Real estate agents and property managers have misaligned incentives. Tom and Jodi both caution that agents motivated by a one-time commission may inflate income expectations to close a sale, while a property manager is building a lifelong customer relationship and needs to set realistic expectations from day one.
• Year one is often 20% below year two. Jodi cites data from I Love Vacations showing new listings typically underperform in their first year due to lack of reviews, unbuilt booking momentum, and algorithm ramp-up — a reality new owners should be told upfront.
• A shift from investor-driven to lifestyle-driven ownership. Jodi and Tom both observe a pullback from purely ROI-focused buyers (fueled by the COVID-era real estate surge) back toward owners who prioritize personal enjoyment of the home, view breaking even as success, and lean on tax benefits like cost segregation and bonus depreciation.
• Gatlinburg's own origin story was lifestyle-driven. Tom traces Mountain Laurel Chalets' 1972 founding back to hotels like the Gatlinburg Inn calling overflow guests into personal homes — the original model behind the entire local vacation rental industry.
• Short-term rentals are a long game, not a quick-money play. Jodi emphasizes that equity appreciation matters as much as cash flow, and that home maintenance costs (a new water heater, an AC replacement) are normal homeownership realities, not signs the STR business model has failed.
• Hospitality and memorable experiences dominated conversation at Rock the Smokies. Jodi describes creative ideas shared at the recent STR investor event — a coffee bar in the primary suite, a surprise milkshake bar, s'mores kits — all aimed at making a property memorable enough to earn repeat bookings.
• VRMA's annual conference lands in Nashville, October 5–7. Tom will co-lead a seminar with Steve Schwab on applying Disney Institute hospitality standards to vacation rental management, and encourages Smoky Mountain owners and operators to attend given the region's proximity.