Tom Goodwin opens Episode 12 by dedicating the show to Dolly Parton, noting her place as part of the landscape and the heart of the Smokies, and how she never stopped giving back to Sevier County, Pigeon Forge, and Gatlinburg through the Imagination Library, fire relief, and decades of showing up for her own people. For Tom, her example is the same spirit behind everything the forum talks about: you can build something big and still remember it's a privilege to be here.
From there, Tom picks up where Episode 11 left off. His guest Jodi Cleer introduced the idea that every homeowner has a "love language" for their property: revenue, property care, trust, communication, or pride of ownership. In this episode, Tom turns that framework into something practical. For each of the five, he gives homeowners about six questions to ask a prospective management company, co-host, or individual manager before handing over the keys. The episode is aimed squarely at owners who are entrusting their home to someone else, not at hobby hosts managing their own property.
Tom is clear that no company scores 100 percent in all five areas, and he compares it to the old renovation tradeoff of price, time, and quality, where you rarely get all three. The best operators know which of the five is their wheelhouse, listen for which one an owner leans on hardest, and are honest about where they are strongest. Along the way he shares real examples from properties that have come onto the Mountain Laurel Chalets program, including a ceiling fan with its wires disconnected after a supposed repair and a crawl space foamed shut so no one could get in, as illustrations of what happens when maintenance corners get cut in a market with up to 25,000 homes and not enough skilled labor to service them.
He closes with guidance on how to do your homework: ask managers for a list of owners willing to talk, read Google Reviews rather than a company's own site or Airbnb reviews, browse comparent.com, interview more than one company, and meet them in your home. His final advice is to take your time, and he shares a story about a prospective owner of a four-million-dollar home who wanted a rental estimate and commission quote in a ten-minute call, a sign, Tom says, that it wasn't the right fit.
- Know your love language first. Before interviewing managers, decide which one or two of the five (revenue, property care, trust, communication, pride of ownership) matter most to you, especially the one that would keep you up at night if it were not met.
- No manager is 100 percent in all five areas. Tom compares it to the price, time, and quality tradeoff in a renovation: very few companies score full marks in every category, so the goal is to find the company whose strengths match your priorities.
- Revenue: ask about all-in cost, not commission. A low commission can be offset by marked-up cleaning fees (for example, a clean that costs $100 but is charged to the guest at $250) or passed-along OTA fees, so ask what you will actually receive at the end of the month and request a real owner statement.
- Revenue: ask about direct bookings and repeat guests. OTA bookings can carry 15 to 22 percent in markup fees, so ask what percentage of bookings are direct, whether there is a direct booking website, whether there is a repeat guest email list, and what percentage of guests return. Repeat guests book further out, treat homes better, and are willing to pay more for a home they love.
- Property care: ask how the home is inspected, cleaned, and maintained. Questions include how often the home is physically entered and documented with photos, who launders the linens and where, what an annual deep clean actually includes, and whether maintenance is done by skilled in-house techs or outside vendors.
- Maintenance is the market’s biggest breakdown. With up to 25,000 homes in the county and a limited pool of skilled labor, Tom has seen disconnected ceiling fan wiring and crawl spaces foamed shut, and urges owners to ask how maintenance really works and how close the manager’s portfolio and office are to their home.
- Trust: ask how damage, staffing, and guests are handled. Ask how damage is documented and who pays, how many staff members own a home themselves, where AI stops and a real person starts, whether you will see real financial statements, how long key staff have stayed, and how guests are screened.
- Communication: find out who actually answers. Ask whether after-hours support is in-house, an outside service, offshore, or AI, who your point of contact is and how fast they respond, how often you will hear from them, and how guest complaints and bad reviews are handled.
- Pride of ownership: ask whether anyone knows your specific home. Questions include whether the team knows your home or just your listing number, how middle and lower tier homes are treated compared with top producers, whether staff ever stay overnight in the homes they manage, and whether a consistent crew is assigned to your property.
- Do your homework before you sign. Ask for a list of owners you can call, rely on Google Reviews rather than a company’s own website or Airbnb reviews (which tend to be reciprocal), and use comparent.com to find and compare managers by market.
- Don’t rush the decision. Interview multiple companies, meet them at your home, and be wary of anyone willing to quote income and commission in a ten-minute conversation. Tom closes by encouraging listeners to live like Dolly lived: be generous, take care of your guests, take care of your property, and take care of each other.
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