Smoky Mountain Vacation Rental Forum: E13 — Ten Years in Short-Term Rentals: Lessons from Nashville

For Episode 13, Tom Goodwin welcomes Travers Xanthos, a friend from outside the Smoky Mountains who spent the last decade immersed in short-term rentals in Nashville. The conversation is geared toward new investors and entrepreneurs excited about the STR market, and it is built around Travers's victories and mistakes. Tom and Travers met when Mountain Laurel Chalets moved to Guesty as its property management system, a process Travers helped guide, and Travers visited Gatlinburg in April for A Night on Ski Mountain.

Travers's story starts around 2016 and 2017, when he was in his late twenties, working in software sales, and looking for somewhere to put some commission money. A friend who ran around 200 Airbnb units in Nashville explained rental arbitrage: instead of buying property, rent empty units from landlords and list them short term. Travers built a cold call list from Craigslist, collected roughly 25 no's, landed a maybe, and went full force from there. Inspired by The 4-Hour Work Week, he left his job and moved to Bali, though after about six months he came home, bored and convinced the numbers worked better in Nashville. By early 2020 he had around 35 properties and was about to launch an online course after an in-person mastermind of about 30 students.

Then came March 14, 2020. Landing in Costa Rica with a videographer, Travers saw Airbnb's email announcing full refunds. His monthly rent was roughly $35,000 to $40,000, with a break-even near $60,000 to $67,000. A mentor told him to set a goal of filling one property per day. A healthcare-worker housing website earned a spot on the front page of the Tennessean's business section but no bookings; what actually saved the business was flyering extended-stay hotels and downtown construction sites, some in Spanish, and filling units with construction crews on monthly stays. From there he picked up premium properties from competitors that collapsed, and after the market turned back around, he redesigned his units with cheap, creative touches like selfie stations. He then built houses in his own backyard and tested a theme: a Dolly Parton apartment on Music Row earned about twice what identical units in the building did, and the Dolly Parton and bachelorette-themed houses that followed produced nearly three times what AirDNA predicted.

Travers is candid about where it ended. The pandemic was a quick bleed, but saturation is a slow one: landlords began doubling or tripling rent once they understood STR income, his team and long-time cleaners burned out, and he wound down his portfolio over roughly two years, starting with arbitrage and ending with management. Tom connects that arc to the Smokies, where wedding chapels, moonshine distilleries, and basement-pool cabins each had a pioneering moment before saturation set in, and argues that average no longer cuts it, that the income is never truly passive, and that guest experience and repeat guests are what endure. The episode closes with a conversation about blending legacy operators with new technology: Tom explains why Mountain Laurel Chalets moved to Guesty, how AI agents can handle basic guest questions so staff can focus on human connection, and why neither the legacy operators nor the innovators should discount each other.

• Peak panic hit on March 14, 2020. Landing in Costa Rica, Travers saw Airbnb’s full-refund email while facing around $35,000 to $40,000 in monthly rent and a break-even near $60,000 to $67,000.
• The fix was unglamorous. A viral healthcare-worker housing site produced no bookings; flyers at extended-stay hotels and downtown construction sites, some in Spanish, filled the units with monthly construction crews and kept the business alive.
• Passive income was a myth when conditions changed. Travers’s systems worked in good times but were not built for a crisis, and the pandemic proved the business was not passive.
• Themed, standout design pays. A Dolly Parton themed apartment earned about twice what identical units in the same building did, and fully themed bachelorette and Dolly Parton houses produced nearly three times what AirDNA predicted. His principle: don’t build something 80 percent of people will like, build something 20 percent will love.
• The pandemic was a quick bleed; saturation is a slow bleed. As more operators copied themes and upgraded design, Travers says the competitive bar keeps rising, and long-term owners will need to refresh their properties every five to ten years.
• Cleaners are a make-or-break asset. Travers’s cleaning crew of eight years burned out and left, and that was the last straw that led him to wind down his management business.
• Tom’s view of the Smokies: average does not cut it anymore. Tom compares Nashville’s bachelorette boom to Gatlinburg’s wedding chapels and moonshine distilleries, arguing that pioneers get a window before saturation and that sustainable differentiation comes from guest experience and repeat guests.
• Rental arbitrage started with a cold call list. Travers began by calling landlords from Craigslist listings, collected roughly 25 no’s before his first maybe, and built a Nashville portfolio by renting units and listing them short term rather than buying property.
• Guest loyalty looks different in the Smokies. Tom contrasts one-time Nashville visitors with Gatlinburg guests who return for decades; Mountain Laurel Chalets books roughly 74 percent of its reservations direct.
• Blend legacy with technology. Tom describes moving to Guesty as a light lift after several difficult software transitions, and explains how AI agents can answer basic guest questions so the team can focus on the human side of hospitality.