Smoky Mountain Vacation Rental Forum: E17 — Cooperation Over Competition with Jack Zoppa

Tom Goodwin sits down with Jack Zoppa of Haven Vacation Rentals, a friend he calls a pioneer and a renegade of sorts, to open a new series of conversations with other Smokies operators. Jack is part of Stayd, a group of seven operators with no private equity behind it, sharing technology for hiring and accounting while each brand stays funded, led, and owned by its own team. Haven entered the Smokies around 2021 and 2022 and was built primarily for investor owners, and Jack says the team spent a "three year expedition" learning to be great guest oriented operators, guided by a mission "to honor Christ by serving and blessing people."

The two talk candidly about a competitive market where inventory has almost doubled since Haven arrived, investors are getting stuck after claiming the write-off mattered more than profit, and "the four bedroom pool cabin with no view is a dime a dozen." Jack says investor education is what is missing, and that professionalism means being the experts when owners are trusting you with a million dollar asset. His advice to newer operators is that "getting help is by far the best thing you can do," and he shares how an AI agent his team built, which triages issues cleaners report and schedules the repairs, frees up about 40 to 50 percent of one person's time for hospitality.

They also make the case for cooperation over competition. With roughly 20,000 listings that will keep changing hands, Jack says there is room for everyone, and that he is "an open book," so the two plan an open breakfast for every operator in the market. Jack offers candid advice for struggling owners, including that sometimes the right move is to sell, and says his hope for the next ten years is simple: "I hope that investors can cash flow."

• Investor education is the missing piece. Jack says investors are entering the Smokies without enough knowledge, sometimes claiming the write-off matters more than profit and then getting stuck after bonus depreciation, so operators have to be the experts who walk them through the real picture.
• A collective can be bootstrapped and brand led. Stayd is a group of seven operators with no private equity behind it, sharing technology for hiring and accounting while each brand stays funded, led, and owned by its own team. Trust accounting, Jack says, is the hardest barrier for new operators and becomes a big problem around 50 properties.
• Getting help is the best thing a new operator can do. Jack's advice to anyone who has grown past their ability to run the business is to reach out to other operators, even through LinkedIn, because the industry has become far more willing to help in the last 12 months.
• AI should remove friction so people can focus on hospitality. His example is an agent that triages cleaner-reported issues with photos and schedules maintenance techs, freeing up about 40 to 50 percent of one person's time.
• There is room for everyone, and quality keeps the market healthy. With roughly 20,000 listings that will keep changing hands, Jack and Tom argue that bad actors hurt the market for all of them, and that cooperation beats competition.
• Sometimes the right advice is to sell. When an owner bought poorly, Jack says the honest approach is a plan to weather the storm, which sometimes means listing the property, instead of keeping the owner for another six months of commission.
• The hope for ten years is investors who can cash flow. When owners make money, Jack says managers can spend their bandwidth on hospitality instead of putting out fires.