In November 2023, I burned the boats.

I quit my job, sold my house, and drove 3,000 miles across the country to Idyllwild, California.

No job. Rising interest rates. STR competition heating up. Market skepticism everywhere.
But we saw an opportunity to build something people crave most today: connection, wellbeing, and extraordinary experiences.

After buying, renovating, operating, and selling 20+ vacation rentals, my partner Isaac J. Silverman and I saw some clear truths:

People love to travel in groups but hate sharing bathrooms.

People want experiences over things.

People want to leave a vacation recharged, not drained.

And yes, design matters.

So we doubled down.

We bought The Fern Valley Inn for $1.5M from an older couple who had been running it as a retirement hobby. With the support of 13 trusted friends and family investors, we reimagined it as The PineTree Hotel.

Here’s what happened in our first year:
• 3X property value: $1.5M → $4.5M+ in under two years
• $666K+ revenue (up from $108K in 2022)
• $257K in weddings, retreats, and full buyouts
• 25K social followers + 4.3K guest emails
• 1,406 reservations | 4.9⭐ on Google
• 21%+ cash-on-cash returns | Over 2X investor equity

Sometimes opportunity doesn’t show up in a spreadsheet. Sometimes it takes vision, belief, and relentless execution to see what others miss.

For a while, I thought I needed to “own more hotels” before sharing my story. But the truth is: The PineTree Hotel is proof of concept. People are hungry for experiences that recharge them, not just places to sleep.

And we’re just getting started.

We are already under contract on three more boutique hotels set to close in the next 90 days.

We’ve done it. We’re doing it. And now, we’re scaling it.

Ways we can work together:

👉 Invest in boutique hotels that you’d want to stay in
👉 Partner with us to acquire and grow properties
👉 Sell us a property with untapped potential

Drop me a follow or let’s connect, because what we’re building is only getting more fun.

Tim Ensmann

There are officially more pickleball players than founders in America.
Not sure if that’s a good or bad stat..

Maybe it says something, people are craving connection just as much as competition.

Founders League has done a great job with this. Every Monday they bring local founders together to connect, compete, and grow.

The shared vulnerability of being an entrepreneur turns into genuine community, and the pickleball just keeps it light and fun.

Bringing people together will solve most of our problems.

As we head deeper into the world of AI, communities like this and genuine meetups become even more valuable.

#FoundersLeague #Community #Founders #Leadership #AI #Pickleball

Sales Guy → Boutique Hotel Guy | Helping you build an intentional life through boutique hotel investing

ADR is dead. 
The operators who win from here will master VPG, Value Per Guest 👇

Most hotel owners are playing the wrong game.
They focus on ADR and occupancy. The best operators build value across the entire guest journey.

The top hospitality brands didn’t tweak the model. They rewrote it.

• Soho House sold belonging
• Airbnb sold trust
• 1 Hotels and Amangiri sold a feeling
• Autocamp and Getaway sold disconnection

Here is what the best operators understand.

Traditional metrics stop at what a room earns.
VPG asks a different question:
How much value can you create for each guest before, during, and after the stay?

This starts long before check in.

From the moment a guest sees the brand online, we are already learning what they care about. Wellness content. Group travel. Nature. Pickleball. Yoga. Celebrations. Creativity. Restoration.
Every signal a guest gives us becomes the foundation for a personalized experience.

Once they book, we gather context.
Why are they coming. What they want to do. Who they are coming with. What matters most to them. Activities. Amenities. Goals. Special occasions. Moments they're craving to create.

For full property reservations, the data multiplies. When the bride signs up for lakeside yoga, the entire group sees it. That moment alone triggers FOMO, drives participation, and increases ancillary revenue inside a single stay.

Every touchpoint becomes value.

• Discovery
• Booking
• Pre arrival planning
• On site experiences
• Upsells and add ons
• Content creation
• Group dynamics
• Post stay retargeting
• Personalized re engagement

We collect it.
We curate it.
We turn it into higher revenue, stronger loyalty, more rebookings, and a brand that grows through community, not discounts.

This data directly improves our social strategy, our group sales motion, our pricing power, and our experience design. It helps us attract more of the right guests and book more of the right groups.

Most operators never see any of this because they only look at the room.
When your entire business is built around Average Daily Rate (ADR) and occupancy, you are literally chasing "average" performance.

VPG is the opposite.
VPG is how you create a hospitality business that compounds.
It is how you build brands that outperform spreadsheets.

The ones who master Value Per Guest will own the next decade of hospitality.
Everyone else will keep discounting to survive.

Follow Tim Ensmann to see how we are rewriting the rules of how experiential hospitality brands operate.

Bolt Farm Treehouse bought their land for $237K.
Today it's valued around $32M...
The wildest part 👇 

100% of their bookings come directly through social media.

Imagine walking into a bank with a pro forma showing "treehouses" pushing 90% occupancy, a $750+ ADR, and 100% direct bookings.
You’d get laughed out of the room 😂

But this is exactly why there's such a massive opportunity right now in boutique hospitality.

You have brand-driven, design-led properties with the ability to reach the exact audience they’re built for.
Yet most are still treating them like “traditional hotels” or “average short-term rentals.”

It’s like underwriting a hotel as a multifamily building...
or treating a short term rental like a long-term rental.

Sure, they're all "real estate" and the numbers sit on the same spreadsheet.
But it is not the same business.

Here’s the counterintuitive part:
• We own the real estate.
• We own the strategy.
• Why wouldn’t we also own the channel?

We still underwrite conservatively with the traditional metrics.
But we are playing a different game, the same way Bolt Farm does.

We look for assets in markets with real demand, then lean into our unique advantages, target the right audience, and operate in a niche that sits far outside of “average.”

Follow +Tim Ensmann if you’re interested in how hospitality is changing and learning about opportunities like this one.

Commercial real estate + social media = new rules

We saw a 13X return on total marketing spend from buyouts alone.
This doesn’t even include the 92% direct bookings we hit this quarter.

The new rules are simple.
Treat your property like a brand, not a building, and you get to play a different game.

Attention builds a following.
Story builds trust.
Trust fills the calendar.

This is where hospitality is headed, and what can be possible on commercial real estate.
Operators who master social media will be playing a new game.

Harp Development

Harp Development develops, owns and operates high-scale outdoor resorts throughout the S.E United States.

Vice President

Dunn Infrastructure Group

Partner

Florida and Alabama Association of RV Parks and Campgrounds

Board Member

BookOutdoors

Co-Founder and Board Member (Acquired by Hipcamp)

Associate

Harp Development specializes in high-scale outdoor resorts, where the role of Vice President has enabled the expansion of premier properties across the Southeastern U.S. Over 25 years in business development and strategy have shaped an innovative approach to hospitality, blending operational expertise with a deep understanding of market trends.  

As Partner at Dunn Infrastructure Group, a focus on strategic growth and operational excellence aligns with a broader mission of sustainable development in infrastructure. Active involvement as a Board member for FARVC reflects a dedication to advancing outdoor hospitality standards.

Amir Harpaz

Just getting back from OHI's OHCE2025. Refreshed conference format hit it out of the park - kudos Paul Bambei, DAVID BASLER, Riley Wilson and the rest of the OHI team. It's always so great to see so many friends and make new ones. I've been in the space long enough (26 years!) to have seen people come and go, and it's always sad to see those who truly shaped the outdoor travel industry to what it is today announce their retirement. Rob Schutter, who built the Jellystone / Yogi Bear brand which has completely transformed over the years how millions of families vacation outdoors, has announced his well-deserved retirement. Rob is one of the few that have truly redefined our industry and what it means to offer a true outdoor family experience. He's a legend in outdoor travel. And while I know you are passing the torch to incredibly talented people like Jon Burek and Lisa Courtney, so many of us are going to miss seeing you at the conferences. I will miss our conversations, your insights, your mentorship, the laughs, and the dinners together. Glad I was able to see you this past week! Happy retirement, Rob. Looking forward to seeing you in Cincinnati, though!

Developer and operator of outdoor resorts (built over 2500 sites). Entreprenuer. Marketer. Investor.

Great post by my friend, Scott. If you’re building a company or brand, this is a must read. My favorite quote “Customers don’t leave because you raise prices. They leave because you stopped listening”

Restaurateur in Residence | Helping Operators Grow Profit & Peace of Mind

This isn’t a post to thank Verizon. 

In fact, after 19 years with them, I’m more disappointed than anything.

Quick story…

AT&T  has been our internet provider forever. They upgraded our neighborhood to fiber, sent a tech team, and—classic move—added a sales rep to the visit. One conversation later, I walked away with a mobile offer that cut my monthly bill by 45%. New phone, buyout on the old ones…hard to ignore.

I didn’t want to leave Verizon. I called them, gave them the offer, and asked if they could come close. After an hour on the phone?

Nothing. No effort. No counter. No curiosity. Just…shrugs.

So:
AT&T – signed.
Verizon – cancelled.

That’s when the real fun started.

All I wanted next was my final bill.

Week 1

Agent #1: “We’ll mail it.”

Mail? 

As in, the thing delivered by a person, not a computer?

Apparently yes. 

And to pay? I needed to physically go to a Verizon store and write a check. 

Am I living in 2025 or 1925?

Week 2

No bill.

Week 3

Two more agents. Same script. “We’ll rush it.”

Three days later…they charged my account automatically—for the bill I still couldn’t see.

They did email a link, but it didn’t work because my account was now closed. Perfect.

Week 4

Agent #4 assures me the bill is coming.

“It already came out of my bank account!” I say.

“We’ll mail it,” they reply—as if this is the twist that makes things better.

Today, it finally arrived. 

I genuinely felt something I haven’t felt in a decade: excitement to open my mailbox. 

A large envelope. Could it be…The Final Bill?!

Reader, it was.

Here’s the punchline:

I was a 19-year customer. 

I would have paid MORE to stay if Verizon had simply tried, asked a question, made a gesture, acted like loyalty mattered. 

But loyalty wasn’t part of the playbook. Just the script.

Takeaway for every business leader, operator, restaurateur, salesperson, and founder in my network:

Customers don’t leave because you raise prices.

They leave when you stop listening.

They leave when loyalty becomes a one-way street.

They leave when staying feels harder than switching.

Great companies don’t win on product alone—they win on effort, empathy, and the feeling they create.

Anyone else have a Verizon war story? 

Or am I just the guy standing at the mailbox cheering for envelopes? 🤦

Next battle: AT&T reimbursements…stay tuned.  🤺

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The Battle

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