[00:00:00] Speaker A: Welcome to A Place to Call Home. I'm your host, Ed O. Bridgman, electrical engineer, developer, and founder of EOB Consulting. Today, I'm exploring how innovative RV destinations are redefining modern living. You're watching Now Media Television.
Hello, and welcome to A Place to Call Home. I'm your host, Ed O. Bridgman. Today we are at the Florida Alabama Outdoor Hospitality conference and Expo 2026 in Orlando, Florida. Hey, that's a lot to say. Okay. So anyway, we're here with our good friend Danielle Windis Cook.
Okay. Thank you for being here, Danielle. Thank you for being on the show.
[00:00:43] Speaker B: Well, thank you for inviting me. I appreciate it.
[00:00:46] Speaker A: We're having fun. Danielle and I met over lunch. We happened to be sitting together at the banquet, Chairman's banquet, just a couple hours ago. And I said, hey, we're having so much fun. We need to interview you and find out about your business and what you do.
[00:01:02] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:01:03] Speaker A: So tell my guest what you do.
[00:01:06] Speaker B: So I am a real estate broker, and I represent buyers and sellers of campgrounds, and I've been doing it since 2010.
[00:01:16] Speaker A: And this is 2026.
[00:01:17] Speaker B: Yes. So many years.
I know I don't look that old, but I am.
Yeah.
[00:01:25] Speaker A: So you specialize in assisting people buy or sell their RV destination, their campground or community, their resort?
[00:01:37] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:01:38] Speaker A: And what part of the country do you specialize in?
[00:01:41] Speaker B: We are able to specialize in the entire country.
[00:01:44] Speaker A: The entire United States.
[00:01:45] Speaker B: The entire United States. We are able to do that.
[00:01:49] Speaker A: Who's we?
[00:01:50] Speaker B: So I have a whole team of people behind me.
I have other agents that work with me, other brokers that work with me. So we're in collaboration. We all work together. I have financial analysts.
I have a marketing team.
So we incorporates all of those people.
[00:02:10] Speaker A: So Homestead RV Community is in Alabama. If I said I wanted to sell Homestead rv, I don't. If I said I wanted to sell Homestead RV Community, you would send someone to Homestead to appraise it? Yes, because I don't know what it's worth.
[00:02:24] Speaker B: Right, right. So we would. We either I would go or someone that I work with would be there and we would pull all your financials. We'd probably ask you to send all of the financials ahead of time to kind of get a rough idea of what we were looking at and to even see if it was something that maybe you would want to go forward with with us.
But then we would definitely pay a visit to your campground. We want to see what it entails, you know, what your property looks like, what the land Looks like, what your amenities are like and take all of that, we package that all together and we would come back to you with what our final price that we think it's worth.
And then if you chose to move forward, you know, we would move forward with our marketing, which I feel very comfortable saying, we have a great marketing team.
[00:03:15] Speaker A: So you would advise the seller on the price that they should plan to sell at, but you would also advise the seller at the price that you would market it at, which might be two different things.
[00:03:27] Speaker B: It might be. And you know, and sometimes it is. I mean, you know, we all like a little bit of wiggle room, you know. But the other thing is we really want to make sure that you understand our process ahead of time. First of all, it's extremely confidential. We don't ever hand out any information without a non disclosure agreement being signed by a potential buyer.
You know, everyone that we have, we have lists of buyers, but we're certainly not going to send, you know, someone we know can only afford a million dollars. We're not going to send that.
[00:04:03] Speaker A: So you have pre qualified buyers.
[00:04:05] Speaker B: Absolutely.
[00:04:06] Speaker A: Okay. And you come prepared with a list of people who have contacted you and said, if you come across this type of destination, I want to know about it.
[00:04:19] Speaker B: Right. Especially, you know, per state. You know, it's much different. We work in the northeast, we work in the south. It's much different. Northeast campgrounds are only open about four months a year.
[00:04:30] Speaker A: A lot of the older ones were not developed in such a way that they could stay open in the harsh winter months.
[00:04:36] Speaker B: Correct.
[00:04:38] Speaker A: If you are developing today in the north, especially in the Northeast, and you develop with your infrastructure deeper into the ground so that you can be open all year round, you're setting on a gold mine. Okay. That is a hotspot right now. So would you agree that a couple of years ago it was the Southeast that was blowing up? Okay. And you couldn't build fast enough? Okay.
Now it's. The Northeast is the new place that you cannot build fast. If you're next to a Walmart distribution center, a data center that's being built, Amazon distribution center. If you can get within 10, 15 miles of that, you cannot build fast enough at this time.
[00:05:30] Speaker B: That's correct.
[00:05:31] Speaker A: And you want to build so that you can be open 12 months out of the year. And that means your infrastructure is a little lower in the ground so it won't freeze, but it is worth it.
[00:05:42] Speaker B: Absolutely.
[00:05:43] Speaker A: All right, so we've talked about the past, we've talked about what's hot Today.
Where do you see this industry going? You've been doing this a while.
[00:05:54] Speaker B: I have.
[00:05:55] Speaker A: Since you. Since you was in high school.
She's been doing this a while. So where is it? Where's the next hot spot?
[00:06:03] Speaker B: Well, I think what you're going to find is the Northeast because of our. I mean, we don't get the storms.
We don't get.
Storms are the biggest thing right now, as you know. I mean, you know, most areas of the country are really getting hit, and the Northeast is not getting hit like other areas.
[00:06:22] Speaker A: Not with hurricanes, not with tornadoes. You don't see that as much.
[00:06:25] Speaker B: Fires. I mean, there's a lot going on. And I think because of that, I think the Northeast is really growing. It's one of the hottest real estate markets in the country.
I think the campgrounds are going to take off a little bit more up there. Even though the south is still doing fine, you know, Midwest is still doing fine. Every.
But because of those natural, you know, the water. The water's one of the biggest things.
[00:06:51] Speaker A: Water is very important in the Midwest. There are seven states that the federal government has deemed that they must use one third less water than they used in 2024.
So if you're in Texas, Arizona, Utah, all the way up to Colorado, your water is being limited. Whether you have a well or not, it don't make any difference. The federal government will put a meter on your well and they will decide how much water you're going to be allowed to have.
So if you're building a data center on 600 acres, you need a lot of water. Okay. Data centers have to be cooled. So the United States of America, it wants to be first in AI. So we're building data centers at a very high rate.
And that's awesome. That's good. But they're being built where there is electricity to operate them. And water, they're being built in the Northeast.
And the people who work as pipe fitters, welders, concrete people, the finishers, they all live in RVs. And it takes 11 years to develop a data center. They are working 13 days on one day off, 12 hours a day. And they are working all year long.
[00:08:14] Speaker B: Correct.
[00:08:15] Speaker A: And they live in an RV and they need RVs, and they prefer RVs. Well, what's their choice? You can go to a hotel that's 30 minutes away and pay outlandish money, or you can try to get an apartment which doesn't exist. You're only going to be there for three months to six months. But even if you're Going to be there six months. And even if you arrive in July, okay, that's the seventh month. You're going to be there until January. Okay. You can't stay in an RV destination that closes in October.
[00:08:43] Speaker B: Right.
[00:08:43] Speaker A: Because you're working 13 days a week. You don't have time to jump in your RV and go someplace else. That's not on the agenda. Okay? I'm working 12 hours a day. I don't come home and hook up to an RV and go find a place to go. That's not. That's not what I'm doing. And they get paid per diem.
They really don't care how much you charge them. Okay. What a business to be in. All right, so RV destinations in the Northeast right now that are able to be open 12 months out of the year are a hot commodity. Okay? I know. I have several clients.
We're in the process of designing eight today, and four of them are in the Northeast. Okay. It's just them. It's blowing up. Okay. It has to. But if you want to buy one or if you want to sell one, you need to talk to Danielle. So how can they reach you?
[00:09:42] Speaker B: Well, should I give them my number? Should I give them my website?
[00:09:47] Speaker A: Call her at 10:00 clock at night.
[00:09:50] Speaker B: Ready?
[00:09:50] Speaker A: Okay, do that.
[00:09:51] Speaker B: Yeah, she's up. Daniellewcproperties.com. which is also our website.
[00:09:58] Speaker A: Okay, say it again.
[00:09:59] Speaker B: Daniellewcproperties.com.
[00:10:05] Speaker A: say it one more time.
[00:10:06] Speaker B: Daniellewcproperties.com.
[00:10:11] Speaker A: Okay. What's Marcia's phone number?
[00:10:14] Speaker B: Oh, yeah, here we go.
I'll take it.
[00:10:22] Speaker C: Okay.
[00:10:24] Speaker A: Do you want to give us any phone number? You can say no, sure.
[00:10:27] Speaker B: No, I'll give a phone number. Okay, ready? Area code.
[00:10:29] Speaker A: What are we waiting on?
[00:10:30] Speaker B: All right, go ahead. Here we go.
[00:10:31] Speaker A: Give us a phone number.
Go ahead. Just go ahead and give them a phone number. Give them a phone number.
[00:10:37] Speaker B: 615-4521.
[00:10:39] Speaker A: Nobody heard that?
[00:10:40] Speaker B: No, no.
[00:10:41] Speaker A: Do it again.
[00:10:42] Speaker B: 585-61-54521.
[00:10:47] Speaker A: All right. Well, we're having fun here at the Florida Alabama Outdoor Hospitality conference and Expo 2026. This year it's held in Orlando, Florida.
Come by.
I don't know when this is going to be aired, but they have it every year.
[00:11:05] Speaker B: Yes, they do.
[00:11:06] Speaker A: So.
And it's.
The Florida Alabama association puts it on. So if you have a destination in any state, there's 26 different associations. So you need to identify the association for your state that's serving your state. The Florida Alabama, I think, is the largest.
[00:11:26] Speaker B: And I Want to. I want to say one thing.
[00:11:27] Speaker A: Okay, well, hurry up.
[00:11:28] Speaker B: All right. It's very, very important to belong to these associations because they really help you out when it comes to laws that are enacted within the RV industry. I cannot stress how important it is. So if you don't do anything else, make sure you join your state associations.
[00:11:47] Speaker A: Very important, because they have lobbyists that will represent you to the legislation and make certain that you get bills passed that assist you and they stop bills that don't assist us. So it's very important to be a part of your state association and attend these so that you can meet Danielle.
[00:12:07] Speaker B: Yeah. And if you attend, you'll get a free stress file.
[00:12:12] Speaker A: Yeah. That's worth it. Right there.
[00:12:14] Speaker B: Right there, Right there.
[00:12:18] Speaker A: All right. I think we're out of time, but there you go.
We'll be right back with more insight into designing communities that combine freedom, profitability, and purpose. Stay tuned.
And we're back. I'm Ed O. Bridgman, and this is a place to call home on NOW Media Television. Let's continue this conversation.
Welcome to a place to call home. I'm your host, Ed O. Bridgman, and I'm here today from the Out Florida Alabama Outdoor Hospitality Conference and Expo. That's a bunch to say this happens to be the 2026 year, and we're at the last day of April, and I'm here with campground views.
Mr. Garrett McKinnon.
We use campground views. Matter of fact, I just remembered we were the first RV destination to use campground views.
So thank you for being on the show today.
[00:13:26] Speaker D: Yeah, thanks for having me. And thanks for being the first one to use campground views. We really appreciate your support.
[00:13:32] Speaker A: Well, I knew it was state of the art, and Homestead RV Community is all about leading the technology, so we had to be the first. And then a few years later, at no extra charge, you guys came back and reshot because we had added a pool and event center and stuff like that. And we were the first at Homestead RV Community. We were the first to be able to open a virtual door and you could go inside our event center and inside the pool area, inside the bathrooms. That was cool.
Awesome.
[00:14:09] Speaker D: Yeah, no, it's great. I mean, we don't just want to give the guests the opportunity to drive through the park itself. We also want to give them the opportunity to jump inside all the wonderful amenities that you have, your location. So we want to be able to look at the pool, the bath house, and the different things that you offer your guests when they arrive to your park.
[00:14:25] Speaker A: All Right. So maybe we got ahead of ourselves a little bit. Campground views.
Think of Google Earth on steroids. Okay.
Campground Views allows you to do a virtual tour, all right, where they start literally at the entrance and they drive through. You can pause it, you can rotate the view and look up into the site and see what the dimensions are of the site. And you. It's so cool. Tell us about it. Don't let me tell you about it, you tell us about it.
[00:15:00] Speaker D: Yeah, well, it is exactly that. It's a 360 degree video virtual tour. It's a proprietary technology that we developed. If you go to campground views.com you'll see currently we have over 3600 parks across the US of course, Ed's park being one of those 3600 plus where you can really, from the comfort of anywhere you are, you know, your home, maybe your rv, if you're a full time traveler, you can experience what these campgrounds truly feel like. And we know that when we're out camping, there's different things that we need when we arrive to a campground to be able to set up quickly, confidently and be able to enjoy our experience with our family when we arrive. So that's what our technology does is it kind of takes what you would normally have as just a still two dimensional photo on your website and it allows the camper to really get into the park, learn about the park and most importantly, learn about the sites. So you kind of touched on it. We have all the site information at these campgrounds that show you the dimensions back in, pull through. For some of those people that don't like backing in their RV and really give them confidence when they make that reservation that when they arrive on Friday night at 6 o', clock, they can get the barbecue going to get their
[00:16:11] Speaker A: camper set up, or especially when they
[00:16:13] Speaker D: arrive after dark, definitely.
[00:16:15] Speaker A: Oh my gosh. Having a visual, literally, literally being able to see exactly how this park is laid out and having an idea. I'm going to go in past the gate, I'm going to turn right and then I'm going to turn left, I'm going to back in like this. Having that picture in your mind months, weeks, days, hours before you even arrive prepares you to make that a less dramatic experience.
[00:16:43] Speaker D: Definitely. I mean, one of the things that I talk about with campers and with park owners is, you know, when we're online making a reservation and I'm an RVer myself, there's some pre booking anxiety. We're looking at the website and we're going I really hope my camper will fit. I really hope I can back into this space. Do I have the room, you know, maybe without clipping a tree or maybe, you know, the hydro pedestal or whatever it may be. So what our view gives that, you know, that peace of mind that when they arrive, there's not going to be any tricks. We feel like we've been to the campsite before from driving through it virtually in that 360 perspective. And it takes away a lot of any of that nervous anxiety when you're booking. And of course, maybe four or five weeks later, you've got the family loaded up, you're driving four or five hours across the state. Now your confidence when you, when you arrive is a lot higher because you know you're going to be able to get set up and have a great experience at that campground.
[00:17:36] Speaker A: Well, not only that, you might want to, you might have some special needs. You might say, I want to be close to the bath house, I want to be close to the pool, I'm going to be close to the playground. You can virtually drive through and say, I don't want my children to have to cross a road to get to the playground.
[00:17:52] Speaker D: Exactly.
[00:17:53] Speaker A: And so I want this site because I know when I back in, I'm going to have a window and I can literally keep an eye on my kids or something like that.
So campground views is a must have. We have had it at Homestead RV Community since the beginning of time.
We were the first. And we love it. Okay. And we use it. Everybody uses it. Okay. I can also talk about the reporting. You tell us how many people click on the site, you tell us how long they were on the site. Okay. You talk for a while.
[00:18:27] Speaker D: Well, I mean, one of the important things as an owner or operator is you want to know if your tool is actually being used on your website. So we're able to go in and look at the analytics. So we're able to tell you how many times people are looking at the virtual tour, how long they're watching the video virtual tour for, and then from there the booking action. So we have integration with all reservation softwares where we can take you from that virtual tour over to the reservation page, and we're able to track that journey while the guest is on the website and give you a real perspective of how often these tours are being watched and looked at. And what you'll notice that is if we look at the data, if you get 1000 views to your website on a monthly basis, you're probably going to have somewhere between 800 and 900 views on your virtual tour. And the reason for that is that what do guests want to see when they get to your website? They want to see what the park looks like. And you kind of touched on it, mentioning the kids. Well, one of the things that you have to keep in mind is these kids are watching the virtual tours as well. Parents are watching it so they can get set up and it's a smooth experience upon arrival.
Kids, they want to see the water park, they want to see the bouncy castle, they want to see the arcade and all those amenities. So now your kids are watching it, getting excited. People have told me my kids watch the virtual tour driving to the campground, getting excited about, you know, the water park feature, the pool, whatever that may be. So there's a, you know, there's a need from the entire family to be able to use this video virtual tour on the website.
[00:19:53] Speaker A: So we most, I would say most successful RV destinations have a website.
Most websites have a photo gallery. Okay. And so if your destination is 40 years old, it's just simple human nature to want to put your best pictures out on the website. And they might be 10 years old or 20 years old back when the grass was green and the trees were manageable and stuff like that. With campground views you driven through recently, and they're so affordable. And they didn't charge, you don't charge to come back to that.
[00:20:33] Speaker D: We do not charge for a recapture
[00:20:35] Speaker A: a couple of years later.
So every couple of years, campground views is literally coming out and going through your property and getting the most up to date pictures that most accurately represent your destination. That is so important to be up to date so that when the guest arrives, they actually get what they thought they were going to get based upon what they saw on the website.
Guests don't like to be fooled.
[00:21:09] Speaker D: Exactly.
[00:21:10] Speaker A: Okay.
If you're misrepresenting them, misrepresenting yourself, ooh, that puts the guest in a bad mindset right off the bat.
[00:21:22] Speaker D: So that's something that we built into our program. So we make sure that we come back out at least once every 24 months. At the park owner's description, you know, maybe they're doing renovations or maybe they're adding cabins or, you know, a new pool. Whatever the case may be, instead of doing just regular stills, we're going to come back out once every 24 months. We're going to recapture that park and make sure that everything that the audience is seeing on your website is new and up to date. So that when they arrive there's no disappointment. And what we're noticing is that, you know, we're giving them the real view. So positive reviews are going up, negative reviews and complaints are actually going down because there's no smoke and mirrors here. We're giving them a true vision and a true view of what they're going to get when they arrive with their family.
[00:22:04] Speaker A: It is a must have for any successful RV destination.
You just have to provide that guest the they say a picture is worth a thousand words. Well, how much is a literally a video of a virtual tour that's got
[00:22:21] Speaker D: to be worth Million words. A million words, million words.
[00:22:23] Speaker A: We're making up numbers here. We might as well say a million or I think it's 10 million.
[00:22:27] Speaker D: Let's go with 10.
[00:22:28] Speaker A: Okay, let's go with 10 million. It's a bunch. Okay.
A virtual tour is worth a lot.
So if there was somebody actually setting on that site, you would literally see that also.
[00:22:42] Speaker E: That's correct.
[00:22:43] Speaker A: So they might be able to see, oh, this person has something the same size as I am, so this is what I'm going to look like when I'm there.
[00:22:55] Speaker D: Exactly, yeah. I mean if you're somebody that's towing a 45 foot fifth wheel and you want to know that your 45 foot fifth wheel can fit there and if the day that we happen to film the park and capture the park there was a, a unit of that size or similar in, in that space, then they know, hey, when I arrive, I see that that unit's there. Now of course it's not going to be there when you show up because you know, you're confirming your dates. Right. But it does give you that peace of mind knowing that, hey, there's a similar RV that's set up in this space, I know again, there's not going to be any tricks for me when I get into that unit. And if you're somebody that doesn't like, you know, maybe backing up your unit and you just want to pull through site, you're going to be able to see that as well as well. And again those little things, maybe you get stuck in traffic, you got a six hour commute to the park, you hit some traffic, you're now showing up in the dark, which again can be a little bit nerve wracking.
[00:23:40] Speaker A: Happens all the time.
[00:23:41] Speaker D: Right. So we don't control some of those things. So the virtual tour which you're going to see is filmed on a beautiful sunny day is just going to again give you peace of mind.
[00:23:49] Speaker A: Excuse me. All right. Well, that is fantastic. So how can guests find you?
[00:23:55] Speaker D: So they can find us at camp campgroundviews.com if they want any any more information, they can also email me directly. Garrett G A R e t t campgroundviews.com as well.
[00:24:05] Speaker A: And your personal phone number. How we can get a hold of you at 10 o' clock at night.
[00:24:08] Speaker D: 416-520-9744. You give me a call. We're always working, Ed. You know that.
One more time, 416-520-9744.
[00:24:19] Speaker A: All right. This has been a place to call home. I'm your host, Ed O. Bridgman. Just having fun with friends at the Outdoor Hospitality Conference for Florida and Alabama in Orlando, Florida.
We'll be right back with more insight into designing communities that combine freedom, profitability and purpose. Stay tuned.
And we're back. I'm Ed O. Bridgman, and this is a place to call home on NOW Media Television. Let's continue this conversation.
Hello to a place to call home with your host, Ed O. Bridgman. Today we are at the Florida Alabama Outdoor Hospitality Conference and Expo. This year, 2026 is located in Orlando, Florida. And I have the good fortune of being with a good friend of mine at my community. We use at my community at Homestead, RV community that Monica and I own. We've used them. I've. I swallowed the Kool Aid the first time I met you.
[00:25:25] Speaker C: 2019.
[00:25:26] Speaker A: 2019.
So I'm very happy to be interviewing Joe today.
Welcome to the show, Joe.
[00:25:32] Speaker C: Thank you. Thanks for having me.
[00:25:33] Speaker A: Well, it's my pleasure. It's absolutely my pleasure. And you won an award today.
[00:25:37] Speaker C: We did. We got support.
[00:25:39] Speaker A: We did. Because Joe wasn't here yet.
[00:25:41] Speaker C: I was not here.
[00:25:42] Speaker D: No.
[00:25:42] Speaker C: I came in late. I had family obligations that I had to do.
[00:25:47] Speaker A: These kids. Yep.
All right, so you came in and you didn't. You got. But you got an award. What'd you get an award for?
[00:25:54] Speaker C: So we got Supplier of the year. So it's a top supplier for the Florida Alabama outdoor hospitality.
[00:26:01] Speaker A: That is something to be proud of.
[00:26:03] Speaker C: We also this year won supplier of the Year for the national organization outdoor hospitality industry.
[00:26:09] Speaker A: I didn't even realize that.
[00:26:10] Speaker C: Yep.
[00:26:11] Speaker A: Fantastic. Okay, so tell us briefly how you got into doing appmycommunity.
[00:26:19] Speaker C: Yeah. So I think I've told you this story probably before, but we were camping In Rapid City, South Dakota, at a beautiful RV resort, 500 sites, had a great time, tons of activities, tons of things to do, but we missed the communication three or four times. The biggest one was when I had four. Four little girls standing there and a little kiddie train walked by or drove by, and they come and look at me. I have eight eyes looking at me like, what's going on, dad? Like, why am I not on the kiddie train? And we had no way of knowing that because we'd never been there and didn't know. We had to go across the park and look at the bulletin board for
[00:26:54] Speaker A: a paper, for something written on a bulletin board.
This is a 500 site park, and they expect you to find the bulletin board like a needle in a haystack and read it and know what's going on.
[00:27:07] Speaker C: And that's exactly right. So two other times we ran into just a lack of communication. And so I was a developer. My wife Rose is hospitality. She majored in hospitality in college. I worked the Ritz Carlton and thought that we could combine those two things and make a better experience.
And the first thing we thought of was an app, because you'll have that in your pocket at all times.
[00:27:30] Speaker A: Awesome. Awesome. So what year did you create the app?
[00:27:34] Speaker C: So we got the idea right about Fourth of July in 2017.
[00:27:40] Speaker A: 2017.
[00:27:41] Speaker D: Yep.
[00:27:42] Speaker A: That's when you conceptualized. Now, when did the app debut?
[00:27:47] Speaker C: So debut is probably. I would say the first one was live in the App Store, probably around, let's say, March of 2018.
But we had called that customer three months later and said, we made you an app. Would you like it? And luckily enough, that customer is still with us.
We're nine years strong.
But they had already priced an app, and company told them to be too cost prohibitive and wouldn't even work with them. So when we came in and gave them a price, knowing what our model was going to look like, they jumped on board right away, no questions asked. Awesome. So, yeah, so that was.
That was October of 17, and then May. March of 18 is when it went live.
[00:28:33] Speaker A: And I met you in 2019 at a conference. Was it.
[00:28:36] Speaker C: It was the outdoor. It was what was formerly Arvik. Arvik in Knoxville, Tennessee.
[00:28:42] Speaker A: Yeah. So that's when I met you and Rose.
And I hadn't even opened yet. I don't even know 2019. I had barely broken ground.
And so I went to the conference to see what I needed and learn about vendors. And I met you and Rose and I immediately, I was all in.
[00:29:02] Speaker C: You are the first person to sign a contract at our booth ever.
[00:29:07] Speaker A: Really?
[00:29:08] Speaker C: Yep. Yep. I mean, even. Even to this day, we probably only have maybe like 10 of those total, but we had three at that show, but you were the first one.
[00:29:17] Speaker A: Are we out? I'll take that. I'll take that. Okay. So we're still actively members of AppMyCommunity. We're still using your app all the time for our virtual store, for our communications.
How do you get to the laundry, how our map, everything is on appmycommunity. Very excited about that.
So tell us a little bit more about what does at my community do.
[00:29:45] Speaker C: Yeah. So basically we are a communication and engagement tool for you to get in touch with your guest.
So whether it's sending a push notification telling them there's high winds coming, you should pull in your awning to purchasing some equipment to go on the side of your rv. Like you need a new sewer hose or you need a new chair.
You do a lot of that.
Seeing your map and searching where things are on the map, getting your updated activity list, seeing what's in the local area as well.
[00:30:15] Speaker A: You can also do treasure hunts.
[00:30:20] Speaker B: Yep.
[00:30:20] Speaker C: We have scavenger hunts.
[00:30:21] Speaker A: Scavenger hunts. Tell us about that.
[00:30:23] Speaker C: So the scavenger hunts can be set up in a number of ways and they're used in ways that aren't necessarily tied to a scavenger hunt a lot of times. But you build one out and it's to explore your park or your local area. And so the guests can go through it and they for each clue that they have, they can either scan a QR code, answer a question, take a picture, which is a good one because it gives you marketing images that you can reuse.
They can answer multiple choice. We even use our scavenger hunt feature to do a mini golf scorecard. And so whether it's golf, mini golf or disc golf, they can use that. The cool thing about doing it that way is one, the guests can see their history for your long term guests. And two, you can actually sneak in a selfie in the middle of it. So they're taking a selfie at hole number nine. And again, you have that for marketing materials.
[00:31:11] Speaker A: There you go. So helping with the marketing. Awesome. Awesome. A very good way to do it. I can tell you firsthand at my community is extremely affordable.
Pays for itself very, very, very, very quickly because it's so affordable. I can also tell you first hand knowledge if you have a quality, if you need to add something to the app, Jo's laughing because I don't do that.
I call Rose and I say, we need to add this. And she goes, oh, well, I can either tell you how to do it over the phone or oh, it's done. Just like that. And I'm like, thank you, Rose. It's done. I don't, I didn't have to learn how to do that.
[00:31:50] Speaker C: Ed says that, but Monica's probably over here laughing because she's like, well, what are you talking about? I do a lot of work too.
[00:31:55] Speaker A: Monica calls Rose now.
But between the two of you, you guys have awesome service.
Your service is stated. Your Service is a 10 out of 10.
[00:32:08] Speaker C: Thank you very much.
[00:32:08] Speaker A: You guys take care of us all the time.
[00:32:10] Speaker C: We try our best.
[00:32:11] Speaker A: So what else do you want to tell us about at my community? How can people get a hold of you?
[00:32:16] Speaker C: So you can go
[email protected] to go to our email address to our website and see more about us. You can book a demo there, which is always live. We allow you to ask questions because every park is different. Every park has different needs. And so that allows us to really kind of dig into what they need for their park.
You can also, you can email me@jo armstrongsoft.com or joeycommunity.com either one comes to me.
[00:32:43] Speaker A: All right, slow those down One more time.
[00:32:46] Speaker C: Okay, I should just use Joppmycommunity.com.
[00:32:51] Speaker A: okay, how about a phone number?
[00:32:54] Speaker C: My phone number is 636-459-5161.
[00:32:58] Speaker A: One more time.
[00:32:59] Speaker C: 636-459-5161.
[00:33:03] Speaker A: Okay. So that's how you get a hold of them, talk to them about getting an app for your community.
You can't really operate a modern day community without an app anymore.
Our people will make a reservation.
Maybe they're in Michigan and maybe it's June and they're going to come down in October and they'll make a reservation and then they'll download the app immediately from Michigan the day they made the reservation. And they can see communications from the past, they can see communications to the future and then go, oh, look, every week they have bingo night. Every week Monica teaches yoga.
You know, this is some of the activities that we're going to go. So they see in advance.
They can start looking forward to doing some of these things in advance, not only at your community but in the surrounding area. Oh, let's make sure we hit this restaurant.
Make sure we see the battleship.
[00:34:07] Speaker C: They can basically plan their stay.
[00:34:08] Speaker A: They can plan their entire stay months in advance.
And you learned this because you went to a place and needed it and the train went by and four little girls are saying, daddy, there's something wrong with this picture.
[00:34:24] Speaker C: That's right. That's Right.
Luckily the next week we were there, they got on the ride, you redeemed yourself and you said, what else do I have to add? We have some new features coming out that you don't know about. I don't even know about when we have GPS driving directions in app that are live and available from GPS driving
[00:34:44] Speaker A: directions from wherever you are to your
[00:34:47] Speaker C: site or to the pool. And it also has a walk through the community. Correct.
[00:34:51] Speaker A: So they don't necessarily bring you to the community.
[00:34:55] Speaker C: No.
[00:34:55] Speaker A: Okay. Once you're in the community, it'll take
[00:34:58] Speaker C: you, take you directly to your site.
[00:35:00] Speaker A: Directly to your site.
[00:35:01] Speaker C: And that can be your big rig driving direction. So you're going the right way around the path. It can be walking directions. So you're not, you know, required to stick by that.
And then we are also.
It's not done yet, but close enough that I can announce it. We will have chat available.
[00:35:18] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:35:19] Speaker C: Coming soon, mostly for long term parties.
[00:35:21] Speaker A: So you can say, we're over here at the pickleball court. We need a couple more people.
Does anybody want to play pickleball?
Come on over and then they can use your GPS to find the pickleball court.
[00:35:32] Speaker C: Sure can.
[00:35:33] Speaker D: Exactly.
[00:35:33] Speaker C: That is exactly right.
[00:35:36] Speaker B: Cool.
[00:35:37] Speaker A: Okay.
Well, always a pleasure talking to you, Joe. Always, always fun.
And we're here at the Florida Alabama out in Hospitality Conference 2026. This year, it's in Orlando, Florida.
You've been watching A Place to Call Home with your host, Ed O. Bridgman.
And stay tuned to the next segment. We'll be interviewing somebody else.
We'll be right back with more insight into designing communities that combine freedom, profitability and purpose. Stay tuned.
And we're back. I'm Ed O. Bridgman and this is a place to Call home on NOW Media Television. Let's continue this conversation.
Hello, I'm Ed Bridgman, your host of A Place to Call Home on NOW Media Television. We're here today at the Florida Alabama Outdoor Hospitality Conference and Expo. And I'm here with my friend. We ate dinner together last night, Robert Preston from Unhitched. Thank you for being on the show, Robert.
[00:36:45] Speaker E: Hey, thank you, Ed. Appreciate it. Thanks for having me.
[00:36:47] Speaker A: Well, it's a pleasure. Great, great. So tell me about Unhitched. How'd you get started? How did you, how did you decide that there was a need in the industry for what you provide?
[00:36:58] Speaker E: That's a great question. So I would say thank you. It starts back, I actually started out in residential real estate, flipping houses.
[00:37:05] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:37:06] Speaker E: And I did that as an Active duty Marine Corps pilot. So I was doing that kind of as a side hustle to build, you know, build more wealth for my family, knowing that at some point in the future, I'd probably leave active duty service. And so that was going well.
[00:37:20] Speaker A: So now wait a second. I hate to interrupt. Sure. But I'm going to.
[00:37:22] Speaker E: No problem.
[00:37:23] Speaker A: You're an active duty Marine pilot.
[00:37:28] Speaker E: Yes, sir.
[00:37:30] Speaker A: And you're also flipping houses and all that stuff.
Tell our viewers where you served.
[00:37:37] Speaker E: So I was a Marine Corps pilot. Flew the V22 Osprey. Most of my time. I was stationed out of New river, which is in Camp lejeune. Jacksonville, North Carolina. Couple deployments to Afghanistan.
Camp Bastion. That was 2010. 2012.
[00:37:52] Speaker A: Were you wrecked a plane?
[00:37:54] Speaker E: I did wreck a plane, yes. I put some dents in it.
[00:37:57] Speaker A: Put some dents in it. Was that under enemy fire?
[00:38:01] Speaker E: Yeah. So first deployment, 2010, Afghanistan.
Experienced a hard landing with. With the Osprey and a outlying base.
Fortunately, no one got hurt and we were able to fix the airplane a couple days later, fly it back home.
[00:38:16] Speaker A: Wow.
[00:38:17] Speaker E: But, yeah, a little bit of a traumatic story.
[00:38:19] Speaker A: Very interesting. Very interesting. I'm sorry, we got off topic.
[00:38:22] Speaker E: No problem.
[00:38:22] Speaker A: Okay, so thank you for your service. Yes, sir. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for your service. You're awesome. Okay, so you're a Marine. I was Air Force, but we won't hold that against it.
[00:38:31] Speaker E: I didn't know that.
[00:38:32] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:38:32] Speaker E: What'd you do in Air Force?
[00:38:34] Speaker A: Onboard computers.
[00:38:35] Speaker C: Okay.
[00:38:36] Speaker A: That's where I got my electrical engineering.
So anyway. Okay, so now you're flipping houses.
[00:38:41] Speaker E: Flipping houses.
[00:38:42] Speaker A: Then what?
[00:38:42] Speaker E: Flipping houses. Wanted to find something passive.
Started by mobile home parks.
[00:38:48] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:38:49] Speaker E: So instead of buying houses to rent, I kind of skipped that step. Did some math in my head, you know, the passive income. I was trying to get houses probably wasn't the best route. Mobile home parks made sense. Started by those, fix them up, so
[00:39:02] Speaker A: on and so forth.
[00:39:03] Speaker E: That led to apartment complex.
[00:39:04] Speaker A: Okay, now wait a second. What year was that?
[00:39:07] Speaker E: 2015. Bought my first commercial property.
[00:39:10] Speaker A: 2015, where. We don't know when this is going to be aired, but today is the end of April. 2026. 6.
[00:39:17] Speaker D: Yep.
[00:39:18] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:39:18] Speaker E: Yep. So for about the next five years, still active duty, started to get into the apartment complex investing side of the business. Okay, so 2020, I left the Marine Corps. 15 years of active duty service.
[00:39:33] Speaker A: Thank you for your service.
[00:39:34] Speaker E: Thank you. You as well. Left it. We bought a motor home, loaded up the kids, loaded up the dog, went our first RV trip.
Started to basically go up the west side of the Appalachian Mountains.
[00:39:47] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:39:48] Speaker E: And one of our stops was in Kentucky.
Fell in love with camping, fell in love with RVing.
Fell in love with it from an investment perspective. And it's actually the second park I ever stayed at as a guest.
[00:40:00] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:40:01] Speaker E: That lady wanted to sell the park, and we ended up talking and chatting a bunch, and that was actually the second park I ever owned.
[00:40:09] Speaker C: Wow.
[00:40:09] Speaker E: So I found it on vacation, which made the whole vacation a write off, which is awesome.
[00:40:13] Speaker A: Awesome.
[00:40:14] Speaker E: But yeah, so. So I would say, you know, fell in love with RVing as a guest first, then realized there was a need in the market for ownership and investment and operations side of it. And so we came home essentially and sold off all the old stuff, all the apartment complexes and mobile homes, parks, and said, hey, this is what we want to do with life. We.
[00:40:36] Speaker A: We figured it out.
[00:40:37] Speaker E: You know, this is a business that we love. It's a business. It's a lifestyle that we love. I can do it with my kids. They think they're on vacation and I'm at work.
So we'll be here tonight. And they'll. They think this is amazing and like, trick or treating at the.
[00:40:51] Speaker A: How old are your kids?
[00:40:53] Speaker E: 11, 10, nine, six and a one and a half year old.
[00:40:59] Speaker A: 11, 10, nine, six.
You have five kids.
[00:41:03] Speaker E: You're great at math.
[00:41:04] Speaker C: Wow.
[00:41:04] Speaker A: Oh, I can count to five. Okay.
All right. So now you own a couple of parks. How many parks do you own?
[00:41:14] Speaker E: 21.
[00:41:15] Speaker A: 21.
[00:41:16] Speaker E: 21.
[00:41:17] Speaker A: Congratulations.
[00:41:18] Speaker E: Thank you.
[00:41:19] Speaker A: In addition to that, you also manage people, People's destinations beyond your own. Correct. And that's what unhitched is.
[00:41:30] Speaker B: Correct.
[00:41:30] Speaker A: Well, okay, tell us about that.
[00:41:32] Speaker E: Yes and no. So.
[00:41:34] Speaker A: Okay, tell us about that.
[00:41:36] Speaker E: So we also saw a need to this process for the ones we own. You know, there should be some type of brand that goes to the customer so the customer can understand, you know, who we are. And there's some continuity between how we run parks from location, location.
So unhitched became that brand.
And so Unhitched RV is the brand that the guest sees and enjoys. And then Unhitched management is the. Is the operating company that operates all the unhitched RV locations.
[00:42:08] Speaker A: And how many locations are there?
[00:42:11] Speaker E: There's 34 properties that unhitched management operates. Some of those are some of those, or most of those maintain their.
Maintain their name. Okay, so it's kind of like, you know, powered by Marriott. Right. So it might. One of. One of our parks is called Travelers Rest up in Gainesville. So Travelers Rest managed by Unhitched.
[00:42:36] Speaker A: Okay. So you're kind of behind the scenes,
[00:42:38] Speaker E: behind the scenes of those ones.
[00:42:39] Speaker A: All right. And so you hire the people that
[00:42:43] Speaker C: are
[00:42:46] Speaker A: actually managing it.
[00:42:47] Speaker E: Absolutely.
[00:42:48] Speaker A: And you provide the services.
[00:42:50] Speaker E: Absolutely.
[00:42:51] Speaker A: And you provide advice obviously of how to market.
[00:42:55] Speaker D: Right.
[00:42:57] Speaker A: Don't make me guess. What else do you do?
[00:43:00] Speaker E: So there are a lot of things we do. I could sum it up as I own properties and so everything that I have to do, do as an owner, we do for those other owners. Right. So all the things you mentioned are spot on. Hr, hiring, training, finance, bookkeeping, accounting, marketing. Right. Revenue management, technology, maintenance.
[00:43:26] Speaker A: So is it safe to say that I could own homestead RV community and I could allow you to manage it and I could literally be hands off, I could go on vacation and be gone?
[00:43:38] Speaker E: That's exactly the idea. So we, we tell our owners we'll communicate as much or as little as you'd like.
Typically. Right. We would meet with the owners once a month. We give them the full report before and after pictures, maintenance, etc, not just financials, but you know, reviews and the marketing statistics and all that type of stuff. Of course, the financial reports as well.
And if that's what you like, great. If you'd like to meet more or you want more communication or you want more there, some owners tell us, hey, we'd like to talk to you less, that's fine too.
[00:44:11] Speaker A: So are you focused in a certain part of the United States?
[00:44:14] Speaker E: Well, we are based out of Pensacola, Florida so most our portfolio and properties fall in the southeast.
We have a decent sized portfolio of properties in Texas and now in Arizona, zone in California.
So we're not necessarily focused on a specific part of the country. We just tend to gravitate to closer to where we live. Right. More connections at this conference and so on and so forth.
So we can manage and operate anywhere in the U. S but we most of it falls in the sun belts.
[00:44:46] Speaker A: So before we run out of time, tell us how people can get a hold of you.
[00:44:50] Speaker E: Yeah, great. Thank you for, for asking.
[00:44:52] Speaker A: You're welcome for sharing the platform. It's like I've done this before, it's amazing.
[00:44:57] Speaker E: So the website is unhitched rv.com right. And underneath unhitched rv.com you can find links to the properties themselves, actually make reservations, book booking.
You'll also find a sub link in there for unhitched management. And that of course is the business to business side of it. And so unhitched RV.com is the place to be.
I'm on LinkedIn, Robert Preston, lots of
[00:45:20] Speaker A: other places I didn't hear a phone number.
[00:45:22] Speaker D: Okay.
[00:45:22] Speaker E: Oh, phone number is 850-972-0150.
[00:45:27] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:45:27] Speaker B: We.
[00:45:28] Speaker A: That would say it again.
[00:45:29] Speaker B: Nine.
[00:45:30] Speaker E: Oh, sorry. 850-972-0150.
[00:45:36] Speaker A: All right. We worked that hard to get the phone number. We're going to say it twice. Yeah, no problem. Okay.
Any last minute. We got your phone number. We got.
How do people get a hold of you? Any last minute things you want to say? We have about another minute.
[00:45:49] Speaker E: Sure.
Our main thing we're trying to do is just help the industry.
So if that means that we can in whatever way that is. Right. We don't necessarily have to be. You don't have to be our client. Reach out to us. We're happy to help, happily to share any type of information we think that can help make the entire industry better.
[00:46:08] Speaker A: Well, what more could you ask? That's fantastic.
Hi, I'm Ed Bridgman, your host of A Place to Call Home here at the Florida Alabama Outdoor Hospitality Conference and Expo this year is in Orlando, Florida. I'm interviewing your industry leaders, just like Robert. Okay. Who are providing products and services that the EOB clients require in order to be successful in developing or updating an existing RV destination or outdoor hospitality destination.
Next week I'll be interviewing somebody else. It'll be with some guests probably then. That's the reason why we're doing this, is because the guests are looking for a place to call home. And that's what we're trying to satisfy.
