Client Case StudyChattanooga, TN · Asheville, NC
Not a vacation rental. An urban condo, run like a brand.
The Highmark Collection is two condos in two states, eight hours apart. One is a 1-bedroom in downtown Asheville. The other is a 2-bedroom in downtown Chattanooga. They share a brand, a booking system, and an identical set of in-unit amenity stations.
What they do not share is the type of guest. One fills with weekend groups. The other fills with couples and long solo stays. Same brand, same playbook, two completely different demand patterns, and nearly identical revenue.
80
bookings in the first five months
$247
average nightly rate
$211
RevPAN
revenue per available night
5.0
average rating
85%
occupancy of bookable nights
3
channels live and producing
View & book these stays
These are real, currently bookable properties. See either on any channel, or book direct and skip the platform fee, typically an average of 15% cheaper.
Asheville
Snapshot as of September 22, 2026, reflecting bookings taken since launch on May 7, 2026, including stays not yet completed. RevPAN and occupancy assume full availability across that period.
01 · The positioning
Most short-term rental advice assumes you are selling a vacation.
Hot tub. Fire pit. Game room. Sleeps twelve. That playbook works, and we have run it ourselves on a wooded-acre property in Wisconsin Dells built around exactly those amenities. It is the wrong playbook for a downtown condo.
A guest booking a condo three blocks from the aquarium is not planning their trip around the unit. They are planning it around the city. The unit has to be excellent and then get out of the way. That single distinction changed every decision that followed.
Vacation rental logic
- The property is the destination
- One guest type, usually families
- Amenities create the reason to come
- Longer stays, fewer turnovers
- Competes on square footage and features
Urban condo logic
- The city is the destination
- Many guest types booking for different reasons
- Amenities remove friction and add delight
- Shorter stays, more turnovers, tighter ops
- Competes on location, trust and thoughtfulness
Five guests, one apartment
Weekend traveler
Two nights, in for a specific event or a city break.
Couples getaway
The largest single group in the data, by a wide margin.
Group trips
Four to six people, almost entirely in the 2-bedroom.
Business traveler
In town for a convention, working odd hours, needs two bathrooms.
Remote worker
The longest stay on record ran 20 nights, one guest, Asheville.
02 · The system
Amenities guests can name are amenities guests remember.
Most listings bury their best features in a bulleted amenity list nobody reads. The Highmark Stations are five named zones, set up identically in both condos, each solving one thing a guest actually wants at a specific moment of the stay.
The brand and the Stations concept are the owner's. Our work was operationalizing them: writing them into the listings across three platforms, building them into the guidebooks, and keeping them consistent between two units in two states.
The Groove
An in-unit vinyl station: a turntable and a curated record collection spanning timeless classics and artists with real ties to the city. Drop the needle and let the evening unfold at its own pace.
The Work Around
A real workspace, set apart from the main living area for quiet and focus. Full-size desk, ergonomic chair, and fast Wi-Fi built for video calls and heavy uploads.
The Finishing Touch
A dedicated get-ready station in each unit: full-length mirror, quality lighting, and space to get ready before heading out for the evening or an early hike.
The Recharge
An in-unit wellness station stocked with yoga mats and hand weights, for a pre-adventure warm-up or an evening wind-down after a day on the trails.
The Tailgate
A dedicated pet amenity station stocked with a cozy dog bed, food and water dishes, and chew toys, so traveling with a dog doesn't mean leaving anything behind.
“A fun 'Refresher' station with gel eye masks.”
“A vinyl record player that I played in the mornings, yoga mats to workout, a balcony with swing chairs, and board games too!”
“Playing board games and listening to vinyl on the record player.”
03 · Two markets, one playbook
Nearly identical revenue. Completely different guests.
Both condos run the same brand, the same Stations, the same messaging automation and the same three channels. Over the first five months, they produced revenue within about 5% of each other. How they got there has almost nothing in common.
Chattanooga
2 bedroom / 2 bath, downtown
- Revenue
- $29,831
- Bookings
- 51
- Nights booked
- 124
- Avg nights per booking
- 2.43
- Avg guests
- 3.20
- Avg nightly rate
- $241
Short, frequent, larger parties. Weekend groups, families at the aquarium, convention attendees who need the second bathroom. Almost twice the turnovers of Asheville for the same money.
Asheville
1 bedroom / 1 bath, downtown
- Revenue
- $28,312
- Bookings
- 29
- Nights booked
- 111
- Avg nights per booking
- 3.83
- Avg guests
- 1.93
- Avg nightly rate
- $255
Longer, fewer, smaller. Couples and solo travelers, including one 20-night remote-work stay. Roughly the same revenue on 22 fewer turnovers, which is 22 fewer cleans to coordinate.
Who actually booked
1 guest 8 bookings, 2 guests 38 bookings, 3 guests 10 bookings, 4 guests 17 bookings, 5 guests 5 bookings, 6 guests 2 bookings.
81 guest
382 guests
103 guests
174 guests
55 guests
26 guests
04 · Year one
Five months in, already booked into next year
Both listings went live in early May. This is a first-season picture, not a stabilized one. Winter is still filling and neither unit has been through a full seasonal cycle yet.
Snapshot as of September 22, 2026. Figures include bookings already on the calendar for future stays, three of them extending into 2027.
Revenue by month
May $7,047, Jun $7,944, Jul $10,446, Aug $7,478, Sep $8,694, Oct $5,515 still selling, Nov $2,281 still selling, Dec $505 still selling.
$7.0kMay
$7.9kJun
$10.4kJul
$7.5kAug
$8.7kSep
$5.5kOctstill selling
$2.3kNovstill selling
$0.5kDecstill selling
Three additional bookings are already on the books for February, June, and August 2027, worth $7,246 combined, not shown on this chart.
Channel mix
Airbnb63 bookings
Booking.com11 bookings
Vrbo5 bookings
Direct1 booking
Booking.com and Vrbo were added after launch and now carry 20% of stays, business Airbnb was not reaching. Direct booking is newest and still at one stay, which is where the next phase of work goes.
5.0
rating across 44 reviews (all channels)
2.7
average party size
37 days
average lead time
What guests actually say
“Having two bathrooms was especially helpful as we were working a convention and our hours were different.”
“They thought of everything & it was so clean! Great location, was easily walkable to downtown.”
“Lewis takes extra steps to make sure his guests are welcomed and taken care of throughout the stay.”
“Extra bonus for being so pet friendly, our pups felt right at home with the cool amenities they leave for them.”
View & book these stays
These are real, currently bookable properties. See either on any channel, or book direct and skip the platform fee, typically an average of 15% cheaper.
Chattanooga
Asheville
Running more than one property?