In early March of 2020, Stay Local Nashville was thriving. The short-term rental property management company had been on track to manage 200 properties by summer. Then the Covid-19 pandemic struck and the company lost millions of dollars in bookings overnight.
“In 48 hours, we went from an average of 130 check-ins a week to zero,” said Stay Local Nashville Director of Operations Chad Chapin.
The company, which was founded by Chad’s wife, Teryn, was forced to furlough 19 employees. “There were many tears shed, because these were our favorite people,” Chad said.
Stay Local Nashville’s owners wanted to avoid more layoffs at all costs, and so they did what so many businesses have had to do: pivot and make the most of their resources.
A Lot on the Line
The Chapins’ short-term management journey started seven years ago when Chad and Teryn converted the space above their garage into an 800-square-foot-studio apartment and listed it on Airbnb.
“That little apartment paid for our mortgage and then some,” said Chad.
Teryn expanded the venture by founding Stay Local Nashville six years ago with Darbi Bolton and Anje Dowler. The company grew from managing one property to managing 140. Chad joined the team two years ago after a lifelong career as a touring musician.
By last August, the company had grown enough to move its 30-person team into a building with offices, conference rooms, and a warehouse. They also outgrew their initial laundry facility, a local laundromat that they used at night when it was closed to the public. They decided to turn their warehouse into their own laundry center – one of the top three most state-of-the-art facilities in the entire state – completing it last fall and expanding the team to operate it.
Stay Local Nashville’s laundry facility can handle up to 4,000 pounds of linen a day and compares to those of the Tennessee Titans and Nashville Predators, Chad said.
“Their machines hold up to 100 pounds per load. Our machines hold up to 150 pounds per load,” he said.
A Different Spin
Covid-19 brought all that cleaning power to a halt. When bookings dried up, employees weren’t the only thing Stay Local Nashville started to lose. Some of their property management clients who relied on rentals to cover property costs were forced to sell their homes.
“Our homeowners are everything to us. To see some of them suffer and for us not to be able to do anything was really tough,” said Chad. “It made us start looking outside the box.”
The company realized that its laundry facility could be a valuable asset – not just to them, but to all of Nashville. Cleanliness and disinfection became more critical than ever in the midst of the pandemic. According to the World Health Organization, Covid-19 is killed at 132.8 degrees. Stay Local Nashville’s washing machines run at 140 degrees and their dryers at 190.
So Chad started reaching out to short-term management companies in Nashville, realizing that the industry needed to find ways to collaborate, not compete.
“Like many other businesses out there, we want to do our part to be able to help our community. That is really important to us,'” Chad says in Stay Local Nashville’s Facebook video announcing the program. “So whether you’re a nursing home, whether you’re a hospital, a gym – if you have any kind of service that needs to be done that has to do with linens, we would love to be able to help.”
The best part: other businesses to name their own price to use the machines. Whatever they could afford, Stay Local Nashville would accept if it meant they could just keep the lights on.
Within a week, the company signed on to clean another short-term rental management company’s linens and struck a deal with a local massage studio to clean its linens as well.
Recovery Unfolding
Although the Chapins had several tough conversations over the past few months about how they were going to survive, they pushed through. Closing down was not an option because Stay Local Nashville considers its team to be a family, Chad said.
And better times are on their way. Last month, Stay Local Nashville gained eight new properties and has been able to bring back five of the employees furloughed in March.
“Those were the best phone calls, welcoming them back,” Chad said.
Though the past few months have been hard, Stay Local Nashville has continued to move forward along with the community.
“Once we do get on the other side of this, we can even have an even better business,” Chad said. “We’ve got to celebrate the small victories during this time.”
If you liked this story, you might also enjoy:
- Logan Humphrey: Finding the Meaning of Life in Short-Term Rentals
- Local as it Gets, Part II: Stock the House, Stock the Community
- Park City Lodging: A Safe Haven for Utah’s Most Vulnerable
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