During the September 23, 2026, episode of MC Fireside Chats, host Brian Searl broadcasted from an unseasonably chilly location to lead a deep dive into the integration of artificial intelligence within the outdoor hospitality industry. The panel featured a mix of returning technology enthusiasts and practical campground operators, including Ravi Parikh from RoverPass, Matt Whitermore, Alex Burkett of COTA RV Park, and the Northgate Resorts duo of Tessa McCrackin and Mitchell Spence. The conversation aimed to bridge the gap between high-level, cutting-edge AI development and the everyday realities of running a campground, exploring how technology can save time, boost revenue, and enhance the guest experience.

Early in the broadcast, Matt Whitermore broke some personal news, announcing his transition from Climb Capital and Unhitched to a new role as Managing Director at an AI-native commercial real estate startup called Travo. Whitermore explained that his new venture involves embedding with investors to create an AI-driven acquisitions motion. By stepping away from his previous loyalty to a single model like Claude and embracing a model-agnostic approach that includes Codex, Cursor, and Groq, Whitermore uses artificial intelligence as a force multiplier to rapidly sift through massive amounts of market data and uncover highly lucrative outdoor hospitality investments.

Ravi Parikh expanded on this high-tech perspective by highlighting the rapid escalation of the AI personal assistant market, noting recent drops from major players like Facebook’s Muse and Grok Bot. Parikh passionately described his vision for the future of business operations, which he terms the "agentic native organization." In this model, an advanced AI acts as a central brain connected via APIs to every software system a campground uses, such as property management systems and customer relationship databases, allowing it to autonomously manage complex workflows across human resources, finance, and customer support.

Grounding this futuristic vision in practical application, Alex Burkett shared his perspective as the General Manager of COTA RV Park, an experiential campground located directly on the Circuit of the Americas racetrack in Austin, Texas. Burkett explained that as a new general manager stepping into a highly complex, event-driven property, he relies heavily on AI tools like Microsoft Copilot to quickly download and synthesize vast amounts of historical data. By using AI to summarize emails and parse operational metrics, he frees up his time to focus on preparing his staff for massive influxes of guests during major events like Formula 1 races.

Tessa McCrackin, the Chief Marketing Officer at Northgate Resorts, detailed how her department has moved beyond using AI for simple copywriting and is now leveraging it for advanced data visualization. McCrackin explained that her team uses artificial intelligence to build comprehensive marketing dashboards and automate reporting, reducing tasks that once took all day into simple five-minute queries. She also astutely pointed out that many campground operators are already using AI without realizing it, as the technology is deeply embedded into existing platforms like Salesforce and Meta’s advertising optimization algorithms.

Working closely with McCrackin at Northgate Resorts, Chief Commercial Officer Mitchell Spence shared his approach to utilizing AI for revenue management and competitor analysis. Spence uses artificial intelligence to rapidly analyze pacing reports, point-of-sale data, and years of customer reviews to uncover hidden trends and pricing opportunities. However, he expressed a strong note of caution regarding the widespread deployment of these tools among his staff, noting that AI models frequently suffer from hallucinations and limited context windows, requiring users to set strict guardrails to prevent the technology from generating incorrect or chaotic outputs.

Brian Searl synthesized these different viewpoints by emphasizing that the ultimate goal of implementing AI in outdoor hospitality is to make the technology completely invisible to the consumer. He argued that the true power of AI lies in its ability to deeply personalize the guest journey before they ever arrive on the property, allowing operators to anticipate needs based on historical data. By keeping the technology hidden beneath the surface, campgrounds can elevate their operational efficiency without ever sacrificing the authentic, human-to-human interactions that define great hospitality.

The panel also directly addressed the hesitation felt by many independent mom-and-pop campground operators who simply do not have the time to sit at a computer and learn how to write complex prompts. Alex Burkett and Brian Searl agreed that widespread adoption will only happen when operators see a direct, undeniable link between AI usage and increased revenue. Burkett noted that spending just one hour analyzing data with AI allows him to implement targeted rate adjustments that directly improve his property's bottom line and his own performance bonuses, proving that the time investment is highly lucrative.

Offering practical advice for these hesitant beginners, Tessa McCrackin suggested using AI for highly specific, cost-saving marketing tasks, such as generating professional voiceovers for promotional videos instead of hiring expensive freelance talent. She also stressed the critical importance of optimizing campground websites for artificial intelligence search engines, warning that consumer travel planning habits are rapidly shifting away from traditional Google searches toward conversational AI planning tools.

Ravi Parikh offered perhaps the most actionable advice of the episode, strongly urging every viewer to treat a premium twenty-dollar monthly AI subscription exactly like they would a Netflix account. Parikh argued that free versions of these tools offer only a tiny fraction of their true capabilities, and he recommended that beginners start by automating simple personal tasks—like household meal prep—to build their confidence before attempting to overhaul their campground’s business operations.

The broadcast wrapped up with a humorous anecdote from Mitchell Spence, who confessed that an AI assistant had actually replied to Tessa McCrackin’s email on his behalf and accidentally booked his appearance on the podcast. The panel shared a laugh over this perfectly timed example of an unintended AI consequence, while Brian Searl thanked the guests for a highly informative session. The group ultimately concluded that while artificial intelligence can seem daunting and complex, approaching it with a sense of curiosity and a willingness to experiment will unlock massive potential for any outdoor hospitality business.

So everybody, it's another episode of MC Fireside Chats

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literally today, but I'm gonna turn

around 'cause it's not really warm

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here if I'm facing away from it, so

I just wanna to have the proof in the

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background that I'm actually doing it.

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But Fireside Chats,

welcome here to everybody.

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Excited to be back for another episode.

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We're gonna talk about some AI tech.

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We got some special guests here,

some of our recurring guests

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Ravi Matt Whitemore back with us

and then a few special guests.

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We got Alex, Tessa, and

Mitch from Northgate Resorts.

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Alex, sorry, you're from CRR.

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I didn't mean to lump you into

that whole kind of group there.

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I guess I should have paused and put

some kind of comma there or something.

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But welcome everybody.

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Let's go briefly around our the

room and just introduce ourselves.

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Ravi, you wanna start?

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Ravi Parikh: Yeah.

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I'm Ravi.

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I'm the founder of RoverPass.

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We're a management software company that

about 1,000 campgrounds across the US use

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to run all of their reservations through.

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Brian Searl: Awesome.

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Thanks for being here, sir.

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Alex?

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Alex Burkett: Hey

everyone my name is Alex.

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I'm GM at COTA RV Park right on site at

Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas

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which is managed by CRR Hospitality.

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Brian Searl: And you're gonna

later describe how you woke

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up this morning for us, right?

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Alex Burkett: Sure.

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I can replay that.

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Yeah.

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Brian Searl: Sure man, like

it fits into the branding.

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You can promote the park, like wow, man.

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Alex Burkett: For sure, yeah.

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We've been blessed.

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We have a company called RideSmart that

does a lot of it's like a motorcycle

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school which I've been shocked by the

amount of like amateur racing that

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actually occurs on the track when there's

not like a major event like F1 or Moto.

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So literally about 7:00 AM this morning,

woke up to, motorcycles racing 100 miles

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an hour, you know, right outside your RV.

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Pretty, pretty incredible experience.

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Definitely very experiential and,

if you're looking for adventure,

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this is the park for you.

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Brian Searl: Yeah, it's not

probably the park for me.

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Like I remember the only time I remember

waking up to something was at like

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a KOA somewhere in Kentucky, like in

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them, and it was like a goat screeching

at 4:00 o'clock in the morning.

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Like I'm not…

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Yeah, I need to sleep in till I wake up.

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I don't like alarms, but

more power to you, Alex, like

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you're a better person than me.

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Matt first and then we'll

do the Northgate duo.

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Matt Whitermore: Yes, hello.

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Gonna throw you for a little bit of a loop

here maybe, Brian, we haven't talked, but

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new role, new company this, this month.

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So after a really fun, rewarding,

meaningful year, a little over a year

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with Climb Capital and Unhitched decided

to make a move over to a, a company,

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a startup in the AI and tech space

and commercial real estate space and

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outdoor hospitality space called Travo.

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So I'm manager- managing

director with Travo.

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Happy to talk more about that, but first,

first and foremost, a huge thank you

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to Bob Preston, Dave Wilner all of the

Climb Capital and Unhitched teams for

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a really fun, rewarding year and still

big fans and a lot of exciting stuff

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going on with those, those two teams.

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But new opportunity for myself here,

so good timing, an announcement here.

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Brian Searl: I don't mean to I didn't

I would have preferred to tell you this

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privately, Matt, but Bob was sending us

checks to have you on the show every week.

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Just kidding.

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Welcome.

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W- I'm glad to hear it, man.

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Congratulations are in order, I assume

obviously good role to good role,

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but like glad you're growing and

moving and doing what you wanna do.

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Exciting to see where you go from there.

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Matt Whitermore: Thank you

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… Brian Searl: Mitch or Tessa,

who wants to go first?

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You guys wanna fight over it or?

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Mitchell Spence: Ladies first.

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Tessa McCrackin: All right.

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Yeah.

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So I'm Tessa McCracken, I'm the CMO here

at Northgate Resort, so I'm overseeing all

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of our marketing for all of our locations,

and Mitch reports directly to me.

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That's a joke.

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So Mitch can introduce himself.

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Mitchell Spence: I wish.

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Brian Searl: Go ahead, Mitch, please.

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Mitchell Spence: I, M- Mitch Spence.

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I realized I didn't put my last name

on there, but I'm the chief commercial

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officer at Northgate Resorts, so oversee

a lot of the just commercial strategy

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revenue management, that kind of thing

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Brian Searl: Awesome.

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Welcome everybody.

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So we typically start the show to

tossing it to our recurring guests.

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Guess we only have two

today, Ravi and Matt.

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Is there anything that's come

across your guys' desk in the last

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month since we've been together?

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Primarily staying around the AI tech

area, but if you have something else

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that's important, throw it out there

that you think we should be talking about

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Matt Whitermore: I'll jump in.

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I since we spoke a- about a month

ago, I've just opened my world.

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I was a a loyalist to Claude and Claude

models and Claude Code and have since

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broadened my horizons to Codex and OpenAI

models and Cursor and Groq models and

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GroqBot, and have just really kinda gone

to town on testing and experimenting

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with different models and really trying

to become model and, app agnostic,

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which is, has been really eye-opening

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Brian Searl: Yeah, we use that.

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I think I've said it on the show before

and for the people who you know, who are

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watching the show and don't speak geek

like Matt just did a bunch of different AI

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models that do a bunch of different things

that you know from different providers.

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But basically for, for most of the

people who are watching this show,

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you're gonna find a lot of these are

similar, but Matt loves to experiment.

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He loves to do a lot with Claude Code,

like I do, and build things, and and

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Ravi too and maybe the Northgate people

too, and maybe Alex too will get there.

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But just different things, different

tools for different use cases, and

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it's kinda good to grow and expand and

see what different providers offer.

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Opus 5.5

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is out now, which is good,

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Ravi Parikh: yeah.

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That was the-

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Matt Whitermore: Yeah

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… Ravi Parikh: that was

the drop this morning.

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Or was that yesterday?

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Brian Searl: It was yesterday.

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Ravi Parikh: Oh, okay.

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Matt Whitermore: Yesterday.

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Yeah.

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Ravi Parikh: I feel like the biggest

news in AI in the last 30 days has

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been Facebook dropping Muse, which is-

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Matt Whitermore: Yeah

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… Ravi Parikh: basically like

a, a personal assistant.

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I guess Grok Bot too happened this last m-

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Matt Whitermore: Yeah

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Ravi Parikh: I don't know, that's

probably been, like, 60 days now.

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But the AI personal assistant wars

are firing on all cylinders now.

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It seems like all the big guys

have, have a claim in that battle.

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Brian Searl: Before we get into

the geeky stuff, why don't we go

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to let's start with Alex, right?

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Alex so first tell us about your

role at COTA and what you're kinda

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doing, anything you wanna take in.

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But then my second question is how

are you utilizing some of this AI in

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tech for the work that you're doing

for either in your personal life,

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you wanna do that, or work for COTA?

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Alex Burkett: Yeah.

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So I think, one, I have a, a unique

perspective as kind of the, I think, only

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one on the call that operates a single

campground location from, primarily the,

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the day-to-day operations as the GM.

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So I actually credit, like, Ravi, to

you in, in the last episode that I

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listened, with this and you talking

about how, interconnected a lot of

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the tools that you use were with AI.

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And, I kinda took that from that, prior

episode and challenged myself to say, "How

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can I use Copilot more to look at emails?

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How am I better utilizing data to

impact our guest experiences, our

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major events happening on campus?"

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I'm fairly new to the property and

with CRR as well and Brian, you're a

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big part of our AI strategy here and

a lot of what we believe, trying to

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be AI forward and AI first at CRR.

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And for me to step into a new park and a

new role, there's a lotta data that you

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have to kinda cover, out of the gates.

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So I think that's kinda the most tangible

impact that I've seen in the last 60

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days, is really- Utilizing it to my

advantage to download the things that

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I need to understand quicker here, to

then be able to go into how am I making

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the experiences better how are we gonna

be preparing for F1 coming up, right?

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All, all the things that I really

should be doing and spending my time on.

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So really just how I've connected things

from the start and started downloading

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things has been, pivotal for me.

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Brian Searl: Okay.

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Tessa, how are you using it at Northgate?

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Tessa McCrackin: Yeah.

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In the marketing department we've

been using it a lot to create

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dashboards and automate reporting.

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I think over the past couple years

we used it to automate a lot of

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the kind of menial tasks, and now

we're moving a bit beyond that.

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So something that we've been doing for

the past two years, it just keeps getting

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better and better, is helping us assess

and respond to guest reviews, complaints,

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feedback like that, and assess the

trends, but then also get back to them.

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That's one thing.

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But then we created a lot of dashboards

this year with just different purposes,

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so we have dashboards for everything that

we're trying to track, and it makes this

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a lot easier for us to surface the answers

to ourselves and to stakeholders too.

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Before someone might ask us

"What's going on with this here?"

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And we might spend all day trying

to track down the answer to it.

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But, now it takes five minutes

to find that answer for someone.

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So that's been a huge help for me so I

can spend more time thinking about the

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creative and fun things and less time just

hunting down the answer to, some question

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that someone has in the office here.

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But Mi- Mitch and I work really closely,

and he does a lot with AI as well.

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Brian Searl: Do you have a secret

to getting people to actually view

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the dashboards that you create?

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'Cause I haven't figured that out yet.

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Tessa McCrackin: Yeah, we…

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If you automate the report and

send it to their inbox, there's

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a, 15% chance they'll look at it.

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So if you're not doing that, try that.

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Brian Searl: Yeah, that's

what I think I'm missing.

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I'm like, I created all these

fancy dashboards, and then

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they just want emailed reports.

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I'm like, "What did I

make the dashboard for?

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It took me forever."

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Tessa McCrackin: Yeah.

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And we'll get a question like,

"Is there a dashboard for this?"

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And, you just have to smile and say,

"Send it again," but it's helpful.

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Brian Searl: Mitch, how about you?

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Mitchell Spence: I don't know.

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What don't I use it for, I guess

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Brian Searl: You can start with that.

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Like then we can problem solve together.

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We can help you work and use it for

that if you don't use it already

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Mitchell Spence: Yeah I, I use it for

almost everything day to day, things

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through it just to see how it works and

what, where it can be useful and not.

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It's really helpful at scale for

us to run reporting and to look at

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things across large swaths of data

and reach, options that we haven't.

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But I don't know, I use it for all

kinds of stuff just to see if it's

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helpful for it and try to train

try to train my model to be able

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to automate and reach conclusions

faster and automate things faster.

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And we run a, a lot of programs

through it really at this point

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Brian Searl: Yeah, this is where I'm at.

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I, and I started thinking about

this I guess a few months ago.

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We had a, it wasn't an AI show but we had

a podcast where Sandy Ellingson was on.

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She's a recurring guest in week

one, and she was, she asked me

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like, "What's the latest in AI?"

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"What's the latest thing you've

been working on with AI?"

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And I'm like, I stopped and I couldn't

think 'cause I like, I've been coding

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with AI and building databases and all

kinds of features and things with Camp

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Vantage and, but like I hadn't really,

I didn't have an answer for her 'cause

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she was asking specifically about AI.

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And I realized then that the kind of

there's places that we've taken this,

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and Tessa you mentioned reviews so

I'll give that as an example, 'cause

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we still manage review responses

for I think, I don't know, 150 parks

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or something like that even though

we're trying to wind that down.

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But we're looking at okay yes, we

can analyze the text of the review,

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like kind of use those models to say

like what is the emotional tone of

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voice that this guest is speaking in.

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Are they angry, are they

upset, are they not?

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And then obviously sometimes a

human being can read that but a

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model can pick up nuances better.

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And then responding based on

that and taking into a context.

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I wanna make a personal response but

also understanding, empathizing, which is

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sometimes hard for owners or managers who

it's their baby and, how dare you talk

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about me that way, that kind of thing.

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But then taking it to the next level

is what interests me, not just with

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reviews obviously, but everything else.

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So an example would be like how do I

connect the data we have in a Campspot

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or a Newbook or a Staylist or whatever

your PMS is, RoverPass, et cetera, right?

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How do we connect that data to the

guest so that when we're responding

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to the review we can link it to the

person and we can make the response

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like 100 times more personal.

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I don't know that we've solved that yet

with every PMS out there, but it's an

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interesting place to take it, so I think

that's, not to tout our products or

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anything, we don't have that publicly.

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But just to say as we move forward I

think that's where the kind of next step

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comes from is, yes, we can take it and

respond to reviews or we can write blog

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posts or social media, or we can analyze

spreadsheets, but how do we not just

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automate it, but how do we automate it in

a better way than was being done before?

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I don't know.

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Mitchell Spence: And trust the outputs.

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Ravi Parikh: Yeah.

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And I think like the next evolution

of AI is gonna be on workflows.

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That's already here.

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Every- a lot of people are doing it,

but I think most people are using it

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for like reporting and data analysis.

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But like when you start evolving from

just reporting and data analysis to

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actually letting the AI control workflows,

and they're called evals, right?

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You send data through, and then you

look at the output, and you do that a

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whole bunch of times to see if it's a

consistent output every single time.

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When you can start to think about

your business from the perspective

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of just like workflows, which

most businesses really that's…

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If you break it down, everything is a-

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Brian Searl: Process

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Ravi Parikh: workflow or

a process at its core.

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That's when you take a company that

is, That's when you can call…

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and you inject AI into those

workflows, that's what an agentic

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native organization looks like, right?

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Every part of the business has AI

injected into it, whether it's marketing,

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sales, support, product, engineering

like anything, any department, any,

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any part of it, and there's a brain

that all of this kind of feeds into.

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And then I think our, in our industry,

that brain in most cases is gonna be the

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PMS system because it's got like probably

a PMS system and your CRM platform, right?

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Those two together really probably have

most of the data that you need to be

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able to then build workflows on top.

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So I think that's gonna happen over

time, but you don't wanna lose the

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personal element of the business 'cause

we're in the hospitality industry too

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Brian Searl: Yeah, we've talked

about that on the show before.

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Like I think the ultimate answer with

technology is you wanna, especially in

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our industry, in outdoor hospitality,

it's never gonna replace the human being.

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It's never gonna replace a CMO Tessa

with good strategy or what Mitch does at

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Northgate, but it's gonna enhance their

workflow, allow them to, to, to do things

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that they'd probably rather do with their

day instead of finding the, spending six

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hours trying to find the data point like

Tessa said or whatever that was, right?

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Yeah.

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And I think that's where you take it.

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W- with the guest experience especially,

like there are so many ways that like

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we're exploring at our company, I'm

sure other people are too, how do we

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personalize the journey for the guest?

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How do we like, give them things that

are unique to their stay that make

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them have a great first impression

of the property before they even

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arrive, and then once they're there,

the technology's out of the way.

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Like it's there, but it's not there.

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You can't see it.

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It's underneath the floorboard, so

to speak, and I think that's the best

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way to use AI in outdoor hospitality.

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At least that's my current working theory.

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Mitchell Spence: Yeah, I

totally agree with that

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Brian Searl: How do you guys, how do

you guys handle this at Northgate?

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Mitch, you said you do operations

or is that just your title?

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Mitchell Spence: Yeah,

operations support really.

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But exactly that, your points.

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One, once a guest is on property,

they don't, AI should really

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have very little to do with it.

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But we s- we spend most of our time

building the systems behind it, in order

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to, in order to really maximize the

experience, for guests that are for guests

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that are, looking and booking and for

guests that are coming to the resort.

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But AI's not f- on the

forefront of their experience.

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It's working in the background We, we

use it extensively for many things,

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Brian Searl: alex, you got some background

noise back there, it's mute me, so just…

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I don't know if it's-

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Ravi Parikh: We

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Brian Searl: can hear

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Ravi Parikh: a race car back there

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or something.

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Mitchell Spence: Are you

playing Gran Turismo?

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Brian Searl: Maybe.

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Yeah, like every time I talk he plays

Gran Turismo, and then when people say

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something important he turns it off.

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Yeah.

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But that's a real, that's a real question

I think if we can get to the point to

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with people w- there's so many people

watching this show who are like, "I've

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only played with Chat GPT a couple times,"

or, "I've done it and I've just used it

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to write social media posts or respond

to reviews," or the basic things, right?

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Maybe even come up with

an email marketing plan.

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And maybe Tessa we start

with you here, right?

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But like obviously it's not going to

replace marketing, but it's gonna replace

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the low-hanging fruits of marketing.

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But how can operators like take

advantage of this to do the

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things they couldn't do before?

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Like one of the things that we'll cite

on calls with some of our clients is like

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you used to have to, if you wanted to

create ideal customer profiles or buy a,

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buyer personas or audience style guides

or all those kinds of things, you were

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paying an agency thousands of dollars a

month to do this because they needed four

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or five people that were making 120,000

plus a year to be able to do all this.

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And now with AI you've just, it's

democratized it all in a way and there's

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this opportunity to really, instead

of just saying, "I want to attract

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people into my RV park," understand

who those people are, where they're

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coming from, why they're coming to you.

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I don't wanna keep talking forever, but

a good example is like we were talking to

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a park about traveling nurses the other

day and understanding like the psychology

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behind traveling nurses and how they

need a quiet area in the park because

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sometimes they'll work overnight shifts

and they sleep till 2:00 and they don't

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wanna be near the construction worker

that's working on the pipeline at 4:00 in

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the morning and then they also don't…

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aren't comfortable with monthly rates.

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And I don't know any of this stuff, right?

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This is all AI spitting this out.

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But they aren't comfortable with

monthly rates 'cause their contract

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can be canceled with a week notice

and then they owe you three weeks.

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And so all these are hesitations

or things that can help set you

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apart that, you could have done

before, but not easily, right?

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Tessa McCrackin: Yeah, I mean

it's a great thought partner if

358

nothing else to you if you're just

starting out with brainstorming.

359

Beyond copy, like ideas for the

psychology behind things like you said,

360

or, even what can you help me do, AI?

361

Tell me.

362

So that's if you're using, just your GPT

or Claude or whatever, what have you.

363

But a lot of the tools that you might be

paying for, I think it's interesting, are

364

al- also integrating their own AI into it.

365

So you can just use some, use the

function of AI that's being built into the

366

platforms that you're already paying for.

367

So going back to reviews, if you're

already paying, to have something

368

help you manage your reviews,

there's probably built-in AI now that

369

they've put into it that you could be

utilizing that you might not realize

370

is a feature that's been added.

371

Brian Searl: Yep

372

… Tessa McCrackin: I can think of many

tools like where that's the case and

373

you just might need to try some of these

things that have- been built in we don't

374

need to segment our data using Claude

because Salesforce has that built in,

375

doing it its own in the background.

376

And same with, your meta

ads, optimizing them.

377

That's all AI too, but it's within

the platform, so you don't need to

378

be, like, doing this all yourself.

379

The, the tools are at your fingertips

of what you're already using perhaps.

380

How do you- I do think

results will vary though.

381

The design things, proceed with caution

if you're using it to design your

382

flyers, but it's certainly better

than alternative of maybe having a

383

kid make something in Word for you,

384

Brian Searl: yeah.

385

How do you stitch it all together, though?

386

That's the kind of thing, like…

387

and I don't know, maybe if that's

too advanced of a question for

388

our audience, I think some will

be appreciated and some won't.

389

But the question I…

390

like you talked about there's

an AI in Meta, there's an AI

391

in Salesforce, there's an AI in

HubSpot, there's an AI everywhere.

392

Everybody's got their own

chatbot doing their own thing.

393

But how do you link

those systems together?

394

Campspot just has their new revenue

management thing they released yesterday.

395

How do you link that

together without it…

396

it, it doesn't need to in some fashion

or some way, but also it would be helpful

397

if it linked to Meta and everybody

understood what the rate individual

398

people were paying, and you could feed

all your conversion data back into that.

399

But don't get too complicated, but I

think you understand what I'm saying.

400

Tessa McCrackin: Yeah.

401

And results will vary and we've been

trying to build a marketing dashboard

402

for literally years and we've paid

people to h- try to help us build it,

403

we've tried to build it ourselves.

404

Finally it's just gotten to a point

where we were able to build it.

405

But before, things would never

match up and still with marketing

406

specifically attribution's not

going to work all the time depending

407

on where you're pulling the data.

408

Is it coming from Google?

409

Is it coming from Meta directly?

410

Is it coming from Reddit directly with

these, these first source platforms?

411

But we've tried to connect everything

through, Claude, and Mitch and I

412

have worked together on this because,

Mitch and I were having conversations

413

like, "Wait, you actually don't have

access to my Meta results, and I

414

don't have access to your report."

415

We've been trying to connect things so

we're getting a more holistic view and

416

have visibility to things that w- before

we were just asking each other for.

417

I don't know if you have anything to

add to this, Mitch, like some insights

418

that you've had from having access

to my data that you m- might have

419

not been able to see easily before?

420

Mitchell Spence: It's, a, a simple example

is that they gave me the credentials to

421

get into all of their the meta, all the

digital ad spend stats that are behind it.

422

And with a click of a couple of buttons,

I now have, direct access through API

423

into those systems that I can integrate

into pacing data, conversion data, like

424

and that's, unheard of two years ago.

425

Now-

426

Ravi Parikh: Yeah, I have

a lot of those problems

427

… Mitchell Spence: how the trends

of tracking is a lot different

428

Ravi Parikh: I have a lot of thoughts

on this topic if you guys care to hear.

429

I think every company is gonna have

a brain that is connected to all of

430

their information systems via APIs.

431

And What that basically means in layman's

terms is you have a brain, and then

432

you have all your different software

systems, and you give your brain access

433

to all of those software systems via API.

434

And then there's gonna be two types

of software companies moving forward,

435

ones that integrate AI into their

products, so you use the AI in their

436

product, or there's gonna be companies

where there is no user interface.

437

The AI is used through

something like Claude, right?

438

It's just like an enhancement

that you connect into Claude.

439

Good examples of that are there's a

company that we use called Data for

440

SEO, and it's a API that you plug into

Claude, and you put your website in,

441

and it gives you the most incredible

report on what's messed up with your

442

website and what you need to fix.

443

And so that's a company that is API first.

444

There's no user interface.

445

You can't see anything.

446

It's all returned back to you in Claude.

447

Whereas Salesforce, for example,

is a company-- Well, they

448

kinda have both ways right now.

449

So Salesforce is a user interface.

450

They have got like a co-pilot in it

that helps you use Salesforce better.

451

But for people like me, I don't

want to use a user interface.

452

I don't even wanna log in

and click on any buttons.

453

I just wanna talk, and it

gives me what I want, right?

454

And so Salesforce has a headless

version, which just means literally

455

they chop the head off the software

and they're like, "Hey, you're just

456

an API, and now you just talk to your

data through something like Claude."

457

There's really gonna be two ways

that this kinda goes down over time.

458

There might be a third way that

presents itself, I don't know.

459

It's all evolving so fast.

460

But I think that's something important to

understand as, as AI is evolving, is that

461

Claude is your brain or Claude or Codex

or whatever is your brain because it's the

462

processing power, and you need to give it

access to the data to be able to do stuff.

463

And then if you give your brain a database

where it can take the stuff that it

464

learned and dump it into a database,

now it has access to that forever.

465

So you're creating insights from your

data, and you just store those somewhere.

466

And just kinda backing up, Brian, to

your question of how do people start

467

using AI, if you don't have a paid

subscription to Chat GPT or to Claude,

468

you're- I tell this to people I know all

the time, you're not really using AI.

469

That's like you're just

using like Google basically.

470

It's like you are only accessing

like 1% or 2% of like what

471

AI is capable of doing.

472

And then the next tier would

be a paid subscription.

473

At that point, you're probably using

like 6% or 7% of what AI is doing.

474

And until you move into a command

line, which is like Claude's desktop

475

app, Claude Code, at that point

you've got access to 100% of AI.

476

And then it's about the structure

that you stack on top of it, right?

477

Like, how do you architect the

AI solution for a company, right?

478

Do you have a brain?

479

Do you have everything

connected to that brain?

480

Do you have a way to dump the data

out of the brain from the data that

481

comes in from your CRM instance?

482

So that's at that point you're

like on the advanced tier of AI.

483

But the amazing thing is if you

just describe that to Claude in

484

literally plain English and wait

for it to give you a response, it'll

485

tell you exactly how to do that.

486

And like you can just like … It'll

give you like step-by-step instructions

487

like, "Click this button, go to this URL.

488

If you don't know where to go once

you're at that URL, copy and pa- take

489

a screenshot, upload it to Claude."

490

It'll be like, "Okay,

click on that thing."

491

So that's the amazing part of AI.

492

It's like knowledge is

basically free at this point.

493

It's 20 bucks a month, and if you use

a lot then it's 100 and then it's 200.

494

But yeah.

495

But it's much cheaper

than it ever has been.

496

So I could go on a rant

about that for a while.

497

Brian Searl: I think some of the,

the issue if you step back and look

498

at like who's watching the show

primarily, like campground owners,

499

managers, vendors, other people in

the outdoor hospitality space, right?

500

But let's … Like Alex, I'm curious

with your take here because you

501

manage COTA and I imagine that there's

probably other things that you do

502

in your day besides sit down and

be like, "I wanna learn Chat GPT."

503

So I think that part of the issue here

as we talk about this and Ravi gets into

504

the weeds and we talk about the things

that Tessa is able to do and Mitch is able

505

to do at a corporate level are different

from a, we're telling a campground

506

owner they should learn AI and they're

looking back at us like with what time?"

507

Don't forget to unmute yourselves

508

Ravi Parikh: We can't hear you, Alex

509

Brian Searl: Let's see if I can do it.

510

I tried to do it.

511

Try it now.

512

Alex Burkett: Any better?

513

Brian Searl: There we go.

514

Alex Burkett: Okay.

515

Perfect.

516

Yeah, I've definitely fallen into

this, this trap myself, and I'd

517

say, to, to Tess's point earlier,

I, as we've built dashboards, and

518

Brian, again, I'm gonna plug you

because we use it every day at CRR.

519

If there's, you have some great marketing

dashboards that you've built for us

520

internally that's been helpful to

figure out how we can pivot and grow.

521

COTA especially we have a, a lot of our

demand is based off of these major events

522

that are, 10 to 12 days of our year does

a disproportionate amount of our revenue.

523

So figuring out how we can leverage the

demand created from the events which

524

helps us drive rate, helps us drive

length of stay, and then using the review

525

piece of carrying that forward and how

do we get somebody to come back when

526

it's not F1, when it's not Moto, right?

527

There's still 350 days left in the

calendar that we've got to fill.

528

Being able to utilize the data, and I

think we have meetings all the time.

529

Myself as a GM with, the, the corporate

team that we're with, bringing

530

your marketing person into that.

531

If you have a revenue management person

or if you're doing that function,

532

like, scheduling the time to actually

sit down and review it and have the

533

data that you're using in the tools

already there, like that's where I

534

actually see it as it's a valuable

use of my time and I actually can…

535

if I take the time to do that hour

meeting with our team, I go away with it

536

with practical things that I can get our

team here to do or that I can leave and

537

actually say, "This is gonna move the

business forward, and this is gonna give

538

us the financial result that we want."

539

So just leveraging it that way I

think has been helpful in my seat

540

trying to run the operation and,

be stretched with my time as it is.

541

Brian Searl: I think if I step back

and I'm definitely way up here on a

542

geek level above every- that doesn't

mean I'm better, it just means I'm…

543

have no life.

544

But if I step back and try to put myself

in the shoes of somebody who's trying

545

to learn this, whether it's a campground

owner or whether it's a team member who's

546

an employee of mine or anybody else that

I'm talking to, I think the, the barrier

547

really is curiosity for most people.

548

It's either you have that gene of

I wanna be curious and I wanna keep

549

asking questions and I wanna critical

think and I wanna figure this stuff out

550

and I'm willing to go down the rabbit

hole like Ravi said, where it's gonna

551

explain everything and I'm willing to

follow it and willing to have patience

552

and understanding that it's gonna break

and I'm gonna scream at my computer.

553

Maybe that scream at my computer's just

my problem, but but But I think that's

554

generally the, you need that curiosity

gene or you need an incentive to go there

555

and have it solve a problem for you.

556

And I think

557

Alex Burkett: that- and for me, the, the

financial part has been the incentive.

558

I've seen our real growth of, like,

where I can justify if I spend an hour

559

this week doing that, I generated X

amount that went right to my P&L, which

560

is tied to my bonus as the GM, right?

561

It's something that as you said,

CRR's culture is all about that.

562

We're all about trying to find that next

stone to unturn and what are we doing

563

every day for continuous improvement

to drive that additional revenue.

564

So 100% agree with you that if people

in the GM seat start to see that

565

connection, I think there's gonna be more

adoption across the industry with that.

566

Brian Searl: But then you also

look at and everything you said

567

is correct, I'm not saying…

568

I'm saying there's a flip side,

though, of the people who don't have

569

a support system like a CRR or a

Northgate or something like that, right?

570

Or an Unhitched or whoever, that are the,

the mom-and-pop operators who have to

571

get on the tractor every day and mow or

fix the sewer line or whatever, right?

572

That are, is the, you have to do

that too as a GM, but you don't also

573

have that support system behind you,

like you do, but many people don't.

574

And so then the question becomes is how do

I devote time to learning Chat GPT when my

575

lawn is unmowed or when there's a busted

sewer pipe or when there's six RVs lined

576

up at the check-in counter and somebody

needs to escort them to the place?

577

And I think that's where you have to

you have to have a mindset of and again,

578

I'm not a camp runner, I'm not saying

that you should just make the time and

579

find it because it's not as easy as

that is, sounds coming out of my mouth.

580

But it's a I'm either curious or I

recognize that maybe there's a way

581

I can, I don't know, teach myself

about the latest robot lawn mowers

582

and understand how they work and map

them to my property and then not get

583

on the mower as often as I did before.

584

Just making something up.

585

Maybe you like being on the mower, right?

586

But that's where I think we are as an

industry is there's just not enough

587

time to go around and until there's an

impetus to force that for the people who

588

aren't curious, there's an impetus to

say I have maybe the economy is perhaps

589

not going in the right direction 'cause

diesel prices are at all-time highs.

590

That could happen sometime.

591

You never know.

592

Then maybe you wanna figure out how

to, how do I diversify my audience and

593

reach out to more people and figure

out what I can get or what kind of

594

promo I can run to help them save on

diesel or whatever it may be, right?

595

That impetus is gonna

force the adoption too

596

What do you see, Mitch, from an

operations support standpoint as you

597

talk to, I'm assuming you liaison with

a, a bunch of your different properties.

598

It's, I'm extrapolating on your role.

599

Tell me if I'm wrong

600

Mitchell Spence: I

personally don't as much.

601

Okay.

602

I'm s- on the sideline but watching a

lot of those conversations happening.

603

I honestly don't know how our operators

are using it on a day-to-day basis.

604

I do know that I- I'm cautious to

push people that I directly work

605

with to adopt it and get into it too

quickly, and I think you hit it on

606

the head from the curiosity piece.

607

If you aren't willing to…

608

I will say I do use it significantly.

609

I'm probably up there, too, on my

curiosity and just how often I'm engaging.

610

I get a lot of wrong answers.

611

I get…

612

I don't know if you f- if you

have the same, but I get…

613

I have to correct it and really I found

f- from what I've learned is if you don't

614

build the guardrails in what you're trying

to accomplish it remains chaos at times.

615

And I get a lot of

wrong answers on things.

616

Or the model will just

openly forget things.

617

And so I recognize that with people

I work directly with, that I don't

618

push them to, to get into it.

619

I let them adopt it at their pace and

their speed to learn along the way so that

620

th- there aren't unintended consequences,

621

Brian Searl: yeah, like I've run into

that constantly, like, where it will-

622

Mitchell Spence: Context

623

… Brian Searl: it has a 10-minute memory.

624

For those people who don't know what a, a

context window is in AI, 10-second primer.

625

It's the amount of things that it

can remember before it, you have

626

to start telling it to go search or

read past summaries or whatever else.

627

It's al- it's almost if you were a human

being and you could only remember the last

628

three days of what you had for breakfast

and dinner and whatever else, and the

629

fourth day and beyond, nothing was there.

630

Maybe I guess Alzheimer's

might be a good example, right?

631

Yeah.

632

If you can only remember

short-term, long-term.

633

Not at all.

634

And then you…

635

But then the difference is that it

could go back and it can find stuff

636

for you if you direct it, but you

gotta be very intentional about how

637

you direct it, or it's gotta be in a

file, or it's gotta be somewhere else.

638

Mitchell Spence: How you structure

639

Brian Searl: it.

640

Otherwise, it's not

relying on its full memory.

641

Yeah.

642

Mitchell Spence: And I don't know I

Ra- Ravi made a good point that if

643

you're curious, just ask it and it'll

point you in the right direction as to

644

how to start to create these things.

645

But what I've found as I get

further and further in is…

646

'Cause, I do that and it's trying to

remember things, and it's if you can't

647

remember this now, what about five

years from now when I have five years

648

worth of information I wanna build upon?

649

And so what's a better way to

build this so that you can?

650

And it really doesn't

know what's the best way.

651

And there are, th- there is there is

research and there are common approaches,

652

but it's a totally wide open situation.

653

Brian Searl: Because best

is subjective, right?

654

That's the problem with best.

655

Build it the best way, it's subjective.

656

Here's an interesting thing for

you to try if you're interested.

657

Say, think about it, think about

this problem from first principles

658

and see what it does for you.

659

It's really interesting.

660

Ravi Parikh: There's-

661

Mitchell Spence: Okay.

662

Ravi Parikh: So Mitch, to kinda tack onto

what you're talking about, there's…

663

I think AI was designed, like Anthropic

and Claude, they came out with

664

the idea, they laser-focused in on

coding, and because I think in their

665

heads everything boils down to code.

666

And the, the thing is for most AI users,

they're, if you're not in the software

667

business already like I am, you don't

know what the core tools there are for

668

solving problems like what you're talking

about, like managing context windows.

669

But if you're in the software

business and you kinda know what

670

some of those tools are, you're

more able to stitch them together.

671

And I actually did a guest lecture

about this at a school called

672

Maker Square in Austin teaching

non-technical people how to use AI.

673

There's just like basic

tools that you actually need.

674

You need to understand how GitHub works.

675

You need to understand what Vercel is.

676

You need to understand what a

database is, like Superbase.

677

Like all these companies in Silicon

Valley have made using AI at the same

678

level as a software engineering company

would so much easier, but non-technical

679

people don't know what these tools are

yet and how they all work together.

680

And once you kinda get that

framework, it starts to click.

681

Like I've seen people just start going,

for lack of better words, Moto GP

682

on, on their AI on their AI journey.

683

I think it just kinda comes down to

like- Somebody needs to train the camping

684

industry on like the fundamentals of

AI and just kinda give it to 'em and

685

so people can get, more understanding

of some of these tools that are more

686

widespread in the tech industry.

687

Brian Searl: Matt, what are

you doing at your new company?

688

Why'd you tell us that?

689

Matt Whitermore: Yeah,

an interesting question.

690

Brian Searl: Maybe it has to do with

what Ravi's saying, that's why I'm

691

throwing that out there and saying that.

692

I'm not cutting you off, Ravi.

693

Matt Whitermore: No it, and there a lot

of really great stuff Ravi, Ravi touched

694

on that I wanted to jump in on too.

695

To answer your question directly

first, though, so we are, we're

696

still a little bit in stealth mode.

697

So I'm gonna have to, give

you some, some non-answers.

698

But you know-

699

Brian Searl: Maybe you

want to push through, Matt.

700

Just say what you want, man

701

Matt Whitermore: We, in, in short

I'll be embedding with investors

702

in outdoor hospitality and in some

other commercial real estate niches.

703

And this was such an incredible

opportunity for me because, 10 years ago

704

I started in real estate investments and

not having a technical background I built

705

what I call the, the deal machine, right?

706

A whole integrated tech stack to surface,

uncover, get in touch with and close

707

real estate investment opportunities.

708

And this was essentially an opportunity

to get in and make that AI native and

709

kinda do that whole thing over again

with the focus in outdoor hospitality.

710

At least for the near term, and get to

use a lot of my relationships and add

711

value for a lot of people in the space.

712

But essentially just creating a, an

AI native acquisitions motion Really

713

just sifting through data, right?

714

Going through an incredible amount

of data in a smart way to surface

715

opportunities, uncover opportunities,

maybe look at an opportunity

716

with a slightly different lens.

717

It's like having a team of super powered

financial analysts and market analysts at

718

your disposal to just cover so much more

ground, cover different markets, right?

719

One of the biggest challenges

that any commercial real estate

720

broker or investor faces is

something called deal merge, right?

721

We talk about context windows.

722

We all have a, a context

window in our brain, right?

723

And I think I've-

724

Brian Searl: Good story every day, man.

725

Matt Whitermore: And it's funny I

laugh about this all the time 'cause

726

I'll be saying to Claude and I'm

like we talked about this before.

727

Come on."

728

And, like- Yeah … then I think

back and I'm like, "I said the

729

same thing to my wife," and

she's we never talked about this.

730

You don't know what you're talking about."

731

And I'm like, "Wow, I guess

humans hallucinate and have

732

context windows as well."

733

Alex is laughing 'cause he

knows my wife and probably

734

couldn't picture her saying that.

735

So yeah.

736

It's…

737

The last year or so has been AI is a

force multiplier, so the last year has

738

been using it to go wide and look at a

bunch of different areas in different

739

operating businesses, and now I'm

narrowing my focus and going deep and

740

using it as a f- a force multiplier to

go deeper, get really smart in one area,

741

make it repeatable, scalable right?

742

Do all the things that I've spent the last

almost decade and a half doing and just

743

do it with a whole new lens and a whole

new set of tools, which is super exciting.

744

Brian Searl: I wanna step back for a

second, and I wanna maybe toss this to

745

Tessa or Mitch if you guys wanna answer

it, because I think there's probably a

746

lot of owners listening to this who are

like, "Wait, I can analyze my financials.

747

I love doing that every day.

748

I wanna do more of that."

749

Or, "Great, I wanna sit there

and talk about social media

750

posts or do more about that."

751

But I think there's probably some

use cases here that if you look…

752

If you step back and look at it from a

campground owner's perspective- and I

753

don't mean to stereotype the industry,

but there's probably a good chunk of

754

people who probably got into it because

they wanted to be outside and not cooped

755

up in an office behind a computer, right?

756

To work with their hands, to

be outside, to get their hands

757

dirty, that kind of thing.

758

And I think there's probably some

use cases that would resonate

759

with them a little bit more,

talking specifically about how do

760

I operate my campground better?

761

How do I use the information that AI might

be able to provide to be able to spend

762

more time outdoors to do what I like?

763

How can I use that information to

serve my guests better, to have

764

them have a better experience?

765

And I think that's where a lot of this

maybe sometimes gets lost, is we need

766

to ground it in the perspective of the

owners who are working it this day to day.

767

And so I don't know if you

guys have anything to add.

768

And you operate so many resorts, I'm

assuming there's something, like something

769

you can share with us that's wise

770

Tessa McCrackin: Yeah, I think that

every, if you're just a standalone

771

park, you're probably operating your own

website or you're paying someone to run

772

it for you and that's just an important

part and the way that people are finding

773

their campgrounds now is changing as

people use more AI to plan their travel.

774

So making sure that you're optimizing

not just for regular keywords, but for

775

people planning their trips in AI seems

like an easy place to start and making

776

sure you're, this is still a little bit of

an unknown, but are you structuring your

777

website to be set up optimally for people

who are planning their travel that way?

778

That seems like a very even if it's

not your interest, it seems like a bare

779

minimum thing that you should be doing

or asking the person that is running

780

your website for you to help you with.

781

So that's one thing that seems

pretty like you just can't

782

probably avoid it at this point.

783

And then something else that just

dawned on us that we've been using

784

a lot is if you're doing any kind

of promotional thing, like it's not

785

to the point where it creates good

videos, I would say, of your property

786

or if you give it a bunch of clips and

say, "Mash this together and make a

787

commercial," that doesn't really work.

788

But specifically for doing the voiceover

piece of it, it does a great job, in

789

AOI vo- voiceover, if you're stitching

together some clips then you can help

790

it write a script for you and then put

the voiceover on, you're not gonna be we

791

used to work with a lot of like Fiverr

contractors or record it ourselves, but

792

that's been a really that'd be a really

practical solve to getting something

793

that could be really expensive if you

were, working with someone freelance

794

or an agency that you might be able to

do it yourself now, which is kinda fun.

795

Brian Searl: Yeah, I think I s- I said

this on a show before I think at some

796

point, or it might have been Outwired with

Scott Bahr, I can't remember, that we do

797

normally on Wednesdays after the show.

798

But I was talking about how I was

doing this for CRR actually, Alex.

799

They never used it, we were just doing it

as a test like a couple years ago we were

800

playing around with it with Verde Ranch

RV Resort and we took a still image of

801

their photo of their pool at night, like

it was a professionally taken image and we

802

took it into Gemini and we said just add

people to it and they were just sitting on

803

the lounge chair like at, sitting around

the campfire or whatever else, just like

804

you would have professional actors there

and I think that's a good use of AI.

805

And then you can take that and you

can also have Gemini turn it into

806

like a short reel video you can post.

807

I think if it's the real pool, if it's

the real trees behind it, if it's the

808

real scenery, if that's exactly what

the guest is gonna see minus the people

809

which they wouldn't have seen had you

hired real models anyway sitting by

810

the pool, then I think you're right.

811

Like I, I don't know if that's what

you were talking about, Tessa, but I

812

think that's a great example of ways

that you can shortcut the creative,

813

I don't know strain on the time you

have to spend to do those things.

814

Or the money you have to outlay.

815

Matt Whitermore: Did anyone see the viral

staged apartment sublet in New York City?

816

It went super viral on Twitter.

817

It was about like a, it was like

an AI freshened up apartment

818

sublet advertising photo.

819

People losing their minds over it.

820

It's pretty funny.

821

Ravi Parikh: I think we talked about

that last, last time about fake

822

fake images versus real images and-

823

Matt Whitermore: Yeah

824

… Ravi Parikh: disclosing that

or not disclosing that or-

825

Brian Searl: Yeah, maybe it was in show.

826

Context window, man.

827

We talked about it.

828

Ravi Parikh: Yeah.

829

Brian Searl: It's gone.

830

Ravi Parikh: Yeah.

831

That was last month.

832

Brian Searl: Yeah.

833

Mitch, you have anything to add?

834

Mitchell Spence: Yeah, there's

there's a lot of things that are

835

low-hanging fruit that are a lot easier.

836

A, a good example, marketing's a

challenge for single property owners

837

knowing really how to spend money.

838

And AI can really help

uncover some of that.

839

It's not gonna be able to run programs,

but for digital ad spends just to ask

840

the right questions of keywords and

different things like that you're just

841

gonna uncover some insight that you

might not have otherwise have seen.

842

And especially as it pertains to specific

markets or something as simple as just

843

going in and asking it to aggregate the

last couple years of reviews, and what are

844

trends in my reviews that have surfaced,

and has there any, been any improvements

845

or has there been any declines?

846

What's a word cloud to just see

what's, what's my where's my biggest

847

opportunities, things like that.

848

Just downloading reports that

otherwise would've been challenging

849

to, to draw insight from.

850

And AI is pretty good on the surface

of just finding patterns pacing reports

851

or POS reports, just raw data for

specific time periods that you just ask

852

a simple question of what's interesting

here, or is there any insights?

853

And you'll be surprised what you get,

and especially if it's your business and

854

you own it you're gonna have follow-up

questions because it'll intrigue you

855

and you'll want to try to uncover more

because it's information looking at it in

856

ways you haven't before a lot of times.

857

So those are some like, low hanging

opportunities that you'd be surprised

858

what, you know, what you'll find

859

Brian Searl: Yeah, I think the biggest

low-hanging opportunity that we often

860

tell people is like every time I, and

I've said this before I think on the show,

861

but like every time I get on a sales call

with somebody and talk about marketing

862

or AI chatbots or the dashboards we're

building with Camp Vantage or something

863

like that, at the end of the call, I

always say "After this call, make sure

864

before you decide to buy from me, go to

ChatGPT and say, 'Is Brian full of shit?'"

865

And that's the biggest unlock I

think you have a- as an owner is

866

you have all this knowledge now that

it knows everything about marketing

867

and advert- not everything, right?

868

But a lot of things about marketing

and advertising and construction and

869

operations and building playgrounds

and burying sewer pipes and adding

870

cable or Wi-Fi or what systems are

good or what systems aren't that like

871

you don't need to know everything.

872

It's not always going to be right.

873

But it we used to tell people prior to AI

that if you just need to know 5% enough

874

to be dangerous, to be able to understand

that you're not being taken advantage

875

of or you're not going down a wrong path

when you should be on the other path.

876

And I think that AI now can be

like a 20, 30% check without you

877

even having to learn that 5%.

878

So next time you're-

879

Mitchell Spence: Or if you run like a

basic ROI analysis on adding an amenity

880

to your campgrounds and pulling in the

right metrics just to be able to maybe

881

go to a bank and say, "Hey, I, I need

some help with this type of thing."

882

Or competitor analysis, that's another

thing that's hard in our industry.

883

You have to, the, it, it's difficult

to aggregate and to find…

884

we even find when we're in

certain markets, a lot of times

885

seasonal rates aren't published.

886

But if, if you ask the right question,

it'll drop into the reviews for instance,

887

and it'll see that somebody said, "I can't

believe they raised the rate to $2,500."

888

It's like, "Oh, $2,500 this year.

889

Great.

890

Okay.

891

That saves a phone call."

892

Brian Searl: We're gonna solve

your comp intelligence problem.

893

You just give me a couple weeks, Mitch.

894

We're gonna have something

cool coming out for you.

895

Mitchell Spence: Sweet

896

… Brian Searl: but anyway.

897

Yeah.

898

Look, I think that's the idea, right?

899

Is the ROI and then it, that leads into

the, the curiosity of the matter, right?

900

The curiosity or the

solving of the problem.

901

Because you can say, "How much is it

gonna cost me to add a playground?"

902

Then I know that the ROI on the playground

is much harder to calculate when you're

903

not charging directly for the playground.

904

And then it's the looking at

we're going down a rabbit hole.

905

I don't wanna, I don't wanna be Ravi.

906

I don't wanna be Kiki

for you guys too much.

907

He's got that, that side…

908

I'm just messing with you, right?

909

But but then understanding your guest

as an export from Campspot and how many

910

of those people, I assume Campspot keeps

track of this, but how many of those

911

people are adults traveling with children?

912

And how many of those people with

children were families that stayed with

913

you in the last two years who you didn't

have a playground before, now you do.

914

Can you increase the occupancy

by 5 or 10% in that vertical?

915

And what does that look like?

916

And then, then doing the math on-

917

Mitchell Spence: Or target them

directly that you added it, yeah.

918

Send an email that, compile the

email list to send to them to tell

919

them about our new our new amenity.

920

Brian Searl: But only to the people

who care because they had kids, right?

921

Mitchell Spence: Yeah.

922

Brian Searl: Not to the older

couple who's tra- … yeah.

923

Yeah.

924

I think we, I think in 10 years we

look back on this and we're like, "The

925

fuck were we thinking sending emails

to every single person about every

926

single thing we had to announce?"

927

Yeah.

928

I don't know if I can say the F word

on my own show, but I don't know.

929

There's no FCC, And I'm in Canada anyway.

930

They can get me.

931

Alex, do you have anything to add?

932

You've been quiet, man.

933

Alex Burkett: Yeah.

934

I'd say just to drive the point home,

and I'm gonna double down on my comment

935

from earlier, the more that we can

connect the real revenue increases

936

and ties back, I think that's where

a lot of, you know, like Brian,

937

as you mentioned the time factor.

938

Owners, managers, right?

939

I've seen the impact and it's the

reason that I choose to continue

940

to invest time is because it's,

real financial performance.

941

As we noted, Campspot came out

with their revenue management 2.0,

942

just a couple days ago.

943

We're already starting to implement that

and the ability for me to adjust rates,

944

particularly when, at COTA especially,

we're such an event driven, calendar

945

and business that marginal rate loss has

a dramatic impact on my P&L at the end

946

of the year if we don't get that right.

947

Knowing that we're likely gonna sell

out for the major race events, how

948

much more rate could we get for that?

949

Do we need to drop rate in any areas

and solve an occupancy problem, right?

950

Yeah, I think that the revenue piece

is ultimately what will continue to

951

push people to, to give it the try

and sharing more case study examples

952

of, "I did this, I got this result."

953

That is what kind of takes the monotony

out of sitting in front of the screen

954

all day and where the owner can go

of course I'm gonna invest more time

955

in growing my business every…"

956

Yes, we love the outdoors, but I

assume most of us are in it to,

957

make a decent amount of money.

958

Yeah, I think that's to me is the real

unlock that we need to keep driving home.

959

Brian Searl: Yeah.

960

And then again, everything

from first principles.

961

How do I use AI to create something

that hasn't existed before?

962

Here's a free one for you, Alex.

963

You can take this to Mike and

tell him it was your idea.

964

Nobody needs to know, 'cause

nobody watches the show.

965

Tell him you need to buy six Tesla

Model Ys that can auto-drive themselves

966

in camp mode around the racetrack, and

people can sleep in those all night.

967

That would be like $500 a night

experience right there, man.

968

Alex Burkett: I- if I can get it to

work, that would be, that'd be amazing.

969

Brian Searl: Why wouldn't it work?

970

They have camp mode.

971

I don't know, like I- they

keep the air conditioning on.

972

They gotta be able to drive all night.

973

Alex Burkett: Fair.

974

The the track dynamic is

always interesting of what

975

can and can't be done, but-

976

Brian Searl: It's-

977

… Alex Burkett: i'll push for it.

978

Brian Searl: I think it'd be cool.

979

I would pay to do that if

I knew it wouldn't crash.

980

Alex Burkett: Yeah, exactly.

981

Brian Searl: Yeah.

982

Alex Burkett: Hey, Austin's

crawling with all those those

983

CyberCabs I'm seeing all, all over.

984

So yeah, the, the Teslas

are all over the place.

985

Brian Searl: Ravi would test it for you.

986

He's rich and lives in Austin.

987

He's got money to spend on that.

988

You're charging $1,000 a

night, Ravi will pay it.

989

Ravi Parikh: I, honestly I've

used the, I've used the Tesla

990

CyberCab and it's pretty cool.

991

It's a good experience.

992

Brian Searl: Have you?

993

Ravi Parikh: Yeah.

994

Brian Searl: The robo- the s-

actual CyberCab or just the

995

Robotaxi with the steering wheel?

996

Ravi Parikh: The gold one.

997

No, their gold ones.

998

No, no steering wheels.

999

Yeah.

00:50:09,160 --> 00:50:10,740

They're autonomous now in Austin.

00:50:11,000 --> 00:50:13,140

You can call one, it'll come

to my house, pick me up.

00:50:15,682 --> 00:50:17,542

Brian Searl: Yeah, that's a,

that's an interesting revenue

00:50:17,542 --> 00:50:18,852

opportunity for another time.

00:50:18,872 --> 00:50:21,872

But yeah, owning your own cyber

cabs and leasing them out.

00:50:21,912 --> 00:50:24,152

But anything else that we have to add?

00:50:24,152 --> 00:50:26,492

Like to spend the last few minutes

here, like asking each other questions.

00:50:26,542 --> 00:50:28,942

Tessa, you have any questions

for anybody that you wanna ask

00:50:28,942 --> 00:50:30,042

and play host for a second?

00:50:31,602 --> 00:50:32,302

Tessa McCrackin: Oh gosh.

00:50:32,312 --> 00:50:33,492

Play host for a second.

00:50:34,152 --> 00:50:35,042

Brian Searl: You can't do worse than me.

00:50:35,042 --> 00:50:35,762

Don't be nervous.

00:50:36,952 --> 00:50:39,542

Tessa McCrackin: I'm trying to

think what's a good question to ask.

00:50:40,342 --> 00:50:40,982

Trying to think.

00:50:42,992 --> 00:50:43,317

Some- I was gonna say,

00:50:43,367 --> 00:50:45,837

Alex Burkett: I've got one for Ravi if,

Tessa, you need a minute to think through.

00:50:45,837 --> 00:50:46,767

Tessa McCrackin: Yeah, you pop in.

00:50:46,777 --> 00:50:47,267

Pop in.

00:50:47,637 --> 00:50:50,267

Alex Burkett: So Ravi, as I mentioned

with Campspot kind of launching

00:50:50,267 --> 00:50:51,637

with the revenue management 2.0

00:50:51,637 --> 00:50:55,677

side, is RoverPass coming out with

anything similar on that front with

00:50:55,897 --> 00:50:57,657

revenue management tools for parks?

00:50:59,087 --> 00:50:59,767

Ravi Parikh: No comment today.

00:51:03,427 --> 00:51:04,147

Alex Burkett: Maybe later.

00:51:04,637 --> 00:51:07,727

Ravi Parikh: Maybe someday, but I will…

00:51:07,997 --> 00:51:10,407

You'll know when everybody else knows.

00:51:11,097 --> 00:51:13,857

I have one thing that I

think people should do.

00:51:14,217 --> 00:51:17,897

I think you should start thinking

about AI like your Netflix subscription

00:51:17,917 --> 00:51:23,427

and just pay the $20 a month because

it'll change the game for you.

00:51:23,907 --> 00:51:26,887

If you're not paying the

20, it's just not the same.

00:51:27,277 --> 00:51:29,837

You're not even getting close

to the same amount of power.

00:51:30,627 --> 00:51:34,947

And start incorporating it into your

daily life even before you start to

00:51:34,947 --> 00:51:36,677

incorporate it into your business life.

00:51:37,497 --> 00:51:43,447

And, do some meal prep planning and figure

out like a workflow in your personal

00:51:43,447 --> 00:51:47,487

household that you wanna automate and then

work backwards on that, and then start

00:51:47,487 --> 00:51:49,237

applying those concepts to your business.

00:51:49,247 --> 00:51:51,387

That's how I got my wife to…

00:51:52,197 --> 00:51:57,367

She's not quite as AI pilled as me,

but she built a WhatsApp app to meal

00:51:57,367 --> 00:51:59,707

prep for our son, and she's a dentist.

00:51:59,827 --> 00:52:01,547

Start there if that's where…

00:52:01,577 --> 00:52:05,107

If you can't think of practical

applications for business, there's

00:52:05,187 --> 00:52:06,937

tons of them for your personal life.

00:52:08,107 --> 00:52:11,437

Brian Searl: And if you're short on money,

cancel Netflix because there's better

00:52:11,437 --> 00:52:13,147

shows on Apple TV and Amazon anyway.

00:52:14,027 --> 00:52:15,987

I haven't opened Netflix in

a couple months, but yeah.

00:52:16,057 --> 00:52:16,927

Tessa, did you think of a question yet?

00:52:19,085 --> 00:52:20,065

Tessa McCrackin: I'm still working on it.

00:52:20,065 --> 00:52:22,055

This was-- I-- Now I'm

thinking about meal prep.

00:52:22,355 --> 00:52:24,885

Ravi Parikh: Brian put a

lot of pressure on you.

00:52:24,885 --> 00:52:25,465

Brian Searl: Sorry, I did.

00:52:25,495 --> 00:52:26,035

It was last night.

00:52:26,075 --> 00:52:26,755

Mitch, you got something?

00:52:26,755 --> 00:52:27,815

It's your first podcast.

00:52:29,515 --> 00:52:33,395

Mitchell Spence: My question's for Matt,

and the question is, you said you're, you

00:52:33,395 --> 00:52:38,895

were a, a big Claude guy, and then you've

been exploring exploring other options.

00:52:39,235 --> 00:52:42,425

What are some of your takeaways?

00:52:42,505 --> 00:52:46,345

Matt Whitermore: That I now probably

spend six hundred dollars a month on,

00:52:47,225 --> 00:52:53,705

on AI subscriptions because with just

the way things change so quickly, right?

00:52:53,705 --> 00:52:56,645

I don't know if you've experienced

this where I, it was Claude

00:52:56,645 --> 00:52:58,875

Code or nothing else for a year.

00:52:59,375 --> 00:53:04,515

And, but there were times where I

would just feel like either Claude got

00:53:04,515 --> 00:53:10,365

dumber or slower or whatever, and it

would go on for like weeks at a time.

00:53:10,365 --> 00:53:13,785

It was maybe right before a new

model was dropping or whatever.

00:53:13,785 --> 00:53:17,475

I don't pretend to know why, but

there was just stretches of time where

00:53:17,475 --> 00:53:21,475

I would get so frustrated and just

know that the performance degraded.

00:53:21,485 --> 00:53:25,055

It just wasn't working the way it

was the day before, the week before.

00:53:25,585 --> 00:53:29,255

And so in those moments I knew I

needed to jump in, and I saw it

00:53:29,255 --> 00:53:31,075

as like such a huge undertaking.

00:53:31,075 --> 00:53:35,895

Oh, I gotta go learn Codex now, or

I gotta go learn Cursor or Groq.

00:53:36,125 --> 00:53:40,145

Now, with the desktop apps, the

interfaces are all exactly the same.

00:53:40,615 --> 00:53:41,795

The-- It's the same app.

00:53:42,085 --> 00:53:45,555

There's minor different features,

but right, if you just set up

00:53:45,555 --> 00:53:48,625

your workspace in a way that

it's just, it's on your machine,

00:53:49,305 --> 00:53:50,925

they're all just coding assistants.

00:53:50,945 --> 00:53:53,575

You could point them at

the same stack of files.

00:53:53,995 --> 00:53:57,685

They all understand it the same

way, and it-- Like we've said a few

00:53:57,685 --> 00:54:00,445

times on this show that if you're

hitting a blocker, just ask it.

00:54:00,485 --> 00:54:03,725

I just went in and said,

"Hey, I'm in Codex now.

00:54:03,755 --> 00:54:04,915

I've used Claude Code.

00:54:05,185 --> 00:54:06,855

What are some things

we need to translate?"

00:54:06,855 --> 00:54:11,715

So just set up some basic files, some

pointers, some symlinks to skills,

00:54:11,715 --> 00:54:14,405

and like it just took five minutes

for it to be like, "All right.

00:54:14,405 --> 00:54:17,515

I fully understand everything

you were doing in Claude Code.

00:54:17,515 --> 00:54:18,455

I'm in Codex now."

00:54:18,455 --> 00:54:22,345

And then same thing with, in

Cursor with the Groq models and…

00:54:23,785 --> 00:54:25,605

What was really interesting was Grok Bot.

00:54:25,605 --> 00:54:27,205

I haven't messed with Muse yet.

00:54:27,205 --> 00:54:28,645

I'm assuming it's pretty similar.

00:54:29,015 --> 00:54:33,861

But I spent like 1,500

bucks in Grok Bot in a day.

00:54:33,881 --> 00:54:36,641

It just went crazy and you re-

you're like, "Oh, just spin up an

00:54:36,651 --> 00:54:39,231

army of agents and go to town,"

and like then you're broke.

00:54:39,621 --> 00:54:43,451

So like I feel like it's

a consumer thing, right?

00:54:43,451 --> 00:54:48,091

If you're fluent in, with a

coding assistant or any- anything

00:54:48,091 --> 00:54:50,801

Agentech, I feel like kind…

00:54:50,801 --> 00:54:54,731

It's cool, it's awesome, but like you can

just build your own Grok Bot essentially.

00:54:54,731 --> 00:54:58,411

You already have your own Grok Bot

inside a Claude Code or a Codex

00:54:58,771 --> 00:55:00,431

or a Cursor for the most part.

00:55:00,781 --> 00:55:03,341

So ho- hope that helps.

00:55:04,601 --> 00:55:05,671

Ravi Parikh: I gotta run, y'all.

00:55:05,861 --> 00:55:07,941

It was it's always a pleasure.

00:55:07,951 --> 00:55:09,731

Thanks, Brian, for having me on.

00:55:09,731 --> 00:55:10,681

Brian Searl: Yeah, I was gonna

say we gotta wrap up and be

00:55:10,681 --> 00:55:11,541

cognizant of everybody's time.

00:55:11,661 --> 00:55:13,391

Ravi, can, where can they

find more about RoverPass?

00:55:14,121 --> 00:55:15,651

Ravi Parikh: Software.roverpass.com.

00:55:17,411 --> 00:55:17,801

Brian Searl: Thank you, sir.

00:55:17,811 --> 00:55:18,591

Appreciate you being here.

00:55:18,641 --> 00:55:21,041

Alex, final thoughts- Yeah … and

where can they find out more about COTA?

00:55:22,461 --> 00:55:22,991

Alex Burkett: Yeah.

00:55:23,121 --> 00:55:26,981

A- as always, really enjoyed

this week episode specifically.

00:55:27,001 --> 00:55:28,621

I learned a lot from Ravi.

00:55:28,641 --> 00:55:31,901

Matt, as, talk to Matt all the

time on and off camera and just

00:55:31,951 --> 00:55:33,131

wealth of knowledge and info.

00:55:33,541 --> 00:55:36,671

You can find more about

COTA at cotarvpark.com.

00:55:36,681 --> 00:55:40,071

And obviously our parent

company crrhospitality.com

00:55:40,101 --> 00:55:41,561

if you're looking for

third-party management.

00:55:42,301 --> 00:55:44,821

Brian Searl: And sorry, go ahead and

plug your match show if you want.

00:55:48,841 --> 00:55:49,651

Outdoor Hospitality Weekly?

00:55:49,711 --> 00:55:49,771

Alex Burkett: Yes.

00:55:49,911 --> 00:55:52,501

We- it's been a, a minute since

we've done a a new episode, but

00:55:52,511 --> 00:55:55,661

Outdoor Hospitality Weekly is

another podcast that Matt and I do.

00:55:55,991 --> 00:55:58,281

I would say- Yeah … more one-on-one

interviews or discussions, not

00:55:58,281 --> 00:56:01,311

necessarily the same, round table

style that Brian, you have here.

00:56:01,621 --> 00:56:05,151

But that is ohweekly.substack.com.

00:56:05,161 --> 00:56:08,431

Free Substack to join with

podcast videos, et cetera.

00:56:09,531 --> 00:56:09,651

Brian Searl: Awesome.

00:56:09,771 --> 00:56:10,751

Thanks for being here, Alex.

00:56:10,751 --> 00:56:11,591

Matt, final thoughts?

00:56:13,881 --> 00:56:16,691

Matt Whitermore: Just, if you don't have

the time to do it, hire a consultant.

00:56:16,881 --> 00:56:19,871

I think like either you gotta jump

in and learn it and take the time and

00:56:19,871 --> 00:56:24,031

clear some stuff off your desk, and if

you really can't do that, get somebody

00:56:24,031 --> 00:56:28,111

that you're gonna, attach to at the

hip that does understand it and can

00:56:28,111 --> 00:56:32,591

understand your business and really embed

with you and, help you along the way.

00:56:32,591 --> 00:56:36,141

Because, you- you we're at the

point now where you're starting

00:56:36,141 --> 00:56:38,931

to fall behind if you're not, if

you're not staying on top of it.

00:56:39,041 --> 00:56:39,581

And yeah we'll…

00:56:39,671 --> 00:56:41,051

Alex and I will get back on that.

00:56:41,181 --> 00:56:42,981

We'll get a, we'll get

another show out soon.

00:56:43,031 --> 00:56:46,861

And you can learn more

about Travo at travoai.com

00:56:47,431 --> 00:56:50,211

and you can email me at [email protected].

00:56:51,131 --> 00:56:51,431

Brian Searl: Awesome.

00:56:51,431 --> 00:56:52,211

Thanks for being here, Matt.

00:56:52,221 --> 00:56:53,181

Tessa, final thoughts?

00:56:54,601 --> 00:56:57,391

Tessa McCrackin: I guess all this AI

stuff just seems serious and daunting,

00:56:57,401 --> 00:57:00,071

and if you're like a laggard out there

and a campground owner perhaps, it

00:57:00,071 --> 00:57:01,791

maybe it seems, yeah, just too daunting.

00:57:01,791 --> 00:57:04,721

But it's really fun, sometimes

we'll just, be playing with AI and

00:57:04,721 --> 00:57:07,411

we'll almost like, whoo, like squeal

with delight at times about "Oh,

00:57:07,411 --> 00:57:08,381

we didn't know it could do that.

00:57:08,381 --> 00:57:09,091

Look at what it did."

00:57:09,101 --> 00:57:12,301

So I think it, just a reminder

yeah, that it can be fun.

00:57:12,341 --> 00:57:13,651

It doesn't need to be so serious.

00:57:14,201 --> 00:57:16,291

You can find us at northgateresorts.com.

00:57:16,561 --> 00:57:17,221

Mitch too.

00:57:18,221 --> 00:57:19,231

Brian Searl: Thanks for being here, Tessa.

00:57:19,231 --> 00:57:21,921

And Mitch, last but not least,

how was your first podcast, Mitch?

00:57:22,711 --> 00:57:22,801

Mitchell Spence: Yeah.

00:57:23,211 --> 00:57:23,621

Great.

00:57:23,711 --> 00:57:24,051

I don't know.

00:57:24,061 --> 00:57:24,651

How did I do?

00:57:24,681 --> 00:57:24,921

I…

00:57:25,271 --> 00:57:28,351

Thanks for having me, tessa just emails

me things and I just say yes and don't

00:57:28,361 --> 00:57:31,921

read it, and then, two weeks later I-

I realize I signed up for a podcast.

00:57:32,081 --> 00:57:32,871

Tessa McCrackin: But- when I was, when…

00:57:33,241 --> 00:57:36,531

Yeah, when Mitch was, you asked Mitch

how he was using AI, I was really holding

00:57:36,531 --> 00:57:39,781

in that he, that's how he responds to

all of the emails that I sent him, so

00:57:40,131 --> 00:57:40,381

Mitchell Spence: Yeah.

00:57:40,381 --> 00:57:42,961

But it was actually Claude that

signed me up for this- Yeah.

00:57:42,961 --> 00:57:44,581

… when it responded to Tessa's email.

00:57:45,021 --> 00:57:45,781

So yeah.

00:57:46,231 --> 00:57:46,451

That…

00:57:46,501 --> 00:57:49,871

so that's the important, cautionary

tale here in all of this, is that

00:57:49,871 --> 00:57:53,101

Claude is really fun and has a

lot of great, Or AI in general.

00:57:53,101 --> 00:57:55,901

And so there's a lot of really

really great outcomes, but there's

00:57:55,901 --> 00:58:00,081

also unintended consequences and

it's not a, it doesn't solve all

00:58:00,081 --> 00:58:03,291

problems and it's certainly not

a, a fantastic decision maker.

00:58:03,401 --> 00:58:05,931

Aside from me being here, I, that

was a, it made the right call there,

00:58:05,981 --> 00:58:06,821

Brian Searl: thanks for

being with us, Mitch.

00:58:06,821 --> 00:58:07,461

I appreciate everything.

00:58:07,461 --> 00:58:09,371

You did great, and like I told

you before, this is the worst

00:58:09,391 --> 00:58:10,341

podcast you'll ever be on.

00:58:10,751 --> 00:58:11,471

It's only up from here.

00:58:11,721 --> 00:58:13,431

Maybe they'll have you on

Outdoor Hospitality Weekly.

00:58:13,441 --> 00:58:14,331

That's a better podcast.

00:58:15,191 --> 00:58:15,981

They're professionals.

00:58:16,471 --> 00:58:16,611

They…

00:58:16,651 --> 00:58:17,821

Look, Alex even has a mic.

00:58:17,821 --> 00:58:18,541

I don't even have a mic.