In the recent episode of MC Fireside Chats, hosted by Brian Searl, the theme was "Marketing, AI, and Technology" within the outdoor hospitality industry. This discussion included recurring guests Greg Emmert, Founder and Principal at Vireo Outdoor Consulting, and Matt Whitermore, Director of Market Expansion at Climb Capital and Unhitched Management, along with special guest Brent Parker, CEO of OpenCampground.

The core concept that emerged was that technology, particularly Artificial Intelligence (AI), should be "invisible" to the guest to be most effective. The guests agreed that AI's best use is as a "force multiplier" that enhances the overall human experience in outdoor hospitality.

The panel first explored the application of AI in operational aspects. Matt Whitermore shared his initial skepticism regarding AI phone systems but acknowledged their significant value in reliably ensuring calls are answered, particularly during off-hours or in remote locations. The consensus was that technology's paramount function is to streamline the booking process, thereby allowing guests to disconnect and enjoy their stay faster once they arrive.

Data analysis and personalization were identified as another crucial area where AI could be leveraged. Brent Parker confirmed that AI-driven analysis of customer data could generate tailored reports for park owners and facilitate highly personalized guest service. The panelists contemplated a future where AI could recommend the perfect campsite to a guest, going beyond a simple list of options by factoring in preferences for seclusion or specific amenities.

The conversation then shifted to the future of how guests will discover and book their stays, and the likely impact of personalized AI agents on website traffic, brand loyalty, and Online Travel Agencies (OTAs). Host Brian Searl proposed that company websites might soon simplify, potentially evolving into basic APIs that feed inventory directly to AI systems, enabling a truly seamless booking experience. Brent Parker echoed this sentiment, suggesting that platforms like OpenCampground are moving toward a state where users can verbally "speak" a request—such as to build a custom housekeeping or maintenance feature—and have the AI automatically create it.

Finally, the group addressed the difficulties of technology adoption among older generations in the workforce. Matt Whitermore emphasized that while AI is unlikely to fully replace human workers, those who successfully embrace and master AI tools will be capable of performing the job functions of multiple people. He cautioned that a failure to adopt this new technology will ultimately lead to obsolescence. Greg Emmert added a balancing perspective, noting that job functions requiring an undeniable physical presence, such as property due diligence, still have a considerable "runway" before they become susceptible to automation.

Welcome everybody to another episode of MC Fireside Chats.

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My name is Brian Searl with Insider

Perks and Modern Campground and a

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bunch of other places, apparently.

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I need signs for everything, I think,

and then I'll just have somebody

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who's my sign changer and changes the

signs randomly throughout the show.

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That would be maybe two

intrusive and I don't know.

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Anyway, something came to my head.

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I probably should just stop talking now.

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But welcome to another

episode of MC Fireside Chats.

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We've got a couple of

recurring guests here.

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We've got Greg Emmert founder

and principal at Vireo.

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What is like you're the

principal, like school principal

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or just you're the owner or.

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Greg Emmert: Yes, Yeah.

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No, no, I'm.

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Brian Searl: Is that

without the principal?

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Greg Emmert: It's more

like school principal.

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Yeah.

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But it's really strange when I have to

paddle someone 'cause I'm a team of one,

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and that's, you know what, that's a.

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Let's go into another conversation.

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Brian Searl: That's, yeah, we

probably should because I don't think.

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Greg Emmert: Weird direction now

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Brian Searl: anymore.

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This is 2025.

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I don't think.

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Greg Emmert: Yeah, it's.

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Changing gears.

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Brian Searl: And I thought I

started the show awkward, but

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thanks for rescuing me, Greg.

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I appreciate that.

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Greg Emmert: You're welcome.

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Anytime.

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Brian Searl: Matt, welcome recurring

guest, Matt Whitermore from a new

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company since we've last seen him.

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Matt, welcome.

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You wanna introduce yourself briefly?

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Matt Whitermore: Yes, sir.

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Thank you Brian.

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Good to see you Greg.

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Good to see you, Brent.

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I am, as of about a hundred days

ago, I am director of market

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expansion in parallel roles at Climb

Capital and Unhitched Management.

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So helping grow the management portfolio

as well as the investment portfolio of RV

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parks and campgrounds across the country.

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Brian Searl: Awesome.

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I'm excited for you man.

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So talk a little bit about, like

briefly and I'll give everybody else

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a chance to introduce themselves.

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So don't take too long 'cause we'll

come back to you and talk about the

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things, but a little bit about kind of

your history in the industry because

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you've been a voice of presence.

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You had the podcast that you were

doing for, was it Good Morning

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Outdoors for a while that, whenever.

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Screw them, they canceled a good show.

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But so you've been involved with

a lot of different things, right?

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So do give us a brief history of Matt.

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Matt Whitermore: Yeah.

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Really appreciate the

opportunity to share.

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So I am in, based in Syracuse, New York.

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I have always been in commercial

real estate, finance and investments.

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In some facet I would say I'm

no longer in that industry.

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I try to preach that we are not

in the real estate industry.

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'cause I think that's an attitude

that's pretty prevalent in our

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industry, especially with newcomers.

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But I'm a part owner in three

campgrounds, in RV parks in the Northeast.

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I've done some consulting in the space.

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And always been a big fan of

Unhitched and Climb Capital and Rob

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Preston, and been in touch with him

and had the opportunity to join.

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So bounced around a little bit.

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Fell in love with the industry after

falling into it accidentally, almost five

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years ago and haven't looked back since.

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It's a great industry and it's a pleasure

to show up every day and work, work

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in the outdoor hospitality industry.

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Brian Searl: Awesome.

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Thanks for being here, man, and

giving us a little bit of your time.

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My pleasure.

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Greg, I didn't give you a chance

to introduce yourself properly.

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Go ahead.

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Greg Emmert: I think you did it right.

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You did a nice job.

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Yeah.

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Founder and principal, whatever

the principal might be at

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Vireo outdoor consulting firm.

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Helping folks grow and scale and purchase

and as Brian would say, do all the

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things outdoor hospitality related.

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Brian Searl: Awesome.

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Thanks for being here again,

Greg, and then our special

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Greg Emmert: Thanks for having me.

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Brian Searl: Brent Parker,

please introduce yourself, sir.

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Brent Parker: Sure.

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That.

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Brian Searl: Last, but not least.

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Brent Parker: For sure.

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Yeah.

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So my name is Brent Parker.

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I'm the CEO of OpenCampground.

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And my kind of journey

with OpenCampground.

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Oh, so first off, OpenCampground

is a reservation management

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software enterprise software for

medium to large enterprise parks.

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Whether it's campgrounds, RV

parks marinas, equestrian,

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we provide that software.

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My background is from the

property management payment space.

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Brian Searl: Okay.

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Brent Parker: So I was a general manager

for a company called MRI software.

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They provide software for commercial

and residential property managers.

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So I was able to build out that

space on the payment side on

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building products that were designed

similar to campground owners.

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To optimize their operations.

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And then, more so on a personal side,

I think I'm just a serial entrepreneur.

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I just finished a book called the the

Secret Power of Inversion Thinking.

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Brian Searl: Okay.

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Brent Parker: It's essentially

designed for startups to avoid

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failure by thinking backwards.

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So it helps you analyze

things before it happens.

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And so you can see, instead of

looking at the success, you say

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wait a minute, how could this fail?

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And so we look at every single aspect of a

business to determine how could something

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fail and then you form a planner on that.

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Brian Searl: Yeah.

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That's one of the biggest, I think,

I would say strengths that I've

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seen myself have in my company

is and it sounds arrogant when

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it comes out of my mouth, right?

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But I feel like I'm always 20

steps ahead of most people.

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And I don't mean literally

like I'm smarter than people.

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I mean that I have planned for whatever

path is going to happen, I think.

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And obviously there's always paths.

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You're like, oh, I didn't think of that.

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That sucks.

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But I've always thought about if

this happens, I'm gonna do this.

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If this happens, I'm gonna do this.

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If this happens, I'm gonna do this.

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And then I calculate the risk,

reward, benefit based on all of that.

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So that's really good advice for

entrepreneurs and people to hear.

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I think so.

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Brent Parker: Yeah.

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Definitely.

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Brian Searl: I'm glad you wrote that book.

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Where can they find that book?

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Brent Parker: It's just

on Barnes and Noble.

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So I have a Barnes and Noble version

and then also a eBook version.

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I'll be more than happy to send it to you.

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Brian Searl: Yeah, please drop it

in the, drop it in the chat here.

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The, not the private chat, but the,

if you drop it in the, maybe you

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can you guys see the chat on the

right hand side on your views or no?

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Brent Parker: Yes, I can see it.

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Brian Searl: If you drop it in

the public chat, it'll go to the

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platforms that support it too,

so everybody can comment on it.

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Some of it, Facebook doesn't let

it go to groups, but you drop it in

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there, everybody can see it, and if

not, we'll share it on the screen.

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Cool.

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All right.

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Thank you for being here.

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I'm excited to, to dive more into

what OpenCampground does and all

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that stuff later in the show.

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I think how we typically start the show.

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So we're talking mostly about AI

and marketing and technology on this

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kind of episode this week that we

have the fourth week of every month.

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Is there anything that has

come across your guys' desk?

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Probably more to Greg and Matt

since we took see each other.

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We haven't seen Matt yet, but we

will see each other once a month.

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Is there anything that's come across

your guys' desk that you feel is worthy

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of discussion in those kind of domains?

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Greg Emmert: Matt, you go ahead.

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Matt Whitermore: I wouldn't necessarily

call myself an AI expert or a marketing

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expert, although I've been learning a lot.

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I think it's a really interesting thread

to pull on for our industry because at

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least the way I look at our industry is

it's anti-technology, it's anti, right.

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We're looking for that human connection.

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We're looking to foster conversations

around the campfire, people

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putting their cell phones away.

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And, we're obviously using technology

and it would be foolish to not embrace it

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and to try and stay on the cutting edge.

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But when I think about marketing and

technology and AI, there's almost a

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desire to make it invisible, right?

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It's a force multiplier.

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But I personally don't think I want to

lead with technology in my campgrounds.

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I wanna make the booking process as easy

as possible, as streamlined as possible.

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I wanna make the store purchase.

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Yeah.

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Like hook up the iPad, do the self-service

retail, keep the store open 24/7

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and give everyone a code to get in.

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But other than those few things,

I am striving to find ways to use

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technology, but almost make it

invisible to the guest in a lot of ways.

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Does that make sense?

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Brian Searl: That's the

way it should be, right?

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That's, so that's, we've done, it's

I never self promote myself, but

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what we're doing at Insider Perks

is like a, we're pivoting into

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operations, into figuring out how we

can utilize technology in that way.

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So we went from like marketing and then

we were doing AI and we're still doing

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AI obviously, and marketing, but we're

also doing more of that consulting

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piece of how do we take technology

and weave it in with AI into the

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operational aspect of the campgrounds.

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And you're right, that starts

with just chat and calls.

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I still remember to this day, the first

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I had a comment on LinkedIn and somebody

said, I don't wanna talk to AI more.

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Our whole goal is to do

what you just said, right?

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Get people outside.

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We want 'em disconnected more.

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And my rebuttal is well, the faster

you can get them to the reservation,

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the faster you can get them outside.

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More so yeah.

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But to your point, you're right.

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Like it, it has to be weaved in a way

where like you step into the cabin

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and the lights come on, because you

use AI and automations and smart

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homes and stuff like that to where you

can speak and the TV comes on, or it

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just knows that you want it, right.

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Without you pressing buttons to the

point where you can, like you said,

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the self checkouts and the even robots

delivering stuff is more of a visible

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aspect of it, but personalizing a guest

day before they arrive, just ways that

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you can allow a guest to have a better

experience without shoving a phone

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or a pad or something in their face.

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Matt Whitermore: Yeah, it's a

really interesting discussion.

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I, for example, I think I was, I'm

admitting I was probably wrong here.

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I had a immediate aversion

to the AI phone systems.

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Answering systems.

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And I was definitely wrong about that.

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And it took struggling through the

realities of being a campground owner

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and operator, having campgrounds

in really remote places where

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there's no cell phone service.

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And yeah, we have the park wifi, but

that's a challenge in and of itself to

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have really reliable wifi out in the

mountains in a heavily wooded environment.

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So I came around to it when I was

banging my head against the wall

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of we're not picking up the phone

enough because the manager has their

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cell phone on their hip, but they're

out in the woods with no service.

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And we played with the idea,

do we centralize phone systems?

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Do we, do we do a call center outsourced?

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Do we hire somebody just

to sit by the phone?

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And I came around to, wow, that AI phone

system is really smart and yeah, people

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are just calling to get the information.

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They're calling to get the

answer or make the booking.

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Yes, it would be wonderful if it

was a warm human voice, giving them

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that wonderful human connection.

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But that might not always be possible.

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So the next best thing is to just give

them what they want and what they're.

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Brian Searl: Yeah.

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And it depends on how

you implement it too.

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If you implement it as a UPS does.

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And their whole point is just to cut staff

and to make it as confusing as possible.

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And you can never get to a human.

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And it's really frustrating.

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That's what people don't like

about those phone systems.

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And that's what we've had for

the better part of 10, 15 years

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is the frustrating experience.

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Matt Whitermore: Exactly.

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Brian Searl: But if you implement

it in a way that under that, like as

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guest service is your number one focus

now I have an AI that can answer the

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phone call after hours when no one

else would answer the phone call.

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Or I have somebody who can answer

questions from guests when they're on

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property where it just wasn't possible.

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I didn't have enough staff before.

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But also to make the reservation,

like we've fully integrated with

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Campspot now to where you can make the

whole booking, you can get like the

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whole payment links where you don't.

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You can have a human if you want,

if they say human or if they say, is

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my package behind the desk from the

FedEx, the AI knows that it needs to

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transfer a call to somebody, right?

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And so we're never trying to take

the human equation out of it.

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We're just trying to provide better guest

service and whatever that balance is,

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and every human being will be different.

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If you start with a guest in mind with

everything that you do, you're gonna win.

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Matt Whitermore: Well Said.

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Brent Parker: Yeah.

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We on our side, it is interesting 'cause

we have the same kind of thought process

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met when it comes to using AI for

people that might be they're concerned

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about just AI in general and how does

it work, and do I have to learn this?

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Do I have to take a course and all these

things, all these concerns that they have.

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So I look at it as saying, okay, how can

we take AI and intertwine it into your

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day-to-day without you thinking about it.

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And really finding a way that you

don't look at it as a feature, but you

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just say, this is valuable to have.

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And it would be invaluable

to me if I didn't have it.

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So how I approach it is saying, we could

develop, and this is what my engineers

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are doing now, is developing reports

and analytics based on AI and based

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on the data that you already have.

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Brian Searl: Yep.

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Brent Parker: So that way it prompts

you and says, Hey, you know what?

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This report is available to you because

we've noticed this is the trends, this

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is what you're trying to develop, and

it already does it for you, versus you

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entering a prompt and saying, I want this,

but we are working on something like that.

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Where you could, let's say, Matt,

you have a park and you say,

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I need a very specific report.

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With these details, this KPI,

and this is what I wanna achieve.

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We think that could be solved with AI.

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Just a simple prompt, right?

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I want this report so

I can accomplish why.

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And that's generated by AI.

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And then now you have

a custom report, right?

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Or maybe you want a dashboard that has

5 or 10 KPIs that you wanna see on a

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daily basis that can be generated by AI.

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So giving, I think, older demographics,

tools that show value without

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having a very steep learning curve

is, I think where you need to go.

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I think sooner or later people

will have to adopt AI, whether we

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like it or not, sooner or later.

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And it's gonna be who has the best

ai, tools that's gonna win the game?

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I think.

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I think it's really, it's a matter

of making sure that it shows value.

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Not just features, right?

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Just that it has to show value.

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Brian Searl: It goes back

to being invisible, right?

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So what you're talking about is one

of the biggest benefits of AI, is

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the fact that there's so much data

out there that we can't touch and we

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can't analyze because there's just

not enough human beings on the planet.

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There was a study that they put out, I

think it was by Ohio State University,

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actually and I didn't get deep into

the study, but basically in one of the

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nuggets of the study was that there's

so many petabytes of data on research

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and science and biology just sitting

there on hard drives that, that we just

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don't have 10,000 or 20,000 human beings

to sit there and pour over that data.

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And so all that data is from research

and case studies and scientists and

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people who have done experiments

and then there's scientists who

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are like, I have a great idea.

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And they're repeating the same

experiment that failed because

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it's buried on a hard drive.

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That's where AI is gonna be super

powerful to unlock and it will like not

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pivoting away too much from our industry.

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But what you're saying too is, there

are so many park owners who have so

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much data at their fingertips, who stays

with me, when do they stay with me?

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What's my demographic?

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Where are they coming from?

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All the Google Analytics data,

all the, and they just don't even

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know the right question to ask.

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To start, just like people don't

know how to prompt or people don't

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know what to put in the box and

Chat GPT or whatever else, right?

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They don't know where to start.

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And so as going back to our like whole

weaving in our whole invisibility thing,

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as it becomes more proactive, you're

gonna see it get more helpful and the

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adoption curve of yes, we're, there

are 800 million weekly users of Chat

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GPT, it's going to still take time for

a certain segments of the population.

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Although there are like 90

year olds that I overhear at

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restaurants now talking about how

better search engine than Google.

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So I don't know if you can pin it

down to a narrow demographic, but

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there's going to be segments of

people who take a while to adopt that.

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But they're all already using AI.

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They're using AI on Facebook.

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They're using AI on TikTok.

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They'll be using AI on YouTube since

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Everywhere else, right?

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So like it's, you're gonna get

to the point where you don't

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even need to know software.

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Like you don't even I know this is

maybe too much of a rabbit hole, so I'll

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back myself out of it after I say this.

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But if you saw something come out a

few weeks ago, there was a product that

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Claude released called Imagine that

was only live for their $200 a month

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subscribers for I think five days.

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But there's still YouTube

videos online about it.

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It's called Claude Imagine.

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And it was basically a desktop that they

showed AI, not just coding, but literally

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building the entire operating system

on the fly as you clicked a button.

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So you set, you clicked a button that

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And it built like an outlook, just

the shell of it with the inbox.

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And then when you went to go click

reply, it built the reply function in

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a couple seconds, and then when you

click send it built the sent function.

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That's the future of software.

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So people are gonna be able

to start with maybe a shell of

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OpenCampground, for example, right?

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And then they're gonna be,

say, they're gonna say I want a

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housekeeping feature that does this.

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And it'll just build it if you

allow that right on your platform.

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And then everybody's gonna have their own

different version of OpenCampground that

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works perfectly for them at their park.

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Brent Parker: And you, it's funny,

Brian, you hit the nail on the head.

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That's exactly what we envision

OpenCampground being, is that you can just

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come in and build your own experience.

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If you want a housekeeping tool, if you

want a maintenance tool or a portal or

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whatever you want, just use the prompt.

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We'll create it for you.

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And there's no cost to that, right?

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That's, I think that's the modern

way of, instead of having, 10,

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15 engineers just typing away and

making new features, let the user

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determine what features they want.

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Brian Searl: Yeah.

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And they'll be able to just

speak it into existence.

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And that's been like.

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And I almost take I don't want to, I

don't really mean this, but you see

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all the people who are like, forever,

I don't need to adopt a computers.

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I don't need to embrace technology.

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Maybe they were right.

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'cause now they can just talk to it.

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Like ever since the Dawn

of computers, right?

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You've had to learn PCs or learn Macs.

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If you wanted to learn

Photoshop, you had to learn that.

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If you wanted to learn CRMs,

you had to learn HubSpot.

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What do I do with a spreadsheet?

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I gotta learn Excel.

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Now you just talk.

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Not yet.

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It's getting there.

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You're gonna just talk to everything,

make me a spreadsheet, do this, do that.

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You're not gonna have any

learning curve anymore.

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So it's gonna open the door to all

kinds of creative use cases for people.

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And this idea that it no longer do,

you have to spend 20 to 40 to 80 to

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a hundred hours taking a course and

learning something and getting certified.

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And I think that's great

for humanity long term.

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It might be terrible for

software companies, what else

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is come across our desk guys?

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I'm happy to jump in if you

want me to, but Go ahead, Greg.

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Greg Emmert: I, so this, it's not

necessarily what came across my

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desk, but just what I came back from.

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I just spent a couple hours with

TJM and from Campsite 360 he's

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right up the street from me here.

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I live in Akron, he is in Cuyahoga Falls.

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So we met for coffee that turned into

three hours of discussions around

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the industry and where he's headed.

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And I love connecting with him and

people like you, Brian and Matt, Brent.

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It's why I'm looking forward to the

upcoming OHCE so much because it just

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it's a great perspective expander, right?

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I feel like my perspective

goes from the blinders to, it

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just starts moving outward.

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So it was a really good conversation

with him and everything they've been

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doing and his travels and with their

product and where it's headed . Total

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plug for TJ, I guess I just earned

my coffee, but yeah, that was it.

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Had a really good time talking with him.

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Looking forward to catching up

with him again at OHC and all four

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of you guys too, I'm assuming.

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Brent, are you gonna be there?

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Are you gonna be at the conference?

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Brent Parker: Yeah, I'm, we're gonna try.

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Greg Emmert: Okay.

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Brent Parker: That's coming up in two.

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Greg Emmert: Two and a half,

three weeks, something like that.

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Brent Parker: November.

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Okay.

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Greg Emmert: Yeah.

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Brian Searl: Yep.

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Yeah, TJ's a great guy.

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Like it's interesting and

he runs a great company too.

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He has a great product.

428

I think it's interesting.

429

Greg Emmert: Absolutely.

430

Brian Searl: To think about how, as

we look at some of these vendors, how

431

what AI is going to become is going

to impact their product and service.

432

And it doesn't mean necessarily put

them outta business, but change.

433

The way that they create or the way or

the features that they have in their

434

product or things like that, right?

435

So if you look at 360 tours,

we're gonna just pick on this

436

because Greg brought it up.

437

So maybe you're gonna unearned

your coffee here in a second.

438

But, so if you look at 360 tours, we just

saw Chat GPT release a browser yesterday.

439

We'll play a video on that in a second

about Chat GPT Atlas where it can

440

basically use Agentech features to

navigate all the websites for you.

441

So you can give it a task, it can open up

tabs, it can do all the things for you.

442

You can come back to it 10

minutes later, it'll shop for you.

443

It'll do whatever you want, right?

444

Plan trips, et cetera.

445

In that world where you say, go research

me a camping trip and it knows your

446

Gmail and your calendar and all the

things we've talked about before, right?

447

Does it care about the

virtual tour on the website?

448

Does it look around and click?

449

Does it watch the little videos?

450

Maybe.

451

But I like, certainly

that's valuable data.

452

And again, I'm not saying that TJ's

in trouble, I'm just saying it's an

453

interesting question that businesses

like TJs should be asking and

454

thinking about where does this go?

455

How does this do it?

456

It's the same way we we've been telling

clients for a year and a half, much

457

to their screaming protest and some

leaving us that design doesn't matter

458

when an agent, like an agent doesn't

care what your colors and your call to

459

action are, that you're agonizing about

for 15 hours in a marketing meeting.

460

So nobody really wants to hear that.

461

But so that's where it's how does

that change how you do marketing

462

and how you reach people and how

you like, I don't know the answers

463

to all of these things, but they're

questions that need to be asked Now.

464

You don't have years.

465

You don't even have months.

466

Greg Emmert: Yeah.

467

Yeah.

468

And I, I think actually only speaking for

his product, but the data that it's able

469

to draw from the customer, what they where

they spend their time, what I'm not gonna.

470

I'm not gonna try to dive too far

into it 'cause it was a conversation

471

that was at length with TJ, but I'm

not gonna be able to do it justice.

472

But the data that he's able to draw

from the new products, and if you

473

guys are, if anybody's gonna be

at OHCE, stop by the Campsite 360.

474

Now I sound like I'm reffing him.

475

I'm not.

476

I just, I He's got a good product.

477

Brian Searl: How much vodka

good did he put in your coffee?

478

It might have been.

479

Greg Emmert: It was a lot of caffeine.

480

Lot of caffeine.

481

The data that he's able to draw, I

think is gonna be really sexy to the

482

agent, to the LLM because it gives it,

as Brian as you have taught me, right?

483

All, all of those extra points that

it can see when it looks at a site,

484

when it does this, okay, so it goes

out and says, book me a camping trip.

485

And it goes out and it looks at

maybe the it's if it's my personal

486

agent, which Brian, we're gonna have

those in what, like three weeks?

487

Not really, but really fast.

488

Brian Searl: You already have

one with all the memory and all

489

the things like not yours, but

490

Greg Emmert: Right.

491

Yeah.

492

But we'll all have, we'll all have agents

in what, a couple of years tops, max.

493

Brian Searl: Yeah, max two years.

494

Greg Emmert: Once you have that, to your

point, and this is for you two guys,

495

if you don't know, this is what happens

when you hang out with Brian too long.

496

You start repeating everything that

he says to you, you are gonna have,

497

there's gonna be no more , let's see.

498

I wanna go camping near

sleeping bare dunes.

499

So let me Google these

campgrounds and all that.

500

Oh, and it I know.

501

I don't need to look at, for

me, I'm talking about me.

502

No offense to anybody.

503

I don't want to camp at

a KOA or a Jellystone.

504

That's not my jam.

505

I'm still a tent camper.

506

I wanna camp out in the woods,

so I'm not gonna look at those.

507

The agent's gonna do the same thing

'cause it knows me and it's gonna

508

go down from, I wanna look at these

few parks to, Hey dude, here's the

509

camp site that you need to book.

510

This is the one.

511

It's yours.

512

Here it is.

513

This is the one.

514

And I know this because I know you

and I know all your preferences

515

and I know what you want.

516

A 360 tour makes it easier

for that agent to get to that.

517

So I don't know, I think there's a lot of

runway for those tours if they're built.

518

And it'll be interesting to see, to

your point, Brian, it'd be interesting

519

to see where the agents, where the AI

takes us in the very, very near future.

520

Because I really look forward to that.

521

'cause I, I do struggle.

522

Okay, let's make it personal now.

523

I totally struggle because we are tent

campers and we're not good at people

524

like we want to, we, if ideal world,

we backpack every time we go camping.

525

That's just not possible.

526

So we car camp a lot.

527

You have to deal with people when you

car camp, there are other people around.

528

I want that site.

529

I want the one with the most seclusion

with the, I can't wait for the

530

agent that just finds that for me.

531

Oh my gosh.

532

'cause right now that's tough because

most of the industry is built around,

533

come and stay 20 feet from your

neighbor and enjoy the bounce pillow

534

and pool and chocolate slip and slide.

535

And I'm like, oh my God, if I could get

I can't get far enough away from that.

536

Again.

537

Brian Searl: Yeah.

538

Greg Emmert: Lots of my clients use these.

539

I love you guys.

540

Thank you.

541

I There's no problem

there's a market for that.

542

It's just not for me.

543

I'm speaking personally at this point

544

Brian Searl: .But

545

to your point like how does it

decide those things or questions

546

that every company should be

asking themselves to Brent?

547

Greg Emmert: Yeah.

548

Brian Searl: Have a plan for the future.

549

Like you can look at a

company as big as KOA, right?

550

KOA has got a well established

brand, great reputation.

551

Lots of locations have been here forever.

552

If you ask AI about camping, it's

probably gonna return something about

553

KOA in some form or context, right?

554

Depending on your question.

555

Greg Emmert: Yeah.

556

Brian Searl: And so in the future,

there's a very reasonable explanation

557

that something related to camping

will continue to surface KOA, but when

558

the agents are personal, even when

the agent is yours and it knows that

559

you like to stay at KOA, is there a

point where the AI is this is still a

560

better option for you, then the KOA.

561

You might be brand loyal.

562

You, as Greg, might be brand loyal,

just pretend putting on you, right?

563

But Greg you really don't know what

you're missing here, and I know

564

you better than you know yourself.

565

So then at that point, are

you gonna second guess the AI?

566

And I'm not saying this will

happen, I'm just saying this is

567

a question that KOA should be

asking, and maybe they already are.

568

They have a lot smart

people out there, right?

569

But a question they should be asking,

like, how does brand loyalty look

570

like in an era where everybody

gets what's perfect for them, or

571

as close to it as the AI can find?

572

Greg Emmert: And as a married man

who technically already has an

573

agent who second guesses himself all

the time, you do not question it.

574

You just do.

575

It's I, sorry.

576

Brian Searl: Remember the

simplest example of Google maps?

577

Like I, I still remember, when Google

Maps, maybe not first came out, but

578

when I was starting to use it all the

time, you used to second guess the

579

way Google was sending you on the map.

580

Greg Emmert: All the time.

581

Brian Searl: And every time

I did that, I would run into

582

a traffic jam for 30 minutes.

583

Fuck.

584

I thought I was smarter

than Google, but no.

585

So I, yeah.

586

Every way Google takes me,

this is just how I go now.

587

Greg Emmert: Yep.

588

Brian Searl: I know there's something

hidden that maybe it's not telling

589

me in a red line, but it's there.

590

Brent Parker: I think so,

when you think about AI and

591

figuring out like personas.

592

That those persona building and

kind of understanding to what, Greg

593

mentioned, like AI has to know, your

likes, your dislikes, your concerns.

594

So the typical, when you're

putting a business together and

595

you're trying to figure out what

your ideal customer persona is.

596

They have to know exactly what

your likes and dislikes are.

597

So I think, Brian, to your question,

if Greg always wants to do tent and

598

they said, okay, this one over here in

Tahoe is perfect for you, they'll know,

599

Hey, I might want to show you this one

because I understand that you might

600

be a little flexible in your persona.

601

Or you might be someone

that says, you know what?

602

Let me try something different

that I normally don't try.

603

So AI should know that, and then give

you some other options to say, here's

604

your main one, but perhaps here's two

or three that might, you might, yeah.

605

Brian Searl: Yep.

606

But then how often will people

just be like which one do

607

you think is best for me?

608

I already do that with AI.

609

Which one do you think is best?

610

I don't always listen to it, right?

611

But I'm curious to hear what its

unbiased opinion is of my own psychology.

612

Brent Parker: Yeah.

613

Brian Searl: And oftentimes

it gets it right.

614

Yeah.

615

It's just these are questions that

everybody's gotta start asking about their

616

software, their products, their brands,

the discovery, everything's and we're just

617

still people think this is moving fast.

618

This we're still like in the

bottom end of the exponential.

619

You wait a year and see how

fast, what's happening right now.

620

And I saw this statistic the other day.

621

92% of the first half of 2025's,

GDP in the United States was driven

622

by AI and data center spending.

623

Excluding that our GDP

would've been up 0.1%.

624

Nothing else is happening in the economy.

625

That's good.

626

Blanket statement, but from a spend

perspective, and GDP is, yeah.

627

Greg Emmert: Nothing's driving it, right?

628

Brian Searl: Yeah.

629

GDP is an imperfect number.

630

There's all kinds of things that

that's not the best calculation we

631

should be using for the economy.

632

I know all that.

633

But just based on that number

92% is staggering number.

634

And we're, what they're doing now

is building these data centers.

635

So you've got still a little bit of time,

and by a little bit of time, six months,

636

like you have a little bit of time while

these data centers are being built.

637

But once the da the compute comes

online, then you're gonna see all

638

these data centers being used to solve

diseases and biology and physics.

639

And they've already got them that are

solving foundation level math problems,

640

frontier level math problems, sorry.

641

In winning gold medals that these

super complex competitions that

642

only 10 mathematicians in the world

could solve before Chat GPT and

643

Gemini just won another medal on

it, like I think a week or two ago.

644

And so once, like you,

they've basically solved math.

645

They're like 99% of the

way to solving math.

646

Once you solve math, you

solve everything in the world.

647

And all those data

centers are gonna start.

648

So you think it's moving fast now?

649

You wait six months.

650

You still have maybe a chance to get

in here and start to learn and play and

651

nobody says that we know where it's going.

652

I don't know where it's going in two

years, but I know you need to play

653

with it, touch it, feel it, and learn

how to prompt with it and talk to it.

654

And if you can do that and figure out

how to level up your skills, like I

655

think we're headed into a world, and

this isn't a year away, but like I

656

think you're headed into a world as

a, as an employee at wherever you

657

are, that you have to learn a skill.

658

And in 30 days it'll be outdated

and AI will do it better.

659

And you have to learn another skill, and

then it'll start to go to three weeks,

660

two weeks, one week and a day that you

have to, you're gonna have to, everybody

661

who wants to retain a job is going to

have to be a constant skill learner

662

or a Yeah, an orchestrator

of AI or whatever you do.

663

But you still have a

chance to be in on that.

664

We're gonna talk a little bit about

that on Outwired later today about

665

how to obtain some of those skills

and do all that kind of stuff.

666

What else we got guys?

667

Matt Whitermore: I was recently reading

an article about Expedia and Booking.com.

668

The integration with Chat GPT and

I wouldn't say I'm on the cutting

669

edge of this, catching up, but

really good follow on LinkedIn.

670

I don't know him personally, but

I've been enjoying following his

671

stuff as Brad Brewer, a company

called Agentic Hospitality.

672

So he should he should be on this show

'cause I think he'd be probably schooling

673

us all and and where this is all going,

but just super interesting, right?

674

I had a little taste of this, which

was eye-opening on my newsletter.

675

I noticed the first new

newsletter subscriptions that were

676

attributed to Chat GPT and Claude.

677

And that was like, mind blowing to me.

678

And that's not that cool.

679

I, as I said, I feel like I'm trying, I'm

like, I'm catching up in the world of AI.

680

I use it every day, but I'm just

scratching the surface of what's possible.

681

Brian Searl: I'm obsessed with it, man,

and I'm catching up with AI every day.

682

Matt Whitermore: It's crazy.

683

It's

684

Brian Searl: Yeah.

685

Matt Whitermore: You can't you can't

really be on the cutting edge of it.

686

I guess you can, but it'd be a.

687

Brian Searl: Well in one narrow

field, you can't be all of it.

688

Matt Whitermore: I use it, I'm on Gamma

every day now, messing around, trying to

689

figure out how to create graphics 'cause

I don't have a design bone in my body.

690

And switched over from Chat GPT to Claude

to help, increase writing output and I

691

feel like I, it took me like two years.

692

Like I would, I was really resistant

to it and probably two years ago I

693

would, I would dabble with Chat GPT

on the free account and like, all

694

right, I'm gonna try and figure out

how to tackle this project with AI.

695

And I would spend two hours on it and

then just be like, this doesn't work.

696

Get fed up with it.

697

Yeah.

698

And it really took me like probably

clearing everything off my plate for two

699

weeks to just bang my head against that

wall and dive into prompt engineering

700

and try a bunch of different stuff.

701

And then it was honestly, it was

like two weeks and then it clicked

702

for me to at least learn about

prompt engineering and actually

703

have it be a tool in my tool belt.

704

And it's been, every month I dive

into some more prompt engineering

705

and watch some more YouTube videos.

706

And I feel like I'm gradually

increasing my my grasp on it.

707

Still total novice, but it's it's been

fun and it's super fun to think about all

708

these things of where it's going and you

know that, the next step is that first

709

campground booking that's attributed to,

to Chat GPT or, through your own chat bot.

710

Brian Searl: Yeah.

711

Like we've had that.

712

Yeah.

713

But yeah, that, that's.

714

Matt Whitermore: Right.

715

Yeah.

716

Brian Searl: I think they're probably

existing, just like I know you're

717

talking about coming direct, right?

718

Direct from Chat GPT.

719

I think those have already

existed if you trace it.

720

Matt Whitermore: Oh, sure.

721

Yeah.

722

Brian Searl: Google Analytics.

723

Yeah.

724

Matt Whitermore: Yep.

725

Definitely.

726

Brian Searl: But yes, there's a couple

interesting things you mentioned.

727

I'll touch on the easy one first.

728

Like the learning thing.

729

There's a great course that we've

been going through and we've been

730

trying to teach our team this for two

years, but there's a great course that

731

Google came out with, or I guess a,

maybe a program called Google Skills.

732

That's pretty new.

733

And it's 50 bucks a month, I

think, or somehow, I don't know.

734

They keep saying it's free, but somehow

I ended up paying 50 bucks a month worth.

735

Anyway but it's a good, it's a it's a

prompt, the, one of the main courses

736

in there is like prompt engineering

and learning how to prompt, and so

737

they talk through the key elements

of the prompt and it's really easy

738

to understand and it's from people in

Google and they break it up like into

739

short videos and teach you everything.

740

So that's a good place to start there.

741

I think is Google skills.

742

Other than that, YouTube.

743

But you bring up an interesting

point too, like going back

744

to your Expedia Booking.com

745

thing.

746

I have told people for years

that OTAs are in trouble.

747

Because OTAs were primarily

built because Google sucked.

748

Like you search something in

Google, Google didn't understand

749

you the way AI does now.

750

And so then you had to go

to a site and click filters.

751

How many bedrooms do you want?

752

How many people are there?

753

Do you have young kids?

754

Can I bring pets to this?

755

And you had to check a bunch of

boxes and that's what the OTA served.

756

And then they began to aggregate

everything together for convenience

757

and all that stuff, right?

758

So the convenience aspect is still

there, but the big problem they were

759

solving no longer exists because

AI can understand everything you

760

want and for all the reasons that

we talked about personalization.

761

But where you're headed now is

like I would've told you, and I've

762

told clients on this on the call,

that I don't think AI itself is

763

ever going to prefer a Booking.com

764

or an Expedia.

765

I think AI will take you straight

to the source if it exists.

766

I think, I don't know, but my gut

instinct says AI will take you directly

767

to the campground website, right?

768

But it is interesting now that

you've got these big players

769

like Expedia and Booking.com

770

who are integrating and who

have thought about this.

771

And who know this and are now building

these integrations, campgrounds aren't

772

gonna build that kind of integration.

773

We're probably very unlikely to

see a campground reservation system

774

book an integration like that in

the next couple years for whatever,

775

like they all have different things

and different priorities, right?

776

Matt Whitermore: Yeah.

777

Brian Searl: So it'll

be interesting to see.

778

I think the model is that

Expedia and Booking.com

779

end up paying millions of dollars

in advertising to have their

780

little button surface or whatever

in Chat GPT to make the booking.

781

But I think, otherwise, it goes

straight to the consumer and like

782

the example I gave a year and a

half ago is with Delta Airlines.

783

I think like right now, Delta probably

spends millions of dollars a year on

784

pay-per-click advertising on Google.

785

And the people who click those ads for

Delta Airlines in whatever market they're

786

advertising on, often don't find what

they want because they need a flight that

787

leaves at six o'clock in the morning,

or they'll only sit in first class,

788

or it has to leave from this airport

at this time and connect in this city.

789

And so that $2 or $4 or $8 that

Delta's spending on that click

790

is completely wasted, right?

791

But where you're going is a direct

integration with Delta's API into the AI.

792

So the AI can search the inventory

and when, and the AI will know that

793

somebody, because of their schedule

and their calendar and Google and

794

everything, they know, they like to

leave at six o'clock in the morning.

795

They like to fly first class.

796

They only leave from this airport,

whatever else, and it will surface

797

Delta's inventory right in front of

you and say, I have this seat for

798

you that's available, do you want it?

799

And when you click that, Google will

pay a cost to acquire the customer,

800

which is a number in Google Ads.

801

Now that's typically if

you're doing really good, it's

802

like 20 to 30 bucks, right?

803

If you're doing terrible,

it's 125 bucks or whatever.

804

But, so they'll just pay, instead

of $4 $8 a click, they'll pay $35

805

for a 99% guaranteed customer.

806

That's where I think advertising

is going in the middle of Chat

807

GPT and AI and all that stuff.

808

But you're, so you're gonna

see these companies pay for

809

these millions of dollars.

810

I don't know how long they

can last doing that, though.

811

Probably a while.

812

Brent Parker: Brian you bring up a

good point of, and I've gone back

813

and forth on this as a software

provider is integrating to OTAs.

814

When the average consumer

wants to book directly.

815

But I know how convenient it is

for campground owners such as

816

yourself and Matt, where you could

say, Hey, I just need more guests.

817

I need more traffic to my

website, which OTAs provide.

818

But then there, the other side of that

is the guest sometimes doesn't wanna

819

pay those extra fees, and they want

that personal touch of going directly

820

to the I go back and forth on this,

I'm leaning more towards this future

821

state where these, Gen Zers, these

millennials, these folks that are using

822

chat, they're gonna start using that

for everything to search, to your point.

823

Let me, I think Greg mentioned,

you said earlier, using 360

824

views to look at that campground.

825

That looks cool.

826

Let me book it now, and they're done.

827

I think I even read that Google SEO is

down a little bit because people are

828

using Chat GPT between these other tools

to define what they're looking for.

829

So I, I think the future is where

people will do more direct bookings.

830

And now it's up to the campground

to say, how do I expose my my sites,

831

my spaces, my inventory to Chat GPT?

832

Or do I have to use the

software to do that?

833

So it's, I think it's something

we'll have to figure out.

834

But.

835

Brian Searl: If I was you, I

would be building a natural

836

language, API at OpenCampground.

837

That's what I, and I've told

all the big players this.

838

Brent Parker: Yeah.

839

Brian Searl: I don't think

anybody's listening to me.

840

That's okay.

841

I'm not saying you should

listen to me, but you wait

842

and see natural language, API.

843

But what what, that's part of what

we're doing here too, like with.

844

And it's just natural.

845

Like I, I really, Greg knows me, right?

846

Like Matt, you don't know me as well.

847

Greg knows me.

848

Like I don't talk about

myself in self-promote, right?

849

It just it is one of those things.

850

But like we've built these chat bots

now that integrate directly with

851

Campspot that basically piggyback.

852

So you can talk to them and they do

check in and check out the display

853

photos of the sites in real time.

854

They'll descriptions,

they'll, check availability.

855

They'll give you dynamic pricing,

they'll send you pay now links.

856

You don't need any humans.

857

Newbook is coming next and

then we're moving through the

858

reservation systems, right?

859

To have all this stuff integrated.

860

But what we can do with that now that

we've built it is we can actually, there

861

isn't a system in place for this yet from

Chat GPT side, but we will be able to hook

862

that database, that process into Chat GPT.

863

So then you basically, even if Campspot

and Newbook and none of, and I'm, they

864

may, I'm not sliding them in any way,

but even if they don't move as fast as

865

we are, we can now offer campgrounds the

ability to hook something up that they

866

can make reservations directly in Chat

GPT with for Gemini or whatever else.

867

Because we built that path.

868

Brent Parker: Yep.

869

Brian Searl: So I don't

know how that looks.

870

I don't know how that plays.

871

I think eventually all

websites become APIs.

872

Like I, I think they do 'cause an agent

browsing a, with a mouse and a keyboard

873

is a terrible experience for an agent.

874

It's pretty slow.

875

'cause I think somebody brought up,

maybe that was on the call I was on

876

before that here, but yeah, like I think

you've just gotta think about the new

877

way consumers are discovering things.

878

They don't need to go to your website,

they just need you just need the booking.

879

Who cares where it comes from?

880

To your point, Brent who?

881

And I would say like I would've

advised, three years ago, four years

882

ago, I would've advised any company.

883

To say who, who is integrating

with, considering integrating

884

with Airbnb or hotels.com

885

or Booking.com

886

or whatever you're

integrating with, right?

887

There's probably better things you could

do for your software from a competitive

888

standpoint besides just doing that.

889

But now you can go to a cursor and you

can say, build me an integration with

890

a Airbnb's API, it could be ready in

I don't know, six hours so if you can

891

get to that point, then why not do it?

892

And you can check a box without tying

down 10 engineers for two months

893

or six months or whatever else.

894

It's like it could go either way.

895

Like they're gonna have a lot

of money to spend and power to

896

play in these booking engines.

897

So if they're, maybe they do win

for a while and if they do win,

898

then you might as well have your

inventory available through them.

899

Is that, yeah, I feel, I don't know.

900

Go ahead, Greg.

901

You were gonna say something?

902

Greg Emmert: I wasn't, no.

903

Brian Searl: You looked

like you, And then.

904

Greg Emmert: I was gonna go invisible.

905

I was gonna try to slide on it and

I can't, I don't have enough room.

906

Brian Searl: There's a wall there, man.

907

There's a wall there.

908

Greg Emmert: There's a wall.

909

I need to go to my, I need

to go my other direction.

910

Brent Parker: Just that

Homer Simpson meme, Greg.

911

The one that he, the bush.

912

Greg Emmert: Melting into the hedge.

913

Brent Parker: Yeah.

914

Greg Emmert: In the background.

915

Right on.

916

Brent Parker: Yeah.

917

Brian Searl: What else we got, guys?

918

That was good.

919

Yeah.

920

And it's just to close the loop

there too, like the Agentech

921

commerce is already there in, right?

922

Like you can buy through Shopify.

923

Yeah, you can.

924

No, you can buy through Etsy Now.

925

Shopify is coming.

926

Stripe has a partnership with OpenAI.

927

Walmart announced they're gonna

sell all their stuff on OpenAI.

928

This is, that's coming.

929

So like you're go, every, the

checkout is just gonna be seamless.

930

People are gonna grow to expect this.

931

So your fancy website still

matters for a little bit.

932

Yeah.

933

But even the boomers are, as we

discussed already, like all in on

934

Chat GPT, segments of the boomers.

935

It's not a.

936

Greg Emmert: Yep.

937

Brian Searl: It's not a, my audience.

938

It's not, you can't, you can no

longer say like you could with

939

social media for a while, that my

audience is baby boomers and so it

940

will take them 15 years to catch up.

941

That's not the case.

942

There are some boomers who won't

catch up, but there are some

943

Gen Xers who won't catch up too.

944

Greg Emmert: And it's not the same or

the case for every industry either.

945

Certain industries, you are gonna have

human eyes on your website, right?

946

They're gonna come to your site,

they're gonna see what you're about.

947

But to your point for how

much longer it probably starts

948

disappearing rather quickly.

949

Brian Searl: Yeah.

950

Traffic does for sure.

951

Like your, yeah.

952

Your conversion should still go up.

953

Like the quality of traffic

you will get will be better.

954

So the percentage of people

who convert will be higher,

955

but the traffic will be lower.

956

But nobody wants to hear that.

957

Like you have so many of these

companies that are built with

958

these marketing managers.

959

In the helm of their CMO role.

960

That aren't really strategy people.

961

Now, there, that's not everybody.

962

There are a lot of good

Strat strategy people, right?

963

But we've been through a lot.

964

There's so many marketing managers

that sole function is just to, to

965

call the agency and say, do this.

966

And they don't have that

ability to see what's coming.

967

And they don't have the skillset

to adopt the new technology.

968

Like they're smart people.

969

I'm not saying that but their

skillset is managing, that

970

doesn't need to happen anymore.

971

All the meetings that you're sitting

in, all the strategies you're sitting in

972

talking about design and call to action,

and whether the button is rounded or

973

squared or whatever, it's all bullshit.

974

All your email marketing, like all your

email marketing is about to be summarized.

975

iPhone's already doing this on

the screen, even though Apple is

976

shitted AI, they're trying to do it.

977

Gmail's doing this at the top,

and eventually it'll be on the

978

summary of your notifications.

979

Here's the daily digest of

your emails you got today.

980

Even if you're lucky enough for

the AI to summarize the marketing

981

email you sent to 7,000 people

carelessly, that wasn't segmented.

982

Even if you magically get that

to happen, it's not gonna do it

983

in your brand tone and voice.

984

So what are you agonizing

about all this stuff for hours.

985

Like just the way things are changing

and we see this, we see clients

986

that are either like I will and

there it really is no middle ground.

987

I'm all in this with you Brian.

988

We're like, oh no, I'm going

all the way back over here.

989

Right there, there doesn't

seem to be a middle ground yet.

990

Matt Whitermore: You bring up a really

interesting point about segmentation

991

and it's really more of a question,

and I think this is probably in your

992

wheelhouse, Brian is right how can we

use AI to get to know our customers

993

better, to gather information as we

interact and do business with them in a

994

more, in a deeper and more efficient way

that can in turn allow us to segment our

995

marketing in a smarter and deeper way,

and then do more proactive marketing.

996

To then drive more revenue.

997

That's something I think about

that, it's on birthdays or, we

998

get a lot of repeat campers.

999

We have some, if you're ever,

Greg, you're a tent camper.

00:45:27,808 --> 00:45:30,148

If you ever find yourself in the

northeast, come check us out.

00:45:30,148 --> 00:45:34,648

'cause we get some really spectacular,

primitive hike tent sites that.

00:45:34,678 --> 00:45:35,278

Greg Emmert: Yes.

00:45:35,638 --> 00:45:38,048

Matt Whitermore: People, we have

families that book, the same

00:45:38,048 --> 00:45:40,358

site like eight weekends a year.

00:45:40,968 --> 00:45:44,008

And they literally, we've had

people try to book seasonal

00:45:44,128 --> 00:45:46,048

primitive tent camping sites for us.

00:45:46,048 --> 00:45:47,848

They want it every weekend.

00:45:48,088 --> 00:45:50,668

I'm like, sure it's gonna

be like 10 grand, but Sure.

00:45:51,718 --> 00:45:57,358

And like we're, we have the data, we have

the data of when they typically book those

00:45:57,358 --> 00:46:00,178

sites, what weekends they typically book.

00:46:00,418 --> 00:46:04,138

So I'm sure there's a way for

AI to like proactively send

00:46:04,138 --> 00:46:05,808

that email and here's your cart.

00:46:06,088 --> 00:46:08,803

Here's your cart already ready to go.

00:46:08,803 --> 00:46:09,268

Brian Searl: Ready to go.

00:46:09,268 --> 00:46:09,598

Yeah.

00:46:09,868 --> 00:46:14,828

Matt Whitermore: With bags of ice and

bundles of firewood and let's, get

00:46:14,828 --> 00:46:16,988

that booking ahead even further ahead.

00:46:16,988 --> 00:46:20,978

If they're booking it a year in advance,

maybe we can get even further in advance.

00:46:20,978 --> 00:46:22,508

And Right.

00:46:22,508 --> 00:46:27,468

Then the marketing campaigns of we're

always looking at booking windows and

00:46:27,468 --> 00:46:30,258

dynamic pricing and booking velocity.

00:46:30,823 --> 00:46:34,723

I'm sure people are already figuring out

a way to automate that in a way that it's

00:46:34,843 --> 00:46:39,373

looking ahead and reading your calendar,

sending promo codes automatically.

00:46:39,793 --> 00:46:43,333

Brian Searl: But yeah, Disney's done

really, Disney does true dynamic pricing.

00:46:43,333 --> 00:46:45,433

We don't have true dynamic

pricing in this industry.

00:46:45,433 --> 00:46:46,903

We have a bunch of

fields you can fill out.

00:46:47,593 --> 00:46:47,923

Matt Whitermore: Yeah, true.

00:46:47,923 --> 00:46:47,983

Brian Searl: Yeah.

00:46:49,193 --> 00:46:52,728

But to your point yeah I, I think the,

there's two pieces to that, right?

00:46:52,728 --> 00:46:56,058

There's the piece without AI that you've

been able to do for a while, which is

00:46:56,058 --> 00:46:58,788

just organizing your database, right?

00:46:58,788 --> 00:47:01,968

So using something like a CRM, like

we use HubSpot at our company, right?

00:47:01,998 --> 00:47:05,258

But and HubSpot has traditionally

been super expensive, but now they

00:47:05,258 --> 00:47:08,468

have starter plans that're like

20 bucks a month for the basics.

00:47:08,468 --> 00:47:09,908

And the CRM's always been free.

00:47:10,778 --> 00:47:14,948

And so just like you can't count on

your property management software to

00:47:15,068 --> 00:47:16,868

be that because they're not a CRM.

00:47:16,868 --> 00:47:18,668

It's like the old TV VCR combos.

00:47:19,053 --> 00:47:21,693

If any of you guys are old enough,

like I am to remember that they

00:47:21,693 --> 00:47:25,053

worked, but they didn't work as well

as a separate VCR and a separate TV.

00:47:25,393 --> 00:47:28,573

And so the, your PMS system

is not intended to be a CRM.

00:47:28,573 --> 00:47:31,093

It can function as that because it

gathers all the data and collates

00:47:31,093 --> 00:47:32,263

it in one place and whatever else.

00:47:32,313 --> 00:47:35,103

But like Campspot has a really nice

integration with HubSpot that pushes

00:47:35,133 --> 00:47:36,393

all that data over to HubSpot.

00:47:36,783 --> 00:47:39,843

I'm sure Newbook actually has a

little bit better of a CRM built

00:47:39,843 --> 00:47:41,493

in, but it's still not a HubSpot.

00:47:41,573 --> 00:47:44,573

And there are other good CRMs,

to be clear, I'm just giving one

00:47:44,573 --> 00:47:48,413

example, but organizing that data and

segmenting and collecting information

00:47:48,413 --> 00:47:52,223

on people like what is their birthday,

for example, where are they from?

00:47:52,223 --> 00:47:53,183

What state did they stay in?

00:47:53,183 --> 00:47:54,803

And your property management

system has a lot of that.

00:47:54,803 --> 00:47:59,743

But the extras of starting to prompt

your guests when they check in and saying

00:47:59,743 --> 00:48:02,713

Hey, we would like to personalize your

stay and make it a little bit better.

00:48:03,193 --> 00:48:04,423

This will help us do this.

00:48:04,423 --> 00:48:06,313

Here's five questions or 10 questions.

00:48:06,823 --> 00:48:08,113

Just answer whatever you want.

00:48:08,113 --> 00:48:09,193

We're not asking for your email.

00:48:09,193 --> 00:48:10,243

We're not trying to email market.

00:48:10,243 --> 00:48:12,283

You we're trying to make your stay better.

00:48:12,958 --> 00:48:15,838

Now or in the future, let me

ask these questions of you.

00:48:15,838 --> 00:48:16,528

What is your birthday?

00:48:16,528 --> 00:48:17,248

What is your, whatever?

00:48:17,458 --> 00:48:19,108

And some people will fill

it out, some people won't.

00:48:19,108 --> 00:48:22,528

But that's the first step is segmenting

and organizing that information.

00:48:22,528 --> 00:48:23,938

The more data you can collect, the better.

00:48:23,938 --> 00:48:27,748

So you have, if you do email marketing

and you track that, you can tie that

00:48:27,748 --> 00:48:32,548

visitor who click the email to what

they did on the website, what pages

00:48:32,548 --> 00:48:35,848

did they browse, and then if you do we

can get into all geeky stuff, right?

00:48:35,848 --> 00:48:39,028

But so segmenting all that stuff and

tracking it is the first place and

00:48:39,028 --> 00:48:43,018

organizing it, and then having AI

act on it as the second piece of it.

00:48:43,858 --> 00:48:45,628

But there's, even, there's

been plugins for years.

00:48:45,628 --> 00:48:52,448

Like we use a plugin called WP Fusion for

WordPress that links CRMs to WordPress.

00:48:52,988 --> 00:48:57,158

And then you can take the data that you

have available in a CRM for a customer,

00:48:57,548 --> 00:49:00,668

and you can, if they're logged into

the website or it knows who that person

00:49:00,668 --> 00:49:04,598

is, you can show or hide a coupon

on the sidebar of WordPress that's

00:49:04,598 --> 00:49:05,948

specifically only for that person.

00:49:05,948 --> 00:49:07,208

It doesn't show to anybody else, right?

00:49:08,163 --> 00:49:10,473

So there's all kinds of ways that

you can do that personalization, but

00:49:10,473 --> 00:49:13,473

then just taking the data and putting

it into AI and forecasting it out.

00:49:13,473 --> 00:49:13,713

Yeah.

00:49:13,763 --> 00:49:15,893

This is a big underserved

opportunity, right?

00:49:15,953 --> 00:49:18,863

Like a lot of the big reservation

Campspot specifically I'll call out,

00:49:18,863 --> 00:49:21,593

does a good job with sharing their

analytical data and stuff like that.

00:49:22,313 --> 00:49:23,303

And they do a great job.

00:49:23,333 --> 00:49:27,053

But even then, like we're gonna

put, I'm gonna put some significant

00:49:27,053 --> 00:49:30,893

capital into data from the

00:49:31,253 --> 00:49:34,733

And I think we can do some very

interesting stuff with AI to help the

00:49:34,733 --> 00:49:36,203

industry that we'll release publicly.

00:49:36,753 --> 00:49:38,163

We did MC Reports for a while.

00:49:38,163 --> 00:49:39,783

00:49:39,813 --> 00:49:41,913

'cause Scott and I were pretty busy,

but we're gonna get back to that.

00:49:42,423 --> 00:49:45,543

But the amount of like just data we're

gonna collect and collate and release

00:49:45,543 --> 00:49:48,513

for the industry and be able to forecast,

I think is gonna be really interesting.

00:49:48,903 --> 00:49:52,173

And AI lets you do that to the level

we've never been able to do it before.

00:49:54,903 --> 00:50:01,118

Brent Parker: I think the question is now

Brian, like adoption of how do you get

00:50:01,118 --> 00:50:08,928

customers that are older, that aren't used

to using these types of tools adopting the

00:50:08,928 --> 00:50:12,318

philosophy of you should start using AI.

00:50:12,408 --> 00:50:16,098

You start, you should start using

these tools that we're giving

00:50:16,098 --> 00:50:17,538

you because they're so valuable.

00:50:18,088 --> 00:50:20,938

So I think it's just more of a question,

I think for the group because it's always,

00:50:20,938 --> 00:50:25,368

I think, a challenge for me to figure

out this adoption for people that aren't

00:50:25,368 --> 00:50:27,498

as tech savvy as what you want at that.

00:50:27,543 --> 00:50:30,848

When you think about that learning

curve at the bottom of that bell curve

00:50:31,308 --> 00:50:33,108

is I think a lot of our customers.

00:50:33,108 --> 00:50:34,218

Brian Searl: Why don't

you speak to that, Matt?

00:50:34,218 --> 00:50:37,758

'cause you said you went through your

struggles learning and adopting AI.

00:50:37,818 --> 00:50:38,958

How do you think, how do you see that?

00:50:41,638 --> 00:50:42,838

Matt Whitermore: It's a

really interesting question.

00:50:42,838 --> 00:50:48,048

I think as younger generations get

further into the workforce, I think

00:50:48,048 --> 00:50:50,118

it'll be a problem that solves itself.

00:50:50,568 --> 00:50:51,678

But I, I do write it.

00:50:51,678 --> 00:50:52,188

I think it's.

00:50:53,168 --> 00:50:58,238

I speak with some like marketing purists

and I get it right, copywriting, purists

00:50:58,268 --> 00:51:03,848

that get so offended by the thought of

AI helping somebody write something.

00:51:04,548 --> 00:51:06,018

But I think that's going away, right?

00:51:06,018 --> 00:51:11,768

I think it's not, there's always gonna

be the purists and I respect that.

00:51:12,078 --> 00:51:18,348

But one thing that I've really

tried to keep in mind, right?

00:51:18,348 --> 00:51:21,588

I think there's a lot of fear about AI.

00:51:21,678 --> 00:51:23,058

AI is gonna replace me.

00:51:23,058 --> 00:51:26,568

AI is gonna replace my

job function and my role.

00:51:27,258 --> 00:51:30,558

And I think there's some truth to

that, but I think it's way overblown.

00:51:30,558 --> 00:51:34,368

I think what's really more true,

this is an original thought to me,

00:51:34,368 --> 00:51:39,668

this is, following people in the

industry and who share their thoughts

00:51:39,668 --> 00:51:45,548

on AI, but it resonates is that

the people who adopt and embrace.

00:51:45,893 --> 00:51:51,923

And learn AI are gonna be able to do

the job functions of eight to 10 people.

00:51:52,433 --> 00:51:52,823

Brian Searl: For sure.

00:51:52,953 --> 00:51:55,773

Matt Whitermore: You're gonna

get indirectly replaced by AI.

00:51:55,773 --> 00:51:59,313

You're not, probably not gonna

get directly replaced by AI.

00:51:59,523 --> 00:52:05,253

You're gonna get a, your role is gonna

get absorbed by the person who does adopt.

00:52:05,403 --> 00:52:05,643

Brian Searl: Yeah.

00:52:05,643 --> 00:52:06,003

Oh yeah.

00:52:06,093 --> 00:52:06,603

I agree with that.

00:52:06,783 --> 00:52:06,993

Yeah.

00:52:07,173 --> 00:52:07,383

Yeah.

00:52:07,443 --> 00:52:11,873

Matt Whitermore: And you don't like, you

don't like, I primarily use it for content

00:52:11,873 --> 00:52:17,883

creation and writing and I still edit

everything that I write and still write.

00:52:17,883 --> 00:52:21,813

I give it a thousand word prompt

on what I want to create and

00:52:21,813 --> 00:52:25,743

then I tell it 10 different ways

how I hate what it came up with.

00:52:26,138 --> 00:52:29,103

But it's still so much, the

as like somebody who's just

00:52:29,103 --> 00:52:30,753

really dove into writing like.

00:52:31,068 --> 00:52:33,348

The hardest thing is sitting

down at the blank page.

00:52:33,548 --> 00:52:36,038

I get, I go for my

morning writing session.

00:52:36,038 --> 00:52:39,688

I used when, before that two week

period that I talked about of like

00:52:39,688 --> 00:52:41,458

really just going hard to learn it.

00:52:42,208 --> 00:52:45,928

I would wake up at 5:00 AM and I would

sit at my computer and try and write

00:52:45,928 --> 00:52:50,698

five tweets from 5- 7:00 AM and it

would take all two hours and I would

00:52:50,698 --> 00:52:54,238

be exhausted after that two hours.

00:52:54,238 --> 00:52:56,218

And then I was like, I

gotta find a better way.

00:52:56,488 --> 00:53:01,348

And that was when I spent that two weeks,

like going through all different prompts

00:53:01,348 --> 00:53:03,568

and prompt engineering and then it, right?

00:53:03,568 --> 00:53:05,698

It was, first it was like, it's not

gonna, it's not gonna write for me.

00:53:05,698 --> 00:53:06,418

It's gonna help me.

00:53:06,418 --> 00:53:12,148

I generate ideas and angles and

hooks and all the things that are

00:53:12,148 --> 00:53:15,008

gonna make my writing perform better.

00:53:15,458 --> 00:53:17,888

And then it was like, all

right, I've figured that out.

00:53:17,888 --> 00:53:23,408

Now I've got the, I solved the idea

generation thing and now it's migrated

00:53:23,468 --> 00:53:30,073

from just writing to, I've been

dabbling with this AI called Co-Founder.

00:53:30,823 --> 00:53:31,273

Brian Searl: Okay.

00:53:31,273 --> 00:53:33,253

Matt Whitermore: And

it's pretty interesting.

00:53:33,253 --> 00:53:36,128

It's through like a

commercial real estate group.

00:53:36,838 --> 00:53:40,558

Jake Heller, who puts out a lot of

really good content specifically

00:53:40,558 --> 00:53:41,668

for commercial real estate.

00:53:42,208 --> 00:53:50,138

But, hooking up Google Scripts to

the AI and hooking it up to my email.

00:53:50,138 --> 00:53:55,268

So now I can have an AI that

scrapes all my email for broker

00:53:55,268 --> 00:53:58,538

OMS and corrects the listings.

00:53:58,778 --> 00:54:01,628

It puts it into a street it or a sheet.

00:54:01,658 --> 00:54:06,848

It parses it, it collates it, and it

then even starts to dive in and tell

00:54:06,848 --> 00:54:08,818

me what it thinks about those deals.

00:54:08,878 --> 00:54:17,008

And I think about the CRM point that

like I, CRMs might be in trouble.

00:54:17,998 --> 00:54:18,358

Brian Searl: Oh yeah.

00:54:18,408 --> 00:54:20,958

Matt Whitermore: Because I

and I'm a HubSpot evangelist.

00:54:20,958 --> 00:54:24,468

I think it's an amazing company

and software and I love it.

00:54:25,098 --> 00:54:29,768

But do I need a CRM if the AI knows

everything I do, and eventually it's

00:54:29,768 --> 00:54:32,408

gonna know everybody who I talk to

on the phone, it's gonna read all my

00:54:32,408 --> 00:54:35,978

emails and tell me, it's gonna tell

me what campground I should buy.

00:54:36,338 --> 00:54:41,048

It's gonna have completely underwritten

the entire deal and done a, not to call

00:54:41,048 --> 00:54:45,118

you out, Greg, but it's gonna do the

equivalent of a $20,000 feasibility study.

00:54:45,488 --> 00:54:50,548

Like that's not so far fetched to

think that guy Jake, and put out like

00:54:50,548 --> 00:54:53,548

a mega prompt of a feasibility study.

00:54:54,028 --> 00:54:57,538

And obviously there's a human element

and intuition and I'm not saying

00:54:57,538 --> 00:54:59,008

you're, you'll be replaced by AI.

00:54:59,008 --> 00:54:59,938

I don't believe that.

00:55:00,328 --> 00:55:04,218

'Cause it's years of experience, but

over time you'll be able to download

00:55:04,218 --> 00:55:06,798

all of that years of experience to AI.

00:55:07,173 --> 00:55:11,553

And right, if you're doing feasibility

studies, you'll be able to do them at

00:55:11,583 --> 00:55:14,493

10 times the clip than you can do now.

00:55:14,493 --> 00:55:17,233

And I think it's it's pretty

fascinating to just look at,

00:55:17,263 --> 00:55:20,203

okay, what do I spend my days on?

00:55:20,443 --> 00:55:23,923

Let me track my time and see how I'm

investing and allocating my time.

00:55:23,923 --> 00:55:25,183

And then start to think about.

00:55:25,233 --> 00:55:25,473

Greg Emmert: Yep

00:55:26,473 --> 00:55:27,133

. Matt Whitermore: What can I automate?

00:55:27,343 --> 00:55:28,183

What can I do?

00:55:28,183 --> 00:55:29,683

10% of that with AI?

00:55:29,683 --> 00:55:31,423

Oh, okay, I mastered that 10%.

00:55:31,423 --> 00:55:33,253

Can I do 50% of it with AI?

00:55:33,853 --> 00:55:37,503

And then you're, you, it's a

cliche, and I don't, I don't wanna