There’s a conversation happening in tourism right now. Sometimes it’s public. Sometimes it’s in the conference hallway. Sometimes it’s avoided entirely.
It’s about the massive gap in communication and synergy between the short-term rental market and the destination marketing organizations.
It’s also about trust, policy, and shared responsibility to the visitors.
And if we’re honest, most of the rooms trying to address it aren’t structured well enough to handle it. So we built a different kind of room.
On July 24, 2026, we’re hosting Hosts & Home Teams™ in Portland.
Not a conference. Not a panel parade. Not a “let’s all nod and move on” moment.
A lab.
A working, structured, intentionally-designed space where hosts and destination teams sit at the same tables and actually do the work.
Why Portland? Why Now?
We intentionally planned this the day after Destinations International Annual Conference in Portland, where the best minds in DMOs will convene. If you’re already traveling in for DI, you can tack this on. If you’ve ever left a big conference thinking, “We talked around it but didn’t really get into it,” this is your opportunity to stay an extra day and go deeper. Bigger conferences serve an important purpose. We attend them. We support them. We believe in them. But this lab is different by design. It’s smaller. It’s balanced. And it’s capped.
Who’s In the Room
We’re limiting this to 120 participants. That’s it.
- 50 DMOs
- 50 Short-Term Rental Operators
- 20 Industry Contributors (platforms, service providers, advisors)
No tiered access. No sponsor dominance. No hidden agendas.
Just a room structured for alignment. We built it this way intentionally. Equal representation forces real conversation. It removes the “us vs. them” dynamic before it even starts.
You can’t hide in a room this size. And that’s kind of the point.
Why We Felt Compelled to Do This
We spend our days inside destination systems. We work with CVBs navigating community pressure. We work with hosts trying to understand where they fit. We work with platforms building tools that ripple into local policy and public perception. And here’s the truth:
- Everyone is operating in the same ecosystem. But they’re rarely designing it together.
- STRs are either framed as a threat or a marketing opportunity.
- DMOs are either framed as gatekeepers or irrelevant.
- Industry providers are building solutions without always understanding the nuance and impact on local systems.
That tension doesn’t go away by ignoring it.
Hosts & Home Teams™ exists because we believe the future of the visitor economy depends on alignment, not avoidance.
What Actually Happens on July 24
Facilitated, structured dialogue designed to pressure-test assumptions.
We’ll explore:
- Where destination strategy breaks down
- Where hosts feel disconnected
- What accountability actually looks like
- How roles can be clarified instead of politicized
- What shared responsibility looks like in real destinations
There will be disagreement. That’s healthy. That’s productive.
And everyone will leave with clearer thinking than when they walked in.
This Is Not for Everyone
If you’re looking to sell, pitch, or promote, this isn’t your stage. If you want applause, this isn’t that kind of room. If you want to understand how this system actually works and how it can function better, we saved you a seat.
But only 120 of them.
The Bigger Vision
Hosts & Home Teams™ is part of a larger movement toward mature destination systems. Systems where marketing, policy, community impact, and visitor experience aren’t siloed.
We’re not pretending this is easy. We are saying it’s necessary. And we’d rather build the room than complain about the lack of one.
If you’re attending the Destinations International Annual Conference, consider this your invitation to stay one more day.
If you’ve been waiting for a space where this conversation can happen without defensiveness or posturing, this is it.
July 24. Portland. Let’s do the work.
Learn more and get your seat in the room at HostsandHomeTeams.com.
– Jenn Barbee,
Chief Destruptor, Destination Innovate / Founder and Field Director, Hosts & Home Teams Lab