Tom Goodwin
Steward & CEO
Mountain Laurel Chalets has been family-owned since 1972 — the original vacation rental company in Gatlinburg and the longest-running family-owned vacation rental company in Tennessee. Tom became the second-generation steward in 2012, but his relationship with MLC began thirty years earlier when he married Susan, daughter of founders Ralph and Dot Egli. That front-row seat to real home management shaped everything about how he leads today.
In a market now crowded with portfolio operators who have never signed a mortgage or felt the weight of someone handing them the keys to their investment, Tom and his team have lived that responsibility for decades. MLC does not manage portfolios — they manage homes. There is a difference, and homeowners can feel it.
MLC's leadership team averages 25 years of service. Their direct booking rate is 80%. Half their guests are repeat visitors. These are not metrics they engineered — they are the result of 53 years of showing up the same way every time. MLC has been recognized as a Comparent Market Leader three consecutive years — 2024, 2025, and 2026 — placing them in the top 1% of all vacation rental management companies in the United States.
For homeowners in the Smoky Mountains looking for a management partner who understands what their home means — not just what it earns — Tom Goodwin and Mountain Laurel Chalets are ready to have that conversation.
