For owners of 4 to 12 bedroom cabins
More revenue from every group, and a cabin that is inspected and photographed before and after every stay. We manage the cabins that sleep reunions, retreats and multi-family trips in Sevierville, Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg.
$375,000 a year average for our 6+ bedroom cabins · 4.9 across 1,000+ verified reviews · 100% owner retention · Replies in under 5 minutes
Quick answer
Short Term Coops is a boutique short-term rental property management company in Sevierville, Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg, Tennessee, run by cabin owners and specializing in large and luxury cabins of 4 to 12 bedrooms. Cabins with 6 or more bedrooms in Sevierville, Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg averaged about $120,000 to $142,000 a year in rental revenue (market average, Rabbu, April 2026); the 6 plus bedroom cabins Short Term Coops manages averaged $375,000 (trailing 12 months to September 2026). We document every turnover with 100 to 200 photos and answer guests in under 5 minutes.
A big cabin is a big asset. We are built to grow what it earns and protect what it is worth.
Pricing software updates your rates every day, and we fine-tune them by hand for the dates groups book 6 to 9 months out, sometimes more, so every night is fully optimized. Repeat groups and the planners we work with also book your cabin directly on our own booking site.
Every group is screened before it books, one adult is accountable for the stay, and dated photos before and after protect your claim if something breaks.
Concierge touches, from fresh donuts on the first morning to a stocked fridge, turn a big group into five-star reviews and repeat bookings, which lift your cabin in search.
Switching from another manager? We schedule the switch for a future date and start booking the nights after it now, so guests arrive the day you move over.
Our promise
Here is how Short Term Coops performs across the cabins we manage:
| Metric | STC Result |
|---|---|
| Average Revenue, Our 6+ Bedroom Cabins | $375,000 a year, $1,470 a booked night |
| Average Revenue, Our 5 Bedroom Cabins | $195,000 a year, $765 a booked night |
| Guest Rating | 4.9 across 1,000+ verified reviews |
| Average Revenue Lift for Owners | 30.7%
14 owners, same cabin, first 12 months with us, range 14% to 59% |
| Owner Retention Rate | 100% |
| Guest Response Time | Under 5 minutes, around the clock |
| Repair Markups | Zero, every vendor invoice at actual cost |
| 5+ Bedroom Cabins We Manage | 50% of our portfolio, the largest sleeping 36 |
Large cabin revenue: our own books, trailing 12 months to September 2026, across the cabins of 5 or more bedrooms we manage. Revenue lift: gross rental revenue in the first 12 months with us versus the owner’s prior 12 months, for the cabins that switched from another manager, through the following 12 months after the switch. Retention: owners under management since 2023 who are still with us. Rating: more than 1,000 verified guest reviews across all booking channels as of September 2026.
8 bedrooms · sleeps 24 · sport court · Sevierville
6 bedrooms · sleeps 22 · hot tub with mountain views · Pigeon Forge
Average annual rental revenue for large cabins by town, from one public data source so the market numbers compare fairly. Our own results, from our own books, are in the last column.
| Bedrooms | Sevierville | Pigeon Forge | Gatlinburg | Short Term Coops cabins |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5 bedrooms | $94,386 a year $389 a booked night |
$80,283 a year $373 a booked night |
$98,316 a year $416 a booked night |
$195,000 a year $765 a booked night |
| 6 or more bedrooms | $141,223 a year $601 a booked night |
$119,652 a year $598 a booked night |
$141,990 a year $581 a booked night |
$375,000 a year $1,470 a booked night |
Market figures: Rabbu, data dated April 27, 2026. Free public data sources do not report cabins above 6 bedrooms separately. Short Term Coops figures: our own books, trailing 12 months to September 2026, across the cabins of 5 or more bedrooms we manage.
See what your cabin would earn in the last column.
Your projection arrives within 2 business days. Owners can compare it to their last 12 months; buyers can hand it to their lender.
A cabin worth $1 million or more should come back from every stay in the same shape it left. Big cabins host reunions and retreats, not parties: we screen every booking for group purpose and headcount, set house rules for guest count, parking and quiet hours, and document the cabin before and after every stay, so a claim rests on dated evidence rather than a guess about which group caused it.
One adult on site who is responsible for the group, and renters 25 or older.
Sound-level sensors, never indoor cameras, disclosed in every listing, that alert us when noise rises so we step in before quiet hours become a complaint.
Guests on Vrbo and our direct site buy damage insurance at booking; Airbnb stays carry AirCover's $3M host damage protection.
Before and after every stay, in your owner portal, with dated proof for any claim.
Fresh towels, a trash run and a look at the cabin, hot tub and pool halfway through stays of 7 nights or more.
Decks, railings, roof, pool equipment and furniture wear, with a written report and a plan.
In the Smokies, the rules change at 13 guests. A cabin that sleeps 13 or more, passes 5,000 square feet or reaches a fourth story can no longer use Tennessee’s residential sprinkler exemption. Gatlinburg then requires an approved sprinkler system, and Pigeon Forge applies hotel standards to any cabin over those lines or with more than five sleeping rooms. The county and each town require a rental permit, and in Gatlinburg and unincorporated Sevier County, bigger cabins pay more for it. We check that your listing never advertises more guests than your permit allows.
In a large cabin, the indoor pool, the theater room and the game room are the reason a group books. When one of them is down, the review says so. Indoor pools are cleaned and water-tested after every stay, with dehumidifiers checked at each turnover, and we service hot tubs, heaters and pumps on a schedule. Vendor repairs are passed through at actual cost.
There are far fewer 8 bedroom cabins than 2 bedroom ones, so automated pricing tools have thin data to work from. We review pricing in PriceLabs every day and adjust by hand around the dates groups actually book: holidays, school breaks, family reunions and fall foliage, often 6 to 9 months out, sometimes more. The goal is the highest rate the calendar will still fill at. We also fill dates directly through planners we work with, including wedding planners who need lodging for their guests. How we price Smoky Mountains cabins.
A reunion that goes well comes back the same week next year. We capture that on our own booking site, shorttermcoopsstays.com, where returning groups and the planners we work with book your cabin directly. Every direct stay carries required guest damage insurance, the guest relationship stays with your cabin rather than with a platform, and your bookings do not depend on one marketplace’s search ranking. 44% of our large cabin nights in 2025 were booked direct or by returning guests.
A 10 bedroom turnover means dozens of beds, a mountain of towels and a tight window before the next group. We staff each clean to the size of the cabin and verify every turnover independently before check-in, photographing every room, deck and railing. The cleaner is never the only person who says the cabin is ready. How we verify every clean.
Every month you get one statement with revenue, occupancy, nightly rate and every expense, with each vendor invoice attached at actual cost. No bundled fees you cannot trace. If a number on the statement surprises you, the invoice behind it is already there. Why the fee base matters.
| What owners ask about | What to ask any manager | Short Term Coops |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | How often is my rate reviewed, and by whom? | Reviewed daily in PriceLabs, adjusted by hand for group demand |
| Guest response | What is your published response time? | Under 5 minutes, around the clock |
| Turnover checks | Who verifies the clean, and how many photos do I get? | Independent inspection with 100 to 200 photos |
| Damage protection | How do you screen a group of 20, and what proves a claim? | Screened groups, a named group leader, and dated photos before and after every stay |
| Repairs | Do you mark up repairs? | Vendor invoice passed through at actual cost |
| Permits and occupancy | Does my listing match my permit’s occupancy? | Listing occupancy checked against your permit |
| Direct bookings | Do you run your own booking site, or list only on the platforms? | Our own site, shorttermcoopsstays.com, where repeat groups and planners book your cabin directly |
| Switching managers | Who owns the listing if I leave, and what happens to my bookings? | Future switch date, with bookings waiting on day one |
| Portfolio size | How many cabins does each person on your team handle? | A boutique portfolio, grown only as fast as our standard holds, with a named local contact for every cabin |
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Together we set a transition plan so no revenue is lost in the handover. The lift starts with the first bookings we take: owners who switched to us averaged 30.7% more in their first 12 months.
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BOOKINGS ON DAY ONE
Today
Before the switch
Your current manager finishes the stays they already booked, while new groups book the nights after the switch date with us.
Switch day
Our first guests arrive. No empty weeks after the handover.
Ashley Stevens, owner since 2024
Eric and Carrie Foster, owners since 2024
Vikram Patel, owner since 2023
Before = gross rental revenue in the 12 months before the switch. First 12 months = gross rental revenue in the first 12 months with Short Term Coops.
Take care of the guest and the revenue takes care of itself. Big groups come with big logistics. We handle them, so guests remember the stay, leave five-star reviews and book your cabin again next year. We book families and retreats who sleep on site, never events or day guests.
Fresh local donuts delivered on the first morning of every stay.
The group walks into a full fridge instead of a 25-person grocery run.
One big family dinner at the cabin, cooked and cleaned up by someone else.
Vans, attraction tickets and dinner reservations sized for a crowd.
Yes. Short Term Coops is a boutique short-term rental property management company in Sevierville, Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg, Tennessee, run by cabin owners and specializing in large and luxury cabins of 4 to 12 bedrooms. Half of the cabins we manage have 5 or more bedrooms, the largest sleeps 36, and most of them are in Sevierville. Our 6 plus bedroom cabins averaged $375,000 a year in gross rental revenue for the 12 months to September 2026.
Gatlinburg requires fire sprinklers in a rental that is more than three stories, more than 5,000 square feet, or sleeps more than 12 people. Pigeon Forge applies hotel and motel construction standards to rentals with more than five sleeping rooms, 12 or more occupants, more than 5,000 square feet including decks, or more than three stories. Unincorporated Sevier County charges $250 a year for a permit on a cabin that sleeps 12 or fewer and $25 more for every occupant above 12. Every jurisdiction ties the permit to a life-safety inspection that repeats at renewal, and a cabin that cannot pass it cannot legally take a guest. We check that your listing never advertises more guests than your permit allows.
Yes. Several of the large cabins we manage have indoor pools, and the pool, the theater and the game room are usually the reason a group books, so we treat them as revenue equipment rather than extras. We have our own pool vendor look at the pool before the first guest when we take a cabin on, indoor pools are cleaned and water-tested after every stay, dehumidifiers are checked at every turnover, and heaters and pumps are serviced on a schedule. Vendor repairs are passed through at actual cost, with the invoice on your statement.
Big cabins host reunions and retreats, not parties, and the screening starts before a booking is accepted. We look at who is booking and why, one adult is accountable for the group, renters must be 25 or older, and the house rules set the guest count, parking and quiet hours. Disclosed noise monitors, sound level only and never cameras, alert us when noise rises so we can step in before it becomes a complaint. Every stay carries damage coverage: guests on Vrbo and our direct booking site buy damage insurance at booking, and Airbnb stays carry AirCover’s $3 million host damage protection. We photograph the cabin before and after every stay.
With pricing software plus manual adjustments, every day. There are far fewer 8 bedroom cabins than 2 bedroom ones, so pricing software alone has thin data to work from. We build a custom comparable set for each large cabin in PriceLabs, which updates rates daily, and we adjust by hand around the dates groups actually book: holidays, school breaks, reunions and fall color, often 6 to 9 months out, sometimes more. A large cabin earns its year in a smaller number of high-rate weeks, so the goal is the highest rate the calendar will still fill at, not the highest occupancy. We also fill dates directly through the planners we work with and the returning groups who book on our own site.
One statement a month with rental receipts, occupancy, nightly rate, every expense with the vendor invoice attached at actual cost, and your net proceeds. It stays online so you can pull any prior month. Statements go out by the 15th, and the payment lands in your bank within 48 hours after. Between statements you have live access to bookings, revenue and expenses in the owner portal, along with the photo set from every turnover.
Yes. We build a projection for any 4 to 12 bedroom cabin you own or are under contract on, from comparable large cabins rather than market-wide averages, within 2 business days. Buyers share it with their lender and use it to plan a 1031 exchange timeline; owners compare it to their last 12 months of statements. It is not a guarantee, and it says so, because nobody controls a bad winter; it is the number we would manage to. For the tax side of a large purchase, see our guide to cost segregation studies.
Long-form guides from the Short Term Coops blog, written for owners and buyers of 4 to 12 bedroom cabins. New guides are added here as they publish.
Joseph Cooper co-founded Short Term Coops after buying a 5 bedroom cabin in Pigeon Forge in 2021 and working through three property managers who did not meet his standard. He is a large cabin owner writing for large cabin owners. Before cabins, he served in the military and ran a large group of retail stores. He writes the Short Term Coops guides for cabin owners and reviews this page.
Short Term Coops is a boutique short-term rental property management company in Sevierville, Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg, Tennessee, run by cabin owners and specializing in large and luxury cabins of 4 to 12 bedrooms. Phone: +1 (865) 333-3093. Email: support@shorttermcoops.com. Website: shorttermcoops.com.
