you feel it, too.
Something has shifted in destination work.
Not all at once. Not loudly. But enough that the people doing the work feel it every day.
The systems that once held destinations together are under pressure. Housing, tourism, labor, trust, and local identity are no longer separate conversations. They are colliding. And the old ways of managing those tensions no longer work.
Hosts are no longer a side category.
Destination organizations are no longer just marketers.
Communities are no longer willing to be managed without context.
We are at an inflection point.
Hosts & Home Teams™ exists because Jenn Barbee identifies system breakdown early.
She has led hundreds of destinations through structural change, most notably leading the charge in the shift from brochure marketing to digital infrastructure. She understands how destination systems fail: slowly, unevenly, and at human cost.
The indicators are clear.
Workload has increased without authority.
Trust has eroded across roles.
The operating model no longer reflects how places are actually hosted.
This is not a people problem.
It is a systems design failure.
Jenn named it. The response confirmed it. She’s written 130+ essays on this Gap.
Hosts & Home Teams™ is the applied work of diagnosing misalignment inside destination systems and rebuilding function before loss becomes irreversible.
Early Advisors
- Karen Piscitelli , Explorabout
- David Krauss, Rent Responsibly
- Tami Reist, Visit North Alabama
- Tyann Hammond, The Queen of Guest Experience
- Annie Holcombe, Annie & Co
- Sarah Stahl, Lake.com
- Timothy Bush, Visit Lake Charles
- Jodi Bourne, Bourne Creative
- Will Darden, Dream Resorts
- Heather Dunwoody, Hospitality in Bloom
A Shared System,
Built to Travel
Hosts & Home Teams™ is grounded in a belief that the most important frameworks in tourism should be shared, not hoarded.
The alignment framework at the heart of this work is open-source. It is meant to circulate freely. To be discussed, adapted, challenged, and used by destinations, hosts, platforms, and partners wherever the work is needed.
The Hosts & Home Teams™ Lab (debuting in Portland) is where that framework comes to life.
This is a traveling, facilitated experience designed to bring the system together in the same room. Not for panels or speeches, but for working conversations, shared language, and practical application. Participation in the lab includes guided sessions, tools, and facilitation that help groups move from theory to action.
Over time, this work will also support the certification of Host Gap facilitators, leaders trained to responsibly guide alignment conversations in their own regions.
The framework is open.
The work is ongoing.
The responsibility is shared.
After The Event
What Participants Say About Us
Johannes Times
Johannes Times
Jack Ferguson
Rachel Ballinger
Johannes Times
Johannes Times
Jack Ferguson
Rachel Ballinger
Partners who collaborate with us
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