Part two of Hunter Harrelson’s conversation with Lynell Gordon moves from operational philosophy into the concrete decisions, structures, and values that define how Beachball Properties runs today. Hunter and his wife, Ginger, are owners of Beachball Properties, one of the Alabama Gulf Coast’s most recognized vacation rental companies, managing more than 350 properties across Gulf Shores, Fort Morgan, and Orange Beach. Hunter serves as the CEO of the company.
This episode covers the org structure Hunter built to step back from daily operations, the COVID-era decision that led to their biggest sales day in history and helped them bounce back even stronger, and the leadership principles around brand, people, and culture that now define a business bigger than its founders. Hunter also shares what success genuinely means to him beyond revenue growth, beyond hitting 500 properties, and beyond the metrics that drive most operators forward.
This episode is sponsored by Streamline.
Building an Org Structure That Gets Out of Your Own Way
My top 20% are paying for me to manage these bottom 20%.
One of the first things Hunter did as Beachball Properties entered 2026 was pull back on volume and look hard at which properties were actually generating returns. A conversation with a peer prompted him to run the numbers, and what he found was that a significant portion of his portfolio was being managed at a loss, subsidized by the top performers. That realization shifted the company’s growth strategy from chasing 500 properties toward being precise about what they take on going forward.
The org structure Hunter built reflects that same discipline. Rather than following the model of assigning a single property manager a portfolio of 80 or 90 units until they burn out and leave, Hunter designed his operation as a funnel. Everything flows in through customer service and gets diverted to the right department, with an operations manager sitting above three department leads: customer service, maintenance, and housekeeping. Those three departments are in constant communication with one another, because a housekeeping report feeds into maintenance, and customer service needs to know what housekeeping is working through.
Owner relations sits slightly apart from that funnel, with three dedicated team members handling intake, ongoing communication, and the relationship layer that keeps owners loyal. Hunter is direct about the dynamic: owners won’t leave a company to which they feel personally connected, which has been both a strength and a challenge as he and Ginger have stepped back from day-to-day contact. New outreach programs have filled that gap, ensuring owners build genuine relationships with the team rather than depending on Hunter or Ginger alone.
The COVID Decision That Built the Brand
We used to have a cancellation fee. And I remember just sitting in my office and just hearing the fights and the arguments and people fighting with customer service about this fee.
When the Alabama beaches closed in March 2020, Hunter was sitting on roughly $560,000 in escrow funds and watching his balance approach zero. His competitors were holding 25% deposits for future bookings and fighting guests through credit card processors. Hunter walked into the customer service area and told his team to cancel everything: no fights, no fees, just make it right.
The decision wasn’t without risk. Hunter told his team he had enough runway to reach Memorial Day, and that after that, hard decisions would follow. He and Ginger stepped into advocacy, lobbying their senators and representatives to reopen the beaches. Six weeks after being named Business of the Year by the Coastal Alabama Business Chamber, Beachball Properties barely had a business.
Then, on April 28 at 11:00 a.m., the governor announced the beaches were reopening. That single day became the biggest sales day in Beachball Properties’ history, with over $150,000 in bookings. Word had spread across the Gulf Coast that Beachball had done the right thing, given full refunds, and never fought a single guest. In the weeks that followed, the company went from 100 properties to 250, as if shot out of a rocket. The COVID decision didn’t just survive the crisis; it became the foundation of the brand.
Why Holding On Too Long Is a Leadership Mistake
You can turn a great employee into a bad manager.
When Lynell asked Hunter to name the one leadership mistake that shaped how he runs the business today, his answer was immediate: holding on to people too long because of personal relationships, even when the writing was already on the wall. A five-year team member who had always delivered reassurances eventually reached a point where the business could no longer move forward with them in that role. After a company retreat the company’s CFO described as one of the most engaged, aligned leadership meetings he had seen in 30 years, the groove still wouldn’t come. The individual ultimately chose to resign, and within a week, the team had shifted into a new gear.
The release of the wrong person from the wrong role consistently reveals how much drag that misalignment creates. Hunter sees it every time: the relief, the energy, the renewed communication across the team. None of it happens until the decision gets made. His advice is straightforward; if you see the snag, cut bait. Waiting out of loyalty or affection doesn’t protect the person; it slows everyone else down.
The companion lesson is just as important. Promoting a high performer into management without confirming they have the right profile for that role is one of the most common and costly mistakes in a growing company. A brilliant individual contributor and an effective manager require fundamentally different capabilities, and giving someone a title they aren’t suited for doesn’t reward them; it sets them up to fail.
Branding as a First Investment, Not an Afterthought
Branding. That’s something that a lot of property managers don’t focus on. They just throw a name out there.
When asked what a new property manager should prioritize first, Hunter’s answer had nothing to do with software, staffing, or pricing strategy. He said brand. The name Beachball Properties didn’t come from a spreadsheet or a committee. It came from a professor at Alabama who looked at a shortlist of names, said “beach ball,” and told Hunter that what he was actually selling was a little boy and a little girl running down the beach. That image, that feeling, was the product.
Hunter tested other options, including naming the company after himself, and a peer talked him out of it directly. What does a Harrelson mean to someone who has never been to Orange Beach? Nothing. The brand needed stickiness, the kind that travels through social conversations, referrals, and word of mouth. Beachball.com is now a domain people have offered to buy, and the name has reached operators on other podcasts who had never met Hunter or Ginger but knew the company immediately.
His advice to new operators is to think about what their name communicates to someone who has never heard of them, to consider how it travels through a conversation, and to resist the temptation to use a geographic descriptor or a family name as a shortcut. A name that creates a moment, a feeling, or a question is worth more than one that simply describes the service.
What Success Actually Means
Owners won’t fire somebody that they feel like they’re friends with. That has actually been a catch-22.
The owner relations layer at Beachball Properties is built on a simple truth Hunter learned through experience: connection is retention. Owners don’t leave companies they trust at a personal level. That dynamic worked powerfully when Hunter and Ginger were the faces of every relationship, but it became a vulnerability when they stepped back. The company had to build a team capable of carrying that connection forward without requiring the founders to be present in every conversation.
Stepping back from day-to-day operations is one of the hardest transitions a founder makes, and Hunter is candid about the cost. There was a period where properties left because owners didn’t feel that same connection to the team. The response was to build structured outreach programs and give the owner relations team the tools and authority to build genuine relationships of their own. Beachball Properties is now bigger than Hunter and Ginger, which is both the goal and the ongoing challenge.
When Lynell asked Hunter what success means to him beyond revenue growth, his answer was immediate and personal. It means being financially secure enough not to stress over a trip, knowing his children’s education is covered, and being present enough to coach his son’s t-ball team and his daughter’s basketball games. He still pushes hard, still dials into the numbers, still emails vendors when something breaks. But the metric he is working toward isn’t a property count; it’s the freedom to be fully present with his family while the business runs the way it was built to run.
Conclusion
Hunter Harrelson has built Beachball Properties into something larger than any single decision, any single hire, or any single season. The COVID refund call, the org structure built around a funnel rather than a portfolio model, the Culture Index framework behind every hire, the brand that a professor named on a whiteboard in Alabama; all of it reflects the same underlying discipline. Do what is right. Build what lasts. Know when to cut bait.
If you’re working through the challenges of scaling your vacation rental operation and want to learn from someone who did it the hard way, Hunter is available. You can reach him directly at hunter@beachball.com.
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