By Ty Walker, The Mountain Times
Betsy LaBarge is a self-made businesswoman. She committed most of her working lifetime to building a successful vacation rental business from its humble beginnings in her home in 1991, before selling it and retiring from the industry in 2022.
Her Mt. Hood Vacation Rentals grew to as many as 10 to 12 employees over the years and was managing 41 properties from Brightwood to Government Camp at its height. There were plenty of buyers interested when she decided to sell her business to Meredith Lodging, a privately-held family-run property management company based in Bend.
“At the time I sold my business, there was a lot of movement in the vacation rental industry,” LaBarge said. “Lots of businesses were being bought and sold. So I had many interested parties. Right now most small businesses are having a hard time.”
LaBarge moved in 1984 to the Mount Hood area. While working for nearly a decade as a server at Timberline Lodge, what she heard from those dining room visitors was a real need for a property management presence in the area.
“People were always looking for a place to live,” she said. So she started managing long-term rentals, which quickly changed to short-term vacation rentals when a property owner asked if LaBarge could provide such services. Thus Mt. Hood Vacation Rentals was born.
LaBarge said that her small business was a benefit to the local economy by paying employees above the going rate commensurate with their positions. Employees enjoyed full benefits, such as medical and dental insurance, as well as 401K plans and paid vacations.
“We paid people so they would be able to afford rent and mortgages,” she said. “We were flexible about giving days off. That did contribute financially to the community.”
LaBarge saw a lot of change in the industry since the early 1990s. Businesses didn’t have websites in those days. People still paid by cash or check. Transactions were made old-school. No one used cell phones or text messages.
Mt. Hood Vacation Rentals remains in the same location under the new ownership, off Highway 26 in Welches, with some of the same employees on staff.
During the pandemic, her last two years of ownership, LaBarge said she worked a lot at the office to keep her business in shape but neglected her own health. She wasn’t eating the right diet or getting exercise.
“I was not being healthy, the diet, the exercise, in my lifestyle,” she said. “So when I sold, I was able to make a commitment and change all that and do something every day.”
Today she and her husband, Paul, a retired construction contractor, enjoy being active, which includes hiking, biking and cross country skiing with Henry, their 3 ½-year-old lab mix and Max, an older Great Pyrenees, with whom they share their Welches home.
Retirement has given the couple more time to travel as well. In particular, they like to visit the deserts of the southwestern U.S.