Tides to Pines: A New Way to Stay in (and REALLY Experience) Maine
Meet two hospitality-driven Maine women who are creating curated stays and taking a deeply personal approach to caring for vacation homes, their owners, and the guests who enjoy them.
By Kim Knox Beckius|Sep 24 2026|
With panoramic ocean views, Aril Cottage is the perfect romantic escape in Maine's Acadia region, and a stay includes Tides to Pines' thoughtful concierge service.
Credit: Courtesy of Tides to PinesTides to Pines is far more than its collection of hundreds of Maine vacation-rental homes, waiting to immerse visitors in Maine’s distinct way of life. Founders Molly Hooper and Paige Teel are Mainers with extensive hospitality experience, and these former competitors have joined forces to reimagine the way owners open their homes to travelers. Yankee‘s travel editor Kim Knox Beckius had the chance to catch up with Molly and Paige to learn about how Tides to Pines designs unforgettable, personalized stays, as well as the story behind the brand. If you love Maine, they’ve got tips, too, on how to really make the most of your time in Vacationland.
Kim: Tell me about the vision you have for Tides to Pines.
Molly: At Tides to Pines, we always say that we have two clients in every transaction: our guest and our homeowner. Our vision is to create an experience where both feel genuinely cared for. For our guests, that means walking into a home that feels intentional, welcoming, safe, and authentically Maine. For our homeowners, it means knowing they have a team thoughtfully stewarding what is often one of their most valuable—and most meaningful—assets.
Every home in our portfolio is independently owned and completely unique. They have different locations, amenities, views, needs, and personalities, and maintaining a year-round property in Maine comes with its own set of challenges. Our responsibility goes far beyond generating reservations. We’re thinking about proactive maintenance and property value while also paying attention to details like mattress quality, pillows, linens, smoke detectors, egress, and the overall comfort and safety of the home. Our vision is ultimately to bridge those two experiences: helping homeowners maintain exceptional properties while creating memorable Maine experiences for the guests who get to enjoy them. Our team is what makes that possible.
Credit: Courtesy of Tides to Pines
Kim: What makes a stay at one of your properties so different from a typical vacation rental stay?
Paige: The biggest difference is that guests aren’t simply renting a house—they have an experienced, professional, and local hospitality team behind their entire stay. We’re involved from the moment someone discovers a property: the marketing, photography, listing accuracy, communication, arrival information, and preparation of the home. Once they’re here, our team is available 24 hours a day, whether they have an emergency or simply want to know where they should go for dinner. Because our team members actually live and work in the communities where we manage homes, there are real people nearby who know the properties and know the area. There’s reassurance in knowing someone will answer the phone if something happens.
We also establish standards across our portfolio. Our homes can range from quintessential Maine camps to extraordinary six- and seven-bedroom oceanfront estates, and we love having that variety. But regardless of the price point or style of property, there should be a consistent standard of cleanliness, linens, towels, supplies, safety, communication, and hospitality when you see the Tides to Pines name. The home itself may be completely unique, but the standard of care shouldn’t be.
Credit: Courtesy of Tides to Pines
Kim: How do you help clients find the perfect home for their getaway?
Molly: It really starts with a conversation. Everything we do is relationship-based—our relationships with guests, homeowners, vendors, contractors, neighbors, and the communities where we operate. When someone reaches out looking for a vacation home, we want to understand what they’re actually hoping to experience, not simply how many bedrooms they need. Where do you want to be? Who are you traveling with? Are you bringing your dog? Do you have young children? Does someone need a first-floor bedroom? Is a bathtub important? Do you want to kayak from the property? Do you want to be directly on the ocean, or would you rather walk into downtown Bar Harbor? Is there an event you’re attending or something you’ve always wanted to experience while you’re in Maine?
Those details allow our team to actually match people with properties. Sometimes that even means telling someone that the home they originally found isn’t the best fit. A rocky shoreline may not be ideal for a family with very young children, for example, while another property might give them exactly the access and experience they’re looking for. Photos and listing descriptions can only tell you so much. Our team knows these homes, so we can have that conversation and say, “Based on what you’ve told me, I think you’re going to love this one.” Getting that match right from the beginning is one of the best ways we can set the stage for an incredible vacation.
Kim: Can you describe some of the personal touches you’re known for, like the postcards guests receive when they book?
Paige: This year we really expanded our concierge program, and that’s one of the things we’re most excited about. We mailed postcards to nearly a thousand guests introducing the service with a pretty simple message: The sky’s the limit—tell us what would make your stay better, and we’ll do our best to make it happen.
One of our most popular requests is grocery provisioning. Guests send us their list, and our team shops, delivers everything to the property, and puts it away before they arrive. After a long travel day, they can walk through the door and immediately start their vacation. We also offer what we call a “morning start”—things like fresh muffins, fruit, coffee, and their preferred creamer waiting for that first morning. We can help coordinate dining reservations, schooner cruises, kayak rentals and deliveries, and other pieces of their Maine itinerary. But we think the most meaningful personal touches actually come from listening. We want guests to return year after year, and as those relationships grow, we get to know them. Maybe we learn their anniversary, their favorite restaurant, what they enjoy doing while they’re here, what kind of dog travels with them—or even that they really like having six pillows on the bed. Those little details become opportunities to make the next stay more personal. At previous companies, Molly and I experienced repeat-guest rates of more than 60%, and that taught us something incredibly valuable: Hospitality isn’t just about providing a beautiful property. It’s about making people feel remembered. That’s the kind of relationship we’re building at Tides to Pines.
Credit: Courtesy of Tides to Pines
Kim: How are you helping Maine homeowners maximize their second-home investments?
Molly: “Maximizing” a second home means something different for every homeowner. We certainly work with investment-minded owners where the goal is maximizing revenue and return. Our background includes investment portfolio management, so we look closely at comparable properties, projected revenue, nightly rates, and where an owner can strategically invest in a property to improve its marketability and performance. Sometimes the highest-return improvements aren’t necessarily the biggest ones. An updated bathroom or kitchen can certainly make a difference, but so can an incredibly comfortable mattress or a truly well-stocked kitchen.
One of our favorite compliments in guest reviews is that a kitchen had everything they could possibly need. Those details tell a guest, “We thought about you before you arrived.” And that translates into better experiences, stronger reviews, and ultimately better-performing properties.
But many of our homeowners aren’t traditional real estate investors at all. We steward multigenerational Maine homes that have been in families for 50 years or more. The owners grew up spending summers there, and now they want their grandchildren and great-grandchildren to have that same experience. For them, rental income may simply help offset property taxes, insurance, maintenance, and the cost of keeping this special piece of Maine in their family. That’s where our role becomes much broader than vacation-rental management. We’re thinking about the roof, chimney, heating system, foundation, landscaping, windows, and preventative maintenance—not just what needs to happen before the next guest arrives. We also work with people who have purchased their future retirement home in Maine. They may be several years away from moving here permanently, so we’re helping them generate income and care for the property in the meantime while gradually completing projects that prepare it for their eventual retirement. Our job is to understand why they own the home first, and then build the right strategy around it.
Kim: Not every home makes a good rental. What are you typically looking for, and which types of properties are most in demand for vacationers?
Paige: The first thing we look for actually isn’t waterfront, a hot tub, or an incredible view. We look for a well-loved home and a homeowner who takes pride in caring for it. That’s usually a great indication that we’re going to have a successful partnership. Our portfolio is intentionally diverse. We can manage a quintessential Maine camp in the woods, a lakefront cottage, or an extraordinary oceanfront estate. The price point doesn’t determine whether a property belongs with Tides to Pines. What matters is whether the home is safe, comfortable, thoughtfully maintained, and capable of delivering a great guest experience—and whether the homeowner shares our commitment to keeping it that way.
Of course, certain characteristics are consistently in demand. Waterfront properties perform extremely well in Maine, whether they’re oceanfront or lakefront. Walkability to places like downtown Bar Harbor, Camden, or Boothbay Harbor is also valuable. Guests love amenities such as hot tubs, saunas, fire pits, docks, and kayaks, as well as features that allow them to really experience the location. But a home doesn’t need every one of those things to be successful. Sometimes we’ll walk through a property and say, “You’re not quite ready yet, but here’s what we would recommend.” We can help an owner understand what changes could potentially take a property from a three-star guest experience to a five-star one. We love homeowners who are open to having those conversations.
Kim: Can you describe your process for homeowners who work with you?
Paige: It starts with a conversation and ultimately becomes a partnership. When someone contacts us about renting their home, we’ll first learn about the property and the owner’s goals. We’ll review the market, comparable rentals, and projected performance so we can have a realistic conversation about revenue and expectations. Then we physically visit the home. That’s very important to us. We want our own eyes on every property before agreeing to represent it. We’re looking at the condition of the home, guest experience, safety, maintenance needs, and whether it meets our standards. Sometimes it’s ready to go. Sometimes we provide recommendations before launch. Occasionally, the right answer is, “Not yet—but we’d love to talk again after you’ve made these changes.”
We also have a required property standards checklist covering everything from bedding and kitchen essentials to safety equipment and guest comforts. Beyond that, we discuss the ongoing responsibilities that come with maintaining a successful Maine property—landscaping, trash service, pest control, window and carpet cleaning, gutter cleaning, inspections, and preventative maintenance.
Once everyone is aligned, we move into onboarding and marketing. Every new property receives professional photography as part of that process. We work with Eric Burr of 360 Drone Visual to capture interior, exterior, and aerial photography, along with a Matterport 3D tour and floor plan. From there, we prepare the property, schedule housekeeping, establish the calendar, build the listing, and market it across our distribution network. The entire process is conversational and transparent. Successful vacation-rental management involves much more than simply putting a house online and collecting reservations. Revenue and property care have to remain in balance. That’s how you build a successful rental that can also remain a wonderful home for years to come.
Credit: Courtesy of Tides to Pines
Kim: Where are most of your rentals located?
Molly: Our largest concentration of homes is currently in the greater Boothbay region, including Boothbay Harbor and surrounding communities. We also have a significant presence throughout the Rockland, Owls Head, and Camden area and another large concentration in and around Bar Harbor and Acadia. From there, our portfolio stretches across Maine’s coastline, peninsulas, islands, lakes, and small towns—from Harpswell and Brunswick through the Midcoast and Downeast regions, as well as inland destinations such as Moosehead Lake. That’s actually one of our favorite things about our portfolio. There isn’t one version of a Maine vacation. Someone may want to walk out their front door and explore downtown Bar Harbor, spend a week overlooking the working waterfront in Boothbay, wake up to the ocean in Owls Head, or disappear into a quiet camp on a lake. Our footprint allows us to introduce guests to very different parts of Maine while still providing the same Tides to Pines standard of care.
Kim: What makes Maine such an attractive destination, especially for travelers seeking a luxury experience?
Paige: One of Maine’s greatest luxuries is something that’s increasingly difficult to find: the ability to slow down. There’s a timelessness here. We have historic downtowns, working waterfronts, old homes, and small coastal communities that have retained so much of their character. You can walk through these seaside towns, shop locally, have an incredible meal, eat some of the best seafood in the world, and feel like the pace of life is just a little different.
And then there’s the landscape. Maine has this incredible combination of rocky coastline, islands, mountains, lakes, rivers, forests, and pine trees. You can kayak in the morning, hike in the afternoon, sail at sunset, ski in the winter, or stay somewhere so wonderfully remote that you put your phone away and simply listen to the quiet. That’s what we think luxury travel is increasingly becoming. Luxury doesn’t always mean more—it can mean having the space and time to experience less. We hear it constantly from our guests and homeowners: “I come to Maine so I can breathe.” Of course, people initially put Maine on their bucket list for the lobster rolls, lighthouses, ocean views, Acadia, fishing, and quintessential coastal towns. But we think they come back because of how being here makes them feel. For us, that’s the real luxury of Maine: beautiful surroundings, incredible experiences, genuine people, and enough quiet to actually enjoy all of it.
Credit: Courtesy of Tides to Pines
Kim: How did the two of you meet?
Paige: The funny answer is: we were competitors. Real competitors. I started working for a vacation-rental company in the Rockport area in 2017, while Molly owned SummerMaine in Rockland. The companies had very similar business models, so when I say we competed, I mean we were pursuing many of the same homeowners, guests, vendors, and contractors.
Then 2020 happened. At the time, I was president of Vacation Rental Professionals of Maine, our statewide industry association. When the pandemic began, there was tremendous uncertainty surrounding travel. Restrictions were changing constantly, Maine’s lodging industry was facing enormous challenges, and vacation-rental companies were trying to understand what all of it meant for our homeowners, guests, employees, and businesses. Something really interesting happened within our industry during that period. Companies that had historically viewed each other strictly as competitors started calling one another and saying, “What are you doing? What are you hearing? How do we navigate this? How do we protect our employees, homeowners and businesses?”
Molly and I were part of that. We started talking more, sharing information, and navigating those incredibly uncertain months together. Somewhere along the way, the person who had been one of my biggest competitors became someone I really respected and trusted—and eventually one of my closest friends. When you’re in the trenches with someone trying to solve problems neither of you has encountered before, you learn a lot about how that person thinks, leads, and responds under pressure. That experience became the foundation of our relationship and ultimately helped set the stage for Tides to Pines.
Kim: When did you first begin to explore working together?
Paige: After Covid, our friendship continued to grow. We eventually worked for the same company for a period of time, and through all of those experiences—competing against each other, working alongside each other, and simply being friends—we learned a lot about what worked in our industry, what didn’t, and what we believed could be done differently. For years, we would joke, “When are we going to take over the world together?” In 2023, it stopped being a joke. The conversation became, “Okay, how do we actually do this?”
We started building the business behind the scenes—working on the brand, website, systems, and everything else that comes with starting a company—and launched Tides to Pines around the end of 2023 and beginning of 2024. It was exciting and terrifying at the same time, but we had tremendous confidence in what we were building because it combined the best of both of our experiences. Molly has been a mentor, business partner, and incredible friend to me. There’s an enormous amount of trust required when you’re building a company with someone. You’re trusting that person with your livelihood, your future, and a vision that means so much to you. There genuinely isn’t anyone else I would choose to be doing this with.
Kim: How do your skills and talents complement each other?
Paige: People who know us joke that Molly and I share a brain cell because we think very similarly. We have similar work ethics, similar standards, and, most importantly, the same vision for what we want Tides to Pines to become. Our career paths have actually been surprisingly parallel, just at different times. We’ve experienced many of the same challenges and learned many of the same lessons, so there’s a shorthand between us. Where we differ is how we get there. Molly has an incredible analytical and financial mind. She’s naturally going to look at the numbers, challenge assumptions, and ask us to consider different scenarios before making a decision. I tend to approach things more from the experience, communication, and a creative side. I’m thinking about how something feels, how we communicate it, what the guest or homeowner experiences, and how all of those pieces come together. But we’re both extremely solution-oriented. Neither of us likes sitting with a problem for very long—we immediately start asking, “Okay, how do we fix it? How can we do this better?” Those different perspectives usually allow us to arrive at a solution pretty quickly. More than anything, we share the same standard and refuse to compromise the larger vision. We know what we want Tides to Pines to represent. Now it’s about waking up every day and asking how we can do it better tomorrow than we did today.
Credit: Courtesy of Tides to Pines
Kim: Who came up with Tides to Pines? It’s such a great name!
Paige: I did! Although it came together through a little bit of inspiration and wordplay rather than some grand naming strategy. I loved the rhythm of Tides to Pines and the way those two words captured two completely different—but equally iconic—parts of Maine. The tides represent our coastline, islands, working waterfronts, and everything that makes coastal Maine so special. The pines take you inland—to our lakes, mountains, forests, and the quieter wilderness experiences that are equally important to Maine’s identity. As we started developing the brand and logo, it became even clearer how perfectly the name represented what we wanted to build. We never wanted Tides to Pines to represent only one town or one kind of Maine vacation. We wanted to celebrate all of Maine—from the tides to the pines and everything in between. And today, that’s quite literally what we’re doing.
Kim: How many properties are currently in your portfolio, and how many do you hope to add in the next year or two?
We currently steward approximately 480 homes across Maine. Our growth over the past year has been significant, particularly with the addition of roughly 400 properties this spring. Because of that, our immediate focus isn’t simply asking, “How many more homes can we add?” We’re asking, “How do we make every home we represent worthy of the Tides to Pines name?” We’re spending a lot of time getting to know these properties and homeowners, implementing our standards, and having conversations about where improvements may be needed. At the same time, we’re speaking with prospective homeowner partners every day—some who are ready now and others who may be preparing a home to join us six months or a year from now. Growth is absolutely part of our vision, but we’re focused on quality over quantity. Over the next couple of years, we’re particularly excited about geographic growth. There are opportunities to deepen our presence in southern and western Maine, including Maine’s ski regions, while continuing to thoughtfully expand in the markets we already serve. The number matters, but it isn’t the goal by itself. We want to grow intentionally, with exceptional homes and homeowners who believe in our vision.
Kim: Who is your ideal homeowner partner?
Molly: Our ideal homeowner is someone who truly sees this as a partnership. They value our expertise, trust our team, and understand that caring for the property and investing back into it are essential parts of creating a successful vacation rental. That doesn’t mean we expect homeowners to say yes to everything we recommend. We want a relationship where we can have honest conversations, share our expertise, and work together toward the same goal. Most importantly, they understand that guest comfort and experience have to remain at the center of the decision-making process. When you take great care of the home and create an exceptional experience for the people staying there, the other pieces tend to follow: stronger reviews, repeat guests, better marketability, greater revenue potential, and ultimately greater longevity for the property as a vacation rental. Our best homeowner relationships are with people who understand that connection and trust us to be thoughtful stewards of their home.
Credit: Courtesy of Tides to Pines
Kim: What about your ideal rental client?
Molly: Our ideal guest is someone who wants to experience Maine for what Maine actually is. They’re communicative, they ask questions, and they take the time to understand the home they’re renting and what’s provided. Most importantly, they respect the property and recognize that they’re being welcomed into someone’s well-loved home.
We want guests to come here ready to slow down a little. Sometimes when we travel, we naturally look for the conveniences and experiences we’re accustomed to at home. But part of what makes Maine so special is that it isn’t trying to be everywhere else. There may be places where the Wi-Fi isn’t quite as fast or your cell phone doesn’t work perfectly—and maybe that’s exactly what your family needs. Put down the iPads. Eat ice cream on the dock. Get outside. Buy lobsters from someone down the road. Wander through a farmers’ market. Have a family movie night when it rains. Take a schooner cruise. Spend the day at the beach. Sit around a fire. Explore a small town you hadn’t planned on visiting. Don’t just stay in Maine. Experience Maine.
We also really value communication. If something isn’t right or a guest needs something, we want to know. Our approach is proactive from the time someone books through their departure—we want to give them the information they need, answer their questions, and make their experience as seamless as possible. Ultimately, the greatest compliment is when they leave already thinking about when they’re coming back.
Kim: Do you host many international guests?
Paige: The majority of our guests are currently domestic travelers, although we do welcome international visitors throughout the year. We see guests from Europe, including Germany, and Canadian travelers are certainly part of our guest mix. Our current markets tend to attract fewer international travelers than some of Southern Maine’s established destinations, such as Kennebunkport and Ogunquit. But we think there’s tremendous opportunity there. Maine has so many of the things international travelers are looking for when they visit New England—the working waterfronts, historic villages, lighthouses, lobster, Acadia National Park, fall foliage, and that magical coastal experience. As Tides to Pines continues expanding our reach and marketing, we would love to introduce more international travelers to the different parts of Maine we represent.
Kim: Do you think you will ever expand beyond Maine?
Molly: We don’t have any intention of expanding beyond Maine. Maine is our soul and Maine is our heart. There’s still so much opportunity here. We want to continue thoughtfully expanding our footprint throughout the state, discovering incredible homes, building relationships with homeowners, and introducing guests to parts of Maine they may never have experienced before. We’re not trying to become everything everywhere. We want to be exceptionally good at what we do here—to understand Maine’s communities, homes, seasonality, and unique challenges and to have local teams who genuinely know the places they’re representing. As long as we have the resources, people, and the ability to maintain the standard we’ve established, there’s plenty of room for Tides to Pines to continue growing right here at home.
Kim: What do you love most about Maine? Do you have a favorite hidden spot?
Paige: I wasn’t actually born in Maine—my mother was—but I was born in Oklahoma and moved here when I was very young. I went to high school and college here, and throughout my life I’ve done what I call “boomeranging.” I’ve lived in Florida, Australia, and New York, but somehow I’ve always found my way back to Maine.
There’s just something about this place. I love that Maine is still rural and wild and sometimes unpredictable. Living here teaches you to be resilient, flexible, and prepared—especially with our seasons. I also love the communities. Being part of small-town Maine is a privilege. Relationships matter here. Your neighbors matter. Trust matters.
I don’t know that I actually have one hidden spot! I genuinely love playing tourist in my own state. I’ll go to the beaches, Bar Harbor, Kennebunkport, or spend time at a camp near Moosehead. Give me a fire, a game of cribbage, a glass of wine, and a quiet night followed by coffee the next morning, and I’m pretty happy. But I also love that Maine can give you that experience and then something completely different. We have an incredible food scene, amazing seafood, concerts, sailing, beautiful downtowns—all surrounded by some of the most beautiful scenery in the country. One of my favorite things is that you can simply be driving somewhere, pull over with a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, sit at a picnic table and look out at a view that someone else may have traveled thousands of miles just to experience. I get to see places like that on an ordinary day. It’s never lost on me how lucky I am to call Maine home—and how privileged we are to share a little piece of it with other people.
