Taken from youtube... "Paid product placements are pieces of content that are created for a third party in exchange for compensation. This content is also where the third party's brand, message, or product is integrated directly into the content."
Taken from ftc.gov.... "Say you’re planning a vacation. You do some research and find a glowing review on someone’s blog that a particular resort is the most luxurious place he has ever stayed. If you knew the hotel had paid the blogger hundreds of dollars to say great things about it or that the blogger had stayed there for several days for free, it could affect how much weight you’d give the blogger’s endorsement. The blogger should, therefore, let his readers know about that relationship."
"I’m a blogger and a company wants me to attend the launch of its new product. They will fly me to the launch and put me up in a hotel for a couple of nights. They aren’t paying me or giving me anything else. If I write a blog sharing my thoughts about the product, should I disclose anything?
Yes. Knowing that you received free travel and accommodations could affect how much weight your readers give to your thoughts about the product, so you should disclose that you have a financial relationship with the company."
As a local, I really don't know if he is getting comped. If you watched the Gatlinburg lives stream yesterday, you could see that there are still some people in town; it was a Monday and some people say over the weekend and check out Monday morning. Ober(skiing) also fills up some of the hotels during this time, even on weekdays. So some of the hotels might not want to be giving out free rooms with people still in town. Our rental in the area gets guests regularly during this time of the year.
The post from Margarettaville's FB was a little sus, but a business that large has someone who works on their social media, so who knows. I wouldn't be surprised if he got a discount either for being a local or a vlogger though, which according to the FTC he would still need to disclose. At the end when they give their final review, Will talks about checking in, the gift, then about the price. Then he asks for Dawn's opinion, and she says "We're the first ones to check in so they did give us a -gift" I thought it looked like she was about to say discount rather than gift, but that could just be me ( link starts at 30min mark if interested in seeing for yourself).
I will say for the cabin reviews or overnight rentals that he does are most likely free. In live streams he has responded to viewers in the chat and mentioned that they own a cabin. I doubt the viewer would make him pay for the stay. I mean it is superstar Will we are talking about here. I usually skip the cabin reviews so I don't know if he mentions anything about it. According to the FTC even if he isn't getting a discount from a viewer, he would still need to adhere to their guidelines since the relationship between him and the viewer could influence his review.