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Hello everyone and welcome back to the Hostel Road Trip Podcast.

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The podcast that literally takes its show on the road.

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Listen in as James Black and Bobby Dyer, owners of International Travelers House Hostels,

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travel around the country to learn about these great locations and incredible people

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that come together to provide a unique and exciting experience for travelers from all over the world.

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Welcome back to Hostel Road Trip.

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We are here in beautiful Tahoe at the Mellow Mountain Hostel.

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After a very interesting recording I'll have to say down in Truckee at the red light.

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I think we're all still scratching our head a bit on how we're going to edit that episode, but we'll do our best.

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But we are so happy to be here in the fine hands of Audrey Paraskevich.

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That's me, thank you guys.

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Another Greek goddess that we are interviewing and I will have the challenge of getting that last name right throughout this episode.

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You did great.

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We are going to talk a little bit first though about Audrey's personal journey and how you found your way into hosteling.

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As we talked a little bit before, our goal here is to bring awareness to the millennial demographic in America in particular.

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You are a millennial.

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I am.

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You are American.

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And here we are and you're managing a hostel.

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And I think it's so cool that you started out in hospitality management and started out in more of the hotel setup experience.

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So tell us a bit about your journey before hosteling.

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So it's been a long journey since I decided that hospitality was my route.

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I tried a bunch of things like food and beverage and catering and that kind of stuff.

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And I realized that where I found my niche was in the travel industry and leisure.

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You get these people and they want to have a good experience.

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From there I went into a little corporate world and Marriott's and trying to work my way through that.

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Where I found my biggest niche was I worked for a private hotel in Asbury Park, New Jersey.

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And I just loved that homey feel.

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In moving from New Jersey to Lake Tahoe, I started again in corporate and found just not having that satisfaction at the end of the day.

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Had a bad day at work and started applying for other jobs.

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Alright!

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So when the owners of this place called me and I came in for an interview and it was in this very room and at this very table, it felt like personal.

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It felt like I would have pride in this at the end of the day.

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Had you stayed in hostels before? Did you know what they were?

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Only one. I knew what they were.

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But when I studied abroad in Australia, I had stayed at a hostel there and didn't really ever think about that again.

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It was never like...

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Fell off the radar.

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I knew that on a career basis what I wanted to do was open my own something.

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Bed and breakfast, small thing, something.

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And now the idea has transformed into a hostel.

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It has. It doesn't mean I'm set there. I change my mind every five minutes.

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Sure, sure. As young people do.

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But this is very realistic for me. This is so much more online with my career path than...

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It's so enjoyable when the travelers come in on vacation and you get to host them on such an intimate kind of homey setting.

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And you have control.

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There's no corporate policy holding you to some standard that doesn't match everybody.

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You can make every interaction you have with someone personal.

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And you can really relate with people.

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You have a lot of creative freedom.

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You do. And trust with your owners and managers situation of having their best interest in mind.

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It's interesting. Bobby had told me as we were coming up here to do this episode that the owners of this hostel had come down to our hostel when they were first starting and he had met them.

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And it's great to see that you've got this energy though to represent them.

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And immediately we connected with that when you came out to greet us at the car.

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I thought you might be one of the owners and you treat it like you own it.

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And that gives them the comfortability to leave here and do other projects.

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For sure. I take pride in this place.

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Because it's not only a representation of them and what they want, but for me at the end of the day it's a representation of myself and what experiences that I give to people.

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Yeah. Some of the best hostels are really the main manager-operator.

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It's really their experience that they're sharing with everyone who comes through.

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Yeah. It's parenting a baby together almost.

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It is. It is. And holding yourself to the same standard as you hold your volunteers and everyone.

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And then that runs downhill because if you're treating it like you own it, then all of a sudden the volunteers treat it like they own it.

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Exactly. And that flows through.

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Now, what about your friends when you told them, oh, hey, I'm a hostel manager now and not only am I a hostel manager, I want to open up a hostel one day.

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What's the reaction you get?

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Well, I think my friends always knew that I wanted to open something of my own.

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Okay.

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When I asked my last boss from New Jersey whether, like to be my reference.

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Yeah.

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I went to the hostel and saw some pictures and he goes, Audrey, are you joining a hippie cult?

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No, not so much. This is an opportunity for me to have my own something.

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And it is sometimes a hippie cult.

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Yeah. It has a lot of those elements to it.

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So it's hard to deny it in totality, but everyone here in this room has had the same type of response from their friends.

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As you have said, we either own a hostel or manage a hostel or we worked at a hostel.

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You get that same response from them and that's a big part of what we're trying to do here is break down that awareness.

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Well, the thing is too is that you may have that perception of hostels, but every walk of life I've seen walk through the door here has been accepted and welcomed and loved and felt the community here.

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So it's not this exclusive hippie thing.

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No.

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It's a place for people to feel like home and make dinner together and share a common space.

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So open-minded and you really only find that at hostels compared to hotels.

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You do. You go into your hotel room, you close the door and that's it.

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You come here and you go up to the common room and they're watching a movie together and you sit and talk about it and listen to different types of music.

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You know, it's just a hosteling is a new trending way of travel in the US industry, but it's built off a lot of old premises, breaking bread together, sharing experience together, having communal space together.

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And as we've become very private, desensitized by all of our gadgets and everything, you just don't get that hotel.

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You don't. You lock yourself in a room, you get the Wi-Fi password and you're done.

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Here I feel like especially being the only hostel in South Lake Tahoe, we have a unique set of guests that have never hosteled before.

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Yes.

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And being that first experience for them is like something that we take pride in.

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Yes.

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Show them what it's about. What do you mean I'm sharing a dorm?

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Yeah.

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You're sharing a dorm and get to know somebody, talk to somebody.

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Hold their hand through it.

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Yeah.

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But then you've got another one for life in the industry.

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For sure. And then next thing you know, they're traveling somewhere and hostels are such a huge thing in other countries.

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Now, I heard you reference a few times the owners, Wolf and Elias, correct?

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Yes.

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You referenced them as the boys. So it sounds like these two guys are a tight-knit group.

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They've been best friends for ever.

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Years, okay.

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Yeah, forever and ever. And they work really well together.

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Okay.

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They both have different assets that-

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They complement each other.

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For sure.

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And Elias has this huge new idea that nobody else thought of.

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So they complement each other in their different ways of thinking, I guess, hugely.

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And I think for listeners out there, if you're thinking about opening up your own hostel, a lot of times it can be a burden.

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It can be overwhelming. And a lot of people stop.

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And I think a lot of times people are missing that partner.

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I think it's a beautiful thing to have someone to bounce ideas off of.

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Yeah.

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You know, doing it all on yourself, you have to then question yourself.

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And having someone there to be like, okay, let's question this and let's walk down this road.

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And you know, maybe there's this new idea that I didn't think of or you didn't think of and kind of going back and forth.

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Yeah.

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And to be able to take a day off so you can get fresh and come back and offer good experiences.

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It's definitely a lifestyle running a hostel.

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Yeah.

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And you need to disconnect and get your sanity back sometimes.

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And I think that's kind of where they're at now is having a management team.

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Whereas the first year it was them at the front desk.

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You know, cleaning rooms and them doing that.

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And I think that they took joy in that.

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But I also think that it's really awesome because I wouldn't have had this opportunity if they didn't open this place.

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Sure. Sure.

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And I think that it's a great thing for people listening out there again with when you're starting out there,

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you will be in that hostel probably for the better part of that first year or two doing everything from top to bottom yourself.

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But then you're learning it all so that you can pass along that knowledge and experience.

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Set your systems up.

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Well, this place was abandoned and shut down and needed a lot of work.

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They put in seven months of construction.

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And this is post base camp being here.

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So they had run it and then it kind of just got.

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So base camp never even took off.

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They never even took off.

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They never even took off.

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They bought the property.

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They bought the property.

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And before they even could make anything of it, it was.

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Wow.

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And it wasn't called base camp at that time.

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Now, is base camp still open though?

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Their base camp is still open.

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But the property that had anything to do with this property wasn't base camp.

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Base camp bought it after.

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I see.

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It was, I think, called the block.

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The block.

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Not 100 percent sure.

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Sure.

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What year did it open as Mello?

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July 4th of 2014.

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Oh, good.

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Now, a little bit about the facility here.

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How many rooms do we got?

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We have 14 rooms, 52 beds.

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Nice.

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And so 52 beds and then two private rooms.

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Okay.

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And then we also house all of our volunteers.

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So that takes up three rooms.

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One is a four person mixed dorm for all of our housekeepers.

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And then we have two other rooms that are for our receptionists.

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They share like a double style room.

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Okay.

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Like a hotel would have.

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Nice.

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As we've been on the road, we commonly see this number, the 50 bed hostel.

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Yeah.

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And as we've had our experience, we think that's a great sweet spot of intimacy without

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getting too overwhelming.

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It is.

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And I think with this property, the setup of it, of having all the rooms face into like,

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almost like a quad.

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Yeah, yeah.

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It's got a courtyard feel to it.

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Yeah.

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It feels connected.

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Yes.

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Yeah.

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It's got a nice vibe running through it.

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Now, what about your price ranges?

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So you've got your bunk so you've got your private rooms now.

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As we know on mountain towns like this, you have variations of seasons that are wild,

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you know, from your high snow seasons to your shoulder season.

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What's a bunk price range?

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So for example, right now we're running in like the 22 to 25 dollar range for our four

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person mixed dorms.

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And then for our privates, we're in the 44 on the weekdays to 60-ish.

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Yeah.

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On the weekends.

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And that's, this is shoulder season right now.

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Yeah.

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So moving on from that, coming into like July and then like right around Christmas time,

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we're up into the 44 for a dorm.

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Yeah.

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And kind of in the hundred dollar price range for a private.

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That's great.

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So yeah, it's still very affordable and a great opportunity for any backpacker or traveler

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coming through to spread their dollar a little bit more so they can have fun on the town

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or extend their stay up here a little bit because you're not spending it all on a hotel

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room.

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So those are very reasonable.

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Well I would easily say that we are the cheapest option for a single traveler.

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Yeah.

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So for, you know, to get that mixed dorm in the high season, you're looking at even the

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motels around that aren't the greatest.

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They're in like the two to three hundred dollar price range.

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Absolutely.

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You know, so.

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You get a cheap bed and have a great experience.

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Exactly.

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And you get to bring people in by what we offer as like a community and team.

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And you know, it's a great place if you're by yourself to come and meet friends that

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you can go to the mountain with or take a hike with or.

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And you get a great nice communal room that we saw upstairs.

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We come in quite a party going on up there that we look forward to joining after we finish

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the recording with you here.

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Friday nights are good.

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Yeah.

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Friday nights are fun.

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But also want to highlight as you showed us and we are staying here and I know some of

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these guys are looking forward to these beds as we've been on the road for a while, but

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those bunk beds custom made from repurposed wood.

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Tell us about them.

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They sure are.

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They are really unique.

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The storage underneath is huge.

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Locker stores.

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Yeah, locker stores.

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But that's, you know, half the size of a twin bed.

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Yeah.

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You know, it's not just this little locker that you have.

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You could fit a full hiker backpack.

239
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You sure can.

240
00:12:52,000 --> 00:12:53,000
Yeah, you definitely can.

241
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I think it's a great asset to be able to tell the guests when they come in, like these beds

242
00:12:58,000 --> 00:13:01,000
are made from repurposed wood and they're sturdy and they're...

243
00:13:01,000 --> 00:13:05,000
Sturdy, rustic looking, but they're badass, you know, and they've got the light.

244
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And a fan.

245
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Fan.

246
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Do you get an outlet on there too?

247
00:13:08,000 --> 00:13:12,000
Yeah, we have an outlet connected to the little shelf underneath each bed.

248
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It has three regular plugs and then two USB plugs.

249
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So you can plug everything that you never need in there.

250
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It's so important for, you know, both industry people and potential drivers coming through

251
00:13:23,000 --> 00:13:29,000
that a good operator with a well-crafted, thought out bunk bed can solve a lot of the

252
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issues that you think would happen in a shared accommodation room.

253
00:13:32,000 --> 00:13:36,000
Well, so funny enough, the fans and the lights came from a review that we had.

254
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Someone suggested them and we were like, that's amazing.

255
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Listen to your people.

256
00:13:40,000 --> 00:13:42,000
Yeah, that sounds like a great idea.

257
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We send out a survey to every single person that leaves here so that we can, you know...

258
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Departure surveys for everyone.

259
00:13:47,000 --> 00:13:51,000
Yeah, so, you know, it's sometimes an asset to know where your...

260
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You have to listen to your guests.

261
00:13:52,000 --> 00:13:54,000
...where your faults are, you know, to fix them because...

262
00:13:54,000 --> 00:13:55,000
Oh, absolutely.

263
00:13:55,000 --> 00:13:56,000
...you know, it means a lot.

264
00:13:56,000 --> 00:13:57,000
There are the people that come in here.

265
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They are, you know, what the business is about.

266
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Yeah, it's interesting staying connected to those departure surveys.

267
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We've seen a lot over the years as we've been operating for six years now and we've seen

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such a difference just in the type of travelers over the six years on the needs they have.

269
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So it's so important to stay flexible and always be listening to what people, you know,

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what you could add to your hostel to improve their state.

271
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Yeah, I mean, there's always going to be the things that aren't feasible and don't make

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sense or...

273
00:14:22,000 --> 00:14:23,000
Yep.

274
00:14:23,000 --> 00:14:24,000
...not even don't make sense.

275
00:14:24,000 --> 00:14:25,000
It's just like the money you would put...

276
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Might not be the cost is fixed.

277
00:14:26,000 --> 00:14:28,000
Yeah, the money that you would put into it isn't worth the return on it.

278
00:14:28,000 --> 00:14:29,000
Yeah.

279
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But when there's a good idea, I'm, you know...

280
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Yeah.

281
00:14:32,000 --> 00:14:33,000
...as a business, we're not afraid to say, yeah, that's a great idea.

282
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Let's do that.

283
00:14:34,000 --> 00:14:36,000
Simple and functional is always right.

284
00:14:36,000 --> 00:14:41,000
Simple, functional, and sturdy is a good way to attack hostel operations in that way.

285
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But we're going to take a quick break right now and we're going to be back with Audrey

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Paraskifis and we're going to talk a little bit more about the operations here at the

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Mel Mountain Hostel in Tahoe.

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And we got some more exciting stuff coming, so stay tuned.

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We hope you're enjoying this episode of the Hostel Road Trip podcast.

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We're taking a moment now to talk about a great service called worldpackers.com.

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00:15:03,000 --> 00:15:08,000
Worldpackers.com is actually how I got my start with the Hostel Road Trip podcast.

292
00:15:08,000 --> 00:15:12,000
World Packers is a great service that connects travelers looking for a place to stay in a

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00:15:12,000 --> 00:15:15,000
new city with the hostels who need their skills.

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You can do anything from house cleaning to reception to media and marketing and so much

295
00:15:20,000 --> 00:15:21,000
more.

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00:15:21,000 --> 00:15:25,000
With a reasonable fee of $50 a year and a little bit of courage, you could find yourself

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00:15:25,000 --> 00:15:27,000
anywhere in the world.

298
00:15:27,000 --> 00:15:30,000
For more information, just check out worldpackers.com.

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00:15:30,000 --> 00:15:36,000
That's W-O-R-L-D-P-A-C-K-E-R-S dot com.

300
00:15:36,000 --> 00:15:40,000
And now we bring you back to your regularly scheduled program.

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Welcome back to Hostel Road Trip.

302
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We are still here at the Mellow Mountain Hostel on Tahoe Mountain.

303
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What are you, South Lake Tahoe you said?

304
00:15:48,000 --> 00:15:49,000
This is South Lake Tahoe.

305
00:15:49,000 --> 00:15:52,000
As we just came from North Lake Tahoe where Truckee is, is that correct?

306
00:15:52,000 --> 00:15:54,000
Yep, Truckee is a little above North Lake Lake.

307
00:15:54,000 --> 00:15:57,000
Okay, we're getting there on our geography around here.

308
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We've driven through a wildfire.

309
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We've had a wild day.

310
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And we are here and happy to be here and settling in.

311
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And we want to talk a little bit about a trending hostel topic in the American industry,

312
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whether or not to have onsite staff or to go with paid staff.

313
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At ICH we go with a hybrid model of having some offsite paid,

314
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but we still have a good contingent of onsite people.

315
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Tell us a bit about your experience as this is new to you,

316
00:16:25,000 --> 00:16:27,000
as you've been in the hotel side of things where everyone's paid,

317
00:16:27,000 --> 00:16:31,000
everyone comes in, signs in, does their job, finishes leaves.

318
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Tell us about the process to start with of actually getting these onsite people.

319
00:16:35,000 --> 00:16:36,000
What do you do to get them?

320
00:16:36,000 --> 00:16:38,000
What platforms do you use?

321
00:16:38,000 --> 00:16:43,000
So we use a lot of online platforms for volunteers.

322
00:16:43,000 --> 00:16:47,000
All of our staff that runs reception and housekeeping are volunteers.

323
00:16:47,000 --> 00:16:51,000
There's only two paid staff members, me and my assistant manager.

324
00:16:51,000 --> 00:16:52,000
Nice.

325
00:16:52,000 --> 00:16:56,000
We use Workaway and World Packers.

326
00:16:56,000 --> 00:17:00,000
We also have some other ones, but those are our two main ones.

327
00:17:00,000 --> 00:17:02,000
Those are the two main ones that you source from.

328
00:17:02,000 --> 00:17:06,000
We have Hostile Jobs, which runs with Hostile Management.

329
00:17:06,000 --> 00:17:11,000
I love Hostile Management for their blogs and things that I can research things

330
00:17:11,000 --> 00:17:13,000
and kind of find some extra help with.

331
00:17:13,000 --> 00:17:14,000
Great lifeline for a Hostile Manager.

332
00:17:14,000 --> 00:17:15,000
Exactly.

333
00:17:15,000 --> 00:17:22,000
I think the biggest struggle and difference for me was the fact that they are volunteers,

334
00:17:22,000 --> 00:17:24,000
and they have to want to do the work.

335
00:17:24,000 --> 00:17:30,000
You don't want to overwork someone when this is their volunteer gig,

336
00:17:30,000 --> 00:17:35,000
and they truly have to want to clean that bathroom to the top standard.

337
00:17:35,000 --> 00:17:43,000
They truly have to want to, and if they don't, then we can move on and find someone who does.

338
00:17:43,000 --> 00:17:47,000
Not to be harsh about it, but you have to be that way.

339
00:17:47,000 --> 00:17:52,000
It can be tough because a lot of times managers can get that difficult reality

340
00:17:52,000 --> 00:17:55,000
that you're living with this person, you're friends with this person,

341
00:17:55,000 --> 00:17:58,000
and if you are asking to leave, it does feel like not only am I firing you,

342
00:17:58,000 --> 00:18:00,000
I'm making you homeless in one move.

343
00:18:00,000 --> 00:18:03,000
I feel like I've always, as a manager here,

344
00:18:03,000 --> 00:18:06,000
that I would love to give someone the opportunity to fix it first.

345
00:18:06,000 --> 00:18:07,000
Oh, sure.

346
00:18:07,000 --> 00:18:10,000
Like, hey, this is what I need from you, or this is what I need from someone,

347
00:18:10,000 --> 00:18:13,000
and what can I do to help you do this?

348
00:18:13,000 --> 00:18:15,000
What can I do to make this easier for you to do?

349
00:18:15,000 --> 00:18:17,000
What tools can I give you?

350
00:18:17,000 --> 00:18:21,000
What opportunities can I make for you to fit in here?

351
00:18:21,000 --> 00:18:26,000
I got lucky coming onto this property because we already had a staff,

352
00:18:26,000 --> 00:18:30,000
so I didn't have to hire anyone for two months until I had moved in here.

353
00:18:30,000 --> 00:18:32,000
That's great. So you had some stability.

354
00:18:32,000 --> 00:18:35,000
Now, we had an interesting insight on this topic over season one,

355
00:18:35,000 --> 00:18:38,000
and the topic came up of the definition of a volunteer,

356
00:18:38,000 --> 00:18:43,000
and the core definition of a volunteer is someone who does something for nothing in exchange.

357
00:18:43,000 --> 00:18:44,000
Exactly.

358
00:18:44,000 --> 00:18:48,000
But the reality is in a hostile exchange, live on site,

359
00:18:48,000 --> 00:18:52,000
it's more of a work exchange because you're getting a bunk, you're getting meals,

360
00:18:52,000 --> 00:18:58,000
you're getting utilities paid for, you're getting a lot of things comped in exchange for this work.

361
00:18:58,000 --> 00:19:01,000
So at their core, they're not really volunteers in that way.

362
00:19:01,000 --> 00:19:03,000
What do you think about that view?

363
00:19:03,000 --> 00:19:09,000
It can get complicated and messy, for sure. It really truly can.

364
00:19:09,000 --> 00:19:17,000
I think that guiding a volunteer situation has a lot to do with making someone feel self-worth

365
00:19:17,000 --> 00:19:24,000
and taking pride in everyone who comes here, this is something that you worked for to create for them.

366
00:19:24,000 --> 00:19:32,000
So that helps a lot in pushing someone to want to be here and want to volunteer.

367
00:19:32,000 --> 00:19:39,000
We always say that taking that first two hours from when they arrive and really connect with them

368
00:19:39,000 --> 00:19:45,000
and build that relationship, make them feel at home, and that really helps a lot with us at our hospitals.

369
00:19:45,000 --> 00:19:49,000
Can we cut real quick so I can switch cards?

370
00:19:49,000 --> 00:19:51,000
Oh, sure.

371
00:19:51,000 --> 00:19:53,000
Jesus Christ.

372
00:19:53,000 --> 00:19:56,000
We really ride them hard.

373
00:19:56,000 --> 00:19:59,000
I have to repeat that last one because I had an answer for that.

374
00:19:59,000 --> 00:20:02,000
And I'm going to ask you, give you a moment to think about it.

375
00:20:02,000 --> 00:20:07,000
Well, no, my answer is I think it's really important to provide a welcoming night.

376
00:20:07,000 --> 00:20:10,000
Oh, no, I have a different question I want to ask you so that you can think about.

377
00:20:10,000 --> 00:20:16,000
Do you have any really good examples of a difficult situation where you had to ask them to leave

378
00:20:16,000 --> 00:20:20,000
and they didn't want to leave or they were being resistant to leave or a bad example

379
00:20:20,000 --> 00:20:22,000
that is great for people to listen to?

380
00:20:22,000 --> 00:20:24,000
Yeah.

381
00:20:24,000 --> 00:20:25,000
Yeah, no, this is good.

382
00:20:25,000 --> 00:20:29,000
This is like good stuff that people are yearning for as an example of like I'm in this position.

383
00:20:29,000 --> 00:20:31,000
What about someone else that's been in this position?

384
00:20:31,000 --> 00:20:34,000
Because you mentioned House of Management.com.

385
00:20:34,000 --> 00:20:37,000
Besides that, there's no other resource out there.

386
00:20:37,000 --> 00:20:38,000
Yeah.

387
00:20:38,000 --> 00:20:39,000
It's tough to find these things.

388
00:20:39,000 --> 00:20:45,000
So the feedback we've been getting from other hostile industry people regarding the content

389
00:20:45,000 --> 00:20:50,000
of the podcast has been when we do touch upon some of these tough subjects and they get another.

390
00:20:50,000 --> 00:20:51,000
Perspective.

391
00:20:51,000 --> 00:20:52,000
Yes.

392
00:20:52,000 --> 00:20:55,000
You know, an outlet of like, wow, that's a different way I could have handled this or,

393
00:20:55,000 --> 00:20:57,000
man, I'm in the same exact situation.

394
00:20:57,000 --> 00:20:59,000
I don't feel so alone in that.

395
00:20:59,000 --> 00:21:06,000
I just feel like my examples like were in my first two months of like things that I had to like call in the owners,

396
00:21:06,000 --> 00:21:09,000
which aren't my strongest suit, you know.

397
00:21:09,000 --> 00:21:10,000
Sure, but that's a.

398
00:21:10,000 --> 00:21:12,000
That needs to highlight because it is a learning process.

399
00:21:12,000 --> 00:21:13,000
Yeah.

400
00:21:13,000 --> 00:21:16,000
Everyone in their first couple of months.

401
00:21:16,000 --> 00:21:20,000
You actually get the chance to improve the next batch of volunteers.

402
00:21:20,000 --> 00:21:21,000
Yeah, that's true.

403
00:21:21,000 --> 00:21:22,000
That's true and take.

404
00:21:22,000 --> 00:21:29,000
So those are really good, just like I said, the feedback we've gotten from listeners, industry people.

405
00:21:29,000 --> 00:21:35,000
These are tough topics that we, tough situations to go through because not everyone has a scenario

406
00:21:35,000 --> 00:21:39,000
where you're managing people that in their minds, they're volunteers.

407
00:21:39,000 --> 00:21:40,000
You really have to motivate them.

408
00:21:40,000 --> 00:21:43,000
But in reality, their work exchange people.

409
00:21:43,000 --> 00:21:49,000
And sometimes you can get a bad apple and it can mess up the whole bunch and you can have these awful situations.

410
00:21:49,000 --> 00:21:51,000
And they're living here on site, too.

411
00:21:51,000 --> 00:21:57,000
Well, I feel like what I've learned from, you know, my first couple of months of being here is that like staff meetings are really important.

412
00:21:57,000 --> 00:21:58,000
That's a good one.

413
00:21:58,000 --> 00:22:05,000
Of like, you know, making everyone on the same page so that way when you're, you know, someone does something wrong, you're not just like coming at them.

414
00:22:05,000 --> 00:22:06,000
Yes.

415
00:22:06,000 --> 00:22:07,000
You're coming at the whole team.

416
00:22:07,000 --> 00:22:08,000
That's very good.

417
00:22:08,000 --> 00:22:10,000
You know, you're saying, hey, this is what I can't have from you guys.

418
00:22:10,000 --> 00:22:14,000
This is, you know, these are my expectations and this is what I need.

419
00:22:14,000 --> 00:22:17,000
And then after that, if it's going to continue.

420
00:22:17,000 --> 00:22:24,000
My advice that I always give to managers when they come to us in this situation is clarity, communication, expectations.

421
00:22:24,000 --> 00:22:31,000
And if you communicate those in the routine of meetings and stay on top of that, that will help prevent a lot of disasters.

422
00:22:31,000 --> 00:22:34,000
And not being irrational and being like, you had a bad day.

423
00:22:34,000 --> 00:22:36,000
Screw you. Get out of here.

424
00:22:36,000 --> 00:22:37,000
Oh, come on. Yeah.

425
00:22:37,000 --> 00:22:41,000
Even the people that, you know, I've had to let go in my time here.

426
00:22:41,000 --> 00:22:44,000
It's been like, take two weeks.

427
00:22:44,000 --> 00:22:45,000
Yeah.

428
00:22:45,000 --> 00:22:46,000
You know, it can be amicable.

429
00:22:46,000 --> 00:22:48,000
Because at the same time, I need to find someone.

430
00:22:48,000 --> 00:22:49,000
Yeah.

431
00:22:49,000 --> 00:22:50,000
You know.

432
00:22:50,000 --> 00:22:57,000
And it could be a mature enough situation and a peaceful enough situation where that transition happened.

433
00:22:57,000 --> 00:23:03,000
I just had that same type of situation up in Big Bear where he's a person had been there for seven, eight months.

434
00:23:03,000 --> 00:23:04,000
Yeah.

435
00:23:04,000 --> 00:23:05,000
It's just too long.

436
00:23:05,000 --> 00:23:06,000
You know, three to six months is the wheelhouse for me.

437
00:23:06,000 --> 00:23:09,000
We have a two month minimum and a six month max.

438
00:23:09,000 --> 00:23:11,000
That's generally the wheelhouse.

439
00:23:11,000 --> 00:23:17,000
And, you know, there's not to say there's not exceptions from someone who went from housekeeping and now is growing to reception.

440
00:23:17,000 --> 00:23:19,000
And has amazing skill sets.

441
00:23:19,000 --> 00:23:20,000
Yeah.

442
00:23:20,000 --> 00:23:22,000
And it's like really benefiting the hustle.

443
00:23:22,000 --> 00:23:28,000
But when someone's your weakest link and you're at six months and they don't have another job somewhere and they're not, you know.

444
00:23:28,000 --> 00:23:30,000
That's why. They're staying for the wrong reasons.

445
00:23:30,000 --> 00:23:31,000
They are.

446
00:23:31,000 --> 00:23:32,000
They're complacent.

447
00:23:32,000 --> 00:23:36,000
And I don't think that it's a huge negative thing to do to someone.

448
00:23:36,000 --> 00:23:37,000
No, you're helping them.

449
00:23:37,000 --> 00:23:38,000
Yeah.

450
00:23:38,000 --> 00:23:40,000
I think that it's pushing someone and helping them grow.

451
00:23:40,000 --> 00:23:41,000
I'll be your reference.

452
00:23:41,000 --> 00:23:42,000
Yeah.

453
00:23:42,000 --> 00:23:43,000
I'll help you write your resume.

454
00:23:43,000 --> 00:23:44,000
I will do.

455
00:23:44,000 --> 00:23:49,000
I say exactly that. You have me as a reference currently.

456
00:23:49,000 --> 00:23:51,000
If things continue down the road, you do not.

457
00:23:51,000 --> 00:23:54,000
You know, so like let's let's break this off while it's still good.

458
00:23:54,000 --> 00:23:58,000
And at the end of the day, I don't want to ruin anyone's life or hurt someone.

459
00:23:58,000 --> 00:23:59,000
I want to be an asset.

460
00:23:59,000 --> 00:24:05,000
I want them to come out of volunteering here and look back and go, man, that that place really helped me grow.

461
00:24:05,000 --> 00:24:06,000
Yeah.

462
00:24:06,000 --> 00:24:08,000
And that's another good thing that's highlighted as well.

463
00:24:08,000 --> 00:24:11,000
It would be such a shame for people if they had that really great experience.

464
00:24:11,000 --> 00:24:15,000
And a lot of times people don't want to leave because they love it so much.

465
00:24:15,000 --> 00:24:17,000
You don't want them to leave on a bad note.

466
00:24:17,000 --> 00:24:18,000
It would be sad.

467
00:24:18,000 --> 00:24:19,000
No.

468
00:24:19,000 --> 00:24:20,000
That's a good experience.

469
00:24:20,000 --> 00:24:29,000
Yeah. We've had that experience here too, where somebody did a bunch of they had been here from day one back and forth, leaving and coming back and then came back as a volunteer.

470
00:24:29,000 --> 00:24:40,000
And his his sense of home at this place made him made him feel superior and righteous.

471
00:24:40,000 --> 00:24:41,000
I couldn't tell him anything.

472
00:24:41,000 --> 00:24:42,000
Yeah.

473
00:24:42,000 --> 00:24:45,000
A lot of times when they come back second, third time, it's not the same.

474
00:24:45,000 --> 00:24:47,000
You see that time and time again.

475
00:24:47,000 --> 00:24:51,000
On the other side, though, I've had some of my current volunteers here are returned volunteers.

476
00:24:51,000 --> 00:24:52,000
That are great.

477
00:24:52,000 --> 00:24:53,000
And they're great.

478
00:24:53,000 --> 00:24:54,000
They help me train other people.

479
00:24:54,000 --> 00:24:56,000
They help me like this is how the last person did it.

480
00:24:56,000 --> 00:24:59,000
And like, what do you think about making these changes?

481
00:24:59,000 --> 00:25:00,000
And it's a nice bounce off.

482
00:25:00,000 --> 00:25:07,000
And I think that's important for listeners to understand too, that you should never let one instance shut down another one.

483
00:25:07,000 --> 00:25:08,000
For sure.

484
00:25:08,000 --> 00:25:09,000
Everybody's different.

485
00:25:09,000 --> 00:25:10,000
Everyone is different.

486
00:25:10,000 --> 00:25:12,000
People are dealing with people.

487
00:25:12,000 --> 00:25:13,000
People are wrong.

488
00:25:13,000 --> 00:25:14,000
You are wrong too.

489
00:25:14,000 --> 00:25:15,000
Yeah.

490
00:25:15,000 --> 00:25:16,000
No one's perfect.

491
00:25:16,000 --> 00:25:17,000
No one's perfect.

492
00:25:17,000 --> 00:25:21,000
I feel like it's a good way to learn about yourself, about other people.

493
00:25:21,000 --> 00:25:23,000
You get a chance to be better next time.

494
00:25:23,000 --> 00:25:32,000
And it also gives you the chance to admit when you are wrong and like because we live together, because we live together and because we work together and because we hang out together.

495
00:25:32,000 --> 00:25:34,000
I don't feel bad about saying, hey, man, like this.

496
00:25:34,000 --> 00:25:37,000
I'm sorry that we were angry and I smiled.

497
00:25:37,000 --> 00:25:40,000
Like, yeah, like that just is a defense mechanism for me.

498
00:25:40,000 --> 00:25:41,000
I got nervous.

499
00:25:41,000 --> 00:25:42,000
I smiled.

500
00:25:42,000 --> 00:25:43,000
Yeah, exactly.

501
00:25:43,000 --> 00:25:44,000
Like, I'm sorry that that made you feel disrespected.

502
00:25:44,000 --> 00:25:47,000
Let's move on from there and let's like keep it moving.

503
00:25:47,000 --> 00:25:50,000
And, you know, I've had literally the same exact situation.

504
00:25:50,000 --> 00:25:52,000
You popped in my head with that, you know, years ago.

505
00:25:52,000 --> 00:25:56,000
And it was a kid who, when he got nervous, he would just smile.

506
00:25:56,000 --> 00:25:58,000
And I remember one day I was like, what are you fucking with me?

507
00:25:58,000 --> 00:26:00,000
Like, do you think this is fucking funny?

508
00:26:00,000 --> 00:26:02,000
And I'm going, and he's always smiling more and more.

509
00:26:02,000 --> 00:26:04,000
And I'm like, this is funny.

510
00:26:04,000 --> 00:26:07,000
Like, he does it and it never ends for him.

511
00:26:07,000 --> 00:26:23,180
And then I listened to again, when he went into the

512
00:26:15,100 --> 00:26:27,100
Yes.

513
00:26:16,100 --> 00:26:20,100
Both of us managers live on site and all of our volunteers, which

514
00:26:20,100 --> 00:26:23,500
Everyone's on site.

515
00:26:23,500 --> 00:26:27,000
Now, another very interesting topic in that type of set up, as we've

516
00:26:27,000 --> 00:26:30,000
been in that set up before where no one was paid off site.

517
00:26:30,000 --> 00:26:32,000
Everyone's a long site.

518
00:26:32,000 --> 00:26:39,120
plan. How do you deal with interstaff relations? I feel like I give them the freedom to work

519
00:26:39,120 --> 00:26:44,120
it out themselves first and if it's such an issue that I need to step in, then I will

520
00:26:44,120 --> 00:26:48,600
step in and we'll have kind of what we're doing here. A little table discussion? Yeah.

521
00:26:48,600 --> 00:26:53,600
Both of you come here, let's talk about it so that I can mediate and not get heated and

522
00:26:53,600 --> 00:26:59,680
you know, let's work through it together and in the situations I've had here, it's usually

523
00:26:59,680 --> 00:27:05,960
someone's either on their way out or you know, the dynamic of them rooming together doesn't

524
00:27:05,960 --> 00:27:12,560
work and then we can make changes, you know? I try to leave it for them because it comes

525
00:27:12,560 --> 00:27:17,720
to a little bit of their personal life. Sure. Where it's hard to kind of navigate that line.

526
00:27:17,720 --> 00:27:23,640
You don't want to step into it too much but it is a very interesting situation that people

527
00:27:23,640 --> 00:27:28,840
in hostel management ownership will find themselves in. Same thing with cleanliness. Yeah, yeah.

528
00:27:28,840 --> 00:27:32,360
And keeping themselves clean and whatnot but I think the wrong way to go about that, I

529
00:27:32,360 --> 00:27:39,280
think what you're doing is correct. Be mature, be honest, be upfront, communicate about it.

530
00:27:39,280 --> 00:27:42,960
The worst thing you can do as a hostel owner manager is to say it's not allowed and to

531
00:27:42,960 --> 00:27:47,480
think that's actually going to happen. No, you can't control that. Yeah, you can't control

532
00:27:47,480 --> 00:27:53,800
it and it would only blow up in your face if you tried to. As long as they're still

533
00:27:53,800 --> 00:28:03,920
working this thing, as long as your work isn't affected that I'm okay with it. You have to

534
00:28:03,920 --> 00:28:10,960
draw the line of personal life and work life. Absolutely. We're all so intertwined that the

535
00:28:10,960 --> 00:28:15,320
line is so gray, the line is so wiggly but you have to find it somewhere and when it

536
00:28:15,320 --> 00:28:19,520
comes to personal relationships, as long as it's not, I'm not going to work because I

537
00:28:19,520 --> 00:28:26,800
don't want to work with so and so, then sure, do what makes you happy. I don't really even

538
00:28:26,800 --> 00:28:31,040
need to hear about it. Just carry on. That's a good way to look at it I think. I would

539
00:28:31,040 --> 00:28:34,160
say one thing that you guys are doing great or one of the many things you guys are doing

540
00:28:34,160 --> 00:28:38,720
great but having the multiple staff rooms, we have that as well and it's great for when

541
00:28:38,720 --> 00:28:44,920
you have all these different people from all over the world helping out. It's a very diverse

542
00:28:44,920 --> 00:28:50,080
team with could be eight different cultures so it's nice having that. Sometimes some people

543
00:28:50,080 --> 00:28:54,920
work better in other rooms and they can have their space. When I first came on, the majority

544
00:28:54,920 --> 00:29:01,720
of our team at that point in time was Americans and it was great. We all got along and all

545
00:29:01,720 --> 00:29:07,360
had a great time but it was a lot because we weren't on some of the platforms that we

546
00:29:07,360 --> 00:29:16,080
are on now for hiring. I found in bringing, even not necessarily international but people

547
00:29:16,080 --> 00:29:20,200
from different parts of the country. Still bring some diversity. Just bringing some diversity

548
00:29:20,200 --> 00:29:25,800
and really broke it up. It wasn't clicky anymore. It wasn't that all the volunteers are hanging

549
00:29:25,800 --> 00:29:30,200
out together and then they're going to guess. It was like a team of people that want to

550
00:29:30,200 --> 00:29:35,440
meet new people and bring new things to the table. The different types of music that people

551
00:29:35,440 --> 00:29:40,640
listen to at the front desk. We have speakers outside. I can walk in here and tell who's

552
00:29:40,640 --> 00:29:50,680
working. That's so true. That's a very good point of keeping that diversity in the staff

553
00:29:50,680 --> 00:29:56,680
and how fun it can be out there for potential Americans that want to try out Hostelwork

554
00:29:56,680 --> 00:30:01,060
Exchange and use a great platform like World Packers to do so because you're going to find

555
00:30:01,060 --> 00:30:06,840
yourself living amongst and working with people from all over the world, different cultures,

556
00:30:06,840 --> 00:30:10,440
different religions, different languages. It's like an incubator of culture. Meeting

557
00:30:10,440 --> 00:30:19,240
new friends that you ever want to travel. You're like, hey, I know someone in Swaziland.

558
00:30:19,240 --> 00:30:23,240
No one can disappear like a Hostel Manager because you have a place to go all over the

559
00:30:23,240 --> 00:30:31,040
world. Exactly. Also, I've watched how it's brought different customer service aspects

560
00:30:31,040 --> 00:30:36,560
to the Hostel, to the front desk. I can't talk the same way that one of my volunteers

561
00:30:36,560 --> 00:30:40,640
can who's traveled all over the place. I can't talk to another guest who travels all over

562
00:30:40,640 --> 00:30:44,160
the place the way that she can. Oh, I've been there. I've been to that city. I've done this

563
00:30:44,160 --> 00:30:48,960
and that where I'm like, I can tell you about Tahoe. I can tell you about New Jersey. Some

564
00:30:48,960 --> 00:30:54,120
of our international constant traveler volunteers can talk to you about the different music

565
00:30:54,120 --> 00:30:58,800
in the city or this different... Did you experience this there?

566
00:30:58,800 --> 00:31:01,320
They kind of can... Your team has more to offer.

567
00:31:01,320 --> 00:31:05,000
Exactly. They can relate with people in a different way.

568
00:31:05,000 --> 00:31:08,680
Outstanding. All right. Well, we're going to take a quick break and when we come back,

569
00:31:08,680 --> 00:31:13,200
we're going to talk about the guest experience that is waiting for you here at the Mellow

570
00:31:13,200 --> 00:31:16,680
Mountain Hostel, Kieran Tahoe. Keeping it mellow.

571
00:31:16,680 --> 00:31:21,520
All right. Keeping it mellow. Stay tuned. We hope you're enjoying this episode of the

572
00:31:21,520 --> 00:31:27,960
Hostel Road Trip podcast. We're taking a moment now to talk about a great service called worldpackers.com.

573
00:31:27,960 --> 00:31:34,360
Worldpackers.com is actually how I got my start with the Hostel Road Trip podcast. Worldpackers

574
00:31:34,360 --> 00:31:38,520
is a great service that connects travelers looking for a place to stay in a new city

575
00:31:38,520 --> 00:31:43,520
with the hostels who need their skills. You could do anything from house cleaning to reception

576
00:31:43,520 --> 00:31:49,000
to media and marketing and so much more. With a reasonable fee of $50 a year and a little

577
00:31:49,000 --> 00:31:52,600
bit of courage, you could find yourself anywhere in the world.

578
00:31:52,600 --> 00:32:01,800
For more information, just check out worldpackers.com. That's W-O-R-L-D-P-A-C-K-E-R-S dot com. And

579
00:32:01,800 --> 00:32:05,520
now we bring you back to your regularly scheduled program.

580
00:32:05,520 --> 00:32:11,000
Welcome back to Hostel Road Trip. We are still here at the Mellow Mountain Hostel closing

581
00:32:11,000 --> 00:32:16,800
up another fantastic episode, but now we want to turn our attention to the overall guest

582
00:32:16,800 --> 00:32:21,420
experience and what you'd be missing out on if you didn't come enjoy the Mellow Mountain

583
00:32:21,420 --> 00:32:27,880
Hostel, its fine staff, and all this four season resort has to offer. And I really want

584
00:32:27,880 --> 00:32:32,320
to highlight the four seasons because there's more to do than just ski up here. So, tell

585
00:32:32,320 --> 00:32:37,240
us a bit more about the guest experience and what they could expect to have here.

586
00:32:37,240 --> 00:32:43,040
So obviously in Tahoe our two major seasons are summer and winter. So I'll touch on that

587
00:32:43,040 --> 00:32:51,200
first. In summer, I started here in July. It was booked out pretty much every day. I

588
00:32:51,200 --> 00:32:56,280
learned so much about the Pacific Crest Trail that I could pretend that I did it.

589
00:32:56,280 --> 00:32:58,800
All the trail names.

590
00:32:58,800 --> 00:33:03,720
Yeah, all the trail names. And it was so interesting and fun to learn about this thing.

591
00:33:03,720 --> 00:33:06,840
Whole culture out there on that trail.

592
00:33:06,840 --> 00:33:13,000
This is definitely a huge spot to hit on the PCT. Once we sell out, we sell cowboy camping

593
00:33:13,000 --> 00:33:21,120
spots just because we want them here. They're our bread and butter in July. And we love

594
00:33:21,120 --> 00:33:26,680
them and their stories and that whole scene. But we also get a whole different group of

595
00:33:26,680 --> 00:33:36,560
people here too in the summer that once Tahoe is past their stop on the PCT, at the end

596
00:33:36,560 --> 00:33:43,840
of August, you get those travelers that have never been to Tahoe before and this is their

597
00:33:43,840 --> 00:33:49,320
affordable way to do it. Or they're doing a couple of trails, like the Tahoe Rim Trail,

598
00:33:49,320 --> 00:33:59,120
or just a section of the PCT. I feel like we have this unique thing to offer them as

599
00:33:59,120 --> 00:34:04,420
traveling alone, coming somewhere and having immediate friends. And having an immediate

600
00:34:04,420 --> 00:34:09,880
community and having a ride share list in the common room of where you're going next,

601
00:34:09,880 --> 00:34:14,680
somebody might be going there too. Or that I want to take a hike tomorrow. Does anybody

602
00:34:14,680 --> 00:34:16,520
else want to hike to Lack?

603
00:34:16,520 --> 00:34:20,680
That's a beautiful thing when you see that happen.

604
00:34:20,680 --> 00:34:24,400
And when you watch them leave at 8am and then they come back and they're like, that was

605
00:34:24,400 --> 00:34:29,280
awesome and I would have never done that on my own. Finding a connection here that pushes

606
00:34:29,280 --> 00:34:34,480
you outside of just going into a hotel room and then coming out and leaving.

607
00:34:34,480 --> 00:34:37,600
You wouldn't have done that on your own and because you did it with someone else, it was

608
00:34:37,600 --> 00:34:38,600
that much better.

609
00:34:38,600 --> 00:34:41,800
Exactly. You had this fun experience that you shared with somebody that you never knew

610
00:34:41,800 --> 00:34:49,720
before this. And then going into the shoulder season before winter, there is the struggle

611
00:34:49,720 --> 00:34:59,080
of being at such an affordable rate and having such a bit of a homeless community here in

612
00:34:59,080 --> 00:35:00,080
Tahoe.

613
00:35:00,080 --> 00:35:02,080
I didn't know that. We battled that in San Diego.

614
00:35:02,080 --> 00:35:03,080
There is.

615
00:35:03,080 --> 00:35:04,080
It's helping with the price point.

616
00:35:04,080 --> 00:35:08,920
The price point and that it's affordable. I think that a way that I've managed that

617
00:35:08,920 --> 00:35:15,720
since I've been here has been using the, you need a credit card and photo ID to check in

618
00:35:15,720 --> 00:35:18,800
and reading someone's vibe.

619
00:35:18,800 --> 00:35:19,800
You get good at it.

620
00:35:19,800 --> 00:35:20,800
You do.

621
00:35:20,800 --> 00:35:21,800
You get good.

622
00:35:21,800 --> 00:35:26,160
I've had experience in other private hotels that I worked at that I've had to deal with

623
00:35:26,160 --> 00:35:29,600
the same thing. Here it's a little, you know, you're turning someone away and then it's

624
00:35:29,600 --> 00:35:32,160
cold outside and you feel bad.

625
00:35:32,160 --> 00:35:37,400
But it really depends on, what you have to think about at the end of the day is how it

626
00:35:37,400 --> 00:35:40,400
affects other guests' experiences.

627
00:35:40,400 --> 00:35:44,800
You don't want someone to come in here and feel like people have been living here or

628
00:35:44,800 --> 00:35:48,640
that people that you don't want to talk to, that you don't want to be.

629
00:35:48,640 --> 00:35:54,240
It's really sad, but it is the unfortunate truth that one bad apple or one person that's

630
00:35:54,240 --> 00:35:58,760
looking to take advantage of the Bohemian shared environment can now make everyone feel

631
00:35:58,760 --> 00:36:02,000
like they have to lock their doors and make feel like I can't leave my stuff over here.

632
00:36:02,000 --> 00:36:04,400
And a lot of people tighten up.

633
00:36:04,400 --> 00:36:05,400
Exactly.

634
00:36:05,400 --> 00:36:07,240
Instead of letting loose and you want it to be loose.

635
00:36:07,240 --> 00:36:11,280
Well, we've also had situations where someone you're like, and they have a credit card,

636
00:36:11,280 --> 00:36:14,040
they have a full ID and you let them in and next thing you know, you're hanging out with

637
00:36:14,040 --> 00:36:17,600
them in the common room and they are really sweet and really great.

638
00:36:17,600 --> 00:36:25,120
So it's really, it's a line that you have to balance.

639
00:36:25,120 --> 00:36:26,360
Every day I get better at it.

640
00:36:26,360 --> 00:36:28,200
You do get better at it.

641
00:36:28,200 --> 00:36:33,440
And every one of us here have made mistakes on the wrong side of it in trying to be maybe

642
00:36:33,440 --> 00:36:38,760
a little bit too cautious, but in the end you'd rather err on that side.

643
00:36:38,760 --> 00:36:39,760
You would.

644
00:36:39,760 --> 00:36:44,560
And then it also comes to, you know, I'd like, because this is what I want to do, because

645
00:36:44,560 --> 00:36:46,280
I want to be a business owner.

646
00:36:46,280 --> 00:36:49,840
I have to also think about making profit.

647
00:36:49,840 --> 00:36:50,840
Yep.

648
00:36:50,840 --> 00:36:54,840
You know, are we going to have empty beds and turn away five, six people?

649
00:36:54,840 --> 00:36:55,840
That's tough.

650
00:36:55,840 --> 00:36:56,840
And then you're done.

651
00:36:56,840 --> 00:36:57,840
You're shut down.

652
00:36:57,840 --> 00:36:58,840
Exactly.

653
00:36:58,840 --> 00:37:03,400
Are we going to be comfortable at all this month or can we put all these five people

654
00:37:03,400 --> 00:37:06,200
or four people in a room together?

655
00:37:06,200 --> 00:37:11,840
And that room is questionable.

656
00:37:11,840 --> 00:37:15,440
If you have six empty rooms, you can play that game.

657
00:37:15,440 --> 00:37:19,080
You can, but you have to be responsible for that too.

658
00:37:19,080 --> 00:37:22,360
You know, you have to be willing to wake up at two in the morning if something's wrong.

659
00:37:22,360 --> 00:37:23,360
Yeah.

660
00:37:23,360 --> 00:37:24,680
And, and that could be a tough do it.

661
00:37:24,680 --> 00:37:26,000
You make a great point there.

662
00:37:26,000 --> 00:37:29,040
There's screening for the better of the herd compared to the bottom line.

663
00:37:29,040 --> 00:37:34,680
We have another company besides ICH called the Hustle Management Services, HMS, and we

664
00:37:34,680 --> 00:37:39,480
have a client and it's a new experience for us because the client who owns the property

665
00:37:39,480 --> 00:37:40,960
would obviously like to see every bed full.

666
00:37:40,960 --> 00:37:43,040
He doesn't care what they look like or who they are.

667
00:37:43,040 --> 00:37:44,040
So it's tough to tell him.

668
00:37:44,040 --> 00:37:45,640
You can't be that cut and dry about it.

669
00:37:45,640 --> 00:37:50,760
You know, you're at 78% occupancy, but I saw someone get turned away six times on the cameras.

670
00:37:50,760 --> 00:37:51,760
Why?

671
00:37:51,760 --> 00:37:52,760
Well, I gotta explain to you.

672
00:37:52,760 --> 00:37:55,360
We'd be at 50% occupancy if I didn't turn those people away.

673
00:37:55,360 --> 00:37:56,360
Exactly.

674
00:37:56,360 --> 00:38:01,040
You're, we're bigger than that getting a bad review because someone felt uncomfortable.

675
00:38:01,040 --> 00:38:06,320
I mean, we take huge pride in the fact that we have very, very little bad reviews.

676
00:38:06,320 --> 00:38:10,880
You know, and even, even at a bad review, I can't even think of one that's fully bad.

677
00:38:10,880 --> 00:38:14,760
Like it's like, Hey, this happened, but someone was loud at two in the morning.

678
00:38:14,760 --> 00:38:19,000
You know, I try my best to manage that, but sometimes you just, you don't hear it.

679
00:38:19,000 --> 00:38:20,000
You don't wake up.

680
00:38:20,000 --> 00:38:21,000
Long time.

681
00:38:21,000 --> 00:38:22,000
Yeah.

682
00:38:22,000 --> 00:38:23,000
Yeah.

683
00:38:23,000 --> 00:38:24,480
You know, maybe I was out, maybe, you know, something happened.

684
00:38:24,480 --> 00:38:29,920
And, um, going into like shoulder seasons like that, I think that's probably my hugest

685
00:38:29,920 --> 00:38:34,720
hurdle in those shoulders, in those shoulder seasons, and like, you know, the time between

686
00:38:34,720 --> 00:38:38,480
after labor day until the ski resorts open.

687
00:38:38,480 --> 00:38:39,480
When does that open?

688
00:38:39,480 --> 00:38:42,440
Um, so they're scheduled, I think for the 15th.

689
00:38:42,440 --> 00:38:43,440
Oh, exciting.

690
00:38:43,440 --> 00:38:45,800
It really depends on the snow.

691
00:38:45,800 --> 00:38:46,800
Of course.

692
00:38:46,800 --> 00:38:49,040
This whole town runs off of that in the winter.

693
00:38:49,040 --> 00:38:50,520
Do they make their own fake snow?

694
00:38:50,520 --> 00:38:51,520
They do.

695
00:38:51,520 --> 00:38:53,600
The weather has to be cold enough in order for them to do it.

696
00:38:53,600 --> 00:38:55,520
It is at this point in time.

697
00:38:55,520 --> 00:38:59,800
Um, I haven't been here through a winter season, but I can tell you what I think it looks like.

698
00:38:59,800 --> 00:39:03,120
And I can also tell you what I looked like last year when I wasn't here.

699
00:39:03,120 --> 00:39:04,120
Yeah.

700
00:39:04,120 --> 00:39:09,600
And the thing that bothered me the most about where I was last year was that if you're not

701
00:39:09,600 --> 00:39:11,320
getting snow, you're not getting snow.

702
00:39:11,320 --> 00:39:14,880
You can't just sit there and be like, well, we can't open snow or whatever.

703
00:39:14,880 --> 00:39:15,880
We can't do that.

704
00:39:15,880 --> 00:39:21,600
If it's a beautiful day out and you having people at your place, open the, open the bar

705
00:39:21,600 --> 00:39:27,120
at this specific place or like, you know, have a game night here, like have something

706
00:39:27,120 --> 00:39:28,120
to draw people in.

707
00:39:28,120 --> 00:39:29,120
Get creative.

708
00:39:29,120 --> 00:39:30,120
Yeah.

709
00:39:30,120 --> 00:39:31,280
And don't just sit there and pray for snow.

710
00:39:31,280 --> 00:39:32,280
No, you can't do that.

711
00:39:32,280 --> 00:39:33,280
Yeah.

712
00:39:33,280 --> 00:39:35,280
And just hold yourself off and take the loss.

713
00:39:35,280 --> 00:39:36,760
Think of something innovative to do.

714
00:39:36,760 --> 00:39:37,760
Be proactive.

715
00:39:37,760 --> 00:39:38,760
Yeah.

716
00:39:38,760 --> 00:39:42,880
You know, run a bar crawl, do something that, you know, people continue to want to come

717
00:39:42,880 --> 00:39:45,640
back or tell their friends who are traveling here to come back.

718
00:39:45,640 --> 00:39:48,560
Well, they're lucky to have you if you're thinking in that way, because that's some

719
00:39:48,560 --> 00:39:52,480
advanced thinking for a hostel manager, because a lot of people will just sit back and we've

720
00:39:52,480 --> 00:39:53,480
had an avenue call.

721
00:39:53,480 --> 00:39:54,480
What do you want me to do?

722
00:39:54,480 --> 00:39:55,480
It's raining outside.

723
00:39:55,480 --> 00:39:58,480
Well, I watched you do something besides tell me it's raining outside.

724
00:39:58,480 --> 00:40:01,480
I know it's raining outside.

725
00:40:01,480 --> 00:40:03,480
It's board game night.

726
00:40:03,480 --> 00:40:05,480
Tell me you're playing rest or something.

727
00:40:05,480 --> 00:40:06,480
I don't know.

728
00:40:06,480 --> 00:40:07,480
Now we're playing board games.

729
00:40:07,480 --> 00:40:08,480
We're all making dinner together.

730
00:40:08,480 --> 00:40:10,560
It's $5 dinner night or whatever it is.

731
00:40:10,560 --> 00:40:15,440
It's just, you should never be like, oh no, sorry, it sucks here.

732
00:40:15,440 --> 00:40:18,160
You should give them some draw to come in.

733
00:40:18,160 --> 00:40:21,920
Now, as we move into the talking about the winter season for the guest experience, which

734
00:40:21,920 --> 00:40:27,680
would be the big season here, what would be the cost of a lift ticket?

735
00:40:27,680 --> 00:40:29,680
And do you sell them here at the property?

736
00:40:29,680 --> 00:40:33,640
So we sell lift tickets for Sierra, which is a little further.

737
00:40:33,640 --> 00:40:35,360
We have heavenly mountain right across the street.

738
00:40:35,360 --> 00:40:36,360
That's the big show.

739
00:40:36,360 --> 00:40:37,360
That's the big show.

740
00:40:37,360 --> 00:40:38,360
They're run by Vail Resorts.

741
00:40:38,360 --> 00:40:39,960
They own heavenly here.

742
00:40:39,960 --> 00:40:44,640
They own North Star and Kirkwood.

743
00:40:44,640 --> 00:40:52,200
I think the reason that we sell Sierra tickets is because it offers people another mountain

744
00:40:52,200 --> 00:40:53,200
in the experience.

745
00:40:53,200 --> 00:40:58,000
But you've got some discounted packages that guests could look forward to room in the lift

746
00:40:58,000 --> 00:40:59,000
pass.

747
00:40:59,000 --> 00:41:00,000
Yeah.

748
00:41:00,000 --> 00:41:03,200
Well, I think it's more of, and I haven't bought them yet this season and I haven't

749
00:41:03,200 --> 00:41:06,400
worked here last season, but I think that it's not combined with the room.

750
00:41:06,400 --> 00:41:09,080
I think it's once they get here, we can get it.

751
00:41:09,080 --> 00:41:10,800
Yeah, we can sell them a discounted.

752
00:41:10,800 --> 00:41:14,800
Now, heavenly, how close are we door to door?

753
00:41:14,800 --> 00:41:15,800
You can literally look across.

754
00:41:15,800 --> 00:41:16,800
Door to chair.

755
00:41:16,800 --> 00:41:18,280
We're looking at the chair.

756
00:41:18,280 --> 00:41:23,480
You can right past this building in front of us, it's a five to seven minute walk to

757
00:41:23,480 --> 00:41:24,480
the gondola.

758
00:41:24,480 --> 00:41:25,480
Oh, wow.

759
00:41:25,480 --> 00:41:26,480
Yeah.

760
00:41:26,480 --> 00:41:27,480
For listeners out there, you can't beat that.

761
00:41:27,480 --> 00:41:31,960
You wake up, get out of bed, go do your skiing and you're pretty much skiing right back down

762
00:41:31,960 --> 00:41:32,960
into the place.

763
00:41:32,960 --> 00:41:35,920
For listeners and for future volunteers, you can't beat this.

764
00:41:35,920 --> 00:41:36,920
Yeah.

765
00:41:36,920 --> 00:41:40,480
You can't beat working two to three days a week as a volunteer.

766
00:41:40,480 --> 00:41:42,840
And then walking across the street working for heavenly.

767
00:41:42,840 --> 00:41:44,840
You can get a job at heavenly.

768
00:41:44,840 --> 00:41:45,840
Get a part time job.

769
00:41:45,840 --> 00:41:46,840
Ski for free.

770
00:41:46,840 --> 00:41:47,840
Live for free.

771
00:41:47,840 --> 00:41:52,160
And then for guests, single traveling guests, you can't beat this.

772
00:41:52,160 --> 00:41:56,400
This is the cheapest single traveler accommodations.

773
00:41:56,400 --> 00:41:59,120
And then you can't control heavenly's prices.

774
00:41:59,120 --> 00:42:01,200
They are a little pricey, but it's one of the-

775
00:42:01,200 --> 00:42:02,200
But it is premier.

776
00:42:02,200 --> 00:42:03,200
Yeah.

777
00:42:03,200 --> 00:42:04,200
It's one of the nicest.

778
00:42:04,200 --> 00:42:05,200
Yeah.

779
00:42:05,200 --> 00:42:06,200
It's heavenly.

780
00:42:06,200 --> 00:42:07,200
It is.

781
00:42:07,200 --> 00:42:08,200
You're getting your money's worth.

782
00:42:08,200 --> 00:42:09,200
It's heavenly.

783
00:42:09,200 --> 00:42:11,880
I'm sure they sell a dual pass where you can do heavenly and North Star.

784
00:42:11,880 --> 00:42:12,880
Yeah.

785
00:42:12,880 --> 00:42:15,280
It really all depends on what you are looking for.

786
00:42:15,280 --> 00:42:17,960
This is just got me excited to come up here this winter.

787
00:42:17,960 --> 00:42:18,960
Anytime.

788
00:42:18,960 --> 00:42:21,880
And shred it up and enjoy the fun times here.

789
00:42:21,880 --> 00:42:22,880
I've never done it.

790
00:42:22,880 --> 00:42:24,200
Get heavenly and stay mellow.

791
00:42:24,200 --> 00:42:25,200
Yes.

792
00:42:25,200 --> 00:42:29,800
But I want to thank you so much Audrey for saving us with that interview with Harrison.

793
00:42:29,800 --> 00:42:32,720
I'm not that confident.

794
00:42:32,720 --> 00:42:36,680
Well we had an absolute great time with you here.

795
00:42:36,680 --> 00:42:42,160
I think it's just awesome that we were able to capture this for this season two, California.

796
00:42:42,160 --> 00:42:45,280
It's been a hell of a road trip, but we're just about wrapping it up.

797
00:42:45,280 --> 00:42:46,840
So happy to have you guys here.

798
00:42:46,840 --> 00:42:47,840
Yeah.

799
00:42:47,840 --> 00:42:49,760
And for you listeners out there, don't worry.

800
00:42:49,760 --> 00:42:53,960
Season three, Southeastern US has already been booked.

801
00:42:53,960 --> 00:43:00,720
It will be on the road again in January, 2019 to record 10 episodes in that region.

802
00:43:00,720 --> 00:43:05,100
But I know we had some great hostels on the coast of California for this season, but make

803
00:43:05,100 --> 00:43:09,720
sure you come to the mountain town of Tahoe to see Truckee and to see the Mellow Mountain

804
00:43:09,720 --> 00:43:12,280
Hostel because they're both gems out here.

805
00:43:12,280 --> 00:43:14,080
And I thank you so much once again.

806
00:43:14,080 --> 00:43:16,720
I'm going to nail your name one last time.

807
00:43:16,720 --> 00:43:17,720
Audrey Paraskevich.

808
00:43:17,720 --> 00:43:19,360
There it is.

809
00:43:19,360 --> 00:43:22,040
Robert Dyer from ITH.

810
00:43:22,040 --> 00:43:23,040
Thanks guys.

811
00:43:23,040 --> 00:43:27,160
Eric Grand Park Carlos Deferia from World Packers.

812
00:43:27,160 --> 00:43:31,680
The best fucking sound engineer west of the Mississippi.

813
00:43:31,680 --> 00:43:33,680
Soft spoken Mark Needham.

814
00:43:33,680 --> 00:43:35,680
All right.

815
00:43:35,680 --> 00:43:39,400
That was good.

816
00:43:39,400 --> 00:43:40,400
Good job.

817
00:43:40,400 --> 00:44:07,540
Moving on.