1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:04,000 Hello everyone and welcome back to the Hostel Road Trip Podcast. 2 00:00:04,000 --> 00:00:08,000 The podcast that literally takes its show on the road. 3 00:00:08,000 --> 00:00:13,000 Listen in as James Black and Bobby Dyer, owners of International Travelers House Hostels, 4 00:00:13,000 --> 00:00:18,000 travel around the country to learn about these great locations and incredible people 5 00:00:18,000 --> 00:00:24,000 that come together to provide a unique and exciting experience for travelers from all over the world. 6 00:00:24,000 --> 00:00:27,000 Welcome back to the Hostel Road Trip Podcast. 7 00:00:27,000 --> 00:00:34,000 We are here in Asheville, North Carolina, sitting in the living room of Bon, Paul, and Sharky's 8 00:00:34,000 --> 00:00:40,000 with the founder, mastermind, spiritual advisor, Joe Gill. 9 00:00:40,000 --> 00:00:42,000 Thanks so much for being with us. 10 00:00:42,000 --> 00:00:45,000 My absolute pleasure. I'm glad to be here today. 11 00:00:45,000 --> 00:00:49,000 I thought it was just going to be like an audio recording. 12 00:00:49,000 --> 00:00:52,000 I didn't realize there was going to be a video. I didn't sleep a lot last night. 13 00:00:52,000 --> 00:00:56,000 I probably have dark circles underneath my eyes. I'm sort of embarrassed. 14 00:00:56,000 --> 00:00:58,000 But you did just have a child. 15 00:00:58,000 --> 00:01:00,000 I had a baby yesterday. 16 00:01:00,000 --> 00:01:04,000 I don't even really know why I'm here. 17 00:01:04,000 --> 00:01:07,000 You can use that excuse for the next 18 years. 18 00:01:07,000 --> 00:01:10,000 I have a great partner. She said, go do it. Get him. 19 00:01:10,000 --> 00:01:15,000 Your old lady is pretty cool because we were like, there's no way he's going to be able to do this recording. 20 00:01:15,000 --> 00:01:19,000 And he was like, no, he said still coming. I was like, I've got to get me a girl like that. 21 00:01:19,000 --> 00:01:21,000 That's pretty badass. 22 00:01:21,000 --> 00:01:22,000 She's awesome. 23 00:01:22,000 --> 00:01:29,000 So we're here at your original and first hostel of three, which we will cover and talk a bit about each of them. 24 00:01:29,000 --> 00:01:36,000 But before we do that, we want to hear a little bit more about the fascinating story of Joe Gill and how you got into hostaling. 25 00:01:36,000 --> 00:01:45,000 And you've been in it for a little while now, especially as compared to other hostile operators in this unsaturated virgin style industry we are in in the U.S. 26 00:01:45,000 --> 00:01:48,000 So what brought you into the hosting industry? 27 00:01:48,000 --> 00:01:50,000 Wow. Good question. 28 00:01:50,000 --> 00:01:53,000 I started traveling. I did my first country cross country trip. 29 00:01:53,000 --> 00:01:59,000 I think when I was 12, 12, 12. Yeah. 30 00:01:59,000 --> 00:02:05,000 I went with my aunt, my cousin hitchhiking. 31 00:02:05,000 --> 00:02:07,000 No, we went and we we drove to Montana. 32 00:02:07,000 --> 00:02:09,000 She had a homestead there. 33 00:02:09,000 --> 00:02:15,000 And so I spent the summer and that kind of opened me up to there's more than my hometown. 34 00:02:15,000 --> 00:02:17,000 And it blew my mind. 35 00:02:17,000 --> 00:02:20,000 And I didn't want to stop traveling after that. 36 00:02:20,000 --> 00:02:24,000 Had an opportunity in college to study abroad like a lot of people did. 37 00:02:24,000 --> 00:02:25,000 And I was in Europe. 38 00:02:25,000 --> 00:02:30,000 And I remember the first hostel that I stayed in in Spain. 39 00:02:30,000 --> 00:02:31,000 I was kind of nervous. 40 00:02:31,000 --> 00:02:33,000 I didn't know what to expect. 41 00:02:33,000 --> 00:02:36,000 There was a girl that was more experienced with hostals. 42 00:02:36,000 --> 00:02:37,000 She's like, we've got this. 43 00:02:37,000 --> 00:02:38,000 Yeah. Come on. 44 00:02:38,000 --> 00:02:42,000 So it was a nice, clean spot. 45 00:02:42,000 --> 00:02:45,000 Beautiful downtown in Sevilla. 46 00:02:45,000 --> 00:02:48,000 And we went out and, you know, drink wine and whatever. 47 00:02:48,000 --> 00:02:49,000 Had dinner. 48 00:02:49,000 --> 00:02:55,000 Came back with our group of friends and you had to knock or like ring to get in. 49 00:02:55,000 --> 00:03:01,000 And I remember the old man kind of got up from a cot and let us in. 50 00:03:01,000 --> 00:03:10,000 And as we came in, I could see that he was watching porn. 51 00:03:10,000 --> 00:03:13,000 And I thought. 52 00:03:13,000 --> 00:03:17,000 So that's what I didn't know. 53 00:03:17,000 --> 00:03:20,000 When we had all been drinking wine, me and a group of about five friends. 54 00:03:20,000 --> 00:03:26,000 Trying to, you know, not burst out laughing at what we had stumbled in on. 55 00:03:26,000 --> 00:03:27,000 And that was it. 56 00:03:27,000 --> 00:03:28,000 That was my first hostel experience. 57 00:03:28,000 --> 00:03:32,000 I'm just picturing him walking you up to the room with his hard, hard full staff. 58 00:03:32,000 --> 00:03:35,000 I've never looked back. 59 00:03:35,000 --> 00:03:40,000 This is, I'm here. 60 00:03:40,000 --> 00:03:41,000 True story. 61 00:03:41,000 --> 00:03:43,000 Oh, that's beautiful. 62 00:03:43,000 --> 00:03:46,000 And that's why I asked that question to everyone because a lot of people, 63 00:03:46,000 --> 00:03:48,000 and I'm sure you had friends, are like, what are you doing? 64 00:03:48,000 --> 00:03:50,000 What kind of business are you starting? 65 00:03:50,000 --> 00:03:51,000 How did you get into this? 66 00:03:51,000 --> 00:03:54,000 And there usually is always a hilarious first story. 67 00:03:54,000 --> 00:03:57,000 I was like, well, I was first exposed to this. 68 00:03:57,000 --> 00:03:59,000 And then I realized this is my career. 69 00:03:59,000 --> 00:04:03,000 You know, it really does shock people how funny that can be. 70 00:04:03,000 --> 00:04:07,000 And then, so what we also want to talk about here is following that. 71 00:04:07,000 --> 00:04:10,000 What brought you to choose Asheville? 72 00:04:10,000 --> 00:04:13,000 I, that's also a good story. 73 00:04:13,000 --> 00:04:15,000 Well, maybe not. 74 00:04:15,000 --> 00:04:17,000 I was 23. 75 00:04:17,000 --> 00:04:24,000 I'd gone to art college, which if anybody else knows, there's really no jobs or money after that. 76 00:04:24,000 --> 00:04:27,000 But I came to Asheville chasing a girl. 77 00:04:27,000 --> 00:04:32,000 And you should probably chase somebody to town at least once in your life. 78 00:04:32,000 --> 00:04:33,000 And I did it. 79 00:04:33,000 --> 00:04:38,000 And I got here and we promptly broke up. 80 00:04:38,000 --> 00:04:43,000 But I had a buddy here and I was like, well, what am I doing with my life? 81 00:04:43,000 --> 00:04:44,000 I don't know. 82 00:04:44,000 --> 00:04:46,000 I'm just going to go ahead and stay here. 83 00:04:46,000 --> 00:04:50,000 And by this point, I'd stayed in half a dozen hostels. 84 00:04:50,000 --> 00:04:54,000 Actually, I'd even lived in Charleston for a brief period. 85 00:04:54,000 --> 00:05:00,000 And I met Claire Cunningham, the original founder. 86 00:05:00,000 --> 00:05:05,000 Yeah, I was reading in the Charleston paper that a hostel was opening in town. 87 00:05:05,000 --> 00:05:06,000 It was a few blocks from where I was living. 88 00:05:06,000 --> 00:05:09,000 And so I was like, I'm going to just walk over there and say hi. 89 00:05:09,000 --> 00:05:10,000 And I did. 90 00:05:10,000 --> 00:05:16,000 And Claire Cunningham and I kind of started a loose friendship and kept in contact. 91 00:05:16,000 --> 00:05:19,000 And she coached me a little bit. 92 00:05:19,000 --> 00:05:22,000 And I figured I would try to open a hostel here. 93 00:05:22,000 --> 00:05:26,000 That's awesome to see how far back the roots go to that not so hostile. 94 00:05:26,000 --> 00:05:32,000 We just came from the American Hostel Conference in Charleston, another great conference put on by Vicki. 95 00:05:32,000 --> 00:05:35,000 But this Miss Cunningham, where is she now? 96 00:05:35,000 --> 00:05:37,000 Does she have a hostel of her own? 97 00:05:37,000 --> 00:05:44,000 No, she sold that maybe about 14 years ago, right when I opened this one here. 98 00:05:44,000 --> 00:05:46,000 She sold it to Bob Holt. 99 00:05:46,000 --> 00:05:52,000 And she ended up going to business school, I believe, at MIT. 100 00:05:52,000 --> 00:05:53,000 Oh, good for her. 101 00:05:53,000 --> 00:05:54,000 Yeah. 102 00:05:54,000 --> 00:05:57,000 And she had opened that place on a wing and a prayer, I guess. 103 00:05:57,000 --> 00:06:04,000 And just bootstrapped it and duct tape everything together, which I did here also. 104 00:06:04,000 --> 00:06:07,000 Yes, and comedy, yes, common friends. 105 00:06:07,000 --> 00:06:09,000 But a shout out to Miss Cunningham for what she started. 106 00:06:09,000 --> 00:06:14,000 And then even as she left the industry, amazing to see what's going on from there. 107 00:06:14,000 --> 00:06:19,000 Vicki writing the book, holding the conference, inspiring so many other people to go on. 108 00:06:19,000 --> 00:06:20,000 The whole ripple effect from that. 109 00:06:20,000 --> 00:06:22,000 Yes, so cool. 110 00:06:22,000 --> 00:06:24,000 Here's Moussa. 111 00:06:24,000 --> 00:06:30,000 We are surrounded by 130-pound Bernese Mountain dogs, so I definitely feel at home right now. 112 00:06:30,000 --> 00:06:31,000 Moussa. 113 00:06:31,000 --> 00:06:36,000 So now you come up here and you're in Asheville and you get some direction. 114 00:06:36,000 --> 00:06:42,000 Right, and I was working a job for $8 an hour and had no money. 115 00:06:42,000 --> 00:06:46,000 I had about $150 in my bank account. 116 00:06:46,000 --> 00:06:53,000 But this was back in 2004, 2005, and they would give anybody a credit card. 117 00:06:53,000 --> 00:06:54,000 Ninja loans, baby. 118 00:06:54,000 --> 00:06:56,000 They would give anybody a mortgage. 119 00:06:56,000 --> 00:06:59,000 Yeah, that got us into a lot of trouble. 120 00:06:59,000 --> 00:07:04,000 It did, and so I faked it, to be perfectly honest with you. 121 00:07:04,000 --> 00:07:09,000 Alright, mortgage fraud, that's fine. 122 00:07:09,000 --> 00:07:12,000 But yeah, and definitely that's what got a lot of people in trouble, 123 00:07:12,000 --> 00:07:16,000 is that they were taking on mortgages that they couldn't afford. 124 00:07:16,000 --> 00:07:23,000 And then defaulting, and they sold me this house that's much bigger than I could ever afford. 125 00:07:23,000 --> 00:07:25,000 But I knew that I could make it work. 126 00:07:25,000 --> 00:07:26,000 Nice. 127 00:07:26,000 --> 00:07:34,000 And I had to hustle a lot to do it, so literally moved into this place on my birthday 14 years ago. 128 00:07:34,000 --> 00:07:35,000 Awesome. 129 00:07:35,000 --> 00:07:40,000 Yeah, and slept in a tent in the common room floor because the house was so big, 130 00:07:40,000 --> 00:07:43,000 and I just felt sort of uncomfortable by it. 131 00:07:43,000 --> 00:07:45,000 Yeah, besides the scope I'm getting. 132 00:07:45,000 --> 00:07:52,000 Yeah, and just started remodeling, and every day I'd wake up and cry. 133 00:07:52,000 --> 00:07:54,000 It's okay to admit that, people. 134 00:07:54,000 --> 00:07:57,000 I'll admit it, and then just be like, I gotta pull it together. 135 00:07:57,000 --> 00:07:58,000 Pull it together. 136 00:07:58,000 --> 00:07:59,000 Get your shit together, man. 137 00:07:59,000 --> 00:08:01,000 Get to work. 138 00:08:01,000 --> 00:08:05,000 And would work from sunrise until probably 10 o'clock at night. 139 00:08:05,000 --> 00:08:06,000 Eyes twitching, yeah. 140 00:08:06,000 --> 00:08:13,000 Yeah, and drink a few beers, probably cry again and fall asleep. 141 00:08:13,000 --> 00:08:14,000 Because it was overwhelming. 142 00:08:14,000 --> 00:08:16,000 It is, it is. 143 00:08:16,000 --> 00:08:22,000 That bootstrapping period, I think it's hard for people to understand that you're really going all in. 144 00:08:22,000 --> 00:08:26,000 It's almost like that realization that, wow, I'm all in. 145 00:08:26,000 --> 00:08:29,000 I don't have a choice that can keep you going and driving. 146 00:08:29,000 --> 00:08:34,000 And part of even the purchase of this property, I took an $18,000 cash advance on a credit card. 147 00:08:34,000 --> 00:08:35,000 Oh, yeah. 148 00:08:35,000 --> 00:08:42,000 And then had a complete panic attack, nervous breakdown after I did it. 149 00:08:42,000 --> 00:08:45,000 And I cried that night, too. 150 00:08:45,000 --> 00:08:48,000 And woke up in the morning, I was already awake, just got out of bed, 151 00:08:48,000 --> 00:08:52,000 washed my face and went to sign on the house, you know. 152 00:08:52,000 --> 00:08:53,000 Yeah, shaking on the paper. 153 00:08:53,000 --> 00:08:57,000 Yeah, check for $18,000 that was hidden in my sock. 154 00:08:57,000 --> 00:09:02,000 I didn't know what to do. 155 00:09:02,000 --> 00:09:04,000 Oh, that's beautiful. 156 00:09:04,000 --> 00:09:07,000 Now, the name, Bon Paul and Sharkies. 157 00:09:07,000 --> 00:09:08,000 How did this come about? 158 00:09:08,000 --> 00:09:11,000 I tried to be creative with stuff. 159 00:09:11,000 --> 00:09:17,000 And I was thinking like the Moonluck Hostel or I don't know. 160 00:09:17,000 --> 00:09:20,000 Something sort of mountainy and hippie. 161 00:09:20,000 --> 00:09:23,000 And I couldn't quite get it right. 162 00:09:23,000 --> 00:09:30,000 And then I just looked at the Goldfish Bowl to my two Goldfish, Bon Paul and Sharkie. 163 00:09:30,000 --> 00:09:31,000 And I was like, that's it. 164 00:09:31,000 --> 00:09:34,000 I'm going to name it after them. 165 00:09:34,000 --> 00:09:37,000 I can see you sitting there on the floor of your tent crying. 166 00:09:37,000 --> 00:09:40,000 He's the only thing in the house. 167 00:09:40,000 --> 00:09:42,000 To that moose who wasn't here with you. 168 00:09:42,000 --> 00:09:43,000 You can at least call him. 169 00:09:43,000 --> 00:09:44,000 I know, yeah. 170 00:09:44,000 --> 00:09:47,000 People often ask who were Bon Paul and Sharkie. 171 00:09:47,000 --> 00:09:52,000 And I tell them that they were my Goldfish and that they're dead. 172 00:09:52,000 --> 00:09:57,000 Thanks for bringing it up. 173 00:09:57,000 --> 00:10:00,000 OK, so now what year was this that you opened this one up? 174 00:10:00,000 --> 00:10:01,000 2005. 175 00:10:01,000 --> 00:10:04,000 So 2005 we opened up this one. 176 00:10:04,000 --> 00:10:09,000 And one of the things that we were talking about earlier this morning was about how you had the classic 177 00:10:09,000 --> 00:10:16,000 hostile progression of an owner where you slept in every room and every crevice, hammocks, tents. 178 00:10:16,000 --> 00:10:21,000 And then also what I was really impressed about is how you expanded the footprint of the house, 179 00:10:21,000 --> 00:10:25,000 creativity with the small little house and the cabin out back. 180 00:10:25,000 --> 00:10:27,000 And then you built a little four bed shack. 181 00:10:27,000 --> 00:10:29,000 How did you go about that progression? 182 00:10:29,000 --> 00:10:31,000 Was that like all up front or through the years? 183 00:10:31,000 --> 00:10:35,000 Oh, that was all through the years. 184 00:10:35,000 --> 00:10:38,000 The cottage out back was, I guess, 2008. 185 00:10:38,000 --> 00:10:40,000 OK, so that was a few years afterwards. 186 00:10:40,000 --> 00:10:48,000 And that was when I really thought that I was going to always live on property on site, you know, 187 00:10:48,000 --> 00:10:50,000 or the manager is going to live on site. 188 00:10:50,000 --> 00:10:53,000 And that was going to be the manager's house. 189 00:10:53,000 --> 00:10:58,000 And then I realized it actually made a lot more sense for me to rent that out. 190 00:10:58,000 --> 00:11:04,000 It rents for, you know, 100, 110 dollars a night, which if I rent that, I mean, we're in Asheville. 191 00:11:04,000 --> 00:11:06,000 It's not California. 192 00:11:06,000 --> 00:11:08,000 So I don't want to hurt your feelings. 193 00:11:08,000 --> 00:11:13,000 But if I rent that like five or six nights out of the month, that covers, you know, my rent somewhere else. 194 00:11:13,000 --> 00:11:17,000 I almost just straight up the window. 195 00:11:17,000 --> 00:11:19,000 Yeah. And so, right. 196 00:11:19,000 --> 00:11:23,000 You know, I can make a lot more money off of it by renting it than by living in it. 197 00:11:23,000 --> 00:11:24,000 Awesome. OK. 198 00:11:24,000 --> 00:11:27,000 So now when you spread out and you got the full footprint, how many beds? 199 00:11:27,000 --> 00:11:29,000 What's the capacity of this? 200 00:11:29,000 --> 00:11:30,000 I think we sleep about 25. 201 00:11:30,000 --> 00:11:33,000 OK. So you're going to get a great, nice little intimate feel. 202 00:11:33,000 --> 00:11:40,000 I love these old houses with the high ceilings and the natural flow and the finish where they have a voice that they make great hostels. 203 00:11:40,000 --> 00:11:48,000 So you've got this cool little 25 bed hostel in Asheville, which is a really cool kind of hippie mountain town. 204 00:11:48,000 --> 00:11:51,000 And we got to go out in it last night and really enjoyed all the live music. 205 00:11:51,000 --> 00:11:55,000 And it's really cool. But what brought you to that point? 206 00:11:55,000 --> 00:12:00,000 And what year was it that you said, all right, I'm going for number two? 207 00:12:00,000 --> 00:12:01,000 The 10 year anniversary. 208 00:12:01,000 --> 00:12:04,000 OK. Yeah, I was 10 years in. 209 00:12:04,000 --> 00:12:07,000 I always wanted to expand. 210 00:12:07,000 --> 00:12:16,000 I will do things like just keep an eye on Loopnet or Craigslist and different cities to see what commercial properties are open. 211 00:12:16,000 --> 00:12:19,000 And one opened up in Wilmington. 212 00:12:19,000 --> 00:12:25,000 The tricky thing is, is rent or buy, you know, the topic. 213 00:12:25,000 --> 00:12:28,000 Yeah. This property I purchased, Sharkey's. 214 00:12:28,000 --> 00:12:37,000 And that sets me back a whole down payment, that eighteen thousand dollars that I had to spend right out of the gate as down payment on the house. 215 00:12:37,000 --> 00:12:49,000 And if you're slick, you know, with a small 20 better less old house renovation, you could get away with open the doors for about 18 to 25000. 216 00:12:49,000 --> 00:12:52,000 So in Wilmington, I'm renting. 217 00:12:52,000 --> 00:13:00,000 OK. The other trick with renting, though, is that you have to find a landlord that's that's cool. 218 00:13:00,000 --> 00:13:06,000 And yeah, and I tried to rent in Asheville, actually, before I ended up just purchasing. 219 00:13:06,000 --> 00:13:08,000 And I couldn't find a landlord that was cool. 220 00:13:08,000 --> 00:13:17,000 It wasn't just not terrified by the idea of a bunch of quote unquote transients staying in their property every every night. 221 00:13:17,000 --> 00:13:20,000 And what liability that brought with it. 222 00:13:20,000 --> 00:13:23,000 But I really looked out in Wilmington. 223 00:13:23,000 --> 00:13:27,000 It had been a dog grooming business. 224 00:13:27,000 --> 00:13:33,000 And it's not but a just a old nineteen hundred four bedroom house. 225 00:13:33,000 --> 00:13:44,000 Not big, but I got in there and the colors, it was like peachy pink and had dog hair literally floor to ceiling. 226 00:13:44,000 --> 00:13:47,000 Doors were falling off the off the hinges. 227 00:13:47,000 --> 00:13:52,000 And I was with my girlfriend at the time and she was like, oh, no, no, this is horrible. 228 00:13:52,000 --> 00:13:54,000 I was like, we can make this work. Yeah, I got this. 229 00:13:54,000 --> 00:14:04,000 Yeah, because, you know, looking at something like that, a fresh coat of paint and lipstick, just putting lipstick on the thing is not so bad. 230 00:14:04,000 --> 00:14:07,000 You can freshen up place. Yeah. You know, lickety split. 231 00:14:07,000 --> 00:14:11,000 And that's what I did now. So that's the Wilmington location near the beach. 232 00:14:11,000 --> 00:14:13,000 And how many beds does that hold? 233 00:14:13,000 --> 00:14:20,000 We sleep 13 there. That is Stella Maris Hostel in Wilmington, named after Grandma, my grandma Stella. 234 00:14:20,000 --> 00:14:22,000 This is great. I love that. 235 00:14:22,000 --> 00:14:35,000 So that's 2015. And that now, as we kind of wanted to talk about in this episode a bit, this kind of the sensitivities of expanding geographically, how far away you're going. 236 00:14:35,000 --> 00:14:37,000 So that's about seven hours from this location. 237 00:14:37,000 --> 00:14:40,000 And on a bad day, it's seven hours on a good day. 238 00:14:40,000 --> 00:14:42,000 I can get there in about five and a half. 239 00:14:42,000 --> 00:14:47,000 Okay. So even five and a half is a long it's it's a drive. 240 00:14:47,000 --> 00:15:03,000 And, you know, it's definitely the challenges is being able to get out there to fix the toilet or repaint some some dorm rooms or handle some staffing issues with the one in Asheville and the one in Bryson City. 241 00:15:03,000 --> 00:15:08,000 Bryson City is just about an hour and 15 minutes from Asheville. I can do that and I can be home in time for dinner. 242 00:15:08,000 --> 00:15:09,000 Yes. 243 00:15:09,000 --> 00:15:14,000 But Wilmington, you know, it's a four day trip to get out there to really make it worthwhile. 244 00:15:14,000 --> 00:15:20,000 And that can, you know, then you've got to take into consideration what's going on in your other locations when you're out there for four days. 245 00:15:20,000 --> 00:15:24,000 Now, then the Smoky Mountain Hostel. 246 00:15:24,000 --> 00:15:26,000 What year did that come in? 247 00:15:26,000 --> 00:15:30,000 That was 2018. It's celebrating its year birthday next week. 248 00:15:30,000 --> 00:15:33,000 Oh, almost the same as your baby. 249 00:15:33,000 --> 00:15:35,000 Yeah. 250 00:15:35,000 --> 00:15:39,000 Almost. I do try to get all the birthdays within the first week of February. 251 00:15:39,000 --> 00:15:41,000 That's it. So you line things up. 252 00:15:41,000 --> 00:15:42,000 Who tries to do things. 253 00:15:42,000 --> 00:15:47,000 I just can't remember a whole lot. 254 00:15:47,000 --> 00:15:50,000 So you got the Smoky Mountain Hostel and that was about an hour and a half away. 255 00:15:50,000 --> 00:15:52,000 An hour and a half, hour and 15. 256 00:15:52,000 --> 00:16:02,000 So from your experience and for listeners out there who might be thinking about expanding or whatnot, wildly different experience when you're just an hour and a half away as you were talking about earlier. 257 00:16:02,000 --> 00:16:03,000 Yeah, definitely. 258 00:16:03,000 --> 00:16:09,000 You can go and fix things quickly, be back in the same day, kind of handle under that scope. 259 00:16:09,000 --> 00:16:15,000 So now that you've got three in action in the Smoky Mountain, how many beds does that one have in Bryson City? 260 00:16:15,000 --> 00:16:17,000 Oh, what are we there? 261 00:16:17,000 --> 00:16:23,000 That one is a little bit bigger than Wilmington and smaller than Asheville. So maybe about 20. 262 00:16:23,000 --> 00:16:32,000 Okay. All right. So in that boutique feel, we talked a lot about at the American Hostel Conference this past week, that sweet spot in that ceiling there. 263 00:16:32,000 --> 00:16:35,000 That you go over where you start to lose the intimacy. 264 00:16:35,000 --> 00:16:39,000 And some of these people that come in, like, I'm going to have 300 beds and 500 beds. 265 00:16:39,000 --> 00:16:42,000 And you're like, we're really talking about two different things here. 266 00:16:42,000 --> 00:16:47,000 Yeah. You know, we're both calling them a hostel, but they're wildly different experiences. 267 00:16:47,000 --> 00:16:48,000 Yeah, I agree. 268 00:16:48,000 --> 00:17:01,000 That's kind of what we're trying to highlight in this podcast series is those authentic, genuine style hostels that are out there that we're afraid are going to get overshadowed or eaten up by these behemoths that are coming in from all the hotel companies and venture capitalists. 269 00:17:01,000 --> 00:17:06,000 And it really is a completely different experience that we're talking about. 270 00:17:06,000 --> 00:17:11,000 And we're trying to get the word out there more so. So that doesn't happen. And people find out more about it. 271 00:17:11,000 --> 00:17:18,000 But we're going to take a quick break for our sponsorships. We're going to be right back with Joe Gill at Bon Paul & Schalky's in the living room. 272 00:17:18,000 --> 00:17:24,000 Moosa still on site, hanging tight. Stay tuned. We'll be right back. 273 00:17:24,000 --> 00:17:28,000 We hope you're enjoying this episode of the Hostel Road Trip podcast. 274 00:17:28,000 --> 00:17:33,000 We're taking a moment now to talk about a great service called Worldpackers.com. 275 00:17:33,000 --> 00:17:38,000 Worldpackers.com is actually how I got my start with the Hostel Road Trip podcast. 276 00:17:38,000 --> 00:17:45,000 Worldpackers is a great service that connects travelers looking for a place to stay in a new city with the hostels who need their skills. 277 00:17:45,000 --> 00:17:51,000 You could do anything from house cleaning to reception to media and marketing and so much more. 278 00:17:51,000 --> 00:17:57,000 With a reasonable fee of $50 a year and a little bit of courage, you could find yourself anywhere in the world. 279 00:17:57,000 --> 00:18:03,000 For more information, just go find Grandpa Carlos surfing on the west coast somewhere between California and Mexico. 280 00:18:03,000 --> 00:18:08,000 If you're having trouble finding him this way, he might be taking a siesta on his surfboard. 281 00:18:08,000 --> 00:18:14,000 If that's the case, scream to the heavens, Grandpa Carlos, we need you. And he'll be sure to answer the call. 282 00:18:14,000 --> 00:18:23,000 But if all else fails, just check out Worldpackers.com. That's W-O-R-L-D-P-A-C-K-E-R-S dot com. 283 00:18:23,000 --> 00:18:27,000 And now we bring you back to your regularly scheduled program. 284 00:18:27,000 --> 00:18:31,000 Welcome back to the Hostel Road Trip podcast back here with Joe Gill. 285 00:18:31,000 --> 00:18:36,000 So happy to be here at Bon Paul and Sharkey's in Asheville, North Carolina. 286 00:18:36,000 --> 00:18:45,000 We are wrapping up another great episode before we head off into our journey and we go down into Hostel in the Forest. 287 00:18:45,000 --> 00:18:49,000 My first ever visit there, which I'm so excited. Oh, it's awesome. Oh, my Lord. 288 00:18:49,000 --> 00:18:54,000 We purposely left it as the last one so I could just go wild, but now it's going to be a good time. 289 00:18:54,000 --> 00:19:00,000 And then before that, we're going to go to Greenville. Yeah. To check out Joe's place, which will be the other Joe. 290 00:19:00,000 --> 00:19:04,000 The other Joe. Yes. We're with the real Joe right now. 291 00:19:04,000 --> 00:19:08,000 But we'll talk about that with Joe Hinman a bit later. 292 00:19:08,000 --> 00:19:12,000 But that will be the second ever Hostel in South Carolina, right? Yeah, that's right. 293 00:19:12,000 --> 00:19:19,000 Which is really cool and exciting, but we want to talk a bit more about the guest experience respectively. 294 00:19:19,000 --> 00:19:27,000 Each of your unique hostels, because although within the wheelhouse of time together, all wildly different experiences they could expect. 295 00:19:27,000 --> 00:19:32,000 So let's start here in Asheville. What could a backpacker expect for some good times in this town? 296 00:19:32,000 --> 00:19:40,000 Oh, yeah. You know, all three hostels are different and I didn't totally expect that. 297 00:19:40,000 --> 00:19:47,000 I mean, maybe I should have because they're different cities and the clientele that each one draws happens to be a little bit different, too. 298 00:19:47,000 --> 00:19:52,000 Which I should have expected also. There's a lot of things you learn as you move through that you didn't know. 299 00:19:52,000 --> 00:20:00,000 Asheville is known for breweries, which is great. There's a ton of great restaurants here. Yes. 300 00:20:00,000 --> 00:20:06,000 It's got a good music scene. Yes. A lot of Appalachian music. Bluegrass is big. 301 00:20:06,000 --> 00:20:13,000 We've got the Blue Ridge Parkway. There's a ton of hiking, whitewater rafting. So it's a good outdoors place. 302 00:20:13,000 --> 00:20:21,000 Smokey Mountain, you would think would be exactly similar. And it's it is similar, but not exactly similar. 303 00:20:21,000 --> 00:20:29,000 It's also, you know, it's the Smokey Mountain Hostels in Bryson City, which is one of the gateways to the Great Smokey Mountain National Park. 304 00:20:29,000 --> 00:20:38,000 That's awesome. So we still have all of that stuff. We have whitewater rafting and kayaking. The Appalachian Trail runs close by. There's Fontana Lake. 305 00:20:38,000 --> 00:20:43,000 We have a river that runs through that town. And, you know, you can do the upright paddle boarding. 306 00:20:43,000 --> 00:20:51,000 Yeah. Mountain bike tours. But it seems still that the clientele there is just slightly different than Asheville. 307 00:20:51,000 --> 00:20:56,000 And I can't even be specific if you ask me. OK. 308 00:20:56,000 --> 00:21:02,000 Wilmington's got the beach scene. The hostel there, Stella Maris, is in downtown Wilmington. 309 00:21:02,000 --> 00:21:10,000 It's just on the edge of the historic district. Great spot where you can walk to bars and restaurants and all that downtown scene. 310 00:21:10,000 --> 00:21:21,000 There's about 20 minutes from the beach. A lot of people still come to head out to the beach and do that whole scene and surf and enjoy the sun and the sand. 311 00:21:21,000 --> 00:21:31,000 Nice. Now, within your build out here of these three hostels we talked about, they all kind of have a similar size in around that 20, 25. 312 00:21:31,000 --> 00:21:43,000 What are your thoughts on the size of a hostel? Would you would you say that you purposely never went above a certain ceiling or was that more dictated just by the luck of the buildings that were coming? 313 00:21:43,000 --> 00:21:53,000 Well, yeah, I've always looked for these old houses to remodel. I can't say exactly why. Maybe one of the first hostels I ever went to in D.C. 314 00:21:53,000 --> 00:21:58,000 What is it? Hilltop Hostel or something? Am I making that up? It's an old house. 315 00:21:58,000 --> 00:22:09,000 And so that kind of gave me the impression of that's how it should work. And yeah, and I went to one in Norway, one of my other first hostels in Bergen, and it was just an old house. 316 00:22:09,000 --> 00:22:20,000 It felt very manageable to me. It also felt very affordable rather than buying like an old hotel downtown sort of thing that would have 100 plus beds in it. 317 00:22:20,000 --> 00:22:28,000 I just I didn't have the capital to start that. So more so your situation is what led you into these scenarios. Yeah. 318 00:22:28,000 --> 00:22:37,000 What are your thoughts on some of these bigger hostels that are these multi hundred beds? Do you feel as though they have a are they a hostile? 319 00:22:37,000 --> 00:22:44,000 Sure. Yeah, definitely. It's a hostile. I've stayed in plenty of those and had great experiences. 320 00:22:44,000 --> 00:22:51,000 I think it's easy to get lost in those. Yeah. What we like here is that it's a community. 321 00:22:51,000 --> 00:22:58,000 You know, the staff will probably know you by name. They'll see you at breakfast, you know, a couple of days in a row. 322 00:22:58,000 --> 00:23:11,000 You can easily get recommendations on where to go eat and drink because we're accessible. We run into you a lot. We live here. It's a big old house with 150 bed hostel or more. 323 00:23:11,000 --> 00:23:19,000 You can just disappear. You're in and out. And that's been my experience a couple of times there. 324 00:23:19,000 --> 00:23:28,000 I've also been really lucky in those big ones to, you know, find a group of three or five people and maybe you hang out. Those places usually have a bar or something. 325 00:23:28,000 --> 00:23:36,000 So that's cool. You know, that's always kind of the meeting spot, the little bar cafe that they'll have and then head out on your adventures from there. 326 00:23:36,000 --> 00:23:45,000 Makes sense. Now, another interesting situation you find yourself in, as you literally just had your first child last night. Congratulations. Thank you very much. 327 00:23:45,000 --> 00:23:54,000 And also a shout out. Thank you for doing this despite your lack of sleep. Probably divided focus, I would imagine. 328 00:23:54,000 --> 00:24:03,000 But what would you say as I I do know that a lot of concern is out there for some younger people getting into the industry when they're starting. 329 00:24:03,000 --> 00:24:07,000 Is it something they're going to be able to do long term and when they have a family? 330 00:24:07,000 --> 00:24:15,000 I think one thing that I think is so cool to see with Vicky at the not so hostile is you have little roads running around the property and everyone's playing with them. 331 00:24:15,000 --> 00:24:23,000 And I think that kid's going to be so cool. He's going to speak like seven languages and just be like a Renaissance man of the times. 332 00:24:23,000 --> 00:24:36,000 Do you see yourself comfortable and, you know, confident with your career and projection in this industry now that you have had a little Gill? 333 00:24:36,000 --> 00:24:43,000 Yes. However, I should give this disclaimer that in addition to these three hostels, I also have two other jobs. 334 00:24:43,000 --> 00:24:49,000 What do you do? I work for the utility company as an energy efficiency consultant. 335 00:24:49,000 --> 00:24:55,000 No, you can't. The other side. That's my 40 hour, nine to five, Monday through Friday job. 336 00:24:55,000 --> 00:25:09,000 So you've got a 40 hour full time job. Yeah. And what's the second one? Oh, that one is that one's that one's easier. That one's just as a small business coach through a local nonprofit here in town. 337 00:25:09,000 --> 00:25:20,000 And you do a range of businesses. Yeah, they'll just I'll get assigned to entrepreneurs who are looking to open their own business and share my experience. 338 00:25:20,000 --> 00:25:29,000 We talk about business plans, cash flow, forecast marketing. I also sort of act as a therapist because it's easy to freak out. 339 00:25:29,000 --> 00:25:39,000 Yeah. Cry a lot. I've been through it. Let it out. Yeah. So that's my other one. But that one's that one's just an hour or so. 340 00:25:39,000 --> 00:25:49,000 Well, this opens up a whole different topic now that just briefly to touch on, because I think that's really cool to show that, you know, if you do have these size and scope hostels, 341 00:25:49,000 --> 00:25:57,000 they're obviously manageable enough if you're efficient enough and you're experienced enough as you are to still have a whole nother job outside. 342 00:25:57,000 --> 00:26:10,000 Yeah. And the reason I did that is my undergraduate degree is in fine art. OK. Then I opened a hostel. Yeah. I still don't have health insurance or a 401k. 343 00:26:10,000 --> 00:26:26,000 I got inspired that I wanted to go to graduate school for, you know, renewable energy and sustainable development. Did that got a master's in business and a master's of science and then ended up getting my quote unquote real job. 344 00:26:26,000 --> 00:26:34,000 Yeah. But that also supports these hostels. So, you know, when it's time to paint the outside, I've got a little bit of extra money to do that. 345 00:26:34,000 --> 00:26:47,000 That's awesome for struggle quite so much. Yeah. But for people who that you know, you can start these young and be in that entrepreneurial mindset and get something going and get it set up and have the systems and have it in place. 346 00:26:47,000 --> 00:26:59,000 And that doesn't mean that you're caught in here forever. No. And like we said, we started Sharkey's in 2005 and I didn't start working for the utility company until January of 2013. 347 00:26:59,000 --> 00:27:11,000 So there you go. You had a nice run in there and then you went and you went to school and did your master's a whole time when you run the hostel. Yeah. That was close by. Yeah. So I was still able to kind of check on the hostel during it. 348 00:27:11,000 --> 00:27:25,000 And I mean, honest to God, I started grad school in 2010. We've been tanking like the economy was trashed. So I paid the mortgage with my student loan. 349 00:27:25,000 --> 00:27:41,000 That's how we got by through that period of time. It wasn't a shout out to you girl. It wasn't totally planned that way. But you know, it goes through. But yeah, that's really interesting to hear that, you know, progression of things. 350 00:27:41,000 --> 00:27:50,000 And I think that a lot of times people do think that, oh, if I start this, I'm like creating my own prison. I'm never going to be able to leave this felt that way. You can. I felt that way too before. 351 00:27:50,000 --> 00:28:04,000 But then as you kind of catch your breath, you stop crying as much. Yeah. You know, maybe down to a couple of times a week. You know, and then you can find yourself with enough time to explore other things. Yeah. You know, as we're out here on this podcast doing this cool stuff. 352 00:28:04,000 --> 00:28:10,000 I also want to note that I'm lucky with this 40 hour week job that I can work remotely. 353 00:28:10,000 --> 00:28:23,000 I don't have to go into the office. Yeah. But that just involves a lot of spinning plates, a lot of prioritizing what fire needs to put be put out when staying organized, staying organized. 354 00:28:23,000 --> 00:28:33,000 So it's hustle. I mean, every day I have two laptops open on my desk, one for the hostels. Yeah, one for the utility. Yeah. And I got two phone lines. 355 00:28:33,000 --> 00:28:48,000 And I answer. You got me to handle one line, you're handling one line. Right. And you know, to be totally honest, also, like, I wish I was doing better at all of them. And there's times that like I feel like I'm spread thin. Yeah. 356 00:28:48,000 --> 00:29:00,000 You're pushing the envelope, but I can definitely tell that that's the type of guy you are. You're going to push the limit. Oh yeah. I cannot help but have 10 tabs open on my computer on two different browsers. Yeah. 357 00:29:00,000 --> 00:29:09,000 That's my role. My business partner, Bobby says the only thing worse than being in the panic attack of having so many things going on is when there's nothing going on. Oh, that gives me the worst anxiety. 358 00:29:09,000 --> 00:29:19,000 Yeah. And then you see him. He's scratching himself. If there's nothing to do, I'm going to freak out. Yeah. As I always say, someone give him a disaster to do. Yeah. Because he's going to be all over the place if we don't. 359 00:29:19,000 --> 00:29:34,000 But, you know, once again, so happy that you took the time and we were able to catch up with you as in our young industry, you are kind of an OG legend. Wow. Being in here for over 10 years and rocking it out. I know that sounds crazy, but thank you. I'm only 40. 360 00:29:34,000 --> 00:30:03,000 You know, with that Robert Redford look, we were talking about earlier, 35. I'm 35. I look 50. But it's a tough life on the road. But in closing, any advice you would give to those new hostel owners that we were all just with or the people that even is so cool at the American House Conference, people that go there that want to open up a hostel that still haven't. That's why I love that conference. Any advice for them? Yeah, I do. I remember being in a small business course, the same one that I now coach for. 361 00:30:03,000 --> 00:30:23,000 And I was in this class with maybe eight or 10 people. They all had their business ideas. Everybody was excited. I don't know if anybody else actually opened it. And so it takes a lot of recognizing that fear and being brave enough to take that leap. Yes. So you really, yeah, you got to be brave. 362 00:30:23,000 --> 00:30:52,000 Number two, don't panic. Things are going to go wrong. Yeah. And sometimes a lot of things go wrong at the same time. Yeah. But don't panic. And I think that's, you know, things are going to go wrong. And it's when those things do go wrong that you're going to be identified, you know, with that fear or courage, right? It's the same thing. It's just what you do with it. So I think that's great advice for anyone listening out there that's jumping into it. And when you have the opportunity, take the chance to take the opportunity. 363 00:30:52,000 --> 00:31:14,000 Take the chance to come into Joe Gill's properties here in Asheville, the Smoky Mountains, Bryson City and grandma's place in Wilmington, North Carolina, and come and see how an operation is run with efficiency so that you can operate and have a life outside a child outside of the job outside. We thank you, Joe Gill. Thank you for your work. 364 00:31:14,000 --> 00:31:30,000 James, you have a beautiful voice on the radio. Thank you. I think that's how I got this job. It definitely wasn't my looks. But thank you so much for being with us and stay tuned for our next episode in Greenville, second ever hostel in South Carolina and Joe Hinman, you have some answering to do for your stay at the beach.