1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:04,640 And so when I was working there after I graduated I was working for a tour company and they ran 2 00:00:04,920 --> 00:00:07,560 Pubcalls and tours out of that hostel. So I became 3 00:00:08,120 --> 00:00:11,040 Kind of familiar with like how things were operated and set up 4 00:00:11,040 --> 00:00:14,000 But like fortunately my wife grew up in an inn on Cape Cod 5 00:00:14,240 --> 00:00:19,000 So she's had hospitality and luncheon experience her whole life. So we kind of paired together 6 00:00:19,000 --> 00:00:20,040 merged them together 7 00:00:20,040 --> 00:00:25,560 And now she's become kind of a chef of sorts and professional trained in all that chest 8 00:00:25,560 --> 00:00:32,080 So, okay, we kind of bring all three levels of like the hospitality in front of the house and the bar and then the restaurant in the 9 00:00:32,080 --> 00:00:35,080 Vets you're a hospitality power couple. That's what I would say 10 00:00:38,080 --> 00:00:43,440 Hello friends and travelers, thanks for listening you are riding along on the hostel road trip podcast 11 00:00:43,440 --> 00:00:50,160 Our mission is to spread awareness of the true hostile experience in the Americas and share stories from the fascinating hosts 12 00:00:50,160 --> 00:00:52,160 Who create those unique facilities 13 00:00:52,160 --> 00:00:57,040 I'm your host Jimmy black joined alongside co-founder of international travelers house Bobby dire 14 00:00:57,600 --> 00:01:04,120 Each session we sit down with hostel operators or travel influencers to hear about their real success 15 00:01:04,520 --> 00:01:06,520 discuss trending hostile topics and 16 00:01:07,040 --> 00:01:12,520 Close with tips for travelers who are seeking to have the ultimate experience when visiting each destination 17 00:01:12,520 --> 00:01:22,080 You can't afford to miss this trip. I'm passing your seat belts and let's hit the road 18 00:01:23,000 --> 00:01:28,920 Welcome back to hostile road trip. My name is James black. I am here alongside with my co-founder 19 00:01:29,800 --> 00:01:38,080 Robert dire excited to be here Eric Faria from world packers in Giles the founder of the Tabernay hostel here in Vermont 20 00:01:38,080 --> 00:01:42,840 Hey guys, we are so happy to be here with you as we were just about to begin 21 00:01:43,160 --> 00:01:47,200 You started to give us a little bit information about the name the name tell us more about 22 00:01:48,280 --> 00:01:52,400 So we when we moved to Vermont we came here from Rome. So we were living overseas 23 00:01:52,800 --> 00:01:56,920 I've been doing a second undergraduate there my wife had studied abroad and moved back to do some work 24 00:01:57,200 --> 00:02:01,720 it's where we came up with the idea to do this sort of project and 25 00:02:02,840 --> 00:02:04,840 So hostile to ever a 26 00:02:04,840 --> 00:02:08,040 We figured when we named it it had to have that word hostile in it 27 00:02:08,040 --> 00:02:10,440 So there's otherwise people wouldn't understand the whole idea 28 00:02:11,360 --> 00:02:17,720 Room shared facilities kind of that like it's a very different traveler mentality than somebody who goes and stays in a five-star hotel 29 00:02:17,720 --> 00:02:20,920 Absolutely, and so we want to make sure that was in the name and 30 00:02:21,560 --> 00:02:25,400 We're located in the Mad River Valley here in Vermont and so there's a lot of 31 00:02:26,520 --> 00:02:31,320 Places that are named after rivers and things like that. So we chose a different river be a little more unique 32 00:02:31,320 --> 00:02:35,480 Yeah, we chose the river that flows through the middle of Rome, which is the Tevere or in English 33 00:02:35,480 --> 00:02:41,560 We know it as the Tiber that's so cool now you're abroad in Italy. Is this where you had your first exposure to hostels? 34 00:02:41,800 --> 00:02:46,120 Yes, for sure. Okay. Now where we see you started to stay them as a backpacker 35 00:02:46,120 --> 00:02:50,720 Or did you start working at him first? No, I'd never worked at a hostel before we opened this place awesome 36 00:02:50,720 --> 00:02:57,240 I've been in the bar industry since I've been a buddy team. Okay, that ties into a bit more of what we'll talk about with your 37 00:02:57,240 --> 00:03:04,120 Staff here. Yes, we want to have some of the listeners, especially the industry operators here some of your insight and experience in there 38 00:03:04,280 --> 00:03:08,360 But so you got into the hustling industry being exposed over in the earth very much so much for us 39 00:03:08,360 --> 00:03:13,320 I had my first hostel experience studying abroad in Ireland. You know traveling about and realizing man 40 00:03:13,320 --> 00:03:15,480 This would be great if there were more of these back home, right? 41 00:03:15,840 --> 00:03:20,040 So, you know, that's so cool to see that you're another person that was inspired abroad 42 00:03:20,120 --> 00:03:22,120 Yeah, and then came back into it 43 00:03:22,120 --> 00:03:26,480 Would you say that there was any hostels abroad in particular that inspired you? 44 00:03:26,480 --> 00:03:31,040 Um, or your favorite hostel the wombat in Vienna. Oh 45 00:03:33,120 --> 00:03:39,080 Just the location next to the Nash marked and since we lived in Europe and whatever we have a lot of good friends who live in Vienna now 46 00:03:39,080 --> 00:03:43,800 So we do go there quite a bit. We don't obviously stay at the wombat anymore. We're a little bit over the folder have a kid 47 00:03:45,080 --> 00:03:52,040 But the wombat in Vienna was awesome bulldog in Amsterdam is always a good time. Yeah, and then the yellow in Rome 48 00:03:52,040 --> 00:03:56,080 Which is actually kind of one of the places we got the idea to do this place 49 00:03:56,080 --> 00:04:00,440 Our friend Marco is one of the owners there and so when I was working there after I graduated 50 00:04:00,440 --> 00:04:04,520 I was working for a tour company and they ran pub calls and tours out of that hostel 51 00:04:04,520 --> 00:04:08,840 So I became kind of familiar with like how things were operated and set up 52 00:04:08,840 --> 00:04:11,840 But like fortunately my wife grew up in an inn on Cape Cod 53 00:04:12,080 --> 00:04:17,520 So she's had hospitality and lodging experience her whole life. Oh, we kind of paired together urged him together 54 00:04:17,520 --> 00:04:23,440 Yeah, and now she's become kind of a chef of sorts and professional trained in all that chest 55 00:04:23,440 --> 00:04:29,760 So, okay, we kind of bring all three levels of like the hospitality in front of the house and the bar and then the restaurant 56 00:04:29,760 --> 00:04:32,720 And the beds you're a hospitality power couple. That's what I would 57 00:04:36,160 --> 00:04:40,080 Okay, so you did this 10 years ago you started we started us and yeah 58 00:04:40,080 --> 00:04:45,560 We bought the place in May of 09 and opened July 4th weekend that year. Oh, that's a quick turn 59 00:04:45,560 --> 00:04:52,240 Yeah, yeah, so yeah, so you've been here 10 years. This is your 10. Yeah, and when you first opened up was it simultaneous? 60 00:04:52,960 --> 00:04:55,320 Bar and restaurant and host or no 61 00:04:56,240 --> 00:05:02,040 So we opened up the beds operating right away the bar doing its thing because we had a grandfather their car license in so 62 00:05:02,040 --> 00:05:08,880 Oh, we have some passive background check and here's your part. Oh my lord and that's when he fly was 26 at the time 63 00:05:08,880 --> 00:05:12,720 My wife was 24. It was kind of one of those like, oh, okay. Yeah, here we go 64 00:05:12,720 --> 00:05:17,080 So our plan in the beginning was to be more much more 65 00:05:18,120 --> 00:05:20,120 Focused on the guests and the hostile traffic 66 00:05:21,040 --> 00:05:25,600 doing dinners for guests doing like bag lunches for people who wanted to go on height and 67 00:05:27,040 --> 00:05:29,040 Over the course of like the first two years 68 00:05:29,680 --> 00:05:35,200 We ran the restaurant sort of like doing pop-ups and then dinners for guests and if people were in a bar to join us 69 00:05:35,200 --> 00:05:40,240 And then we made the jump to doing a full-service restaurant thing and did that for about three years 70 00:05:40,240 --> 00:05:45,080 Okay, and after we had our son. We decided to take care of our son full-time instead of sure 71 00:05:47,320 --> 00:05:50,520 Yeah, man is 22 other people's lives and like, you know 72 00:05:51,160 --> 00:05:56,080 Livehoods etc. Yeah, so we shut the restaurant down. We've just recently reopened it 73 00:05:56,600 --> 00:06:02,040 collaborating with a group in town that owns the Mad Taco and a catering company and our chef who was 74 00:06:02,040 --> 00:06:11,720 Here when we closed the restaurant went there and now it's come back. So it's like we've got the band back together. Everybody's happy. It's a good fit 75 00:06:11,720 --> 00:06:17,040 So like now over the years we were much more like we were talking about earlier focused on 76 00:06:17,560 --> 00:06:20,360 One getting guest traffic in but for us that's mostly in the winter 77 00:06:20,360 --> 00:06:24,040 Okay, so the other times of the year we we have a really good local following 78 00:06:24,040 --> 00:06:30,560 We depend on you know a lot of the local families and businesses to help promote and you know market us to people and get the word out 79 00:06:30,560 --> 00:06:35,360 Because we are like we're saying kind of in the middle of nowhere. Sure. Yeah, it's you're off the beat 80 00:06:35,360 --> 00:06:38,080 Yeah, you can't get here without a car. There's no public transportation 81 00:06:38,600 --> 00:06:41,040 And what did you find this place? Did you grow up here? No 82 00:06:41,040 --> 00:06:47,120 So my wife has family that moved up here in 2003 and her parents had been coming to a ski house with her and her siblings 83 00:06:47,400 --> 00:06:49,400 In Rochester, which is 84 00:06:50,000 --> 00:06:55,340 Yeah, yeah, like the mid 90s. All right, so they knew the area and it was a very like oh, we're looking to do this 85 00:06:55,340 --> 00:07:01,480 Hey, we know a realtor here. Hey, let's look at this and then we move back from this for middle in December a 86 00:07:02,080 --> 00:07:05,000 15th of 08 and we bought this place May 1st of 09 87 00:07:05,000 --> 00:07:10,440 So I mean it was like boom boom. Oh god here, boom. Yeah, we were we were motivated and ready to start this thing up 88 00:07:10,440 --> 00:07:15,200 And now here we are almost 10 years later and we're still here, which is kind of crazy, but also 89 00:07:15,440 --> 00:07:17,360 Yeah, you've made that curve now 90 00:07:17,360 --> 00:07:22,520 I think it's really cool that you mentioned that you know you started off very young and when you're younger in your mid 91 00:07:22,520 --> 00:07:26,920 20s, and you don't have the responsibilities of a family yet. It's easier to put in those 60 70 hour weeks 92 00:07:26,920 --> 00:07:28,000 Of this, yes 93 00:07:28,000 --> 00:07:30,440 Yeah, and then as you start to have a family 94 00:07:30,440 --> 00:07:34,320 I think that's really cool to highlight though because a lot of people think like oh if I start to have kids 95 00:07:34,320 --> 00:07:39,500 I've got to get out of this industry or I can't you know do this both at the same time, but you can and we can yeah 96 00:07:39,500 --> 00:07:43,340 We've met plenty people have and you make your priorities and you make your adjustments 97 00:07:43,340 --> 00:07:48,360 And that's kind of that's life. That's how you make it work. Yeah, so until recently like we usually 98 00:07:48,360 --> 00:07:52,440 After we shut the restaurant down we would work really really hard all winter 99 00:07:52,440 --> 00:07:58,280 We do everything ourselves basically yeah, and then once the snow melts that we get on a plane and go back over here 100 00:07:58,280 --> 00:08:00,280 Up and hang out 101 00:08:00,280 --> 00:08:02,620 During the summer yeah, I'm keeping the state and taking the guests 102 00:08:02,620 --> 00:08:07,260 Oh, we were still always taking care of the hostile people and and making sure that the beds were always available 103 00:08:07,260 --> 00:08:11,320 But you're still yeah, we're still traveling and we weren't gonna like not 104 00:08:11,320 --> 00:08:17,080 What sorry we're not live our lives because other people wanted to come up here in their lives 105 00:08:17,080 --> 00:08:23,160 There's a balance you have to have because you know you want to stay in tune with your traveler with your guests 106 00:08:23,160 --> 00:08:28,000 And you want to still have that same experience for sure and a lot of hostile owners will often say like oh 107 00:08:28,000 --> 00:08:32,320 I love volunteering at a hostel managing a hostel is okay, but it's a nightmare to own one 108 00:08:32,320 --> 00:08:38,400 But it doesn't have to be that way doesn't have to be that way balance correct your priorities and you're able to make adjustments 109 00:08:38,400 --> 00:08:41,240 We all right well we are trucking along here 110 00:08:41,680 --> 00:08:45,760 With our man Giles and we're gonna take a quick break for our sponsors 111 00:08:45,760 --> 00:08:49,280 But when we get back we're gonna talk more about the trending topics in the house industry 112 00:08:49,560 --> 00:08:56,320 With a focus on this bar restaurant and the badass burger you got and hear a little bit of insight about how you can run 113 00:08:56,400 --> 00:09:00,020 Two of these operations at one and blend them together stay tuned 114 00:09:01,120 --> 00:09:03,640 Hey James, I have a question for you now 115 00:09:03,640 --> 00:09:10,600 How can you be here on the road with us recording all these podcasts away from your six properties easy 116 00:09:10,600 --> 00:09:16,120 I rely on cloudbeds the all-in-one property management suite to help grow my reservations and keep guests happy 117 00:09:16,440 --> 00:09:21,880 With cloudbed software I have one place where I can see everything going on with that businesses from daily check-ins 118 00:09:22,000 --> 00:09:25,280 The comprehensive port it sounds better helpful man 119 00:09:25,520 --> 00:09:31,360 Tell me more about it my staff loves it too because it's incredibly easy to use and automates a lot of their daily tasks 120 00:09:31,360 --> 00:09:34,680 This means we all get to focus on the most important thing our guests 121 00:09:35,120 --> 00:09:43,360 Whoa, and how can I hostile Warner get started our friends at cloud beds are often a $50 credit to hostile road trip podcast listeners 122 00:09:43,680 --> 00:09:50,080 Just visit cloud beds dot com forward slash road trip again go to cloudbeds dot com forward slash 123 00:09:50,640 --> 00:09:51,920 ROAD 124 00:09:51,920 --> 00:09:56,080 TRIP and see why tens of thousands of properties trust cloud beds to power over 125 00:09:56,080 --> 00:09:58,080 700,000 beds worldwide 126 00:10:08,160 --> 00:10:12,240 Welcome back to hostile road trip and we are here at the hostile 127 00:10:12,400 --> 00:10:15,840 Temeray named after the Tiber River in Rome there again 128 00:10:16,160 --> 00:10:20,320 Very excited to now dive into the other half of this operation 129 00:10:20,320 --> 00:10:26,080 Which is this awesome restaurant bar that is so smoothly intertwined into the facility 130 00:10:26,080 --> 00:10:29,280 I looked how you walked us in through the back of the restaurant bar here 131 00:10:29,280 --> 00:10:33,360 And then just through a very slick hallway entrance all of a sudden we're in reception a lot 132 00:10:33,360 --> 00:10:40,160 Yeah, but at the same time you could tell a clear separation when needed when you want to separate the two for sure 133 00:10:40,160 --> 00:10:47,600 But very easily accessible for everyone inside so tell us a bit about in general what your restaurant 134 00:10:48,040 --> 00:10:50,040 bar offers here 135 00:10:50,040 --> 00:10:55,560 So we were lucky enough to buy it like I said by this place in 09 right as the craft beer scene 136 00:10:55,880 --> 00:11:01,800 Oh in Vermont was blowing up and Sean Lawson from Lawson's finest that liquids happens to live like two miles down the road 137 00:11:02,200 --> 00:11:05,160 So we basically came to home bar for him here in Warren 138 00:11:05,880 --> 00:11:10,840 And then with all the other great beer guys coming through it was a very like oh, I guess we're a craft beer bar 139 00:11:11,160 --> 00:11:13,960 And we fell into it and like a very like I've been bartending since I was 140 00:11:13,960 --> 00:11:20,280 20 19 or so okay, so I'm like six or seven years of experience and then just came along and 141 00:11:21,400 --> 00:11:24,440 It was like oh, okay. Well, that's the type of bar we're gonna be because that makes sense 142 00:11:24,440 --> 00:11:30,440 Yeah, and it fit into the area and my wife is a super super talented chef and did a lot of 143 00:11:31,080 --> 00:11:36,360 Like great just like home cooking like tasty like oh that was that was a really good meal like yeah 144 00:11:36,920 --> 00:11:37,880 um 145 00:11:37,880 --> 00:11:42,520 And so kind of paired those two things together and found a niche within the community 146 00:11:42,520 --> 00:11:47,400 Um where we because of the hostel always had our dishes priced 147 00:11:48,120 --> 00:11:53,320 Accordingly to the bed like it would didn't ever make sense to like have a $40 bed and have a $35 entree 148 00:11:53,560 --> 00:11:58,120 Yeah, I don't I don't see that playing well. I mean there would be people who would definitely be down for that 149 00:11:58,120 --> 00:11:59,080 but 150 00:11:59,080 --> 00:12:01,960 For what we were looking for and the majority of our customers 151 00:12:01,960 --> 00:12:07,800 It was really important to be able to offer them food at a reasonable price and drinks at a reasonable price and 152 00:12:07,800 --> 00:12:12,600 Um give everybody the opportunity to not have to break the bank and not have to leave 153 00:12:12,680 --> 00:12:15,160 You know what I mean? Yeah around here if you want to go drive to dinner 154 00:12:15,720 --> 00:12:19,640 Like it's a 10-minute drive if you go the closest next time you go next time you're talking 25 minutes 155 00:12:19,640 --> 00:12:25,400 So you think about time and gas and all the things that go into that you can stay here. Yeah, you know and it's um 156 00:12:26,120 --> 00:12:33,160 One of those things where everything is uh within one entity one stop shop. Correct. I love um, you know, how many seats do you have here? 157 00:12:33,160 --> 00:12:39,480 Uh, we can seat 69 total between the restaurant and bar. That's great. So you got 69 and then you know 158 00:12:39,640 --> 00:12:44,840 A little over 30 in the house. You got 30 upstairs. You could have 100 people. Yeah, the building capacity is 99 159 00:12:45,080 --> 00:12:50,360 Oh, right. It's all buried on the water usage and how you allocate it. Yeah, so you can have a pretty good party in here 160 00:12:50,360 --> 00:12:54,280 That's for sure. Now we talked a bit about the challenges 161 00:12:55,320 --> 00:13:00,840 Getting a bar in a liquor license within the hostel industry. Some cities just don't even 162 00:13:00,840 --> 00:13:04,520 Allow it because they don't recognize hostels as an entity 163 00:13:05,080 --> 00:13:09,960 And the challenge is about an exception now you got lucky here. You were saying that it was grandfathered in yeah 164 00:13:10,280 --> 00:13:11,880 but you know from the 165 00:13:11,880 --> 00:13:13,800 American stance that we're 166 00:13:13,800 --> 00:13:17,000 Hearing a lot about are people that want to have these bar operations 167 00:13:17,320 --> 00:13:24,200 To increase the financial footprint of their existing guests as a lot of the european hostels and australian hostels have set up the model for 168 00:13:24,520 --> 00:13:29,640 But tell us a bit about the outside guests that come here because I think that's such a cool element to remember that 169 00:13:29,640 --> 00:13:35,880 You can also cater to the community and have them come inside your establishment. How's that going for you? 170 00:13:36,120 --> 00:13:39,560 It's going really well. We have a like a really supportive local community 171 00:13:39,560 --> 00:13:44,200 We've also you know taken it upon ourselves to support a lot of local musicians and bring them in here to play 172 00:13:45,640 --> 00:13:47,880 Other local chefs will do pop-up dinners and things 173 00:13:49,960 --> 00:13:51,480 It's 174 00:13:51,480 --> 00:13:56,120 We're a seasonal vacation community and like most of our traffic comes in the winter 175 00:13:56,120 --> 00:13:59,240 So in the winter the town goes from being I don't know 176 00:13:59,960 --> 00:14:07,160 5500 people between you know towns out here here in a couple towns north to like 15,000 people 20,000 people every weekend 177 00:14:07,880 --> 00:14:12,440 I mean, it's so there's a critical mass of people where there is there's not even enough seats to service everybody 178 00:14:13,560 --> 00:14:16,760 So you kind of fall in that way like I was saying to get before we do a lot of work in the winter 179 00:14:17,160 --> 00:14:21,560 And then in the summers, you know until recently we would just take off because there wouldn't be enough traffic and 180 00:14:22,280 --> 00:14:24,280 And so a lot of it is us 181 00:14:24,280 --> 00:14:27,960 Catering to a lot of service industry people around here, especially when I lived on site 182 00:14:27,960 --> 00:14:29,960 Like it was easy for me to stay up and late for those people 183 00:14:30,120 --> 00:14:33,160 Yeah, they were getting off work at midnight and want to have a drink real quick having work 184 00:14:33,320 --> 00:14:36,920 I'm living on sites. No skin off my back to stay open for an extra hour 185 00:14:37,320 --> 00:14:42,280 And so using those kind of connections and then the people we know from the mountain and all them to kind of like 186 00:14:42,920 --> 00:14:48,040 Steer the right people down. Yeah, does that make sense? Yes, because this place isn't an end. I'm not saying that like 187 00:14:48,520 --> 00:14:51,640 We don't want everybody to come down. There's just some people who are going to come in and be like wait 188 00:14:51,640 --> 00:14:54,520 It's you got to share a room and you got to share a bathroom and 189 00:14:55,240 --> 00:15:00,520 There's a restaurant. There's a bar, but there's other people and like it for some people it might just not click 190 00:15:00,760 --> 00:15:01,320 And that's fine 191 00:15:01,320 --> 00:15:04,760 But like most of the people we know that have come in here and had a great time 192 00:15:05,480 --> 00:15:08,360 Send the people that they know are just going to like get it right away 193 00:15:08,440 --> 00:15:12,840 And it makes things really smooth and awesome and it's you know, most of our guests are returned traffic 194 00:15:12,920 --> 00:15:15,800 I can say more than 50 percent of our guests are people who've stayed here before 195 00:15:16,200 --> 00:15:17,000 That's awesome 196 00:15:17,000 --> 00:15:20,920 And of the other 50 percent a lot of those are recommendations from those people who stayed 197 00:15:20,920 --> 00:15:25,720 The old organic word. So it's like, hey, I'm coming up this weekend. By the way, so and so told me to come 198 00:15:25,800 --> 00:15:30,200 Oh, cool. You're good. Yeah, don't have to worry about you for one second. Oh, that's great. So it's a really 199 00:15:30,920 --> 00:15:35,480 And it's like no, but it's like it kind of sells police itself polices itself because we're in the middle of nowhere 200 00:15:35,480 --> 00:15:37,080 There's you have to have a car to get here 201 00:15:37,080 --> 00:15:41,960 We're not dealing with like a major european city where you could have jochmo transient 202 00:15:42,040 --> 00:15:43,800 We took a shower the day before 203 00:15:43,800 --> 00:15:48,760 Decides you want to bed for the night and then doesn't end up leaving for how many weeks or whatever like we've all heard 204 00:15:48,760 --> 00:15:53,240 Though the horror stories of the hostels in europe and that happening or other major cities 205 00:15:53,320 --> 00:15:58,040 So like it's it's nice to be able to feel that comfortable with our guests at all times 206 00:15:58,280 --> 00:15:59,240 Absolutely 207 00:15:59,240 --> 00:16:05,800 And I think that brings in a good point of having that repeat guests and when you see that happening, you know, you got something going 208 00:16:05,880 --> 00:16:07,480 Right, yeah, for sure. They're coming back for you 209 00:16:07,720 --> 00:16:14,840 But I think what what's awesome and what you're doing here giles is the community outreach that's happening organically through your bar restaurant 210 00:16:14,840 --> 00:16:22,760 So many of our hostel operators and managers have talked to have difficulty with their neighbors and with the perception of what they're doing within their city 211 00:16:23,400 --> 00:16:30,440 And it's they feel like they're walking on eggshells and they're you know always trying to make sure they're not disturbing people or you know, not 212 00:16:30,840 --> 00:16:32,840 throwing gas in on the fire, but 213 00:16:32,840 --> 00:16:39,240 We were at the d acres organic farm and hostel and one of the ways he broke down the barriers of the bad perception of the hostel 214 00:16:39,240 --> 00:16:45,480 As he started to invite the school kids onto the farm to do workshops and learn about sustainable living and all these things 215 00:16:45,800 --> 00:16:49,320 And by doing that he went over the parents. He went over the community 216 00:16:49,320 --> 00:16:52,280 You just got to get the people in the door in the hostel industry almost every hostel 217 00:16:52,280 --> 00:16:55,160 I've been at you just have to walk through the door and then you're like, oh 218 00:16:55,800 --> 00:16:58,920 This is great. Yeah, you know, I mean, it's not there's not that 219 00:16:59,480 --> 00:17:04,520 It's literally just taking that first leap and being like getting over the word hostel. Yes now with the bar 220 00:17:04,520 --> 00:17:12,120 Mm-hmm and the logistics of running it as a smooth operation intertwined with your hostel 221 00:17:12,520 --> 00:17:16,840 Obviously, you had some great relevant experience. Your wife had great relevant experience 222 00:17:16,840 --> 00:17:19,800 We do have to call you as a power couple of the hospitality 223 00:17:20,360 --> 00:17:25,480 But what would you say were some tips that you might give an operator that's getting into that 224 00:17:25,960 --> 00:17:29,000 Opening of a bar or a restaurant within their establishment 225 00:17:29,320 --> 00:17:33,640 Maybe some trade secrets to avoid or challenges or struggles you've had within that 226 00:17:33,640 --> 00:17:42,680 Uh, well, that's a great question. A big thing is starting off learning that it's easier to do more things 227 00:17:43,480 --> 00:17:46,600 Than it is to try to do too many things and then take them away 228 00:17:46,760 --> 00:17:47,720 A very good point 229 00:17:47,720 --> 00:17:52,760 So I mean like if you want to be like, oh, we're gonna just we're gonna be a seven day a week bar in restaurant 230 00:17:53,560 --> 00:17:56,360 To go back from that. It's really hard for people 231 00:17:56,360 --> 00:18:00,360 And it's really hard for like the general public to wrap their minds around whereas if you start off and you're like 232 00:18:00,360 --> 00:18:04,040 Like right now we're doing Thursday Friday Saturday Sundays with this new restaurant project 233 00:18:04,360 --> 00:18:09,320 We're probably gonna add two nights. Yeah, but we're not gonna take away any nights. I mean like 234 00:18:10,520 --> 00:18:11,720 Give me expectations 235 00:18:11,720 --> 00:18:16,280 Correct and then taking them away, which is really hard instead of like being like, yeah, we're doing this and they're like, man 236 00:18:16,280 --> 00:18:20,920 I wish they did that more and then you do it more and and recognizing like when 237 00:18:21,960 --> 00:18:23,960 Those things need to happen, but not also 238 00:18:24,680 --> 00:18:26,200 but also 239 00:18:26,200 --> 00:18:32,440 Like how to do them effectively and like where the seasonality of those things occurs because every hostel is gonna be different depending on 240 00:18:32,440 --> 00:18:36,040 If you're a city or you're here like we're super busy in the winter. We're not busy in the summer 241 00:18:36,040 --> 00:18:39,240 So to run six days a week in the summer makes absolutely no sense 242 00:18:39,720 --> 00:18:41,880 But the local crowd wouldn't hold it against us 243 00:18:42,520 --> 00:18:44,520 If we were you know, we cut back to four days 244 00:18:45,160 --> 00:18:49,320 From six days in the winter if it was a consistent thing, it'll change. Does that make sense? Yeah 245 00:18:51,560 --> 00:18:55,000 Exactly so instead of being like we're gonna do this and we're gonna do this and you know 246 00:18:55,000 --> 00:18:58,440 Like everybody wants to do so much and then you start to realize 247 00:18:59,240 --> 00:19:01,640 Once you pick your head up after you've just been working for years 248 00:19:02,280 --> 00:19:05,480 Oh, man, I can't do all this. I literally can't do all this 249 00:19:06,440 --> 00:19:09,080 That's a very good point because I feel like a lot of people 250 00:19:10,360 --> 00:19:14,440 Are thinking about getting to the industry because they think it's easy 251 00:19:15,560 --> 00:19:19,560 They don't see you don't see what goes on behind the scenes. I've occurred. Yes 252 00:19:19,560 --> 00:19:24,520 Is that you know a bar restaurant takes such a team for sure to pull it off and do it consistently? 253 00:19:24,600 --> 00:19:27,400 Well, have it yes exactly and have it be consistent. Yeah 254 00:19:27,720 --> 00:19:33,160 And I think that's such great advice to any potential operator who drew that and from experience ourselves 255 00:19:33,480 --> 00:19:38,920 One of our locations had a beer and wine license in a restaurant space and what we've found out quickly is everyone's 256 00:19:38,920 --> 00:19:44,360 Got an opinion about a bar everyone's a male man the grocery guy everyone. Hey, you should do this 257 00:19:44,440 --> 00:19:46,280 You should have that you know what you should do 258 00:19:46,280 --> 00:19:51,400 Yeah, oh that line and we were green and we were young and we were ambitious and you know 259 00:19:51,400 --> 00:19:54,600 You think you're indestructible and you can do anything and we tried to do everything 260 00:19:54,760 --> 00:19:58,040 And we're open for breakfast for over for lunch for dinner over seven days a week 261 00:19:58,280 --> 00:20:01,160 And also like I'm getting great hairs in my chops. What the fuck is I? 262 00:20:02,440 --> 00:20:04,280 How is this happening? 263 00:20:04,280 --> 00:20:08,760 Yeah, I'm smoking too many cigarettes. I'm not eating right. You know everything kind of goes 264 00:20:09,240 --> 00:20:12,360 Uh against you at some point because you're trying too hard 265 00:20:12,360 --> 00:20:16,600 And one of the things if I could go in a time machine and we talk about all the time like man 266 00:20:16,680 --> 00:20:18,920 You know we should have just opened up from four to ten 267 00:20:19,400 --> 00:20:22,840 You know like five days a week and then from there keep it simple simple 268 00:20:24,120 --> 00:20:28,760 Oh my god, the more simple it can be like I said that after we shut the restaurant down we for four and a half years 269 00:20:28,760 --> 00:20:31,720 It was just me and my wife and then one lady who helped us run the bar one night a week 270 00:20:31,880 --> 00:20:36,120 Yeah, and we did everything because it was like why am I gonna pay out? 271 00:20:36,680 --> 00:20:40,520 When I can suck it up and do it myself and then take the time off later 272 00:20:40,520 --> 00:20:45,800 And it was like we knew the time off was coming. It wasn't like, you know some of these places like I'm sure in San Diego 273 00:20:45,800 --> 00:20:48,680 It's always busy. Yes. Yeah, I can talk about it's 80s. It's funny every day 274 00:20:49,960 --> 00:20:51,960 Whereas here like once the snow melts 275 00:20:52,280 --> 00:20:54,280 There's nobody for 60 days 276 00:20:54,760 --> 00:20:58,360 If we're lucky we'll get a couple of yesterday's kids or something, but like you don't see anybody 277 00:20:59,080 --> 00:21:02,520 They call it mud and stick season for a reason. It's just mud and sticks 278 00:21:03,320 --> 00:21:05,800 That's it. And that's twice a year around here. So 279 00:21:05,800 --> 00:21:09,880 That's great. Uh, yeah, you just have to you have to really be 280 00:21:10,840 --> 00:21:15,720 Smart about what you want to accomplish and what you're able to accomplish 281 00:21:15,720 --> 00:21:20,360 That's what you enjoy doing and that's the other like be happy with what you're doing like I love bartending. It's great 282 00:21:20,520 --> 00:21:26,520 Yeah, but that is great advice for our listeners out there. Uh, and I wish I had gotten that advice from before we try it 283 00:21:28,680 --> 00:21:33,560 Now is the staff from the restaurant entirely different from the hostel staff or do they intermix? 284 00:21:33,560 --> 00:21:41,320 Uh, the bar staff is my people now. Okay restaurant staff is the taco people. Okay, do that 285 00:21:41,880 --> 00:21:43,880 But that's only within like the last three months 286 00:21:44,120 --> 00:21:49,720 Otherwise it was always on us and then who works the hostel side of things is like flip the beds you know, I feel okay 287 00:21:49,880 --> 00:21:53,240 So you guys are old so I changed beds and clean toilets for a living. Yes 288 00:21:53,320 --> 00:21:57,720 We were we were texting earlier and emailing and I told you that's the most authentic 289 00:21:58,120 --> 00:22:01,240 Hostile owner response I've ever heard. Yeah get here when you get here 290 00:22:01,240 --> 00:22:04,920 But my head may be in a shitter or I may be flipping bed. That's right. There we go, man 291 00:22:04,920 --> 00:22:08,600 This guy's a real real thing. You gotta do it now as far as uh 292 00:22:10,040 --> 00:22:16,760 This intermingling of the two operations. Do you ever have any issues with security as far as 293 00:22:17,320 --> 00:22:20,120 guests from the bar and the uh, hostel 294 00:22:20,760 --> 00:22:27,000 Keeping things secure safe. How does that flow? Um, I don't know. I don't know. So we've been here over nine years 295 00:22:27,000 --> 00:22:29,000 We haven't had an issue 296 00:22:29,000 --> 00:22:33,240 Great. Well, like I said, we live in the middle of nowhere. So you do have to have a car to get to us which 297 00:22:33,960 --> 00:22:39,640 Assumes some level of affluence to begin with. You don't have drifters on the front. Correct. There's no drifters walking down the road. Um 298 00:22:40,520 --> 00:22:42,040 We also 299 00:22:42,040 --> 00:22:45,640 You know just based on like the local population and who stays around here 300 00:22:45,960 --> 00:22:50,520 It's a lot of people's friends that are coming up that like they don't have enough couches for their 30 friends to come up 301 00:22:50,520 --> 00:22:53,240 Because it's no for feed. Yeah, so it's a lot of overflow 302 00:22:53,240 --> 00:22:59,320 And ultimately like our average age that stayed here over the first nine years is probably closer to 40 than it is 30 303 00:22:59,480 --> 00:23:04,760 That's really cool. We're not we're not a college like I guess that's where like a lot of the bad reception 304 00:23:04,760 --> 00:23:07,880 I feel like for hostels comes from is everything. It's a college party. Yes 305 00:23:07,960 --> 00:23:12,680 Like there are 44 privately owned and operated condos that are located directly behind the hostel here that we have nothing to do with 306 00:23:12,760 --> 00:23:18,760 Other than sharing water. Yeah, and when we first moved in there was an outrage about a hostel coming in 307 00:23:18,760 --> 00:23:23,560 Oh, yeah, and then after a year half the people were like, oh that place is chill as fuck 308 00:23:23,640 --> 00:23:27,720 We're gonna go down there and then after another year most of the other people were like, oh, this is great 309 00:23:27,800 --> 00:23:33,640 And now a lot of the people who were up in arms about it nine years ago have had full season renters every winter 310 00:23:33,960 --> 00:23:36,360 Not because their condo is amazing, but because we're here 311 00:23:36,520 --> 00:23:43,080 That's and so like that just being able to like do that and like there are some of those people whose perception still has not changed 312 00:23:43,640 --> 00:23:45,640 They're assholes. Excuse me. Yeah 313 00:23:45,640 --> 00:23:52,360 Um, but almost everybody else has been like, wow, that isn't what I thought it was gonna be and I'm really glad that's here 314 00:23:52,440 --> 00:23:56,120 And so like operationally for us to just be able to kind of 315 00:23:56,920 --> 00:24:01,480 Buck the mold or buck the trend of what people think hostels are all about. It's just a big college party 316 00:24:01,640 --> 00:24:05,400 Yeah, they would be playing beer pong on the deck and but it's like this is like a bar 317 00:24:05,480 --> 00:24:08,280 This is like a legit business. Yeah, like you can't operate 318 00:24:08,840 --> 00:24:15,160 Like uh, like a college party and expect the town and the police and your neighbor is to treat you like a real legit business 319 00:24:15,160 --> 00:24:20,920 And your bottom line or your liquor license or your lodging license or whatever goes in so there's a lot of 320 00:24:23,160 --> 00:24:25,160 Making sure that what we do 321 00:24:25,160 --> 00:24:31,240 Not only fits with the local community, but are also our guests and where they're coming from and making sure they're comfortable with everything 322 00:24:31,240 --> 00:24:34,200 That's going on. So like we do a lot of live music 323 00:24:34,520 --> 00:24:38,520 But we almost always stop the music by midnight 12 30 the latest and make sure that the guests 324 00:24:38,920 --> 00:24:42,360 Aren't being disturbed in a super late hour and half the time they're all done with your party in any way 325 00:24:42,360 --> 00:24:47,160 Right. So it's like a win-win for everybody. But at the same point, you're just trying to make sure that everybody like you said 326 00:24:47,240 --> 00:24:49,240 feel safe feel secure 327 00:24:49,720 --> 00:24:51,720 Clean like we don't allow outside Betty 328 00:24:51,720 --> 00:24:55,720 So we've never had a problem with any sort of like cleanliness issues because we've been very diligent about like 329 00:24:56,280 --> 00:25:00,760 Your shit's not coming in like yeah, leave your sheets in your blanky and whatever in your car 330 00:25:00,840 --> 00:25:03,160 We've got everything here and plenty, you know, if you need extras 331 00:25:03,240 --> 00:25:07,720 So that's a good way to stop things because it's usually not you because corral it's someone else 332 00:25:07,720 --> 00:25:13,880 We're outside. So I think that's a great point and I think it was also awesome that you brought up that your age demographic 333 00:25:13,960 --> 00:25:17,400 Is actually closer to 40 because along our travels. That's very much same 334 00:25:17,720 --> 00:25:22,680 Even if someone would be willing to try out a hostel level, you know, I'm 35. I'm not gonna go there 335 00:25:23,240 --> 00:25:27,560 It's a college party. I'll feel weird when in actuality. We were at the Burlington hospital last night 336 00:25:27,640 --> 00:25:30,920 I think we might have been some of the youngest people in there. There's a bunch of 70 right? 337 00:25:31,240 --> 00:25:35,160 Oh, yeah walking around and talking travel stories and having a good time and they were great 338 00:25:35,160 --> 00:25:39,720 But I think that's so important that people know that in Europe in Asia and Australia 339 00:25:39,880 --> 00:25:43,800 This is how they travel well into their 60 70s 80s. It's just a way of 340 00:25:44,360 --> 00:25:48,280 Accommodations for them and we're hoping to to make that the same over here 341 00:25:48,280 --> 00:25:51,480 Yeah, I mean when we were starting this there was a big issue with us with people 342 00:25:51,720 --> 00:25:57,160 Conomting the hostel with youth hostels and us having to literally say to people who are trying to write contracts 343 00:25:57,160 --> 00:25:59,720 I'm never like it's not a youth hostel. Maybe like what's the difference? 344 00:25:59,720 --> 00:26:04,360 We like well, we're not catering anybody under the age of 21 probably not even into the age of 125 345 00:26:04,360 --> 00:26:07,240 Yeah, we're like well, how does that work? Well, just watch 346 00:26:08,840 --> 00:26:10,840 But just people having these weird 347 00:26:10,920 --> 00:26:15,800 That these preconceived notions of what hostels are and that's another like operational thing that we've 348 00:26:16,360 --> 00:26:21,320 lucked out on is because we have the commercial kitchen. We can't have a residential kitchen for guests to use 349 00:26:21,560 --> 00:26:25,560 Okay, so it's one of those a lot of people coming to be like well, I thought all hostels had to have a communal kitchen 350 00:26:25,640 --> 00:26:30,040 It's like well, some do some don't and so like a lot of hustles don't have a bar 351 00:26:30,040 --> 00:26:34,760 A lot of houses don't have a full service restaurant. So there's there's a lot of give and take and that's why like there's no 352 00:26:34,920 --> 00:26:38,520 Definition of what a hostel is other than shared room share facilities. Yes. Yeah 353 00:26:38,600 --> 00:26:45,320 And what facilities are provided beyond that is kind of hostile to hostile which also makes the hostile traveling experience great 354 00:26:45,320 --> 00:26:46,680 Because you never know what you're gonna get half the time 355 00:26:46,680 --> 00:26:51,720 There you know like some of the best stories my wife will tell her about like when they were in kates and southern spain traveling 356 00:26:52,120 --> 00:26:55,160 And they got to get the hammock tent or the hammock beds up on the rooftop 357 00:26:55,560 --> 00:26:58,200 And it was like that's the craziest week of our lives 358 00:26:58,200 --> 00:27:02,600 She was like, I bet if you were in a hammock in kates for a week you'd be having crazy times 359 00:27:02,680 --> 00:27:06,360 So, you know, they weren't expecting that going mean, you know, I mean so stuff like that 360 00:27:06,760 --> 00:27:09,400 I think that's a good a good thing to highlight there 361 00:27:09,400 --> 00:27:12,200 You know, you might want to try to go for that commercial kitchen license 362 00:27:12,280 --> 00:27:14,360 So you might want to try to go for that beer and wine license 363 00:27:14,440 --> 00:27:19,080 But there were also trade-offs the point where with that commercial kitchen now you might not be able to have the residential 364 00:27:19,720 --> 00:27:24,280 In our situation when you got the beer and wine license now you can't have a by ob situation going on 365 00:27:24,280 --> 00:27:29,800 Which is very yeah, so you have these trade-offs going on and you got to balance it out for your particular situations 366 00:27:29,880 --> 00:27:35,880 I think you're right. It is situational once best for your operation where you're at where you're located fix that nature 367 00:27:37,000 --> 00:27:40,760 What's the biggest challenge to keep this place clean? 368 00:27:41,560 --> 00:27:46,120 Yeah, old houses, you know, just just staying on top of it. Yeah, like it's one of those things 369 00:27:46,920 --> 00:27:48,680 If you do it every day 370 00:27:48,680 --> 00:27:51,320 It takes an hour if you wait a week 371 00:27:51,320 --> 00:27:55,480 How long does it take to you know, like and and that's the other thing like it's a hostel 372 00:27:55,560 --> 00:28:00,040 Yeah, I would say to my wife like the only person who's going to see the bathroom clean is the first person to use 373 00:28:01,800 --> 00:28:07,000 Like I can't be standing up there with like a bell and a towel. I'm like, okay, you're done. Okay. I'll clean it real quick 374 00:28:07,000 --> 00:28:13,240 I mean so you can only do the best you can do but like just staying on top of it and being very proactive about like 375 00:28:13,320 --> 00:28:18,920 Oh, there's dust on that. I just just do it. Don't think like oh, I'm gonna put that on the list and I'll get to all those things 376 00:28:18,920 --> 00:28:23,640 Whatever like I literally spend most of my time cleaning toilets change your beds and vacuuming. Yeah 377 00:28:23,960 --> 00:28:28,760 Like I would bet like three hours a day on average. That's what I do and whatever like it is 378 00:28:29,880 --> 00:28:31,400 You get super good at it though 379 00:28:31,400 --> 00:28:36,280 Like when I'm outside and we have like sheets hanging on the line and there'll be like there was a group of women 380 00:28:36,360 --> 00:28:38,440 Women out there one time and I was folding fitted sheets 381 00:28:39,000 --> 00:28:42,520 And this one moment was like damn and I was like what she's like you can fold the fitted sheet 382 00:28:42,520 --> 00:28:45,480 I was like, yeah, she's like can you teach my husband? I was like, no 383 00:28:45,480 --> 00:28:50,200 Oh, because he's not gonna do it 10,000 times before he gets it right every time 384 00:28:50,200 --> 00:28:53,160 You know what I mean? It's almost like after years of doing it 385 00:28:53,160 --> 00:28:56,280 You become like a robot or something turns off and there you are just 386 00:28:58,120 --> 00:29:00,120 Like an assembly machine 387 00:29:00,200 --> 00:29:04,840 Packy always made a very good point about cleanliness in the hostel housekeeping 388 00:29:05,000 --> 00:29:09,160 Yeah, he's been doing it for over 20 years. Yeah, right and he's always a housekeeper 389 00:29:09,720 --> 00:29:13,240 And he's saying like I'm getting old. I need to exercise 390 00:29:13,240 --> 00:29:15,240 I listen to music some books 391 00:29:15,240 --> 00:29:18,840 That's true. You should put a podcast in and go. That's what I do 392 00:29:18,840 --> 00:29:21,720 Yeah, and like if I don't do this I do something else 393 00:29:21,800 --> 00:29:24,600 I would need to take some time on to go to the gym 394 00:29:26,280 --> 00:29:28,280 I don't want to do that. So 395 00:29:28,280 --> 00:29:33,400 Therapeutic sometimes, you know, it's super mindless. Yes. Yeah, and you're like, I just need to not think or talk to anybody for two hours 396 00:29:33,560 --> 00:29:37,000 Come on go clean the upstairs because so many times when you're an owner 397 00:29:37,400 --> 00:29:42,440 Or a manager in the house and you're faced with everyone's problems that they couldn't fix their handles 398 00:29:42,440 --> 00:29:46,840 So you're making decisions between bad and worse 100, you know, and you just like these are so challenging 399 00:29:46,840 --> 00:29:48,840 I'm doing lawyers and bankers 400 00:29:48,920 --> 00:29:53,480 Zoning officials and permit people and oh my god is in this folding this flat. She just the most 401 00:29:54,200 --> 00:29:57,080 Common peaceful moment of my day right now. I was like, why is he smiling? 402 00:29:59,320 --> 00:30:01,880 But you get in that moment of serenity. It's so true 403 00:30:03,640 --> 00:30:08,680 So thanks so much jiles. It's been an absolute pleasure. You're welcome. I want to thank bob dire 404 00:30:08,680 --> 00:30:12,920 Yeah, thank you Eric for you. If anybody wants to check out what we're doing on the internet 405 00:30:13,080 --> 00:30:15,080 You can find everything 406 00:30:15,640 --> 00:30:20,760 Hospital tabaret.com or all the social media is hos t e l t e v e re 407 00:30:21,240 --> 00:30:24,680 And i'm able to be followed at giles asmith.com or giles asmith 408 00:30:25,320 --> 00:30:33,160 G i l s a s m i t h and we wait for the episode to be streamed coming soon and shortly and other episodes as well on 409 00:30:33,160 --> 00:30:38,280 road trip hospital road trip dot com and our facebook page hospital road trip 410 00:30:38,280 --> 00:31:03,640 We are moving southward to the homestyle hostel where we wrap up our vermont campaign and then we'll head westward from there