1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:05,200 I'm up here now working on a tiny house project that we're about to open in about two weeks. 2 00:00:05,840 --> 00:00:10,520 It'll be added to our, we have eight years, the tiny house, the cabin that we rent out. 3 00:00:10,520 --> 00:00:17,640 And then we can, on fourth of July weekend, we have 70 different campers, you know, in tents. 4 00:00:17,640 --> 00:00:17,960 Wow. 5 00:00:17,960 --> 00:00:18,960 Whoa. 6 00:00:18,960 --> 00:00:22,160 And in the van, so the property is big. 7 00:00:22,160 --> 00:00:23,720 It holds a lot of people. 8 00:00:24,480 --> 00:00:25,760 Hello, friends and travelers. 9 00:00:25,760 --> 00:00:26,680 Thanks for listening. 10 00:00:26,680 --> 00:00:29,760 You are riding along on the Hostel Road Trip podcast. 11 00:00:29,760 --> 00:00:34,640 Our mission is to spread awareness of the true hostile experience in the Americas and share 12 00:00:34,640 --> 00:00:38,520 stories from the fascinating hosts who create those unique facilities. 13 00:00:38,520 --> 00:00:42,640 I'm your host, Jimmy Black, joined alongside co-founder of International Travelers House, 14 00:00:42,640 --> 00:00:44,000 Bobby Dyer. 15 00:00:44,000 --> 00:00:49,400 Each session, we sit down with hostile operators or travel influencers to hear about their 16 00:00:49,400 --> 00:00:55,320 road success, discuss trending hostile topics, and close with tips for travelers who are 17 00:00:55,320 --> 00:00:59,480 seeking to have the ultimate experience when visiting each destination. 18 00:00:59,480 --> 00:01:01,440 You can't afford to miss this trip. 19 00:01:01,440 --> 00:01:03,640 Now fasten your seat belts and let's hit the road. 20 00:01:08,840 --> 00:01:12,440 Welcome back to the Hostel Road Trip podcast. 21 00:01:12,440 --> 00:01:16,000 Second episode of the week for us. 22 00:01:16,000 --> 00:01:22,240 We had a great episode with Ryan at the Monterey Hostel, and now we're meeting with Jim Kennett, 23 00:01:22,240 --> 00:01:29,320 founder of the Northwest Portland Hostel and also the founder of the Naha, the North 24 00:01:29,320 --> 00:01:34,840 American Hostel Association, and who I like to call the Yoda of the hostile industry in 25 00:01:34,840 --> 00:01:35,840 the US. 26 00:01:35,840 --> 00:01:38,800 Jim Kennett, thanks so much for joining us. 27 00:01:38,800 --> 00:01:39,800 Thank you. 28 00:01:39,800 --> 00:01:40,800 Pleasure to be here. 29 00:01:40,800 --> 00:01:46,760 And of course, I'm also joined with my co-founder and business partner, Bobby Dyer. 30 00:01:46,760 --> 00:01:47,760 Thanks, Jimmy. 31 00:01:47,760 --> 00:01:50,760 Yeah, great to be here with Jim. 32 00:01:50,760 --> 00:01:51,760 Yeah. 33 00:01:51,760 --> 00:01:55,080 Well, yeah, we've been really excited to get you on the episode. 34 00:01:55,080 --> 00:01:58,120 We were trying to get you and the bunk and brew guys at the same time. 35 00:01:58,120 --> 00:02:01,200 And I told Bob, I was like, these are three different episodes we could do. 36 00:02:01,200 --> 00:02:06,360 So, you know, let's break it down and focus on the Northwest Portland Hostel. 37 00:02:06,360 --> 00:02:12,920 And I think it's so cool how long you have been in the industry and what an awesome journey 38 00:02:12,920 --> 00:02:19,520 you've had and how much other hostile owners and operators and managers and aspiring owners 39 00:02:19,520 --> 00:02:22,360 can learn from your experience and your journey. 40 00:02:22,360 --> 00:02:25,280 So super excited to dive into it. 41 00:02:25,280 --> 00:02:29,920 But if you wouldn't mind, can you take us back to the beginning and when that was of 42 00:02:29,920 --> 00:02:33,240 like, how did you first get exposed to hostels? 43 00:02:33,240 --> 00:02:38,040 What made you want to do it and jump into your first one before we talk about that? 44 00:02:38,040 --> 00:02:41,200 Because I know that you didn't start at your current hostel. 45 00:02:41,200 --> 00:02:43,880 But how did you first get exposed to hostels? 46 00:02:43,880 --> 00:02:50,200 Well, I guess you want the story of how I accidentally fell into my lifelong career. 47 00:02:50,200 --> 00:02:51,200 Yeah. 48 00:02:51,200 --> 00:02:56,200 You know, a lot of Americans discover hostels in Europe. 49 00:02:56,200 --> 00:03:02,760 But I was doing a trip after high school with my girlfriend and our Volkswagen bus around 50 00:03:02,760 --> 00:03:04,760 the US and Canada. 51 00:03:04,760 --> 00:03:12,280 And her brother gave us a membership card for at then it was called American Youth Hostels. 52 00:03:12,280 --> 00:03:13,280 Oh, cool. 53 00:03:13,280 --> 00:03:17,640 So we started staying in these hostels and I discovered, you know, a lot of these are 54 00:03:17,640 --> 00:03:18,640 privately owned. 55 00:03:18,640 --> 00:03:20,960 It'd be kind of a cool thing to do. 56 00:03:20,960 --> 00:03:23,000 It kind of sat in the back of my head. 57 00:03:23,000 --> 00:03:28,960 And you know, I graduated from Evergreen State College with a degree in social work, but 58 00:03:28,960 --> 00:03:32,400 I also did a four year carpenters apprenticeship. 59 00:03:32,400 --> 00:03:37,920 So it was the two skills were perfect for running a hostel, you know, dealing with people, 60 00:03:37,920 --> 00:03:39,640 dealing with buildings. 61 00:03:39,640 --> 00:03:47,160 And yeah, so I was lowered to the southern Oregon coast with an amazing job offer, which 62 00:03:47,160 --> 00:03:49,560 I did for a couple of years. 63 00:03:49,560 --> 00:03:56,440 And that was caretaking the ranch for Anne and Nancy Wilson of the rock group Heart. 64 00:03:56,440 --> 00:03:59,080 So I did that for a couple of years. 65 00:03:59,080 --> 00:04:02,040 And then I got tired of building in their empire. 66 00:04:02,040 --> 00:04:08,240 And a friend and I saw this condemned building in Old Town Bandon on the southern Oregon 67 00:04:08,240 --> 00:04:09,240 coast. 68 00:04:09,240 --> 00:04:11,160 We had very little money. 69 00:04:11,160 --> 00:04:16,560 I say we had $50 in our pocket, but I think it was more than that. 70 00:04:16,560 --> 00:04:22,400 So we put the word out to friends and we found three friends that each threw in $1,000 each. 71 00:04:22,400 --> 00:04:27,240 We were able to buy this old condemned building for $2,000 down. 72 00:04:27,240 --> 00:04:29,720 And then we were like, what are we going to do with it? 73 00:04:29,720 --> 00:04:34,360 So we started renovating and then the idea of let's do a hostel because we're on the 74 00:04:34,360 --> 00:04:37,320 Oregon coast. 75 00:04:37,320 --> 00:04:41,200 So we ended up opening the Seastar hostel. 76 00:04:41,200 --> 00:04:46,000 And Boykot in 79 opened the hostel in 1980. 77 00:04:46,000 --> 00:04:47,160 Wow. 78 00:04:47,160 --> 00:04:49,880 So there was five of us as partners. 79 00:04:49,880 --> 00:04:56,480 After two years, everybody else wandered away and left me there to enter my lifelong career. 80 00:04:56,480 --> 00:04:57,480 Not knowing. 81 00:04:57,480 --> 00:05:06,720 I bought them all out and then continued for 10 years in that location. 82 00:05:06,720 --> 00:05:15,080 You remember those first 100 days when you opened that or the first day when you opened? 83 00:05:15,080 --> 00:05:19,480 We licensed it through American Youth Hostels because there was great marketing back then. 84 00:05:19,480 --> 00:05:20,480 There was no internet. 85 00:05:20,480 --> 00:05:25,480 It was all about handbooks and brochures. 86 00:05:25,480 --> 00:05:30,280 They were distributing handbooks in 78 countries. 87 00:05:30,280 --> 00:05:32,960 So it was excellent marketing. 88 00:05:32,960 --> 00:05:37,920 That's how I got involved there. 89 00:05:37,920 --> 00:05:41,240 So they licensed us on a promise. 90 00:05:41,240 --> 00:05:45,800 I had one of the people come in and look at the place about nine months before and he 91 00:05:45,800 --> 00:05:46,800 was like, really? 92 00:05:46,800 --> 00:05:49,640 You're going to have this thing ready as a hostel by June? 93 00:05:49,640 --> 00:05:51,960 And I was like, yep. 94 00:05:51,960 --> 00:05:56,360 But June rolled around and we still had the common room was still set up with a table 95 00:05:56,360 --> 00:05:57,360 saw. 96 00:05:57,360 --> 00:06:01,480 We're just building the bunk beds. 97 00:06:01,480 --> 00:06:03,840 And I had no idea how many people were going to show up. 98 00:06:03,840 --> 00:06:06,680 But all these foreign travelers started knocking on the door. 99 00:06:06,680 --> 00:06:11,360 And so we just did work exchange when we first opened. 100 00:06:11,360 --> 00:06:14,560 We're like, well, we've got a place for you. 101 00:06:14,560 --> 00:06:17,000 We're going to have you set up your own bunks. 102 00:06:17,000 --> 00:06:20,000 And we're not going to check. 103 00:06:20,000 --> 00:06:22,840 That's how it got going. 104 00:06:22,840 --> 00:06:28,080 And I still have lifelong friends from those first six months. 105 00:06:28,080 --> 00:06:32,160 People that came for a night and left three to four weeks later. 106 00:06:32,160 --> 00:06:34,840 Yeah, that is special. 107 00:06:34,840 --> 00:06:37,240 We have some of that as well. 108 00:06:37,240 --> 00:06:41,640 People that were the first guests or the first staff members that we still stay in contact 109 00:06:41,640 --> 00:06:42,640 with. 110 00:06:42,640 --> 00:06:47,240 It's such a special time and a special energy when a hostel is opening up like that. 111 00:06:47,240 --> 00:06:48,960 Then it goes on for a long run. 112 00:06:48,960 --> 00:06:49,960 I'm curious. 113 00:06:49,960 --> 00:06:56,400 You've had such a range from 1980 all the way through the 80s, 90s, turn the century. 114 00:06:56,400 --> 00:07:02,760 What's the biggest changes in the backpacker guest clientele that you could notice from 115 00:07:02,760 --> 00:07:05,480 that vast amount of experience you've had? 116 00:07:05,480 --> 00:07:09,680 Yeah, big changes. 117 00:07:09,680 --> 00:07:13,880 I remember people expect more. 118 00:07:13,880 --> 00:07:14,880 They pay more too. 119 00:07:14,880 --> 00:07:21,480 When we first opened up, it was $2.50 a night. 120 00:07:21,480 --> 00:07:23,960 You helped clean the hostel. 121 00:07:23,960 --> 00:07:24,960 You didn't have chores. 122 00:07:24,960 --> 00:07:29,280 Yeah, you didn't have all these fancy amenities. 123 00:07:29,280 --> 00:07:35,680 We had a little stand on the counter that said, we have a hairdryer and a long clock 124 00:07:35,680 --> 00:07:36,680 for your use. 125 00:07:36,680 --> 00:07:41,040 People would come up and they would be checking in. 126 00:07:41,040 --> 00:07:46,240 They'd read that and they'd go, oh, wow, they have a hairdryer we can use. 127 00:07:46,240 --> 00:07:52,040 Nowadays, they're like the world. 128 00:07:52,040 --> 00:07:56,480 We have to give it to them as much as we can. 129 00:07:56,480 --> 00:07:58,920 Yeah, that's interesting. 130 00:07:58,920 --> 00:08:03,040 But people pay for those things that they want. 131 00:08:03,040 --> 00:08:09,040 They pay $40, $50, $60 a night so they don't have to do a cleaning chore. 132 00:08:09,040 --> 00:08:17,520 They can have an internet plugged next to their bed and have Wi-Fi and activities. 133 00:08:17,520 --> 00:08:22,920 People want activities at the hostel now, which we're really good at providing. 134 00:08:22,920 --> 00:08:25,440 Yeah, absolutely. 135 00:08:25,440 --> 00:08:30,360 What year did you, so 10 years you did that and then it was in 1990 that you moved to 136 00:08:30,360 --> 00:08:36,920 Portland proper and opened up the Northwest Hostel as an HI affiliate, right? 137 00:08:36,920 --> 00:08:38,920 Yeah, yeah. 138 00:08:38,920 --> 00:08:46,600 American Youth Hostels turned into HIUSA. 139 00:08:46,600 --> 00:08:48,040 We just kind of stayed on. 140 00:08:48,040 --> 00:08:54,400 I got involved in the organization and I was elected to the national board as the representative 141 00:08:54,400 --> 00:08:57,160 for all the private hostels in the organization. 142 00:08:57,160 --> 00:09:03,960 So I fought for all the rights for private hostels that were part of HI for years and 143 00:09:03,960 --> 00:09:04,960 years. 144 00:09:04,960 --> 00:09:07,960 I was on the board for probably 15 years or so. 145 00:09:07,960 --> 00:09:18,600 So my theory was if there's something you're not happy with, get involved and make it better. 146 00:09:18,600 --> 00:09:19,600 That's great. 147 00:09:19,600 --> 00:09:21,160 That's sage advice right there. 148 00:09:21,160 --> 00:09:22,160 Do something about it. 149 00:09:22,160 --> 00:09:23,160 Get involved. 150 00:09:23,160 --> 00:09:26,880 Before we go into more of the Northwest Portland Hostel, because I want to talk about how, 151 00:09:26,880 --> 00:09:30,360 and it's just a great example for other people, how you started in one house and then slowly 152 00:09:30,360 --> 00:09:35,480 took over the entire city block almost and turned it into your own compound. 153 00:09:35,480 --> 00:09:41,320 But for HI, since you were so intimately involved, as a lot of people are questioning and asking, 154 00:09:41,320 --> 00:09:45,360 especially during the pandemic, they closed down and sold so many operations. 155 00:09:45,360 --> 00:09:48,440 What do you think the future of HI is in the US market? 156 00:09:48,440 --> 00:09:54,160 Do you think that they'll grow back or are they kind of still in a consolidation mode? 157 00:09:54,160 --> 00:10:01,800 Well, HI, back in the day, like I said before, the internet was very powerful. 158 00:10:01,800 --> 00:10:07,800 They had pretty strict standards, but we ran a good hostel, so we didn't have to do a lot 159 00:10:07,800 --> 00:10:10,680 of extra stuff to meet their standards. 160 00:10:10,680 --> 00:10:21,040 But once the internet came out and companies like Hostel World jumped in, then HI became 161 00:10:21,040 --> 00:10:27,000 less significant as a marketing tool for private hostels. 162 00:10:27,000 --> 00:10:36,040 So you stayed in and you tolerated the bureaucracy or you dropped out. 163 00:10:36,040 --> 00:10:39,360 So I think they just kind of got weaker and weaker. 164 00:10:39,360 --> 00:10:44,400 They focused a lot on the big city hostels, which was where they could make their money. 165 00:10:44,400 --> 00:10:49,400 And then they were on this roll to get in these mid-sized hostels. 166 00:10:49,400 --> 00:10:51,440 And they were doing a pretty good job. 167 00:10:51,440 --> 00:10:55,920 They had Houston, they had one in Portland, they had Richmond. 168 00:10:55,920 --> 00:11:02,400 They had, I don't know, eight or 10 decent mid-sized hostels out there. 169 00:11:02,400 --> 00:11:06,760 The pandemic hit and they just sold them all. 170 00:11:06,760 --> 00:11:10,800 They kept the big money makers. 171 00:11:10,800 --> 00:11:15,760 And it was a shame to see that happen in the organization. 172 00:11:15,760 --> 00:11:20,400 So I think they're going to focus on their big city hostels. 173 00:11:20,400 --> 00:11:24,760 And I think, I don't know if they'll ever get back to the point where they could do 174 00:11:24,760 --> 00:11:26,960 smaller mid-sized hostels. 175 00:11:26,960 --> 00:11:30,560 Yeah, that's a shame. 176 00:11:30,560 --> 00:11:32,240 A lot of really cool properties. 177 00:11:32,240 --> 00:11:37,040 And some of them I wish I was in a better situation in that time period. 178 00:11:37,040 --> 00:11:39,480 But of course, we're all just holding on to our boots. 179 00:11:39,480 --> 00:11:45,960 But some of the gems like they had over in, I think Martha's Vineyard or the Annis area. 180 00:11:45,960 --> 00:11:47,160 I grew up around that area. 181 00:11:47,160 --> 00:11:51,240 So what an amazing place to have a hostel. 182 00:11:51,240 --> 00:11:55,480 And I've actually ran into guests staying at our hostels that are like, do you know 183 00:11:55,480 --> 00:11:56,640 they closed that down? 184 00:11:56,640 --> 00:11:59,960 I was going there for 20 years, the same week every week. 185 00:11:59,960 --> 00:12:06,560 So it's sad to hear that impact that the pandemic had on even such a staple like HI. 186 00:12:06,560 --> 00:12:07,560 Yeah. 187 00:12:07,560 --> 00:12:12,800 So I don't think HIUSA will ever come back to where they were. 188 00:12:12,800 --> 00:12:15,440 Not in the way they were going about it. 189 00:12:15,440 --> 00:12:22,520 But I think they'll probably continue to develop a few more big city hostels when they can. 190 00:12:22,520 --> 00:12:29,000 They really only have the ability to do one at a time. 191 00:12:29,000 --> 00:12:34,440 And maybe it takes five years to get that one up and running and stabilizing and making 192 00:12:34,440 --> 00:12:35,800 money. 193 00:12:35,800 --> 00:12:43,720 So it's not going to be a big competition other than the ones that are already existing. 194 00:12:43,720 --> 00:12:46,240 That's my question. 195 00:12:46,240 --> 00:12:52,680 And I think very few people know HIUSA as well as I do, even though they own the host 196 00:12:52,680 --> 00:12:53,680 of course. 197 00:12:53,680 --> 00:12:54,680 Yeah. 198 00:12:54,680 --> 00:12:55,680 Yeah. 199 00:12:55,680 --> 00:13:00,160 I'm glad to hear your opinion on that because it's such a surprise to a lot of people and 200 00:13:00,160 --> 00:13:03,680 curiosities of that and how it will turn out. 201 00:13:03,680 --> 00:13:04,680 Right. 202 00:13:04,680 --> 00:13:05,680 Yeah. 203 00:13:05,680 --> 00:13:09,120 So there was a little bit of a jump. 204 00:13:09,120 --> 00:13:16,920 When I sold my hostel in Bandon in 1990, I did move to Portland, but I opened a hostel 205 00:13:16,920 --> 00:13:21,440 on the northern coast in Seaside, the Seaside Hostel. 206 00:13:21,440 --> 00:13:25,320 And I opened it in 1994, but I never lived there. 207 00:13:25,320 --> 00:13:30,960 I hired a manager and I would go over and spend time there. 208 00:13:30,960 --> 00:13:32,920 And I stayed in Portland. 209 00:13:32,920 --> 00:13:39,000 And then in 1998 is when I decided that I would go ahead and open a hostel. 210 00:13:39,000 --> 00:13:44,320 I knew there was a handful of people that I knew were looking at properties to open 211 00:13:44,320 --> 00:13:45,680 a hostel in Portland. 212 00:13:45,680 --> 00:13:49,520 And I thought, I'm just going to jump into the race. 213 00:13:49,520 --> 00:13:52,840 Took me about a year. 214 00:13:52,840 --> 00:13:54,760 It was all about location. 215 00:13:54,760 --> 00:13:57,320 So it took me about a year to find that perfect location. 216 00:13:57,320 --> 00:13:58,320 It is great. 217 00:13:58,320 --> 00:14:03,600 Not in downtown, but close enough in the city center where you could walk to everything, 218 00:14:03,600 --> 00:14:07,320 but be in a really good, vibrant neighborhood. 219 00:14:07,320 --> 00:14:09,000 Did you buy that location? 220 00:14:09,000 --> 00:14:11,400 Would that be the first place? 221 00:14:11,400 --> 00:14:14,400 Well, you purchased your first place outright with the property. 222 00:14:14,400 --> 00:14:20,040 Did you buy that first property in Portland as well before you started to expand and purchase? 223 00:14:20,040 --> 00:14:21,040 Yeah. 224 00:14:21,040 --> 00:14:22,040 Yeah. 225 00:14:22,040 --> 00:14:25,000 It was a vacant building. 226 00:14:25,000 --> 00:14:32,280 It had been six apartments, small apartments, but a women's shelter had used it prior to 227 00:14:32,280 --> 00:14:36,840 us moving in and renovating. 228 00:14:36,840 --> 00:14:38,960 That was what we call our group center now. 229 00:14:38,960 --> 00:14:42,120 It's one of our smaller buildings. 230 00:14:42,120 --> 00:14:48,960 So we bought that on a contract because didn't have a lot of money still. 231 00:14:48,960 --> 00:14:53,440 And still don't have a lot of money now that the pandemic is over. 232 00:14:53,440 --> 00:14:55,760 Now when you say contract, like owner financing? 233 00:14:55,760 --> 00:14:56,760 Yeah. 234 00:14:56,760 --> 00:14:57,760 Yeah. 235 00:14:57,760 --> 00:14:58,760 Okay. 236 00:14:58,760 --> 00:14:59,760 Great. 237 00:14:59,760 --> 00:15:00,760 Like a private no. 238 00:15:00,760 --> 00:15:01,760 Okay. 239 00:15:01,760 --> 00:15:02,760 No bank. 240 00:15:02,760 --> 00:15:03,760 Met with the owner, told him our plan. 241 00:15:03,760 --> 00:15:08,600 He was happy to be totally into the neighborhood and he thought this is a great thing for Northwest 242 00:15:08,600 --> 00:15:09,600 Portland. 243 00:15:09,600 --> 00:15:10,600 Oh, awesome. 244 00:15:10,600 --> 00:15:11,600 Yeah. 245 00:15:11,600 --> 00:15:14,240 So he gave us a really great deal. 246 00:15:14,240 --> 00:15:19,600 And four or five years later we refinanced for the bank, which was our agreement with 247 00:15:19,600 --> 00:15:20,920 him. 248 00:15:20,920 --> 00:15:26,560 And then our second building, seven years later, he happened to own that building as 249 00:15:26,560 --> 00:15:28,040 well. 250 00:15:28,040 --> 00:15:35,120 So all the time that we were running this 30, 34 bed hostel that was full to the max 251 00:15:35,120 --> 00:15:44,140 in a city like Portland, every time I would run into Rick Michaelson at different meetings 252 00:15:44,140 --> 00:15:48,960 in the neighborhood, I would always say, hey, the Elliston would make a great hostel. 253 00:15:48,960 --> 00:15:55,200 And then one day he said, let's meet and talk about that. 254 00:15:55,200 --> 00:16:01,080 And so I had been, as a carpenter, I had been buying and selling houses, kind of flipping 255 00:16:01,080 --> 00:16:02,080 them in Portland. 256 00:16:02,080 --> 00:16:05,680 So I had a few fourplexes. 257 00:16:05,680 --> 00:16:08,060 I had some equity and some property. 258 00:16:08,060 --> 00:16:12,880 So when he said that and he was willing to give us another really good deal on the price, 259 00:16:12,880 --> 00:16:24,040 he carried the contract for this 8,000 square foot building that tripled our size. 260 00:16:24,040 --> 00:16:29,360 We bought that on a contract with him, another agreement where we'd have them cashed out 261 00:16:29,360 --> 00:16:30,360 in five years. 262 00:16:30,360 --> 00:16:37,520 And I knew if we could get the renovations done, get the bunk beds in and fill the bunk 263 00:16:37,520 --> 00:16:41,480 beds that we could refinance for the bank. 264 00:16:41,480 --> 00:16:42,480 So we did that. 265 00:16:42,480 --> 00:16:47,200 Did you spend most of your time with your background in the carpentry side, focusing 266 00:16:47,200 --> 00:16:49,840 on the facilities and the build out? 267 00:16:49,840 --> 00:16:51,360 Or were you more in operations? 268 00:16:51,360 --> 00:16:53,120 How did you kind of organize your... 269 00:16:53,120 --> 00:16:56,840 Well, I mean, back in the day, I was doing both. 270 00:16:56,840 --> 00:17:08,200 Shutting the table saw off to go check somebody in in the first days, maybe get them involved 271 00:17:08,200 --> 00:17:11,040 in whatever project we were working on. 272 00:17:11,040 --> 00:17:18,000 And then as we get bigger and bigger and we're able to just support more staff and hire a 273 00:17:18,000 --> 00:17:24,400 manager, then I still always stayed pretty hands on. 274 00:17:24,400 --> 00:17:29,800 You know, my wife, Britta, is extremely involved in the North West. 275 00:17:29,800 --> 00:17:34,880 And we met the first year I opened Portland in 1998. 276 00:17:34,880 --> 00:17:42,120 She came over from Germany on a work and travel visa to if she wanted to improve her English. 277 00:17:42,120 --> 00:17:47,200 Now her English is better than mine. 278 00:17:47,200 --> 00:17:52,400 And then she came back two years later and did like a two year internship at our hostel. 279 00:17:52,400 --> 00:17:56,360 Then it came back a third time and that's when we got together. 280 00:17:56,360 --> 00:18:04,280 So she's been involved since 1998 when we opened the doors and again, weren't quite 281 00:18:04,280 --> 00:18:07,320 finished, but it was June and we needed the income. 282 00:18:07,320 --> 00:18:17,000 So we set up the card table and the cigar box as our front desk. 283 00:18:17,000 --> 00:18:18,000 And she helped. 284 00:18:18,000 --> 00:18:23,320 She has a logistics major in college and then she went on to get her MBA at Portland State 285 00:18:23,320 --> 00:18:24,320 University. 286 00:18:24,320 --> 00:18:27,160 So she's quite the business. 287 00:18:27,160 --> 00:18:29,680 Oh, she's sharp. 288 00:18:29,680 --> 00:18:36,600 When you look back on your years of running the different hostels and we've had our hostels 289 00:18:36,600 --> 00:18:43,720 now for 12 years and do the same reflection, what times do you reflect back that you feel 290 00:18:43,720 --> 00:18:47,120 your hostel was firing in all cylinders or doing its best? 291 00:18:47,120 --> 00:18:52,120 Is there a certain year or time or like an energy that you guys were like, wow, we're 292 00:18:52,120 --> 00:18:54,920 really, this can't get any better than this. 293 00:18:54,920 --> 00:18:59,600 Is there a moment in time that you reflect back that you maybe chase in other years? 294 00:18:59,600 --> 00:19:11,040 Yeah, I would say three months before the pandemic hit, we had received the announcement 295 00:19:11,040 --> 00:19:17,280 from Hostel World that we got the award for the third best midsize hostel in the world 296 00:19:17,280 --> 00:19:23,920 in January and then in March, the pandemic hit. 297 00:19:23,920 --> 00:19:27,200 So it was at that point, we built our new building. 298 00:19:27,200 --> 00:19:29,960 We had five building on the block. 299 00:19:29,960 --> 00:19:35,800 We decided to take our small parking lot in 2017 and build a five story building because 300 00:19:35,800 --> 00:19:42,240 I'm a perfectionist, Brits is a perfectionist and we're missing things. 301 00:19:42,240 --> 00:19:47,960 We're missing really good common space where we could do activities and programs and music. 302 00:19:47,960 --> 00:19:51,480 We were missing a bar or a restaurant. 303 00:19:51,480 --> 00:19:57,760 So we knew if we built a new building from the ground up, we could take that ground floor 304 00:19:57,760 --> 00:20:05,240 and we can devote that to the hostel commons, which we have where we do a lot of activities. 305 00:20:05,240 --> 00:20:12,920 We added the hostel cafe, which in the evening serves as kind of an informal bar where we've 306 00:20:12,920 --> 00:20:18,960 got 12 local beer taps and a cider and kombucha. 307 00:20:18,960 --> 00:20:25,000 And then we serve food, really good food. 308 00:20:25,000 --> 00:20:29,400 I have this philosophy, I wouldn't give to the travelers anything that I wouldn't eat 309 00:20:29,400 --> 00:20:30,400 and I'm pretty picky. 310 00:20:30,400 --> 00:20:31,400 That's a good philosophy. 311 00:20:31,400 --> 00:20:32,400 Yeah. 312 00:20:32,400 --> 00:20:33,400 We don't eat processed food. 313 00:20:33,400 --> 00:20:37,960 We don't eat food that's been frozen. 314 00:20:37,960 --> 00:20:41,480 We eat meat, we like to know where it came from. 315 00:20:41,480 --> 00:20:45,000 So we do all that in the cafe and people are really surprised. 316 00:20:45,000 --> 00:20:52,120 They think, oh, food in a hostel is going to be really mediocre, but we have such great 317 00:20:52,120 --> 00:20:56,560 food that the neighborhood has really embraced the cafe as well. 318 00:20:56,560 --> 00:20:59,560 And it really is. 319 00:20:59,560 --> 00:21:04,640 Just to follow up, would you say that the common area you feel was the really game changer 320 00:21:04,640 --> 00:21:07,120 that puts you guys over the edge to win the Oscar? 321 00:21:07,120 --> 00:21:09,000 What do you feel was the... 322 00:21:09,000 --> 00:21:11,120 The common area and the cafe. 323 00:21:11,120 --> 00:21:18,600 When we had to close the cafe for a year and a half during the pandemic, it was like you 324 00:21:18,600 --> 00:21:22,800 could just feel that important piece was missing. 325 00:21:22,800 --> 00:21:29,480 It was like the hostel is dead across the Western Indian Troubles, but even if we reopened, 326 00:21:29,480 --> 00:21:34,800 with the doors closed, because restaurants weren't allowed to reopen, they could only 327 00:21:34,800 --> 00:21:38,200 do food to go. 328 00:21:38,200 --> 00:21:46,720 But the hostel commons and the cafe, the new building, the main floor, it's like a little 329 00:21:46,720 --> 00:21:49,400 beehive with people coming and going. 330 00:21:49,400 --> 00:21:51,560 And then we have other buildings. 331 00:21:51,560 --> 00:21:57,440 So you don't feel like you're staying in a 200-bed hostel when you stay with us, because 332 00:21:57,440 --> 00:22:03,840 we have these historic houses with private rooms so people can kind of get away and they're 333 00:22:03,840 --> 00:22:11,280 kind of quiet in their 100-year-old renovated room that they're staying in. 334 00:22:11,280 --> 00:22:15,280 And when they want activity, they can just walk over to the hostel commons. 335 00:22:15,280 --> 00:22:20,400 The courtyard is a magical place too, right outside the commons. 336 00:22:20,400 --> 00:22:25,240 And we did this feature, you saw it when you were there, where we have a glass wall that 337 00:22:25,240 --> 00:22:27,240 opens from the hostel commons. 338 00:22:27,240 --> 00:22:28,240 That's awesome. 339 00:22:28,240 --> 00:22:29,240 That's lovely. 340 00:22:29,240 --> 00:22:30,240 Yeah. 341 00:22:30,240 --> 00:22:31,240 And the courtyard is covered. 342 00:22:31,240 --> 00:22:36,040 So indoor and outdoor common spaces are so important for people to connect and host, 343 00:22:36,040 --> 00:22:37,040 right? 344 00:22:37,040 --> 00:22:39,880 You want to host a party and not have a good place to hang out. 345 00:22:39,880 --> 00:22:40,880 Exactly. 346 00:22:40,880 --> 00:22:41,880 For sure. 347 00:22:41,880 --> 00:22:42,880 Yeah. 348 00:22:42,880 --> 00:22:46,880 And I think that your place is just so magical in the way that you did combine all of those 349 00:22:46,880 --> 00:22:51,240 spaces and increase your bed count without losing the intimacy. 350 00:22:51,240 --> 00:22:55,240 It's really impressive how your flow and the feng shui of the place, you can tell that 351 00:22:55,240 --> 00:22:58,680 there was a lot of thought that went into it with the custom build complemented with 352 00:22:58,680 --> 00:23:00,760 the historical houses. 353 00:23:00,760 --> 00:23:04,720 Really an awesome spot and a great model for people to take. 354 00:23:04,720 --> 00:23:10,400 Before I jump over and I want to talk a bit about your awesome farm hostel with the yurts, 355 00:23:10,400 --> 00:23:15,160 but with the restaurant and the cafe, which is such a different animal, we tried to do 356 00:23:15,160 --> 00:23:19,760 one time years back and had a lot of trouble with it. 357 00:23:19,760 --> 00:23:27,600 Do you find that that makes a similar amount of profit as a lot of the South American hostels 358 00:23:27,600 --> 00:23:33,120 or hostels in Mexico, they'll make most of their profit from the bar. 359 00:23:33,120 --> 00:23:37,880 Do you find that that's the case there or that it's more of a complimentary inclusion 360 00:23:37,880 --> 00:23:41,720 to the experience and the bread and the butter is still the hostel? 361 00:23:41,720 --> 00:23:47,120 Yeah, the bread and the butter is still the hostel. 362 00:23:47,120 --> 00:23:51,360 It's hard to make it in the restaurant world. 363 00:23:51,360 --> 00:23:58,680 We have the hostel cafe as an important vibe for the hostel. 364 00:23:58,680 --> 00:24:02,560 The heart and soul for us is the hostel itself. 365 00:24:02,560 --> 00:24:06,760 Everything we do centers around making the hostel better. 366 00:24:06,760 --> 00:24:10,080 We might stay open until midnight. 367 00:24:10,080 --> 00:24:15,320 It's not because we're going to make a profit from 10 PM till midnight, but the travelers 368 00:24:15,320 --> 00:24:22,080 that fly in on a late flight or come in on a late bus have a place where they can get 369 00:24:22,080 --> 00:24:26,440 something to eat. 370 00:24:26,440 --> 00:24:29,000 I think that's a great thing for people to hear on that. 371 00:24:29,000 --> 00:24:31,960 Don't put all your eggs or all your chips in that basket of the restaurant, which is 372 00:24:31,960 --> 00:24:35,460 such a difficult and competitive and complex market. 373 00:24:35,460 --> 00:24:41,000 If you can build in the scene like you did, that it's a complimentary element to the hostel 374 00:24:41,000 --> 00:24:46,240 business and don't forget that the hostel is the main business and the restaurant, the 375 00:24:46,240 --> 00:24:49,400 cafe element, the bar element should be in complement to that. 376 00:24:49,400 --> 00:24:54,480 I think that's a safe way to put in a hostel bar or a cafe. 377 00:24:54,480 --> 00:24:57,280 Great example there. 378 00:24:57,280 --> 00:25:05,640 We got to visit the hostel farm that you have with amazing yurts and just the magical in 379 00:25:05,640 --> 00:25:07,280 the forest type of vibe. 380 00:25:07,280 --> 00:25:12,880 I think you've got your music festival event coming up later this month or next month. 381 00:25:12,880 --> 00:25:14,480 How did that project come about? 382 00:25:14,480 --> 00:25:16,480 Can you talk a bit about that? 383 00:25:16,480 --> 00:25:17,960 Well, yeah. 384 00:25:17,960 --> 00:25:22,880 I mean, Britton and I were looking for five acres and it was right after the big real 385 00:25:22,880 --> 00:25:25,040 estate crash of 2008. 386 00:25:25,040 --> 00:25:31,000 So property was, there was a lot of property on the market. 387 00:25:31,000 --> 00:25:36,920 Our realtor that was looking for us called us and said, we've got this 50 acre property 388 00:25:36,920 --> 00:25:40,600 and we're like, we're looking for five. 389 00:25:40,600 --> 00:25:47,600 And they're like, but this is being repossessed in about two weeks and the price is like less 390 00:25:47,600 --> 00:25:49,920 than half of its appraised value. 391 00:25:49,920 --> 00:25:52,000 So we went and looked. 392 00:25:52,000 --> 00:25:56,440 It had the historic cabin on it, which was a wreck. 393 00:25:56,440 --> 00:26:00,840 Most people would have torn that cabin down, but it had been built by the homesteaders 394 00:26:00,840 --> 00:26:04,280 that arrived in a covered wagon. 395 00:26:04,280 --> 00:26:12,440 So with my copper to do skills and using work away and the work program, we renovated that 396 00:26:12,440 --> 00:26:16,160 over about a five year period, just a little bit at a time. 397 00:26:16,160 --> 00:26:20,480 But it also had the sprawling ranch house that was built in the 1960s. 398 00:26:20,480 --> 00:26:25,360 So we were able to take that and make some staff quarters, a kitchen for our staff to 399 00:26:25,360 --> 00:26:26,360 use. 400 00:26:26,360 --> 00:26:31,440 And then we covered out about a third of it to create a little apartment for ourselves 401 00:26:31,440 --> 00:26:32,440 from up here. 402 00:26:32,440 --> 00:26:40,200 But we ended up with 50 acres and we were like, okay, what are we going to do with it? 403 00:26:40,200 --> 00:26:42,920 We're not going to go up there and sit on 50 acres ourselves. 404 00:26:42,920 --> 00:26:46,080 So we might as well get some stuff going here. 405 00:26:46,080 --> 00:26:51,840 So we were involved in the music scene, folk music scene in Portland. 406 00:26:51,840 --> 00:26:58,400 And we started out by doing two songwriting camps in the summer where people would come 407 00:26:58,400 --> 00:27:04,360 week at a time and we had some instructors and it was a pretty cool experience. 408 00:27:04,360 --> 00:27:11,480 And then from that we added the old time camp out that you were mentioning is going to happen 409 00:27:11,480 --> 00:27:13,480 Labor Day weekend. 410 00:27:13,480 --> 00:27:16,760 And then Labor Day weekend, that's it. 411 00:27:16,760 --> 00:27:20,680 And then we have an Irish music camp out. 412 00:27:20,680 --> 00:27:24,800 We call it a camp out because it's really not a festival where people come to listen 413 00:27:24,800 --> 00:27:27,360 to music. 414 00:27:27,360 --> 00:27:32,760 It's a gathering for the musicians to come and circle around and play together. 415 00:27:32,760 --> 00:27:40,280 And then they do some, we have like an open mic in the evenings where people can perform 416 00:27:40,280 --> 00:27:46,520 but it's mostly workshops and just jamming together. 417 00:27:46,520 --> 00:27:48,560 When is the Irish one? 418 00:27:48,560 --> 00:27:53,160 That is the third weekend of August. 419 00:27:53,160 --> 00:27:54,160 Third weekend of August. 420 00:27:54,160 --> 00:27:57,480 And then the old one has now expanded to a five day. 421 00:27:57,480 --> 00:28:01,560 So it starts on Wednesday and then it ends on Labor Day. 422 00:28:01,560 --> 00:28:02,560 Wow. 423 00:28:02,560 --> 00:28:06,720 Oh man, I got to get up there one of these years to see one of those. 424 00:28:06,720 --> 00:28:10,120 I love Irish music and I love folk music too. 425 00:28:10,120 --> 00:28:13,960 And in the city bus that you rolled out there and I love the story you told me about how 426 00:28:13,960 --> 00:28:16,200 you brought that thing out there and you couldn't get it through. 427 00:28:16,200 --> 00:28:22,280 But I loved how you brought that in and complimented the property with this amazingly repurposed 428 00:28:22,280 --> 00:28:24,360 city bus that's so functional. 429 00:28:24,360 --> 00:28:26,920 I ended up hanging out there for a few hours late night. 430 00:28:26,920 --> 00:28:31,680 But just a cool, a really rad feature to the property in addition to the yurts. 431 00:28:31,680 --> 00:28:32,680 Right, right. 432 00:28:32,680 --> 00:28:33,680 Yeah. 433 00:28:33,680 --> 00:28:39,120 So, you know, so we did just these events for a while and then we decided, you know, 434 00:28:39,120 --> 00:28:40,840 let's open this up for camping. 435 00:28:40,840 --> 00:28:44,400 You know, first it was just five months of the year. 436 00:28:44,400 --> 00:28:47,640 When the pandemic hit, then we started going year round. 437 00:28:47,640 --> 00:28:52,520 Because everybody wanted to get out, must have been dead, but everybody wanted to get 438 00:28:52,520 --> 00:28:55,600 out of town to places like the zigzag. 439 00:28:55,600 --> 00:28:58,280 It's you know, zigzag mountain farm is what we call it. 440 00:28:58,280 --> 00:29:03,640 In fact, I'm up here now working on a tiny house project that we're about to open in 441 00:29:03,640 --> 00:29:05,280 about two weeks. 442 00:29:05,280 --> 00:29:09,800 It'll be added to our, we have eight yurts, the tiny house, the cabin that we rent out 443 00:29:09,800 --> 00:29:16,800 and then we can, on fourth of July weekend, we have 70 different campers, you know, in 444 00:29:16,800 --> 00:29:17,800 advance. 445 00:29:17,800 --> 00:29:18,800 Wow. 446 00:29:18,800 --> 00:29:21,520 So the property is big. 447 00:29:21,520 --> 00:29:24,120 It holds a lot of people. 448 00:29:24,120 --> 00:29:26,720 Do you bring guests back and forth? 449 00:29:26,720 --> 00:29:29,480 Like are you, do you do tours back and forth? 450 00:29:29,480 --> 00:29:31,520 Is there much connection for people? 451 00:29:31,520 --> 00:29:32,520 No. 452 00:29:32,520 --> 00:29:36,280 You know, there is public transportation to get up here. 453 00:29:36,280 --> 00:29:39,920 You can get to a half a mile of the place and then if you call us, we'll probably go 454 00:29:39,920 --> 00:29:40,920 pick you up. 455 00:29:40,920 --> 00:29:49,040 But you know, no, you know, that doesn't, we tried tours for a couple of years, but 456 00:29:49,040 --> 00:29:54,800 you know, with all the regulations and insurance and everything, you know, we kind of left 457 00:29:54,800 --> 00:29:56,760 people who specialize in that. 458 00:29:56,760 --> 00:30:03,240 But the bus, the bus story was, you know, I mean, Britta always points out the fact 459 00:30:03,240 --> 00:30:08,560 that she happened to be in Germany visiting her mother when I bought the bus. 460 00:30:08,560 --> 00:30:12,840 So she came home and we were the proud owners of a city bus. 461 00:30:12,840 --> 00:30:17,000 She's like, what are we going to do with that? 462 00:30:17,000 --> 00:30:22,640 And of course, it's a main feature of Zigzag. 463 00:30:22,640 --> 00:30:31,520 So we, you know, stripped all the seats out, put in the campers kitchen and then, you know, 464 00:30:31,520 --> 00:30:36,360 in the back area where there's always that little step up, you know, we kind of made 465 00:30:36,360 --> 00:30:41,560 that a little common space for people to hang out as well. 466 00:30:41,560 --> 00:30:42,560 It's great. 467 00:30:42,560 --> 00:30:43,560 Yeah. 468 00:30:43,560 --> 00:30:46,520 And so now this bus, you know, kids and adults. 469 00:30:46,520 --> 00:30:47,520 Yeah. 470 00:30:47,520 --> 00:30:49,960 Oh no, it's just one thing. 471 00:30:49,960 --> 00:30:53,000 And then so, but now the Zigzag is open year round now. 472 00:30:53,000 --> 00:30:54,000 It is. 473 00:30:54,000 --> 00:30:55,000 Yeah. 474 00:30:55,000 --> 00:30:56,000 Yeah. 475 00:30:56,000 --> 00:30:57,000 Oh, that's awesome. 476 00:30:57,000 --> 00:30:58,000 Awesome. 477 00:30:58,000 --> 00:30:59,000 We're up in a ski area. 478 00:30:59,000 --> 00:31:05,320 So, you know, in the winter, there is the shoulder time before the snow falls where 479 00:31:05,320 --> 00:31:06,800 it's a little quiet. 480 00:31:06,800 --> 00:31:10,800 But once the snow falls and, you know, we get a lot of people that are snowboarders 481 00:31:10,800 --> 00:31:14,880 and skiers that come up and stay in yurts. 482 00:31:14,880 --> 00:31:18,920 We started heating the yurts during the pandemic. 483 00:31:18,920 --> 00:31:20,960 Nice. 484 00:31:20,960 --> 00:31:28,600 And then I want to make sure that we also touch on the Naha Association and all the 485 00:31:28,600 --> 00:31:31,640 cool things that are going on there before we let you go. 486 00:31:31,640 --> 00:31:35,600 So if we could just take a few more minutes and talk about that. 487 00:31:35,600 --> 00:31:42,360 You obviously you formed this, which is such a Herculean task that we appreciate and understand. 488 00:31:42,360 --> 00:31:46,400 And, you know, had the great first meeting and I love that you had the first meeting 489 00:31:46,400 --> 00:31:51,720 as like a gathering to take suggestions and feedback from everyone and made it very inclusive. 490 00:31:51,720 --> 00:31:55,640 I think it's awesome that you've created this board with different sub board committees 491 00:31:55,640 --> 00:32:01,840 and get everyone involved and really just, you know, kudos to you and two thumbs up across 492 00:32:01,840 --> 00:32:02,840 the board on that. 493 00:32:02,840 --> 00:32:07,600 And we loved the first conference that you had this past April. 494 00:32:07,600 --> 00:32:14,600 Had a great time, really amazing connections with everyone, good quality content and just 495 00:32:14,600 --> 00:32:16,280 a fantastic experience. 496 00:32:16,280 --> 00:32:18,880 And I really enjoyed the post trip as well. 497 00:32:18,880 --> 00:32:24,360 But if you could give us an update on what's going on with the Naha, any new things happening 498 00:32:24,360 --> 00:32:28,280 and what's going to be the location for the next one. 499 00:32:28,280 --> 00:32:30,240 Yeah, yeah. 500 00:32:30,240 --> 00:32:34,280 So Naha was was born just before the pandemic. 501 00:32:34,280 --> 00:32:39,160 In fact, we were going to do the first hostel conference in Portland. 502 00:32:39,160 --> 00:32:43,600 I think it was September of 2020. 503 00:32:43,600 --> 00:32:48,000 And of course, you know, that wasn't going to happen with the pandemic hitting. 504 00:32:48,000 --> 00:32:52,720 But we had everything planned and we were getting lining up speakers and all. 505 00:32:52,720 --> 00:32:57,720 And then and then we were like, OK, is this really going to be over by Easter? 506 00:32:57,720 --> 00:33:02,840 Like our great president told us. 507 00:33:02,840 --> 00:33:09,600 And when we found out that it was just, you know, more nonsense coming from him, that, 508 00:33:09,600 --> 00:33:16,400 you know, we we we canceled it and then we all went into this mode of, you know, fighting 509 00:33:16,400 --> 00:33:19,040 the survival of our own hostels. 510 00:33:19,040 --> 00:33:25,640 So nothing much happened with the American Hostel Association until after we started 511 00:33:25,640 --> 00:33:26,640 getting back on our feet. 512 00:33:26,640 --> 00:33:34,840 And then a few of us, you know, Jay and Frankie from the Ben Hostel, Lauren from the, you 513 00:33:34,840 --> 00:33:40,720 know, they have the hostel in New York and for a short time started the hostel in Portland. 514 00:33:40,720 --> 00:33:44,960 But, you know, it's it folded due to the pandemic. 515 00:33:44,960 --> 00:33:50,440 But Lauren was pretty Lauren and her sister, Lee, they're pretty amazing people. 516 00:33:50,440 --> 00:33:56,600 You know, we we met them as as competitors and just welcomed them into the community. 517 00:33:56,600 --> 00:34:02,680 I wanted to work with them like we always do with what I call friendly competition. 518 00:34:02,680 --> 00:34:03,680 Right. 519 00:34:03,680 --> 00:34:10,280 And Lauren was we told Lauren and Lee about the the non-hine and they were like, we'll 520 00:34:10,280 --> 00:34:12,680 help get this going. 521 00:34:12,680 --> 00:34:14,440 And then that was sort of the spark. 522 00:34:14,440 --> 00:34:17,640 We sort of needed, you know, a little bit more energy. 523 00:34:17,640 --> 00:34:19,960 And then we reached out to Frankie and Jay. 524 00:34:19,960 --> 00:34:24,080 Yep, we're in and a few other people. 525 00:34:24,080 --> 00:34:26,440 So we just kind of started meeting. 526 00:34:26,440 --> 00:34:31,440 You remember we had that planning meeting in April, which you guys came to the year 527 00:34:31,440 --> 00:34:33,440 before. 528 00:34:33,440 --> 00:34:35,920 And that was our that was our feeler. 529 00:34:35,920 --> 00:34:41,920 You know, we we we looked around the country and we were like, let's invite about 15 of 530 00:34:41,920 --> 00:34:49,680 the best hostile operators that we know of to Portland and see if you see what the you 531 00:34:49,680 --> 00:34:55,240 know what the the barometer is for for getting this organization off the ground. 532 00:34:55,240 --> 00:34:59,600 So we invited 16 people and 15 showed up on their own dime. 533 00:34:59,600 --> 00:35:00,600 Right. 534 00:35:00,600 --> 00:35:01,600 Yeah. 535 00:35:01,600 --> 00:35:07,520 And and and so that was like, you know, this is a ripe time, you know, coming out of the 536 00:35:07,520 --> 00:35:08,760 pandemic. 537 00:35:08,760 --> 00:35:16,000 We need an organization, you know, you know, HSA is focusing on themselves, trying to, 538 00:35:16,000 --> 00:35:18,440 you know, trying to stay alive. 539 00:35:18,440 --> 00:35:21,480 There's no other organization in North America. 540 00:35:21,480 --> 00:35:25,300 So that's that's how it came about. 541 00:35:25,300 --> 00:35:29,640 And then from there, we we formed a board of directors. 542 00:35:29,640 --> 00:35:35,280 We twisted a few arms of people that we we thought, you know, we're good operators. 543 00:35:35,280 --> 00:35:37,320 They told us they didn't have much time to put in. 544 00:35:37,320 --> 00:35:40,520 But we were like, just, you know, right now we need your name. 545 00:35:40,520 --> 00:35:46,920 You know, we need, you know, we need five or six of us that are going to do some work. 546 00:35:46,920 --> 00:35:53,120 And then we need other people that, you know, other other folks want to join in. 547 00:35:53,120 --> 00:35:57,400 So so, you know, that's kind of how we operated for the first year. 548 00:35:57,400 --> 00:36:00,640 We got that amazing conference off the ground. 549 00:36:00,640 --> 00:36:03,080 You know, we've heard nothing but praise. 550 00:36:03,080 --> 00:36:10,160 You know, we brought people in from Europe and South America as speakers and attendees. 551 00:36:10,160 --> 00:36:15,840 And, you know, it's just it was just what we needed to kind of launch the thing. 552 00:36:15,840 --> 00:36:20,560 And then after that, where we're at now is we went back to all those board members and 553 00:36:20,560 --> 00:36:25,220 we said, you know, there's a whole group of people that want to be actively involved. 554 00:36:25,220 --> 00:36:30,240 So reconfirm, you know, this is a time that if you don't feel like you have the time to 555 00:36:30,240 --> 00:36:37,080 commit, we understand, you know, go ahead and, you know, resign and we'll and we'll 556 00:36:37,080 --> 00:36:42,960 get we'll get 13 board members that are really willing to put in some time. 557 00:36:42,960 --> 00:36:44,400 So that's the stage we're at now. 558 00:36:44,400 --> 00:36:51,120 We just we sent out that the executive committee sent out that kind of invitation and six board 559 00:36:51,120 --> 00:36:56,880 members decided, yeah, I don't have the time and I'd rather have somebody on the board 560 00:36:56,880 --> 00:36:59,720 that, you know, that does have the time. 561 00:36:59,720 --> 00:37:03,080 So six people resigned. 562 00:37:03,080 --> 00:37:05,120 And right now we have. 563 00:37:05,120 --> 00:37:08,520 Oh, I don't know. 564 00:37:08,520 --> 00:37:14,160 Something it's probably around 15 or 16 people that we're we're sending a short application 565 00:37:14,160 --> 00:37:15,160 to. 566 00:37:15,160 --> 00:37:16,160 Bobby is one of them. 567 00:37:16,160 --> 00:37:17,160 That's exciting, Bob. 568 00:37:17,160 --> 00:37:18,160 Tell your mom. 569 00:37:18,160 --> 00:37:23,160 So as soon as you get that, you got to send that back in. 570 00:37:23,160 --> 00:37:26,160 Bobby's Bobby's a she and I can tell you so. 571 00:37:26,160 --> 00:37:27,160 Thank you. 572 00:37:27,160 --> 00:37:33,840 And then we're going to know that that should really snowball us even more. 573 00:37:33,840 --> 00:37:39,360 You know, we're we've got almost 100 hostels as members. 574 00:37:39,360 --> 00:37:45,680 And we are goal is, you know, I mean, everybody should be a member that's that's running a 575 00:37:45,680 --> 00:37:47,920 hostel in North America. 576 00:37:47,920 --> 00:37:53,480 That's what was the biggest takeaway you felt that the membership wanted after the conference 577 00:37:53,480 --> 00:37:54,720 was all said and done. 578 00:37:54,720 --> 00:37:59,440 Like what direction did were you inspired to go or where did you feel that people wanted 579 00:37:59,440 --> 00:38:00,440 to go from there? 580 00:38:00,440 --> 00:38:07,600 I mean, a big direction is they want to have some resources. 581 00:38:07,600 --> 00:38:11,760 You know, like we have the WhatsApp, the North American. 582 00:38:11,760 --> 00:38:13,760 That's great. 583 00:38:13,760 --> 00:38:20,000 We're putting we're putting together a list of people that that have experience that are 584 00:38:20,000 --> 00:38:28,640 willing to be a resource for various things from hostile development to, you know, to 585 00:38:28,640 --> 00:38:36,080 you name it, technology and and so that new hostile operators or even current hostile 586 00:38:36,080 --> 00:38:40,760 operators that have just been operating out there in a vacuum can can reach out and say, 587 00:38:40,760 --> 00:38:48,440 hey, you know, what front desk system should I use or what, you know, what kind of activities 588 00:38:48,440 --> 00:38:50,240 are you guys doing? 589 00:38:50,240 --> 00:38:54,360 You see all the questions that come up on the North American. 590 00:38:54,360 --> 00:38:55,360 Right. 591 00:38:55,360 --> 00:38:56,360 It's amazing. 592 00:38:56,360 --> 00:38:57,360 So much value. 593 00:38:57,360 --> 00:39:02,040 Further, we're taking it a step further and we're creating a list of people that are willing 594 00:39:02,040 --> 00:39:04,000 to be mentors. 595 00:39:04,000 --> 00:39:10,520 I'm mentoring two guys that are managing and looking to buy the seaside hostel. 596 00:39:10,520 --> 00:39:13,360 Oh, cool. 597 00:39:13,360 --> 00:39:15,600 So they call me whenever they have questions. 598 00:39:15,600 --> 00:39:21,040 And, you know, I'm helping them from everything from how to negotiate with the current owner 599 00:39:21,040 --> 00:39:27,400 to buy the property, sub creative financing to, you know, how to manage a good host. 600 00:39:27,400 --> 00:39:31,320 And what improvements they should make to bring that hostile back up to where it should 601 00:39:31,320 --> 00:39:32,320 be. 602 00:39:32,320 --> 00:39:33,320 So that's awesome. 603 00:39:33,320 --> 00:39:34,320 Yeah. 604 00:39:34,320 --> 00:39:40,160 The social aspect is another big thing that people want. 605 00:39:40,160 --> 00:39:43,800 You know, like I said, people have been out there and operating in a vacuum. 606 00:39:43,800 --> 00:39:49,080 You know, they might be up in northern Maine and they never meet other hostile operators. 607 00:39:49,080 --> 00:39:52,200 So at least once a year they can come to this conference. 608 00:39:52,200 --> 00:39:59,600 And then I'm looking at, you know, once we get going a little bit is having some regional 609 00:39:59,600 --> 00:40:03,600 meetings where we just get together and we don't have to put a lot of time into presenters 610 00:40:03,600 --> 00:40:05,680 and all we just have a big potluck and. 611 00:40:05,680 --> 00:40:06,680 That's nice. 612 00:40:06,680 --> 00:40:07,680 Yeah. 613 00:40:07,680 --> 00:40:08,680 Yeah. 614 00:40:08,680 --> 00:40:09,680 A mixer. 615 00:40:09,680 --> 00:40:12,320 You know, I think that's I think that's a really good idea. 616 00:40:12,320 --> 00:40:13,960 We're actually talking about that earlier today. 617 00:40:13,960 --> 00:40:19,840 They used to have those Darren Overby used to have those hostile meetups or hostile management 618 00:40:19,840 --> 00:40:24,280 that were born localized or in this city or this region. 619 00:40:24,280 --> 00:40:28,360 So that can be a really cool element to bring. 620 00:40:28,360 --> 00:40:36,120 But so the last question has to be where is the next annual conference going to be? 621 00:40:36,120 --> 00:40:37,120 Has that been decided? 622 00:40:37,120 --> 00:40:41,200 We'll be back in Portland or are there a couple of options? 623 00:40:41,200 --> 00:40:43,760 Our goal is to move it around North America. 624 00:40:43,760 --> 00:40:48,880 We're you know, because we're so strong starting out in the US, we kind of thought it would 625 00:40:48,880 --> 00:40:50,960 be in the US for a while. 626 00:40:50,960 --> 00:40:56,120 But a new so when we let me back up a little bit when we formed the board of directors, 627 00:40:56,120 --> 00:41:03,080 we decided let's keep let's keep our board position for a rep from Mexico, a rep from 628 00:41:03,080 --> 00:41:05,440 the US and a rep from Canada. 629 00:41:05,440 --> 00:41:09,160 So we make sure at least there's a little bit of representation in there. 630 00:41:09,160 --> 00:41:20,040 So so we filled the we filled the position for Mexico recently. 631 00:41:20,040 --> 00:41:27,560 And it's I'm embarrassed to say it's it's Marco. 632 00:41:27,560 --> 00:41:30,600 But there's two Marcos that were at the conference. 633 00:41:30,600 --> 00:41:32,840 So I would have to look up his last name. 634 00:41:32,840 --> 00:41:36,360 But he has the he has a little chain of hostiles in Mexico. 635 00:41:36,360 --> 00:41:38,120 Oh, yeah, I remember him. 636 00:41:38,120 --> 00:41:39,120 Yeah. 637 00:41:39,120 --> 00:41:40,120 He's a Che, right? 638 00:41:40,120 --> 00:41:41,120 Yes, that's right. 639 00:41:41,120 --> 00:41:42,120 So awesome. 640 00:41:42,120 --> 00:41:50,240 We reached out to him and said, you know, are any of your hostiles capable of doing a 641 00:41:50,240 --> 00:41:51,240 conference? 642 00:41:51,240 --> 00:41:53,960 And and and he said, yes. 643 00:41:53,960 --> 00:42:04,560 So just he's got a hostile just south of I'm getting old and forgetful here. 644 00:42:04,560 --> 00:42:07,200 It'll be warm and sunny in Mexico either way. 645 00:42:07,200 --> 00:42:10,480 It's it's on the East Coast. 646 00:42:10,480 --> 00:42:18,000 It's that the famous famous town where all the couch potatoes from America go. 647 00:42:18,000 --> 00:42:20,000 OK, thank you. 648 00:42:20,000 --> 00:42:21,000 Yeah. 649 00:42:21,000 --> 00:42:22,000 Thank you. 650 00:42:22,000 --> 00:42:23,000 All right. 651 00:42:23,000 --> 00:42:25,160 You're going to leave us in suspense. 652 00:42:25,160 --> 00:42:26,840 I hate getting good. 653 00:42:26,840 --> 00:42:29,880 But I saw the canteen by about an hour. 654 00:42:29,880 --> 00:42:32,800 He's got a and so we're looking at that. 655 00:42:32,800 --> 00:42:34,320 We haven't totally firmed it up. 656 00:42:34,320 --> 00:42:39,880 But he's talked to this manager's there and it's and it's looking like that's probably 657 00:42:39,880 --> 00:42:42,560 where we'll be for our next meeting. 658 00:42:42,560 --> 00:42:45,000 Sounds like a good recon trip you're going to have to do. 659 00:42:45,000 --> 00:42:48,320 You go do text margaritas down there. 660 00:42:48,320 --> 00:42:51,800 I told him I'd come down early for sure. 661 00:42:51,800 --> 00:42:55,160 Oh, that's great. 662 00:42:55,160 --> 00:42:56,160 You guys could join me. 663 00:42:56,160 --> 00:43:00,320 Yeah, I'm happy to go do some recon and margaritas for that. 664 00:43:00,320 --> 00:43:06,640 But I think, you know, Mexico in April, you know, people are going to want to go there. 665 00:43:06,640 --> 00:43:09,520 I think we'll get a pretty good turnout. 666 00:43:09,520 --> 00:43:10,520 I agree. 667 00:43:10,520 --> 00:43:11,520 Yeah. 668 00:43:11,520 --> 00:43:12,520 Great time of the year. 669 00:43:12,520 --> 00:43:13,520 Yeah. 670 00:43:13,520 --> 00:43:18,560 And then we'll look at there's a couple of hostels willing to host it in 20. 671 00:43:18,560 --> 00:43:20,560 What would that be? 672 00:43:20,560 --> 00:43:23,320 Twenty twenty six up in Canada like the Olympics. 673 00:43:23,320 --> 00:43:24,320 Yeah. 674 00:43:24,320 --> 00:43:28,120 I think we'll be successful jumping around, you know. 675 00:43:28,120 --> 00:43:33,120 Yeah, the three main countries in North America. 676 00:43:33,120 --> 00:43:35,720 Well, we love going to them. 677 00:43:35,720 --> 00:43:39,880 So we're excited that you're continuing to plan and we'll stay tuned to hear what the 678 00:43:39,880 --> 00:43:43,720 final destination is for our next conference. 679 00:43:43,720 --> 00:43:49,640 But Jim, the Northwest Portland Hostel and the Association, thank you so much for joining 680 00:43:49,640 --> 00:43:52,680 us on the Hostel Road Trip podcast. 681 00:43:52,680 --> 00:43:55,560 And this is partner Bobby Dyer as well. 682 00:43:55,560 --> 00:44:01,880 We should mention, I mean, if I could jump in, we should mention any hostels listening 683 00:44:01,880 --> 00:44:06,120 to this that are not part of Naha, you should join it. 684 00:44:06,120 --> 00:44:07,120 So absolutely. 685 00:44:07,120 --> 00:44:10,120 I drop that every episode. 686 00:44:10,120 --> 00:44:11,120 All right. 687 00:44:11,120 --> 00:44:12,120 Get on it. 688 00:44:12,120 --> 00:44:13,120 Yeah. 689 00:44:13,120 --> 00:44:17,120 We're going to see you all in Mexico, you host owners and operators and managers. 690 00:44:17,120 --> 00:44:19,440 So get on it and get signed up. 691 00:44:19,440 --> 00:44:20,440 But thanks again, Jim. 692 00:44:20,440 --> 00:44:21,440 Thanks, Bobby. 693 00:44:21,440 --> 00:44:24,040 And stay tuned for our next episode next week. 694 00:44:24,040 --> 00:44:25,040 All right. 695 00:44:25,040 --> 00:44:26,040 Thanks, everybody. 696 00:44:26,040 --> 00:44:27,040 Thanks, Jim. 697 00:44:27,040 --> 00:44:55,780 Thanks again.