We just like handed the hostel over to him after a couple months of training. We're just like we're out
We need a vacation like oh my god, you know, we're talking 80 to 90 hour work
No employees no weekends no romance, you know, just like we made the sacrifice just to scale our business like long days
No sleep, you know
Trips no vacations and then and then we just gave it to the Andrew and then and then did a stress test, right?
Oh, and then we just we just went to Thailand and we came back didn't burn down and things things worked like it went well
With hostile operators or travel influencers to hear about their real success discuss trending hostile topics
Enclose with tips for travelers who are seeking to have the ultimate experience from visiting each destination
You can't afford to miss this trip a bass in your seat belts and let's hit the road
Welcome back to the hostile road trip podcast
Really excited about today's episode with a hostile legend a living legend
Branky Medusa of the bunk and brew hostile in Bend, Oregon, but that's just
The beginning of Frankie and that's just the tip of the iceberg because his journey has been super
Amazing in so many ways and he's found himself over in Portugal working on this abroad project and he's also
One of the founding members of the Daha the North American Hostile Association
So the biggest question is how are we gonna fit it all into one episode?
I don't know. I've been doing push-ups in the corner for the past 10 minutes trying to get jacked up to keep up for it
But let's dive in I'm with Frankie Medusa and Robert Dyer
My co-founder and partner of IGH hostels and we're ready to rock out an awesome episode. Thanks for being here guys
Thanks guys. All right excited to be here
Yeah, all right
So this is our you know, second attempt Frankie is a adventurous man
And that's one of the things I've always loved about Frankie is that he never lost the genuine traveler within him
Despite having these entrepreneurial ambitions because a lot of times one devours the other
You know, you're you've got the traveling gypsy within you
And it it never lets your entrepreneurial aspirations come to light on the flip side
You might be the traveling gypsy and then all of a sudden your entrepreneurial aspirations start to kill that gypsy
So I love to see that the gypsy still lives inside you despite all these awesome adventures you're taking
And things that you're doing but tell us where you're at right now in the world
No, thanks. Great. I'm in Portugal right now
What part of Portugal is a lesbian Lisbon Portugal
I am just north of Lisbon by about two hours
I'm in a small town called Omar Portugal and it's actually the uh, the Knights Templar headquarters
And i'm still figuring out how to become a Templar. So okay
That's awesome
We're behind the scenes project I like it
Yeah, but obviously you started
Bunk and Brew with Jay. We just recorded an episode with Jay in which we focused a lot on the Bunk and Brew property
And the awesome story that you guys had together
And how you met in a soccer league and you know by chance via a mutual friend
And then just you know hit it off and had that compliment of opposites attract type of thing, you know
And complimenting skill sets and i've always looked at you and Jay as a similar
Style to Bobby and myself, you know, you know two guys that respect each other
Work well with each other and understand that each other have different talents that are bringing it to the table
And so i've always been a big fan of your guys, but give us a little bit of a
Brief story of how you got to the point where you wanted to be a Templar
And you know and preceding Bunk and Brew what was your experience or your exposure to hostels that made you want to do this?
Yeah, yeah good good points and good questions geez and i'm really excited to listen to that interview with Jay
I purposely haven't listened to it yet. This will be great to compare
Yeah, so, you know, I think it's it's interesting
You know, I've been listening to a lot of people and I've been listening to a lot of people and I've been listening to a lot of people
Yeah, so, you know, I think it's it's interesting, you know, I've mentored some people now to like open hostels and people reach out
um
You know
I think there's the traveler that has traveled the world and just knows they want to own one and be part of one for
The rest of their life and they want to start one
And then there was like me I I was just kind of working to travel and traveling, you know
Just getting money to sit in that corporate grind that corporate life and then just travel like that was what?
filled the void for me was just being enriched by other cultures and
and
experiencing
Something new outside of my bubble. So
It's weird. I never wanted to necessarily own one
But then you know, like all of us do we neglect our own backyard and I was like, okay
I come to this great state of the you know, Oregon. So the Pacific Northwest
I was a Washington born native moved to Oregon in my young 20s for college and
Mother Nature's it's on freaking steroids in that area. It is
And
Yeah, it's it's stunning. And so I'm started to just do a lot more and I was in Boy Scouts
And so I did a lot when I was younger, but then I just started really doing a lot more
I'm just tapping into the local scenes and then just discovered Ben's
Um, I discovered it for the first time I think it's like
2015
Um 1415
And just fell in love with it. It was you know, three hours drive from Portland
And just needing to get out of the big city
And I tried to like check into a room and I think it was like 200
300 a night at that even at that time and everything was full like well, where's the hostel?
So I just started doing some research nothing no community. No affordability
Nothing inexpensive. I was like, okay, like like something's going on here. So it was kind of like well, I didn't mean to reinvent
It's just like if I'm affected affected personally, I think others are going to be affected
I don't think I'm in the minority here. And so
um
Yeah, so it was just kind of like
What are the next steps to put my life in motion to start a hostel there?
It's like this it'll be better than the corporate grind of doing all this work for somebody else's gang, right?
You know, you go to school for all that stuff and it's just kind of like well, you know
I think i've done as much as I needed to do in five years. I felt like this is boring
And so why not do something new and fun and adventurous and also enrich other people's lives and kind of check a box
Uh, like okay. I want to move to ben. I also I need to start a business
Uh to make that happen
Uh, that's no that's all
Yeah, it was really expensive to move there. So
You bring up some great points, you know right right off the bat there, you know for
potential hostel operators out there
One of the great things that we always bring up is if you're willing to live off of the beast and live within the hostel
uh
You know you can find yourself living in tier one cities that you would never be able to afford, you know
Or in situations in neighborhoods in certain cities that you're like
We have an operation in little italy san diego, which is like a thriving up-and-coming very bougie neighborhood
It's smack dab in the middle that you still got our bohemian hostel with the flags out front
And it's pretty funny as you see all these hippies falling out of that house and people are like where did these people come from?
We're like still holding strong, baby
Sorry, it's
Yeah, it's a cool thing in that but I also think it's you know, uh
How you found yourself in that, you know, what's in my backyard?
There are a lot of places throughout the country that could use a hostel where people would really think of it
And if you're from there and you're a local, you know, you're that local ambassador already. You're that local champion
uh, and that can be an awesome thing to continue to
Bring you uh more saturation to the industry now
Also, you know, so you you've got this bucket brew project and obviously we mentioned earlier that
You know you from there you went on to do so many other things. What I think is really inspiring about your story
and jay's story or one of the very inspiring things is
you
Started the hostel you opened it you rocked it out
And then it wasn't a prison, you know a lot of people
You know a lot of people get concerned and rightfully so, you know
A lot of small business operators become an inmate to their own business, you know
That is their prison that is their stuff. I I don't get to leave. I don't get to go on vacation
I I have to be here all the time and that's a really scary thing to think of and I think it stops a lot
Of people from trying it
And I think you guys are a prime example of that doesn't have to be like that
You know with the right systems and the right setup and things in the right business model
clearly
You were able to start that have that experience and then and you moved on to this portugal up
Project which I want to dive into next but give us a little bit of insight on how you two pulled that off so quickly
You were yeah, you opened it you were on site and then you guys were off on the run again in your own directions
Yeah. Yeah, I mean I remember kind of the early days and first manager, you know
I think a lot of people don't realize what they get themselves into when they open a hostel
So jay, you know as you probably told you it comes from law and corporate background
I come from health care it medicine background and we quit our great jobs in our corporate jobs and then
Opened the hostel and we just turned ourselves into glorified maids and housekeepers and a bunch of pimps
on the side on the side, but uh
But uh, no no in all reality
Scrubbing toilets making beds cleaning flipping right and you have no money to pay employees and we're just like god like how long is this going to go on for right?
And so we kind of sat down. There's really looked at each other like okay
Let's you know start documenting everything we do getting your systems down
And so, you know jay likes to use that term if you're hit by a bus can the business survive without you?
And I think a lot of small business business owners in america probably probably would say if I died
You know if I walked across the street was hit by a bus my business will also fail with me
And that's you know, that's sad because like you know small business. Yeah, what makes up america it runs america employees america and so
um and so
Uh, we started documenting everything and then we finally came into the money
We're kind of like after about you know right around that year. They're like, okay jay
We're like do we pay ourselves or do we hire somebody to do what we were doing to just kind of like go back from not you know
Go back from not you know from being owner managers to being owners, you know working on your business not in your business
and so what's what's that direction and so
um we started we hired somebody as soon as we hired them we got them trained up and
I think we went to thailand was our first trip together away from the business
It was at like maybe a year and a half mark. It was like a one and a half month
Maybe it was a two month trip. We did thailand and miamara actually and we just trained this manager up
Um great guy still friends with him to this day. He's actually running a food truck now
um, but uh
Uh, his name is andrew love him if you've ever been got to eat at his uh smatch burger
Uh food truck, but anyway, uh
We just like handed the hospital over to him after a couple months of training
We're just like we're out we need a vacation like oh my god, you know, we're talking 80 to 90 hour work
It's no employees. No weekends. No romance. You know, just like we made the sacrifice just to scale our business like long days
No sleep, you know, no trips no vacations and then and then we just gave it to andrew and then and then did a stress test
Right, and then we just we just went to thailand and miamara and um, we came back
Didn't burn down and things things worked like it went well and so
Um, we probably stayed on on site for another year and a half. So I was there for probably about three to four years
Um after a couple years of living with the staff
I did a whole van life build out and then lived another uh, two more years out of my vehicle on site
Um the dirt bag van life jay, he he had a romance. Um, you know traveled abroad
I was a little bit more hands-on on the site
He kind of remote a little bit sooner than I did but then I was able to achieve uh, being fully remote and I think
You know going back to those business owners
That you know have their idea have their baby their babies their business
Sometimes they just can't let it go. I think us as like entrepreneurs and business owners. We're the risk taker, right?
We're the visionary. We're the creative people
But like ultimately I didn't go to school for like business
I didn't go to school for tourism and hospitality which are like degrees that we've hired managers and they have those degrees
Like I know there's a lot more smarter people out there that could really manage my business better than me
but I just had the guts and the vision and the creativity to like take those steps to like plant that seed and to grow it and
Then hopefully like hands it off right and to not and to get in the cheese that freedom. So yeah, how did you uh,
How did you ever have the challenge of like being the business owner leaving and then having?
blowback from the staff like
Oh, you're the owner. You should be doing this, you know, or or they took you know
They how did you manage that as we battle that with having various different businesses and it's you know
We've learned better approaches
Um, but did you ever find those challenges or how did you handle some of those?
Good question. I actually remember some of the challenges, uh remotely during coven before I got back on site
I was traveling I was remote things were going into shutdown lockdown
And you know a hostel is kind of like a commune. There's a lot of live-in staff and it's a community
And what I didn't realize is there were some conversations that were happening behind closed doors about us and how things should be done
Um prior to our meetings where you know the gini would jump on the team and some of them
I just felt like wow, I just got fed to the wolves and they just
And just the opinions were already made up and just like it was it was nasty
And I you know, you just learn to listen and you have to take it but um
I felt
Like that was the first realization that um, there could be you know, those side conversations happening behind owners
and managers doors
Um, and and opinions being drawn going into the meeting which is really sad for just people to kind of come to conclusions before it's discussed
um, but
um, I think at the end of the day it I think to lead by example is just to have
really solid solid, um, uh a path
And just stick to that path, but be willing to kind of deviate and just you know
Your staff needs to be heard
But sometimes it might not be in the best interest of the business and some people might be like a little selfish and want it in their own interest
And so this was all kind of around covid and running business and shutdowns and occupancy and and quarantines
Testing and all this stuff. And so, you know, we're trying to navigate with you know, government guidelines
We're also trying to survive the pandemic and not be one of the statistics and close our business, right?
So there's a big there's a big fine line right there and um
um
You got it. Everybody needs to be heard and then it's just it's just drop the hammer and just implement it
And if you burn some bridges along the way
Those people are probably not the ones you want to be like kept kept around or surrounded surrounded by
And we also have found the one staffs that are like the loudest or the most opinionated
It's like if you start um giving your energy and all your all of your energy to them
They just kind of consume and take and then they're gone
Anyway, they just say they just look for the next best opportunity and it's like hey
I really like work with this person spend a lot of time kind of almost cater to them and then boom they're gone. So
Just recognize that as a human instinct behavior pattern and just kind of
You know pick up on those cues. I suppose you know, so
That's that's great really great advice, uh, and so true in our unique business model of having on-site
exchange members
In that community feel and then they can start to
Make, you know operation requests that are more so catered to their personal
Interests or wants or desires, but what you really hit on for me is the time that you can waste
Going down that rabbit hole with that type of character and personality and what we learn through the
Trial and error that you did the same way is that you know, a lot of those types of characters and personalities are hardwired for this
So that the more you give the more they're going to take
And then they're just going to drain you out to the point where
They're they're really just going to move on to their next victim at that point. It's like what we do in the shadows. Those uh, the energy vampires
Yeah, yeah, and then you're just left there like wow. Oh my god. I jumped backwards. I made all these different things
I I tried so I made it almost like a competitive game to meet all of your demands and requests
And then if poof that person's gone
Never to come back never to be seen again
And you know, you're left to deal with what's you know left behind in that situation
So I I love that insight that you give and then also the dropping of the hammer
You know, that's so true in the way of you've got to stick to your guns at some point
And you know, there's going to be some spilt milk
You know, you're going to break some eggs to make an auto type of aspect of things and you know, there are going to be
that that type of character that we talked about is going to probably say some very nasty things about
You or the company and you've just got to keep on rolling because that's a lot better
Yeah, the situation of having them linger around for months on end and continuing to drain yours and everyone else's energy
So yeah now so going through that though
You know and you've lived on site for a couple years and I love that, you know
Modify then you went off site into the the van life thing and you know
I encourage everyone to get creative with that because it's kind of like a step phase, you know
Like, you know
You're inside in the staff room sometimes and to start with it and then you get your own little room
Then you might have a camper off site and all of those little changes
Do make the difference on the way to the point where you can leave and uh do what you did
Uh, and you know, and that's such a
An awesome, you know feeling to know that
You are able to take your hands off the wheel and it still drives forward
You know in the direction and it does take a lot of trust like you brought to point
Hiring smart people knowing that you know, they've studied the industry and maybe you haven't and trusting
in that, you know, it can really be a
rewarding freedom
But what brought you to this point of portugal?
So, you know you're in bend oregon and I can see and I can understand like for us
It was more so
Let's get this thing to the point where we could
Take our hands off this wheel. Let someone else drive it so we can be opening up in another city
in the same state
You're all of a sudden in bend oregon and somehow find
And oh, let me go to portugal. My guess has always been that it was a woman
What brought you over there?
Oh a good guess but um, yeah, I came over solo. I didn't know anybody
I actually I knew
People only through some hostile conferences. So really distant acquaintances that I just met at like some conferences and stuff, but um,
um, I knew nobody and uh, you know again traveling the
Work to travel to travel the world and I was kind of always looking for that quality of life cost of living
That's my scale and then those are the two buckets and what goes in those buckets and that's going to
Make me happy. So as you know cost of living is pretty obvious, you know, what's your health care with the insurance? What's your
Um, you know things and quality of life. Do you have those things? Do you have that good access to those?
Is it um climate is it food? Is it cuisine? You know, so security safety so
Cost of living quality of life. This is just my scales. You know, you go to asia and uh, the food's really good
But i'll never speak its own language and the climate. I don't like humidity like I could do desert dry hot
But you know, it kind of gets it separated central south america starts a line
I speak pretty good spanish and I love the culture down there, but it's a little it's hard to own real estate
This crime or some corruption, you know, I don't know is that where I want to like raise a family live the rest of my days
I don't know and then you know you go over to europe. Well a lot of places in europe are pretty expensive
You look at the kind of those I like to call them second world developing, you know
You still have your spain your italy your greece your parisia your portugal, you know, they're very pro-immigration
They need work. They need labor. You know, if you step foot outside of you know, barcelona madrid or lisbon in porto
It's like okay. You see how people really live, you know
It's different. Um
And that that was kind of attractive to me
For opportunity for across the living for health care for crime and portugal just checking all those boxes
Oh, it was and and i'm proud to be an american, but I also just kind of figured you know when I was hitting about uh,
30 I was like I don't think I needed to be an american the next
You know 30 years of my life that was just kind of like
It was just like that's my next adventure. Like I feel like i've done the corporate, you know
Done college done the corporate job started a small business
Well, you know wife and kids maybe someday and then move to another country and open up a business in another country
You know what else can enrich me and you know be adventurous, you know, and so um
So so yeah, that's that's kind of what drew me away from the states
And um, those were the things that I was looking for and again portugal check those boxes and that's how I landed here
so
That's yeah
That's impressive. I mean, that's so much more methodical of a process
That's what I thought. Yeah, there's a lot to it. You met some beauty and then chased her car but that was that's gorgeous. Right? Yeah
Did you have some help up there?
No, yeah, that was a very good way to figure it out
And I think especially during that time during pandemic everyone's kind of like, you know
The whole digital nomad culture got built and people kind of figured like okay so I can manage my business I can work online
You know, where can I find a place that maybe I want to spend?
Yeah, the second half of my life and I went through a similar experience and that brought me down to mexico after exploring some different
Places, but I think I was like six months behind you at one point
I think you were going to the destinations and then I would see where you were and I went there next
I didn't wasn't ready to follow you to portugal. So I ended up sticking back in mexico, but uh,
yeah, I think a lot of people went through that and uh
And then so you were here in portugal and then you were like, let me do I make another hostel?
Do what do I do or how did you yes, you know, what struck your next business move?
Yeah, so I actually come from a bit of a small farm background
Growing up in washington. You had 15 acres and I actually made a couple offers on some farm houses here in portugal
That I was going to open up some wolfing
Um, I was going to look at buildings that were going to be independent
So I'd have my own floor have some volunteers working on organic farms. You know some volunteers on top
Um, I was going to get into making wine. Um the olive oil the fruit everything's here
The farms are great and I was kind of going back to my roots. Well, I had some failed negotiations with that
Um, I sold a house in portland had some extra income
Uh, and I just started to think a little bit differently and look let's look at some uh,
Some other real estate in this town that I fell in love with which is tamar and I found a beautiful building that is
Um, uh located right next to the train station in historic town. Um, so amazing walkable distance to get right off the train you there
um
It is actually part of the uh, an eu, um urban
Zones or a small um urban growth zone. So there's a lot of funds
Um for for for restoring uh, restoring or starting a business in this area
um, i've had meetings with central tourism of portugal for funding and uh meetings with the city and uh,
I have my permits all in the pipeline right now. They're probably going to be approved this august
And uh, so yeah, I just kind of went from this like farmhouse kind of idea pivoted back to well, you know
What I know best is lodging in hostels and experiences and so i'm going to actually create a co-living experience
It's not going to be a hostel. There's actually already a hostel here in this town. Um, I think they serve do a great job
Just downtown sweet little quaint area
Um, but i'm gonna uh do private rooms in-suite baths. Um a whiskey bar on top
That's open to the public and then i'm gonna do co-working. Um cafe kind of pacific northwest style cafe ground floor in portugal
It's not so common for people to really go to the coffee shops and hang out and post up and work like it is in the u.s
And other maybe other places. Um, they just kind of come have their food or they stand at counters drink their little coffees little
Dicas and um an espresso and then kind of on their ways, um, but um, I kind of want to create this little bit more of a
Multiculture hub, of course, we'll have a sauna. I'll have showers. I'll service fan lifers and people coming through
um, and so
That's what i'm gonna create here. It's gonna be um more of a co-living experience. Um, uh, one would say so
This is hostile. But uh, yeah, so that's that's uh, that's and there's a lot of amazing funding
For for starting businesses in portugal
Um, so i'm super stoked to tap into that some really really good funding grants up to 300 000
Um some uh small business loans into the millions with zero interest
Um, so, um, I think you just have to have the right project in the urban area projects won't qualify for like, you know
Porta, what lisbon, you know big cities, you know madrid barcelona like but if you go to the outskirts into up and coming towns in some
Cool areas. There's a lot of funding for rehabilitating
Buildings and starting small small businesses. So tap into that. Wow, that's uh, that's amazing
I'm interested here how you kind of learned about that is we've uh
James and I we branched out into mexico as we have a passion for mexico
um
And but it's definitely been very challenging getting a business started in another country a foreign country where you don't speak the language like
It's nearly impossible for uh, you know a gringo to go in there and and just however other countries operate
um
I've never that I should look at that in mexico
I've never even thought about trying to get a a branch or a loan or a development loan in mexico, but
Picking a country that had that is a good idea, too
How did you how did you even figure that out that you could get money and how did you go navigate the portuguese?
Yeah, speaking the portuguese
Yeah, so I I did qualify for a home loan. So using bunk and brew a hostile income
Um that helped me get my d7 visa. It helped me move to uh, that's a
It's kind of known as a retiring visa because most people with social security and passive passive income have it
But I have kind of both active and passive income through short-term lodging and also through some investments like stocks or crypto
Um, and so it's active and passive income so that I get the visa was a first step
and then
um portugal's
They're very friendly with lending so I just um presented my my income my tax statements
Gave it to the bank and they ran it up the ladder to the bank of portugal. They slapped some uh, uh approval on it and uh
I got a I bought this building in 2022
I've been living out of it while i've been working on designs and permits
Um, it was I got a little bit uh delayed and slowed up because um, I had to go back to the u.s
One for visas but two for um, some end of life stuff with my father in cancer, but all that's done
and so um
Now i'm back here in portugal and really seeing the project and making sure it stays in track
Um, but uh, I got like a 2 30 year fixed rate interest on this building
Um, so interest rates are also quite low
I think interest rates might be around six to seven percent right now in the u.s
They're like four percent right now in portugal like right now as we speak
And you know fed rates are coming. They're going to be cut. I think um, in september
But also probably a couple times by the end of the year. So rates will come down euro rates will probably follow
hopefully
um, but um
I had a portuguese friend who actually ended up being a real estate agent and he was like hey like your tourism project
There's tourism funds. Let's go check that out and his english is very good portuguese really good
And so he was one just to kind of plant that seed like let's do it. Let's set a meeting
You just set these meetings and you go and there was a whole like business chapter and you know
It's kind of like small sba basically but portugal version
um here and uh, that's how that's how I got plugged in and then
I went to the meetings had some meetings with the city had some meetings with them
Um keeping that got the right emails keeping them in line showing them uh,
The plans the projects, um, they love that. I have a past business history that they reference and lean on
When I walked away from my first meeting they were basically like when are you gonna have a free plan?
When can we fund you and I was like, whoa, hold on. I just wow
It's gonna be like great like I just was gonna meet and greet and stuff
But it was like we're ready and I was like, holy shit
And so it almost scared me but um, i'm ready. They're ready. I'm stoked. They're stoked
Um, it's a win-win for everybody. So
That's awesome now with the
facility that you're building how many people will be
You know based on the plans that you have will the occupancy be how many people?
Yep, if I it'll be a seven. Well one quarter is going to be staff quarters
I am doing a penthouse suite on top. It'll be like my penthouse and then i'll hand it off to the manager
Jim kinnett would be proud to you. Yeah. Yeah
Learn that one from jim put the
Penthouse on top and make it the living quarters. So yeah, that's what i'm doing. So i'll have a rooftop bar
Dining area and then my penthouse all on top
And then i'll have two floors of of of lodging
One main floor and then one basement the basement will be like bath house sauna and also a kitchen and patio
I'm also going to have with the patio
A rock wall inside my co-living so you can get on some top railing
And top of the land climb all the way up so that's ah
very nice in in andalusia in southern spain and even southern portugal they build a lot of the buildings with
Patio, which is basically just a circular enclosed space. So the internal rooms will have fresh air and windows
And also when it um
It rains you have this whole green space that comes through to a drain
So hopefully i'll have a water catch system to help raw recycle water maybe for flushing
Um, some european places use rainwater to wash laundry. Um, and then um, i'll have the uh
Yeah, like I said the patio the bar and everything so this whole building's kind of got some eco component to it
But um, but those two floors each floor will have
Um, I think a total of I think it'll be 15
Rooms with a one bedroom for the managers on top
And so each room will be designed with double beds and in-suite baths and the desk
And so, um, it will be allowed for double occupancy. So i'd say about 30 people on site if there's two people in one room
Nice the initial business idea and plan is to do one month minimum reservations
Like price points at one month three six nine in a year
If uh, if I did do a year, I wouldn't do i'd probably only do one third of the building
I still want to have a vibe people coming and going. I don't want everybody just to be one year tenants
If I can't sell my occupancy and my beds in my rooms, i'll scale it down to maybe like two week minimum reservations
So i'll play with that number. Uh, hopefully it's all one month
Um, I like that that like concept because you need a lot less staff
Um when everybody's just one month and 15 rooms, you know, I might only have
Maybe one to two checkouts with 15 rooms in one month, right? Just depending how everybody's staggered. So who who?
So it's a little bit on the low side, but I think the bar and restaurant and other revenue streams should help offset. Um the cost
Like those side and occupancy
Yeah
We uh, we did a co-live operation for about over 10 years in san diego near balboa park
And that was a really cool experience of you know, very much in the hostile theme
As we are hostile operators
But it was just now you had long-term residents and some people lived there four or five years
And eventually the developer knocked down the whole like city block and is building up these condos
So we shut down that location but really cool to see that
Co-living experience based off of like the hostile roots and I know yours will be the same
So i'll be anxious to come take a look at that place. That sounds awesome
I'll put you guys up for a month. We'll have a lot of fun. Is it going to be a maximum?
Uh, uh, a maximum would be one year and so here minimum
Minimum ideally is one month maximum stay would be one year
And uh, yeah, and then different price points kind of like on a quarterly system
What is the target open date right now you forecast? Yeah, good question
So I think I should have plans end of end of end of this
Winter so early next year, so that's 2025 construction will take at least I think a year and a half
So I want to hopefully open
um a summer of
2027 I guess because that'll be 2024. Oh, sorry summer of 2026
Is okay deal. It'll be like all of 2025 construction
Um, and maybe into early early spring of 2026
Construction summer 2026 is the ideal open date fingers crossed but it's portugal. It's a mediterranean lifestyle
Everything could be 2028. Who knows?
I'll have a lot more gray hair by then
Well, I I think that's so cool though
It's a good example of if you purchase the real estate and you're able to look at it in that long haul
30 year pick, you know
Long game plan you that you have the ability to do what you're doing as if you were ever releasing a property
You know, you'd be in a situation where you're panicked. You're rushing you have to get it open, you know
And you find yourself out of business
But it's amazing how if you have the savvy real estate investor like you've got you can change that whole dynamic by living on site
Giving yourself the time necessary to let that
Project cultivate and run its course without the disruption of it being rushed along
And then you're having to change your vision on the run to accommodate a timeline and a pressure
So that's a really cool example of the advantages of a savvy real estate investment
Yeah, I think it's always smart to just have equity and leverage your equity like you know
It's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's
It's a good way to
You know, it's it's kind of going back to the bunking group if I circle back a little bit
It's you know, paying the managers more than the owners is is what is giving us this j&i this lifestyle of our freedom
But you know, we've got been getting the equity in the buildings. And so
you know once
It'll eventually flip, you know as as you scale but um, yeah
It's been it's been giving us the lifestyle we want to have and it's giving us the opportunities
You want to you want to chase?
That is a really good point if you have the equity in the building and every month you're gaining that equity by the operation paying for it
You know, then you can justify paying the people who are operating it if you're thousands of miles away
uh to
Do it well and uh, keep keep that rolling for you. So that's a great example of that now to flip it
Forward over to the to the nah-ha
Yeah
Uh before we let you go, we definitely want to touch base on this awesome
Uh creation that you jim and jay put together
Out there in the pacific northwest and really have a nice momentum going on
What had been attempted in the past, you know, let's say five or ten years. There's a lot of talk of the need for a
Uh, association for hostels that represented the whole states and you guys even went a step further to include canada in mexico
which I I love that and I
I think that you've got the
best momentum
Out of the you know previous operations that started up in an attempt to do this
and I think you're going about it in a lot of the right ways and
the formation of a board and the process of it and uh, you know putting in that time to let it grow and cultivate but
Give us a little bit of background and story about how you guys got this started what it's all about and what's coming up
You know new and exciting news for the nah-ha
Yeah, great. Um, I mean it really I think during covid. We just all started meeting a lot regularly
Uh with zoom stuff because it was like our businesses are closed. Well, let's just
start, you know networking and meeting and so that's when a lot of uh,
um kind of the ideas and and momentum started and then
of nah-ha and uh
Came out of that and then um boom our businesses, you know
covid ended and the businesses are back open and everybody got busy for a couple years just trying to you know
Write their ship again from from sinking and uh, and then we picked it back up
We kind of got to a good place again where we could start putting in our own time. I mean we're right now
Nobody's been paid. It's all non-profit all the money staying in the in the non-profits and we're all volunteer based
And so um, there has been a good amount of work. I'd say jay jim and erin with uh, get from gas
Gasoline hostel. She has been instrumental and uh and and myself I can't once take my own credit, but uh,
I've been enjoying the journey along the way and learning from some of these guys and
and uh
I'm doing a big uh hostile reach out and
I guess i've they made me chair of membership committee. So i'm trying to onboard people but uh,
um, yeah, you know, I think it was just
There's power and collective bargaining and you know hostels just needed a voice
You know all these little cities and towns just don't know what we are and how to regulate us
And so we just needed it and um as long overdue
So now we hope to take on you know insurance companies
We hope to have great deals with um with software companies, you know
From we have one in place with uh cloud beds. We have one in the pipeline for price point
Hopefully more to come. Um, you know, these are all software companies that help run hostels
Hostel world has even helped us shown up and did a donation to get the non-profit
Started so that was an amazing instrumental
Um, so we did some fundraising and um, yeah, geez with that that first conference
I mean, I think we had like what over a hundred hostels from around, you know, canada us and mexico join
I mean it blew my mind. I didn't really know how many would come but uh,
I remember some very late nights of just going through spreadsheets and in
I guess google and just looking up every state and just combing
Through any information I could find and
And actually I had a spreadsheet during covid that I made kind of covid slash pre-covid
And then um, I readdressed that post-covid to do the reach out for our conference
And wow, I was finding about this 50 closure rate of a lot of mom and pop
You know bed and breakfasts that had bunk beds and some hostels and some hybrid models
Just around the u.s. That just closed and shut down. It was it was a lot
Yeah, um, man, yeah, it was it was sad to the industry and so um,
Yeah, so i'm stoked. Uh, you know, I think nah
Um, you know part part of it is uh every year we're gonna have a new location for the conference
You know whether you know west coast central east coast of us canada same thing north or west and
And east coast and I guess it's not a whole lot a lot in the middle
Um mexico as well. I think uh, there's rumor that there's rumor our next conference could be heading south. I don't want to
Yeah, come on down yet
But uh, that's the rumors on the street, you know, so it sounds like we're going south for our next conference
I think that'll be like we may pull again
so
south of the border
Yeah
So I don't know, you know, I think we're gonna have to do that
Um, you know, we really want to be there for the hostels. We want to you know, we want to be a voice for our members and
And and actually our members will have uh, that's something we took away from the conference is members will basically vote on
Driving the nonprofit of what we should tackle and what's the most important for them and that could change every year
Yeah, definitely welcome too from the owners, you know, it's cool to have a place to be
Uh, hostile owners can meet up and gather and because a lot of times, you know, you're working by yourself in this area
You have a partner, you know, but you're at most you have a partner, you know, and then uh,
You're by yourself in your little town. So we've definitely
As a hostile owner felt the love and it's been great to see you guys put it all together and excited to see where we can go from here
Yeah, me too. I'm excited for it. I'm excited for it. I'm excited for it. I'm excited for it
I feel like there's people now reaching out to naha the email and um, and us still directly have just mentoring
They're like I want to start a hostile at this that and so just the other day
I had a couple emails in an hour long phone call with the gals trying to start one up. So
Eventually, they'll become members of the non-profits and we'll have a really solid mentorship program in place and hopefully the mentors are
In in like the geographically location
To where they're going to be and so we're going to be able to do that
And then we'll have a really good mentor in in like the geographically location
You know to where they're trying to start their project
I think every state is almost represented with hostiles. I feel like so
Just about and that that's such a great thing you're doing with that again
The younger people that are starting or even older that are starting up hostile and you go back to like what's available to that person?
Our shoes when we started and you'd find one book from vicki and that was it, you know, and then you can go to darren's website
And you know hostile management.com and you know read, you know and read all their articles on things, you know, and it was very limited
Uh, so I think what you guys have created is like a new
2.0 of that. Yeah, you know in in real time, you know like access mentoring these really cool conferences
Uh, and I really do want to applaud you guys for making it an inclusive process like your first ever
Conference wasn't even a conference. It was just a gathering for ideas on what it should be
You know
And that was a that was a real testament to what you guys were doing and how you were going to drive it moving forward
And I was very inspired by that and that's why we always come to those conferences not only ourselves
But we bring as many people as we can
Uh from all of our locations and it's a amazing time and I love to hear about you guys exposing
Or you know helping out
younger people
New hostile owners getting involved because that's what it's all about in the awareness and expanding in the industry
Especially in the u.s where there's so many gaps
but uh
Really are all in it together
You know, it's like we're not being hotel changed trying to compete for every bed and occupancy like now
There's plenty of pieces of pie like we're in this together
Oh, yeah, absolutely. Yeah, the more the more people that are aware
And that have a positive outlook
About the industry the pie will only get bigger
And you know, so it shouldn't be a thing that
There's only one hostile like in each city
You know, there should be a variety there should be different styles, you know
Oh, yeah, and you know and that can cater to a bigger part of the market. But what we need to do is bring better
awareness and better positivity and overcome that
And overcome the stigma of like those horror films, you know
That within this industry really set us back still to this day
And you know, so the the more that we can all do collectively to overcome that the bigger the pie will be for everyone
Yeah, yeah
but
You know, I I just want to thank you so much. Thank you for taking the time
to uh be with us today and
Do this awesome recording and uh, we'll have it up on the website as soon as possible
Yeah, and all the uh
Thank you. Yeah, i've already guessed that's great. That's great
I've already sent the link to a couple people that are like, I can't find much content
Like you were talking about the the the vicki's book to the hostile management like like the content just needs to be fresh and updated
So what you guys are doing? It's super fun. It's really awesome to listen to them
And i've already sent the link to a couple uh, uh young young people that want to get into today. So
Appreciate you guys. Awesome. Well, thank you. Appreciate you too, man
Yeah
See you in april
Heck yeah
April