1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:02,360 And so that's kind of become our culture 2 00:00:02,360 --> 00:00:03,760 in the last couple of years. 3 00:00:03,760 --> 00:00:08,000 And we've been really fortunate that we've just had great team 4 00:00:08,000 --> 00:00:10,240 after great team after great team 5 00:00:10,240 --> 00:00:12,420 and people who really love being here. 6 00:00:12,420 --> 00:00:15,520 And when the guests come in, that's what they feel. 7 00:00:15,520 --> 00:00:17,400 They feel like they're a part of something. 8 00:00:17,400 --> 00:00:19,800 Like I was saying to you when I was cleaning up vomit 9 00:00:19,800 --> 00:00:20,800 all those years ago, 10 00:00:20,800 --> 00:00:23,340 and I decided this is the job that I wanna have. 11 00:00:23,340 --> 00:00:25,840 That was because I was like 23 12 00:00:25,840 --> 00:00:29,600 and most of that team were like 18 to 21 years old. 13 00:00:29,600 --> 00:00:31,480 And nobody earned any money. 14 00:00:31,480 --> 00:00:34,440 And all of them had a crazy pride in what they did. 15 00:00:34,440 --> 00:00:37,060 They had a crazy pride in working for the flying pig 16 00:00:37,060 --> 00:00:38,560 and flying that flag. 17 00:00:38,560 --> 00:00:39,400 Yeah, yeah. 18 00:00:39,400 --> 00:00:42,480 And that was really captivating for me. 19 00:00:42,480 --> 00:00:45,040 It was like no reason for you guys to love doing this 20 00:00:45,040 --> 00:00:47,460 except for the actual doing it itself. 21 00:00:48,560 --> 00:00:51,240 So when you combine that with actually having a budget 22 00:00:51,240 --> 00:00:52,920 and being able to pay people 23 00:00:52,920 --> 00:00:55,800 and being part of this big nonprofit organization, 24 00:00:55,800 --> 00:00:59,120 you can really create a nice atmosphere. 25 00:00:59,120 --> 00:01:02,320 And that was my key mission from the moment that I started. 26 00:01:02,320 --> 00:01:04,200 And obviously we're still on that road, 27 00:01:04,200 --> 00:01:06,280 but we've made a lot of really nice steps 28 00:01:06,280 --> 00:01:07,620 and it's been lovely. 29 00:01:08,520 --> 00:01:09,800 Hello friends and travelers. 30 00:01:09,800 --> 00:01:10,720 Thanks for listening. 31 00:01:10,720 --> 00:01:13,800 You are riding along on the Hostile Road Trip podcast. 32 00:01:13,800 --> 00:01:15,640 Our mission is to spread awareness 33 00:01:15,640 --> 00:01:18,200 of the true hostile experience in the Americas 34 00:01:18,200 --> 00:01:20,400 and share stories from the fascinating hosts 35 00:01:20,400 --> 00:01:22,600 who create those unique facilities. 36 00:01:22,600 --> 00:01:23,800 I'm your host, Jimmy Black, 37 00:01:23,800 --> 00:01:25,320 joined alongside co-founder 38 00:01:25,320 --> 00:01:27,920 of International Travelers House, Bobby Dyer. 39 00:01:27,920 --> 00:01:30,720 Each session, we sit down with hostile operators 40 00:01:30,720 --> 00:01:34,640 or travel influencers to hear about their road success, 41 00:01:34,640 --> 00:01:37,040 discuss trending hostile topics, 42 00:01:37,040 --> 00:01:39,040 and close with tips for travelers 43 00:01:39,040 --> 00:01:41,160 who are seeking to have the ultimate experience 44 00:01:41,160 --> 00:01:43,400 when visiting each destination. 45 00:01:43,400 --> 00:01:45,400 You can't afford to miss this trip. 46 00:01:45,400 --> 00:01:48,000 Now fasten your seat belts and let's hit the road. 47 00:01:48,000 --> 00:01:49,500 ["The Hostile Road Trip"] 48 00:01:49,500 --> 00:01:52,500 ["The Hostile Road Trip"] 49 00:01:53,600 --> 00:01:57,240 Welcome back to the Hostile Road Trip podcast. 50 00:01:57,240 --> 00:02:02,040 We are very honored to have Alfie McKenzie, 51 00:02:02,040 --> 00:02:04,120 one of the newest members of the Naha 52 00:02:04,120 --> 00:02:07,260 North American House Association Board members, 53 00:02:08,280 --> 00:02:10,360 newly elected, congratulations. 54 00:02:10,360 --> 00:02:13,560 Also joining me, Robert Dyer, 55 00:02:13,560 --> 00:02:16,360 also a newly elected board member of Naha, 56 00:02:16,360 --> 00:02:20,120 just a lot of talent and reputation and status 57 00:02:20,120 --> 00:02:21,480 on this episode. 58 00:02:21,480 --> 00:02:26,480 And also our first ever Canadian episode, 59 00:02:26,480 --> 00:02:29,280 we had always wanted to do the original format 60 00:02:29,280 --> 00:02:32,800 of doing the Hostile Road Trip on the road in Canada, 61 00:02:32,800 --> 00:02:36,520 but you know, pandemics and things like that, 62 00:02:36,520 --> 00:02:39,520 obviously have slowed us down. 63 00:02:39,520 --> 00:02:42,520 But here we are, first ever Canadian episode. 64 00:02:42,520 --> 00:02:45,760 I can't think of anyone else better to be doing it with 65 00:02:45,760 --> 00:02:50,160 than the legend we know as Alfie, H.I. Whistler. 66 00:02:50,160 --> 00:02:51,880 Thank you so much for joining us. 67 00:02:53,040 --> 00:02:54,200 Thank you, Jimmy. 68 00:02:54,200 --> 00:02:55,040 Thank you, Bobby. 69 00:02:55,040 --> 00:02:56,360 It's a pleasure to be here. 70 00:02:56,360 --> 00:02:57,480 Yeah, great to be here, guys. 71 00:02:57,480 --> 00:02:58,320 All right. 72 00:02:59,200 --> 00:03:02,160 So, you know, as we always do, you know, 73 00:03:02,160 --> 00:03:06,720 we'll obviously jump into a lot more about H.I. Whistler, 74 00:03:06,720 --> 00:03:09,840 H.I. General, you know, we'll talk a bit about Naha. 75 00:03:09,840 --> 00:03:14,000 But to start off with, we always like to hear about 76 00:03:14,000 --> 00:03:17,440 your personal journey of hostiling 77 00:03:17,440 --> 00:03:22,040 and how Alfie got into hostel management, you know, 78 00:03:22,040 --> 00:03:27,040 and how you found yourself doing this as a career. 79 00:03:28,000 --> 00:03:30,880 So, you know, kick it off with that story. 80 00:03:30,880 --> 00:03:34,240 How did that happen for you? 81 00:03:34,240 --> 00:03:35,280 Absolutely. 82 00:03:37,040 --> 00:03:39,720 Well, I've worked in nine different hostels 83 00:03:39,720 --> 00:03:43,560 in four different countries over the last decade. 84 00:03:43,560 --> 00:03:47,080 And it wasn't really something like most people 85 00:03:47,080 --> 00:03:48,320 had plans to do. 86 00:03:48,320 --> 00:03:53,320 I was going to Holland to do my master's degree 87 00:03:54,440 --> 00:03:57,080 in philosophy at the time. 88 00:03:57,080 --> 00:04:00,760 And I had worked in a hostel briefly before that 89 00:04:00,760 --> 00:04:02,560 on a front desk for a couple of months. 90 00:04:02,560 --> 00:04:06,360 And they used a PMS that I was pretty good with 91 00:04:06,360 --> 00:04:07,440 and pretty familiar with. 92 00:04:07,440 --> 00:04:11,000 And I went to stay at this hostel when I moved to Holland 93 00:04:11,000 --> 00:04:12,280 and I was broke. 94 00:04:12,280 --> 00:04:17,280 I had about 200 pounds and no clue how I was going to make 95 00:04:17,280 --> 00:04:18,640 it work at all. 96 00:04:18,640 --> 00:04:21,360 So I went to stay at this hostel and they were using 97 00:04:21,360 --> 00:04:23,560 the same PMS that I used to use. 98 00:04:23,560 --> 00:04:27,160 I was running out of money and I started to kind of knock 99 00:04:27,160 --> 00:04:29,720 on the door and say, hey, do you need a volunteer? 100 00:04:29,720 --> 00:04:31,800 Because I really needed to volunteer. 101 00:04:31,800 --> 00:04:33,840 I had no idea what I was going to do next. 102 00:04:35,360 --> 00:04:38,960 And yeah, so I ended up starting out volunteering for them 103 00:04:38,960 --> 00:04:41,600 as in the beginning as a night cleaner. 104 00:04:41,600 --> 00:04:44,120 And I would help like some of the guys on the bar 105 00:04:44,120 --> 00:04:46,440 and the reception learn how to use the PMS 106 00:04:46,440 --> 00:04:47,440 every now and again. 107 00:04:48,520 --> 00:04:50,560 And yeah, I started out cleaning up vomit 108 00:04:50,560 --> 00:04:52,680 in a party hostel in Holland. 109 00:04:53,840 --> 00:04:56,200 And somewhere between cleaning up vomit 110 00:04:56,200 --> 00:04:58,480 and setting up the breakfast every night, 111 00:04:58,480 --> 00:05:01,360 some weird part of my brain was like, do you know what? 112 00:05:01,360 --> 00:05:03,520 I think I just want to do this. 113 00:05:03,520 --> 00:05:06,880 If I can somehow make a career out of this 114 00:05:06,880 --> 00:05:10,320 and get past the vomit stuff and start like running the bar 115 00:05:10,320 --> 00:05:13,360 and running the reception, that would be awesome. 116 00:05:13,360 --> 00:05:17,720 So a few months into that gig, 117 00:05:17,720 --> 00:05:21,280 I ended up being like the volunteer bar manager 118 00:05:21,280 --> 00:05:23,280 and that was amazing. 119 00:05:23,280 --> 00:05:25,840 We didn't have really much budget to make things happen 120 00:05:25,840 --> 00:05:28,520 or anything like that, but it was a sweet challenge. 121 00:05:28,520 --> 00:05:30,640 We had a lot of really wonderful people, 122 00:05:30,640 --> 00:05:33,160 a lot of different wonderful teams. 123 00:05:33,160 --> 00:05:34,960 And I really just fell in love with like trying 124 00:05:34,960 --> 00:05:38,160 to make crazy parties and events happen in the bar 125 00:05:38,160 --> 00:05:41,920 with just like bits of cardboard and paint and shit 126 00:05:41,920 --> 00:05:44,240 that was left over from years ago. 127 00:05:44,240 --> 00:05:47,960 And we did all of these amazing events and amazing parties. 128 00:05:47,960 --> 00:05:52,040 Like we had locals in, it was a small town called Nordwijk 129 00:05:52,040 --> 00:05:54,160 on the West coast of Holland. 130 00:05:54,160 --> 00:05:56,040 And it was awesome when I fell in love 131 00:05:56,040 --> 00:05:57,760 and I started to think like, 132 00:05:57,760 --> 00:06:00,160 if I could do this bar manager gig for a while, 133 00:06:01,360 --> 00:06:03,120 then that'd be really sweet experience 134 00:06:03,120 --> 00:06:06,400 to try and do it elsewhere in the future. 135 00:06:06,400 --> 00:06:09,120 So I did that for a little bit. 136 00:06:09,120 --> 00:06:11,600 I moved out and became like a permanent bar manager, 137 00:06:11,600 --> 00:06:13,000 a member of staff. 138 00:06:13,000 --> 00:06:16,080 And then my next move was to Costa Rica. 139 00:06:16,080 --> 00:06:20,000 I ran a front desk in Costa Rica for like four months 140 00:06:20,000 --> 00:06:21,840 and that was also awesome. 141 00:06:21,840 --> 00:06:23,760 And then my plan was to move to Canada. 142 00:06:23,760 --> 00:06:27,760 So I went back to Holland and moved to Amsterdam 143 00:06:27,760 --> 00:06:30,160 to do like a six month gig as an advanced manager 144 00:06:30,160 --> 00:06:34,360 for this huge new hostel called Vya that just opened. 145 00:06:34,360 --> 00:06:35,280 And so- 146 00:06:35,280 --> 00:06:36,320 Vya? 147 00:06:36,320 --> 00:06:38,360 Vya Hostels, V-I-A. 148 00:06:38,360 --> 00:06:39,440 Oh, okay. 149 00:06:39,440 --> 00:06:43,520 I was doing that and that was crazy. 150 00:06:43,520 --> 00:06:45,840 That was like my first kind of white collar gig as well. 151 00:06:45,840 --> 00:06:48,120 Like I remember, I was, like I say, 152 00:06:48,120 --> 00:06:50,600 my experience was just getting bits of cardboard together 153 00:06:50,600 --> 00:06:53,120 and making stuff happen from nothing. 154 00:06:53,120 --> 00:06:56,360 And my boss after a couple of weeks was like, 155 00:06:56,360 --> 00:06:58,400 hey, when are you gonna do some office time? 156 00:06:58,400 --> 00:07:01,240 And I was like, what's office time? 157 00:07:01,240 --> 00:07:04,000 So I had a little office time. 158 00:07:04,000 --> 00:07:05,280 Tell me about it. 159 00:07:05,280 --> 00:07:08,160 I was supposed to do all this event scheduling and stuff. 160 00:07:08,160 --> 00:07:10,600 So I had all the time to do that. 161 00:07:10,600 --> 00:07:11,760 And they had a budget. 162 00:07:11,760 --> 00:07:14,200 They were giving me like a few thousand euros a month 163 00:07:14,200 --> 00:07:16,080 to hire musicians and DJs and stuff. 164 00:07:16,080 --> 00:07:20,320 And I had always managed to do that with just beer. 165 00:07:20,320 --> 00:07:21,760 So that was amazing. 166 00:07:21,760 --> 00:07:23,680 And then COVID happened. 167 00:07:23,680 --> 00:07:26,080 So the Canada plan got shelved. 168 00:07:26,080 --> 00:07:28,040 The events all got shelved. 169 00:07:29,480 --> 00:07:31,640 And I ended up working night shift 170 00:07:31,640 --> 00:07:35,040 after a bunch of the pandemic for a different company 171 00:07:35,040 --> 00:07:37,840 in a different like pod hostel with a Mexican restaurant 172 00:07:37,840 --> 00:07:39,080 in the middle of Amsterdam. 173 00:07:40,560 --> 00:07:44,160 And one day that company, they owned Dirty Nellies, 174 00:07:44,160 --> 00:07:46,760 it's a big Irish pub slash hostel in Amsterdam. 175 00:07:46,760 --> 00:07:50,640 Still wasn't open, like quite a way after the pandemic. 176 00:07:50,640 --> 00:07:52,120 And I said to the owner, look, 177 00:07:52,120 --> 00:07:53,240 I've got all this experience. 178 00:07:53,240 --> 00:07:56,040 I've done events, I've done bars, I've done reception. 179 00:07:56,040 --> 00:07:57,360 I'm looking for the next step. 180 00:07:57,360 --> 00:07:59,360 You don't have to pay me anything extra, 181 00:08:00,280 --> 00:08:02,280 but I would love it if you'd give me the opportunity 182 00:08:02,280 --> 00:08:03,720 to go and open Nellies. 183 00:08:03,720 --> 00:08:06,160 And it was a bit of a ballsy move. 184 00:08:06,160 --> 00:08:08,680 And the most surprising thing was the guy was like, 185 00:08:08,680 --> 00:08:10,640 all right, and just gave me the keys, 186 00:08:10,640 --> 00:08:11,480 told me the budget for it. 187 00:08:11,480 --> 00:08:12,560 Wow. 188 00:08:12,560 --> 00:08:15,360 And yeah, the first few days of doing it, 189 00:08:15,360 --> 00:08:18,320 I was like, I have no idea what I'm doing right now. 190 00:08:18,320 --> 00:08:19,680 I don't know. 191 00:08:19,680 --> 00:08:21,400 Realized that the hard way. 192 00:08:21,400 --> 00:08:23,160 Like pulling it on the run. 193 00:08:23,160 --> 00:08:26,920 Absolutely, pulling cobwebs off printers and computers. 194 00:08:26,920 --> 00:08:31,520 The best bit of that story was the first day 195 00:08:31,520 --> 00:08:33,440 that the key system wasn't working 196 00:08:33,440 --> 00:08:35,000 and we couldn't get it working. 197 00:08:35,000 --> 00:08:36,360 We had no idea what to do, 198 00:08:36,360 --> 00:08:38,800 but we'd already opened up on all the OTAs and stuff. 199 00:08:38,800 --> 00:08:39,880 We were like, oh no. 200 00:08:39,880 --> 00:08:40,720 No, no. 201 00:08:40,720 --> 00:08:44,080 We have like five seconds coming today. 202 00:08:44,080 --> 00:08:47,800 So there was this huge bucket full of like old fobs. 203 00:08:47,800 --> 00:08:50,880 And we went through every single fob, every single door 204 00:08:50,880 --> 00:08:53,000 to see what was working for where. 205 00:08:53,000 --> 00:08:55,520 And we found exactly six fobs. 206 00:08:55,520 --> 00:08:57,160 So one for us. 207 00:08:57,160 --> 00:08:59,200 And all of them were managers fobs though. 208 00:08:59,200 --> 00:09:01,160 So they opened the whole hostel. 209 00:09:01,160 --> 00:09:04,800 And we just told the guests that it was for that room. 210 00:09:04,800 --> 00:09:05,880 Just your key here. 211 00:09:05,880 --> 00:09:07,720 Exactly. 212 00:09:07,720 --> 00:09:10,480 And we just got really lucky that none of them figured it out. 213 00:09:10,480 --> 00:09:11,600 And then a couple of days later, 214 00:09:11,600 --> 00:09:13,920 we figured the rest out and got open properly. 215 00:09:14,960 --> 00:09:17,240 And then finally I could move to Canada. 216 00:09:17,240 --> 00:09:19,520 And when I could move to Canada, 217 00:09:19,520 --> 00:09:21,920 I worked in a hotel in the Yukon for a little bit 218 00:09:22,960 --> 00:09:25,760 and just missed hostels very quickly. 219 00:09:25,760 --> 00:09:29,600 Applied for a gig as a general manager with HI in Vancouver. 220 00:09:30,680 --> 00:09:33,160 Went and did that for a year and loved it. 221 00:09:33,160 --> 00:09:35,160 And then the Whistler opportunity came up 222 00:09:35,160 --> 00:09:37,960 and I came up to Whistler and just fell in love. 223 00:09:37,960 --> 00:09:40,200 I was supposed to cover for like two months. 224 00:09:40,200 --> 00:09:41,880 Yeah. 225 00:09:41,880 --> 00:09:43,600 And then I ended up being here ever since. 226 00:09:43,600 --> 00:09:44,440 It's been two years 227 00:09:44,440 --> 00:09:46,880 and we're looking forward to the next few as well. 228 00:09:46,880 --> 00:09:48,400 It's been fantastic. 229 00:09:48,400 --> 00:09:49,240 That's awesome. 230 00:09:49,240 --> 00:09:52,400 And I love, you know, a lot of the times 231 00:09:52,400 --> 00:09:55,880 the hostel story or a journey for someone starts 232 00:09:55,880 --> 00:09:59,320 in that moment of desperation, like you're talking about 233 00:09:59,320 --> 00:10:01,400 or that situation of desperation of like, wow, 234 00:10:01,400 --> 00:10:05,040 like I really need to volunteer here because if I don't 235 00:10:05,040 --> 00:10:07,640 I'm gonna be out on the street in a few nights 236 00:10:07,640 --> 00:10:10,600 by my calculations, if my arithmetic is correct. 237 00:10:12,160 --> 00:10:15,600 So I love hearing about those types of stories 238 00:10:15,600 --> 00:10:19,400 because it's not often that an industry, you know, 239 00:10:19,400 --> 00:10:22,240 has that type of reputation or possibility where it's like, 240 00:10:22,240 --> 00:10:25,240 well, I was really at my last options 241 00:10:25,240 --> 00:10:26,840 or a point of desperation. 242 00:10:26,840 --> 00:10:28,080 So I had to try this. 243 00:10:28,080 --> 00:10:30,600 And then by doing so and in trying that, 244 00:10:30,600 --> 00:10:33,200 you found what you love doing 245 00:10:33,200 --> 00:10:35,080 and what you wanted to do as a career. 246 00:10:35,080 --> 00:10:37,960 And I think that's a, you know, such a cool story 247 00:10:37,960 --> 00:10:40,360 but not an uncommon one in the hostel industry. 248 00:10:40,360 --> 00:10:45,040 And that's why I always, you know, people are sometimes 249 00:10:45,040 --> 00:10:48,160 hesitant with especially work exchange members of like, 250 00:10:48,160 --> 00:10:51,160 well, you know, they seem like a nice person, but gosh, 251 00:10:51,160 --> 00:10:53,400 they're only doing it because they're desperate 252 00:10:53,400 --> 00:10:55,760 or because they need to or their situation dictates. 253 00:10:55,760 --> 00:10:58,840 And I understand that to an extent 254 00:10:58,840 --> 00:11:02,040 but there are the diamonds in the rough like yourself 255 00:11:02,040 --> 00:11:03,960 where, you know, hey, you know, you know, 256 00:11:03,960 --> 00:11:05,200 they might not know it yet, 257 00:11:05,200 --> 00:11:07,960 but this moment of desperation or that they're, you know, 258 00:11:07,960 --> 00:11:09,400 they're trying this out because of that 259 00:11:09,400 --> 00:11:12,200 might lead to something much bigger down the road. 260 00:11:12,200 --> 00:11:15,160 So I think that's so cool that that's how you started 261 00:11:15,160 --> 00:11:18,120 and you've weaved your way through so many different hostels 262 00:11:18,120 --> 00:11:21,240 and found yourself out there at the HI Whistler 263 00:11:21,240 --> 00:11:26,240 which is such a staple in the HI Canadian operation. 264 00:11:26,240 --> 00:11:28,720 But just so listeners can understand 265 00:11:28,720 --> 00:11:31,680 because there's always even at conferences 266 00:11:31,680 --> 00:11:34,160 amongst hostel industry people 267 00:11:34,160 --> 00:11:36,280 who have been in the industry for years, 268 00:11:36,280 --> 00:11:38,800 they still don't understand how HI works, you know, 269 00:11:38,800 --> 00:11:41,360 and how the format and the structure is 270 00:11:41,360 --> 00:11:45,840 and independent operations and affiliates and HI USA, 271 00:11:45,840 --> 00:11:48,360 HI Canada, so give us just a little bit of a breakdown 272 00:11:48,360 --> 00:11:51,320 of like, what is HI Canada and like, 273 00:11:51,320 --> 00:11:52,880 how does that all work? 274 00:11:52,880 --> 00:11:56,840 Yeah, so the first thing to say is HI Canada 275 00:11:56,840 --> 00:11:58,480 is a nonprofit organization. 276 00:11:59,360 --> 00:12:02,120 That was the main reason that I'd wanted to work for them 277 00:12:02,120 --> 00:12:03,480 for many years, actually. 278 00:12:03,480 --> 00:12:06,840 I actually applied for just like a supervisor position 279 00:12:06,840 --> 00:12:09,520 at Whistler years ago when I didn't have the visa 280 00:12:09,520 --> 00:12:11,280 or anything like that. 281 00:12:11,280 --> 00:12:14,880 Because I really loved working in hostels, of course. 282 00:12:14,880 --> 00:12:18,000 And after many years in Amsterdam, 283 00:12:18,000 --> 00:12:20,160 got a little bit tired of working 284 00:12:20,160 --> 00:12:25,000 for people who didn't really care or understand 285 00:12:25,000 --> 00:12:27,520 about the hostels that they owned very much 286 00:12:27,520 --> 00:12:29,760 and always having to fight for everything 287 00:12:29,760 --> 00:12:34,360 and feeling like I wanted to do what I did 288 00:12:34,360 --> 00:12:36,840 for more of a good cause. 289 00:12:36,840 --> 00:12:39,800 And HI's mission essentially is to make sure 290 00:12:39,800 --> 00:12:41,840 that hostels still exist and to make sure 291 00:12:41,840 --> 00:12:44,440 that travel remains affordable for young people 292 00:12:44,440 --> 00:12:46,200 in the area in which they operate. 293 00:12:46,200 --> 00:12:49,320 So there's hundreds of cool HI organizations. 294 00:12:49,320 --> 00:12:50,880 They go under slightly different names. 295 00:12:50,880 --> 00:12:53,240 In Holland, it's Stay OK. 296 00:12:53,240 --> 00:12:55,560 In the UK and other countries, it's YHA. 297 00:12:55,560 --> 00:12:57,520 Obviously you have HI USA as well. 298 00:12:58,680 --> 00:13:02,280 And we're all part of the same network. 299 00:13:02,280 --> 00:13:04,400 We have the same quality assurance program as well, 300 00:13:04,400 --> 00:13:05,520 which is international. 301 00:13:06,640 --> 00:13:08,280 But we are also all around 302 00:13:08,280 --> 00:13:10,680 independent nonprofit organizations. 303 00:13:10,680 --> 00:13:14,960 So with the hostels that I've worked for in HI, 304 00:13:14,960 --> 00:13:17,600 I started out at Jericho Beach Hostel in Vancouver, 305 00:13:17,600 --> 00:13:21,320 which has just turned 52 years old. 306 00:13:21,320 --> 00:13:26,320 It's an army barracks, which was originally occupied by, 307 00:13:26,640 --> 00:13:28,440 well, originally it was the army. 308 00:13:28,440 --> 00:13:31,200 And then it was a nunnery briefly, I believe. 309 00:13:31,200 --> 00:13:35,720 And then it was occupied by hippies for a really long time. 310 00:13:35,720 --> 00:13:37,920 And there was a legendary riot. 311 00:13:37,920 --> 00:13:40,280 You can Google the Battle of Jericho. 312 00:13:40,280 --> 00:13:43,000 There was a riot in 1969, 313 00:13:43,000 --> 00:13:45,920 which erupted when the police tried to evict 314 00:13:45,920 --> 00:13:50,080 these hippies during the Summer of Love from Jericho Beach. 315 00:13:50,080 --> 00:13:51,480 And if you go and stay there now, 316 00:13:51,480 --> 00:13:53,800 you'll be quite amazed how the vibe is still 317 00:13:53,800 --> 00:13:56,920 pretty much exactly the same as it would have been in 1969. 318 00:13:58,320 --> 00:14:00,600 And the beautiful thing of working in a place like that, 319 00:14:00,600 --> 00:14:02,880 or working here in HI, Wissler, 320 00:14:02,880 --> 00:14:04,600 is just that, like I say, 321 00:14:04,600 --> 00:14:06,640 you're doing it for essentially a good cause. 322 00:14:06,640 --> 00:14:10,520 We all have this shared value of trying to make sure 323 00:14:10,520 --> 00:14:13,040 that places can remain affordable. 324 00:14:13,040 --> 00:14:14,960 Obviously you have to compete with the market 325 00:14:14,960 --> 00:14:18,040 that you're in, but we compete in a way where we try 326 00:14:18,040 --> 00:14:21,360 so hard to be the bottom line and to make sure 327 00:14:21,360 --> 00:14:24,440 that people, young people, can come and travel 328 00:14:24,440 --> 00:14:27,000 to a place like Wissler, which is not cheap, 329 00:14:27,000 --> 00:14:28,520 which is often super expensive, 330 00:14:28,520 --> 00:14:30,080 especially for accommodation. 331 00:14:31,200 --> 00:14:33,880 And we look after them and we house them. 332 00:14:33,880 --> 00:14:35,800 And not only that, but we create a community. 333 00:14:35,800 --> 00:14:39,280 We create a vibe and that takes everybody on board. 334 00:14:39,280 --> 00:14:40,800 It's the management, it's the staff, 335 00:14:40,800 --> 00:14:43,000 and it's the guests and the local community. 336 00:14:43,000 --> 00:14:46,720 And we make partnerships with people in the local area, 337 00:14:46,720 --> 00:14:48,200 all over Canada. 338 00:14:48,200 --> 00:14:49,640 If you stay at HI, Wissler, 339 00:14:49,640 --> 00:14:51,880 you'll get discounts with HI, Wissler, 340 00:14:51,880 --> 00:14:54,720 with Wissler businesses that are in the local area. 341 00:14:54,720 --> 00:14:57,000 And just exactly the same if you're in Vancouver 342 00:14:57,000 --> 00:14:59,080 or if you're going to go on mid-property in Halifax 343 00:14:59,080 --> 00:15:01,240 or if you go into the Banff location, 344 00:15:01,240 --> 00:15:03,480 you get the hostel, you get the cheap accommodation, 345 00:15:03,480 --> 00:15:04,400 you get the community, 346 00:15:04,400 --> 00:15:07,040 and you also get a lot of really decent discounts 347 00:15:07,040 --> 00:15:09,640 in the local area and around Canada in general. 348 00:15:09,640 --> 00:15:12,960 So that's why I really wanted to work for HI 349 00:15:12,960 --> 00:15:15,480 and why I love them as an organization. 350 00:15:15,480 --> 00:15:18,040 The thing that really fascinates me a lot of the time 351 00:15:18,040 --> 00:15:21,800 is people don't know that we're a nonprofit organization. 352 00:15:21,800 --> 00:15:23,680 And if you don't know that, 353 00:15:23,680 --> 00:15:27,240 then it's very normal to kind of assume 354 00:15:27,240 --> 00:15:29,320 that it's a big corporate brand. 355 00:15:30,280 --> 00:15:33,720 And so that's a really big part of my day-to-day in the job, 356 00:15:33,720 --> 00:15:34,560 is trying to make sure, 357 00:15:34,560 --> 00:15:36,640 especially in the local community, 358 00:15:36,640 --> 00:15:39,000 that people understand the power of the organization 359 00:15:39,000 --> 00:15:40,800 and that people understand that we are a nonprofit 360 00:15:40,800 --> 00:15:44,240 and that we do it for a really solid reason. 361 00:15:44,240 --> 00:15:48,600 I was talking to a really lovely lady called Jackie 362 00:15:48,600 --> 00:15:50,960 who runs the Whistler Community Services Society 363 00:15:50,960 --> 00:15:52,240 a couple of weeks ago. 364 00:15:52,240 --> 00:15:55,600 So we just got a new liquor license for our patio cafe. 365 00:15:55,600 --> 00:15:56,440 And she- 366 00:15:56,440 --> 00:15:57,260 Oh! 367 00:15:57,260 --> 00:15:58,100 Yeah, it's pretty cool. 368 00:15:58,100 --> 00:15:59,600 And- Yeah! 369 00:15:59,600 --> 00:16:00,640 Oh, that's so nice. 370 00:16:00,640 --> 00:16:02,440 I'm really glad that that's on offer. 371 00:16:03,720 --> 00:16:06,360 And I said, yeah, well, you know, we're a nonprofit 372 00:16:06,360 --> 00:16:07,200 and it's really important 373 00:16:07,200 --> 00:16:09,160 was that we become a community space. 374 00:16:09,160 --> 00:16:11,640 It's obviously a big part of it is making sure 375 00:16:11,640 --> 00:16:15,520 that we remain affordable 376 00:16:15,520 --> 00:16:17,600 and that we hit our targets year on year 377 00:16:17,600 --> 00:16:19,760 so that we can thrive and survive. 378 00:16:19,760 --> 00:16:21,200 But a big part of it as well is just, 379 00:16:21,200 --> 00:16:23,480 there was nothing like that in the area, 380 00:16:23,480 --> 00:16:26,560 exactly where our hostel is for the community. 381 00:16:26,560 --> 00:16:27,400 And she was like, 382 00:16:27,400 --> 00:16:29,840 I never knew that you're a nonprofit organization. 383 00:16:29,840 --> 00:16:33,440 And then she runs the biggest community services 384 00:16:33,440 --> 00:16:34,560 organization in town. 385 00:16:34,560 --> 00:16:37,640 So yeah, that's our mission. 386 00:16:37,640 --> 00:16:40,720 And we need to do more for sure 387 00:16:40,720 --> 00:16:42,360 to try and flag that flag. 388 00:16:43,560 --> 00:16:44,560 Absolutely. 389 00:16:44,560 --> 00:16:46,240 Bob, you had something to add there? 390 00:16:46,240 --> 00:16:48,520 Yeah, with, you said you worked at nine hostels 391 00:16:48,520 --> 00:16:49,640 before you landed there. 392 00:16:49,640 --> 00:16:54,280 What is something that you felt like was amazing 393 00:16:54,280 --> 00:16:56,240 at the hostels that you wanted to bring? 394 00:16:56,240 --> 00:16:58,080 Like what, you must, you got a lot of experience, 395 00:16:58,080 --> 00:17:01,200 probably worked at good hostels, bad hostels. 396 00:17:01,200 --> 00:17:03,040 What you see is like the magic that was like, 397 00:17:03,040 --> 00:17:04,880 this is what it takes to be a great hostel. 398 00:17:04,880 --> 00:17:06,920 And I'm gonna take that, put that in my pocket 399 00:17:06,920 --> 00:17:09,040 and set it up in Whistler. 400 00:17:09,040 --> 00:17:11,720 Yeah, well, the first thing when I came to Whistler, 401 00:17:11,720 --> 00:17:13,520 it was a completely different proposition 402 00:17:13,520 --> 00:17:16,240 from any of the hostels that I've worked at. 403 00:17:16,240 --> 00:17:17,640 Usually I come into a hostel 404 00:17:17,640 --> 00:17:20,800 and the issues are kind of organizational 405 00:17:20,800 --> 00:17:25,040 and structural training, PMS, operational kind of concerns. 406 00:17:26,160 --> 00:17:28,760 And the community and the vibe and all that kind of stuff 407 00:17:28,760 --> 00:17:30,200 is kind of already ticking. 408 00:17:30,200 --> 00:17:34,080 When I came to Whistler, I got really, really, really lucky, 409 00:17:34,080 --> 00:17:35,760 especially because it was my first 410 00:17:35,760 --> 00:17:38,040 proper general management gig, 411 00:17:38,040 --> 00:17:41,040 just completely by myself up here running it. 412 00:17:41,040 --> 00:17:43,760 And the gentleman that I inherited the job from 413 00:17:43,760 --> 00:17:47,800 had done a fantastic job in terms of running it 414 00:17:47,800 --> 00:17:50,400 as a really sustainable, successful business. 415 00:17:51,320 --> 00:17:54,000 So there was a lot to learn from in that, 416 00:17:54,000 --> 00:17:57,440 but I could see straight away that there was a lot of room 417 00:17:57,440 --> 00:18:00,560 for improvement in terms of just our atmosphere 418 00:18:00,560 --> 00:18:03,840 and our community output. 419 00:18:03,840 --> 00:18:06,480 So the first thing honestly was the liquor license. 420 00:18:06,480 --> 00:18:08,680 It seemed like low-hanging fruit to me 421 00:18:08,680 --> 00:18:11,400 that we had this really tiny cafe, 422 00:18:11,400 --> 00:18:13,160 which had a really tiny liquor license. 423 00:18:13,160 --> 00:18:17,520 We could legally serve 12 people in this very tiny space 424 00:18:17,520 --> 00:18:19,440 right in front of the service area, 425 00:18:19,440 --> 00:18:22,040 and which is basically useless, 426 00:18:22,040 --> 00:18:25,320 because when you have a hostel of over 100 people 427 00:18:25,320 --> 00:18:29,120 in the winter, and you can only serve 12 of them a beer, 428 00:18:29,120 --> 00:18:30,440 nobody's gonna do it. 429 00:18:30,440 --> 00:18:32,480 You can maybe serve one group, 430 00:18:32,480 --> 00:18:34,800 and then you get this weird situation where 431 00:18:34,800 --> 00:18:36,600 the 13th person walks into the bar, 432 00:18:36,600 --> 00:18:38,440 you go, oh, hey, buddy, no, sorry, 433 00:18:38,440 --> 00:18:40,640 I need you to walk back over that line, 434 00:18:40,640 --> 00:18:43,240 because there's already 12 beers in play right here. 435 00:18:44,360 --> 00:18:46,000 So that was the first thing, 436 00:18:46,840 --> 00:18:48,360 and that was a huge education, 437 00:18:48,360 --> 00:18:50,760 working with the whole bureaucracy 438 00:18:50,760 --> 00:18:55,320 of the liquor planning sort of system here in BC and Canada. 439 00:18:55,320 --> 00:18:56,480 It took a very long time. 440 00:18:56,480 --> 00:18:59,040 I had to get architects to bring up plans, 441 00:18:59,040 --> 00:19:01,440 and this building, HI Whistler, 442 00:19:01,440 --> 00:19:04,280 was built for the Winter Olympics in 2010, 443 00:19:04,280 --> 00:19:06,480 and it was part of the athletes' housing. 444 00:19:06,480 --> 00:19:09,800 So I had to ring up the original architects 445 00:19:09,800 --> 00:19:12,320 that had built it for the Olympic Committee 446 00:19:12,320 --> 00:19:14,640 to get him to do a tiny job 447 00:19:14,640 --> 00:19:18,320 of just redrawing the same thing that he drew 448 00:19:18,320 --> 00:19:23,040 four years ago and just sign off on it again 449 00:19:23,040 --> 00:19:25,320 and say, yes, you can have a patio here, 450 00:19:25,320 --> 00:19:26,680 because we already did have a patio, 451 00:19:26,680 --> 00:19:27,920 it just wasn't licensed. 452 00:19:29,240 --> 00:19:32,640 And then I also got really lucky, 453 00:19:32,640 --> 00:19:35,520 and also a little bit of nice karma. 454 00:19:35,520 --> 00:19:40,280 There's a gentleman who lives in the same neighborhood as me, 455 00:19:40,280 --> 00:19:42,680 and I have a parking space that I don't use at the moment, 456 00:19:42,680 --> 00:19:43,960 because I don't have a car, 457 00:19:43,960 --> 00:19:46,880 and he was just a nice guy who lived close to me, 458 00:19:46,880 --> 00:19:48,440 and he didn't have a parking space, 459 00:19:48,440 --> 00:19:49,480 but he did have a car. 460 00:19:49,480 --> 00:19:50,920 I offered him our parking space, 461 00:19:50,920 --> 00:19:53,280 and about six months later, 462 00:19:53,280 --> 00:19:56,960 when I finally sent off the liquor application 463 00:19:56,960 --> 00:19:58,680 to the local municipality, 464 00:19:58,680 --> 00:19:59,760 I got a call straight away, 465 00:19:59,760 --> 00:20:01,760 like, is that Alfie that lives in the RISE? 466 00:20:01,760 --> 00:20:03,080 And I was like, yeah, and he was like, 467 00:20:03,080 --> 00:20:04,920 hey, it's your boy. 468 00:20:04,920 --> 00:20:09,920 So the guy that I had sorted out with the parking space 469 00:20:10,200 --> 00:20:11,680 is actually the guy who was overseeing 470 00:20:11,680 --> 00:20:13,280 our liquor planning application. 471 00:20:14,520 --> 00:20:16,440 So that was amazing. 472 00:20:16,440 --> 00:20:19,520 And yeah, it came through pretty quickly. 473 00:20:21,520 --> 00:20:24,040 And then we introduced a draft beer system, 474 00:20:24,040 --> 00:20:26,000 we completely renovated the patio, 475 00:20:27,720 --> 00:20:30,360 and we've been putting on all kinds of new events 476 00:20:30,360 --> 00:20:32,200 over the last year or so. 477 00:20:32,200 --> 00:20:33,880 And really, more than that, 478 00:20:33,880 --> 00:20:38,320 it's about the recruitment culture for me. 479 00:20:38,320 --> 00:20:42,800 When I came in, my managers were very diligent and efficient 480 00:20:42,800 --> 00:20:44,920 at getting a team together at the right time, 481 00:20:44,920 --> 00:20:47,680 and getting people who are very skilled and experienced. 482 00:20:47,680 --> 00:20:51,160 And I kind of changed the tack a little bit 483 00:20:51,160 --> 00:20:55,160 when I came in and said that experience and skill 484 00:20:55,160 --> 00:20:57,040 is really not as important as getting people 485 00:20:57,040 --> 00:20:58,880 who want to work in a hostel. 486 00:20:58,880 --> 00:21:01,160 So every single interview that we do, 487 00:21:01,160 --> 00:21:04,480 the first question, why do you want to work for us? 488 00:21:04,480 --> 00:21:06,040 That's a deal breaker. 489 00:21:06,040 --> 00:21:07,760 And you get a lot of people who say, 490 00:21:07,760 --> 00:21:11,080 well, I just want to live in Western and ski for the season. 491 00:21:12,400 --> 00:21:14,000 And your job came up. 492 00:21:14,000 --> 00:21:15,640 And then it's like, okay, well, 493 00:21:15,640 --> 00:21:17,600 now you're gonna have to have a really good interview 494 00:21:17,600 --> 00:21:18,840 from here to get- 495 00:21:18,840 --> 00:21:20,000 To win it back. 496 00:21:20,000 --> 00:21:20,840 Yeah, exactly. 497 00:21:20,840 --> 00:21:24,200 And if you get somebody who has no idea what they're doing, 498 00:21:24,200 --> 00:21:26,240 maybe they're 19, they've never worked a job before 499 00:21:26,240 --> 00:21:27,640 in their lives, but they're like, 500 00:21:27,640 --> 00:21:30,920 I stayed with you guys this summer, and I loved it. 501 00:21:30,920 --> 00:21:34,040 And I've been around a few hostels in Europe or whatever. 502 00:21:34,040 --> 00:21:35,960 And I just really, I want to be a part 503 00:21:35,960 --> 00:21:38,680 of that kind of community and see, and it's like, done. 504 00:21:38,680 --> 00:21:42,720 You can train and you can develop people 505 00:21:42,720 --> 00:21:44,800 when they have that willingness. 506 00:21:44,800 --> 00:21:46,120 Sure, yeah. 507 00:21:46,120 --> 00:21:48,480 And so that's kind of become our culture 508 00:21:48,480 --> 00:21:49,880 in the last couple of years. 509 00:21:49,880 --> 00:21:54,080 And we've been really fortunate that we've just had great team 510 00:21:54,080 --> 00:21:56,360 after great team after great team, 511 00:21:56,360 --> 00:21:58,520 and people who really love being here. 512 00:21:58,520 --> 00:22:01,600 And when the guests come in, that's what they feel. 513 00:22:01,600 --> 00:22:03,520 They feel like they're a part of something. 514 00:22:03,520 --> 00:22:05,920 Like I was saying to you, when I was cleaning up vomit 515 00:22:05,920 --> 00:22:08,360 all those years ago, and I decided this is the job 516 00:22:08,360 --> 00:22:11,960 that I want to have, that was because I was like 23. 517 00:22:11,960 --> 00:22:15,680 And most of that team were like 18 to 21 years old, 518 00:22:15,680 --> 00:22:17,560 and nobody earned any money. 519 00:22:17,560 --> 00:22:20,520 And all of them had a crazy pride in what they did. 520 00:22:20,520 --> 00:22:23,160 They had a crazy pride in working for the flying pig 521 00:22:23,160 --> 00:22:24,680 and flying that flag. 522 00:22:24,680 --> 00:22:25,520 Yeah, yeah. 523 00:22:25,520 --> 00:22:28,560 And that was really captivating for me. 524 00:22:28,560 --> 00:22:31,120 It was like, no reason for you guys to love doing this 525 00:22:31,120 --> 00:22:33,560 except for the actual doing it itself. 526 00:22:34,640 --> 00:22:37,320 So when you combine that with actually having a budget 527 00:22:37,320 --> 00:22:39,000 and being able to pay people 528 00:22:39,000 --> 00:22:41,920 and being part of this big nonprofit organization, 529 00:22:41,920 --> 00:22:45,240 you can really create a nice atmosphere. 530 00:22:45,240 --> 00:22:48,440 And that was my key mission from the moment that I started. 531 00:22:48,440 --> 00:22:50,320 And obviously we're still on that road, 532 00:22:50,320 --> 00:22:52,440 but we've made a lot of really nice steps 533 00:22:52,440 --> 00:22:53,760 and it's been lovely. 534 00:22:54,920 --> 00:22:55,760 Wow. 535 00:22:55,760 --> 00:22:56,600 That's great. 536 00:22:56,600 --> 00:23:00,040 And I love the, you know, I often use it, 537 00:23:00,040 --> 00:23:01,160 I switch it up a bit. 538 00:23:01,160 --> 00:23:03,720 It's a classic old saying, if you walk up to three of you guys 539 00:23:03,720 --> 00:23:05,240 and you ask the first one, what are you doing? 540 00:23:05,240 --> 00:23:06,920 He says, I'm laying bricks. 541 00:23:06,920 --> 00:23:08,720 You ask the second guy, what are you doing? 542 00:23:08,720 --> 00:23:10,160 I'm building a wall. 543 00:23:10,160 --> 00:23:11,640 He asks the third guy, what are you doing? 544 00:23:11,640 --> 00:23:12,840 I'm building a church. 545 00:23:12,840 --> 00:23:14,160 They're all doing the same thing, 546 00:23:14,160 --> 00:23:16,320 but they're all looking at it in a very different way. 547 00:23:16,320 --> 00:23:19,680 I've always used the shitter for hostels in that way of like, 548 00:23:19,680 --> 00:23:20,640 if you have one of those days 549 00:23:20,640 --> 00:23:22,200 and you're cleaning a bunch of shitters 550 00:23:22,200 --> 00:23:23,760 or you're flipping a bunch of bunk beds, 551 00:23:23,760 --> 00:23:27,000 like I never looked at it as I'm cleaning the shitter 552 00:23:27,000 --> 00:23:27,960 or flipping the bunk bed. 553 00:23:27,960 --> 00:23:30,320 I'm like, oh man, I'm running the best hostel in the city. 554 00:23:30,320 --> 00:23:31,800 That's what I'm doing. 555 00:23:31,800 --> 00:23:33,400 You know, I don't know. 556 00:23:33,400 --> 00:23:34,800 I'm not cleaning shitters. 557 00:23:36,400 --> 00:23:37,880 It's how you look at it. 558 00:23:37,880 --> 00:23:41,520 And then if you get people that can have that same mindset 559 00:23:41,520 --> 00:23:42,840 and you build a team like that, 560 00:23:42,840 --> 00:23:46,560 then that really sets that special sauce in the culture. 561 00:23:46,560 --> 00:23:49,040 Yeah, let's put this shit together. 562 00:23:49,040 --> 00:23:53,440 Yeah, and then it is really profound 563 00:23:53,440 --> 00:23:54,800 and you put it in a good way of like, 564 00:23:54,800 --> 00:23:56,720 the flying pig's a great example of like, 565 00:23:56,720 --> 00:23:57,800 you're looking at all these kids 566 00:23:57,800 --> 00:23:59,560 that are working their asses off, 567 00:23:59,560 --> 00:24:00,720 taking it super seriously, 568 00:24:00,720 --> 00:24:04,080 having a very high pride and value in their work, 569 00:24:04,080 --> 00:24:05,320 and they're not getting paid. 570 00:24:05,320 --> 00:24:08,440 And I've always found that very fascinating to, you know, 571 00:24:08,440 --> 00:24:12,520 money a lot of times can throw a wrench 572 00:24:12,520 --> 00:24:17,520 in that type of culture, in that type of, you know, vibe. 573 00:24:20,440 --> 00:24:22,840 And some people look at it and they're like, 574 00:24:22,840 --> 00:24:24,040 I don't know what the fuck's going on, 575 00:24:24,040 --> 00:24:27,160 but the person who is looking at it in that way of like, 576 00:24:27,160 --> 00:24:29,200 I'm not laying bricks, I'm building a church, 577 00:24:29,200 --> 00:24:31,000 you know, that type of thing, 578 00:24:31,000 --> 00:24:32,640 that is very contagious 579 00:24:32,640 --> 00:24:34,720 and it draws the right type of people in. 580 00:24:34,720 --> 00:24:39,240 It also keeps the wrong type of people out too. 581 00:24:39,240 --> 00:24:43,200 So I think that's great that you've built that up there, 582 00:24:43,200 --> 00:24:44,800 you know, HI Whistler. 583 00:24:44,800 --> 00:24:46,920 Now, one thing that I was really interested in 584 00:24:46,920 --> 00:24:48,840 when we were hanging out at the conference 585 00:24:48,840 --> 00:24:52,120 and just talking about, you know, your experience at HI, 586 00:24:52,120 --> 00:24:54,000 and you've touched on a little bit here with budgets, 587 00:24:54,000 --> 00:24:58,360 but it does seem like, you know, 588 00:24:58,360 --> 00:24:59,200 correct me if I'm wrong, 589 00:24:59,200 --> 00:25:01,880 I always felt like it would be a very corporate structure, 590 00:25:01,880 --> 00:25:04,480 like you said, in like a lot of policies, procedures, 591 00:25:04,480 --> 00:25:06,960 but it seems like they pretty much just give you a budget 592 00:25:06,960 --> 00:25:08,440 and let you run with it 593 00:25:08,440 --> 00:25:10,400 and give you a lot of creative freedom 594 00:25:10,400 --> 00:25:13,160 and a lot of operational freedom. 595 00:25:13,160 --> 00:25:15,000 Would you say that that's true? 596 00:25:15,000 --> 00:25:16,560 Yeah, I'd say that's really accurate. 597 00:25:16,560 --> 00:25:20,080 It's a little bit of a mixture of the two. 598 00:25:20,080 --> 00:25:23,200 We do have a really strong, solid upper management 599 00:25:24,080 --> 00:25:27,040 who are all very skilled and very experienced, 600 00:25:27,040 --> 00:25:28,240 A, in what they do, 601 00:25:28,240 --> 00:25:31,720 whether it's HR or marketing or membership strategy, 602 00:25:31,720 --> 00:25:35,480 but also all of them have their own traveling stories 603 00:25:35,480 --> 00:25:38,720 and experiences and are all in it for the right reason. 604 00:25:38,720 --> 00:25:41,320 So there's times where we might disagree 605 00:25:41,320 --> 00:25:44,400 with each other on strategy, sometimes a lot of times, 606 00:25:45,400 --> 00:25:46,680 but at the end of the day, 607 00:25:46,680 --> 00:25:49,760 it's not like when you disagree with your boss 608 00:25:49,760 --> 00:25:51,880 and trying to show him like, 609 00:25:51,880 --> 00:25:53,480 we need more money for this thing 610 00:25:53,480 --> 00:25:55,560 because it's going to make it better. 611 00:25:55,560 --> 00:25:57,120 It's you're disagreeing with each other 612 00:25:57,120 --> 00:25:59,840 because you both have pretty much the same vision 613 00:25:59,840 --> 00:26:01,920 and the same goals. 614 00:26:01,920 --> 00:26:03,720 And so when you hash it out, 615 00:26:03,720 --> 00:26:06,840 you come up with a plan that's almost always compromised 616 00:26:06,840 --> 00:26:08,200 between everybody's vision. 617 00:26:09,080 --> 00:26:11,440 And so you finish your work day 618 00:26:11,440 --> 00:26:14,200 and there's not that kind of stress 619 00:26:14,200 --> 00:26:15,960 or you don't feel like you're not being seen 620 00:26:15,960 --> 00:26:16,960 or not being valued 621 00:26:16,960 --> 00:26:20,000 because you know that everybody's coming from a good place. 622 00:26:20,000 --> 00:26:23,560 It's not like anybody's trying to pocket the money somewhere. 623 00:26:23,560 --> 00:26:24,960 We're all just earning a salary 624 00:26:24,960 --> 00:26:26,840 and doing the best that we can do. 625 00:26:26,840 --> 00:26:28,760 But when it comes to actually running the hostel, 626 00:26:28,760 --> 00:26:33,760 yeah, it's been quite, 627 00:26:33,880 --> 00:26:35,160 especially in the early days, 628 00:26:35,160 --> 00:26:36,840 it was quite a surprise to me 629 00:26:36,840 --> 00:26:40,840 how much freedom we do get as general managers 630 00:26:40,840 --> 00:26:43,960 to basically be entrepreneurs in our local area. 631 00:26:44,800 --> 00:26:49,120 We have check-ins and we make sure that we keep 632 00:26:49,120 --> 00:26:51,000 the senior management team up to date 633 00:26:51,000 --> 00:26:53,080 with everything that we're doing. 634 00:26:53,080 --> 00:26:56,360 But we go to them with the vision that we want to create. 635 00:26:56,360 --> 00:26:59,240 The patio is a fantastic example 636 00:26:59,240 --> 00:27:04,240 because I can see in the past other jobs that I've worked at 637 00:27:05,040 --> 00:27:06,480 and it's quite a big project 638 00:27:06,480 --> 00:27:10,360 and it's quite a crazy amount of vision 639 00:27:10,360 --> 00:27:12,040 that we put into it, 640 00:27:12,040 --> 00:27:14,360 just the management team here at the hostel. 641 00:27:14,360 --> 00:27:16,440 We wanted to have a very specific kind of patio 642 00:27:16,440 --> 00:27:19,080 that looked a certain way, that felt a certain way. 643 00:27:19,080 --> 00:27:21,720 We wanted to get local beer in from the brewery. 644 00:27:21,720 --> 00:27:24,360 We needed to introduce a draft system. 645 00:27:24,360 --> 00:27:26,120 And all of that was a lot of money, a lot of time 646 00:27:26,120 --> 00:27:27,160 and a lot of work. 647 00:27:28,280 --> 00:27:30,320 And generally the whole time, 648 00:27:30,320 --> 00:27:33,360 my bosses would just like, okay, tell me more 649 00:27:33,360 --> 00:27:34,840 and how is that gonna work 650 00:27:34,840 --> 00:27:37,000 and how is this gonna be successful? 651 00:27:37,000 --> 00:27:40,000 And if I can show them that strategy and that vision, 652 00:27:40,000 --> 00:27:41,800 A, we can get it done 653 00:27:41,800 --> 00:27:45,680 and B, they can lend their expertise and experience 654 00:27:45,680 --> 00:27:48,040 to telling me how to do it better. 655 00:27:48,040 --> 00:27:51,920 Like Rianne that you met at the conference as well. 656 00:27:51,920 --> 00:27:53,480 Oh, I loved her, yeah. 657 00:27:53,480 --> 00:27:54,440 We all love Rianne, 658 00:27:54,440 --> 00:27:57,560 who was running part of the Vancouver hostels, still is. 659 00:27:58,840 --> 00:28:02,240 She has a wealth of experience in F&B 660 00:28:02,240 --> 00:28:04,200 and project management in general. 661 00:28:04,200 --> 00:28:07,160 So like just that, I can tap into that. 662 00:28:07,160 --> 00:28:08,840 We were coming up with this project 663 00:28:08,840 --> 00:28:11,240 and I said to my bosses, 664 00:28:11,240 --> 00:28:13,240 I really want Rianne to be a part of this 665 00:28:13,240 --> 00:28:16,840 because as much as I know what I wanna do, 666 00:28:16,840 --> 00:28:19,760 I know that having somebody with that amount of experience 667 00:28:19,760 --> 00:28:24,000 to come in and tell me, okay, I see what you wanna do, 668 00:28:24,000 --> 00:28:26,920 here's why you don't wanna do it this way 669 00:28:26,920 --> 00:28:28,360 or even just tiny things 670 00:28:28,360 --> 00:28:29,840 that like your oven should be here 671 00:28:29,840 --> 00:28:31,920 so that your thing over here will work better 672 00:28:31,920 --> 00:28:33,960 and your staff can move around more easily 673 00:28:33,960 --> 00:28:35,400 and all that kind of stuff. 674 00:28:36,920 --> 00:28:39,280 Yeah, so it works out really well 675 00:28:39,280 --> 00:28:41,120 where you really get the freedom to do things 676 00:28:41,120 --> 00:28:43,000 however you want to do things. 677 00:28:43,000 --> 00:28:48,000 But you also, if you just take a little bit of a humble pill, 678 00:28:48,320 --> 00:28:52,160 you can also listen to a wealth of experience and expertise 679 00:28:52,160 --> 00:28:55,280 from everybody else who have different skill sets, 680 00:28:55,280 --> 00:28:57,120 different levels of experience, 681 00:28:57,120 --> 00:28:59,240 but the same goal and the same vision. 682 00:28:59,240 --> 00:29:00,800 So it works really well. 683 00:29:02,200 --> 00:29:04,880 I was saying, Bob Jire, something to add to that? 684 00:29:04,880 --> 00:29:07,240 How long did it take the construction process? 685 00:29:08,720 --> 00:29:10,240 So the patio was always there. 686 00:29:10,240 --> 00:29:11,520 That was the crazy thing 687 00:29:11,520 --> 00:29:15,080 that it wasn't kind of done way back when. 688 00:29:16,600 --> 00:29:19,200 And what we changed was mostly the furniture. 689 00:29:19,200 --> 00:29:21,720 So we had literally the same furniture 690 00:29:21,720 --> 00:29:23,080 from the Olympics. 691 00:29:23,960 --> 00:29:25,520 We got rid of all of that. 692 00:29:25,520 --> 00:29:28,760 We put in some really nice wooden picnic tables. 693 00:29:30,000 --> 00:29:31,800 I have quite a close connection 694 00:29:31,800 --> 00:29:34,240 with the local brewery that's down the road, 695 00:29:34,240 --> 00:29:36,440 mostly because I like to go to the local brewery 696 00:29:36,440 --> 00:29:38,440 that's down the road. 697 00:29:38,440 --> 00:29:42,480 And so we were able to get a kind of exclusivity contract 698 00:29:42,480 --> 00:29:43,720 with them and their beer. 699 00:29:43,720 --> 00:29:46,080 That also meant that we got like their umbrellas, 700 00:29:46,080 --> 00:29:47,680 we got their glasses, their pictures, 701 00:29:47,680 --> 00:29:49,080 all that kind of stuff. 702 00:29:49,080 --> 00:29:50,240 And we love those guys. 703 00:29:50,240 --> 00:29:52,320 So we're really happy to have that partnership 704 00:29:52,320 --> 00:29:56,120 and kind of sell their local product 705 00:29:56,120 --> 00:29:57,680 to people who come through. 706 00:29:58,720 --> 00:30:00,520 We got couches out of the front. 707 00:30:00,520 --> 00:30:03,760 We had these really old, but really good heaters 708 00:30:03,760 --> 00:30:05,280 that again were from the Olympics, 709 00:30:05,280 --> 00:30:08,400 but just hadn't worked for a really long time. 710 00:30:08,400 --> 00:30:10,760 So we got contractors in to look at that 711 00:30:10,760 --> 00:30:12,360 and then they got fixed and they're working 712 00:30:12,360 --> 00:30:14,840 and they're like insanely hot, 713 00:30:14,840 --> 00:30:16,600 which is gonna be interesting in winter 714 00:30:16,600 --> 00:30:17,920 to see how far they go. 715 00:30:17,920 --> 00:30:22,760 Yeah, so it wasn't so much of a construction project, 716 00:30:22,760 --> 00:30:24,400 it's more of a renovation. 717 00:30:24,400 --> 00:30:28,480 And the draft system, which was really challenging, 718 00:30:28,480 --> 00:30:29,920 but really fun to figure out, 719 00:30:29,920 --> 00:30:32,120 because I worked on a bar for a long time, 720 00:30:32,120 --> 00:30:34,200 but never installed one. 721 00:30:35,200 --> 00:30:38,160 We just got a kind of big kegerator 722 00:30:38,160 --> 00:30:40,320 that goes at the end of the cafe bar. 723 00:30:40,320 --> 00:30:43,360 We got rid of some old stuff to make space for it 724 00:30:43,360 --> 00:30:48,360 and set it up and it took about a full eight hours 725 00:30:49,280 --> 00:30:51,520 because my maintenance guy was on vacation 726 00:30:52,800 --> 00:30:55,200 and my cafe manager was on his day off. 727 00:30:55,200 --> 00:30:58,920 And I just, we had the beer, we had the system. 728 00:30:58,920 --> 00:31:01,560 And I was like, I wanna have a beer afterwards. 729 00:31:01,560 --> 00:31:02,880 And you're thirsty. 730 00:31:02,880 --> 00:31:04,600 Yeah, exactly. 731 00:31:04,600 --> 00:31:07,200 So I spent eight hours trying to get it to work 732 00:31:07,200 --> 00:31:09,400 and kept coming into all kinds of little problems 733 00:31:09,400 --> 00:31:11,160 because I'd never done that before 734 00:31:11,160 --> 00:31:14,560 and kept calling Oog, who's my friend, 735 00:31:14,560 --> 00:31:16,800 who's the bar manager at the brewery. 736 00:31:16,800 --> 00:31:18,240 And just like, he's working, 737 00:31:18,240 --> 00:31:19,920 trying to run a full shift at the brewery. 738 00:31:19,920 --> 00:31:21,960 And I'm like, Oog, okay, the beer's coming out, 739 00:31:21,960 --> 00:31:25,520 but it's not fizzy or whatever, all little tiny problems. 740 00:31:25,520 --> 00:31:28,200 And yeah, and then I nearly gave up. 741 00:31:28,200 --> 00:31:31,160 And I was like, we were so close, but nothing was happening. 742 00:31:31,160 --> 00:31:33,400 And I was like, I'm sure it's just a little problem. 743 00:31:33,400 --> 00:31:35,600 I'm just gonna leave it for today, go to the lake, 744 00:31:35,600 --> 00:31:37,160 chill out with my friends. 745 00:31:37,160 --> 00:31:40,080 And then I went to the bus stop and I was like, no. 746 00:31:40,080 --> 00:31:43,400 And I went back and carried on working on it. 747 00:31:43,400 --> 00:31:45,520 Just straightened everything out a little bit, 748 00:31:45,520 --> 00:31:47,960 literally like all the pipes and stuff. 749 00:31:47,960 --> 00:31:49,800 And then the beer started flowing. 750 00:31:49,800 --> 00:31:53,080 And I've never cheered that much in my entire life 751 00:31:53,080 --> 00:31:54,360 for this whole picture. 752 00:31:54,360 --> 00:31:56,600 There's a picture of me just like tears coming out 753 00:31:56,600 --> 00:31:58,360 of my eyes with this picture of beer. 754 00:31:58,360 --> 00:32:00,640 That was a two year dream of getting beer 755 00:32:00,640 --> 00:32:02,440 in that cafe on draft. 756 00:32:02,440 --> 00:32:04,560 And that was the final step. 757 00:32:04,560 --> 00:32:06,800 That's a unique feeling, even though I had a bar. 758 00:32:06,800 --> 00:32:08,760 And like when you're, it's a beautiful feeling, 759 00:32:08,760 --> 00:32:10,720 a dangerous feeling when you start pouring yourself 760 00:32:10,720 --> 00:32:12,800 your own beers from your own tap. 761 00:32:12,800 --> 00:32:16,200 It was like heaven, drinking those beers. 762 00:32:17,920 --> 00:32:20,720 Looking back on the process of doing construction 763 00:32:20,720 --> 00:32:24,280 as a lot of hostels wanna put in bars or enhance their bars. 764 00:32:24,280 --> 00:32:25,760 What is something you can reflect on 765 00:32:25,760 --> 00:32:27,840 and kind of learn from that process 766 00:32:27,840 --> 00:32:28,920 that you'd maybe do different 767 00:32:28,920 --> 00:32:30,840 or glad you did a certain way? 768 00:32:32,280 --> 00:32:37,280 I would say the main thing is I probably could have 769 00:32:37,280 --> 00:32:42,280 and should have leaned on my local business friends earlier. 770 00:32:43,840 --> 00:32:46,840 I kind of, I mean, I was still, especially at the beginning 771 00:32:46,840 --> 00:32:47,840 I was really new to town. 772 00:32:47,840 --> 00:32:50,320 So I didn't really have as many connections yet. 773 00:32:51,520 --> 00:32:56,400 And I was kind of begging my boss to make me the licensee 774 00:32:56,400 --> 00:32:59,160 so that I could just do everything myself. 775 00:32:59,160 --> 00:33:01,880 And that took a while, but eventually that happened. 776 00:33:01,880 --> 00:33:04,120 And then, yeah, when I became the licensee 777 00:33:04,120 --> 00:33:07,440 it was just like, well, there you go. 778 00:33:07,440 --> 00:33:10,960 And I realized I didn't, that I had to do so much research 779 00:33:10,960 --> 00:33:12,760 and I was going through all the steps 780 00:33:14,280 --> 00:33:17,080 and thinking if I just go through all the steps 781 00:33:17,080 --> 00:33:18,760 and figure out exactly what I've got to do 782 00:33:18,760 --> 00:33:21,000 each step of the way, it'll be fine. 783 00:33:21,000 --> 00:33:24,480 But there's a bunch of unknown unknowns that come along 784 00:33:24,480 --> 00:33:27,920 which only later talking to like the guys at brewery 785 00:33:27,920 --> 00:33:31,640 cause they actually got a new patio recently as well. 786 00:33:31,640 --> 00:33:33,560 They're like, oh, we could have told you that 787 00:33:33,560 --> 00:33:35,160 that you would have had a problem with that. 788 00:33:35,160 --> 00:33:36,000 Yeah. 789 00:33:36,000 --> 00:33:41,000 And a lot of giggling at like when I'm like, 790 00:33:41,440 --> 00:33:43,480 yeah, I'm pretty sure we're going to get this license now. 791 00:33:43,480 --> 00:33:44,320 I'll apply for it. 792 00:33:44,320 --> 00:33:45,160 It'll probably take a couple of weeks. 793 00:33:45,160 --> 00:33:46,000 And they're like, 794 00:33:46,000 --> 00:33:46,840 Pfft. 795 00:33:46,840 --> 00:33:47,680 No. 796 00:33:47,680 --> 00:33:50,600 No, no, no, no, no, no. 797 00:33:50,600 --> 00:33:52,640 But also just like keep trucking. 798 00:33:52,640 --> 00:33:53,480 That's the main thing. 799 00:33:53,480 --> 00:33:55,400 If there are unknown unknowns, 800 00:33:55,400 --> 00:33:57,440 just keep pushing the envelope. 801 00:33:57,440 --> 00:34:02,400 And those unknown unknowns will slowly become 802 00:34:02,400 --> 00:34:04,160 at least known unknowns. 803 00:34:04,160 --> 00:34:05,000 And you'll- 804 00:34:05,000 --> 00:34:05,840 It's like Don Rundsfeld. 805 00:34:05,840 --> 00:34:10,840 I'm not a reptile. 806 00:34:19,520 --> 00:34:22,680 But two things that really want to apply. 807 00:34:22,680 --> 00:34:26,440 I think it's awesome that HI creates that environment 808 00:34:26,440 --> 00:34:29,320 where they're letting you run with it. 809 00:34:29,320 --> 00:34:32,360 But then there's that element of, 810 00:34:33,960 --> 00:34:35,560 the momentum is contagious 811 00:34:35,560 --> 00:34:37,120 and that positive attitude is contagious 812 00:34:37,120 --> 00:34:39,120 when you surround yourself with people 813 00:34:39,120 --> 00:34:41,440 that are wanting to see you succeed 814 00:34:41,440 --> 00:34:43,600 and giving you the opportunity to succeed. 815 00:34:43,600 --> 00:34:45,680 And I think that's awesome that they've created 816 00:34:45,680 --> 00:34:49,000 that type of environment where it's very easy for people 817 00:34:49,000 --> 00:34:52,320 to like, oh, I tried to do that and turn that patio 818 00:34:52,320 --> 00:34:54,200 into something years ago and it didn't work. 819 00:34:54,200 --> 00:34:56,000 So you can't do it either. 820 00:34:56,000 --> 00:34:58,600 You can get a lot of that in businesses 821 00:34:58,600 --> 00:35:00,200 and corporate structure. 822 00:35:00,200 --> 00:35:02,960 One thing I've always noticed is the team, 823 00:35:03,880 --> 00:35:06,560 as we've grown in size at ICH, 824 00:35:06,560 --> 00:35:09,760 when I see the team working together to push each other, 825 00:35:09,760 --> 00:35:11,560 like, hey, that's a great idea. 826 00:35:11,560 --> 00:35:13,120 And what if you tried this? 827 00:35:13,120 --> 00:35:14,920 And then the other person's like, oh my God, 828 00:35:14,920 --> 00:35:17,800 that's an awesome amendment to that idea 829 00:35:17,800 --> 00:35:19,800 or a little change or deviation. 830 00:35:19,800 --> 00:35:21,840 And now that just brought this idea to mind 831 00:35:21,840 --> 00:35:23,040 and then someone else pitches in, 832 00:35:23,040 --> 00:35:24,560 then you should try this. 833 00:35:24,560 --> 00:35:27,200 And now that collective, that collaborative idea, 834 00:35:27,200 --> 00:35:29,440 like you said, because everyone's going for the same goal 835 00:35:29,440 --> 00:35:32,400 if you've got a good culture like that, right? 836 00:35:32,400 --> 00:35:34,600 On the flip side, you can really tell 837 00:35:34,600 --> 00:35:37,080 that a place isn't doing good when someone comes up 838 00:35:37,080 --> 00:35:39,800 with a really cool idea and people are pissed off about it. 839 00:35:39,800 --> 00:35:41,000 That's bad. 840 00:35:41,000 --> 00:35:42,480 That's bad news bears. 841 00:35:42,480 --> 00:35:44,920 Whenever I see that, I'm like, oh boy, 842 00:35:44,920 --> 00:35:46,400 we're gonna all sit on the magic carpet 843 00:35:46,400 --> 00:35:48,160 and talk about our feelings here for a little bit. 844 00:35:48,160 --> 00:35:53,000 Because we should be excited that our teammate 845 00:35:53,000 --> 00:35:55,720 or our coworker or our peer just came up 846 00:35:55,720 --> 00:35:57,600 with a bang busters idea 847 00:35:57,600 --> 00:36:00,320 and how could we maybe even make that better? 848 00:36:00,320 --> 00:36:02,720 And then if that is that person, 849 00:36:02,720 --> 00:36:04,280 this is also super important. 850 00:36:04,280 --> 00:36:07,880 And as you said, asking for help, using your network, 851 00:36:07,880 --> 00:36:09,400 using other people's experiences, 852 00:36:09,400 --> 00:36:12,440 because good people like to see other people 853 00:36:12,440 --> 00:36:14,200 do good in business. 854 00:36:14,200 --> 00:36:17,520 Successful people like to see other people do successful. 855 00:36:17,520 --> 00:36:19,600 The really good business people. 856 00:36:19,600 --> 00:36:21,640 And they're out there and surround yourself 857 00:36:21,640 --> 00:36:25,240 with those types of people and then ask and listen. 858 00:36:25,240 --> 00:36:28,320 And you'll get so much advice that can save you time 859 00:36:28,320 --> 00:36:31,760 and pain yourself of learning from their mistakes. 860 00:36:31,760 --> 00:36:35,720 But so many people, especially when they're on a run 861 00:36:35,720 --> 00:36:38,600 with a good idea, they get selfish with the idea. 862 00:36:38,600 --> 00:36:42,240 And they don't, this is my idea, it's my patio. 863 00:36:42,240 --> 00:36:45,000 But screw you with that idea about putting the draft 864 00:36:45,000 --> 00:36:46,360 over there in the back of your head, 865 00:36:46,360 --> 00:36:47,960 you're like, shit, that's a really good idea. 866 00:36:47,960 --> 00:36:52,960 You know, but if you're willing to take that learning curve 867 00:36:52,960 --> 00:36:56,400 and for me years ago when that happened, 868 00:36:56,400 --> 00:36:59,200 that was such a profound thing for me of like, 869 00:36:59,200 --> 00:37:00,520 more so going into the room of like, 870 00:37:00,520 --> 00:37:02,680 hey, I had this idea last night. 871 00:37:02,680 --> 00:37:03,840 What is everyone thinking? 872 00:37:03,840 --> 00:37:05,120 Does anyone have anyone, 873 00:37:05,120 --> 00:37:07,920 anything to add to that that could make it better? 874 00:37:07,920 --> 00:37:10,240 And then just watching that process run. 875 00:37:10,240 --> 00:37:12,120 That's a beautiful thing. 876 00:37:12,120 --> 00:37:14,280 And that's how you get those big projects done. 877 00:37:14,280 --> 00:37:17,240 Because you need the collective, you need the effort. 878 00:37:17,240 --> 00:37:21,800 And closing on that, when you hit those bumps in the road 879 00:37:21,800 --> 00:37:24,800 or, oh, wow, this is another thing I didn't think of. 880 00:37:24,800 --> 00:37:27,320 And there was so much more to it than I, 881 00:37:27,320 --> 00:37:29,120 that's when you've got to almost put the pedal 882 00:37:29,120 --> 00:37:30,640 to the metal a little bit more. 883 00:37:31,720 --> 00:37:33,520 So many people just stop. 884 00:37:33,520 --> 00:37:35,640 Oh, well, it was a great idea, 885 00:37:35,640 --> 00:37:38,840 but they said I had to move the window 16 inches 886 00:37:38,840 --> 00:37:40,320 so come out. 887 00:37:41,640 --> 00:37:43,160 I think that's great that, 888 00:37:44,160 --> 00:37:47,480 you could do a case study on that for people of like, 889 00:37:47,480 --> 00:37:49,840 here's the idea, here's what we have to go through, 890 00:37:49,840 --> 00:37:50,800 here's how long it took. 891 00:37:50,800 --> 00:37:53,280 But look at this beautiful end. 892 00:37:53,280 --> 00:37:55,880 It doesn't the beer taste so much better, you know? 893 00:37:55,880 --> 00:37:56,920 Yeah, man. 894 00:37:56,920 --> 00:37:58,960 When you go through those battles. 895 00:37:58,960 --> 00:37:59,800 That's the thing. 896 00:37:59,800 --> 00:38:01,520 And it comes back to the same thing 897 00:38:01,520 --> 00:38:04,640 of having that pride in what you do. 898 00:38:04,640 --> 00:38:08,960 And if you can have that filter down from the top 899 00:38:08,960 --> 00:38:12,200 all the way to the bottom and have that humility, 900 00:38:12,200 --> 00:38:14,640 which kind of has to come from the manager 901 00:38:14,640 --> 00:38:16,160 or the management or the structure 902 00:38:16,160 --> 00:38:17,280 a lot of the time as well. 903 00:38:17,280 --> 00:38:18,120 Top down, yeah. 904 00:38:18,120 --> 00:38:21,480 In order to allow that culture to ride. 905 00:38:21,480 --> 00:38:24,720 But it's also, it's a very simple thing to implement. 906 00:38:24,720 --> 00:38:27,080 And then you can kind of just let the ball run. 907 00:38:27,080 --> 00:38:30,960 Like, so sure, if I disagree with my management team, 908 00:38:30,960 --> 00:38:33,560 my departmental managers here at HI Whistler, 909 00:38:34,600 --> 00:38:37,880 I sort of reserve the right to veto decisions 910 00:38:37,880 --> 00:38:38,840 every now and again. 911 00:38:38,840 --> 00:38:42,040 But in two years of doing this, I never have. 912 00:38:42,040 --> 00:38:43,720 Like, we always discuss it 913 00:38:43,720 --> 00:38:46,160 and we always come up with an idea together. 914 00:38:46,160 --> 00:38:50,280 And if one of my guys comes up with a better idea than me 915 00:38:50,280 --> 00:38:52,360 or comes up with something that's really gonna work, 916 00:38:52,360 --> 00:38:54,080 like I just get excited. 917 00:38:54,080 --> 00:38:55,200 Excited, yes. 918 00:38:55,200 --> 00:38:58,280 Yeah, because as well, I wanna see them do well 919 00:38:58,280 --> 00:38:59,920 and I wanna see them develop and grow. 920 00:38:59,920 --> 00:39:02,360 It's also a really big part of HI in general 921 00:39:03,440 --> 00:39:05,800 is creating those success stories 922 00:39:05,800 --> 00:39:08,600 and identifying young talented people 923 00:39:08,600 --> 00:39:10,200 who maybe don't have the experience, 924 00:39:10,200 --> 00:39:12,520 but you can see that with a bit of guidance, 925 00:39:12,520 --> 00:39:14,800 they will do something amazing with that experience 926 00:39:14,800 --> 00:39:16,200 once you give it to them. 927 00:39:17,320 --> 00:39:20,120 So like the patio has been incredible 928 00:39:20,120 --> 00:39:22,720 just as a crucible of all of that stuff, 929 00:39:22,720 --> 00:39:27,240 because it took me, it took my F&B manager, Harry, 930 00:39:27,240 --> 00:39:29,520 it took my maintenance manager, Ray, 931 00:39:29,520 --> 00:39:31,960 and it took a lot of work, 932 00:39:31,960 --> 00:39:33,440 especially in the kind of months 933 00:39:33,440 --> 00:39:34,840 when we were preparing to open, 934 00:39:34,840 --> 00:39:37,520 we all did it way too many hours 935 00:39:37,520 --> 00:39:39,160 trying to get that thing done. 936 00:39:39,160 --> 00:39:40,920 And in the end, when we did get it done, 937 00:39:40,920 --> 00:39:43,840 we could sit on our patio that we envisioned 938 00:39:43,840 --> 00:39:46,440 and created and made happen together. 939 00:39:46,440 --> 00:39:49,000 And that we all developed as people 940 00:39:49,000 --> 00:39:51,600 and as professionals through doing that project as well. 941 00:39:51,600 --> 00:39:52,440 Oh yeah. 942 00:39:52,440 --> 00:39:54,520 And that gets done and we're better 943 00:39:54,520 --> 00:39:55,640 and this place is better. 944 00:39:55,640 --> 00:39:58,800 And it's a lovely thing, really, really cool. 945 00:39:58,800 --> 00:40:01,720 Yeah, and when you come out the other side, 946 00:40:01,720 --> 00:40:04,560 you're so much better of an operator for it, 947 00:40:04,560 --> 00:40:06,320 because you've gone through that process, 948 00:40:06,320 --> 00:40:09,440 the highs and lows, two steps forward, one step back. 949 00:40:09,440 --> 00:40:13,880 So I think that's just such a cool story 950 00:40:13,880 --> 00:40:14,960 that you should be proud of. 951 00:40:14,960 --> 00:40:18,840 But don't be shy to pat yourself in the back 952 00:40:18,840 --> 00:40:22,280 and take credit for it while you still have control. 953 00:40:22,280 --> 00:40:26,160 Maybe a nice like King Henry VIII type portrait of Alfie 954 00:40:26,160 --> 00:40:27,000 on his butt. 955 00:40:27,000 --> 00:40:32,000 A nice bust, something simple that will be there forever. 956 00:40:32,000 --> 00:40:32,840 Over my dead. 957 00:40:32,840 --> 00:40:33,680 Yeah, yeah. 958 00:40:33,680 --> 00:40:36,600 Who's that right behind the bar? 959 00:40:36,600 --> 00:40:40,080 Oh, hello, Alfie. 960 00:40:40,080 --> 00:40:42,880 Yeah, I try every now and again. 961 00:40:42,880 --> 00:40:44,680 Yeah. 962 00:40:44,680 --> 00:40:45,560 Yeah, all right. 963 00:40:45,560 --> 00:40:47,600 So that's awesome. 964 00:40:47,600 --> 00:40:50,720 And I can't wait to try out this patio and HI Whistler. 965 00:40:50,720 --> 00:40:55,720 And before, tell us a bit about HI Whistler 966 00:40:56,920 --> 00:40:59,000 before I wanna ask a little bit about the Naha. 967 00:40:59,000 --> 00:41:00,800 Like what is Whistler like? 968 00:41:00,800 --> 00:41:04,200 Is it, you've got your seasons are dramatically changing. 969 00:41:04,200 --> 00:41:06,000 Like what do you do throughout the seasons? 970 00:41:06,000 --> 00:41:09,160 It's obviously a big ski and snowboarding town, 971 00:41:09,160 --> 00:41:10,480 which everyone knows. 972 00:41:10,480 --> 00:41:12,880 So what do you do in the summer? 973 00:41:12,880 --> 00:41:15,880 In the summer, basically the mountain is the whole thing. 974 00:41:15,880 --> 00:41:17,560 And it's actually two mountains in Whistler. 975 00:41:17,560 --> 00:41:19,960 We have Blackcomb Mountain and Whistler Mountain. 976 00:41:19,960 --> 00:41:23,640 And they are both unbelievably huge and vast. 977 00:41:23,640 --> 00:41:27,480 So the resort side of the mountain is huge. 978 00:41:27,480 --> 00:41:31,640 Like for example, my F&B manager, Harry, 979 00:41:31,640 --> 00:41:33,800 he's lived here nearly four years 980 00:41:33,800 --> 00:41:37,760 and he's still not done like all of the runs in the resorts. 981 00:41:37,760 --> 00:41:40,400 And we've got quite a few to go, 982 00:41:40,400 --> 00:41:42,320 cause it's just, it's vast. 983 00:41:42,320 --> 00:41:45,000 And that's just kind of the resort front face 984 00:41:45,000 --> 00:41:45,960 inside of the mountain. 985 00:41:45,960 --> 00:41:47,400 Then you have the back country. 986 00:41:47,400 --> 00:41:48,800 And when you do your avalanche training 987 00:41:48,800 --> 00:41:50,280 and all that kind of stuff, 988 00:41:50,280 --> 00:41:53,640 you just have this incredible never-ending world 989 00:41:53,640 --> 00:41:54,960 to go and explore. 990 00:41:54,960 --> 00:41:57,040 And then a bunch of other mountains in the area, 991 00:41:57,040 --> 00:41:59,960 little known trails and lakes that are in volcanoes 992 00:41:59,960 --> 00:42:03,320 and just all kinds of stuff that you can go and do. 993 00:42:03,320 --> 00:42:08,320 It's really quite spectacular as an activity destination. 994 00:42:11,600 --> 00:42:15,000 And then in the summer, it becomes a biking metropolis. 995 00:42:15,000 --> 00:42:16,960 And for the same reasons. 996 00:42:16,960 --> 00:42:20,640 So they will close one of the mountains 997 00:42:20,640 --> 00:42:22,280 a little bit longer than the other one. 998 00:42:22,280 --> 00:42:23,520 One of the mountains will open up 999 00:42:23,520 --> 00:42:25,680 right at the beginning of summer, 1000 00:42:25,680 --> 00:42:27,440 usually around May time. 1001 00:42:27,440 --> 00:42:29,760 And then everyone can go mountain biking. 1002 00:42:29,760 --> 00:42:31,560 And it's a lot of the same runs, 1003 00:42:31,560 --> 00:42:33,240 the same terrain as you would have been skiing on 1004 00:42:33,240 --> 00:42:34,640 or snowboarding on. 1005 00:42:34,640 --> 00:42:37,080 So it's kind of a really funny thing. 1006 00:42:37,080 --> 00:42:39,480 You go up the lift in the middle of December 1007 00:42:39,480 --> 00:42:41,320 and everything's absolutely covered in snow. 1008 00:42:41,320 --> 00:42:42,200 It's a power day. 1009 00:42:42,200 --> 00:42:44,320 Everyone's skiing and snowboarding. 1010 00:42:44,320 --> 00:42:46,480 And then you go up the same lift six months later 1011 00:42:46,480 --> 00:42:48,720 and everyone's biking and it's all green and brown 1012 00:42:48,720 --> 00:42:52,240 and still beautiful, but completely different proposition. 1013 00:42:53,520 --> 00:42:57,280 And then, yeah, so both of the mountains eventually open 1014 00:42:57,280 --> 00:43:00,160 and you can mountain bike all summer 1015 00:43:00,160 --> 00:43:01,520 on both of the mountains. 1016 00:43:01,520 --> 00:43:04,040 And then they close and then they open again in the winter 1017 00:43:04,040 --> 00:43:06,080 for the skiing and the snowboarding. 1018 00:43:06,080 --> 00:43:08,080 And outside of that, like I say, 1019 00:43:08,080 --> 00:43:13,080 there's so many trails and mountains just in the area. 1020 00:43:13,160 --> 00:43:14,200 Just here at the hostel, 1021 00:43:14,200 --> 00:43:16,120 we're a little bit outside of the village, 1022 00:43:16,120 --> 00:43:21,120 but our back of the hostel looks out onto Mount Sprout, 1023 00:43:21,680 --> 00:43:23,440 which is a really beautiful mountain. 1024 00:43:23,440 --> 00:43:24,840 And if you don't live in this area, 1025 00:43:24,840 --> 00:43:26,920 it's one that a lot of people don't know about. 1026 00:43:26,920 --> 00:43:28,600 But you can hike up there. 1027 00:43:28,600 --> 00:43:30,000 A lot of people don't. 1028 00:43:30,000 --> 00:43:32,440 So you're usually by yourself when you get up there. 1029 00:43:32,440 --> 00:43:36,440 It's a pretty high track, not super long, but pretty steep. 1030 00:43:36,440 --> 00:43:38,400 And then you get up there and there's two lakes 1031 00:43:38,400 --> 00:43:40,840 that are just on the top of this fricking mountain. 1032 00:43:42,280 --> 00:43:43,760 It's like a natural infinity pool. 1033 00:43:43,760 --> 00:43:45,120 It's just, it's awesome. 1034 00:43:46,600 --> 00:43:48,840 And just all kinds of stuff like that. 1035 00:43:48,840 --> 00:43:50,120 I've only been here two years. 1036 00:43:50,120 --> 00:43:53,400 So I'm still discovering stuff all of the time. 1037 00:43:53,400 --> 00:43:56,720 And the list of things that I wanna go and do and explore 1038 00:43:56,720 --> 00:43:58,120 just gets longer and longer. 1039 00:43:58,120 --> 00:44:00,880 I was always a beach bum and a city boy. 1040 00:44:00,880 --> 00:44:04,760 And I love being a fish out of water here 1041 00:44:04,760 --> 00:44:06,840 because the fun just never stops. 1042 00:44:06,840 --> 00:44:09,440 I'm constantly challenging myself to do something 1043 00:44:09,440 --> 00:44:10,800 that I've never done before. 1044 00:44:10,800 --> 00:44:13,760 I had never snowboarded before I came to Whistler. 1045 00:44:13,760 --> 00:44:17,120 I had never done hikes that are that huge and vast 1046 00:44:17,120 --> 00:44:18,440 before I came to Whistler. 1047 00:44:18,440 --> 00:44:20,960 I never camped in the winter before I came to Whistler 1048 00:44:20,960 --> 00:44:23,280 or made a fire in the middle of the snow, 1049 00:44:23,280 --> 00:44:25,360 all these kinds of things. 1050 00:44:25,360 --> 00:44:27,040 And I just fall in love every time 1051 00:44:27,040 --> 00:44:30,520 because my comfort zone has always been 1052 00:44:30,520 --> 00:44:32,600 to be outside of my comfort zone. 1053 00:44:32,600 --> 00:44:36,600 And if I'm not ready, I get freaked out and I need to move. 1054 00:44:36,600 --> 00:44:38,640 So Whistler is really the first place in a while 1055 00:44:38,640 --> 00:44:42,120 where I can see myself being here for a hot minute 1056 00:44:42,120 --> 00:44:43,960 because it's never ending. 1057 00:44:43,960 --> 00:44:48,240 There's stuff to explore and to achieve on a personal level. 1058 00:44:48,240 --> 00:44:50,280 So it's really a year around town. 1059 00:44:50,280 --> 00:44:55,280 We have, the fall season is a little bit more challenging 1060 00:44:55,280 --> 00:44:59,360 because it's a town full of adrenaline junkies, right? 1061 00:44:59,360 --> 00:45:01,440 So everyone's been mountain biking all summer 1062 00:45:01,440 --> 00:45:03,240 and doing all this kind of crazy shit 1063 00:45:03,240 --> 00:45:04,920 and partying and whatever. 1064 00:45:04,920 --> 00:45:07,480 And then the temperature drops a little bit, 1065 00:45:07,480 --> 00:45:09,080 but it doesn't drop quite enough. 1066 00:45:09,080 --> 00:45:11,800 And the snow is coming for like six to eight weeks. 1067 00:45:11,800 --> 00:45:14,400 And everyone's like, they can't go on the mountain anymore 1068 00:45:14,400 --> 00:45:15,960 because everyone's got to do all the work. 1069 00:45:15,960 --> 00:45:17,360 So people get itchy. 1070 00:45:17,360 --> 00:45:19,800 And that's the only weird time in Whistler 1071 00:45:19,800 --> 00:45:23,160 where you have to get a little bit inventive and creative. 1072 00:45:23,160 --> 00:45:25,960 But like for me, we're less than two hours drive away 1073 00:45:25,960 --> 00:45:27,040 from Vancouver. 1074 00:45:27,040 --> 00:45:28,760 So you can always go and party 1075 00:45:28,760 --> 00:45:31,560 and do a couple of amazing gigs and events 1076 00:45:31,560 --> 00:45:34,040 and all that kind of stuff down in the city as well, 1077 00:45:34,040 --> 00:45:35,920 or still go on all of the hikes 1078 00:45:35,920 --> 00:45:38,560 that are available in the local area. 1079 00:45:38,560 --> 00:45:40,320 And then it's really, it's just six to eight weeks 1080 00:45:40,320 --> 00:45:42,600 and then the mountain opens again for snowboarding. 1081 00:45:42,600 --> 00:45:46,120 And then it's cowabunga for the whole winter season. 1082 00:45:46,120 --> 00:45:47,120 Wow. 1083 00:45:47,120 --> 00:45:48,080 We have a mountain, 1084 00:45:48,080 --> 00:45:49,840 we operate in a mountain town in Big Bear. 1085 00:45:49,840 --> 00:45:52,960 So we're familiar with how that works. 1086 00:45:52,960 --> 00:45:54,520 Beautiful hostel. 1087 00:45:54,520 --> 00:45:55,880 Distinct seasons. 1088 00:45:55,880 --> 00:45:59,360 I was gonna say, do you guys cater to a lot of groups there 1089 00:45:59,360 --> 00:46:04,360 or a lot of group business and focus on getting more groups? 1090 00:46:04,520 --> 00:46:07,680 Or how do you focus on filling your occupancy 1091 00:46:07,680 --> 00:46:10,160 kind of being in a more remote, not a major, 1092 00:46:10,160 --> 00:46:11,480 you're in a major mountain town, 1093 00:46:11,480 --> 00:46:14,080 but still a destination. 1094 00:46:14,080 --> 00:46:15,160 Yeah, absolutely. 1095 00:46:15,160 --> 00:46:18,800 I think there's really a sweet spot 1096 00:46:18,800 --> 00:46:21,400 for the amount of group business that you wanna have. 1097 00:46:21,400 --> 00:46:24,080 Like when I first came into Whistler, 1098 00:46:24,080 --> 00:46:25,320 we were in the middle of just 1099 00:46:25,320 --> 00:46:27,800 in a gut-bustingly amazing snow season. 1100 00:46:27,800 --> 00:46:29,000 It was super busy. 1101 00:46:30,440 --> 00:46:34,040 And probably if you were being really cold and hot 1102 00:46:34,040 --> 00:46:35,720 from a business perspective, 1103 00:46:35,720 --> 00:46:37,760 you wouldn't have needed any group business 1104 00:46:37,760 --> 00:46:38,600 for that whole season 1105 00:46:38,600 --> 00:46:40,520 because you could have just sold every bed individually 1106 00:46:40,520 --> 00:46:41,360 one by one. 1107 00:46:42,400 --> 00:46:45,840 But it really, really, really helps as a forecasting tool, 1108 00:46:45,840 --> 00:46:48,160 I find, to make sure that you have a certain amount 1109 00:46:48,160 --> 00:46:49,320 of group business. 1110 00:46:49,320 --> 00:46:51,160 You have a certain amount of business on the books 1111 00:46:51,160 --> 00:46:54,360 where you can look at December six months in advance 1112 00:46:54,360 --> 00:46:56,720 and go, okay, well, we know we're at least making 1113 00:46:56,720 --> 00:46:58,200 this bottom line of revenue 1114 00:46:58,200 --> 00:47:00,120 because we have these groups coming in. 1115 00:47:00,120 --> 00:47:02,520 And then how much do we wanna sell bed by bed? 1116 00:47:03,760 --> 00:47:05,040 I had like two extremes. 1117 00:47:05,040 --> 00:47:07,520 My first winter season was crazy busy like that. 1118 00:47:07,520 --> 00:47:10,080 And I kind of thought maybe we can pull back 1119 00:47:10,080 --> 00:47:12,280 on some of the group business that we did 1120 00:47:12,280 --> 00:47:14,600 and maybe give less rooms to some of like 1121 00:47:14,600 --> 00:47:17,160 our long-term contracts and all that kind of stuff 1122 00:47:17,160 --> 00:47:21,200 in order to like have an even better season next year. 1123 00:47:21,200 --> 00:47:22,680 And so I did in some ways, 1124 00:47:22,680 --> 00:47:24,720 and it was a really hard lesson 1125 00:47:24,720 --> 00:47:27,040 because then the snow just didn't come. 1126 00:47:27,040 --> 00:47:29,600 And those groups were very happy 1127 00:47:29,600 --> 00:47:32,680 that they had not taken up more rooms and more beds from us 1128 00:47:32,680 --> 00:47:35,200 because nobody wanted to come at certain parts of the season 1129 00:47:35,200 --> 00:47:36,440 because there's no snow. 1130 00:47:37,360 --> 00:47:38,880 It's still an amazing place to come. 1131 00:47:38,880 --> 00:47:41,520 You can always ski in snowboards through the winter, 1132 00:47:41,520 --> 00:47:44,320 but like, especially Christmas, for example, 1133 00:47:44,320 --> 00:47:46,040 we had no snow on Christmas. 1134 00:47:46,040 --> 00:47:48,000 So why are you gonna go and stay in this magical 1135 00:47:48,000 --> 00:47:50,280 winter resort town when there's no snow? 1136 00:47:50,280 --> 00:47:51,680 Like it doesn't make any sense. 1137 00:47:51,680 --> 00:47:54,720 And we did manage to sell out for Christmas, 1138 00:47:54,720 --> 00:47:57,280 but we had to get really inventive and really creative. 1139 00:47:57,280 --> 00:48:01,240 And that was a huge lesson for me 1140 00:48:01,240 --> 00:48:05,880 in terms of pricing strategy that really opened my eyes 1141 00:48:05,880 --> 00:48:07,680 to trying to be a lot more proactive. 1142 00:48:08,800 --> 00:48:10,880 And in general, try and shift the balance 1143 00:48:10,880 --> 00:48:12,880 to being way more proactive 1144 00:48:12,880 --> 00:48:15,520 and way less reactive in general. 1145 00:48:15,520 --> 00:48:18,240 If you're proactive in a general sense, 1146 00:48:18,240 --> 00:48:20,800 then when it does come to your high season, 1147 00:48:20,800 --> 00:48:22,240 you don't really need to be reactive 1148 00:48:22,240 --> 00:48:23,720 because you have the right amount of beds 1149 00:48:23,720 --> 00:48:25,280 for the right amount of people, 1150 00:48:25,280 --> 00:48:27,080 and then you can sell them for the right price 1151 00:48:27,080 --> 00:48:29,120 and hit all the targets that you wanna hit 1152 00:48:30,760 --> 00:48:32,880 in our case for the good of the network. 1153 00:48:32,880 --> 00:48:36,760 But yeah, so that's been a huge education for me 1154 00:48:36,760 --> 00:48:39,760 in my first two years running this business. 1155 00:48:39,760 --> 00:48:42,160 And this year, like for example, 1156 00:48:42,160 --> 00:48:46,840 even though with forecasting, it's looking like such wood, 1157 00:48:46,840 --> 00:48:48,960 it could be a really good snow season. 1158 00:48:50,000 --> 00:48:51,920 I'm definitely making sure that we have a decent amount 1159 00:48:51,920 --> 00:48:53,640 of group business on the books. 1160 00:48:53,640 --> 00:48:57,200 And also maintaining those relationships 1161 00:48:57,200 --> 00:48:58,800 with people who run those groups. 1162 00:48:58,800 --> 00:49:01,000 And they will know that you gave them a sweet deal this year 1163 00:49:01,000 --> 00:49:02,560 and that year and whatever. 1164 00:49:02,560 --> 00:49:03,960 And so you can work together 1165 00:49:03,960 --> 00:49:06,880 because usually when you're having a crappy season, 1166 00:49:06,880 --> 00:49:08,520 they're having a crappy season too. 1167 00:49:08,520 --> 00:49:10,040 And you can knock heads together 1168 00:49:10,040 --> 00:49:12,160 and try and figure out a way to drum up some business 1169 00:49:12,160 --> 00:49:13,360 for each other. 1170 00:49:13,360 --> 00:49:15,440 So yeah, it's been really important for us. 1171 00:49:15,440 --> 00:49:16,280 That's great. 1172 00:49:16,280 --> 00:49:18,640 Yeah, it's amazing when it snows, it fills up. 1173 00:49:18,640 --> 00:49:20,120 I love when you get the phone call and they're like, 1174 00:49:20,120 --> 00:49:22,840 is it gonna be snowing on December 13th? 1175 00:49:22,840 --> 00:49:23,680 And you're like. 1176 00:49:23,680 --> 00:49:24,520 I'm like. 1177 00:49:24,520 --> 00:49:25,360 I'm like. 1178 00:49:25,360 --> 00:49:26,200 I'm like. 1179 00:49:26,200 --> 00:49:27,040 I'm like. 1180 00:49:27,040 --> 00:49:27,880 I'm like. 1181 00:49:27,880 --> 00:49:28,720 I'm like. 1182 00:49:28,720 --> 00:49:29,560 I'm like. 1183 00:49:29,560 --> 00:49:30,400 It's brilliant. 1184 00:49:30,400 --> 00:49:32,000 Do you have to do the group business 1185 00:49:32,000 --> 00:49:37,000 or does HI corporate or the sales team 1186 00:49:37,280 --> 00:49:38,920 take care of all the group business? 1187 00:49:38,920 --> 00:49:41,040 I take over most of the group business. 1188 00:49:41,040 --> 00:49:45,560 We have larger contracts that I kind of network around. 1189 00:49:45,560 --> 00:49:47,560 They travel trade stuff. 1190 00:49:47,560 --> 00:49:49,400 That is mostly out of my hands, 1191 00:49:49,400 --> 00:49:53,680 but I at least get to negotiate the rate 1192 00:49:53,680 --> 00:49:57,040 that they're gonna get at the start of the budget year. 1193 00:49:57,920 --> 00:50:02,160 So if our group's manager says he wants to sell them beds 1194 00:50:02,160 --> 00:50:06,000 for $40 a piece, I can push back and be like, 1195 00:50:06,000 --> 00:50:07,960 okay, well, I understand why you wanna do that. 1196 00:50:07,960 --> 00:50:10,400 They're a great group and we wanna keep them on board, 1197 00:50:10,400 --> 00:50:12,640 but we probably need to go a little bit higher than that 1198 00:50:12,640 --> 00:50:15,800 because of little tiny things that I maybe understand 1199 00:50:15,800 --> 00:50:17,880 a little bit more just from being on the ground 1200 00:50:17,880 --> 00:50:19,880 in this town in particular. 1201 00:50:19,880 --> 00:50:22,320 And it's always a nice conversation. 1202 00:50:22,320 --> 00:50:23,960 And we always end up coming up with something 1203 00:50:23,960 --> 00:50:26,800 that we both think is the right thing. 1204 00:50:26,800 --> 00:50:28,480 But when it comes to individual groups, 1205 00:50:28,480 --> 00:50:30,880 I personally take over all of those 1206 00:50:31,920 --> 00:50:36,280 because a lot of the time it's just too important 1207 00:50:36,280 --> 00:50:38,360 to let go. 1208 00:50:38,360 --> 00:50:40,040 It's too important to kind of, 1209 00:50:41,600 --> 00:50:44,400 to get the price too low or too high at any time, 1210 00:50:44,400 --> 00:50:46,240 especially when it's like six months out 1211 00:50:46,240 --> 00:50:47,840 and you're looking at the winter. 1212 00:50:48,760 --> 00:50:51,200 And if it's a group that they're just coming to Whistler, 1213 00:50:51,200 --> 00:50:53,960 they're not interested in other parts of Canada, 1214 00:50:53,960 --> 00:50:56,240 then I really need to sell our product. 1215 00:50:56,240 --> 00:50:59,680 And I know specifically the target that I'm trying to hit 1216 00:50:59,680 --> 00:51:01,360 and how far away I am from that 1217 00:51:01,360 --> 00:51:03,200 because of this project and that project 1218 00:51:03,200 --> 00:51:05,440 and maintenance costs and whatever. 1219 00:51:05,440 --> 00:51:07,160 So individual groups I do handle. 1220 00:51:08,360 --> 00:51:09,240 That's nice. 1221 00:51:09,240 --> 00:51:11,680 Yeah, with the big bear groups, 1222 00:51:11,680 --> 00:51:13,480 when we have those repeat groups, 1223 00:51:13,480 --> 00:51:14,800 I'm always thinking to myself, 1224 00:51:14,800 --> 00:51:18,480 how do I get this guy to put down half payment 1225 00:51:18,480 --> 00:51:21,360 for next year, same week, before he leaves right now, 1226 00:51:21,360 --> 00:51:24,120 so you can just keep them locked in and build around them. 1227 00:51:24,120 --> 00:51:26,880 But as we're running out of time here now, 1228 00:51:26,880 --> 00:51:28,960 I do wanna touch base and again, 1229 00:51:28,960 --> 00:51:31,680 congratulate you on your recent 1230 00:51:31,680 --> 00:51:36,200 Naha Board Member Association approval. 1231 00:51:36,200 --> 00:51:39,080 I once again failed my drug test 1232 00:51:39,080 --> 00:51:41,080 and I'll have to wait till next year. 1233 00:51:41,080 --> 00:51:46,080 Either that or Joe Gill blackballed me again. 1234 00:51:46,440 --> 00:51:47,280 I don't know. 1235 00:51:47,280 --> 00:51:49,200 It's open for debate. 1236 00:51:49,200 --> 00:51:52,880 But what is your board member seat? 1237 00:51:52,880 --> 00:51:54,920 Give us a little bit of details about this. 1238 00:51:54,920 --> 00:51:57,520 Like what department were you put your head up? 1239 00:51:57,520 --> 00:51:59,000 Tell us about Naha. 1240 00:51:59,000 --> 00:52:02,360 I guess that's all to be sort of detailed 1241 00:52:02,360 --> 00:52:03,200 in the coming weeks. 1242 00:52:03,200 --> 00:52:05,280 We're having our first board meeting next month 1243 00:52:05,280 --> 00:52:08,280 or this month, sorry, 12th of September. 1244 00:52:08,280 --> 00:52:09,320 Oh, okay. 1245 00:52:09,320 --> 00:52:12,480 And we're coming to the board meeting 1246 00:52:12,480 --> 00:52:15,080 with our own idea of what we would like 1247 00:52:15,080 --> 00:52:16,560 to be really involved in. 1248 00:52:16,560 --> 00:52:20,000 Personally, I wanna contribute as much as I possibly can 1249 00:52:20,000 --> 00:52:24,400 with my experience and out of the kind of options for me, 1250 00:52:24,400 --> 00:52:26,080 I think my experience would be lent more 1251 00:52:26,080 --> 00:52:28,040 to the conference side of things. 1252 00:52:28,040 --> 00:52:29,920 Just having an event organizer 1253 00:52:29,920 --> 00:52:32,120 and an events planner in the past. 1254 00:52:33,320 --> 00:52:36,720 But I'm willing to contribute in any way possible. 1255 00:52:36,720 --> 00:52:37,800 And it's really exciting 1256 00:52:37,800 --> 00:52:40,560 that it's just such a young organization. 1257 00:52:41,720 --> 00:52:42,840 I went to that conference, 1258 00:52:42,840 --> 00:52:45,320 not really knowing what to expect at all. 1259 00:52:45,320 --> 00:52:49,720 And I was just super flabbergasted and impressed 1260 00:52:50,720 --> 00:52:54,120 by the appetite of everyone in the room to collaborate, 1261 00:52:54,120 --> 00:52:56,480 to work together and the real, 1262 00:52:56,480 --> 00:52:59,600 the recognition of pretty much to a man, 1263 00:52:59,600 --> 00:53:02,440 everybody I met that what works for one person 1264 00:53:02,440 --> 00:53:03,840 is gonna work for us all. 1265 00:53:03,840 --> 00:53:06,800 And that we do have this, it's a unique industry 1266 00:53:06,800 --> 00:53:09,680 where we really have a hugely shared interest. 1267 00:53:11,200 --> 00:53:13,240 And yeah, seeing the appetite from everyone 1268 00:53:13,240 --> 00:53:17,720 and also seeing that there was no specific agenda 1269 00:53:17,720 --> 00:53:19,600 of like what it's gonna be. 1270 00:53:19,600 --> 00:53:21,520 It was really a case of trying to figure out 1271 00:53:21,520 --> 00:53:24,720 from the owners and the managers, what do you want it to be? 1272 00:53:24,720 --> 00:53:27,400 What would be a good association for everybody 1273 00:53:27,400 --> 00:53:30,160 and what would be good for the network in general? 1274 00:53:30,160 --> 00:53:33,040 There was a lot of input on that. 1275 00:53:33,040 --> 00:53:37,040 And I'm excited to see what that resulted in 1276 00:53:37,040 --> 00:53:40,600 and contributes to kind of defining the direction 1277 00:53:40,600 --> 00:53:41,880 going forward as a board. 1278 00:53:43,640 --> 00:53:44,920 That is so true. 1279 00:53:44,920 --> 00:53:49,680 And hat off to Jim Kennan and the pumpkin brew guys, 1280 00:53:51,240 --> 00:53:53,920 Jay and Frankie for really just hitting it out of the park. 1281 00:53:53,920 --> 00:53:56,200 And I think that they did it in the perfect way 1282 00:53:56,200 --> 00:53:59,920 of that kind of reverse engineering it by, 1283 00:53:59,920 --> 00:54:01,240 what do you want it to be? 1284 00:54:01,240 --> 00:54:02,400 What are you looking for? 1285 00:54:02,400 --> 00:54:05,080 And being very inclusive with everyone 1286 00:54:05,080 --> 00:54:06,520 and that gravitated everyone. 1287 00:54:06,520 --> 00:54:09,000 And I think that they separated themselves 1288 00:54:09,000 --> 00:54:13,240 from some other attempts at putting together this group. 1289 00:54:13,240 --> 00:54:15,920 And I love how they included Canada and Mexico 1290 00:54:15,920 --> 00:54:20,840 and really excited about the conference being down in Mexico 1291 00:54:20,840 --> 00:54:22,040 and this coming April. 1292 00:54:22,040 --> 00:54:23,720 So all you listeners out there, 1293 00:54:23,720 --> 00:54:27,560 make sure you stay tuned for when that exact location 1294 00:54:27,560 --> 00:54:29,040 and dates in Mexico will be. 1295 00:54:29,040 --> 00:54:32,240 But I'm sure it'll just be another amazing time. 1296 00:54:32,240 --> 00:54:36,720 And congratulations to you on the board member assignment. 1297 00:54:36,720 --> 00:54:39,280 I'm sure you called your mother right away to let her know. 1298 00:54:39,280 --> 00:54:40,120 Yeah. 1299 00:54:40,120 --> 00:54:40,960 Yeah. 1300 00:54:40,960 --> 00:54:41,800 You know. 1301 00:54:41,800 --> 00:54:42,880 I did send her a message. 1302 00:54:42,880 --> 00:54:43,720 I did. 1303 00:54:43,720 --> 00:54:44,560 Yeah. 1304 00:54:44,560 --> 00:54:47,080 And I hope that you get the committee assignment 1305 00:54:47,080 --> 00:54:49,200 that you're looking for. 1306 00:54:49,200 --> 00:54:51,000 And I know that you'll do a great job 1307 00:54:51,000 --> 00:54:53,080 and Bob will do a great job as well. 1308 00:54:53,080 --> 00:54:55,080 And keep on rocking out that association 1309 00:54:55,080 --> 00:54:57,240 because I think it's got amazing momentum. 1310 00:54:57,240 --> 00:54:58,080 Yeah. 1311 00:54:58,080 --> 00:54:58,920 It's super exciting. 1312 00:54:58,920 --> 00:55:00,480 Obviously seeing that Bobby was on the team as well 1313 00:55:00,480 --> 00:55:01,320 was really cool. 1314 00:55:02,800 --> 00:55:04,720 And I'm really looking forward to it, man. 1315 00:55:04,720 --> 00:55:07,520 Even if I don't get the specific committee role 1316 00:55:07,520 --> 00:55:08,680 that I'm looking for, 1317 00:55:08,680 --> 00:55:11,200 I'd still will be excited to contribute 1318 00:55:11,200 --> 00:55:13,880 to any angle of it going forwards. 1319 00:55:13,880 --> 00:55:15,800 When I was sat in that room, 1320 00:55:15,800 --> 00:55:18,160 like going back to those days 1321 00:55:18,160 --> 00:55:19,400 when I was cleaning up the vomit 1322 00:55:19,400 --> 00:55:21,560 and I was a volunteer night shift, 1323 00:55:21,560 --> 00:55:23,440 working a decade ago, 1324 00:55:23,440 --> 00:55:25,640 I really, I was sat there thinking like, 1325 00:55:25,640 --> 00:55:28,960 this is just exactly where I need to be right now. 1326 00:55:28,960 --> 00:55:32,520 And everything I did up until this point got me here. 1327 00:55:32,520 --> 00:55:35,200 And I'm so grateful to be in this room 1328 00:55:35,200 --> 00:55:36,800 collaborating with these people 1329 00:55:36,800 --> 00:55:39,800 to try and figure out how we can make a robust, 1330 00:55:39,800 --> 00:55:42,760 really exciting, really awesome hostel industry 1331 00:55:42,760 --> 00:55:46,040 for business owners and for the industry, 1332 00:55:46,040 --> 00:55:47,440 but also of course for the travelers 1333 00:55:47,440 --> 00:55:49,360 and for the backpackers that are coming through 1334 00:55:49,360 --> 00:55:53,000 and to create this really exciting proposition 1335 00:55:53,000 --> 00:55:55,480 of a hostaling network in North America, 1336 00:55:55,480 --> 00:55:57,840 which people in Europe, 1337 00:55:57,840 --> 00:55:59,800 like from my own experience, 1338 00:55:59,800 --> 00:56:02,920 we're really ignorant towards hostels in America. 1339 00:56:02,920 --> 00:56:05,200 Like I stayed at your guys properties 1340 00:56:05,200 --> 00:56:06,680 in Southern California. 1341 00:56:06,680 --> 00:56:08,400 I stayed at the Green Tortoise 1342 00:56:08,400 --> 00:56:10,320 with those guys in Seattle 1343 00:56:10,320 --> 00:56:12,560 and obviously stayed at the Bunken Brew 1344 00:56:12,560 --> 00:56:15,520 and Jim's Portland Hostel in Oregon. 1345 00:56:15,520 --> 00:56:17,880 And it was just such an eye-opener this last year 1346 00:56:17,880 --> 00:56:19,080 going towards those hostels 1347 00:56:19,080 --> 00:56:22,320 and being like, holy shit, these are real hostels, 1348 00:56:22,320 --> 00:56:25,360 like really, real, real hostels with a real vibe, 1349 00:56:25,360 --> 00:56:27,520 real community, real spirit. 1350 00:56:27,520 --> 00:56:30,320 And I feel like I'm in the perfect place 1351 00:56:30,320 --> 00:56:33,400 and I'm gonna be here on this continent 1352 00:56:33,400 --> 00:56:35,920 for as long as I can do the work for this whole thing. 1353 00:56:35,920 --> 00:56:36,760 There you go. 1354 00:56:36,760 --> 00:56:37,600 Thank you. 1355 00:56:37,600 --> 00:56:41,360 Fuck yeah, fuck yeah, I'll be, love it. 1356 00:56:41,360 --> 00:56:44,440 Well, hey, thanks so much for joining us 1357 00:56:44,440 --> 00:56:47,080 and so much exciting stuff for you, 1358 00:56:47,080 --> 00:56:49,680 you know, with your location and the improvements 1359 00:56:49,680 --> 00:56:52,760 and the Naha board and looking forward to seeing you 1360 00:56:52,760 --> 00:56:54,920 in April and you know that you always have 1361 00:56:54,920 --> 00:56:57,720 a standing invitation to our company manager retreat, 1362 00:56:57,720 --> 00:57:00,720 the Josh Retreat Music Festival every May and October. 1363 00:57:00,720 --> 00:57:01,560 Oh, thank you for that next one. 1364 00:57:01,560 --> 00:57:04,480 I'm looking forward to it. 1365 00:57:04,480 --> 00:57:06,400 You're always welcome to come get it weird 1366 00:57:06,400 --> 00:57:08,000 with us in the desert. 1367 00:57:08,000 --> 00:57:08,840 Beautiful. 1368 00:57:08,840 --> 00:57:11,880 Oh, man, thanks so much. 1369 00:57:11,880 --> 00:57:12,800 God bless. 1370 00:57:12,800 --> 00:57:13,880 Thank you guys. 1371 00:57:13,880 --> 00:57:14,720 Thank you. 1372 00:57:14,720 --> 00:57:19,720 Thank you.