WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.240 Hello, friends and travelers. Thanks for listening. 00:00:02.339 --> 00:00:04.519 You are riding along on the Hostile Road Trip 00:00:04.519 --> 00:00:07.360 Podcast. Our mission is to spread awareness of 00:00:07.360 --> 00:00:09.919 the true hostile experience in the Americas and 00:00:09.919 --> 00:00:12.099 share stories from the fascinating hosts who 00:00:12.099 --> 00:00:14.740 create those unique facilities. I'm your host, 00:00:14.839 --> 00:00:17.039 Jimmy Black, joined alongside co -founder of 00:00:17.039 --> 00:00:19.739 International Travelers House, Bobby Dyer. Each 00:00:19.739 --> 00:00:22.440 session, we sit down with hostile operators or 00:00:22.440 --> 00:00:25.440 travel influencers to hear about their road success, 00:00:25.920 --> 00:00:29.399 discuss trending hostile topics. and close with 00:00:29.399 --> 00:00:31.839 tips for travelers who are seeking to have the 00:00:31.839 --> 00:00:34.179 ultimate experience when visiting each destination. 00:00:34.560 --> 00:00:37.500 You can't afford to miss this trip. Now fasten 00:00:37.500 --> 00:00:56.840 your seatbelts and let's hit the road. inspiring 00:00:56.840 --> 00:00:59.020 hostel owners, hostel owners, hostel managers 00:00:59.020 --> 00:01:02.280 coming in to join us for conversation. We've 00:01:02.280 --> 00:01:05.260 been regulated to the kids' room and small furniture. 00:01:05.540 --> 00:01:10.700 So we are currently just with myself, Jimmy Black, 00:01:10.939 --> 00:01:16.040 and co -host Bobby Dyer, also board member of 00:01:16.040 --> 00:01:18.659 Maha. Welcome, Bob. Yeah, great to be here today. 00:01:18.900 --> 00:01:27.469 Still a full room. So, yeah. So, Bob, tell me 00:01:27.469 --> 00:01:31.609 a bit about the conference so far. Yeah, it's 00:01:31.609 --> 00:01:35.269 been great to have over 100 hostels come together 00:01:35.269 --> 00:01:39.010 here at Playa del Carmen. And, you know, this 00:01:39.010 --> 00:01:40.609 is the first day. We've been learning a lot. 00:01:40.709 --> 00:01:44.769 The natural disaster talk was nice. It's amazing 00:01:44.769 --> 00:01:48.189 what you don't expect to happen could happen. 00:01:48.409 --> 00:01:51.989 So, being prepared is definitely the key. Yeah. 00:01:52.670 --> 00:01:54.969 You've got to be prepared for anything as we've 00:01:54.969 --> 00:01:58.909 heard from the previous panel. Wildfires are 00:01:58.909 --> 00:02:01.250 something of a scare for us in California. Thank 00:02:01.250 --> 00:02:04.730 goodness we dodged a bullet on that. But to hear 00:02:04.730 --> 00:02:06.709 of the other incidences that people are going 00:02:06.709 --> 00:02:15.629 through, just crazy. Come on in. Welcome. Welcome. 00:02:16.030 --> 00:02:19.689 Welcome. Yeah. Good to be here. How are you doing? 00:02:20.030 --> 00:02:35.370 All right. What house are you from? I actually 00:02:35.370 --> 00:02:39.189 think it's perfect for hostile people because 00:02:39.189 --> 00:02:42.490 I think hostile is kind of like the idea of how 00:02:42.490 --> 00:02:49.729 to get your child and not lose it even though 00:02:49.729 --> 00:02:52.139 you're grown up. I think it's kind of the idea. 00:02:52.180 --> 00:02:55.039 Well, thank you for joining us. So, Yak Hostel. 00:02:55.080 --> 00:02:59.120 Tell us a bit about Yak Hostel. Well, how it 00:02:59.120 --> 00:03:01.139 started, how it is, what it is. Yeah, how it 00:03:01.139 --> 00:03:04.280 started, what it's like, the vibe, you know, 00:03:04.340 --> 00:03:07.139 the experience. How it started, it's pretty easy. 00:03:07.219 --> 00:03:11.840 I think everyone... We got Joe Gilgoyne here. 00:03:12.740 --> 00:03:14.699 You're live with the Hospital Road Trip Podcast. 00:03:14.979 --> 00:03:16.860 Have a seat at the kid's table. Bring out your 00:03:16.860 --> 00:03:19.020 little child. But we're just talking to Yak Hostel. 00:03:19.039 --> 00:03:25.569 You'll be next. Never mind. We are live! No, 00:03:27.909 --> 00:03:30.469 I think the way I started is basically how I 00:03:30.469 --> 00:03:33.729 think most hostels start. You go and you travel 00:03:33.729 --> 00:03:36.650 around. I actually bought a round -the -world 00:03:36.650 --> 00:03:40.729 ticket and my first stop was Mexico, Lila Carmen. 00:03:41.430 --> 00:03:44.389 And you go into a hostel and you say, hey, I 00:03:44.389 --> 00:03:46.469 don't like this, I don't like that. Oh, in my 00:03:46.469 --> 00:03:48.669 place it would be different. Things like that. 00:03:49.609 --> 00:03:52.189 And I don't know, we just said, hey, let's walk 00:03:52.189 --> 00:03:56.090 around and see what we find. And a few months 00:03:56.090 --> 00:03:57.930 later, we found ourselves that we are doing a 00:03:57.930 --> 00:04:00.349 hostel. And all my work around the world trip 00:04:00.349 --> 00:04:05.969 kind of like said, put on hold. So we said, we're 00:04:05.969 --> 00:04:07.509 going to start with something. At that point, 00:04:07.550 --> 00:04:11.229 we thought it was ridiculous. We thought we were 00:04:11.229 --> 00:04:14.340 going to build a place with $4 ,000. seriously 00:04:14.340 --> 00:04:16.300 i was i don't know what i was thinking start 00:04:16.300 --> 00:04:19.740 somewhere but uh we we took out all the money 00:04:19.740 --> 00:04:22.000 that we had for our trip and put it down in this 00:04:22.000 --> 00:04:24.819 place we literally recycled whatever we could 00:04:24.819 --> 00:04:30.399 and uh like uh i don't know how much like less 00:04:30.399 --> 00:04:35.000 than $10 lunches? No, not $10, $5 lunches at 00:04:35.000 --> 00:04:38.399 most. That's the most that we could afford. No, 00:04:38.519 --> 00:04:40.519 even two and a half. At that point, it was two 00:04:40.519 --> 00:04:41.339 and a half dollars. The things you can do with 00:04:41.339 --> 00:04:43.600 ramen. Yeah, two and a half dollars, that's what 00:04:43.600 --> 00:04:47.819 we were doing. And this is how we started. So 00:04:47.819 --> 00:04:51.240 we got really, really lucky because we did it 00:04:51.240 --> 00:04:55.779 right before high season. So first building, 00:04:55.920 --> 00:04:59.689 we had that high season two months later. we 00:04:59.689 --> 00:05:02.269 rented out the next building next door we grew 00:05:02.269 --> 00:05:04.990 into it we grew we grew that a year later we 00:05:04.990 --> 00:05:07.529 rented out the other building next to it and 00:05:07.529 --> 00:05:10.550 we ended up being the biggest hostel in playa 00:05:10.550 --> 00:05:17.310 for a few years and three years later we started 00:05:17.310 --> 00:05:20.250 building our current hostel which is uh the one 00:05:20.250 --> 00:05:25.230 in bacalar and then we ground from there but 00:05:25.230 --> 00:05:29.050 uh basically it was Super random, lucky, and 00:05:29.050 --> 00:05:33.250 really feeling fortunate. You followed your heart. 00:05:33.470 --> 00:05:38.110 Yes. What did you find you focused on that allowed 00:05:38.110 --> 00:05:39.870 you to continue to grow? What were you guys doing 00:05:39.870 --> 00:05:43.949 well that allowed you to grow? When we started, 00:05:44.170 --> 00:05:48.350 the whole idea of Hostel as a social vibe was 00:05:48.350 --> 00:05:52.470 just kicking in. I remember when we were going 00:05:52.470 --> 00:05:54.649 to do Paz and Carmen, getting a place with AC. 00:05:55.310 --> 00:05:58.750 And a hostel with an AC was a new thing. It was 00:05:58.750 --> 00:06:03.129 like crazy. And having a hostel with activities, 00:06:03.449 --> 00:06:07.310 which what we brought in, we started taking places 00:06:07.310 --> 00:06:12.589 into like day tours, free day tour, and I don't 00:06:12.589 --> 00:06:15.529 know, food. And every day there was something. 00:06:15.649 --> 00:06:21.790 Every day there were games or dinners and classes 00:06:21.790 --> 00:06:24.230 and things like that. We started slow, but... 00:06:24.490 --> 00:06:28.009 this all just started and it was like innovative 00:06:28.009 --> 00:06:33.189 at that point and um so i think that that's what 00:06:33.189 --> 00:06:36.310 made people that's why there's like i don't know 00:06:36.310 --> 00:06:40.069 i think we created around 10 couples that got 00:06:40.069 --> 00:06:43.170 married that met in the hospital yeah there's 00:06:43.170 --> 00:06:45.350 at least five people in the world that i know 00:06:45.350 --> 00:06:49.509 that have the tattoo of the place like they really 00:06:49.509 --> 00:06:54.079 like we focused on creating friends I'm making 00:06:54.079 --> 00:06:57.379 people come together. I'm the weird guy who would 00:06:57.379 --> 00:06:59.199 tell you, hey, what's up? This is David over 00:06:59.199 --> 00:07:01.620 there. Bringing people together. Yeah. When you 00:07:01.620 --> 00:07:03.519 hear that tattoo going, you know that you've 00:07:03.519 --> 00:07:06.319 really passed that cultural level, the vibe. 00:07:06.519 --> 00:07:11.980 Right. Definitely, definitely. Alfie McKenzie. 00:07:12.720 --> 00:07:15.980 Hello, hello. From H .I. Whistler. Back again. 00:07:16.279 --> 00:07:20.759 Back again. The hot board member. The hot board. 00:07:21.120 --> 00:07:24.279 Yeah, yeah, yeah. Thank you for joining our little 00:07:24.279 --> 00:07:26.519 breakout room. How do you think the conference 00:07:26.519 --> 00:07:28.959 is going? The conference is going to say nothing. 00:07:29.399 --> 00:07:31.620 I wonder if we could avoid you guys in chairs. 00:07:32.199 --> 00:07:34.920 We're going to have the inner child. We're going 00:07:34.920 --> 00:07:36.060 to have the inner child. We're going to have 00:07:36.060 --> 00:07:38.779 to put up a picture of this in the podcast. We 00:07:38.779 --> 00:07:44.379 should get a nice photo. I think conference has 00:07:44.379 --> 00:07:46.759 gone really well. Everybody seems happy. As I 00:07:46.759 --> 00:07:49.860 said to you earlier, off the record, the greatest 00:07:49.860 --> 00:07:51.399 thing about the podcast is just getting everybody 00:07:51.399 --> 00:07:56.800 together in general. Especially for people whose 00:07:56.800 --> 00:08:00.439 first time is in conference, you get a massive 00:08:00.439 --> 00:08:04.220 wave of togetherness and the fact that we all 00:08:04.220 --> 00:08:06.120 just do it for the same reasons. It's kind of 00:08:06.120 --> 00:08:09.040 wild. It was a lot more, especially when I came 00:08:09.040 --> 00:08:12.009 to Portland last year. I didn't expect everyone 00:08:12.009 --> 00:08:14.470 to be so much on the same page in terms of the 00:08:14.470 --> 00:08:16.790 reasons that they started and the reasons that 00:08:16.790 --> 00:08:19.370 they're still doing it. It's amazing. You can 00:08:19.370 --> 00:08:21.550 find the connection. Now, give us a sneak peek 00:08:21.550 --> 00:08:24.569 into next year's Hostel Conference. For those 00:08:24.569 --> 00:08:27.529 of you who missed this one, what's happening 00:08:27.529 --> 00:08:30.529 next year? Well, all that's official is apparently 00:08:30.529 --> 00:08:32.850 I'm going to be the conference chair for next 00:08:32.850 --> 00:08:36.759 year. We're in good hands, people. Well, we'll 00:08:36.759 --> 00:08:39.639 see. We might be holding out on a sinking ship, 00:08:39.720 --> 00:08:44.139 but we'll see. And he's going to be in Canada. 00:08:44.379 --> 00:08:48.659 Joe Gill's joining us. Joe Gill. He's joining 00:08:48.659 --> 00:08:54.080 us. Hop into the big chair, buddy. Alfie's just 00:08:54.080 --> 00:08:56.659 giving us a little bit of an update here on next 00:08:56.659 --> 00:08:58.909 year's. conference, but then we'll swing around 00:08:58.909 --> 00:09:00.750 to you for some deep thoughts, too. Lower yourself 00:09:00.750 --> 00:09:03.549 into that, baby. Watch your knees. Breathe in. 00:09:03.710 --> 00:09:07.970 Breathe in. Listen, gentlemen, I've brought a 00:09:07.970 --> 00:09:11.549 gift for all of us. Uh -oh, I think the podcast 00:09:11.549 --> 00:09:14.149 is going to be getting a little bit wristy. Light 00:09:14.149 --> 00:09:17.929 it up. Let's see if I can find it. I thought 00:09:17.929 --> 00:09:20.730 that after a hard day of being at the conference, 00:09:20.850 --> 00:09:24.110 we could use some of these hydrating face masks. 00:09:29.689 --> 00:09:34.710 No, it was on sale at Walmart. Sorry, did I say 00:09:34.710 --> 00:09:36.909 Walmart? You did. You wanted to see what a Mexican 00:09:36.909 --> 00:09:39.330 Walmart looked like. Yeah. So I think we should 00:09:39.330 --> 00:09:44.629 just relax here. It's for men, right? Really 00:09:44.629 --> 00:09:48.070 kind of get down to it. How do we make this happen 00:09:48.070 --> 00:09:50.059 again? No, it's good. People are going to want 00:09:50.059 --> 00:09:51.580 to come in here and do this. This is going to 00:09:51.580 --> 00:09:53.340 make this room even more enticing. I'm going 00:09:53.340 --> 00:09:57.559 to let you guys in. There's some instructions. 00:09:57.700 --> 00:10:00.039 They're in Spanish, though, and they're written 00:10:00.039 --> 00:10:02.259 small. I'm worried. I see. You just put it on 00:10:02.259 --> 00:10:04.480 your face for 15 minutes and take it off. You're 00:10:04.480 --> 00:10:06.740 beautiful. More beautiful. I'm worried about 00:10:06.740 --> 00:10:08.860 my chops. I don't know if they'll... Oh, this 00:10:08.860 --> 00:10:12.460 is... No, no, no. It's good. Did you throw... 00:10:12.460 --> 00:10:16.870 Did you throw... I'm just going to look like. 00:10:17.610 --> 00:10:21.250 Hey, you know, the House of Road Trip podcast 00:10:21.250 --> 00:10:24.870 is a safety nest. So, do what you need, do what 00:10:24.870 --> 00:10:26.629 you want. I'm going to do this and I'm going 00:10:26.629 --> 00:10:30.629 to drink coffee while I do this. So, Canada next 00:10:30.629 --> 00:10:35.570 year, 2026. 2026, if you can believe. We're going 00:10:35.570 --> 00:10:39.250 into 2026. I was just trying to figure out this. 00:10:43.070 --> 00:10:48.830 Oh, God. Joe Gill is wearing a Hydro Bomb face 00:10:48.830 --> 00:10:51.370 mask. It's kind of like a Mexican wrestling mask. 00:10:51.570 --> 00:10:56.769 It does have the nachos. Hannibal Lecter. Put 00:10:56.769 --> 00:11:05.370 the lotion in the bucket. We don't know exactly 00:11:05.370 --> 00:11:07.470 when. We're going to put the pitch out to a little 00:11:07.470 --> 00:11:10.610 of our Canadian friends. See what the members 00:11:10.610 --> 00:11:13.210 think about where we should be. Were there more 00:11:13.210 --> 00:11:17.769 Mexican hostels? At this one, not as many Canadians. 00:11:18.950 --> 00:11:22.190 Yeah, well, we actually have about the same amount 00:11:22.190 --> 00:11:24.690 of Canadians as last time. Okay, just about the 00:11:24.690 --> 00:11:26.289 same amount. See how I don't break it? Like, 00:11:26.289 --> 00:11:28.090 I can still do this. Yeah, this is incredible. 00:11:28.110 --> 00:11:31.070 But you don't have to face mask on. Don't I wear 00:11:31.070 --> 00:11:36.070 a face mask every day? It's lovely, by the way. 00:11:36.269 --> 00:11:38.129 It actually feels really nice. Yeah, but it doesn't 00:11:38.129 --> 00:11:40.769 look great. But it feels great. But until you 00:11:40.769 --> 00:11:43.669 check it out, you're going to look great. You'll 00:11:43.669 --> 00:11:45.929 be radiant. I'm radiant. But yeah, that's the 00:11:45.929 --> 00:11:48.230 idea. So, I mean, at this one particularly, we've 00:11:48.230 --> 00:11:50.149 had so many more Mexican hostels, which is awesome. 00:11:50.509 --> 00:11:53.049 And I think that, you know, we've got so many 00:11:53.049 --> 00:11:54.610 people from the West Coast because we were on 00:11:54.610 --> 00:11:56.909 the West Coast last year. So it's nice taking 00:11:56.909 --> 00:11:59.269 it around on a little tour and getting more people 00:11:59.269 --> 00:12:01.610 involved and a team into that. And they get a 00:12:01.610 --> 00:12:03.970 chance to really see what Noamon is about. That's 00:12:03.970 --> 00:12:04.809 what I was going to say. It's about bringing 00:12:04.809 --> 00:12:08.440 us all. And you got to make sure you get there 00:12:08.440 --> 00:12:10.980 next year because then it's going to be every 00:12:10.980 --> 00:12:15.379 two years like the Olympics. Yeah, exactly. We'll 00:12:15.379 --> 00:12:19.200 actually have Joplin will be the next program. 00:12:20.600 --> 00:12:27.000 We're going to have Coley. Hostel Beer Olympics, 00:12:27.179 --> 00:12:29.379 things like this. Joe, did you manage to make 00:12:29.379 --> 00:12:31.779 a sip of that coffee? No, I couldn't figure it 00:12:31.779 --> 00:12:35.389 out. You should check if you get sick if you 00:12:35.389 --> 00:12:39.409 drink the Hydro Bomb. I think. No, it is not 00:12:39.409 --> 00:12:45.789 in the light, though. That my hope is that you 00:12:45.789 --> 00:12:48.710 guys will rejoin the other tables outside with 00:12:48.710 --> 00:12:51.149 those masks on, so we'll draw attention to this 00:12:51.149 --> 00:12:52.250 room. I'm trying to coach them, you know, if 00:12:52.250 --> 00:12:55.590 we can come in here for Joe's spa. It was going 00:12:55.590 --> 00:12:57.289 to be Joe and Jimmy's spa, but I realized you 00:12:57.289 --> 00:12:59.350 didn't want to do it. No, you know, anything 00:12:59.350 --> 00:13:01.230 goes in this room. That's why we asked for the 00:13:01.230 --> 00:13:05.350 pizza. But Joe, open to your natural disaster 00:13:05.350 --> 00:13:09.129 panel, which was fascinating. I mean, we had 00:13:09.129 --> 00:13:11.490 it all. Oh, we're sniffing. We're sniffing now. 00:13:11.629 --> 00:13:17.389 Okay. He just took out some nail polish, people. 00:13:17.590 --> 00:13:19.990 This is the most interesting podcast episode 00:13:19.990 --> 00:13:24.629 ever. Sorry it's not a video. But the natural 00:13:24.629 --> 00:13:29.169 disasters. So how did you feel about that panel? 00:13:31.720 --> 00:13:33.980 It was not a disaster. It wasn't a disaster. 00:13:34.100 --> 00:13:37.419 I thought it was very fruitful. I hope that it 00:13:37.419 --> 00:13:41.519 was in some ways educational. Yeah. I think the 00:13:41.519 --> 00:13:44.100 insurance is definitely the biggest lesson I 00:13:44.100 --> 00:13:47.200 came away from on that. How scary that you could 00:13:47.200 --> 00:13:51.220 be underinsured and just get nothing. That's 00:13:51.220 --> 00:13:53.639 fucked. You don't have to be like, okay, I'll 00:13:53.639 --> 00:13:56.679 take what I insured myself. No, no, no. It doesn't 00:13:56.679 --> 00:14:00.330 work that way. Unlike the cartel, when you go 00:14:00.330 --> 00:14:02.809 out of business, the insurance guy is your worst 00:14:02.809 --> 00:14:05.929 enemy. Whereas down here they're trying to get 00:14:05.929 --> 00:14:08.149 you back in business. So it's the old school 00:14:08.149 --> 00:14:11.809 insurance. These are differences of countries. 00:14:28.169 --> 00:14:30.970 Joe Dale. Yes, sir. This is going to be your 00:14:30.970 --> 00:14:36.110 last conference. This is your swan song. You 00:14:36.110 --> 00:14:41.710 don't want to talk about it on air. I think that's 00:14:41.710 --> 00:14:44.129 a special episode coming up on its own. Special 00:14:44.129 --> 00:14:45.549 edition. That'll be a special edition. A special 00:14:45.549 --> 00:14:47.850 edition episode. Okay. All right. He doesn't 00:14:47.850 --> 00:14:50.549 want to let that one out yet. No, no. Okay. He's 00:14:50.549 --> 00:14:57.879 very excited. Yeah. Want to do our tips? Not 00:14:57.879 --> 00:15:02.639 really. I think that one's all it is. This is 00:15:02.639 --> 00:15:05.919 getting weird. I thought we were going to an 00:15:05.919 --> 00:15:07.620 interview. I didn't know we were going to a spa 00:15:07.620 --> 00:15:13.379 session. Has it been 15 minutes yet? Is it supposed 00:15:13.379 --> 00:15:18.940 to rotate every five minutes? No, no, no. I meant 00:15:18.940 --> 00:15:23.159 for our fans. They just did a rotation. Don't 00:15:23.159 --> 00:15:27.620 feel trapped in here, you guys. The door's not 00:15:27.620 --> 00:15:32.000 locked. Oh, I'm good. I'm good. This isn't what 00:15:32.000 --> 00:15:34.899 I expected to be doing at the conference. No, 00:15:35.000 --> 00:15:37.700 yeah. I'm sat in a children's chair. Yeah. In 00:15:37.700 --> 00:15:40.679 a children's room. I'm in Mexico, looking like 00:15:40.679 --> 00:15:43.279 Hunter Electra. You know, I thought it was a 00:15:43.279 --> 00:15:45.820 pretty big deal that we got our own room. I just 00:15:45.820 --> 00:15:47.500 feel like we need to get more attention in here. 00:15:47.580 --> 00:15:52.960 There's Maria. You take them out. I don't want 00:15:52.960 --> 00:15:58.190 to scare people by looking scared. They knew 00:15:58.190 --> 00:16:00.889 that we had a spa. Yeah, it's true. We have a 00:16:00.889 --> 00:16:05.610 spa mask. Tell us about this year. What's going 00:16:05.610 --> 00:16:10.110 on? How's business been? Business has been alright. 00:16:10.330 --> 00:16:13.590 Actually, our first three months are up over 00:16:13.590 --> 00:16:19.409 2024 numbers. We're trending up, which is good. 00:16:19.950 --> 00:16:22.850 What do you do to try to... There's a few new 00:16:22.850 --> 00:16:25.269 hostels in Asheville, right, over the last couple 00:16:25.269 --> 00:16:27.950 of years. What are you doing to try to beat the 00:16:27.950 --> 00:16:30.929 competition or stand out? Really, absolutely 00:16:30.929 --> 00:16:34.190 nothing. Provide a good product at an affordable 00:16:34.190 --> 00:16:37.490 price. That's it. Keep it simple. Keep it simple. 00:16:38.929 --> 00:16:41.409 Nice. How about you, Alfie, up in Canada? What's 00:16:41.409 --> 00:16:45.070 the secrets? It's tough in a ski resort. That's 00:16:45.070 --> 00:16:47.190 what I've been in myself for three years now. 00:16:48.250 --> 00:16:51.509 And it's been a lot of lessons in terms of... 00:16:51.740 --> 00:16:54.539 In order to get more business for us, we have 00:16:54.539 --> 00:16:57.820 to focus on the market so much. We're not just 00:16:57.820 --> 00:16:59.440 trying to get people to choose our hostel, we're 00:16:59.440 --> 00:17:01.720 trying to get people to choose Whistler for their 00:17:01.720 --> 00:17:04.000 vacation, which is a hard sell. You're trying 00:17:04.000 --> 00:17:06.119 to get them to drive all the way to Ireland to 00:17:06.119 --> 00:17:08.200 come to Whistler because a lot of people don't 00:17:08.200 --> 00:17:10.440 see it as a place that's going to be affordable. 00:17:10.819 --> 00:17:14.839 So you have to really focus on excelling different 00:17:14.839 --> 00:17:17.119 experiences, maybe skiing isn't for everybody, 00:17:17.319 --> 00:17:19.500 maybe it's too expensive on the mountain. So 00:17:19.500 --> 00:17:21.380 you have to create all of these different things 00:17:21.380 --> 00:17:23.200 and so at the moment that's really what we're 00:17:23.200 --> 00:17:25.980 on is being more proactive. We've had some bad 00:17:25.980 --> 00:17:29.160 snow last year which really affected us and the 00:17:29.160 --> 00:17:31.640 lift prices from the Vale have really affected 00:17:31.640 --> 00:17:34.240 us and it's got quite expensive to come and ski 00:17:34.240 --> 00:17:36.400 in Whistler and that puts a lot of people off 00:17:36.400 --> 00:17:39.019 coming. So really the lesson for us has been 00:17:39.019 --> 00:17:42.019 trying to be proactive and trying to think of 00:17:42.019 --> 00:17:44.980 next year all the time and not just be putting 00:17:44.980 --> 00:17:48.940 out fives in the meantime. Yeah, we've seen a 00:17:48.940 --> 00:17:51.500 similar thing in Sayulita, which is known for 00:17:51.500 --> 00:17:54.400 surfing. You know, we've really leaned on that 00:17:54.400 --> 00:17:57.180 and we want to be the place where you stay when 00:17:57.180 --> 00:17:59.460 you want to come and go surfing. Yeah. And we 00:17:59.460 --> 00:18:02.940 even included surf into our name. It's, again, 00:18:03.000 --> 00:18:04.940 that experience. When people, it's something 00:18:04.940 --> 00:18:07.019 we've noticed over the last year, the word surf 00:18:07.019 --> 00:18:10.539 hostel now has become its own genre of like a 00:18:10.539 --> 00:18:13.059 vibe. Yeah. Because there's so many hostels now. 00:18:13.720 --> 00:18:15.660 people kind of you know the travelers are looking 00:18:15.660 --> 00:18:17.740 for the hostel that has a fun vibes they can 00:18:17.740 --> 00:18:20.119 connect and do stuff and once you throw that 00:18:20.119 --> 00:18:22.619 word surf in there people now know that's going 00:18:22.619 --> 00:18:25.559 to be an adventurous laid -back fun kind of experience 00:18:25.559 --> 00:18:28.140 so that's helped us tremendously by putting that 00:18:28.140 --> 00:18:30.759 in there and then just connecting people getting 00:18:30.759 --> 00:18:33.279 people out in the water surfing yeah just being 00:18:33.279 --> 00:18:35.019 you know we're that we're the host that's going 00:18:35.019 --> 00:18:37.740 to get you surfing or you know teach you surfing 00:18:37.740 --> 00:18:40.000 or just go on surf trips that's helped a lot 00:18:40.000 --> 00:18:42.349 being in a remote town I mean, the beautiful 00:18:42.349 --> 00:18:44.089 thing with that is that you're always going to 00:18:44.089 --> 00:18:46.730 have the ocean there as well. And it's not like 00:18:46.730 --> 00:18:48.650 you have to pay a company to go on and surf. 00:18:49.529 --> 00:18:53.170 It's not like you need to ding your ticket through 00:18:53.170 --> 00:18:55.650 a thing to get into the actual ocean. It's always 00:18:55.650 --> 00:18:58.349 going to be there. Yeah, lean into the top experiences 00:18:58.349 --> 00:19:01.150 your town has to offer and just become, you know, 00:19:01.170 --> 00:19:03.450 again, people choose the destination before they 00:19:03.450 --> 00:19:04.769 figure out where they're staying. I think that 00:19:04.769 --> 00:19:07.809 really comes down as well to telling a story 00:19:07.809 --> 00:19:10.980 with your hostel and focusing on the story. I 00:19:10.980 --> 00:19:13.259 think like everybody does it kind of well in 00:19:13.259 --> 00:19:16.960 their own way. It becomes like the identity of 00:19:16.960 --> 00:19:19.279 your hustle and why you started it and why you... 00:19:19.279 --> 00:19:23.500 Jimmy, don't be giggling at me. Don't be looking 00:19:23.500 --> 00:19:32.299 at me. Sexual... So, you know, we can start a 00:19:32.299 --> 00:19:36.900 face mask spa hustle. Spa hustle. How about over 00:19:36.900 --> 00:19:40.450 at the app? Is it... Business thus far, because 00:19:40.450 --> 00:19:42.369 we've covered Canada, the US, now back over to 00:19:42.369 --> 00:19:44.910 Mexico, has business thus far been good? This 00:19:44.910 --> 00:19:47.849 year, yeah, it's been done better than last year. 00:19:47.950 --> 00:19:51.190 But it's particularly to the place we have similar, 00:19:51.549 --> 00:19:56.950 I wouldn't say problem, but challenges. You need 00:19:56.950 --> 00:20:01.569 to first get people down to know the place, come 00:20:01.569 --> 00:20:03.829 down there. One of the problems that we had until 00:20:03.829 --> 00:20:07.670 this year was the way to get there. They were 00:20:07.670 --> 00:20:10.309 building the train and all their roads were blocked 00:20:10.309 --> 00:20:13.589 and basically it was really hard to get people 00:20:13.589 --> 00:20:15.710 generally interested. I heard about this train 00:20:15.710 --> 00:20:17.589 though. Tell us a little bit about that. The 00:20:17.589 --> 00:20:19.650 train is amazing. I love fucking trains in Mexico. 00:20:19.809 --> 00:20:21.849 This is great. The train is amazing. It's really 00:20:21.849 --> 00:20:24.990 so comfortable. And now they're going to have 00:20:24.990 --> 00:20:35.190 more routes. More trains, more times. More rails, 00:20:35.250 --> 00:20:38.789 more routes. I mean, more times in the day, because 00:20:38.789 --> 00:20:41.730 right now it's only one time a day. And they're 00:20:41.730 --> 00:20:43.950 also going to have Wi -Fi on their trains, so 00:20:43.950 --> 00:20:46.369 that's really changed all the experience of driving 00:20:46.369 --> 00:20:49.410 three hours down or four hours down from Cancun 00:20:49.410 --> 00:20:53.549 or Playa all the way to Bacalar, because it's 00:20:53.549 --> 00:20:56.289 super worth it to go to Bacalar, but some people 00:20:56.289 --> 00:20:59.009 don't really want to go driving or taking the 00:20:59.009 --> 00:21:03.599 bus or things like that. so all of the the ways 00:21:03.599 --> 00:21:07.640 right now to get into bacalar opened up so that's 00:21:07.640 --> 00:21:10.119 awesome yeah a train is a game changer a good 00:21:10.119 --> 00:21:12.920 train definitely and it's super like super on 00:21:12.920 --> 00:21:15.980 time super clean comfortable you even have like 00:21:15.980 --> 00:21:18.160 a like a snack bar on the train super comfortable 00:21:18.160 --> 00:21:21.619 yeah our trains in the u .s are horrifying we 00:21:21.619 --> 00:21:23.460 had one time had beautiful trains but we've been 00:21:23.460 --> 00:21:27.039 regressing for 150 years now what about the name 00:21:27.039 --> 00:21:30.329 yak how did you come up with that name Was there 00:21:30.329 --> 00:21:47.029 cocaine involved? I want to expand upon the name. 00:21:48.470 --> 00:21:54.589 And that rope does hold up to 200 pounds, I tried. 00:22:00.409 --> 00:22:03.190 Yeah, I was questioning the same thing. What's 00:22:03.190 --> 00:22:06.750 going on in the kids room? Joe, yes, you can 00:22:06.750 --> 00:22:09.529 put on one of those dresses over there. Please 00:22:09.529 --> 00:22:14.829 feel free. It's okay. Yeah, so the egg is cool 00:22:14.829 --> 00:22:17.789 because it's on the lake, on the Sweetwater Lake. 00:22:18.069 --> 00:22:20.930 It's super, super beautiful. It looks like a 00:22:20.930 --> 00:22:24.289 current in the ocean, but it's Sweetwater, so 00:22:24.289 --> 00:22:27.029 it's really cool. Sweetwater, that sounds nice. 00:22:27.109 --> 00:22:29.109 Yeah, and you open up and you open the window 00:22:29.109 --> 00:22:31.160 and you... You see the sunrise right in front 00:22:31.160 --> 00:22:34.400 of you and on the lake. It's really cool. And 00:22:34.400 --> 00:22:38.779 we have one time a week when the hostel changes 00:22:38.779 --> 00:22:44.880 into this crazy party kind of place. Where everybody 00:22:44.880 --> 00:22:46.460 knows that this is the place. We put it right 00:22:46.460 --> 00:22:50.920 in the middle of the week. Wednesday. It's a 00:22:50.920 --> 00:22:54.500 disaster. It's a disaster. It's a disaster there. 00:22:54.539 --> 00:22:56.740 One time a week. Only one time a week. All the 00:22:56.740 --> 00:23:09.529 other events like it. We have to set up and do 00:23:09.529 --> 00:23:12.130 a real full episode with you sometime. This is 00:23:12.130 --> 00:23:13.809 what we do at Hostel de Chapada. But we'll set 00:23:13.809 --> 00:23:16.130 up a full episode and we can record it and you 00:23:16.130 --> 00:23:17.910 can get it. We can have content for you in place. 00:23:18.730 --> 00:23:22.890 It's a lot of fun. Well, we used to hit the road 00:23:22.890 --> 00:23:25.150 and do it, but not anymore. We do it just remotely. 00:23:25.529 --> 00:23:28.890 Do my part. Zoom or something. But it's great 00:23:28.890 --> 00:23:31.509 to get the word out there for all hostels. The 00:23:31.509 --> 00:23:34.769 quest of Hostel Road Trips was to bring awareness 00:23:34.769 --> 00:23:38.349 to hostels in the Americas. So it ties in very 00:23:38.349 --> 00:23:41.549 nicely with Naha. And you can tell me the truth 00:23:41.549 --> 00:23:43.089 about the name when I'm down there sometime. 00:23:44.710 --> 00:23:49.630 I was hoping you guys wore the capes out of the 00:23:49.630 --> 00:23:51.410 room so people would be like, what's going on 00:23:51.410 --> 00:23:53.789 in there? That looks fine. I want to go in that 00:23:53.789 --> 00:23:58.200 room. You should come and check out the rope 00:23:58.200 --> 00:24:06.579 in here. In Buckelar do you find, or like in 00:24:06.579 --> 00:24:09.240 Sayulita we have a seasonal big difference like 00:24:09.240 --> 00:24:11.180 in the winter we have Canadians and Americans 00:24:11.180 --> 00:24:13.140 and in the summer it's all Mexicans so it's like 00:24:13.140 --> 00:24:48.970 a... Come on in! Welcome! It's the most interesting 00:24:48.970 --> 00:24:57.839 hostel workshop podcast ever. We're in the kids' 00:24:58.019 --> 00:25:00.180 room. We're getting in touch with our inner child. 00:25:00.700 --> 00:25:02.559 We're just telling, we're talking shop and telling 00:25:02.559 --> 00:25:05.920 stories about hostels. But, Brandon, your first 00:25:05.920 --> 00:25:09.180 Hostel Conference. How are you liking it so far? 00:25:09.519 --> 00:25:12.119 Oh, I love it. Awesome people, great food, sunshine, 00:25:12.480 --> 00:25:15.259 beautiful. Where did you live in Austria? No, 00:25:15.759 --> 00:25:18.700 no. Denver. No, yes, I was in Denver. Oh, I wasn't 00:25:18.700 --> 00:25:22.180 in Denver last year. I was in Denver. I'm a much 00:25:22.180 --> 00:25:24.059 more big fan of the beach than the snow. Yeah, 00:25:24.180 --> 00:25:29.680 they could change the conference. Brandon's with 00:25:29.680 --> 00:25:32.519 Howza Hostels, which is the hottest hostel chain 00:25:32.519 --> 00:25:35.099 in Hawaii right now. Soon to be coming on to 00:25:35.099 --> 00:25:37.740 the mainland. Got some great founders over there. 00:25:37.799 --> 00:25:39.619 They're doing some awesome things, so we're excited 00:25:39.619 --> 00:25:42.519 to have Howza on the Naha team. Christopher, 00:25:42.619 --> 00:25:45.500 Jennifer, introduce yourselves. How you doing? 00:25:45.799 --> 00:25:48.250 Tell us about your hostel. Oh, I don't have anything 00:25:48.250 --> 00:25:50.529 yet, but... Tell us what your plans are, tell 00:25:50.529 --> 00:25:55.549 us what your dreams are. I'd like to have a location 00:25:55.549 --> 00:25:59.250 where we can just go to New York City and meet 00:25:59.250 --> 00:26:04.450 in the summer. Highly city. Maybe the Appalachian 00:26:04.450 --> 00:26:11.890 Trail. With some skiing when the weather cooperates. 00:26:13.470 --> 00:26:17.259 It's going to be small initially. See how people 00:26:17.259 --> 00:26:26.279 manage it. Right now, I'm searching. See, I know. 00:26:27.220 --> 00:26:30.680 The Oscar Roadshow podcast promotes a safe zone. 00:26:31.339 --> 00:26:39.900 Be yourself. Julie just joined us. Welcome to 00:26:39.900 --> 00:26:42.519 the... Table talk session, pasta road trip podcast. 00:26:42.920 --> 00:26:45.579 So I've just been struggling with finding property 00:26:45.579 --> 00:26:50.119 or a location, a venue. Yeah, yeah. That's a 00:26:50.119 --> 00:26:52.059 bad one. We lived on a sailboat for two years 00:26:52.059 --> 00:26:53.539 while we were trying to find a place. Don't give 00:26:53.539 --> 00:26:55.519 up. Those two years were some of the best years 00:26:55.519 --> 00:27:02.880 of my life. Simpler times. Thank you. Julie, 00:27:03.059 --> 00:27:06.960 tell us a little bit about yourself. Well, we're 00:27:06.960 --> 00:27:10.690 on. People are listening all over the world. 00:27:20.130 --> 00:27:28.930 Say hello. Hi. Well, tell us about your hostel, 00:27:29.089 --> 00:27:31.210 your action. What's going on? So I don't have 00:27:31.210 --> 00:27:33.869 a hostel. Okay. I'd love to have one. You're 00:27:33.869 --> 00:27:36.509 an aspiring hosteler. Yes. Where do you want 00:27:36.509 --> 00:27:43.059 to have one? Oh, okay. Somewhere tropical? Yeah. 00:27:43.279 --> 00:27:47.119 Somewhere without a lot of rules, right? Nice 00:27:47.119 --> 00:27:51.119 weather. Yeah, okay. I really love that. People 00:27:51.119 --> 00:27:53.900 coming to the hostel conferences that are aspiring 00:27:53.900 --> 00:27:56.619 hostel owners or even people that want to become 00:27:56.619 --> 00:27:59.460 a manager. Over the years, I've seen people find 00:27:59.460 --> 00:28:01.740 great jobs, great tasks, and actually succeed. 00:28:01.819 --> 00:28:05.309 So I love the ambition. and going after it to 00:28:05.309 --> 00:28:08.650 do that. So congratulations to you. There's several 00:28:08.650 --> 00:28:11.150 people here looking for ounces. I think it's 00:28:11.150 --> 00:28:13.390 awesome. Yeah, I think that's so cool. And what 00:28:13.390 --> 00:28:15.369 we try to do here so you know what's going on, 00:28:15.450 --> 00:28:17.089 because I know you walked into a room with a 00:28:17.089 --> 00:28:19.210 bunch of people sitting around a child -sized 00:28:19.210 --> 00:28:22.950 desk, a child chair, wearing face masks, putting 00:28:22.950 --> 00:28:25.869 on toenail polish, maybe sniffing the toenail 00:28:25.869 --> 00:28:28.230 polish. It's a little bit of a weird scene, but 00:28:28.230 --> 00:28:31.630 the Hostile Road Trip podcast, Bobby and I started 00:28:31.630 --> 00:28:34.500 it years ago. And the idea was to bring awareness 00:28:34.500 --> 00:28:38.119 of hostels in the Americas. So we will do individual 00:28:38.119 --> 00:28:41.339 interviews with select hostels. They'll tell 00:28:41.339 --> 00:28:43.519 us about their experience, about their hostel. 00:28:43.759 --> 00:28:46.019 And it's good content for that. It's great content 00:28:46.019 --> 00:28:48.079 for us. And we've heard over the years a lot 00:28:48.079 --> 00:28:49.880 of people that wanted to open up their own hostel 00:28:49.880 --> 00:28:52.619 use that as a resource of like, where do you 00:28:52.619 --> 00:28:54.960 go for a book on hostels? There's one and it's 00:28:54.960 --> 00:28:57.240 like 20 years old. I keep telling Joe he needs 00:28:57.240 --> 00:29:01.650 to write one. But, you know, resources. and what 00:29:01.650 --> 00:29:03.670 you can find out about. So this has been a cool 00:29:03.670 --> 00:29:06.170 thing and a cool platform for people to find 00:29:06.170 --> 00:29:08.410 out about different people's journeys and stories. 00:29:09.390 --> 00:29:12.069 Hostel owners are an eclectic bunch of people. 00:29:12.490 --> 00:29:16.450 Very interesting, never a bad interview. So it's 00:29:16.450 --> 00:29:20.069 a fun thing. Very unemployable. Yeah, yeah, yeah. 00:29:20.450 --> 00:29:23.630 We're a unique group, but you can find us on 00:29:23.630 --> 00:29:26.789 iTunes and Amazon Music and YouTube and all that 00:29:26.789 --> 00:29:30.210 stuff. Hostel Road Trip Podcast. Get on there. 00:29:30.349 --> 00:29:32.549 Get on there. Yeah, I saw the YouTube video when 00:29:32.549 --> 00:29:35.390 you guys interviewed Jim Kennett. It's a little 00:29:35.390 --> 00:29:38.269 bit more of the first conference. Yeah, I know. 00:29:38.369 --> 00:29:41.829 So we've had some gems. I call them hostile Jedis. 00:29:41.890 --> 00:29:43.549 The people that have been doing it for decades 00:29:43.549 --> 00:29:45.170 and they can really give you a lot of information. 00:29:45.490 --> 00:29:47.750 We've done multiple episodes, sometimes more 00:29:47.750 --> 00:29:50.069 than one. We did disaster episodes with Joe, 00:29:50.890 --> 00:29:53.730 the hostile in a box episode. Just give me advice 00:29:53.730 --> 00:29:56.009 on how to get through it. We actually used to 00:29:56.009 --> 00:30:00.990 go on the road. like a fucking band on the road 00:30:00.990 --> 00:30:03.170 and go hustle to hustle and then people started 00:30:03.170 --> 00:30:04.730 getting married and having kids and all of a 00:30:04.730 --> 00:30:06.170 sudden the wives don't want you to do that anymore. 00:30:06.910 --> 00:30:16.529 Thanks, buddy. Resume it. Resume it. So I haven't 00:30:16.529 --> 00:30:17.869 been on the road in a few years, but it's okay. 00:30:18.769 --> 00:30:24.170 I don't miss it. That's not why you started this 00:30:24.170 --> 00:30:27.369 whole thing. It's not your passion. I love Zoom. 00:30:32.720 --> 00:30:35.480 It's been a fun time with Christopher. Don't 00:30:35.480 --> 00:30:37.640 be so shy over there. Tell us about your thoughts 00:30:37.640 --> 00:30:39.500 on the conference so far. What are you feeling? 00:30:40.920 --> 00:30:45.680 It's great. I had a little expectation. Tried 00:30:45.680 --> 00:30:47.599 just coming in with an open mind. That's the 00:30:47.599 --> 00:30:51.059 way to do it. It is just awesome. Everybody is 00:30:51.059 --> 00:30:53.660 super nice, informative. If you've got a question 00:30:53.660 --> 00:30:56.420 you ask, you get an answer. If they don't have 00:30:56.420 --> 00:30:58.599 it, they'll be like, oh wait, I think they know. 00:30:58.990 --> 00:31:01.450 and be able to, you know, just the networking 00:31:01.450 --> 00:31:05.769 here is awesome. Nice. Well, clearly you had 00:31:05.769 --> 00:31:09.710 in mind you walked into this room, right? When 00:31:09.710 --> 00:31:12.789 I walked in, I was a little skeptical. The other 00:31:12.789 --> 00:31:19.930 tables were full. I had no option. It's actually 00:31:19.930 --> 00:31:23.569 less cramped in here. Would you like a face mask? 00:31:23.950 --> 00:31:28.269 Yeah. Okay, thank you. They're complimentary. 00:31:28.609 --> 00:31:32.069 That's true. We want everyone to look great. 00:31:33.150 --> 00:31:41.730 We also have nail polish. Now, for the aspiring 00:31:41.730 --> 00:31:43.990 hostels, would you consider working for another 00:31:43.990 --> 00:31:46.910 hostel or would you still just want to open your 00:31:46.910 --> 00:31:50.430 own? I think it would probably be beneficial. 00:31:51.910 --> 00:31:57.349 What do you do? Engineer. Engineer. So you're 00:31:57.349 --> 00:32:07.869 wicked fucking smart. Well, Joe, give us a little 00:32:07.869 --> 00:32:10.210 bit of insight into that. You are a hostel owner. 00:32:10.450 --> 00:32:14.529 Yes. And a hostel legend. Yeah. First hostel 00:32:14.529 --> 00:32:16.769 opened in North Carolina. One time had four? 00:32:17.150 --> 00:32:21.450 Three. Three. And you also carried a full -time 00:32:21.450 --> 00:32:25.470 job while doing that. Yes. Also wicked fucking 00:32:25.470 --> 00:32:28.849 smart. So tell us about that experience. And 00:32:28.849 --> 00:32:31.410 you have a wife and kids. Yeah. She hasn't left 00:32:31.410 --> 00:32:40.569 you. Give us that. There's still time. No, when 00:32:40.569 --> 00:32:44.529 I started the first hostel, that was my job 60 00:32:44.529 --> 00:32:48.750 to 90 hours a week. And let's see, that was 2005. 00:32:49.130 --> 00:32:52.369 By 2010, I realized I needed health care and 00:32:52.369 --> 00:32:55.210 a 401k. And maybe something that paid a little 00:32:55.210 --> 00:32:57.799 bit of money. more money than running one hostel 00:32:57.799 --> 00:33:01.259 real life into the ground yeah uh so i went back 00:33:01.259 --> 00:33:03.740 to grad school it was actually uh during the 00:33:03.740 --> 00:33:07.619 great recession and truth be told i took my student 00:33:07.619 --> 00:33:11.259 loan and i paid the mortgage with it because 00:33:11.259 --> 00:33:17.099 we you know it was the great recession and things 00:33:17.099 --> 00:33:19.559 were tough but during that time i also did go 00:33:19.559 --> 00:33:22.019 to class and i did get a degree and then i did 00:33:22.019 --> 00:33:28.259 come out and get a job know it's like it was 00:33:28.259 --> 00:33:30.480 what i want to say but i still i guess worked 00:33:30.480 --> 00:33:35.079 80 hours a week yeah but i split it between you 00:33:35.079 --> 00:33:37.640 know my day job as a as an efficiency engineer 00:33:37.640 --> 00:33:41.039 and running the hostel and then opened two additional 00:33:41.039 --> 00:33:44.900 hostels because i had enough cash coming in and 00:33:44.900 --> 00:33:46.559 i was like oh cool now i've actually got money 00:33:46.559 --> 00:33:50.440 to fix the hostel the way i want it and to expand 00:33:50.440 --> 00:33:52.619 into other hostels i've got that cash flow now 00:33:52.619 --> 00:33:56.130 so that that was helpful but Just like Bobby, 00:33:56.390 --> 00:34:00.869 I got married, I had kids, and having three hostels 00:34:00.869 --> 00:34:05.609 was not tenable by myself. So I had to give one 00:34:05.609 --> 00:34:08.449 up and transfer the other one to just an Airbnb 00:34:08.449 --> 00:34:12.710 rental. And that's it. But your journey and path, 00:34:12.710 --> 00:34:14.889 though, it shows that it can be done and that 00:34:14.889 --> 00:34:18.110 you can have it. the other day and work it you 00:34:18.110 --> 00:34:20.449 know right you can have that system going on 00:34:20.449 --> 00:34:22.849 i still have my acting career it's not really 00:34:22.849 --> 00:34:25.550 going good right now but you know i still consider 00:34:25.550 --> 00:34:29.090 myself an actor it's pilot season coming up yeah 00:34:29.090 --> 00:34:35.210 we'll see it for a couple months yeah you know 00:34:35.210 --> 00:34:37.590 yeah we'll see where it goes see where it goes 00:34:37.590 --> 00:34:39.929 now how about you would you work for another 00:34:39.929 --> 00:34:41.730 hostel or do you really just want to open up 00:34:41.730 --> 00:34:45.530 your own you just want to go all in Have you 00:34:45.530 --> 00:34:49.610 ever managed one before? Okay, that's good. Alright, 00:34:49.730 --> 00:34:52.389 yeah. Don't go in blind. Have you managed one 00:34:52.389 --> 00:34:56.329 before? No. So, okay. Maybe even try doing that 00:34:56.329 --> 00:34:58.789 for like a couple of months. There's a lot of 00:34:58.789 --> 00:35:00.530 hostel owners that would be receptive to that. 00:35:00.710 --> 00:35:03.730 Just to get you to try it out. Yeah, get your 00:35:03.730 --> 00:35:07.130 experience in, work out the kinks. It can spark 00:35:07.130 --> 00:35:10.210 creative ideas. And you can let someone take 00:35:10.210 --> 00:35:24.659 a vacation while you're doing it. Yeah, you let 00:35:24.659 --> 00:35:27.219 us know. All right, all right. Well, we're doing 00:35:27.219 --> 00:35:30.099 a table change again. Thank you so much for being 00:35:30.099 --> 00:35:31.860 on the Hostile Roadshow podcast. Most interesting 00:35:31.860 --> 00:35:37.559 episode ever. Thank you. And tell your friends 00:35:37.559 --> 00:35:39.340 out there to come visit us in the kids' room. 00:35:40.239 --> 00:35:45.679 Free face masks. Don't you feel so big when you 00:35:45.679 --> 00:35:47.679 get out of the chair now? Yeah. Get out of there! 00:35:52.679 --> 00:35:54.940 Joe and I had this grand idea to come hide in 00:35:54.940 --> 00:35:56.920 here, do face masks, get stung, and paint our 00:35:56.920 --> 00:35:59.659 nails while everyone's doing the mask. I walked 00:35:59.659 --> 00:36:02.139 in, I was like, oh, I was like, Joe, a lot of 00:36:02.139 --> 00:36:05.030 people missed that nail party. Jimmy's live in 00:36:05.030 --> 00:36:08.809 an episode. Dave Brooks with Barn Door Hostel. 00:36:09.150 --> 00:36:12.530 Welcome to the kids room, baby. We are live. 00:36:12.730 --> 00:36:15.389 We are live. You guys just have a gang in here. 00:36:16.150 --> 00:36:21.469 15 people just walked in. Oh, yeah. Thank you, 00:36:21.469 --> 00:36:26.710 Ryan. Ryan Monterey Hostel. One of our favorite 00:36:26.710 --> 00:36:30.570 California Role Hostel owners. Yes. Smells like 00:36:30.570 --> 00:36:32.969 finger paint. We were blowing some finger paint. 00:36:34.139 --> 00:36:38.739 It's all on. I'm sorry. Dang it. There was also 00:36:38.739 --> 00:36:41.760 people wearing face masks. But Hostel Ultra podcast 00:36:41.760 --> 00:36:44.400 room is cleared out. We have a new session starting. 00:36:44.679 --> 00:36:48.119 Dave Cook from Bondur Hostel. Alfie McKenzie 00:36:48.119 --> 00:36:51.300 from HI. He can't get enough. He wants to keep 00:36:51.300 --> 00:36:56.480 on huffing nail polish. Oh, last table change. 00:36:56.579 --> 00:37:01.940 Alright. Well, we have a more intimate session. 00:37:02.079 --> 00:37:03.579 So Dave, tell us what's going on at the Barn 00:37:03.579 --> 00:37:07.079 Door Hostel. Oh man, Barn Door Hostel. We've 00:37:07.079 --> 00:37:10.440 got Outdoor Fest coming up. That's our flagship 00:37:10.440 --> 00:37:13.139 festival. It happens every Memorial Day weekend. 00:37:14.059 --> 00:37:17.780 It's a celebration of activities that you can 00:37:17.780 --> 00:37:20.619 do in White Mountain National Forest. Barn Door 00:37:20.619 --> 00:37:23.300 Hostel being in a rock climbing town, we have 00:37:23.300 --> 00:37:25.989 a little... skew towards the climbing community, 00:37:26.269 --> 00:37:29.929 but I would like to also lean into all the other 00:37:29.929 --> 00:37:32.070 outdoor adventures you can have with On Natural 00:37:32.070 --> 00:37:35.489 Forest. Yes. We were talking about in more remote 00:37:35.489 --> 00:37:38.050 places how you really have to lean into the experience 00:37:38.050 --> 00:37:39.670 because people are looking for the experience 00:37:39.670 --> 00:37:42.530 first before they decide to stay at a hostel. 00:37:42.809 --> 00:37:45.570 Absolutely, yeah. How do you market that and 00:37:45.570 --> 00:37:48.489 try to get the awareness out? Do you focus on 00:37:48.489 --> 00:37:52.480 that? this is the rock climbing place? We do 00:37:52.480 --> 00:37:56.039 and it ebbs and flows right so in climbing season 00:37:56.039 --> 00:37:59.619 we'll kind of push more of the experience of 00:37:59.619 --> 00:38:02.639 hey come join all of your climber friends and 00:38:02.639 --> 00:38:04.639 this is where you're going to go find a climbing 00:38:04.639 --> 00:38:07.219 partner or experience a new route or something 00:38:07.219 --> 00:38:10.780 like that and then in other seasons or other 00:38:10.780 --> 00:38:13.380 things we lean into other other aspects so like 00:38:13.380 --> 00:38:15.539 a ski and stay package or something like that 00:38:15.539 --> 00:38:21.579 but yeah the overall like essence is what we 00:38:21.579 --> 00:38:25.320 try to push. It's kind of difficult sometimes. 00:38:26.019 --> 00:38:28.159 I know a lot and we've made this mistake you 00:38:28.159 --> 00:38:30.599 think you go to a remote place and sometimes 00:38:30.599 --> 00:38:32.800 you think if I build it they will come kind of 00:38:32.800 --> 00:38:35.519 mentality. It didn't work for us and we kind 00:38:35.519 --> 00:38:38.260 of you know didn't realize that oh it's better 00:38:38.260 --> 00:38:40.420 to go to a place where there's already backpackers 00:38:40.420 --> 00:38:44.119 and just make a better experience but now we've 00:38:44.119 --> 00:38:45.900 learned for some of those remote places really 00:38:45.900 --> 00:38:48.559 look at why do people come to this place. and 00:38:48.559 --> 00:38:50.920 then be you know maybe even include that sport 00:38:50.920 --> 00:38:53.599 or that theme into your name of your hostel so 00:38:53.599 --> 00:38:56.679 people know this is where the people looking 00:38:56.679 --> 00:38:58.639 for that experience which is big in the town 00:38:58.639 --> 00:39:02.239 this is where you go stay these people the host 00:39:02.239 --> 00:39:04.139 of this hostel will connect you with that experience 00:39:04.139 --> 00:39:07.539 very easily yeah helps a lot as i was mentioning 00:39:07.539 --> 00:39:09.860 when we're surfing in sayalita we added surf 00:39:09.860 --> 00:39:12.199 in our name and we saw the occupancy just climb 00:39:12.199 --> 00:39:15.679 right up yeah yeah I want to touch on the rock 00:39:15.679 --> 00:39:17.659 climbing thing. Hit me. Because this is a really 00:39:17.659 --> 00:39:20.380 cool thing. When you catch a trend, rock climbing 00:39:20.380 --> 00:39:22.900 in the past like 10 years has blown up. I mean, 00:39:22.960 --> 00:39:24.940 if you would have said that 10, 15 years ago, 00:39:25.000 --> 00:39:26.000 you'd be like, what the fuck are you talking 00:39:26.000 --> 00:39:27.420 about? You'd be like, were you in trouble? It's 00:39:27.420 --> 00:39:29.699 an Olympic sport. Yeah, yes. A climbing film 00:39:29.699 --> 00:39:33.000 won an Oscar. Yes. Yes. So this is like a huge, 00:39:33.139 --> 00:39:35.260 and it's a great workout. And that's one of the 00:39:35.260 --> 00:39:37.400 big reasons it became popular. It is a full body 00:39:37.400 --> 00:39:40.719 workout. And you can really ride a trend like 00:39:40.719 --> 00:39:44.940 that in your place before rock climbing. would 00:39:44.940 --> 00:39:47.000 have been a lot harder, I'm sure, to draw in 00:39:47.000 --> 00:39:49.320 the tension. Yeah. So you can ride those waves 00:39:49.320 --> 00:39:51.500 of like, who would think that rock climbing would 00:39:51.500 --> 00:39:53.960 make a hostel blow up, but you work those two 00:39:53.960 --> 00:39:55.960 things out, build it into your identity. Exactly. 00:39:56.139 --> 00:39:59.500 I mean, I did years of market research of seeing 00:39:59.500 --> 00:40:02.179 who's going up to Rumney, the town we're in, 00:40:02.260 --> 00:40:04.420 who's going just to White Mountain National Forest 00:40:04.420 --> 00:40:06.659 in general, which covers like two or three different 00:40:06.659 --> 00:40:09.760 counties in our state and extends over to Maine. 00:40:11.179 --> 00:40:16.579 And yeah, so... looking at that uh and knowing 00:40:16.579 --> 00:40:20.019 that it was an upward trend really helped us 00:40:20.019 --> 00:40:22.900 solidify the idea that yeah this is the right 00:40:22.900 --> 00:40:25.260 place this is the right time we are going to 00:40:25.260 --> 00:40:27.860 do this and you were ahead of the curve on that 00:40:27.860 --> 00:40:30.860 you attacked yeah because i was paddling the 00:40:30.860 --> 00:40:33.659 wave we dave for you listeners that don't know 00:40:33.659 --> 00:40:37.519 out there dave was from the igh family out in 00:40:37.519 --> 00:40:40.699 california And we let him put a rock wall into 00:40:40.699 --> 00:40:42.820 one of our hostels. And I was like, what the 00:40:42.820 --> 00:40:45.539 fuck is this? Eggs and things like that. But 00:40:45.539 --> 00:40:48.760 he was out of it. It blew up and it came to be 00:40:48.760 --> 00:40:52.500 like a really Olympic sport. So that's just something 00:40:52.500 --> 00:40:54.760 of like knowing those trends and then working 00:40:54.760 --> 00:40:58.130 them into your operation. you can really make 00:40:58.130 --> 00:41:00.690 it sizzle yeah that's a tough one but also like 00:41:00.690 --> 00:41:02.690 if you can do it if you can build the experience 00:41:02.690 --> 00:41:05.230 physically actually into the hospital yeah that 00:41:05.230 --> 00:41:08.650 is a game changer like hiv back in the day they 00:41:08.650 --> 00:41:10.070 don't have anymore because of the old health 00:41:10.070 --> 00:41:12.230 and safety and all that kind of thing but uh 00:41:12.230 --> 00:41:14.489 two like absolute legends that ran that place 00:41:14.489 --> 00:41:17.010 for a really long time they built a ice wall 00:41:17.630 --> 00:41:25.670 in the back of the hostel. We saw a big increase 00:41:25.670 --> 00:41:27.369 when we put a climbing wall on our property. 00:41:28.070 --> 00:41:31.309 And there's real world -class rock right down 00:41:31.309 --> 00:41:33.690 the road. We're two miles away. But people are 00:41:33.690 --> 00:41:37.170 still excited to come and climb on wood and plastic. 00:41:44.329 --> 00:41:45.789 So I didn't know this was a thing. I can't remember 00:41:45.789 --> 00:41:47.730 what it's called now. It's like a Bosu wall or 00:41:47.730 --> 00:41:50.050 something. It's for practicing your balance on 00:41:50.050 --> 00:41:52.329 a snowboard. Really? So it's like basically half 00:41:52.329 --> 00:41:55.269 of a yoga board. Oh, yeah. And so you can kind 00:41:55.269 --> 00:41:57.670 of actually teach people how to balance on toe 00:41:57.670 --> 00:42:00.409 side and heel side with that wall. We had sessions 00:42:00.409 --> 00:42:03.349 in the meeting room or whatever with people who 00:42:03.349 --> 00:42:05.610 are completely fresh to snowboarding, especially 00:42:05.610 --> 00:42:07.710 because it's so expensive to go out for a day. 00:42:07.809 --> 00:42:09.389 It kind of sucks if you go out for a day and 00:42:09.389 --> 00:42:11.269 you're just on the money note. You learn it and 00:42:11.269 --> 00:42:14.719 it costs you $350 ,000 to do it. So if we can 00:42:14.719 --> 00:42:16.440 give people that little taste, first of all, 00:42:16.559 --> 00:42:19.420 and help them just strap into the board, practice 00:42:19.420 --> 00:42:21.679 their balance a little bit, maybe have a few 00:42:21.679 --> 00:42:23.639 drinks that make it funny as well. Yeah, similar 00:42:23.639 --> 00:42:26.659 to an indoor board. That's what I'm thinking 00:42:26.659 --> 00:42:28.659 about. You guys have the indoor board back in 00:42:28.659 --> 00:42:31.340 the day. We have one now. Yeah, that makes sense. 00:42:31.360 --> 00:42:33.980 But what you guys are triggering on me is I think 00:42:33.980 --> 00:42:36.920 a cool trend for aspiring hostel owners out there. 00:42:37.420 --> 00:42:40.420 Try to build something of your vibe around more 00:42:40.420 --> 00:42:43.010 of the wellness element. of something constructive, 00:42:43.349 --> 00:42:45.530 something that's good for you, because the party 00:42:45.530 --> 00:42:48.090 will be there. People are going to always have 00:42:48.090 --> 00:42:50.530 drinks, have fun. Whereas I find hostels that 00:42:50.530 --> 00:42:53.469 try to build their whole theme around the party, 00:42:53.530 --> 00:42:57.530 you get sloppy. And it's not appealing to everyone. 00:42:57.849 --> 00:43:01.429 Whereas if you go more so for yoga or surfing 00:43:01.429 --> 00:43:04.949 or rock climbing or ice picking, all these different 00:43:04.949 --> 00:43:07.690 things, you draw in that more positive crowd 00:43:07.690 --> 00:43:10.630 with positive energy. that have objectives, you 00:43:10.630 --> 00:43:12.070 know, are trying to do something, and you avoid 00:43:12.070 --> 00:43:14.170 that vibe inside the hostel where now you've 00:43:14.170 --> 00:43:16.150 just got a bunch of drunks, you know, hanging 00:43:16.150 --> 00:43:17.750 around that are scaring away at people. Yeah, 00:43:17.889 --> 00:43:19.670 the more activities you have, the more you have 00:43:19.670 --> 00:43:22.070 people who actually have to be up in the morning. 00:43:22.349 --> 00:43:25.090 So you can clean the place. Yeah. So you actually 00:43:25.090 --> 00:43:27.789 got time to clean the place. I always think that's 00:43:27.789 --> 00:43:30.070 such a red flag when you're like, why are you 00:43:30.070 --> 00:43:32.269 here talking to me at reception for five, six 00:43:32.269 --> 00:43:34.650 hours straight? Like, we should be outside exploring 00:43:34.650 --> 00:43:38.090 the town, having fun, going snowboarding, going 00:43:38.090 --> 00:43:40.739 surfing. And those are the people that I like 00:43:40.739 --> 00:43:46.079 to call the old D &E, do not extend. Yes, yes. 00:43:46.340 --> 00:43:48.679 Because that's your job out there, hospital managers, 00:43:49.059 --> 00:43:52.539 to protect the rest of you. Yeah. From the bad 00:43:52.539 --> 00:43:54.440 cats. I don't know what it's called until again. 00:43:54.820 --> 00:43:59.139 Again? I can feel it now. There's nobody here. 00:43:59.480 --> 00:44:02.340 That room looks pretty empty. Big group coming 00:44:02.340 --> 00:44:05.340 in. That's what we always say. with that because 00:44:05.340 --> 00:44:08.059 you're a remote place we do yeah you get like 00:44:08.059 --> 00:44:10.360 the drifters weekend homeless person you still 00:44:10.360 --> 00:44:13.280 do it you still do it yep it's mostly folks that 00:44:13.280 --> 00:44:18.599 live in their cars we get a lot of people that 00:44:18.599 --> 00:44:21.719 use the cover of traveling nurse even though 00:44:21.719 --> 00:44:24.800 it's very clear that they are not traveling oh 00:44:24.800 --> 00:44:27.860 i'd like to book for you know five six weeks 00:44:27.860 --> 00:44:31.739 like first off no that's two week max yeah second 00:44:31.739 --> 00:44:33.789 of all let's start with one night See how it 00:44:33.789 --> 00:44:35.750 goes. Go slow here. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Just to 00:44:35.750 --> 00:44:39.750 explain on the needles in the back or what? I 00:44:39.750 --> 00:44:41.769 don't know. I really don't know. I think it's 00:44:41.769 --> 00:44:47.349 a good excuse for them to try and pull the wool 00:44:47.349 --> 00:44:49.929 over it up too many times. Say, like, I want 00:44:49.929 --> 00:44:52.590 to stay here for longer. They catch on to it, 00:44:52.630 --> 00:44:54.289 and you have to be, you know, crafted with that. 00:44:54.309 --> 00:44:57.510 They try to take advantage of our good heart 00:44:57.510 --> 00:45:01.909 and hospitality. We had the Malibu fires. in 00:45:01.909 --> 00:45:04.190 California with a devastating, wiped out entire 00:45:04.190 --> 00:45:06.690 neighborhood. It's a beautiful home. And you 00:45:06.690 --> 00:45:09.829 had these people that live in Moldova, they had 00:45:09.829 --> 00:45:12.130 nowhere to go. And all the hotels were sold out, 00:45:12.190 --> 00:45:14.690 so we were putting up legitimate families. And 00:45:14.690 --> 00:45:16.489 we're like, I got nowhere to stay. And then, 00:45:16.510 --> 00:45:18.510 of course, they catch on to it, and now you've 00:45:18.510 --> 00:45:20.929 got this homeless guy. Yeah, my mansion just 00:45:20.929 --> 00:45:25.349 burned down. Wow, you could run hard and put 00:45:25.349 --> 00:45:31.800 away a weapon. You're looking rough. So you've 00:45:31.800 --> 00:45:34.420 got to be careful with that and never be afraid 00:45:34.420 --> 00:45:36.920 to be too stern because they can clear out a 00:45:36.920 --> 00:45:39.900 whole room. It's so true. And people become that 00:45:39.900 --> 00:45:42.019 as well I find. Some of the nicest guests you'll 00:45:42.019 --> 00:45:45.239 ever have after like six weeks. It's just a human 00:45:45.239 --> 00:45:47.000 nature thing. It's like, well this is my place 00:45:47.000 --> 00:45:50.039 now. And they'll tell other guests how it is 00:45:50.039 --> 00:45:52.539 as they come in. There's such a fine line because 00:45:52.539 --> 00:45:54.800 you want your hostel to feel like home to everybody. 00:45:55.260 --> 00:45:58.219 And then once that one person or those two people 00:45:58.980 --> 00:46:01.420 truly connect and make it feel like their own 00:46:01.420 --> 00:46:04.219 home, then it's no longer anybody else's home. 00:46:04.300 --> 00:46:07.079 It's theirs. Yeah. That's a whole fascinating 00:46:07.079 --> 00:46:09.880 topic in itself. They can become so selfish, 00:46:09.960 --> 00:46:12.780 but you're right, David. It's an affirmation 00:46:12.780 --> 00:46:14.380 that we're doing a good job because they want 00:46:14.380 --> 00:46:16.659 to stay and make it their home. So we have nailed 00:46:16.659 --> 00:46:18.940 it. We've made this safe space. We've made this 00:46:18.940 --> 00:46:21.539 comfortable space. But they don't know it at 00:46:21.539 --> 00:46:23.179 the time. They would never believe it, but they're 00:46:23.179 --> 00:46:25.579 going to become the antithesis to what we're 00:46:25.579 --> 00:46:28.380 trying to do. as they cross that two -week marker 00:46:28.380 --> 00:46:32.119 and go to three, and now the whole business model 00:46:32.119 --> 00:46:33.800 is going to be revolving around their personal 00:46:33.800 --> 00:46:36.199 needs and baggage. It's just a fucking disaster. 00:46:36.960 --> 00:46:38.960 You did a great job, Dave, with the community 00:46:38.960 --> 00:46:41.840 and having community events. Do you, I guess, 00:46:41.900 --> 00:46:44.099 for the nice people in the community, do you 00:46:44.099 --> 00:46:46.920 offer memberships or anything like that? I'm 00:46:46.920 --> 00:46:50.420 hearing some hotels are providing memberships 00:46:50.420 --> 00:46:52.820 for the locals to come in and enjoy the facility 00:46:52.820 --> 00:46:56.849 as a place to gather. Have you gotten into memberships 00:46:56.849 --> 00:46:59.369 or how do you manage, how do you make it great 00:46:59.369 --> 00:47:01.530 for the local community to come in and feel welcome? 00:47:01.750 --> 00:47:06.010 We don't do memberships. I think if our infrastructure 00:47:06.010 --> 00:47:08.829 was different, like if we had city water and 00:47:08.829 --> 00:47:11.369 city sewer and things of that nature, that would 00:47:11.369 --> 00:47:14.210 make more sense for us. But because of our logistics, 00:47:14.590 --> 00:47:18.429 we don't do that. But we still do lean into the 00:47:18.429 --> 00:47:22.530 community. We do like our outdoor fest and other 00:47:22.530 --> 00:47:24.719 festivals. We've done music festivals in the 00:47:24.719 --> 00:47:29.099 past. We've done arts days, dog days, and all 00:47:29.099 --> 00:47:31.579 of these things are free for anybody in the county. 00:47:32.179 --> 00:47:34.920 Which is a good chunk of the state. What have 00:47:34.920 --> 00:47:37.019 you learned is the secret to put on a good event? 00:47:39.139 --> 00:47:45.679 A smile, quite honestly. Really. Yeah, because 00:47:45.679 --> 00:47:49.820 as we all know, people don't know what a hostel 00:47:49.820 --> 00:47:53.670 is. put off by the idea of a hostel or whatever 00:47:53.670 --> 00:47:59.429 and so for you to be the host with the most and 00:47:59.429 --> 00:48:03.949 kind of letting them have what they need and 00:48:03.949 --> 00:48:07.369 having a good experience will hopefully change 00:48:07.369 --> 00:48:11.829 your mind for the future. Do you find that those 00:48:11.829 --> 00:48:16.789 events give your local community exposure to 00:48:16.789 --> 00:48:20.880 what a hostel is? 100 % 100%, yeah. So when we 00:48:20.880 --> 00:48:23.940 first moved in, we got pushback from the town, 00:48:24.199 --> 00:48:29.019 from the legislature, from locals, etc., etc. 00:48:30.179 --> 00:48:39.360 Back in Florida. Nice. Breathing in. It's the 00:48:39.360 --> 00:48:44.679 mailbox. But yeah, so the more folks that come 00:48:44.679 --> 00:48:48.510 in, the more they're interested in. in what else 00:48:48.510 --> 00:48:52.809 we do. We're a destination, right? We're not 00:48:52.809 --> 00:48:55.050 a city where people are just coming and going 00:48:55.050 --> 00:48:57.110 all the time. People are specifically coming 00:48:57.110 --> 00:49:01.250 to this town to rock climb, to hike, to whatever. 00:49:01.590 --> 00:49:05.530 And the locals kind of don't like climbers and 00:49:05.530 --> 00:49:09.230 don't like, you know, it's the, I don't even 00:49:09.230 --> 00:49:14.230 know, it's just a butt head situation. So to 00:49:14.230 --> 00:49:17.940 encourage the locals to come, and to see that, 00:49:17.940 --> 00:49:20.679 you know, these climbers aren't dirtbags, and 00:49:20.679 --> 00:49:22.780 they are, but they're also doctors and lawyers 00:49:22.780 --> 00:49:27.239 and, you know, they're MIT graduates and things 00:49:27.239 --> 00:49:29.639 of that nature. So all these events are giving 00:49:29.639 --> 00:49:33.820 exposure to those locals to our different communities. 00:49:35.119 --> 00:49:38.380 All right, we're wrapping up the most interesting 00:49:38.380 --> 00:49:41.119 Hossler Road Trip podcast episode ever, Naha 00:49:41.119 --> 00:49:43.420 2025. Stay with us next time.