WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.180 You mentioned Sam Elliott, but we have other 00:00:02.180 --> 00:00:05.299 famous guests that have been through here. So 00:00:05.299 --> 00:00:09.960 back in the 30s, I believe, John Dillinger stayed 00:00:09.960 --> 00:00:13.839 here. And so he stayed here with his gang and 00:00:13.839 --> 00:00:17.079 it was the Wild West. And so he didn't break 00:00:17.079 --> 00:00:21.160 any laws. And so he actually left here and got 00:00:21.160 --> 00:00:25.859 arrested in Tucson, Arizona. Then another really 00:00:25.859 --> 00:00:29.579 cool one was Cormac McCarthy. He wrote No Country 00:00:29.579 --> 00:00:32.200 for Old Men, The Road. Oh, that's an awesome 00:00:32.200 --> 00:00:34.420 movie. Yeah, he lived here and wrote his books 00:00:34.420 --> 00:00:36.119 here and talks about the hotel in a lot of his 00:00:36.119 --> 00:00:39.659 books. Hello, friends and travelers. Thanks for 00:00:39.659 --> 00:00:41.859 listening. You are riding along on the Hostile 00:00:41.859 --> 00:00:44.780 Road Trip podcast. Our mission is to spread awareness 00:00:44.780 --> 00:00:47.159 of the true hostile experience in the Americas 00:00:47.159 --> 00:00:49.719 and share stories from the fascinating hosts 00:00:49.719 --> 00:00:52.289 who create those unique facilities. I'm your 00:00:52.289 --> 00:00:54.670 host, Jimmy Black, joined alongside co -founder 00:00:54.670 --> 00:00:56.670 of International Travelers House, Bobby Dyer. 00:00:56.909 --> 00:00:59.789 Each session, we sit down with hostel operators 00:00:59.789 --> 00:01:02.950 or travel influencers to hear about their road 00:01:02.950 --> 00:01:06.530 to success, discuss trending hostel topics, and 00:01:06.530 --> 00:01:08.930 close with tips for travelers who are seeking 00:01:08.930 --> 00:01:11.090 to have the ultimate experience when visiting 00:01:11.090 --> 00:01:14.069 each destination. You can't afford to miss this 00:01:14.069 --> 00:01:16.370 trip. Now fasten your seatbelts and let's hit 00:01:16.370 --> 00:01:24.180 the road. Welcome back to the Hostel Road Trip 00:01:24.180 --> 00:01:28.459 podcast. Super excited to be here after a long 00:01:28.459 --> 00:01:31.219 break before any episodes, but we're here with 00:01:31.219 --> 00:01:34.359 Stephanie from the Gardner Hotel and Hostel from 00:01:34.359 --> 00:01:37.819 El Paso, Texas. Thank you, Stephanie, for joining 00:01:37.819 --> 00:01:40.659 us. Thank you for having me. It's a pleasure. 00:01:40.780 --> 00:01:43.599 I've seen this podcast before, and so I'm excited 00:01:43.599 --> 00:01:46.959 to finally be on it. Awesome. We're excited to 00:01:46.959 --> 00:01:49.540 have you, and I'm joined, as always, by my... 00:01:50.000 --> 00:01:53.700 co -founder of ith hostels bobby dyer thanks 00:01:53.700 --> 00:01:56.120 for being with bobby thanks jimmy thanks for 00:01:56.120 --> 00:02:00.280 joining us today steph thank you so for those 00:02:00.280 --> 00:02:02.319 of you who haven't been listeners before the 00:02:02.319 --> 00:02:04.719 hostel road trip podcast our mission is to spread 00:02:04.719 --> 00:02:08.400 awareness of hostels across the americas and 00:02:08.400 --> 00:02:12.419 a big thing for us of course is america is an 00:02:12.419 --> 00:02:15.460 unsaturated industry as far as the hostel industry 00:02:15.460 --> 00:02:18.560 goes and we need more Good hostels out there, 00:02:18.580 --> 00:02:21.159 genuine backpacker hostels out there. And we 00:02:21.159 --> 00:02:23.000 want to bring the awareness of those that are 00:02:23.000 --> 00:02:25.500 out there and opening up. And I'm really fired 00:02:25.500 --> 00:02:29.460 up about this one because El Paso is such a classic 00:02:29.460 --> 00:02:32.259 city in the history of America of being a city 00:02:32.259 --> 00:02:35.400 going towards the West. People stopping as they 00:02:35.400 --> 00:02:38.139 are going out through a real junction point. 00:02:38.240 --> 00:02:40.879 And even myself driving back and forth through 00:02:40.879 --> 00:02:43.960 college to University of San Diego, I would go 00:02:43.960 --> 00:02:47.990 through El Paso every summer. on each end of 00:02:47.990 --> 00:02:51.810 it. And just a great town, a great history. And 00:02:51.810 --> 00:02:54.229 so cool to hear now that we've got a hostel there 00:02:54.229 --> 00:02:57.909 to connect more of the dots here of how you can 00:02:57.909 --> 00:03:00.030 travel about through the U .S. while staying 00:03:00.030 --> 00:03:03.509 at hostels and not hotels. And as I was looking 00:03:03.509 --> 00:03:07.449 into it more, the Gardner Hotel and Hostel, formerly 00:03:07.449 --> 00:03:11.669 owned by the land by Sam Elliott's family lineage, 00:03:11.810 --> 00:03:13.990 which Sam Elliott's one of my favorite actors 00:03:13.990 --> 00:03:16.909 of all time. Absolutely love him in Tombstone 00:03:16.909 --> 00:03:19.830 and other shows like he's been in recently, like 00:03:19.830 --> 00:03:23.770 1883. So that's some awesome history. And then 00:03:23.770 --> 00:03:27.110 I love when hostels are run out of historical 00:03:27.110 --> 00:03:30.150 buildings because I feel it brings that character 00:03:30.150 --> 00:03:32.849 and that element to it. So really excited to 00:03:32.849 --> 00:03:37.669 hear all about your facility, El Paso, and everything 00:03:37.669 --> 00:03:41.129 else during this episode. But to kick it off, 00:03:41.189 --> 00:03:43.210 Stephanie, we often like to hear a little bit 00:03:43.210 --> 00:03:46.800 about... the individual's experience first besides 00:03:46.800 --> 00:03:50.300 the facility and before we get to the facility 00:03:50.300 --> 00:03:53.300 in the city. How did you find yourself in the 00:03:53.300 --> 00:03:56.930 hostile industry? OK, so I guess it kind of goes 00:03:56.930 --> 00:03:59.810 hand in hand with the building, because back 00:03:59.810 --> 00:04:03.969 in the 1940s, my great grandfather, who was a 00:04:03.969 --> 00:04:06.530 Lebanese immigrant, he migrated from Lebanon 00:04:06.530 --> 00:04:10.969 up through Mexico and came to El Paso. And he, 00:04:11.050 --> 00:04:13.870 you know, did it in the language and have a penny 00:04:13.870 --> 00:04:15.310 in his pocket. He did pretty well for himself 00:04:15.310 --> 00:04:19.459 out here. And he ended up. purchasing the building 00:04:19.459 --> 00:04:21.360 and then when he purchased the building so it's 00:04:21.360 --> 00:04:23.860 kind it's a like a like a shopping center almost 00:04:23.860 --> 00:04:25.800 underneath so we have like bars and restaurants 00:04:25.800 --> 00:04:28.240 underneath and all the rooms are one level up 00:04:28.240 --> 00:04:32.600 so um when he bought it he bought it and he leased 00:04:32.600 --> 00:04:35.839 the hotel portion back to the person he bought 00:04:35.839 --> 00:04:39.579 it from and so he just was like the landlord, 00:04:39.720 --> 00:04:43.079 I guess, of the building. And then back into 00:04:43.079 --> 00:04:46.180 the 60s, my grandfather ended up taking over 00:04:46.180 --> 00:04:50.540 the hotel. And then in the 80s, my dad took over 00:04:50.540 --> 00:04:51.740 the hotel. And that's when he turned it into 00:04:51.740 --> 00:04:55.500 a hostel. So it's been since the 1980s. Yeah. 00:04:55.560 --> 00:04:59.060 So I grew up pretty much since before I was born. 00:04:59.100 --> 00:05:04.879 It's been a hostel. And so in 2015, I took over. 00:05:05.339 --> 00:05:07.639 And so we've been doing that ever since. So it's 00:05:07.639 --> 00:05:10.220 kind of been in my blood. I've been around forever. 00:05:11.279 --> 00:05:13.540 That's awesome. So that's something right off 00:05:13.540 --> 00:05:15.019 the bat I didn't know about. I knew the building 00:05:15.019 --> 00:05:17.620 was old. I knew it obviously had a hotel. But 00:05:17.620 --> 00:05:20.420 it's been a hostel since the 80s, which is, that's 00:05:20.420 --> 00:05:22.600 really getting back there, especially in the 00:05:22.600 --> 00:05:25.000 U .S. industry of being ahead of the game and 00:05:25.000 --> 00:05:27.560 doing something outside the box. So how did your 00:05:27.560 --> 00:05:30.899 dad? changing into a hostile like how did he 00:05:30.899 --> 00:05:35.720 find out about hostiles So it is a 1920s building, 00:05:35.860 --> 00:05:39.279 which lends itself up perfectly for hostels. 00:05:39.300 --> 00:05:41.980 So a lot of our rooms are like a normal hotel 00:05:41.980 --> 00:05:43.620 room. So that's why we consider it as a hotel 00:05:43.620 --> 00:05:45.579 and a hostel because it's a completely private 00:05:45.579 --> 00:05:48.920 room with a private bathroom. And then some of 00:05:48.920 --> 00:05:52.199 our other rooms have a private room, but a shared 00:05:52.199 --> 00:05:54.759 bathroom and they have a sink in the room. And 00:05:54.759 --> 00:05:57.259 then other ones are Jack and Jill style. So there's 00:05:57.259 --> 00:05:59.480 two rooms that connect to a bathroom, kind of 00:05:59.480 --> 00:06:00.879 like what you used to see on the Brady Bunch. 00:06:01.950 --> 00:06:05.509 So that's kind of what we use as a hostel. So 00:06:05.509 --> 00:06:08.350 he said one year, one day he was, he had just 00:06:08.350 --> 00:06:11.350 taken over, I guess. And two girls from Germany 00:06:11.350 --> 00:06:13.350 were like, you know what, this would be a perfect 00:06:13.350 --> 00:06:16.129 hostel. And so he started looking into it and 00:06:16.129 --> 00:06:18.230 he looked at the rules. And I guess back then 00:06:18.230 --> 00:06:21.569 it was, I guess with, I forget what the organization 00:06:21.569 --> 00:06:24.569 was before. I always want to say AYH, American 00:06:24.569 --> 00:06:27.939 Youth Hostel. And there was guidelines on what 00:06:27.939 --> 00:06:29.519 you needed. So you needed a kitchen in the basement, 00:06:29.519 --> 00:06:31.740 a kitchen. So he put a kitchen in the basement 00:06:31.740 --> 00:06:34.720 and a common space. And from there it was born. 00:06:34.839 --> 00:06:38.980 And that really turned around the business back 00:06:38.980 --> 00:06:41.680 in the 80s. And it was like that was a really 00:06:41.680 --> 00:06:43.939 strong suit for us for a really long time was 00:06:43.939 --> 00:06:47.000 the hostel business really, really pulled the 00:06:47.000 --> 00:06:50.279 hotel along. It was really cool. Wow. That's 00:06:50.279 --> 00:06:53.740 super cool that that far back he got hit on that 00:06:53.740 --> 00:06:57.060 tip. Followed through with it, went with it. 00:06:58.100 --> 00:07:00.839 That's so cool to hear, you know, and that you 00:07:00.839 --> 00:07:04.819 grew up with it and were able to continue on 00:07:04.819 --> 00:07:08.120 in the industry. And just to highlight something 00:07:08.120 --> 00:07:09.699 that Stephanie brought up with that historical 00:07:09.699 --> 00:07:13.040 building element, we actually started in historical 00:07:13.040 --> 00:07:16.279 buildings ourselves at ITH. Our first house was 00:07:16.279 --> 00:07:21.480 a building from 1886. Oh, cool. Older buildings 00:07:21.480 --> 00:07:26.189 that were hotels. We're set up almost in that, 00:07:26.269 --> 00:07:27.990 you know, like a boarding house almost where 00:07:27.990 --> 00:07:31.129 like you had those shared bathrooms. You just 00:07:31.129 --> 00:07:35.550 had the sink in the room. So the setup way back 00:07:35.550 --> 00:07:39.149 in the day actually is conducive to the hostel 00:07:39.149 --> 00:07:42.089 facility. And that's something that aspiring 00:07:42.089 --> 00:07:44.389 hostel owners should know. A lot of times you 00:07:44.389 --> 00:07:46.870 have these really awesome historical buildings 00:07:46.870 --> 00:07:49.930 in your city or the prospective location that 00:07:49.930 --> 00:07:52.180 you're trying to open up and they don't. have 00:07:52.180 --> 00:07:54.319 a lot of uses or people don't know what to do 00:07:54.319 --> 00:07:56.660 with them you can't really change them they have 00:07:56.660 --> 00:07:59.000 to stay what they are and that's actually fine 00:07:59.000 --> 00:08:02.920 for us they can stay oh yeah are and we can run 00:08:02.920 --> 00:08:06.379 them as a hostel and and keep them in the historical 00:08:06.379 --> 00:08:09.519 format so that's so cool that you did that and 00:08:09.519 --> 00:08:11.899 that that's definitely a great method that we've 00:08:11.899 --> 00:08:14.839 operated under and suggest others going after 00:08:14.839 --> 00:08:19.949 it oh yeah we always say on a holiday We want, 00:08:19.949 --> 00:08:21.970 we're unique and we want to stay this way. We 00:08:21.970 --> 00:08:24.209 want you to feel like you're walking into the 00:08:24.209 --> 00:08:26.569 1920s when you come in here. So we try to keep 00:08:26.569 --> 00:08:28.750 everything as original as possible that we can 00:08:28.750 --> 00:08:32.590 do. Oh, I just love that. How has the hostel 00:08:32.590 --> 00:08:37.629 evolved since 1984? Would you say like? Okay. 00:08:37.730 --> 00:08:41.009 So at one point the hostel was going like really 00:08:41.009 --> 00:08:44.909 like, you know, going and we had 48 beds and 00:08:44.909 --> 00:08:49.830 it kind of took a downturn in 2008. So a lot 00:08:49.830 --> 00:08:52.429 of people would come to El Paso to go like as 00:08:52.429 --> 00:08:54.370 their starting point to jump off into Mexico. 00:08:54.669 --> 00:08:56.649 And so they would come here, they would leave 00:08:56.649 --> 00:08:58.450 us their cars and we would sell it for them. 00:08:58.490 --> 00:09:00.950 And then they would travel, you know, go backpacking 00:09:00.950 --> 00:09:06.279 throughout Mexico. And when the violence happened 00:09:06.279 --> 00:09:09.120 in Mexico, it kind of took a toll on us. So we 00:09:09.120 --> 00:09:10.779 kind of got hit with the hostile side of that. 00:09:10.860 --> 00:09:14.559 So we don't see as it's not as big of a portion, 00:09:14.620 --> 00:09:16.500 unfortunately, for us. I'd like to get it back. 00:09:16.600 --> 00:09:19.480 I actually that's one of the reasons why I joined 00:09:19.480 --> 00:09:21.480 Naha and all these things, because I want to 00:09:21.480 --> 00:09:24.100 really get the hostile industry back to us because 00:09:24.100 --> 00:09:25.899 we're a perfect fit for him. We still get a good 00:09:25.899 --> 00:09:27.799 amount of hostile, yes, but we're definitely 00:09:27.799 --> 00:09:35.639 down when I was a 48 beds that we used. It's 00:09:35.639 --> 00:09:38.360 such another interesting point of outliers that 00:09:38.360 --> 00:09:41.039 are out of your control. You're running your 00:09:41.039 --> 00:09:43.039 business model. You're passionate. You've got 00:09:43.039 --> 00:09:45.279 good reviews. Everything's running great. And 00:09:45.279 --> 00:09:47.559 then it's stuff that I call outliers that are 00:09:47.559 --> 00:09:49.100 out of the textbook. You're never going to learn 00:09:49.100 --> 00:09:51.000 that in business school. All of a sudden, the 00:09:51.000 --> 00:09:52.539 country next to you starts going through this 00:09:52.539 --> 00:09:56.960 violent drug -narco war. And how are you going 00:09:56.960 --> 00:09:59.539 to be in any control of that? But that can change 00:09:59.539 --> 00:10:02.840 the vibe, perception of the city you're operating 00:10:02.840 --> 00:10:05.259 in. And, you know, we're dealing with that right 00:10:05.259 --> 00:10:10.139 now in our location in San Francisco. That shut 00:10:10.139 --> 00:10:13.919 down the hardest during the pandemic and has 00:10:13.919 --> 00:10:16.899 definitely been the slowest to recover out of 00:10:16.899 --> 00:10:19.419 what we've seen. And that's just something that's 00:10:19.419 --> 00:10:21.500 out of your hands. And then the perception of 00:10:21.500 --> 00:10:24.100 the city from an international basis and even 00:10:24.100 --> 00:10:26.659 domestic basis isn't good. And you just see the 00:10:26.659 --> 00:10:29.950 traveling really slowed out. What's really interesting 00:10:29.950 --> 00:10:32.529 about El Paso is El Paso has been like the top 00:10:32.529 --> 00:10:35.730 safest city for many years. And we were next 00:10:35.730 --> 00:10:37.710 to Juarez, which is like the world's most dangerous 00:10:37.710 --> 00:10:41.830 city for a while. And we're very much a sister. 00:10:42.590 --> 00:10:45.429 We're sister cities. I mean, we have so many 00:10:45.429 --> 00:10:47.850 people who like a lot of my staff lives in Juarez, 00:10:47.970 --> 00:10:50.750 Mexico, and they come here and a lot of like 00:10:50.750 --> 00:10:53.029 people go to school back and forth or they work 00:10:53.029 --> 00:10:55.210 back and forth. We're crossing over all the time. 00:10:55.230 --> 00:10:58.740 So it's definitely. It has like any parts of 00:10:58.740 --> 00:11:01.320 any country, you have your bad parts and your 00:11:01.320 --> 00:11:03.919 good parts, but it's definitely not what it was 00:11:03.919 --> 00:11:08.659 back in 2008. Usually when there's a cartel in 00:11:08.659 --> 00:11:11.960 charge, the violence seems to simmer down. And 00:11:11.960 --> 00:11:13.360 I think that's what we have here. It's when there 00:11:13.360 --> 00:11:15.419 is an uproar, they're trying to find who's going 00:11:15.419 --> 00:11:17.379 to be in charge. That's when it happens. And 00:11:17.379 --> 00:11:20.399 when it happened in 2008, that's when the rest 00:11:20.399 --> 00:11:24.309 of the country was going through. the, you know, 00:11:24.330 --> 00:11:26.590 the housing crisis. And, you know, everybody 00:11:26.590 --> 00:11:29.389 suffered then. But during that time, that's when 00:11:29.389 --> 00:11:32.230 Juarez was having, you know, the cartel fights. 00:11:32.389 --> 00:11:35.889 And so a lot of businesses and like people ended 00:11:35.889 --> 00:11:39.190 up moving to El Paso. So we never felt that, 00:11:39.230 --> 00:11:41.190 you know, that recession like the rest of the 00:11:41.190 --> 00:11:44.669 country. So we do work very hand in hand. And, 00:11:44.690 --> 00:11:46.509 you know, we're like I said, we're like sister 00:11:46.509 --> 00:11:49.870 cities. Yeah. And that's a there's a great advantage 00:11:49.870 --> 00:11:51.909 to being in that border city situation as you 00:11:51.909 --> 00:11:56.080 do. In ideal situations, you have the backpacker 00:11:56.080 --> 00:11:58.799 traveling through you to their next country and 00:11:58.799 --> 00:12:02.100 adventure. And we deal with that a lot with being 00:12:02.100 --> 00:12:04.360 in San Diego, right on the border with San Ysidro. 00:12:04.820 --> 00:12:08.240 We have a few locations in San Diego. Our first 00:12:08.240 --> 00:12:10.460 location was there. And that's always been very 00:12:10.460 --> 00:12:13.039 important to us, how the flow of that border 00:12:13.039 --> 00:12:16.019 is going. If that flow is going good, business 00:12:16.019 --> 00:12:19.820 is good. If that border, for whatever reason, 00:12:19.840 --> 00:12:22.929 political. whatever it might be, narco stuff, 00:12:23.149 --> 00:12:25.570 if it's getting jammed up, then it definitely 00:12:25.570 --> 00:12:27.809 has an effect on business. And it's just that 00:12:27.809 --> 00:12:30.250 type of stuff that you have to be ready for and 00:12:30.250 --> 00:12:33.769 creative within to get through those times. Now, 00:12:33.950 --> 00:12:38.289 the facility, over to the facility a bit. You 00:12:38.289 --> 00:12:40.490 talked about how on the base floor, you've got 00:12:40.490 --> 00:12:44.009 like a commercial mall type situation. Right 00:12:44.009 --> 00:12:46.929 now, what's going on in that base floor? What 00:12:46.929 --> 00:12:49.509 type of shops and stuff do you have? So we have, 00:12:49.570 --> 00:12:51.649 right next door, we have a place called Cafe 00:12:51.649 --> 00:12:54.830 Rose. So it's all pink. Everything is pink. And 00:12:54.830 --> 00:12:58.269 it's very Instagrammy over there. So like their 00:12:58.269 --> 00:13:01.070 buns are pink. Their chips are pink. Everything's 00:13:01.070 --> 00:13:04.110 pink. It's a really cute place. We are in a transition 00:13:04.110 --> 00:13:05.990 with one. We used to have a place called Craft 00:13:05.990 --> 00:13:08.450 and Social, which is a craft beer place. And 00:13:08.450 --> 00:13:11.809 now it's moving to a bar called Proof. So we 00:13:11.809 --> 00:13:13.990 that's they're in the process of turning that 00:13:13.990 --> 00:13:15.250 over. So they're getting their liquor license. 00:13:15.309 --> 00:13:17.750 They're doing some renovation over there. We 00:13:17.750 --> 00:13:19.529 also have a place that's called the Pizza Joint 00:13:19.529 --> 00:13:23.070 and it's on the corner. And then we have eight 00:13:23.070 --> 00:13:26.309 and a half or ocho y media. And we have also 00:13:26.309 --> 00:13:28.110 Dillinger's, which is in the basement of the 00:13:28.110 --> 00:13:31.009 hotel on the opposite side. And it's a it's a 00:13:31.009 --> 00:13:33.809 bar, you know, restaurant. It's a bar. Sorry. 00:13:33.870 --> 00:13:36.809 No restaurant in that one. So. Is that like a 00:13:36.809 --> 00:13:39.350 speakeasy, Dillinger's? Yeah, Dillinger's. It 00:13:39.350 --> 00:13:41.389 actually used to be called the speakeasy and 00:13:41.389 --> 00:13:44.009 then they changed it to Dillinger's. And you 00:13:44.009 --> 00:13:47.190 guys run that yourself? No, we lease all those 00:13:47.190 --> 00:13:49.710 out. There has been thoughts. I think sometimes 00:13:49.710 --> 00:13:51.629 like maybe I should like make it more of a cohesive 00:13:51.629 --> 00:13:55.210 unit and run it. But then I think, do I really 00:13:55.210 --> 00:13:58.669 want to do that? Do I really want to open that? 00:13:58.710 --> 00:14:00.809 You know, my husband used to have the restaurant. 00:14:00.850 --> 00:14:01.990 That's another great topic to broach into. Like 00:14:01.990 --> 00:14:05.029 when you have the building, you have the space. 00:14:05.710 --> 00:14:07.889 A lot of times you would find yourself better 00:14:07.889 --> 00:14:10.970 off just leasing that space out and trying to 00:14:10.970 --> 00:14:14.549 find another business operation that is conducive 00:14:14.549 --> 00:14:17.710 to the hostel. That would be something that the 00:14:17.710 --> 00:14:20.169 hostel guests could use and then everyone benefits. 00:14:20.490 --> 00:14:22.750 But now you've got a tenant who's paying you 00:14:22.750 --> 00:14:25.370 money and you don't have the headache and the 00:14:25.370 --> 00:14:28.990 worry and the pressure and the added stress of 00:14:28.990 --> 00:14:32.549 running a bar or restaurant operation on top 00:14:32.549 --> 00:14:36.590 of the hostel. You know, that's always an interesting 00:14:36.590 --> 00:14:40.370 decision to make as a lot of the hostels in Mexico 00:14:40.370 --> 00:14:44.269 and South America and Canada, those hostel owners 00:14:44.269 --> 00:14:46.389 would think you'd be crazy not to have the bar 00:14:46.389 --> 00:14:47.809 restaurant because that's where they make all 00:14:47.809 --> 00:14:51.470 their money. Yes. But with rules that are different 00:14:51.470 --> 00:14:54.830 in each country, U .S., you know, for us, a lot 00:14:54.830 --> 00:14:57.470 of times that scenario could be a little bit 00:14:57.470 --> 00:15:00.190 more complex than those other countries to pull 00:15:00.190 --> 00:15:03.090 off and you could get yourself in trouble. We've 00:15:03.090 --> 00:15:05.350 had experiences with that where we're trying 00:15:05.350 --> 00:15:08.250 to run the hostel upstairs in a bar restaurant 00:15:08.250 --> 00:15:10.649 downstairs and kind of find yourself like a fish 00:15:10.649 --> 00:15:13.049 out of water sometimes. I love it when there 00:15:13.049 --> 00:15:16.070 is an ability to connect the two, where you have 00:15:16.070 --> 00:15:19.450 that European fashion of the bar restaurant is 00:15:19.450 --> 00:15:22.830 like the reception check -in. But I do feel as 00:15:22.830 --> 00:15:25.629 though that's a very unique setup where the flow 00:15:25.629 --> 00:15:29.529 of space in the facility allows that in the bottom 00:15:29.529 --> 00:15:31.809 line. I think that's cool that you've got that 00:15:31.809 --> 00:15:34.230 model going where you're playing landlord to 00:15:34.230 --> 00:15:37.970 everyone down below and trying to find good tenants 00:15:37.970 --> 00:15:41.549 that might mix with the upstairs. Now, moving 00:15:41.549 --> 00:15:44.690 to the upstairs, how many stories is the building? 00:15:45.190 --> 00:15:49.490 It's three stories plus the basement. So we have 00:15:49.490 --> 00:15:51.809 the main floor and then we have all the rooms 00:15:51.809 --> 00:15:55.879 two floors up. Okay. All right. you had mentioned 00:15:55.879 --> 00:15:58.919 something about like 48 what's the occupancy 00:15:58.919 --> 00:16:00.940 you run at now and like what what's the split 00:16:00.940 --> 00:16:05.919 between hotel and hostel okay so if you consider 00:16:05.919 --> 00:16:11.059 our rooms with a hall bath um hostel it would 00:16:11.059 --> 00:16:16.659 probably be a good half so we have 50 rooms so 00:16:16.659 --> 00:16:19.000 we have 50 rooms four of those are dormitory 00:16:19.000 --> 00:16:22.289 but the other ones uh that have the hall bath 00:16:22.289 --> 00:16:25.110 or that are private rooms uh that would probably 00:16:25.110 --> 00:16:28.590 make it about half and half for us okay and then 00:16:28.590 --> 00:16:30.730 do you do you ever have any problems with that 00:16:30.730 --> 00:16:35.309 mixture of the hotel hostel concept thing because 00:16:35.309 --> 00:16:39.710 that is you know another one of my favorites 00:16:39.710 --> 00:16:44.289 is that you can include the two and it can make 00:16:44.289 --> 00:16:48.210 yourself more diverse up front and you won't 00:16:48.210 --> 00:16:50.149 lose your hotel guests. You'll still be able 00:16:50.149 --> 00:16:52.149 to grab your hostel guests. You can kind of appeal 00:16:52.149 --> 00:16:55.769 to both crowds, but it's interesting. A lot of 00:16:55.769 --> 00:16:57.929 times in the facility, how do you best separate 00:16:57.929 --> 00:17:00.830 that or combine it? I think it's really cool 00:17:00.830 --> 00:17:04.269 when you see that a lot of times the hotel guests 00:17:04.269 --> 00:17:06.829 are just as excited to hang out with the hostel 00:17:06.829 --> 00:17:09.309 guests in the common areas. You know, so how 00:17:09.309 --> 00:17:12.250 does that flow within your building? You know, 00:17:12.309 --> 00:17:14.309 I think everybody's, you know, if they want to 00:17:14.309 --> 00:17:17.309 hang out, they'll hang out. And it's, I think. 00:17:18.119 --> 00:17:20.039 They're pretty open to it. I don't feel like 00:17:20.039 --> 00:17:21.519 they're they're not open because I get a lot 00:17:21.519 --> 00:17:24.900 of people who book the the rooms not knowing 00:17:24.900 --> 00:17:27.160 what a hostel is. They just see the price and 00:17:27.160 --> 00:17:29.440 they just kind of go with them. Some send me 00:17:29.440 --> 00:17:33.579 don't like I had to definitely ask Expedia to 00:17:33.579 --> 00:17:37.380 help me change the wording on on there. So I 00:17:37.380 --> 00:17:39.299 have like hotel rooms and I have a list and then 00:17:39.299 --> 00:17:41.460 I have hostel rooms and I have it listed. And 00:17:41.460 --> 00:17:43.380 there's still sometimes a little bit of confusion. 00:17:43.500 --> 00:17:47.420 But I think for the most part, they are completely. 00:17:47.589 --> 00:17:49.309 fine with it they understand we explain it to 00:17:49.309 --> 00:17:52.369 them when they check in and then they they mingle 00:17:52.369 --> 00:17:53.869 pretty well if they want to mingle they mingle 00:17:53.869 --> 00:17:55.329 if not they act like it's a regular hotel and 00:17:55.329 --> 00:17:57.769 they go up to their rooms you know they it's 00:17:57.769 --> 00:17:59.630 in the basement really where the mingling happens 00:17:59.630 --> 00:18:02.369 so uh that's you know they get a lobby and then 00:18:02.369 --> 00:18:05.430 you have up a floor so they're not really inconvenienced 00:18:05.430 --> 00:18:08.069 if they don't want to participate you know what 00:18:08.069 --> 00:18:10.130 i mean yeah and that's i think that's one of 00:18:10.130 --> 00:18:12.150 the best angles to tackle that like you could 00:18:12.150 --> 00:18:15.750 access this experience if you want to as a hotel 00:18:15.750 --> 00:18:19.009 guest yeah But if you don't want to, you know, 00:18:19.009 --> 00:18:20.630 then you're just having the hotel experience. 00:18:21.349 --> 00:18:24.410 And I think that's really important how you might 00:18:24.410 --> 00:18:26.529 set it up in the facility. Like you've got it 00:18:26.529 --> 00:18:28.289 set up where you have those separate spaces to 00:18:28.289 --> 00:18:31.650 have those experiences and interactions. But 00:18:31.650 --> 00:18:33.970 then another big thing is you do get a lot of 00:18:33.970 --> 00:18:36.650 people, even if you're not a hotel hostel, even 00:18:36.650 --> 00:18:38.769 if you're just a hostel, you get a lot of people 00:18:38.769 --> 00:18:41.910 that just book because of the price. And if you've 00:18:41.910 --> 00:18:44.849 got a good rating and the price is low, then 00:18:44.849 --> 00:18:48.079 all right, I'm in. And then they show up. And 00:18:48.079 --> 00:18:50.180 I always like to ask that. Oh, have you ever 00:18:50.180 --> 00:18:51.640 stayed in a hostel before? And they're like, 00:18:51.700 --> 00:18:53.720 what? No, what's that? And I'm like, well, you're 00:18:53.720 --> 00:18:58.940 in one now. But how you go about that in that 00:18:58.940 --> 00:19:02.079 delivery or how you set your staff up to make 00:19:02.079 --> 00:19:04.140 that delivery can be so important because we 00:19:04.140 --> 00:19:07.220 do have bad perception bags, stigmas in this 00:19:07.220 --> 00:19:09.380 country. Part of the reason why we're doing this 00:19:09.380 --> 00:19:13.390 podcast to bring more awareness to the. beauty 00:19:13.390 --> 00:19:15.650 of hostels and the genuine backpacker hostels 00:19:15.650 --> 00:19:18.349 that are out there but there is that element 00:19:18.349 --> 00:19:21.329 where we have to be ready to walk them through 00:19:21.329 --> 00:19:25.009 that you know experience or kind of hold their 00:19:25.009 --> 00:19:27.609 hand if you will so that they don't get freaked 00:19:27.609 --> 00:19:31.009 out by or by perceptions or stigmas they might 00:19:31.009 --> 00:19:34.410 have already because as we all know once they 00:19:34.410 --> 00:19:37.029 actually experience it embrace it it's nine out 00:19:37.029 --> 00:19:38.750 of ten are like this is awesome i'm going to 00:19:38.750 --> 00:19:40.890 look for other hostels and then that's really 00:19:41.349 --> 00:19:43.630 the goal that we're trying to do is to spread 00:19:43.630 --> 00:19:45.309 that awareness. So now when that person's leaving 00:19:45.309 --> 00:19:48.450 El Paso and heading for California, they're looking 00:19:48.450 --> 00:19:50.650 on Hostel World or they're looking on Google 00:19:50.650 --> 00:19:53.670 for hostels in California, you know, to see where 00:19:53.670 --> 00:19:55.670 they might be able to stay in another good hostel. 00:19:55.869 --> 00:19:58.349 And that's what we're all trying to do because 00:19:58.349 --> 00:20:00.849 it would help everyone, you know, a rising tide 00:20:00.849 --> 00:20:04.369 lifts all boats in that way. So I think that's 00:20:04.369 --> 00:20:08.009 important that we. Always keep that in mind with 00:20:08.009 --> 00:20:09.950 people that are coming in that are unaware of 00:20:09.950 --> 00:20:12.690 the hostel experience or are new to it or it's 00:20:12.690 --> 00:20:14.450 their first time. It's such a great opportunity 00:20:14.450 --> 00:20:20.009 to capture them. Now, in El Paso, are there any 00:20:20.009 --> 00:20:22.369 other hostels or are you the only one? I'm the 00:20:22.369 --> 00:20:29.049 only one. That's awesome. To corner the market 00:20:29.049 --> 00:20:32.529 and to have that, but also to carry that torch 00:20:32.529 --> 00:20:34.349 because now if you weren't there, there wouldn't 00:20:34.349 --> 00:20:37.130 be any hostels. in El Paso. So that's so cool 00:20:37.130 --> 00:20:38.809 that you've been there and you've been there 00:20:38.809 --> 00:20:42.390 for so long. Now, how about just giving a little 00:20:42.390 --> 00:20:46.390 bit more detail about the El Paso experience? 00:20:46.950 --> 00:20:50.589 What could a backpacker look forward to doing 00:20:50.589 --> 00:20:53.549 in El Paso? What would be your suggestions to 00:20:53.549 --> 00:20:56.710 an El Paso backpacker that comes down to the 00:20:56.710 --> 00:20:59.980 desk and says, what do I do today? OK, so we 00:20:59.980 --> 00:21:02.000 have Waco Tanks. Have you heard about Waco Tanks? 00:21:02.079 --> 00:21:08.319 Like a world renowned rock climbing place. And 00:21:08.319 --> 00:21:10.299 it's really close to us. It's about 45 minutes. 00:21:10.900 --> 00:21:13.599 It's still it's like going towards the outskirts 00:21:13.599 --> 00:21:15.859 of town. But that's a really popular place for 00:21:15.859 --> 00:21:19.069 people to go. Right in downtown, we have the 00:21:19.069 --> 00:21:21.890 art museums. We have a Holocaust museum. And 00:21:21.890 --> 00:21:25.329 those are all free to do. So if you want to do 00:21:25.329 --> 00:21:27.930 something free right there, walking over to Juarez, 00:21:28.049 --> 00:21:30.809 I highly suggest. It's one of my favorite things 00:21:30.809 --> 00:21:34.509 to do is you walk out there and you grab a margarita 00:21:34.509 --> 00:21:36.710 at the place that invented the margarita. And 00:21:36.710 --> 00:21:40.750 you go have some tacos down there, stuff like 00:21:40.750 --> 00:21:42.930 that. And you can go to the Mercado. There's 00:21:42.930 --> 00:21:44.589 a cathedral down there. And then walk right back. 00:21:44.609 --> 00:21:46.940 We're about a mile away from the border. And 00:21:46.940 --> 00:21:50.539 then you can, we have the Franklin Mountains, 00:21:50.740 --> 00:21:53.599 which are the city is built around. So we have 00:21:53.599 --> 00:21:57.579 about 26 ,000 acres of hiking right at your doorstep. 00:21:58.059 --> 00:22:03.019 So it's, you know, we have a placita that's a 00:22:03.019 --> 00:22:05.299 couple blocks from us and they're always having 00:22:05.299 --> 00:22:07.640 events downtown. We're always doing something. 00:22:07.759 --> 00:22:11.079 We have a new Mexican American cultural center 00:22:11.079 --> 00:22:13.640 that just opened up. It's really cool that they 00:22:13.640 --> 00:22:15.700 can go visit and check out. So we have a lot. 00:22:15.789 --> 00:22:17.210 of neat things if you want to venture a little 00:22:17.210 --> 00:22:20.150 further out there's a white sands about uh two 00:22:20.150 --> 00:22:24.430 hours away um and there's also carlsbad caverns 00:22:24.430 --> 00:22:26.869 if you want to go on a day trip so it's pretty 00:22:26.869 --> 00:22:29.069 close to us and then you can hit up uh stephanie 00:22:29.069 --> 00:22:30.950 the other stephanie and cloud croft and she has 00:22:30.950 --> 00:22:32.710 her hostel out there too so that's close to her 00:22:32.710 --> 00:22:36.210 as well so now that was actually one of my next 00:22:36.210 --> 00:22:39.130 questions you're in el paso and you're a backpacker 00:22:39.130 --> 00:22:42.750 what are the closest hostels to you in your next 00:22:42.750 --> 00:22:45.400 leg so you mentioned cloud prop where's that 00:22:45.400 --> 00:22:49.180 one at it's in uh it's cloud crop new mexico 00:22:49.180 --> 00:22:52.279 so it's about two and a half hours from us what 00:22:52.279 --> 00:22:54.039 about some other ones that might be since you're 00:22:54.039 --> 00:22:56.180 the only one in el paso what are some other hostels 00:22:56.180 --> 00:22:59.019 that are close by like if someone was what would 00:22:59.019 --> 00:23:01.539 you come from maybe austin or dallas or yeah 00:23:01.539 --> 00:23:05.299 so austin so the firehouse um hostel that with 00:23:05.299 --> 00:23:09.440 uh kent um so you have that one and there are 00:23:09.440 --> 00:23:12.220 a couple and you say close those are like eight 00:23:12.220 --> 00:23:15.180 or nine hour drives we're probably closer to 00:23:15.180 --> 00:23:22.200 you okay so we are a good uh stopping point also 00:23:22.200 --> 00:23:24.880 because uh like a lot of bands we get a lot of 00:23:24.880 --> 00:23:27.440 heavy metal bands it's just really that comes 00:23:27.440 --> 00:23:29.220 and stay with us and a lot of bands in general 00:23:29.220 --> 00:23:31.400 and so what they do is they come they're coming 00:23:31.400 --> 00:23:33.380 their tour right and they're going to like acl 00:23:33.740 --> 00:23:35.900 So there's nowhere to really stop besides El 00:23:35.900 --> 00:23:38.019 Paso. The next other place is probably like Marfa, 00:23:38.099 --> 00:23:41.299 Texas. And then that's probably about four hours 00:23:41.299 --> 00:23:43.259 from us. And then you would hit like Dallas, 00:23:43.359 --> 00:23:46.319 Austin area, Houston area. But that's like, Houston's 00:23:46.319 --> 00:23:48.400 like 12 hours away from us. So it's pretty far. 00:23:48.579 --> 00:23:53.359 So I think we're closer to LA than we are. Okay. 00:23:53.539 --> 00:23:55.960 Well, you know, but that gives that perspective 00:23:55.960 --> 00:23:58.400 in that trail because it's on the Highway 10, 00:23:58.559 --> 00:24:02.259 right? Yeah, I -10. Yeah, I -10, which is a main 00:24:02.259 --> 00:24:05.369 drag through the Southern. uh states there but 00:24:05.369 --> 00:24:08.210 you know why el paso is such a popular spot is 00:24:08.210 --> 00:24:10.690 it is kind of a spot you need to stop you know 00:24:10.690 --> 00:24:13.769 as you are traveling through that uh western 00:24:13.769 --> 00:24:16.930 area in such a cool area but i like to always 00:24:16.930 --> 00:24:20.099 in the show here mention other hostels that they 00:24:20.099 --> 00:24:23.220 could connect to yeah definitely i think actually 00:24:23.220 --> 00:24:25.460 the firehouse hostel is coming up with a map 00:24:25.460 --> 00:24:29.079 for us we can hit places to hit along the way 00:24:29.079 --> 00:24:31.619 so we're getting ready to to roll that out and 00:24:31.619 --> 00:24:33.299 i think i'm going to see him next week so i'll 00:24:33.299 --> 00:24:35.019 go i'll go out there and go visit and and see 00:24:35.019 --> 00:24:36.759 his spot so that's i'm very excited for that 00:24:36.759 --> 00:24:39.319 and i think that's so important that connecting 00:24:39.319 --> 00:24:41.660 the dots because i again i feel like we get a 00:24:41.660 --> 00:24:44.599 lot of more of american backpackers trying it 00:24:44.599 --> 00:24:47.380 out for the first time american travelers trying 00:24:47.380 --> 00:24:49.779 out hostels for the first time And there's not 00:24:49.779 --> 00:24:52.140 as many international backpackers right now because 00:24:52.140 --> 00:24:54.740 of political reasons and different things like 00:24:54.740 --> 00:24:58.180 COVID happened and all that stuff. And the power 00:24:58.180 --> 00:25:00.039 of the dollar, all these things playing to mix. 00:25:00.299 --> 00:25:05.160 And we don't have that huge supply of backpackers 00:25:05.160 --> 00:25:07.140 for all of us to cater to, which we're made to 00:25:07.140 --> 00:25:10.200 do from an international forum. It's so important 00:25:10.200 --> 00:25:13.339 that we continue to cultivate the American backpacker 00:25:13.339 --> 00:25:16.859 demographic. And I'm a big believer that a lot 00:25:16.859 --> 00:25:21.400 of times American... travelers try it out, have 00:25:21.400 --> 00:25:24.140 the experience, like it, and then they're not 00:25:24.140 --> 00:25:27.299 aware of the fact that their next stop could 00:25:27.299 --> 00:25:30.059 be at a hostel too. And the more that we can 00:25:30.059 --> 00:25:33.319 have cross -referencing with each other, posters 00:25:33.319 --> 00:25:36.200 of deals with each other, I think that that can 00:25:36.200 --> 00:25:40.440 really help us all accelerate the industry. Yeah, 00:25:40.519 --> 00:25:44.359 I totally agree. Yeah, I had a question for you. 00:25:44.420 --> 00:25:46.700 You guys have been operating for over 100 years 00:25:46.700 --> 00:25:49.420 now. I have a few questions on this. It's very 00:25:49.420 --> 00:25:52.039 impressive. How do you guys maintain the details 00:25:52.039 --> 00:25:55.920 for 100 years? Obviously, stuff breaks, but what 00:25:55.920 --> 00:25:59.200 approach do you guys take to keeping it looking 00:25:59.200 --> 00:26:02.769 so nice for 100 years? You know, there's a lot 00:26:02.769 --> 00:26:07.170 of blood, sweat and tears go into this. All these 00:26:07.170 --> 00:26:10.430 gray hairs I have, I said, they're from this 00:26:10.430 --> 00:26:14.170 place. No, I love it. It's a labor of love. And 00:26:14.170 --> 00:26:16.470 you have to find really good people who love 00:26:16.470 --> 00:26:19.809 it like you do. And I am thankful to have a really 00:26:19.809 --> 00:26:23.869 good. Actually, my my my handyman is actually 00:26:23.869 --> 00:26:25.910 my assistant manager. I just promoted him. He 00:26:25.910 --> 00:26:28.890 can do everything. So he's my right hand man. 00:26:29.170 --> 00:26:31.549 Love him. He can do everything he can do. well 00:26:31.549 --> 00:26:34.990 um and um it's those checklists and those checks 00:26:34.990 --> 00:26:37.470 and balances we just always like housekeeping 00:26:37.470 --> 00:26:41.490 cleans the room front desk inspects it and then 00:26:41.490 --> 00:26:44.970 we have like a rotation so like every 15 days 00:26:44.970 --> 00:26:48.490 that a room is rented they get a detail and then 00:26:48.490 --> 00:26:53.660 every um every uh I mean, we have a schedule 00:26:53.660 --> 00:26:55.359 of our maintenance to go through and they go 00:26:55.359 --> 00:26:56.819 through all the rooms. They have a checklist. 00:26:57.200 --> 00:26:59.160 They have to, you know, make sure everything's 00:26:59.160 --> 00:27:01.480 good to go. And then it's just a rotation. It's 00:27:01.480 --> 00:27:04.059 just really keeping on it. Like, cause it happens. 00:27:04.119 --> 00:27:05.640 Sometimes I'll go and I'm like, how did this 00:27:05.640 --> 00:27:07.700 happen? And they say, I have an eagle eye. They're 00:27:07.700 --> 00:27:10.960 like, oh, eagle eye. I just really, I can, I 00:27:10.960 --> 00:27:12.859 can see things. And I'm like, all right, you 00:27:12.859 --> 00:27:14.519 know, open the curtains, look at everything. 00:27:14.700 --> 00:27:17.279 We, we inspect everything. So, you know, it's 00:27:17.279 --> 00:27:20.240 hard cause it is, it is an older building, you 00:27:20.240 --> 00:27:23.099 know, and it, and things happen. in and sometimes 00:27:23.099 --> 00:27:25.960 like one time we had a leak at one of the restaurants 00:27:25.960 --> 00:27:27.819 and we could not and we were it was obviously 00:27:27.819 --> 00:27:29.599 yes because we're the ones on top so we were 00:27:29.599 --> 00:27:30.980 leaking on them and we couldn't figure out it 00:27:30.980 --> 00:27:33.019 took us like almost two years to figure out where 00:27:33.019 --> 00:27:36.019 the leak was coming from oh i know it's not consistent 00:27:36.019 --> 00:27:40.299 and it's like and yeah but you know what i found 00:27:40.299 --> 00:27:42.240 is there's this really cool thing because you 00:27:42.240 --> 00:27:45.119 know this is a 80 year old no actually 103 year 00:27:45.119 --> 00:27:49.289 old now um Pipes. So there is companies now that 00:27:49.289 --> 00:27:51.630 reline your pipes. So what we would do is we 00:27:51.630 --> 00:27:56.390 would, you know, dig three feet under and concrete, 00:27:56.470 --> 00:27:58.190 you know, imagine how fun that is for the guests 00:27:58.190 --> 00:28:00.369 to go through concrete, get the room out for, 00:28:00.410 --> 00:28:02.589 you know, God knows how long. But these people, 00:28:02.670 --> 00:28:04.970 it's expensive, but it kind of works out because 00:28:04.970 --> 00:28:06.990 you're not dealing with that. But they reline 00:28:06.990 --> 00:28:11.000 the pipes from the inside. It's like the new 00:28:11.000 --> 00:28:13.000 revolutionary thing because America's infrastructure 00:28:13.000 --> 00:28:15.680 was only meant to last like 80 to 100 years. 00:28:15.779 --> 00:28:18.839 And we're like, that's that. So, you know, as 00:28:18.839 --> 00:28:20.359 things come across, we have to do things like 00:28:20.359 --> 00:28:22.380 that. But, you know, like I said, we do it, but 00:28:22.380 --> 00:28:25.519 we try to make it look 1920s. We have the original 00:28:25.519 --> 00:28:28.359 bed frames in the hotel from when we first started. 00:28:28.400 --> 00:28:30.960 So they're metal bed frames. I take them to this 00:28:30.960 --> 00:28:33.420 place and they sandblast them and powder coat 00:28:33.420 --> 00:28:36.200 them. You know, we redo the furniture. I mean, 00:28:36.240 --> 00:28:39.420 we do it all. We do it all here. That's awesome. 00:28:40.180 --> 00:28:44.599 And the same thing for the staff, energizing 00:28:44.599 --> 00:28:46.519 the staff for a hundred years. How do you keep. 00:28:46.809 --> 00:28:48.589 How have you guys been able to keep the vibe 00:28:48.589 --> 00:28:50.930 so good for 100 years? I can't say for the 100 00:28:50.930 --> 00:28:53.470 years. I can tell you for the last 10. I mean, 00:28:53.490 --> 00:28:54.630 really, we just treat each other like a family. 00:28:54.769 --> 00:28:57.589 We run very small. So there's nine of us that 00:28:57.589 --> 00:29:01.630 run a 24 -7 operation. So we just have to really 00:29:01.630 --> 00:29:04.210 act like family. So we meet once a month. We 00:29:04.210 --> 00:29:05.650 have meetings once a month. We do birthdays. 00:29:05.829 --> 00:29:09.529 We just try to really keep together in the communication. 00:29:10.410 --> 00:29:12.930 Thankfully, we all like each other. So it makes 00:29:12.930 --> 00:29:16.190 it easy. But sometimes there's bad apples. and 00:29:16.190 --> 00:29:19.089 the bad apples can, you know, really hurt a team 00:29:19.089 --> 00:29:21.829 and you have to just, you know, really think 00:29:21.829 --> 00:29:24.650 quick and, you know, just take care of it. But, 00:29:24.650 --> 00:29:27.970 but thank God I've been very, very lucky. I have 00:29:27.970 --> 00:29:32.150 a really good support system here and, and they, 00:29:32.190 --> 00:29:33.730 they all love it. I mean, they all, they all 00:29:33.730 --> 00:29:36.230 love this place like their own. So. Nice. And 00:29:36.230 --> 00:29:38.349 then the last one I had was obviously you guys 00:29:38.349 --> 00:29:40.970 have seen a few, you know, highs and lows as 00:29:40.970 --> 00:29:43.150 different destinations have, you know, ups and 00:29:43.150 --> 00:29:46.259 downs. Where have you guys focused on during 00:29:46.259 --> 00:29:49.299 the down times to try to, as you've been around 00:29:49.299 --> 00:29:51.680 for a hundred years, is there an area like, oh, 00:29:51.700 --> 00:29:53.279 it's times are tough. Let's, let's hone back 00:29:53.279 --> 00:29:56.039 in on this or any kind of advice you can give 00:29:56.039 --> 00:30:00.440 there for. Doing it like right now, actually, 00:30:00.440 --> 00:30:02.799 I've just been going like to everything I can. 00:30:02.880 --> 00:30:07.539 I'm trying to make, you know, my, the hotel known. 00:30:07.660 --> 00:30:09.680 So like everybody says, oh, you're like El Paso's 00:30:09.680 --> 00:30:12.099 hidden gem. And I'm like, can we stop being hidden? 00:30:13.409 --> 00:30:16.549 I love being the gem, but don't hit him. I'm 00:30:16.549 --> 00:30:18.630 doing everything we can to do like the marketing 00:30:18.630 --> 00:30:21.640 efforts. So I've been like. And befriending the 00:30:21.640 --> 00:30:23.579 city that does the conventions. And I went on 00:30:23.579 --> 00:30:26.599 a trip with them to a sales trip to Chihuahua, 00:30:26.640 --> 00:30:30.059 Mexico. And we met with travel agents and things 00:30:30.059 --> 00:30:31.599 like that. So really just thinking outside the 00:30:31.599 --> 00:30:35.339 box. I mean, joining Naha was one of those things 00:30:35.339 --> 00:30:36.759 that I was like, okay, time to let's go. Let's 00:30:36.759 --> 00:30:39.519 go do the, let's get the hostel side going. Because 00:30:39.519 --> 00:30:42.220 I hadn't focused since I took over on the hostel 00:30:42.220 --> 00:30:45.559 portion of it until about two years ago. So I 00:30:45.559 --> 00:30:48.240 was just focusing on, okay, renovations. I came 00:30:48.240 --> 00:30:50.599 through and I had to renovate everything. And 00:30:50.599 --> 00:30:53.720 so I've been doing that. And now we're good. 00:30:54.000 --> 00:30:57.920 Let's time to let's time now to. Make some money. 00:30:58.319 --> 00:31:00.619 You know, it's time to make some money. We've 00:31:00.619 --> 00:31:03.160 done, we've done refrigerated air. So we've had 00:31:03.160 --> 00:31:04.779 to put in, you know, mini splits in every room. 00:31:04.819 --> 00:31:06.859 We had to redo the windows. My next project is 00:31:06.859 --> 00:31:09.660 doing our elevator. It's a 1929s elevator. So 00:31:09.660 --> 00:31:12.160 we're keeping the cage, but we're bringing it 00:31:12.160 --> 00:31:14.559 up to Santa because it's been hung for the last, 00:31:14.579 --> 00:31:16.259 pretty much since I've been here, since I've 00:31:16.259 --> 00:31:17.819 been a manager. So I've been going up all the 00:31:17.819 --> 00:31:20.819 stairs. So we're doing, you know, things like 00:31:20.819 --> 00:31:24.059 that. And now we're just focusing on doing. marketing 00:31:24.059 --> 00:31:28.519 google ads um doing the the cloudbeds uh meta 00:31:28.519 --> 00:31:32.960 meta search and the the other, the one that reminds 00:31:32.960 --> 00:31:35.220 you every time and things like that. We're just 00:31:35.220 --> 00:31:37.599 trying to just get our name out there. I had 00:31:37.599 --> 00:31:39.759 some marketing people that, you know, told the 00:31:39.759 --> 00:31:43.000 stories on Facebook and Instagram, you know, 00:31:43.000 --> 00:31:45.480 cause we have a, you mentioned Sam Elliott, but 00:31:45.480 --> 00:31:48.619 we have other famous guests that have been through 00:31:48.619 --> 00:31:52.339 here. So back in the, in the thirties, I believe 00:31:52.339 --> 00:31:56.440 John Dillinger stayed here. And so he stayed 00:31:56.440 --> 00:31:59.650 here with his gang. it was the wild west and 00:31:59.650 --> 00:32:02.690 so they didn't he didn't break any laws and so 00:32:02.690 --> 00:32:05.650 he actually left here and uh got arrested in 00:32:05.650 --> 00:32:09.730 a in tucson arizona and uh then another really 00:32:09.730 --> 00:32:13.109 cool one was uh parmick mccarthy he wrote no 00:32:13.109 --> 00:32:16.029 country for old men the road oh that's an awesome 00:32:16.029 --> 00:32:18.279 movie Yeah, he lived here and wrote his books 00:32:18.279 --> 00:32:19.980 here and talks about the hotel in a lot of his 00:32:19.980 --> 00:32:24.200 books. Oh, awesome. Another one more recently 00:32:24.200 --> 00:32:28.859 is Longmire, the Netflix series. Yeah, yeah. 00:32:29.279 --> 00:32:32.420 It's based on a Craig Johnson novels and Craig 00:32:32.420 --> 00:32:34.960 Johnson's newest novel. He talks about like a 00:32:34.960 --> 00:32:38.779 kidnapping happening on the roof of here. So 00:32:38.779 --> 00:32:40.319 we have some things like that, that, you know, 00:32:40.339 --> 00:32:42.400 we do. So, you know, trying to focus on those 00:32:42.400 --> 00:32:45.700 really cool angles. We have like a McCarthy room, 00:32:45.880 --> 00:32:48.339 a Dillinger room, that sort of thing. So we get 00:32:48.339 --> 00:32:52.200 a lot of the historical aspect too for, for marketing 00:32:52.200 --> 00:32:53.940 standpoint. And then we have, you know, the hostel 00:32:53.940 --> 00:32:56.019 and we have, you know, just regular, regular 00:32:56.019 --> 00:32:58.700 stays. Do you find a lot of people that show 00:32:58.700 --> 00:33:00.759 up or like, I want the Dillinger room and like, 00:33:00.759 --> 00:33:04.559 like people are into that. Yeah. And even Cormac 00:33:04.559 --> 00:33:07.119 McCarthy, I think is even bigger because there's 00:33:07.119 --> 00:33:09.720 universities that have courses just on his work. 00:33:10.079 --> 00:33:12.920 So, so we have a lot of that and people that 00:33:12.920 --> 00:33:14.500 are like, Oh my God, you know, that's so cool. 00:33:14.619 --> 00:33:16.079 And they, they want to stay in the room and be 00:33:16.079 --> 00:33:19.039 inspired, you know, like these other, you know, 00:33:19.039 --> 00:33:22.680 authors have been so. That's amazing. Yeah. And, 00:33:22.779 --> 00:33:25.160 and just another, you know, to other aspiring 00:33:25.160 --> 00:33:27.160 hospital owners out there, not only as we mentioned 00:33:27.160 --> 00:33:30.119 earlier in the episode, these historical buildings 00:33:30.119 --> 00:33:32.700 are conducive. to hostels they have the shared 00:33:32.700 --> 00:33:35.839 bathrooms they have the big kitchens uh they 00:33:35.839 --> 00:33:37.700 have the high ceilings for the bunk beds a lot 00:33:37.700 --> 00:33:39.559 of times but then you have the history that you 00:33:39.559 --> 00:33:42.539 can tap into for so much of your marketing and 00:33:42.539 --> 00:33:45.359 so much of your content and you know that's that 00:33:45.359 --> 00:33:47.380 beautiful thing of like oh i'm gonna go stay 00:33:47.380 --> 00:33:49.779 at this hostel and stay in the dillinger room 00:33:49.779 --> 00:33:52.160 and take my instagram photo in the dillinger 00:33:52.160 --> 00:33:55.480 room and tag everything and and really use that 00:33:55.480 --> 00:33:58.339 as your special sauce to highlight the cool parts 00:33:58.339 --> 00:34:00.700 of your property. I think that's awesome. And 00:34:00.700 --> 00:34:02.259 you know, more people should do it. A lot of 00:34:02.259 --> 00:34:04.000 times people are sitting on those golden gems 00:34:04.000 --> 00:34:06.740 and they don't know it. Yeah. I mean, we got 00:34:06.740 --> 00:34:08.539 a, we got a Tommy gun on our wall in the lobby. 00:34:08.820 --> 00:34:11.579 It's not real, but we have a replica and we have 00:34:11.579 --> 00:34:13.900 a death mask of John Dillinger. You know, we 00:34:13.900 --> 00:34:18.659 have, you know, that's what gets people in this 00:34:18.659 --> 00:34:21.639 day and age, you know, excited about it, Instagramming 00:34:21.639 --> 00:34:24.139 it, making it post, you know, then that catches 00:34:24.139 --> 00:34:26.860 on. And now you've got this whole built in marketing 00:34:26.860 --> 00:34:29.260 theme that a lot of people would pay to have 00:34:29.260 --> 00:34:31.860 and pay someone to make. And you've already got 00:34:31.860 --> 00:34:34.840 it in your building. That can be so much fun 00:34:34.840 --> 00:34:37.260 and really embrace that, you know, for other 00:34:37.260 --> 00:34:42.199 aspiring house owners out there now. So in closing, 00:34:42.340 --> 00:34:45.739 Stephanie, what would you say to aspiring hostel 00:34:45.739 --> 00:34:48.320 owners out there? You're you've been in this 00:34:48.320 --> 00:34:50.280 hospitality business your whole life. It's in 00:34:50.280 --> 00:34:52.360 your blood. You know, you've gotten more into 00:34:52.360 --> 00:34:55.199 the. the hostile thing aspect you're a board 00:34:55.199 --> 00:34:57.920 member of naha now the north american host association 00:34:57.920 --> 00:35:00.780 which i also think just as a side note is a great 00:35:00.780 --> 00:35:04.019 way that we can collectively make a big effort 00:35:04.019 --> 00:35:06.460 and a big splash on bringing better awareness 00:35:06.460 --> 00:35:09.179 of the hostile industry in the u .s and fighting 00:35:09.179 --> 00:35:11.780 the stigma so other hostile owners out there 00:35:11.780 --> 00:35:14.699 or aspiring hostile owners please join naha and 00:35:14.699 --> 00:35:17.510 get a part of that group because We can have 00:35:17.510 --> 00:35:19.829 that powerful voice as one. But what would you 00:35:19.829 --> 00:35:21.949 say to an aspiring hosteler getting into the 00:35:21.949 --> 00:35:25.710 game? Some advice, a story, a tidbit of inspiration. 00:35:25.969 --> 00:35:28.429 What might you want to leave us with? Oh, my 00:35:28.429 --> 00:35:30.190 God, there's so much. I mean, you're going to 00:35:30.190 --> 00:35:31.849 see things you never wanted to see in your life. 00:35:33.809 --> 00:35:36.010 You'll have stories. Your friends will ask you 00:35:36.010 --> 00:35:38.829 for stories upon stories. But it makes it fun. 00:35:40.110 --> 00:35:43.920 I'd say, you know, it's not like hosteling. Cause 00:35:43.920 --> 00:35:46.820 it's work, but it's, we'll have the fun times 00:35:46.820 --> 00:35:52.380 of it. But I would say, you know, meet the other 00:35:52.380 --> 00:35:55.619 hostel owners. And I think I love Naha and I 00:35:55.619 --> 00:35:57.579 love the conference, but I find the most valuable 00:35:57.579 --> 00:36:01.079 part of Naha is the post -conference. I find 00:36:01.079 --> 00:36:03.539 that that's when you can really sit one on one. 00:36:03.579 --> 00:36:05.119 I mean, the information at the conference is 00:36:05.119 --> 00:36:07.420 really good. I love that. And you get to meet 00:36:07.420 --> 00:36:10.039 people. But it is it is like, you know, you got 00:36:10.039 --> 00:36:11.940 to go, go, go, go. You know, that conference 00:36:11.940 --> 00:36:15.239 is is fun and it's hardcore. But you're learning 00:36:15.239 --> 00:36:18.300 a lot. But to get on those one on ones and befriend 00:36:18.300 --> 00:36:22.980 a couple, you can, you know, celebrate and cry 00:36:22.980 --> 00:36:27.289 with. You need those people. You could just call, 00:36:27.409 --> 00:36:29.449 hey, what are you doing for this? I love the 00:36:29.449 --> 00:36:32.349 chats that we have going. I really think that's 00:36:32.349 --> 00:36:35.329 so important to that text thread that we got 00:36:35.329 --> 00:36:38.349 going on WhatsApp. That is so important. Any 00:36:38.349 --> 00:36:40.269 questions you ask and people up all hours of 00:36:40.269 --> 00:36:42.510 the night and they'll give you 10 different answers 00:36:42.510 --> 00:36:44.170 and you can find which one's best and you can 00:36:44.170 --> 00:36:46.530 reach out. And I think everybody is really good 00:36:46.530 --> 00:36:49.130 about helping each other out. You know, even 00:36:49.130 --> 00:36:51.809 people in the same markets. really good they 00:36:51.809 --> 00:36:53.969 like work with each other i love how the the 00:36:53.969 --> 00:36:56.030 people in colorado work with each other and they're 00:36:56.030 --> 00:36:58.789 like down the street from each other you know 00:36:58.789 --> 00:37:00.670 and they're just you know they're just like hey 00:37:00.670 --> 00:37:03.449 yeah you know uh use it as your benefit i mean 00:37:03.449 --> 00:37:07.969 we're all here we're all hostelers as well we're 00:37:07.969 --> 00:37:10.769 all the travel we all love travel and we all 00:37:10.769 --> 00:37:12.829 love doing it that way and and the whole part 00:37:12.829 --> 00:37:16.130 of being in a hostel and doing the hostel definitely 00:37:16.130 --> 00:37:21.219 overflows into owning a hostel with you know 00:37:21.219 --> 00:37:22.820 your counterparts you know your other hostel 00:37:22.820 --> 00:37:24.599 owners and your other you know people who are 00:37:24.599 --> 00:37:26.119 managing and doing things i just think that's 00:37:26.119 --> 00:37:28.900 a really good community to have and you you have 00:37:28.900 --> 00:37:31.460 to have that like i said for until two years 00:37:31.460 --> 00:37:34.480 ago i didn't have that so um it was really really 00:37:34.480 --> 00:37:37.800 nice uh to be a part of this community absolutely 00:37:37.800 --> 00:37:40.500 and well said and so many good pointers on that 00:37:40.500 --> 00:37:43.039 the networking aspect of it because we are an 00:37:43.039 --> 00:37:47.159 unsaturated industry and If you are a hostel 00:37:47.159 --> 00:37:49.380 owner, you don't want to be venting bitching 00:37:49.380 --> 00:37:52.000 and complaining to your staff. So you need someone 00:37:52.000 --> 00:37:55.420 to go to that has a relevant experience. And 00:37:55.420 --> 00:37:58.320 since it is unsaturated in a very unique business, 00:37:58.440 --> 00:38:00.239 it's not like you can go out with your friends 00:38:00.239 --> 00:38:03.239 to the bar and your friend is an accountant and 00:38:03.239 --> 00:38:06.380 your other friend works retail. The stories you're 00:38:06.380 --> 00:38:07.619 going to try to tell them are going to blow their 00:38:07.619 --> 00:38:09.280 mind and be like, what are you talking about? 00:38:10.750 --> 00:38:13.090 I absolutely 100 % agree. Those connections you 00:38:13.090 --> 00:38:16.090 can make through those venues like Naha and the 00:38:16.090 --> 00:38:19.510 chats on WhatsApp can really save you and really 00:38:19.510 --> 00:38:22.130 be a great support system in those tough times 00:38:22.130 --> 00:38:24.590 and give you something to lean on and someone 00:38:24.590 --> 00:38:26.710 to cry with as well as someone to laugh with. 00:38:26.829 --> 00:38:28.210 You know, you definitely hit the nail on the 00:38:28.210 --> 00:38:31.289 head with that because you need both. Yeah. We're 00:38:31.289 --> 00:38:34.070 all going to be in those moments. And without 00:38:34.070 --> 00:38:36.349 that support system, it can feel very lonely. 00:38:36.610 --> 00:38:41.039 Yeah, definitely. But. Oh, so Stephanie, thank 00:38:41.039 --> 00:38:44.119 you so much for joining us. Gardner Hotel and 00:38:44.119 --> 00:38:47.900 Hostel, El Paso. Make sure you check it out and 00:38:47.900 --> 00:38:51.219 hit that Texas trail, hit up Austin, hit up El 00:38:51.219 --> 00:38:54.079 Paso, you know, and keep on trucking to California, 00:38:54.360 --> 00:38:57.559 baby. And ITH will be there for you. But thank 00:38:57.559 --> 00:38:59.619 you so much for joining us. And I look forward 00:38:59.619 --> 00:39:01.019 to coming and staying at your place sometime 00:39:01.019 --> 00:39:02.900 soon. Come on over. Come on. We'll take you. 00:39:02.900 --> 00:39:04.179 I'll take you to Juarez. We'll have a good time. 00:39:05.519 --> 00:39:08.360 You'll get arrested though. I'm going to dress 00:39:08.360 --> 00:39:14.460 up like Tellinger. Well, thank you all. Thank 00:39:14.460 --> 00:39:15.739 you, Stephanie.