You mentioned Sam Elliott, but we have other
famous guests that have been through here. So
back in the 30s, I believe, John Dillinger stayed
here. And so he stayed here with his gang and
it was the Wild West. And so he didn't break
any laws. And so he actually left here and got
arrested in Tucson, Arizona. Then another really
cool one was Cormac McCarthy. He wrote No Country
for Old Men, The Road. Oh, that's an awesome
movie. Yeah, he lived here and wrote his books
here and talks about the hotel in a lot of his
books. Hello, friends and travelers. Thanks for
listening. You are riding along on the Hostile
Road Trip podcast. Our mission is to spread awareness
of the true hostile experience in the Americas
and share stories from the fascinating hosts
who create those unique facilities. I'm your
host, Jimmy Black, joined alongside co -founder
of International Travelers House, Bobby Dyer.
Each session, we sit down with hostel operators
or travel influencers to hear about their road
to success, discuss trending hostel topics, and
close with tips for travelers who are seeking
to have the ultimate experience when visiting
each destination. You can't afford to miss this
trip. Now fasten your seatbelts and let's hit
the road. Welcome back to the Hostel Road Trip
podcast. Super excited to be here after a long
break before any episodes, but we're here with
Stephanie from the Gardner Hotel and Hostel from
El Paso, Texas. Thank you, Stephanie, for joining
us. Thank you for having me. It's a pleasure.
I've seen this podcast before, and so I'm excited
to finally be on it. Awesome. We're excited to
have you, and I'm joined, as always, by my...
co -founder of ith hostels bobby dyer thanks
for being with bobby thanks jimmy thanks for
joining us today steph thank you so for those
of you who haven't been listeners before the
hostel road trip podcast our mission is to spread
awareness of hostels across the americas and
a big thing for us of course is america is an
unsaturated industry as far as the hostel industry
goes and we need more Good hostels out there,
genuine backpacker hostels out there. And we
want to bring the awareness of those that are
out there and opening up. And I'm really fired
up about this one because El Paso is such a classic
city in the history of America of being a city
going towards the West. People stopping as they
are going out through a real junction point.
And even myself driving back and forth through
college to University of San Diego, I would go
through El Paso every summer. on each end of
it. And just a great town, a great history. And
so cool to hear now that we've got a hostel there
to connect more of the dots here of how you can
travel about through the U .S. while staying
at hostels and not hotels. And as I was looking
into it more, the Gardner Hotel and Hostel, formerly
owned by the land by Sam Elliott's family lineage,
which Sam Elliott's one of my favorite actors
of all time. Absolutely love him in Tombstone
and other shows like he's been in recently, like
1883. So that's some awesome history. And then
I love when hostels are run out of historical
buildings because I feel it brings that character
and that element to it. So really excited to
hear all about your facility, El Paso, and everything
else during this episode. But to kick it off,
Stephanie, we often like to hear a little bit
about... the individual's experience first besides
the facility and before we get to the facility
in the city. How did you find yourself in the
hostile industry? OK, so I guess it kind of goes
hand in hand with the building, because back
in the 1940s, my great grandfather, who was a
Lebanese immigrant, he migrated from Lebanon
up through Mexico and came to El Paso. And he,
you know, did it in the language and have a penny
in his pocket. He did pretty well for himself
out here. And he ended up. purchasing the building
and then when he purchased the building so it's
kind it's a like a like a shopping center almost
underneath so we have like bars and restaurants
underneath and all the rooms are one level up
so um when he bought it he bought it and he leased
the hotel portion back to the person he bought
it from and so he just was like the landlord,
I guess, of the building. And then back into
the 60s, my grandfather ended up taking over
the hotel. And then in the 80s, my dad took over
the hotel. And that's when he turned it into
a hostel. So it's been since the 1980s. Yeah.
So I grew up pretty much since before I was born.
It's been a hostel. And so in 2015, I took over.
And so we've been doing that ever since. So it's
kind of been in my blood. I've been around forever.
That's awesome. So that's something right off
the bat I didn't know about. I knew the building
was old. I knew it obviously had a hotel. But
it's been a hostel since the 80s, which is, that's
really getting back there, especially in the
U .S. industry of being ahead of the game and
doing something outside the box. So how did your
dad? changing into a hostile like how did he
find out about hostiles So it is a 1920s building,
which lends itself up perfectly for hostels.
So a lot of our rooms are like a normal hotel
room. So that's why we consider it as a hotel
and a hostel because it's a completely private
room with a private bathroom. And then some of
our other rooms have a private room, but a shared
bathroom and they have a sink in the room. And
then other ones are Jack and Jill style. So there's
two rooms that connect to a bathroom, kind of
like what you used to see on the Brady Bunch.
So that's kind of what we use as a hostel. So
he said one year, one day he was, he had just
taken over, I guess. And two girls from Germany
were like, you know what, this would be a perfect
hostel. And so he started looking into it and
he looked at the rules. And I guess back then
it was, I guess with, I forget what the organization
was before. I always want to say AYH, American
Youth Hostel. And there was guidelines on what
you needed. So you needed a kitchen in the basement,
a kitchen. So he put a kitchen in the basement
and a common space. And from there it was born.
And that really turned around the business back
in the 80s. And it was like that was a really
strong suit for us for a really long time was
the hostel business really, really pulled the
hotel along. It was really cool. Wow. That's
super cool that that far back he got hit on that
tip. Followed through with it, went with it.
That's so cool to hear, you know, and that you
grew up with it and were able to continue on
in the industry. And just to highlight something
that Stephanie brought up with that historical
building element, we actually started in historical
buildings ourselves at ITH. Our first house was
a building from 1886. Oh, cool. Older buildings
that were hotels. We're set up almost in that,
you know, like a boarding house almost where
like you had those shared bathrooms. You just
had the sink in the room. So the setup way back
in the day actually is conducive to the hostel
facility. And that's something that aspiring
hostel owners should know. A lot of times you
have these really awesome historical buildings
in your city or the prospective location that
you're trying to open up and they don't. have
a lot of uses or people don't know what to do
with them you can't really change them they have
to stay what they are and that's actually fine
for us they can stay oh yeah are and we can run
them as a hostel and and keep them in the historical
format so that's so cool that you did that and
that that's definitely a great method that we've
operated under and suggest others going after
it oh yeah we always say on a holiday We want,
we're unique and we want to stay this way. We
want you to feel like you're walking into the
1920s when you come in here. So we try to keep
everything as original as possible that we can
do. Oh, I just love that. How has the hostel
evolved since 1984? Would you say like? Okay.
So at one point the hostel was going like really
like, you know, going and we had 48 beds and
it kind of took a downturn in 2008. So a lot
of people would come to El Paso to go like as
their starting point to jump off into Mexico.
And so they would come here, they would leave
us their cars and we would sell it for them.
And then they would travel, you know, go backpacking
throughout Mexico. And when the violence happened
in Mexico, it kind of took a toll on us. So we
kind of got hit with the hostile side of that.
So we don't see as it's not as big of a portion,
unfortunately, for us. I'd like to get it back.
I actually that's one of the reasons why I joined
Naha and all these things, because I want to
really get the hostile industry back to us because
we're a perfect fit for him. We still get a good
amount of hostile, yes, but we're definitely
down when I was a 48 beds that we used. It's
such another interesting point of outliers that
are out of your control. You're running your
business model. You're passionate. You've got
good reviews. Everything's running great. And
then it's stuff that I call outliers that are
out of the textbook. You're never going to learn
that in business school. All of a sudden, the
country next to you starts going through this
violent drug -narco war. And how are you going
to be in any control of that? But that can change
the vibe, perception of the city you're operating
in. And, you know, we're dealing with that right
now in our location in San Francisco. That shut
down the hardest during the pandemic and has
definitely been the slowest to recover out of
what we've seen. And that's just something that's
out of your hands. And then the perception of
the city from an international basis and even
domestic basis isn't good. And you just see the
traveling really slowed out. What's really interesting
about El Paso is El Paso has been like the top
safest city for many years. And we were next
to Juarez, which is like the world's most dangerous
city for a while. And we're very much a sister.
We're sister cities. I mean, we have so many
people who like a lot of my staff lives in Juarez,
Mexico, and they come here and a lot of like
people go to school back and forth or they work
back and forth. We're crossing over all the time.
So it's definitely. It has like any parts of
any country, you have your bad parts and your
good parts, but it's definitely not what it was
back in 2008. Usually when there's a cartel in
charge, the violence seems to simmer down. And
I think that's what we have here. It's when there
is an uproar, they're trying to find who's going
to be in charge. That's when it happens. And
when it happened in 2008, that's when the rest
of the country was going through. the, you know,
the housing crisis. And, you know, everybody
suffered then. But during that time, that's when
Juarez was having, you know, the cartel fights.
And so a lot of businesses and like people ended
up moving to El Paso. So we never felt that,
you know, that recession like the rest of the
country. So we do work very hand in hand. And,
you know, we're like I said, we're like sister
cities. Yeah. And that's a there's a great advantage
to being in that border city situation as you
do. In ideal situations, you have the backpacker
traveling through you to their next country and
adventure. And we deal with that a lot with being
in San Diego, right on the border with San Ysidro.
We have a few locations in San Diego. Our first
location was there. And that's always been very
important to us, how the flow of that border
is going. If that flow is going good, business
is good. If that border, for whatever reason,
political. whatever it might be, narco stuff,
if it's getting jammed up, then it definitely
has an effect on business. And it's just that
type of stuff that you have to be ready for and
creative within to get through those times. Now,
the facility, over to the facility a bit. You
talked about how on the base floor, you've got
like a commercial mall type situation. Right
now, what's going on in that base floor? What
type of shops and stuff do you have? So we have,
right next door, we have a place called Cafe
Rose. So it's all pink. Everything is pink. And
it's very Instagrammy over there. So like their
buns are pink. Their chips are pink. Everything's
pink. It's a really cute place. We are in a transition
with one. We used to have a place called Craft
and Social, which is a craft beer place. And
now it's moving to a bar called Proof. So we
that's they're in the process of turning that
over. So they're getting their liquor license.
They're doing some renovation over there. We
also have a place that's called the Pizza Joint
and it's on the corner. And then we have eight
and a half or ocho y media. And we have also
Dillinger's, which is in the basement of the
hotel on the opposite side. And it's a it's a
bar, you know, restaurant. It's a bar. Sorry.
No restaurant in that one. So. Is that like a
speakeasy, Dillinger's? Yeah, Dillinger's. It
actually used to be called the speakeasy and
then they changed it to Dillinger's. And you
guys run that yourself? No, we lease all those
out. There has been thoughts. I think sometimes
like maybe I should like make it more of a cohesive
unit and run it. But then I think, do I really
want to do that? Do I really want to open that?
You know, my husband used to have the restaurant.
That's another great topic to broach into. Like
when you have the building, you have the space.
A lot of times you would find yourself better
off just leasing that space out and trying to
find another business operation that is conducive
to the hostel. That would be something that the
hostel guests could use and then everyone benefits.
But now you've got a tenant who's paying you
money and you don't have the headache and the
worry and the pressure and the added stress of
running a bar or restaurant operation on top
of the hostel. You know, that's always an interesting
decision to make as a lot of the hostels in Mexico
and South America and Canada, those hostel owners
would think you'd be crazy not to have the bar
restaurant because that's where they make all
their money. Yes. But with rules that are different
in each country, U .S., you know, for us, a lot
of times that scenario could be a little bit
more complex than those other countries to pull
off and you could get yourself in trouble. We've
had experiences with that where we're trying
to run the hostel upstairs in a bar restaurant
downstairs and kind of find yourself like a fish
out of water sometimes. I love it when there
is an ability to connect the two, where you have
that European fashion of the bar restaurant is
like the reception check -in. But I do feel as
though that's a very unique setup where the flow
of space in the facility allows that in the bottom
line. I think that's cool that you've got that
model going where you're playing landlord to
everyone down below and trying to find good tenants
that might mix with the upstairs. Now, moving
to the upstairs, how many stories is the building?
It's three stories plus the basement. So we have
the main floor and then we have all the rooms
two floors up. Okay. All right. you had mentioned
something about like 48 what's the occupancy
you run at now and like what what's the split
between hotel and hostel okay so if you consider
our rooms with a hall bath um hostel it would
probably be a good half so we have 50 rooms so
we have 50 rooms four of those are dormitory
but the other ones uh that have the hall bath
or that are private rooms uh that would probably
make it about half and half for us okay and then
do you do you ever have any problems with that
mixture of the hotel hostel concept thing because
that is you know another one of my favorites
is that you can include the two and it can make
yourself more diverse up front and you won't
lose your hotel guests. You'll still be able
to grab your hostel guests. You can kind of appeal
to both crowds, but it's interesting. A lot of
times in the facility, how do you best separate
that or combine it? I think it's really cool
when you see that a lot of times the hotel guests
are just as excited to hang out with the hostel
guests in the common areas. You know, so how
does that flow within your building? You know,
I think everybody's, you know, if they want to
hang out, they'll hang out. And it's, I think.
They're pretty open to it. I don't feel like
they're they're not open because I get a lot
of people who book the the rooms not knowing
what a hostel is. They just see the price and
they just kind of go with them. Some send me
don't like I had to definitely ask Expedia to
help me change the wording on on there. So I
have like hotel rooms and I have a list and then
I have hostel rooms and I have it listed. And
there's still sometimes a little bit of confusion.
But I think for the most part, they are completely.
fine with it they understand we explain it to
them when they check in and then they they mingle
pretty well if they want to mingle they mingle
if not they act like it's a regular hotel and
they go up to their rooms you know they it's
in the basement really where the mingling happens
so uh that's you know they get a lobby and then
you have up a floor so they're not really inconvenienced
if they don't want to participate you know what
i mean yeah and that's i think that's one of
the best angles to tackle that like you could
access this experience if you want to as a hotel
guest yeah But if you don't want to, you know,
then you're just having the hotel experience.
And I think that's really important how you might
set it up in the facility. Like you've got it
set up where you have those separate spaces to
have those experiences and interactions. But
then another big thing is you do get a lot of
people, even if you're not a hotel hostel, even
if you're just a hostel, you get a lot of people
that just book because of the price. And if you've
got a good rating and the price is low, then
all right, I'm in. And then they show up. And
I always like to ask that. Oh, have you ever
stayed in a hostel before? And they're like,
what? No, what's that? And I'm like, well, you're
in one now. But how you go about that in that
delivery or how you set your staff up to make
that delivery can be so important because we
do have bad perception bags, stigmas in this
country. Part of the reason why we're doing this
podcast to bring more awareness to the. beauty
of hostels and the genuine backpacker hostels
that are out there but there is that element
where we have to be ready to walk them through
that you know experience or kind of hold their
hand if you will so that they don't get freaked
out by or by perceptions or stigmas they might
have already because as we all know once they
actually experience it embrace it it's nine out
of ten are like this is awesome i'm going to
look for other hostels and then that's really
the goal that we're trying to do is to spread
that awareness. So now when that person's leaving
El Paso and heading for California, they're looking
on Hostel World or they're looking on Google
for hostels in California, you know, to see where
they might be able to stay in another good hostel.
And that's what we're all trying to do because
it would help everyone, you know, a rising tide
lifts all boats in that way. So I think that's
important that we. Always keep that in mind with
people that are coming in that are unaware of
the hostel experience or are new to it or it's
their first time. It's such a great opportunity
to capture them. Now, in El Paso, are there any
other hostels or are you the only one? I'm the
only one. That's awesome. To corner the market
and to have that, but also to carry that torch
because now if you weren't there, there wouldn't
be any hostels. in El Paso. So that's so cool
that you've been there and you've been there
for so long. Now, how about just giving a little
bit more detail about the El Paso experience?
What could a backpacker look forward to doing
in El Paso? What would be your suggestions to
an El Paso backpacker that comes down to the
desk and says, what do I do today? OK, so we
have Waco Tanks. Have you heard about Waco Tanks?
Like a world renowned rock climbing place. And
it's really close to us. It's about 45 minutes.
It's still it's like going towards the outskirts
of town. But that's a really popular place for
people to go. Right in downtown, we have the
art museums. We have a Holocaust museum. And
those are all free to do. So if you want to do
something free right there, walking over to Juarez,
I highly suggest. It's one of my favorite things
to do is you walk out there and you grab a margarita
at the place that invented the margarita. And
you go have some tacos down there, stuff like
that. And you can go to the Mercado. There's
a cathedral down there. And then walk right back.
We're about a mile away from the border. And
then you can, we have the Franklin Mountains,
which are the city is built around. So we have
about 26 ,000 acres of hiking right at your doorstep.
So it's, you know, we have a placita that's a
couple blocks from us and they're always having
events downtown. We're always doing something.
We have a new Mexican American cultural center
that just opened up. It's really cool that they
can go visit and check out. So we have a lot.
of neat things if you want to venture a little
further out there's a white sands about uh two
hours away um and there's also carlsbad caverns
if you want to go on a day trip so it's pretty
close to us and then you can hit up uh stephanie
the other stephanie and cloud croft and she has
her hostel out there too so that's close to her
as well so now that was actually one of my next
questions you're in el paso and you're a backpacker
what are the closest hostels to you in your next
leg so you mentioned cloud prop where's that
one at it's in uh it's cloud crop new mexico
so it's about two and a half hours from us what
about some other ones that might be since you're
the only one in el paso what are some other hostels
that are close by like if someone was what would
you come from maybe austin or dallas or yeah
so austin so the firehouse um hostel that with
uh kent um so you have that one and there are
a couple and you say close those are like eight
or nine hour drives we're probably closer to
you okay so we are a good uh stopping point also
because uh like a lot of bands we get a lot of
heavy metal bands it's just really that comes
and stay with us and a lot of bands in general
and so what they do is they come they're coming
their tour right and they're going to like acl
So there's nowhere to really stop besides El
Paso. The next other place is probably like Marfa,
Texas. And then that's probably about four hours
from us. And then you would hit like Dallas,
Austin area, Houston area. But that's like, Houston's
like 12 hours away from us. So it's pretty far.
So I think we're closer to LA than we are. Okay.
Well, you know, but that gives that perspective
in that trail because it's on the Highway 10,
right? Yeah, I -10. Yeah, I -10, which is a main
drag through the Southern. uh states there but
you know why el paso is such a popular spot is
it is kind of a spot you need to stop you know
as you are traveling through that uh western
area in such a cool area but i like to always
in the show here mention other hostels that they
could connect to yeah definitely i think actually
the firehouse hostel is coming up with a map
for us we can hit places to hit along the way
so we're getting ready to to roll that out and
i think i'm going to see him next week so i'll
go i'll go out there and go visit and and see
his spot so that's i'm very excited for that
and i think that's so important that connecting
the dots because i again i feel like we get a
lot of more of american backpackers trying it
out for the first time american travelers trying
out hostels for the first time And there's not
as many international backpackers right now because
of political reasons and different things like
COVID happened and all that stuff. And the power
of the dollar, all these things playing to mix.
And we don't have that huge supply of backpackers
for all of us to cater to, which we're made to
do from an international forum. It's so important
that we continue to cultivate the American backpacker
demographic. And I'm a big believer that a lot
of times American... travelers try it out, have
the experience, like it, and then they're not
aware of the fact that their next stop could
be at a hostel too. And the more that we can
have cross -referencing with each other, posters
of deals with each other, I think that that can
really help us all accelerate the industry. Yeah,
I totally agree. Yeah, I had a question for you.
You guys have been operating for over 100 years
now. I have a few questions on this. It's very
impressive. How do you guys maintain the details
for 100 years? Obviously, stuff breaks, but what
approach do you guys take to keeping it looking
so nice for 100 years? You know, there's a lot
of blood, sweat and tears go into this. All these
gray hairs I have, I said, they're from this
place. No, I love it. It's a labor of love. And
you have to find really good people who love
it like you do. And I am thankful to have a really
good. Actually, my my my handyman is actually
my assistant manager. I just promoted him. He
can do everything. So he's my right hand man.
Love him. He can do everything he can do. well
um and um it's those checklists and those checks
and balances we just always like housekeeping
cleans the room front desk inspects it and then
we have like a rotation so like every 15 days
that a room is rented they get a detail and then
every um every uh I mean, we have a schedule
of our maintenance to go through and they go
through all the rooms. They have a checklist.
They have to, you know, make sure everything's
good to go. And then it's just a rotation. It's
just really keeping on it. Like, cause it happens.
Sometimes I'll go and I'm like, how did this
happen? And they say, I have an eagle eye. They're
like, oh, eagle eye. I just really, I can, I
can see things. And I'm like, all right, you
know, open the curtains, look at everything.
We, we inspect everything. So, you know, it's
hard cause it is, it is an older building, you
know, and it, and things happen. in and sometimes
like one time we had a leak at one of the restaurants
and we could not and we were it was obviously
yes because we're the ones on top so we were
leaking on them and we couldn't figure out it
took us like almost two years to figure out where
the leak was coming from oh i know it's not consistent
and it's like and yeah but you know what i found
is there's this really cool thing because you
know this is a 80 year old no actually 103 year
old now um Pipes. So there is companies now that
reline your pipes. So what we would do is we
would, you know, dig three feet under and concrete,
you know, imagine how fun that is for the guests
to go through concrete, get the room out for,
you know, God knows how long. But these people,
it's expensive, but it kind of works out because
you're not dealing with that. But they reline
the pipes from the inside. It's like the new
revolutionary thing because America's infrastructure
was only meant to last like 80 to 100 years.
And we're like, that's that. So, you know, as
things come across, we have to do things like
that. But, you know, like I said, we do it, but
we try to make it look 1920s. We have the original
bed frames in the hotel from when we first started.
So they're metal bed frames. I take them to this
place and they sandblast them and powder coat
them. You know, we redo the furniture. I mean,
we do it all. We do it all here. That's awesome.
And the same thing for the staff, energizing
the staff for a hundred years. How do you keep.
How have you guys been able to keep the vibe
so good for 100 years? I can't say for the 100
years. I can tell you for the last 10. I mean,
really, we just treat each other like a family.
We run very small. So there's nine of us that
run a 24 -7 operation. So we just have to really
act like family. So we meet once a month. We
have meetings once a month. We do birthdays.
We just try to really keep together in the communication.
Thankfully, we all like each other. So it makes
it easy. But sometimes there's bad apples. and
the bad apples can, you know, really hurt a team
and you have to just, you know, really think
quick and, you know, just take care of it. But,
but thank God I've been very, very lucky. I have
a really good support system here and, and they,
they all love it. I mean, they all, they all
love this place like their own. So. Nice. And
then the last one I had was obviously you guys
have seen a few, you know, highs and lows as
different destinations have, you know, ups and
downs. Where have you guys focused on during
the down times to try to, as you've been around
for a hundred years, is there an area like, oh,
it's times are tough. Let's, let's hone back
in on this or any kind of advice you can give
there for. Doing it like right now, actually,
I've just been going like to everything I can.
I'm trying to make, you know, my, the hotel known.
So like everybody says, oh, you're like El Paso's
hidden gem. And I'm like, can we stop being hidden?
I love being the gem, but don't hit him. I'm
doing everything we can to do like the marketing
efforts. So I've been like. And befriending the
city that does the conventions. And I went on
a trip with them to a sales trip to Chihuahua,
Mexico. And we met with travel agents and things
like that. So really just thinking outside the
box. I mean, joining Naha was one of those things
that I was like, okay, time to let's go. Let's
go do the, let's get the hostel side going. Because
I hadn't focused since I took over on the hostel
portion of it until about two years ago. So I
was just focusing on, okay, renovations. I came
through and I had to renovate everything. And
so I've been doing that. And now we're good.
Let's time to let's time now to. Make some money.
You know, it's time to make some money. We've
done, we've done refrigerated air. So we've had
to put in, you know, mini splits in every room.
We had to redo the windows. My next project is
doing our elevator. It's a 1929s elevator. So
we're keeping the cage, but we're bringing it
up to Santa because it's been hung for the last,
pretty much since I've been here, since I've
been a manager. So I've been going up all the
stairs. So we're doing, you know, things like
that. And now we're just focusing on doing. marketing
google ads um doing the the cloudbeds uh meta
meta search and the the other, the one that reminds
you every time and things like that. We're just
trying to just get our name out there. I had
some marketing people that, you know, told the
stories on Facebook and Instagram, you know,
cause we have a, you mentioned Sam Elliott, but
we have other famous guests that have been through
here. So back in the, in the thirties, I believe
John Dillinger stayed here. And so he stayed
here with his gang. it was the wild west and
so they didn't he didn't break any laws and so
he actually left here and uh got arrested in
a in tucson arizona and uh then another really
cool one was uh parmick mccarthy he wrote no
country for old men the road oh that's an awesome
movie Yeah, he lived here and wrote his books
here and talks about the hotel in a lot of his
books. Oh, awesome. Another one more recently
is Longmire, the Netflix series. Yeah, yeah.
It's based on a Craig Johnson novels and Craig
Johnson's newest novel. He talks about like a
kidnapping happening on the roof of here. So
we have some things like that, that, you know,
we do. So, you know, trying to focus on those
really cool angles. We have like a McCarthy room,
a Dillinger room, that sort of thing. So we get
a lot of the historical aspect too for, for marketing
standpoint. And then we have, you know, the hostel
and we have, you know, just regular, regular
stays. Do you find a lot of people that show
up or like, I want the Dillinger room and like,
like people are into that. Yeah. And even Cormac
McCarthy, I think is even bigger because there's
universities that have courses just on his work.
So, so we have a lot of that and people that
are like, Oh my God, you know, that's so cool.
And they, they want to stay in the room and be
inspired, you know, like these other, you know,
authors have been so. That's amazing. Yeah. And,
and just another, you know, to other aspiring
hospital owners out there, not only as we mentioned
earlier in the episode, these historical buildings
are conducive. to hostels they have the shared
bathrooms they have the big kitchens uh they
have the high ceilings for the bunk beds a lot
of times but then you have the history that you
can tap into for so much of your marketing and
so much of your content and you know that's that
beautiful thing of like oh i'm gonna go stay
at this hostel and stay in the dillinger room
and take my instagram photo in the dillinger
room and tag everything and and really use that
as your special sauce to highlight the cool parts
of your property. I think that's awesome. And
you know, more people should do it. A lot of
times people are sitting on those golden gems
and they don't know it. Yeah. I mean, we got
a, we got a Tommy gun on our wall in the lobby.
It's not real, but we have a replica and we have
a death mask of John Dillinger. You know, we
have, you know, that's what gets people in this
day and age, you know, excited about it, Instagramming
it, making it post, you know, then that catches
on. And now you've got this whole built in marketing
theme that a lot of people would pay to have
and pay someone to make. And you've already got
it in your building. That can be so much fun
and really embrace that, you know, for other
aspiring house owners out there now. So in closing,
Stephanie, what would you say to aspiring hostel
owners out there? You're you've been in this
hospitality business your whole life. It's in
your blood. You know, you've gotten more into
the. the hostile thing aspect you're a board
member of naha now the north american host association
which i also think just as a side note is a great
way that we can collectively make a big effort
and a big splash on bringing better awareness
of the hostile industry in the u .s and fighting
the stigma so other hostile owners out there
or aspiring hostile owners please join naha and
get a part of that group because We can have
that powerful voice as one. But what would you
say to an aspiring hosteler getting into the
game? Some advice, a story, a tidbit of inspiration.
What might you want to leave us with? Oh, my
God, there's so much. I mean, you're going to
see things you never wanted to see in your life.
You'll have stories. Your friends will ask you
for stories upon stories. But it makes it fun.
I'd say, you know, it's not like hosteling. Cause
it's work, but it's, we'll have the fun times
of it. But I would say, you know, meet the other
hostel owners. And I think I love Naha and I
love the conference, but I find the most valuable
part of Naha is the post -conference. I find
that that's when you can really sit one on one.
I mean, the information at the conference is
really good. I love that. And you get to meet
people. But it is it is like, you know, you got
to go, go, go, go. You know, that conference
is is fun and it's hardcore. But you're learning
a lot. But to get on those one on ones and befriend
a couple, you can, you know, celebrate and cry
with. You need those people. You could just call,
hey, what are you doing for this? I love the
chats that we have going. I really think that's
so important to that text thread that we got
going on WhatsApp. That is so important. Any
questions you ask and people up all hours of
the night and they'll give you 10 different answers
and you can find which one's best and you can
reach out. And I think everybody is really good
about helping each other out. You know, even
people in the same markets. really good they
like work with each other i love how the the
people in colorado work with each other and they're
like down the street from each other you know
and they're just you know they're just like hey
yeah you know uh use it as your benefit i mean
we're all here we're all hostelers as well we're
all the travel we all love travel and we all
love doing it that way and and the whole part
of being in a hostel and doing the hostel definitely
overflows into owning a hostel with you know
your counterparts you know your other hostel
owners and your other you know people who are
managing and doing things i just think that's
a really good community to have and you you have
to have that like i said for until two years
ago i didn't have that so um it was really really
nice uh to be a part of this community absolutely
and well said and so many good pointers on that
the networking aspect of it because we are an
unsaturated industry and If you are a hostel
owner, you don't want to be venting bitching
and complaining to your staff. So you need someone
to go to that has a relevant experience. And
since it is unsaturated in a very unique business,
it's not like you can go out with your friends
to the bar and your friend is an accountant and
your other friend works retail. The stories you're
going to try to tell them are going to blow their
mind and be like, what are you talking about?
I absolutely 100 % agree. Those connections you
can make through those venues like Naha and the
chats on WhatsApp can really save you and really
be a great support system in those tough times
and give you something to lean on and someone
to cry with as well as someone to laugh with.
You know, you definitely hit the nail on the
head with that because you need both. Yeah. We're
all going to be in those moments. And without
that support system, it can feel very lonely.
Yeah, definitely. But. Oh, so Stephanie, thank
you so much for joining us. Gardner Hotel and
Hostel, El Paso. Make sure you check it out and
hit that Texas trail, hit up Austin, hit up El
Paso, you know, and keep on trucking to California,
baby. And ITH will be there for you. But thank
you so much for joining us. And I look forward
to coming and staying at your place sometime
soon. Come on over. Come on. We'll take you.
I'll take you to Juarez. We'll have a good time.
You'll get arrested though. I'm going to dress
up like Tellinger. Well, thank you all. Thank
you, Stephanie.