WEBVTT 00:00:00.360 --> 00:00:02.899 buying that building. It wasn't the easiest thing 00:00:02.899 --> 00:00:06.280 because I really just had just enough money to 00:00:06.280 --> 00:00:09.820 do that. Once the sale closed on the sale and 00:00:09.820 --> 00:00:15.140 everything, I just suddenly went from Bank Street 00:00:15.140 --> 00:00:19.039 Hostel to Apple Hostels and started letting people 00:00:19.039 --> 00:00:25.600 in. As we took money from guests and stuff, we 00:00:25.600 --> 00:00:29.649 used that to go buy stuff for the hostel. Hello, 00:00:29.690 --> 00:00:31.510 friends and travelers. Thanks for listening. 00:00:31.609 --> 00:00:33.789 You are riding along on the Hostile Road Trip 00:00:33.789 --> 00:00:36.630 Podcast. Our mission is to spread awareness of 00:00:36.630 --> 00:00:39.189 the true hostile experience in the Americas and 00:00:39.189 --> 00:00:41.369 share stories from the fascinating hosts who 00:00:41.369 --> 00:00:44.030 create those unique facilities. I'm your host, 00:00:44.109 --> 00:00:46.310 Jimmy Black, joined alongside co -founder of 00:00:46.310 --> 00:00:48.990 International Travelers House, Bobby Dyer. Each 00:00:48.990 --> 00:00:51.710 session, we sit down with hostile operators or 00:00:51.710 --> 00:00:54.710 travel influencers to hear about their road success, 00:00:55.189 --> 00:00:58.649 discuss trending hostile topics. and close with 00:00:58.649 --> 00:01:01.109 tips for travelers who are seeking to have the 00:01:01.109 --> 00:01:03.450 ultimate experience when visiting each destination. 00:01:03.829 --> 00:01:06.750 You can't afford to miss this trip. Now fasten 00:01:06.750 --> 00:01:13.390 your seatbelts and let's hit the road. Welcome 00:01:13.390 --> 00:01:17.010 back to the Hostile Road Trip Podcast. It's been 00:01:17.010 --> 00:01:19.010 a little while, but it's going to be worth the 00:01:19.010 --> 00:01:24.189 wait as we have an OG Jedi night. Mark Demare 00:01:24.189 --> 00:01:27.390 from Apple Hostels. Thank you so much for joining 00:01:27.390 --> 00:01:31.650 us, Mark. Thanks for having me. And I am Jimmy 00:01:31.650 --> 00:01:35.150 Black, along with my co -host Robert Dyer, as 00:01:35.150 --> 00:01:38.450 always. Thank you, Robert. Yeah, thanks for having 00:01:38.450 --> 00:01:40.829 me, Jimmy. Thanks for coming on, Mark. Yeah, 00:01:40.909 --> 00:01:44.290 so let's dive into it. And here we go. And I 00:01:44.290 --> 00:01:47.250 want to go into a time machine, Mark, because 00:01:47.250 --> 00:01:49.930 you've got a lot of experience. And I won't keep 00:01:49.930 --> 00:01:52.969 making references to your age. I appreciate that. 00:01:53.329 --> 00:01:55.430 Your time machine is going to need a lot of juice. 00:01:56.629 --> 00:02:00.109 We're going to go way back. I want to go back 00:02:00.109 --> 00:02:03.230 to when you started in hostels now, too. I know, 00:02:03.329 --> 00:02:06.629 as all three of us actually on this call, we 00:02:06.629 --> 00:02:11.539 all came from the USA hostels tree. And maybe 00:02:11.539 --> 00:02:14.460 give us a little bit of how that started. Was 00:02:14.460 --> 00:02:17.419 that your first hostel experience or first hostel 00:02:17.419 --> 00:02:20.659 job? It was my first hostel job. Yeah. Well, 00:02:20.699 --> 00:02:23.979 no, actually, no, it wasn't actually. So, yeah, 00:02:24.039 --> 00:02:27.259 I started as a volunteer. I wound up in Hollywood 00:02:27.259 --> 00:02:30.599 and I really didn't know anything about hostels. 00:02:31.060 --> 00:02:34.439 And a friend of mine gave me a I think it was 00:02:34.439 --> 00:02:39.599 let's go. And and you said, you know, you're 00:02:39.599 --> 00:02:41.180 going to be in L .A. for a while. You should 00:02:41.180 --> 00:02:43.300 think about, you know, look at this book. It 00:02:43.300 --> 00:02:46.080 recommends hostels and stuff. So got to California 00:02:46.080 --> 00:02:49.460 and just picked. I forget the name of it, but 00:02:49.460 --> 00:02:51.099 it was on Hollywood Boulevard. I thought that 00:02:51.099 --> 00:02:57.900 sounded cool. And so I went to this hostel first 00:02:57.900 --> 00:03:00.520 time being in it. It was like it was. a really 00:03:00.520 --> 00:03:03.080 bad hostel but i was like i had no idea what 00:03:03.080 --> 00:03:04.659 hostels like i guess this is what hostels are 00:03:04.659 --> 00:03:06.099 like you know they're just really bad they're 00:03:06.099 --> 00:03:09.080 great like the the the shower tubs all rusted 00:03:09.080 --> 00:03:11.080 bottoms you know kind of thing they had like 00:03:11.080 --> 00:03:13.180 rubber mats so you wouldn't cut your feet on 00:03:13.180 --> 00:03:15.900 the rust kind of thing and uh you know not very 00:03:15.900 --> 00:03:18.479 clean it wasn't much of a the common area is 00:03:18.479 --> 00:03:20.340 a tiny room you know kind of thing with a tv 00:03:20.340 --> 00:03:24.099 in it um tiny kitchen and stuff and and uh just 00:03:24.099 --> 00:03:26.060 you know just dirty and stuff and like okay that's 00:03:26.060 --> 00:03:29.379 what hostels are cool you know whatever and um 00:03:29.960 --> 00:03:34.560 And then I met another couple that were at the 00:03:34.560 --> 00:03:37.000 hostel. And they were going to be in LA for a 00:03:37.000 --> 00:03:40.939 bit, too. And they were from Australia. And they 00:03:40.939 --> 00:03:43.219 wound up moving over to USA Hostels. And they 00:03:43.219 --> 00:03:48.000 said, you should come over. And so at the first 00:03:48.000 --> 00:03:52.300 hostel, I was doing a few overnight shifts at 00:03:52.300 --> 00:03:56.159 one point to cover my stay. So that was my first. 00:03:56.799 --> 00:03:58.939 volunteering experience in hostels was actually 00:03:58.939 --> 00:04:00.719 at that first hostel. Do you remember the name 00:04:00.719 --> 00:04:02.699 of it? No, I can't remember the name of it now. 00:04:02.840 --> 00:04:05.159 But it was like right across, almost right across 00:04:05.159 --> 00:04:09.580 from, you know, the Man's Chinese Theater. Okay. 00:04:10.300 --> 00:04:14.900 But it was actually right across from this other 00:04:14.900 --> 00:04:17.199 old movie theater, which I can't remember more 00:04:17.199 --> 00:04:19.959 of a name of. But anyway, whatever. But it was 00:04:19.959 --> 00:04:24.480 like that end of Hollywood Boulevard. And not 00:04:24.480 --> 00:04:29.410 too far from La Brea. Um, anyway, so, uh, went 00:04:29.410 --> 00:04:32.290 over to, they went over to USA hostels on Hawthorne, 00:04:32.329 --> 00:04:34.069 just like a, you know, block away or whatever. 00:04:34.790 --> 00:04:37.370 And so I went over there and, uh, I was like, 00:04:37.470 --> 00:04:40.629 wow, this is a nice hostel. Like this is way 00:04:40.629 --> 00:04:42.870 better than, it's like, oh, I guess model hostels 00:04:42.870 --> 00:04:45.069 are crappy, you know, kind of thing. And, um, 00:04:45.290 --> 00:04:49.889 so, uh, checked in there and then, um, and then 00:04:49.889 --> 00:04:51.769 they needed, they're, you know, looking for people 00:04:51.769 --> 00:04:55.040 to, you know, work reception stuff. I volunteered 00:04:55.040 --> 00:05:00.540 there and then not too long after they needed 00:05:00.540 --> 00:05:04.959 a manager. The manager they had there was having 00:05:04.959 --> 00:05:10.720 some issues and stuff. So I talked to the, you 00:05:10.720 --> 00:05:14.240 know, the owner, David, David Reuter. Yeah. We 00:05:14.240 --> 00:05:16.819 went for a run together and I'm like, you know, 00:05:16.839 --> 00:05:19.120 I really think you should replace this guy. This 00:05:19.120 --> 00:05:21.040 guy should not be running your business, you 00:05:21.040 --> 00:05:26.420 know? You know, I feel like I've got a lot of 00:05:26.420 --> 00:05:28.800 managing experience, not in hostels, but, you 00:05:28.800 --> 00:05:31.259 know, I can, you know, I know my way around kind 00:05:31.259 --> 00:05:36.100 of thing. And so that's how I started managing 00:05:36.100 --> 00:05:41.319 the place. And then we started expanding. And 00:05:41.319 --> 00:05:44.920 then as we expanded, like we opened a newer, 00:05:44.920 --> 00:05:48.160 bigger hostel in Hollywood. We had already had 00:05:48.160 --> 00:05:52.279 location in San Diego. And then we're expanding 00:05:52.279 --> 00:05:55.360 to Las Vegas. So I took over the operations of 00:05:55.360 --> 00:05:59.540 the whole kind of chain. And then we expanded 00:05:59.540 --> 00:06:02.259 to, we also got a little hostel in Kanab, Utah, 00:06:02.379 --> 00:06:06.160 not too far from the North Rim, the Grand Canyon 00:06:06.160 --> 00:06:09.600 and San Francisco, you know, kind of thing. So, 00:06:09.600 --> 00:06:12.079 you know, it was exciting, like expanding and 00:06:12.079 --> 00:06:14.019 opening these new places and everything. And 00:06:14.019 --> 00:06:16.620 that was actually when Bob was saying that you 00:06:16.620 --> 00:06:18.920 were able to do this. I was curious to hear about 00:06:18.920 --> 00:06:21.199 that because you were there during such a cool 00:06:21.199 --> 00:06:23.399 time period at USA Hostels. We were there at 00:06:23.399 --> 00:06:26.300 the end when it had already been there for 20 00:06:26.300 --> 00:06:30.350 years. we heard about these locations like the 00:06:30.350 --> 00:06:33.230 grand Canyon one and the Las Vegas, but those 00:06:33.230 --> 00:06:35.689 were already gone by the time we got there. So 00:06:35.689 --> 00:06:37.670 that's really cool that you got to get in there 00:06:37.670 --> 00:06:41.129 and then see that growth and expansion. Uh, that 00:06:41.129 --> 00:06:42.730 must've been a really cool experience. Yeah. 00:06:42.829 --> 00:06:44.829 I mean, like prior to getting into hostel. So 00:06:44.829 --> 00:06:47.009 what I used to do before that was I used to oversee 00:06:47.009 --> 00:06:48.889 the construction of movie theaters. So I was 00:06:48.889 --> 00:06:52.189 kind of, um, I recently, I was kind of used to 00:06:52.189 --> 00:06:54.670 the expanding construction and that sort of thing. 00:06:54.730 --> 00:06:58.319 I'd go in when the, uh, the shell, the building 00:06:58.319 --> 00:07:02.939 for the movie theater was up. And then I'd be 00:07:02.939 --> 00:07:04.899 there until opening and training the staff and 00:07:04.899 --> 00:07:07.339 that sort of thing. And for a few months afterwards 00:07:07.339 --> 00:07:09.379 and move on to the next project kind of thing. 00:07:09.579 --> 00:07:11.899 So I kind of liked that. That was one of the 00:07:11.899 --> 00:07:13.519 things I liked about USA Hostels. We're expanding, 00:07:13.800 --> 00:07:16.819 opening these new places. And it wasn't too dissimilar 00:07:16.819 --> 00:07:20.600 to what I was doing before. So that's the part 00:07:20.600 --> 00:07:22.579 I enjoyed. And then we kind of stagnated. We 00:07:22.579 --> 00:07:26.399 kind of stopped growing. and uh that was one 00:07:26.399 --> 00:07:29.399 of the reasons i kind of i think was getting 00:07:29.399 --> 00:07:31.480 kind of bored in a sense uh there and i wanted 00:07:31.480 --> 00:07:35.800 to do something on my own um sure and so what 00:07:35.800 --> 00:07:40.339 happens right around that time um back in uh 00:07:40.339 --> 00:07:43.939 so i'll back up a little bit like i forget what 00:07:43.939 --> 00:07:52.250 year was around um 2001 or so um there's a puppy 00:07:52.250 --> 00:07:54.470 that got abandoned at the, uh, the hostel in 00:07:54.470 --> 00:07:56.389 Hollywood. I was just living a couple of blocks 00:07:56.389 --> 00:08:00.910 away. And so I wound up keeping that puppy, but 00:08:00.910 --> 00:08:02.410 I was living in a studio apartment. I was like, 00:08:02.410 --> 00:08:05.110 I had a studio apartment, like right off of Hollywood 00:08:05.110 --> 00:08:07.449 Highland. I was like, you know, it was just perfect 00:08:07.449 --> 00:08:10.129 bachelor pad, you know, having time in my life 00:08:10.129 --> 00:08:13.509 and, uh, just enjoying it. Like I knew eventually 00:08:13.509 --> 00:08:16.170 I needed to find a, uh, you know, a bigger place 00:08:16.170 --> 00:08:18.149 or whatever and, and, you know, grow up kind 00:08:18.149 --> 00:08:21.250 of thing. But, uh, Uh, but it's not too much 00:08:21.250 --> 00:08:24.370 fun. But then I got this puppy and he's growing 00:08:24.370 --> 00:08:27.110 and like, okay, I can't, this, this, this dog 00:08:27.110 --> 00:08:28.850 needs a yard, you know, kind of thing. So I think, 00:08:28.889 --> 00:08:30.709 okay, now I'm going to look for a house. And 00:08:30.709 --> 00:08:32.769 that's right when the prices were exploding kind 00:08:32.769 --> 00:08:35.389 of thing. Yeah. Um, home prices were exploding. 00:08:35.389 --> 00:08:40.830 And so, um, found it. So I found a house. Um, 00:08:41.850 --> 00:08:44.269 it's actually a property in Hollywood and, um, 00:08:44.309 --> 00:08:49.360 Echo Park. And it was two tiny houses, 550 square 00:08:49.360 --> 00:08:52.059 feet each, and both then kind of disrepair a 00:08:52.059 --> 00:08:54.960 little bit, one more than the other. And so I 00:08:54.960 --> 00:08:56.940 fixed up one. That's the one that I was renting 00:08:56.940 --> 00:09:01.879 out. And the other one I totally gutted, just 00:09:01.879 --> 00:09:05.340 brought it to the studs and then started rebuilding. 00:09:05.500 --> 00:09:08.620 And I moved into that. And like when I moved 00:09:08.620 --> 00:09:12.759 in, all I had was a garden hose. Uh, so I would 00:09:12.759 --> 00:09:16.039 go to like, uh, you know, Home Depot to, to take 00:09:16.039 --> 00:09:18.340 a dump and I'd go to the hostel or shower thing. 00:09:18.500 --> 00:09:20.919 And finally like day two or three, I finally 00:09:20.919 --> 00:09:22.740 installed the toilet. So at least, you know, 00:09:22.759 --> 00:09:24.440 that saved me having to go to Home Depot every 00:09:24.440 --> 00:09:28.779 couple hours or whatever. Um, uh, but anyway, 00:09:28.860 --> 00:09:33.860 so, um, because of that, I wound up like, you 00:09:33.860 --> 00:09:36.100 know, having these two homes I've eventually 00:09:36.100 --> 00:09:39.659 finished. And the idea was I'd just keep living 00:09:39.659 --> 00:09:43.059 in one of them. The rent on one covered the entire 00:09:43.059 --> 00:09:45.639 mortgage. And I figured I'd eventually move to 00:09:45.639 --> 00:09:49.019 a bigger home. But housing prices shot up. And 00:09:49.019 --> 00:09:51.220 I realized that if I just sold it, I'd have a 00:09:51.220 --> 00:09:53.440 whole lot of money. I could open my own hostel 00:09:53.440 --> 00:09:57.299 somewhere. Oh, cool. So that's what happened. 00:09:57.399 --> 00:10:01.259 So I wound up selling the property. And with 00:10:01.259 --> 00:10:04.539 that, and that's right when I met my future wife. 00:10:05.559 --> 00:10:09.460 I bought a small, tiny RV. And we started traveling 00:10:09.460 --> 00:10:11.279 around the country looking for a place to open 00:10:11.279 --> 00:10:14.799 a hostel. Awesome. And we traveled like Canada 00:10:14.799 --> 00:10:16.600 and the U .S. We weren't sure exactly where. 00:10:17.139 --> 00:10:20.519 Because I'm Canadian citizenship as well. Oh, 00:10:20.519 --> 00:10:26.440 okay. So Canada would work also. And I just wound 00:10:26.440 --> 00:10:28.360 up in Philly, to cut the story a little short. 00:10:29.080 --> 00:10:32.919 And it wasn't really the original plan. But I 00:10:32.919 --> 00:10:36.679 got to Philadelphia. And a friend was showing 00:10:36.679 --> 00:10:40.000 us around like, oh, let's see what our competition 00:10:40.000 --> 00:10:41.919 would be like in Philadelphia if I did open one 00:10:41.919 --> 00:10:44.659 here. And there was only one hostel in Center 00:10:44.659 --> 00:10:47.240 City and it was called the Bank Street Hostel. 00:10:47.279 --> 00:10:48.720 So I went to go check it out and it had a for 00:10:48.720 --> 00:10:52.240 sale sign on it. Like, huh. Kind of for sale 00:10:52.240 --> 00:10:55.019 by owner kind of thing. So I next day called 00:10:55.019 --> 00:10:58.320 the number and spoke to the owner, David Herskowitz. 00:11:01.149 --> 00:11:04.870 And he, the, the price was like 1 .6 million, 00:11:04.929 --> 00:11:08.669 which was just in my, you know, price range kind 00:11:08.669 --> 00:11:10.429 of thing. I just kind of had enough for a down 00:11:10.429 --> 00:11:17.230 payment for that. And yeah, so I wound up buying 00:11:17.230 --> 00:11:18.970 that building. It was like, it wasn't the easiest 00:11:18.970 --> 00:11:21.830 thing because I really just had just enough money 00:11:21.830 --> 00:11:24.590 to do that. Like, you know, once we, the sale, 00:11:24.669 --> 00:11:26.450 you know, closed on the sale and everything, 00:11:26.610 --> 00:11:31.399 you know, just. Suddenly became one from Bank 00:11:31.399 --> 00:11:35.259 Street Hostel to Apple Hostels and started letting 00:11:35.259 --> 00:11:39.159 people in. And as we took money, you know, from 00:11:39.159 --> 00:11:43.000 guests and stuff that we use that to go buy stuff 00:11:43.000 --> 00:11:46.600 for the hostel, you know, furniture and buy paint 00:11:46.600 --> 00:11:52.899 and a lot of. a lot of cleaning detergent or 00:11:52.899 --> 00:11:55.500 cleaning supplies. It was a pretty, it was a 00:11:55.500 --> 00:11:57.399 pretty, it was a pretty dirty hostel. It was 00:11:57.399 --> 00:11:59.059 a pretty dirty, filthy building when we got it. 00:11:59.139 --> 00:12:02.960 But, but yeah, just as money came in, we just 00:12:02.960 --> 00:12:04.700 spent it on, on, you know, improving the hostel 00:12:04.700 --> 00:12:07.120 kind of thing. And, and I just went from there. 00:12:07.529 --> 00:12:11.029 Nice. Now, in that journey, were there some other 00:12:11.029 --> 00:12:14.190 close calls to places like, oh, I almost opened 00:12:14.190 --> 00:12:16.509 up in Birmingham, Alabama or whatever, you know, 00:12:16.549 --> 00:12:19.389 like were there any other spots that were a close 00:12:19.389 --> 00:12:22.009 second or that was. Well, I really the goal was 00:12:22.009 --> 00:12:26.009 really Boston. Oh, yeah. We because it only had 00:12:26.009 --> 00:12:29.750 the H .I. and actually the time there's the H 00:12:29.750 --> 00:12:31.549 .I. hostel. I forgot what street it was, but. 00:12:32.090 --> 00:12:34.610 The old H .I. hostel. And it also had a summertime 00:12:34.610 --> 00:12:38.190 H .I. hostel. They leased out like student housing 00:12:38.190 --> 00:12:42.009 and second hostel. And that was it. And I knew 00:12:42.009 --> 00:12:44.169 Boston was a big market. And I'm like, if I can 00:12:44.169 --> 00:12:47.230 get into that, that'd be that'd be good. And 00:12:47.230 --> 00:12:51.529 we spent like all summer, like all of August 00:12:51.529 --> 00:12:55.049 and September and into the beginning of October 00:12:55.049 --> 00:13:01.009 there. Like we parked the RV at. It was in a 00:13:01.009 --> 00:13:05.169 state park with a campground right in the corner 00:13:05.169 --> 00:13:07.429 of, like, right before the New Hampshire border 00:13:07.429 --> 00:13:10.009 in Massachusetts. Salisbury Beach, I think it 00:13:10.009 --> 00:13:14.629 was. Okay. And so we, you know, going to Boston 00:13:14.629 --> 00:13:16.730 almost every day looking for, looking at properties 00:13:16.730 --> 00:13:19.429 and stuff. But it was just, like, you needed 00:13:19.429 --> 00:13:22.570 a lot of money to do something. Because you, 00:13:22.690 --> 00:13:26.529 you know, didn't really have a proper kind of. 00:13:27.720 --> 00:13:31.120 licensing for for that um you know that kind 00:13:31.120 --> 00:13:33.200 of category for hostels and stuff and and uh 00:13:33.200 --> 00:13:36.379 anyway yeah so it would have been a huge gamble 00:13:36.379 --> 00:13:39.059 um and we couldn't really find anything there 00:13:39.059 --> 00:13:42.159 so um so then it started getting cold and like 00:13:42.159 --> 00:13:44.440 okay let's move on next stop is philadelphia 00:13:44.440 --> 00:13:46.419 let's see what's there kind of thing and then 00:13:46.419 --> 00:13:49.360 it worked out and what year was that in so it 00:13:49.360 --> 00:13:54.080 was 2007 okay cool so 2007 and then and then 00:13:54.080 --> 00:13:57.480 we actually uh june of 2008 is when we opened 00:13:57.480 --> 00:14:00.279 uh they actually bought you know the close the 00:14:00.279 --> 00:14:02.639 sale and the hostel and the building in philadelphia 00:14:02.639 --> 00:14:05.240 in the building what tell us a bit about the 00:14:05.240 --> 00:14:07.320 building what's the building like it's like an 00:14:07.320 --> 00:14:10.500 old historic building or yeah so i mean uh it 00:14:10.500 --> 00:14:12.700 used to be a nightclub back in the day i mean 00:14:12.700 --> 00:14:14.919 but originally i mean the we don't know how old 00:14:14.919 --> 00:14:16.980 the building is the city lost the records for 00:14:16.980 --> 00:14:21.289 that it's like it's actually so um So the building 00:14:21.289 --> 00:14:23.190 I bought was originally it was two buildings 00:14:23.190 --> 00:14:25.850 and it was and one is like really old and one 00:14:25.850 --> 00:14:27.490 is one is like really, really old. The other 00:14:27.490 --> 00:14:30.509 one's really old. And at some point they're combined 00:14:30.509 --> 00:14:34.029 to make a nightclub. But they're both like I 00:14:34.029 --> 00:14:36.009 think one might have been a residential and one 00:14:36.009 --> 00:14:38.450 was definitely industrial, small industrial thing. 00:14:40.129 --> 00:14:43.470 And but it was turned into a nightclub sometime 00:14:43.470 --> 00:14:48.049 in the late 60s or early 70s. Uh, like I saw 00:14:48.049 --> 00:14:50.769 the historical photos of it. It was a bunch of 00:14:50.769 --> 00:14:52.490 different nightclubs during the seventies. And 00:14:52.490 --> 00:14:55.750 at one point it was, it was called, um, it was 00:14:55.750 --> 00:14:59.389 a circus Maximus and their tagline on the sign 00:14:59.389 --> 00:15:05.669 outside was dance your ass off. And, and then 00:15:05.669 --> 00:15:10.690 at one point it was, um, it was, uh, owned and 00:15:10.690 --> 00:15:13.669 operated by, uh, a very well -known drag queen 00:15:13.669 --> 00:15:16.970 at the time back in the seventies. And a bunch 00:15:16.970 --> 00:15:19.809 of I can't remember her name now. But I mean, 00:15:19.809 --> 00:15:21.850 she you know, she hung with the likes of like 00:15:21.850 --> 00:15:23.789 David Bowie and stuff like that, you know, and 00:15:23.789 --> 00:15:26.450 somebody actually recently wrote a book about 00:15:26.450 --> 00:15:28.830 her and the club and everything. And he came 00:15:28.830 --> 00:15:30.450 around and took pictures of what it looks like 00:15:30.450 --> 00:15:33.149 now kind of thing. And I show cool box where 00:15:33.149 --> 00:15:39.090 it said DJ booth or whatever. And but yeah, so 00:15:39.090 --> 00:15:41.330 at one point is a nightclub. And then in 92. 00:15:42.459 --> 00:15:44.899 The last thing it was called was Cheetahs. And 00:15:44.899 --> 00:15:47.259 then that's when it closed and it was for sale. 00:15:47.360 --> 00:15:49.820 And David Herskowitz bought it and turned it 00:15:49.820 --> 00:15:54.460 into a hostel back in 1992. His dad was a contractor. 00:15:54.700 --> 00:15:56.799 So his dad kind of did all the work and everything 00:15:56.799 --> 00:16:03.980 and turned it into a hostel. And then, you know, 00:16:03.980 --> 00:16:06.240 and that's when I came around in 2007 and saw 00:16:06.240 --> 00:16:09.200 it and put an offer on it and then closed on 00:16:09.200 --> 00:16:14.330 it finally in June of 2008. Awesome. And where 00:16:14.330 --> 00:16:16.970 does the H .I. affiliate like? Were you an H 00:16:16.970 --> 00:16:19.750 .I. at some point? Tell us about that. Yeah. 00:16:19.870 --> 00:16:24.730 So somehow, again, this was a very filthy, filthy 00:16:24.730 --> 00:16:28.710 hostel. But somehow David Hershkowitz managed 00:16:28.710 --> 00:16:34.009 to get a H .I. affiliate license. So he affiliated 00:16:34.009 --> 00:16:35.509 himself with the Hostel International somehow. 00:16:35.690 --> 00:16:38.600 I don't know how he did it. And I didn't really 00:16:38.600 --> 00:16:40.139 I didn't have any interest really in being part 00:16:40.139 --> 00:16:43.740 of H .I., to be honest, at the time. And because 00:16:43.740 --> 00:16:48.220 they didn't allow alcohol back then. So, again, 00:16:48.320 --> 00:16:50.100 this going back a few years, but back, you know, 00:16:50.100 --> 00:16:53.500 way back when they didn't allow alcohol whatsoever 00:16:53.500 --> 00:16:56.940 in the hostels. And I was all about, like, you 00:16:56.940 --> 00:16:58.860 know, having free drinks and stuff like that. 00:16:59.659 --> 00:17:02.019 I thought it was a good big part of hustling, 00:17:02.080 --> 00:17:03.299 you know, having a good time, having a drink 00:17:03.299 --> 00:17:07.500 kind of thing. Yeah. So. It came with the license. 00:17:07.500 --> 00:17:08.980 So when I bought it, I already had the license. 00:17:09.099 --> 00:17:14.500 So I talked to Aaron at HI and said, hey, I'm 00:17:14.500 --> 00:17:17.160 going to be the new owner. And he's like, yeah, 00:17:17.200 --> 00:17:24.079 it looks great. And he said, it already has the 00:17:24.079 --> 00:17:26.460 license. You don't need to reapply. You just 00:17:26.460 --> 00:17:30.960 need to keep submitting to the inspections they 00:17:30.960 --> 00:17:33.559 do yearly kind of thing. And if you pass, you're 00:17:33.559 --> 00:17:36.609 fine. So I said, OK, great. And I figured like 00:17:36.609 --> 00:17:39.470 when they find out that I'm having, you know, 00:17:39.470 --> 00:17:41.789 free drink nights and stuff like that, that they're 00:17:41.789 --> 00:17:43.990 going to just take the license away and like, 00:17:44.029 --> 00:17:45.789 whatever. So maybe we'll have that HI license 00:17:45.789 --> 00:17:48.450 for a year or less or whatever, but you know, 00:17:48.470 --> 00:17:50.589 whatever. At least I'll be listed on the HI website 00:17:50.589 --> 00:17:54.869 and their, you know, posters and stuff and can 00:17:54.869 --> 00:17:57.650 put my brochures. Remember when we did brochures? 00:18:01.629 --> 00:18:04.930 So I could put my brochures at HI New York and 00:18:04.930 --> 00:18:07.390 HIDC and stuff. So I was like, okay, great. So 00:18:07.390 --> 00:18:10.849 at least I can do that for a year. But right 00:18:10.849 --> 00:18:16.630 around that time, they created a test pilot program, 00:18:16.789 --> 00:18:20.769 a pilot program to test out having alcohol themed 00:18:20.769 --> 00:18:26.450 events or whatever. So that's how I got away 00:18:26.450 --> 00:18:29.509 with, so I could. have these, you know, free, 00:18:29.589 --> 00:18:32.690 free beer nights and stuff like that. And, and 00:18:32.690 --> 00:18:35.589 still keep my, the HI license. So I wound up 00:18:35.589 --> 00:18:38.750 staying in HI affiliate for, for many years until 00:18:38.750 --> 00:18:40.829 they disbanded that program a couple of years 00:18:40.829 --> 00:18:44.329 ago. And it was great. I really actually wound 00:18:44.329 --> 00:18:47.990 up really liking being part of HI. They were 00:18:47.990 --> 00:18:50.670 some good, you know, good support. And, and again, 00:18:50.690 --> 00:18:53.630 it was good to, you know, be part of that kind 00:18:53.630 --> 00:18:56.640 of chain. of what did they what did you find 00:18:56.640 --> 00:18:58.619 was like the most benefits for being a part of 00:18:58.619 --> 00:19:01.279 hi back then like what did they do that you felt 00:19:01.279 --> 00:19:05.240 that there was value uh i mean a they had annual 00:19:05.240 --> 00:19:08.460 uh annual meetings so um you just kind of like 00:19:08.460 --> 00:19:10.980 not you know not too different the uh north american 00:19:10.980 --> 00:19:14.380 hostel association you know um conferences that 00:19:14.380 --> 00:19:17.059 we're doing yearly now kind of thing so it uh 00:19:17.059 --> 00:19:19.180 better for it would be speakers and stuff like 00:19:19.180 --> 00:19:24.009 that and so uh you learn a bit from that um And, 00:19:24.009 --> 00:19:26.549 you know, you meet other hostel owners like, 00:19:26.549 --> 00:19:29.490 you know, Jim from Portland and everything. And 00:19:29.490 --> 00:19:33.089 I mean, that's how I got to know Jim. It was 00:19:33.089 --> 00:19:34.970 kind of weird because we were kind of we live 00:19:34.970 --> 00:19:40.190 almost identical lives. Jim and I, because we 00:19:40.190 --> 00:19:45.390 both have German wives. We both expanded our 00:19:45.390 --> 00:19:50.940 hostel the exact same year. Oh, we both our last 00:19:50.940 --> 00:19:55.180 kids were both born the same year. And I was 00:19:55.180 --> 00:19:59.319 on a conference call with Jim and a bunch of 00:19:59.319 --> 00:20:02.059 people and stuff. And they're like, I didn't 00:20:02.059 --> 00:20:05.220 realize Jim and I just had his kid. And like, 00:20:05.279 --> 00:20:07.700 oh, Jim, you had your baby. Oh, what's his name? 00:20:07.759 --> 00:20:10.079 Like, I was like, yeah, Nicholas. Like, fuck. 00:20:11.399 --> 00:20:13.460 No way. God damn it. That's what we're naming 00:20:13.460 --> 00:20:17.160 my son. Oh, my goodness. That's too funny. Now 00:20:17.160 --> 00:20:19.019 that we have a kid the same year, we also named 00:20:19.019 --> 00:20:22.579 him the same. It's great. On the opposite coast. 00:20:22.779 --> 00:20:25.759 I love it. Everything we do, it's like the same. 00:20:26.279 --> 00:20:29.759 Was there a big jump you noticed from working 00:20:29.759 --> 00:20:31.859 with David at USA Hostels and kind of being, 00:20:31.980 --> 00:20:34.299 you know, opening up the spots, but never being 00:20:34.299 --> 00:20:37.799 your own solo owner? What was like a lesson learned 00:20:37.799 --> 00:20:40.380 or what did you? What kind of reality check did 00:20:40.380 --> 00:20:42.460 you find when it's like, okay, now it's all my 00:20:42.460 --> 00:20:44.460 business and it's all up to me to make this happen? 00:20:44.619 --> 00:20:46.299 Well, it's certainly a lot nicer when you're 00:20:46.299 --> 00:20:49.759 playing with someone else's money. Easier, yeah. 00:20:49.819 --> 00:20:52.059 Less stressful, for sure. Yeah, it was extremely, 00:20:52.180 --> 00:20:55.380 extremely stressful. Like I said, just that purchase 00:20:55.380 --> 00:20:58.119 was a couple of times I thought it was going 00:20:58.119 --> 00:21:02.740 to go through. We were already taking bookings 00:21:02.740 --> 00:21:06.329 and we already had the phone. Uh, like we had 00:21:06.329 --> 00:21:08.210 a toll free number already going to my cell phone 00:21:08.210 --> 00:21:13.309 kind of thing. Um, and, uh, uh, one point, like 00:21:13.309 --> 00:21:14.950 I got some bad news. It looked like the loan 00:21:14.950 --> 00:21:16.869 was not, it was going to be, you know, it was 00:21:16.869 --> 00:21:20.470 not going to go through. And, and, uh, uh, I 00:21:20.470 --> 00:21:22.009 got a phone call, somebody trying to make a reservation. 00:21:22.130 --> 00:21:24.150 I'm like, uh, yeah, just, just call the hostel 00:21:24.150 --> 00:21:26.349 number, the bank street hostel, make a reservation 00:21:26.349 --> 00:21:29.609 there kind of thing. I was like, so, so depressed 00:21:29.609 --> 00:21:32.569 and everything, but, uh, whatever happened, fixed 00:21:32.569 --> 00:21:35.839 it. And it of course didn't. go through, but 00:21:35.839 --> 00:21:37.500 so many, so many times it looked like it was, 00:21:37.500 --> 00:21:39.819 it was not going to, not going to happen. Um, 00:21:40.079 --> 00:21:43.259 and then, uh, and then when we expanded, uh, 00:21:43.420 --> 00:21:48.339 um, so 2000, so we were, we were right across 00:21:48.339 --> 00:21:51.559 from, um, another nightclub. So that, like I 00:21:51.559 --> 00:21:54.220 said, the building I had was a hostel before 00:21:54.220 --> 00:21:58.079 it was a nightclub before it was a hostel, but 00:21:58.079 --> 00:22:00.400 we were still right across from another nightclub. 00:22:01.230 --> 00:22:02.970 And it was a horrible nightclub. It was just 00:22:02.970 --> 00:22:07.329 so noisy. And just, it was, it had, it was actually 00:22:07.329 --> 00:22:10.549 one of the few, there were like two nightclubs 00:22:10.549 --> 00:22:13.210 in Philadelphia, which had a lot of underage 00:22:13.210 --> 00:22:17.990 kids in there. So it had like, on the upper floors, 00:22:18.029 --> 00:22:20.069 it was like 21 and over. On the lower floors, 00:22:20.089 --> 00:22:24.089 under 21. So we had all kinds of like kids going 00:22:24.089 --> 00:22:26.720 in there and stuff. And it was just like. It 00:22:26.720 --> 00:22:29.039 was kind of a rough crowd, and it was noisy, 00:22:29.220 --> 00:22:30.900 especially when it emptied at 2 in the morning 00:22:30.900 --> 00:22:32.680 kind of thing, and that's when everyone's sleeping, 00:22:32.819 --> 00:22:34.720 and then the street's full of people and being 00:22:34.720 --> 00:22:37.599 loud. So our reviews were a lot like, you know, 00:22:37.599 --> 00:22:40.519 great hostel, but right across from a lousy nightclub. 00:22:41.279 --> 00:22:45.539 Anyway, so the owner of that building approached 00:22:45.539 --> 00:22:47.839 me and said, would you like to expand into this 00:22:47.839 --> 00:22:49.859 hostel? I'm thinking, like, getting rid of the 00:22:49.859 --> 00:22:52.960 nightclub. Would you be interested in this building? 00:22:53.059 --> 00:22:54.700 I'm like, yeah, if it gets rid of the nightclub, 00:22:54.759 --> 00:22:57.630 for sure. uh even though we're really wasn't 00:22:57.630 --> 00:22:59.529 like we're bursting at the seams needed to you 00:22:59.529 --> 00:23:01.990 know more space but i just wanted to get i figured 00:23:01.990 --> 00:23:03.490 we get rid of that nightclub it might you know 00:23:03.490 --> 00:23:06.849 help things too so um so that's we wound up expanding 00:23:06.849 --> 00:23:09.650 to that so that it used to be a nightclub and 00:23:09.650 --> 00:23:12.589 that we turned that into uh into the hospital 00:23:12.589 --> 00:23:17.569 you know more hostile um and uh richard when 00:23:17.569 --> 00:23:19.769 richard gear actually filmed a scene in one of 00:23:19.769 --> 00:23:24.450 his movies in that uh nightclub was called club 00:23:24.450 --> 00:23:30.410 um Not Cotton Club. Club 27. Oh, okay. Okay. 00:23:30.930 --> 00:23:35.329 Richard Gere. Wow. All right. Yeah. So he filmed 00:23:35.329 --> 00:23:38.690 a scene in what is now our room, room 302. So 00:23:38.690 --> 00:23:41.190 we call that our Richard Gere room. I love it. 00:23:41.269 --> 00:23:43.190 It wasn't a room at the time at all. It was like, 00:23:43.210 --> 00:23:47.910 like, but it's, but basically where that scene 00:23:47.910 --> 00:23:50.250 was filmed is what is now room 302. So we call 00:23:50.250 --> 00:23:54.339 it our Richard Gere room. And when he was. doing 00:23:54.339 --> 00:23:56.559 that scene he asked the owner of the club is 00:23:56.559 --> 00:23:59.339 this like is this the old five spot because that 00:23:59.339 --> 00:24:01.920 street bank street they're on used to be back 00:24:01.920 --> 00:24:04.599 in the 70s and 80s used to be like like those 00:24:04.599 --> 00:24:06.519 are the three clubs that people always went to 00:24:06.519 --> 00:24:11.539 um and uh so including richard gear because he 00:24:11.539 --> 00:24:14.039 was he remembered you know uh partying there 00:24:14.039 --> 00:24:17.380 back in the day um and so the five spot was a 00:24:17.380 --> 00:24:19.259 different nightclub that was all down the street 00:24:19.259 --> 00:24:24.539 that burned down in 2006 or 2007 so So Richard 00:24:24.539 --> 00:24:27.940 Gere is kind of familiar with that. But yeah, 00:24:27.980 --> 00:24:29.779 I used to be, yeah, these three nightclubs and 00:24:29.779 --> 00:24:31.599 now two of them are hostels. One of them is just, 00:24:31.619 --> 00:24:34.839 is gone now, but. It's amazing how the nightclub 00:24:34.839 --> 00:24:36.720 scene, I don't know if it's like that in Philly, 00:24:36.740 --> 00:24:38.819 but out in California, especially in San Diego, 00:24:38.839 --> 00:24:40.759 like the traveler, they just don't drink like 00:24:40.759 --> 00:24:43.039 they used to. Even when we started, you know, 00:24:43.039 --> 00:24:45.339 13 years ago, you were saying like, it was essential 00:24:45.339 --> 00:24:47.880 to have like drinking almost every night to get 00:24:47.880 --> 00:24:51.180 those, to entertain the crowd. And today it's 00:24:51.180 --> 00:24:54.480 such a different world. yeah you mean in the 00:24:54.480 --> 00:24:57.079 hostel itself or uh we feel yeah in the hostel 00:24:57.079 --> 00:25:00.400 we feel there's less yeah yeah i remember reading 00:25:00.400 --> 00:25:02.480 something somebody's comment on you know one 00:25:02.480 --> 00:25:04.339 of these group chats or whatever about like you 00:25:04.339 --> 00:25:05.799 know it's like hey you guys noticing that you 00:25:05.799 --> 00:25:07.500 know people aren't really participating as much 00:25:07.500 --> 00:25:09.940 anymore and and that sort of thing and yeah uh 00:25:09.940 --> 00:25:13.380 i can say yeah you're right i think it does seem 00:25:13.380 --> 00:25:16.359 a bit like that uh um because i remember like 00:25:16.359 --> 00:25:18.839 we put a case of beer out and we get complaints 00:25:18.839 --> 00:25:21.160 like uh oh they're not putting enough beer out 00:25:21.160 --> 00:25:23.359 you know kind of thing and yeah And now I put 00:25:23.359 --> 00:25:25.299 smaller cases out and they're not finishing them. 00:25:26.890 --> 00:25:30.809 No, it's definitely a noticeable trend of I remember 00:25:30.809 --> 00:25:33.809 we used to actively try to make certain nights 00:25:33.809 --> 00:25:36.069 non -alcohol nights like we can't be doing this 00:25:36.069 --> 00:25:38.109 every night. You know, this is too much. Let's 00:25:38.109 --> 00:25:40.130 try to have a yoga night or something different. 00:25:40.390 --> 00:25:43.269 And now it's completely opposite where I feel 00:25:43.269 --> 00:25:45.470 like they're more in tune with the wellness lifestyle, 00:25:45.710 --> 00:25:48.349 where if you have a yoga class every night, that's 00:25:48.349 --> 00:25:51.210 going to be full. But beer pong, you might have 00:25:51.210 --> 00:25:53.549 a hard time with where before I'd be like hiding 00:25:53.549 --> 00:25:55.900 the beer pong table so they would stop. fucking 00:25:55.900 --> 00:25:59.380 playing just for a night uh so it's such a such 00:25:59.380 --> 00:26:02.839 a difference and change now you expanded across 00:26:02.839 --> 00:26:05.279 street and that's something that for you know 00:26:05.279 --> 00:26:07.559 listeners out there especially people that might 00:26:07.559 --> 00:26:09.640 be thinking expanding i think a lot of times 00:26:09.640 --> 00:26:11.380 people think you've got to go to a different 00:26:11.380 --> 00:26:14.480 city a different spot and in our experience you 00:26:14.480 --> 00:26:17.359 know i love the expansion within the city because 00:26:17.359 --> 00:26:20.099 it's so much easier to maintain yourself you 00:26:20.099 --> 00:26:24.170 know so opening we opened up a location in san 00:26:24.170 --> 00:26:26.309 diego and pacific beach and then we opened one 00:26:26.309 --> 00:26:28.130 up in mission beach and someone was asking me 00:26:28.130 --> 00:26:30.809 why would you do one so close on why not take 00:26:30.809 --> 00:26:32.970 a skateboard ride down and check out your other 00:26:32.970 --> 00:26:34.869 spot you don't have to hop on a bloody plane 00:26:34.869 --> 00:26:40.390 you know uh so i i'm interested to hear uh your 00:26:40.390 --> 00:26:42.490 thoughts on this as you have a unique position 00:26:42.490 --> 00:26:45.430 of you were there at usa hostels and you saw 00:26:45.430 --> 00:26:49.490 this expansion happen and David at USA Hostels, 00:26:49.509 --> 00:26:52.490 unless I think I'm correct, he was like the first 00:26:52.490 --> 00:26:55.630 privately owned hostel that tried to expand to 00:26:55.630 --> 00:26:59.569 that number or to that size. Well, I mean, yeah. 00:26:59.650 --> 00:27:01.609 I mean, there was Banana Bungalow back then. 00:27:01.609 --> 00:27:04.609 Banana Bungalow was another one. But I think 00:27:04.609 --> 00:27:06.450 they maxed out at three. I think so. They had 00:27:06.450 --> 00:27:11.589 San Diego and Hawaii. Yeah. And then we've seen 00:27:11.589 --> 00:27:14.500 Selena. which was a recent one that really tried 00:27:14.500 --> 00:27:16.700 to take all of this venture capital money and 00:27:16.700 --> 00:27:18.299 then had all this pressure to open up a bunch 00:27:18.299 --> 00:27:21.319 of spots. And very quickly, I feel like they 00:27:21.319 --> 00:27:25.779 proved that hostels are a unique business, in 00:27:25.779 --> 00:27:29.519 my opinion, where the chain doesn't work because 00:27:29.519 --> 00:27:32.279 you have to become so cookie cutter and so corporate. 00:27:33.150 --> 00:27:35.130 by the textbook of, like, a hotel expansion, 00:27:35.470 --> 00:27:38.829 that you lose all of that special sauce and that, 00:27:38.890 --> 00:27:41.430 you know, vibe that is what creates the characters, 00:27:41.490 --> 00:27:43.529 what creates a hostel and makes it separate from 00:27:43.529 --> 00:27:48.210 a hotel. We at ITH are, you know, often struggling 00:27:48.210 --> 00:27:50.730 with that now of, like, you know, we've got to 00:27:50.730 --> 00:27:54.339 slow down because it's... We're seeing that precipice 00:27:54.339 --> 00:27:56.420 of, oh, man, we're going to have to start getting 00:27:56.420 --> 00:27:58.380 so corporate and so cookie cutter to maintain 00:27:58.380 --> 00:28:00.259 all these locations that we're going to lose 00:28:00.259 --> 00:28:03.700 what makes us special. In your opinion, having 00:28:03.700 --> 00:28:06.420 that experience at USA Hostels, running your 00:28:06.420 --> 00:28:09.500 own shop for many years afterwards, what do you 00:28:09.500 --> 00:28:14.059 feel like is the max size that one could expect 00:28:14.059 --> 00:28:18.519 to be able to expand location -wise before running 00:28:18.519 --> 00:28:21.720 into those problems? are your insights into why 00:28:21.720 --> 00:28:26.140 places like a selena or other hotel style chains 00:28:26.140 --> 00:28:29.960 haven't been able to successfully ramp up like 00:28:29.960 --> 00:28:32.920 oh i've got 50 hostels and they all run in that 00:28:32.920 --> 00:28:34.920 mom and pop fashion what are your thoughts on 00:28:34.920 --> 00:28:37.240 that yeah well i mean it's just the the sheer 00:28:37.240 --> 00:28:39.400 number of like employees that you have and everything 00:28:39.400 --> 00:28:42.019 i think like they get into human resources and 00:28:42.019 --> 00:28:44.240 stuff that was also something was happening at 00:28:44.730 --> 00:28:48.630 at USA hostels was we had so many employees and 00:28:48.630 --> 00:28:50.150 then there's, you know, certain laws you have 00:28:50.150 --> 00:28:52.710 to abide by when you have certain, when you surpass 00:28:52.710 --> 00:28:55.309 so many employees and stuff, then it's a lot 00:28:55.309 --> 00:28:58.970 of HR and that's not fun. No. Right. Yeah. Yeah. 00:28:59.950 --> 00:29:02.029 I, you know, that's not what I got into hostels 00:29:02.029 --> 00:29:11.430 for. Yeah. Yeah. So, so yeah, that's yeah. I 00:29:11.430 --> 00:29:14.779 mean, I mean, I, I don't think it really necessarily 00:29:14.779 --> 00:29:17.400 affects the each hostel. It's, you know, you 00:29:17.400 --> 00:29:21.099 can still, you know, have it run a certain way 00:29:21.099 --> 00:29:24.220 and, and, and whatever it is just really, I think 00:29:24.220 --> 00:29:26.819 the, it does get, but it does get very corporate 00:29:26.819 --> 00:29:29.759 and, and then it's, it's just not as fun, you 00:29:29.759 --> 00:29:33.480 know, feel that top down, right? People up top 00:29:33.480 --> 00:29:35.980 start not having fun. And then it flows downward 00:29:35.980 --> 00:29:38.140 to the guest experience of like, Oh, this doesn't 00:29:38.140 --> 00:29:40.039 feel the same. You're like, Oh, I'm on a phone 00:29:40.039 --> 00:29:41.740 with a lawyer all day long. Now it's not the 00:29:41.740 --> 00:29:48.109 same. Now, how about the change of the guest 00:29:48.109 --> 00:29:50.789 demographic? This is another one that I love 00:29:50.789 --> 00:29:52.809 to speak with people who have been in the industry 00:29:52.809 --> 00:29:55.789 as long as Bob and I have been, and even longer 00:29:55.789 --> 00:29:58.210 in your case, so that you've got a better vantage 00:29:58.210 --> 00:30:02.210 point. When we first started 15 years ago, it 00:30:02.210 --> 00:30:05.250 was, you know, 80 % of the hostel was international. 00:30:06.029 --> 00:30:08.789 And then like there was like 20 percent Americans 00:30:08.789 --> 00:30:12.190 that you would let in on the exception. But they 00:30:12.190 --> 00:30:14.410 were all actual backpackers. And that's why you 00:30:14.410 --> 00:30:16.329 let him in, because you're like, OK, you just 00:30:16.329 --> 00:30:19.029 came from Asia after a backpack tour. You know 00:30:19.029 --> 00:30:21.029 what's going on here. You appreciate it. You 00:30:21.029 --> 00:30:23.750 get it. You're going to fit in fine. But that 00:30:23.750 --> 00:30:26.329 was like a very select, exclusive crew that you 00:30:26.329 --> 00:30:29.009 would let through the doors. And most other Americans 00:30:29.009 --> 00:30:31.430 were just turned away. And a lot of hostels even 00:30:31.430 --> 00:30:33.450 back then just didn't even take Americans at 00:30:33.450 --> 00:30:37.690 all. Now, given our situation with pandemics 00:30:37.690 --> 00:30:41.470 and political issues of, you know, we're not 00:30:41.470 --> 00:30:43.690 too popular right now internationally, and then 00:30:43.690 --> 00:30:47.470 the opening up to the American guest, what is 00:30:47.470 --> 00:30:49.990 some big differences you have noticed in that 00:30:49.990 --> 00:30:52.269 change of the guest demographic over the years? 00:30:53.789 --> 00:30:59.170 Yeah, well, I mean, until very recently, it really 00:30:59.170 --> 00:31:01.950 hasn't changed that much in Philadelphia. Okay. 00:31:03.470 --> 00:31:05.470 We're still always getting, you know, kind of 00:31:05.470 --> 00:31:07.869 80, 85 percent foreign travelers. But that has 00:31:07.869 --> 00:31:11.990 changed the past couple of years. Just the past 00:31:11.990 --> 00:31:14.430 couple. Pandemic, but also this year, especially, 00:31:14.490 --> 00:31:16.390 of course, with what's going on with Trump. Yeah. 00:31:16.410 --> 00:31:24.289 Yeah. So. Yeah. So. Yeah. So in Philadelphia, 00:31:24.329 --> 00:31:26.009 I didn't really see it that much. There was always 00:31:26.009 --> 00:31:27.450 the same thing. There was like certain times 00:31:27.450 --> 00:31:31.849 a year we get more Americans and like. And for 00:31:31.849 --> 00:31:34.829 me, it was, we always had just a boundary, you 00:31:34.829 --> 00:31:36.849 know, kind of thing. It was 75 miles originally. 00:31:37.750 --> 00:31:39.930 You had to prove that you live more than 75 miles 00:31:39.930 --> 00:31:41.630 from Philadelphia, either foreign passport or 00:31:41.630 --> 00:31:43.390 an ID with an address that's more than 75 miles 00:31:43.390 --> 00:31:46.410 away. And that worked well, you know, kind of 00:31:46.410 --> 00:31:49.630 thing. Like, I don't think, I mean, I always 00:31:49.630 --> 00:31:53.630 have a saying that, like, not every American 00:31:53.630 --> 00:31:55.509 is a problem, but every problem is an American. 00:31:57.609 --> 00:32:02.160 You nailed it, you nailed it. And it's not because 00:32:02.160 --> 00:32:04.180 they're American. Like if it was in Canada or 00:32:04.180 --> 00:32:05.599 Australia, anywhere, the same thing. It'd be 00:32:05.599 --> 00:32:07.299 like any locals, you know, kind of thing. You 00:32:07.299 --> 00:32:12.319 know, it's nothing against Americans. It's just 00:32:12.319 --> 00:32:14.240 locals in general, no matter where you are kind 00:32:14.240 --> 00:32:17.400 of thing. And so I always had that, I had that 00:32:17.400 --> 00:32:20.180 75 mile radius and that worked well. And I just 00:32:20.180 --> 00:32:22.799 like, so we were pretty firm on that, you know, 00:32:22.799 --> 00:32:25.339 and we're very firm on that. And cause I figured 00:32:25.339 --> 00:32:27.619 we're not discriminating as long as we keep. 00:32:27.960 --> 00:32:30.880 just, you know, apply that to everybody kind 00:32:30.880 --> 00:32:32.799 of thing. So we, we had a fair amount of Americans, 00:32:32.839 --> 00:32:34.380 especially when we had, there's, you know, big 00:32:34.380 --> 00:32:36.559 conferences in Philadelphia, we get a lot of 00:32:36.559 --> 00:32:39.059 conference goers and stuff. So, so, you know, 00:32:39.059 --> 00:32:41.420 there were weeks where we'd be, you know, 40, 00:32:41.559 --> 00:32:44.759 50 % American, you know, but, but generally in 00:32:44.759 --> 00:32:46.160 the, you know, summer, that sort of thing would 00:32:46.160 --> 00:32:50.900 be, you know, 80, 85 % foreign travelers. And, 00:32:51.119 --> 00:32:54.859 but during the, but always wondered about that. 00:32:55.599 --> 00:32:58.480 radius how important that that was you know the 00:32:58.480 --> 00:33:02.619 75 radius um so during the pandemic at the start 00:33:02.619 --> 00:33:06.740 of in march of 2020 uh when they shut the border 00:33:06.740 --> 00:33:12.480 and then suddenly um everyone's canceling um 00:33:12.480 --> 00:33:17.559 and i've never seen it before uh the printout 00:33:17.559 --> 00:33:20.720 for the reservations we got in the past 24 24 00:33:20.720 --> 00:33:25.029 hours empty not a single reservation And when 00:33:25.029 --> 00:33:27.670 you see that, as a business owner, you panic. 00:33:27.869 --> 00:33:29.869 It's like, well, how am I going to stay in business? 00:33:29.910 --> 00:33:31.470 This is before they announced, you know, PPP 00:33:31.470 --> 00:33:35.450 and all that stuff. And I was like, oh, my God, 00:33:35.589 --> 00:33:36.730 you know, how are we going to stay in business? 00:33:36.950 --> 00:33:39.369 So, you know, so I'm like brainstorming with 00:33:39.369 --> 00:33:44.369 the staff and everything. And, like, maybe we 00:33:44.369 --> 00:33:46.289 can get some students to, you know, who are still 00:33:46.289 --> 00:33:49.789 in Philadelphia and, you know, and whatever and 00:33:49.789 --> 00:33:53.740 house them. And so let's get let's get rid of 00:33:53.740 --> 00:33:56.740 the 75 mile radius. Let's anybody let anybody 00:33:56.740 --> 00:33:59.680 stay. We have no choice now, you know. OK, we 00:33:59.680 --> 00:34:02.359 did that. And we still had, you know, some regular 00:34:02.359 --> 00:34:05.559 guests, you know, like Europeans that hadn't 00:34:05.559 --> 00:34:07.240 gone their flight home yet. You know, they're 00:34:07.240 --> 00:34:09.900 still in the country, hadn't just made their 00:34:09.900 --> 00:34:12.599 way home yet. So we still had, you know, women 00:34:12.599 --> 00:34:18.159 from England and France and whatnot. And so anyway, 00:34:18.260 --> 00:34:21.940 so within a day of. opening up to anybody can 00:34:21.940 --> 00:34:26.159 check in we got like locals checking in and you 00:34:26.159 --> 00:34:28.699 know they're going up to the women and saying 00:34:28.699 --> 00:34:31.360 hey nice you know i kind of repeat the word that 00:34:31.360 --> 00:34:34.940 they yeah a nice body part yeah you know yeah 00:34:34.940 --> 00:34:38.880 i'm like no no no business and deal with this 00:34:38.880 --> 00:34:45.239 no so i put up so i changed it to 40 miles so 00:34:45.239 --> 00:34:49.539 let's narrow it down so i made it 40 miles uh 00:34:49.539 --> 00:34:51.440 but we weren't getting anybody, still weren't 00:34:51.440 --> 00:34:53.860 getting anybody. So then we wound up closing 00:34:53.860 --> 00:34:55.840 anyways, you know, for, for a couple of months 00:34:55.840 --> 00:34:59.179 and, and then reopened. And then we kept that 00:34:59.179 --> 00:35:01.679 40 mile radius thing. And we've been at 40 miles 00:35:01.679 --> 00:35:07.119 ever since. And that seems to be fine. For a 00:35:07.119 --> 00:35:09.179 reason that 40 seems to work. So like one time, 00:35:09.179 --> 00:35:13.519 you know, a woman made a reservation and I checked 00:35:13.519 --> 00:35:16.630 to see what her distance was. And I looked at 00:35:16.630 --> 00:35:19.329 the time instead of the miles by mistake. So 00:35:19.329 --> 00:35:22.730 it said like 39, I thought miles was 39 minutes 00:35:22.730 --> 00:35:25.530 away. And it was actually, she was about, you 00:35:25.530 --> 00:35:28.610 know, 32 miles, 35 miles away kind of thing. 00:35:28.710 --> 00:35:30.949 So since I had already told her she could stay 00:35:30.949 --> 00:35:33.230 because I looked at it wrong, I let her check 00:35:33.230 --> 00:35:36.250 in. Within five minutes, we had to check her 00:35:36.250 --> 00:35:37.949 out, like kick her out because she'd insulted 00:35:37.949 --> 00:35:40.340 half our guests and everything. But I think that 00:35:40.340 --> 00:35:41.960 40 miles is about right. It seems like, you know, 00:35:41.980 --> 00:35:44.780 anything within 40 is, like, bad news. Yeah. 00:35:45.260 --> 00:35:49.519 And just not, yeah. So, but, yeah, definitely 00:35:49.519 --> 00:35:53.719 affects the atmosphere in the hostel. You know, 00:35:53.739 --> 00:35:56.340 it's so interesting in that, in our business, 00:35:56.420 --> 00:35:59.929 that element. in playing with that and you know 00:35:59.929 --> 00:36:01.949 how it can really affect the vibe of the house 00:36:01.949 --> 00:36:04.849 and i i can recall when we were opening up a 00:36:04.849 --> 00:36:06.849 location and someone was asking me like what 00:36:06.849 --> 00:36:08.429 are you going to do to get the locals involved 00:36:08.429 --> 00:36:10.710 to get the word out there and i was like wow 00:36:10.710 --> 00:36:14.690 what a unique business we don't have any local 00:36:14.690 --> 00:36:16.550 marketing, you know, like we actually don't allow 00:36:16.550 --> 00:36:18.809 the locals in here, you know, and the person's 00:36:18.809 --> 00:36:21.389 looking at me like, what the fuck? What are you 00:36:21.389 --> 00:36:23.409 running? And I was like, yeah, I can see how 00:36:23.409 --> 00:36:25.389 that must sound so bizarre, but like, no, there 00:36:25.389 --> 00:36:27.489 is no local marketing. You're like, there's actually 00:36:27.489 --> 00:36:30.690 a local defense. Right. Exactly. Yeah. No, I've 00:36:30.690 --> 00:36:32.329 got the same thing. People approach me on advertising 00:36:32.329 --> 00:36:35.550 and local. news magazine or whatever and i'm 00:36:35.550 --> 00:36:38.809 like no i don't want the local you know and it's 00:36:38.809 --> 00:36:40.949 so interesting like because i don't know if you 00:36:40.949 --> 00:36:43.750 recall this but we were at the i think it was 00:36:43.750 --> 00:36:46.510 called the american hostel conference in charleston 00:36:46.510 --> 00:36:48.829 south carolina they had it for a few years vicky 00:36:48.829 --> 00:36:51.670 would run it yeah and that was the first time 00:36:51.670 --> 00:36:55.110 i ever heard of it you were in the room And amongst 00:36:55.110 --> 00:36:57.230 all these hostels, they're like, has anyone thought 00:36:57.230 --> 00:37:00.449 about this, you know, pandemic or disease in 00:37:00.449 --> 00:37:03.510 China? Or I had a reservation canceled because 00:37:03.510 --> 00:37:06.010 of it. Has anyone else had any issues? Does anyone 00:37:06.010 --> 00:37:07.929 think it's going to? I remember everyone in the 00:37:07.929 --> 00:37:08.969 room being like, I don't know what this guy's 00:37:08.969 --> 00:37:13.530 talking about. But that has been, since I've 00:37:13.530 --> 00:37:15.690 been in hostels, that has been like running hostels, 00:37:15.690 --> 00:37:17.949 like for USA Hostels, it was always my biggest 00:37:17.949 --> 00:37:21.460 fear was a pandemic. You were on it, man. You 00:37:21.460 --> 00:37:26.920 were on it. I told Maria, the owner of San Diego. 00:37:27.059 --> 00:37:29.539 She was with me at USA Hostels. I told her one 00:37:29.539 --> 00:37:33.699 time. I think maybe there was a bird flu or talk 00:37:33.699 --> 00:37:35.940 about maybe a possible bird flu. I'm like, Maria, 00:37:36.559 --> 00:37:38.739 this might be it. I'm really worried about a 00:37:38.739 --> 00:37:42.679 pandemic. She's like, that's ridiculous. And 00:37:42.679 --> 00:37:46.019 I always knew like a pandemic would be like serious 00:37:46.019 --> 00:37:48.460 trouble for it. But you know what? I just realized 00:37:48.460 --> 00:37:50.739 how bad it was because if it really only affected 00:37:50.739 --> 00:37:54.380 hostels, we'd all be closed. We'd be out of business. 00:37:54.440 --> 00:37:57.480 But because it affected so many businesses, like 00:37:57.480 --> 00:38:00.280 not just hostels, then we had like access to, 00:38:00.320 --> 00:38:02.599 you know, PPP money and stuff like that. Yeah. 00:38:03.500 --> 00:38:06.179 You know, so, you know, if it hadn't been as 00:38:06.179 --> 00:38:12.699 far reaching or as impactful. It's true. We all 00:38:12.699 --> 00:38:16.239 would have went down. Yeah. But, yeah, no, it's 00:38:16.239 --> 00:38:20.659 always on my mind. Always. Now, I got to ask 00:38:20.659 --> 00:38:22.699 you, but you brought up Maria. Now, Maria was 00:38:22.699 --> 00:38:25.340 by the time we got to USA Hostel, she was in 00:38:25.340 --> 00:38:28.420 your job. So you were like the number two for 00:38:28.420 --> 00:38:30.860 many years for David. And then when you left, 00:38:30.880 --> 00:38:33.400 she became your position. And that's when we 00:38:33.400 --> 00:38:35.519 went there and worked there as young pups. But 00:38:35.519 --> 00:38:38.519 what was Maria like when she was a young pup 00:38:38.519 --> 00:38:40.519 when you first met her? That was I mean, this 00:38:40.519 --> 00:38:45.480 is gold. Give us something. Yeah, no, I mean, 00:38:45.500 --> 00:38:53.829 I like. So I interviewed Maria with, with Catherine, 00:38:54.190 --> 00:39:00.849 who is one of our GMs at the time. And Catherine 00:39:00.849 --> 00:39:04.130 didn't like her. And like, no, I like, I like 00:39:04.130 --> 00:39:10.230 Maria. Like, and so, so, but yeah, no, Maria 00:39:10.230 --> 00:39:13.579 was. I mean, you know, Maria, so she's like, 00:39:13.619 --> 00:39:15.900 um, she hasn't changed. She's always, she's always 00:39:15.900 --> 00:39:19.079 been the same, just, um, very strong woman, uh, 00:39:19.159 --> 00:39:24.940 very intelligent, um, you know, um, and, uh, 00:39:24.960 --> 00:39:28.460 you know, very, you know, uh, very tough, you 00:39:28.460 --> 00:39:35.760 know, boxy as ever. Yeah. Um, so, uh, yeah, no, 00:39:35.860 --> 00:39:42.159 um, uh, yeah, there's really nothing. You don't 00:39:42.159 --> 00:39:44.480 know about Maria. It's always been the same. 00:39:46.599 --> 00:39:50.639 She always spoke very highly of you. So it's 00:39:50.639 --> 00:39:52.659 cool to have gotten to know you over the years. 00:39:52.780 --> 00:39:54.440 So you've never seen Maria when she's had a few 00:39:54.440 --> 00:40:01.239 drinks? Oh yeah, we have. Now, and then back 00:40:01.239 --> 00:40:04.539 to the HI affiliate program, just before we wrap 00:40:04.539 --> 00:40:07.000 up, I was curious to hear more about this from 00:40:07.000 --> 00:40:08.980 you as we touched a little bit about it before. 00:40:09.869 --> 00:40:14.849 Why did that go away? So their lawyers told them 00:40:14.849 --> 00:40:18.309 they needed to make it go away. Oh, the liability 00:40:18.309 --> 00:40:21.889 of it. Liability. Okay. And also just because 00:40:21.889 --> 00:40:24.329 coming out of the pandemic, they had to cut a 00:40:24.329 --> 00:40:27.289 lot of jobs, including the person whose job was 00:40:27.289 --> 00:40:30.030 to go around and audit all the hostiles. Okay. 00:40:30.409 --> 00:40:35.059 A lot of work. as many or more affiliate hostels 00:40:35.059 --> 00:40:38.579 than actual hi hostels so yeah um so it's just 00:40:38.579 --> 00:40:41.340 because they had to reduce manpower but also 00:40:41.340 --> 00:40:44.539 the lawyer said it's too much reliability yeah 00:40:44.539 --> 00:40:48.159 it seems like they they out of everyone it seems 00:40:48.159 --> 00:40:49.900 like they took the hardest hit through the pandemic 00:40:49.900 --> 00:40:51.940 maybe because of their size you know it's hard 00:40:51.940 --> 00:40:54.559 to keep a beast like that afloat to navigate 00:40:54.559 --> 00:40:57.539 through that just bad timing i mean i mean me 00:40:57.539 --> 00:40:59.739 too i mean i just expanded you know if you yeah 00:41:00.280 --> 00:41:02.199 there's going to be a pandemic in two years. 00:41:02.260 --> 00:41:08.880 So like, uh, cause that was 2000, 2000, uh, 2017. 00:41:09.780 --> 00:41:11.199 Yeah. Coming up. And then, you know, it was a 00:41:11.199 --> 00:41:13.039 few years later. So I was just starting to like, 00:41:13.199 --> 00:41:17.119 you know, um, you know, you know, break, you 00:41:17.119 --> 00:41:20.360 know, kind of, uh, make some money. Yeah. Kind 00:41:20.360 --> 00:41:22.019 of thing. Like I said, we were bursting at the 00:41:22.019 --> 00:41:24.420 seams of the time. Yeah. Like, so we can really, 00:41:24.500 --> 00:41:26.460 you know, but we're just started, you know, kind 00:41:26.460 --> 00:41:28.800 of on a roll and then the pandemic happened and. 00:41:29.320 --> 00:41:31.980 Now I'm carrying two buildings through a pandemic 00:41:31.980 --> 00:41:36.280 instead of one. The bigger you are, the harder 00:41:36.280 --> 00:41:41.000 it's going to be. Was there a moment in your 00:41:41.000 --> 00:41:44.340 time running Apple or at USA Hostels where you 00:41:44.340 --> 00:41:48.000 felt like the hostels are firing on all cylinders 00:41:48.000 --> 00:41:50.360 and kind of why? Maybe some advice you could 00:41:50.360 --> 00:41:53.559 give to other hostel owners from when? Like, 00:41:53.599 --> 00:41:55.039 I don't know, maybe a year that it was working 00:41:55.039 --> 00:41:57.619 the best or a strategy you felt it was working 00:41:57.619 --> 00:42:00.420 the best or something that you, like, what do 00:42:00.420 --> 00:42:03.340 you try to chase to get it, your hustle to perform 00:42:03.340 --> 00:42:07.239 the best? I mean, these days it's really, you 00:42:07.239 --> 00:42:12.440 know, it's a lot, now it's, you know, it's a 00:42:12.440 --> 00:42:15.760 little harder just because of the, you know, 00:42:15.760 --> 00:42:19.940 of the economic environment, you know, I've got 00:42:19.940 --> 00:42:22.840 a thing with, and Fowler's not coming. Back in 00:42:22.840 --> 00:42:24.559 the day, it seemed like, you know, you didn't 00:42:24.559 --> 00:42:28.219 really have to do that. I mean, so originally 00:42:28.219 --> 00:42:29.860 it was a lot of work because you had to send 00:42:29.860 --> 00:42:32.340 a brochure. We were mailing brochures to, you 00:42:32.340 --> 00:42:35.960 know, to Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, Hawaii, 00:42:36.199 --> 00:42:38.460 the Cook Islands, you know, and then all across 00:42:38.460 --> 00:42:41.320 the United States and print advertising. And, 00:42:41.380 --> 00:42:44.179 you know, and all these things are gone now. 00:42:44.239 --> 00:42:46.920 The print advertising doesn't exist anymore. 00:42:47.800 --> 00:42:49.900 You know, we don't do brochures anymore. No one 00:42:49.900 --> 00:42:52.260 would put them up if you mailed them. to them. 00:42:52.340 --> 00:42:55.019 Um, you know, so it's a lot easier now. You just 00:42:55.019 --> 00:42:57.579 kind of rely on, you know, on Haas world and 00:42:57.579 --> 00:43:00.739 book .com and, and Expedia and all those guys. 00:43:00.760 --> 00:43:04.820 But, um, and, uh, you know, for me, it's just, 00:43:04.840 --> 00:43:07.079 you know, making sure I got a good product and 00:43:07.079 --> 00:43:11.500 got good reviews and, um, and, and, uh, just 00:43:11.500 --> 00:43:13.119 hope people come. That's, you know, got to think. 00:43:13.139 --> 00:43:16.960 So it's, um, and I, you know, it's the numbers 00:43:16.960 --> 00:43:20.809 that, you know, keep going down. Um, at least 00:43:20.809 --> 00:43:21.730 in Philadelphia, I don't know what it is like 00:43:21.730 --> 00:43:23.230 everywhere else, but in Philadelphia, our numbers 00:43:23.230 --> 00:43:24.849 keep going. Number of people keeps going down. 00:43:26.110 --> 00:43:29.369 We were finally doing really well last year, 00:43:29.510 --> 00:43:33.210 like in September, October, we're finally like 00:43:33.210 --> 00:43:36.710 surpassing like 2019, you know, numbers like 00:43:36.710 --> 00:43:39.670 as far as number of people we, you know, we kind 00:43:39.670 --> 00:43:42.429 of raised our rates, you know? So we weren't 00:43:42.429 --> 00:43:44.949 really going down in revenue per se, but you 00:43:44.949 --> 00:43:46.230 know, cause we were able to raise our rates. 00:43:46.230 --> 00:43:50.409 We kind of like stayed pretty steady. But it 00:43:50.409 --> 00:43:53.929 was finally September and October last year in 00:43:53.929 --> 00:43:56.929 November where we're actually number of people 00:43:56.929 --> 00:43:58.469 was going up, you know, kind of thing. Like, 00:43:58.530 --> 00:44:00.190 great. Finally, it's good. You know, kind of 00:44:00.190 --> 00:44:03.030 thing. And then but then Trump happened and everything 00:44:03.030 --> 00:44:06.030 off. Yeah. So now it's back to like, yeah, we're 00:44:06.030 --> 00:44:11.809 down. We're down. You know, we're down 20 percent, 00:44:11.989 --> 00:44:14.510 close to 20 percent in August. We're down almost 00:44:14.510 --> 00:44:17.579 20 percent in September. uh you know october 00:44:17.579 --> 00:44:20.000 probably down like 25 it's getting seems to be 00:44:20.000 --> 00:44:21.920 getting worse you're gonna think so yeah we need 00:44:21.920 --> 00:44:24.340 those international travelers to come back yeah 00:44:24.340 --> 00:44:27.219 so i mean what saved us we would have been uh 00:44:27.219 --> 00:44:30.579 you know worse off if it wasn't we had fifa we 00:44:30.579 --> 00:44:35.219 had a bunch of fifa oh fifa club matches we had 00:44:35.219 --> 00:44:38.480 like eight of them so uh so that saved our june 00:44:38.480 --> 00:44:43.179 and and beginning of july um Cause we, we had 00:44:43.179 --> 00:44:45.519 a good February Eagles one. So we had the Eagles 00:44:45.519 --> 00:44:48.539 parade, you know, so we had February did pretty 00:44:48.539 --> 00:44:50.840 well because the Eagles and also because, you 00:44:50.840 --> 00:44:52.900 know, nothing much had been affected yet by Trump 00:44:52.900 --> 00:44:56.119 yet. So February was still really, really good 00:44:56.119 --> 00:45:00.139 for February. And March wasn't too bad, but, 00:45:00.159 --> 00:45:03.340 but in Philadelphia, the hotels had already been 00:45:03.340 --> 00:45:06.099 like, we're down like in March, we're down like 00:45:06.099 --> 00:45:09.679 15, 20%. We're somehow kind of breaking even. 00:45:09.699 --> 00:45:12.429 So we're like, below what we probably would have 00:45:12.429 --> 00:45:16.469 been. But the hotels were already being affected 00:45:16.469 --> 00:45:18.750 by kind of people boycotting the United States 00:45:18.750 --> 00:45:23.349 and whatnot. And then, you know, we did okay 00:45:23.349 --> 00:45:26.190 in April just because of just things going on 00:45:26.190 --> 00:45:31.349 in the city. But then FIFA really helped us in 00:45:31.349 --> 00:45:34.809 June because June started off pretty slow. And 00:45:34.809 --> 00:45:37.210 then we had FIFA games and we picked up and we're 00:45:37.210 --> 00:45:39.010 like had a really big June because just because 00:45:39.010 --> 00:45:41.510 of FIFA. And then we had a July 4th game. So 00:45:41.510 --> 00:45:43.710 it was big, you know, semifinal or whatever. 00:45:43.829 --> 00:45:47.489 So it was big. And but then suddenly, like last 00:45:47.489 --> 00:45:49.989 half of June, just like nobody kind of thing 00:45:49.989 --> 00:45:52.670 was dead. And then in August, we just get lots 00:45:52.670 --> 00:45:55.949 of camp counselors every year. So that didn't 00:45:55.949 --> 00:45:57.650 change because they still came and worked in 00:45:57.650 --> 00:45:59.789 the camps. We had tons of people from from England, 00:45:59.929 --> 00:46:03.449 from UK coming to work at camps on the East Coast. 00:46:04.110 --> 00:46:07.349 um so we get tons of camp counselors so thank 00:46:07.349 --> 00:46:10.090 god for that because we were down you know 15 00:46:10.090 --> 00:46:12.769 17 in august but we would have been down way 00:46:12.769 --> 00:46:15.250 more if it wasn't for the camp counselors um 00:46:15.250 --> 00:46:17.650 yeah good markets and yeah connecting with events 00:46:17.650 --> 00:46:20.590 great great strategies there yeah yeah certain 00:46:20.590 --> 00:46:22.829 things that that have helped us but because it 00:46:22.829 --> 00:46:25.590 could have been a lot worse and um so we'll see 00:46:25.590 --> 00:46:28.150 how it goes going forward but it's not uh not 00:46:28.150 --> 00:46:30.989 looking great yeah well that would actually kind 00:46:30.989 --> 00:46:34.610 of to To close things out, I was curious to see 00:46:34.610 --> 00:46:35.170 what your thoughts are. Yeah, let's close out 00:46:35.170 --> 00:46:40.349 on a pressing note. Yeah. I'm going out of business, 00:46:40.469 --> 00:46:44.469 people. Bye. What do you see in your thoughts, 00:46:44.489 --> 00:46:48.199 the industry? in the next coming years, how do 00:46:48.199 --> 00:46:50.199 you, for the remainder of the, you know, the 00:46:50.199 --> 00:46:52.739 Trump administration pretty much is kind of on 00:46:52.739 --> 00:46:54.619 the, what do you, do you think it's just going 00:46:54.619 --> 00:46:57.360 to stay in its stagnated place that it's in, 00:46:57.420 --> 00:46:59.960 or could it conceivably continue to get worse? 00:47:00.079 --> 00:47:01.519 What are your thoughts? Everyone has a different 00:47:01.519 --> 00:47:04.199 opinion. I mean, it's not going to get much better. 00:47:04.880 --> 00:47:07.639 The worst, the best I can hope for is like not 00:47:07.639 --> 00:47:11.440 getting much worse, I think. Yeah. Yeah. You 00:47:11.440 --> 00:47:13.519 know, it depends on, you know, they're talking 00:47:13.519 --> 00:47:18.079 about requiring, a $5 ,000 to $15 ,000 deposit 00:47:18.079 --> 00:47:23.940 to the country. If they implement that, I don't 00:47:23.940 --> 00:47:26.860 know what's going on. We're already struggling 00:47:26.860 --> 00:47:32.840 without that kind of thing. I don't know. I would 00:47:32.840 --> 00:47:43.719 not expand right now. It's interesting times 00:47:43.719 --> 00:47:47.159 for sure. And we all have to kind of band together 00:47:47.159 --> 00:47:49.739 and navigate through the best we can. Will you 00:47:49.739 --> 00:47:53.000 be attending the North American Hostel Association 00:47:53.000 --> 00:47:56.380 Conference in Montreal, April 2026? I'm from 00:47:56.380 --> 00:48:00.480 Montreal. Yeah, I'd love to. I'd love to go. 00:48:00.559 --> 00:48:04.780 But I mean, I had to lay off my managers in August. 00:48:05.659 --> 00:48:09.659 So now I'm running everything myself. So we're 00:48:09.659 --> 00:48:13.659 low staff. It's just me now as far as managing 00:48:13.659 --> 00:48:17.030 the place. So it's hard to get away. I'm going 00:48:17.030 --> 00:48:19.869 up to Canada Halloween weekend for my dad's 90th 00:48:19.869 --> 00:48:23.889 birthday. Oh, cool. I can get away for a few 00:48:23.889 --> 00:48:25.789 days. We'll see. This will be a good test. If 00:48:25.789 --> 00:48:27.289 I can get out, you know, if I come back and the 00:48:27.289 --> 00:48:29.250 hostel is still standing, then maybe I can do 00:48:29.250 --> 00:48:31.170 it again in April. When is it? April or May? 00:48:31.909 --> 00:48:35.750 April. I think it's 28th of April. Oh, it's 28th 00:48:35.750 --> 00:48:42.289 of April. Okay. I saw James Lane from the, what 00:48:42.289 --> 00:48:47.519 do you call it? Hawks on West Virginia, uh, Harper's 00:48:47.519 --> 00:48:50.780 ferry. Uh, yes. And he was like talking about 00:48:50.780 --> 00:48:52.639 it. Like, yeah, I think it's April 28th. And, 00:48:52.699 --> 00:48:55.119 um, so anyway, uh, let's go. I remember he's 00:48:55.119 --> 00:48:58.340 not going, uh, but I'm hoping, I'm hoping to 00:48:58.340 --> 00:49:00.019 go, but yeah, it's just really hard for me now 00:49:00.019 --> 00:49:02.619 to get away from, uh, from here. Uh, not just, 00:49:02.639 --> 00:49:04.719 I'm just trying to also cut all expenses, you 00:49:04.719 --> 00:49:07.940 know? Yeah. Um, so it's also the cost of, of 00:49:07.940 --> 00:49:09.780 going and stuff. I have to think about it. So, 00:49:09.780 --> 00:49:13.179 um, So we'll see. But I'm hoping to. I was like, 00:49:13.219 --> 00:49:15.000 when they said Montreal, I was like, oh, man, 00:49:15.159 --> 00:49:18.239 it sucks. I don't know if I can go. No, but, 00:49:18.300 --> 00:49:21.519 you know, that's good. But in that right there, 00:49:21.619 --> 00:49:24.159 that is good advice for other hostile owners 00:49:24.159 --> 00:49:27.070 out there listening of how to navigate. And one 00:49:27.070 --> 00:49:30.070 of the best ways is to tighten the belt and get 00:49:30.070 --> 00:49:33.170 ahead of your expenses. And even though sometimes 00:49:33.170 --> 00:49:35.849 it's sad of letting people go, but we did the 00:49:35.849 --> 00:49:39.530 same thing of when the pandemic hit, we really 00:49:39.530 --> 00:49:43.489 started to tighten the belt and get rid of accessory 00:49:43.489 --> 00:49:46.730 things and whatnot. And I used to have a beachfront 00:49:46.730 --> 00:49:48.889 apartment and a club membership to everything. 00:49:49.309 --> 00:49:51.969 club in town and now i don't anymore and people 00:49:51.969 --> 00:49:54.329 ask like when you get back your beachfront apartment 00:49:54.329 --> 00:49:56.590 i you know probably under the next administration 00:49:56.590 --> 00:50:04.349 yeah yeah if we survive until then no but good 00:50:04.349 --> 00:50:07.050 advice you know keep it thin as we move forward 00:50:07.050 --> 00:50:10.949 and uh yeah but thanks so much mark for for joining 00:50:10.949 --> 00:50:15.199 us on the podcast and uh We hope to see you in 00:50:15.199 --> 00:50:17.280 April up in Montreal so you can keep me out of 00:50:17.280 --> 00:50:19.019 trouble when I do get into trouble up there. 00:50:21.179 --> 00:50:23.840 But if not, keep trucking out there in Philly. 00:50:24.340 --> 00:50:26.260 All right, will do. And yeah, thanks for having 00:50:26.260 --> 00:50:28.659 me and great talking to you. Yeah, thanks, Mark. 00:50:28.820 --> 00:50:30.159 Have a good day. Bye. All right.