It just makes me happy when people like it. That's
all I can say. It's just if they enjoy this and
if this is a huge house, I mean, we live upstairs,
we live above the hostel, but if I can share
this beauty here and all the knowledge I have
from traveling with my guests and they appreciate
it and they're happy that they found it and they
tell me about it and they come back again, then
that makes me, that's what I'm mostly proud of,
pretty much making this. little tiny hostel known
and still running after 20 years. 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 hostile operators or travel influencers
to hear about their road to success, discuss
trending hostile 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. I'm Bobby Dyer
filling in for Jimmy Black as he's out today.
But we are joined with Stephanie from the Cloudcroft
Hostel in Cloudcroft, New Mexico. Welcome, Stephanie.
Hi, Bobby. Nice. Thanks so much for coming on.
So, yeah, excited for our conversation today.
I know we've met many times at hostel conferences
and we've been connecting on WhatsApp about what's
going on in the industry. But I'm excited to
really dig into the story at your journey on
how you first got into hostels, as I know you've
got quite a bit of experience. So, yeah, I'd
love to kick it off and learn more about your
personal journey. What was your story like to
get into hostels? Well, I mean, I grew up in
Germany and I'm born in Germany and hostels are
there way more frequent. Every little town has
one. And I grew up with it. My grandparents actually
had a hostel. So my dad grew up in it. So I heard
all the stories. They didn't have a hostel anymore
when I was growing up. But I also stayed in a
lot of hostels during school trips and traveling
myself. And it was just a common thing. It was
not even a question. Everybody knew what a hostel
was. So coming over here, I did. I hadn't lived
here yet, but I took a cross -country trip on
my motorcycle by myself from New York to Los
Angeles. was looking for hostels and stayed in
some hostels and figured out there are some states
that don't have any hostels at all. And I did
like the different, it was a different vibe,
the hostels in the United States than the one
in Europe at that time. It's like 1995, the first
time, it's been a while. They were just different.
And then on the second trip, I met my ex -husband
on my second motorcycle trip. I took two of them,
like five years apart. Wow. And he was like,
he's older, and he was also ready for a change.
So I went back to Germany. He kind of followed
me, and then we talked back and forth what to
do because he didn't care for Germany. It's not
his thing. And so, you know, talked about opening
up a hostel. And I had fallen in love with New
Mexico on my first trip. And so pretty much 1999,
I decided to, no, 2000, end of 2000, I decided
to give up my life over there, pack everything
up, including my old cat. And moved over here
and we actually moved on into a tent because
he didn't have a house. And we were started somewhere
in the northern part of New Mexico and looked
all over for a property we wanted because I had
a specific place in mind. I didn't want to be
a city hostel. I did not want to be in a city.
I want to be a country hostel, but I didn't want
to be too far away from a city. or for anything
where you can buy groceries and stuff like that.
So we ended up finding this property, what was
a complete pack of heaven. That's how I describe
it. And when there was so much stuff on it, it
was incredible. But anyway, so we had the idea.
I have given up the life in Germany. We started,
we lived in a trailer in Alamogordo and worked
every day on this house. And then... Eventually,
we went out of money, so I went back to work
full -time working in those cruises as an architect.
What is my training? I'm not licensed, but that's
my training in architecture. And, yeah, so it
took a little longer, but 2006, we finally opened
up. So this year in September is 20 years. How
many states were you motorcycling through? I'd
love to hear that's part of the motorcycle journey.
Did you bring your bike over? Did you pick one
up when you got to America or what? And then
how long were you cruising around before you
rolled into New Mexico and was like, this is
it? I took the first trip. I brought my motorcycle
over because it was actually, it was a bike I
knew. It was reliable and renting one for three
months would have been really expensive. So it
took three months. Each of the trips were three
months. Only took as much as I can, blue highways,
the little highways, no interstates. And the
first trip I started up north in the, like New
Hampshire and all that and went down and then.
It was kind of in the fall, so it was a little
late. I wanted to go across Montana, but it was
too late. I didn't realize that, so I went down
Kentucky, Tennessee, and then over to New Mexico,
Arizona, and then California. Did you know you
wanted to make a hostel the whole time, or you
just explored? No, not the first trip. Not at
all. The first trip was a different life. The
second trip... I didn't know either yet that
we wanted to open up a hostel until my ex kind
of almost towards the end of the trip. And like
I said, we were when he came to Germany and we
talked about future where we want to live. I
didn't thought about opening up a hostel. First,
I was like, you know, a hostel. I didn't thought
it was something special, you know, because I
grew up with it. And it was. just something that
everybody knew, but I never thought to be. I'm
a designer. I'm in architecture and art and all
this stuff, so I never thought wanting a hostel,
but talking more and more, and I thought it'd
be actually kind of cool, and doing it in a mixture
between European and American style, kind of.
Was there a hostel you stayed at that you were
inspired by, and you were like, I could do this,
or that kind of moment when you guys thought
that maybe we could do this? So he never stayed
in hostels before. That was the interesting part.
And then when we met and we were traveling in
New Mexico, I really liked the Taos hostel. And
they've been around since a long time. I think
they're closed now or flipped it over to a more
kind of mini hotel or something like that. And
I think that's when he the first time kind of
experienced what a hostel is, you know, like
cooking together and meeting people and stuff
like that. I like the Taurus Hostel. I also like
the Albuquerque Hostel that doesn't exist anymore.
There were some... Hostels, I don't even remember
the name because they're not existing anymore.
They were out in the middle of nowhere. There
was like nobody there. It was just one little
house where you stayed. But like I said, at that
time, I didn't thought about opening up a hostel.
It was just something common to me. But then
getting into it, it was definitely really cool
to do. Nice. Yeah, that's awesome. And then,
so let's talk about Cloudcroft. Paint the picture.
What is Cloudcroft like? What's a nice day in
Cloudcroft like? Well, we are not exactly in
the town. I've just kind of adopted the name
to it because I think we're kind of all feet
off this little town. We're 10 minutes below
Cloudcroft. It's a tiny little mountain village,
9 ,000 feet high. So we are, this mountain range
where we're in here is the last end part of the
Rocky Mountains, pretty much, the last little.
mountain range. So what is really special about
here is that we are between two national parks.
So the Hallsburg Cavern and what is about three
hours away and then there's White Sands National
Park, what is a half hour away. And the mountain
range is really cool because within 20 minutes
you go from 9 ,000 feet to 4 ,500 feet. And so
you have this I read an article a long time ago.
This road is called the downfall of New Mexico
because you go through three different climate
changes, temperature changes. In the summertime,
you need a jacket sometimes in Klaukoff when
the rainy season is, and then it's 100 degrees
in Alamogordo. Wow. Yeah, it's a pretty interesting
area landscape -wise. And White Sands National
Park, it used to be a national monument when
we opened up the hostel. And they made it a national
park, I think, I believe, like three or four
years ago. And that brings in, I realize, a lot
more people. A lot more people know this area
because it's a national park now. Yeah, that's
great. Great advice. There are so many visitors
for other hostel owners listening. Being close
to a national park, that demand generator is
huge. And, you know, really targeting the guests
that are heading to that national park is hostels
are great options for so many of those kind of
travelers. I mean, everything is pretty expensive
here. I mean, you can get some really cheap Motel
6 in Alamogordo, but it's not the nicest town.
But up here in the mountains, we are the most
affordable place to stay. Nice. So you found
the building, fixed it up. Tell us about day
one, opening day. What was that like at Cloudcroft?
It was actually not fixing up a building because
it looked like a building. I don't know if you've
seen. There are some pictures on the website,
but we pretty much almost had to demolish everything.
We could keep the basic structure and rebuild
it. And then, yeah, I mean, the first day opening
up, the first guest, that was pretty exciting.
It was pretty cool. But when I look back at those
pictures and compare them with them now, I was
like, oh, my God, it was kind of scary looking.
Right. Yeah. I feel you there. How many beds
do you have at Cloudcroft? We sleep up to 25
people. So we have three private rooms with individual
bed arrangements from two to four and two shared
rooms. We don't have a co -ed room. We have one
for women and one for men. Interesting. And have
you been open for so many years? I know we have
a hostel in the mountains and you've got to kind
of learn the market and figure out how to make
money. Being in a remote town, it can be difficult.
Have you changed, like, focused on groups more
or changed the kind of setup of the property?
through the years or what have you found has
kind of worked best for you being in a you know
a mountain town like well at the very beginning
when we opened up we had only two private rooms
and three bunk bedrooms and then um they didn't
the bunk beds is the one that sells the least
pretty much but i like to keep them because i
rent them also as a private group room or i rent
the whole hostel as groups and it's really hard
to focus or change I mean if I would change get
rid of the bunk bedrooms and make this all private
rooms I probably make more but then it's not
a hostel to me anymore for some reason and and
we put so much work in remodeling the bunk bedrooms
I don't want to just change them right now and
I do like it because through the bunk bedrooms
I can get more people in as a group Last year,
the groups were really helpful to kind of hold
this up. This year, everything is out the window.
So this year, I'm just going, trying to get through
this and see where things are going before I
do some major changes. We had done... Over the
years that we upgraded, mainly in a pandemic,
we upgraded all the bunk bedrooms, all the private
rooms. And then 2024, we remodeled the kitchen
completely and doubled it in size, what people
really, really like. So those are the main upgrades.
And then it's just, you know, regular upgrades.
Being with an architect background, is that the
part that you really dig into and the design
element of it? What have you found? Yeah, nice.
Tell us more about, I don't know, any advice
on like the design side or anything you can think
of when you're putting together a hostel. The
feedback I'm getting and what I like compared
from because I took my ideas how to design is
when it was limited on what I had, what space
I have to work with. But I wanted a pretty clear
and straightforward. I didn't want that people
have to run through hallways and don't know where
to go. And people really appreciate it. That
it's just straightforward. I mean, it's basically
a hallway and the rooms go off and then we have
living room and kitchen. But it is all really
clear to everybody how this works and how this
functions. I get a lot of comments on the colors.
I do love colors. And as you can tell, I love
colors and I don't see that. enough in places
i see it more in hostels because they're a little
bit more artsy than other places yeah the freedom
that's the cool thing about having a hostel you
can really make it i always say make it it's
like a sculpture you know and you're always fixing
the sculpture repainting it readjusting it um
it's a never -ending art piece Well, the cool
thing is about hostels, what I learned over going
to conferences and talking with hostel owners
and websites and whatever, there is no rule how
a hostel has to be. Sure, yeah. I mean, if people
ask me, say, well, I would like to open up a
hostel, the cool thing is you can do whatever
you want. You can have all private rooms. You
can have all bunk beds. You can have one room.
You can have two rooms. It doesn't matter because
there is no rules how to have it. And I think
the individuality, this is what I enjoy about
the hostel, that I'm not in a hotel category
because we can be different. And, you know, we
offer something completely different, what is
still, I mean, 50 % of my guests never stayed
in the hostel. Right. Yeah, it's amazing how
much, especially in the American market, it's
so much about educating them and breaking down
the barrier, letting them feel comfortable. Now,
you run the hostel, I believe you said, by yourself,
a one -woman shop, or what is your operation
like? Pretty much by myself. I mean, I got divorced
in 2014 and have a new partner in 2018, but he's
more in the background. Big about the organization
and all this stuff. He helps me a lot with maintenance
if something breaks. But pretty much the cleaning,
everything. I do the whole thing by myself. I
have a cleaning help, if I'm lucky, someone at
the weekends. Wow. But it's really hard to find
people here to work. It is tough in the remote
towns. We found that too. It's hard to... Yeah,
just get the search there for people coming out.
Is there a backpacker trail in New Mexico? Do
people go like El Paso, New Mexico? Or where
are most of your guests traveling from? Pretty
much from all over. I mean, if someone flies
in, then it's El Paso. That's the closest international
airport. But I get mostly people who are on road
trips and a lot of people who just do national
parks. I'm trying to get every national parks
and that's where they found me. I don't get backpackers
so much because there's no bus that goes up here.
There's no public transportation or anything.
Nothing that goes to Alamogordo. I don't know
why everybody keeps calling me right now. I'm
sorry. And so that is... That's a bit of a difficult
thing for backpackers, so you do need to have
a car here. I do get motorcycle groups. There
is an off -road motorcycle trail kind of close
by, but mostly people who come here in the summertime
for hiking because it's cooler up here, enjoying
the outdoors and, like I said, the national parks,
and enjoy CloudCraft. Nice. Looking back when
you first started, what have you learned about
yourself now that you've been running a hostel
for 20 years that you're proud of or you've noticed?
What I'm proud of? I'm proud of that it just
makes me happy and people like it. That's all
I can say is just if they enjoy this and if this
is a huge house, I mean, we live upstairs, we
live above the hostel, but if I can share this
beauty here and all the knowledge I have from
traveling with my guests and they appreciate
it and they're happy that they found it and they
tell me about it and they come back again, then
that makes me, that's what I'm mostly proud of,
pretty much making this. a little tiny hostel
known and still running after 20 years. Right,
yeah, I know that it's so delightful serving
the guests and giving them a great vacation,
just like I'm sure you had so many great, probably,
hostel experiences cruising through America in
the 90s on your motorcycle. Yeah, and I mean,
it's like what I'm especially proud of, and it
changed a lot when I traveled by myself as a
woman. It was a lot different. I got a lot of
comments from people. I mean, there was no social
networking, no Google Maps, nothing like that.
You have a paper map and you travel and you don't
care. You just do the experience. But I got a
lot of weird comments that a woman traveling
by herself. Now, this changed a lot, but I still
realize that women are still reluctant sometimes
or afraid to travel by themselves. So advertising
this or telling them so they didn't tell their
friends. that this is a safe place. And it's
especially safe because we live upstairs. So
if even nobody else is in the hostel besides
one guy and one woman, they're safe because I'm
always there. Yeah. Because I live there. And
it gives them that because it's still a stigma
to travel by yourself. Like I said, it changed
a lot. But as long as you have a place, and that's
what I felt when I traveled by myself, staying
in hostels is just – Even if nobody's there,
you're still not that alone than when you're
in a hotel. Yeah, you have the other guests,
the host, the owners in your case. And so many
hostels have female -only dorms, which is so
important. I recommend that to other hostel owners.
Making a female -only dorm can really attract
a lot more solo female travelers. So very important
to have there. The co -ed room is something that,
first of all, we don't have space for a third
room. But I also realized that guys are not happy
having women in their rooms. Because there were
some occasions where I asked, I said, hey, can
I put that woman in there? And they said, no,
we don't feel comfortable with that. And so I
just kept it strictly male, female. And, you
know, if there's different genders or transgender,
whatever, you pick the one where you're most
comfortable. Gotcha. Nice. Talking about the
town, what do people do when they arrive at your
hostel? Tell us a little bit more about experiences,
activities. What can people expect? Well, like
I said, most of it is hiking in white sands.
So we do have maps from white sands. We have
sleds because people would go, you have those
little saucers and you slide down the dunes.
It's a fun thing to do. So we have those for
people can borrow. So I do give them a lot of
tips for hiking. And I always ask him, you know,
I don't have a handout. I always make, try to
make it as personal as possible to ask him how
much time you have and how experienced you are
and stuff like that. Because hiking is, big thing
here and then cloud craft is a nice town is it's
not there's not a lot of restaurants and a lot
of places to go out but we have a really good
brewery so i'm trying to give them tips where
to go eat and where to buy food and things like
that so what they expect here is is pretty much
outdoors everything is outdoorsy and uh it's
experienced the mountains and wildlife we have
elks coming on the property and occasionally
a mountain lion passing by so Quite the base
camp for adventure. It is. And most of the people,
it really happens that people hang out here all
day unless they stay longer and work here. But
most times people are out the door in the morning
and come back at night full of adventures and
experiences and enjoying this area. Yeah. And
do you have, does the Continental Divide Trail,
as far as hikers, do they come through there?
no that's a little too far off i think the the
continental divide that's there we don't get
many of them like i said we don't barely get
anybody without a car because you're kind of
stuck here hiking trails from the hostel besides
that you can hike on the property if you want
but that's kind of another trail trail is kind
of more wilderness hiking gotcha so is it like
a seasonal um kind of different obviously different
seasons you get different kinds of customers
and have you i guess what has that been like
and how have you tried to uh you know set yourself
up to take advantage or you know you have the
hostel do the best it can through the seasons
Hosting in a mountain town, we know from experience,
is tough, especially when it starts snowing.
Some of the hardest hosting is when it's pounding
snow outside and you've got to shovel the driveway.
The guests are sliding around in the snow. This
year we had a pretty bad winter. We had only
one good snow. That is something we don't struggle
with that much. We're really happy when it snows,
pretty much. Our main season is summertime. It's
Memorial Day to Labor Day. That's where we get
most people because we used to get a lot of people
also from El Paso. But this year, everything
kind of stopped and it has to do with immigration,
I'm pretty sure. People don't travel that much.
But it really is hard for me to say since that
pandemic. what actually, what kind of people
are coming and what kind of season is actually
the best season because it's been varying so
dramatically over those last six years. Right,
yeah, definitely shook things up and resettling.
Yeah, and I cannot really say that I'm catering
to one group of people. I'm trying to be a hostel
for all ages. So I do allow families with little
kids. I really welcome older people. And I have
people who are 70, 80, 90 years old who sometimes
show up. My majority of group, I think, I would
say is mid -20s to mid -30s and couples and stuff
like that. But I'm not particularly catering
to one group because I try. For me, it's a hostile
is that you all sit down on the table and you
all talk. to each other doesn't matter what age
you are and i'm trying to still continue that
and it it works for the most part sure yeah the
community the connection that's the beauty of
hostels how you people come together and can
learn so much and just open their eyes to new
things and yeah great advice there allowing you
know allowing families every destination is different
so you got to kind of know your your destination
a little bit but yeah i agree we take families
and um it can definitely help a lot Especially
during the slower seasons. I always ask if I
meet my guests, and I usually ask them, have
you stayed in a hostel before? And like I said,
50 % say no. And I said, let me explain it. My
basic rules are respect each other, be nice to
each other, and clean up after yourself. Those
are my basic rules for a hostel. And they all
usually smile because they're like, hey, be nice
to each other. And I don't have any problems
here. I mean, I don't allow any parties. I'm
not a party hostel. There's other hostels who
do that pretty well. And so everybody's really
respectful of each other. And I think that is
something that I think we're losing since the
pandemic a little bit, in my opinion. Yeah, great
points there. asking guests if they've ever stayed
in a hostel before again being able to kind of
cater the check -in based on their response there
to make people feel comfortable because if someone's
ever stayed in a hostel and you do a check -in
thinking they've stayed in a hostel they can
you know the guests can be completely lost or
just not get it and then maybe check out and
not even understand what's going on so being
able to explain to them how a hostel works the
shared spaces be respectful all the things you
mentioned is is a great great tip of advice I
mean, I get people who call me and ask what a
hostel is. And as soon as I say shared bathroom,
they usually hang up. And that is, you know,
I'm like, they're lost. But trying to and then
getting the feedback from people who stayed here
the first time and then actually really enjoyed
it and didn't have a problem sharing a bathroom
with another woman. They're not mixed bathroom.
They're separate by male and female. But that
is, I think, in my opinion, it's an American
thing, you know, the bathroom situation. And
I know a lot of hostels change having more private
bathrooms and stuff like that. But we cannot
do this without completely gutting everything
and starting over. And at this point, I'm not
doing that. Yeah, no, it sounds like you got
a very nice situation going on there with the
organized bathrooms. And yeah, a lot of time,
once you try it once, you realize how, you know,
it's not bad at all. And it's such a great deal.
Yeah, I think we'll see more and more Americans
try it as time goes on. I think it's maybe coming
back a little bit more. I think, I mean, I heard
that a lot of hostels closed during the pandemic.
I mean, when I opened up the hostel, I think
there were 10 hostels in New Mexico. And as far
as I know, we have two left. One is me and then
the Santa Fe one. Yeah, I think a lot of hostels,
I mean, there's many like some of the biggest
brands like Selena. I mean, they had hundreds
of hostels and they closed down. I think, you
know, we've learned at ITH that, you know, we
think the best hostels and the ones that are
going to survive are like the exact kind of things
like you're running. Owner operated, smaller,
intimate hostel where you can, you know, keep
the expenses low, be involved in the craft yourself
and, you know, host the guests, show them the
magical parts. uh of staying in hostels and that's
kind of what that's kind of the secret sauce
needed to stay open because uh we've seen through
other hostels that have gone out of business
that you know it's not a hotel you can't just
build a big cookie cutter building and think
it's going to work as a hostel with you know
a bunch of bunk beds i mean depending on the
destination you're in but The best backpacker
hostels, the hostels where you get to really
connect with the people are the smaller, more
intimate ones, you know, from 20 to 60 people
or so. You can still get to learn everyone's
name and create that friendly vibe. Yeah, I think
it's the smaller hostels are like a healthy mixture
between an Airbnb and a big hotel. because it
is personal but we're not that much in a business
than you sometimes in a private house in an Airbnb
so it's a little bit different but it is more
personal and I mean for me personally I like
to make it personal because I'm the owner and
it's it's important to me to talk to my guests
if I can sometimes I don't meet them sometimes
they check themselves in and check themselves
out and I don't meet them and it doesn't have
to be and it's a lot of those A lot of fear is
for me, and that's maybe old -fashioned, is on
a trust basis, that I want to trust people. And
they feel that, and I had never anything destroyed
or anything bad happening. Maybe over the years,
a few bad apples, but in general, people are
trying to, and I appreciate it. I think they
see what you put in, and then I appreciate it.
Definitely. Nice. Will you be heading to Naha,
the conference coming up in Montreal? No, we
don't. Because the time frame never works for
me. That is the only time I close the hostel,
is middle of April to middle of May to take a
break. Okay, we'll miss you at the conference.
But you bring up a good point of closing down
the hostel and taking a break. Obviously, I'm
guessing that's your slow season. That is my
slow season. And I figured out that as I run
this by myself and I don't have any feedback,
I need a break because I work seven days a week
and I need to fresh ideas. I need sometimes I
use it for renovation. This year we're going
on a big trip. So it's just a refresher pretty
much to go into the summer season and take care
of myself. That's actually very important for
me. And as I don't have anybody to run it, that's
when I just close it. Nice. No, that's again,
that's great advice, especially for these smaller
hostels. I know when we first started, you have
that mindset of I'm going to be open every day.
I'm going to get all these reservations that
people are going to come high season, low season.
And, you know, we personally learned the hard
way that it's better just to make your money
when it's there, run your business when it's
busy. And that's a unique thing about a hostel.
You know, if there's not demand. in the low season
you can shut it down for a month give your staff
a break give yourself a break go enjoy life and
you know it really you'll end up making more
money by closing down versus trying to stay open
and pay all the bills and keep you know staying
busy yourself and only having one guest a day
or something like that you know so it's smart
to shut it down take a break you know because
the show is always running when the hostels open
you know sometimes you can't you know fix stuff
or do stuff or really get away because you know
every day there's people coming people leaving
so closing down turning off for a couple a month
or so is a great great strategy and it's it's
like some people say well don't you have anybody
to run it i said not someone i trust 150 to say
it like that and if i don't have anybody i completely
trust then Me going away and someone running
it and maybe creating bad reviews gives me more
stress than relaxation. So that's why I thought
that I need to just close it down for a month.
And it doesn't hurt the business at all. I don't
get any complaints. It's just not available to
book. And you have to take care of yourself because,
as we all know, and nobody talks about this,
working with the public is very straining. I
mean, answering the phones and answering questions
where you're like, oh, my God, really? I mean,
or you get questions. If it's not snowing, I'm
not booking. I'm like, okay. You know, there's
all these little things that sound funny, but
they add up to the stress. And you don't want
to be stressed out when you deal with your guests.
No, no, that's so funny you mentioned that. We
get that call all the time. Will it be snowing
in three weeks on Friday? And you're like, I
have no idea. It always happens. But yeah, no,
it starts with, you know, the hostel. It's all
about the people and the host, the owner. You
know, you got to be happy and delightful if people
are going to be showing up at your door. So taking
care of yourself first is definitely essential
to survive and enjoy the hostel game. And then
also for me, it is that I traveled a lot. And
we still love to travel and also explore our
state. So I can tell people about it and say,
hey, this is a cool park I discovered. Or this
is a great campground. Or this is where you can
do dispersed camping. Or there's some great trails
there. And, you know, exchange that. And they
really like it. And I like the feedback from
them on their experience. So that is something
that they also appreciate what you don't get
in a hotel. I cannot always provide it, but I
try to provide it as much as I can. Yeah. Nice.
In closing here, a person, a young, say, German
girl looking to open a hostel, ready to explore,
what advice would you give her or give them?
The advice I give people who are asked to open
up a hostel, I said, have an idea what you want
first. You know, what kind of hostel you want.
mixed party whatever what you want then have
an idea where you want to be and then pick a
place that is close to at least one attraction
to something that attracts people to that area
because otherwise you're just out there and nobody
finds you and then if you can have a little bit
money in the background or a second job you can
do start small and then work up from there And
when you start small, you can have your second
job for a while and work it. I mean, I still
work architecture, so I have basically two businesses,
but I can juggle it. But be smart about what
you're doing. You know, starting small, I think,
is the biggest advice. If you want to do little
cabins, start with one or two. You can always
add on later. But I think what sometimes the
mistake is. going too big because hostels are
not that well known in the united states or be
something unique in that area but i think the
most important is be somewhere where people want
to travel because we're based on traveling yeah
no that's beautifully said there's some words
of wisdom right there so um awesome well stephanie
did i do all those no right nobody does but we
try Awesome, Stephanie. Well, thank you so much
for chatting. It's been awesome to learn more
about you and CloudCraft. And for all the listeners
passing through New Mexico, go visit Stephanie
at CloudCraft and enjoy the mountains and a wonderful
host experience. Thank you, Bobby. All right.
Thank you so much. Have a good day, Stephanie.
You too. Bye -bye.