The Hotel Investor Playbook

Most hotel investors build the product first and spend years chasing an audience to fill it. This guest did the opposite, and it paid off big-time!

In this episode, Michael Russell sits down with a former travel content creator who built a following of over a million people, then used years of staying in the world's best hotels to figure out exactly what makes a property worth sharing, and designed his own around it. That audience helped his first Bali hotel hit 80% occupancy in month one and pay back its full construction cost in 18 months, entirely self-funded...

Most people walk past the ugly deal. That's exactly why the ugly deal is where the money is.

In this episode, Michael Russell sits in the hot seat as a guest on the Lights On Podcast, sharing the unfiltered story behind how he acquired a rundown one-star motel in Maui during COVID and repositioned it into the number one small hostel in North America, growing annual revenue from $500K to $2.4 million in just a few years.

Co-founder of Howzit Hostels and Malama Capital, Michael has built a hospitality portfolio by finding value where others aren't...

In this episode, you'll learn how to diagnose whether your property is actually a candidate for wellness positioning, and if it is, how to implement it in a way that lifts ADR without blowing out your expense line.

A hospitality strategist who spent 20 years in hotel sales and development before building a consulting practice around wellness revenue joins us to share the playbook she's used across independent properties worldwide. Emily Johnson's approach has helped properties drive occupancy lifts and ADR increases with near-zero incremental cost by tapping into what they already have.

In this episode...

It took zero dollars of his own money to buy a $4.5 million waterfront resort. It took three years and over a million and a half dollars out of pocket just to keep it.

In this episode, you'll discover the deal, debt, equity sequence he says has never failed to raise capital on a good deal, and exactly when a joint venture beats a syndication.

A multifamily investor who scaled to over 600 rental units, and once raised $10 million without a following or a dollar from family, walks through the one hospitality deal that broke all his...

Most boutique hotel operators are leaving serious money on the table, not because of bad locations or bad products, but because of bad marketing fundamentals that nobody told them about.

In this episode, you'll hear exactly how one operator diagnosed a 40% occupancy problem and fixed it, taking her Bozeman boutique property to 80% occupancy with a $3,000 monthly marketing budget.

A sixth-generation Montanan who started running a historic hotel at 23, sold her first property after 18 years for a strong return, and now generates $800 to $1,200 a night at a 13-cottage luxury retreat, joins us to share what she...

What happens when you find a deal that could change everything, but you've drained your bank account just to close it?

In this episode, you'll hear exactly how one operator went from cleaning parking lots to owning the building, and what that journey taught him about risk, focus, and building a business that doesn't need you in it every day.

A vertically integrated hospitality operator who built an 84-door portfolio across two countries and is now pursuing a 140-key historic hotel in Sardinia, Italy, joins us to share how he thinks about scaling from short-term...

Most people assume you need outside investors, a big budget, or a prime location to build a profitable hospitality brand. This episode proves otherwise.

In this episode, you'll learn exactly how one builder went from working as a contractor to owning a luxury micro resort that nets over half a million dollars a year, with no syndication, no partners, and no fancy market.

A builder and founder who bootstrapped a five-cabin luxury brand from $90,000 out of pocket joins the show to break down how he did it. Chris Broomfield built Evergreen Cabins in a town...

You hit your targets. You built the business. So why does it still feel like something's missing?

In this episode, you'll discover why deferring your happiness until the next deal, the next promotion, or the next milestone is quietly destroying your leadership, your team culture, and your returns.

A personal freedom coach who has spent 30 years in hospitality and now works exclusively with CEOs and top executives joins the show to share the self-leadership framework that changes how high-achievers show up at work and at home. His approach isn't about slowing down. It's about not...

What if you bought a rundown bed and breakfast on Zillow, moved in the next day, and turned it into Colorado's first luxury treehouse hotel, all without raising a single dollar from outside investors?

That's exactly what Ashley LaRocque and her wife did. And six years later, their property is booked through 2027, generating six-figure wedding revenue they never saw coming.

A former TV producer who left corporate life to build something from scratch, Ashley shares the unfiltered story of what it actually takes to develop a boutique hospitality asset when banks say no, permits take...

In this episode, you'll discover how a single ultra-niche lodging unit can outperform a full hotel on cash-on-cash returns and what that signals for boutique investors paying attention.

A treehouse designer whose work has been featured in the New York Times, Architectural Digest, and HGTV joins us to break down the real numbers behind experiential lodging. Dustin Fighter has spent two decades building one-of-a-kind suspended structures, and his original pine cone treehouse, 60 feet in the air and $600K to build, is now generating over $200K per year at $850/night.

In this episode, you'll discover:

What if the most overlooked apartment deal in your market is already built, it's just flagged as a hotel?

In this episode, you'll discover how a valuation gap between hotels and multifamily creates forced equity of 40 to 50% before you change a single wall, and why most investors completely miss it.

A CEO who has completed over 30 hotel-to-apartment conversions across six states joins us to break down the exact strategy his firm has used to generate a 20% annualized return since inception. Ryan Sudeck and his team at Sage Investment Group turned an $8.5M distressed hotel into $18.9...

Experienced real estate investors make the jump into hospitality every year. Most of them underestimate what they're getting into.

In this episode, you'll hear what it actually looks like when a seasoned commercial operator buys his first boutique hotel, and what he'd do differently.

A commercial real estate investor who built a $75M portfolio across retail, self-storage, flex space, and adaptive reuse projects shares the unfiltered story of acquiring, renovating, and opening Salt Ranch, a 48-key boutique hotel in Nashville. Tyler Cauble had zero hospitality experience going in, and he's not shy about what that...

What does it actually cost to build a boutique hotel from scratch in a foreign country? More than you think, and not just financially.

A short-term rental operator running 220+ properties across 40 cities is now three years into building a 20-unit boutique resort in Medellin, Colombia. No bank financing. A licensing process that restarted from zero. And a price tag is climbing toward $4.5 million. Tim Hubbard joins the show to walk through every layer of this project with total transparency.

In this episode, you'll discover:

Most people who buy their first hospitality property don't realize they just bought themselves a 90-hour-a-week job. The difference between owning a business and being trapped inside one comes down to a single number most investors never bother to calculate before they sign.

In this episode, you'll learn the exact revenue threshold your property needs to hit before you can hire real staff, implement real systems, and actually step away from day-to-day operations.

A 26-year campground owner and operator who won 8 consecutive industry awards and now consults for investors and operators across North America breaks...

Jasper Ribbers went from trading equities on Wall Street to traveling to 100 countries as a digital nomad, funding it all from a single Airbnb apartment in Amsterdam. Today, he manages pricing strategy for over $125 million in annual short-term rental bookings and co-founded Freewyld, a micro-resort brand in Idyllwild, California that's pulling $190 RevPAR against a $97 market average. In this episode, Jasper reveals which STR markets worldwide are generating the best returns right now, why 99% of operators are leaving up to 40% of their revenue on the table with "set it and forget it" pricing, and breaks down the exact financials behind...

What does a land investor who's done 400+ deals have to teach hotel investors? More than you'd expect.

In this episode, you'll discover how the same principles behind finding off-market sellers, creating value through entitlements, and building passive income apply directly to hospitality investing, even if you've never bought a single acre of dirt.

A former Army officer turned land-investing expert joins us to break down how he built a machine that generates $44,000 a month in passive income, then intentionally tore it down to focus on fewer, higher-margin deals while working just five hours a day.<...

Fear of making the wrong move is why most aspiring hotel investors never get started. And ironically, that hesitation is costing them more than any mistake ever would.

In this episode, you'll learn how one developer went from zero hotel experience to 50% NOI margins, a REIT acquisition, and a second brand now scaling to 10+ locations across the US.

A former McKinsey consultant turned landscape resort developer who built two properties from scratch, sold 90% to a REIT, and is now pioneering a land lease model that cuts carrying costs by two-thirds, joins us to break down...

If you're still tracking your hotel pipeline in Excel and spending two hours screening each deal, you're working harder than you need to. Ziggy Hallgarten lived with that frustration as an analyst, so he built the solution.

In this episode, you'll get fresh market insights from the ALIS Conference, learn how AI can cut your deal analysis time dramatically, and hear what the entrepreneurial journey looks like when you're solving a problem you experienced yourself.

A Cornell Hotel School graduate who worked in acquisitions at institutional firms before founding Broome.ai shares what he's seeing...

What if there's a way to scale a hospitality portfolio without having to own the real estate? For operators looking to grow quickly without raising millions in equity or navigating complex bank financing, the OpCo-PropCo model offers a compelling alternative path.

In this episode, you'll discover how to build a hospitality brand by leasing properties instead of buying them, command premium ADRs without real estate risk, and scale across multiple markets using the OpCo-PropCo model.

An outdoor hospitality founder who operates campgrounds, backcountry lodges, and micro-hotels across Colorado, Arkansas, and California shares how he scaled...

Most investors think they're building a business, but they're actually building themselves a job. The truth? If you died tomorrow, your "business" would die with you.

A real estate investor who scaled from 80-hour weeks to just 4 hours per month reveals the exact automation framework that freed him—and how to apply it to any real estate asset, including hotels.

Mark Podolsky built a multi-million dollar land flipping operation, lost 50% of it in 2008, then rebuilt it into a passive income machine that runs without him. His approach isn't about working harder—it's about systematizing smarter.

Most hotel owners think the only way to reduce OTA dependency is to throw more money at Facebook ads or hire expensive marketing agencies. But the real solution isn't more budget, it's leveraging what you already have: authentic stories and staff who actually care about the guest experience.

A hospitality marketing veteran who's advised VCs and built a 1.6 million social following reveals the direct booking playbook that independent hotels are using to reclaim revenue from OTAs. Scott Eddy has spoken at hundreds of conferences worldwide, doing the unexpected: giving away strategies that agencies charge thousands for.

Most first-time motel buyers don't lose money on the purchase price. They lose it by underestimating CapEx, guessing on underwriting, and assuming they can "market" their way to higher occupancy. That's how people get smoked.

In this episode, you'll learn a simple, real-world way to sanity-check a value-add motel deal, including what "light reno" actually costs per key and which levers really move ADR.

My guest is Jordan Malara, an ex-Space Force engineer who went from managing short-term rentals to building a 60+ key hotel portfolio in just a few years. He's breaking down his first...

Think you need hotel operations experience to invest in boutique hotels? That belief may be the only thing standing between you and building serious commercial real estate wealth.

In this episode, you'll discover how a Gulfstream pilot raised $1.5 million and became co-GP on a 130-room boutique hotel in Tennessee's Smoky Mountains - without managing a single employee or making a single bed.

A private jet captain who flies billionaires by day reveals his exact framework for partnering on commercial deals, vetting operators, and bringing value to the table through capital raising and deal analysis...

Most first-time hotel syndicators are already breaking the rules; they just don't know it yet. If you've ever taken money from friends and family without the right structure, you may have accidentally sold securities. And if you're paying someone just to raise capital? That's another violation waiting to happen.

In this episode, you'll learn exactly how to raise money for hotel deals without putting yourself or your investors at risk.

A securities attorney who's structured hundreds of capital raises and lost $1 million on her own failed fund shares the hard lessons that transformed how she...

Stop treating your front desk like an expense; it's costing you hundreds of thousands in property value. The biggest mistake boutique hotel owners make isn't about the property itself. It's ignoring the untapped revenue sitting right at your check-in counter.

In this episode, you'll discover how to turn your front desk into a profit center that can add 5% to your bottom line and potentially $500,000 to your hotel's valuation.

A hospitality revenue expert who helped pioneer the car rental upsell model and has spent 25+ years turning frontline employees into sales engines joins us to break down...

Why do so many people dream about buying a hotel but never actually close one?

In this episode, Michael sits down with Brian Resendez, CEO of SVN Northwest Hotel Advisors. 

Brian has been involved in hundreds of hotel transactions across the Pacific Northwest and brings rare insight into what separates buyers who close deals from buyers who stall out.

You will learn:
 • The real reasons most buyers never get their first deal
 • How successful investors overcome fear, uncertainty, and inexperience
 • Why third-party management opens the door to bigger and better hotels

Boutique hotel investors often lose money in the same place: they renovate what’s visible, and ignore what actually drives guest behavior.

In this episode, we talk about design as a business tool, not a decoration budget. The goal is simple: create a guest experience that feels intentional, sells itself, and supports your NOI, even when you’re operating without brand-level resources.
My guest is Scott LaMont, CEO of EDSA, a globally recognized design and planning firm. Scott and his team work on hospitality projects worldwide, from master planning new destinations to repositioning existing resorts.

Is now a terrible time to buy a hotel, or the best buying window you will get this decade?

In this episode, Michael sits down with Suraj Bhakta, CEO of NewGen Advisory, a national hotel brokerage that has closed deals in 44 states. Suraj explains what he is actually seeing in today’s market, from the SBA shutdown fallout to the quiet distress building under the surface.

In this conversation, you will learn:

Click here to start your free 7-day trial of the AI for CRE Collective.

Most boutique hotel investors are running lean. No analyst team. No data department. No six-figure tech budget. Yet the demands of buying and operating hotels keep getting heavier.

In this episode, I sit down with Jake Heller, founder of the AI for CRE Collective, to break down the most effective AI tools that give small operators the firepower of a full investment team without hiring more staff or burning more hours.

We workshop real tools you can start...

Turning an international hospitality dream into reality sounds exciting, until you’re standing on a swampy patch of land in Belize, wondering how many years it will take to shape it into something guests will love.

That’s where today’s guest, Odis Martin, began. He and his wife spent nearly a decade transforming a remote island into Sindiri on the Reef, a private eco lodge built without outside investors and rebuilt multiple times after hurricanes. 

Odis and his wife went from small US multifamily to hand digging a swampy island, navigating Belize regulations, rebuilding after h...

Most hotel investors struggle to get brokers to take them seriously. The result is the same handful of buyers getting the first look at every good deal while everyone else fights over leftovers.

In this episode, Michael sits down with Hunter Johnson, President of Investment Sales at US Hotel Advisors, to break down how brokers actually decide who gets deal flow. 

Hunter shares what he looks for in a real buyer, what turns him off immediately, and the simple behaviors that make brokers want to send you deals before they ever hit the market.

Want to know what it’s like to go from short-term rentals to owning boutique hotels while still maintaining a healthy relationship?

This week on the Hotel Investor Playbook, Michael Russell sits down with Mitch Ehly and Katie Wanzer, the husband-and-wife duo behind Fresh Coast Motel and Spruce & Shore Motel in Door County, Wisconsin.

They share how they scaled from Airbnbs to a full-fledged hospitality brand, revived two historic motels, and used automation to stay profitable without losing the guest touch.

You’ll learn how they:

Looking for hotel technology that can actually increase profit and reduce expenses without hiring an IT department?

This week on the Hotel Investor Playbook, Michael Russell sits down with Sue Graves, founder of Experience Alive, who has spent over 30 years in hospitality and now helps hotel owners implement practical, affordable tech solutions that make a real financial impact.

In this episode, you’ll discover several technology use cases you can implement today, including:

Ever dreamed of quitting your six-figure job to build real wealth through hotels? This episode shows you what it actually takes.

Tim Ensmann, founder of the T.C. Hotel Fund, shares how he went from tech sales to owning a multi-million-dollar boutique hotel portfolio in under five years. He reveals the sacrifices, systems, and strategies behind turning a $1.5M property into a $4.5M success story. He then shares how you can follow the same path without losing your sanity.

You’ll learn:

Ever wonder where the money actually goes in a hotel deal?
In this episode, Michael Russell breaks down real estate syndications in plain English. How investors and operators really get paid, what fees are fair, and how to structure deals that build long-term trust.
Whether you’re looking to raise capital for your first project or invest passively, this is the playbook for understanding the math behind every syndication.
You’ll learn:

When most people say they want to buy a hotel, it’s just talk.

Jacobo Hernandez sold his entire $10M short-term rental portfolio, packed his car, and hit the road for 90 days to find one.

He toured 35 hotels, underwrote 2,000 deals, and slept in random motels across the U.S. before discovering a hidden gem, a 59-room hotel on 10 acres in Eureka Springs, Arkansas, for just $1.2 million.

Now he’s turning it into Forest Springs Hotel & Spa, a wellness-focused retreat with saunas, cold plunges, and outdoor cinemas funded by investors who believed in his visi...

We’ve all dreamt of quitting our bland corporate jobs to buy a hotel in Costa Rica… well, today’s guest did that.

After leaving a private equity career in San Francisco, Bill Graf traded suits for surf towns and founded Onda, a hospitality brand in Costa Rica that blends the style of a boutique hotel with the social energy of a hostel.

You’ll learn:

The hotel industry is changing: costs are rising, AI is here, and investors are getting more selective.

This week on the Hotel Investor Playbook, we sat down with Bob Rauch, better known as The Hotel Guru. From starting out as a dishwasher to building and selling a 20-hotel management company, then launching Brick Hospitality and managing nearly 1,000 rooms, Bob has seen it all.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

Where is the hotel market headed in 2026, and how can investors succeed in a challenging environment?

This week on the Hotel Investor Playbook, we sat down with Jan Freitag, National Director of Hospitality Analytics at CoStar. With over 30 years of experience analyzing hotel performance data, Jan is one of the most respected voices in the industry.

Here’s what you’ll learn:

The most powerful part of a hotel stay isn’t the design or the amenities, it’s the feeling guests take home.

That’s the philosophy of Bashar Wali, one of the most candid and creative voices in hospitality, who's spent 30+ years building, operating, and reinventing hotels around the world.

In this episode of the Hotel Investor Playbook, Bashar shares:

Bashar doesn’t hold back. Whethe...