The Hotel Investor Playbook

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 buyer...

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 S...

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 w...

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 opera...

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 in...

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...

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 ho...

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,...

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. H...

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 b...

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 tu...

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: How to uncover hidden opportunities in small hot...

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, y...

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: How to use data and an...

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: Why “give-a-shit-ability” beats corporate...

How do you turn a struggling hotel into a profitable asset? This week on the Hotel Investor Playbook , we sit down with Naveed Khan, co-founder of London Rock Partners, a hotel management and advisory firm that oversees everything from branded hotels like Holiday Inn to boutique independents and even a 650-bed hostel in London. In this episode, you’ll learn: Why the first step in turning around a...

Few people have left a mark on hospitality like Richard Kessler. He started his hospitality career by helping scale Days Inn into a household name as the early CEO Then he founded the Kessler Collection, one of the leading boutique hotel portfolios in the U.S., which ultimately helped launch Marriott’s Autograph Collection. In this episode, Richard shares the biggest lessons from his 50-year caree...

What if your first hotel deal could be funded almost entirely through Instagram? This week’s guest, Soli Cayetano AKA lattes.and.leases on Instagram, went from barista to building a $13M real estate portfolio in just four years. After exiting her residential investing business, she turned to hospitality and now co-owns a 13-key boutique wellness hotel in Palm Springs that’s already been featured i...

Most hotel investors default to syndication — raising capital from dozens of limited partners and layering in complex waterfalls. But what if there’s a smarter, simpler path? This week’s guest, Brandon Gore, is building The Outlier Hotel , a 10-cabin luxury retreat in Arkansas designed to last 100 years. Instead of chasing the traditional syndication model, he’s structuring the project as a joint...

Think great marketing is only for big hotels with big budgets? Think again. In this episode, we talk with Steph Weber, a marketing and branding expert who helps boutique hotel and STR owners drive direct bookings. She breaks down how she finds her audience, tells a compelling brand story, and uses limited resources to drive big results. You’ll learn: How to identify your property’s unique selling...

Think you need a perfect plan to start investing in hospitality? Think again. In this episode, we sit down with Jonathan Mueller, an everyday investor who went from zero experience and a failed multifamily deal to buying a $250K roadside motel and building a growing hospitality portfolio. He didn’t have a background in hotels, didn’t have much of a strategy, and still made it work through pure act...

Is your marketing helping your hotel or just draining your budget? In this episode, we sit down with Anthony Chiaravallo, founder of Vallo Media, who has managed over $100M in ad spend for brands like Nike, Resorts World, and boutique hotels across the country. Whether you're trying to fill beds or scale a brand, Anthony breaks down how to think about hotel marketing in a way that actually dr...

Ever wondered how people raise millions to buy real estate without using their own money? In this episode, Desiree Doubrox breaks down the world of syndication and how she built an eight-figure fund while empowering hundreds of others to do the same. Whether you're new to investing or ready to raise capital for your first deal, this conversation simplifies the path to building generational we...

Instead of chasing bookings, the founders behind Bolt Farm Treehouse create an obsession amongst their guests, and they do it with love at the center of everything. Their hospitality business heals relationships, attracts top-tier employees, and doesn't require the use of OTAs In this episode, Seth and Tori Bolt break their iconic hospitality business where luxury stays meet emotional transfo...

Thinking about buying or operating a hotel, but not sure where to start? Sujay Mehta built a $187M hospitality portfolio by betting on himself, starting lean, and learning through execution. In this episode, he breaks down what most people get wrong about hotel investing and how you can start smarter. You’ll learn: How to determine which hotel brand fits a deal best How the “Mamba Mentality” shape...