The Hotel Investor Playbook

The Hotel Investor Playbook

Welcome to The Hotel Investor Playbook, hosted by real estate investor and hospitality operator Michael Russell. Michael is the co-founder of Malama Capital and Howzit Hostels, where he has built and scaled a portfolio of boutique hotels, hostels, and experiential lodging properties.

With over $30 million in real estate investments across hospitality, short-term rentals, long-term rentals, and commercial assets, Michael brings a practical, operator-first perspective to hotel investing. On this podcast, he breaks down what it actually takes to move beyond traditional real estate and into boutique hotels, from sourcing the right deals to navigating operations, capital, and risk.

Each week, Michael shares real lessons from the field as he builds toward a $400 million real estate-based business, giving listeners a clear, honest look at the decisions, challenges, and strategies behind the growth. Subscribe and follow along as he documents the journey in real time.

Recent Episodes

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Stop Deferring Your Joy: How High-Performing Leaders Stay Sharp Without Burning Out | Mike Messeroff E81
May 12, 2026

Stop Deferring Your Joy: How High-Performing Leaders Stay Sharp Without Burning Out | Mike Messeroff E81

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. …
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How 2 Women Turned a $1.2M Zillow B&B Into a $4M Treehouse Hotel (No Investors) | Ashley LaRocque E80
May 6, 2026

How 2 Women Turned a $1.2M Zillow B&B Into a $4M Treehouse Hotel (No Investors) | Ashley LaRocque E80

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 Ashl...
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The $600K Treehouse Earning $200K a Year | Dustin Feider E79
April 29, 2026

The $600K Treehouse Earning $200K a Year | Dustin Feider E79

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 …
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The Hotel-to-Apartment Strategy That Turned $8.5M Into $18.9M in 19 Months | Ryan Sudeck E78
April 22, 2026

The Hotel-to-Apartment Strategy That Turned $8.5M Into $18.9M in 19 Months | Ryan Sudeck E78

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…
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What a $75M Commercial Investor Wished He Knew Before Opening His First Boutique Hotel | Tyler Cauble E77
April 14, 2026

What a $75M Commercial Investor Wished He Knew Before Opening His First Boutique Hotel | Tyler Cauble E77

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 b...
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An STR operator's $4 million bet on building a boutique hotel in Colombia | Tim Hubbard E76
April 7, 2026

An STR operator's $4 million bet on building a boutique hotel in Colombia | Tim Hubbard E76

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 i...
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