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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, and has built a personal real estate portfolio exceeding $20 million.
With an operator-first mindset, Michael brings a practical perspective to hotel investing. On the show, he breaks down what it actually takes to scale from short-term rentals into boutique hotels, covering deal sourcing, operations, capital strategy, and risk.
Each week, Michael shares real lessons from the field as he builds toward a $400 million real estate business, giving listeners an honest look at the decisions, challenges, and strategies behind the growth. Subscribe and follow along as he documents the journey in real time.
The Hotel Investor Playbook
Latest Episodes
The Travel Influencer With 1.6M Instagram Followers Who Became a Hotel Developer | Jake Snow E88
Most hotel investors build the product first and spend years chasing an audience to fill it. This guest flipped the order entirely.In this episode, Michael Russell sits down with a travel content creator who built a following of over a m...
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How a $800K Distressed Motel Became a $2.4M Revenue Machine | Michael Russell E87
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 ...
The Wellness ROI Audit Every Boutique Hotel Owner Needs to Run | Emily Johnson E86
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 strategis...
The $0-Down Hotel Deal That Still Cost $1.5 Million | Christian Osgood E85
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 sa...
The Boutique Hotel Mistake Killing Your Occupancy (And the Fix That Took One Operator From 40% to 80%) | Hillary Folkvord E84
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 operat...