How Sky McLean Built a $500M Hotel Brand from Scratch | Sky McLean E26

What do you do when you get fired from your job and get escorted out with a cardboard box? If you’re Sky McLean, you build one of the fastest-growing hospitality brands in Canada.

In this episode, we sit down with Sky McLean, founder and CEO of Basecamp Resorts, owner of 14+ resorts, and operator of over half a billion in real estate. From bootstrapping her first hotel with a BMW loan to raising $40 million through Instagram, Sky’s story is a masterclass in grit, creativity, and bold vision.

We dig into how she scaled her adventure-focused hospitality brand, her unique capital raising strategy, why she avoids big-name hotel flags, and how she balances leading 500+ employees with being a full-time mom and mountain sports junkie.

Whether you’re just getting started or looking to scale your hotel portfolio, this episode is packed with insight, inspiration, and practical wisdom from someone who’s actually done it.

Connect with Sky:

Instagram: @skymclean

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sky-mclean-2299a420/

Website: https://invest.basecampresorts.com/

Connect with Michael on Instagram or LinkedIn.

Email Us at info@hotelinvestorplaybook.com

Visit the Hotel Investor Playbook Instagram

Invest with Malama Capital

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Transcript

Michael Russell 0:00

What would you do if you got fired from your job and HR literally walked you out the door with a cardboard box? Most people would spiral. Skye McLean started building a hospitality empire. Today, she owns over half a billion dollars in real estate, runs 14 resorts, employs over 500 people, and just casually raised 40 million dollars on Instagram. And oh yeah, she's also a mom of two, a mountain biker, and a badass skier. She's the real deal. In this episode, we dive into Skye's raw and scrappy origin story, from financing her first land purchase with a car loan to building the fastest growing hospitality brand in Western Canada. You'll hear how she creatively raised capital, why she ditched the traditional path to go all in on adventure hospitality, and what she's learned scaling a brand that blends real estate, wellness, and lifestyle into one unforgettable guest experience. If you're looking for a masterclass on mindset, deal structure, and how to raise millions without a massive platform, this one's for you. Let's dive in. Welcome to the Hotel Investor Playbook, your guide to building wealth and freedom through boutique hotel ownership, hosted by Mike and Nate.

Nathan St Cyr 1:22

Get in the game.

Michael Russell 1:35

On this podcast, we talk story about everything you need to know to make money investing in hotels and hospitality assets. On today's show, we are happy to introduce Skye McClain. Sky, welcome to the show. Thank you for having me. So, for our listeners who are not familiar with Skye, she is an absolute boss. In fact, Sky's story really inspired us to pursue our journey. So we're really excited to dig in. There is a lot to learn. And so we're going to try to cover as much as we can. But Sky, really excited to have you on the show. Thank you. So let's start with your story in the sense that you went from getting laid off to building, I guess, the fastest growing hospitality brand in Western Canada, right? So can you take us back to that moment? Like what gave you the courage to go in all in on your vision?

Sky McLean 2:32

Well, it was a very defined moment in time where I was actually fired and given one of those like boxes you get at Staples or wherever. HR stood in the doorway with the stuff in the box, and then they walk you to your car past everybody. It was so awful. And that was the moment where I was like, I am never ever working for someone else again, especially because I had only worked there for like 27 days. Like this wasn't like a long career. So that made it so much worse because they had recruited me from somewhere else. And then, like, actually, we don't really want you anymore. So yeah, that was the moment where I was like, that's it. I had a couple Airbnb condos and I wanted to scale it, and here we are.

Michael Russell 3:11

Sweet. So for those listening that aren't familiar with Base Camp Resorts, how would you describe your brand?

Sky McLean 3:16

Yeah, it's actually more than just Basecamp Resorts. So that was the brand that we started with, built 32 stat townhomes. So my thesis at the beginning was to build a purpose-built Airbnb. What I meant by that, and what I still mean by that, is that you have a multifamily built form. So stat townhomes, very multifamily, full of kitchens, washer dryers, multiple bedrooms, bathrooms, everything you would want in a home, but branded and operated as a hotel. This isn't just like short-term rentals. This is a full-blown hotel. Our average length of stay is 2.7 nights. So we we're not like the weekly rentals or the monthly rentals. We are a hotel operated as a hotel on all the OTAs like any other hotel, but they're condos. And at the beginning, this was quite complicated, but now the brand has been well received. But since then, as being in the business yourselves, you hear about more deals. You're in the business, all of a sudden everything's for sale, right? So then there were hotels that the owners were calling us. They wanted to retire, wanted to divest. And we started buying regular hotels and branding those as Northwinds by Base Camp, Lamp House by Basecamp, each one of those offering a very distinct experience based on the brand that we were branding. And now, and most notably so, we're moving into Nordic Spaws, which is Everwild. So that's our newest brand, latest excitement, and probably going to be our biggest endeavor.

Nathan St Cyr 4:33

Okay, so I'm calling a timeout. I I'm still spinning on picturing you walking out with your box. That moment that that occurred had a significant impact on you. And I think that there's so many people out there that may desire to leave their corporate job. And here you didn't have the choice. You had a couple of Airbnbs. Like I want to understand what your thoughts were and why you believed so deeply in this.

Sky McLean 5:14

Yeah, absolutely. Well, the obvious reason was that I had these two Airbnbs and they were making money. So that was like step one. And I loved it. I loved the guest experience. I loved on Airbnb how everything is review-based. Like every time I got a new review, I was so excited. Oh my gosh, a five-star review. This is so exciting. So I was having that experience while I was still employed. I actually was employed from someone previous to the 27-day experience, and that was also in real estate. So I had three jobs in real estate development after having completed an MBA in real estate development. So I had a lot of experience with acquiring land, like someone else obviously acquiring the land, but I worked on the permitting, the business part of it, dealing with stakeholders, dealing with the municipality, like that whole part of real estate. Although it was in multifamily, it's all very similar, whether you're building a hotel, multifamily, this or that. So I really enjoyed that. Then I was getting a kick out of this hospitality thing that I knew nothing about, other than like staying at the odd hotel. I had no idea, but running a hotel, scheduling cleaners, hiring people, HR policies, like all the things you need to know. I had no clue. And in that moment, it was really interesting because I had been looking at these other opportunities to continue to acquire Airbnb condos while still being employed. Because with a salary, I was obviously able to get financing. And then without a salary, I'm like, well, I can no longer finance these condos that I'm looking at buying. So that business plan is out the window. Why don't I build one? Because I had this experience building, dealing with municipalities. And so this is where the good story comes. And in the 27-day job, I had to go buy a car. I had bought the car, I was running sales, I needed to have a nice car. I didn't want to go to this nice new job in my like beat up minivan, rust falling off of it. So off I go back to BMW, where I had paid $38,000 for this beautiful two-door black car. So I go back and I'm like, okay, Mr. Salesperson, I don't need this car anymore. It has like 500 kilometers on it. Can I get a refund? And he's like, this isn't Walmart. We don't give refunds for cars. Like, go away. And I'm like, no, no, no. I really need my $38,000. Like, you don't understand. So he was quite clever. And he's like, listen, you can take this $75,000 car, okay, and get a $75,000 car loan at 1.9%, which in my mind is like free money. And that will allow us to cut you a check for $38,000. And off I went to put that $38,000 as the initial deposit on the piece of land where the first base camp is now located in Canmore. So that was how I got the deposit to start this whole thing was by this like serendice bit stupid event that I barely driven the car because I got fired from the job. And then I had no more money. Like my parents weren't like, here's a check, young daughter. Go blow it on some piece of land we know nothing about. And my partner at the time was Tim, who's now my husband, but he was my boyfriend in that moment. And his brother was really interested in this stuff and had a couple of these Airbnb condos as well that I had told him to buy. And shockingly, he listened. And he was like, I'll put some money in. And then he told me, Oh, all my friends will come in, my hotshot LA movie business friends. And I'm like, great. Those hotshot LA movie business people didn't come in. And I had to go run around and scramble to find all the equity. But that was great because it was like do or die. I had put the deposit on the piece of land. I had to get the $800,000 to close on the piece of land, or I would lose all my money. So I just called everybody, everybody. Tim's friends from high school, my friends, my parents, like everyone. And who wants to put some money in? We're going to build a hotel. Here's the pro forma. This will be your IRR. This is how we're going to do it. Put some money in. It took me like six months to raise $2 million of equity. And then we couldn't get a loan from a bank because, of course, we're nobody. And I say we because now Tim has decided he's going to be the guy running the construction. I'm going to run the whole business. And somehow this thing's going to get off the ground. So I had to go to a private lender and borrow money at the time at 9%. And that's how I built the first base camp. So it was very difficult. We almost didn't have a loan. I financed a BMW to start the company. Like it's crazy. I don't recommend that to anybody.

Michael Russell 9:23

Okay. Well, I want to hop in here though. I cannot help as I'm listening to this story. What you're describing is at a very grassroots level, what you were able to do is use creative financing to fund your dream. Like you weren't just given all this money and all of it, like you were candidate. You had to come up and you were scrappy and you were you were bootstrapping and you were creative. But to give some context, like where you are now, you've completed over $265 million in projects. You've raised over $72 million. And you have at least 13 or 14 thriving hotels and presumably some other asset classes as well. So where you went from to where you are now is just truly inspirational. I just I had to just take take stock of that.

Nathan St Cyr 10:13

And I want to identify the differentiating factor between you and everyone else. And it's you. That's the reality. I say this all the time: like 80% of success is mindset, 20% is the execution and the how. And everybody focuses on the how, but they don't have the mindset. And you had the mindset that it didn't matter. You just listed out probably, I don't know, 10 massive challenges that you faced that everybody else would have just said, yeah, this isn't this isn't doable. And you just kept overcoming the impossible from being creative, you had the vision. But the other thing that I want to point out here that I think that people take for granted is stacking skills. So your corporate position in real estate and you going to school and getting that MBA and gaining that knowledge and the fundamental understanding of how things work and then going to work for someone else. Sometimes in today's world, we look at that as this hugely negative thing. But now you are able to take this knowledge and this learning that you gained through traditional education and then the traditional route of gaining experience out in the world. And you were able to stack those skills and then combine them with your mindset. And I'm that's just, I think that there's a lot of lessons in those first steps of how you got to where you are.

Sky McLean 11:40

Oh, absolutely. And I always wanted to be a real estate developer, but there was obviously like a small part of me that is like, okay, if I want to take a risk, there's got to be some plan. So I didn't have the plan in the traditional sense of like, well, I've got a business plan and a marketing plan and a financing plan and all this. Like people always ask me, like, how do you do that before you actually start? And I'm like, I actually have no idea because I never had one. But I had the plan in the sense of what exactly what you said, like, get education, learn some shit from someone else, and then go do it.

Michael Russell 12:11

Hey guys, quick break from the episode. Look, we're always looking to bring you the best content here on the Hotel Investor Playbook. And honestly, we'd love to hear from you. We want to know what you want to learn about. Is there a topic you're dying to hear us dive into? Or maybe you know someone who'd be an awesome guest, someone with a great story, unique expertise, or insights that would bring value to all of us in the hotel investing game. Shoot us an email at info at hotelinvestorplaybook.com. That's info at hotelinvestorplaybook.com. And let us know. We read every single message, and honestly, it would make our day to hear from you. Your feedback helps us make this podcast better and more relevant for you. So don't be shy, reach out and help shape the next episodes. All right, back to the show.

Nathan St Cyr 12:57

Yeah. Well, and then the other thing that you said in when you first rolled this out, you said, Oh, once you start doing it, then then you got more deals, and then the deals are coming to me, right? There's more deals out there than and but I mean, when you're getting started, that's that's not the way that it is. When you're getting started, everybody looks at you and they're like, What have you done? I haven't done anything. There's no experience.

Sky McLean 13:20

Well, that's really interesting. Point because we're we're reliving that right now. So now we've actually built $550 million worth of real estate. Like right now, we're starting Everwild, which is our Nordic spa business. I don't know how much you know about Nordic stalls, but it's basically long story short, a beautiful outdoor experience combined with some indoor elements largely based on hot, cold, rest, repeat, which is the thermal cycle. We can get more into that if you want, but it's not really that important as to what I was trying to say, which is it's the same thing all over again. How many spas do you have? Well, none. How many have you operated? Well, none. How many have you built? Well, we've built 75% of one that's opening November 1st. So we're like, it's different because we now have this asset base, this experience, this team. I have 300 employees. So it's not the same as the beginning, but it's pretty damn close. So we're like doing it all over again and it's really fun.

Michael Russell 14:08

I I wanna I wanna scale back. I want to unpack a little bit about what you were describing. I like how Nathan pointed out that you were stacking skills and that you went and worked for a developer. You understood the process of developing real estate. But one part that I I guess I'm a little unclear on is with your path, you could have chosen all different types of assets to develop within real estate. Like, why did you specifically choose hospitality as the asset class of choice?

Sky McLean 14:38

Well, it was exactly because I had these two condos and I saw them be very profitable. And I was actually building multifamily buildings for the people that I work for. So like long-term leases, rents. So off I went and ran two scenarios. One, okay, if I build a building, long-term rental, what's the IRR? And then took the revenues, expenses, and everything of my two units, applied it to a 32-unit, exactly the same built form, exactly the same costs, and spat out what would that look like? And it was like so much better, and it's more interesting. And I love to travel. And I felt that in the Airbnb world, there was a brand missing. I won't even stay at an Airbnb unless, like, I'm pretty damn sure I'm it's gonna be good because you have no idea if they've cleaned the sheets. There's no quality control. Who do you call when the air conditioner breaks at three in the morning? Nobody. Like it's a flawed business model in my mind. But that being said, flawed or not, they're obviously hyper successful. It's just I didn't like the experience. So I wanted to create this experience that was based on the success that Airbnb was blowing up at the time. And everyone wanted that full kitchen washer dryer, blah, blah, blah. But I wanted to create a brand for it.

Nathan St Cyr 15:49

But simply put, you just described why we ended up here. It didn't really start with hospitality. Although Mike was running short-term rentals, we were going to buy an apartment building, right? And then, but the disappointing part when we looked at, because we wanted to scale commercial real estate, but we're like, man, it just sucks comparing it to Mike's margins. Fundamentally, from a very simple concept, if you take this same asset and then you run it with the hospitality model by the night, it generates better margins.

Sky McLean 16:21

And it was like half a page. So I think it's important to know that I think like all real estate deals can be done on a napkin. Obviously, you've got to get more in depth later, but if it does pass a napkin test, like forget about it. It doesn't work. I love that.

Michael Russell 16:34

Yeah. I want to shift gears a little bit because I'm dying to know about your funding strategy. So I heard you say that this one of these recent projects you were doing, it was a an $80 million purchase, and your goal was to raise $50 million. So you're 50%, you've got 50% leverage. And I'm like, dang. Like first off, wow, that's impressive. Holy cow. But secondly, you went on to say that you got a private equity company that had committed or had an interest in investing about $7 million. And correct me if I'm wrong, but they pulled out, and then you were in a position where you're like, holy crap, I need seven million dollars like now. And you mentioned that you used Instagram to play a role in attracting investors. And I want to know like, how did how did you use Instagram in this way to raise money?

Sky McLean 17:26

Yeah, absolutely. This is a crazy story. So you have it pretty dialed, actually, with 7 million bucks as private equity. Not only said they were interested, but they confirmed it went through internal investment committee, external investment committee. And then at the 11th hour, back to the spa business, they were like, we just can't get comfortable with the spa business. We could be like, there's no precedent. It's not like in hotels where you can pull a CBRE report or like a star report and know the RevPAR and the ADR and all that stuff. Like it's a new business. So they weren't comfortable, which I understood, but I was like so mad. I was so mad. And I was like, I don't know where we're gonna find seven million bucks in like a week. This is like a catastrophe. And we needed the cash to be able to continue our construction to be able to kick in our bank loan, right? Because you got to spend equity first. No different than any deal. So back to Jeff, the brother-in-law. I'm like, listen, Jeff, like he's still involved to this day in marketing. And I said, we should just put an ad on Instagram. We need money. Who wants to invest in Mountain House? It's a sexy project that the as built appraisals like $110 million. So you were right about the leverage. So anyway, Jeff's like, okay, we didn't know what we were doing, to be honest. Like, let's be clear. There was no marketing plan, no strategic plan. Like, we're fucked and we need $7 million. And so it's a sexy project. Like I said, there's a beautiful Nordic Spa, there's beautiful renderings. We're going to build this thing. We have since raised like $40 million on Instagram, which is like absolutely insane. And to be honest, at the beginning, it was like this influx of people that wanted to be in these deals. And we've since now built a team and we have an EMD, which in Canada is exec market dealer to be doing this, it following all the regulations, which is super important. Because I don't recommend anyone just like posting out on Instagram and take people's money. That's like there's rules to this, and I'm sure it's very different in the United States. So retail investors as opposed to institutional have since enabled us to grow. And I love retail investors, and I will forever continue with a retail investing strategy.

Michael Russell 19:21

That's an interesting take because in discussions with other folks that are doing big deals like what you're doing, I've heard the opposite, right? They kind of poo-poo a little bit. They're like, no, we want the family office. So I took a look at your Instagram page. Love it, by the way. I mean, it's just it's sincere, it's genuine. Like you are you and you're out there mountain biking and you're alpine skiing, you're doing all this crazy stuff that looks really fun. But I'm like, okay. She's got 800 and something followers. Like, is that the Instagram handle that you use to raise how much money?

Sky McLean 19:50

So this is hilarious. So I didn't have Instagram or Facebook or no, actually, I had a Facebook account, and we have like a corporate Instagram account or like a basic. Scampers or Instagram account. And then each like Mountain House has one and all that. And then when this started to pick up, I was like, oh, maybe I should like do Instagram. Maybe this this is no joke. So I just started that a few months ago. So yeah, I don't have like a very big following. I would like to, though.

Nathan St Cyr 20:16

The reality is you had all of these people that had it had an unbelievable experience staying with you. They they understood the concept because a lot of the your followers, I'm sure, were following you because they were they were guests of yours at some point or were going to be, or they saw the photos or the videos or what the reels, whatever it was about this place. And they're like, oh, they're they're they're they're following that.

Sky McLean 20:40

So you had a absolutely, yeah. So I would say at the beginning, a little bit less now, but to to answer that sort of comment, at the beginning, everybody was like, had either stayed there, seen me in a in a podcast or in a seminar or heard of us or been following the story, or like some, it might be minor, but some touch point that was like, okay, there now they can invest. So many people when we started this were like, we didn't even know investing in hotels was like something we could do. Like so many people don't get private placement opportunities, right? Yeah. So I think that's like one of my passions is offering a private placement opportunity to someone who otherwise would have no idea they could even do this kind of investment. Of course, every investment comes with risks and all of the rest of that stuff, but but it's kind of fun to be able to own a piece of a hotel.

Nathan St Cyr 21:29

Yes, I completely agree. And the access that you just talked about, like we kind of take for granted for what we do that just, oh, well, this deal compared to this deal, but 99% of the people out there that you talk to, they don't even know that they have access to a deal, let alone multiple deals. So I really have a shared passion with that. Providing providing access is it's a it's a pretty cool thing to be able to do.

Michael Russell 21:57

Yeah, I heard someone describe they're a capital raiser and they're sharing kind of how they go about introducing the concept to someone in conversation, which is like most people just think they they look at a hotel and they just assume, oh, well, some corporation or some wealthy person owns that. And he says, Well, actually, the reality is a lot of these properties are they're owned by a multitude of investors. There's usually someone that kind of puts the deal together, but that person doesn't necessarily own the whole thing. They they raise money from private investors, like maybe you know, me or you, we might contribute $100,000 or $500,000, and that might go towards the total purchase of a $10 million building, for example, but it's a collection of investors. So I have a question that's like I'm dying to ask, which is you've got all these different base camp variations. And I know that you've invested in things like Days In, for example, like a former Days In, and you saw that opportunity to buy a Days In and then rebrand it independently, one of your base camp brands. And I'm just curious, like when you look at a commodity hotel, like a days in, that there's nothing special, and you're like, okay, I'm gonna turn this into something that's experiential because that's all the buzz right now. People want an experience. And you're like, all right, well, this is just a days in. It's a basic bland motel, kind of serves a purpose. Like, what are you looking at? You're gonna how are you gonna transform it into something that's more special and more experiential than just a commodity hotel motel?

Sky McLean 23:21

Yeah, absolutely. Our first one was a days in in Canmore. And to your point, Days In has its place in the market. It's not very exciting, but it is what it is. And we really wanted to do a full-blown renovation and turn it into something that's modern, clean, a little bit more exciting. But that being said, Northwinds, which is our brand that has now since taken over two days-ins, is still an entry-level product. So we're not that Northwinds is not a luxury brand, but it is a modern, clean, comfortable take on an entry-level product. And from there, we have motels that we renovate. And we have one on Main Street, Canmore, like quintessential 1955 outdoor walkways, motel right on Main Street, best location in Canmore. And that's called Lamp House Hotel. So if we ever stumbled upon an equally awesome motel, it would be Lamp House Hotel. And then, of course, we have our main thesis of the Basecamp resorts and base camp suites, which are the full kitchens, washer dryers, all of that. And then we have Everwild, which is our spa. And that first spa is going to be at a hotel called Mountain House, which is our higher end. So we just kind of covered the four segments of the market with a different name, all by Base Camp.

Nathan St Cyr 24:34

So did the avatar switch with like let's talk about the days in conversion. Did the avatar switch of who you're marketing or then compared to who was staying there as a days in, or is it the more or less the same clients?

Sky McLean 24:51

I would say that with Northwinds, it's a little bit different. It's more conducive to hockey teams, group travel, people who don't need kitchens because they're going out. That average length of stay is shorter than at a kitchen, bathroom type of product. But it's still that we're in we're in two locations with northwinds, one being Camor, one being Revelstoke. So you're still targeting that outdoor people here to do things, et cetera, et cetera, type of clientele. So just a little bit different.

Nathan St Cyr 25:20

Yeah. Okay. Understood.

Michael Russell 25:23

I want to know your take on the advantages of affiliating with a branded company. There's two sides on this. Some people are of the opinion that it's advantageous, even though you pay the fees, but you get access to their loyalty program, you get access to their marketing machine. And obviously you've taken a different approach where you feel that there's more value in going the independent route. And I just want to get your input and your opinion on why that is.

Sky McLean 25:48

Yeah, I think that's really dependent on where you are. So what I mean by that is like geographic location. So where we are in these types of outdoor ski towns, the geographic location is driving a lot of business, right? It's no different than Canmore Banff and Lake Louise and other places we were and no different than, oh, you're in Vale, you're in Jackson Hole, you're in in somewhere that has that je ne sais quoi, right? So with that, I didn't feel that we needed to be affiliated with an existing brand that drives that business, that maybe has negotiated a better rate with the OTAs, that has the marketing machine. But if I was going to like Timbuktu nowhere land trying to grow a business, I would definitely be seeing, okay, being with a brand makes a lot more sense. And it also depends on the type of offering. Like we didn't, we wanted to be independent. We wanted to have this unique offering that didn't have a brand really affiliated with that type of offering. And I wanted to start my own brand, my own company, my own following. But but you nailed it with like the perks of being part of a brand, like the marketing machine, the access to the the points or whatever the rewards that they have to bring in people is huge. So it's really a personal and location preference.

Nathan St Cyr 26:59

I want to ask some question about exit strategy. So as I'm picturing your investor base, and then I'm as I'm picturing these these different areas of your brand, right? The motels go under this brand, the more commodity hotel goes under this brand, and then there's the lifestyle Airbnb goes under this brand, and then there's the spa brand, right? These four levels of of branding. So an investor comes in and wants to invest with you. Number one, are they investing in a syndication, a single property? Are they investing in a fund? What are they what are they investing in to start? That's the first question.

Sky McLean 27:39

So it's actually really simple. I should have a picture. But everything started out as one limited partnership. So Basecamp was a limited partnership, Lamp House was a limited partnership, Northwinds, et cetera, each asset, right? Because people are investing into the asset, not the opco. So assets LP over here, over here, over here. I didn't like that because I was like, well, it's not fair if like shit hits the fan over here, Jack isn't making any money, but Joe over here is making money. That's not right. That's not like a true shareholder of the entire portfolio. So we amalgamated all of our assets on January 1st of 2013 into one limited partnership, which is kind of like a fund called the Basecamp Investment Fund. So that's everything that's stabilized, that's operating, that doesn't have construction risk, no exposure to big but construction budgets. Then everything that's new is either in its own. So Cammore Hotel and Spa limited partnership is the one asset we talked about, where there's the hundred-room hotel with the first Nordic spa in Canmore. And then there's also the Wildwood Investment Fund, where we have three hotels or sorry, three spas and one is a hotel and spa in that fund. So sometimes to answer your question, it's one at a time. Sometimes it's three at a time. It just depends on what we're doing in the moment, what we're raising money for, how big are the deals. Our equity raises are typically like $20 to $30 million per either asset or fund. That's kind of our sweet spot. I think any more than that would be tricky. And any less than that is probably too small for our deal level today. So we now have all of these over here that we call up investors and say, okay, great, your hotel is done. It's stabilized. You have two options. One, you roll up into the Basecamp investment fund. And important to note that that's tax deferred. So if one unit in here turns into two units in there, you don't pay tax on that gain. Eventually, when you sell out of here, yes. But right now, no. I think everything in the States is actually very similar. And option two is you get bought out. So then I would raise money over here in the Basecamp Investment Fund to buy out Jack from here. So everyone in here is either rolling up or being bought out or some combination. You might say, I put in 100, I'll take 50 out, and I'll roll 200 because my 100 turned into 250 here, whatever.

Michael Russell 29:54

So I'm gonna need you to repeat that because that part right there, what you're describing is uh it's critically important. And so for context, most investors they look at a life cycle, they say, hey, I want my money back in, I don't know, five years, seven years, maybe ten years, right? Maybe less. But with your assets, you're holding these as legacy properties. These these it sounds like you're holding these indefinitely.

Sky McLean 30:16

I don't yeah, I didn't get to that part yet. So now everybody's in the in the fund, right? Basecamp investment fund. The long the longest an investor's been in is eight to nine years. That's like when we started. If someone wants to sell out of the Basecamp Investment Fund where all the assets are, they phone me and I find them, someone to buy them out, and it's not. There's no official process right now because we're still private, we're still small. But as we roll these larger deals into there, and all of a sudden the Basecamp Investment Fund in the next five years has got over a billion dollars of assets under management, then we have to think exactly to your question what is our exit? Are we selling the fund to a big private equity firm? Are we doing an IPO? Are we? And at that point, it really would do turn to the investors. Like if everyone's like, we love the quarterly payout. So we pay distributions every quarter, the assets are growing in value, we're chiseling down the debt. So I are our IRRs are like after the roll-up, still really strong at like 12 to 18%. So, and the construction IRRs are like 20 to 30 percent. So people are making money, making money. They might just say, let's carry on. So we'll definitely turn to our investors for some feedback. But that being said, there will be an exit. It just hasn't been clearly defined and planned yet.

Nathan St Cyr 31:34

Yeah, understood. So now I'm gonna ask a personal question you don't have to answer. As we continue to grow and our properties make great money and cash flow, we keep making the decision to what do we want to do with that cash flow, take it ourselves or reinvest in the company so we can grow and grow our team. And there's always something to get to the next stage to spend money on that we're constantly choosing to spend money on. So, how do you get paid?

Sky McLean 32:02

Well, I've done everything you've done, just every dollar I made either goes into the business or hires someone or do this or do that. But I get paid because I have an operating company that operates all the assets and no different than any other hotel brand charges fees. So I charge fees to my opco and then then I dividend to myself and then I go, I have a house, I have kids, I have a car, like I have things I have to make money on. So that's how I make my like personal family money.

Michael Russell 32:31

Got it. Yeah. So you charge a management fee for managing all the properties.

Sky McLean 32:36

And a development management fee during development. Yeah, exactly.

Michael Russell 32:39

Cool. Well, you you bring up a good point about managing your family and your life and all that. I know you've got young kids. I've got a two-year-old and a six-year-old, and I think your kids are close to that age. And like I was raised by a single mom as well. So I'm always inspired by women that are out there that are they're doing amazing things. My mom was my inspiration. She was my hero, and she was an excellent businesswoman, and she was just a dominant force in business. And so I was always inspired by her. But now I'm married and I watch how no matter how much I pour into my kids to be the one that they want to go to, they they go to mom. They just go to mom. They always go to mom, right? And so she carries that responsibility. And I'm like, golly, like I'm just like, what? How how do you run this huge 300-person company that's got, I don't know how many half a billion dollars or whatever in assets now. And and be a mom to young kids. Like, how do you balance that, the life balance there? Can you attest to that?

Sky McLean 33:38

Yeah, it's really hard. I think it's like the hard that's the hardest part of my life right now, especially with the kids being four and six. But I have to give acles to Tim, my husband. He's been around and involved with the kids. And at the beginning, of course, it's hard. He doesn't have any breast milk, right? So, like, there's certain biological things, and as a woman, that's your job. But since then, he's stepped up and he's done like a lot of the kids wake up at night kind of stuff. And I've peer pressured him into cooking more, and I peer pressured him into like a lot of things. And so he's he's been a huge help. And we've also had a nanny, and we also have family. So we do have the whole like it takes a village to to raise the kids thing. And I I have the same philosophy of the like 300 work babies, like it takes a village to keep that going. And so I have the right team at the executive level and the right VPs. And it's really like to keep the balance is really having the right people in the right place, whether it's at home, at work, or wherever.

Nathan St Cyr 34:38

Yeah. So as I was kind of hearing you and I'm thinking about the team and I'm 300 employees, and then you started going through your executives. Where is your zone of genius? Like, where is it that you know that if you're spending your time in this area, that's what's moving this company forward. But if you find yourself spending time outside of that, that you're actually diminishing returns.

Sky McLean 35:02

Yeah, that's actually a really great question. And it would be deal acquisition, deal structure, and equity raising. So that that's all kind of one thing, even though that sounded like three things, but they all go hand in hand. Like for me, running the day-to-day hotel operations would be absolutely the worst possible use of my time. We have someone to do that. I'm not an accountant. So forget that. It's really on the creative piece, like back to the very beginning when it was like, okay, I have no money, I want to build a hotel, how do you do it? So go figure out a deal, go find the land, go structure it, go find the money. Like that's my sweet spot.

Michael Russell 35:37

Yeah. So to kind of wrap this up, if you were to offer us any advice, knowing where we're at in our journey right now, looking back at where you were and where you've gone, like what advice would you give us that we should implement?

Sky McLean 35:52

That's tough. There's quite a few, but I would say like the biggest one is listen to your gut. Like if you're looking at a deal and it doesn't feel right, it doesn't matter if it pencils, it doesn't matter if you have investors, it doesn't matter all the things if you're your wife's telling you go buy the thing. If you don't feel good about it and it isn't like jiving with your soul, don't do it. And it's really easy to ignore that like voice in the back of your head. But every time I've done that, it's been a mistake.

Michael Russell 36:22

Yeah, really sound advice. Awesome. Nathan, you got anything else?

Nathan St Cyr 36:25

No, I'm just pumped that we this was like I told you earlier, this was a full circle moment for us listening to you a two year ago and just seeing the moves that you continue to make, both of us raised by single moms, watching a woman out there kicking ass while we're we've got daughters, and it's like, yeah, I just know you got a couple fans in the background that are that are cheering you on. And yeah, this is a great, great nuggets that you drop to us and our listeners.

Sky McLean 36:50

Great. Well, thank you so much for having me. I really appreciate it.

Michael Russell 36:53

Yeah. So for our listeners, if you're not familiar with Sky, go and look her up. Her check out her website, look at her projects. It's incredible. I mean, it really is, it's inspiring, not just from the size and quantity of the portfolio, but really like you can tell someone's put some real like life force into the design, into the aesthetics, into the creating this atmosphere. But for now, if our listeners want to stay in touch with you, where can they follow you? Where can they get in touch with you? What do you recommend? Where do they how do they do so?

Sky McLean 37:22

Instagram. Like I said, I just started, so I'm really excited about it.

Michael Russell 37:26

We're gonna put this in the show notes as well, but it's just at Sky McLean, so M-C-L-E-A-N. Well, Sky, thanks for being on the show. And as always, thanks for listening to the Hotel Investor Playbook. We'll catch you again next week. And uh Loha. Thanks for hanging out with us today on the Hotel Investor Playbook. If you got even one good nugget of wisdom about hotel investing, do us a favor, hit that subscribe button and leave us a five-star review. And hey, if you're feeling extra generous, drop a quick line in the review section. Something like Mike and Nate are the go-to hotel investing guys, or best podcast for anyone looking to crush it in hospitality. Or, you know, whatever feels right. Those little shout-outs go a long way in helping more people find the show. And they pretty much make our day. All right, appreciate you guys. Catch you next time.