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
An STR operator's $4 million bet on building a boutique hotel in Colombia | Tim Hubbard E76
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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:
- The real cost breakdown of a ground-up international hotel development and why it ballooned past initial estimates
- Why foreign investors can't get bank financing in Colombia, and how Tim structured the deal without it
- How a licensing change wiped out months of progress and what it taught him about developing abroad
- The partnership structure that made this project possible, and what Tim wouldn't have attempted alone
- How his virtual management company, Corzly, operates 220+ STRs across 40 cities at 5-10% fees
- Where AI is actually delivering results in hospitality operations today, and where it still breaks down
If you've ever visited a city and thought about building something there, this episode is the honest version of what that journey actually looks like.
Connect with Tim Hubbard
Website: https://corzly.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tim-hubbard-str/
Podcast: https://strriches.com/
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