Special Edition Podcast: Behind the Scenes of Our Catalina + Bodega Bay Acquisitions

Summary

The Rich Somers Report
Special Edition Podcast: Behind the Scenes of Our Catalina + Bodega Bay Acquisitions
Date: April 30, 2026
Host: Rich Somers
Guests: Alex Johnson (Director of Investor Relations, Somers Capital), Lauren Turpy (Chief of Staff, Somers Capital)

Overview

In this special edition episode, Rich Somers takes listeners behind the scenes of Somers Capital’s newest acquisitions: two boutique hotels on the California coast—one on Catalina Island and another in Bodega Bay. Broadcasting live from Hotel Zendel in San Diego, the conversation with Alex Johnson and Lauren Turpy dives into Somers Capital’s operational strategies, embrace of technology (notably AI), marketing via influencers, and the unique investment opportunities presented by these acquisitions. The episode is a candid, detailed look at current trends in boutique hospitality and the evolving landscape of travel and investment.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Vision for Boutique Hotels & Location Strategy

• Catalina Island as a “European vibe” destination: Described as a blend of Italy, Greece, and even the Nepali Coast in Hawaii, with lush greenery and 54 miles of coastline ([00:00], [09:54]).
• Scarcity and exclusivity:
  • 88% of the island is undevelopable, donated to the Catalina Conservatory by the Wrigley family ([11:42]).
  • No chain restaurants; focus on unique, “Instagrammable” experiences ([00:18], [21:55]).
• Investment thesis: Buy in unbeatable locations, below market price, and always have a clear path to add value—Rich’s “three immutable laws of real estate investing” ([13:33]).

2. Technology as a Differentiator

• AI Integration ([02:45]):
  • Somers Capital has implemented AI in multiple operational areas:
    • AI Revenue Management Platform — makes 100-200 dynamic pricing adjustments daily, similar to airline models.
    • AI Concierge System — unique, named virtual concierges at each hotel. Personalizes guest communication (e.g., booking restaurant reservations, providing activity recommendations, even sending Amazon Prime links for travel gear) ([03:55], [04:20]).
    • Guest Interaction: 1 in 3 Google reviews at their hotels mention the AI concierge, with guests unaware they’re interacting with AI ([05:15]).
    • AI for internal processes: Claude preferred for spreadsheets and budgets; ChatGPT for creative tasks like design renderings ([02:11]).

3. Influencer and Social Media Marketing

• Strategic influencer partnerships:
  • Minimum of two travel influencers hosted per hotel monthly, generating organic, authentic content in exchange for complimentary stays ([05:18]).
  • Building sizable Instagram accounts tied to each property increases direct bookings and future property values ([05:18]).
  • Example: When Isaac French exited his property, $2–$2.5M premium was attributed to the asset’s Instagram following ([05:18]).
• Social media as the next booking channel:
  • Rich is adamant that social platforms like Instagram and TikTok are rapidly overtaking traditional booking channels.

4. Catalina Island Acquisition Details ([07:31])

• Property: 45-room hotel, underperforming (doing $1.9M top line vs. a neighboring 19-room generating $4M).
• Off-market opportunity, “fee simple” land (owning the land outright—important for long-term value).
• Renovation plans: Complete overhaul (interiors, exteriors, add a pool, transition to Spanish red tile roof, and palm landscaping) ([14:26]).
• Vision: Create a top-tier, vibey boutique experience that leverages both the location and social media appeal ([15:28]).

5. Bodega Bay Acquisition Details ([16:24])

• Markets:
  • Bodega Bay: Hour north of San Francisco, 200 wineries within 30 miles, 15,000 weekend visitors.
  • Hotel Dega: Prior acquisition; grew revenues from $700k to $2.9M in two years ([17:43]).
• New Asset: Sonoma Coast Villa—18 rooms on 60 hillside acres, wedding venue, pool, potential for a pickleball court ([18:51]).
• Expansion Plan:
  • Renovate property, convert 4br/4ba house into 6 more guest suites (grow rooms from 18 to 24) ([19:16]).
  • Operational savings by sharing maintenance and staff between hotels.
  • Anticipated future portfolio exit: combining properties for a premium sale ([20:40]).

6. Boutique Hotels vs. Airbnb & Chain Hotels

• Shift in travel preferences:
  • Modern travelers (Gen Z, Millennials) are abandoning chain brands in favor of unique, boutique experiences ([00:18], [21:55]).
• Impact of Airbnb regulations:
  • Catalyzing boutique hotel demand: e.g., San Diego reduced Airbnbs from 17,000 to 5,500 ([21:55]).
  • This regulatory environment strengthens the upside for hotels with limited, distinctive lodging ([21:55]).

7. The Investor Community

• Investment structure:
  • Passive investments with tax benefits.
  • Investors enjoy exclusive stays and events (yacht parties, music nights, wine tastings) ([25:51]).
• Community-building:
  • Strong focus on creating a network of likeminded investors, including professional athletes and entrepreneurs ([25:25]).
• Operational shoutouts:
  • Acknowledgment of Star (Director of Revenue Management) and her pivotal role ([26:37]).

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On boutique travel's appeal:

  "I always say it's a touch of Italy, a touch of Greece. It really has that European vibe ... and I always say it's a touch of the Nepali coast in Hawaii." — Rich, [00:00]

• On using AI in hospitality:

  “Brooklyn literally went on Amazon, sent her a link and said, hey, here's everything you need for your workout ... Lindsay used the link and literally that same night Amazon showed up with an outfit and she made it to the gym the next morning at 6 o'clock.” — Rich, [04:20] “1 out of every 3 reviews on Google at all of our hotels is mentioning the AI concierge. They have no idea it's AI.” — Rich, [05:15]

• On social media’s role in modern hospitality:

  "Instagram, TikTok, social media will become the next big booking channel for hospitality, for hotels ... these buyers are going to pay a premium for a hotel that comes with an Instagram with a sizable audience." — Rich, [05:18]

• On investment philosophy:

  “Number one: it’s got to be in a great location … you can never replace the location. Number two: buy below market. And number three: clear path to add value … I call them the three immutable laws of real estate investing.” — Rich, [13:33]

• On changing travel trends and Airbnb:

  “Airbnb is going away in a lot of markets around the country … that’s bringing all the demand back to the boutique hotels.” — Rich, [21:55]

• On the investor experience:

  “Unlike investing in Wall Street, or stocks, crypto, … our investors get to stay at these hotels exclusively, experience them, real assets all in really cool vibey locations.” — Rich, [24:24]

• On team and growth:

  "Big shout out to Star ... she's given us a huge lift coming over, joining the team over a year ago now. 13 years experience specifically in boutique hotel management." — Rich, [26:37]

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• [00:00-00:50]: Description of Catalina Island’s vibe and uniqueness
• [02:11-03:55]: All-in on AI; specifics on use cases for Claude, ChatGPT, AI concierges
• [05:18-06:50]: Social media influencer strategy and impact on bookings/value
• [07:31-08:59]: Catalina acquisition details, local context, and underperformance/upside
• [13:33]: Rich’s "three immutable laws” of real estate investing
• [14:26-15:28]: Detailed renovation plans for Catalina asset
• [16:24-21:16]: Bodega Bay, Hotel Dega track record, and Sonoma Coast Villa plans
• [21:55]: Big picture trends: Airbnb regulation, generational preferences, strategic positioning
• [24:24-26:37]: Investor community, events, and team acknowledgments

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Tone and Language

The conversation is energetic, forward-thinking, and candid, blending strategic depth with anecdotal detail. Rich’s language is entrepreneurial, optimistic, and direct, often referencing personal experiences and practical insights. Alex and Lauren offer both operational and lifestyle perspectives, enhancing the sense of team collaboration and shared vision.

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Summary Takeaway

This episode gives listeners an authentic, in-the-weeds look at the strategy, execution, and vision behind Somers Capital’s newest hospitality plays. By leveraging technology, influencer-driven marketing, and a careful eye for undervalued assets in legendary locations, Somers Capital is positioning itself at the vanguard of boutique hotel investment—just as travel, technology, and generational preferences coalesce to reshape the industry.

Transcript

[A]

I don't think there's anywhere in the country that looks like Catalina Island. I always say it's a touch of Italy, a touch of Greece. It really has that European vibe. The entire island is very lush and green. 54 miles of just coastline, super cute

[B]

little island, some cute restaurants, a nice getaway. Close enough, but far enough, you feel like you're somewhere else.

[A]

And I always say it's a touch of the Nepali coast in Hawaii. 88% of the island you will never develop on. Limited lodging supply. Near impossible to ever build another hotel there, which we love. The way that people want to travel today, Gen Zers, the Millennials is shifting. Think about when people used to go out to eat, they would go to all these chain restaurants that were popular. The Chili's, the Applebee's, the Olive Garden. Right, The Millennials, the Gen Z. They don't want to go to these places anymore. They don't think these places are cool. If you go to Catalina island, you will not see one chain restaurant. Right? Why is that? It's because people want to go stay at these one off vibey experiences that they can share with their friends on Instagram. Also with the way that they're traveling. All right, guys, today we are recording a special edition podcast live from one of our boutique hotels, HotelZendel, in the Lyda, Italy neighborhood of San Diego. And with me today, I got our director of investor relations for Summers Capital, Ms. Alex Johnson. Alex, how we doing?

[B]

Doing great. Thanks for having us.

[A]

Of course, of course. And also joining us today, we got our Chief of Staff, Ms. Lauren Turpy. Lauren, welcome to the show.

[C]

Thank you so much. Happy to be here.

[A]

Yes, likewise. And by the way, a fun fact, first podcast ever for Lauren. Yes, yes, Very exciting stuff. But guys, really excited. We got a couple boutique hotels, not just one, but two boutique hotels that we're acquiring simultaneously right now along the California coast. This is going to make a total of eight boutique hotels for us here at Summers Capital. And as we kind of build this hospitality brand, Summers collection, which is really our umbrella hospitality brand that's managing, allows us to be fully integrated. It's very exciting. So a couple things, guys, that we're doing before we jump into Catalina island, talk about some of our acquisitions. But a couple things that we're really doing right now to differentiate ourselves from the competition. Number one, we've gone all in on AI and so I know you're really good at using Claude and Chat. Which one do you like better? Lauren?

[C]

I recently I was a chatgpt Fan Forever. Used it a million times for emails, but recently I'm kind of using Claude more often now. It's really good for creating spreadsheets and actually creating things that you can convert to your Google Drive, which we use a lot. So yeah, so far in terms of like using it for creating budgets, it's been a lifesaver.

[A]

Yep. And then for renderings, you're using it for that too. But you would say chat is better for that.

[C]

Chat is better for that. Yeah, I'm glad you brought that up. Chat is quicker and it can tee up renderings that look so freaking good. So yeah, I have my favorites, but I like both.

[A]

Yeah. Yeah. So one, we've gone all in on AI, which we'll get to in a second. And then number two, we're really going all in on social media influencers. Okay. So we use an AI revenue management platform that does anywhere from 100 to 200 AI pricing adjustments throughout a 24 hour period, similar to how the airlines do it based on supply and demand. And big shout out to Star, who's our revenue manager, Director of revenue manager. She's been great. But also on the other thing, we've implemented an AI concierge at every single one of the hotels last year. They each have their own name and personality based on the market that the hotel is located in. For here in hotels and Dell, it's Brooklyn. But they will text the guests with blue iPhone message using staggered response times, emojis, even intentional smelling areas. So it feels like a real human component. And they'll help the guests with everything from check in instructions, restaurant accommodations, things to eat at the local restaurants, daytime activities like hiking trails and, and even driving five star reviews on Google. And also bringing in additional revenue in the form of early check in fees, light checkout fees, additional packages, additional room nights, et cetera. That's created a nice lift.

[B]

Yeah, totally. We've tested it actually. The one here, Brooklyn Hotels in Dell. We were out to dinner with some people that were staying here and we're like, let's test it out, let's put her to the test. And we're asking her where's the, the best steakhouse? Like where should we go for this? I think the other day we had some guests staying here and didn't she even like Amazon prime some clothes to someone?

[A]

Big shout out to Lindsey Stockholm, one of our community members. So we had a workshop in town, a lot of our members were in town and we were at dinner at Born and Raised Nice Steakhouse here in The Little Italy neighborhood, by the way. And Lindsey wanted to come to the gym with us in the morning and she said, I don't have my work outfit. So I told Lindsey at dinner, I said, text Brooklyn and see what she says. Brooklyn literally went on Amazon, sent her a link and said, hey, here's everything you need for your workout. Here's the link. Lindsay used the link and literally that same night Amazon showed up with an outfit and she made it to the gym the next morning at 6 o' clock in the morning because of our AI. Like that's crazy to think about it. Our AI literally sourced an outfit, made sure that it could arrive on time at the hotel, set everything up and you know, it's at the point now with, with our reviews on Google. 1 out of every 3 reviews on Google at all of our hotels is mentioning the AI concierge. They have no idea it's AI.

[B]

Yeah, crazy. Yeah, no excuses these days.

[A]

Yes, I know. Literally. And then the other thing that we're really doing to separate ourselves from the competition is we've gone all in on social media. I really believe that Instagram TikTok social media will become the next big booking channel for hospitality for hotels. And so we have a minimum of two travel influencers from Instagram staying at every single one of our hotels, minimum, two per month, indefinitely. And in exchange for a two night free stay, these influencers are shooting organic content for us. They're giving us visibility with their, their, their audience, which is primarily travel audience, people that are into hotels, hospitalities, experiences. And so it's doing two things for us. Number one, it's increasing our direct booking percentage, it's getting us more visibilities. But number two, when we go to exit, there's no, there's no doubt when we go to exit and sell these hotels on the back end, these buyers are going to pay a premium for not just the hotel in the acquisition, but also a hotel that comes with an Instagram with a sizable audience that comes with it. Yeah, good friends with Isaac French and he sold a property, One Oak Lake or One Oak Live. And he said when he exited, he said about two to two and a half million dollars of premium went to that exit price because they had an Instagram account that went with the sale and it was a sizable Instagram account. And that's real stuff. And that's just the age that we live in today. 4.8 billion people use social media. We got AI. Things are being disrupted. And that's why I say if you're a business owner listening to this right now, or a real estate investor, you're not using technology, you're not using AI. It's going to be very, very hard to compete with those of us that are. By the way, we're picking up a lot of these boutique hotels from these mom and pop owners that are not using AI. They're not using any tech, they're not using any social media. Shoot, a lot of them aren't even using the OTA channels, hotels.com, booking.com Expedia, which is, which is a big, big lever that you can pull. So anyways, Catalina Island, 45 rooms off Market. Love the area. Catalina's become a second home for me. I did 21 trips to Catalina last year with Presley on the boat, and it's really become a second home. I got a membership to the gym there. I've got in with all the locals, a lot of the key locals. City councilman, one of the gals that we're good friends with, shout out to Cindy Cassidy. She's a local, grew up on there on the island. She owns the hardware store, owns the Italian restaurant. Owner operates to the hotels and sits on city council. But one of the hotels she operates is directly next door to the hotel that we're acquiring. 19 room hotel that she operates, the Aurora Inn, directly next door to the one we're buying and the 45 room that we're buying right now. Just give you guys perspective. Doing $1.9 million top line, underperforming the 19 room that she's acquiring or that she's operating directly next door, doing 4 million top line across just 19 rooms. And so the upside is tremendous with this island. And it really goes with our investment thesis. Tight Airbnb regs, very, very, extremely limited supply of lodging options. But the locals don't have any housing out there. And so it makes sense that they don't want Airbnb taken away from the locals housing options. And so what this makes is an environment to where you have no branded hotels, very limited lodging supply, a million plus visitors year round, and the environment that that makes is 400 to 600, sometimes even $700 nightly rates for these mom and pop competitors, which is a big, big potential for us coming in with this particular property. Alex, you've been to Catalina? Yes, before. What do you like about the island out there?

[B]

I'm excited to check it out even more now. When I used to live in Orange county, it was a quick ferry ride, so I feel like people would go for the day. Just super cute little island. They have, like, a little, like, beach club, I think, like some cute restaurants and just like a little, you know, like a nice getaway. Close enough, but far enough. You feel like you're somewhere else. Like, you feel like you're almost kind of like in a different country. So, yeah, it's a lot of opportunity, I feel like, for everyone along San Diego, Orange County, Louisiana, even just to pop over on the ferry or whatnot. So. But yeah, you could, I think, do, like, little golf court, golf cart tours, hikes. So, yeah, super excited to check it out more. But it's a great little getaway for everyone in Southern California.

[A]

Yeah, they have everything over there. Hiking.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Ziplining. The ferries go from Long Beach.

[B]

I would love to see you ziplining.

[A]

Yeah, it's. I've actually. I've actually done ziplining before internationally, but I've never done it here in the States. So Catalina might be the first time. Maybe we'll do a team trip. Yes, absolutely. Absolutely. But I don't think there's anywhere in the country that looks like Catalina Island. I always say it's a touch of Italy, a touch of Greece. It really has that European vibe. And then the entire island is very lush and green. 54 miles of just coastline. And I always say it's a touch of the Nepali coast in Hawaii. If any of you guys listening or watching to this episode right now have ever been to Hawaii, Kauai is my favorite island. Lauren, you go out there, like, literally twice a year with your family.

[C]

I love Kauai.

[A]

Yeah. What do you love about Kauai?

[C]

It's beautiful. We did a helicopter tour last year where all along the Nepali coast, it was, I think, the most beautiful thing I've ever seen in my life. It's so serene, and just the people are so amazing. The food is great. Yeah, it's our favorite destination.

[A]

Yeah. If you guys ever go to Kauai, I love staying in Princeville. They have the one hotel out there and gorgeous, gorgeous asset. They did a really good job with that, that hotel. Whenever I travel, I like to stay at these independent boutiques and really see how other people are operating their boutique hotels. And I always pick up a couple cool things where I'm like, that's really cool. We should implement that. But anyhow, again, the Wrigley family is a fun fact about Catalina Island. The Wrigley family owns, like, Wrigley chewing gum. They own the Chicago Cubs. They've owned this island for a very long time, almost an entire century. Now they used to bring the Chicago Cubs out there for spring training baseball every single year. And they donated, in the 1970s, they donated 88% of the island to the Catalina Conservatory. And so 88% of the island you will never, never develop on. Very, very supply constrained.

[B]

I did not know that.

[A]

Yeah, which is big, right? You never develop on 88% of the island. Limited lodging supply and near impossible to ever build another hotel there, which we love. And that's why I say the number one thing that we look at when we go and buy boutique hotels is number one, it's got to be in a great location. We can never replace the location. We love. Stuff along the California coast, water views, stuff on the ocean. It's got to be well located. We can never replace that. We got to buy it below market, right? We got to be getting a good deal on the buy side, you make your money when you buy. And then number two, you got to have a clear path to add a lot of value. We're standing here at Hotel Zendel while we record this podcast. We did a nice renovation with this hotel. I just drove two 5 star reviews with guests checking out. And I told him, I said, hey, like, so you guys know, this hotel did not look like this when we bought it. And it was a one star hotel. It had squatters, they had bedbugs, and they were like, they were like, wow, we would never know. And, and I said, hey, we're doing everything we can to turn our reputation around online. It would mean the world to us if you, you know, assuming you enjoyed your stay, drop us a five star. They both drop us five stars. They both enjoyed their stay. But again, we have to have a clear path to add value through renovations, through operations, good marketing, implementing the tech, the AI, good revenue management, the social media. And then number three, we gotta have a long term time horizon. I don't want to time the market. I think where real estate investors get in trouble is they're trying to time the market. So developers, they're trying to time the market, right? Number two, flippers, they're trying to time the market, right? But as long as you got a long term time horizon and you buy in great locations, you buy below market and you have a clear path to add value, you can do really good. It's really hard to lose in real estate, assuming you got those three things, I call them the immutable, the three immutable laws to real estate investing. And if you abide to them, it's very, very hard to lose money.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Okay, so one other thing I really want to highlight here that's key with this particular asset we're acquiring out there. Number one, not many hotels change hands in Catalina island, and it's very rare that they do, let alone off market. But it's got ocean view from the top floors. And also, we own the land. So half of the deals out there, it's on land lease with the island. But this particular deal is. Is a fee simple, meaning we own the land. Right. That's very important for us. I don't ever want to do a deal where we don't own the land. I believe that the. The true wealth is built when you own the land, especially in really nice locations. But we're gonna. We're picking her up. 10.1. 1980s construction has not been renovated. Very tired, underperforming, but that's exactly what we love.

[B]

The money.

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

And we're gonna do a nice full renovation in this hotel. Inside, outside, we're gonna add a pool. There's a big lawn area out front. And it's funny because every time I've gone to this hotel to walk it, there's like, guests that are, like, literally out on the lawn area just sunbathing. I'm like, guys, like, you got to come back in six months.

[B]

Pool is going to be key. We'll go out and lay out.

[C]

I know that's. I can't wait to go out there. And that'll be our favorite place to hang out.

[A]

Yeah, yeah. The. The. The original ownership was supposed to put a pool out there in the front lawn. They never did. So we're going to add the pool. We're going to redo a lot of the exteriors. Right now the roof has this, like, blue tile roof that is kind of odd. We're going to go to Spanish red tile, bring in that classic Southern California look. Palm trees, Spanish red tile roof. It's already got a lot of palm trees. We're going to add the pool area, and then we're going to redo all the interiors, literally. The bathrooms, the rooms have not been touched since the 1980s. So it's got that 1980s original, kind of, like, tiled bathroom look.

[C]

The funky look.

[A]

Yes, it's got the funky look. So excited to bring this. This asset back to life. This is our sexiest asset that we're acquiring to date. And the upside is going to be tremendous with this one. But this is an asset where I'm like, man, I'm never going to want to sell this particular asset. No, it's so hard to get in there, you know. But anyways, I'm looking forward to it. We can do retreats out there. It's going to be the spot to stay at. And then I think one more thing that's going to be big is the travel influencers. None of the hotels out there are leveraging travel influencers. And so I just think from a content perspective, you know, think about the content out there on the water, the optics. Catalina island, on an island with the ocean. I just think it's going to do really, really well from a social media standpoint. So that's going to be a big play for us. Okay, guys, we are acquiring not just one hotel right now, but what the heck, we're buying two hotels. How did this even happen?

[B]

That's how you do it.

[C]

Like I guess go big or go home.

[A]

Yes. So two hotels and the second one is up In Bodega Bay five minutes from one of our other boutique hotels, our 45 room asset. Hotel Dega. Hour north of San Francisco. 200 wineries within a 30 mile radius of this area will own not just one, but two boutique hotels out of a total of five in this entire market. 15,000 visitors each weekend. This market's been great to us. Lauren, I know you grew up in the Bay area. Talk about Bodega Bay and why everyone likes it.

[C]

Yeah. So Bodega Bay is a very, very popular weekend getaway for people. I mean, it's only an hour north of San Francisco, so people go up there for a little serene, kind of like staycation. The wineries up there, like state of the art wineries. So yeah, it's a very popular location. Great wine, great coastal views, hikes. Yeah, it's very popular and it's a great spot. Great spot to hang out.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

About an hour, what would you say, drive from San Francisco? Less than an hour and a half?

[C]

I'd say it's about an hour and a half.

[A]

Okay.

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

Another airport that you can fly into. And last time I went up there with our design team to do some due diligence, we flew right into Santa Rosa Airport and that was like a 25 minute drive from the Santa Rosa airport to the hotel.

[C]

Direct flight from San Diego, too.

[A]

Easy, easy. Two non stop flights from San Diego. But what I really like about this particular asset is it complements our other hotel, Hotel Dega. Hotel Dega has been really great to us. We picked this up exactly two years ago in April 2024, 1988. Construction Hotel Dega. Just to give you Guys, some context. It was the first time this hotel ever traded. We acquired it for 6.9 and a quarter after the seller credit, the father had passed away a couple years prior. The sun took it over, had poor management in place and this thing was doing 700k top line when we acquired it. We are pushing to do 2.9 top line this year. So 700k to 2.9 this year. We bought it for 6.9 and a quarter. We will refi this asset later this year. Projected value, when we go to refi, projected value between that $14 to $16 million range. And guys, this is why we love the market. This particular asset that we're acquiring, sonoma Coast Villa, 18 rooms, five minutes up the road. But this complements Hotel Dega very well. Hotel Dega is on the water. All 45 rooms have water views. Sonoma coast is more on the wine country side. It comes with 60 acres on the hillside, which is great. It's got a wedding venue, it's got a pool, it's got a large. It's funny because they got an area right now next to the pool area kind of in the back where they do movie nights and they got like lawn games and so it's kind of funny. I think it would be kind of cool to add a pickleball court out there. We got so much. Yeah, but it would be really cool and vibey to have a pickleball court.

[C]

Yeah, totally.

[A]

But one of the value add levers. We're going to do a full renovation, guys. A lot of FF&E design, landscaping, redo the pool area. But one of the other value add components is there's a six, I'm sorry, a single family house. That's four bedroom, four bath. It's like 3200 square feet. This property is entitled for 30 hotel rooms. And so we want to get the permitting entitlement from the city, the local municipality. And we want to take the single family house down to the studs and bring in six additional private guest suites, taking it from 18 rooms to 24 rooms. So excited for it. But I just think that this property will complement our other one. We can share payroll expenses. We have a full time maintenance guy at Hotel Dega. We just renovated that entire asset. We don't need a second maintenance guy at this hotel. And so he can run maintenance point on maintenance of both hotels. We can train our front. I know, right? I know. That is funny. I know. But front desk, housekeeping, we can. They can be trained to operate both hotels significantly and immediately. Reducing our payroll expenses on both of these hotels, which makes sense. But when we go to exit on the back end, we can portfolio and package up both of these hotels together as a portfolio sale. And because the economy is a scale, would be to attract much larger pool of buyers, which makes a lot of sense from an exit standpoint.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

I love that.

[A]

Yeah, I know you like, you like your wine, Ajax.

[B]

Oh, yes. Yes.

[A]

What's your favorite wine?

[B]

Well, it depends on my mood, but I like, I like a nice Chardonnay or Savvy B.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

But yeah, I like my reds too. You know, a little relaxing, maybe like a cool colder nights. I like my red. So, yeah, excited to check it out. And I feel like that area is. It's just very, like, it's. It's a nice little getaway. And the, that extra, those extra rooms, it just gets me thinking, like, that would be perfect for someone to like, rent out for like a wedding or like a wedding weekend. Like, you have like, kind of like the separate room, like for the bride, the bridesmaids to get ready. So lots of potential. I mean, lots of potential. I'm excited.

[A]

Yeah, it would be a really cool spot to have like a bachelorette party.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

Kind of chill.

[A]

You could do a 24 room buyout. That'd be a big bachelorette party.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

But a wedding, A wedding would be really exactly.

[B]

Like, you could rent it out for a wedding. The pool, have the games and like, everyone stays together for the weekend. Like, I think that'd be really cool. Yeah.

[A]

And if someone had a bigger wedding, I mean, they could literally do the buyout with not just another coast villa, but also another 45 rooms a day.

[B]

Tier one, tier two.

[A]

That's so funny. We're joking because when we had our Tulum retreat last year, we had seven luxury villas and we had a couple tiers. Tier one, tier two, based on first come, first serve basis. But anyways, inside joke there. But anyways, yeah, very, very exciting stuff. Excited about these two opportunities. And I think big picture, you know, for us, we're really taking advantage of two things here. This is the important key parts to remember. Number one, tightening Airbnb regulations that are happening across the country right now. There's 8 million Airbnb listings in the world today. And by the way, I hate to break it to all the Airbnb gurus out there, Airbnb is going away in a lot of markets around the country. We live here in San Diego, for example, we had 17,000 Airbnb listings in 2023. They slashed the supply from 17,000 to 5,500. Okay. What that's doing is it's bringing all the demand back to the boutique hotels. And by the way, by the way, the way that people want to travel today, the modern travelers, the gen Zers, the millennials, is shifting, right? Our parents generation, our grandparents generation, think about when people used to go out to eat, they would go to all these chain restaurants that were popular back in the day. The Sizzlers, the Chili's, the Applebee's, the Olive Garden. Right? The millennials, the Gen Zers. They don't want to go to these places anymore. They don't think these places are cool. If you go down to India street, which is a block down from this hotel, 30 of the best restaurants here in San Diego are located here. You will not see one chain restaurant. If you go to Catalina island, you will not see one chain restaurant. Right? And why is that? It's because people want to go stay at these one off vibey experiences that they can share with their friends on Instagram. That's not just in the restaurant industry, but it's also with the way that they're traveling. And so these big branded hotels that are 400, 500 rooms with conference room, all the amenities, these are not cool hotels for people to stay at anymore. And so as Airbnb goes away, people want to go stay at these one off vibey boutique hotels that are experiences that they can share with their friends on Instagram. And that's really what we're taking advantage of here. Big picture, I saw this phenomenon happening three years ago. I started talking about it on social media and now we're starting to see it really play out. So excited for that. And then, you know, another big thing is again, you know, we don't buy these hotels alone. We have investors that partner with us. It's 100% passive. It comes with tax benefits. But the coolest thing that our investors like about investing with us is unlike investing in Wall street or stocks, crypto, investing into multifamily self storage, some of these other asset classes in real estate investing with us in the boutique hotel game, our investors get to stay it at these hotels exclusively, experience them, real assets that are all in really cool vibey locations on the water, just off the water, and really see firsthand how their money is working for them. And so our investors love that. And we always do our best to comp our investors so they can go and do that, enjoy these assets. But again, 100% passive with tax Benefits. And you know, I think what we're building here is more than just investing with, you know, another group or whatever it is. This is really a cool investor, you know, community that we're really building. We do really cool events. We just had a badass holiday party last year, invited all of our investors out. We do it every single year. 3 yacht Sai Tai out in the water. We had private chef, live music. A lot of our investors came into town and then we had a little follow up in the office. We even had our guy, Blake Schmitz dropping a little country song. We shot a music video.

[C]

Yeah, we did.

[B]

Loved it.

[A]

Yeah, and, and that was fun. And shout out to Papa Schmitz, who's his dad. But you know, a really cool investor group that we have community that we're really building. A lot of my podcast guests, a lot of business owners, we have some professional athletes, but it's been a really fun investor community. And then we also do grand opening little wine tastings. We did one here at Hotel Zendel when we did a soft launch and shoot, we had a bunch of our investors come out. My parents came out.

[B]

Happy summers. Having a good time.

[A]

Papa Summers.

[B]

It was good to see everyone and it's. Yeah, it is, I feel like it's, it's cool to see the community aspect of it, like everyone come together. I feel like even within the investor community people have been partnering or doing their own things and that's I think so cool to bring that together. Just like minded people. And I do think that our investors, they like the tangible assets, they like to see it, they're good looking assets and I think a lot of them are very excited about these two that we're bringing on. I just, if it's the vibe and so yeah, I'm excited to, you know, to acquire them and, and like I said, I think there's a lot of excitement from our current investors. So yeah, I'm excited to see them.

[A]

And big shout out to, you know, all of our operations team as well. Big shout out to Star. She's our director of revenue management and she's given us a huge lift coming over, joining the team over a year ago now. 13 years experience specifically in boutique hotel management. She was managing a collection under Marriott for many, many years. And so her coming on and joining the team over a year ago now has really created a nice lift for us and allowed us to really dial in a lot of the back end. I feel like we spent the majority last three years really dialing in the back end. To get us to a point to where we are now. And now we're ready to scale. And so it's really cool to see the growth and everything that we're building here with Summer's collection and also Summer's capital. And again, guys, if you resonate with this episode and you're interested in learning more, we always give our investors first look at these opportunities. But if you guys want to learn more, you can join our investor wait list, go to summerscapital.com invest. You can join our wait list there and book a free call with our team. And again, very, very excited about everything that we're doing. On behalf of Alex Johnson, on behalf of Lauren Turpy of On behalf, I'm Rich Summers, listeners, thanks for tuning in. We'll see you guys on the next one. Peace.