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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
Wall Street Trader Turned Hotel Broker: The Deal 40 Brokers Couldn't Close | Amiti Bhow E94
A 33-key Art Deco hotel in Miami sat on the market for five years. Forty brokers tried to sell it and failed. Amiti Bhow, Vice President at NewGen Advisory, finally got it done, not because she found a higher price, but because she found a buye...
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The PhD Economist Who Buys Hotels and Turns Them Into Apartments | Alexander Cartwright E93
Alexander Cartwright is a PhD economist who left a tenured professorship to buy distressed hotels and convert them into workforce housing through his company, HotelSHIFT. His business rests on a simple valuation gap: hotels trade at higher cap ...
Why This Fund Ditched US Real Estate For 18% Appreciation In Portugal | Dan Daly E92
Dan Daly runs a fund that invests in boutique hotels across Europe, and on this episode he makes the case for why, in his view, Portugal beats the US on nearly every number that matters. According to Dan, property there has appreciated roughly ...
AutoCamp CEO: From Five Broken Airstreams to a Hilton Partnership | Neil Dipaola E91
Neil Dipaola bought five wrecked Airstreams off Craigslist in 2012 to use as affordable housing in a Santa Barbara mobile home park. Today those trailers have grown into AutoCamp, a nine-property outdoor hospitality brand backed by Airstream, p...
$500 Million Hotel Broker: Why Your Franchise Flag Might Be Capping Your Hotel's Revenue | Chris Kilcullen E90
Chris Kilcullen has spent three decades in hotels, closing more than $500 million in deals as a senior broker at Avison Young. He's also sold franchises, brokered acquisitions for a REIT, and now built his own hotel concept, so he's seen the fl...