Welcome to Boostly Podcast Episode 559.
In this podcast episode, Liam Carolan interviews Diya Liu, a former lawyer who now owns hotels and short-term rental properties. Diya explains that she was drawn to the hotel industry because of the unique experiences she could offer guests, and she enjoys interior design.
Before she got into hospitality, she practiced law for five years, representing Fortune 500 companies in litigation. Diya currently has holdings in six different markets across the US, with most of her properties being located in vacation destinations.
She uses data-driven tools such as AirDNA, STR Insights, and DataRabu for short-term rentals, and CoStar and Star Reports for hotels, as well as tourism websites and word of mouth to determine which locations are trending.
Additionally, Diya travels to about 50 destinations every year, which allows her to gather information from locals and determine where the next hot spots will be.
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Timestamps (audio)
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Transcript from the Episode
[00:00:00] Liam: Why consider a hotel over a short-term rental? There's
[00:00:04] Diya: a lot of reasons why I personally gravitated towards hotels and motels. The biggest reason was because, okay.
[00:00:11] Liam: Welcome to the Boostly podcast, and thank you for listening in. This is the podcast that gives hosts the tools, the tactics, the trainings on how you can get more direct bookings.
[00:00:21] My name is Liam Carolan. I'm Mark Simpson's co-host, and today we're going behind the host. Uh, we have a successful and interesting short-term rental host, and where we're gonna ask questions about her business, we're gonna extract some of that juicy information that you can learn from and you can action and implement into your hospitality business.
[00:00:40] So today I'm going to introduce to you Diya Liu. She's a former. Lawyer who now does short-term rentals and actually buys hotels, which is amazing, and something we're gonna, uh, dive into. So welcome a along Diya.
[00:00:54] Diya: Thank you. Thank you for having me on.
[00:00:56] Liam: No worries, no worries. Thank you for, for joining us today.
[00:00:59] So [00:01:00] in one sentence, um, can you describe what you, what you do at the moment? So if, if a stranger was sort of say, Hey, what do you do? What do you say to them?
[00:01:10] Diya: I, my one sentence answer to that is I travel around the US and sometimes the world and then I buy hotels and vacation rentals.
[00:01:19] Liam: I mean that, that's pretty cool.
[00:01:20] Straight away, . I mean like, that's pretty cool. So let's take me back to before, before hospitality. What did you do before hospitality and how did you lead into the world of hospitality?
[00:01:34] Diya: I was trained as a chemical engineer on biochemistry, uh, double major, and then I went into law school, um, because I decided that law school was just a shorter route, uh, to success in my opinion than um, PhD program.
[00:01:53] And so I practice PA in litigation. Uh, Representing Fortune 500 [00:02:00] companies for about five years, both in New York City and Austin, Texas. And basically I really wanted to get into real estate investing. So I moved back to my hometown of Austin, Texas before the real estate prices got too expensive. And I started house hacking and just renting out on Airbnb really.
[00:02:22] Um, once I bought my first. And that's really how I felt in love with the concept of hosting folks and creating really unique experiences. Um, I really like interior design and, uh, so that just, everything just fell into place.
[00:02:40] Liam: And whereabouts is your hospitality business at the moment? Is it based in multiple locations?
[00:02:45] How many units and what kind of, uh, guest avatar do you tend to host? Is it more people traveling for business, more people traveling for leisure?
[00:02:54] Diya: It's mostly in vacation destinations, but I tend to [00:03:00] diversify my holdings. And so I have probably invested in six different markets at this point. I think I have holdings currently in four different markets between the hotels and short, short-term bundles that I have.
[00:03:15] Um, and so they're, they're. In Texas, North Carolina, in Arkansas right now. And I did have stuff in Arizona as well. Oh. And as well as in New Mexico. Um, but I just recently sold what I had in Arizona.
[00:03:32] Liam: And I mean, you've got quite a diverse portfolio across a lot of different markets and locations. Can you tell us, um, how you track which locations work?
[00:03:42] Is there any websites or softwares that you use and, and how do you.
[00:03:48] Diya: I look, so it's different for short term rentals and hotels, but I of course use a lot of the, the stuff that everyone is familiar with, air, D N A S C R, [00:04:00] insights, data Rabu, et cetera. For hotels, I look at CoStar and Star Reports, which is the industry standard.
[00:04:08] Um, and then I look at a lot of non-technical, well, I non-data driven sites such as just tourism websites or um, newspaper articles on what are the trending tourism destinations. And I also go by word. So from friends and family, um, just talking to folks when I'm traveling, I get to travel to probably 50 different destinations every single year.
[00:04:36] So just getting to talk to the locals and understanding where the locals are traveling to next, uh, is another crucial part of data
[00:04:44] Liam: collection. That's really cool. That sounds like there's been a lot of data led decisions and those websites that you mentioned, I know, um, I mean some are familiar, but not all of those were familiar to me, and, and I know there'll be people listening who, who will be able to go and check those out.
[00:04:59] Um, [00:05:00] how do you do this then? You mentioned that you're traveling. How do you do this while on the move? Who else is on your team to help you, uh, with the short-term rentals in the hotel.
[00:05:10] Diya: So I teach both a short term rental and hotel mastermind. So the, the game, the, so I do have one main business partner. He is, he has 20 years in tech and sales.
[00:05:24] So he is usually focused on the operations and tech. Pieces when there's a lot of tech related pieces in the hospi hospitality industry, right? So, um, he's really, uh, operations driven and I'm usually the acquisitions and fundraising person. And so I normally travel around the country to meet new investors and.
[00:05:49] Students and I teach at real estate conferences on hotel and short-term mental investing. And then, um, I fundraise for a lot of our deals that are bigger deals. [00:06:00] And so, and then I analyze them too using my legal background and, um, my engineering background to really. Understand the data as well as the, the legal framework around each of these acquisitions.
[00:06:13] Um, but we do have different team members for different deals usually, but I am putting together a fund and I, it's a 5 0 6 fund, so I can talk openly about it, but I am putting together a short-term rental and hotel fund. And, uh, that is with, uh, four other folks so that those folks will be locked in for who they are for the next 10 years.
[00:06:39] Liam: And when it comes down to the, there'll be a lot of people out there who are wondering how they go about finding a business partner. Is there any tips or any advice that you'd share about finding somebody who has that opposite role to what you do? And, and to really, you know, creates the, the cohesion to allow the business to, to work and grow?
[00:06:59] Diya: [00:07:00] I think that there really needs to be at least one person who's a lot more on social media and out there and just, um, promoting the brand and understanding and talking about what you do, and that's usually my role. There needs to be at least one person who is really good with numbers. And, uh, contracts and et cetera.
[00:07:20] Um, and one person who is really good on the operations piece, and because oper hospitality is much, much more operations intensive than pretty much any other real estate investing, um, that you can do, that is a very, very crucial piece. And, uh, they can be, these roles can be filled by different people.
[00:07:43] They can be filled by the same people. There could be. Um, but I really suggest for folks to look for people with business and personality qualities that are different than their own. So if you are an introvert, maybe you should look for someone [00:08:00] who is a little more extroverted if you are. Someone who's a visionary or you know, you're very big picture, then you might want to find someone who is going to, um, understand the details and fill in those larger goalposts with the fencing, so to speak.
[00:08:17] Um, and so I am a lot more big picture. I understand how to put together deals creatively. , but I think in terms, in terms of day-to-day operations, in terms of hiring and firing employees, I always knew that that's probably not. What I am strongest at. So when I was, uh, looking at business partners, that's really what I was looking for.
[00:08:41] And in terms of our fund, it just, um, because that's more of just raising money, um, that doesn't necessarily need, uh, the operations piece as much, but, um, it does. But still benefit to have someone who does a lot of operations, um, just [00:09:00] in initial acquisitions phase to understand, hey, these might be trouble spots down the road.
[00:09:05] And for the fund, it's also important for others to people who are very much like, let's buy everything. And also for people to be very. People on that team that are a lot more conservative. Um, just because you want kind of both to really, and it's healthy to disagree on a lot of these, um, topics because, uh, different investors have different risks, uh, tolerances as well.
[00:09:31] So having a lot of different voices, uh, from people who are different than you is very important in building these.
[00:09:38] Liam: It sounds like it's really talking about balancing, you know, the, the need in different areas of the business and in different personality types, isn't it? It's all about balance and you as the, uh, the visionary and the, the person who's bringing the cohesion and everything together by, by doing that, which is really cool.
[00:09:54] So, One question, which I must go, must ask. We don't get many people on the [00:10:00] podcast who's actually buying hotels a lot of the time. We've got hosts who have bought short-term rentals and they're moving perhaps from, you know, mo motel type, uh, thing towards more short-term rentals, individual units. Why consider a hotel over a short-term rental?
[00:10:17] Diya: There's a lot of reasons why I personally gravitated towards hotels and motels. The biggest reason was because, um, I was reselling some of my short term impulses in 2021, and I was continuously running into the issue where both me and the buyer agreed on a price because it was making quite a bit of money.
[00:10:39] Um, but the, because. Furniture does not count in an appraisal. Income does not count in an appraisal. The fact that we have a locked in cleaning crew and management system that's seamless does not, uh, reflect in appraisal. Um, the appraisal, uh, may not, uh, reflect what the [00:11:00] property is worth. Um, so. In commercial real estate, what you make is going to reflect in the appraised value of the property.
[00:11:10] So, um, when you sell a hotel that is doing two, three x more revenue a year than your competitors, Then not necessarily. It's not necessarily going to be worth two three x, but it's definitely going to be worth a lot more than your competitor's hotel and motel. So that was reason number one, but two, operationally it's a lot easier to.
[00:11:34] Buy a hotel. Uh, from an acquisitions perspective, it's easier to buy one 40 unit hotel and be done for the year, uh, versus trying to buy 40 different short-term rentals, cuz that's a lot of closings and a lot of mortgages, a lot of utility companies and et cetera. And it's also easier operationally because instead of hiring a short-term rental management company and paying 20%, um, out [00:12:00] to them for all of those deals, you can just have one or two really quality on-site managers.
[00:12:06] And it might actually be cheaper than having 20% of your revenue go towards a shortterm mental management company. And finally, um, and this is the big piece that is aha moment. For a lot of my hotel Mastermind folks is, um, there's more and more short-term rental regulations and a lot of folks are scared that their favor investing destination, where they already have short-term rentals.
[00:12:34] Mm-hmm. , it's going to be regulated away due to short-term rental regulations. But if you own a hotel, those regulations benefit you. And in fact, it's a lot of these boutique hoteliers who are lobbying for these shortterm mental. Regulations to go into effect. So if you are going to be a hotelier, and let's say you still want to rent it out on Airbnb and B R B [00:13:00] O, there's nothing stopping you from using those two as one or your many OTAs.
[00:13:05] Now you can also book be on booking.com, expedia, hotels.com, et cetera. And so, uh, it doesn't really. To also put it on Airbnb. It doesn't hurt to, um, maybe only market the unique properties that you have in your hotel portfolio on Airbnb, and you just have a lot more options and flexibility.
[00:13:28] Liam: That makes sense.
[00:13:29] And it really diversifies the risk, doesn't it? Because like you say, depending on what happens in. The industry in terms of the, the local legislation and laws will, hotels have been around a lot longer. There're much more established and, and that, so you, you're just much more de-risked and like you say, the operationally.
[00:13:48] That just makes, that makes complete sense. I guess for me, one of the things which I think. Most people look at the short term rental industry as, as a good option is because these are [00:14:00] entire units, you know, it makes sense where people are getting somewhere where they can cook, where they've got their own living space and that, but there's a, there's a huge market isn't there for switching hotels, motels, and adding in the facilities where you can then have, you know, facilities to cook, facilities to, to relax in and things like that.
[00:14:18] Is that something that you think is a growing opportunity? Is that something that you're interested. .
[00:14:22] Diya: Yes, absolutely. And I think a lot of people think of hotels as just these tiny little units that don't really have kitchens. Mm-hmm. . But in fact, there are already hotels out there that have larger accommodations.
[00:14:36] So a lot of these hotels have larger residences already. Um, you know, if you stay at some of these franchise brands, they might have larger two, three bedroom residences that you can also rent out, for example. Um, there's also a. Extended stay hotels, like home two suites and you know, by Hilton. And there's a lot of, you know, courtyard, et cetera, that have, [00:15:00] um, kitchens or kitchen nets that are in, uh, the hotel rooms for extended stays.
[00:15:07] And then finally, um, for a lot of the hotels that we're looking at, they're not franchises, but either they have land that we can build additional larger residences on the same parcel, and they'll be zoned the same way as our hotels are. And so they're insulated from short-term rental regulations. Or we're converting some of the smaller hotel rooms and combining two hotel rooms into larger residences as additional, um, options for our guests.
[00:15:35] If they want something a little bit bigger, a little more private, with more cooking area, more dining space, they can do that. We can also just, um, how connecting rooms. So I've seen some of my fellow hotel. Who have came out with the idea of having every other unit have a full kitchen. And then, uh, so, and then those units that have connecting kit, [00:16:00] a full kitchen can connect to the one that doesn't have a full kitchen.
[00:16:04] And so you can rent them out as one bedroom plus studio units, or you can rent them out as two bedrooms effectively. So, um, what we're doing. Uh, we have a 48 room hotel that the front 32 rooms are small studio units. They're not going to have full kitchens, but we are going to have a shared communal kitchen for guests who want to use a kitchen.
[00:16:29] And we're also going to have grills outside as well. And then in the back, uh, where the rest of the residences are. They, we are com combining a lot of those two rooms into one for example, or three rooms into one to have larger Airbnb, v rbo OS type residences. And then finally, stage three is going to be my most exciting stage.
[00:16:52] Um, it's going to be tree houses in a-frames that we're going to build in the extra late acre in the back. So, um, there's a. [00:17:00] Uh, different creative things that you can do with hotels and motels, but there's also a lot of resorts that you can buy right now that are 10, 20, 30 log cabins. So they are already lending themselves in, uh, to be operated closer to a short-term rental
[00:17:16] Liam: model.
[00:17:17] Hey, I'm excited for you. That does sound exciting. I love the ideas of those split units and having one kitchen amongst many and just having, you know, the, the, the option and, uh, you know, flexibility within that is, is amazing. The, the fact that you can build in the land and the grounds around it, like you say, for some of these more unique stays, which people, uh, After at the moment, you know, they're, they're, they're very popular.
[00:17:39] Is, is, is just another feather in the cap of the whole strategy. So really amazing and excited for you. So I guess looking back, one of the things which is noticeable, uh, about your journey is obviously you've gone from, um, you know, sort of a lawyer to, into short-term rental and buying hotels. , is there any steps looking back that you could [00:18:00] say, Hey, these are defining moments which allowed me to transition and to grow, and if so, uh, what are they?
[00:18:08] Diya: I think there's a lot of moments there, but I think the, the biggest, um, goalpost was one when I pay off all my student loans. Um, for, from law school, I did have a full right to law school, but you know, living in New York City is not cheap. So just accelerating my financial independence was goal number one.
[00:18:29] So that meant paying off any. Um, that meant moving back to Austin, Texas from New York City where there's less taxes and uh, more real estate opportunities. That was step one. Um, step two was to buy as many short-term bundles as possible, as fast as possible to reach a state where my income was surpasses my living expenses and keep still keeping living expenses relatively low.
[00:18:56] And then, so I was able to quit in 2020. , [00:19:00] which probably was the worst year for anyone who in the hospitality industry to quit, but regardless. Um, and then at that point I had a lot more free time to, and bring space to really think about what I are my next step. So that was another major goalpost when I quit my w W2 job to focus on real estate investing full-time.
[00:19:21] And then of course, uh, the last goal post was really when I. Shipped it into Hotel Messian. That really took, uh, a lot of tries really, that, uh, wasn't so successful initially. Um, I probably made about over a dozen offers and put many, many of those properties under contract before I closed my first one. So that was definitely also, uh, a major go post.
[00:19:48] And now, because, uh, we already have. It's easier for us to get funding for hotels. It's easier for us to get insurance for hotels. It's easier for [00:20:00] owners who are for off market deals to take us seriously because now we know how to top like a hotel investor.
[00:20:08] Liam: One of the questions I'd have for you is, it sounds like you've, you've done quite a, it sounds quite a smooth journey when you say it.
[00:20:15] Obviously it wouldn't be when you're, when you're living it, but was there, what would you say was the biggest challenge and how did you overcome?
[00:20:24] Diya: Biggest challenge. Um, Hotel messing is just to get your first deal because, um, it's, if you don't have hotel experience, even short-term rental, even if you have, let's say 20 plus short-term rentals, sometimes lenders are still not going to lend to you just because they, you don't have the requisite hotel operational experience.
[00:20:49] And so, Counts vacation rentals as the same thing. Cuz honestly, from an operational perspective, it can be very, very different. And so financing was hard. [00:21:00] Even getting insurance was hard. We had to delay the closing of our very first hotel deal by two weeks. Uh, just because the insurance company was also, um, not, uh, convinced that short-term rentals, even multi-family, short-term rentals, count as hotels.
[00:21:16] And so I, at the time, I already. Um, a eight unit to that we were converting into 10 units short-term rentals. And that doesn't count, uh, for the insurance company. And so definitely buying your first hotel is pr the, the biggest challenge. Um, and that's why I came up with our mastermind to really help folks who are already in the short term bundle industry to get that ver very first deal, cuz it can be very challeng.
[00:21:45] Liam: That's really cool. And one of the things which we always like to talk about on here, there's gonna be a lot of hosts who wonder what tech that you've used along the way. So has there been any pieces of tech either, I guess this is more on the operational side, but even on [00:22:00] the, um, either finance raising side or on the, um mm-hmm.
[00:22:05] you know, on, on the social media side, what pieces of tech has really helped you excel your journey?
[00:22:13] Diya: Um, so on the operational side, we use cloud beds, uh, for our hotels, and I'm sure it, the reason that we use cloud beds is because they work a lot better for hotels rather than just short-term rentals. Um, but I, I.
[00:22:31] I hesitate to say that there's really been one piece of technology that has really helped us a lot because, um, any tool is just as good. It, it's only as good as the operator using it. So, um, so for example, co-Star and STAR Reports are very, very helpful in understanding, um, how to analyze the hotels, uh, or how to analyze hotels, but, I, a lot of our mastermind folks, uh, [00:23:00] initially used them incorrectly.
[00:23:02] And so, um, so it is really helpful, even in Air DNA or some of these other shortterm rental tools, they're also only as good as the operator using them and understanding how to use all the different tabs that the resources, um, that, that the particular technology provides You.
[00:23:24] Liam: That makes sense. It's not the tool, it's, it's how it's used, isn't it?
[00:23:27] At the end of the day, if you've, if you're provided with any kind of tool, but if you don't know how to use it in the way that's meant to be used, then you're not gonna get the best out of it, which is why you go to people like yourself and, you know, sort of, uh, I, we always say that you're best to find somebody who's walked that path before, you know, sort of leverage their knowledge, you know, pay them for the, their courses, their services, get that knowledge, and then go and put it into practice, because that'll save you so much time.
[00:23:52] One of the things which, uh, I'd love to ask is, obviously you've been in and around hospitality for, for a long time, and have you come [00:24:00] across any, is there been any funny stories or any sort of, uh, moments of hosting where you can look back and go, well, okay, that was a bit of a weird moment, or a favorite guest, or something like that?
[00:24:12] Diya: Um, I could do one for Shortterm rentals and one for hotels for shortterm rentals. It was my first beach shortterm rental. And, um, it was just a really weird moment. So where, uh, a couple booked. Our property, which has a shared hot tub because it's in a condo complex. Um, and, uh, basically they did honeymoon things in the hot tub area, which is recorded.
[00:24:39] And, um, the HOA manager not only flipped out and tried, uh, of course, wanted to charge for the clinging of the hot tub. But she also demanded my short-term mental management company and my cleaner and myself to watch the video, and I was just like, Why ? Like, yeah, why ? [00:25:00] Yeah, so that was the weirdest moment and they left us a glowing five star review.
[00:25:04] They were like, it was so relaxing and I just could not contain my laughter. When I read that review and so romantic, I was like, oh, if only you knew. Um, the drama that I've already been through. So, um, so that was the most interesting four shorter rentals, um, for
[00:25:21] Liam: a hotel. Sounds like they enjoyed
[00:25:22] Diya: themselves,
[00:25:23] Yes, yes. Uh, I think they also put that in their review, which was like, oh, that's, that's great. Um, and then for hotels, it was really . We were, we were remodeling, um, our largest hotel asset, which is 48 doors. And, um, The back building needed a roof that to be replaced. So we had this roofing contractor come.
[00:25:48] Um, and at the time we were living in the hotel, because it's just, you know, for something that's 48 keys, you really don't want just to manage the rehab remotely just because we're [00:26:00] also renting out the rooms to the guests. So there's a lot of guests, uh, you know, versus a rehab, you know, consideration. So you really just have to be on.
[00:26:09] So I was running a Zoom meeting with some of my hotel mastermind folks, analyzing hotels, and all of a sudden, um, someone fell, uh, from the roofing company in through the drop ceiling roof, I mean the drop ceiling in my room. And onto my bed . And so I, I was gonna record a Zoom meeting and I really wish I had my camera facing the bed, because that would've been the most viral reel ever.
[00:26:39] Liam: Yeah. You'd, you'd be able to get money for that just on the basis of, you know, sort of like that, that would go viral, like
[00:26:45] Diya: you're saying. Yeah, exactly. So I really wish I had my camera turned, um, towards the bed. Uh, basically I went from just me in my pajamas, uh, , you know, my room to about 10 roof contractors and [00:27:00] handyman all the, all in my room, , uh, in about under five minutes.
[00:27:05] And it was just, uh, it was the craziest thing ever. And, uh, luckily the guy was not hurt. And this is the other piece that was really funny about it because nobody was hurt and. If he fell a little bit to the right or the left, it would not have been as funny because he would not have had a 12 inch memory foam mattress breaking his fall.
[00:27:27] But instead he just bounced off of the mattress and rolled off and was really confused, and that was about it. So it was just a really funny moment, but it's also like what we're gonna do with this whole. Ceiling moment as well.
[00:27:41] Liam: Oh, I can imagine. I can imagine. What, whatever did the people say on your Zoom call?
[00:27:45] Like, hang on, I've just gotta go. A guy just dropped through through my ceiling, you know? How did you explain that one? ? Yeah.
[00:27:51] Diya: I, I think I just said, oh my gosh, someone just fell through my ceiling and then on Zoom I show the hole. But, you know, and then I, I told people [00:28:00] that I had to reschedule a meeting, but just because people were.
[00:28:03] Knocking on my door trying to get in and understand what happened and stuff like that. It was just,
[00:28:09] Liam: yeah, , I don't blame you for needing to reschedule. That is, they're great. Do you know that I, we asked that question from time to time and I, I would say that you've got the award for the best stories for the guest side of things, cuz I just haven't.
[00:28:21] We've not come across that. Certainly not somebody dropping in through the ceiling. Um, obviously a bit hanky, hanky in the hot tub does happen from time to time, but not usually, uh, in that way. So, um, yeah, that's an interesting couple of stories. Thank you for those. So as we come towards the end, we'd like to do a couple of quickfire, just fun questions.
[00:28:39] But before we do, I'd love to ask as, as you've shared so much knowledge with us, what advice would you have for somebody looking to get started in hospitality? Um, either short-term rental or even considering the hotel and motel route.
[00:28:53] Diya: I think the biggest thing is to, um, don't be afraid to [00:29:00] take action and potentially have the risk of failure.
[00:29:03] I think that is, um, that's always been my model. Um, don't, also, don't be afraid to pivot if something is not working for you. Even if you have invested a lot of time or energy into, let's say a whole career such as law school, uh, don't be afraid to just pivot. and, uh, you know, go in a different direction that makes you happy, that is going to be more fulfilling for you.
[00:29:28] And then specifically with hospitality is that, uh, it's probably going to be a lot longer hours and more commitment than you initially. Uh, thought it was going to be, um, especially in the realm of hotel investing. Uh, so definitely if you are just looking to make money faster. Um, yes, hotels and short-term rentals make a ton more money than the comparative long-term rentals and multi-family assets.
[00:29:59] but the people [00:30:00] who are truly successful in hospitality are the people who love it, whether for one reason or another, maybe you love to travel and you love to share that joy of traveling with others, or maybe you love to host people and you love that feeling of hosting people. Um, whatever that reason is, um, make sure that you love it because there are going to be days where contractors fall their roof and, you know, stuff like that.
[00:30:24] There's just gonna be a. Stop that you can't anticipate. And those are gonna be really long days if you're only in it for the money.
[00:30:31] Liam: Fantastic advice. So we go onto the quick fire section now, which these questions and you know, there's just a bit of fun. Find out a little bit more about you. So you travel a lot of the time.
[00:30:43] Where would you say that everybody listening should go and check out what is the top travel destination that you've been?
[00:30:50] Diya: Uh, my favorite personal favorite is probably either Chow Mind Thailand or um, Northern Bali. Uh, here in the [00:31:00] us one of my favorite markets, and it's not necessarily for investing, is just where I love, love, love, uh, to travel to is Sedona, Arizona.
[00:31:08] It's one of my favorite towns. I love hippie mountain towns. That's one of my favorite things. Um, so any hippie mountain town is probably going to be one of my among. In the US.
[00:31:19] Liam: I love it. So you teach people and you, you can coach people. One of the things which I'd ask is, what, uh, entrepreneur or coach would you most like to have a coaching call with, and what would be your first question for them?
[00:31:35] Diya: Can you, so, um, can you elaborate that a little bit more? Mm-hmm. so other person than other than me, right? Yeah.
[00:31:42] Liam: So, so out, out of, uh, the, the famous entrepreneurs, the, the Gary vs. The, um, you know, the grant cards, all, all of the, those types of people, is there anybody in particular you'd love to have a coaching call with?
[00:31:54] And if so, what would be your first question, if any?
[00:31:58] Diya: Um, so [00:32:00] I think, uh, out of the super, uh, well known ones, um, I think really I would love to do a. Course with Heather Blankenship, which she does at rv uh, program, just because a lot of the folks that are in my hotel mastermind also have questions about RVs.
[00:32:21] Uh, so, and then I think vice versa as well. And so my, so I guess my biggest. The questions I will ask them, were just be really RV park related, just, um, you know, outdoor hospitality, um, glamping, et cetera, just because that's something we're also going to do in the near future.
[00:32:41] Liam: That's cool. That's cool. Um, what is the worst piece of advice you've ever been given?
[00:32:50] Diya: I've been given a lot of worst pieces of ice. Uh, so, um, just pretty much any advice from anyone who's already not, who's [00:33:00] not already investing in short-term rentals or hotels. Um, when I was buying my first short-term rental, I had folks who were like, I can't. I don't fathom how that could possibly make that much money.
[00:33:11] That's a horrible idea. When I started buying hotels, people thought that that was also a crazy idea. So just really, uh, a, you know, and I must meet a lot more money to buy my own hotel. Um, yeah, so really just a naysayers, uh, really have, um, been collectively the worst of eyes.
[00:33:33] Liam: Um, and flipping that round, the best advice you've ever been given.
[00:33:38] Diya: So this is not really real estate related, it's really just business related. Um, so when I was working as a junior, Law firm associate, one of the law firm partners that I really looked up to, she really pulled me aside one day and she said, you don't have to qualify yourself. And the reason that she was saying that [00:34:00] is because I would say like, well, I don't have a PhD or organic chemistry, but.
[00:34:05] And then I will give my opinion. And she said, you know, you have a, you have a engineering background, you have a science background. You don't have to qualify your answers by saying you don't ha what you don't have first before giving your opinion. Just go ahead and give your opinion. Um, and she just set that.
[00:34:23] I think because females, we tend to qualify our answers a lot more before we go ahead and give our answers. Um, and so that's one of those, uh, pieces of advice I give to a lot of folks, um, when I teach them to talk to hotel owners more confidently and et cetera. Don't focus on what you don't have. Focus on what skills you already have and really highlight those in those kind of convers.
[00:34:51] Liam: I love that. That's fantastic advice. Like you say, don't, don't doubt yourself on that. And is there a motto or a mantra that in general, you just like to live [00:35:00] by or that you really agree with? What really resonates with you?
[00:35:04] Diya: I think I touched on this point in that I like to fail faster and I also like to pivot faster.
[00:35:11] Um, I, at this point, I have a really good system of vetting hotel deals, but I, um, I didn't have a good system when I started and really to. Seek those people who have more knowledge than I did and also pay for education and also just, uh, take action. Those are things that, uh, you just have to do. I know a lot of folks are scared of the market right now.
[00:35:37] Uh, they were scared of the market. Six months ago as well, just because it was so hot and now they're scared because we're potentially heading into a recession. There's always going to be opportunities, but there's always going to be reasons that you should fear, fear the market, um, but just run more conservative numbers.
[00:35:55] Um, pay for education, pay for networking, attend a lot more [00:36:00] conferences, uh, listen to more podcasts like this and run your numbers conservatively. So I guess to sum that up is really to take massive action and, um, and just really be specific and your goals and create a really great network, whether it's paid or free, uh, to a salary.
[00:36:21] Liam: Thank you for that. That is really fantastic advice and there's gonna be people listening to this who want to find out how they can get in touch with ya. What's the best way to do so? ,
[00:36:31] Diya: they can find me and talk to me on Instagram. Uh, it's at DIA E S Q, or D I Y A E S Q. They can also, uh, learn more about a lot of the offerings that we have, whether that's is a short-term rental, uh, and hotel fund, whether it's upcoming hotel mastermind opportunities and et cetera.
[00:36:53] By reaching out to me via Direct ME slash Dou, which. all these links including [00:37:00] social media.
[00:37:01] Liam: Thank you dear. That's, uh, that's fantastic and I know we didn't touch on it or have time to touch on it, but it's, it's so worth following you. You've got a lot of followers, you've got a lot of, uh, you've got a big audience.
[00:37:12] You've got uh, um, you've got Facebook group as well. So, you know, certainly people, if you are listening to this, go and check out dears, uh, sort of groups and really get involved. And, uh, if you're interested in any of the hotel stuff, any of the training, you can certainly reach out to her, which is cool. So, um, is there anything that I've missed dear?
[00:37:29] Is, Other questions or final thoughts before we, uh, before we sign things off?
[00:37:35] Diya: Um, no, but I just wanna highlight that I did forget to mention my Facebook group. It is Airbnb professional host. There's no additional USA or whatever after that. Um, it's 46,000 members strong and I also have a hotel investing group as well.
[00:37:51] Um, you can definitely find information and direct links to both. Plus a lot of my trainings both free and paid at Direct Dome slash [00:38:00] dou.
[00:38:01] Liam: Thank you so much, Dio. This has been fantastic. I've learnt a lot and I'm sure everybody else has. And thank you too. If you're listening in on the Boley podcast, uh, we hope that you've got some tips and, uh, some trainings from this, uh, podcast.
[00:38:13] We know there's a lot of places you can put your attention and we really thank you for spending it with Boley. So thank you very much. There's bye from, uh, DIA, and that's bye from Adi and as pie from me. Uh, we'll see you on the next. We're off for now. Having a blast. Gonna get it on the Bruce Lee podcast.
[00:38:27] Bruce Lee. Let Bruce Lee cuz it's so
[00:38:28] Diya: hard on the tea, is loose leaf. Picking up those rhymes. Don't write it, just do it loosely.
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