Wil Slickers fell into hospitality at 19 through events, then spent 2.5 years at a Four Diamond Marriott before moving to boutique hotels on the Oregon coast. He quit hotel management on December 27, 2019, to launch a luxury vacation rental company inspired by his parents' Airbnb, just before COVID hit.
Questions this video answers
December 27, 2019.
About two and a half years.
A two-bedroom apartment above their garage.
Chapters
I got started on accident. Kind of like everybody. It's the unconventional but conventional way to get into hospitality. I had a show for an event company in 2019. Or not 2019, sorry, when I was 19, almost 20. And then I lost it because of Uber is really hard to compete with, you know. And so, long story short, As a young 20 year old, I got into hotels. I went to work at a luxury hotel, Four diamond property with Marriott, and I fell in love. I love taking care of guests, creating moments, the experiences. And I was there for about two and a half years and then I moved to the Oregon coast to go work on the boutique side. I wanted to see what it was like to work with an independent owner and kind of be more creative with standards and rules and how the way the property was formed and what we offered as a collection. So moved to the Oregon coast, but I have an entrepreneurial itch. So I started a podcast. I was wanting to learn more and that's kind of how my journey got started. I was encouraged by the entrepreneurial itch outlet to teach myself new things in the industry with, you know, revenue management and marketing and all the other kind of, you know, hospitality hotel stuff you can think of. But during this time, my mom and dad actually started their own Airbnb. They had a two bedroom apartment above their garage and they are trying to figure out after a bad taste in their mouth from a long term tenant who kind of didn't treat this place well, was bad at paying rent and all that good stuff, realized that they can make three times as much while being on Airbnb. And I thought as the opportunity to create my own little mini hotel. So I took that concept and I ran with it. And long story short, 2019, December 27th was my last day as a hotel manager. I quit my job three weeks prior. I gave him three weeks notice to then run my podcast full time and start a luxury vacation rental management company. And little did I know this little thing called Covid would come out and kind of put the world at a big halt. But thankfully, you know, we're still here. When it comes to entrepreneurship, think or swim. And I've been swimming ever since.
Having a blast gonna get it on the Bruce Lee podcast. Bruce Lee, like Bruce Lee. Cause it's so hard and the T is loose leaf making up those rhymes don't write it, just do it loosely.
