Carolyn weber
Carolyn is an Illinois native who grew up in the northern Chicago suburbs. A longtime Riverwest resident, she moved to Milwaukee to pursue a library science degree. During college, Carolyn did a lot of traveling and fell in love with hostels in San Francisco, New York, Maibi, India, and other cities. Carolyn is a bike mechanic and the owner of Coast In Bikes, which she opened in 2013. Her hobbies include traveling, bike touring/camping, community organizing and books.
wendy mesich
Wendy is a community organizer with deep roots in Riverwest. She helped start the neighborhood’s food coop as well as its cooperative bar, and she is one of the core organizers of the annual Riverwest24 bike ride. She joined the Cream City Hostel team as an owner because she loves this neighborhood and the city of Milwaukee, and she wants to show them off . She’s excited about having the world come to her in our amazing space. Wendy is an avid reader whose hobbies include board games and community organizing.
Joe Gill
Joe Gill is the owner and operator of three hostels in North Carolina. He started Bon Paul & Sharky's in Asheville at the age of 26 with $100 cash and a two credit cards. Thirteen years later, Joe has an MBA and a MS from Appalachian State University. In addition to being an entrepreneur, he works as an energy efficiency consultant for a utility company, assist new start ups as a small business coach, and serves as board member for a local children's theater. In his spare time he enjoys traveling, trail running, and thinking up new business ideas.
KENT ROTH
Kent is an owner and operator of two hostels and bars in central Texas. He teamed up with his business partner, Collin Ballard, in 2012 to open Firehouse Hostel and Lounge in Austin, TX. They later started a river tubing tour company and eventually opened Deep Ellum Hostel in Dallas, TX. Prior to being an entrepreneur, Kent managed business operations for an Austin charter high school. He has a BS from College of Charleston and an MBA from the University of South Carolina. He spends most of his free time with his two boys and also enjoys backpacking, welding, and woodworking.
marc desmarais
Marc has more than 20 years of experience in the hostel industry. Originally from Montreal, Canada, Marc moved to California in 1998 and joined USA Hostels where he helped grow the company into one of North America’s finest chains of hostels. He eventually set out with his wife Ines to form Apple Hostels, purchasing a building in 2008 which housed the former Bank Street hostel in Philadelphia. In the course of his career, Marc has opened 4 hostels and recently overseen the expansion of his hostel in Philadelphia.
Kevin is the CEO and founder of TheHostelHelper.com – a website that aims to help hostel owners in all stages of starting and running a hostel. He has a master’s degree in business administration and engineering and used to work as a German engineer before he started his first business. If you’re not an insider in the German financial sector – then you might not be familiar with the story of the young guy who’s broken several branch records within the first six months… until he finally quit this venture to pursue his passion for hostels. When he’s not obsessing about hostel topics, you’re likely to find him around dogs or at the gym.
Dorms.com is a global hostel directory. We pride ourselves on providing an easy, low-cost way for our hostel partners to showcase their properties around the world. Available in 13 languages and using tailor-made local websites, Dorms.com is designed with backpackers in mind.
From Prague to Paris, from Tokyo to Toronto - we connect you to a community of young travellers, communicating in their own language and offering the best deals and options to fit their preferences.
With Dorms.com, student travellers are presented with a worldwide selection of hostels. No hotels, B&Bs or apartments are featured, so your hostel is specifically targeted to the perfect audience.
For our customers, choosing student travel accommodation is simple. We manage every step of the traveller’s journey from selection to payment, so all you need to do is welcome your guests and see your bookings increase. We’ll always direct backpackers to a relevant hostel so you can rest easy - we’re on your side.
With over 1 million online bookings to date, sign up https://www.dorms.com/hostel-signup for free today and find out what Dorms.com can do for you.
Liz left her career as a speech therapist in 2015 to start a lifestyle brand, The Charleston Weekender. She offers products that help make every day feel more like the weekend and enjoys blogging about travel, interior decor, and entertaining She recently opened a brick and mortar shop called Cannonborough Collective that carries local goods and balloons. Instagram has tremendously helped Liz grow her customer base for her businesses, so she now enjoys consulting with other bloggers & businesses to help them grow their social media presence.
Over the last 8 years Ben Alicea has helped countless retail and service businesses increase their visibility and convert website visitors into customers.
His discussion will focus on the importance of improving your business's visibility on search engines, helping visitors more easily discover your solutions, and the impact this can have on your business's bottom line.
Roberta Wall, from Asheville, North Carolina, is certified as a trainer in Nonviolent Communication (NVC) by the Center for Nonviolent Communication. In communities, schools, businesses and organizations, Roberta facilitates Leadership Trainings, Public Conversations, Dialogues, Mediations and visioning and strategizing sessions. With private groups, families and individuals, she offers coaching, mediation, classes and trainings that integrate Compassionate Communication and Mindfulness into personal, family, community and organizational life. She is a lawyer, mediator, trainer, facilitator, parent, activist, mindfulness practitioner and coach. Roberta offers her work to support connection, relationships, and a world where everyone's needs are heard and valued.
Byron has worked with hostels big and small, city and rural. His first hostel job was as a receptionist in San Francisco and his favorite hostel job was leading the events for a 500-bed hostel in Australia. Today he helps hostels around North America as a Cloudbeds Market Manager. At Cloudbeds Byron works with hostels to understand their needs and implement tools that will help them save time and increase reservations. Besides being an expert in all things hostel-tech related, Byron enjoys blogging about news and views on the industry at BackpackerBiz.com. Outside of work he enjoys motorcycle riding, especially because it’s the perfect way to get from hostel to hostel.