Entrepreneur shares business success storyfrom @iambenwolff

Transcript

Bought a five acre forest for 375 ks after 20 banks rejected me. But eleven months later, we had built eight unique tree houses going for a thousand bucks a night. Here's the story of Oneira, my first tree house hotel. After COVID had crushed my urban STR business overnight, I had a breakthrough vision on an rv trip with my wife to craft nature immersive luxury experiences that I knew the modern traveler was craving. After months of Zillow searches, I finally found the perfect piece of land in Fredericksburg, Texas. A hidden forest best half a mile from Main Street. Totally magical. But 20 banks thought differently and rejected us. Finally, bank number 21 said yes. With financing secured, we broke ground in January 2021 and opened by No, just ten and a half months later. But this is when we made a game changing discovery. Our Monarch Treehouse priced at 500 to $1,000 a night hit 92% occupancy. Not because we offered turndown service or fancy amenities, we didn't, but because we built something so unique that guests couldn't wait to share it on social media. And this is when it clicked. Instagram wasn't just a place for our guests to share their say, it was a place for us to connect with future guests, so we went all in, studying everything from camera angles to real formats. And for our next units, we designed for social media from day one. So after 37,000,000 social views and years of $500 plus ADR at over 80% occupancy. In 2025, we've expanded Oneira of Fredericksburg with our best designs yes. A 40 foot cantilevered treehouse, a wine barrel inspired unit, a floating double diamond, an eight bedroom lodge designed for immersive corporate retreats. What do you think? Would you stay at any of these?