🛠️ “Design isn’t just about what it looks like—it’s about what it earns.”
Our guest is Ishita Lalan, founder of Ishita Interiors and architectural designer behind over 150 short-term rental transformations across the country. From $500,000 gut-renovations to quick-turn landscape upgrades, Ishita approaches every STR with the mindset of an investor and the precision of an architect.
This episode is for the host who’s ready to stop “furnishing a unit” and start building a direct booking brand. Whether you’re managing your first property or optimizing your tenth, Ishita breaks down the key frameworks behind design decisions that pay off—financially and emotionally—for your guests and your business.
You’ll leave this episode thinking differently about your layouts, your finishes, and even your photos—because design, when done right, isn’t decoration. It’s strategy. Let’s get into it!
Summary and Highlights
👤 Meet Ishita Lalan
Founder of Ishita Interiors, Ishita is an architect and STR design powerhouse. With over 150 projects completed, including landscape work and structural transformations, her mission is to blend visual appeal with high functionality and long-term value. Her work has earned national recognition, including a Shorty’s Best Interior Design Award finalist spot.
🔑 Key Takeaways
- The ROI-Driven Design Philosophy: Ishita emphasizes that design isn’t about personal style—it’s about business results. Great STR design should increase your nightly rate, reduce turnover, and generate return bookings. This means every decision—from finishes to furniture layout—is made through an investment lens.
- Why Hosts Get Outdoor Spaces Wrong: One of the biggest missed opportunities in STR design is neglecting the exterior. Ishita explains how landscaping, privacy, and usable outdoor zones can elevate a property’s desirability and significantly boost its booking potential. She shares examples of budget-conscious upgrades that deliver outsized returns.
- Hiring Designers Who Think Like Investors: Ishita breaks down how STR hosts should approach working with designers. Her advice: look for someone who understands hospitality, booking behavior, and ROI—not just color palettes. She outlines the critical questions to ask and the red flags to avoid.
- Navigating $500K+ Renovations Strategically: With experience in projects at this scale, Ishita explains how to tackle high-budget renovations methodically—highlighting the need for feasibility studies, contingency plans, zoning awareness, and schedule control. She walks through a real-life transformation that shifted a dated duplex into a boutique-style listing that doubled nightly rates.
- STR Design Trends for 2025 & Beyond: Expect sustainability-forward materials, branded aesthetics, and functional design that supports remote work, multi-generational stays, and long-term guests. She forecasts a move away from maximalism toward thoughtful minimalism—spaces that feel curated but not staged.
- The Iron Triangle Framework: Ishita introduces a framework known in construction and design: you can only optimize for two—cost, quality, or schedule—at any given time. Understanding and managing this trade-off is key for hosts doing renovations or upgrades.
- Boutique Hotel as a Design Benchmark: Instead of copying mainstream STR trends, Ishita suggests studying boutique hotels. These properties master branding, ambiance, and intentional guest experiences—all things that STR hosts can emulate to set themselves apart.
📚 Book & Inspiration Highlights
While no specific book was mentioned, Ishita’s design strategy is heavily influenced by boutique hospitality principles and architectural rigor—offering a lesson in aligning aesthetics with income-generating performance.
🔁 Connect with Ishita
- Instagram: @ishita.interiors
- Website: www.ishitainteriors.com
- Facebook: Ishita Nagda Lalan
🎧 Ready to transform your STR business with smarter design?
Listen to the full episode now and explore more ways to grow your guest-first brand at CraftedStays.co.
Transcription
Ishita: I think it’s like two, three things going together. It’s just not one mindset shift, but a, when you’re starting something new. What worked for us was having a W2 income until you don’t replace your W2 income. Don’t leave it. Just don’t go all in something else. Yeah. So you know, probably that a side hustle would have you work more hours, like after your W2.
Ishita: You’ll have to put in extra hours. Your weekends would get away from you to build something that you are passionate about, that investment in time and everything that you should be ready for it once you’ve replaced. At that time, you can take that leap of faith and be like, okay, fine. Now I’m all in. But I just feel like that mindset shift of just putting yourself all in, like in terms of time, resources, everything, it has to be a hundred, not even a hundred percent.
Ishita: It has to be 200%. You have to sacrifice your social life. You won’t be able to go party, you won’t be able to go on travels, and you should be okay with that.
Gil: Hey folks. Welcome back to the book Solid Show, the podcast where we’re bringing in top operators to discuss marketing, revenue management, and the guest experience to drive towards being booked solid. On today’s show, I have Ishita Lalan. She’s from Ishita Interiors. She’s a very humble person.
Gil: I love, love, love talking to her, but she’s also a big powerhouse in terms of designs and really thinking through. How to think about not just the amenity that you have, but how do you think of a project as completely being value add? We got into really what does that mean for her and her, the design processes that she has in place, all the different levers from a investment standpoint that she starts to pull.
Gil: We talk about forced appreciation, we talk about cashflow and really tax benefits. It’s was an amazing conversation. And we also talk about some of how she has approached. Working with influencers and how much of an impact that has had on her direct bookings as well too. So without further ado, let’s bring her in.
Gil: Hey, Ishita, welcome to the show.
Ishita: Thank you for having me. Yo. I’m super excited.
Gil: Yeah. You’ve been pretty hot recently. I’ve been seeing you almost. All over the place. I don’t know what, and maybe it, maybe if I had my blinders on and you were always like, pretty big, but like, talk to me a little bit about, like, if I, maybe just first off, like, who are you? And kind of Yeah. Tell me, talk to me a little bit about yourself.
Ishita: Well, I hope in a good way. You’ve been hearing about me everywhere, so,
Gil: been good. It’s been good.
Ishita: okay. That makes me happy.
Ishita: I am Ishita, I am a short term rental designer and, um. You know, I’ve started my own design studio in 2021, have been in this industry for four years now, have done more than 300 projects, uh, in our portfolio. Uh, so that’s how the journey began. But, uh, it actually started as us being investor.
Ishita: So my husband and I, we started our own investment journey in short term rental design, uh, in 2020. And, you know, it. We were completely, when at the, in the beginning we were completely bootstrapped, like we were the ones, you know, getting these pro properties and doing the painting and flooring and, uh, everything that had, uh, um, the work related was completely us from staging to cleaning.
Ishita: Um, we didn’t have a big team. We didn’t have big budgets, uh, but our goal was to convert and, you know, create an experience for our guests. Um, and. You know, we believed in our vision and worked relentlessly. Uh, and that literally gave birth to my design studio, my, my background in architecture, uh, that surely helped and, uh, got traction.
Ishita: And here we are, you know, four years down the line and working on almost 50 to 60 projects a year.
Gil: Wow. And what’s your portfolio look like with between you and and your husband?
Ishita: Uh, so we have 10 short term rentals of our own. Uh, we, we have in various states. We started in Iowa, then we went to Lake of the Ozarks in Missouri, then we went to Destin, Florida, and now we are very much invested in Asheville, North Carolina. So that’s our short-term rental portfolio. Uh. And now we are venturing into boutique hotel space as well.
Ishita: So we have two on, uh, we closed on two boutique hotels. We have one under contract. Uh, so very, very pumped about it. But most of our projects that you see in that are mostly value add projects that we have always gotten into. And that’s where like my background in construction and architecture really goes very well hand in hand.
Ishita: And um, and that’s why if you see a lot of my projects are a lot. Of value add, like we are doing heavy construction, landscaping projects and whatnot.
Gil: Yeah. Yeah. I, I definitely wanna dive into that in, in, in just a second. But, um, I think that the thing that I really love about our industry is that it feels like, and I’ve said this many, many times on the show, I. It always feels like people are coming to short-term rentals from many different walks of life.
Gil: Like there’s not one linear path that says, oh, I do this and I’m eventually gonna be like, I’m gonna do long-term rentals. In the short-term rentals, it’s, it’s not like that. We all get into it because maybe we’re doing this as a side hustle outside of our W2. Maybe we have a business already, but then everybody comes in from this various, um.
Gil: Walks of life and what that allows us to do is actually bring our strengths into the industry. So I know some folks that have nothing to do. They’re, maybe they’re in nursing or they’re in real estate, or they’re, they’re in tech and they all take a look at this. Ecosystem very, very differently. And they apply their own skill sets to it.
Gil: And it’s just so amazing because like, I think even just in design alone, you talked about your background in architecture, which is really around the structure of the building. And how do you make sure that you’re utilizing that? Well, it could be actually very different than how other designers in this industry even take a look at it.
Gil: And you’re, you’re weighing in on where your strengths are. And that’s, that’s what I really love. Um.
Ishita: Absolutely. I, I don’t think I can, uh, you know, I, I completely underst. I. I cannot deny what you just said because I think my husband, who’s an aerospace engineer, who’s a complete numbers guy, who who looks at analyzes data in and day in and day out, and for me, I’m very creative design field. I think that’s where our partnership and our strengths come together, and that’s what we are.
Ishita: Built, uh, you know, all the acquisition and analyzing deals and which property we should be investing in is something that he brings to the table. And what I bring is like the whole creative aspect of it and having a, um, like you said, other designers, you know, even designers have different background, right?
Ishita: Some people would be just passionate about design and. Or decoration. And then when you come to, in, into a world where you have a architecture as background, then the structure and you know, moving walls, it just becomes your comfort zone. Uh, and hence, you know, that we have honed onto that and we are able to give a different flavor when it comes to short-term rentals that we are not nervous about telling our clients that, Hey, this property probably if you really wanna push your BA bar and, um.
Ishita: Let’s just do an entire landscape project and you know, it is the best ROI that you could get. But for them, for me to tell them to do that, uh, you know, there’s always that, that’s a comfort that I am okay being on site and have contractors, you know, execute that. So that’s where the trust building comes.
Ishita: And, you know, that’s why we are able to implement and execute these massive projects that we are doing.
Gil: Yeah. Yeah. To me a little bit about kind of your, your growth there and kind of like how you furnished that first Iowa property now and now the caliber, and how, how that has evolved into some of the more latest projects that you’ve been doing that encompasses indoor and outdoor space and maybe even moving things around.
Gil: Like, talk to me about like, what was that first rehab like? Or maybe it was just, maybe even just a design refresh, but what was that first, um, onboarding like and kind of how that contrast to kind of where you are in your career.
Ishita: Absolutely. So, you know, our first Iowa project, uh, we found this two bed, two bath cabin in. On a riverfront land, and it was like the most beautiful, a very unique property that we found in Iowa and we plunged on that opportunity at that time. You know, uh, buying a three 30 K house in 2020, um, was a huge deal for us.
Ishita: It was a, the biggest investment that we could make at that point of time. And we took the leap of faith. Uh, we went in, uh, when, when we walked the property, it was like a, any other cabin looking, you know, naughty pine going everywhere. The floor plan it, it was just a grandma’s cabin, but sitting on a beautiful piece of land.
Ishita: Um, uh, my husband and I, we have always looked at our investment as lifestyle investment, uh, because we loved to travel, so we were just like, Hey, this is our. A place that we would want to go and enjoy. It was just not fully business mindset. Uh, but of course we wanted to have it cash flow and bring some extra cash and achieve the fire movement that we was striving for.
Ishita: Uh, so when we walked the property, that was not the house, the way as it sat, that we would’ve enjoyed to go and, um, go and enjoy that place. So, uh, mostly it was cosmetic renovations. So we literally took, um. And at that time it was 2020, so COVID had hit and it was, it was just blessing in disguise.
Ishita: Unfortunately, you know, it was not the most ideal time, but COVID became a blessing in disguise. Now we are working from home, so we could have extra time in doing a lot of hands-on work that we were going to do. So harsher than I, we literally. You know, rip the floors, remove the popcorn ceiling, learning everything from YouTube, uh, like how do you paint the cabinets?
Ishita: Like we didn’t even know how to sand them. And we literally learned each and everything. So we did everything, painting the walls, sourcing furniture, designing mood boards, creating an entire system what we would do, and, uh, I think so that we could save on the labor portion of it. So we were all in on that particular project for around 50 k.
Ishita: Uh, you know, materials and furnishing, uh, and that property ended up doing 120 k, year one revenue. And in six months we, you know, during that COVID all the interest rates were going down. So we were taking advantage of it and we reappraised our, uh, you know, refinanced our property even though it was cosmetic.
Ishita: So we were just hoping, you know. Didn’t know, but we were wanting to take the advantage of the lower interest rates, the three 30 k, putting 50 K, we were all in at 3 85 and then it reappraised for us 4 75. So that again, was like, wow, we could pull out out our cash and we have this extra, you know, pool of money that we could invest in another property.
Ishita: So that’s how my journey began and I think. After that, two or three more rentals was where we were doing a lot of our hands-on work. But fast forward to today, 2025, the, the projects that we are doing at any given point, even with our, we, we still continue to invest even with our own projects and client projects.
Ishita: At any given point, we have around 15. 15 to 18 projects going on. So now my time is definitely not valuable in doing hands-on job. I don’t have that. It is much more valuable when I’m helping the clients and investors and brainstorming and looking at the bigger picture. Um, so today I have, uh, we do offer both like virtual and in-person design services.
Ishita: But, uh. The in-person design services are in the location where I have my solid boots on ground team who have worked with pro over and over, uh, over years and who understand my style, who understand, uh, the processes. And that’s how we are able to implement all and execute all the projects that we are doing.
Gil: Yeah. Which markets do you have those boots on the ground? Which ones are the ones that you serve that’s more in person?
Ishita: Uh. So it depends. Right now my strongest markets are Asheville, North Carolina, or anywhere, two hour radius from Asheville where my, my team can easily travel to, uh, panhandle, Florida. Like Destin 30 a strip is another very strong market of mine where I have boots on the ground and Tennessee being another.
Ishita: So these three markets are definitely a very strong markets, but, you know, it literally depends because the minute I have a client, I, we do have repeat lines, right? These clients are investors, so they’re investing. Year over year, and they come to me, they choose another market. So then it becomes a hybrid model where they are finding contractors, I’m working with them.
Ishita: Um, and that helps me form a team in a different market. So right now we are doing a project in Savannah and Kentucky, which is what that hybrid model has helped me to form my own team. Now if I have another project in that area, I know who to reach out to. So that’s how we, uh, kind of grow.
Gil: Oh, that’s, that’s awesome. And when did you start to cross the paths of. Going from these cosmetic upgrades to realizing actually there’s more, like all the stuff that I learned in architecture, it should be applied much more amplified and has a much bigger impact in short term rentals. Like when did you make that crossover to one?
Gil: Think about the internal structures and also the kind of the external side of things as well too. Mm-hmm.
Ishita: where you have forced equity in it and force appreciation, you’ve built inequity in it. Uh, that’s what gives us.
Ishita: Peaceful sleep at night. Uh, so we always understood the value of that. Um, I gave you an example of my Iowa property in like six months from 3 85 to four seven. That’s a hundred k uh, you know, force appreciation in that property. And obviously year over year it has been doing around six figures for the last four years.
Ishita: Um, so that was definitely. An eyeopener project for us. And after that we have always invested. I’ll give you an example. In, in the year of 2022, when Panhandle and Destin was like at its peak of the market and everyone were giving, like buying houses, probably putting a hundred K over asking, um, my husband actually scouted like we, we took a trip.
Ishita: An entire circle that we made from Iowa to Ozarks Destin, and to identify which is our next market that we are gonna invest in. Um, Destin Florida was definitely like something that we had, uh, just discovered we had never been, and we absolutely loved the beaches and we knew that this is a place we want to invest.
Ishita: At a time when people were paying a hundred K over asking, I think my husband invested almost around eight months to find the right property, and he found a pro because he had identified his location where he wants to be in. He ended up buying, we ended up buying a property a hundred K below asking because.
Ishita: No, no. Investors were looking at it because it did not have a pool. Everyone in 2022 were looking for turnkey projects. I want a project. I want to go live ASAP and start cash flowing. We were not looking for a turnkey project. We found a house which was listed for 1.1. We we offered 1 million, got accepted, put in six months of work, put in two 50 k, adding a pool.
Ishita: Renovating the house, you know, it had an a DU, so we added another, um, we converted the garage into game room. We re renovated the A DU unit, that two 50 k today, the valuation of properties around 2.2 million and, uh, year one it did two 70 5K in revenue and year over year. I mean, Destin market today is definitely 30% lower than what it was in 2022.
Ishita: But still, you know, it does, it is performing. It’s cash flowing at 180 5 gross revenue, the, the, the valuation of properties almost over a million dollars than what we purchased, which is incredible. And that’s what I think, that’s what we’ve loved about value, value add. And today, what we have implemented in our portfolio is what we are helping our clients with.
Ishita: And, um. And I have so many such examples with our Black Mountain property or with a very recent property that I just, uh, just worked on Tyler’s property. Um, I think that story is just incredible what we did with his property. Um, can I expand on that particular.
Gil: Actually, I was gonna ask you about that one because I did, I remember, I, I saw the reel between you and Tyler. You’re driving down and he was talking about. How he purchased a home and he actually furnished it himself. He di DIY it himself and then eventually he, he brought you in and what a change that was.
Gil: Yeah, so definitely dive, dive into some of the metrics there and what, what you did for him.
Ishita: Yeah, so value add prop, uh, you know, projects has always been our strong strength and that is what I think clients identified what we could bring to the table. And I’ll just give you an example, what happened with, you know, Tyler Coon’s property that we just designed and renovated. Um, he bought his property back in 2020.
Ishita: Uh, three January for eight 50 I, what was it? Uh, he bought it for eight 50 K. He put in 80 k all in, and he renovated it himself. He furnished it himself. And you know, if you were to see for how it is performing today, it is a good performing property for eight 50 K, 80 k, all in cost and furnishing it.
Ishita: It grosses around 180 to 200 K, but being in. Asheville and Tyler came to me that, Hey, should I want to future proof all my properties and being in Asheville in the last two years, the, you know, the landscape that we have changed and what we are doing with backyards and inside he was just like, you know, let’s just, because that.
Ishita: Property had a lot of potential. So when I walked in, uh, we saw so many opportunities in every corner. So we transformed the unused landscape, backyard and, and made it into an oasis, a retreat. Literally. We have a pickleball court, fire pit, outdoor games, spa corner. We have outdoor grill. So it’s like an amenity me.
Ishita: Uh, in his backyard, we literally converted a three car garage, uh, into a game room and a theater room. That’s the biggest theater room in Asheville till date. And that’s almost around a thousand square feet of, you know, of value add that we added to the, uh, to the square footage for the house and increased the occupancy because now we shifted few furniture pieces around.
Ishita: There was so much room that we could add two beds in one room, so we increased the occupancy from 20 to 28 people. And we ran the numbers conservatively, right? So he, he came with a budget of one 50 k. I was like, Tyler, if you really wanted to be a top performing property grossing three 50, we need to put the landscape, like we have to pour the money in the landscape.
Ishita: So he agreed to spend 300 K in the property hoping that we can gross around three 50. To 400 KA year because it’s one of the largest properties in this market. We were hoping that the refinance and his entire model was to refinance and reappraise it. We were hoping that 1.5, we would be thrilled. We would be super happy.
Ishita: But when it came back at $2.1 million, I literally had to read it twice. I’m like, what is going on? Like it’s. Three, 600 k difference in what our expectations were. Um, so the comms that were used were nothing like it, right? Like they were massive homes. But I feel like there are so many intangible aspects and value that we have created in that house making the retreat and oasis that literally ha whole, it’s with the house, right?
Ishita: So it has equity, uh, and that property. Today is like, I think it’s going to be one of the top performing properties, and I think he now, he can pull out half a million dollar from that property and invest in multiple projects. And that’s how the snowball effect starts for any investor. And that’s why I am a big proponent of value add of projects.
Gil: Yeah, I think there’s actually a lot, a lot that goes with it. If I can kinda un unpack a little bit, there’s a, there’s a significant improvement on your overall cashflow. The money, the money that you’re actually able to bring in. Even after a refi, you’re, you’re, you’re then amortizing all the investment costs that you’re coming in there and doing a refi.
Gil: Even if you take cash out, you cashflow is significantly higher. But I think like two, the one thing you mentioned that was interesting is really around just like. Market security really knowing that you’re not just like everybody else, you’re not competing on necessarily value on the price standpoint of the stay, but really value from what, what the guest experience is and how it’s different than than anyone else.
Gil: And then I think you’re, the last part you’re talking about is just really the force appreciation, I think. Like those are, those are the three things I’m hearing that kind of separates. Your approach then just really redesigning it, making it look good, but you’re, you’re actually having, you’re pulling many different levers at the same point and really securing your investment.
Ishita: Absolutely. And I just seeing the potential of that and maximizing the potential of the property and pushing it to. So that we can squeeze as much as we can from that property. So yeah, you’re absolutely right. We literally categorize in three buckets. Force appreciation, cash flow, and tax benefit. That is like literally what we see and uh, and that is
Gil: we didn’t even talk, we didn’t even talk about the tax benefits side of things because Yeah, maybe, maybe just like, pause for a second. For our listeners here, for anyone that has done a bonus depreciation, we all know that bonus depreciation loves landscaping work. Anything that is
Ishita: You
Gil: depreciated under 50.
Gil: Yeah.
Ishita: A hundred percent of it you can appreciate in year one. So whatever money you put in, you can just literally take it year one, which is huge, right? So.
Gil: Yeah. Like if you were to like, like for instance, restructure inside the home or if you work on anything there, even like, I think, I don’t even know of a pool, you would consider something that you could depreciate, uh, within year one. I don’t know if that constitutes as the, the first 15 years, but definitely any landscaping that you do, any exterior work that you do.
Gil: That is all definitely things that are tax beneficial year one, especially now with the new administration in place.
Ishita: Yes, absolutely. And that is, I mean, if you really were to underwrite everything, like your returns are huge, like you’re at literally 35 to sometimes 70. We are in our portfolio, we are seeing 70% returns. That’s what we are at. Yeah. Because with the, the work that we do. And so it’s incredible. And that’s why we just don’t look at like, okay, this is the house, this is the shell.
Ishita: Let’s just go and do cosmetic renovations because, uh, that is not creating wealth, you know, that is just creating cash flow. And, and again, and you are not putting yourself. You are not future proofing yourself. And after two years or a year when there are new competition cropping up, you have to go back in and keep on redoing it.
Ishita: And how do you add more? So that’s something that we try to avoid in our studio.
Gil: Yeah. Um, you mentioned, uh, like especially on Tyler’s project there, he worked with you and you guys put in, I think it was 300,000 into the property and appraised for 2.1 million. How do you know. Whether or not that 300 is, is gonna be worth that. And obviously in this point it surpassed what it was, but since there’s no comps in the area, like how do you know with conviction that that’s gonna be, it’s gonna be worthwhile from a, from a force appreciation standpoint?
Ishita: Yeah, so I mean, it, it is difficult. You can’t have an exact number to it. So the way we look at it is thousand square feet of garage edition, right? So even if it is three 50 per square footage in that area, that is three 50 k of. Value add force depreciation in terms of square footage that you’re adding to the house and then the entire cosmetic renovations that are intangibles.
Ishita: Landscaping is difficult to, to put a number on, but definitely that is something that is going to, but you know that you have put in a hundred K or 120 K in landscaping. And they can see the quality of work and they can see that it’s going stay with the house regardless. So appraisals are looking at all those things that that is not something that you can rip it out and take it with you.
Ishita: So it’s gonna be staying with the house. They are gonna put a dollar amount to it. So we were, that’s the only reason we were anticipating like three 50 for the garage edition 154. You know, probably the landscape area that the appraisal can understand what we have put in. And that’s the number of 1.5 million that we were counting towards.
Ishita: Like, Hey, this is what we would hope that the reappraisal would come in as. And that 2.1 was literally shocking to us as well. So that’s how we, we kind of look at it.
Gil: What do you think actually pushed it over that extra like 600,000? That’s a significant difference.
Ishita: That is a significant difference. And I mean, we looked at the comms that the appraisal was and they were all, I, I just don’t know. I, I don’t know how they operate and how appraisals are really comparing the pro projects, but, I, I wish I had an answer for that, but I really think there are so many intangible aspects to it. Like if you walk in, like even for that Iowa home, right? The two bedroom, two bath, it was just cosmetic upgrade. We literally painted the house, we changed the flooring. We did not even add the square footage, but it just looks newer.
Ishita: So I think it has value to that. So here also in Tyler’s home, it was just not the landscape and the garage, but we went to each and every room. Added feature walls added a better furniture in, even if the furniture does not count in enough. But it is just that intangible aspect that how this house looks and appears.
Ishita: Um, and I, I think that, but I feel like Tyler would have an answer to that much better than I would. Um,
Gil: I definitely, I mean the, definitely the tangible sides of it is like coming from like commercial or long-term, like real estate, like when you ever do a burr, adding square footage is definitely like a very, very surefire way. Like there’s, it’s almost like. You, you know, you’re gonna get your ROI back, uh, on that one.
Gil: So I think like you also had like a little bit of buffer, like knowing that like, okay, we’re able to convert this space. There’s actually a lot of equity that we can just start to like a lot of room that we can start to play with. So we can take bigger risk on some of these other areas because we know that the appraisal is going to come in.
Gil: We’re not gonna be losing money at all. If anything, there’s gonna be a bit of buffer. And I think to this surprise here, you took a bet and it paid off really, really well.
Ishita: Really well, and I’m so happy that it was for a client’s project.
Gil: Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Um, I’m, I’m interested, you mentioned Tennessee as, as one of the places I have, I have two properties in Tennessee. Have you been able to, have you worked with any clients that had some of like the earlier like 2000 build homes and kind of like what you’re able to do there? Do you have any examples in that area?
Gil: Because that, I’m mainly asking ’cause I’m, I’m very familiar, I’m less familiar with like the Asheville area. Um, but I’m trying to like con compare and contrast like how much. Power or potential you can even in, in a more saturated market or, and, and, yeah.
Ishita: Uh, so Tennessee, yes, we’ve done projects in Tennessee. One of the biggest example in Tennessee is like an eight bedroom home that I designed, and it wasn’t new construction. It was a 2022 build. It was not two thousands. But the reason, I want to give an example of that. Particular project is because what we did in terms of design and sometimes, you know, those bold moves and then experimentation that we have been able to do in our studio has been so rewarding.
Ishita: So, uh, here comes a client with an eight bedroom home, uh, in Tennessee. In a cabin farm with other 20 such cabins, with the same floor plate, same amenities, having an indoor pool and a pavilion. So literally there is nothing that differentiates his house with other 20 homes in that neighborhood. When we start analyzing the property, we were like, okay, what can we bring to the, what?
Ishita: Can we do something different? Or what, what can we bring to the table that would help him differentiate and, um, stand out? We researched the area, what Tennessee was known for. We, uh, you know, it, it has that amusement strip. Uh, kids love coming there. Uh, we obviously, so research that target guest avatar Tennessee known, and an eight bedroom home where you can sleep in like, you know, 25 to 35 people.
Ishita: Um, you are looking for like bigger groups, you know, multiple families coming together, church retreats happening, cooperative events happening. That’s your ideal clientele. And we honed into it. We presented a proposal to a client that look, the first floor which has the four bedrooms are going to be a very.
Ishita: Modern looking cabin. We are not gonna have like the bare bedsheets and the bare carpets. We are literally gonna rip that out. We are going to add like modern twist to the cabin and the lower area because it’s amusement, uh, park, you know, it’s driven with kids. We are going to set it up with a theme that you’re entering a movie theater with four screens going into.
Ishita: Different movie rooms. So literally creating an immersive experience in that room. Not like what Orlando does with like all the furniture and all, but we had murals going on all five surfaces, ceiling and four walls, and we themed it. One room being Harry Potter, one being Jurassic World, one being like, you know, uh, frozen and Star Wars.
Ishita: Those were our four. Mo And at that point, I remember when I was doing this project, a lot of eyebrows were raised. A lot of realtors in that market were telling me that Ista is crazy. This is not going to pan out. This real investor is not gonna be successful at all. And, um, thank, thanks to my client who trusted me with this vision and were, you know, on, on at game with me to, uh, execute it.
Ishita: Um, you are one. And you know this, and there’s another side to it also. We can push the client, show them the vision. There has to be a trust factor from the client also to be able to buy that vision. Here we had the trust, but again, on the flip side, this client was a first time investor, so he was very protective and probably emotionally attached to the project.
Ishita: So few things that we asked him to do was, Hey, can you please make the. Rental pet friendly, it’ll help you boost at least 15 to 20% more revenue. He was not for it. He was not for the idea of, um, making the rental, like adding more beds because he thought the more occupancy there’ll be more wear and tear.
Ishita: Right? So now we could sleep in 35 people, but we were, we are only sleeping 28 because. Of the conservative nature of, uh, you know, and we had to respect his needs. But today, year one, that property grows at three 20 k and all the neighbors are at two 20. So he’s a hundred K over any of his competition in that neighborhood.
Gil: Wow. And how much did he, did, did he spend into.
Ishita: We spent two 60 k in, uh, in the, the furnishings and all the, all the immersive experiences, murals that we had to do and furnish a bedroom home and the pool and, um, the pavilion and obviously design aging and everything included in it.
Gil: yeah, so in two, two and a half years, they made back all, all, all of that, and they don’t have the stress of being a bottom feeder and having to worry about occupancy issues as well too.
Ishita: No, I mean, I remember one of my, uh. You know, setup crew, one of the person in my setup crew was so mesmerized with that house that she literally took her entire family over Thanksgiving, uh, holiday and booked that particular home so she could enjoy with her family. So, I mean, you know, it, these are these intangible things that I just don’t have number to and I can, cannot play.
Ishita: Well. Sometimes you just have to take those bold moves and some risks. Only then you would, and today, fast forward to 2025. I am looking at social media and left, right and center. Everyone has been doing murals on naughty pines and tongue and grooves, and they are making these rooms as themes, you know, NARS and whatnot like, but that is something that we were able to break the mold and we were the first ones to experiment back in 2023.
Gil: Yeah. Yeah, I definitely agree with you. I think a lot of folks, um, are really trying to think about like, how do they separate themselves? And I think like we saw this trend a couple years back where design in short term rentals was starting to be unnecessary. And so there’s this uptick in quality that people.
Gil: Started to expect, and I think now even in the last six to 18 months, there has even been, I think maybe because of the market, it’s starting to soften a bit. People are, are even cranking up a bit more and even actually trying to figure out, okay, I can’t just have a nice looking, well designed stay, but I need to actually separate myself.
Gil: And people are starting to look at amenities a lot more than the the, the years before.
Ishita: Yes. Yes, absolutely. And I mean, you cannot go wrong with that. And that’s why when people ask me that, um. You know, what’s your design style? I’m like, it is. I don’t have a design style. I have to be versatile. I have to be open to experimenting whatever that market demands. And, uh. We, when we started 2021, just doing minimal, bare minimal.
Ishita: We would stand out, you know, just putting right furniture and not grandma’s furniture. We would stand out. Today we are in a completely different spectrum, like we are at in the polar opposite that we have to, like in Asheville, if you come here, it’s an amenity war. What can you put, like we have designed 60 properties in this area over the last two years and.
Ishita: Every project looks different than the other. There is not two homes that look similar and especially we are doing this one project, it is in a neighborhood. Uh, a builder is building, has three homes back to back, and I did two of them, and I’m working on the third one. Now, every project in that neighborhood looks different, so.
Ishita: You know, that’s the thing that we are pushing our boundaries with, with each and every project. You know, it’s easier when you do several projects in different areas like you can, it’s easy to be different, but when you are just honing in one market, it’s like you have to be very, very versatile and you have to keep on pushing your boundaries.
Gil: Yeah, I don’t, I, I don’t know even what to expect from you two, three years from now, and some of the project that you’ll be taking on, it’s gonna be insane.
Ishita: Yeah, we are working on one, um, the jail. So we closed on a jail and we are renovating into a boutique hotel, so I’m very pumped for that one.
Gil: Whoa. Wait. A jail like, like, like prison jail?
Ishita: A prison jail. We closed on a prison jail and it’s, it’s like a, it’s 40 years of abandoned property, uh, in middle of Eatonton, Georgia. And, um. We got it for three 50 K. Now we are converting into a 10 room boutique hotel, uh, theming a jail, but also having a luxury twist to it. Um, and I’m, I’m super, super pumped with it.
Gil: I don’t even know what to expect when you say a jail with a luxury twist in there. I, you, you gotta keep me, uh, you gotta keep me posted on this, on this project. I, I, obviously, I, we already follow each other, so I, I will see your reels, but I’m definitely interested in seeing what you’re gonna take this project.
Ishita: Yeah. I’m so excited. I’m surely want wanting to document the whole thing so that we, we can share it with the world, you know, so they can see the
Gil: I mean. I think that that, like a lot of, a lot of folks nowadays that I’ve seen do really well from the get go, specifically in direct bookings and marketing are the folks that actually are documenting their entire process. Because people love stories. People like to see the progression. People like to see, oh, I messed up on this, or we ordered the wrong thing and seeing things come to life.
Gil: Um, and I think kinda like I, we have a couple clients of ours, craft estate clients of ours that. They documented every single portion of their build out. And slowly by little by little with each individual posts, they started to build a following there. And it wasn’t like they were building this massive place.
Gil: They were just talking about their entire build out. And people were like, oh, I’m actually two hours away. I can’t wait for this to go live. And it’s amazing to see and hear that like. S Some of our clients launch with just their first property, but they documented the process and they’re able to get 40% direct booking from the very beginning because they started to tell that story and bring people into that stay.
Ishita: Amazing. Yeah. One of my favorite stories is the Bold Farm in Tennessee. Uh, they have an incredible story and they’re almost a hundred percent direct book booking,
Gil: I think there are a hundred percent, yeah.
Ishita: Yeah, a hundred percent. And they have a phenomenal stories too, like. I, I think how many million followers they have on their social media.
Ishita: They have been featured on each and every, uh, magazine out there. Um, and their story, the, the way they started, they started constructing their own house for their wedding and how they have grown. It’s in, I think it’s all about stories and that’s what differentiates, I think, short term rentals from these.
Ishita: Big corporate hotel industries, you know, where each and every individual host has their own story and they’re putting their flavor out there. Uh, and in the end, you know, even if they’re my clients, it, it’s their story that I need to represent. So I need to understand what they want to also and have it, it has to be extension of them, right?
Ishita: So, yeah.
Gil: Yeah. Yeah, that’s absolutely right. Um, I think that’s kind of like a good segue kind of into some of the questions I have around like direct bookings and some of the things that you and Harshad has worked on specifically to focus more on direct bookings. There I.
Ishita: Yes, absolutely. Uh, for us, we, we’ve always tried, you know, um. How, how do we market ourselves? Is it Facebook, Facebook marketing? Is it gathering everyone’s email id from PHI and whatnot? But recently, I think influencer marketing has become a huge for us and honestly, uh, for Jo short-term rentals in general.
Ishita: But what we believe is that not every property has, um. You know, uniqueness to it. Like either some properties are not in unique location or they do not have those breathtaking views. So that’s the reason I think that the design becomes like the two differentiator. Uh, I will give you an example of our own value add project that we did in Aswell.
Ishita: We literally bought that prop property. It was like a ghost down rundown project in, in the valley. So it doesn’t have any views. But, uh, one of the differentiator for that particular property is that it sits, um, on a half an acre of land. So we had a lot of land to play with, um, when we got that project up and running.
Ishita: And we knew our target avatar are from, you know, places like Raleigh, Durham, uh, and Charlotte. That is our immediate, uh, guest pool coming from. We leveraged a local influencer, uh. Who was known in the North Carolina area and you know, she, she put us out there and today, but we made that property so unique.
Ishita: It has like, literally it had one of. Um, the first landscape projects that we did in the area. So it was super unique to that area. Um, no other property. We’re doing outdoor bowling alley and chess, the chess boards. Uh, so now that particular property shed so much to market on, and we have half a million dollar, uh, half a million views on that particular reel.
Ishita: We have, um, almost 10,000 saves. We went from 5% direct booking on that particular property to 25% I think in a week. We had around a hundred K direct bookings from that, just one post that that influencer made.
Gil: Wow. That’s that’s amazing. That’s, that’s amazing. And it’s all really around like really making sure that the design is showcased in the right way and really using the influence as the lever to really showcase all the hard work that you put in there.
Ishita: Yeah, but I mean, the property needs to have something that the influencer can also market, right? So that is my thing. Like if the property is not sitting in a unique location that it doesn’t have, so then your design needs to become very unique. You need to come and either. You know, have amazing interior design or have something that is unique to that particular property.
Ishita: For us, it was the landscape and the way we did the interiors of it. We brought the local, like Black Mountain town in North Carolina is known for its artistic, uh. Uh, you know, flair, it has an arts college. Uh, it is a very artistic town, so we literally brought like those abstract paintings and made those our feature walls.
Ishita: So that, and a lot of amenities, like, you know, she has like a shot playing a bowling on the outside, uh, shot on the hot tub and, you know, playing the chess. So that’s what gets the marketability for that particular property.
Gil: Yeah, and I, I, I’ve started to see this a a lot more, and I think even you and Harshad does do this. People are starting to also, within their listing photos, it’s actually bring in, it could be influencers, it could be models, but. Basically people props where they are actually part of those photos now, which like we saw, I think I first saw it in Joshua Tree because peop, that is an area that is hypersensitive to social media and just the feeling there.
Gil: And now I’m already starting to see that used much more freely and much more open than needed been than before. A lot of folks in the very beginning like, oh no, don’t put people in your photos. Like that starts to deter people, but there actually is. Unique ways that you can start to use people within your props to really tell that story in there.
Ishita: Absolutely. I think, and it also helps people to visualize how to use the space, right? Like what all can they can do. It’s just lifestyle photo shoot. Like if you just a, it’s like a staged photo, like if you have. It’s the same way if you have furniture, but a bed properly made with your, you know, towels and everything.
Ishita: Roll looks more hospitable and luxurious, you will have more eyeballs looking at it. Similarly, if you have more people in the pictures, look, you know, doing certain activities, it intrigues people and wants to scroll, stop at your listing. And when you have so many listings coming in. You know, every month, how do you differentiate yourself and stop that scroll on your listing.
Ishita: So that is what all the short, short-term rental hosts are now trying to do. It’s just like how to get those eyeballs and trying different ways to get those eyeballs.
Gil: Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Awesome. Ishita, we usually end the show with three questions. Um, I, if you’re ready for them now. Um, first question, what’s a, what’s a good book recommendation for me and the listeners that has influenced your life?
Ishita: I mean, influenced my life is rich. That poor dad that has really, really influenced my life. And it is not only me as so many others, right. Uh, but one book that I would really recommend, and that has been, um, something that I have been like awed by, is Building A Story Brand by Don Miller. Um, it’s, yeah, it’s a beautiful book where.
Ishita: You, you know, I deal with clients day in and day out, and all our US hosts are dealing with guests day in and day out. It’s just how do you put your clients and your guests first and how do you have those communication? And I mean, you know, the point is it, it has just stayed with me and it has helped my business a lot.
Ishita: Uh, and I’m trying to implement on whatever learnings that I have had from that book. So I wrote.
Gil: And I think like to, to that point, like Don, that the StoryBrand book, there’s like two levels to it. The one is like the more kind of like. The kind of sense of like what you capture outta the book is, which is really like putting your yourself in the customer’s shoes first, and how do you actually think about what they’re thinking through and how do you make them feel like the hero of it all?
Gil: And I think like there, I, I actually wanna go back to the book because there’s actually a lot of specific tactics when you read the book for the second time, where you’re like, oh, I now understand the entire story of what he’s trying to say. And then going back to specifically the tactic that he employs on there and trying to use that, like I don’t think that that’s a book that you can just read once and like you’ll be able to capture everything.
Gil: I feel like that’s a book that you have to kinda like read a few times to really understand all the different ways that he suggesting that you should approach really serving your customers and putting yourself in the customer’s shoes.
Ishita: Absolutely, and especially like positions like us, like, uh, when you’re dealing with clients day in and day out, you are. You have to position yourself as like a trusted guide, right? Like people, I hear these stories. I have clients coming to me. They’re putting their hard earned money that they have saved over years to, and trusting me in the process so that they could retire happy.
Ishita: And that’s a lot of responsibility. Like you’re working on these massive projects, 300, 400, 700 K renovation projects. There’s a lot of, and how do you build that trust that is not only for a project, but a long term loyalty? And fortunately in my career, we have been able to hone in these relationship where my clients have become my friends who have also become our partners in investments.
Ishita: You know, so that loyalty, it has it, it has been an eyeopener. So I really would recommend work to
Gil: yeah, yeah. I also let the, the, the initial one that, that came to mind, which is the rich report at, I, I think personally, I didn’t read Reach that Port out until. 20 18, 20 19. And it was a really quick read. Like I read that in a couple days because I was just, I mean, for me, I was, I wasn’t as frugal and I didn’t, I, I also went through the fire movement, but I didn’t do that until late into like my early thirties there.
Gil: Um, I was one that would spend what I earned in tech and just enjoying life. And then it wasn’t until like I, I reached that port where I understood like, oh, actually, if I had actually. Thought about how I’m using my money and really be a lot more methodical about it. I can start to plant some seeds for the future.
Gil: Um, and that’s when I, like things really woke up for me and I read a bunch of, like, I’ll teach you to be rich by Rahe. I, I like Ramit and it, it is just a bunch of different books to like really get me into the same idea that you mentioned, like the fire movement there. So that, that really resonated with me.
Ishita: For me, rich, that word that came in my life when I was 13 years old, thank God. Uh,
Gil: Oh my God.
Ishita: so I had read, so I understood the whole assets and liabilities from a very young age and.
Gil: Yeah.
Ishita: And that’s what has, because when I met my husband, he was literally what you just mentioned, how you were, he was, I married him when, when he was 30, and he was just like money in, money out mentality and wanting to travel the world, which is great, but that scares me too, when not having a secure future and living paycheck to paycheck.
Ishita: So that’s when the whole, you know. When we implemented that book and we were like, okay, let’s just get these assets. Let’s just get it passive income coming in our way, and then we can enjoy, probably we’ll have to sacrifice and compromise on few years of our early thirties. We are okay with that, uh, but our late fifties will become much better and sweeter.
Gil: I, I mean like, like, like too specifically what we’re talking about here about investments there. I think if it wasn’t for the kind of like the mind shift, mind mindset shifts, um, specifically around like the fire movement, I wouldn’t have been able to start this company. Like had I not invested in my short term rentals, created the cash flow in there, create that sense of security. There’s no way that I would be able to walk away from my W2 and just take a leap of PA faith and just do something new on my own. Like it, it, that door would not have been possible.
Ishita: Yeah, I agree. And we have seen that in our lives. Harsha just left his job two months ago. I left my job in 2021, and I could do that because we had one W2 income coming in while we were taking the risk. And plus I had my projects, which was. You know, I had replaced my W2 income, which was fine, but today for also to leave his job, that’s literally now we are all in, uh, you know, to take that leap of faith, we were only able to do, because we have these properties which are cash flowing, even, we are not even considering our active income.
Ishita: We could, even if I were to shut my business down, I think the investments that we have made will still sail us through. You know, we can still live our life without compromising on our lifestyle.
Gil: Yeah, that’s, that’s amazing. Um. Onto the second question, what’s one piece of mindset advice that you would give to someone that’s starting something completely new?
Ishita: I think. It’s like two, three things going together. It’s just not one mindset shift, but a, when you’re starting something new.
Ishita: What worked for us was, I. Having a W2 income until you don’t replace your W2 income. Don’t leave it, just don’t go all in something else. So, you know, probably that a side hustle would have you work more hours, like after your W2, you’ll have to put in extra hours. Your weekends would get away from you, to build something that you are passionate about.
Ishita: That investment in time and everything that you should be ready for it. Once you’ve replaced at that time, you can take that leap of faith and be like, okay, fine. Now I’m all in. But I just feel like, that mindset shift of just putting yourself all in like. in terms of time, resources, everything, it has to be a hundred and not even a hundred percent.
Ishita: It has to be 200%. You have to sacrifice your social life. You won’t be able to go party, you won’t be able to go on travels, and you should be okay with that. And literally, journey to on a journey of entrepreneurship is very lonely. And I have experienced that myself. I have had to. I mean, the friends that I’ve had, I, I’m not even in touch with them anymore, but will I get in touch with them tomorrow?
Ishita: Will I start where I left off? Absolutely. But, you know, it has been a five to six year gap where I’m not been in touch. So I, I just feel like, and probably your journey, not very many people will understand either, you know, you might not, they might not be able to resonate. So you should be okay with it and be true to yourself what you want, and just keep going at it.
Gil: Yeah. I love that. I love that. Awesome. Last question. We talked a lot about kind of direct bookings and kind of how you’re looking at it and from a design and also from a social, social, um, aspect. What’s one piece of tactical advice that you would want our listeners to take away from and put into practice to either amplify their direct bookings or to start in the first place?
Ishita: Um. I think we did talk about that. I just feel like make sure that you’re investing in your properties. Well, don’t rush. I, I think I do want to break this myth. I get a lot of clients coming to me. I want this property up and running in a month or a week sometimes, you know, if it is a new construction.
Ishita: You know, in that rush, people really miss out on the opportunities. So if you really want to have the direct booking, you need to make your property unique to make it, you know, to be able to direct book. Uh, so I just feel like put in the time and effort that it takes, uh, and just just find what will make you different than the competition.
Ishita: Um, definitely that would be one of the things that I would really amplify on.
Gil: Awesome, awesome. Ishita. It was really, really good to have you on the show and just talk about how you’ve evolved as a, as a investor, as a designer, some of the projects you’re taking on. I can’t wait to follow you on your prison project there. Um, but I just love all the things that you’re, you’re diving into and just not afraid to take really bold steps.
Gil: So kudos to you.
Ishita: No, thank you. Thank you so much for having Miguel. I absolutely love following your journey too, and it has been so great to having a cross path. Uh, you know, our paths cross and, uh, getting to know you better. Hopefully we’ll work together, uh, very, very soon. And, and I’m sure my husband’s gonna be working with you very soon, so I’m very pumped about that.
Gil: Awesome. I love it. I love it. Um, we end the show, where can folks find out more about you? If they’re looking to really amplify the impact on their, their properties, how can they learn more about you?
Ishita: Um, I am very active on like, at least recently trying to be active on Instagram. You can find me on ATA Interiors on Instagram handle. I’m active on Facebook as well, so socials you can always find me, DM me, I will respond. Um. Yeah, and then just get in touch with me and then you know, I can send you my Calendly.
Ishita: We can book a call and get on a discovery call. So socials would be like a great platform to get in touch and follow.
Gil: right. I will be sure to include those into the show notes. Again, Ashita, it was a huge pleasure to have you on the show.
Ishita: Absolutely. Thank you so much. It was my pleasure.
Gil: All right, talk to you later. Bye.
Ishita: Hi.