Rising Stars: Meet Ann Hua

Ann Hua

– ColorPopBnb (@stay.colorpopbnb), a mid-mod luxury stay with fun splashes of color, a garage game room, and a movie theater with 100″ screen.

Guest favorites: calling dibs on the Harry Potter closet under the stairs that was converted into a kids’ hideaway bedroom, relaxing in the enclosed patio enjoying the vibes from the abstract murals and string lights 

– Pineapple Oasis (@stay.pineappleoasis), a glam tropical retreat perfect for bachelor(ette) parties, complete with pool, hot tub, and art deco inspired speakeasy bar.

Guest favorites: tropical photo wall with neon sign welcoming the guests as they enter the home, unicorn and pineapple pool floats for ultimate lounging in the backyard oasis

– Pop Into Denver (@popintodenver), is a fun pop art-inspired Denver home, with tons of unique decor, a movie theater and game room, and an expansive yard.

Guest favorites: arcade games and the comfiest basement couch for movie night, fire pit and tons of patio seating to enjoy those summer nights under the stars

All the homes are curated to be somewhat themed, but still cozy and welcoming for a range of ages and different types of groups, complete with tons of Instagramable walls and neon signs and more importantly, comfortable spaces to sit and chat or play games. I wanted to create spaces where people could easily gather for hours on end and create lasting memories!

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
There have been tons of unexpected challenges! Even with the help of a designer, there are hundreds of hours of work and manual labor that still go into the process.

My first house was flipped before I purchased it, but I found out in the Airbnb permit process that none of the renovation work was permitted by the prior owners, so that led to many hoops to jump through with the city (still a work in progress!).

By far, most of the guests are respectful of my space and follow house rules, but there are still parties that are inevitably thrown where things get rowdy and items go missing or are broken. There are lots of strategies to mitigate these risks and it’s been a process to learn and implement them! With the new setups this past summer, I worked with friends who came on as investors but live out of state, so I was boots on the ground here in Colorado for setup and management. It turned out that renovations also took much longer than expected, and any amenities we had (pool/hot tub) were much more of a challenge to figure out than we anticipated!

We had a really unfortunate mishap with an address being entered incorrectly into our Amazon account, so $20,000 of furniture and decor was being shipped to the wrong (nonexistent) address. Think 25+ hours on the phone with Amazon customer support to track down missing items and sort that whole thing out! The process is not for everyone, is a ton of upfront work, and requires a lot of patience, but in the end, it pays off when you have a product you’re proud of and a super vibey and fun house to host friends and family at!

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
By training, I am a physician and practice in surgical wound care, providing consults in the Denver Metro Area at long-term care facilities. This has been a very rewarding field where I can have continuity of care with patients and experience very direct and tangible results over time.

I try my best to prioritize these relationships and help patients to feel seen, heard, and cared for. It is a completely different field from what I do with my short-term rental Airbnbs, but in many ways, there are overlapping aspects — requiring attentiveness to detail, consistently studying the market and learning about new products and opportunities, and building solid relationships both with patients and guests.

I see Airbnb as a fun and unique outlet where I can create a somewhat passive stream of income and diversify my efforts. I enjoy my job and find it to be very rewarding, but also want to plan for the long-term and focus on financial freedom. This entrepreneurial project has been a great opportunity to explore that and I’m excited to see how it grows — whether I create more short term rental properties down the line, pivot into management or design, or even come up with another creative Airbnb-adjacent business idea! I’ve seen people do all sorts of things in this arena and it inspires me to find a gap in the market to fill!

Can you talk to us a bit about the role of luck?
I have had amazing friends and colleagues to work with and learn from, and have benefitted greatly from their wisdom. I was able to close on my first Airbnb house using a pretty unconventional method where a company presented a cash offer to the seller (offering greater opportunity for negotiation on the buyer side) and then my loan was through that company. During a crazy time with the market (spring 2022), I was able to get under contract on a newly flipped home in Arvada for the list price — which was unheard of at the time, with offers going way above asking! You can never time the market, but I did get lucky locking that house down right before the interest rates on homes started to skyrocket!

For this more recent venture with Pineapple Oasis, I attended a very small women’s conference in town and amongst the handful of attendees, randomly met a designer who was just starting out and had done her friend’s Airbnb. She seemed like a fun person with an eye for design so I hired her on quickly and we got to work! Her first projects were much smaller so it was fun to see her take on something big from top to bottom and we learned and both grew along the way. Things weren’t always perfect, but the bottom line was that she was fun to work with, we kept each other sane through hard times, and she was amazing at communicting and working with me to understand my priorities and create aspace that was true to my vision, which is not always an easy ask when it comes to working with a designer.