Wanderstay Boutique Hotel founder Deidre Mathis defies odds in hospitality

When Deidre Mathis sat down with city officials to begin the permitting process for her Houston hostel in 2018, she ended up doing something she had not expected. 

She educated them. No one in the city had ever opened one before.

“I felt like I was teaching them a course,” Mathis told the Defender. “I had to answer questions that they just didn’t know because they had never worked on a project like that before.”

It was an early signal of just how far ahead of her time she was. That same year, she opened Wanderstay Houston Hostel, becoming the first Black woman to own and operate a hostel in the United States. 

In 2023, she followed that milestone with Wanderstay Boutique Hotel, a 10-room adults-only property in the city’s vibrant East End neighborhood, making her the first Black woman to own a hotel in Houston. Together, both properties anchor Wanderstay Hospitality Group, a multi-concept brand that Mathis is growing not just for herself, but for the generations that will come after her.

“I’m building a legacy,” she said firmly. “This will be here for my kids. This will be here for hopefully their kids’ kids.”

Planting the seed

Born and raised in Florida, Mathis relocated to Houston in November 2014, drawn by a recruiting role that placed college students in study-abroad programs. The move followed the time she spent living in Australia, where she fell in love with hostel culture, the instant sense of community, the global mix of strangers who became friends, and the understanding that meaningful travel did not require deep pockets. 

She arrived in Houston, looked at the city’s size, its diversity, its two major airports, and the millions of travelers cycling through annually, and recognized exactly where her business belonged.

“I quickly decided I’m going to quit my job and focus full-fledged on opening my hostel,” she said. “I don’t know if I would be who I am or would be as successful as I am if it had not been for Houston. This city really welcomed me.”

Funding the vision required a strategy as unconventional as the business itself. In a single year, Mathis entered roughly 18 pitch competitions, winning more than $205,000. She combined those winnings with an SBA loan to launch her first location, a pairing she said almost never happens for a first-time operator.

“I am what I consider a unicorn,” Mathis said. “I received an SBA loan, and then I paired that with my pitch competition and the money from my book.”

That book, “Wanderlust for the Young, Broke Professional,” opened conference stages and speaking opportunities before the hostel ever welcomed a single guest. But Mathis is candid that the financial ecosystem she once relied on is eroding. DEI-focused pitch competitions that gave her a real shot at capital are being scaled back or eliminated altogether.

“When I was starting in 2017 and 2018, there was a pitch competition released every single day,” she said. “Now, not so much.”

Business fundamentals

Nini Gutierrez witnessed that early grind firsthand. As director of small business at BakerRipley’s Entrepreneur Connection program, Gutierrez coached Mathis through the process of shaping her concept into a fundable business plan. She said what distinguished Mathis was not any single quality, but the combination of all of them.

“She had determination, passion, persistence, and patience,” Gutierrez said. “Sometimes things didn’t go how they were supposed to, and there were some challenges, but she learned, and then she just kept going.”

Gutierrez added that Mathis’s willingness to be coached made the difference. 

“She really listened to what I would tell her. She would do it and come back,” added Gutierrez.

Now eight years into running Wanderstay, Mathis is steering two properties through one of the most turbulent stretches the hospitality industry has faced since the pandemic. Tariffs, tightening consumer budgets, and political instability have reshaped travel patterns nationwide. The pressure is felt most at the hostel, where nightly rates range from $30 to $60, and the guests are among those hit hardest when the economy tightens.

“Those are the travelers who are hit the hardest,” Mathis said. “At the hotel, we’ve been pretty stable. But I can definitely see the change from this administration.”

When Travel Security Administration (TSA)  operations were thrown into uncertainty earlier this year, the phones at Wanderstay filled with anxious guests questioning whether it was safe to travel at all.

Looking ahead, the 2026 FIFA World Cup represents one of the most significant hospitality opportunities Houston has seen in years, and Mathis is positioning Wanderstay to capitalize on it. But she is watching the visa landscape with measured concern. 

“International travelers are eager to fill these rooms,” she said. “But they cannot book because they cannot legally travel to reach. There is so much anxiety over this.”

Through it all, Mathis runs a business she has deliberately designed not to depend solely on her presence. Documented policies, trained staff, and a leadership structure built to function through her absence, including across three pregnancies, are what she calls the backbone of Wanderstay’s sustainability. Her advice to any entrepreneur is non-negotiable on this point.

“Delegate to elevate,” Mathis said. “You have to have people helping you. You cannot do this on your own.”

The road ahead includes a third Wanderstay property outside of Texas, with groundwork beginning around 2028 and a targeted opening in 2029, followed by two franchise opportunities that would bring the brand to five total locations. Mathis is not yet 40.

“I opened two locations in less than eight years,” Mathis said. “Hopefully, I’ll be retired by 45. We’ll see.”