They built a retreat and 500,000 people watched

This week we are talking about something every retreat operator and hospitality entrepreneur needs to hear: how to build an audience before you have anything to sell.

Our guests are Rajan Chida and Renzo Sanio, the co-founders of Royal Oak Retreat, a luxury wellness cabin community being built on 2.5 acres in Front Royal, Virginia. Tucked into the Shenandoah Valley, the retreat features a private hot tub, Scandinavian-style sauna, and floor-to-ceiling windows framing the surrounding forest.

What makes their story remarkable is not just the project itself. 

It is the fact that Rajan has grown his personal account to over 500,000 followers by documenting the build, while the Royal Oak Retreat property account has already reached 24,000 followers, all before the retreat has fully opened its doors. 

They started with zero followers, zero experience in development, and a very honest camera.

If you are building a retreat, a cabin, or any kind of unique stay and wondering how to market it before it opens, this conversation is packed with real lessons.

Anastasia: Rajan, Renzo, let's start at the very beginning. You posted your first video before a single tree was cleared on the property. What made you decide to document the build publicly from day one, and were you nervous about putting it all out there before you knew if it would actually work?

Rajan: I ran a shoe business for 5 years in college, and during my senior year (September 2024) I finally decided to start documenting my business journey and telling stories through selling shoes. It had only impacted me positively and I grew an audience and network through shoes. When Renzo brought me the deal, I was 4 months into creating content, so I decided to start documenting the build the same way. I knew it would create surface area for us to get lucky.

Renzo: I knew it would be a great success, or in the worst outcome a great learning experience. In both cases, having viewers while doing it could only serve to help ourselves, and the world.

Anastasia: Your very first pinned video is incredibly disarming. You both openly admit you have no experience in development, no special connections, no guaranteed outcome. That kind of radical honesty is not what most brands lead with. Why did you choose that as your opening statement to the world?

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Rajan: People resonate more with people who admit that they don’t know everything, because it’s true. It’s less relatable to make it seem like we are on a higher pedestal than our viewers, especially since we had no prior experience. We positioned ourselves as learners, rather than experts, and I think people can get on board with that more. 

Renzo: The idea and decision to share that video was Rajan’s. But I love it because it’s honest and true. Its message aligned with our hope to inspire aspiring entrepreneurs to just get started.

Anastasia: Walk us through the numbers. Rajan, your personal account has crossed 500,000 followers and the Royal Oak Retreat account is at 24,000. How long did it take to reach those milestones and was there a specific post or moment where things suddenly accelerated?

Rajan: I took about 14 months to get to these follower counts. Along the way there were about 5-10 mega viral posts that got us thousands of followers per video. 

Anastasia: You are running three accounts simultaneously, Rajan's personal brand, Renzo's personal brand, and the Royal Oak Retreat property account. How do you divide what lives where, and do you ever cross-post or does each account tell a completely different story?

Rajan: The documentation of the build and progress lives on my page, and anything personal I want to post myself. Same in regards to Renzo’s account. The Royal Oak Retreat page is solely to show the finished product and what a guest would expect staying at our property.

Anastasia: How often were you posting, were you using trending audio, did you research keywords and hashtags deliberately, and how much thought went into captions versus just hitting publish and hoping for the best?

Rajan: Consistency is definitely key, but people focus on the wrong things when it comes to social media. 

I focused a lot on the story, and more specifically, the hook of the video. Which is in reference to the first 3 seconds of the video. In short form content, this is the most important metric on if someone will watch your video or not. So I focused a lot on the first visual people saw on the screen, what my first sentence was, and the delivery on the sentence. Most of the other stuff like hashtags, trending, audio, does not matter.

​Anastasia: For retreat and hospitality operators reading this, what type of content performed best for you? Are we talking build update videos, lifestyle shots, raw behind the scenes moments, or something else entirely?

Rajan: It was always big progress updates. People like to be visually stimulated, and a way to do that is to show a build changing through a video.

Anastasia: A lot of property developers and hospitality entrepreneurs are shy about showing the messy middle, the setbacks, the delays, the things that did not go to plan. Did you ever share something that flopped, and what did that teach you?

Rajan: We shared our failures all the time, like our windows being delayed, and us going over budget on our build. It taught us that many other developers and business owners go through the same challenges, and was probably a big reason why a lot of people reached out to us to connect.

Anastasia: Half a million followers is a serious asset. How has that audience translated into tangible business results so far, whether that is bookings, investor conversations, press coverage, or partnerships?

Rajan: We have a large network of potential investors and people that could source our next deal through the personal brand. My account helps with the bigger picture, but doesn’t necessarily translate directly to bookings. The company page, where we collab with travel and health influencers, convert a lot better to bookings.
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Anastasia: If a retreat operator came to you today and said they are about to break ground and want to build an audience from scratch, what are the first three things you would tell them to do?

Rajan: Document all the big progress points through videos and make it clear in every video that there is progression. You need to give the viewer a sense that following you will reward them with the progress on your project, so constantly cast the vision of what your build is going to look like. Also engage the audience by asking questions on the build, like what colors to use, what to landscape, etc (even if the decisions have already been made). 
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Anastasia: Finally, what is next for Royal Oak Retreat and where can readers follow along?

Renzo: Three things will mark 2026 for royal oak retreat: 

1) Building two larger and more stunning cabins totaling over $1M of construction 

2) Refining our guest experience at every touch point, from their booking confirmation, to the feeling they leave with on their car ride home 

3) Building Royal Oak Group, a community for people who want to build and own luxury vacation rentals alongside us.

Rajan and Renzo are proof that you do not need a finished product, a big budget, or years of experience to build a loyal audience around a hospitality project. You just need a camera, a compelling story, and the courage to share the journey.

You can follow the build on Instagram at @royaloakretreat, Rajan's journey personally at @chida.rajan, and Renzo's at @sanio.renzo.

That is all for today.

Till next week, dear readers.

p.s. I've started posting more on Instagram and Youtube. If you have seen any of it and have feedback I would love to hear it. Trying to improve one video at a time. 

​Rod told me my first videos looked like "Welcome to the Dharma Initiative"...and now they are a tiny bit more dynamic.