Today we’d like to introduce you to Mary McRoberts.
Hi Mary, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I am originally from Dallas, TX, however my family moved to Richmond, VA when I was 5 years old. I was raised in Virginia by Texans – the best of both worlds! I received my degree from Virginia Tech (GO Hokies!) and chose a career in the human service industry while many of my peers went to work for large corporations with attractive starting salaries and benefit packages. For me, the work itself was more important. At the end of the day, I wanted to know I made a difference…maybe helped someone out, rather than “count widgets” as I, perhaps wrongly, imagined I would be doing. So, my first job out of college was an activities director at a senior center making not more than minimum wage. But I loved having a positive impact on others’ lives.
My non-profit career as an executive started at that senior center at the age of 25, then on to a family resource center, free clinic, and finally with Boys & Girls Clubs of America. BGCA brought me back to Texas in 2005, where I spent the final 11 years of my non-profit exec career running the statewide alliance of Boys & Girls Clubs in partnership with the State of Texas and other governmental entities. In my last years at BGCA, we raised over $6M in funding, project support and initiatives for local Boys & Girls Clubs throughout Texas. I loved what I did.
In 2015, my husband and I sold a rental house we owned and searched, unsuccessfully, for a deal on a flip or new rental house. We then thought, why not buy an old cabin on some land in Dripping Springs, where we lived, and rent it out. We love Dripping Springs and at the time there was a lack of lodging to support the hill country travelers and the huge number of weddings and wedding guests annually. It made sense. We honestly did not imagine it would redirect our careers and lives.
We came across the land that is now Hill Country Casitas located in northwest Dripping Springs and were in awe. It was beautiful and next to a winery and within a few miles of several wedding venues. My husband, a builder and seasoned professional in commercial construction, had the vision. He could see the rolling hills and the views that would accompany each Casita that we would build. What started as 5 cabins, became 10 sizeable Casitas. My husband’s construction skills and background, coupled with my administrative/business skills, made the perfect match to become hospitality entrepreneurs, or at least give it a good shot. We bought the land in 2015, my husband retired in spring 2016, we broke ground April 2016, I retired in October 2016 and we opened Hill Country Casitas October 14, 2016. We built 10 small houses (400-950 sf each) in six months.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Learning the business of hosting guests, I think for most people, comes naturally. I have traveled a lot, so I learned what accommodations and amenities, good ones, should look like and include. Learning how to run a lodging business presented a sizeable learning curve. Tools such as RevPAR (revenue per available room) is a key performance metric in the hotel industry. It took me years to understand it! We also had to select a Property Management System and several other tools to automate and manage our business. Marketing a small business was another challenge. In my non-profit career, I did little advertising in order to create business. Maybe donors? So, financial analysis and marketing/advertising have been the biggest challenges, and they still are today. We depend on our more seasoned peers and consultants.
Covid was a temporary challenge. So many businesses in our industry had to pivot and find different uses for their facilities or different revenue streams. Weddings (aka gatherings) were disallowed for some time, which severely impacted our business. So, I became ordained to perform weddings whereby the couple alone, for the most part, would purchase a package to get married, have some cake, take some pictures and stay the night at The Casitas. It wasn’t a lot of revenue, and for sure, it was not the couple’s first choice, but COVID changed everyone’s world. We also immediately remade our meeting space, The Retreat, into a double queen studio Casita since there were no corporate meetings. Everyone pivoted. We survived.
Except for the first quarter of 2020, our business performed very well during COVID as people wanted to get out and away from their homes and cities. Our self-catering units welcomed tired and frustrated people from all over the state.
Economical downfalls impact us greatly. 2024 was our worst year on record. This year is improving. You just have to make adjustments, sometimes daily, in order to spend less money than you take in. It’s simple, yet hard.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
Throughout my career, teambuilding has always been my strong suit. While this skill is so critical in the non-profit sector, it’s also beneficial in the small business world. Partnerships with local businesses, like our neighbor Hawks Shadow Winery, have helped both businesses grow. Working so easily with hospitality professionals in the area came naturally and was always welcome and beneficial to our peers in small business.
In my non-profit career, I was most proud of my work at the Texas Alliance of Boys & Girls Clubs, securing state and federal funding for the first time in the Alliance’s history. And I am proud of the kids that “we” loved and nurtured and are, today, leaders in society.
At Hill Country Casitas, I am proud of my loyal, hardworking, committed team led by Claire Bolton, Property Manager. For five years, she has overseen the operations of our business. Someone once said, surround yourself with people who are better, smarter, more capable than yourself and you’ll succeed. I had one of those kinds of people at Boys & Girls Clubs too!
I also served on the original Board of Directors for the Dripping Springs Visitors Bureau for more than five years and assisted in dissolving that entity and transferring all projects to the City of Dripping Springs. Our goal was to increase visitors to our little slice of Texas Hill Country. I’m proud that several of the initiatives that we created are still in play and growing every year.
What are your plans for the future?
My husband and I are looking forward to retiring- for good this time; hopefully in 2026. It’s time for new, preferably younger, energy to arrive. But it’s bittersweet to leave our baby. We created Hill Country Casitas from scratch. We bought 13 acres of raw land. We developed that land. We designed and built the Casitas. We created an environment, or culture, of casual luxury that guests have given 5-star ratings since inception in 2016. We are doing something right. Lucky for me, I’m still doing what I love, helping people, impacting people’s lives for the better. Our guests arrive tired, stressed, disconnected. They leave rested, relaxed and re-connected with family and friends. I’ve been blessed.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.hillcountrycasitas.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hillcountrycasitas
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/hillcountrycasitas
