Running A Youth Hostel For The Clueless

March 21, 2006 9:05 PM

Running a youth hostel: what does it take?

I've been interested in setting up a youth center/youth hostel for a long time now, but I haven't the slightest clue where to get started.

I envisioned a house whose rooms are converted for different things - a creative space (with computers, art supplies, etc), a Bookcrossing-esque library, full use of the kitchen and bathrooms, performance & presentation space outdoors, and a bedroom with a couple of beds. (amongst other ideas!)

I don't envision this to house tons of youths; it'll be more cozy and small, to host the occasional traveller or wanderer. Somewhere in between a house and a typical youth hostel.

It's common where I live (Malaysia) to convert houses into NGO offices or small businesses so I suppose thos can be done. But beyond that - what do I do? Any licenses I should apply for? Memberships? What should I do or not do?

Thank you!

posted by divabat to grab bag (14 answers total)

You might want to google some hostels from around the world and phone them. Odds are you will get someone answering the phone that would be happy to give you some advice.

(Human nature - People love giving advice.)
posted by SwingingJohnson1968 at 9:09 PM on March 21, 2006

Filed under questions I always had but never realized it. This place is amazing.
posted by evariste at 9:49 PM on March 21, 2006

I would start by researching costs. Determine cost of house in area you want to target.

Example:

$30,000 a year for mortgage payments
$ 5,000 annually for maintenance
$ 5,000 annually for utilities
$30,000 annually for staff / cleaners
Total Costs: $70k a year

Revenue:
$25 * 16 beds * 15 nights per month * 12 months = $72k

Profit before taxes and other deductions: $2k a year

Once you figure you can make that swing, check into city ordinances. And, as noted above, start talking to other people.
posted by acoutu at 10:04 PM on March 21, 2006

SwingingJohnson: There aren't really any good youth hostels (save for the Ys) where I live, and it's a bit expensive and unweidly to call other countries from here! Would they respond to email?
posted by divabat at 10:08 PM on March 21, 2006

Try contacting Hostelling International, the organisation that links together thousands of hostels all over the world. They'd likely be able to direct you to some resources. Or look for advice on the Lonely Planet Thorn Tree, which is as handy as AskMe, but travel-specific. (There's plenty of expats living abroad and running hostels, good chance they'd be on that board.)

Also, divabat, I sort of doubt that there aren't any good hostels in Malaysia - there's too many people travelling through for there to be none. Try picking up a youth/budget oriented travel guide (like Let's Go or Lonely Planet) for Malaysia and neighbouring countries, and check out the places they list.
posted by Kololo at 11:51 PM on March 21, 2006

Kololo: I've asked around, and the general opinion is that the youth hostels - if they are even EXISTENT - are not in a very good shape. There are backpacker's inns and such, but even hotels here aren't that expensive for usual travellers. Either that, or they camp/homestay. I'm not too surprised, really.
posted by divabat at 12:41 AM on March 22, 2006

I don't own a hostel, but I work in one. I haven't been in SE Asia yet so I don't know how the situation compares, but the hostel business is extremely competitive here in Europe, especially in Central/Eastern Europe, where tourisim is rising like crazy. From my experience in my 'home' hostel and many others i've stayed in, the best hostels are the ones in which the owners/operators have the most invested in the atmosphere and happiness of the guests (and the furniture is not all from Ikea); these also tend to be the smaller places. At our place, we work very long shifts so whoever is on duty basically lives there for part of the week. The best thing guests have said about us is, "I felt more like I was crashing at a friend's place."

From what you wrote above, it sounds like you're more interested in the experience than the money (you should still make plenty as soon as your hostel starts to get a reputation) and are generally on the right track towards creating a place with a good (and genuine) atmosphere. Keep in mind, though, that you have to be everyone's cool friend AND mom/maid at the same time, and this can be extremely exhausting. You have to know everything and have time to help with anything, from "please recite for me the opening hours of all tourist attractions within a 50 km radius" to "stay up until 5 am laughing at my stupid jokes and cleaning up after my drunk ass so everyone else doens't have to deal with my mess in the morning". Backpackers can be fantastic, fun and interesting people and it can be a privilege to welcome some of them into your home; they can also be worse than kindergarteners - think upper-midde-class gap-year kids in North Face gear who find themselves endlessly superior to the locals AND the other tourists who have come clean and booked a four-star hotel. (The worst ones are those who could afford the four-star hotel themselves, but are spending daddy's cash on nightclubs and hookers instead, and irritating everyone they encou,nter with their presence. Patience, my friend.)

Have a lot of patience, and a genuine enthusiasm and concern both for the state of your living room and the city and culture people are encountering while they're staying with you, and your hostel will be good. Having an espresso machine, snacks, DVDs and free internet doesn't hurt either - these features are all coming to be standard around here, if they aren't aleady. Your 'performance space' sounds like a great idea, too. Most importantly, never stop thinking of it as "your place", so you never stop caring about it (even if you get a good write-up in Lonely Planet that guarantees you an endless flow of business for the next decade). If people like your hostel, they'll spread the word wherever else they go, and things will start to take care of themselves - especially if you're the only "backpacker" option wherever you're located.

Also, at least around here, HI is totally obselete and no one bothers with it anymore. 90% or more of our guests make reservations online; the major websites are here, here, and here. Reviews on these websites are the most important and effective way to fill up your beds, especially when you're starting out; reading the comments about other hostels is also a great way to get ideas for your own. Good luck!
posted by xanthippe at 2:34 AM on March 22, 2006 [1 favorite]

xanthippe give some good advice, though I would add that the folks at GoMio would have some better information for independant hostel owners getting started.

Also Hostels.com is owned by HostelWorld, so just contact the latter directly. Using these services generally costs 10% commission so aim to eventaully have the majority of your bookings come in through your own site - a hostel profit margin is small enough as is.

I would imagine the Malaysian tourism board would have loads of information, but that's based off my brief impression during various WYSTC conferences so i could be totally talking out my ass.

acoutu's basic budget I would actually adjust for an almost absolute worst case scenario (ie terrorism like in London, restlest natives, natural distaters, etc). These things scare off tourists, most especially North Americans, even if they don't happen in your area and you'll want to plan accordingly to make it through those periods. (ie after London, Al Queada said Rome was the next target. Summer numbers were way down as a result)

Make friends with other accommodation owners in and outside your area. You'll have some place to reccommend should you be full and vise versa. Get to know the general 'travel path' of the region and make friends with owners in those spots as well.

Oh and I would throw in any bribe money neccessary in your region too...just in case.

You'll also want to consider the provinence of the crowds you're aiming at and adjust your advertising accordingly. (ie here the N.American flow is heaviest May-July, Argentinians travel in the winter off months, Aussies & NZ are the long haulers, etc etc etc)

I wouldn't worry too much about travel book write ups as the Internet is superceeding all that. I'll bite my tongue regarding the specifics of reasearchers I've met over the years, but I will say that some of them are lovely people and some of them are total asses who want everything comped and massive quantities of ass kissing. Go Internet.

Research methods for eliminating bedbugs in your area. You'll get them eventually and it's no reflection on the cleanliness of your place. Don't allow sleeeping bags AT ALL as that's prime vector#1; backpacks resting on beds are prime vector #2. Inform yourself of the appearance of bedbug bites and train your staff on them also. If you see someone with bites, offer to help them with creams and completely washing everything in hot water. not only will you help the guest, you'll help stem the tide of infestation.

Make up a free map with the most pertanent tourism info on it. You'll still repeat yourself endlessly, but travellers will pass it on and create more word of mouth for you.

No bidets - they get mistaken as toilets during states of inebriation. Have a cleaning staff with a strong stomach.

That's about it off the top of my head. I'll add more later, but i need to get some work done :D
posted by romakimmy at 4:51 AM on March 22, 2006

Make friends with other accommodation owners in and outside your area. You'll have some place to reccommend should you be full and vise versa. Get to know the general 'travel path' of the region and make friends with owners in those spots as well.

This is really, really important. Be friends with all the other hostels nearby, and wherever people might be coming from or going to next. Exchange flyers, send them people, and they'll return the favor. There's nothing worse than having the owner of a rival hostel trying to shut you down (well, except bedbugs.... and stag parties. Be glad EasyJet doesn't service Kuala Lumpur!)
posted by xanthippe at 6:15 AM on March 22, 2006

divabat, there's an email at the address in your profile with some contact info for you...
posted by iurodivii at 7:09 AM on March 22, 2006

Any licenses I should apply for?

This is might be the biggest problem at first. I'm pulling from my own experience here, but accommodation licenses vary wildly from country to country (or even city to city). Some authorities/tourism boards have a hostel license, some wouldn't know a youth hostel if it bit them on the ass. Or worse yet, the hostel licenses are strictly non-profit, possibly charity oriented. Think charity for the homeless.

Not that this last is a bad thing, but it lends a stigma to 'hostel' and you'll have a bitch of a time getting your tourism board to understand a secondary concept of 'backpackers' staying in a 'youth hostel'. Then you'll have fun trying to convince them why they should care about cheap-ass travellers.

(Answer: studies show that backpackers return at later ages with their children & spend more on hotels, backpackers actually contribute more to the economy as they don't spend everything on a place to lay their head...yadda yadda yadda. Crunchy numbers of this type are your friends when dealing with tourism boards.)

Some that I know of have hotel or b&b licenses to get around the no hostel-license thing, but they advertise as hostels. This could get you started, but if you want to be doing it for the long-term, plan to bug your tourism board to create an actual hostel license or 'independent hostel' license. You'll have more leverage in protecting your small market share should the shit hit the fan and 3-4 star hotels start advertising 'dorm beds' at prices you can't afford to undercut and facilities you can't afford to put in.

insurance may or may not be required for your license - get it anyway. It will cover you when some one rolls out of the top bunk face first and splits their head open or worse.

Flame retardant mattresses, first aid kits, & fire extinguishers are also necessary. Again, this might or might not be necessary for your license, but it's better to have them even so.

Sturdy electrical system - for those times when some one plugs the wrong voltage hairdryer into your sockets. No skid shower floors & pull string alarms in them, latter is a maybe (personally I've always found these bloody stupid - how the hell are you supposed to reach it if you've slipped and fallen?), former is ideal. Handicapped facilities might also be required by your board. Or not.

When you lay out your spaces (bedrooms, common rooms, etc) think about flow of people as well as childproofing. As xanthippe said above, you don't really want an overgrown drunken kindergartner running into that cool yet seriously pointy sculpture. Also consider ease of upkeep & cleaning.

Hooks in the showers, shelves to put clothes on, small lockers for valuables, individual lights above the beds, fans - little things can make a big difference at times. Consider also if you will have co-ed and/or split sex dorms as well as your peron to shower/toilet/sink ratios. Waiting in line for the showers is a pain. Big huge hot water heater is also ideal. Cold showers are also a pain.

If you'll have computers get something like SiteKiosk or you'll be constantly removing spyware & virii. Backpackers love to look at porn funnily enough...

A pay phone with instructions how to dial out of the country is also handy for travellers who want to call home. You might sell bus tickets, bottles of water or stamps also as a convenience.

A corollary to the 'make friends with other accommodation owners' is to make friend with the front line drones in the tourism information office as well as any local tour guides/companies.

HI, as mentioned before, is generally regarded as obsolete as they tend to have curfews and loooong lockouts. And loads of noisy school children at times.

STA is a world wide youth travel agency and they and their ilk may or may not be some one you want to work with, depending on their commissions and how much of a 'bed allotment' they want. Can be useful in off season, but invoicing them might prove to be more hassle than its worth.
posted by romakimmy at 9:55 AM on March 22, 2006

Romakimmy, I was trying to show the challenges inherent in a best-case scenario. :)
posted by acoutu at 3:56 PM on March 22, 2006

That's cool acoutu :) I've just seen too many people who open hostels calculating their budget thusly:

We can cram in max 30 beds at 15 a pop. 30 x 15 x 30 days = 13,500 a month.

Seriously. they calculate on the max they can get and then subtract their costs, never calculating in the unforeseen stuff like tampon clogged tubes bursting. And then they bitch when they have no money :)

A hostel can make money if you plan right and remember tourism can be a volatile market - in general, low season I would calculate for breaking even with your costs, as high season margins should balance things out.

guess I came off as a bit of a negative nellie, eh? ;)
posted by romakimmy at 3:21 AM on March 23, 2006

Thank you so so much everyone! Guess there is a lot more than it seems...

I am a young person myself (20) and I've been in a youth hostel once - loved it. Since I was about 15 I've wanted to set up some sort of a youth center, because there aren't any good places here for youths to go after school or when they're bored...the hostel bit was added in fairly recently.

iurodivii - got your email, thank you! I'll check it out soon.

Just wondering: are there any hostels that work as cooperatives? Or something similar?
posted by divabat at 5:58 AM on March 23, 2006