What is Airbnb?Airbnb is a very social booking platform that can be very useful to connect your hostel with potential guests. It isn’t just for private holiday homes or B&B’s. Airbnb appeals to a wide variety of demographics: business travelers, long term digital nomads, and backpackers who are...
Hostel Roadtrip Podcast talk to the new owners of Cerro Gordo, California, Brent and Aaron. They share their stories about the familiar woes of opening a new hostel: the nonsense of bureaucracy, city official ignorance, and the exhausting chore of finding staff.Cerro Gordo is an abandoned 1865...
After a short break, the guys from the Hostel Roadtrip Podcast are at it again. Hostel owners/enthusiasts Jimmy Black, Bobby Dyer, & Eric Faria cruise the highways, stopping at various hostels along the way. This April past, they sat down for a chat with Dean Fernandez and...
I often see disgruntled hostel owners posting "influencer wannabe" emails into various forums in order to vent. Their frustration lies in the fact that the emails are usually filled with nonsense like, "My Instagram has reached 48K followers in 2 days due to my influence. Your hostel could be the...
YHA (England & Wales) is set to eradicate half a million single use plastic bottles from its 151-strong network of youth hostels next year thanks to support from Waitrose & Partners.The leading youth charity has received a £170,000 share of the supermarket retailer’s £1 million grant fund...
Besides a comfy bed, clean kitchen counters and 24-hour internet, having lots of hot water for showers is right on up there with guest demands. Hostel laundry & cleaning, guest showers & washing dishes, brewing coffee or tea, boiling eggs or rice or noodles... the list goes on. And heating...
Bed bugs are absolutely dreadful. They are also bad for business. However, most hostel owners will have to deal with them at some point in their careers. These pests can take up residence in every kind of accommodation or property, can live in any type of textile, and are found all over...
After check out, do you find most of the rubbish bins absolutely chokka with moulded plastic packaging, beer bottles, and mac n' cheese boxes? Maybe you can add to your collection of plastic shopping bags? Or lucky you to find some crusty socks wadded up in a ball between the mattress and...
Cryptocurrency seems to be a rabbit-hole of a subject, what with the seemingly endless new coins being created and new tech jargon juggling around the internet. Reading all the bitcoin websites about just getting started can seem like more work than it is worth for your 50-bed hostel. ...
What is Bitcoin and Blockchain?I am not going to get in too deep with cryptocurrencies because there are a ton of websites devoted to Bitcoin and can explain it in better detail than I can. In fact, I will include several links to sites that explain in depth about the various tech jargon I use in...
It has been said many times before: it is not “if” a situation arises, but “when”. How do good leaders prepare for crisis? They respond rather than react to disaster, the difference between the two is in preparation and being proactive.This month, I spoke with Gal Mor, of Abraham Hostels in...
Who is Booking.com?You see it within the top five of search results every time you Google a hotel name. And you will often see it listed in the sidebar when Googling a city name so you can plan your trip. With over 29 million hotels and accommodation provider listings to date, Booking.com has...
