I was curious, for those who have successfully opened a hostel business.. did you have prior knowledge of 'business' either through a business degree or experience?
I thought this could be a useful question for aspiring hostel owners; through my interaction with hostel owners over the years while travelling and working, many of the small hostel owners built there business up through trial and error.. they had either worked or managed hostels in the past which gave them experience in the industry but few of them had a technical understanding of business.. but still managed quite well.
I imagine for much larger hostels you would need some understanding behind the tax involved, accounts, payroll etc.. Im asking for myself and others, is it fundamentally necessary to have an in depth understanding of business in this industry or is the hostel business more forgiving when it comes to this?
Thanks!
10 years
Hey lazarusx. Thanks for asking this great question! I actually saw it just before our panel discussion on "If I knew then what I know now", and we were able to touch on it a bit. If you weren't able to watch our live stream, I encourage you to check it out for some great advice and info from industry leaders: http://www.hostelmanagement.com/blog/now-streaming-live-if-i-knew-then-w... Cheers, Courtney
10 years
Just finished with the video, that was a very informative discussion.. thankyou for steering me in the right direction :) I noticed i had actually briefly met Brian Gerisch when i was doing some hostel work in Budapest.. he was promoting his hostel in Romania.
Thanks again!
10 years
Hi lazarusx!
The taxes in particular tend to be really area-specific. Even if you know everything there is to know about the taxes in one place, you might be totally in the dark in a different location. Unless you learn everything specifically for your area before starting, it may not even help you much. Your accountant will definitely need to be up to speed on the current laws and how they apply to your business, but you don’t necessarily need to be an expert from the beginning. That will come quickly enough.
As far as formal education in business goes, it will certainly help you, but it isn’t necessarily required. Some countries, however, do require you to take a certification course in order to manage a hostel, hotel, restaurant, travel agency, or tour company. (It’s often the same course and certification for all of those areas) In Europe that usually involves a 6-month class with a project and an exam at the end. The course covers a lot of the things you mentioned: taxes, laws, marketing, and general business topics.
When it comes to the learning curve, having your own business means that it will be as forgiving as you and your partners can afford for it to be.
10 years
Speaking from my own point of view I don't have any qualifications in regards business.
As you said yourself it seems to be different depending on size and if you are running a hostel yourself compared to managing a corporate hostel chain.
I run a small 20 bed hostel and I had never worked in a hostel before opening. I did grow up in a bed and breakfast so I had experience greeting guests.
For a small hostel you will likely have a lot of direct contact with guests so I think the main thing here is to be very welcoming and hospitable.
For bigger hostels it seems the might look for qualifications unless you work your way up.
With time, rules and regulations in a lot of aspects of business can be easily learned and as Brian said it is very area specific.
I think the smaller the hostel the more skills you need as you cannot afford to hire people with specific skills.
On a given day you might be organising tours, driving guests to a bus, unclogging a toilet, replying to e-mails, fixing beds, updating social media, completing accounts, doing payroll, painting a wall.
For bigger hostels the above tasks would be completed by a few specific people.
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