Hello Hostel types,
I was asked today for occupancy % for hostels by my insurance adjustor today. What a way to start a thread! First a little history. A year ago my building died that I was leasing due to a heating system crash during the coldest part of winter. After an emergency evac, the building was condemned by the owner. Been looking for a new building since but locations in my area are few and far between or so overpriced (although now getting lower) that one has to laugh.
I have been involved with insurance for business interuption and of course have had to educate as to what a backpackers hostel is. No it is not social services, no it is not free, no... But there is a bit of an issue. After giving my audited statements for the time we were open as well as probably future earnings, the insurance adjuster has nothing to compare any of my numbers to as they cannot find another hostel that has had what happened to us. What is interesting is my adjuster was perplexed as the cash flow was proportionally higher and expenses were much much lower then hotel insurance claims that they were able to compare. But after much educating by me over 11 months has increased the payout due but would like to be able to confirm average hostel occupancy for urban properties. I know HI tabulates this as I used to be an HI manager before opening up my independent hostel but they kind of have a hate on for me after I opened up the hostel.
I have googled trying to find occupancy rates and the best I can find is countrywide or statewide which will show rural and urban mashed together. Do any of you have statistics that you can divulge that would be city wide (example, all the London hostels). If you believe you may have something but do not wish to make it public, you can PM me and I will not divulge it to anyone but the insurance adjustor.
This could be important for you in the future if you ever have to go through business interuption insurance due to a catastrophic event. At least with my seemingly groundbreaking introduction to insurance it may make it easier for the next hostel that finds themselves in this same situation to get a claim based on what they do and not what hotels do. Remember I was leasing and was not the owner so our situation is different then hostels that own their buildings. Even a fire would have been better as I would have been able to make a claim. Instead I have multiple storage containers with everything to start that I affectionately call hostel in a box.
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