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Hostel Safety and Children

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ADKer started this discussion 15 years 2 months ago

I am in the early stages of planning a hostel in the US and one thing that has concerned me is that as I plan to be an owner/operator I plan on having kids and want to take precautions that protect them from potential harm or abuse. Ideally we would live on the same property as the Hostel but I'm wondering; for those that live on premises how do you keep your personal areas separate and specifically if you have children how do you handle their safety. I want my kids to have the experience of meeting lots of different people from all over the world, however, I am not naive about the dangers that are out there.

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livaus

15 years

I have a two story building - we live on the first floor and the hostel is on the second floor. Initially the whole building was a hostel, but as we needed more space for ourselves (we have 3 kids now) we moved in the 1st floor. For several months we shared it with the guests but I cant say that it was a very pleasant experience. There is someone in your space all the time and kids tend to open doors for the strangers even if they are asked to get mum or dad to do it and if I'm still asleep it takes a while to sort things out.
And I sensed that guest also don't like to be in this type of setting too much (one of them actually complained about this, said it was like living in someone elses house).
So the perfect solution is to have a separate floor for yourself or if the space does not allow it, at least a separate area that you can close doors to. And kids have to be clear that they can talk and interactwith guests but that's about it - they should not open doors for them or go anywhere with them.

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ADKer

15 years

Thanks Livaus! I am hopefully going to have some adjacent property so keeping space and folks separate is certainly a priority when I start looking for a spot. Thank you for your reply!

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canhostel

15 years

When I travelled through Ireland the B&Bs had separate living arrangements. It was either one whole side of the house or the bottom/Top of the house. NEver felt intruded on and was great. Much different then the B&Bs that I have stayed at in North America which seem to be share the space because your room was where their kids used to sleep. You could probably design a hostel much like this with a separate front door for your residence away from the hostel entrance and maybe only one common door between the two halves.

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