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Hostels in Australia

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megie1987 started this discussion 14 years 2 months ago

Hi out there,

I'm not sure how many users are running/working/opening hostels in Australia, it seems that a lot of users are in Europe, so I thought I would put some feelers out to see if there's anyone there. I want to open a hostel in Melbourne at some point, and am open to any suggestions, information, advice. It's a daunting prospect and so I'm still just in the researching stage. I presume the market would be slightly different, I know there's a lot of long stay guests that are looking for work. Do you recommend having a bar on location? There's been problems with licensing in Melbourne, would it be worth it or just have suggestions available for guests? There just seems to be so many things to take into consideration!

Thanks in advance for any help!

Megan

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uktrail

14 years

Hi Megan: I have stayed in Melbourne a few times, often in hostels and also at the Formule1 hotel which is oh so conveniently placed, just 5 mins walk from the terminal with an airport trolley!

My opinion is that many hostels in Melbourne are rather rough-and-ready, comfortable but a bit too casual. The one I like best is Olembia in St Kilda. Take a look also at Hostel109 in Adelaide.

My suggestion would be to create a place that's not "just another hostel" but has its own character, which in my view should be: friendly and sociable. Don't try to cater for all tastes, as you risk destroying one with another. For example, if you want to cater for long-stay guests who may spend their evenings watching TV, and also short-term travellers, have the TV in a separate room from the main sociable room.

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gordo

14 years

As a native Melbournian, I'd recommend Fitzroy/Carlton/Collingwood areas - I find it somewhat amazing that Brunswick St is almost backpacker free.

Licensing in Melbourne (Australia in general) can be tricky - the state government is always trying to crack down under the guise of public safety/health but they continue to ignore both common sense, the police and health officials (remember the misguided attempt at a lock out time?). I dont know the ins and outs of liquor licensing in Melbourne but I do know the council and government are trying to limit the number of outlets.

Most hostels tend to be fairly large in Melbourne - owing presumably to real estate prices and economies of scale. There are some smaller ones down in St Kilda/Prahran area, but theyre often attached to pubs/bars whereby the pub operates as its own business and the hostel is somewhat of an afterthought. I've always been a big fan of bars in hostels but given the abundance of nightlife in Melbourne and the great nature of it (especially Fitzroy/Coll./Carlton) and the increasingly stringent nature of licensing, you could almost be better off abandoning the bar and simply letting the guests provide their own booze (something they'll probably try and do anyway - GOON!) and then take advantage of the nightlife in the area by providing pub crawls etc.

Either way Melbourne is a great city and needs a few great hostels - there are quite a few decidedly average ones around.

PM me if you want to chat a little more about it.

gordo

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