Increasing Fun Rating

Hmm... According to your post the owners here are already off to a poor start. I was hired purely to increase their ratings and make it a more fun place to socialise.

Unfortunately, it isn't the most attractive common room I've ever seen. The common room and kitchen are both located in a basement but that's only because there's nowhere else big enough for them to go.

The common room is a bit cold and dark. The cold is a problem but the dark almost adds to the atmosphere I think. It has a very... "Bavarian" feel to it, if that makes any sense.

At the moment there's no music and a very large and expensive tv down here. I'm hoping to purchase some speakers soon and get some music going. I don't think the owners will allow me to remove the tv so I'm just going to make the most of it and get some DVDs and such.

There is a self-catering kitchen but it's kinda small and limited. The eating area is the common room. There is one big table, two smaller tables and one coffee table. It's not a great setup but at the moment it kinda works. I'm wanting to set up a small bar down here though so some of the tables may need to so.

Unfortunately, all of the staff, except for the receptionists, are "older" professional cleaning staff who don't speak English, only Russian. And the two receptionist aren't the most social of creatures. Which is exactly why I was hired.

I think this may be bit of an up-hill battle but I am going to improve their ratings.

I think initially you need to somhow ask your guests what they'd like, or what aspects of other hostels contributed to their satisfaction there. You also need to identify your demographic. Are your customers primarily single backpackers? If so you might want to think of organised pub crawls, providing video games consoles, in house bar and drinks promotions - that sort of thing. If a lot of your customers are couples in their late twenties and early thirties these alcohol fuelled shenanigans might alienate them. Perhaps having movie nights, or organising walking tours might be more their thing.

The fun rating is strange in that it's very personal. Something like cleanliness has aspects of opinion, but by and large a place is either dirty or clean, or somewhere in between. As far as ffun goes however, it's all subjective, and something that is fun for one person e.g. alcohol for young australian drunkard, might alienate someone else such as an ameircan missionary. Some people hate TVs in common rooms, but others feel bereft if there isn't a tv going in the background. It's a matter of targeting what your customer base wants to improve your fun rating, and you have to know who they are and what they do want before you can do that. Personsally I don't really bother too much about fun ratings.