Live in Staff

At the HostelSkills conference in Barcelona, Mateusz Sznir gave a great presentation about using volunteers in hostels.  He said the most appropriate jobs for them are the ones that come most naturally – socializing and creating atmosphere in the hostel, or doing specific projects that use their skills and talents (like painting murals, carpentry work, building websites, etc).  Jobs like reception and housekeeping are usually less appropriate and less interesting for volunteers. I couldn't agree more.  Use volunteers to supplement a stable staff rather than replace them, and give volunteers tasks that will interest them and benefit your hostel at the same time.  If you think of them as talented people who are offering their services to help you out rather than travelers who are willing to work for free, then the most appropriate tasks for each one will become more obvious.

Of course, some people's strongest attributes are their finely tuned customer service skills or mad cleaning abilities.  In those cases, reception or housekeeping might be exactly where they could be best utilitzed.  But most folks have something else to offer that could benefit your hostel even more and be even more rewarding for them.  Luckily, I can't think of a single skill that couldn't be applied to a hostel in some way.  That's probably further evidence that we work in the best industry in the world!