14 years
Hi, I'm looking to take a break from teaching and starting a hostel in Colombia as soon as possible. I don't have any money saved up so I was thinking that maybe I could rent a large house and start small. Does anyone know of any hostels in any major city in Colombia that I could take over and manage? Are my plans realistic? I was thinking that I might even need small by renting out rooms until everything was in place to open up a hostel. Right now, it's just an idea in my head but I want to put into action. Any feedback would be great!
It seems that you have a wish (to start a hostel) but no plans at all. And no money to start with. That puts you in not a very good starting point.
Before putting anything into action, get a plan with estimates.
Ideally, you would start by making an estimate of how much it would cost to run a hostel of the size (a property that you have already identified) you are considering. Once you have that cost, you could figure out how much you have to charge to cover the cost. Anything over that would be your profit. But how much profit you can make depends on what your competitors (other hostels) are charging and how atractive your offer to backpackers is. Probably you will find out that your operation is too costly for what you can charge. In that case, you will have to start your analysis all over again with another alternative (a different property, maybe a smaller hostel, limited conveniences for guests, etc.; or maybe a bigger hostel which allows you for enough income to cover your costs at atractive prices.)
Given your situation (no plans, no money), maybe your safest bet would be what you mentioned : If you are renting a place with spare rooms, try renting them (if your landlord allows that) as if you were a micro-hostel. From that experience, you will be getting a better feeling of what running a hostel entails, about its costs and how easy or hard it is to get guests to stay at your place. This all will help you to make a better plan for the real thing.
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