Master Checklist for Starting a Hostel

Hi Everyone,

After 20 years in business I routinely have people asking me the steps to start there own hostel. I end up giving them bits and pieces of information. Recently I have been thinking about the idea of a master checklist for starting a hostel. This would be a list of questions prospective hostel owners should ask themselves or research to be done before and during the startup phase of a hostel.

There's a lot of hostel experience here on HostelManagement.com so I thought I'd put the question to all of you. If we get a comprehensive list going, I'll see if we can post in in a permanent part of the site.

If possible, lets organize the list in sections and subsections.

Thanks.

Darren Overby, Owner/Member
Pacific Tradewinds Hostel, LLC

UPDATE: I've hired an writing intern to begin organizing my hostel operations, financial, marketing, cleaning/maintenance, and managers manual into this index. This work starts January 1, 2013. We will provide an announcement when the initial draft is done so hostel owners can suggest additions to the list.