4 years
Greetings Amber,
I'm also interested in setting up a hostel in and around Central America (which also includes Mexico). I'm almost done with the research phase, if you are looking for some partnership then we can surely connect.
Neel
New Hostel Mexico
Start a Hostel
Hello!
I am currently in the research phase of hopefully opening a hostel in Mexico. I am a US citizen and have some privilges to do business in Mexico due to NAFT. From what I can find through searching online it seems there is a lot of labor laws in Mexico and laws regarding businesses on the owner's end. Is anyone familiar with the legal aspect of opening a hostel in Mexico, maybe even as US citizen? Would hiring an attorney be recommended? Any information on this would be super appreciated.
Thankyou!
Amber
- Comments
3 years
Love to see young people getting into game. The industry needs more young sole operators. Operating in Mexico as a U.S. citizen can be tricky. We are expanding into Baja next year from the U.S. and we found the safest option was to partner up with a Mexican operator.
3 years
Hi Amber,
Haha. When I first read your headline I saw Hostel "New Mexico". I just noticed you are talking about a new hostel in old Mexico. This is indeed something many hostel entrepreneurs dream of (including me). I previously wrote some thoughts about opening a hostel in overseas in the Hostel Professionals Library.
Hostel after seeing your question, I thought it would be nice to pull it out of the HPL and made it publicly accessible on the site [LINK]. I'm definitely not an expert but, over time, I've talked to others who have done this.
Anyone else out there successfully (or unsuccessfully) done this? I would love to interview you on a Hostel Management video about your experience.
Darren
3 years
Hi Amber,
Any good Hostel business is about a regular flow of young travelers so this means you need to try to look on or near the beaten path.
I was fortunate enough to lead camping tours through Mexico for about 10 years when I was a younger human. It is such a big, beautiful country, and there is a wealth of culture, but there is a very strong undercurrent there that heavily resists foreign ownership of land. It stems from their history with Spain and the Catholic Church. I have 4 friends that have owned land and houses and businesses in Mexico and all of them lost the ownership eventually. (average time owning land was about 4 years) The only one of the four that felt OK about how it ended up was happy with the cost by thinking of it as if it was a rental for the time they got to spend down there.
We can start with legality ... you can't really legally own the land ... at best you have a Mexican law firm or a Family you trust who would legally own the land and you would have some sort of agreement that you get to use it. So the solution is fairly simple ... during an economic downturn like we are experiencing right now, you can get a long-term lease and use a law firm to make sure it is iron clad and allows you to make improvements and own those improvements (and take them with you if you wish).
The other issue is more business competitive issues. There are plenty of little hotels sprinkled all through Mexico and some of them are super cute, but the cost is not very high ... $40-60/night so a Hostel bed will typically max out in price at $18-20. You will see a few higher-cost Hostels, but they are mostly running a very hip and attractive bar/restaurant scene that creates the buzz needed to get that extra income.
I don't know how old you are or where you are in your life, but many of the most successful lodging operations that I have seen down there were actually a mix of love and entrepreneurship. Basically, someone meets and marries a nice Mexican person and they get citizenship and then can legally own the land and improvements.
I hope this helps, and good luck.
Rex Baldwin
206-255-4490
owner of the Green Tortoise Hostel in Seattle, WA
Related Pages
Log in to join discussion