New: Kodiak Island Hostel, Alaska

Business owner looks to open hostel
http://www.kodiakdailymirror.com/?pid=19&id=8051

Can one Kodiak establishment successfully lodge transient fishermen and tourists under one roof? Treasury Home owner Rhonda Maker wants to do just that by starting up the Kodiak Island Hostel on the second floor of her furniture and home décor store.

The new hostel would house as many as 26 guests per night, and would likely charge about $34 per person. If all goes well, Maker hopes to open the business before Christmas. At the latest, she would like to open by the spring. Maker has already cleared the first obstacle — receiving permission to open a hostel under borough zoning codes. Maker convinced planners to permit Kodiak Island Hostel as a hotel. She hopes to eventually work with the borough to create a specific hostel category. An official designation would likely allow Maker to house an additional six guests in the same space.

Hostels are an unknown entity in Kodiak, but by no means in Alaska. Anchorage contains nine.

The Kodiak Island Hostel still faces two significant hurtles — attracting outside investment, and receiving building permits to remodel the old storefront on the second story into a hostel.