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Opening new hostel - Croatia

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leny started this discussion 16 years 2 months ago

I'm thinking for a longer time now of opening a small hostel (from 10-20 bed's) in my home city. I would run it myself of course, living there with eventual help from some trusted people (in some rare occasion I decide I need some sun after all). There is a story about Croatian association of hostel's opening one for decades now - but there is still not one. In last years lot's of hotel's and private rooms have opened (price range from 30 EUR up). City is rather small (something more than 100 000) and in not so interesting part of country (there is old fort and national park near by) - however it is in middle of way from Sarajevo to Budapest and from Zagreb to Belgrade so I was thinking maybe some backpackers would stay a night if they had a normal price.

I'm thinking about market research to see would it pay off and what should be capacity - but I'm quite non aware how to do that if not lot of people in city even know what hostel and backpacking is :-(
Maybe someone from similar city has some experience and data (for instance number of people staying in hostel compared to gross number of tourists)?

The other big question is micro location of hostel - do you have some advice. I currently own a house 10 min from center by bus and half an hour walk. I'm thinking about renting something would be better - should I choose closer to city centre, railroad station or old fort part of town?

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Josh Hostels

16 years

The other big question is micro location of hostel - do you have some advice. I currently own a house 10 min from center by bus and half an hour walk. I'm thinking about renting something would be better - should I choose closer to city centre, railroad station or old fort part of town?

I think backpackers tend to like to stay close to the attractions because they will be going to the attractions anyway. It probably depends on the city.

Here are some reviews from Hostelworld that give some idea about what backpackers write about in terms of location:

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aboriginalhostel

16 years

City is rather small (something more than 100 000) and in not so interesting part of country (there is old fort and national park near by) - however it is in middle of way from Sarajevo to Budapest and from Zagreb to Belgrade so I was thinking maybe some backpackers would stay a night if they had a normal price.

Well, it depends. I'd definitely recommend opening hostels in scenic or historical areas or where you can offer a lot of activities. People mostly stay in Zagreb for a night, because otherwise it would be too long journey to Split or Dubrovnik. If Zagreb would offer more, people would stay more nights.
My favourite example is Cesky Krumlov... you can easily spend a week there without realizing it! ;)

If there are plenty of hotels just opened, it could mean something but you need to offer reasons to go on your flyers! ;)

I'm thinking about market research to see would it pay off and what should be capacity - but I'm quite non aware how to do that if not lot of people in city even know what hostel and backpacking is :-(

You can ask some help from other hostels in Croatia, meanwhile you can build partnerships as well. 5 years ago there was only few hostels there but it has grown a lot since!

The other big question is micro location of hostel - do you have some advice. I currently own a house 10 min from center by bus and half an hour walk. I'm thinking about renting something would be better - should I choose closer to city centre, railroad station or old fort part of town?

If you have like a gardened house, it could be an ideal spot for a backpacker's haven... Bar, Jacuzzi, BBQ, hammocks, just to mention the main amenities. Also you could rent out bikes, but real backpackers don't mind walking... If the city doesn't offer much to see, your hostel won't be badly located anyway. What you will definitely need is some restaurants, pubs/nightlife (replaced by the bar?), grocery stores easily accessible.

You might have problems with the neighbors about the noise level though...
IMHO, if you already have this house, you can give it a try without making any major investments and see how it goes.

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leny

16 years

I'm including some info about city: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osijek .

Guys thank's so much for responses.

I would like more feedback if possible. Still lots of questions in my mind :(. I't quite a big investment for me and not having other hostel in like more than 100 km range is making my decision very hard. Really any ideas will be useful.

I'm also open for some kind of partnership ideas.

Is it maybe possible to make questionnaire in some of your hostels and ask backpackers on tour of Europe would they be interested in coming here?

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Josh Hostels

16 years

Some additional places to get opinions from backpackers are on travel forums:

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uktrail

16 years

Many backpackers dash quickly from major city to major city, trying to visit as many countries as possible. They will not be interested in anywhere between Zagreb and Sarajevo or Belgrade. Some are more leisurely, doing shorter distances and covering only one or a small number of countries. These people, I think, will want to stop in locations between the big cities if they are attractive.

I personally had a holiday in Czech Republic and I enjoyed visiting Olomouc because it is attractive, not as big and crowded as Prague and had very few tourists. It also has an excellent hostel, and that was indeed a positive reason for staying there.

So I think a friendly hostel in Osijek could fit into the pattern well. And if the city does not get a lot of tourists, you won't have any competition, at least at the start.

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