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space required to house 30 bunkbeds (capacity of 60 persons)

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Mark Edelston started this discussion 9 years 11 months ago

Hi, I've put together a business plan to start up a hostel. I have worked out that the optimum number of beds will be around 60 (30 bunkbeds) and was wondering if someone could give me a steer as to what kind of size square metre properties I should start looking at, bearing in mind i need to add space for common areas, kitchen, reception and have my own room on site.

Any kind of ball park figure would be very much appreciated!!!

Thanks

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Rucksack Brian

9 years

Hi Markedelston, welcome to the Forum!

If you haven’t already seen it, check out the Start A New Hostel FAQ page. There are some really good threads there. In particular, check out these threads:
Calculation for beds and bathrooms?
Rooms Sizing on a apartment of 400m2 - What do u Think?
How many square meters fo I need for an 8 man dorm? For a 6 man?

The total surface area that you need will depend on how many beds you want to have in each dorm in order to reach your 60 bed total. Do you already know how you prefer to break them down? (The properties you find may not match your preference exactly, but it will give you a place to start when you compare the options)

Hopefully the threads above will help you get your ballpark figure. If not, we can try to help you fill in the gaps.

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markedelston

9 years

Hi Rucksack Brian,

Yes Ive read the forums but cant really seem to get a decent answer. The purpose of the question is to narrow down my search of potential properties. Once I have a place in mind I can get the tape measure out to understand exactly how many beds I could fit in each room. As such Im just really after some kind of ball park figure that I should start looking into. Obviously I will need to leave space for a room for myself, common areas, kitchen and reception. But in total it would be great if you could give me some kind of guide as to what size of properties I should start looking for?

Thanks in advance.

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Rucksack Brian

9 years

Let’s assume that for a 60-bed property you will break all of your rooms into 6-bed dorms. That means you need 10 sleeping rooms for guests. If each one of them is about 20m2, (10m2 for the first bed footprint and 5m2 for each additional one to make it nice and comfortable) then you need 200m2 for your dorms. (You could probably put more beds in this space or break the beds down in a different arrangement, but it’s a ballpark figure to work with)

Let’s add another 25m2 for your own apartment with a private bathroom. I think you deserve it. :)

You will need enough toilets and showers for everyone. Let’s call it one toilet and one shower for every 10 guests, which means 6 toilets and 6 showers. You may prefer more. We’ll assume that they’re all outside of the dorms. If you separate the toilets and showers, and make each one 1.5mX2m, then you need 36m2 for all of them.

Regarding your common room, local laws may dictate how much common space you must have per person, or those laws may not exist at all. It’s not likely that every one of your guests will want to be in the common area at the exact same time. Maybe 1m2 per person would suffice. In that case you need 60m2 of common space.

Regarding your reception, the arrangement that you want will change the space you need dramatically. Personally, I would combine my reception with the common room, but that’s up to you. Either way, you will still need some kind of office for keeping records and doing administrative things. Call it 10m2 and expand or retract it to your taste.

Your kitchen doesn’t need to accommodate everyone at the same time, but counters, stoves, refrigerators, cupboards, shelves, and all the furniture involved take up a lot of room. 30m2 would probably do nicely.

Throw in another 15m2 for utility closets, storage space, laundry deposit, etc.

So for a ballpark figure you might have something like:
Dorms: 200m2
Manager’s room: 25m2
Bathrooms: 36m2
Common area: 60m2
Reception: 10m2
Kitchen: 30m2
Storage: 15m2
----------------
Total: 376m2 of usable space (not counting hallways and staircases)

Some folks here would say that’s exaggerated, and some would probably say it’s nowhere near enough space, but hopefully it will help to get you started.

If anyone else has any thoughts on the subject, feel free to chime in!

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John Moriarty

9 years

You might be able to get some figures from the tourist board in the country you are setting up in .

For us in Ireland if you want to be a registered hostel they give the following guidelines if these might help you. i think they are fairly low but they are minimum requirement.

Seating space in the common room shall be provided in relation to the
guest capacity of the premises as follows:
a. not less than 17 square metres of space for up to and including 20
persons, and
b. thereafter not less than 0.5 square metres for each additional
guest.

7.1 Each premises shall contain a minimum of one shower or bath for the first
ten persons and thereafter, one shower or bath for every additional ten
persons.
7.2 The premises shall contain two WCs for the first ten persons, thereafter
one WC for every additional ten persons. Toilet facilities and showers
should be designed so as to give complete privacy to the individual user.

Each bedroom/dormitory shall have:
a. a floor area of not less than 5 square metres in rooms
accommodating no more than one person, 3.5 square metres per
person in rooms accommodating no more than two people and 3
square metre

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