What is the purpose of your hostel?

There are a million different reasons why people are so passionate about their hostels. Each person may have wildly different goals and find their project rewarding in completely different ways, which is great!

What is the purpose of your hostel? What are you trying to accomplish with it? What is your mission?

Is it:

• To provide an affordable and comfortable place to sleep?
• To create an intimate community of like-minded people?
• To become an important part of your local community?
• To promote a local culture to foreigners?
• To throw the best parties?
• To engage in a specific activity that interests you like yoga, cooking, rock climbing, surfing, painting, etc?
• To reduce your carbon footprint by running an ecologically friendly enterprise?
• To educate people through lessons, talks, workshops, etc?
• To provide a working space for traveling professionals?
• To change the public perception of hostels or of travelers?
• To attract a flow of money into your local economy?
• To highlight the history or uniqueness of your building/neighborhood/region?
• To create fun jobs?
• To generate a solid profit?
• To provide a way to maintain some real estate that you already own?
• To let you live the eternal backpacker lifestyle while also planting roots and enjoying some stability?
• To actually do something with that business/hospitality/language/geography/whatever degree?
• Something totally different?

I have seen plenty of places that have their own unique flavor that make them amazing, and I have seen TONS of people in this forum who say they have a plan to open something “different” with a new idea or focus that sets them apart.

What’s the deal with your hostel project (even if it’s still in the dreaming phase) that makes it such a special place, and what do you get out of it personally?