A brand new hostel just opened in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The Hostel Suites Florida has an outstanding location on the major tourist pedestrian street, right in the centre of the city. It offers an exceptional standard with 100 en suite rooms.
16 years
Impressive. A building like that on Calle Florida is probably the most expensive piece of real estate you can possibly get in South America. Obviously, their rates reflect that. I wonder how they´ll do - there´s not exactly a shortage of hostels in Buenos Aires.
16 years
Impressive. A building like that on Calle Florida is probably the most expensive piece of real estate you can possibly get in South America. Obviously, their rates reflect that. I wonder how they´ll do - there´s not exactly a shortage of hostels in Buenos Aires.
Flashpackers like ensuites... They don't mind high rates... they prefer downtown location... but: Is there any flashpacker in Buenos Aires yet??? :confused:
That hostel looks European standard to me, however, I'm a bit curious about if the European model will work in Argentina... so early step to that market, IMHO!
I hope there is a good marketing behind as well, not only the investor's money. Some people make their decisions by prestige... like calling an all-in without having a hand...
16 years
Flashpackers in South America? Forget it. I´ll admit I haven´t been there in 7 years but I have some very strong doubts so many things have changed recently.
Flashpackers are twenty-somethings with well-paid jobs and a lot of paid holidays. There are almost no such people in South America. The few there might be live in the capital cities - Buenos Aires, Santiago, Sao Paulo (= de facto capital). When they go on short trips, they either go to Miami or to the next beach.
If you ask me, that is a "flagship hostel", ordered to be built by some YHI apparachik, no questions about return of investment allowed - just like the one in London we talked about here recently.
16 years
Flashpackers in South America? Forget it.
Exactly! ;) how about within 20 years IF Ryanair and Easyjet conquers the whole world ??? That's why I thinks it's a bit early step for them! :rolleyes:
If you ask me, that is a "flagship hostel", ordered to be built by some YHI apparachik, no questions about return of investment allowed - just like the one in London we talked about here recently.
IMHO, they realized already how deep shit they are in, that's why the rush of building posh hostels... although I bet the recent management's total hostel experience is less than yours or mine alone... They might have catching up ideas, but can't apply them to the recent market conditions!
They know that Argentina is catching up, however they don't read this forum and don't know about "flashpacker" is a result of different travel conditions! :D
Will see how it's gonna work! A full-on backpacker hostel would rather suit the circumstances...
About the "flagship", I haven't been there yet but I'll check it out! ;) IMHO, they just want to catch up on the market but as they've been sleeping over the past 10 years, they just don't know how!
16 years
they've been sleeping over the past 10 years
Exactly that was my thought when I worked in a German YHI hostel in 1993. So - the time the German YHI has been sleeping easily adds up to 25 years now.
I don´t know much about their organizational structure in Argentina though. I have talked to the owners of the YHI hostel in Calafate, Argentina, which appears as part of the same chain on that "HostelSuites" website. I don´t know if ownership has changed since I was there in 1994, but back then it was also part of YHI and privately owned. It was certainly not "non-profit", they just paid royalties to YHI.
Anyway, I still doubt a hostel with prices like that makes much sense, not even in a prime location in Calle Florida. I wouldn´t dismiss the "flagship idea" per se. When we planned our Berlin hostel, I made sure there were a few "flagship elements": for example, the house has six appartments, 40 sqm each. They make no economical sense whatsoever, but they are something to show off with. For a big chain, a luxurious place in a key city might make some sense (like it appears to make sense for Ferrari to throw so much money at Formula 1) - but not if the location is so expensive that you can´t compete at all with the rates other hostels charge. We´re in the budget market, after all, not even remotely comparable to what Ferrari does.
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