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night shifts

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righi started this discussion 15 years 8 months ago

Hi this is my first post (second considering the introducind one), i've done a deep search but i haven't found anything about how to organize night shifts.

I'll be soon managing a small/medium hostel (~60 beds) with the rooms on one floor and the common areas (reception, living room, internet corner, kitchen...) on another floor, with separate access.
I was thinking of closing the common floor during the night (in lisbon you'd better go out and have fun don't you?:)) but having someone, maybe sleeping there, ready to intervene for emergency. Basically a on-call on-site job.
Do you have experience about that? Do you think is reasonable?
Is it better to have one person doing that job or to rotate the staff from dayshifts (given that they agree)?
How about the pay? Higher than a dayshift because is nighttime or less because, if nothing happens, you can quietly sleep?

good amount of question for a first post! :D

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nyrie

15 years

hi. at our hostel we have 2 live in managers (they have their own flat). they work in our bar, but are also the after hours contact for the hostel. they have a mobile phone that they rotate. this is the number that people call for after hours check in/early check out/ emergancy. they get a full time wage from the bar and free rent on the proviso that they do the after hours backpackers stuff. i find that sharing the workload is easier on everyone, and having some one looking after the hostel all the times is a big plus on security and safety. hope this helps. good luck with your hostel!:)

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Bocciardi

15 years

Hello righi

You can chek here something posted and attached by aboriginalhostel...

You have a staff plan during one week...

Cheers
Bocci

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Bocciardi

15 years

... or you have it here...

Cheers
Bocci

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lasagna

15 years

you should have someone there anyway, shouldnt u? what about people that go out at night? how do they get back in?

here I hired an old man to do the job. its common in brazil. but every tuesday is his break, meaning that I have to sleep in the couch at the reception.

So now Imwilling to hire 2 foreigners to work every other day at night. they get to go out aswell every other day :)

for those who dont have a night shift, how do your guests get back inside?

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santa klaus

15 years

The hostel I stayed at in Dublin in January (along with some other regulars of this forum... :)) closed reception at midnight. We got a key for the front door.

If you hire travellers for the job, make damn sure they are responsible guys. You don´t want drunk sex offenders doing the nightshift. I´m totally serious. I remember when a bloke who spent the previous summer working as a live-in in a famous greek party hostel applied for a job here - when I asked him how much they paid he said "almost nothing, but I got paid in pussy". Avoid such guys like the pest.

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lasagna

15 years

Im assuming Dublin is a quite safe city compared to Sao Paulo. I dont know if I would give the gate key to my guests, specially because they are many.

a friend of mine has a hostel at the beach, and he has some separated houses where he has codes at the door, like in Paris. But same thing here, I dont know if I would trust that.

And im glad im a good caracther judge :) I wouldnt hire such person!

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santa klaus

15 years

Im assuming Dublin is a quite safe city compared to Sao Paulo. I dont know if I would give the gate key to my guests, specially because they are many.

I´m not so sure. When I was there two years before I saw some rowdies smashing windscreens with a baseball bat. I quickly dropped my cigarette and retreated back into the pub.

I guess the difference is that your nightguy is a lot cheaper than anyone you could get in Dublin - so there´s not much choice for a small hostel there.

And im glad im a good caracther judge :) I wouldnt hire such person!

Maybe you´re a much better character judge than me, but I´m no complete newbie in the hiring business either. I must admit that I quite liked the dude until he totally blew it with this stupid remark.

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righi

15 years

thanks for the suggestions guys. For the first 1-2 months i'll stay at the hostel so i don't need to hire anyone.
Actually i don't like the idea of hiring temporarily guests, i'm quite good judging people too but there's always a margin for mistakes and the more people you hire the more likely it is to get some dodgy arsehole spending nights in your common rooms with computers and other valuable tools.
The idea of having two parttimers sounds good, kind of 4on-4off rota so they don't freak out (i've been doing night shift for one year and it really blew my mind away).
The question is, how much do you think i should pay these guys? more or less than a day receptionist? Consider that i can't opt for the solution suggested by nyrie not having a flat, otherwise it would have been perfect.

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PatrickO`D

15 years

Hi righi, Exchanging the night shift with other staff is a good idea because crosstraining is a valuable tool to obtaining a well trained staff. The graveyard shift should also be trained in emergency procedures in the event of the unlikely. Generally speaking the GM is the best trained of all the staff, so liveing onsite to aide in emergency situations would be a good idea. Find out the market rate for the graveyard shift at the local small-medium size hotels to get an idea to pay your overnight FD shifts. You can also consider to poach the employees from the local hotels as they will bring along the local knowledge and skills you need to run the hostel.

good luck

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righi

15 years

thank you all guys.
i really believe in the value of crosstraining so i'll start with that, then i'll find two guys making more or less exclusively the "graveyard shift" (love this definition!).

if any of you is coming to lisbon please visit me!

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