I currently live on a half acre of land in Austin, Texas. There is one small house on the property. The location is about 10 minutes or so from the center of the city, but Austin is very spread out and there is lots to do all over the place. The property is zoned residential, but I contacted the city and as long as a follow a few guidlines under B&B code, then I could open a hostel. I am just concerned that the location isnt optimum for a hostel. There is a bus stop extremely close by though. I have worked in strawbale, cob, and other natural building. The property is large enough to create something really special. Of course Location is my one concern. The address is 4427 Gillis st. Austin, TX 78745. If you google it, you can see the distance from downtown Austin. I really appreciate any feedback. Cheers!
15 years
My "Eggs Princess" is from Austin and so I showed her your posting this morning. She says you are in a very residential area and certainly not as well located as your only competition, the HI hostel.
However, we consider the answer to your location would be for you to have a minibus offering a cheap pick-up service and a weekly programme of tours.
15 years
Thanks for the response. Austin is a huge music town. There is live music everynight of the year in more than twenty bars, cafes, restaraunts around town. Im a bit stumped on on weekly tours. We have a hill country area outside of town with vinyards. Wine tours would be possible. There are also some rivers that can be canoed and tubed. There are a few parks for hiking and biking. The most famous is the greenbelt which is in the city. A natural spring fed pool in the city called barton springs. I def. think I could put together some activities. Most of these activities though arent worthy of a guide, as austin isnt in a real extreme enviroment geographically. The live music though is why I really would like to open a hostel, there are alot of new bands that people travel far to see.
15 years
HI, our hostel is above our city's best live music venue, and its definitely a draw card and loads of fun for our guests. I find that if you can provide free live music, guests love it and its a great way for them to meet locals. We are also close to one of the best wine regions in Australia and have a company that does cheap wine and cheese tours for backpackers which always go down well. if you can affiliate with a good company like this, it saves so much time and hassle trying to organise what everyone is doing and you even get a comission on sales. If you can really market these points of interest and help guests get from A to B,they wont mind being a little further away.
15 years
With very little competition in Austin your location shouldn't be a huge obstacle, particularly if you can develop a well-designed purpose-built hostel that people will talk about.
Having frequent public transport would be an advantage and many people travel around the US by car and being in a residential area could be an advantage because of easier parking, as long as bus services downtown are frequent and run at night.
Many of the best hostels I have visited have been in remote locations (like Hopewell in New Zealand, which is almost a 2 hour drive from the nearest town), but are full because they are so good that people talk about them.
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