Introduce yourself

[Hostels]

Hi,

I worked in hostels for many years and realized that there weren't many resources for people who run hostels or who want to open a hostel.

I hope that you enjoy the site and find it useful. If you have any suggestions on how to make the site better, please let me know. My goal is to create a resource that will promote hostels and hostelling, especially in places where hostelling is not as common (e.g., here in the USA).

Post in this section to introduce yourself to the other forum users.

[thlodge]

Hi, I am Rich, owner / manager of the Trojan Horse Lodge in Ludlow, Vermont, USA. I have been at this as a part time thing since 1983. We built the hostel in the barn of a farm house in the village. We built in 18 bunk beds with twin size innerspring mattresses. we have a small but addaquet(?) common are and a self service kitchen. We are located in a major ski resort area. The other months we are not busy at all.
If anyone has any thoughts or questions about running a hostel, I would be glad to offer my experiences and opinions. Later .. Rich

[Wolfie]

Hi this is my first post.... looking to start my own hostel near London, hoping this site will help me in the right direction.

Never mind itchy feet, what about sore feet??!!!

[Andy08]

Hi guys!!

I am really happy that you have put this site together.


My name is Andrew, I'm an Aussie and I would like to open a hostel in Prague Czech Republic. So far other than saving money I don’t really know where to start. I have started to write a business plan and get all my ideas on paper but eventually it comes down to things like costs,pricing and a lot of industry or local knowledge. I don’t plan to open the hostel til 2008-2009 but I’m sure there are things I should be thinking about or doing now.

Any help would be really appreciated.

Thankful for any advice you have to offer.

Cheers Andy.

[rborak1]

My name is Ray, I am 20 years old and a full time student at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, New Mexico USA. I enjoy meeting people from all over the world and experiencing other cultures. Currently I am wondering if anyone could possibly tell me where I can find a summer job at a hostel outside of the United States. I stay strictly in hostels during my travels and have noticed many members of the staff are typically from a country other than the one where the hostel is located. Any input would be greatly appreciated, thank you very much.

[Hostels]

...I am wondering if anyone could possibly tell me where I can find a summer job at a hostel outside of the United States. I stay strictly in hostels during my travels and have noticed many members of the staff are typically from a country other than the one where the hostel is located. Any input would be greatly appreciate...

Hi Ray,

Welcome to the site.

Many of the people who work in hostels are travelers who show up and ask for a job. Others email hostels and ask for a job. It's harder to get the job via email, but it's possible.

The best thing to do is get your first job at a hostel and do a good job. Ask the manager/owner for a letter of recommendation. Use that recommendation when emailing other hostels with your work inquiry. Try to get a letter of recommendation from every hostel you work at. It helps a lot.

Did you see the forum section about hostel jobs? Feel free to post there also. See also hosteljobs.net.

[Andy08]

Hey Wolfie just curious how your plans are going for your hostel?

As I said in my post Im looking to open a hostel as well and could do with some advice/inspiration from someone going through the same thing..

[cialouhayes]

Hello everyone! I'm cialou. I am based here in the Philippines and works as a tour coordinator in a travel agency.

[Ria]

I found this site by accident while searching "hostels" on Facebook.com. The company we use for our reservations system is pairing with Facebook to put profiles up of hostels and they asked us to join. So i've been cruising around the site.

Anyway, i was really interested to find this site as I agree with the Administrator, i don't think there is a lot out there for us.

I'm Ria and I manage the USAHostels chain in San Francisco, Hollywood and San Diego. We also have a franchise location in Las Vegas. I have worked for this hostel company for almost 4 years now, starting as the Hollywood manager. I left the corporate world behind to start over in the 'hostel world' (no pun intended).

I'll be interested to see how things develop on this site.

[Hostels]

Hi Ria,

Welcome to the site. I've been to USA Hostels in San Diego a couple of times...

If you have any suggestions for how to make this site more useful to hostels please let me know. We are going to launch some new things in July.