Accor and Base Backpackers

[Hostels]

I found an old press release about Accor Hotels and Base Backpackers:
http://www.allbusiness.com/travel-ho...0136147-1.html

I'm posting this because there was some talk about Accor and hostels in another forum thread.

The article is from 2002, but it says, "If these hostels prove successful, Accor plans to expand the concept overseas."

[santa klaus]

Ah, cheers. Please dig up more old press releases.

It appears Accor doesn´t want to jump to conclussions? 6 years not enough time to assess if a concept is good or crap?

[Hostels]

Base has something like 4,100 beds (11 hostels). I wonder if that is the largest number for any hostel chain. (?)

They launched a new Web site in April.

Just saw that Arthur Frommer blogged about Base and Smart City here, though it doesn't say anything about further expansion.

[santa klaus]

Well, with Accor´s sort of wallet you can stump up any amount of beds. That doesn´t answer the question if it´s successful in terms of ROI, popularity among travellers or quality of the service.

[Hostels]

Updates:
More on Smart City Hostels from 2005:

The Smart City Hostel at Blackfriars Street is the first of a chain of state of the art hostels to be located in the major tourist cities in the UK.

And more on hostels from Arthur Frommer...

[gordo]

the smart in edinburgh is... well, i didnt care for it. i was going to work there behind the desk but the place felt like a hospital. admittedly it was brand new and hadnt really developed much character but it didnt strike as the sort of place that would ever become interesting. their bar is... odd. no bar service, only table (licensing issues) and its very, well, sterile.

spoke to the GM for a little while and they would start expanding once they got their official 5 stars from the tourism board.

what ever happened to cool, interesting, exciting hostels built BY backpackers for backpackers? damn big business...

[santa klaus]

Giving a large hostel a "cozy feel" is the hardest thing. When you try too hard to make everything perfect... you make it too perfect I guess.

The crazy licensing rules in the UK make it even harder. The Palmers Lodge in London could be much more fun: they have a huge basement, ideal for a bar and even a garden. They can´t use the garden at all and they have to close the bar at 11.

Another thing is: the most important thing for "atmosphere" is what sort of guests you have. If you open a huge hostel in a place like Edinburgh (which has no shortage of fun hostels) you might want to take many group bookings in the beginning, just so you know your rooms are filled - but too many groups kill all the fun.

[Scotch Argus]

Originally Posted by santa klaus

Another thing is: the most important thing for "atmosphere" is what sort of guests you have. If you open a huge hostel in a place like Edinburgh (which has no shortage of fun hostels) you might want to take many group bookings in the beginning, just so you know your rooms are filled - but too many groups kill all the fun.

I think any of these mega hostels are really a different thing to what people might expect of a backpackers hostel. How would it be possible to have 600+ beds and not have a institutiional, sterile feel? If you managed to have a real party atmosphere with that many people it'd be complete chaos.

I feel any of these huge hostels offering hundreds of beds have moved beyond the traditional young backpacker market, and are now firmly placed in the budget hotel market. This is no bad thing, it's just a different market to what people might be expecting from a hostel. More along the lines of say a Travelodge hotel here in the UK.

The thing is though, I think to some degree this is what the market wants. People don't want to turn up in a city any more with no booking and take their chances. They want their accommodation pre-booked after going to numerous review websites to get a place with maximum security/ cleanliness/ facilities.

This is not a problem, but you might end up in a big sterile institution, as they often look better on paper. But whether you'll have a memorable fun time might be another matter.

[santa klaus]

Originally Posted by Scotch Argus

I think any of these mega hostels are really a different thing to what people might expect of a backpackers hostel. How would it be possible to have 600+ beds and not have a institutiional, sterile feel? If you managed to have a real party atmosphere with that many people it'd be complete chaos.

I feel any of these huge hostels offering hundreds of beds have moved beyond the traditional young backpacker market, and are now firmly placed in the budget hotel market. This is no bad thing, it's just a different market to what people might be expecting from a hostel. More along the lines of say a Travelodge hotel here in the UK.

Well, we have a 300 beds hostel in Munich and one with 348 beds in Berlin. There are people who say that´s not what they expected and gives them the impression of a "machine", but these are surprisingly few people.

It all depends if the people find ways to enjoy their time in such a place. Personally, I prefer small hostels with a mellow kitchen scene because I am slightly claustrophobic and hate packed places with loud music. Anyway, If you visit Wombats Munich (which has our most wicked hostel bar), you´ll see that it doesn´t feel "institutional" or sterile.

Objection to your remark about the "budget hotel market". Of course people have different definitions of a hostel, but I insist we are still far from "budget hotel" even with our 300+ beds.

Originally Posted by Scotch Argus

The thing is though, I think to some degree this is what the market wants. People don't want to turn up in a city any more with no booking and take their chances. They want their accommodation pre-booked after going to numerous review websites to get a place with maximum security/ cleanliness/ facilities.

This is not a problem, but you might end up in a big sterile institution, as they often look better on paper. But whether you'll have a memorable fun time might be another matter.

You are right that the market has changed in the way that people don´t show up anywhere any more without a booking - because it´s so easy nowadays to make a booking. I guess they always wanted that but in the pre-internet era this was just too much work. Sites like hostelworld have made that very easy.

By the way, it´s not that people plan their whole trips ahead. We always get most bookings for the next couple of days, which means that people on long trips plan ahead for about one week - when they arrive in Vienna they make up their mind how long they want to stay here and then start looking for a place to stay in Prague, where they go next.

I doubt that the market really wants big hostels. It´s just that in some places, like in Munich, where both real estate and staff is very expensive, large hostels are the only ones which make economical sense. Munich´s smallest hostel has 200 beds.

The internet has really made life easy for small hostels. 10 years ago, you had to wait years until your place appeared in the Lonely Planet. Without good guidebook reviews, it was very hard to attract guests and you could go belly up before the real good times begin for you. Nowadays, all you have to do is open shop and sign up with Hostelworld. If you deliver good service (which is IMHO easier for smaller hostels) you instantly get good online reviews and become a popular place in no time.

[Scotch Argus]

Sorry, I didn't mean to imply that your hostel is sterile, or that it's a budget hotel. I'm sure with attention to detail that things can be made personalised in a larger hostel. I imagine that it must be harder to do than in a smaller hostel. Especially giving the customers one to one service at the front desk. I think this is one of the things people appreciate most - a helpful friendly face at the desk.

It is one of the complaints I hear most from people travelling - that larger hostels can be soulless (how you make "soul" though is a dificult question). It is diffulcult to create an atomosphere howver when you have a wide range of guest types as they often want different things. For instance you might have young backpackers who want a "party" style atmosphere and a cheap bunk in a dorm, "second wavers" (e.g. over 30's couples) who want a bit more luxury and a private room, families, who obviously would want a reasonably peaceful atmosphere, and even the grey nomad backpacker (retirees) who would not get into the party scene.

Obviously if a hostel only caters for one of these demographics, it's a lot easier, but in my experience there are a lot of differing people using hostels, which does make it difficult for a hostel to get it right (both small and large hostels).