Getting guests to use your hostel as a base is going to be a big part of your campaign to increase occupancy and profit. They may have only planned to stay one night but you are going to make it irresistible to stay more and in fact they should want to never leave. Have this as an objective: Try to get a person who has checked in for one night to come down 10 minutes later and ask if you have vacancies tomorrow night. Then you know you are on...

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The most common worry I hear from community groups is “We need to find another way to make money because charity funds are getting harder and harder to get.” I hear about these problems at training sessions, local meetings, down at the cafe over tea. It’s everywhere. I sympathise with wanting to get away from charity funding because I know what a pain it is to do a grant application, wait weeks or months, then spend what seems...

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“Oh shit – it is Easter and we are nowhere near ready.” The decorating isn’t anywhere near finished, the new staff don’t know anything and there isn’t time to train them (what operations manual?) Sound familiar? Read on! What was worse: we had no beds. We’d taken all the old, metal bunks down in readiness but the delivery of brand new wooden bunks had somehow gone to Northumberland instead of North Wales...

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Step 1: Focus on your staff Focus on people! Employ a good manager and reward with performance-related remuneration. Provide manager with the necessary resources, accommodation, employment package and authority to do the job. Let your staff shine! Paid or volunteers, they all need to be motivated, respected, trained and valued, given the resources they need to do a brilliant job and the opportunity to make their mark on the business. Step 2:...

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One of the distinct benefits of a hostel in your community, that is often overlooked, is the potential for skills development amongst the young and underemployed. Learning skills by making mistakes Working at a hostel from 18 years old, I learnt to cook, to repair, deal with problems, communicate and handle money. They were not big projects, the potential for disaster if I’d got something wrong was not so dramatic – and that I think was...

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A clean hostel with happy staff is essential. So getting this part of hostel management right is critical. Get organised Your cleaning materials need to be clean and sorted. These are the tools of your trade. And since the cleaners (likely you and your staff) will be exposed to more of the chemicals than anyone – go green and use eco-products. Go for good quality tools – they are going to work hard for you. Sort out your cleaning...

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