What is Hostel Hub?
Hostel Hub works with communities and hostel owners to create great hostels.
We can help you learn the skills and put in place the systems you need to manage a successful hostel business.
How can a hostel benefit our community?
Hostels bring income, jobs and a new segment of visitors who wouldn’t otherwise visit.
Hostel guests tend to:
- interact more with the community
- are often more interested in getting to know people and the area
- buy their food from local markets
- use public transport
Overall, hostel guests often put more money into the community than other types of guests.
To understand how we can help you, read how we turned around a failing hostel:
Turning around a failing rural hostel
Several years ago, we took over management of a small rural hostel in the village of Llanbedr, Wales. The hostel was marked for closure due to low profits and a poor relationship with the local community.
Vandalism was frequent and a previous hostel warden had been known to carry a shotgun around to scare off the local kids.
The hostel didn’t help the situation by purchasing all its food and goods through a centralised system that favoured outside suppliers, thereby contributing little to the local economy.
We set to work for 2 years. By the end of it, the hostel was operating at a significant profit and had the highest occupancy figures in England and Wales, second only to London hostels.
We generated very high catering profits, developing a menu that focused upon local high quality produce and distinctive recipes. We put business to other accommodation businesses, booking overspill hostel guests into B&Bs on a bed-only basis.
Hostel guests pumped funds into local shops, often returned year after year, and helped create a stronger community feel.
By staying open and running events year-round, a new vibrancy entered the area, particularly during the winter and the hostel went from being a source of conflict to a source of local pride.
Now we want to do the same in Scotland.
