CONTENTS

1. The History of Youth Travel Accommodation

a. Facts and Figures

2. Accommodation

a. Property Management Systems

b. Accommodation Best Practices

3. Staff

a. Interns

4. Marketing and Websites

a. Some tips on how to increase bookings

b. Some tips on social media

5. General Hostel Best Practices

a. Regulations

b. Service

c. Policies

6. Work with your competitors

7. Sources of information

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YOUTH TRAVEL ACCOMMODATIONSTART UP GUIDE

THE HISTORY OF HOSTELLING

The founder of the youth hostel movement was a German teacher, Richard Schirrmann. He was a believer in learning by direct observation and often took his classes on excursions and hiking trips. The hiking trips could last several days, and Schirrmann and his pupils would find accommodation in farm buildings.

On one of these excursions, on 26 August 1909, the group was caught in a thunderstorm. They finally found shelter in a school building in the Bröl Valley. The headmaster let them use a classroom and a farmer gave them some straw to sleep on and some milk for their evening meal. The storm raged the whole night. While the boys slept, Schirrmann lay awake. That was when he had an idea…

“The schools in Germany could very well be used to provide accommodation during the holidays. Villages could have a friendly youth hostel, situated a day’s walk from each other, to welcome young hikers.”

That stormy night was when the worldwide youth hostel movement was founded. In 1910 Schirrmann wrote an essay setting out his ideas for “Volksschülerherbergen” (hostels for pupils of ordinary state schools).

“Two classrooms will suffice, one for boys and one for girls. Some desks can be stacked away thus freeing space to put down 15 beds. Each bed will consist of a tightly stuffed straw sack and pillow, two sheets and a blanket… Each child will be required to keep his own sleeping place clean and tidy.”

In 1912 the first real youth hostel opened in the old castle of Altena. The castle was restored and equipped according to Schirrmann’s design, with two dormitories with massive triple-tier wooden bunks beds, a kitchen, washrooms and a shower bath.

The youth hostel movement grew rapidly. By 1913, already 83 youth hostels and 21 000 overnights were recorded. By 1921 the number of overnights stays had already reached 500 000. By the summer of 1931 there were 12 youth hostel associations in existence in Europe, operating a total of 2 600 hostels, but there was very little contact between the associations. This all changed on 20 October 1932 when the first international conference was held at a hotel in Amsterdam. It was attended by representatives from 11 hostel associations: Belgium, Czechoslovakia, Denmark, England and Wales, France, Germany, Ireland, Netherlands, Norway, Poland and Switzerland. The conference marks the birth of International Youth Hostel Federation – the organisation today better known as Hostelling International.

Time line

1909 The hostelling movement was founded in Germany by the school teacher Richard Schirrmann. He came up with the idea of a network of youth hostels when he and his students were caught in a thunderstorm during an excursion and were offered accommodation in a school.

1912 The first real youth hostel opened in Burg Altena, Germany.

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YOUTH TRAVEL ACCOMMODATIONSTART UP GUIDE

1931 The hostelling movement grew rapidly. By the summer of 1931 there were 12 youth hostel associations in existence in Europe, operating a total of 2,600 hostels.

1932 The first IYHF International Conference was held in Amsterdam, Netherlands and at that meeting the International Youth Hostel Federation was founded.

1946 The first hostel associations were established in North Africa: Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia.

1952 The International Conference adopted a series of minimum standards to be assured by all hostels.

1967 Large, purpose-built city hostels were becoming more and more common. For example, between 1965 and 1970, new hostels opened in Zurich, Salzburg, Rome, Paris and Edinburgh.

2010 Hostelling International is a global network covering:• 71 Member Associations• 9 Associate Organisations• About 4,000 Youth Hostels• About 38 million overnights yearly• About 350,000 beds• Active in 90 countries globally• Over 3.7 million national members• About 13 million annual unique visitor sessions on hihostels.com• About GBP 500 million estimated annual revenue within the HI network

ACCOMMODATION

So, you are setting up a hostel, how big is it going to be? How many beds and rooms? How many bathrooms and toilets do you need?

All these types of questions will need to be both asked and answered. The most obvious factor to the number of beds you can have will depend upon the space you have available. The space will probably depend upon how much you can afford to buy. Once you have your hostel property lined up you will need to check with your local authority to see what regulations you will need to comply with. As an example, in the U.K you will probably need the following:

• Local planning permission• Listed building consent if you are proposing to occupy a special property• Local authority registration of a hostel• Fire authority regulation compliance• Landlords permission if it is a rented or leased property.

Once you have all your permissions in place you will then have to provide facilities in accordance with the regulations. For example, for every 12 beds you may have to provide one shower and two toilets.

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The safety of your proposed customers is of paramount importance and understanding and implementing the fire regulations is vital. You will need to have fire doors and protected routes of escape form the building should the worst happen. You will need clear signage, emergency lighting which will come on if there is a power failure, fire extinguishers and an alarm system.

Once you have got all of this sorted it would be a good idea to consider the facilities you want to offer your clients. This will very much depend upon your location and market place. A city centre hostel will probably have limited facilities and may only offer a reception desk and a small kitchen for breakfast. A more rural hostel could decide to capture the travellers dollars or pounds by providing a dinner option or other sales opportunities that service the travellers needs.

It is also worth considering at this point some of your infrastructure systems. Are you going to be a green hostel or are you going to use energy saving systems such as low energy bulbs or heat pumps and solar panels for heating. Maybe wind or water power or just that you will recycle as much as you can!

So now you are open, how are you going to fill your rooms? The internet is a very good and inexpensive way to get your customer base started. There are many propriety hostel reservations systems available that will take bookings for you and deliver a guaranteed traveller to your door on the booked day. All the booking sites take a small commission from your client, you then take the rest.

Again, there are often local regulations that need to be checked. In some countries the Police like to check the passports on a regular basis, other countries just need a signature on a card.

Finally payment is essential, after all that hard work you need to make a profit! Credit cards are often not taken in hostels but they generally make life simpler and safer for both the hostel owner and the traveller. Credit cards can be used to confirm a reservation with you and you can then charge the card if they do not turn up. If a card is presented to you as payment, provided that the card is authorised your money is guaranteed and will turn up in your bank account a few days later. No one has to store the cash in a safe, count it out and write up banking sheets and take the money down the high street to find a branch of your bank, assuming that the branch has not been closed down and converted into a restaurant!

a. Property Management Systems

Here are a few STAY WYSE suggestions for property management systems for new hostels

➡ ASSD: ASSD covers both front and back office operations of hoteling businesses. It was specifically designed for the different requirements of hostels as compared to hotels in mind.For more information:

➡ Backpack Online (Free): Backpack Online is the Property Management System from Hostelworld that allows you to manage your entire property, including your Hostelworld bookings.For more information go to www.backpackonline.com

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➡ Charts: Charts Property Management System (PMS) is a comprehensive and fully customisable property management solution for hotels and hostels of all sizes. For more information:

➡ Guestcentrix: Guestcentrix PMS is used  by multi-property chain organizations, busy corporate hotels, resort properties and serviced apartment. For more information:

b. Accommodation Best Practices

i. Fire Safety and Emergencies✓ Appropriate fire fighting equipment must be provided.✓ Fire extinguishers must be in date and serviced regularly.✓ Working smoke detectors must be present in every bedroom and communal area.✓ Working centralized fire alarm system should be in place.✓ Emergency escape routes should be clearly marked and free from obstruction at all

times.✓ Multi-language safety notices should be available to guests.✓ Multilingual evacuation plans must be displayed in every communal area.✓ Smoking forbidden in all rooms.✓ Non-flammable material must be used in construction and decoration of all room

types.✓ Buildings of more than two floors and/or with 100+ beds should have at least two

staircases.✓ Emergency lights must be installed at every exit and every corridor.✓ Staff must be trained in, and capable of, handling emergency situations.✓ Emergency contact must be available at all times.

ii. Facilities

ii.i. Bedrooms

✓ Set times dedicated for cleaning rooms – usually between 10:00 and 14:00.✓ Secure lockers should be provided in rooms.✓ Bedroom doors should be lockable.✓ Upper bunk beds should have safety rails.✓ Beds should be equipped with a mattress protector, duvet, pillows and sheets.✓ Individual lighting should be provided for each bed. ✓ Dorm must also allow a space of at least 5 cubic meters per person. Floor space per

bed should be at least 4 square meters and adequate space must be allowed between top bunk and ceiling.

ii.ii.Bathrooms

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✓ 1 toilet per 12 persons (at least one for each sex)✓ 1 hand basin per 6 persons✓ 1 shower or bath per 15 persons✓ Hand drying facilities and soap must be provided in general washrooms.✓ All facilities must be in good working order.✓ Regulations for the correct usage of facilities must be clearly displayed to guests.✓ Products such as soap, toilet paper etc. must be readily available at all times. ✓ Suitable bacterial control materials must be used regularly in the bathroom and shower

areas as well as in drains, pipes etc.

ii.iii.Kitchen

✓ If a kitchen facility is provided, it must be equipped with adequate stove, refrigerator, pots, pans etc or some simple facilities for cooking meals as well as hygienic food storage.

✓ Kitchen should be provided with adequate facilities for washing dishes, work surfaces and utensils.

✓ Electric cooking surfaces if possible to minimize risk of fire✓ Kitchen must be left clean at all times for other guests. Regulations relevant to this

should be clearly displayed and cleaning products must be readily available.

STAFF

a. Working with interns

Working with hospitality students on work placements, work experiences or formal internships. Great to work with young people in all aspects of the accommodation from marketing to operations. They breed life into the business and can give amazing ideas in regards pushing the business forwards. Being in the youth market , these students are probably part of the target market, and they can give a real insight into where the market is going and what people from their country/region are doing in regards accommodation and travel.

MARKETING AND WEBSITES

So now you are open, how are you going to fill your rooms? The internet is a very good and inexpensive way to get your customer base started. There are many propriety hostel reservations systems available that will take bookings for you and deliver a guaranteed traveller to your door on the booked day. All the booking sites take a small commission from your client, you then take the rest. Your first point of call should be www.hostelbookers.com and www.hostelworld.com.

a. Some tips on how to increase your bookings:• Make sure you offer confirmed bookings to any customer that visits your website• Customers want instant bookings• If your hostel does not have its own website make sure you get one. Having your own website

means that, as well as your property appearing on sites like Hostelworld.com and

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Hostelbookers.com, your website will appear in Google Search and Google Local results, significantly increasing your online exposure.

• Translations . Stats show that a hostel with translated website is 4 times more likely to turn a view into a booking.

• Yield Manage your rates to avail of last minute bookings

b. Some tips on social media• If you have a social media savvy staff member make it part of their to do checklist• Like it or loathe it you need to be using it• The 2 main social networking sites hostels should set up pages on are facebook and twitter• Try to add your hostel name to the url, i.e. http://twitter.comxxxhostel• If you have time make sure you set up pages on YouTube, Flickr, MySpace• Keep a blog using either: Blogger and Wordpress

5. GENERAL HOSTEL BEST PRACTICES

Youth Travel Accommodation Providers (YTAP) operate under standards set by public authorities that vary widely around the world. This guide to best practice sets out standards for providing services that should be met or exceeded by Youth Travel Accommodation Providers.

REGULATIONS• YTAP must meet all legal and code of practice requirements imposed by local public

authorities. • YTAP must be non discriminatory and welcome all travelers.• Hours of opening, reception, check-out and access must be clearly indicated.• Late night/early access should be available where possible.• Length of stay may be regulated by local law but in principle should only be limited by

availability of beds.• Fully prepaid guests must be provided with a bed. • Reservations which are taken without payment should be held until 6pm unless an alternative

time has been agreed with the guest.• Hostels must maintain compliance with local and national official health and safety/hygiene

regulations.

SERVICE• Disabled access and facilities should be provided.• Secure luggage storage facilities should be provided.• Secure facilities should be provided for valuables and personal possessions.• Hostel cleanliness to include all surfaces, furniture, bedding and equipment.

POLICIES• A register of all guests should be maintained.• All staff should be properly trained to deal with all consequences that could arise on their shift.• YTAP should be able to demonstrate that they participate in a consumer quality management

programme.• All YTAP should provide adequate communal space to cater for the number of guests they

can accommodate; this space should be warm and welcoming.

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• YTAP should endeavor to manage their business in an environmentally friendly manner.

Work with your competitors

They maybe your competition but you are ultimately working for the same goal... getting young people to stay in accommodation in your area, so why not help create an association or meeting every so often , bounce ideas and even refer business when you are full. Better the group stay in that city rather than choosing somewhere else!

A great further source of information regarding setting up your own hostel can be found on hostelmanagement.com

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