It's time to improve your hostel business.
in the internet (10 ideas) +
your booking practices (7 ideas) +
between cities (2 ideas)
in the hostel – interior (25 ideas) +
in the hostel – food and kitchen (13 ideas) +
in the hostel – something interesting and fun, common area (21 ideas) +
in the hostel – something extra (4 ideas) +
from the hostel to the city (14 ideas) +
general ideas (3 ideas) = (99 ideas)
And here go the ideas :)
99 ideas...
In the internet
1.Use Facebook – inform about what party you are going to from your hostel this night, what food you prepare for the night, what games you plan for the evening.
2.Take pictures when your receptionists are with your customers in clubs and put them on Facebook.
3.Have contests – e.g. for best picture in your t-shirt with logo from all over the world. Have more contests. Have fun contests. Make the contests not only to your former guests, but also to people who were not in your hostel before. Put the information about contests in the internet. E.g.
3.1.Who will collect the most 'likes' to the picture in your hostel's t-shirt.
3.2.Whose picture will be sent to the biggest group of people.
3.3.Who has driven the most miles/kilometers in last month.
3.4.Who has flown the most miles/kilometers in last month.
3.5.Who has visited the largest amount of cities.
3.6.Who has visited the highest place in last month.
3.7.Who has visited the deepest place in last month.
3.8.Who has visited the farthest from hostel place last month.
3.9.Who has visited the weirdest place last month. Let people decide with 'likes'.
3.10.Who has visited the most beautiful place., etc.
3.11.Who prepared the best movie about traveling in last month.
3.12.Who made the best picture of (nature, people, etc.) in last month.
3.13.Who made the best sport picture/movie in last month.
3.14.Who created the best poem about your hostel, traveling, etc.
3.15.Who created the best comic-book about your hostel, traveling, etc.
4.Ask your receptionists to share knowledge or just to add some comments on different sites in the internet, sightseeing sites, artistic sites (it depends what is there to see in your city).
5.Remember that the one thing that might be even more important than a price is the overall score of your hostel (how do people write about your hostel).
6.On your site put pictures from all over the world with people in your t-shirts, with your mugs or something else that you want to be famous for.
7.Remember that people before renting a room/bed in your hostel check what other people say and how many other people say it. So encourage people to write about your hostel (but be prepared that some reviews might not be good and think what you will do about them). E.g. if you find a bad review, you may write about it on your page (Facebook) and write what you did to make it better.
8.Try to create some kind of society around your hostel, so people who come to you know that it is not only a bed to sleep in, but also something bigger they are buying.
9.Put a map on your site with pin in places from which your hostels guests came, where they plan to go or where they are from. You may create one map that collects all information and other one which is current, so anyone who comes to your sites knows who is now in your hostel.
10.Put coupons with discounts for shops or other places on your hostel site.
Booking
11.Create some kind of loyalty program.
12.Remember that you can get new customers thanks to smaller prices or bigger prices (it depends who is looking for a stay). So you may play with the prices and see what happens if you make them smaller or bigger. Check who will come, what attractions they will be looking for, what extra money they will leave in your hostel thanks to the trips you organize, etc.
13.If people come to your hostel and you know that you have better rooms free for the time they will spend in your hostel (day or two) offer them those rooms.
14.Let people booking the cheaper rooms even if they are full, but you still have space in more expensive ones. Of course, don't do it all the time, just when it's not likely that someone will rent the room. This is something different than lowering prices for those rooms, because if people are checking for rooms they don't get the idea that they should wait to almost the time they are arriving to the city.
15.Let people pay for 1EUR/USD for first night if they stay for more than 2 nights. It might look better on the sites which compare hostels.
16.Let every 100-th/1000-th client stay one night for free.
17.Give people free tours if they stay for more than a week. It doesn't have to be expensive tour of course.
Between cities
18.Find out where people are going from your hostel to other cities and from which cities do they come from. Ask tourists about hostels from other cities, which they found interesting.
19.Get in contact with other hostels in different cities, promote each other. Create hostel cooperation – web of hostels from different cities with discounts that could be collected in different hostels.
In the hostel – interior
20.Think about something that will make your hostel look special, different than the others in good way.
21.Put a bell on the reception.
22.Have furniture in one style.
23.Have bright colors on the walls.
24.Put pictures of the biggest mountains, deepest lakes, etc. on your hostels walls.
25.Put some clocks from different cities (e.g. London, New York, Tokyo, etc.)
26.Have postcards from all over the world on the walls.
27.Put everyday some sentence in your hostel (behind the reception or in the common room).
28.Even lamps or cutlery can be stylish or not. Remember about it.
29.And even ceiling and floor-board are places you can use to make your hostel look better.
30. You may get something that's high-tech (a robot maybe) to your common room.
31.Remember to have hostel rules written somewhere on the wall.
32.Remember about good Wi-Fi.
33.Have a backup Wi-Fi in case of the main one falls down.
34.Have a clean kitchen and bathrooms, it's important.
35.Have soap in bathrooms in special containers and maybe also in the shower.
36.Remember then plastic doors in shower are better than curtains.
37.Buy a washing machine and drier to your hostel.
38.Don't make people pay for washing their clothes. It gives bad impression. Instead of that, you may sell cleaning powder (bur for reasonable price of course).
39.Put big mirrors in the bathroom, it makes bathroom looks bigger and helps people to see how they look on their trip.
40.Have towels for tourists, also soap, toothbrushes, paste (it may be an automatic machine with those).
41.Have lockers for everyone, they may be on the corridor, but they have to be somewhere.
42.Prepare as many sockets in room as many beds there are or put extension cords in the room.
43.Put a small light next to each bed, so people could light it when they come late at night without starting the main light. Maybe put red light for night time into the rooms.
44.Let people who leave your hostel stay in common room on last day if they want.
In the hostel – food and kitchen
45.Remember that free coffee and tea is almost obligatory nowadays.
46.If you have tea/coffee, remember to have good/stylish container for it. It may be more important than the quality of tea/coffee you have in it.
47.Add breakfast (or at least possibility to buy one for some extra money), people like it.
48.If you have breakfasts for tourists give them regional fruits (every day different).
49.Microwave is obligatory, but if you have more money also invest in good stove.
50.Put labels on drawers and cupboards with the names of what's inside (make the labels in English and your local language).
51.Put some recipes for national food on the kitchen's wall.
52.Have evenings with local food, let people pay some extra small amount of money to dine together. Let it be that young people (receptionists) prepare food for other young people. Let your receptionists make some extra money out of it.
53.Put something extra to eat in the common room (pretzels).
54.Have deserts (homemade ice-cream, or local deserts).
55.Put some flowers to kitchen or to common room.
56.You may try to grow some sprouts to eat in your hostel for your customers.
57.Live a candy on every occupied bed every time you clean the rooms or at least on first and last day.
In the hostel – something interesting and fun, common area
58.Start having happy hours in your hostel (whatever it means for you).
59.You may hire one or two receptionists from other countries/cities. Tourists may find it interesting.
60.Ask your receptionists to talk to tourists, go to a common room for some time and maybe ask where people are from; tell them how to get to some places, etc.
61.If your hostel is small enough ask receptionists to show tourists everything there is in the hostel and talk to them during that walk.
62.Find some free postcards and put them close to reception or maybe give every tourist one of them.
63.Place in your hostel board for people to write some things.
64.You may put world map on the wall and ask your customers to put a pin in the city they come from.
65.Buy a paper everyday (maybe in English or in your local language).
66.Install PlayStation, Wii, etc. in your common room.
67.Put a pinball machine to the common room.
68.Maybe put some darts in common room or other games.
69.Get some movies on DVD's to watch.
70.Have some games/movies/etc. in common room starting at exact hour every day.
71.Have a guitar in common room, or maybe even pay someone to play in that room or during breakfasts, if you have them.
72.Have karaoke nights.
73.Have mugs, cups, t-shirts with a logo of your hostel and let people buy them.
74.Organize contests in your hostel.
1.The best picture made in the city.
2.The best picture made in the hostel.
3.The best meal prepared by guest from his/her own country.
4.The best meal prepared by guest from your city/country.
75.Create albums with all those pictures, movies, poems, comic-pictures, recipes, etc. Give them for free or sell them, whatever you think will work for you.
76.Invite local artists to visit your hostel. Take pictures of them and put them on the wall after that.
77.Maybe even prepare a mini-conference about traveling or life as it is.
78.Have debates about current world events.
In the hostel - something extra
79.Let people have massages in your hostel. Contact with a masseur and inform people about this possibility.
80contact with beauty salon and let people have beauty treatments in your hostel.
81.Have a little shop in your hostel with:
1.souvenirs
2.local artists hand made 'treasures'
3.CD's with local music (pop, classic, folk, etc.)
4.Useful things: shades, umbrellas, flip-flops, etc.
82.Let people exchange money in your hostel.
From the hostel to the city
83.Get maps of the city from tourist’s information in your city and put them in your hostel. Also put a big map on the wall close to reception with transport in the city, trips to take, etc.
84.Prepare a map with information where is the cheapest and closest supermarket.
85.Put a board with information about things people can do in the city.
86.Prepare list of clubs, cinemas, and theaters.
87.Get fliers of events that happen in your city.
88.Try to get discounts for your customers in local shops/clubs/etc.
89contact some local clubs and start cooperation or contact special companies that are specializing in pub crawls, which could let your customers, buy drinks cheaper.
90.Ask receptionists to go to clubs with tourists (hire people who would like to spend their time with tourists). The receptionists may get extra money from it.
91.Tell your tourists how to dress to the club because sometimes there is some kind of dress code.
92.Find out where is the best food in your city and tell that to your customers, maybe prepare a map or get fliers of these places.
93.Sell trips from local tourist offices.
94.Prepare (or get in touch with people who organize) weird trips, extreme trips in your area.
95.You may rent (or contact someone who rents) cars or bikes in your hostel.
96.Help your guests to make reservations for car/bus/plane. Write on your site and close to receptionists that you will help with those things.
General ideas
97.Remember about all the guests: those who just want to sleep in your hostel, those who want to have party, those who need help in organizing sightseeing, etc. Prepare something for everyone.
98.Become an iconic hostel.
99.Be creative and do more.
