How to open a hostel? Hostel business plan: list of equipment and necessary costs. How to open a hostel from scratch: first steps, costs and profitability

At the same time, it is important to choose the right direction so as not to increase competition where there is already nowhere to make room, and, at the same time, not to create unviable projects that take time and money and do not bring any return.

There are many options to choose from, making a decision can sometimes be quite a challenge. Consider the possible options. In the article, we will talk about whether it is possible to turn non-residential premises into a hotel or otherwise use commercial premises on the first floors.

How to open a hostel in non-residential premises?

A hostel is a type of low-budget hotel, an actively developing business segment.

The main target audience of hostels is young tourists who want to save money that they have to spend on hotels.

The cost of living has been significantly reduced by reducing the volume of service, which is quite suitable for young guests, for whom the most important thing is to have a place to sleep.

It is also beneficial for the owner (hostelier) not to make any major investments aimed at creating luxurious apartments with numerous servants, but to get by with the required minimum of services with the maximum workload of the premises.

At the same time, one should not confuse a hostel with a rooming house for guest workers..

There are clear requirements, norms and rules that establish the procedure for work and equipment with household items and sanitary devices, depending on the estimated number of guests.

To open a hostel in a non-residential premises, the following documents will be required:

Coordination with the fire department.
Permits from Rospotrebnadzor (SES).
Agreement with public utilities for the removal of solid waste.
Registration documents of the enterprise (or individual entrepreneur).
Accounting in the tax office.
Documents for the premises (ownership or lease).

This list contains only the most necessary papers, in each case, some other documents may be required.

It should be borne in mind that the work of hostels is legally regulated. Standards have been set for the number of people per unit area, the number of bathrooms, showers and washbasins has been determined.

So, one bed should occupy at least 2.5 sq.m., and a single room - at least 9 sq.m.

For 15 people there must be at least one toilet, shower, one washbasin. It is also necessary to have a living room - a common room designed for communication, in the regulations it is called a common area.

The presence of a dining room and a kitchen is not strictly indicated, but it is recommended.

The reason for this situation is the sufficient prevalence of catering establishments, so the requirements are limited to the presence of a kettle and a water cooler.

From the point of view of sanitation and the exclusion of various abuses, this situation is quite understandable, and, nevertheless, most hostels try to provide their establishments with everything necessary for self-cooking and eating, or provide ready-made meals on the spot.

The presence of bed linen is also not an obligation, but if it is included in the service kit, then it is supposed to be changed at least once every 5 days or when changing guests.

All these standards are minimum requirements; no obstacles are made to improve the quality of guests' stay.

Usually guests are offered irons, hair dryers, kettles, washing machines, equipped with WiFi, etc. Such conditions, coupled with a low fee for accommodation, contribute to the rapid promotion of the hostel and attract guests.

Hotel organization

Until recently, hotels were classified as industrial premises (Government Decree No. 490), so their use in the housing stock was prohibited.

At the same time, Article 19 of the Housing Code of the Russian Federation defines a hotel as a housing stock used for commercial purposes..

This situation caused constant discrepancies, which negatively affected the work of hotels. From January 1, 2015, the use of housing stock for the organization of hotels was allowed.

This has changed the state of the market, increased business volumes and benefited tourists.

However, today a law has been passed excluding the use of residential premises for production activities, which include the hotel business.

Therefore, to organize a hotel, non-residential premises will be required, or it will be necessary to transfer residential to non-residential.

Thus, to the question: "Use residential or non-residential premises for organizing a hotel?", the law answers unequivocally - non-residential.

Commercial real estate for catering

Catering establishments are a stable and reliable type of business, but demanding in terms of location.

Cafes, eateries and other establishments will not be able to work at full capacity where there is no one to go to them. Therefore, the first and main issue is always the location.

In addition, the catering sector is under the close attention of the SES, so the premises must comply with sanitary standards and requirements, or at least it must be possible to bring it into line.

The opening of such an enterprise will require coordination with the fire authorities, SES, tax inspection.

It will require contracts for waste disposal, food supplies, land leases, etc. Nevertheless, despite the rather complex organizational work, an institution located in a good location makes a profit almost immediately, which fully compensates for the cash and labor costs.

First floor in the house

Interest in apartments on the first floors is quite high. The reason for such attention to houses with a non-residential ground floor was that the premises can be equipped with a separate entrance, transferred to non-residential, used for commercial purposes.

The highest demand is for non-residential apartments on the ground floor, located on large crowded streets, windows on the roadway.

Such apartments are much more expensive than those located in the depths of the block, facing the courtyard or located in quiet depressive areas.

Since they are not purchased for housing, an effective business in such apartments will not work, a sufficient number of customers will not be typed.

There are many ways to use non-residential premises on the ground floors for commercial purposes, from shops to service industries or private medical offices.

The efficiency and profitability of non-residential premises on the 1st floor depends on many factors, but to the greatest extent - on the actions of the business owner and the thoughtfulness of his decisions and actions.

How to transfer residential to non-residential premises?

The procedure for transferring housing stock to commercial real estate cannot be called simple.

Many questions to be addressed:

The list of these stages is only a diagram, additional information or documents may be required.

The most difficult is to obtain consent from the residents of the house (not all, but only the owners of the apartments) in which the premises are located, to transfer it to non-residential.

The refusal of the neighbors may be based on personal dislike or some other considerations, someone will simply be against commercial real estate on the first floors, and no special justification is required from them.

Such a circumstance may be the reason for refusal to transfer the premises in the Department.

In addition, there are a number of conditions necessary for the transfer:

The translation of the premises is a complex and long task, but in some cases it is necessary..

Available business areas

Non-residential premises on the ground floor of a residential building, depending on the location in the city or other settlement, can be used for various types of activities.

Small shops, repair and maintenance of computer and office equipment, legal consultations, dental offices, hairdressers, massage parlors, etc.

Any option is suitable that does not create inconvenience to people living in the house and is able to bring profit to the owner.

The main limiting factor will be the demand for the business in local conditions and the number of potential customers, seasonal fluctuations in demand and other local features.

In this case, the decisive argument in favor of one direction or another is the personal interest and degree of professional training of a businessman.

Nuances and pitfalls

A lot of subtleties and questions can arise, and not all of them have a purely bureaucratic basis. Often in the process of promoting a project, a person stumbles over unforeseen circumstances that change the entire developed strategy.

For example, the lack of consent of neighbors to transfer the premises to the status of non-residential.

Sometimes people cannot cope with the unwillingness or misunderstanding of their neighbors for years, which is why time and nerves are wasted. Therefore, first you should carefully work out all the stages of work and find the most vulnerable positions in them.

When planning a catering point, one should remember about the compliance of the premises with sanitary standards, the availability of an emergency exit, waste disposal, etc.

Any miscalculation can cause an avalanche of complaints from the residents of the house, fraught with the suspension (and sometimes closing) of the establishment. It is important for the hosteler to maintain order and silence, since the guests are mostly young, noisy people, which can be the basis for fines for violating the Housing Code.

It is impossible to predict possible difficulties in advance, but you should carefully consider your actions.

The presence of non-residential premises on the ground floor is a big bonus that contributes to the organization of business and eliminates dependence on the whims of the landlord.

In a sense, this is the key to success, since the type of business can be changed, but the premises will be required in any case. Therefore, the choice of the direction of the presence of the base is determined only by the abilities and preferences of the owner of the premises.

We hope that this article was useful to you and now you know whether it is possible to use non-residential premises as a hostel and how to turn commercial property into a cafe.

Today, the real estate market is considered by many experts to be one of the most promising options for investment. On the one hand, against the backdrop of currency devaluation, the growth in prices for the purchase of apartments stopped for a while. On the other hand, the rental price is only increasing, as in Moscow, St. Petersburg and other Russian cities, students, young families, workers from other cities and countries, business travelers need temporary shelter. The best solution is to open a hostel from scratch.

The very process of organizing a business is simple, but apart from initial investments, it requires a thorough analysis of the real estate market and knowledge of the main trends in its development.

Portrait of a modern hostel

Hostel is a fairly new concept for the Russian tourist infrastructure. In Europe, such establishments have existed for more than 100 years. Hostels differ from hotels in their concept and target orientation. It can be called a "youth hotel" - the rooms are arranged in a block or corridor system. It also contains a kitchen where each guest can cook their own meals.

Some of the hostels can be called truly student hostels - they are designed not for students in universities, but for active youth who love to travel, discover new horizons and at the same time do not pursue "bourgeois conditions".

Description of the modern hostel:

New furniture;
modern technology;
WiFi;
clean rooms.

In other words, this is practicality, space saving, while you will not find any similarity with bedbug beds, armored beds and other attributes of Soviet hostels.

Potential clients of hostels are progressive youth who love communication, travelers, as well as successful adults with their own unique philosophy - downshifting (a lifestyle that does not accept workaholism, corporate ethics and many other social norms).

What do you need to open a hostel?

There are two options for opening a hostel: buying a ready-to-live-in premises (perhaps an already operating business) or organizing your own business from scratch. Each of these options has its pros and cons. Before making a choice, an investor needs to weigh everything, analyze other options, for example,. You can also open such a franchise mini-hotel, but be prepared to pay.

Location selection

The owners of this business say that the most difficult thing in the process of opening is to find a good place. It should be a comfortable building with rooms, a corridor, amenities. Large hostels have a lobby, a reception desk, some even have an elevator. Therefore, opening a hostel in a non-residential building is a very expensive and not always profitable option. The amount of repair will exceed the cost of the building itself at times and will pay for itself for a long time. You will also need to prepare a lot of permits (for example,), which will take a lot of time.

You can open a hostel in an apartment with several rooms. But in this case, you should not count on a large income. Larger projects start from 150 m². There are several spacious rooms, a common living room, a kitchen and a bathroom. The design of the room should be in a single, carefully thought-out style.

On the scale of a large city, it is not easy to find and open a room in which you can organize a hostel. And choosing an inconvenient location or a place that does not meet all the standards, you may not recoup your investment.

Requirements

Since 2015, special GOSTs have appeared in the legislation of the Russian Federation, which regulate the work and opening of hostels.

The main ones can be called:

ceiling height - from 2.5 meters;
one bed should account for at least 4 m²;
for 15 beds it is necessary to equip one shower room and one toilet;
the bathroom should be outside the rooms;
each hostel should have places for guests to communicate;
availability of a kettle and drinking water;
the presence of a kitchen is an optional requirement if there is a place for a snack nearby.

Advice: since 2015, it is officially allowed to convert ordinary apartments into hostels. To do this, the property is re-registered as a non-residential premises, after which it is possible to conduct commercial activities in it.

In this case, the guests should not disturb the peace and living conditions of the neighbors of this house. You can not open a hostel on the ground floor or in the basement.

Opening a hostel in an apartment is much cheaper and easier (rental costs are lower, equipment costs are also relatively low). In this case, disagreements with neighbors may arise.

Room equipment

The cost of equipment depends on the region and is constantly changing. On average, the following investments will be required in order to open a hostel from scratch:

In a multi-bed room:

bunk bed - 12-30 thousand rubles. per piece;
bedside table - 1500 rubles apiece;

microwave oven - 3-6 thousand rubles;
refrigerator - 15-30 thousand rubles;
kettle - 800-1500 rubles;
kitchen set - 20-30 thousand rubles;
washing machine - 15-25 thousand rubles.

Equipment of the place for communication of guests:

Wi-Fi router - 1-3 thousand rubles;
Table, chairs - 12-20 thousand rubles.

Bathroom:

shower stall - 12-28 thousand rubles;
dryers - 600-1000 rubles;
toilet bowl - 4-7 thousand rubles;
hair dryer - 1-3 thousand rubles.

Recruitment

The number and qualifications of employees depend on the scale of the project. If you are planning to open and organize a hostel in an apartment, you can perform all the duties yourself or hire one assistant who would meet guests and keep things clean and tidy.

To organize a hostel with an area of 150-200 m², you need to hire the following staff:

administrator - receiving calls, placing guests, providing them with everything necessary, monitoring cleanliness;
maid - regular wet cleaning, laundry, washing kitchen equipment;
accountant - reporting (often use the services of third-party companies (outsourcing), which charge for the amount of work performed, since it is not advisable to hire a specialist at a rate).

If this option seems too expensive for you, consider.

Business registration

In order to open a hostel from scratch (as well as when buying), you need to draw up a considerable package of documents. The hostel is an object of tourist infrastructure, so for its operation it is necessary to prepare a legal framework. First you need to choose the organizational and legal form (IP or LLC) and register in the tax. To open a mini-hotel, you need:

a document confirming the ownership of real estate or a lease agreement;
registration certificate;
extract from the USRIP or USRLE;
confirmation of payment of taxes;
work permit from the sanitary and epidemiological service;
permission from the fire department;
contract for the removal of household waste, recycling of fluorescent lamps.

Depending on the specifics of the business and the choice of direction, other documents may be needed, for example, at the time of opening.

Promotion

The success of opening a project from scratch depends on the number of guests. The brightest and most inexpensive establishments, providing comfortable accommodation, face a lack of customers at the start. In order for the institution to gain popularity, it is necessary to apply radical actions:

inform students about your services by making additional discounts (10% upon presentation of a student card), try to interest them as much as possible - the more people there are in the group, the cheaper the rooms will be;
distribute information online. Since the Internet is the main source of information among young people, it is necessary to promote the institution in this area. Create groups on social networks, order advertising on city forums, open the institution’s website by posting as many photos, descriptions of conditions, benefits, features, etc. as possible;
conduct targeting of potential customers (setting target priorities and benchmarks) and work with a group of interest, for example, a volleyball or football team, a dance school, etc. (you can negotiate with the leaders of such classes and, when choosing your institution for living, give a small part of the proceeds to them);
cooperate with travel agencies, which often include the cost of living in the ticket;
enable direct booking through web resources;
create an excellent reputation - these are reviews on city forums, impressions after a visit to a hostel that was opened from scratch. Good recommendations optimize the most effective way of promotion - word of mouth.

How to open a hostel in Moscow?

Moscow is a city of great opportunities. This well-established statement is also relevant for entrepreneurs who want to open a hostel. By organizing this business from scratch in Moscow, you can be sure of a constant flow of customers in any season. The main task is to provide comfortable living conditions and actively promote their services. But it is in Moscow that there are a number of pitfalls that should be taken into account.

First, there is a lot of competition. According to the Interregional Association of the Hostel Industry, today there are more than 5,000 hostels and mini-hotels operating in the Russian Federation. More than half of them are open in Moscow and St. Petersburg. This indicates a high level of competition, which is difficult for beginners to deal with.

Secondly, the cost of real estate (both buying and renting) is high. But even this is not the main problem. The most difficult thing is to find a suitable object, since tourists or business travelers will not waste time searching for and traveling to the most remote places in Moscow, and everything suitable can be occupied in the center and nearby areas.

Advice: when choosing real estate in Moscow, do not agree to the first offer that comes across, if it completely does not suit you. This aspect plays a key role in the success of the business, so start the search in advance, and take the choice very seriously.

If insurmountable difficulties arise during the organization, analyze other options for starting a business, for example, where to start.

The dynamically developing market of tourist infrastructure in Moscow makes its own adjustments to the organization of the business of opening a hostel from scratch. But if you organize the key points correctly, you can get a stable flow of customers and a quick return on business.

Organization of a hostel from scratch is a new format that has grown into an actively developing direction for Moscow and large cities of Russia. This trend is understandable - you can become a hosteler for little money. Perhaps this is the most budgetary method of entering the hotel market. To open it, investments from 400 thousand rubles are needed, although, depending on the development path and the scale of the project, this amount can grow to 5-6 million.

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You can open a hostel only if all the requirements and norms of the law are observed. Also, be prepared to work hard in the future. Even having hired all the necessary personnel, it will still have to be controlled and constantly supported by the chosen development concept.

In contact with

A mini-hotel for 30-50 people - a hostel - will not bring passive income: the owner needs to meet guests himself, change toilet paper and generally actively participate in the work. But the hostel market is developing rapidly: in Moscow, from 2013 to 2017, their number increased 12 times - from, and there are more than 2 thousand mini-hotels throughout the country. At the end of October 2017, even before the final draw of the participating teams, the Moscow authorities reported that about 60% of the city's room stock was booked for the period of the World Cup, and there were no inexpensive options left in the center at all. Against the backdrop of falling real incomes, the demand for inexpensive hotels from Russians is growing: according to OneTwoTrip, from 2014 to 2017, the share of hostels and apartments in the structure of bookings in Russia increased from 0.2% to 6% - although they still lose in terms of audience to hotels , as follows from the data of Rosstat. Entrepreneurs told Inc. that opening a hostel will require from 1.5 to 5 million rubles, compliance with GOST, friendship with the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Ministry of Emergency Situations and an administrator-guru of communication.

Where to begin?

You need to decide on - the choice of premises will depend on it. If we are talking about a small hostel focused on accommodating tourists, you will need a room in the city center. If the hotel is designed for workers and taxi drivers, you can look for options more and further from the center. If you need to "hook" for traffic - say, from a congress center - you will have to search in a specific area.

How many hostels in Russia

MOSCOW - 423

SAINT PETERSBURG - 368

Kazan - 85

YEKATERINBURG - 73

ROSTOV-ON-DON - 37

SOCHI - 37

NIZHNY NOVGOROD - 29

SAMARA - 28

KALININGRAD - 27

If an entrepreneur already has a premises, it would be wise to come up with a concept based on its features. So did the managing partners of the Subway hostel in the center of Moscow, Anton Obukh and Alexander Kozlov. Obukh and his mother had an apartment near the Pushkinskaya metro station - it occupies one and a half floors, and it has large corridors that I wanted to beat stylistically: someone compared them with metro tunnels. In addition, there are four metro stations near the hostel. This is how the name Subway and design elements were born, made in the colors of the Moscow subway lines. The living room was designed as a depot, to which the guest, as it were, "arrives" along the corridors-tunnels.

How to choose a room?

You will have to decide on the size of the room and its location - in a residential or non-residential fund. The non-residential fund needs to be adapted for living. But from the point of view of the law, the organization of hotel activities in the non-residential fund is more correct, hosteler Roman Sabirzhanov believes. Otherwise, it will be impossible to organize a coffee shop in parallel with the hostel. And for a hostel or a small hotel, selling coffee, pastries, breakfasts for customers is a significant part of the income,” says Sabirzhanov. On the other hand, the housing stock, according to all sanitary standards, is suitable for people to live in and you don’t have to worry that something will be violated in this regard.

Evgeny Nasonov

Head of the non-profit association "League of Hostels"

I do not believe in the effectiveness of hostels with an area of less than 120 square meters. m. From 120 to 200-250 sq. m. is rather a form of self-employment: you will not be able to hire a manager and go to Thailand - it will be your business. Professional business starts from 250 sq. m. On the other hand, 1 thousand-1.5 thousand square meters. m. - this is the maximum for a novice entrepreneur or for a person with not very much experience in this area. The history of Moscow hostels shows that large outlets do not work very well. If there is money for such a large facility, it is better to open a hotel.

In Russia, there is no law that would regulate the activities of hostels. On January 1, 2015, the specialized regulation “Services of accommodation facilities. General requirements for hostels ”(allows hostels to be placed in apartments if there is at least 4 sq. m per person, as well as a toilet and shower for every 15 people), but it is advisory in nature. This standard is included in the system of legislative acts and is valid until a different concept of a hostel is adopted as a law, explains Anastasia Khudyakova, a lawyer in the legal department of HEADS Consulting.

In Moscow, the authorities usually have no questions about hostels in non-residential stock, and you can work in apartment buildings if there are no complaints from neighbors - otherwise it is highly likely to close, says Yevgeny Nasonov from the League of Hostels. In general, the authorities of the capital are skeptical about hostels, Obukh says: “People, not embarrassed in expressions, declare that all these “brothels” will be closed.” But a mini-hotel in the housing stock requires less investment at the start, plus it allows you to implement the format of a “cozy elite hostel,” says Nasonov.

In St. Petersburg, I recommend opening a hostel in non-residential premises, excluding basements and basements, says Valery Ulitin, owner of Positive Group, which manages a chain of hotels and hostels in the northern capital, although in fact the lion's share of hostels in the city is located precisely in residential premises.

What about a hostel in a residential building?

There are three bills on this issue to the State Duma at once: two of them are prohibitive. All of them will be considered in the spring session of Parliament 2018, the hostels are waiting. The controversy around this issue has not subsided for several years. Respectable entrepreneurs suffer largely due to violations by less law-abiding ones - in particular, "rubber" hostels that register illegal migrants, or simply those who create inconvenience for residents of the house.

The hostesses are talking. that in a residential building it is necessary to find mechanisms for interaction with the public access. You should not open at the entrance, where at least one tenant will be against you. Sometimes hostel owners try to build good relations with their neighbors by improving common areas (as far as finances allow) or, say, by installing additional cameras.

How much will you need to invest in the launch?

To start in the non-residential fund, you need 5 million rubles, and in the residential - 1.5, hoteliers estimate. You can estimate the cost of the initial investment by multiplying the area of the premises by 16-18 thousand rubles - these are the costs of repairs, equipment and a rental deposit. Opening a capsule hostel will cost more: if an ordinary bed with curtains costs 5-6 thousand rubles, then a two-story capsule costs 40 thousand rubles, Evgeny Nasonov argues.

Obukh and Kozlov spent 2.5 million rubles on the launch of Subway: repairs and materials - 50%, about 40% more - equipment (beds, tables, chairs, reception, cabinets, washing machine, refrigerator), 10-15% - the rest ( paid consulting, website, primary promotion).

What repairs and equipment are needed?

Repair should be done taking into account the requirements of GOST. Yevgeny Nasonov advises not to overload the hostel: "If you can accommodate 35 people comfortably, and 50 - like herring in a barrel, it's better to make 35 places, it will be more cost-effective."

Anton Obukh says that they did not manage to do cosmetic repairs, they had to change the wiring, which was a blow to 100-120 thousand rubles. “You place strangers, you charge money for it, so if there are problems with electricity and communications, everything can end in fines or tragedy,” he explains.

Anton Obukh

Co-founder of the Subway hostel (formerly - Analyst of the development department of the Azimut Hotels chain):

Any hotel use of the object is the use of living people. Bad materials will not last long. If something can be broken, it will be broken. In addition, often people are not very careful about furniture and equipment, arguing like this: I paid for it, I can afford it. This is neither good nor bad, it just needs to be understood and remembered.

Entrepreneurs recommend not saving on mattresses - that is, on the quality of sleep. The founders of Subway bought the same mattresses from IKEA as they have at home, and in the very first weeks they received reviews that it was very comfortable to sleep (now the hostel is in the top 10 Moscow mini-hotels on Booking). Ideally, you can make soundproofing - at least to reduce the likelihood of conflicts with neighbors. We will also have to invest in the installation of cameras - this is a requirement of the anti-terrorist law. Be sure to put a panic button.

How to set up a business? What documents are needed?

Making a profit from hostels can go through or, says Anastasia Khudyakova. “Additional licenses for hostels are not required, however, checks by Rospotrebnadzor, the Ministry of Emergency Situations for fire safety and others are not ruled out. So, like any other consumer service company, it is necessary to comply with health, safety, fire and other regulations,” she explains. For example, you will need an agreement with a special laundry, a general cleaning journal, medical books for employees, Nasonov lists.

In accordance with federal law, entrepreneurs who plan to open a hotel or hostel must send a notification to the Office of Rospotrebnadzor, the department itself emphasizes. You also need to inform the Ministry of Internal Affairs: all foreign and Russian guests must be registered. To get the right to do this, you need to register yourself - as a business.

In a number of regions (in particular, in cities hosting football matches), hostels are already required to undergo a classification procedure. Law on mandatory classification The State Duma adopted

It is worth getting acquainted with the inspectors of various regulatory authorities in advance and find out the requirements for the hostel. Most of them are reasonable: using the services of a special laundry, disinfection and others. Strange requirements can be asked to be submitted in writing - in 80% of cases this removes questions, says Evgeny Nasonov. If there are contacts in the supervisory authorities, you can ask them to check in advance whether all the rules are met in order to correct errors before opening.

Call a company dealing with fire safety - equipment and installation: they will consult for free (hoping for cooperation) or for little money.

“The general advice is to communicate more and more easily with the outside world. People share their experience, sometimes for free and willingly,” says Anton Obukh. There are groups on Facebook dedicated to the hospitality industry, there are industry events where experts from this field lead seminars - some of them free. Obukh advises visiting them and communicating with colleagues from the hotel business: although hostels have their own specifics, there are no differences in many respects - for example, in financial accounting - and the same problems arise.

Average prices

In Russia, independent tourism is gaining more and more popularity. At the same time, tourists often prefer not to stay in hotels or boarding houses, but in more budget hostels - small European-style hotels.

What is a hostel?

In fact, they are converted apartments in a busy part of the city. You can open a hostel in a separate room, if there is one, and if not, then converting apartments into a mini-hotel is simply easier.

Living conditions in hostels are usually modest: beds (often bunk beds), tables, chairs, and a shared bath and toilet per hostel. Despite the spartan conditions, the occupancy of such mini-hotels is kept at a good level all year round.

There are especially many young tourists in them who need everything “cheap and cheerful”, because their goal is to have time to see as many sights as possible, and not sit in a hotel room.

More advanced hostels offer their guests free WI-FI, breakfast, rental safes, and so on. In my opinion, in our time, if you open a hostel or hotel, the presence of the Internet is simply a must.

Opening a hostel is not difficult if you have the necessary skills and have a business streak. Let's talk more about how this can be done.

How much does it cost to open a hostel

Since it is not necessary to equip the hostel with expensive furniture and equipment, minimal costs will be required to open a business. You can meet the amount of 500 thousand rubles.

You should have an amount to pay rent for a few months in advance, until the business "unwinds". However, the estimate can vary by a large amount if the business owner can afford it.

No need to skimp on beds, because often guests are settled exclusively for sleeping, no more.

To ensure the proper level of service, you will need at least two administrators and several employees at the reception.

Administrators are the face of the hostel, so you need to choose friendly, sociable and always ready to help people. It's good if they know English. By the way, even if they are not perfect, their language skills will quickly develop in the process of communicating with foreign clients.

People are the backbone of almost any business. The article "" describes the requirements and recommendations for salon employees. And about the selection of personnel for a real estate agency.

Skill requirements vary, but being kind and getting along with customers is a key skill for any job.

It does not hurt to organize a minimum excursion for foreign guests of the hostel, especially if they are on Russian soil for the first time. Such a move will only benefit you. Contextual advertising in Yandex, for example, is very effective, but it is very expensive. Word of mouth will also play its role.

Documents for opening a hostel

The question of what documents are needed to open your own hostel worries many. In this case, it is enough to have a certificate of an individual entrepreneur or open a regular LLC, transferring it to a simplified form.

If you open a hostel in an apartment or a separate room, you do not need any licenses for this.

Just follow the rules established by law:

the hostel cannot be located on the basement or basement floors,
it must comply with fire safety requirements
and will have to keep a migration record of foreign citizens.

We suggest that you familiarize yourself with the step-by-step instructions for. If you prefer to register as an individual entrepreneur to open a hostel, then see the guide on this page -. What to open an individual entrepreneur or LLC - the choice is yours.

If at the opening stage you need a loan, we recommend how to choose a bank for a loan.

About choosing a room

If you intend to rent an apartment as a hostel, you will have to look for the best options.

Analyze the transport infrastructure, track the car and pedestrian traffic, the contingent of the surrounding yards, and study the area.

It is worth finding out if there are other hostels or hotels nearby, how efficiently apartments are rented.

The success of the hostel will also depend on the neighbors. Before renting an apartment need to contact them to make sure there is no negativity from them. They may not like specific guests, increased accessibility of the entrance, and so on. As a result, there will be endless complaints about noise, garbage.

It is better to open a hostel in the spring, so by the summer you will have clients. As you can see, everything is not as difficult and scary as it seems at the beginning. If you take it seriously, responsibly and enthusiastically, you will be able to justify the money spent in six months.

Currently, the hotel business is developing at a tremendous pace and is of great interest not only to experienced entrepreneurs, but also to ordinary people who want to work for themselves, develop professionally, achieve new heights and successes, do what they love and not depend in any way on the employer . However, opening a hotel or hotel requires not only specific knowledge, but also significant financial investments, which not everyone can afford. The most suitable option for a person of average income is to invest in a so-called hostel. But along with the idea, many questions arise: how to open a hostel, what documents will be required, what is the competition in the market, whether this activity will bring profit, etc. Of course, any business is associated with a certain risk. Therefore, before you leave your main place of work and make an attempt to start your own business, you need to collect as much information as possible about the upcoming activities, carry out elementary calculations, weigh all the pros and cons, and only then make a final decision.

What is a hostel?

Before you seriously think about how to open a hostel, you need to clearly understand what it is. In simple terms, we can say that a hostel is a mini-hotel, which, as a rule, occupies a small area and specializes in providing inexpensive temporary accommodation to tourists, young people, students, guest workers and all interested people who cannot afford to pay for hotel rooms or hotels. Hostels are characterized by a block or corridor system of arranging rooms adapted for living from 3 to 20 people. On each floor or block there is a shared toilet and bath (or shower), as well as a kitchen where guests can cook their own meals at any time. In any point of the city it is really possible to find a suitable hostel for everyone. Photos of buildings and rooms can be viewed in brochures and in our article.

Initial capital required to open a hostel

The cost of opening a hostel depends on many factors. For example, those who are interested in how to open a hostel in Moscow should take into account that it will not be easy to do this in the capital. This is due, firstly, to the fact that the competition in this area is simply huge. Secondly, this is not a place for entrepreneurs with limited financial resources, since buying or renting a room will cost a tidy sum. A similar situation is typical for St. Petersburg, although inexpensive hostels in St. Petersburg are more common than in Moscow. Things are much easier in small towns and settlements, where buying / renting a room will cost an order of magnitude cheaper. However, it should be noted that the profit in this case will be less.

After preliminary calculations, we can conclude that at the initial stage, to open a hostel, a businessman will need an average of 1.5-2 million rubles (rent of premises, repairs, purchase of furniture and equipment, paperwork, employee salaries, tax deductions). With the right business management, the profitability of the hostel will be 50% or more.

Factors to consider when opening a hostel

In order to answer the question of how to open a hostel, it is necessary to take into account a number of important factors that can significantly affect the development of the project: strengths and weaknesses, existing opportunities and, accordingly, threats and risks. Among the strengths, it should be noted: a relatively low threshold required to enter the market (from 350 thousand rubles), a simplified taxation system. The weaknesses are the profitability and payback period of the project. As for the opportunities, in this sense it must be emphasized that the opening of a hostel is a very promising direction in the hotel business, which makes it possible to develop and consolidate a strong position in the market. With all this, one should not forget that risks are inevitable. Take into account that you are far from the only ones who are thinking about how to open a hostel, the competition is growing every day (the market is growing by 45% annually). In addition, talent, entrepreneurial spirit, determination and, of course, stress resistance are of great importance. A business is built gradually, and one cannot count on immediate success.

What is required for the legal registration of the hostel?

Despite the fact that many are directing their eyes to the hotel business, how to open a hostel, only a few really think about it. That is why at present it is a rather promising direction with a real possibility of promotion. No special permissions are required to open a hostel. This is explained by the fact that in the Russian Federation hotel activities are not subject to licensing. All that is required is to register an individual entrepreneur or LLC in the prescribed manner, purchase a cash register and register it with the tax office, obtain the appropriate permits from the fire service and the SES.

How to choose the right room?

Opening a hostel begins with finding a suitable room. The hostel can be located both in an apartment and in a private house. It all depends on the desire of the entrepreneur and his financial capabilities. Not everyone can afford to rent or even buy a house. It is much easier for those who are thinking about how to open a hostel in an apartment. Things are even better for those who already own premises suitable for human habitation. In this case, it remains only to make high-quality repairs, equip the premises, hire staff and get to work. The room for the hostel should not be less than 150-200 m2. Otherwise, there is nothing to talk about the benefits. The central streets of cities are not a prerequisite in order to open a good and popular hostel. Visitor reviews are the best confirmation of this. The maintenance of hostels located on the outskirts of the city is much cheaper, which, in turn, affects the cost of living for visitors. The winners are both entrepreneurs and guests.

The most suitable furniture for a hostel

When planning the start-up capital for opening a hostel, it is worth considering the amount to be spent on the purchase of furniture and equipment. The most important element is the purchase of beds. They should be single, preferably bunk (to save space) and as comfortable as possible. Entrepreneurs who know a lot about the hotel business do not skimp and prefer to order even orthopedic mattresses for their hostels. Naturally, these are additional investments, but be sure that they will pay off in full soon. The cost of one fully equipped bunk bed is on average 15-20 thousand rubles. The number of beds required depends solely on the size of the room.

In addition to beds, you will need to purchase cabinets, racks, bedside tables, electrical and household appliances. Do not save on quality, otherwise in the future you will have to spend more money on the repair or replacement of damaged equipment or equipment.

Recruitment

After the premises are selected, repaired and equipped, you should start recruiting. At least two administrators will be required to provide round-the-clock services to guests. When calculating that the working day will last 8 hours, you will need to hire three employees at the reception. In addition, you can not do without service personnel: cleaners, maids, electrician, security guards. The main requirements for the hostel staff are: integrity, friendliness, stress resistance, ability to work in a team, responsibility, etc.

How to organize the activities of the hostel?

A huge number of questions and problems with the organization of activities arise especially among those businessmen who are thinking about how to open a hostel in Moscow, St. Petersburg and other large cities. The main reason for this is that the competition here is serious, and in order for people to choose a certain hostel, its owner should fight for it. The success of the hostel largely depends on the proper organization of activities. Therefore, first of all, you need to determine the target audience, which should be targeted. For example, young people, students and tourists from the provinces are likely to prefer inexpensive accommodation. For them, comfort is not as important as cost. If your hostel is designed for such a contingent, then you should save on furnishings, but at the same time make reduced prices for accommodation. If you plan to open a hostel for business people, then you will have to allocate a place where the conference room will be located, equip a separate room in which you can hold various seminars, trainings, business meetings, etc. The cost of living in such a hostel will be much more expensive. However, no matter what segments of the population the hostel is designed for, the service must be at the highest level and meet the needs of the guests.

Advertising campaign and hostel opening

Before opening a hostel, marketers recommend conducting an extensive advertising campaign. The more people know about the existence of the hostel, the higher the flow of guests will be. Order brochures in any printing house. They should be printed on high quality glossy paper. Come up with a catchy title and describe the advantages of the hostel. Leaflets can be distributed on the streets of the city, at the entrance to shopping centers, near hotels and hotels, at railway stations, at universities and in student gathering places.

In addition, advertising is easy to place on special sites, where future visitors can not only get acquainted with the basic information about the hostel, but also book a room. Various social networks and blogs are also good platforms for advertising.

conclusions

Opening a hostel should be approached very responsibly. Having learned how to open a hostel in Moscow or any other city in Russia, first evaluate your opportunities, think carefully about whether this business is right for you, identify all the pros and cons, and only then make a final decision. There is a lot of work to be done, so in the next few years you will have to completely forget about weekends and vacations. If you are confident in yourself and your abilities, then go ahead and take concrete actions. With desire and diligence, success will surely come.