The hostel industry is maturing, and competition is growing fierce, where many owners look to save on their salary costs by having so-called volunteers do the work. These owners will tell you that a good hostel employee is hard to find, yet they can easily find a traveler through helpx, workaways, or the hostel lounge, who is eagerly willing to work for free stay. Some of those travelers are even willing to temporarily commit to the remainder of their visa, sometimes longer. This presents an opportunity for hostel owners and managers for some almost free labor, but at what cost? Is it worth it for your hostel to be run by so-called volunteers?
Volunteers Don’t Come For Free
First off, I would like to mention that hostel volunteers are never free. The obvious compensation is free stay. That is a bed that could be sold otherwise. This only affects your bottom line if you are running occupancy over 95%, but even if you have a rusty hospital bed in what used to be a torture chamber, there could still be someone willing to pay to stay. These volunteers also consume electricity, Wi-Fi, water, AC, and heat. Sometimes these are costs you are accustomed to paying, such as paying flat-rate utilities, but other times they can significantly impact your bottom dollar. It is also a good idea to consider that most of these arrangements offer some free meals, sometimes food and even drinks. All these costs can really balloon if not kept in check.
Prepare for Risky Savings
These volunteers can cost you money, but if done right, they can save you some too. In most countries, having people work for stay is illegal unless you are a certified non-profit/NGO. The first reason is that there needs to be a formal employee agreement signed, which includes the income tax and social contributions paid on the worker's behalf. In an ideal world, the hostel owner should employ the workers, pay them and all the taxes, and then the workers should pay their rent with their earnings. Work for stay usually bypasses all this, and in most cases, there is always the threat of an inspection from your local Department of Labor. Labor inspections aren't the only thing to worry about. These workers are short-term, so their interests will certainly come first. It is difficult to enforce any type of quality control over someone who is leaving in a month. You should expect that these workers will do the least amount of work possible, even less than a paid employee. This applies to the cleaners, receptionists, and even bartenders. This can lead to inconsistent experiences for guests and easily result in negative impacts on your ratings.
Motivation is Key
If keeping your ratings high is a priority, you have to properly motivate your staff and volunteers alike. You have to train your employees to do everything the right way, and constantly monitor, evaluate, and retrain when necessary. You also have to train your employees, managers, and receptionists on how to conduct this monitoring and evaluation. Then you must establish the authority of your staff over your employees, so there is no misunderstanding. Finally, you have to motivate them with flexible schedules, rewards for review mentions, staff parties, earned commissions, etc. The volunteer staff turnover rate is high, so you have to do your best to hold on to the team. Even so, expect volunteer training, monitoring, and evaluation to be regular occurrences.
Proceed with Caution
Volunteers running your hostel can be a good thing but must be done with caution. There are some hostel owners who would give someone a free stay and expect them to work the desk 16 hours a day, with the remainder of the time on call. The owner only stops by to pick up their money. That is not cool and is just asking for trouble. The volunteer will surely burn out, and the quality of service will drop. Plus, if you decide to play the role of absentee owner/manager, the risk is even higher. There can be countless times when the owner needs to be in contact with the authorities, such as in cases of conflict, theft, fire, utilities issues, noise complaints, etc. If there isn't a local around to liaise with authorities, they will begin to question the legitimacy of your employees, and soon enough, inspections will follow. We recommend hiring locals or at least legitimate workers to really give your guests the best local experience possible and hold your employees accountable. If you must, then the second-best option is a hybrid model where you bring on volunteers but also hold some paid staff accountable for monitoring and evaluating their performance. Then do the math and determine how much a bed can cost you, but also consider giving them some pocket change and a schedule where they can enjoy a weekend now and then. This way, they will get to see and enjoy their new city and be less likely to burn out. If you can only manage with volunteers, then the responsibility of monitoring, evaluating, and motivating them falls entirely on you. Best of luck with that.