Hostel Territory

So we've set off to Barcelona to live the dream and open our very own hostel. We're keeping this journal online to keep everyone updated of our progress, adventures and mishaps navigating Barcelona's booming tourism industry, Spanish bureaucracy, and daily life in Catalunya.

Thursday, June 30, 2011

When I find you in bed at noon in the girls' dorm with the dude you brought home last night in bed with you and ask him politely to leave, don't roll over and ignore me. I am not afraid to go into RA-at-a-catholic-girls'-school mode, stand there until your friend puts his pants on , and personally escort him out.
So they did in fact open a hostel right above us at Somnio. My feelings are mixed. I think competition and new business in Barcelona can't be a bad thing, but on the other hand, they've already caused us quite a few headaches. They issue all of their guests keys and don't have a 24 hour receptionist which bring up a number of safety issues. Additionally, one of their bathrooms leaked through our ceiling into a guest room. Because it was the middle of the night, they accommodated the guest upstairs but then tried to steal the rest of their reservation. On top of it, they don't have insurance so I'm not sure we'll see the repair money for our ceiling. Overall it irks me that we try to do everything legally and correctly, but we could make a lot more money and have much less headache if we just opened some unlicensed cowboy hostel. I'd like to think ours is a better long term plan.