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OSU student Mathew Dietrich wants a hostel in Columbus. And he wants Pepsi to kick in $50,000 to make it a reality. Mathew is taking part in the Pepsi Refresh Project where the popular beverage company is giving away $1.3 million each month to user-submitted “good ideas”.
“Columbus is one of the largest US cities without a youth hostel,” explains Mathew in his proposal. “Having a hostel here will not only be an excellent business opportunity, but it will open up the city to both international and domestic travelers who would otherwise not have the financial means to experience what Columbus has to offer.”
If his idea receives funding, Matthew says that the $50,000 grant would fund everything from building renovations to the purchasing of linens, mattresses, furnishings, and kitchen items.
Pepsi’s Refresh Project is seeking ideas from people, businesses and non-profits that will have a positive impact on communities around the globe. Only the Top 10 ideas each month will receive funding in the $50,000 bracket, and as of Noon today, Mathew’s idea is ranked #137th.
If you’d like to help bring a hostel to Columbus, you can log in and vote for the idea by clicking here. Votes can be cast every day, and voting ends on March 31st.
I had to create an account to say that is one of the dumbest things I’ve ever heard. No one comes to Columbus for a travel destination unless they know someone here or are on business.
Although I guess a for-profit hostel in Columbus deserves $50k more than low income kids with cancer…
Which rock are you living under here in Columbus?
90% of the reason I dont travel is because lodging is so expensive. At 70 - 80 bucks a night (find me something cheaper in the city), if I were to stay for 4 days, with tax, I’m looking at nearly 350-400 bucks. Now add in travel expenses and I’m at around 500 bucks. I can’t afford that plus entertainment expenses when I get there. Give me an option for ultra cheap, safe, clean lodging and I’m in. This is an excellent idea.
There is a misconception that traveling is about going to über-famous places or going to the beach. The reality is that every city has a flavor, a rhythm, a groove. There are inspiring things going on everywhere, and traveling is about finding people and projects that inspire you to do something awesome. I think Columbus is inspiring. But we –Americans, Columbusites– have not made traveling meaningful or normal. A hostel doesn’t just bring people here. It helps us get out there!
Having a hostel is an important attraction for a city. Columbus has a lot to offer: art, cycling, universities, DIY, music, and more. There are neat projects, interesting spaces, motivated people.
I’m very excited to see more conversation around this. A year and a half ago, I was looking for a building or house to buy and build a hostel. Then I went to grad school. *Hehehe* We all know what happened next…
Go hosteling!
$50,000 from Pepsi to start another hostel is a nice promotional gesture. It does not begin to cover the start-up costs. Just to purchase a modest building and land, the renovations, furnishing, staffing, taxes, and insurance would easily top $500,000. It would need a full-time manager and support staff that is properly supervised by a board of directors. How would it pay for the annual cost of operation? Do they expect hostelers will help with the chores?
Others have noted issues of location, transportation and marketing. WIll the hostel merely provide accomodations or will it have an educational or cultural aspect? No one wants a repeat of the old AYH Hostel/rooming house and its problems.
OSU or another large institution with the resources and staff might have better success with a hostel.
@sirlancelot: I disagree completely, the plans for the Hostel here would be reasonable in scale (5-6 rooms mixed dorms and privates). There will be one full time staff person and ideally one or two part time workers. Our plans are not to purchase a building, and all insurance, taxes, furnishings, and renovations would fall under the 50k.
An organization does not need to be big with deep pockets to be a success. Having grown up in a bed and breakfast (which was both comparable in size and was run much like this proposed hostel will be), I know it is not impossible for me to manage this. After only a few years, that bed and breakfast is now among the top in the country, and its here in Ohio.
University District venture starts simple – in one bedroom of the owner’s duplex – but he has big plans for next year
Thursday, January 6, 2011
BY KEVIN JOY
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
Mathew Dietrich felt an urge that he can liken only to the ethereal whisper in the movie Field of Dreams – a socially minded motivation that, unlike the film, involved no backyard ballpark:
If you open your home; furnish it with Ikea bunk beds; offer towels, guitars and a hookah pipe; serve bagels for breakfast; and show Pineapple Express on a projector-screen television, they will come.
READ MORE: http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/life/stories/2011/01/06/his-hostel-home.html?sid=101
From the Dispatch…
Hostel operator lands in hot water
Code enforcers cite some problems, but city law is murky
By Kevin Joy and Mark Ferenchik
Columbus code enforcers say the owner of a University District hostel is violating city zoning laws by acting as an unlicensed “rooming house” and has 20 days to comply.
Read more: http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2011/01/13/hostel-operator-lands-in-hot-water.html?sid=101