Hello friends and travelers. Thanks for listening. You are riding along on the Hostile Road Trip podcast
Our mission is to spread awareness of the true hostile experience in the Americas and share stories from the fascinating hosts who create those unique
Facilities. I'm your host Jimmy Black joined alongside co-founder of International Travelers House Bobby Dyer and Eric Ferrier
co-founder of World Packers. Each session we sit down with hostile operators or travel influencers to hear about their real success
discuss trending hostile topics and
Close with tips for travelers who are seeking to have the ultimate experience when visiting each destination
You can't afford to miss this trip. Now fasten your seatbelts and let's hit the road
Hello friends, welcome back to Hostile Road Trip. My name is James Black. I'm here alongside my
co-founder and partner Bobby Dyer as well as Eric Ferrier the co-founder from World Packers
We are here as we've said in the beautiful city of Boston
Meeting with Mark Johnson the manager of the HI Boston
Thanks so much for taking the time mark of your busy schedule to join with us. HI is actually a repeat
Oscar winner and finalist which if you do not know in the world of hostiling a Oscars is like winning an Oscar
so it's quite a big deal and
To start off. We just want to hear a little bit about your story mark and how you got into the hostile industry
Did you start off as a worker or a backpacker?
Backpacker. Oh, actually. Yeah, it's the first time so you ever stayed at so first house
I ever stayed at was a also called Millennium Millennium Lodge in
North
London in Kensal Green. Okay, so I've been working and having a good time with friends and whatnot and
Some of my friends went to travel and check some things out and after a couple years I realized a few didn't come back
So I'm not sorry. There might be something to this. You know, maybe we should check it out. Yeah, and
So I kind of did the extreme thing. I mean I was in management at the time and about
The extreme sold everything I had and just kind of left
And came back once over the course of three years and had a pretty incredible time. So it kind of caught me
Real quick. So you got the bug and then you hit the road for a few years just backpacking all over the world
I'm staying at hostels and then that's what said way into you
Becoming a hostile manager or working in the industry. Absolutely. Okay. Yeah, tell us a bit how that happened. So
I
Was I was actually working for Xerox and like I said was in management got up there and then some of their to be honest
What our corporate materials getting sent to me so I was kind of young in the management scheme and kind of said
You know in what's your two-year three-year five-year plan and you know, I'm just like I don't even know what happened for lunch tomorrow
You know, this is kind of freaking me out a little bit like I'm planning the rest of everything
I was like, I think there's some things I need to do and like I said some friends
I might have gone to travel and hostile and didn't come back. So I was like, you know, there's a little window here
Let's do this. And so kind of sold it went out. I was like, wow, this is incredible experience
Everybody meeting traveling is kind of having these these the greatest trips are lies basically
each one of them and
I was like do we have these United States?
So I thought was that cool and picked up little odd jobs at different hostels and then when I came back
Finished up school and kind of looked into
Figuring out what I want to do, but I knew this was it
Yeah, very similar to some of our experiences as I had a similar one as I studied abroad in Ireland
And I stayed in hostels there and then moved around and I was like, yeah if these were in the US I'd stay in them
All the time. Why don't I hear about it? But then you'd come back here and you'd hear that they're at that time
Especially, you know, this is going back 15 years
It was not as saturated as now and a lot of people still think it's an unsaturated market in the US and the perception was very bad
Especially as some of these horror films started to roll out did the industry a lot of injustice here in the US
So now as you found yourself breaking into and making that jump from traveler into working in the hostels
Was an HI the first host you got a job at or did you work at a different host first?
No, so I worked at an independent hostel and just kind of picked up like I said when I was traveling
Security size wise I worked in
When did you make the job into a child what was your first age I'd be high Seattle
2009 okay
Ten years with a child. Mm-hmm. Yeah
So you spend some time over there the HI Seattle and then you come over here to Boston
No, actually, I moved had a little
Side project is working on with some youtubers down in Austin, Texas
Down there for a couple years. Yeah
Yeah
and then realized
Love the love what I was doing, but it was my passion when we get back into hostiling
so opportunity opened up high Sacramento and
Had connected with some people used to work with
New and was able to get that management position at Sacramento
Was able to turn that that property. I was a beautiful property if you ever have opportunity
opportunity old merchant house merchants row there right downtown and
Slip that property Boston came open and I had experience in larger hostels and and background and done pretty well
So you're my house in the ring and was able to come here
You have a particular favorite hostile or an inspiration hostile that really?
Motivated you or you look up? Yeah, you know to be honest and I know it's probably not the
most typical kind of promotion for a
Particular brand or anything like that, but you know the hostile stay really kind of depends on the people that you're traveling with in
The group you know you've been true
And the people that are staying at the hostel you know
We do a lot of programming here that kind of tries to bring people together to have those experiences
But I've been in hostels where there's two inches of water on the floor
Graffiti in a broken down basement at the best time in my life. You know there's no windows or anything like that. Everybody's hanging out the best time ever.
I've also been to the hostels that have like a five-star rating everybody raves about them
But either a little bit of a dip when we roll in it just depends on where the party is
There was a big weekend everybody's kind of chilling after that and it was just a so-so experience
You know and so I think it just all depends on
First of all yourself if you're going to be going and meeting with other people and also some of the travelers or things that are going on
In the city and at the hostel at the time too. That's such a great point Mark
And I think people that haven't stayed at the hostel wouldn't understand that that the energy that's created by the people inside the hostel
Is so much of the experience and a lot of times. It's a staff. It's the owner
That's the manager that feeds that energy to the actual guest and the guest experience
So it is very much like that element of why do you go to that dive bar?
Why don't they go to the dive bar go with my friends to that dive bar and have a great time?
Yeah, so it's it's definitely got that type of energy to it that you're not going to capture on a hotel experience
No, and hotels are trying to do it as much as they can and they realize they're missing the experience
But I think it's a you know invitation is the best form of flattery in that way
So when you see hotels trying to mimic or copy the experience of a hostel
It's always very encouraging to me, but I think you hit the nail on the head there with that
All right, so now in your inspiration to create that experience
Within this hostel for those guests would you say that that's come from your raw experiences?
Traveling individually in the hostels that you know with that turned you from a hotelier to a hostile
Well, I think we all kind of start out as hoteliers
Yeah, that's the only way right you do right if you need a cheap one you go to Motel 6
Whatever you I don't know in those senses
I think the rest of the world is kind of ahead of us in that sense because they're been hostiling forever
You know and there's been hostels that exist here
You know for even over a hundred years, but just hasn't been a thing here, you know, and it's a little bit more
You know the experience
That I had was really eye-opening and kind of life-changing
I think a lot of people that do ever hostile they kind of get that experience and feel it. So
basically how that translates coming into hostels kind of make this a lifelong pursuit now is
You know my I imagine like I was when I was traveling that every person walking through that doors on the greatest trip of their life
That's okay. How do we help that? How do we help enhance that? How do we help facilitate and make that?
The best part of their trip we might not be that right the guests or the I mean ourselves the staff or the
Facilities or something like that, but if we can help facilitate them meeting people that kind of fit those needs
I mean, that's a beautiful thing to be a part. That is words of wisdom from Mark Johnson
Yeah, a shot Boston. We will be returning shortly after this read of sponsorship
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Welcome back to hostile road trip our episode now is in Boston, Massachusetts
With hi manager Mark Johnson. Thanks for being with us. It's me here. All right now we're gonna dive into the
hot topics of the trending issues within the industry of hostiling and
discuss some of the challenges in running a hostile and some of the
challenges that we're going to be discussing today
and discuss some of the challenges in running a hostile and some of the issues that we face on a daily basis
Something that this podcast is trying to achieve is hostile awareness
Within the American industry as it has a bad perception with a lot of the millennial demographic in Americans in general
I've been working in the industry for ten years and I still have friends that when I tell them I'm working in a hostile
They have no idea what it is. They ask me if I need help
Yeah
Such a cool experience of working for hi for the past ten years in
Multiple different spots across the country during a ten-year period where I think there's been the most action going on in the industry
Within America, there's a lot of growth. There's a lot of big hotel players getting into it and it shows that there's potential
But what would you say the?
perception of the American
Backpacker particular that millennial demographic. Have you seen it?
Improve have you seen it stay the same? What is your overall impression of it?
So I think like you know, we've talked about before I think a lot of people don't necessarily know that hostels exist in United States
Something you do elsewhere, right?
But we do exist here the sharing aspect can be off-putting to some Americans, you know as we see everybody
With the freeways full of cars and one person in each one, you know type of thing
That's kind of like going to the hotel and shutting your door and not talking to anybody. Yeah, so it's a it's a social enterprise
I think to be honest hostiling kind of fits right in line with
millennial ideals and looking for a lot more
Social enterprise here in the rapids. Yeah, exactly and those types of things
So I think the perception is changing and evolving yet
And and that's why you're seeing kind of a lot of larger players adapting a little bit to that adding more
Social aspects. I agree to put it in something that you know, we've been trying to
publicize a lot and also make a
Correlation that sometimes the millennial gets stumped by is they'll say to us well, you know
The hostiling thing sounds interesting
But I'm not interested in staying in a room with a stranger that I don't know it's a stranger and I'll say then well
You're interested in getting a ride from that stranger via Uber or Lyft
How different are we talking to you know, how much you exposing yourself more and you know, that's a big thing that in a hurdle
I think psychologically that needs to be overcome
But maybe you could tell us a bit about the measures that are taking
Within the hostile industry and within your own hostile of how you protect that experience and make sure people are safe because that is such
Obviously a bedrock foundation of the good experience
We always tell our people you got the best activities the most fun events plan
But if it's not clean and safe, they're not enjoying it, you know
They're they're either checking out or they're in their bed leave a bad Yelper view. Yeah, they're not engaged
So how do you go about protecting that experience and making sure it's safe and secure for your guests?
Yeah, so a variety of things right so we're just as safe as secure and if you know
One of the things we kind of talk about people kind of coming in
And hostiling this kind of general is that we're a travel enterprise, right travel and experience right and social enterprise
I mean all those things right all these great things for people coming together, right?
we're not necessarily we're not a place to live, right we're not kind of a
Paid for shelter type of situation. Okay enough that those are negative things
but we are for travelers that are coming to visit and
See a place and meet together and have these experiences, right?
Yeah, so being a travel enterprise and a social enterprise
We have a variety of things that we do to ensure safety. I mean obviously key cards locking systems stuff like that
We kind of educate the staff kind of the guests kind of coming in and the staff
How to talk to hostilers and a variety of things that you know, we're in a major metropolitan area
So elements exist in every major city that are going to exist here, right?
Just kind of be aware of your surroundings and those types of things you are in shared accommodation
So in the rooms even themselves each person has their own locker that they can lock up. Yeah, right
You are in shared accommodations, but so is everybody else
And then also I also say it's a lot of hospitals have private rooms
And a lot of people don't understand that either if you can get the social experience and have all the fun
And you can go back to your private room and as a person who's in you know
Pushing that 35 limit and as we always talk about, you know, the demographics 18 to 30 or 35
You know, it is still there as an experience and I might be more likely to book a private room now
But I still like to go into the events or down to the bar and socialize. So there is a variety of
Options you can also rent out the entire dorm room for all your friends so that you don't have to stay with any strangers
If you're not comfortable, so we encourage people to give it a try maybe in those formats
And ease their way into the experience
But that's that's some great topics that people can feel comforted by now within the industry
I think it's an encouraging thing a lot of hostile operators have been
Intimidated by it
but as we see these hotels like Hilton and
Marriott making brands like Moxie and flux to try to replicate the hostile experience and then we have Airbnb
Which is it's such a big new player on the block in the the hotel OTA service
That also you see the Airbnb experiences now coming about and it's very much replicating
What's missing there in comparison to a hostile experience? What do you think about Airbnb?
Do you look at it as a an enemy? Do you use it within your hostile as a booking site? How do you work with it?
We don't use it as a booking site yet. I I'm not against that and I'm not against Airbnb. I think
You know, we have a unique situation here. My perspective might not be typical
I guess I think when Airbnb came on the scene the hotels really got little punch in the stomach
Wake up call. Yeah for that and they got really hit
I don't see a lot of fluctuation with what we're doing and I think it could be a nice
Kind of gateway experience into the hostile because you go stay at someone's house. Maybe the cleanliness isn't there
You don't know necessarily right? You're going off over views
Stuff right those that we were talking about
But you're still there on your own. Yes, you know what I mean? So you're missing the social part
So you took a little step and tried the Airbnb. I'm done. I think everybody probably has tried it
It's a cool thing. You go out with a group of friends, but you're hanging out
You know the people stuff like that the piece that's missing is the social part, right?
And so that could be a nice turn. Hey, we tried this it worked out
Okay, let's go check the hostel next time and then meet everybody, you know and have these experiences
So I don't see them as an enemy
I see them as a nice kind of
alternative and gateway for other people that are kind of dipping their toe into the into the more unique and local experiences and then
transitioning into
The hostile experience as well for the social aspects. That's really cool
You know we haven't heard that in between thought there kind of Airbnb as the gateway drug to a hostile
I try it out
I think that's really cool way to look at we as operators at it
Hostels we use Airbnb and we were one of the first ones to use it within the hostel
We remember working with Airbnb
Six seven years ago and talk well
No, I need four beds in the same room
You know so but they worked with us and it's it's been a great driving booking force for us
So we've been always been on well, we don't look at us. We look at it as another OTA
Now different cities though vary in opinion based on the municipality zoning laws with yeah
If it's free game for Airbnb you find the operators a little more looking at as the enemy
Whereas if it's a little more restricted to commercial areas and things like that, it may be a little bit more of an ally
In this city of Boston, how is Airbnb being treated? So
You know, I think it was just kind of new for everybody at first right and so a lot of cities kind of are kind of
Catching up to that right? I think there does need to be standards
It's not yet
At the same time what they're seeing is a lot of corporate companies buying up a lot of residential properties and running them out of Airbnb
That's the part I'm not excited about yes, then what's the difference if you have no regulations?
But it's these companies running these things. There should be some connection between hey, there needs to be standards and certain things
Yeah, you know some people written up their their house or their condo for the weekend and they go away and managing me
Can I like that?
Yeah, but companies just kind of manipulating this scenario
Those are kind of challenging. We saw that in San Diego and they
Pass the law. Yeah, yeah going back to the owner has to live on site. Yeah
In all it takes really is one unfortunate incident like a fire or something happened like well, you don't have sprinklers
You don't have safety measures. You know
Yeah
Well, and you know some of those things where people had come to the house and the person was
Scrupulous. Yes certain things. Some of those have been out
Absolutely. Now, what about Boston as a city in its viewpoint towards hostels?
A lot of times and as we've traveled and spoken to a lot of operators and potential operators
Sometimes some cities just outright won't acknowledge a hostile
We saw in New York City a few years back ban all of them except H I believe
How is Boston as a city working with hostels friendly for us has been very friendly. Okay, but we also
Try to give back to the community that I'm not just here running a business
Fantastic tell us more about that because that's an important part of hostels. So yeah, absolutely
So with the high and our mission right to help all especially the young gain a greater understanding the world and its people, right?
That also means the communities that the hostels are in. Okay a few of our programs
great hostile give back
the
Sleep for peace event and also explore the world's scholarships give back to communities, right?
We also invite communities in on an event basis
To experience the hostile mix with the guests and those types of things as well. That's it
And so, you know, we try to connect with the local communities as well while facilitating the travel community
So important to have the local residents really be a fan of a hostile and you know
We're seeing a lot where the hostels are really a community hub for world travelers
Where if you're living in the local area, you can tell your friend who's coming in to you know
I'm just going to stay at the hostel. It's a great place where you can you know, obviously meet travelers
Yes, have a good experience
Yeah
And I absolutely hit on such an important point for all hostile operators listening out there if you want to improve your image within
the city or the neighborhood
Engage in these type of activities and community outreach and let them find out the organic way through seeing your facility
Visiting your facility that you are not what the perception lies out there to be a lot of the time for sure
Yeah, and so with even our explore the world scholarships, that's a $2,000 scholarship. We gave away eight of those last year
to a variety of communities
So disadvantaged communities that wouldn't have been able to travel
Oh, that's so cool
So we're trying to grow that program as well and give more of those
Yeah, I think HI is always a great model for all hostels in that way of you've been around for so long
And you've had some of these cool initiatives that other hostels can look to you as a format example to do a lot of these things
I hope so, yeah
As we talked about before some bigger players get into the game
Generator hostels, although they're dropping the name hostile
Which is an interesting part of the hostile awareness and perception image and then we've got moxie
Which is opening up actually right down the street from you
How do you feel about these hotel style operators getting into the niche into the market and competing with them as well?
How do you know how you're gonna take down the moxie over there?
You know, I don't know we're looking to take them down. It's a different
Form of competition and I think it's the kind of the very
You know well endowed
Hoteliers that are kind of you know noticing the trends of the Millennials kind of coming through
That'll be an interesting experiment to see if it works. I still think
you know
By far and I would say hi and me in general, you know, I'm not embarrassed to say hostile, right? Right?
I love it. I embrace it. I think we're very different from a hotel
So I don't want people mistaking us for that because the experience is night and day different. Yes
I know anytime I'm traveling I'm going to a hostel. I'm thinking of the people I'm meeting in the hostel
What adventures we're gonna get in the cool activities and things I'm gonna learn from them, right? Every time I go to a hotel
I'm not thinking about the hotel. Mm-hmm. I'm thinking about maybe what I'm gonna do in the city
Very much true. I'm not thinking about the place. I'm saying that's a very good point
Absolutely. Yeah, you hit the nail on the head there. I would say that that's a very good point
Well, this episode's like a this episode's like a fine bottle of whiskey. It just gets smoother with every sip here
All right, so we're gonna take a short break and we'll be back with Mark Johnson from the HI Boston
All right, and now quickly over to another one of our sponsors
Thank you so much hostel management forum for your love and support on the road and look forward to having all episodes streamed on your platform
Where other industry related issues can be discussed and learned?
Welcome back to Hostel Road trip where HI Boston with Mark Johnson. Thanks so much for being with us today
We've had a great episode so far and we're looking to dive into a little bit more about your facility in the operational
Strategies of what makes your hostel great now
We've all stayed here personally before which is really cool because sometimes we're on the road and we're meeting these people for the first time
And we're taking a little tour of their facility
But to actually stay there when they didn't know that you were coming beforehand
You really get the raw authentic experience and as I was telling you a little bit before the show
I found myself just kind of sitting back and all sometimes of watching the size and scope of the operation
Whilst how smoothly it was running so I think all hostel operators owners managers that have tried to expand or going through an expansion
You realize those challenges. How do you have more people without losing intimacy?
How do you have more people without being able to focus on guest issues the way you used to when it was 40 or 50 beds?
So it's something that's been very impressive in watching is that operation?
And the logistics of how you execute such a large shop now within that shop you have multiple different demographics
How do you cater to the old traveler the young traveler the solo traveler group traveler?
How do you make everyone happy?
That's a great question, I don't know if there's one answer
I don't know if you can necessarily reach everybody sure I think if you run a
An operation and activities and events that's kind of catered to a general sense and even more specific if they're socially minded
Type of things have a learning aspect to them, but still kind of have a fun upbeat
Feel to them you're doing pretty good right yeah
I think just in general one of the beautiful things about a hostile right is this huge melting pot of people from all different
demographics and countries and age groups that come together and are able to have this common thread of travel between them right and
That connects them to be able to open up and meet and and have experiences and adventures with each other
Where as even if you took these same people and they lived in the same city probably wouldn't even meet each other
Or have the opportunity to talk to each other yeah, so this is a it's not something you control
That's something you kind of harness because we're just kind of pulse in here. Yeah, I mean this is something you just kind of yeah
Yeah
That's such a great point because I think if you try to control it too much you can ruin it
Yeah, and you can drive yourself crazy
control it
It's so much more of a harnessing or a cultivating or setting up the opportunity for and letting it roll
So many times you see a traveler coming by themselves
And then they find themselves with a completely different itinerary because they met someone or a group and now we're going to New York together
And now my whole travel has changed, and it just wouldn't happen at any other setting than that beautiful authentic hostile experience
now
Breakfast I talked a bit about before I said it compared it to the Ford assembly line of making a mom tea
You just see all these people rushing it at the same time
They're all getting a wide array of foods far better than a continental breakfast at a hotel
And it's getting done seamlessly without a problem
How many people do you serve breakfast to on average in the morning?
You know in the summer times gonna be upwards of 300. I mean, that's significant
Yeah, yeah, then the offseason just depends on who kind of rolls through but that kind of gives you a testament to the amazing staff
That's here, and you know
comparing it, you know to the Michael Jordan makes it look easy right, but it's a lot of work and organization and and
Kind of putting things together
To make it run that smooth. You know as much as possible right it's still it's destroyed after breakfast
But I think you put a good point on it you make it look easy
But if you are an operator or someone who's tried to execute a breakfast like that even for 20 or 30 people
You know how difficult it is and how many things go wrong and how easily you can
Make someone who is gonna leave you a good review now leave with the average you because their last taste of the place was not
A good one. Yeah, you know so it's so sad to see that so it really is a you should be commended
You and your staff to be able to execute such volume with precision on a daily basis
And that was something I made sure I didn't miss the breakfast
Because I knew I could get loaded up for the day and you know be off on my way
So it was definitely a great experience there now we talked about the wide range that your
Hostel caters do and I think it's very important to listeners and to potential hostile operators out there that you don't
Typecast yourself too much into being known as the party hostile or the youth hostile as a lot of them have been called and so many
Of our best guests have been 70 or 80 year old people you see hopping up on the top bunk
And you're like oh my god. I can do that when I'm that age, but what type of guests would you say this hostile caters do?
You know to be honest we try to cater to everybody but the demographics and the statistics are about 80 to 85%
Of our overnights are 18 to 30 18 30 18 to 30 yeah, and
You know but you still see the
85 year old grandma traveling as you become a lifelong host or and that's a beautiful thing
You know and we're wide open to that and you know a lot of people were even touching on the safety aspect
They like the social they like being around people and so safer for them than going and closing the door if someone finds you
Or if someone followed them in their hotel room type of thing
I don't hear people out about that, but the social aspect and being around people feels good
You feel connected and you feel yeah
And I think that's a great point to a lot of times people who are trying to get over that hurdle another I gave the uber
Example earlier, but they're saying hey, I'm staying in a six-bed dorm this five other strangers
What if one of them's crazy there's four other people in there that are yeah
And that's a very good safety and numbers point that a lot of times
Just having that strength in numbers or that crowd that vibe all the time to organically that energy will weed out with that apple
Yeah, or the wolf amongst the sheep
And you won't even have to worry about it because that person learns that this just isn't gonna fly here
So I think that's important for listeners to realize on that
Here a question with being such a you know large hostel
What is it like as far as running it as day-to-day manager to you know?
Have such great attention to detail in your shoes like how do you find your day?
What's an average day for you?
You know that I think that's the beauty of why I'm in this too right there is an average day
As you were talking about we understand and little fires come up all the time
You know I don't think there's ever a day. I didn't want to come to work. That's
Yeah, and it's exciting. I think people that don't kind of have the hostel
The thing that kind of grabbed them when they connected with the hostile won't last in the industry very long
Yeah, because you have to write to ride the waves and the ups and downs and have these
Incredible things, but you know you need to hire the right staff right? I mean that's that's critical right so I'm people
I do at least meet every single person that is brought on a management team. That's fantastic
AGM that's fantastic housekeeping front desk. We also have an engagement team here, so one is
Melanie she does engagements all the activities and events you see on the board out here. They have an education coordinator and also now a
Public affairs manager, so connecting with the community, so
trying to get all these things into place and
Really putting systems into place so people know what their role is and know what to do and know what they need to do at a
Certain time yeah at some points in the summer it can feel like you're hurting a lot of people
I mean we're we can get up to 470 at our max
Which is a lot yeah?
That's gonna be one of the most incredible
Pretty close. I think there's a few others in New York
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
Yeah, and then you just you know you still try to get those intimate experiences
So even the layout of the hostel with the smaller kind of breakout little cubbies and stuff
It gets you more intimate not just big huge halls that are gonna be filled with 500 people
You know and then the group events and activities you know you get anywhere from 10 to 30 sometimes for sometimes
They get a little bigger than that
But then the group leaders try to facilitate people meeting each other in those senses then you're having a little more intimate experience
And it's not like I said based on the staff trying to manage a hundred people
It's everybody if the hostile mentality and socializing aspect breaking off into these little kind of groups and meeting each other
That's great advice on how to set up your hostels layout for a 470
Volume location to see that you don't get that overwhelming feeling of being so many in one room
And I also think that you made another profound point of you know in the hostile industry your staff can be your greatest asset
Your greatest liability they can make your life beautiful or they can drive you nuts
Yeah, it's so true, and I always get the analogy of you know
You're a good hostile manager with a good operation
You can take your hands off the wheel and let it roll and nothing you know to start falling apart on that
So I think that that's great advice for anyone listening
That's trying to build a good team who you surround yourself with it's gonna be a large impact on how you perform
All right, so we're gonna take a quick break, and then we're gonna come back and close up with Mark Johnson at H I Boston
Thanks so much for listening. We'll be back shortly
Welcome back to hostile road trip we're here with Mark Johnson from H.I. Boston
It's just been an absolute pleasure
Covering topics will be ranging from guest experience to hostile operations in the city of Boston
And that's where we kind of want to close out here is to just hear what you guys have to say about the hostels
And what you guys have to say about the hostels and what you guys have to say about the hostels
And the city of Boston and that's where we kind of want to close out here is to just hear a little bit more
About the potential guest experience from your particular location here located in Chinatown in Boston
What they could expect if maybe they had a day to kill or something that you would say is one of the things they can't miss
As far as events attractions and things to enjoy within the city here around your location
Absolutely, you know when everybody's experience is unique
But if you're coming to Boston, there's a this is a great little gem of a city to come visit from the historical aspect
And all the history that's taking place here for American history on museums the schools incredible universities
I think Massachusetts has 140 some universities of the most in the United States
so academic backgrounds as well as a you know, great food scene clean city and
Incredible park system as well. So we're about two blocks from the Boston Common, which is the Central Park area
A lot of historical aspects that have taken place there
Freedom Trail, which is actually a bricks trail throughout the city
You can go walk and see a bunch of the historical aspects of the city, which is fantastic
incredible
Sports teams that are here that everybody obviously knows
Boston is a true sports town on game days
You'll see everybody in the city in their variety of gear whether it be, you know Patriots or Red Sox
Or Bruins those those those teams for sure at Celtics. Absolutely
so now and
We've stayed here personally, which is great to kind of give some straight raw feedback to the listeners
It's a fantastic location and one of the things that we really enjoyed was the ease of getting here
We took the train from Providence got into South Station a short walk over and it was fantastic
You can carry in your bags. You don't even break a sweat. So where else could you I mean you obviously get from New York City
From Washington, Philly get to South Station from all these places, right? I think from most places
Yeah, I mean it's really kind of a central artery
Of the train system in the Northeast
So if you're on the Northeast backpacker trail be sure to make HI Boston one year stops
because if you you miss up you're missing out and we once again want to thank Mark Johnson so much for taking the time to be with us and
Sharing your insights and your experience and your wisdom and knowledge
I think this is going to be one of our finer episodes that we record on the road here and of course
Robert Dyer my partner from ITH Hostels
This is episode number four, but we're looking forward to many more and we're onward to New Hampshire next
Thanks so much. You guys this has been a fantastic and ask me for the next trip
Until next episode. Thanks so much