Welcome back to the Hostel Road Trip podcast.
We are with Diego at the Sidney City Hostel in Las Vegas.
Very excited to be here.
A lot to hear about exciting things happening at the Sidney City.
Big changes.
I want to hear about what's going on in Vegas.
I want to hear about your journey and let's get into it.
I always just love to hear how managers and owners got into this position they're in.
What was your journey and path that led you to hostiling and your experience that made
you want to do this as a job and a career?
How did that go for you?
I never thought about that in my life.
It was just a way to save money to come to Vegas.
I never heard about hostels in Brazil.
I'm from Brazil.
So I was an electrical engineer in Brazil for 10 years.
I was assembling robots and machines and after 10 years I got tired.
I decided to quit my job there and I started a new life here in Vegas.
So I applied in the World Packers to be a volunteer here for two months to save money,
to rent a place, to find a job here.
But I like the hostel.
I like the vibe here and I asked to the owner if it was possible to stay longer here and
said yeah for sure.
So when I arrived here I started helping them as a volunteer and after two months they said
okay we're going to stay longer so we're going to teach you how to work in reception.
So I started to learn the steps.
I worked in reception for one year, one and a half years.
And since January I manage the place now.
Wow!
That's super cool that a lot of times within this industry you do find people that had
previous jobs or skill sets or education that you never would have guessed.
Like electrical engineers and engineers and lawyers and stock traders, all kinds of different
walks of life that can find their path here through a lot of interesting ways.
For a previous episode with the housing hostels, those guys were into real estate and through
purchasing a spot.
That's how they found out about hostels and ran with it from there and very quickly they
won a hostel.
And it's cool to hear that you had no idea what a hostel was, found yourself into the
position of housekeeping and then over a short period of time here you are running the spot.
Yeah and I was not expecting that.
I never heard about that and it's totally different than what I studied.
For 10 years I was in factories, in a closed place and too much pressure.
And now I manage the place and I have fun now.
I'm enjoying with the guests, new cultures every day.
I love it.
Awesome.
Probably I'm going to do this for a long time.
Oh, I'm happy to hear that.
That's great to hear.
How about the story of Sin City?
How did you know the back story of the hostel there at Sin City?
How it got started and a little bit about that?
The owner of the building is the same owner of the business.
So she bought this building in 1987 and she rent to a company and they opened a motel
here.
After 13 years they got tired because they were working 24 hours.
So they quit here.
They left.
So the owner thought about, okay, so I'm going to open my own hostel.
So in the end of 2002 she closed the building and she renovated everything here.
She put AC in the motel, didn't have AC.
And in Vegas it's so hot.
It's crazy.
Imagine if we talk AC here.
So she put this, she broke the walls.
She paint all the building.
She put restrooms, she pumbling stuffs, electrical stuffs.
And after one year she opened her own hostel.
It was called Las Vegas Independent hostel.
And her husband was managing for 10 years.
And after that, I guess you know Jason?
Jason started to manage here.
Jason managed the spot for 10 years and he's a good guy.
He's a good one.
And he was going to convention every year in Europe and here.
And he improved many stuffs here in the hostel.
Like he put the Galky, cloud bed system before it was just in paper.
He was trying to automate everything here.
And he created the website, everything.
They didn't have this before.
So the hostel got very, very good reviews about these things.
So they worked very well for 10 years.
But in the last year they had some issues.
He would like to open a bar here.
But the owner, the other owner didn't agree with that.
So they started to discuss a lot about that.
So in the end of the year he left the hostel.
And she said to me, because I was the oldest here, working here, she invited me if I would
like to help her.
So I'm helping her until now so far.
Nice.
That's great.
Tell us, we normally like to be in person for these hostel road trip podcast episodes.
But since we're not there in person, can you walk us through your hostel a little bit?
Like how many rooms you have?
What is the layout like?
What is kind of the virtual walkthrough?
How would you explain your hostel?
Here we are more a party hostel because we are in Vegas.
So here people come to enjoy it, the city.
And we help them to get in for free in the parties, the nightclubs.
They see most of the famous DJs here in Vegas for free.
So when they arrive here in the hostel, they see, oh, there is a guest list for they enjoy
the city.
And they make good reviews about that.
They love the party.
They come here to enjoy this.
We offer free games for them for free.
We have a small common area that will be open 8 a.m. and we close 11 p.m.
But we have another huge common area in the party that is 24 hours.
They can smoke, they can drink there outside.
And we offer barbecue for them on Saturdays.
We have pasta night sometimes, free breakfast, free coffee, almond milk, tea the whole day.
They can sometimes they ask for extra breakfast we provide for them.
And they have free towels.
They have a locker they can put their stuff.
We have 58 beds.
We don't have private rooms, just shared rooms.
Yeah, we have two female dorms.
And this the six other dorms are mixed.
One with six beds, others with eight beds.
Interesting.
And then there's what two other hostels in Las Vegas?
Yeah, there's the three hostels are here in the same block.
It's three doors down here.
And there are one another one in front of Bangalore.
It calls the postal and is inside the hotel is like a half hotel and half hostel.
The difference between us and Bangalore, the price is the same, the rates are the same.
The difference that they accept locals, and we just accept travelers.
We don't accept Nevada ID here.
Okay, so everyone here are in the same vibe.
Everyone here are here in Vegas just for a few days to enjoy the city to get crazy to
do crazy stuffs and leave for the next city.
When we know they come here to work, we don't accept them.
If they are here for more than 14 nights, we don't accept as well.
Maximum stay here is 14 nights.
Yeah, that's great.
Keep that traveler vibe.
Yeah, yeah.
How do you compete against all the you know, Vegas is such an interesting market with all
the cheap hotels and casinos and some places are free, you know, or $1 a night.
How do you how do you guys really try to be different and draw on travelers with that
kind of competition?
Yeah, it's hard for us because here I guess is the city with the most rooms in the United
States.
Yeah.
And and sometimes the hotels here are cheaper than here.
But people who knows about hostels, they come here, they know what hostel is they prefer
to stay here.
Americans, they don't have this culture, but Europeans, they have it and so they come to
hostel work and they check their reviews, they compare.
Okay, I go to say city to enjoy there.
I want to make friends.
Sometimes we had guests they book it in scissors policy.
They paid $300 a night.
They paid for the whole week and they come here just for two nights to meet people is
more about experience than cheap room for them.
Right?
Yeah, I think we have people around the world here every day, different cultures.
And in a hotel, you're going to get bored there.
And here we give so much tips for them enjoy Vegas for free.
If they stay in a hotel, they have no idea about it.
Yeah, I always like to make that point that if you're if people are staying at your hostel
because it's cheap, in the cheapest option, that's the wrong reason.
You want people staying at your house because of the experience in that experience you're
going to get that's not a hotel.
That's when you know you've got a good hostile crowd and a good hostile operation running.
Because if it's only for the budget, then it's not running as a hostile because they're
not there for that experience.
So I think it's so important with that.
Now I did have a question with the the operation you're running with the 58 beds.
How many work exchange members do you have on site?
Like what team do you have to help run you this place?
We have three in reception.
Me and two more staff and but the rest everyone are volunteers.
The people help us cleaning with housekeeping.
Our two volunteers a day cleaning the rooms.
And there's someone help us with social media.
They are volunteer as well.
And when we need like a guide tour, or like, let's move.
We had a magician here.
And he was teaching magic lessons for the guests.
Like I always put in word packs disposition, bring your talent to to see city hostel and
stay here for free.
So every month we have different activities with the guests depend on the volunteers.
But normally we have six volunteers a week.
And minimum minimum stay here for the volunteers is two weeks, maximum four weeks.
Oh, yeah.
So they are traveling.
Yeah, they are the same vibe.
Yeah, so they enjoyed the guests as well.
They're going to party together.
They know they spots here and they bring the guests to their.
Yeah, such a good point.
And then in that model, you know, a lot of people like, oh, my God, they're leaving every
four weeks and they're only staying two weeks.
I know from having this debate is there on there for two weeks, you know, how much did
you train them before they leave?
And then because they're only staying for you're always training them.
But I like and love your point of keeping that vibe as travelers, because it's not really
made for someone to stay long term.
So if you try to force it, it's not good for anyone.
The person's not going to be happy that's doing the work exchange because eventually
they're going to get burned out and the surroundings around them are going to start to become more
of a nuisance than an enjoyment.
And they're going to really change the vibe of the operation because they live there.
So it's really an interesting model to go with the two in the four week.
But I see why you do it and understand how that can keep things fresh and keep the expectations
where they should be.
So yeah, and people try to stay longer.
Please make exception for us.
I like this hospital.
I don't know.
But yeah, but after a few days, they start to get used.
They start to feel at home and they start to abuse.
They start to do stuffs.
They don't have to do it.
Yeah.
Oh, I'm here for a long time.
They know me so I can do a regular one.
But it's not like that.
And then they set the bad example for the new ones coming in and set the tone and it
can get real bad, real fast and then hard to change.
So I like your scenario there.
And it is an interesting thing of how when they first come to do the exchange, they're
very much looking to contribute to the experience and be a part of it.
And then as the time goes on, the longer it is, the more that they're not contributing
and more they're taking.
And as you said, abusing that relationship.
So that's a wise words and an interesting way to get around that.
So good thing there.
Do you live on site yourself?
Yeah, I live here in the hostel as well.
That was about that a bit more.
How are you finding that experience?
That's very unique.
Yeah, when I arrived here, I was sharing the volunteer room and I never shared nothing
in my life.
Oh, wow.
Totally new for me.
But I got used to that.
I stay in the same room for one year sharing with messy people, weird people.
But I enjoy it.
Now in the hostel, there is not so much people.
I get bored.
I want to see people here.
I want to enjoy with them.
I want to talk to them every day.
So now I have my own room here.
But I like to come here downstairs every day and talk to the guests.
Even my day is off.
I go out with them and I show the city to them.
I show normally spots they don't see on the internet.
They're hiding spots.
They have no idea about it.
I show free stuff that they can do it that normally they don't know about it.
So they save a lot of money staying here with us.
That's amazing.
You didn't know what hostels were before you got there.
What has hostels taught you in life?
What have you learned from now getting exposure to the hostel industry and hostels as a business?
What did it open your eyes up to?
I've heard many similar stories like people like me quit the job after 30s and they don't
know what to do with their life.
They are traveling for three months, six months to find themselves.
It's crazy that I know people around the world.
Probably if I was in another job, I couldn't find these kind of people.
And now I have friends around the world and they always invite me.
If you go to my country, you have free accommodation.
So if one day you want to travel for one year, I don't have to spend money.
Always a great thing with a hostel manager, the whole world comes to you every day.
You meet all kinds of great people.
You make great relationships.
And very rarely when you pay for accommodations again when you travel, you'll always have
the best tour guide from the country.
So it's a great advantage to the job.
Bob and I had jobs where you would stick in a cubicle and do that type of thing of finance
and law firms.
So that's another experience that I know you had working in a factory and manufacturing
and engineering.
Once you have that type of experience, it makes you really appreciate the hostiling
experience a lot more.
Yeah.
Now I enjoy it.
Like before, I didn't like the Mondays.
But here for me, it doesn't matter if it's Mondays or Sundays or holidays.
I like to work.
I like to enjoy with the guests here.
Yeah.
When it doesn't work.
Yeah, that's when you're onto something.
And I can drink in the meantime with the guests.
That's nice, right?
Yeah, it's the most important.
Yeah.
I was curious about your layout.
Now you said you had 58 dorms.
Is there a reason why you don't have any private rooms?
Like, do you feel there's, you know, hostile travelers that would enjoy the experience
but want a private room?
Or is there a reason why you guys don't have any private rooms?
It's because here in Vegas, they have a thousand and thousand private rooms.
Right.
And they pay like a hundred dollars to stay in a fancy hotel for a night in a private
room.
And we're going to charge a hundred dollars here and they're not going to pay for that
because we are like a small hostel.
People who want a private room here in Vegas, they want to stay in a fancy hotel here.
They have food, they have stuff there to do.
But here we make more money only with shared rooms.
We feel charged.
It's hard when someone can hear and ask for private rooms.
Normally they don't ask.
They come walking just know about shared rooms.
So don't work for us because everywhere here sometimes it's cheaper than the private room
there than the shared rooms here.
So much hotels here in Vegas.
Right.
Yeah, it's a different, every destination is so different.
So it's great for you guys kind of focusing in on what you can offer.
What about co-living?
Have you guys find any like remote workers, digital nomads looking to, I don't know, have
extended stays in Vegas or?
When?
Like co-living.
I know you said you have 14 day limits.
Have you guys ever thought about having like a co-living room for like long-term digital
nomads that want to live in Vegas for a couple months or what is, I know each destination
is different, but what is your experience with that in Vegas?
Like when is this high season here is from May to October.
After that in November, December, January, we have like five guests a week, a day.
We don't have so much.
So we tried in the past to make a section.
Okay.
Stay here 21 days or 30 days, but we got the issues.
Always when we try to make exceptions, we got the issues.
Yeah.
It's tricky.
So we decide like in the beginning, they are nice.
They are friendly.
They help us.
But after a few days, they get crazy.
They start to bring people here.
They are not allowed to bring people here.
They think they are at home.
So they start to make a mess on the bed.
Here we don't have 24 hours of reception.
So they think they can come here 24 hours.
Yeah, better just focus on the house with this.
Yeah.
So we decide don't do this anymore.
We tried.
Only in COVID, they did that.
Like people stayed here for six months because they couldn't come back to their country because
the airports were closed.
So they did this exception for six months.
But after that, I tried last year, but it didn't work out.
So I decided no, never mind.
Never again.
Gotcha.
What are you guys going into the high season?
What are you guys focusing on to try to be your best?
What does the future hold this summer for Sin City?
And what are you guys focusing on to sell beds?
Yeah, like now just started the high season last weekend.
It was the EGC Festival.
It's the biggest festival here in Vegas and like 400,000 people in Vegas.
We are sold out here and you had the barbecue on Friday and on Saturday for the guests,
1pm before the festival.
Then pregame, get drunk here and leave to the festival.
So we offer hamburgers, vegan hamburgers, hot dogs, snacks, and free alcohol for them.
And they made friends here.
Oh, you're going to the festival?
Yeah, me too, me too.
So everyone here worked for the festival.
So they went to the festival together.
So now, from now, we're going to start to make barbecues every Saturday until October.
Maybe they make a good review about us because of that.
We offer free breakfast and free alcohol and free barbecue on Saturdays and pasta night
on Thursdays.
Nice.
Now, we're going to start some renovations here in the hostel.
We are just waiting for the city permit to start the construction.
We're going to change the reception.
We're going to change the floor.
We're going to paint the building inside.
Now we have this temporary reception here.
But in the future, it's going to go back to front.
We're going to change the windows.
We're going to change the doors there in front of.
What was your reason for the adjustments?
What was the purpose?
Because it was an old building there, like everything old.
The ceramic is broken.
So also, we're going to put vending machines there.
We never had before.
So we're going to put two vending machines, one with soda, another with stuff that normally
they ask for like small shampoos or small soaps.
We're going to sell these kinds of stuff for travelers.
And also, here in this area, it's going to turn into a kitchen.
And in another common area, in another kitchen that we have it, we're going to turn it into
another room.
And in this new room, we're going to put 10 beds with plugs, lights, and curtains.
Oh, nice.
Yeah, so we're going to start to do this every room, one room a month.
So first, we're going to start with reception, one room, another room.
So I hope until the end of the year, we are done with everything.
That's a good idea.
And also, here in Vegas, I don't know your city, but here in Vegas, they have a program.
The city helped us provide $25,000 to improve in front of the hostel.
To paint the outside of the building.
You can ask the city to help you with that, and they give you the money.
So we are waiting for that.
So if they do this for us, we're going to improve our sidewalk, our patio.
We're going to paint outside.
We're going to do more graffiti outside as well.
We're going to change the gate.
And the city helped this because it's downtown here.
So they want to improve the neighborhood.
So they help us with $25,000.
So now we are in the process waiting for this money.
So we're going to do many stuff this year here.
That's awesome.
It's always a good thing to research and look for those types of grants and opportunities
within your respective cities and states.
There are some cool ones out there that they're happy to give and want you to be a part of
and it can be a great benefit.
So that's really cool that you guys are doing that and be able to give it a nice facelift.
I was curious.
I remember with Jason, in talking with him years ago, he used to say that there were
competing hostels that would charge a resort fee just because all the other hotels were
charging a resort fee.
Is that something you all do over there as hostels?
In the Bangalores, they do that, but we don't do it.
It's funny to have a resort fee.
Yeah.
I don't know why they charge that because they don't have even a pool there.
Yeah.
And we don't do that because we read some bad reviews about that in hostel words.
Some guests complain about that, say this is illegal.
They cannot do that.
And Jason and me, we never charge this resort fee.
I think it's not fair for the guests.
I agree.
Yeah.
I think that's great that you guys have stuck to it.
Now you also mentioned that part of your activities that you give alcohol away for free.
And I know that you had mentioned that part of the tensions with Jason was that he was
trying to create a bar for sale, like where you would sell alcohol.
How do you give away the free alcohol?
Is that just like complimentary wine or something like that on a nightly basis?
We buy one bottle of vodka and one bottle of tequila, and we provide them shots.
Okay.
Oh, all right.
Yeah.
Because with that, yeah, we don't have license to sell alcohol here.
It's expensive to sell alcohol here.
So don't worry for us, open a bar because the license here is $10,000 just for the license.
Okay.
And we don't have enough guests for that to make money.
So we prefer offer free alcohol.
So they make good reviews about that and bring more guests.
Yeah.
It's a crazy vibe.
I think going back to what you were saying of those hostile travelers, especially in
Vegas, everybody wants to get the pregame going and then hit the strip or cruise the
casinos.
And that's great.
You guys understand that and focus on that.
I'm sure the guests appreciate that.
Yeah.
And always before parties, I send a message in the Gork for everyone.
Okay, pregame at 8 p.m. in the common area, come and get drunk and leave to party.
And many people show up, they make friends here and the group go to party together.
And also there's a 7-11 in the corner here.
If they want to drink a beer, they go there and they are allowed to drink here in the
common area.
Very nice.
What is the, for people coming out to Vegas, what do you think is the ultimate Vegas experience?
How would you, if we were, Jimmy and I were coming out there for a weekend, where would
the, what do you think we should see?
Here we are in downtown.
We are on the street, the main street, but we are in the end of the street.
There's bus running behind here.
So it's 15 minutes by bus to go to Cedar Palace.
But also we have Fremont Street here.
It's 10, 15 minutes walking.
And we always bring guests there.
They have the biggest LED screen in the world.
It's three blocks with a huge screen and they have concerts there for free, magicians, dancers,
and always free.
It's downtown.
It's beautiful to see during the night because of the light.
Also behind us here, three blocks behind us, we have Art Street.
It's more for locals.
So it's cheaper for them.
Have a dinner there, have some drinks there.
There are many bars and restaurants in this area and many graphites.
It's beautiful.
Also I bring guests to, I always explain them in the check-in.
Okay, go in this hotel.
Venetian is the best hotel in Vegas.
You're going to go inside, second floor.
You're going to see a river in the second floor with the gondolas, like the city in
Italy.
It's a huge hotel.
You're going to get lost for two hours because it's a huge hotel.
They don't show where is the entrance for you.
So that's funny.
That's cool.
Great tip there.
There's no windows or doors.
It's hard.
Even me, I still get lost sometimes.
After that, I say, okay, in front of Venetian, across the street, go to Caesar's Palace.
Caesar's Palace, you go to the third floor and there's many stuff to see there and you're
going to spend two more hours.
After Caesar's Palace, go to Bellagio.
You're going to see the fountains in front of Bellagio from 3 PM to midnight.
And after that, you can go inside Bellagio and they have a beautiful garden with natural
flowers.
And it's free to see it.
It's really beautiful.
So this, they spend one day doing this.
A freeman and these three hotels.
Nice.
Normally, they spend three, four days in Vegas.
It's enough to know the main attractions.
Also, they can see the sphere.
I tell them, this is a good spot to see the sphere.
And they go there and they take pictures.
They enjoy it.
The sphere is really, really nice to see.
And some hotels, I say, okay, this hotel is beautiful only outside.
Like the Luxor is the pyramid.
It's beautiful outside.
Inside, don't waste your time.
You can go to this hotel.
It's better than go there.
If you go to the Las Vegas sign, take Uber or take a bus here.
So we're expanding every day for the guests.
Always they ask about this kind of information.
Those are great tips.
Awesome.
Especially going into the different hotels and the different floors.
That's the kind of stuff that you want to get unless you stay at a hostel.
So great job.
And also they ask, oh, it's a shame that you guys don't have the pool.
I said, yeah, but you can enjoy all the pools here in Vegas for free.
You don't need to be a guest in the hotel.
So I give to them some tips how they can get in for free in the pool.
There you go.
That's a great tip there.
How to get into the hotel pool.
Now how about some, in closing, how about some tips you might give that aspiring hostel
manager or a new hostel manager about living on site and working at the job as a manager?
Like what advice or tips would you give to an on-site hostel manager?
You have to enjoy.
You have to be patient for this business.
You have to like it a lot because you're going to be available 24 hours.
The biggest problem comes to you and you have to be available to fix that.
It looks like you are working the whole time, 24 hours.
But if you are enjoying, you fix that problem and still enjoy the hostel.
You are at home.
It's good that you have your own room, but also it's good that you can share if you want
to with other people and talking to them the whole day.
And it's good for me that I didn't speak English before coming here.
And I learned it just talking with the guests.
And most of the time I stay here in the common area.
I don't stay in my room the whole day.
I like to stay in the common area making friends every day.
This is good for the manager to know the standards.
After one year, oh, this guy, this kind of guy, is this, this, they will have these issues.
Oh, this guy is nice.
So it's good to know the standards.
There are some countries where you already know what kind of problems you're going to
have living here.
Even when you're off, you are walking around the building and you see some stuffs.
Probably if you were not living here, you wouldn't see it.
Right.
Yeah.
I think that's some great points just for a person's self-check.
I look at hostel managers very much in that way from having the experience by yourself
and still living on site even in my capacity now.
If you find that experience that's going on to be a nuisance or something you're avoiding
or hiding in the room, it's not for you.
You should be wanting to engage, enjoying the experience you're creating.
And if it doesn't feel like work because you enjoy it so much, then all of those things
that would normally annoy you don't have annoyance.
So yeah, good feedback there.
And I guess the most important thing you have, you need a great team to help you.
You cannot manage everything.
You cannot do everything.
You need to give some responsibility for other people to help you.
And don't worry.
Don't mic-manage them.
And they do a good work for you.
They save you time.
And I have a great team here.
They helped me a lot.
I never had any issues with them.
They are very good and they are friendly and they talk to the guests and the guests make
good reviews about them as well.
Awesome.
Hey, well, thank you so much, Diego, for joining us.
Just another great episode.
And we're super excited to see what you're going to be doing over there at Sin City Hostel
under new management and all of those exciting projects that you've got working there.
I'll definitely pop in next time I'm in Vegas to see how things are going.
And thank you all for joining us for another episode of Hostel Road Trip podcast.
Next week we got an awesome episode with the founder, Jim Kennett, founder of the North
American Hostel Association.
Going to hear a recap on how the conference went and what's upcoming next year for next
year's conference location and agenda.
Thanks so much.
Thank you guys.
Thank you.
See you soon.
Bye everybody.