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Interview: Why You Need to Know Hayden, The Hostel Group Founder
Hayden Cole Jauregui, The Hostel Group Founder
Hello again to my huge group of virtually soundless friends! Haha It is with pride and honor that I welcome you to this featured start-up owner interview with Hayden of The Hostel Group. I’ve done a few collaborations and interviews here and there, but this is the very first time that I got the chance to feature a fellow-friend whose enthusiasm for travel is unquestionably contagious!
In 2012, Hayden traveled to London for a study abroad program and he instantly got the travel bug. He’s gotten particular interest in hostels and how it connects like-minded people. Hence, he started this online community called The Hostel Group. He was able to build an army of hostel group ambassadors (hint: find me), and come up with this dynamically cool live hostel-centric site. Who wouldn’t be inspired to do the same?
Though busy, I was able to score a quick interview with this guy. To know more about Hayden and his site, you may visit the official site, follow on Instagram, or Twitter.
What goals are you trying to accomplish by having this online community?
The Hostel Group was created to help connect backpackers and travelers to hostel destinations all over the world. Our site focuses on non-bias reviews that are written by our ambassador community, which consist of experienced travelers from all parts of the world that like to stay at hostels. The integrity of The Hostel Group is very important to me, so I only put hostels on our site that have been approved by our ambassadors. The mentality is very much like the famous quote, “If you do not have anything nice to say, then do not say it at all.” We respect our community of travelers and we do not want to recommend hostels that we would not go to ourselves!
Hostels provided me affordable accommodation on all my backpacking trips and now I want to help them out. The Hostel Group connects backpackers and travelers directly to the website of the property they are searching. This is very important because the hostel community has constantly been having to pay high commission charges to third party travel websites. Together the backpacker, traveler, and hostel community can change the way people book hostel accommodation!
What are some of the best and most challenging personal highlights that you have experienced from this online community?
The best experience so far has got to be the continuous support of The Hostel Group from our online community. We post exciting pictures that are shared by our community members which constantly get me excited to plan my next trip! The most challenging part of this whole project has been that I have been working 50 hours a week on a job that has nothing to do with The Hostel Group. This job helps me pay the bills and support myself. The Hostel Group is a dream that I hope to soon turn into my career as time moves forward. The support of our members makes the grind and the dream totally worth it!
What is your most favorite hostel experience so far?
Every hostel experience is unique, but I would say that my most exciting experiences were staying at hostels that were in the location I grew up in, which is San Diego, California. I never knew that there were hostels in my area! I traveled to many different destinations all over the world, and after I started The Hostel Group, I began to do research on California.
I received open arms from the local hostels in San Diego, which for me was a very exciting experience. The main reason why I enjoyed my time there was that of all the other guests that were staying at these hostels. These guests consisted of people all over the world that were excited to be in San Diego, the place I grew up in.
If you have all the money in the world right now and can actually build your dream hostel, how would you envision it to be?
This is definitely something I have thought of! Every time I think of this question my mind comes up with something different, but first things first, I love the beach! I want to have an exciting hostel somewhere close to the sand. I definitely want there to be many rooms and many floors to this hostel (I have all the money in the world right?).
This hostel would be connected to many of the local business and would be a big supporter of the city it is located in. All of the beds would have full size mattresses, and excellent storage options. The common areas would be amazing with a very inviting atmosphere so all guests would feel welcome. Free wifi will definitely be at the property and hostel events will always be occurring.
There are many more options I would add to having my own hostel, but we will wait until I open it to find out what those will be!
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