Quote: (06-06-2016 08:19 AM)RichieP Wrote:
^Nice thought, but Buddhist doesn't necessarily mean honest staff. Thailand case in point. Dishonest/unreliable entry-level employees are par for the course in SE Asia unfortunately, it's widely prevalent.
I still think it is different in Myanmar. It is much more traditional than Thailand and there are less people trying to rip you off or looking for their own benefit when dealing with tourists. What's more, the economy there is less developed and unemployment rate is higher than in the rest of Indochina. Per capita income is also much lower than in Thailand, whereas hostel prices are higher in Myanmar, meaning that in theory you would be able to pay your employees an above average wage (unless you pay a lot more tax and other expenses I am not aware of yet). I don't think people there would risk losing a well paid job by stealing from their boss or customers.
I think there is huge potential in owning a hostel in Myanmar, BUT you would have to invest in a really good building. Most hostels I know there are shitty 10$ a night hostels with cold showers, no AC and cockroaches in the bathroom. But from my experience, Myanmar also draws a lot of older tourits who visit the country because of it's culture. Myanmar is about nature, culture and history, not about getting drunk and hooking up with other travelers. Those people would definitely be willing to pay more money for better accomodation. You could easily charge them 40-50$ per night for a private room if you had a clean, modern place with a certain level of comfort. In fact, really good hostels (no matter what price range they are in) are very rare in Myanmar since the country is still opening up to tourism and most locals who are running hostels have no idea how to do so because they have never travelled themselves.
To sum up, the pros about having a hostel in Myanmar are:
- not much competition. You could quickly become the best hostel in town if you know what you are doing. At the moment there are only 23 properties listed on hostelworld in Yangon, the biggest city by population and only 3 properties (!!!) in Bagan, the most touristic site in Myanmar (the one with the highest rating is run by an Italian btw and makes for a good example of what is possible. This is how I would do it).
- prices for hotels and hostels in Myanmar are generally higher than in Thailand (the hostel linked above charges 17$ for a bed in a dorm! Those are European prices in the third world and people are willing to pay that) whereas employees are cheaper I suppose (you would have to look into that point some more). This means more profit for you
- there is a big market for middle-class travelers willing to pay more money for better value, not only accomation-wise but also for good organised tours. And even the budget-travelers are willing to spend more money on food, drinks, tours. etc. because there is simply no nightlife in most parts of the country they could spend their money on.
- Myanmar is THE booming country when it comes to tourism. Just look at page 14 of this document: https://www.wttc.org/-/media/files/repor...ar2015.pdf
- More and more tourists are coming to Myanmar every year. According to Worldbank data, the country went from 816,000 visitors in 2011 to 3,081,000 in 2014 and this is just the beginning.