Originally Posted by
Puddlefish
I adored that place in 2016. I was tired, cold and hungry. The place had obviously been created as a labor of love, and the crowd of hikers staying there were all great, and welcoming. The guy who did a lot of the labor and art and creation had recently died, leaving his widow to run the place. Granted, the kid they got to check in hikers was a bit of a dork, and a bit lazy, but beyond the check in/check out process, what more do you really need in a serve yourself/trust you to pay for what you take type of cheap hostel?
I stayed in the bunkhouse one night, there were snorers, I decided to take a zero, since the hikers were cheerful, I booked a cabin for some bonus quiet, they gave away my cabin to an old man who claimed bad knees, and I got the treehouse instead, meh, no biggie, I got my peace and quiet. As I was leaving, there was some drama, a group of kids had piled into one of the cabins to save money (theft of services) without permission. They were sent on their way with a frown.
What more were you really expecting from a trailside hostel with $20 bunks?
More pertinent to the OPs question, SBF is one of the two major models. Buy the property last century, build everything yourself in a area with minimal building zone enforcement/grandfathered clauses, set it up to run with a minimum of caretaker/paid employee input. Set the bunk price low, make the bulk of your money from reselling provisions at a small profit. Fix any problems with your own labor. The cheap properties are gone. Got a time machine?
The other model is to be rich, and do this as a hobby. The underserved parts of the trail are in rich areas. See if your rich neighbors can be convinced by your lawyers to let you run a business out of your new property. Operate at a loss, but enjoy the hell out of the experience. Get some great insurance.
The remaining model, doesn't really serve the hikers, at least not most of the hikers as we think of them. It involves spinning up a real business plan, looking at what similar businesses in the area charge, working out all the taxes and fees, and costs, upgrading the septic and determining that if you want to make a profit, you need to charge $100 a night per bunk and need to maintain 70% capacity for the next 30 years to break even. It involves suckering foreign students to be unpaid caretakers for the "industry experience" and the chance to meet world travelers! Uh huh. Your other option is the traditional B & B with the $400 rooms.