• On My Way Youth Hostel: From Backpacker to Entrepreneur

Abstract

“Hostels” are accommodation services provided to backpackers mainly offering beds. Their service style differs from that of hotels, which put emphasis on private space, as they have a high proportion of public space to create an interactive and communicative environment for different customers. Due to the reality that there are no legal regulations regarding “hostels” in Taiwan, most hostels established by entrepreneurial teams are illegal and unregistered, because they could not meet the registration demands for establishing a legal hotel. This case discusses the entrepreneurial process of one of the few “legal and registered” hostels in Taiwan, “On My Way Youth Hostel”. This case study utilizes “entrepreneur” and “open innovation” as the axis of discussion. Starting with the viewpoint of the entrepreneur model, how the founder balanced the three entrepreneurial driving elements of “opportunity”, “resources” and “team” in the chaotic and unknown environment with his “open innovative” spirit is discussed. This case study further utilizes the concept of “open innovation” to analyze the process of how the founder, unlike ordinary start-up companies, shared his entrepreneurial project, raised funds, and gathered his team of people with open minds using online platforms while facing a dynamic, constantly changing, unknown and risky environment, until eventually his dream and passion were realized. This case study can be used as a resource for lectures on entrepreneurial management, tourism management, service management, hotel & restaurant management, marketing management, etc. Agendas such as virtual community, innovative service, service marketing, and business models can be extended and discussed.

Keywords: Entrepreneur, Open Innovation, Hostel, Backpacker