behind the counter x Horn Ok Please, Mumbai
You know the feeling when you meet likeminded people, who are impossible to not like or learn something valuable from? Well, that’s what it felt like interviewing and meeting Rishab and his team. Rishab is the Co-Founder of Horn Ok Please, a backpacker hostel, located in the quaint neighbourhood of Bandra, a suburb in Central Mumbai. Usually buzzing with people, Horn Ok Please is capable of hosting 53 occupants (under normal circumstances). Needless to say, our experience at the hostel was extremely pleasant, and we had a great chat with Rishab about his hostel journey.
Tell us a little about your journey and what your motivations were
The idea of a hostel was something Smit and I discussed together. But the inspiration really hit when we travelled to Budapest and stayed at the Carpe Noctem Hostel. I’ve visited my fair share of hostels, but the memory of this particular one stayed with me. I still remember the vibe, the genuine interactions with fellow travellers and the sense of community I felt at Carpe Noctem. This feeling was something we carried back to India, and it motivated us to recreate the same ‘vibe’ here!
Horn Ok Please opened its doors to the hostel community in October 2017. The intention was never to run it as a one-person project, but as a team collaborating and building it up together. The most prominent team members are my wife, Adina and my partner Smit. The three of us have lived in hostels around the world, which have given us guest perspectives of what we want to build.
Before setting up Horn Ok Please, I was an active part of the couch surfing and Airbnb community in Bombay. I hosted people from all over the world and enjoyed connecting with them. During these interactions, there was a common question from most of my guests — ‘why are there no hostels in Mumbai?” And that got me thinking. You should know that up until 2016, there were no traveller hostels in Mumbai.
I remember it was an evening over drinks where a few friends and I started discussing the possibility of opening a hostel. During our conversation, one of my friends said, let’s not talk about this anymore, let’s go ahead and do it. And that was it! We took the plunge, and there has been no looking back ever since. The seed was sown that night, and then we began the process to grow ground up.
We started hunting for a place. It was Christmas eve 2015 when we found exactly what we were looking for. And 5 years later, here we are!
What type of crowd do you usually get at the hostel?
Well, usually it’s a transit crowd. It’s either people who are starting their journey through India in Mumbai or who are ending it here. We are well connected to the airport, so it is relatively easy for travellers who are looking for a halt before a flight. Over time we have built a strong base of regulars. I’m grateful to have had visitors from all around the world.
What’s unique about your business?
I would not call it a business, it is a passion project. My entire focus is on guest experiences. Even though accommodation is my core service, without personalised guest experience, it won’t really be Horn Ok Please!.
My intention is to show travellers the raw, authentic side of Mumbai, and for them to experience the city the way the locals do. Mumbai is more than tourist attractions like the Gateway of India or the Taj. Mumbai is magical, filled with magical moments but what’s more enchanting is the authenticity of the people of Mumbai. It is the people that make Mumbai, and that’s who the travellers need to interact with. We create evening experiences at fellow Mumbaikar’s homes, and most travellers love that. This immersion into the local culture and lifestyle is what I think makes our hostel special.
We don’t personalise experiences because we feel we need to offer them as services. It’s because my entire team believes in living like a family and we extend that to our guests. I like to think of Horn Ok Please as a temporary home for travellers, and them as members of our family.
On a side note, though, you’ve probably heard about this competition that Indians have about the better city — Mumbai or Delhi. So, if a guest states they prefer Delhi, I make it a personal mission to get them to fall in love with Mumbai. I make sure they try the best street food (safe and non-spicy off course) or experience the local treats this city has to offer.
Mumbai is the most expensive real estate market in the world. What are the challenges?
Honestly, when we started, we didn’t know much about running a hostel. Our process didn’t start with thinking about real estate. We knew we wanted to create a particular vibe, and for that, we had a specific set-up in mind. As for finances, we started off with simple math — if this was the rent, we have to find a way to afford it. That dictated the set-up of the rest of the hostel like the number of beds and the price.
And after that arose the bigger challenge — finding the right space. This was complicated because we weren’t just negotiating for property. We had mindsets to change. We had to explain what a hostel is, to landlords who had never heard of the concept. And this was way back in 2015, where most people were sceptical about letting foreigners into their homes. So when we found this space, we had to wait for a year and a half to get it!
What are the long term and short term consequences of the COVID-19 lockdown? How are you responding to it?
Right now, there is a lot of uncertainty, and we can only plan for 7–10 days at a time. We’ve been open through the lockdown, and we are still open now. We have safety measures in place according to the WHO and Government guidelines. While this lockdown is difficult for business, I do think there is a positive side — maybe this could drive better hygiene practices in the entire country.
As an industry, I think most of us are looking to domestic travellers as the next target market. I guess if there’s a vaccine, international travel may open up, but for now, our plan is to cater to the local market! Fortunately for us, Mumbai attracts people from all over India. Not just tourists, there is an influx of students, interns, digital nomads and remote workers. So we plan on offering a safe and welcoming space for them. A lot of them are new to the city, and we would like to provide a positive support system.
What is your favourite aspect of the Hostel Community?
I love meeting new people, interacting and taking them to explore our city. I can’t imagine a life without this community living now.
As for other hostel owners in the community, everyone has been incredibly supportive. When we started out, there were very few hostels. I think there were about three in this city. We connected to these hostel owners, and we’ve learnt and grown together over the years. Today, there are multiple messenger groups with hostel owners from around India, and I’m in touch with a lot of them. It’s always great to meet like-minded people with shared interests. Unfortunately, many hostel owners view each other as competition, but I believe we are a connected community. We can benefit from each other.
If we do something in our hostel, it should be shared with everyone. Let’s just talk about Mumbai. This city gets about 10000 tourists out of which maybe a 1000 are hostel seekers. I am not selling a 1000 beds, so it is perfectly fine to have other hostels in the city. There really is no harm in making friends and growing together. In fact, some of us have a few combined events in the year. Last year we had a Diwali party. We all acknowledge that we should be making memorable experiences for guests and not thinking about competition and business.
Through the years, we have been fortunate enough to connect with the pioneers of the industry, and they were always willing to engage. We didn’t really have a mentor, but I’d say our travel experiences taught us a lot. If someone else approaches us with a problem, we don’t see that as mentorship. We understand that as helping someone out because we can help them save time. I think the best part about having partners is we have different ideas and approaches to problems. So when a difficulty does arise, we put our heads together and come up with a solution, and it usually ends up working out.
What would you do differently if you could start again, what advice do you have for newcomers?
Wow! That’s a tough question. Well, I don’t think I would do anything differently. I’m happy with our journey and how we got here. Well, now that I’m thinking about it — maybe I would have negotiated the rent a little better! Honestly, we are just grateful and pleased with how our guests feel. During the lockdown, some of them chose not to go home, even though they had a chance to. And that was recognition for us. We feel reassured and happy that they can call this place a home.
We’ve recently started thinking about the future, and creating a more eco-friendly self-sustaining system — something which works as a balance with nature and the community. We are going to learn more about sustainable systems, Fairtrade products and green processes and try and incorporate those into our hostel.
