behind the counter x Marina Moretti
Marina Moretti goes with the flow, but don’t let that fool you, She also knows when to take control of the flow! Fourteen years ago, Marina along with a couple of friends started the first backpacker hostel in São Paulo while they were still in college. Ô de Casa Hostel & Bar is now one of the most sought-after backpacker hostels in Brazil; the winner of many awards and accolades and most importantly, it has happily won over each guest’s heart as well! Join us in yet another behind-the-counter profile as Marina spills the beans on her philosophy of running a hostel and her valuable insights into post-pandemic travel trends.
How were you drawn to the hostel industry?
I started when I was very young, and being a traveller at heart, I started travelling internationally at the age of seventeen and I had all these amazing international friends. Also in Brazil, when we start college at the age of seventeen-eighteen, we move into a house full of students, where we co-rent it and manage it amongst ourselves.
So at the point when I was actively travelling, I decided to go and live in Argentina and Argentina was full of hostels and Back then, São Paulo was the complete opposite, not a single hostel! So I decided to go back to Brazil to start an international backpackers hostel, and it was the first hostel in São Paulo. Our main idea behind starting a hostel was not for business but more to help us pay our bills. We started with one room that had six beds in a four bedroom house. So the three of us would have a room (one of them also being a reception, so we had to wake up early to welcome guests) and the fourth room was the “hostel” room. Another friend used to cook and had a small restaurant in our hostel. Our guests would literally get one-on-one personalized treatment from us.
We started really small with the minimum investment, but it was a lot of fun!
What is the philosophy of Ô de Casa Hostel?
At Ô de Casa, we try to create the world we want to live in.
So everything we believe in, we bring to Ô de Casa. We play the music we’d like to hear, we hire the people we like to get along with, we have created a place of respect. Everything that we consider fun, everything that we feel is right or relatable and everything that we feel will make the world a better place, we bring it to Ô de Casa.
It’s like a small laboratory of the bigger world we’d like to live in where respect, kindness, patience and community support is practised.
It’s our small world where we are creating our own peaceful revolution!
What is your most cherished memory of your hostel Journey so far?
This is one of those questions that I’m asked most and I have difficulty answering the most. It’s been fourteen years and that’s a big thing, I can’t single out just one memory because every step of it, every day in itself is some kind of progress.
We never really had or set any milestones during our hostel journey. Every day we just try to make it a little bit better, whether it’s renting the house next door to expand or adding a mural.
It all happens organically, and I know it’s crazy that we don’t have big milestones, but hey, so far so good!
One thing, however, that I really like is when the Carnival happens in the summer and everyone is dressed and out on the streets. Here in Brazil, it’s one of our main events (unfortunately, this year the carnival will not be happening due to the pandemic situation).
What I like about the carnival is that most of our guests and even some of the staff that used to work with us return during this time. We started the hostel in our early twenties and now we are all in our mid-thirties; some of them are married, some of them have kids now, so it’s always nice to meet the community and all our favourite guests from different generations again and catch-up during carnival season.
In the hostel industry, we definitely connect with a lot of people, but when you get a chance to reconnect with the community, it’s very special to me.
What were the challenges during the pandemic outbreak in Brazil?
Brazil lives in a delicate political situation. There are lots of different regulations on how the Corona situation should be treated. There are some people who believe we shouldn’t be wearing masks and then there are others who think we definitely should be wearing masks. At this moment everyone is for themselves doing whatever they believe is best for them. But there are a few restrictions in place, schools are still closed which changes the whole scene. The city depends on schools and colleges for revenue. Parties, where there is a large gathering of people, are not allowed yet either, but parks and restaurants are open again. Some people are sick of the pandemic and go on living normal lives, while others are not leaving their homes at all. We at the hostel are trying to find the solution in between, being outside and following security procedures.
Back in March, we voluntarily decided to close down the hostel for 3 months. After that, we began to have monthly plans and weekly plans. Now we are open again and are on 50% occupancy-rate, we could go back to 100%, but travellers are coming back slowly to the big cities. Hopefully, by next year a vaccine will come and we can travel safe again. Like I mentioned before, even the carnival and the new years won’t be celebrated until July next year.
You’ve been in the industry for a long time, how do you think the community of travellers have evolved in the past decade?
With the pandemic, travelling behaviour has definitely changed and speaking only of Brazil, summer has not arrived here yet and people are already going to the beach, which would not have been their first choice if these restrictions were not in place. A lot of backpackers are travelling within their own countries now which I think has become a world phenomenon when it comes to travelling post-covid. However, when it comes to conscious travel behaviour, sometimes I feel that we are becoming more aware and then sometimes I feel we just don’t care anymore, or maybe it’s a balance of both!
Thirteen- fourteen years ago, the internet was not a thing, we only had one computer for the whole hostel. Oh, and the speed was so slow of course (taught us a lot of patience). Now there's faster connectivity to the internet but a little slow amongst us humans. Back then people were more vulnerable, they would trust the hostel completely for any kind of information. However, now we have so much information available on the internet and we are spoilt for choices, people know what to expect when they travel now, and they go after what they want; they have more control over their own future experiences rather than going with the flow and being wild.
The quality of travel and tourism and the quality of hostels as well has developed so much from what it was thirteen-fourteen years ago. The hostels in Brazil have all improved immensely over time too. A hostel back then could be really really bad, but today, a really really bad hostel will not survive for long and even if they do survive, their pricing will be low but the quality and services won’t be great.
This is my personal perspective that the concept of hostels will become more common, especially in Brazil. It’s very contradictory as everyone thought hostels would be the first to fall in the hospitality industry due to the pandemic. However, I believe they will come out much stronger than before after it passes. Brazilians would not stay in a hostel in Brazil, but now they are since they can’t stay in hostels in Europe and other popular destinations. Brazilians used to have a prejudice for Brazilians hostels before and now they are finding out they are quite amazing and also a perfect fit for them culturally. I really think there will be a massive change as we are gaining a new target market altogether.
Are you part of the Association of Hostels in Brazil?
The panorama of associations of hostels in Brazil is quite complex. Seven years ago we started an association of hostels in São Paulo. There was a bigger association then, but it was sort of inactive. So when we started our own association, locally, it was very nice, we started speaking more to the public and started implementing steps to be more aware of the hostel industry and how we can support each other to improve it. Soon after, another independent association of hostels was formed in Rio and other cities as well.
Now the national association of hostels in Brazil is back and quite active again, and another group created a new hostels association in Brazil. So now that there are quite a few associations on stage, we’ve decided we support them all, but not by being part of any. I was part of it during the initial phase, and I like the initiatives and the movement that has been picking up and I truly believe we hostel people have to work together for the industry and I think this complexity only shows how mature our market is in Brazil. It’s also all about the time you have. I spent some on it, but for now I’m happy with running and managing my hostel. It’s really beautiful to see something that you’ve created, is loved by so many people.
What has been your biggest learning lesson in the industry?
Being part of the hostel business is the best accident that happened in my life, of course!
Also being a traveller, I believe was kind of unknowingly guided in that direction. But when you realise how amazing the community is that you belong to, I feel fortunate. The hostel community is the least competitive amongst each other, in fact, we are most helpful and supportive of each other, it's all about co-opetition (co-operative competition) now!
It was impressive for me to learn how the community is so well connected worldwide. A hostel in India can influence my hostel in Brazil because travellers travel and take ideas with them. So if we have to think about competition, the hostels in India are also my competition and inspiration, not just the ones in São Paulo. There are world-class hostels now everywhere in every country, in every city. The approach now is Glocal, hostels now have a certain global standard to uphold while keeping intact their local essence as well.
Hostels literally account for 1% of the world's accommodation but it has the most significant impact in the industry. The hostel community is very innovative and creative, so even though we account for only 1%, hotels end up copying what hostels do!
The industry itself is much bigger than us, we hostels owners are a small part of it and we can do a lot for the industry, but it existed much before us and it is in a hostel’s DNA to welcome all types of travellers!
