15/10/2020
Big news: The end of a chapter and a solid opportunity for the right person/people… Friends/ Family of Podstel, we would be very grateful if you can share this with your network so we can find that special someone to take over this special place 🙂
In an attempt to focus and save one of our two hostels, we are looking for someone to take over our original hostel - Podstel Bucharest - for a goodwill price in the next couple of months, otherwise, sadly, we’ll be closing down permanently.
Read on for more information:
Sam and I came up with the Podstel idea back in 2012 and have spent the best part of the last 8 years building what it is today. It’s been an incredible journey, and I know many of you reading this have contributed so much towards creating what Podstel has become.
Before Covid hit, Podstel was at its peak; hosting 15,000+ travellers a year from 110 countries around the world between our two locations. However, after all the travel, and spending the last 8 years living in different countries, Sam and I are ready to move back to the UK. After lengthy discussions about the potential of operating Podstel remotely from the UK, we decided that it was best for us to sell our businesses and pass the torch on to someone who could invest as much time and energy on the ground as we did.
We spent the earlier part of 2020 building our sales proposal and by early March we were ready to release it. Then Covid 19 hit, shattering our plans. Since March 2020, Romania and the travel industry has been hit hard by the pandemic. Revenue sunk, and ever since we’ve been fighting to save both our businesses. Our landlords have been very supportive during this time, but now we have come to a point where we must focus our attention on saving one of our hostels, rather than spreading ourselves thin trying to save both.
Therefore, it is with deep sadness that we have made the decision that we will close Podstel Bucharest in the next couple of months, unless we can find someone with the same enthusiasm and passion we have for hospitality, willing to take over the business.
Podstel Bucharest (dual business; part hostel, part cafe for locals) is our original location; it’s where we learned our trade, met 1,000s of people, and created countless memories, but since we have already received a return on our initial investment there, our focus must be turned to our more recent investment, Podstel Umbrella. We are well aware that selling a business during this time of uncertainty may be troublesome, but our priority is to see this hostel survive for future travellers, as we know how special this place has been for so many people. With this in mind, our main priority is to find someone with a passion for hospitality and an entrepreneurial spirit to sell the business to for a goodwill price.
We want to be straight forward here. In an optimistic case, we predict that the hospitality industry in Romania will begin recovering from March 2021, especially with summer events like the European Football Championships coming to Bucharest in 2021. We have managed to negotiate a fair rent agreement with our landlord at Podstel Bucharest until the end of the pandemic. Regardless of when the pandemic ends, in addition to operating the cafe for locals and picking up the demand for domestic travellers, it is possible that someone could use the space for student accommodation, a private house for locals, or co-living for digital nomads, to easily break-even, which is primarily how Sam and I have been operating for the last 7 months.
For a goodwill price, you would receive the full inventory, organisational structure and business registration, all of which can be easily signed over to someone from the EU in less than a month. The business is solid, debt-free, and has been an operating company for 10 years in Romania. The business is turnkey, and the inventory alone is worth at least €20k, not to mention the intangible reputation of best hostel in Bucharest with the 1,000s of reviews that accompany it.
If you are interested, then please send a message privately to myself or Sam, and we can discuss this in more detail and send you our sales proposal.
Dan and Sam, Podstel Co-Founders
E: [email protected] / [email protected]
T: Dan +40723772732 / Sam +40723772724
