Hostel marketplace: Accomango will help up to 400,000 workers to better accommodation

There are currently almost 1,700 hostels in the Czech Republic that provide accommodation for agency workers and workers across all areas. 400,000 people find their temporary home here every year, 90% of whom are non-Czech. The size of the housing market for workers in industry, agriculture and engineering is almost EUR 1 billion in our country alone and is still growing. At the same time, however, there is no comprehensive marketplace where hostels offer their services.

“The consequence of the current situation on the workers' accommodation market is the need to reserve a whole team of people in the company who manually request accommodation capacities and solve the related administration. At the same time, the market does not have a competitive environment, so hostels have nothing to improve the services provided. And it is precisely these conditions that we want to change, ”says Patrick Havlíček, CEO and founder of Accomanga.

Accomango plans to achieve change by standardizing processes and digitizing the entire segment, eliminating redundant administration and bringing benefits to all stakeholders. Thanks to the increased demand for hostels and the easy process for companies, Accomango will create a healthy market environment that will be motivated to provide the best possible services to accommodated people.

The average price for accommodation of one person in a hostel per month is around CZK 5,500. Prices per night are in the range from CZK 130 to CZK 250, when at a price of CZK 130 per night the hostel is completely unsatisfactory. Prices most often depend on the number of beds in one room and the level of the property, especially the bathroom or things like wi-fi and the like. Conditions are often deplorable, and thanks to greater competition, Accomnago wants to improve them.

The length of stay then depends on the project on which the employees are working. The shortest time is in the order of several days. For larger projects, of which there are most, these are units of months. And it can be more than a year. Depending on the length of stay, a 10 - 15% discount can be negotiated in some hostels.

“Every year, 400,000 people take turns in beds for workers in the Czech Republic. At average nightly prices, there is a huge amount of capital in this sector. However, we care not only about earnings, but also about end users receiving quality services. Therefore, through our platform, we also want to ensure that accommodation capacities compete with each other. The reward will be a higher demand for their services, ”adds Havlíček. Some of the workers who come from abroad will stay in the Czech Republic and live in long-term rented flats or houses. Firms employing foreigners also agree that foreign workers are more reliable for them in terms of turnover. This is often led to by a great distance from home or a higher financial motivation.

Almost half of the hostels do not provide information on the number of beds anywhere. The result of browsing the Accomango platform should therefore be to fill most of the available capacities, including those that companies looking for accommodation did not know about at all.

About half of all beds are located in the Central Bohemian Region, which also has the largest share of hostels in the Czech Republic (12%). However, the percentage also depends on the size of hostels, and so, for example, Prague represents only 4% in their number, but in terms of beds, its share is 8% in the whole country.

Accomango brings to the B2B segment a user interface that is better known from the B2C segment, from platforms such as Booking.com. The difference, however, is that those who choose accommodation are not individuals, but companies that need to accommodate their employees. Thanks to the list of accommodation capacities, they can easily choose from the available options in the area. At the same time, hostels see comparisons with other capacities, their competitors, and are thus motivated at least to equalize the level of services provided.

"Among other things, we are also planning an evaluation system for the future. We all probably know star ratings, whether in hotels or restaurants. We also want to create an equivalent for Accomango. Companies will then be able to decide on the location of employees not only on the basis of prices, but also according to the evaluation of individual accommodation capacities. And maybe the evaluation will take the form of our favorite fruit, mango, ”adds Patrick Havlíček.