Boise State alumnus builds city’s first hostel downtown

MITCH ESPLIN/THE ARBITER

Downtown Boise is home to most of the cultural life of the city and a popular hangout for students. A recent graduate from Boise State decided to give more people the opportunity to experience downtown by providing an alternative to the formidable hotel prices. Idahostel offers more affordable rates and a prime location, tucked in the restaurant district in the same building as Thomas Hammer Coffee.

For $21 a night you can get a bed in a dorm style living with up to four people in a room.

Andrew Mentzer, owner of Idahostel and Boise State alumnus, said their main demographic is students.

“We had a student in September, he was here for a month, he was doing nanotechnology research for materials engineering, and he was from Japan. Super cool guy, he’d take his bike and commute to campus and do his research, then come back and hang out with us,” Mentzer said.

Hostels are generally cheaper than hotels and are common worldwide. Mentzer got the idea from both his extensive travels through more than ten countries and the lack of one in Boise.

Mentzer said that he’d lived in a lot of places, and when he came back to Boise the economy slump was making it hard for him to find a job in commercial real estate development.

“I decided it was time for me to go do something that was a little more real application in the long term,” Mentzer said.

After gathering data from the Idaho Department of Commerce and crunching some numbers, the Idahostel concept was born.

“It took a lot of money and a lot of time, and it was a bit of a struggle from time to time, there were a lot of roadblocks, but this was one of those things that worked out, knock on wood,” Mentzer said.

The Hostel opened Sept. 1 and has done very well, according to Mentzer. The hostel had a 281 percent growth in the first months, and in November a 70 percent growth; hopefully this pattern will develop into a sustainable growth rate.

Mentzer encourages guests to book in advance, particularly long term guests so they can get a discounted rate.

Dorm style living is cheapest, but private rooms and lofts are also available, though the bathrooms and kitchen are common for all guests.

“I heard about this (Idahostel) on the elusive Craig’s list, the not so dark side of it,” said Chris Cohen, a 24-year old-traveler from Chicago. He arrived on Monday and came to Boise to visit friends.

Idahostel shows its support of the local artistic community with original murals covering the walls and there is still one wall panel available for artists.

“Some of the furniture, like that fridge, is fair game too,” said Courtney Allen, a fourth year Boise State student majoring in graphic design and a minor in Japanese.

As live-in house manager, she’s in charge of checking people in, cleaning and providing movie nights. She tries to establish a sense of community between the guests of the hostel.

More details, booking and contact information are available on their website, http://www.idahostel.com.

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Posted by Suzanne Craig on Nov 18 2010. Filed under News, Sub Feature. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.