Hi entrepreneurs!
I’m in the early stages of brainstorming a business idea for a "rolling hostel"—a bus that offers overnight travel with both sleeping and seating options, moving between cities while passengers sleep. The idea combines transportation and accommodation, targeting budget travelers who want a flexible and affordable way to explore Europe.
Before I dive deeper, I’d love some feedback:
- Does this sound like a viable business model?
- What challenges do you foresee with logistics, regulations, or market interest?
- Any advice on how to validate the idea on a budget or run a pilot?
Looking forward to hearing from the entrepreneurial minds here!
Looking for feedback on the concept of a "rolling hostel" as a business idea
byu/rthiy inEntrepreneur
Posted by rthiy
6 Comments
Does this sound like a viable business model?
Love the concept! It exists in some capacity already. I’ve travelled on a ferry from Victoria to Tasmania and slept overnight. Also, sounds sort of like a Contiki Tour, but the beds on the bus, not hotels.
What challenges do you foresee with logistics, regulations, or market interest?
Parking & permits would be massive. A lot of destinations aren’t too bus friendly.
I believe there’d be decent interest!
Normal hostel issues would likely exist. Safe & secure luggage storage. Can it be multi-day? What happens if the bus crashes/breaks down?
Any advice on how to validate the idea on a budget or run a pilot?
Depends on capital – a physical trial would be ideal. Maybe you can start with a bus & tents.
To validate the idea without spending too much, you could start by creating a simple landing page or social media presence that explains the concept and lets people sign up for early access or express interest. You could also run ads targeting budget travelers to see if there is interest in the idea. If you want to go further, organizing a few weekend trips with a rented bus and a small group of travelers could give you real-world feedback without needing to commit to a full fleet right away. Even surveys targeting your ideal customer base might help gauge interest before diving in.
Will it have an itinerary?
Seems like a challenging business that would require quite a bit of capital to start. First, there’s lots of competition – greyhound of course but also lots of smaller regional bus services. You have to think about where you’re docking these buses (which requires permits and fees, I’d bet) and also where you’re parking them when they’re not traveling. There’s gas, insurance, cleaning, etc. and of course marketing to find your passengers. And for pricing you have to think about the fact that a sleeping passenger takes up three times the space of a sitting passenger so the cost would be higher, putting you in competition with low cost airlines and trains that can get places much quicker and more comfortably.
I’ve thought about this just from a hypothetical perspective because I had a similar idea, which was basically to do your idea but without actually traveling from one place to another. Effectively it would be a mobile hotel that would pick people up in high-demand/high priced areas (ie downtown San Francisco), drive them outside of that area to park overnight, and then drop them back off in the morning. But it just seemed too expensive and complicated to be worth trying.
You’ve just invented night trains
You only know once you test the idea. My biggest concern for this would be startup costs. Remodeling a bus will require a high upfront expense and a long time frame. $300,000 startup, 6-9 months?