Spotlight: Interview with Local Time

Looking to experience Bangkok like a local? Try out Local Time, a new hostel right in bustling Phrakanong district! Located just a few minutes’ walk from BTS Phrakanong in Sukhumvit Soi 69, Local Time offers its guests not only convenient location and cozy beds but also warm hospitality with local vibe. Entirely founded and run by a group of family and close friends, Local Time’s core value is to make guests feel like home. I visited Local Time to chat with Sharp, Tee and Tha, the owners about their stories.

What are your concepts behind Local Time? How did it all start? 

Tee: Everyone in our team have known each other for a long time. Tha is my sister. Sharp and I have been good friends since primary school. We have traveled and stayed in hostels in many countries and all loved the interactions with people while traveling. So, this has inspired us to build a business that we all love to do.

Tha: We’ve actually visited many countries. The thing that we enjoyed the most from our trips are the interactions with the hosts and the travelers we met during the trips. So, we want to create the same community here in Thailand. 

What are your core culture and uniqueness? 

Sharp: This hostel’s entirely run by owners, without any employees. We’re all like hosts welcoming guests to our home. That’s our selling point. The owners and our friends come here to hang out and talk with the guests. Tee and I used to hang out together in each other’s houses during schools. We’re trying to create a similar atmosphere here. 

Tee: I’ve lived in this area for a long time. Phrakanong is a charming area with a mix of old and new vibes. We love showing the guests around the area.

Sharp: We’ve already organized several trips in the neighbourhood. In the future, we plan to take our guests to the places that are less well known than mainstream attractions. Of course, famous attractions like the Royal Palace or Wat Arun are must-see places but we would like to also show something different that even the locals are unfamiliar with. We took our guests for cycling trip in Bang Krachao once to get some fresh air in the green area. They loved it!

What are the guests Feedback? 

Tee: We’ve only opened for few months. So far, they’ve commented that they enjoyed the hospitality and interactions among the travelers and the hosts here.

Sharp: We are glad that within a few months we’ve portrayed and delivered the message that we hoped to. The guests appreciated little tips we told them like telling them to get a taxi that charges by meter rather than a fixed rate. They told us that they felt like they had someone to count on when they’re away from their home country. We also plan to organize cooking event in the near future!

Have you had any experiences in running businesses before? What are your daily routine here? Do you outsource any services?  

Sharp: We have sold online products before. This is our first time to register as a company. So, we are all learning by doing. Some of the owners have a full-time job and some don’t. Tha is mostly here while the rest coming in and out to handle customer services. 

Tee: We are lucky that we are a big group of friends who have different backgrounds. Tha is an architect. So, she has helped us with designing this place. I am an engineer. Sharp studied Political Science. Some other owners studied finance and economics. 

Sharp: We haven’t outsourced any legal or marketing services yet. We’re only working with booking sites like Booking, AirBnB and Hostel World. We have Facebook page. Those are the marketing we’re working on.

What are your recommendations to people who dream to open their own hostel? 

Sharp: I think you have to be clear about what you want since the beginning. You have to ask yourself what you really want and create a core culture of your business to stand out from the rest. Some may focus on the design and some on the activities. There are many hostels in Bangkok now. We’re probably already late in this industry. For us, we want our guests to feel like home. The word “hostel” describes itself that we want to host!