At the end of September, roommates Amir Gamble, Adam Ochs and Alec Tamplin opened
Not Another Hostel: Cincinnati, in
Uptown. The nonprofit, donation-based, pay-what-you-want hostel is one of two in the world.
The idea for the Cincinnati location came from Tamplin’s cousin, who has been running the one in Pittsburgh for a year and a half.
“In June, I took a road trip to Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia and New York, and it was hard to find places to stay because hotels can be expensive and staying with friends is hard to coordinate,” Tamplin says.
While on his trip, Tamplin visited his cousin in Pittsburgh, who runs Not Another Hostel out of his apartment, and found out how it works. After extensive research on zoning codes and city regulations, Tamplin and his roommates realized they could start one in Cincinnati.
One of Tamplin’s friends who is an urban planning student at
DAAP helped out with the legal side of things; they also have an attorney who is assisting them.
“We had to make sure Not Another Hostel would be free because you can’t legally rent an apartment and run a business out of it,” Tamplin says. The three roommates also had to get permission from their landlord, and they can’t have more than five people staying with them at a time.
In August, the three roommates moved into a new apartment that would be perfect for Not Another Hostel. They were able to get everything they needed for guests ready in about 72 hours, with the help of Tamplin’s cousin.
The suggested donation for a night’s stay is $25, which goes toward rent, utilities, supplies, Internet costs, maintenance and general upkeep of the apartment. But Not Another Hostel encourages payment in other ways, like a meal, music or stories from guests.
“Whatever people want to give us in return is great,” Tamplin says.
If you’re interested in staying a night in Cincinnati at Not Another Hostel, visit the
website, read the guidelines and fill out an application.
By Caitlin Koenig
Follow Caitlin on Twitter
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