New York hostels

As owning my own hostel is something I would like to do one day, I get regular updates on my facebook page from a hostel management site. This discussion in the forums has interested me not just because of my general hostel interest, but also because going to New York is also on my list and when I go I'll be looking for cheap accommodation.

http://www.hostelmanagement.com/forum/f25/new-york-hostels-being-shut-down-4480.html

It seems that lots of hostels have recently been raided and shut down because of changes in a local law about the number of transient people allowed to stay at any one time in an apartment building. This could be due to pressure from the big hotels wanting everyone to stay with them, so they're trying to squeeze the small guys out of business. If this is the case, then I don't see how they think it will work. People with a budget of $20 a night are not suddenly going to be able to stump up $200 a night. Instead they'll just stay away. When these hostels were suddenly shut down travellers staying in them found themselves having to sleep rough. So if the law and the raids are because hostels are deemed 'unsafe', then how can sleeping rough in New York City be seen as a safer option? It all seems very short-sighted and bullyboyish to me. If they went after the truly unsafe hostels then fair enough, but that really doesn't seem to have been the case.

My sympathies go out to the travellers and tourists who have found themselves homeless and the hostel owners and employees who have found themselves businessless and jobless.

The YHA seems to be unaffected by this. Maybe they have dedicated buildings for their hostels and so are exempt? Or is it because they're a bigger business they don't get trampled on so easily?

Web Design Course

Ever since I first started learning how to use a computer in the latter half of the 1990s I've enjoyed them, found them fascinating and wanted to learn more. As I've got more and more hooked on the internet I've wanted to understand more about how it works and how it is put together. So this is one reason for my enrolling in a web design course. The other reason is so I can put together my own website for the hostel I plan to own one day.

I started a beginner's web design course last September at the local college. On this course I learnt the basics of HTML and got quite a good understanding of how websites are created. I enjoyed it and finished in February with a distinction. This motivated me to sign up for the intermediate level course which began immediately after the first course and runs until July. On this course I am learning how to use Expression and Java, amongst other things. I've found it a lot more difficult than the first course but think this is mainly due to being so tired and exhausted all the time. I have no time to practice at home and by the time I get to college I'm half asleep. Yesterday evening I was quite alert as it was the first day back at school after the Easter holidays and I've had a good rest and feel really relaxed. What a difference! I understood everything and feel that I did quite well. So there's hope for me yet!