16 1 月 Tsubi Journey Presents a Cultural Feast and a Smart Assistant to Guesthouse Owners

Accommodation is an exciting and anticipating part in traveling since it offers an opportunity for savoring the authenticity of local culture. Tsubi Journey was founded by a group of friends while studying science at National Chiao Tung University in Taiwan. Tien-Liang Hsu, the co-founder of Tsubi Journey, said, “We enjoyed traveling a lot when we were college students and discovered that hospitality industry was interesting and highly potential. That’s how we got to start our own hostel.” The six friends became business partners and devoted themselves to the industry of accommodation and cultural assets. They are dedicated to offer in-depth traveling experiences featuring a cultural feast of local authenticity.

Tien-Liang Hsu, the co-founder of Tsubi Journey

The Key from a Hostel to a One-Stop Service for Guesthouse Operation

Tien-Liang Hsu recalled that he worked with his classmates to operate a hostel renovated from an old house in 2014, designed with the theme of Taiwanese history and culture. He gained two insights from running the hostel business. First, foreign travelers are highly interested in Taiwanese culture, which ironically, does not receive sufficient attention and might fail to transmit its value to the next Taiwanese generation. Secondly, since the automated operation process is still not prevalent in the hospitality industry, owners need to put into a lot of efforts and knowledge to make every decision.

Hsu also noticed that the value of the culture could be elevated with appropriate promotion. For instance, Japan achieved success in creating valuable cultural assets by marketing the traditional kimono and food culture. “At first, we saw opening a hostel as a way to revive Taiwanese culture,” said Hsu, “however, it’s difficult to earn the bread and butter from it.” Hsu thus came to an idea of transforming the traditional hostel business into a one-stop service for guesthouse owners. With good technology background, they founded Tsubi Culture, a media platform, and Tsubi Journey, a service automating the guesthouse operation.

Tsubi Journey, founded four years ago, is currently offering its service to around 130 guesthouses in Taiwan. The service tailors to guesthouse owners’ needs of omni-channel operation and house renovation. With the self-developed strategic pricing system and the monitor system of exposure, the one-stop service efficiently increases the revenue by releasing multi-tasking owners’ time to focus on receiving clients.

Gathering Taiwanese elements for a unique guesthouse

With the optimization of our service on the platform, Tsubi Journey not only helps guesthouse owners obtain higher occupancy rates and yield but also devotes itself to the planning and operation of the rental guesthouses. Built in harmony with the natural terrain and topography and located at the end of the famous Jiufen Old Street, the Ore inn becomes the first guesthouse renovated and operated by Tsubi Journey.

“The renovation process is hard to forget,” Hsu recalled. “We found that the structure of this old house had been compromised by termites and thought it might take a few months to remodel. But the renovation ended up lasting for a year, took more effort, and cost more than we had expected. Thanks to the landlord’s support and my colleagues’ hard work, we can finally turn the impossible into the possible. After the termite-infested structure was fixed, the Ore inn, which used to be a gold extraction and purification institute, was then infused with the local mining history and culture and decorated accordingly. We hope that every traveler who chooses to stay here, even for just one night, can feel connected with the history of Jiufen. They can also participate in our popular evening tour around Jiufen organized with the Gold Museum.”

Over these years, Tsubi Journey has remodeled and opened seven guesthouses across Alishan, Jiufen, Tainan, and Taitung. In the future, the company hopes to open one guesthouse per year and introduces the beauty and culture of Taiwan to travelers all over the world.

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