About Us

The owner and manager of the hostel is Michal Veselý. During his studies of finance and accounting at the VŠE college in Prague, he gathered some experience crowned with a one year of work for a leasing company within the German-American Daimler-Chrysler group. In the course of this job he came to understand that being a multinational company employee with a dawn-to-dusk working day is not his idea of dream life. Already in the last year of the college, he established ARPACAY hostel, where he could meet people with similar opinion and he also gained so the desired freedom to travel, which is his biggest passion. Unless he is planning, how to make your stay in Prague more enjoyable, he is much more likely to be met with a backpack somewhere in the mountains of Balkans, than at the computer at his office.

I started the ARPACAY hostel in December 2000. I studied the fifth year of a university and I didn't have much money. I rented a big two-generation flat knowing that the flat will have to earn money for the second rent itself. I bought 16 very cheap beds and 2 cheap PCs with second-hand screens. My parents gave me their 20-year-old washing machine, I hired two receptionist girls and things could get started. I have put emphasis on cleanliness and cosiness of rooms from the very first moment, just as high quality of service, and so already during the first spring it was evident, that the demand is much higher than the hostel's capacity (now it is the oldest ARPACAY hostel RED).

In the beginning of summer I promptly opened a second ARPACAY hostel with another 20 beds. Things were great, it was the peak of main season, but after several serious misunderstandings with the owner of the building, I was forced to close this hotel after mere 3 weeks of operation. It was a serious blow, because we had reservations for several months in advance and it was also you, our guests, who suffered from this. I take this opportunity to express my sincere apologies once again.

Then year 2002 came. A flood of your e-mails assured us again of your interest and support, but we were far from able to accommodate all of you. I put another four beds in my hostel and since to extend capacities in the original building took long, we reconstructed three new rooms across the street for you during May (now ARPACAY hostel GREEN), which were serviced from the original reception desk. Now we had 26 beds total.

On the 1st March 2003 we dare for a first big step forward. We open rooms in a reconstructed attic in Radlická 76. There are 6 more rooms, second room for serving breakfast, second PC for our clients and above all a second reception desk. We move our "headquarters" here and centralise here reservations for both buildings. I hire two more employees. Two months later I receive another rooms from the owner of the house, where we create a small apartment with an en-suite bathroom and a kitchenette. We establish official marking of buildings as ARPACAY hostel RED and ARPACAY hostel GREEN to make orientation for guests easier.

In 2004 only few organisational changes take place and some staff is changed. I make efforts mainly to improve quality of our service and I make investments in promotion and advertising. Satisfaction of guests rises steadily and our capacities are used to the maximum.

Year 2005 is a year of expansion and innovation. I have three objectives. To create new and modern dormitories, which exceed common standards with their equipment and character, to get rid of the impractical reception desk in the attic next to rooms and to modernise our image to comply with our typical customers. I rent commercial space in the basement of ARPACAY hostel GREEN and build a new modern reception there. I let a new computer net installed and the 1 original computer is replaced with 3 new PCs and a much faster internet. I am looking forward to a big safe, bigger left-luggage, bigger area for sale of beverages and a coffee machine.
In April I open 2nd storey for guests in ARPACAY hostel GREEN - there are 3 new dormitories, 2 wash-rooms and a modern self-service kitchen. In July I open another 3 dormitories on the 2nd floor of ARPACAY hostel RED, which also have a new kitchen for guests. At this moment I can offer 78 comfortable beds. The number of staff has risen to 10. I have all the old and new hostels redecorated in bright colours, I install new neon signs, I have many promotion materials printed and I also change my web and logo.

I am focusing on an enhancement of security and comfort for my guests. After several unpleasant experiences at the beginning of the year I invested in additional door security. I have purchased an automatic door closing system for every entry door on each floor and also better safety locks for every door for each room. We have fitted every personal locker in the dormitory rooms with a massive latch for padlocking.
Since there were always big queues for our 3 computers with free internet access we have added 2 new computers into the ARPACAY hostel RED. In addition to those 5 PCs, all the hostel premises now have free Wi-Fi. In the summer I had installed ventilators into all of the attic rooms which provided more convenient sleeping during the hot nights. Recently I have been replacing mattresses with new ones in most of the beds. For the months of July, August and September we had tried an external breakfast facility provided by the neighbouring Coffee ‘Berry’. We have been updating our web pages and starting up a stronger advertising campaign on Google.

At the start of Spring 2007 I have put a new floor to our terrace. In May we became victims of a robbery in our reception. The loss wasn´t so bad. Our guest´s rooms stayed untouched . The results were in CCTV in our main reception and built-in safe in Red Arpacay hostel. In Autumn 2007 new leaflets with a map of Prague were issued. I invested some money into an internet campaign into Czech and Slovak internet, which brought us more tourist in our weak cold winter months. At the end of the year I started renovating some parts of Arpacay Red hostel, which was recently completely decorated as well.