Hey guys, I found the training manual I used for my hostel, which I believe was one of the key ingredients that helped me scale my operations and save a lot of time daily. It had several benefits, which I’ll list now. I also want to mention that I’ll be sharing the entire table of contents from that manual so you can copy, paste, and apply it to your own business.

In this video, I’m going to review some parts to explain what I included, why it was there, and how you can use it for your own business. So, for the benefits: The first one addresses training. Training was something that used to consume a lot of my time, not because I didn’t enjoy it, but because I had a high turnover rate.

If you’re dealing with turnover, a training manual can help solve that issue. With the manual, the information is delivered to staff from day one, so they can read it and start applying it immediately. This means that from day one, they have all the information they need to be good employees and do what’s required of them. The only thing left is for them to practice. They can practice with their peers or with you, but it’s much easier to deliver a good lesson when someone has read about it beforehand. The training manual helped with communication and accelerated the training process.

The second benefit of the training manual was quality. Since I was writing it, I could set the expectations I had for my team and establish the standards of service we wanted to provide to our customers. For example, if I explained how to handle a customer check-in, I would detail exactly how to do it. This helped the staff understand how to serve customers according to my style, based on my standards and expectations. So, I didn’t need to verbally instruct them; it was all written in the guide.

The third benefit was that it served as a reference for anyone on the team. It was like a Bible or code of conduct and could be used as documentation. For example, if someone forgot a supplier’s phone number or needed to know how to use a particular tool or process, they could refer to the manual. It was a 16-page document, so I didn’t expect my employees to memorize it from day one, or even after a year, because I was constantly updating it. As we introduced new tools or processes, I added that information to the manual. Even senior team members needed to refer to it regularly, and that was good because it’s where everything should be.

Now, I want to move on to what was inside that training manual:

I. The Definition of [Your Business]

A. Where travelers can find out about [Your Business]?

1. Booking platforms (we have to pay)

2. Directly through us! (wild and free)

B. Unique Selling Proposition (USP)

C. The Storytelling

D. Facilities and Services

1. Understand how our booking works

2. Common areas

3. The bedrooms

4. Staff areas

5. Reception services (extra)

E. The business policies

F. The guests

1. Different profiles

2. Special discounts and treats

II. Where to Find the Documents, Information, and Tools?

A. Document Storage in the cloud

B. Booking Management Software

C. Green phone, Smartphone, and Computer

D. Red Book

E. Green folder for accounting

F. Blue folder for activity tracking

G. Where inside [Your Business]?

1. The reception area

2. The kitchen and pool table

3. Cabinets of floors 2 and 4

4. Supply room, floor 4

III. The Internal Organization

A. The contacts of our organisation

B. Processes for each task

C. Team members and their responsibilities

D. Sales training (link to another document for sales)

E. Frequently Asked Questions from Guests (link to the FAQ which was shared with clients)

I hope this video was helpful and that you found an interesting tool to use to scale your own operations and save yourself some time so you can focus on growth and have more time for other, more valuable tasks in your business.

If you have any questions, please ask in the comments, and I’ll answer them as much as I can. If I can share anything useful, I will, so don’t hesitate. I’ll see you in the next video tomorrow, guys.