Thinking about the hotel manager role, it’s useful to use earning to give as a baseline for comparing impact. Maybe someone who could do a good job at this role could otherwise earn to give at $75-$150k/year if they were only to keep $20k/year for themself? [1] At full capacity there would be 16 bedrooms, but maybe you average 80% full, so this is an effective subsidy of $6k to $12k per resident per year. This on its own is in the same range as just giving people money to rent housing, even in an expensive market like London or the Bay Area. Then add in the other costs (real estate, upkeep, tasks that are contracted out) and this doesn’t actually seem cheaper.
Might still be worth it, for the value of crystalizing a new EA hub in a generally cheaper area, but I’m not sold on it.
[1] Long term my expectation is that working a high paying job is probably building a lot more career capital than working as a hotel manager, but let’s ignore that for now.
Do you know, there are many people who have the skills to be great hotel managers and are making $15-$25k a year? In cheaper countries, such as Slovakia, Czech, Poland … I really do not think people who are able to make 75 − 150 k a year will be interested in this job.
Whether you live in a hotel or not, there are certain chores that need to be done for your life to run smoothly: grocery shopping, cooking, laundry, etc. These chores don’t go away if you live in an expensive housing market or make a high income. But if you live with roommates, it’s possible to coordinate with your roommates to achieve economies of scale in these tasks. Right now at the EA hotel, we are trading off so we each take turns cooking for the entire hotel (currently ~6 people) one night per week. This creates economies of scale because cooking for 6 people is much less than 6 times as hard as cooking for one person. I expect that these economies of scale effects will become even more valuable as the number of people in the hotel grows.
These chores don’t go away if you live in an expensive housing market or make a high income.
If you have a high income, though, you can pay other people to do them: for example, instead of cooking you could buy frozen food, buy restaurant food, or hire a cook.
I expect that these economies of scale effects will become even more valuable as the number of people in the hotel grows.
My experience with cooking is that above about 6-10 people the economies of scale drop off a lot. I really like living in a house with enough adults that I can cook about once a week, but as the number of people (and combinations of dietary restrictions) grows you get beyond what one person can cook easily.
Overall, though, it sounds like you’re more arguing for “group houses are great” (which I agree on) and not “taking the hotel manager job has high counterfactual impact” (which I think is much more important?)
(I’m assuming that the counterfactual here is someone who wants to do unpaid direct work full time, has some funds available that could be used to either support themselves or could be donated to something high impact, and could either live in SF or Blackpool.)
If you have a high income, though, you can pay other people to do them: for example, instead of cooking you could buy frozen food, buy restaurant food, or hire a cook.
These options don’t go away if you move to Blackpool. But your rent does get a lot cheaper.
It seems like maybe there are two questions here which are more or less orthogonal: the value of hiring a very talented full-time manager for your group house (someone who is passing up a job that pays $75K+ in order to be manager), and the value of moving to Blackpool. I think the value of having a very talented full-time manager for your group house is not about reducing expenses, it’s about creating a house culture that serves to multiply the impact of all the residents. If that’s not possible then it probably makes less sense to hire a manager whose opportunity cost is high.
I’m assuming that the counterfactual here is someone who wants to do unpaid direct work full time, has some funds available that could be used to either support themselves or could be donated to something high impact, and could either live in SF or Blackpool.
Is this the counterfactual for the hotel manager, or for a resident? I’m only trying to address the hotel manager role here, but I wouldn’t expect the counterfactual for a hotel manager to be unpaid direct work.
I think the value of having a very talented full-time manager for your group house is not about reducing expenses, it’s about creating a house culture that serves to multiply the impact of all the residents
This makes a lot of sense to me, but reading the Hotel Manager section the impression I get is that a hotel manager would be too busy to do much in that direction. There’s no discussion of their role in setting culture, and a lot of operations work.
Thinking about the hotel manager role, it’s useful to use earning to give as a baseline for comparing impact. Maybe someone who could do a good job at this role could otherwise earn to give at $75-$150k/year if they were only to keep $20k/year for themself? [1] At full capacity there would be 16 bedrooms, but maybe you average 80% full, so this is an effective subsidy of $6k to $12k per resident per year. This on its own is in the same range as just giving people money to rent housing, even in an expensive market like London or the Bay Area. Then add in the other costs (real estate, upkeep, tasks that are contracted out) and this doesn’t actually seem cheaper.
Might still be worth it, for the value of crystalizing a new EA hub in a generally cheaper area, but I’m not sold on it.
[1] Long term my expectation is that working a high paying job is probably building a lot more career capital than working as a hotel manager, but let’s ignore that for now.
Do you know, there are many people who have the skills to be great hotel managers and are making $15-$25k a year? In cheaper countries, such as Slovakia, Czech, Poland … I really do not think people who are able to make 75 − 150 k a year will be interested in this job.
Whether you live in a hotel or not, there are certain chores that need to be done for your life to run smoothly: grocery shopping, cooking, laundry, etc. These chores don’t go away if you live in an expensive housing market or make a high income. But if you live with roommates, it’s possible to coordinate with your roommates to achieve economies of scale in these tasks. Right now at the EA hotel, we are trading off so we each take turns cooking for the entire hotel (currently ~6 people) one night per week. This creates economies of scale because cooking for 6 people is much less than 6 times as hard as cooking for one person. I expect that these economies of scale effects will become even more valuable as the number of people in the hotel grows.
If you have a high income, though, you can pay other people to do them: for example, instead of cooking you could buy frozen food, buy restaurant food, or hire a cook.
My experience with cooking is that above about 6-10 people the economies of scale drop off a lot. I really like living in a house with enough adults that I can cook about once a week, but as the number of people (and combinations of dietary restrictions) grows you get beyond what one person can cook easily.
Overall, though, it sounds like you’re more arguing for “group houses are great” (which I agree on) and not “taking the hotel manager job has high counterfactual impact” (which I think is much more important?)
(I’m assuming that the counterfactual here is someone who wants to do unpaid direct work full time, has some funds available that could be used to either support themselves or could be donated to something high impact, and could either live in SF or Blackpool.)
These options don’t go away if you move to Blackpool. But your rent does get a lot cheaper.
It seems like maybe there are two questions here which are more or less orthogonal: the value of hiring a very talented full-time manager for your group house (someone who is passing up a job that pays $75K+ in order to be manager), and the value of moving to Blackpool. I think the value of having a very talented full-time manager for your group house is not about reducing expenses, it’s about creating a house culture that serves to multiply the impact of all the residents. If that’s not possible then it probably makes less sense to hire a manager whose opportunity cost is high.
Is this the counterfactual for the hotel manager, or for a resident? I’m only trying to address the hotel manager role here, but I wouldn’t expect the counterfactual for a hotel manager to be unpaid direct work.
This makes a lot of sense to me, but reading the Hotel Manager section the impression I get is that a hotel manager would be too busy to do much in that direction. There’s no discussion of their role in setting culture, and a lot of operations work.