How to start from nothing on Hive and start investing
Today is February 27th, 2026.
Now I used the 
I will be borrowing ONE HBD from the community and PAY IT BACK over time. The primary goal is to make money on HIVE. Invest the money outside of HIVE. Then use external investments to fund additional growth on Hive. Many of my posts will be about investments. Some of my posts will just be things I want to chat about. The goal is to be open about ways to make money on the system, pay back into the system, and give a map on how I would do things.
However, if you want to borrow ONE HBD and start with nothing and show me how its done? Repaying the HBD as you grow? Reply to this post and I'll happily accept the challenge (at least for a limited number of people).
So, as I have nothing invested yet and only 0.001 Hive in my wallet here is how things look right now:
| GLT tokens | GLS tokens | HP | HBD | GLD Held | GLD Borrowed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0.001 GLT | 0.000 GLs | 0.001 HP | 0.000 HBD | 0.000 GLD | 100 GLD |
I'll update as things progress.
For my first articles I'll be writing about my hotel stays in Surabaya. I usually aim for 500 words minimum. I make sure I have at least one image and try for four. I'll probably write more about what to write later. A couple quick tips: (1) No Ai (2) Original content only and (3) Cite where you got the images from. In this post all the images were taken personally.
Here we go with the first article on the way to hopefully making a roadmap on making money on Hive :)
... Side note: With 0 HP I forgot one of the biggest pain issues for new users. Not enough Resource Credits to make the post. So I clicked publish and got :
So, if you are brand new? Ask a mentor to lend you some HP to get resource credits before you start. Otherwise you might find (like me) that you go to post but nope... Doesn't work ;)
Hotel Comparison: Aloft Surabaya
This week I'll be going to a bunch of different hotels in Surabaya before heading to Manila on March 3rd, 2026. The actual plan for this trip was to get my Platinum Status with Marriot which meant staying 35 nights in the Marriot system. Since there are 6 different Marriot hotels here it was a great way to see the city, get my nights, enjoy a vacation and generally have a quiet life for a while.
But is it worth paying the extra for the Marriot brand? Between the hotels are some better than others? Well, that's what I'm going to show you over the next 5 days :)
Location
This hotel is in the East side of Surabaya. If you have never been here before that will probably mean absolutely nothing to you. However, it means that a lot of the city will be a long way from here. Having said that, it is literally right beside the Pakuwon city mall so anything you are likely going to need are right beside you.
I stood at the point between the two and took pictures.
- Here is the mall
- There is the secret doorway into the hotel. There is the main doorway right beside it but if you don't want to say hello to the doorman you can tap your room key and go in.
But there is more than just the mall beside the place. There are many very useful stores easily walkable from the hotel. It is sort of a gated area with no scooters allowed and very good sidewalks. I walked less than a block and found a good massage place, a mani/pedi place for my wife, bank, doctor, pharmacy, small eateries, even a video game den. Walk a little further and you will find a little mini Chinese village closed to vehicle traffic with event venue's, picture perfect places, and restaurants.
If you need a doctor I can say that there is a little clinic, pharmacy and massage therapy place within a block. The doctor spoke English and by Canadian standards was very inexpensive at 8k IDR (About $5.50 HBD) and I ended up getting some Loperamide (Imodium) -- 10 tablets for 800ID (about $0.05 HBD). I was shocked. Curious about prices, I took a picture of their price list.
What would I say about the location? If you want low friction and easy to get around and a quiet "home base" it is perfect. Good food, beautiful clean mall, good stores and visitor friendly. Just understand this is a little bubble of calm in the bustling city of Surabaya. If you want street vendors and an "authentic" feel this isn't exactly it.
Vibe
As far as the "feel" of the hotel? The Aloft brand is their bright and vibrant version of Marriott marketed at a younger crowd. I'm not a bright and colourful kind of guy but it isn't garish so I just went with it.
The front lobby area has a eating area with a little snack bar. Prices are hotel version to be sure. A small Coca-Cola was 20K IDR there and the exact same can would be 5K IDR if you walk 5 minutes to the Indomaret grocery store in the mall. The pool table is free and overall a chill place to hang with a friend and talk for a while.
Or you could walk to the other side of the room where the concierge is. They have some interesting seats and some regular seats. Another good place to chat with a friend.
As for other ambiance features? I'll let you decide what you think of them.
Check-in
The front desk staff are great. Sazwa took care of getting me into my room quickly. Yes you need to show your passport, that's standard procedure. They ask for payment up front or a deposit. The full price was 862,125 IDR ($51.30 HBD) so I just paid it up front. Side note: Probably the only place I'm comfortable trying to use my AMEX card in Surabaya. Payment here is usually QR code with Visa/Mastercard taking second place.
While Sazwa was great. Isna (another front desk staff) came over when she was free, called me by name and greeted me a warm hello. I had only stayed there once before but she remembered. Probably because I stick out as the only white guy in the hotel but still.... nice to be remembered. Even better I got a room upgrade from my regular room to a junior suite. It is nice to be a Platinum elite. Note to any other elite members: I was also upgraded the previous time I was here also.
Room: Must Have's
What do I consider must have's in the room? "
- Working AC -- Check
- Comfortable bed -- Check
- Clean washroom -- Check
- No visible stains, mold or ick -- Check
- No pests or vermin -- Check
Honestly at that price tag in Surabaya I absolutely wouldn't expect things like that. However, if you are from the USA where $51 is the very low end of accomodation you could be wondering. In Surabaya economics are different. I stayed in a $14 hotel room and it still passed every one of those must have items. I was happily surprised
A very comfortable King Sized bed. My wife said too large but I'll say it is a quality mattress. No complaints. The sheets are nice too.
A sink with plenty of room to put stuff on the side.
A toilet with a bidet. An odd bidet where there are two different spray modes one for front and one for back. Odd until you figure it out.
And a shower that is larger than some capsule hotel rooms I've been in.
AC Unit? I think it is central AC as I didn't see a head unit. However, I can tell you that the AC worked just fine and very quiet as far as AC units go. Temperature control unit you can see in the image with the TV later.
Room: Nice to Have's
A cheap room should all the must have items. This room has a lot of the Nice to Have items also.
- Having a Desk and couch.
Maybe its a table? Either way. Somewhere to write my Hive articles on is great. Somewhere to eat snacks or dinner that isn't the bed...great. A couch to lounge on while watching a movie? Great.
- Closet/dressing area?
A lot of things going on in this image but... A place to sit when changing. A place to hang your clothes. Free slippers. A safe to put your valuables. Cubbies to hide stuff. Very useful :)
There is the safe and slippers. There is also a bag you can use to have the hotel wash and dry your clothes. But wow is it expensive. Emergency use only (at least for me)
A clothes steamer to get wrinkles out of clothes. My wife used it for me? Meh. Also a rechargeable flashlight. I suppose useful in an emergency but I never needed it.
A big TV with very clear picture. Now I could care less about TV's. However some hotels have the HDMI available so you can plug in your laptop and do work or watch video's. That elevates the entire experience. Let me guess though. You don't bring an HDMI cable. Your in luck. I asked the front desk and they loaned me one, no issue. Horray!
And finally. The kitchen area :)
Never underestimate how nice it is to have a fridge to store some cold drinks. Even if you just use it to chill the bottled water that is complementary. 4 bottles are standard but they gave me two extra. That was nice :)
They even gave me a welcome snack. Sure it is fairly common as a Platinum elite member but still yummy. So yummy I forgot to take a picture of the bottles of water, the tea, coffee, kettle etc. Oops.
But somehow I remembered to take a picture of all the storage they have beside the fridge. :) You can kind of see the water, coffee and tea hiding out on top.
Room: Special Features
Now there are things that aren't in your room and aren't in the lobby in some hotels. This hotel has meeting rooms, a restaurant, a lounge, a pool, a gym, a mushola (prayer room) and a weight room.
I'm not Muslim so I never visited the Mushola.
The Echo lounge is really useful if you have an event to host. It has seating for a bunch of people, a stage for a presentation and a bar area for food, drinks, or if you wanted to have some sort of booth. I only went in there once because the restaurant was super busy so they put overflow in there.
The pool area is right beside the restaurant. It has covered ... hmm... double lounge chairs? As well as uncovered regular lounge chairs. So, if you want to enjoy food by the pool, no problem. However, when I went there it was pouring down rain. No poolside for me :)
Just before I left the weather was beautiful though. Go figure :)
The gym I absolutely used though. There are cardio machines, a couple of weight machines and a full stretching area and free weights. Towels are included. A hot/cold water dispenser is there as well.
Hotel: Food
They have a beautiful restaurant but the menu and restaurant deserve a post of their own. You will have to come back for that one :)
Hotel- Odds and Ends
What else did I think noteworthy?
Well, Surabaya isn't the most picturesque city but if you are curious what you will see from the 10th or 18th floor? City views which have few obstructions.
Plus you can tell something about the hotel by the care an attention taken to the public washrooms. I can say that they were clean and the fact that the men's had 3 toilets and 4 urinals, a few sinks and no splashes and pooling water? Nice!
Next up? Elevators. Some cheaper hotels have a single elevator. An old scary elevator. Or even worse (unless you need exercise) .. stairs. Three elevators here bright and clean. They have the security tap so unless you have a room key you can't access the guest floors. With a guest key you can only access your own floor. Still. It's nice.
No, I don't know why they have a mirror on the ceiling but they do.
Odds and ends.
Yes, they have a hairdryer if you need one.
If you are looking in the washroom you will also find a little amenity kit.
- Toothbrushes with tiny toothpaste (x2)
- Comb
- Vanity kit : Q-tip, tiny emory board, and makeup sponge
- Shaver
- Sanitary bad (yeah, I didn't look too hard at that).
Final Thoughts
Honestly it is a very nice hotel. The price from a Canadian viewpoint is way too low for this hotel. I'm going to say its likely because its a brand new hotel and once it becomes known and occupancy goes up it will likely get much more expensive. However, for now? It is a great value.
Yes everything is nice and clean. Everything works. It is bright and cheery.
The true strength of this hotel? Absolutely the staff!
They have nametags so I made sure to figure out who they were. Why? Because by the end of a short time there they all knew me by my name and I wanted to return the favor. They treated me like royalty, they went over and above trying to make sure I was well taken care of. Doors opened, bags carried, and in the restaurant the chef came out to ask if he could make anything special. For a hotel in the $51 range? Totally unheard of in Canada/USA/Europe. In Surabaya it is expensive by local standards and it shows in everything they do.
Any complaints?
Well, if I had to complain here are some things:
- In hotel prices are expensive.
In the surrounding restaurants I can get meals starting at roughly 30K IDR while the lunch buffet at the lounge was 188K IDR and there is tax and service charge on that.
- Laundry is really expensive
I'm certain it is excellent but you are absolutely paying for convenience.
- It can get busy.
When I was there for Chinese New Years the buffet breakfast was packed. When I wanted to go for the afternoon Dragon dance it was sold out. Even while I was there this time there was an event going on and elevator was jam packed with over 20 people going down.
The staff worked hard every time they had crowds but there is only so much they can do.