Definition of a Hostel

[aboriginalhostel]

Originally Posted by Plakian

Getting there!

However, some hostels are too small or too busy to take groups. I will not take groups as they ruin the single social atmosphere.

Anyway, what is the definition of a group? To me it is 6 or more.

Well according to Wikipedia, a group can be defined as two or more humans that interact with one another... Which means the smallest group is two people. I guess you can accept that!

Originally Posted by Plakian

I would also question the word "young". I have a room now where the average age is over 60 - but they are all 'young at heart' and mix in marvelously with the youngsters; and the youngsters benefit from their experience.

Well, in this description it is the environment which is young, does not refer to people's age. Young hearted people would still fit into this description, IMHO. But I guess to clarify the sentence more, we could also put youthful instead...

[Hostels]

Originally Posted by aboriginalhostel

Although BEs has the interest to keep them as hostels, otherwise they wouldn't be able to sell as many beds... :S

Even if they don't drop the hotels, they booking engines should at least distinguish them in some way. Maybe promote the words "guesthouse" or "backpacker hotel" so that people know what they're getting when they search?

[aboriginalhostel]

Originally Posted by Hostels

Even if they don't drop the hotels, they booking engines should at least distinguish them in some way. Maybe promote the words "guesthouse" or "backpacker hotel" so that people know what they're getting when they search?

HW does make it separate but people are looking for hostels in general. Guest houses, apartments and budget hotels are not as popular, so won't make the sales, so even if you have a guest house it is your interest to at least pretend you are a hostel. That's the main problem. No one is checking the quality/category of the establishment, anyone can sign up.

Also anything from the net still suffers from the chatting dog effect...



The lesson of the story is: Nothing is 100% true you find on the net...

BTW, HW's only response to that, as long as their costumers read the reviews, they can decide whether they want to stay there or not.

Would you agree with that? Is it only me freakin out from this free market BS?

[hobohideout]

Hello, my name is Andy of HoboTraveler.com, I am a perpetual traveler, I have been on the road for over 10 years and 79 countries. When I find myself in a room full of travelers, who did not make a reservation, who are cooking food in the kitchen and hanging out. When they checkout, leave for another city, then return to the same lodging, tell a few stories and then take off again to explore, I feel like I am in a Hostel.

I do feel a Hostel has to be the cheapest way to sleep in the area and no Hotel room should be cheaper than one bed.

There are countries like Thailand, most of Central and South America where they have Hostel where dorm beds cost more than single rooms, they are selling the idea that you are getting a good deal, when the truth is you are not, this is not a Hostel.

I tend to believe a Hostel is sometimes best defined by the type of owner, if he or she wants to meet the travelers from all over the planet, give them a cheap bed, then maybe it is a Hostel. However, as the majority of Hostels seem to be preoccupied with bookings, it become hard to feel they are a Hostel in my opinion.

I have dwell ed on the idea of starting a Hostel for years, I am thinking about asking that all people stay for 7 days or they would not be allowed. I want to slow them down whereby we could be friends.

I remember being in a Hostel in Riga, Latvia, when another tourist, not a traveler said,
"I was in 19 countries in 17 days."

When a person is on an itinerary or trip like this, it is hard to feel like I am in a Hostel, and I feel this ways consistently in Europe.

I do feel a Hostel it is 100 percent necessary to have a Kitchen and a common area with travelers hanging around. When it has a bar down below, I instantly call it a Flophouse Hostel.

I have been told I had to leave from many Hostels because of reservations coming in the door, whereby I had refused to reserve a room. Truly does not feel like my dream of a Hostel when this happens, however I do understand, at the end of the day, the majority are only a business, not a lifestyle.

[santa klaus]

Andy,

I feel obliged to reply. I work for a Flophouse chain (we have bars down below or up above). I must be your equivalent of Satan.

[uktrail]

Andy, I agree with you 80%.

But there are two items on which I totally disagree. A location should not be barred from being a hostel just because other locations in the city are able and willing to let out single rooms in a non-hostel environment at a lower price. I have stayed in a very low-price single room in a guest-house in Thailand (which, as it happens, did have a good social scene). I have also stayed in a hostel in Bangkok (Suk11) which had a great atmosphere, and both its dorm beds and single rooms were pretty cheap by my standard, although it may be that guest-house rooms in the Khao San Road are cheaper.

Seven days minimum? That obviously fits with your particular lifestyle, but not with that of 90% of travellers. We go to hostels as a family or couple, partly to AVOID the constraint of staying at one location for a whole week, as is required in self-catering units. The tradition of hostels in Britain is a hiking or cycling tour for 1-2 weeks, staying at a different hostel most nights. I agree with the drop-in idea, which is desirable for such trips. At Pitlochry, Scotland I met an older man who was cycling from Land's End to John O'Groats. AND BACK.

That said, your opinion of a good hostel agrees very closely with mine, so I would be very interested if you would make a list of the hostels you have stayed at which you most enjoyed, and post it here or send it to me.

[Hostels]

Hostelworld has a selection of videos on Travelistic.com.

This video is about the definition of hostel -- though I'm not sure if the first guy has it right when he says that a motel is a "cheaper hotel" - I think of a motel as a hotel for motorists, with free parking outside the rooms.

I think the dormitory aspect isn't emphasized:

[Tim]

I agree, a motel is a hotel for motorists. It's not a motel unless it has one free parking space for each room.

The traditional idea of a motel is a space outside each room, although it don't think it is necessary to have the parking organised this way. For instance most Formule 1 hotels are motels, as there is a free parking space for each room, even though the rooms open onto an indoor hallway and the parking is in a conventional carpark.

[Hostels]

Here's a video about capsule hotels in Japan. It's not a hostel, but they are almost dorm beds. I stayed at one hostel in Japan where the dorm beds were arranged in stacked capsules, except low-tech (no TV) and with a curtain instead of a door.

[EuroHostels]

Hi All,

I'm a complete newbie to this site and so far very impressed with it all. I was reading through this thread with interest, and remembered an article I wrote some time ago, so figured I should jump in and add something.

Below is a press release I researched and wrote a couple of years ago. It was targetted at our local Glasgow newspapers and was printed in The Evening Times (from memory). It is clearly designed at getting traditional hotel users to consider hostels as an alternative and has the usual 'sales pitch' of course.

This is the 'full version' before the editor cut it to pieces... as they do.

Any comments gratefully received.

Cheers,
Steve

What’s In A Name?
Oct 05, 2006
By Steve Mackenzie, Euro Hostels

Hostels… What are they really? How did an ‘s’ get added to hotel and what’s the difference anyway? Hoteliers are starting to take notice of this growing market, and with good reason. Let’s have a look at the origins of hostels as well as the modern hostel and the industry today.

A hostel used to represent a lodging establishment full of large rooms set up for multiple occupancy (dormitories). The old days of university hostels, nurses hostels, homeless hostels and even hostels for freshly released prisoners have left a lingering stigma attached to the word. But who was it that decided to set up ‘youth hostels’ and call them exactly that?

In 1912 in Altena, Germany, Richard Schirrmann created the first permanent youth hostel. It was inside Altena Castle (famous now for an annual hard rock festival) which had been recently reconstructed.

This first hostel was an exponent of the ideology of the German Youth Movement to let poor, young city people get a breath of fresh air in the countryside. The youths were supposed to manage the hostel themselves (as much as possible) such as doing the chores involved for the day-to-day operation of the establishment.

Although somewhat more relaxed nowadays, these ‘old-style’ hostels still exist today and mostly belong to Hostelling International (YHA), a non-profit organisation composed of more than 90 national and international associations representing over 4000 hostels in over 80 countries throughout the world. Rules like curfews, cleaning your own room and ‘lock-outs’ (enforced times that you must be out of the building ‘exercising and seeing the sights’) are still fairly common.

In the 60’s and 70’s, young and not-so-young travellers were returning home after their big OE (overseas experience) and realising that there was a much better way to do things. Largely beginning in Australia and New Zealand, independently run hostels started popping up all over the place. The owners took into account the things that they didn’t like about their own hostelling experience and set about making changes for the better. Relaxed rules, 24-hour receptions, no chores and a choice of room types became commonplace as well as adding bars (licensed or otherwise!) and cafes. But most of these places were not run by professionals and left a lot to be desired in the cleanliness stakes as well as meeting basic health and safety regulations. It was common to use the catch phrase “Run by travellers for travellers”, and it showed. The term ‘Backpackers’, used as an alternative to hostel, was the preferred name to signify that it was not a part of HI, that everyone was welcome, not just youths, and that it was fun.

Independent hostels today have undergone massive changes since these early times and are still improving. Some are huge, multi-storey places offering all the facilities of a hotel and more.

There are two big differences between a hostel and a hotel though. Price and attitude. Hostels are much cheaper and will remain that way to attract their established budget traveller market. There is also an aura of fun and friendliness as well as a genuine desire for staff and guests to meet new people from all over the world. All hostels encourage guests to interact in common areas, share travel stories, give advice and most importantly, have fun… even the new, large, professionally run hostels.

Hostelling is the fastest growing sector of the worldwide accommodation industry with modern hostels being run by true professionals as well as large companies.

Take the Euro Hostel in Glasgow, Scotland for example. It has over 360 beds in all-ensuite rooms, a WiFi enabled modern bar, two large screen TV lounges, two games areas, huge dining room, commercial quality guest kitchen, guest laundry and internet facilities as well as TV’s in all 70 of it’s twin and double rooms. It has rooms of all sizes including dormitories and family rooms as well as disabled rooms. As with the new breed of professional hostels, there’s no need to share a room if you don’t want to, but the option is there. It is 10 storeys high, is spotlessly clean and run by hotel professionals. Even with all this, their staff training involves pure professionalism in the background but a genuinely fun, friendly and casual attitude with all guests. There is no hotel stuffiness here and the staff are actually encouraged to socialise with the guests. This is the attitude difference that is so noticeable in all hostels.

Traditional hotel users are jumping ship in their droves and experiencing the new style of accommodation that modern hostels are offering. Hotel companies are realising this and following suit. For example, Accor Hotels, the global hotel company with brands such as Mercure, Novotel and Sofitel among many others, have dived in headlong with their Base Backpackers brand and are already well established in New Zealand and Australia. They are acquiring properties at a rapid rate and are rumoured to be entering the Asian market very shortly. Don’t be surprised if you see them all over the world within a decade or so. With a company the size of Accor getting into this market, you can bet that other major hotel chains are about to follow suit.

So next time your on-line booking your holiday accommodation, don’t just limit yourself to the traditional hotel web sites. Try doing a search for hostels in your chosen destination (try www.hostelworld.com or www.hostelbookers.com) and take the plunge. Not only will you save a bundle, you’ll have a whole lot more fun too. And let’s face it, isn’t that what holidays are all about?

Steve Mackenzie
Euro Hostels Ltd
stevem@euro-hostels.co.uk
www.euro-hostels.co.uk