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The Not So Surprising Resurgence of the Hostel

 

 With a slumping economy tightening nearly everybody’s belt it should come as no surprise that hostel travel has seen a bit of a renaissance lately. In the past, many hostels were sullenly portrayed as grungy, run-down, low-cost depots for young patrons such as college students and backpackers. Even Quentin Tarantino’s horror films unquestionably re-popularized this once commonplace view of hostels as seedy locales in his 2005 flick Hostel and the 2007 second installment. The hostel landscape has changed markedly however since the initial misconceptions of these low cost locales were formed in the 1970’s and 1980’s.

 

Today hostels are springing up at an unprecedented rate in cities big and small from Tegucigalpa to Tokyo. Certainly most hostels still have a small element of being geared towards a younger clientele, yet many are evolving from a budget traveler hotbed to a viable option for the diversified traveler alike. Hostels tend to offer up a more authentic lodging experience for whatever country you are residing in. Most hostels are family run and the owners will go above and beyond to make sure that your experience in the host country is exceptional. As nice as it is to stay at the Hilton in Prague or Madrid or Tel Aviv, large hotel chains often lose out on the culture of these locales as they remain profoundly hidden behind their posh edifices.  

 

The bottom line remains that hostels are the frontline of foreign travel. Many are located outside of the major tourist areas but within a reasonable distance as to not make them undesirable. Ultimately, this results in seeing a more deeply genuine side of the city you are in when traveling to/from your hostel as opposed to simply walking across the street from the Coliseum to your Marriott hotel.

 

Hostels have also begun to offer up additional services to make themselves more marketable and pleasurable for those travelers who frequent them. First off, many newer hostels offer small pools, improved common lounges with ping pong tables, cable TV, and high speed internet. Other amenities include either complimentary or nominal fee airport or train station pickup and small pubs within the hostel itself. The families who own the hostels have a wealth of invaluable local knowledge that often goes well beyond what your traditional DK Travel Guide can offer. It has been these sweeping improvements to hostels globally that have reshaped the way we view hostel lodging in the past two decades.

 

One of my most memorable travel experiences occurred at the Garden Safary (yes, Safari with a Y) Hostel when I visited Egypt two years ago during my semester abroad. The hostel was located superbly on the busy Midan-at-Tahrir in the heart of the city, which is also the home of the Arab League headquarters, famous Egyptian Museum, and steps from the Nile River. We stayed for two nights and thanks to the help of the owners were able to maximize our stay by seeing the majority of the remarkable sights Cairo has to offer including the Khan El Khalili marketplace, the Great Pyramids, the Step Pyramid of Djoser, the Citadel Mosque complex, Zemalek, and the Egyptian Museum amongst others. Without their help, it is unlikely that we could have utilized our time as well as we did and see the best of the Egyptian capital.

 

Today’s variety amongst hostels and their bargain prices is what makes them so appealing to the masses. Nonetheless, it is critical to research a plethora of hostels closely before making a final choice on lodging. There are several vital factors that should be factored into choosing your hostel. The website hostelworld.com rates its hostels on six key categories to determine its overall value ranking. Character, security, location, staff, fun, and cleanliness are the six determinants. Depending on what type of experience you are looking to get out of your stay, you should be focusing on particular aspects of those six.

 

For instance, if you are a college student backpacking and looking to meet up with other travelers from around the world, another indispensable benefit to staying at hostels, then you should focus on the fun, character, and staff aspects. A good staff will always be able to promote a lively and communal atmosphere within the hostel and both fun and character are a testament to the extracurricular activities run through the hostel. For example, many hostels run pool or foosball tournaments to promote an amicable atmosphere and allow guests to get to know each other. This is particularly important for solo travelers who could always benefit from meeting up with others with similar interests and those who choose to stay in the dorm like and typically cheaper hostel lodging offerings where you are sharing a bedroom with five to fifteen others. Good location and security are imperative as well and those hostels that are well outside the city center or in deteriorated neighborhoods are often considerably cheaper but the disadvantages are typically not worth a few dollars.

 

The intrinsic benefit of staying at a hostel is wrapped up in its low nightly price tag. For example, while regular hotels in Europe go for over two hundred dollars a night easy, private rooms in a highly rated hostel in Rome, Athens, or Barcelona, go for between 35-55 USD. Even the Bahaus Guesthouse of Istanbul, rated the number one hostel in Turkey, offers private rooms for as low as 36 USD a night. Dorms rooms across Europe are slightly lower characteristically falling in the 25-40 USD price range and Bahaus has dorms for as low as 18 USD . Although expensive to fly from the US to Asia or Africa hostels on these continents are outrageously cheap in comparison their counterparts in Europe. No matter which destination you travel to whether it is Sydney or Seoul, Rome or Rio, hostels are an increasingly affordable, easy, and reasonable choice for lodging.

 

 

Bahaus Guesthouse, Istanbul------rated Turkey's #1 Hostel