What is a Hostel?
To the best of my knowledge, hostelling was started by a German teacher back in 1907. During the summers and weekends, he turned rural schoolhouses into inexpensive accommodations for students. His goal was to encourage more young people to travel, concentrating on bringing city kids to the country. After World War II the movement expanded to other countries and in 1934 the first U.S. hostel opened. Hostelling has changed a lot over the years, dropping age restrictions and relaxing rules and regulations. What hasn’t changed is the goal of encouraging people to travel, explore and learn.
Some modern-day hostels operate independently while others belong to a hostel network. The largest nonprofit hostel organization in the world, Hostelling International (HI), operates over 100 hostels in the U.S., many of which are featured in this book. HI membership costs $25 a year and HI members get a $3/night discount at most HI hostels. Independent hostels are run by owners who choose to operate without belonging to a network. In conducting research for this book, the same criteria were used when evaluating HI and independent hostels. Some favorite hostels are HI-affiliated and other favoriates are independently owned and operated.

Every hostel is unique and has its own personality. Some are 12-story high rise buildings, others are built in a 1970’s ranch house, a ski lodge or a lighthouse. The biggest difference is between urban hostels and those in smaller towns. Hostels located in small towns or near national parks or seashores tend to be full of characters. Big city hostels are more institutional in nature, but provide outstanding value and a host of useful amenities such as a concierge desk or free neighborhood walking tours.

While each hostel is unique, they all share a few common elements: “common areas” and dorm rooms. These communal areas is what makes a hostel a hostel.

Common Areas
Every hostel has rooms or gathering spaces that are shared by all guests, designed primarily to help guests meet and interact. For ninety percent of hostels, this includes a kitchen, dining area and living room/den, which is usually referred to as the “common room.”

Hostel kitchens get frequent usage. They are especially important for those on long-distance trips. After a while, eating out gets old – and gets expensive. It can be a welcome change to cook up your favorite foods. In the kitchen you’ll typically find a refrigerator, stove, oven, and full assortment of dishes, pots, pans and utensils. There is no charge to use anything in the kitchen. The only expectation is that you wash your own dishes and clean up your cooking area. Space is provided for guest food on shelves and in the refrigerator. Guests are asked to write their names on food and groceries not meant to be shared by all. Many hostels will also have a shared section of the refrigerator with basics like butter and ketchup, donated by guests who are heading home.

The rest of the common rooms vary in size and furnishings, depending on the nature of the hostel. Big city hostels generally have large rooms with long tables and chairs, reminiscent of school cafeterias. Smaller hostels have cozier rooms that vary from contemporary living and dining rooms to 1970’s dens with plaid couches. Each hostel generally has a small library of books and internet access in their common rooms, however only about half have televisions. In a very few number of hostels, the common area may simply be a front porch or courtyard with picnic tables.

Dorm Rooms
While most hostels have at least one private room, 95% of guests stay in the dorms. Since low-cost dorms are what many experienced hostellers require, a facility had to have at least one dorm room to be classified as a hostel and be considered for this book.

Dorms are furnished with single beds, usually in the form of bunk beds. Rooms range in size and sleep anywhere from four to eighteen guests. Smaller rooms are generally better; as fewer roommates mean less clutter and nighttime noise. These are community rooms, so you will typically be sharing a room with people you didn’t know before you arrived. It isn’t as weird as it sounds though, so long as you’re the social type. It’s basically like summer camp for adults.
Dorm beds usually aren’t made up upon your arrival. Upon check-in, guests are given or rented sheets if they didn’t bring their own. (No sleeping bags allowed.) Protocale is to make your bed as soon as you arrive. This marks the bed as taken. Once a bed is taken no one is allowed to move your stuff to another bed.

Why Go Hostelling?

Hostels are different for every visitor.

At the very least, a hostel is an inexpensive place to sleep. A bed in a dorm room costs around $19 a night and two people can split a private room for around $45. You’ll be hard pressed to find a better deal than that. And for many people, the low cost is a good enough a reason to stay in a hostel.

However, done right, hostelling can be a lot more than traveling on the cheap. It can be an adventure – an escape from the routine of everyday life. It’s an opportunity to meet and hang out with people from all over the world. Sixty percent of guests in U.S. hostels are from visiting from other countries. Introduce yourself around when you check in and soon you’ll be swapping life stories and travel tales.

Traveling solo? No problem. Most hostel guests are traveling solo and looking to make new friends. At hostels it’s easy to form an impromptu tour group. Just let your roommates know what’s on your agenda – trail hike, sightseeing or pub crawl – and extend an offer for people to join you. You’re bound to have at least one taker. Hostels are transient in nature. Everyone is just stopping in for a brief visit before moving on to a new destination or returning home to “real life.” The transient nature of things means that friendships are formed quickly and that things that matter back home don’t matter at all here. People will ask where you came from and where you’re headed next, but no one cares where you work or how much money you make. It’s a simple environment that makes for authentic, easy friendships.