What do you look for in a hostel?

Travelblog is full of travellers who have travelled the world and stayed in countless hostels.. My brother is looking at buying a hostel and wants to know what people look for in a hostel.. What's more important, partying or quietness? Free breakfast or free internet? Organised activites or info on doing your own activities? Is it important to have lots of things to do in the hostel or is just a place to dump your stuff?? Bascially any information or opinions you have about your hostelling experience would appreciated.. Cheers for the help. Reply to this

I give more priority to the security.

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The best hostels I stayed in in Europe were the smallest hostels. The worst - the biggest.

I definately rate a good shower and free internet, a small communal space and useful staff that actually know the area! Nothing like a good host.

Close to public transport is great, and extra bonuses like free breakfast/dinner and laundry are ideal! I have been to hostels that do this (Aboriginal hostel in Budapest - superb!)

Putting on activities I don't think is necessary. Security wise, lockers are best.

And I echo the want for a large map perhaps in the communal area - such a good idea!

Good luck to your brother.


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Buying a hostel isn't quite the same as staying in one! - I'd look for a few different things if I was to invest in a hostel.

Don't underestimate the importance of the review sites - eg: the hostelbookers, tripadvisors - in particular local networks - like in New Zealand the Bug network. Good reviews and a mention in the guidebooks will bring a continuous stream of new visitors - even if it is 5 years since those reviews were made.

Ease of competition opening - I wouldn't open a hostel or buy one - where overnight the entire street could convert and become hostels - by the same rule - ease of expansion is important too.

Location, location ... is it near a tourist attraction or a transport hub? - some of the nicest hostels I ever stayed at were in out of the way places in New Zealand - so out of the way that the next guest wouldn't arrive for several days - and this was high season!

Depends a lot on the goals of the business - is it making a living for a family or starting a franchise and business empire? That would influence the decision or how big, where, how much to invest.


As for staying in hostels;

Free wireless internet - but that's just me! - something I can't be without.

Excluding that;

• Quiet sleeping area - not a corridor or those terrible metal bunks that squeal and scream every time someone breathes.
• Lockers - that allow me to use my lock.
• A friendly social area - some where I can meet up with the other guests - a free breakfast with set hours does wonders for getting people to meet and chat.
• Included coffee & tea - at the end of a long day sightseeing just being able to make

Cleanliness and safety are things that shouldn't have to be specified - they're basic requirements. Reply to this

The best hostel I stayed in while I was in Ecuador and Peru was The Secret Garden in Quito. They had...

- free clean drinking water to fill up your water bottle which cuts down your costs and the amount of waste you create
- a book swap (like LobsterCheeks said) is SO essential when in foreign countries and trying to find books in a language you can read!
- breakfast and dinner (along with beer, tea, coffee, wine, pop and a few types of mixed drinks) were served at a long, communal table which made a great atmosphere; they also made fires some nights and had ponchos for when it got chilly, it was great for meeting other travelers
- CLEAN showers and beds!
- a book that travelers wrote in telling what they did while in Quito and area, how they did it, and what they thought of it
- a laundry service
- and an awesome and friendly staff willing to take the whole hostel out for a drink once the patio closed

I like any hostel that feels like a social place between guests and between the owner/staff and guests, that really makes it feel less like you're renting a room and more like a temporary home/community. Reply to this

Safety and Clean are the two most things important for me. That is why many people choose NOT to stay at a hostel. If you can offer that and prices are reasonable people will come. I think this alone would make me want to stay.

I don't care for breakfast i like trying local resturants. How about instead of having free internet, charge a discount rate and offer FAST internet.

Offer multi-lingual resources, eg. have guidebooks, menus, guestbooks in different languages. It would be nice to meet other backpackers who aren't the typical English speaking "guy in dreadlocks".
- Other resources, infomation about VISA, transport to the airport/train&bus stations, money exchange, options for pre-paid cellphones (and how to get one)
- Have a HUGE BULLETIN and section it off for different topics (eg. meetups, events, local news, stuf for sale, etc)

SOUND PROOF THE ROOMS, i bet more than half of us here who have had sleepless nights cuz some love birds are doing it in the other room.

Offer a language exchange night where locals who want to learn English can come and practice with guests. The locals are also great resources in where to go, and where to eat.

Lastly, you should have a hostel that gives back to the local community. Not everyone likes to live near a business that attracts a lot of tourists, especialy if themselves don't work in the tourism industry. Even buying your food supplies from local farms or domating your beer cans to a local charity is better than nothing.

Good Luck








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This issue has been on my mind lately because I've stayed in some terrible places over the last couple of weeks! The funny thing is, a perfectly clean and secure place, which should have everything going for it, can become horrible based on the other people there.

Therefore I think the most important thing in the hostel is quite possibly the staff. I can totally see why lovely, helpful, multilingual and ever cheerful people may not want to use their considerable talents working in a hostel - but the hostels I would rate most highly have all had one of these gems about the place, absolute all-stars who will try to help you with any random question you can throw at them, who keep a sense of order in the place and even have fun doing it.

Other things I like/look for:

Kitchen: Pretty much the deciding factor for me when choosing between places is "which one has a kitchen?" I cannot afford to eat out all the time, and having a shared area like a kitchen/lounge means travellers can meet up, maybe even share a meal. Very important when you're travelling solo.

Wireless! I travel with my laptop. I use it to keep in touch with friends and family, and also to store photos and update blogs. I actively choose places with free WiFi over others.

Lockers - the space under the lower bunk, divided in half, can create two good sized storage lockers. I've been in places where they were metal and places where they were wooden cupboards, but you bring your own lock and stow your bag neatly under the bed - your stuff's secure and also out of the way. (It annoys me when I'm charged to use a locker, or when the lockers are not in the room. Might as well not even have them if you're going to do that.)

Bunks: make the top bunk high enough that an ordinary sized person sleeping on the bottom bunk can sit up without hitting their head!

A smoker's area, and a prohibition on smoking ANYWHERE else in the hostel. I'm all for smokers having the right to inhale their chosen poison, but I object to having to share it with them. It makes me feel sick. Unfortunately this one needs backup from the staff - there is little point having a huge "This Hostel is a Non-Smoking Area" sign and then a rowdy group drinking and smoking right underneath it, as happened in Venice last night... ick.

Free food is always nice, but not necessary if you've got a good kitchen. Free tea and coffee 24/7 is great though.

Oh, please don't make it a licensed premises and tell the poor travellers they must spend their money in your bar if they want to drink.

Free city maps are great.

OKao had some cool ideas up there about languages swaps and stuff. If you've got a genuinely bright and homey place I think this will even happen by itself - for me, the centre of hostel life is the common room. If you've got a couple of tables and couches, a bookshelf or two, a kitchen, maybe even a DVD player and some international films people can bond over, you're going to get people meeting, having a great time, and recommending the place to others. The more recommendations you get out there, the more diverse the people staying, and the more fun to be had!

I hope your brother doesn't get scared off by all the advice, good luck to him in his hostel opening quest - and good luck to you, as his advisor and presumably guinea pig! Reply to this

Hostels have to be central but relatively quiet. The place should have a cool and chilled vibe. Cleanliness and decor is important to me. I prefer hostels that cater to the 25-40 age group as opposed to the ones that cater to the "kids" 18-23.

But just as important as hostels are to budget travel....the same question can be posed for budget airlines. What (if anything except good value) do you look for in an air travel company?

what do you guys think of the 3 major budget travel airlines available in Europe? (Easy Jet, RyanAir, Virgin Atlantic)
They are all fairly cheap and do mostly the same routes, but which ones have the edge over the others?
which one would you pick if you had to make a choice?
In order to get the most efficient feedback, I created a poll comparing easy jet, Ryanair and Virgin Atlantic.
Please vote on it and help me decide which flight I should book! heres the link to vote:
[url=http://www.pollsb.com/polls/poll/5409/which-is-your-favorite-budget-airline Reply to this

I am generally not fussy about the hostels. Sometimes however there is something I hate about one that would make me never want to stay there again. One of those was the one I stayed at in Rome last Saturday night. They had a lockout from 11.30AM to 2.30PM. Lousy because I had been out all Friday night and then could not sleep when I arrived at the hostel because of the lockout. 😞

Mell Reply to this

Basically I look for cheap hostel but I like it when its quite and I'm secured. Now get ready to sleep because tomorrow will be another adventure. Reply to this