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Associated Press

Once a niche market for frugal, globetrotting young people, hostels are becoming a popular form of alternative lodging.
No longer just rows of bunk beds, some hostels now offer private rooms and amenities like rooftop pools and spas.
Take the Selina Boquete hostel in Panama, Central America. Guests are served an evening welcome drink. While there’s a shared option called a community room, the hostel offers hotel-style private rooms and the unique option of a pod-style room made from an “upcycled” concrete cylinder.
Some nights, guests are treated to live music.
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“It honestly felt like a resort and was a better experience than an Airbnb,” says Melissa Middlestadt, a Canadian travel blogger who runs the website My Beautiful Passport, about her stay at Selina Boquete.
“It was quiet, which is what I look for in an Airbnb, but it had more amenities and was in a better location.”

The private room she booked at the hostel was US$50 to US$100 cheaper per night than what she would have paid for an Airbnb nearby, she says.
Some hostels have recently transformed to appeal to a broader demographic, such as travellers who would never consider a shared room or those who seek slightly upscale amenities.
The Grand Ferdinand in Vienna, Austria, promotes poshness with its heated rooftop pool. Other hostels promote kid-friendly activities. The HI Pigeon Point Lighthouse Hostel in Pescadero, California, for example, features on-site tide pools and private family rooms.

Middlestadt says she typically books Airbnbs and sometimes hotels. She used to turn to hostels as a last resort, but if hotel or holiday rental prices exceed her budget, she’s now far more open to hostels.
Her only deal-breakers are sharing rooms and loud party places, both avoidable even in a hostel setting.
In its early days, Airbnb sought to connect travellers with locals. The company got its start in 2007 after its founders turned their apartment into a makeshift bed and breakfast after hotels were sold out because of a local conference.
“Our guests arrived as strangers, but they left as our friends,” founders Brian Chesky, Joe Gebbia and Nathan Blecharczyk wrote in a letter attached to the company’s S-1 filing for its 2020 initial public offering.

Yet friendships between hosts and guests are few and far between these days – and that’s hardly Airbnb’s biggest challenge.
In New York and Penang, Malaysia, short-term Airbnb rentals are severely restricted under regulations that took effect this year. Vacation rental sites have faced backlash for hidden costs such as cleaning fees; it wasn’t until this year that Airbnb implemented a toggle that displays cleaning fees upfront.
Then there are rising prices for travel lodging across the board. Prices in the United States reached record highs in June 2023, according to consumer price index data from the US Bureau of Labour Statistics.
While I still like Airbnb, cleaning fees have gotten so out of hand
Melissa Middlestadt, a Canadian travel blogger
While average US travel lodging rates have dropped from their all-time highs, they’re still higher than before the Covid-19 pandemic.
Hotels, specifically, have some additional drawbacks. A reduction in services like daily housekeeping, coupled with rising resort fees, has made hotels feel like a lesser value at a higher cost.
Hostels are usually cheaper than hotels. In notoriously pricey San Francisco, for example, the average daily hotel room rate in 2022 was US$231, according to the San Francisco Travel Association, which is forecasting an even higher average of US$246 for 2023.

However, at the HI San Francisco Fisherman’s Wharf Hostel, you can find a bed in a shared room for less than US$30 or a private room for less than US$100 on some nights. That rate includes Wi-fi, breakfast and luggage storage.
Hostels can combine the best of hotels and holiday rentals. Like hotels, hostels often offer central locations and on-site staff. And hearkening back to the intent of Airbnb, hostels tend to provide a more social experience through common areas and group activities such as pub crawls, walking tours and cooking classes.

Berlin-based hostel chain A&O Hotels and Hostels announced record earnings for the first half of 2023, with year-over-year sales up 47 per cent.
Hostelling International USA (HI USA) said it has seen a 10 per cent occupancy increase from 2022 and a 360 per cent occupancy increase from 2021.
Some locations have seen even greater increases. At HI NYC, the company’s top-booked hostel, occupancy has surpassed 2019 levels.
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Airbnb has also had strong financial performance lately, including 18 per cent year-over-year revenue growth in its third quarter of 2023, suggesting that travel is back in multiple facets.
But for price-sensitive travellers, hostels are becoming an appealing alternative.
“While I still like Airbnb, cleaning fees have gotten so out of hand,” Middlestadt says. “It just doesn’t make sense to me to pay extra when I can use that money elsewhere on my trip.”
This article was provided to The Associated Press by the personal finance website NerdWallet.


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Tourism

‘A better experience than an Airbnb’: how hostels are going upmarket, offering hotel-like experiences at much lower prices

Travellers enjoy the cafe at HI San Francisco Fisherman’s Wharf Hostel, where a private room costs less than US$100 on some nights and the rate includes Wi-fi, breakfast and luggage storage. More travellers are considering hostels as alternatives to hotels and Airbnbs.

The Grand Ferdinand in Vienna, Austria, has a heated rooftop pool. Photo: The Grand Ferdinand

A room at the HI Pigeon Point Lighthouse Hostel in Pescadero, California. Photo: HI USA

Guests at the Selina Boquete hostel in Panama have the unique option of a pod-style room made from an “upcycled” concrete cylinder. Photo: Selina Boquete

An outdoor area at the HI San Francisco Fisherman’s Wharf Hostel. Photo: HI San Francisco a Fisherman’s Wharf Hostel

Happy hour at the Selina Boquete hostel in Panama. Photo: Selina Boquete

24 hours in Milan: coffee, fashion, pizza, churches, crystals and a castle on an economical trip around Italy’s second city

The Duomo di Milano is the largest church in Italy and third largest in the world, and is a must-see in the Italian city even if you’re only there for 24 hours. Photo: Tom Eves

San Gioachimo, the Church of Saint Joachim, in Milan. Photo: Tom Eves

Diamond Tower, in Milan’s central business district, is Italy’s tallest steel building. Photo: Tom Eves

Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II is Italy’s oldest surviving shopping galleria. Photo: Tom Eves

Pinnacles and spires on the roof of the Duomo di Milano in Milan, Italy. Photo: Tom Eves

God the Father by Beltramino de Zutti in the Duomo Museum in Milan. Photo: Tom Eves

A wooden model of the Duomo di Milano in the Duomo Museum. Photo: Tom Eves

The exterior of the 15th-century Sforzesco Castle. Photo: Tom Eves

Laankee Hong Kong Milk Tea cafe in Milan, Italy. Photo: Tom Eves

BAM Tree Library Milan park and botanical garden. Photo: Shutterstock

Buildings in Piazza Gae Aulenti, Milan. Photo: Tom Eves

A large selenite crystal in Milan’s Natural History Museum. Photo: Tom Eves

Where will hotel room rates rise the most in 2024? Paris, Delhi, Chicago and Jakarta among the top 10, Hong Kong to see the lowest rise in Asia, forecast shows

The Hotel Monitor 2024 forecasts which cities will see the biggest hotel room rate increases. Paris is among 10 predicted to see double-digit increases. Photo: Shutterstock

Paris is among 10 major cities worldwide where average hotel room rates are forecast to rise by more than 10 per cent in 2024. According to a report, rises can be expected in more than 80 cities, with a revival in business travel a factor for some. Photo: Shutterstock

Boston is one of two cities in the United States in the Hotel Monitor 2024 report’s top 10 for expected hotel room rate increases. Photo: Shutterstock

New Delhi is one of three Indian cities to make the report’s top 10. Photo: Shutterstock

With an expected increase of just 1.9 per cent, Hong Kong ranked lowest among all 19 Asian cities featured in the report. Photo: Shutterstock

The Colombian capital, Bogota, ranks in the top 10 for predicted room rate rises in the Hotel Monitor 2024 report. Photo: Shutterstock

Jakarta, Indonesia, is one of the 10 cities where hotel prices are expected to increase the most in local currency terms. Photo: Shutterstock

Chicago ranks in the report’s top 10 cities thanks to gains in business travel. Photo: Shutterstock

Lifestyle

Travel & Leisure

From private rooms to heated rooftop pools, some hostels are transforming to appeal to a broader demographic of traveller
Hostels can combine the best of hotels and holiday rentals, often offering central locations, on-site staff and a more social experience


Hostels are becoming the latest travel trend, with some offering hotel-style experiences – think private rooms and rooftop pools – at much lower prices than both hotels and Airbnbs.


Travel Advice for Millennials

Travel news and advice

Airbnb

Panama

‘A better experience than an Airbnb’: how hostels are going upmarket, offering hotel-like experiences at much lower prices

From private rooms to heated rooftop pools, some hostels are transforming to appeal to a broader demographic of traveller Hostels can combine the best of hotels and holiday rentals, often offering central locations, on-site staff and a more social experience

From private rooms to heated rooftop pools, some hostels are transforming to appeal to a broader demographic of traveller

Hostels can combine the best of hotels and holiday rentals, often offering central locations, on-site staff and a more social experience