Hostel

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(Redirected from Youth Hostel)

For the 2006 horror film, see Hostel (film).

Hostels, also called youth hostels, provide short-term accommodation to travellers or backpackers, particularly encouraging outdoor activities and cultural exchange for the young. Hostels are also often called backpackers' hostels (or backpackers' for short), particularly in Australia and New Zealand.

In a hostel guests often rent a bed (sometimes a bunk bed) in a dormitory and share common bathroom, kitchen, and lounge rooms. Private rooms are often available. The main benefits of a hostel are firstly the low cost of the accommodation compared to alternatives such as hotels, and that one gets to meet other travellers from all over the world. Hostels are usually less formal and less expensive than hotels. They are most frequently used by young travellers. In the past many hostels imposed age limits, but today it is more common for hostels to accept guests of all ages. Despite the openness of modern hostels, the majority of guests are traditionally and overwhelmingly between the ages of 18 and 26.

Image:YouthHostelGuadalajara.jpeg

Image:YouthHostelNagoya.jpg Hostels provide opportunity for multicultural enlightenment. There is more interaction between guests than in traditional hotels, and many hostels provide activities to their guests for free or at low cost. There are some potential drawbacks to using hostels.

There are still hostels in some countries that have a curfew, daytime lockouts, and/or require occupants to do chores, but as hostels adapt to meet the changing expecatations of guests these are becoming less and less common.

Theft can be a problem since guests may share a common living space, but this can be prevented by locking belongings up. Most hostels offer some sort of system for safely storing your valuables, and many offer private lockers. However, for the greater part travellers are equally concerned for the well-being of their own belongings that theft of other people's belongings rarely takes place.

One potential drawback to staying in hostel dormitories is difficulty sleeping because of noise, whether from snoring, someone returning to the room late in the evening, or just general noise from one's living surroundings. For this reason, some hostels associations fix times for last admission and lights out.

[edit] Types of Hostel

In 1912 in Altena, Germany, Richard Schirrmann created the first permanent youth hostel. The first hostels were an exponent of the ideology of the German Youth Movement to let (poor) young city people get a fresh breath in the outdoors. The youths were supposed to manage the hostel themselves as much as possible, such as with doing chores (which also kept the costs down).

This first hostel was inside Altena castle, which had recently been reconstructed. The old rooms are now on display; the youth hostel has moved to new rooms, though it is still located inside the castle grounds. These youth hostels now belong to Hostelling International (HI) a nonprofit organisation composed of more than 90 associations representing about 4000 hostels in over 80 countries. Hostelling International was formerly called the International Youth Hostel Federation (IYHF). Since the children were supposed to go out and be active, the hostels were usually closed during the day. HI holds a trademark registration of the phrase "youth hostel" but this term is commonly used to describe all types of hostels, whether or not they belong to HI. Independent hostels do not belong to HI and do not have to conform to the accommodation standards set by HI although they are sometimes less expensive. Some hostels cater more to school-aged children (sometimes through school trips) and parents with their children, whereas others are more for travellers intent on learning new cultures. Many hostels employ their long-term residents as desk clerks in exchange for free housing.

However, while the exploration of different cultures and places is emphasised in many hostels, particularly in cities or popular tourist destinations, there are still many hostels providing accommodation for outdoor pursuits such as hillwalking, climbing and bicycle touring. These are often small friendly hostels that retain much of the original vision and often provide valuable access to more remote regions.

In the UK, 'hostel' also refers to accommodation for homeless people, usually run by Housing Associations or voluntary organisations.

Older-style hostels have dormitory style accommodation, newer hostels usually include en-suite accommodation with single-occupancy rooms and both these types of hostel can be found throughout the HI network as well as the independents.