A few months ago, we published a checklist for finding a good, or at least acceptable, hostels. Although helpful, this list fails to differentiate between a good hostel and a great hostel. To be fair, all that can be expected of a typical hostel is cleanliness, specifically in regards to the beds, kitchen(s) and bathrooms. Traditional wisdom states that if you want real services (a help desk, airport pickup, etc.) you would do well to find your way to a hotel. However, when your life is in a backpack and $25 a night for a dorm bed is all that your budget allows, a hostel is where you sleep. Depending on the country, region and/or city, the cost of a dorm bed can buy you a clean place to sleep for the night (a good hostel) or it can purchase for you a community experience (a great hostel).

Hostels, by their very nature, create a temporary community. When you’re sharing a bedroom, cooking next to your bunk mates and jostling in line for the showers, you tend to meet people. (As the hostel market continues to evolve, this may be more true when staying at a small independent hostel than when staying in a large high rise corporate hostel.) At a good hostel, whether or not a functional temporary community evolves or not is often the result of chance.

• - What type of personalities are present?
• - What are the language barriers?
• - Are most guests staying for 1 night, or are many guest staying for 3 or more nights?
• - Does the hostel have a lounge space present that lacks a television?

This revolving set of factors can combine to influence whether or not guest go out drinking together, spend time playing a board game, and/or participate in authentic cultural exchange. A good hostel provides a clean, functional space and allows the community to fend for itself. For many travelers, a good hostel takes care of their immediate needs and, for $25 a night, that is enough.

Many individuals move around the globe as solo travelers. Often, these independent explorers have left a life filled with friends and community interaction to chase their dreams around the globe. For many, staying at a hostel that facilitates community instead of leaving it up to chance makes all the difference.

How to Spot a Great Hostel

A great hostel facilitates the creation of a temporary community amongst the ever changing cast of budget travelers who walk through the door.  Here is how they do it.

1. Institutional Memory: The manager of a great hostel understands their job and their clientele because they have worked at the hostel for at least 6 months. Many hostels hire broke backpackers to clean bathrooms and make up beds. This is not a problem if the manager is actively involved with running the hostel. Problematically, many hostels also hire wandering travelers (age: 28-45) to manage the hostel. These long time wanders stay for 3 months and move on. Their 3 month tenure is consumed by learning how to do their job and they tend to see, out of necessity, each traveler as a widget instead of a person. They do not have time to facilitate community.
2. Community Oriented Rules: A great hostel separates the TV from the lounge. Some great hostels eliminate the TV all together, while others offer a separate TV room. A great hostel will also discourage laptop users from congregating in the lounge area. A bunch of backpackers working on their Facebook profiles does not present a very inviting environment for arriving guests.
3. Events: A great hostel plans activities (or provides activities) that facilitate community. This can be as simple as having free access to a pool table or as complex as planning a BBQ night. What matters is that the hostel demonstrates that community is a priority.
4. Active Staff: A staff that actively interacts with the guests between check-in and check-out plays a significant role in facilitating community. A staff that learns the names of their guests, is available to answer questions, and is a presence in the public areas (kitchen, lounge etc.) facilitate a sense of belonging. They can take on the role of the “host” introducing guests to each other, and sharing their knowledge of the local area. An active staff cannot be overrated.

Spotting a great hostel in a guide book or online is difficult as most hostel advertisements or recommendations read more like a new car buying guide (here is the list of features sir) than accommodation information. Also, a community oriented hostel experience is not always desired. After a long day of planes, buses, and trains, I sometimes want to check into a corporate hostel where I don’t need to talk to anybody. I don’t want to hear about the Friday night BBQ and I don’t even want to look at the board games. Cranky travel sickness and introverted techie syndrome aside, great hostels do exists and are worth finding.

Learn to look for the right things and you will purchase not just a bunk for the night, but a community experience.

**I was finally inspired to put these thought on paper by my very positive experiences at the Ivory Towers Lodge (Fox Glacier New Zealand) and The Bug (Nelson, New Zealand).

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