It didn’t, but as I recall the victims went to sleep there and woke up somewhere else, having been drugged and kidnapped while unconscious.
Ha, wow. Interesting story!
Did you ever suspect anything… off?
I stayed in many hostels in both the US and Europe when I was younger. That was before the release of the movie, but I’ve never heard anyone cite the movie as a reason not to stay in hostels. My parents are in their 70s and still stay in hostels sometimes.
Best hostel experience: on the Ile d’Batz, off the coast of Brittany. A large, palatial, nicely furnished building…with the door unlocked and nobody around. I had the whole place to myself all night. OK, in retrospect that might have been a little creepy if I had seen that movie, but it was really pretty awesome.
Worst hostel experience: Can’t remember where this was. I was in a room with two or three sets of bunk beds which I was sharing with some German guy who made it clear that he had been there for weeks and resented my presence in “his” room. Then overnight, he made it even clearer when he repeatedly woke up, loudly opened a bag of potato chips and loudly crunched on them for several minutes before loudly wrapping the bag back up again. I hadn’t been planning to stay a second night, but that surely would have changed my plans if I had.
In less happy news:
Still, I’m guessing I spent a lifetime total of around a hundred nights in hostels, saving several thousand dollars relative to hotel accommodations, and that was the worst thing that ever happened to me, so I’m calling that a win.
Never made any lifelong friends, but any hostel in a major tourist destination is going to be a fun party scene for the post-teenage crowd. People are generally respectful in the sleeping areas but if you’re a non-partying light sleeper you’ll want to look for a hostel in a boring suburb rather than in the nightlife district.
I stayed in them in the 90s when I was wandering around Eastern Europe. They were fine, but there came a point when I was willing to pay more for my own room.
You’re harshing my nostalgia buzz, man.
It looks like that was more of an SRO hotel than a hostel, though admittedly the distinction can be blurry. But hostels offer primarily, or only, group sleeping quarters, whereas this place had 92 rooms and apparently only 66 people there at the time of the fire.
For 3 years in the 90s I lived in a crazy building that was a mix of retirement home (3 floors), SRO (1 floor) and youth hostel (basement). All sort of ridiculous antics, like:
The hostel was $5/night to share a room that had 10 bunks. One Swedish couple of hostelers had loud enthusiastic sex every night in front of the others in the room. No, not waiting for everyone to turn in or people to go out. People sitting in the room chatting, and they’d just climb into bed and start humping. The SRO rooms were $10 a night, and it was often pointed out to them that for the same as they were paying for two bunks (one of which they weren’t using), they could have a private room. They freely admitted they were exhibitionists and were having so much sex specifically because there were other people to watch.
Two hostelers were thrown out for somewhat the opposite. They wouldn’t spring for a single, and it was discovered they were sneaking into rooms on the rest-home floors and having sex while the old folks were at lunch or dinner.
A couple of Australians were kicked out because they broke the lock on the door to the roof, hung out drinking beer, and started throwing things onto the street below, injuring someone. They couldn’t see what all the fuss was about.
Two Italian brothers staying there were stunned how large the US was when they tried going coast to coast. They bought an old 1970s Impala, fixed it up and drove all over the country. When it was time to return to Italy, they gifted the car to a guy named Ray staying in the SRO; he left it parked until it accumulated a bunch of tickets and was impounded.
Two Aussie girls travelling together had a falling out because one claimed to have fallen for a Chicagoan and wanted to stay. They’d been going from CA to NY, then across to the UK/EU, then home. One continued, claiming her friend was boy crazy, and the other stayed. Things didn’t work out, and she took a job as a clerk at the hostel. Nearly a year later, the bestie returned to escort her home to Oz; she basically came all the way back to the US. They’d stayed in contact and both their families said come back together as you left, or don’t come back.
Oddly, to me at least, the Brits were consistently the rudest, most condescending guests. It was weird.
In some places, a hostel is a good way to live in a very expensive city, and be right in the heart of the city. $20/night in SF with … everything included, would be $600/month. If I ever move, I’ll probably do something like that – just get lost, lose the phone.
Sex in a hostel is something that happens. Even to me.
I once stayed in a hostel in Australia for months, “The Nunnery” after staying in a younger, louder, party place. This one owner in Thailand hooked me up with opium. So many stories, I published them in my first book.
If you’ve ever thought of traveling, this is probably a good time. I even worked at a few hostels for free accommodation. But, as I was nearing 30, it was very tiring constantly having to make money, spending so much on things you can’t avoid (airplane ticket over the Ocean), etc… I try to talk to random people online, which is the closest (and free) thing to traveling.