Although I mostly tended to go for the small independent hostales, I stayed in four HI hostels while I was in Spain in 2005. They do vary. The first two (León and Córdoba) were fantastic: single or double rooms, ensuite bathroom, meals, internet, and (in León) laundry, and both literally a block from the cathedral and the Mezquita, respectively. In Madrid it was a shabby and loud building in the gay village with really, really fun people and a sympathetic staff. In Bilbao it was a huge tower complex a fifteen-minute walk over an autoroute away from the bus depot which itself was already on the outskirts of downtown; quite institutional and slightly depressing but the price was right.
You have to go with the expectation that quality will vary and there will be a few things you’ll just have to put up with, but why not? Trying stuff is part of the fun of travelling, or at least backpacking. And there’s no reason, having bought the card, that you can’t decide the hell with it, I can’t deal with another bunk bed, and splurge on a Holiday Inn.
This is my concern. I would love to save some money by staying at a hostel but I have never quite been able to convince myself that my stuff won’t disappear. For those that have stayed in hostels before how do you keep your stuff from walking away? Do they have locker type things or are you expected to carry it with you all the time or what?
Not all of us are ne’er-do-well hippies with a mind towards ripping you off. Some are professional types who just hate shelling out bucks on a hotel room when they could be using it on booze, food and other diversions.
Some places have lockers. Some places have double and single rooms that you keep your stuff in like any other hotel. I have stayed in lesser places where a certain level of trust with your roommates was required, but at the time I was a penniless student with little worth stealing.
Hostels can be easily booked on hostelworld.com, hostelz.com, bootsnall.com, and many similar ones. Most have reviews, in particular the well-travelled hostels in Europe. These reviews are pretty reliable, and include “security”. Most hostels have lockers, and a padlock would be among the basic items including earplugs that one would take to a hostel. I have stayed in many and can’t recall having anything disappear.
When I stayed in hostels and I wasn’t in a single room, there were lockers (bring your own lock). In two months and five hostels (including one truly awful non-HI one), I never had any trouble with theft (at least not from the lockers – my wallet in the Madrid metro was another question).
Oh, and since these places cater to backpackers and tourists with stuff, the lockers are quite roomy - broad and deep. I never had trouble getting my (large) backpack into one.
One problem with hostels is the midday lockout policy. It’s always good to be able to get back to the room if you forget something, or want to leave something behind while you sightsee. Then there is, or at least used to be, other kinds of regimentation that seem geared toward keeping students in line, like alcohol bans and the like. Older people might find that annoying.
Camping? Forget it, but then I like to visit cities, and if you camp near a city rather than actually having a roof over your head in it, you can hardly claim to have been to the city, IMO.
I never knew about the existence of hostels until the last decade or so. By then, I was too old to find the concept inviting. I may be wrong, but a hostel sounds like a party in a frat house.
I like nice thick walls between me and the next guest, a firm big bed, a clean bathroom all to myself, and a lot of peace and quiet. This doesn’t mean I spend all my time at the hotel, but I do want these minimum comforts. And I don’t spend an arm and a leg; Marriott seems to have all the qualities I want and they aren’t overly pricey. Hotels which cater to businesspeople in general (rather than touristy, resorty places) seem to follow this pattern. And they’re an even better deal on weekends than on weekdays.
My one experience with a hostel, in Copenhagen, didn’t make me want to repeat it. And this was one of the nice ones- private bedroom and bath (no way am I ever again sharing a bedroom with someone I’m not married to unless the alternative is sleeping in the streets- I had enough bad roommate experiences in college, thankyouverymuch).
The elevator was always jammed full. I’ve never had that problem at any hotel I ever stayed at.
People yelling in an unidentified language in the hallway at 3am. Again, never had something like that happen in a hotel.
I’m a hostel person, although I don’t mind the occasional hotel room now and then. I just don’t stay in the hotel room enough to feel good about paying hotel-room rates for amenities I don’t use. Now, if the hotel was its own destination, as in a large resort, that would be different.
I have a lifetime membership in Hostelling International, which cost me $250 at least 10 years ago and has been a great deal.
Question: what is a typical nightly rate for a hotel room, one of the decent mid-proce ones that, for example, teela brown mentions? Last time my sister came down and stayed in Southern Ontario, she paid $150 per night. Is that a usual rate? It seems really expensive to me.
Sunspace, that’s about average from what I can tell based on booking travel for a bunch of guys at work for the last ten years. It does depend on where you are traveling to, though - hotels out here in the Chicago 'burbs go anywhere from $89 to $200. In the city, they’re a lot more. [url=http://www.suntimes.com/lifestyles/travel/175671,TRA-News-biztravel17.article]Here’s an article that talks about average room rates (for business travelers but it’s still interesting.)
Personally, I’d never stay at a hostel - I don’t like strangers much - and I just LOVE hotels.
Although I dislike the idea of staying in a hostel now, that’s probably just an age thing. The older people get, the more comfortable they generally want to be, and the inconveniences and discomforts shrugged off by a 20-year old become dealbreakers twenty years hence.
I did go hosteling through Western Europe in my college years, and had a great time in nearly all the hostels. The principal attraction is meeting other people who are also traveling to and from different places. It’s sort of like a hotel bar, but even more so since, unlike hotel guests, hostelers are usually making only brief stops on the way elsewhere. IIRC there is a two or three night limit to hostel stays, or used to be.
That has been my experience. Here in northern California, this should get you a very nice room almost anywhere except downtown San Francisco. In outlying, less fashionable areas, even $90 can get you a good room at a Marriott or a Sheraton on a weekend. In other parts of the country, I’m sure it’s even less.
I’m all about the hostels. If I’m travelling, I’m interested in the place I’m going to, not in where I lay my head at night.
There are, of course, good hostels and bad hostels. But I’ve stayed in some that are every bit as good as mid-range hotels, with private rooms available and a delicious breakfast included.
On the other hand, I’ve stayed in some real dumps, too. But there are plenty of truly horrendous hotels, as well.
Hostels are great if you’re travelling alone, as you’ll almost always meet someone else interesting at breakfast or in the neighboring bunk.
Oh, and I should clarify–I like hostels when I’m on vacation. If I were travelling for business, I’d probably be more interested in staying in a hotel. I make the assumption that, if I were travelling for business, having the hotel be in a convenient location, knowing for a fact that there’s going to be peace and quiet, and having a reliable internet connection would be more important than having a fun, funky, and low-priced travelling experience.
Oh, and an added plus of hostels is that they often having cooking facilities. That means you can go grocery shopping and cook dinner for yourself. That beats having to eat out all the time, I think.
I’ve never encountered a hostel with a midday lock-out policy or a curfew. Either of those might be a deal-breaker on that hostel for me. So would lax security for my stuff.
I’m definitely a hotel guy. When my friends and I travel, we typically stay at a hotel, resort or on a couple occassions, a short term appartment rental. It’s nice to have your own space to come back to where you can unwind or change and not have to worry about randoms going through your shit. If we want to meet people, we go to where people hang out and socialize - the beach, nightclubs, wherever.
I never had any desire to backpack through Europe living in hostels. I’m also not much of a “hey I’ll go travel around by myself like deCaprio in The Beach” kind of guy either. I’d much rather go on a vacation with my girlfriend or my friends than roam about meeting a bunch of folks I’m 90% sure to never see again.
On the other hand, I do a lot of business travel by myself. If I get to stay over any length of time in an actual fun city (not in some office park by the Airport Sheraton with a bunch of middle-aged sales reps), I do often meet people so I can see how that would be fun if your like 23 and single.
Also, the assumption is that when you are travelling on business, the company you work for is paying for your travel and hotel.
In a typical city (I’m using Seattle, WA as a reference) that’s low to typical for a 3-4 star hotel near downtown. Obviously, it can be much more expensive in places like NYC or Las Vegas and much cheaper out in the middle of nowhere.
