"Boutique Hostels" Article in the Wall Street Journal

Boutique Bohemian: High-End Hostels Come to America

The modern hostel still offers the social lubricant of shared rooms, though generally for fewer people. But in other respects it more closely resembles a fashionable boutique hotel. Such properties feature private bathrooms, vibrant bars with specialty cocktails, yoga classes on rooftops, and mahogany-filled rooms from interior designers like Roman & Williams. Most also offer the option of private rooms with one or two beds.

This month, Freehand, one of the first of these brands based in the U.S., is opening a Chicago hostel. It is its second U.S. property, following one in Miami Beach that has 278 beds and opened in 2012. Generator Hostels, the operator of nine European hostels with 6,200 beds, is close to a deal to acquire a building on Collins Avenue in Miami Beach for its first U.S. hostel, say people familiar with the matter.