"Boutique hostels" by the beach in the Guardian

"Boutique hostels by the beach"
http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/2009/apr/02/beach-budget-hostels-mediterranean?page=all

Not sold on the idea of a summer staycation? Boutique hostels - with rooms that lick the majority of budget hotel beds in the style stakes - might be your salvation. There are budget options all along the Mediterranean coast from as little as £11 a night - less than many UK campsites will charge. And if you want a bit of privacy, many have a handful of double rooms that still cost a fraction of what you would pay at a hotel. We've selected the most popular seaside pads from hostelbookers.com, from an award-winning Nice hostel built in a beautiful former monastery, to an art hostel in Spain and a Turkish treehouse.

Hostels mentioned:

• Villa Saint Exupery, Nice, France
• Rooms Deluxe Hostel, Valencia, Spain [a "hostel" without dorms?]
• Bayrams Treehouse, Olympos, Turkey
• Anny Studios Perissa Beach, Santorini/Thira, Greece [this property doesn't claim to be a hostel and appears not to offer dorms. 6-bed private rooms aren't dorms.]
• Hotel Riad Zahra, Essaouira, Morocco [this property doesn't claim to be a hostel and appears not to offer dorms]
• Peniche Hostel Backpackers, Peniche, Portugal
• Surf Backpackers, San Sebastian, Spain
• Sunflower Beach Backpacker Hostel, Rimini, Italy
• Scalinatella Hostel, Amalfi, Italy
• Rituals Backpackers, Cascais, Portugal

By HostelManagement.com's definition of hostel, at least three of the "hostels" mentioned above don't appear to be hostels. Anny Studios, Rooms Deluxe, and Hotel Riad Zahra don't have dorm beds. Anny Studios and Hotel Riad Zahra don't even claim to be hostels.

I think that selling hotels by the "bed" where you have to book all the beds doesn't make a property a hostel -- it's a hotel that is using a Hostelworld-style, pay-by-the-bed hotel room booking system. It's like going to Motel 6 and being told that it's only $30 per night for each bed in the room, but you have to book both beds -- so it's really $60, even if you're just one person. Paying for a hotel room by the bed doesn't make it a hostel.

What do people think about this trend to promote hotels & studio apartments as "boutique hostels". It seems like it's becoming very common.

See also:

• http://www.hostelmanagement.com/forums/what-boutique-hostel.html
• http://www.hostelmanagement.com/forums/new-boutique-hostels-cnn-budget-travel.html (hotels being passed off as hostels)
• http://www.hostelmanagement.com/forums/europes-best-boutique-hostels-times-online.html (includes one property with only private rooms)
• http://www.hostelmanagement.com/forums/european-boutique-hostels-news.html (all of them are hostels)