Hostels, then and now. Here’s an article from 1982 promoting hostels in the USA.
Take an Inexpensive Vacation Through American Youth Hostels
Like hotels and motels, hostels provide weary wayfarers with clean places to relax, wash, eat, and sleep. However, unlike the more expensive accommodations, hostels stress the value of meeting and conversing with folks of different nationalities and backgrounds, whose outlook and experience may vary from your own.
A typical hostel consists of separate washrooms and dormitories for men and women as well as a communal kitchen, dining area and living room. However, the travelers' hotels range in luxury from simple "shelter" hostels to "superior" accommodations that offer such amenities as laundry facilities, separate sleeping quarters for families, game rooms and music areas, saunas, swimming pools, canoe liveries, bicycle rentals, riding stables, cross-country ski trails and the like.
Some differences between today’s hostels and the hostels of 1982:
- Men and women are not systematically separated into single-sex dorms, although this option is still available in many places.
- Guests are no longer expected (or allowed) to bring their own linens in order to reduce the chance of carrying in bedbugs.
- Guests are no longer expected to bring their own plates, bowls, and cutlery if they want to use a hostel’s kitchen.
- Daily chores like taking out the trash and mopping the floors are no longer assigned to guests.
- Alcohol is not necessarily prohibited, although in some hostels this is still the case.
- Independent hostels do not require guests to purchase membership cards. Hostels in the HI network still maintain this requirement.
- The target clientele has largely moved from outdoor enthusiasts (cyclists, hikers, etc.) and school/church groups to travelers.
- The internet has replaced printed catalogues as the standard means of finding hostels.
- Most hostels now operate 24 hours/day, without lockout periods from mid-morning until late afternoon.
- The maximum stay for a hostel in 1982 was three nights unless prior arrangements were made with the management.
Hosteling also differs from motel living in that, rather than employing desk clerks, most hostels have "houseparents" — living on or near the premises — who register guests, see that the building and grounds are kept clean and in good repair, assist travelers with information and directions, and make visitors feel welcome.
I don’t think we call ourselves “houseparents” anymore, but we all feel that way sometimes. I have been dubbed “Hostel Dad” on more than one occasion. :)
Hostels were developed primarily to serve individuals traveling under their own steam, such as bikers, hikers, climbers, canoeists and cross-country skiers. Folks journeying by private motor vehicles and public transportation are welcome, though, as long as they plan to spend their stay pursuing cultural, educational or outdoor recreational activities.
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Hostel sites are chosen to provide the wayfarer with as wide a selection of activities as possible. Many are located along established hiking, canoeing, skiing, horseback riding or biking trails in state and national parks.
Those situated in cities were established for folks wishing to participate — at low cost — in the cultural and educational pursuits that abound in metropolitan centers. (Many larger urban areas also have "gateway hostels," at which foreign travelers tend to congregate.)
I wonder if foreigners tend to stick to the urban areas as much today as they did in ’82. We frequently discuss the issue of foreigners who fly between major US cities and then go home without seeing the rest of the country. Perhaps the situation is exactly the same today.
Finally, although they are attractively inexpensive, hostels are more than just low-cost places to catch a few winks. They can be the focus of an alternative travel experience. If you require luxury and absolute privacy, if you prefer to pay others to provide services for you, or if you like to spend your holidays in passive pursuits, then hosteling probably won't fit your lifestyle. But if you're a person who wants to stay active, prefers to be outdoors, likes to be self-reliant, enjoys meeting and sharing with others, and relishes the idea of experiencing a truly memorable vacation on a shoestring budget you're almost sure to enjoy hosteling.
The author of the article managed the Kiwanis Youth Hostel with her husband. She defined their desired audience and outlined reasonable expectations for her guests. I love it!
One things hasn’t changed in the last 30 years: the social atmosphere in hostels.
It's said that no two nights are ever the same at any hostel, and this one is no exception. Yesterday evening, for example, two trekking teenaged buddies contributed their foraged greens and berries to a community supper shared with a septuagenarian hiker, three Japanese sisters and a cross-country bicyclist on the last leg of her journey. Tonight, while I write this, a group of weary college students (back from a day of white-water rafting) roast marshmallows and swap stories with a graying couple who are touring by car, a teacher from Denmark and a half-dozen Boy Scouts on a two-week canoe trip. And — as often happens on summer nights — a handful of hot and hungry backpackers are seated at the table, making short work of a gallon of ice cream.
Sounds like a modern hostel to me!
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