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How to make hostelling more popular in the USA?

Promoting the Hostel Movement

Josh started this discussion 16 years 11 months ago

I think that hosteling would be more popular in the US if more Americans knew what a hostel is.

This is an example of a phone call that I've had a few times from a hostel front desk:

"Hi this is Josh from [name] hostel"

"You're calling from which hospital?"

"No, hostel, H-O-S-T-E-L. Like a hotel, but a hostel."

"Hotel?"

"Hostel, like youth hostel"

"Which hospital did you say you were at?"

:confused:

I think that hosteling would do a lot better in the US if more Americans knew what hostels were. Many Americans have only heard about hostels because of the horror movie.

I think that many people in the US are driving around the country and traveling places, but only staying at hotels and motels.

If more Americans knew about hostels it would be good for hostels everywhere because there would be a new group of people who suddenly realize that traveling isn't as expensive as it sounds.

Does anyone have ideas on how to make the idea of hosteling more known in the USA?

Just brainstorming some ideas:

A coordinated effort for US hostels to give slideshows about hostels and traveling. When I stayed at one of the California HI hostels Edward Hasbrouck came by and gave a presentation on how to travel around the world. He was promoting his book and airtreks.com, but what if more hostels offered presentations/slideshows and invited students to events at the hostel...? I think that HI USA is doing this at the hostels that they run, but I'm not sure if many other hostels are doing it.
Hostels mentioned in TV or movies (not just horror movies)
More coverage of hostels and backpacker travel in major media like NYT. This is already happening more often lately.

If you are from the US, how did you first hear about hostels?

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uktrail

16 years

"Bed and Breakfast" started in the British Isles, I believe.

When I lived in the US in the 80s, the idea of B&B seemed to be catching on there, probably as a result of American travellers who had visited Britain and discovered B&Bs there, and some of them started them in the US.

What I did notice, however, is that the US ones were a substantially different type of thing. I never visited any, but they appeared to focus on being REALLY homely, with emphasis on lots of antique furniture, smothering attention and big meals, and they were also very expensive, of the same price level as hotels. (The main point of B&Bs in Britain was that they were cheaper than hotels).

On the other hand, your cheaper-than-hotel accommodation was Motels, which have never taken off very far in Britain.

The moral: People need to experience them elsewhere first. The anti-moral: they may get the wrong idea.

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Josh Hostels

16 years

What I did notice, however, is that the US ones were a substantially different type of thing....they were also very expensive, of the same price level as hotels. (The main point of B&Bs in Britain was that they were cheaper than hotels).

Interesting... I'm from the US and when I think of "B&B" I think "expensive".

On the other hand, your cheaper-than-hotel accommodation was Motels, which have never taken off very far in Britain.

Britain is lucky... :D

The moral: People need to experience them elsewhere first. The anti-moral: they may get the wrong idea.

Here is a related question:
Where are your hostel guests from?

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santa klaus

16 years

I think Americans generally know what a hostel is. It´s worse in Europe.

The populations of Australia and New Zealand combined is the same as Holland´s and Denmark´s combined. Yet, we have twice as many guests from Oz & NZ than from the entire EU.

If only the Dutch and Danes alone would have travel habits like the Aussies and Kiwis!

Most Germans are just shocked by the thought to share a room with strangers. I they book at all, they book doubles or private quads. My guess is that Americans are used to that from their college campus, where they also share a room with other students. University dorms like that don´t exist in Germany.

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Josh Hostels

16 years

Most Germans are just shocked by the thought to share a room with strangers.

Sometimes when I see who my roommates are, I get the same feeling :confused:
(but always a good adventure)

I got the impression that Germany had many more hostels than the US... but maybe they are mostly foreign guests?

I think Americans generally know what a hostel is. It´s worse in Europe.

Traveling Americans generally know what hostels are, but I don't think the average American has ever stayed in one -- or else they think "hostel" means "flophouse", or maybe means "youth hostel" with an age limit. I didn't even know what a hostel was until I was in my 20s. I drove across the USA six times before I discovered hostels.

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santa klaus

16 years

I got the impression that Germany had many more hostels than the US... but maybe they are mostly foreign guests?

True, but:

Germany has hundreds of YHI hostels - they are full of German school groups.
There is a recent boom in independent hostels - some of them cater mainly to school groups as well (like the Meininger and A&O chains) and those who prefer backpackers (like we do) fill up with Americans and Aussies.

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Josh Hostels

16 years

I wonder how many schools in the USA use hostels. I never heard of any school group hostel trips when I was growing up.

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santa klaus

16 years

I wonder how many schools in the USA use hostels. I never heard of any school group hostel tiprs when I was growing up.

We make those trips all the time, usually for an entire week. It´s a big relief for the parents, but the worst nightmare for the teachers! :D

A week in Berlin is a "must" in German schools, those in the south often go skiing for a week every year and during the final year it was a week in Florence in my case.

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Josh Hostels

16 years

We make those trips all the time, usually for an entire week.

I wonder if the legal issues in the USA keep it from becoming popular. I'm sure that some schools do it here -- probably with HI hostels -- but I've never seen it.

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Rucksack Brian

16 years

Traveling Americans generally know what hostels are, but I don't think the average American has ever stayed in one -- or else they think "hostel" means "flophouse", or maybe means "youth hostel" with an age limit.

I think INTERNATIONAL travelers from the States know what hostels are, but your average domestic traveler is much less in the know. Most people in the US are conditioned to jump on sites likeExpedia.com or Lastminute.com to try to find deals, and you won't find hostels there. While B&B's sometimes show up, you have to go looking for hostels specifically in order to find them. Americans are also much more likely to bid $25 for a 3-star hotel on Priceline.com than pay the same for a bed in a hostel (and they stand a good chance of winning that bid, plus they get double occupancy). Unfortunately those companies pay a fortune in advertising to make sure that American travelers will think of them as the best source of low-budget options. We all know that it's a very different type of traveler who books a hostel versus a hotel in most cases, but in the States they seem to be effectively lumped together and corralled towards the big booking sites. We still have a long way to go to ween OUR kind of travelers off of those sites.

Also, A lot of the adventurous travelers who like the idea of staying in hostels are more intrigued by far-off exotic lands like Europe and Asia than they are by their own backyard. As a result, they don't travel in their own country. I am one of those people.

Many people I have talked to also hear the term "youth hostel" and think it has to do with underprivileged children. Similarly, the connotation of "backpacking" where I'm from is hiking and camping in the woods, not traveling.

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aboriginalhostel

16 years

If I'd make a quick SWOT analysis about opening a hostel/promoting hostelling, the following ideas would pop up in my mind:

Strengths:
+Dollar is cheap
+living in the USA is cheap in general as well
+Huge country, people can spend months to explore it properly
+It has several historical sights and natural beauties

Weaknesses:
-Transportation is bad
-Hotels are very cheap, not much different than hostel prices (referring to budget sector)
-Young Americans prefer to backpack abroad (rather exploring US on regular vacation at older age -> would strength the hotel sector then)
-Not many hostels are present
-Getting there is difficult (visa, security issues, etc.)

Opportunities:
~Young Americans know what hostelling is about (inland tourism can be stronger), promoting Youth Inland tourism could do much better results
~Easy to travel by car, suggest to freedom

Dangers:
=Fright about Violence/Terrorism
=Economic recession is possible
=Too high security restrictions could diverse tourism

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