Is it a Hostel if the venue has only private rooms?

I think if a property has any shared accommodation where a bed can be rented by a solo traveler it could call itself a "hostel" and should come up in searches for "hostel" because that's what its clients are looking for.

I stayed at a "guesthouse" in Japan that had maybe 3 private rooms and 2 dorm beds. I would personally refer to it a guesthouse-hostel, but would also consider it accurate to call it just a "hostel".

IMHO, if there are only private rooms, it's not a hostel -- though there are properties with only private rooms that have similar types of guests as hostels and are welcome to fully use HostelManagement.com :)

I would refer to those kinds of properties guesthouses, pensions, hostales, backpacker hotels, budget hotels, or other terms depending on what they were like...

I think it's important for there to be a word that specifically refers to the type of property that provides shared accommodation in dorms. "Hostel" is the only word we have for it...

See also:

• http://thetuxinbackpack.com/2009/04/hostels-and-flashpackers-part-1/
• http://thetuxinbackpack.com/2009/04/hostels-and-flashpackers-part-2/
• http://www.hostelmanagement.com/forum/f15/definition-hostel-284.html (13-page discussion)
• Definition of hostel