Report

List of Hostel Chains Worldwide

Hostel Trends and News

Josh started this discussion 17 years 6 months ago

This thread is an attempt to list hostel chains worldwide (or at least any hostel with two or more locations).

I think it would be an interesting list. If you add to the list please note any hostel chains that are owned by hotel chains and put the number of hostels in parenthesis.

I'll start a brief list that can be expanded. There might be too many to list all of them, but when the list is large enough I will compile it into one document sorted by country.

Jazz Hostels, USA (6 hostels)
USA Hostels (4 hostels)
Green Tortoise, Seattle and San Francisco, USA (2 hostels)
Floyd's Hostel & Fort Lauderdale Beach Hostel, Florida, USA (2 hostels)
Nomads World, Australia, New Zealand, Fiji (9 hostels?)
Base Backpackers, New Zealand & Australia (11 hostels?)
Wombats, Germany, Austria (4 hostels?)
Hostels Oasis, Spain and Portugal (3 hostels)
Home Hostels, Spain (3 hostels?)
Flying Pig Hostels, Netherlands (3 hostels)

Comments

Report

gordo

17 years

santa - thanks for the response mate. id have thought berlin would have to be getting towards capacity though. im not really that surprised that it has so many hostels - its probably my favourite city in the world actually. but it seems to be the only city with so many major chains involved. between you guys, circus (now only 1 i know), st chris', generator, meininger, A&O... i cant really think of any city where the market is so developed (london would be the otehr example).

anyway, as someone who's looking at starting my own hostel - i was wondering how you guys went about establishing that berlin was a good option. obviously being based out of munich/vienna makes things somewhat easier. but the question stands - actually i have about a million and would love the chance to pick your brain, but 1 q at a time hey?

Report

santa klaus

17 years

Haha, did you win the lottery, hence the user name? A million what? Pound Sterling or Baht?
You are right, there are some major chains in Berlin. The market there is very diversified. Berlin does not only attract zillions of Backpackers, there are two more groups:
1. Weekend runners. "Cheap airlines" land many, many planes in Berlin every day - it´s the main hub of Air Berlin and an important destination for EasyJet. Berlin is a cool city and attracts a lot of "weekend away tourists". Not all of them go to hostels, but still enough. The number if people who arrive in town by plane is even increasing in Vienna, which still hasn´t got many "cheap airline" connections. By the way, these people usually don´t book the cheapest dorm bed, but double rooms.
2. School groups. Not exactly our target group, but Meininger and A & O fill thousands of beds with them (hence we don´t consider them to be direct competition). Most German schools send their 16-year-olds on a trip to Berlin, usually for an entire week. You can imagine the number of bed nights that generates. At least half of Berlin´s hostels live entirely of these school groups.

Berlin was an obvious choice for us - we speak German and know our way through the bureaucracy. It´s a very popular destination and it´s no problem at all to find investors who are willing to build a house for you.

Report

gordo

17 years

yen ;)

yeah, ive noticed the increase in flights to berlin, good ol' schoenefeld airport - be interesting to see what happens when they eventually finish this new airport theyre building.

1. what do you guys make of the 'weekenders'? ive heard a few hostels complain about them because they dont really add to the 'vibe' of the place and tend not to spread word of mouth - not to mention taking up all the space on the weekends and making it hard on the rest of us :P

personally (and its purely personally as someone who's spent a lot of time behind the front desk of hostels) i cant stand people who book hostels expecting a hotel. from a business point of view though they do book the higher margin rooms most of the time, so theyre obviously worth it.

2. yeah, i stayed at meininger a month or so ago when i was last there and it was full of school groups. the place i worked at in edinburgh (globetrotter inn) used to get a lot of them too, and stag nights - and dont get me started on them.

is vienna seeing much of the air traffic thats coming through bratislava?

im asking basically because ive spent the past couple of years (on and off) looking for a place to open my own hostel, mainly in eastern/south eastern europe. from my research ive been a little turned off the region but am now struggling to find somewhere else - possibly the canadian rockies, hence being in banff.

btw, if you're going to be looking for people to work in berlin ;) id love to move back and practice my german again.

Report

santa klaus

17 years

yeah, ive noticed the increase in flights to berlin, good ol' schoenefeld airport - be interesting to see what happens when they eventually finish this new airport theyre building.

Well, "this new airport" will actually be a sexed-up version of Schönefeld on the same site. And not finished until 2011.
IMHO, it would have been smarter to build a brand new (very large) airport right between Berlin and Hamburg, along with a high-speed train between these cities, maybe even one of those magnetic monorails which they now build between Munich´s airport and train station where it´s just a waste of money.

1. what do you guys make of the 'weekenders'? ive heard a few hostels complain about them because they dont really add to the 'vibe' of the place and tend not to spread word of mouth - not to mention taking up all the space on the weekends and making it hard on the rest of us :P

I think it´s quite arrogant to complain about a certain type of guests - they all pay our salaries, after all. With 300 beds in each hostel, no group can "take over" the house anyway - there´s enough room for all. I notice that the "real backpackers" like to gather in the guest kitchen, the party animals hang out in the bar, some chill out in the pillow pit in the lobby and the weekend runners spend their evenings shagging in their doubles - maybe.

It´s also true what has been said in another thread: the Pink Palace (Corfu) and the Poet´s Corner (Olomouc) attract the same type of travellers, yet they don´t exactly behave in the same way in each place. We notice that, too: in Vienna, they get up mighty early on Sunday morning to go to the Vienna Boys Choir and in Munich they drink as much beer as possible (sometimes more). Our hostels also have quite different "vibes" in summer and winter.

I doubt that the "weekend runners" don´t spread the word of mouth, they just spread it to different people - I certainly hope they generate even more weekend runners. It´s not healty that only 15% of our guests are European - if the dollar continues to fall like it does the Americans (30% now) might vanish altogether, like the Argentinans vanished after their economy crashed.

personally (and its purely personally as someone who's spent a lot of time behind the front desk of hostels) i cant stand people who book hostels expecting a hotel. from a business point of view though they do book the higher margin rooms most of the time, so theyre obviously worth it.

They hardly complain here. Our double rooms don´t have a TV, minibar or room service, but otherwise they are "hotel standard". I don´t know the hostel you worked in, but generally speaking, hostel rooms in the UK suck. They don´t even have what´s expected to be "hostel standard" by now. The market has changed a lot in the last ten years - UK hostels haven´t.

2. yeah, i stayed at meininger a month or so ago when i was last there and it was full of school groups. the place i worked at in edinburgh (globetrotter inn) used to get a lot of them too, and stag nights - and dont get me started on them.

Meininger wouldn´t have so many hostels now without the school groups. It makes them pretty lame hostels for classic backpackers (although their new house in Vienna is quite good), but for these groups they´re just fine.
I´m glad the "stag nights" are purely a British thing. We don´t have those here. I can imagine a bunch of 25 puking guys isn´t the sort of thing the nightshift likes very much. Imagine 300 puking guys, then you have Wombat´s Munich during Oktoberfest. :D

is vienna seeing much of the air traffic thats coming through bratislava?

Not so much any more. It used to be a lot when Sky Europe started there; Ryan Air also flies to Bratislava. Anyway, in Vienna, we don´t only have competition between cheapo airlines, but also between the airports of Vienna and Bratislava. Their airport was a big pain in the ass vor Vienna´s airport, so they tried to buy it - obviously in order to shut down unwanted competition. The Slovak government stopped that, so now they´re trying to ruin them now by attracting the cheap airlines to Vienna. Sky Europe now also flies to/from Vienna and Easy Jet established a connection Vienna-Luton a few weeks ago. FlyNiki (the local cheapo airline of Niki Lauda) has been inhaled by Air Berlin - they also burn heaps of money now to keep Sky Europe and Easy Jet from getting too big here. That´s of course all very good news for Vienna´s tourism industry, but the quantities are still negligible compared to Berlin.

im asking basically because ive spent the past couple of years (on and off) looking for a place to open my own hostel, mainly in eastern/south eastern europe. from my research ive been a little turned off the region but am now struggling to find somewhere else - possibly the canadian rockies, hence being in banff.

Smart move - like I said in another thread, I think North America will be an attractive backpacker destination because of the cheap Dollar.

btw, if you're going to be looking for people to work in berlin ;) id love to move back and practice my german again.

Hehe, indeed we ARE looking for people (not for a manager any more though) - applications to [email][email protected][/email] !!!

Report

gordo

17 years

Well, "this new airport" will actually be a sexed-up version of Schönefeld on the same site. And not finished until 2011.
IMHO, it would have been smarter to build a brand new (very large) airport right between Berlin and Hamburg, along with a high-speed train between these cities, maybe even one of those magnetic monorails which they now build between Munich´s airport and train station where it´s just a waste of money.

anything to avoid having to use the 'hamburg luebeck "airport"'. damn i hate that place.

It´s also true what has been said in another thread: the Pink Palace (Corfu) and the Poet´s Corner (Olomouc) attract the same type of travellers, yet they don´t exactly behave in the same way in each place. We notice that, too: in Vienna, they get up mighty early on Sunday morning to go to the Vienna Boys Choir and in Munich they drink as much beer as possible (sometimes more). Our hostels also have quite different "vibes" in summer and winter.

i guess so, do you find that people stay at one wombats because theyve stayed at another? personally ive only ever visited one hostel because i liked another one in the chain (and that was nathans villa krakow, then sighisoara).

btw, me and my friends had a great time with you guys during the world cup last year - in munich for the aussie/brazil game and then a couple of days in vienna for the hell of it.

I doubt that the "weekend runners" don´t spread the word of mouth, they just spread it to different people - I certainly hope they generate even more weekend runners. It´s not healty that only 15% of our guests are European - if the dollar continues to fall like it does the Americans (30% now) might vanish altogether, like the Argentinans vanished after their economy crashed.

ah, you'll always have us australians ;) only 15% european? is that a wombats thing, or is it very similar across the region?

They hardly complain here. Our double rooms don´t have a TV, minibar or room service, but otherwise they are "hotel standard". I don´t know the hostel you worked in, but generally speaking, hostel rooms in the UK suck. They don´t even have what´s expected to be "hostel standard" by now. The market has changed a lot in the last ten years - UK hostels haven´t.

man, i used to get it ALL THE TIME! drove me nuts - used to get it a lot more in melbourne than anywhere else. i suppose it depends on how you present yourselves - both at nomads in melbourne and the globetrotter in edinburgh tried to present themselves as hostel/hotels and it just doesnt work IMO. 'why isnt there a phone in the room?', 'why havent my sheets been changed?' 'why dont you have cable for the TVs?' BECAUSE WE'RE A HOSTEL!! ergh, drove me nuts.

sorry for the little rant. ;)

Meininger wouldn´t have so many hostels now without the school groups. It makes them pretty lame hostels for classic backpackers (although their new house in Vienna is quite good), but for these groups they´re just fine.
I´m glad the "stag nights" are purely a British thing. We don´t have those here. I can imagine a bunch of 25 puking guys isn´t the sort of thing the nightshift likes very much. Imagine 300 puking guys, then you have Wombat´s Munich during Oktoberfest.

oh man, you've no idea. not sure if you're familiar with the UK, but we used to geta lot of northeners up for the weekend. interesting... interesting - especially when you have a 24hr license.

Smart move - like I said in another thread, I think North America will be an attractive backpacker destination because of the cheap dollar.

well, we'll see, hopefully. im surprised that north america doesnt have a more established backpacker market like australia and these days europe. something ill have to work on i guess.

Hehe, indeed we ARE looking for people (not for a manager any more though) - applications to [email][email protected][/email] !!!

im updating my CV right now ;)

Report

Josh Hostels

17 years

...but am now struggling to find somewhere else - possibly the canadian rockies, hence being in banff.

That sounds like a great place for a hostel. I want to visit the Canadian Rockies someday... I did some winter camping in Alberta, but it was directly north of Edmonton where it was totally flat.

I think North America will be an attractive backpacker destination because of the cheap Dollar.

I hope you are right about the "backpacker destination" part. The cheap dollar is going badly for US travelers though. I do all of my work via the Internet so I want to go traveling this winter, but the weak dollar is making it more difficult.

Report

santa klaus

17 years

i guess so, do you find that people stay at one wombats because theyve stayed at another? personally ive only ever visited one hostel because i liked another one in the chain (and that was nathans villa krakow, then sighisoara).

Yes, there are a lot. I know because we hand out freebie vouchers when people check out of one hostel - they can claim their free beer or free breakfast at the other one. We get about 10 of these back every day - in every hostel. [could also be that people pass them on to other travellers they meet somewhere - but what the hey - an additional guest who spends € 50 here for the cost of one beer isn´t a bad deal either.]

btw, me and my friends had a great time with you guys during the world cup last year - in munich for the aussie/brazil game and then a couple of days in vienna for the hell of it.

Whoa, coincidence! I was in Munich on that evening, too! What a fantastic day. The Aussies didn´t seriously hope to win and Brazil didn´t fear they could lose that one. Still, it was a great match, the Aussies didn´t lose without fighting. Everyone had a great piss-up. (Being dressed in the same colors could have helped!)

ah, you'll always have us australians ;) only 15% european? is that a wombats thing, or is it very similar across the region?

I´m not sure, but I have never met a lot of Europeans in any hostel in Europe. Anyway it´s definitely a Wombats thing that we have 27% Australians!
I remember when Erin of Hostel Ruthensteiner called me a year after we opened and wondered why there are so few Aussies at her place all of a sudden! :cool:

man, i used to get it ALL THE TIME! drove me nuts - used to get it a lot more in melbourne than anywhere else. i suppose it depends on how you present yourselves - both at nomads in melbourne and the globetrotter in edinburgh tried to present themselves as hostel/hotels and it just doesnt work IMO. 'why isnt there a phone in the room?', 'why havent my sheets been changed?' 'why dont you have cable for the TVs?' BECAUSE WE'RE A HOSTEL!! ergh, drove me nuts.

sorry for the little rant. ;)

I agree 100% there.

well, we'll see, hopefully. im surprised that north america doesnt have a more established backpacker market like australia and these days europe. something ill have to work on i guess.

It will. Pretty soon.

im updating my CV right now ;)

LOL, waiting in awe. I know what Conny likes to read but I´m not rigging the game.

Report

santa klaus

17 years

The cheap dollar is going badly for US travelers though. I do all of my work via the Internet so I want to go traveling this winter, but the weak dollar is making it more difficult.

It´s freaking us out, too. We charge 25 Euros for a dorm bed in Munich in summer. That´s close to 40 US$ at the moment. Which, agreed, is a ridiculous price for a dorm bed, but we don´t have much choice with 19% VAT now and the almost insane rent for the building.

Report

gordo

17 years

Yes, there are a lot. I know because we hand out freebie vouchers when people check out of one hostel - they can claim their free beer or free breakfast at the other one. We get about 10 of these back every day - in every hostel. [could also be that people pass them on to other travellers they meet somewhere - but what the hey - an additional guest who spends € 50 here for the cost of one beer isn´t a bad deal either.]

hmm... thats odd, the various nomads hostels in oz/nz had similar flyers and we hardly ever saw them. perhaps we were just crap?

Whoa, coincidence! I was in Munich on that evening, too! What a fantastic day. The Aussies didn´t seriously hope to win and Brazil didn´t fear they could lose that one. Still, it was a great match, the Aussies didn´t lose without fighting. Everyone had a great piss-up. (Being dressed in the same colors could have helped!)

it was awesome - me and my friends were about 10 rows behind the goal. awesome vibe. and no, we didnt expect to win ;) the subsequent parties are a bit of a blur - for that matter, im not sure if i woke up in the hostel ;)

LOL, waiting in awe. I know what Conny likes to read but I´m not rigging the game.

oh, you'll be impressed. its brilliantly written, lots of pictures, you'll love it. :P
no hints at all? c'mon, help a brother out.

Report

santa klaus

17 years

hmm... thats odd, the various nomads hostels in oz/nz had similar flyers and we hardly ever saw them. perhaps we were just crap?

No comment! :D

it was awesome - me and my friends were about 10 rows behind the goal. awesome vibe. and no, we didnt expect to win ;) the subsequent parties are a bit of a blur - for that matter, im not sure if i woke up in the hostel ;)

I watched it on big screen in a beer garden. They ran out of beer. I´m sure the last time such an embarrasing thing happened in Munich was centuries ago! The Brazilian girls danced on the table every time their team scored so I have to admit I enjoyed the Brazil goals a lot.

oh, you'll be impressed. its brilliantly written, lots of pictures, you'll love it. :P
no hints at all? c'mon, help a brother out.

I think "Australian with EU work permit" and "work experience in various hostels worldwide" will do the trick. ;)

Search form

Report 'List of Hostel Chains Worldwide'?

Report ''?

Report ''?

Report ''?

Report ''?

Report ''?

Report ''?

Report ''?

Report ''?

Report ''?

Report ''?

Pages

Join the world's largest community of hostel professionals.

Check Your Email