The AP features 4 hostel reviews

Hostel Reviews: Baltimore, Chicago, Harlem, L.A. -- What's it really like spending the night in a hostel? Dispatches from 4 cities
http://abcnews.go.com/Travel/wireStory?id=8453985

About three years ago, Jim Williams, author of "Hostel Handbook" — http://www.hostelhandbook.com — noticed that new hostels were starting to open around the U.S., but "almost exclusively in destination cities — NYC, LA, Miami etc.," he said. "Hostels are following the trend of becoming urban."

A snapshot of bookings on Hostelworld.com comparing spring 2008 with spring 2009 also shows increases for hostel stays in U.S. cities, with bookings up 27 percent for hostels in Miami, 37 percent for Washington D.C., 47 percent for Chicago and 58 percent for Baltimore.