Hello...

HI, "John" here, salutations from the road. A little about me... originally from New Orleans, been traveling the road and working in the yachting industry for the last 9 years. I have stayed, lived, worked or some combination of all three; at a several hostels/crew houses during my travels. There are good well run ones that I would recommend to my 16 year old niece and then there are those that don't deserve the right to be called "Traveler's or Youth Hostels" that I would be hard pressed even to point some poor soul on parole just out of prison, trying to stay out of trouble to get back on his/her feet.
Being that this is a hostel management forum, I thought I'd put my 2 cents/yen/pence/quetzals/...etc in. My own belief is that hostels are a wonderful way to meet people, from all over the world, with similar ( or different ;-) ) frugal and laid back traveling attitudes, values or worldviews. I find that when I travel, part of the thrill of adventure is not knowing what to expect around the next corner. That being said, several distasteful experiences at some disreputable hostels have made me wary of taking unnecessary chances regarding where I choose to sojourn. This is unfortunate because it takes away the true essence of traveling by backpack. We must all strive for excellence in the remarkable social enhancing possibilities of the hosteling lifestyle because the only other alternative, regulation :-( as in the hotel/inn industry, is certainly not desirable. Hostel Management.com is an excellent forum to prevent this from occurring and I am looking forward to some interesting and hopefully productive discussions.

:)Thanks and Safe Travels! John