Hostel Management Set to Give Out Hostel Stars
Like the Michelin stars and the Hoscar Awards, Hostelmanagement.com is set to give out Hostel Stars for the best hostels in the world. Jimmy Black, one of the co-owners and operators of Hostelmanagement.com, spoke about what the Hostel Star rankings mean and how they will be determined.
"We're searching for the best hostels in the world, and we feel that with Hostelmanagement.com, being the industry newsletter, it's the perfect player to take that on," said Black. The idea behind the Hostel Star draws inspiration from the prestigious Michelin star awards, which first began as a guide for travelers on road trips, looking for places to rest and fill up their tires. The guide evolved into a reference for hotels and restaurants before becoming what it is today, which is a prestigious ranking system for restaurants.
Black acknowledged, while explaining the inspiration behind developing Hostel Star awards, how that recognition for a certain level of standard is something that the industry needs. While travelers can go on Google or Hostelworld and search for hostels and read the reviews to help them decide where to stay, there exists a need for a true ranking system. When it began, Hostelworld was selective in listing hostels, featuring only hostels with a high score. But as the market grew, there grew the need for more searchability and visibility for hostels around the globe, which led to a more crowded pool for travelers to choose from.
"We want this to be the new way for people to find the best hostels, and know that when they book them, they're comforted by the system because these hostels have been vetted," said Black. "So whether that's a Silver Star, a Gold Star, you'll be confident knowing that the establishment meets a certain standard."
To kick off the project, Black and his crew will be taking a large, 47ft sailboat and cruising up the coast of California to begin their research. The sailboat, as Black sees it, will be another addition to the hostel experience at the ITH Hostel locations and will eventually become a place for travelers to stay overnight as they make their way around California during their time at ITH.
"The idea is to start in Southern California, since there's such a dense population of hostels between San Diego and Santa Barbara, and make our way to different cities as we stop in various ports along the way," said Black. Hostelmanagement.com Editor-in-Chief, Alfie McKenzie, will be one of the main crew members taking on the task of surveying and scoring the hostels, and will be joined by Black on the ride. But it won't stop there, and they'll eventually work their way through hostels around the US before reaching others around the world.
"The US is such an important place to start, because it's just not the same here as it is in other countries. The stigma is just so poor about American hostels, and we want to change that by building more awareness about them and showing people some of the best ones," said Black. "The more we can do to gain confidence and give people confidence for finding and booking hostels in America, the better. Getting a person to the hostel door is only half the battle, though. The other half is making it so that everytime they visit a new city, they're looking at booking a hostel. That's what we need to get to."
