whats a hostel?

Question

whats the difference between a hostel and a hotel?

Answer 1

Tradtionally hostels provide accommodation where guests can rent a bed, sometimes a bunk bed in a dormitory and share a common bathroom, kitchen, and lounge.

The first Hostels were part of the German Youth Movement to let poor, city youngsters breathe fresh air outdoors. The youths were supposed to manage the hostel themselves as much as possible and do chores to keep the costs down and build character as well as being physically active outdoors. Because of this, many Youth Hostels closed (and still close) during the middle part of the day.

Answer 2

As said, in a hostel you (used to) share a bedroom, and with that also bathroom. In a hotel each has his own room.
Now many hostels have private rooms, some even with their own bathroom. So you can chose to just pay for a bunk or for your own room.
The newer hostels tend to have bathrooms en-suite to the dorms too.

But the biggest difference in using hostels and hotels is that in most hotels it is very hard to get contact with the other guests, in most hostels it is rather simple.
Because people share tables for breakfast (and often dinner) and because of the kind of people that use hostels, if you tell people where you are going, often you join up with people going the same way, just for the day.
But some people team up at the start of an European tour for a few months.

And about being crappy, cheap hotels are more crappy than hostels that cost the same.
Buy a good guidebook, one that does not only tell you where the hotels and hostels are, but also what you can expect. I like the Lonely Planet series.

Answer 3

Hostel : A supervised, inexpensive lodging place for travelers, especially young travelers.

A hotel is fancier, sorta. They are commercial (as in a big corporation and other hotels of the same name), and usually have restaurants and stores and such that are open to anyone. Hostel is smaller, less private, and less luxurious.

Answer 4

With hostels you're most likely going to share bathroom accommodations and you might have several beds in one room. Popular with backpackers and those who needs extremely cheap budget accommodations.

Hotels are just that. You'll have a private room, most with ensuite bathroom.

Answer 5

hostel is a term mostly used in Europe for something like a hotel with very bare minimum. in otherwords a crappy hotel.