The very idea of a luxury hostel was once an oxymoron, but what started as an unusual phenomenon in a few forward thinking cities has now spread to the most unlikely – and pricey – destinations, including Reykjavik and, most recently, Venice, which now has a swish new affordable place to stay courtesy of Generator Hostels.
The group specialises in creating funky modern spaces with free Wi-Fi, bars, private rooms as well as dorms, and a weekly programme of events such as Flamenco classes in Barcelona or rooftop yoga. It already has properties in Barcelona, Berlin, Copenhagen, Hamburg, Dublin and London, where it all started back in 1995 – and has more planned for Paris and Rome 2014.
Housed in a 200-year-old former grain warehouse, Generator Venice costs from €15.75 per person per night in a dorm.
You'll find it listed on the two biggest hostel websites: newly merged former rivals hostelworld.com and hostelbookers.com (the two websites will continue to operate as separate entities), but as the budget boutique market continues to grow, a new generation of small, independent websites is emerging alongside these giants.
Theposhpacker.com is a US-based website dedicated to both hotels and hostels costing under $100 a night. Its founders, Anna Kojzar and Tania Cruz, launched the site this year after coming across a great affordable apartment in the Canary Islands and wondering why it wasn't easier to find similar places online.
It's clearly a work in progress but a useful one. The bulk of The Poshpacker's listings are in Europe and the US. Elsewhere its coverage is thin – there are only two listings in Australia (Melbourne and Darwin) and four in Africa – but the plan is to add to the collection over time. The site looks good, with a clean, stylish design; the slight downside is that this pared down approach extends to the information, which is fairly minimal, each property summed up in bullet points on the facilities and perks. However, as an initial place for searching for cool, affordable places to stay, it's definitely one to bookmark.
Similar site worth bookmarking
The other young upstart in the hostel world is budgettraveller.org. It was set up in 2010 by Kash Bhattacharya, who grew up in Calcutta but studied in Scotland, and has made a name for himself in the travel blogging community with his luxury hostels project: he has spent the past year reviewing 40 luxury hostels which were published in a free, downloadable ebook in August 2013. So far there have been over 4,000 downloads.
Budgettraveller.org is very different from poshpacker.com. It's low on style and not very user-friendly, but big on useful information – once you've found your way round the site. As well as luxury hostels, there is also a cheap eats guide plus a newly-launched series of 48-hour guides to various German cities (sponsored by the national tourist office) and, coming this week, the Budget Travellers' Bible, a section devoted to money-saving tips such as where to find free concerts, the best deals on foreign currency, and pre-paid internet packages. There are also plans to launch a separate bookable hostel site next year, and later this month a series on cool budget hotels of Europe.
Bhattacharya is tireless in his search for new content, and is planning to extend the reach of the luxury hostels project to include 60 hostels worldwide. He's also been savvy in working with commerical partners – his luxury hostels project is sponsored by easyJet, InteRail and Busabout, among others. As one of the few travel bloggers who's managed to make their site pay, he's one to watch.
